Chapter 2: Backstory and New adventure
In the outskirts of a quaint little village in the Earth kingdom, there lies a boy as young as 8 years of age sleeping under a tree. His only possessions are contained in a cloth bag full of daily supplies such as clothes, food, and a little money that he would use on his travels.
The boy was quite tall for his age, being around 4'4' in height. He had a light tan skin tone with glossy black hair that was long and a bit spiky, with part of it covering his left eye. He wore traditional earth kingdom citizen garbs and had a black obsidian-like bracelet which looked to have lava coursing through it.
Shortly after, the boy's eyelids started to twitch and then opened, revealing a mesmerizing seafoam green pair of eyes that seemed to look at the world with intelligence and curiosity. He looked around at his surroundings and found that he was outside a village. He looked down and saw a cloth bag filled to the brim with stuff. Before he could check what was inside, a splitting headache came over him. The boy started to scream in pain, holding his head for a while until he finally stopped and opened his eyes to see the surroundings with a little more familiarity.
He found out his name was Kizan, son of Ghazan and Ming-Hua and grandson to Toka. From an early age, his father taught him how to earthbend and would lecture on the theories pertaining to lavabending once knowing his son was an earthbender. Though his mother was saddened that her son wasn't a waterbender like herself, she still taught her son the theories of her waterbending style like her water prosthetic arms, hoping it could help him discover his own style of lavabending should he attain it.
His grandfather was a mysterious man who didn't share much of his history, as he and his family only knew he was born in the capital of Ba Sing Se where the earth kingdom nobles live. It garnered curiosity when he first came to the village, but it slowly died down once he integrated into the village and married an elite earthbender woman that hunted and protected the village from any wild beasts and bandits. All he knew about his grandmother was that, like his grandfather, she also came from outside the village, settled down, and began to blend in with the townspeople. Her earthbending was unique as she was able to turn her earth into a satin wall of black. In doing so, it became harder so no normal bender could get through her earthen walls. Villagers also commented on a feeling of heaviness that occurred whenever she used that technique, but nobody knew why. It garnered her the nickname "Iron Wall Maiden," and was the best bender in the village. She sadly died after giving birth to Ghazan, though, and left her husband and child alone in the village. Thankfully, her belongings from outside were there to remind them of her.
In his younger years, Ghazan was rebellious and wanted to explore new things. He pulled pranks on the villagers and hung out with the wrong type of crowd. His pranks started to become crimes, and when he finally killed someone due to his disobedience, he was banished from the village. Later on, he became a small-time bounty hunter to earn his living and quickly rose through the ranks. He was able to garner fame with his lavabending techniques which hasn't been seen in hundreds of years, the last ones being Avatar Kiyoshi when she separated Kiyoshi Island from the mainland with it and Avatar Roku who stopped a Volcano from erupting.
He later met Ming-Hua, a fellow bounty hunter who had a congenital deformation in which she had no arms. Nonetheless, she proved herself (deformity or not) that she was a force to be reckoned with as a master waterbender, bending her arms. They started to do many bounties together, and became partners in crime. Later on in life, a romantic relationship blossomed between the two. They covered each other's backs and looked out for one another, no matter the circumstance. and he and she started to do many bounties together. They became partners in crime and later developed it into a romantic relationship where they covered each other's back and looked out for one another.
They later partnered with another duo of a master martial artist, non-bender Zaheer, and a rare combustion bender named P'li. They became the best bounty hunter team in the business called the Red Lotus. That all changed when Ming-Hua became pregnant with Kizan. Knowing that his lover was pregnant, Ghazan did the mature thing and left the bounty hunter business with his lover and returned to his village where his child would at least be happy and safe in a peaceful environment, protected from the enemies they made. Zaheer tried to persuade him otherwise, but Ghazan was adamant that he had to put his family first. Zaheer finally agreed and Ghazan, with his now-pregnant lover returned to his home village where they would live together.
When Ghazan returned, he was met with negativity as he was supposed to be banished. However, when he revealed his wife who was pregnant and would do anything to live in the village again, they started to ease up on him. The villagers parted and allowed them to come in, which they did, and Ghazan immediately went to his father's home and apologized for leaving him alone for many years. Toka forgave him and they started to live together again and introduced Ming-Hua into the family.
When Kizan was born in 151 AG, it appeared that everything was going well. Their son had features of all of their family with Ming-Hua skin tone, Ghazan facial features, and Toka's seafoam green eyes. His hair became more similar to his grandmother's the more he grew up, and the day he awakened as an earth bender was a happy moment for them. It seemed while he inherited his father's and possibly his grandmother's strength and talent for earthbending, he inherited his mother's Chi control and could create delicate things as well. For the past 7 years, Kizan was taught how to earthbend and create lava from his father and waterbending techniques from his mother which could be applied to lavabending. At 7 years old, he was able to bend a 1 ton rock into the air as well as create a puddle of lava 1 meter around him and control it like water despite the additional weight.
This façade of happiness was broken when Zaheer and P'li, along with another person who looked like a waterbender from the Northern water tribe, unexpectedly arrived. They came to recruit both Ming-Hua and Ghazan for an important mission. Zaheer was already in his anarchistic and killing avatar for freedom mindset and so when they met, he persuaded the couple to join them. They were reluctant at first, but eventually gave into the persuasion that this could allow the world to truly achieve freedom and peace. They finally relented. When they were about to leave, they told Kizan that if they weren't back after a year, then presume the worst and live life to the fullest.
After a year of waiting, they still hadn't returned. This prompted Kizan to think the worst case scenario had come to fruition. He began to hate the man who took his father and mother away and focused on training his bending abilities like mad, resulting in him lifting a total of 3 tons of rock with his earthbending. He could create a 3 meter wide pit of lava and finally create his fathers signature lava shuriken's, though it required six stones instead of three like his father. He had also managed to turn his earth black like his grandmother. which even his father couldn't do, but when tried against an attack, it crumbled to bits and was even weaker than his normal earthbending. Although it failed, at least he would have the ability and has time to perfect it. That's what he thought, at least, until a tragedy happened that would leave him alone in this world.
His grandfather passed away after a stroke, leaving Kizan alone in this world. Before he died, he left Kizan with 5 items. An luxurious looking amulet with a flying boar etched in, a green and white scroll with a golden fan as the insignia, a black and purple scroll with a diamond shape as the insignia with a pull-down lever latch attached to it, and water and lavabending scrolls left by his parents that contained their legacy. These five items were left by his Great Grandfather, Great Grandmother, his Grandmother and his parents respectively, or at least that was what was written on his will. These were the items that reminded him of his family and proved they existed. After his only existing relative died, he decided to leave the village and head for Republic City so he could find work and earn money for his living, maybe use his bending for good.
After he packed all his belongings, which were just some clothes, money that his grandfather and parents left him, a beautiful hand-drawn sketch of his mother, father and grandfather, and the items that were left for him, he left the village under the goodbyes from the others and headed into the forest for his adventure. While he trekked through the village, he stumbled across a tree bearing fruits. When he decided to pick one to eat, he found a fox monkey catching him by surprise and it threw an apple that hit his head and knocked him out, making him remember his past life.
And now, back to the present.
After the boy….no….Kizan regained himself and sorted through his new and old memories, he concluded three things.
First, his bending. As expected, he has earthbending and lavabending as well as already awakened his carbon bending and soon gravity bending. He hasn't tried metalbending or been taught how to use it yet, so he couldn't test that out. The only weird thing that surprised him is that his supposed grandmother also had the same ability as she could turn rocks into carbon and use gravity to apply pressure to it to harden the surface, almost like making it like diamond. Also, his grandmother passed down a scroll to him with an insignia. This meant either she was from a hidden clan and was banished, or she stole the scroll from them and ran away in the process. Either way, he better watch his back and not use the skill too much in front of others to avoid curious eyes and hidden enemies.
Second, his family. Like he wished for. he was a part of the Beifong family. This proof lied in the amulet that his grandfather entrusted him, with the previous owner being his great grandfather. He was also descendent of Avatar Kiyoshi, with proof being the Kiyoshi-style scroll given as it probably recorded her life experience or the Kiyoshi style martial art which the Kiyoshi warriors practice. He might also be related to some diamond bending clan, but that's up in the air until he could prove that claim. So being related to the Beifong family, Avatar Kiyoshi, two members of the Red Lotus as well as some hidden clan, he has the most mysterious and influential background ever.
He could also give his previous self solace as he knew that his parents were still alive and were just put in a harsh and isolated prison. Although they were criminals, they were ultimately not bad guys as they provided love and affection for Kizan and only joined Zaheer because they felt that he was doing the right thing. Although he didn't have his previous self from the moment he was born, that sentiment that held them as loving parents still stayed and it honestly gave him a weird but jovial feeling knowing that there were people who cared for him.
And finally, the third: what he was going to do next. He was obviously going to go to Republic City and settle down there. He was also going to try and become a police officer and use his future knowledge to earn some money. The reason he wanted to be a police officer was so that he could get some of the action found in the world, and what better way to do that than to find the teeming amounts of triads found in the city? In doing this, he could also build up his influence.
With that, Kizan picked up his stuff, took the fruit that was thrown at him from the fox monkey, and headed out deeper in the forest to try and get to Republic City.