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The stone cracked.
A non-bender took his first breath in the new world.
Six months later, the stone cracked again.
A second non-bender took his first breath in the new world.
Six months later, the stone cracked again.
An earthbender took his first breath in the new world.
One month later, friendships cracked.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
Long ago, the land was home to both spirits and humans. But the spirits had a gift; they had learned how to use the energy within themselves to control the natural world. When the earth was angry, they used their gift to shield themselves from her outbursts while humans lived their lives at the mercy of her fury. Until one, taking pity, decided to use their powers to aid them.
This spirit became known as
the Saviour.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“Can you hold out until sunset?!,” Senku asked.
“My organs and bones are fine. I can endure!” the blonde-haired girl yelled back.
She watched in awe for hours as the scrawny boy hacked bamboo into circles with his stone axe and looped ropes around them before attaching the pieces in the trees, one above the other. With one last effort, he threw the last rope around a branch high above her and swung down, the bizarre system lifting the enormous trunk trapping her.
“Astounding,” she marvelled, “how did you do this without bending?”
“Science, of course,” he smirked back, “the pulley system is child’s play.”
She stood up, checking that the water skins next to her knives hadn’t leaked.
“My name is Kohaku,” she introduced herself, tying her hair back.
They sat around a fire once night had fallen.
“That long-haired man… he moved the earth exactly like how I move water to knock that tree trunk down on me,” she recounted gravelly, eyes fixed on the flames.
“How is that possible? I thought moving anything but water was just a myth…”
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“Half?! And all are waterbenders?! For eally-ray?!” Gen cried out.
“Yeah. Looks like natural selection prioritised bending in the descendants, which makes sense in this stone world; 50% of their population versus 10% for ours. Kinda funny that no other element survived though,” Senku replied.
“I suppose that’s true. The ratio of enders-bay was always much higher in rural communities back in the old world, after all. Something about being closer to the spirits, hm?” the mentalist said, directing a sneer at Senku.
The scientist rolled his eyes as he continued crafting Suika’s lenses.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
The Saviour would redirect the waves from the tsunamis back into the ocean; they would calm the blazes when the forests raged with fire; they parted the winds that spun typhoons, hurricanes, and tornadoes; they fought back against the earth as it shook with fury.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
Ruri took a deep breath soaked with salt, held her stance, and pulled the water from the sea, wrist perfectly curved, in a long tentacle. The column rose in the sky, its wavy body glinting under the full moon, before she waved it to her. She could hear its wet chuckle as it glided over her shoulders, drifting on her skin like an old friend welcoming her back to her home. The cold foam lapped at her bare feet, rushing between her toes and curling around her ankles. Closing her eyes, she pushed and pulled the floating tide, flowing fluidly between stances she hadn’t done since she was a child and her soulmate wasn’t drowning her lungs, as she felt herself sink back in the arms of Tui and La.
For years, her bending had been limited to healing herself as she bathed in hot spring water, damming up additional symptoms even though she couldn’t do anything against the source of her illness.
For years, she did not have the control nor the balance to summon more than a small spray, the confluence of herself and the water frozen indefinitely.
But Senku’s science had melted the blockage and drained the disease from her body. The feel of water had returned in her blood first in wavelets, then in a rush, flooding her veins, arteries, and muscles with life afresh.
I hope I haven’t changed too much, Ruri whispered to each droplet.
Only for the better, they rippled back.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“The time limit is 20 seconds! Go!”
The vanguard of the Empire of Might, lined up, stomped pieces of the ground into the air and punched them straight at the invading force. With a synchronised jump and a wide wipe of the arms, water sliced through the projectiles before five people swerved it behind them and, blunting the tip with ice, launched it at the defenders, crushing past the hastily erected rock wall to splatter them away.
The tank kept advancing, the carbon shield nullifying the bursts of fire directed at it, even when the added air currents magnified them.
Transforming her arms into water tentacles, the blonde girl swept bodies to the sides to carve the path forwards. At the mouth of the cave, the final row of airbenders released a gust of air from their palms, only for the blasts to be redirected back at them by the large disk held by the burly non-bender, splitting the winds for the Kingdom of Science’s victory.
Until the archer tensed then jerked, throwing the scientist to the ground as a diamond shaped slab collided with his shoulder, their sulfur and charcoal mix crashing to the ground.
“It is lamentable,” the former pro-bending champion announced, rock gloves on his knuckles and master spearman at his side, “that for a second time, I should have to end your life with these hands.”
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“There’s nothing to worry about. If that guy’s decided to save Tsukasa, then he’ll definitely find a way to save him, whether it’ll take years or decades!”
“He’s decided to save seven billion people after all; that includes him!”
A sister held another sister as a brother was frozen.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
The people were ecstatic; no longer were they helpless in the face of the wrath of the land. The Saviour, over their long interaction, grew attached to humanity and wished to stay by their side. How better than in a mortal body? Thus, the Saviour became human. Once their body expired, their spirit would be reborn in a new one, beginning their duty anew with the knowledge from their previous life. In honour of their reincarnation cycle, the Saviour became known as
the Avatar.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“The Avatar? Yeah, that’s ten billion percent fictional,” Senku drawled with a pinky in his ear.
He was immediately assaulted by cries of what?!, how can you be so sure?!, and, no way!!
“Besides the fact that the legend has sentient spirits, it’s also physically impossible for a person to bend all four elements,” he continued just as unimpressed.
“What do you mean?” Chrome asked.
“Bending is genetic. Back in the modern world, we identified the different gene mutations that cause it, down to the ones associated with the different elements. Basically, all waterbenders have one specific marker in their bodies that allows them to control water. All firebenders have one but it’s different to the water one, and the same for earthbenders and airbenders. It’s true that a person can carry two mutations — for example, if they have a firebender father and an earthbender mother — but only one, or most often neither, will actually manifest itself. There’s never been a person who can bend two elements, so there’s definitely never been one who can bend all four.”
“I wonder why the Founders passed the story down to us. All the other Hundred Tales communicated something practical or about science…” Ruri wondered aloud.
“Byakuya needed a story to explain bending and I guess it’s easier to pass down one that already exists,” Senku shrugged, “besides, it would be a nightmare to turn the genetic explanation into a narrative. Apart from the gene mutation, we still don’t know when or why some people express it while others don’t. Also, Byakuya was sentimental and he liked this story. Said it was hopeful or something, with a good moral about working together, even though they literally die of sadness in the end.”
“It is a good story even if it’s sad! If we all work together, then we can show the Avatar humans really are good and we can help them bring back balance to the world together, right?!” Suika piped up excitedly.
“Sure, let’s say that.”
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
Never had a man personified his element as much as Nanami Ryusui.
The captain with a blustery laugh and a howling grin went and did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, wherever he wanted; he stormed into conversations, floated freely between people, puffed ideas into the air, breezed through disagreements about the construction of the ship.
During work, he blew debris off the planks of the ship with precise palm strikes, and fisted air into the flying balloon to keep it aloft when they surveyed the terrain from the skies. He flurried air in the forge to make the temperature rise, and dried the materials at record speed after sudden squalls.
During breaks, he spun whirlwinds shaped in a sphere and stuck the children on them to speed around the village as their whistling laughs echoed. He knitted clouds to raise Suika up to the tallest branches to pick fruit for François to make dessert and challenged the village benders to boat races: sails against tides.
“What is my ultimate desire? Ha ha! The freedom to continue desiring, of course!” he roared with a brisk finger snap, zephyr giggling on his shoulders.
Nanami Ryusui may come from a family of waterbenders, but a true captain knows it is the mischievous winds that are the most fun to tame.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
One day, the Avatar mused: wouldn’t it be better if the people could bend? This way, they had a way to help themselves in the absence of the Avatar.
The spirits were apprehensive:
could humans even learn?
The people were suspicious;
would it not upset the balance of the world?
But the Avatar believed they were worthy. They showed those who were willing to learn how to bend the energy within oneself. And when a child diverted water into a thirsty field during a drought which led to a successful yield, the people rejoiced. Fear turned into hope, and
humans learned how to bend.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
Suika watched in horror as everyone on the ship was turned into the stone-that-could-not-be-bent; Ryusui’s wind kick had flung her overboard, out of reach of the green light. In fear, she stayed by the rocks, asking the shallows to conceal her from the boats heading towards her friends. A shout sliced the air,
“LAB! THAT’S WHAT I ABSOLUTELY WANT!”
The water in her body froze.
Bending an air bubble around her head, she propelled herself to the ship just as the men decorated in sea shells summoned ice ladders to climb onto the deck. She lifted herself up atop a watery hand to the window leading to the greenhouse, and sneaked inside. She heard the foreign men stutter in alarm that they could not bend the ‘ice panels’ but quickly hid herself then rolled to the room containing the lab car.
She had spotted Ginro on her way. Together, they can regroup with Senku and the others.
The water in her body boiled.
Suika will be useful.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“That’s what you get, fool! As if the petrifying light could be conquered by brute force or a little wind!” Ibara shrieked over Ryusui’s broken statue.
He tugged the Medusa back to him by its water rope, holding it over his head as he shouted his victory to the sky, noticing only too late the copper coil earring hooked onto it.
“You’re totally right, Ibara. Guys who think they’re the cleverest are easiest to trap,” Senku smirked into the receiver cone.
“The piece of sorcery that emits noise…!” Ibara bellowed.
He didn’t have time to throw the device away before he was engulfed in a green light, never to feel the moon again.
“From where I’m standing, bending sounds more like sorcery to me,” Senku sighed through the throb of his bicep.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
The drums sounded. The flutes whistled.
Kohaku swung her arms in a wide arc over her head, the water following her movement. It twirled once, twice, thrice, around her body before she lunged to the left, right hand sliced on her stomach, left wrist flicking the stream to Ginro who caught it gracefully. He twisted his body in a full rotation before separating the water into two, the liquid doing rings up each of his outstretched arms, then rejoining it in a large wheel spinning clockwise in front of him.
On the platform behind them, Garnet, Ruby, and Sapphire summoned a wave from the two lavishly decorated barrels and swept it around Kohaku and Ginro to mimic the ocean’s ebbs and flows.
Ruri opened her mouth.
“One Hundred Tales: Tale Number 77…”
The ceremony began.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“Ha!” Kohaku snatched Gen’s right wrist, “you think my eyes can’t see Ryusui helping you shuffle the cards?”
The cards fluttered on the deck in his left hand.
Gen called upon the crocodile tears, painting a devastated expression on his face.
“I am a magician, Kohaku-chan,” he cried, “you wound me with these accusations that I cannot even uffle-shay my own cards!”
He turned, collapsing theatrically next to an impassive Senku, face hidden in his sleeves on the table.
“Senku-chan, is that sloshing I hear in your sleeve or are you just appy-hay to see me?”
The scientist smirked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, mentalist.”
Ukyo called for order.
“Ha, ha! Let the game begin!”
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
At first, people bent the ground to build stronger shelters, bent the water to irrigate crops, bent fire for warmth, and bent the air for travel. The spirits, their doubts assuaged, agreed to help those who had awoken the gift to understand their new abilities; four elemental masters demonstrated their forms for the humans to master. The Avatar revelled as people lived longer and happier lives, and dedicated themselves to protecting that peace.
A new balance was established.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“Our enemies have a sharp-witted science pro just like you,” the blonde-haired man concluded with a smirk, lighting his cigarette with the tip of his index.
He jumped to the ground, machine gun bouncing on his hip, and headed away from the broken plane, leaving footprints and half-burnt leaves behind him.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
W-W-What do I do now?!
Everyone pooled around the sticky deck of the ship as the shot boy gurgled explanations around the blood in his throat. The translations offered by the butler with ringlets flowed into her ears while they packed and wrapped his wounds.
To keep his wits about him like that…in the middle of a crisis.
Senku’s head tipped to the side, consciousness evaporating.
I barely remember this stuff but…
The bravery flooding in her body made her call a couple handfuls of water from a nearby jug, drown her palms, and press them to the boy’s chest. With a slow exhale, the liquid glistened, and she progressively felt the streaming rivulets of blood vessels beneath her fingers. She closed her eyes and blocked the most damaged ones from spewing any more life.
“Luna, are you…a doctor?” the sea captain asked behind her.
“Who, me? No way!” she frantically corrected, “I’m just…a medical student…”
She was never particularly good at it; the lessons submerged her brain and she was the only one who stagnated in first year. Her teachers had never been enthusiastic about her skills, claiming her connection to water was shallow at best.
“Please Luna, we have no one else. You gotta save him!!” the brown haired boy pleaded on his knees while tears spilled from his eyes.
Maybe it was time to reach into the depths of herself and siphon some of that strength that lay hidden. Luna was nothing if not a capable girl.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“Oh yeah? And why should you get to rule?”
“Because I can lead the ignorant masses,” Xeno proclaimed, “in the 21st century, those idiots stood by the worthless concepts of ethics, morals, and politics that prevented humanity from truly progressing! They were the idiots who dismissed the true value of science in favour of those who could control the elements! But was it bending that got us to space? Was it bending that created medicine to cure illness? Science can push past elemental limits and into the future!”
The sound of projectiles flying and slamming resonated in the tunnel.
“Yeah, I know a few meatheads that are all about their bending…but that doesn’t make ‘em fools. I ain’t so high and mighty to judge people on what they love,” Chrome responded.
Taiju’s grin broke through the collapsed rock with the head of the earthbending-powered drill, Tsukasa guiding it behind him.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
But neither the Avatar nor the spirits were prepared for them to use the gift as weapons. When nature did not need to be calmed, people directed their elements towards each other; quickly, wars ravaged the land as humans became the ones to summon the disasters they had once feared, crumbling alliances and solidarity in their wake. This time, as hard as they tried, not even the Avatar could bridge the rifts. The spirits, now fearing for themselves, retreated deep into the ground, away from the treacherous surface they had once called home.
Balance had been lost.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“Wowsies, I can see with my eyes again! Totes thanks, besties!” Chelsea boomed as she slipped on her new clothes and glasses, refusing the shoes.
When she trod backwards to keep her conversation with Gen going, the gravel and roots slid to the sides to prevent her from tripping; when she punched the air in excitement, the soil hollered with her; when she threw her head back and cackled, the earth rumbled in harmony. Subtle as a menhir, she pummelled past social niceties, even if it dug up frustration from her new companions.
She greeted the Andes with quaking excitement, stamping her feet excitedly as they took in the new sight. Guiding the group through the ridges, she claimed the mountain ground out which of the ledges to walk on and levelled the paths they should take. She always paused for a second before bending, as if assessing the earth under her, before summoning it without a wasted movement, her stance solid and her arms strong as she helped sculpt the ropeway.
“I love the earth! You can see so much farther than with your eyes! I mean, sheesh, it really reminds us that we’re all totes connected to everything else!”
Chelsea Childe may be as jittery as grains of sand in an hourglass, but her feet were always solidly rooted to the floor.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
“Kinro, you can bend the methanol in the beaker.”
With a fluid movement, a new beaker was filled.
“Magma, you can turn on the electricity.”
Joining the two wires, the coil began to heat.
“Yuzuriha, you keep an eye on the tungsten filament and how hot it’s getting.”
A nod and a thumbs up.
“Minami, you make sure the flame keeps burning so that all the air is being guided out.”
A snap, and the burner was lit.
“It’s like he said…science isn’t just for eggheads. Which is why we can do this!” Nikki exclaimed.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
Shishio Tsukasa had felt only as substantial as the rocks he bent. It was his element that had protected Mirai from his father’s fists, had made Mirai beam when he presented her with the little mud horse, had paid for Mirai’s hospital bills.
When did it happen, I wonder? At what moment did I decide to entrust my fate to Senku’s Kingdom of Science, to what I once sought to destroy?
The edges of his vision were fading. Blood was seeping out of the holes in his torso. Hyoga was dead. Kohaku’s chest was barely moving. Even the mythical spirit water could not help them now.
I leave the rest to you, Senku.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
The lightning curled around his right hand, concentrating on his outstretched pointer and middle fingers. The blaze in the camp quivered in time with his inhales, ready to rally to his decision.
Well, these guys also want Xeno’s expertise. As for my statue, they’ll keep it hostage forever in exchange for his help.
Images burned through Stanley’s mind: Xeno’s fiery elation the first time he saw him cast a flame in his palms, Xeno’s teenage explosion when he shot the football from the roof one building over from the stadium, Xeno’s ebony eyes flaring as they shined back the words he had attentively seared into the air when he had gotten down on one knee.
Stanley may prefer weapons, but the beast in his breath roared for the silver-haired boy. It was like he directly controlled the amount of kindling fed into its stomach and the liveliness of its flames; poked irate by his frown, but petted tame by his delight.
“Firebending is special; it is the only element that a bender creates themselves,” his father had said around the campfire he had punched alight when Stanley had first snapped sparks as a boy, “that also makes it the most volatile. Just like a natural fire, it is a fine line that separates destruction and safety. The sun makes us strong, but control makes us powerful.”
Stanley’s firebending had always been fuelled by his love for the sun that dreamt of stars and reflected the night sky in his gaze, but rendered powerful by his scorching desire to protect it.
A sun can live without a planet, but a fire can not live without its sun.
He will smother those embers cold if he has to.
He discharged the electricity in his hand back into his body and quelled the flames around him with an exhale as he stripped the armour off his back. The stone choked the last of his oxygen before he could take a final hit of his cigarette.
Agni, protect him.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
The Avatar, dismayed by what had become of their good intention, retired to live the rest of their life in solitude. On their deathbed, they spoke,
“My biggest regret is giving humans the ability to bend; I taught them the gift for their own sake, and they have turned the elements against each other. In one of my lifetimes, they have upended the balance that I have spent dozens safeguarding. I have not the strength to continue. As such, I have chosen to break the cycle. Perhaps one day, when humans have learnt to come together again, the spirits and I will return to this land.”
The last Avatar vanished, never to be reborn again.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
The stone cracked.
A human took her first breath in the new world.
She gathered the statues, foe and friend alike, and lined them up in preparation for their revival.
— ⾵ 火 水 土 —
The air stilled when, with one hand, Suika bent the tentacle holding the string carefully, looping it around the suspended horizontal log and the vertical one she was keeping steady with the other water pole: one loop, two loops, three loops, then threading the ends into each other to secure them. She pulled the knot together but flicked her wrist a little too hard, and she watched helplessly as the pull destabilised the top log, pitching the edge of the nitric acid field shelter to the ground for the third time. With an angry yell, she stomped her foot on the ground, disturbing the gravel.
The flames flickered behind her.