MAYA [Book 1 - Water]

Chapter 8 - Welcome To The Family

-Maya's Point of View-

We went inside the sanctuary and as expected, no one was there, but we were bombarded with hundreds of statues. All are aligned in a circular pattern.

The room was dark and the only light source we have is the light from the opened door.

Aang went deeper inside the sanctuary as he looked at the statues. We all followed behind him as well.

Sokka stopped in front of one statue and said, "More statues? That's it?! Where's the meat?"

I looked at him and sighed while smiling. I followed behind Katara and Aang who also stopped in front of two statues.

"Who are all these people?" Katara asked.

"I'm not sure... But I feel like I know them somehow... Look! That one's an airbender!" Aang replied as he pointed to the statue in front of him.

"And this one's a waterbender..." Katara pointed at the statue in front of her.

I stood in front of the statue next to Katara's and said, "Huh funny, 'cause this statue in front of me is an earthbender."

And then I realized something... I looked at the statue next to it and it was a firebender. I looked at the other statues and the patterns were the same.

"Wait a minute... Air, Water, Earth, Fire? Isn't that the Avatar Cycle?" I asked them.

And then Katara suddenly widened her eyes as if she realized something as well...

"Of course... They're all Avatars. These are all your past lives Aang!" Katara exclaimed.

"Wow! There's so many!" Aang exclaimed as he followed the trail to where the statues ended.

"Past lives? Katara, you really believe in that stuff?" Sokka asked.

Yeah, I never thought that reincarnation is a thing, well not until now...

"It's true! When the Avatar dies, he is reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle," Katara explained.

"So that's why there was never news from the Water Tribes about an Avatar being born even after a hundred years because Aang was still alive," I said.

"Yes. Though, it did give the fire nation an upper hand. At least now Aang is back and that's what matters. Right, Aang?" Katara asked as she looked at Aang who was staring at a statue.

Aang didn't reply nor looked at Katara. His eyes were fixed on the statue in front of him.

"Aang?" Katara asked again but still no response.

Aang kept looking at the statue as if he was being lured into something or hypnotized.

I ran up to him and said, "Aang! Snap out of it!" and I shook his shoulders.

He suddenly closed his eyes and slowly opened them. He looked at me and then he asked, "Huh?"

"What happened?" I asked him.

"Nothing it's just..." he said and then he looked at the statue again.

"Who are you looking at?" I asked.

"That's Avatar Roku. The Avatar before me," he answered.

"You were a firebender? No wonder I didn't trust you the first time we met," Sokka said as he and Katara walked toward us.