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chapter three

[ chapter three: prologue ]

republic city, the capital of the united republic.

one of the largest and most modern cities in the world, with millions of benders and non-benders from all different nations joining together under the four councilmen.

first established to serve as a society where everyone from the earth and fire nations, air nomads, and water tribes could live and thrive together in peace and harmony.

in contrast to other major cities, republic city is the truest of metropolitan urban centers, the city developing the architectural and technological sides to construct many buildings short and tall.

outside of republic city lived a normal girl and her dearest father- ong jiyoung and ong hyunjoon. two of the normal non-benders living outside of the united republic in yi, south korea.

it wasn't unheard of for almost all non-benders to live here, as most benders in korea headed towards the united republic or at least moved closer.

if anything, it was rather unheard of for there to be non-benders in republic city under the age of forty. most moved there to learn how to master their bending element and after doing so they'd continue onwards with their lives. there just wasn't any "place" for non-benders in the busy city.

it isn't hard to tell benders from non-benders. practically all benders possessed the same colored eyes as their element. earth benders had green eyes, fire- red, air- grayish ash, and water- a deep crystallized blue.

non-benders usually sported regular brown eyes, occasionally getting the bright colors for their parents but not receiving the bending with it.

for jiyoung, her soulless black orbs for eyes showed no sign of any bending ability. in her whole lifetime, she had not once seen someone with similar eyes. not even her own father's eyes. instead, he possessed the same deep crystallized blue eyes that she had seen so many times on tv.

it would be a lie for her to pretend she didn't envy his eyes but who wouldn't? personally, she found the bright blue eyes and the green ones of the earth kingdom the prettiest.

sure the red and gray ones were more than beautiful as well but it was just something about the bright colors that attracted her so much.

the only thing that really confused her was that they were apart of the earth nation yet neither she nor her father sported the familiar green eyes.

"father, why don't we have green eyes like some of my friends at school?" seven-year-old jiyoung had asked, only to be immediately shot down by her father.

"honey," he'd accidentally shout in a tone unusual from his daily one, "i've told you before, your mother was an earth citizen, that's all. now go do your homework for school!"

growing up, she was no different from any other around her. she was in every way except academically, average. the one thing she had going for herself was that she was top of her school.

due to this one quality, she managed to land a spot in the republic's highly thought of school, Neo Republic High. a place where 99.9% of students were benders.

although it took all summer and even the beginning of the school year before her father agreed- he finally did.

in all honesty, she was definitely nervous and if she knew she'd have the same opportunities in yi as in the republic, she would stay without a second thought.

but that wasn't the case.

it was no shock to anyone knowing that republic city offered a lot more to people than in non-bending cities. although there wasn't much of a noticeable difference, you could definitely tell if you were to just stop for a second.

and growing up in yi herself, jiyoung had a lot of time to stop and see it all. in many ways, the republic was just better that yi.

this opportunity would open multiple doors for her in the future and they both knew it. so, reluctantly, her father agreed to the decision and they packed up their entire home- moving all the way to republic city.

this move would mark the beginning of her new life journeys and for some reason, her father seemed more nervous than excited.

"you need to wear these blue contacts. i don't want you going to school with the possibility of getting bullied just because you're different."

at first, she didn't know whether or not she wanted to wear the bright contacts but seeing as her eyes were an unordinary black color that already made people drift away from her in yi, she didn't think it could hurt.

at first, it was a bit weird having the new feeling but it didn't take long to get used to it. the only thing was that she was forgetful in many ways and knew it'd be best for her to set a daily alarm on her phone to make sure she took them out before bed.

but now it was finally the day.

the day that brings new changes and held where her new home would be.

hmmmm

count how many times "benders" was written like wow find a different word 🙄