Hear Me Roar (ATLA)

World Spirits and Storms

She didn't remember how she met her death. It could have been a thousand different things, but at the end of the day, knowing what did it wouldn't change anything. She was dead either way, so she decided that she wouldn't dwell on it. She had always assumed that death and the afterlife would be peaceful. Maybe endless bliss, maybe watching over her family from the other side. She wasn't quite sure exactly how it would have looked like, but she certainly never imagined meeting a being made of endless galaxies of stars. They called themself the world spirit.

"Do you know why you are here, child?" It didn't have a mouth. It didn't have a face. It didn't even have a distinguishable voice. The sound was neither male nor female, young nor old, single nor many. It was simply all. But it was comforting and it was powerful. It had a way of making her feel small, but despite this, she never lost confidence in herself and stood tall.

"No. No, I don't. I don't even know where here is." she tried not to sound accusatory. With a being this powerful, it was best not to tick it off, even unintentionally. Nothing could be left to chance.

"You are at the beginning. The place at the very precipice of all of creation. Everything you know and all that you do not has all come from this very spot." She took it all in. The beginning looked a lot like chaotic star soup. It was a whirling, riling, broiling mass of galaxies and colors and light. It looked like it was constantly growing and collapsing in on itself. Within it, she could see planets and suns and heartbeats and life.

"It is beautiful. But why bring me here? Who are you?"

"I, my dear child, am the world spirit. It is I who creates all. Some call me God. Some see me as many. But at the end of the day, I am all that people believe that I am and more. I have brought you here because I have need of your passionate spirit once more. In life on Earth, you were fearless. You were fierce against your enemies and a loyal and powerful fighter to protect the ones that you loved. I am very proud of you, my dearest one, and, perhaps selfishly, I ask that you come to life once more to help mend one of my other favorite creations. I believe they are most in need of one of your skills and desires." She blinked, dumbfounded. She was the favored creation of the creator themself?

"How may I assist you, great spirit? If you say that you have need of me once more, then I will trust in your capabilities and do my best to achieve your goals." If the great creator asks you to do something, you do not say no. Who would she be to do such a thing?

"If you consent, I wish to send you to the world that my mortal avatar maintains. They are supposed to keep that balance between the elemental benders and the spirits, but my most recent chosen has been gone for too many years and the balance is far too overturned to right it by himself. He needs help and while he will have some of his own reality, I believe that I can tip the odds in his favor with your help. He may be able to achieve victory without you, but I have seen the destiny of the world if that comes to pass and the sacrifice is too great. You may save the fates of many others including many of my other favored ones and those of my children. For this, I offer you a boon. Should you choose to accept this task and the hardships that come with it, I shall give you your own elemental bending abilities and sway some odds into your favor. I cannot do too much or there will be consequences, thus why I cannot save the world fate on my own. I can however give you the gift of luck. And if you should succeed, I can guarantee that you will finally be happy and at peace. Will you accept?"

"Yes" And it all faded to white

Somewhere in the inbetween, white had faded darker and darker until she was surrounded by near blackness, cocooned in warmth from all around. She could not feel anything outside herself other than the sensation of warmth. She could not see either, nor smell. But she could hear. And all around her was the beating of a constant drum. Sometimes it would speed up, and sometimes it would slow down. There was a rhythm to it and its changes, but that rhythm was often interrupted. And yet, it was comforting all the same. The drums and the warmth were all that she knew for a very long time. She was ok with that. She could feel no danger, no sense of urgency. In fact, she had no sense of time at all. She was perpetually content.