The Eternal Dragon's Attack Part 1

Aki and Kai were served a large amount of food by the Fire Sages, which didn't even bother them, as it was the same as serving the spirits directly, a great honor for them.

Aki and Kai's friendly battle destroyed some areas of the island, such as the tower's infrastructure and especially the beach. The other damage caused by the flames was minimized with a simple snap of Kai's fingers, extinguishing the flames that covered the island.

Azula watched calmly as the dragons ate large quantities of meat and, for the first time, saw Kai defeated in an eating contest.

- What a treat! I should go back to the mortal world. - Aki chewed the bones with ease. - You should eat Azula, she's very good.

- I'm not hungry, the news that I'm pregnant is quite stimulating.

- I understand, I was practically in shock for a week with the news that I was going to be a mother.

- Aki, now that we have a full belly, I think it's a good time to tell you everything that's happened. - said Kai, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

- Exactly... Well, where do you want to start? You must have a lot of questions.

Azula looked at Kai, completely curious and eagerly awaiting her fiancé's next words.

- I have so many questions... I think it's best to start with MY biggest doubt. - Kai looked at Aki seriously. - Why didn't you dragons come to help my mother?

Azula felt a heaviness in her heart as she remembered the conversation she'd had with Ayumi over seven years ago. She couldn't deny that she was nervous about Aki's answer.

- To be honest, the others and I believed that Katsu was dead. It's impossible to make up for my stupid mistake of not investigating the mortal world. - said Aki regretfully, obviously embarrassed.

 - I watched my mother suffer for 11 years, and it was painful to see her weaken day by day.

- In that sense, you're right to hate me, but I want you to know that we only discovered your existence when Katsu returned to the spirit world.

Kai's sad eyes shone with a different light, with surprise on his face. His heart beat even faster and a strong feeling of joy covered his soul.

- My mother is alive? - stammered Kai.

- Yes, did you really think she was going to die so easily? - Aki shared his joy.

- How did she survive? I remember that Kai's memories made it clear that she had died. - Azula shared her relief at the news, but couldn't help being surprised.

- Hmm? Wait, did you do the dragon heart ritual? - Aki asked the couple in confusion.

- Dragon Heart Ritual? - Azula and Kai said at the same time.

- Wait, wait, wait... that's interesting. - Aki crossed her legs and looked at the couple with a perverted look. - So, Kai, did you do the ritual with Azula consciously or not?

Kai and Azula looked at each other, completely confused by the meaning of the words, but they could tell that there was a certain perverted malice coming from Aki's voice.

- Kai and I have been together for almost seven years, what we've done together is no different from what couples do. - Azula said embarrassed.

- Kai, you're 20, right?

- Yes! - Kai replied a little embarrassed.

- Interesting... the Dragon Heart Ritual is basically a contract you both make with the universe, declaring your love for eternity, or simply an act of mating to make it easier. - Aki explained the couple's reactions with interest. - For example, Kai, even if you had sex with another woman, without the ritual it would be practically impossible to get her pregnant, because the ritual allows you to create a dependent symbiosis that allows a connection between souls, and only then can a new wave of offspring be born.

- Let me get this straight, you mean that at some point in my life I did this ritual with Azula? But how could I have done that? - Kai asked, genuinely surprised.

- Have you two ever shared memories or visualized all the moments or emotions in each other's lives?

Kai and Azula remembered their first kiss when they first met, when they both barely liked each other.

- Wait, I kissed Kai when we were younger, it's not possible for a kiss to do that, right? - Azula asked.

- It's not just a kiss, but if one of the members of the couple is a celestial dragon, male or female, devouring their partner's flames creates a bond and the ritual is complete. - Aki explained, amused by the situation. - The moment the ritual is performed, their souls are united forever, an unconditional love, and just like the fire that is always consuming and spreading, this connection will make their love for each other grow over the years. This love is so intense that only this and a few other conditions allow the couple to be decent to a Celestial Dragon, and while this connection is a blessing, it is also a curse.

- That moment... - Azula whispered in surprise, touching her lips with her fingers.

Memories of the day of their first kiss played over and over in Azula and Kai's minds, each of them completely stunned by such a revelation.

Even though this kind of revelation was extremely shocking, it didn't seem to bother either of them, because even if the relationship had started accidentally because of the kiss, what they had felt for each other over the years was completely mutual and true.

Azula and Kai looked at each other, each looking into the other's eyes as if it were a silent message between them that, even though it had been accidental, they would be together for the rest of their lives. With the silent message understood, they both brought their hands closer and intertwined their fingers tightly, refusing to question their love.

- Aki, forgive me for asking, but what are the other conditions for the birth of a dragon? - Azula stroked her belly. - We'll need all the information we can get so that we can be prepared to take care of the baby.

- For now, Azula, you just need to keep your spiritual energy as high as possible. - Aki didn't deny the advice because, like it or not, the Celestial dragon species depends on the couple. - In other animals, babies need their mother's nutrients, but for us Celestial dragons, we need considerable amounts of spiritual energy for our formation.

- Why is the comparison so different?

- As you've seen, Kai and I fight with an intensity far above human standards, and our bodies are anatomically different even when we're in human form.

- Here, I have a question. - Kai said. - As far as I understand the Heart of the Dragon ritual, everything indicates that this connection can only happen with fire benders.

- You're right, if you look at it that way. - Aki agreed without further ado. - Let's think about the basics, every human has an elemental origin that is linked to them from birth and the more this link is established, the more they will be able to bend their element around them.

- That's the most basic thing, the more you practice bending, the more powerful you become. - Kai said.

- Water, earth and air benders may seem far apart, but their basic principles follow a unique pattern that only fire benders don't. - Aki watched as Kai and Azula failed to understand his reasoning. - Benders of other elements can only bend if their base element exists in nature. Water benders can only bend when there is water around them, air benders can only bend as long as the winds blow through the world and earth benders can only bend when there is earth under their feet. - Aki smiled as his grandson began to understand his words. - Firebenders have to draw their power from their own souls, create their flame from scratch. In that sense, firebenders are no different from dragons.

- So this factor allows Azula and me to be compatible? - Kai asked curiously.

- It's much more interesting than it sounds. Think about it, firebenders have to create their flames from scratch, so naturally firebenders have more spiritual reserves than other elemental benders. - Aki smiled and bared her fangs. - The differences between you and Azula are minimal in some respects.

- What are these differences? - Azula asked curiously.

- All dragons can spit fire by converting the energy in their lungs, and humans do the same. - Aki made two balls of fire and slowly brought them together to form the shape of a dragon. - When a powerful human soul dies, its memories are erased, but its spirit is reborn in the form of a dragon. In other words, all the dragons you humans know, not counting the celestial dragons, are humans who were so powerful in the past that their souls were transformed into new dragons. This makes it possible for you and Azula to have children, it's a natural compatibility.

Azula had no words to describe his disbelief, he had practically received information that could change the entire culture of the Fire Nation. This information could even change the cultural and religious forms that the Fire Nation had cultivated for hundreds of years.

- Aki, why is there this separation between dragons and Celestial dragons? - Kai asked, still perplexed by the revelation.

- Celestial dragons are descendants of the first flame to exist in the universe. The two of us and the child inside Azula carry the Embers of Light in our souls. - Aki made his arm glow, as did his hair, which took on a golden color for a few seconds. - Or we could call him a Lightbender, for simplicity's sake. However, calling him a light bender is a bit of a misnomer, because it's not really about controlling light, but about manipulating concepts and rules of the universe. That's where the Dragon's Heart Ritual comes in, a security measure created to ensure that this power isn't used by anyone other than the Celestial Dragons and their descendants.

- Wait, wait, wait, we're going too fast. - Azula was a little confused by the amount of information. - Embers of Light? Are you sure I should have that kind of information?

Aki looked at Azula in confusion, taking a few seconds to realize the princess's concern.

- I don't see any problem in giving you this information, you're already part of the family. - Aki smiled warmly. - You're already one of us.

Azula was surprised by Aki's words, which made her smile genuinely. Kai hugged Azula and kissed her on the cheek, making the princess feel embarrassed.

- The embers of light allow us celestial dragons to have some control over all the concepts of the universe, although of course there are limitations created by the Dragon King himself. - Aki pointed to an image of the sun cast in gold. - Only the Dragon King can easily master this power, but it is a power that can kill its user. - Aki's words became harsher. - It's a power that has to be used regularly or your life expectancy will be drastically affected.

Kai remembered the visions of his mother fighting with his older brother. It was still something he hated to remember, but he decided not to mention it for now.

- Do all Celestial Dragons have this ability? - Kai asked, since he had never been able to use this power.

- Yes, this power is fundamental to our growth from childhood to adulthood, without it we would be no different from humans. - Aki looked at Kai more seriously because his next words would be important. - Normally, we celestial dragons are born in our original form, our draconic form. You, especially Kai, were born almost completely human.

Kai remained silent, not wanting to interfere with his grandmother's explanation, but subconsciously feeling that there was a lot to explain.

- About 30 or 40 years ago, Katsu went on a rescue mission to the Forbidden Lands, a place of darkness and eternal dragons. These dragons were once Celestial Dragons who lost their light and fell into darkness. - Aki's voice carried great sadness in her heart. - Kai, you had an older brother called Jun. He and his father kept a daily vigil to protect spirits from entering the forbidden lands. However, a newborn spirit entered the area, something Jun couldn't ignore and went to help, his worried father entered the area and, due to their energy, the hibernating Eternal Dragons were awoken and attracted to them.

Kai remained silent, imagining how the story would end. Azula held his hand in support, understanding Kai's fear of the darkness he saw in his visions.

- Katsu was closer to the territory at the time, as the White Emperor and I were solving an anomaly on the same day. When Katsu came to the rescue of her son and husband, they all managed to repel the furious attack of the Eternal Dragons... until the battle woke her up. - Aki lost her voice for a moment as she remembered one of her greatest failures. - The true queen of the spirit world, Hana, my teacher, friend and candidate for dragon queen, the most powerful dragon of the celestial dragons, had turned into an eternal dragon and her fury fell on Katsu, Jun and her father. - A tear fell from Aki's eyes, still tormented by the loss. - When she attacked, all the celestial dragons believed that everyone had died that day, especially me.

A heavy atmosphere covered the room they were in, Kai understood very well how the rest of the story ended, but it would be wise to wait for Aki to finish.

- Nine years ago, we suddenly felt Katsu's soul in the spirit world, without any hesitation, we took care of her for years until she woke up from her spiritual coma. -Aki smiles bitterly. - My mother, Chieko, had the ability to read minds and discovered Kai's existence, but she remained neutral and said nothing.

- Why didn't Chieko say anything? - Azula asked, finding it strange that the celestial dragons ignored Kai.

- Chieko has always been a secretive person and, from what I understand, she decided to follow Katsu's plan.

- Plan? - Kai asked.

- I think you'd better discuss these details with Katsu in person. - Aki huffed angrily. - Moving on... when you were born, you had only a small portion of the Embers of Light, a practically insignificant portion, which means that we didn't know of your existence even after you were born. Once you were born in human form, you were practically no different from a human until you projected your soul into the spirit world.

Kai remembered kissing Azula and waking up in the spirit world shortly afterwards, and he couldn't help but remember the dragon he had seen during that experience.

- My mother detected your soul in the ancient territory of the Son of the Mother of All Faces, and donated a large part of her Embers of Light so that you could finally become a full dragon.

- That's why my hair started to change after I lost consciousness. - Kai finally understood the reason for the sudden change in his appearance.

- That explains a lot. - Azula felt she could no longer be surprised, but her heart was still restless. - I have a few questions, if you don't mind.

- All right, you can ask. - Aki said, picking up an apple from the table.

- What triggered the appearance of the darkness that created the Eternal Dragons? - Azula remembered Ayumi's story and wanted to understand it from Aki's point of view.

- The Avatar. - Aki's disgusted reaction seemed to surprise Azula.

- The Avatar? - Azula and Kai said in unison.

- To make sense of the Eclipse War, you two need to understand how it all began. - Aki swallowed the rest of the apple in one bite. - I hate it when I have to use subtlety, you two give me your hands.

Azula and Kai held hands with Aki who kept his eyes closed, both waiting for something to happen until they saw Aki's hair return to its golden color. Aki's golden energy quickly traveled through Azula and Kai's bodies in an insignificant amount, like an electric current to their brains.

In their perception, they were in a completely dark place, with no sign of life, giving them chills and bad feelings. 

From one second to the next, the completely black space exploded into a huge fireball that could easily be recognized as the Sun, only billions of times bigger than it is today. The vast mass of the Quasi-Star began to shrink into the shape of an enormous dragon, millions of kilometers tall, with golden scales and three pairs of giant wings.

Azula and Kai's minds witnessed the birth of the first dragon, and with its wings beating, it created great explosions of immeasurable waves of raw energy. With each beat of its wings, all that energy was transformed into the elements that would give continuity to the universe as it was known.

After tiring of flapping its wings in the emptiness of infinity, the Dragon decided to rest in a random place in infinity. While the dragon slept, the matter accumulated due to its enormous size began to orbit around it, and when it opened its eyes after a nap that lasted millions of years, several planets were spinning under its gravity.

Curious about the giant spheres, the dragon tried to approach them, but realized that he would burn up the planet just by walking. The dragon waited a while until it had the idea of shrinking, but realized that the spheres, now giants, were disappearing into the darkness and wandering aimlessly.

Returning to its original state, its orbit once again captured the planets, preventing them from traveling into the darkness. Undecided, he thought of separating a small part of his consciousness that could travel to the planet that interested him most, one that was bathed in blue and had a small moon orbiting it.

This small fragment of the dragon traveled through space, gathering cosmic dust around it, and after what seemed like minutes, 100 years passed in human time.

The dragon's consciousness traveled around the planet and met some strange beings, but the most striking was a couple, one who lived in the sea and the other on the moon. The three spirits met and became friends. Over the years, with their more mature minds, they tried to create something new.

The spirits of the ocean and the moon began to create animals, and among them some began to look up to the dragon because of its ability to fly and dreamed of what it would be like to see the sea from the sky, and other animals liked to walk on the earth, adoring the stability and firmness of the rocks.

As the years passed and the animals were influenced by the powers of the three spirits, but the dragon felt lonely, always seeing the dark sky, a feeling that haunted him with the fear of loneliness. One day, a small, fragile spirit became aware of the imposing dragon's loneliness and approached him, even though he was afraid.

The little spirit wanted to be like the dragon, strong and imposing, able to be as free as it wanted. One day it wanted to fly as close to the sun as possible, but the dragon didn't want it to get hurt because of its enormous heat.

The little spirit, still insistent, asked the dragon to turn him into a dragon too. The dragon refused because it was impossible, but the spirit convinced him that everything depended on his will.

The dragon accepted the Spirit's request and tried to transform it into a creature similar to his image, remembering the Spirit of the Moon and the Spirit of the Ocean and how each one was different and at the same time the same, he thought that the Spirit could endow it with similar and at the same time different characteristics to his own.

The first celestial dragon was born, whose feminine appearance allowed it to be clearly distinguished from the imposing dragon that came from the sun. They both flew through the sky, having fun and creating something completely new.

Over the years, the dragon, with many sons and daughters who inherited a part of him, continued to see the night as something frightening, even though the moon illuminated some nights.

One day, when the planets aligned, he strangely felt his power flow through everything, giving his children great power, but only one stood out. Determined to overcome his fear of the dark, he gave his power to his most powerful son, who had the ability to see things that had not yet happened.

The dragon flew through the darkness and, for the first time, a star was born in the sky. But when the dragon turned into a star, its original body darkened and disappeared, and in that darkness appeared a spirit, blackened with red marks, who gazed for a few minutes at the only star that shone out of its reach.

The spirit called Vaatu watched an enormous explosion that frightened him because of its imposing size, but then admired the enormous power that crushed his insignificant existence at that moment. When the light of the new sun reignited the space, it created a spirit completely opposite to the dark spirit called Raava.

Just by looking at each other, each somehow understood their existence in the balance of the universe, created accidentally by the fear and courage of the first of what would come to be known as the Dragon Kings.

With the appearance of new species, the second Dragon King used much of his power to create two worlds in one, united to separate the old creatures from the new ones that would come in the future.

As the years passed, the second Dragon King missed his father, so he devoted the rest of his time to finding a way to communicate with him. He created a ritual called the Heavenly Embers and passed this knowledge on to his successor, who would take his place after 200,000 years. Thus was born the second star in the sky and the thousands that followed, along with a dynasty responsible for balancing the world.

Some of the ancient great creatures that existed in the first generations of living beings, known as the Lion-Turtle, stabilized themselves in the mortal world to help the new species that were to emerge, and one of them was the human being.

When they emerged, these ancient creatures absorbed the fragments of elemental influence from the original spirits and acquired the ability to share elemental powers.

To help the species survive, they allowed humans to survive on their hooves and build their society on their backs. As humans didn't have elemental alienation like other species, they could operate in any of the 4 elements.

For years, many humans remained in the lion-turtle illusion of living, but there was one group of humans who had no support from the elders and had to explore the world in search of a home. One day, these humans met a Celestial dragon who was guiding the animals on their migration.

The humans, seeing the kindness of the Celestial dragon, followed him in the hope of finding a home, and the Dragon, seeing the determination of the group, invited them to live under the protection and teachings of the Dragons.

This dragon, although still a teenager, was one of the Dragon King's original descendants from that time until the present. Her name is Hana, who later became known as the Queen of the Spirit World.

When these humans arrived in the Celestial Dragons' territory, it was difficult for them to adapt at first, but after years, they became part of the Celestial Dragons' society. As the Celestial Dragons constantly interacted with the spirits, these humans came to respect and understand the delicate balance of the world.

With spirits and humans living side by side as equals, the village where the humans lived became a city and later a metropolis. Years of socialization, culture and respect for nature transformed these humans into citizens of the Nation of Light.

A few thousand years later, in one of the usual conflicts between Raava and Vaatu, a human abandoned by his lion turtle directly interfered with the balance between order and chaos, allowing Vaatu to escape and extend his influence over the world.

Vaatu's purpose from birth was the idea of the effect of chaos, a necessary constancy of the universe, but despite being someone focused on necessary chaos, he had his own ambitions as an individual. Tired of his twin sister's constant arguments and prejudices, Vaatu studied each birth of a Dragon King, understanding how this power had the ability to shape the rules of the universe, sever his connection to Raava and rewrite his own destiny around the concept of his origin.

Weakened and unable to defeat Vaatu, Raava joined the human who had broken the link between them. Together, they gathered the four elements to finally confront the spirit of chaos.

When the day of Harmonic Convergence arrived, the human challenged the dark spirit to a duel, but Vaatu completely dominated the battle, simply enjoying toying with the human and his weakened sister.

At one point in the battle, the human and Raava came together, a dangerous combination that would cause the human's soul to die. Although the combination of their energies allowed them to fight the dark spirit, the human had no chance of winning.

In the middle of the battle, Harmonic Convergence arrived, and Vaatu's plan to free himself from his sister's slavery could finally come to fruition.

When the Dragon King's power flowed through the planets, the portals merged and turned golden, a clear sign that the Dragon King's power had finally flowed through both worlds.

Without Vaatu being able to predict it, the human harnessed the Dragon King's energy and changed the laws of the universe, allowing Raava's spirit to become one with the human. With this incredible power, Vaatu was sealed in the Tree of Time, where he remains to this day.

The Human used the Dragon King's power to deactivate the Convergence of Harmony, severing the link between the mortal world and the spirit world. The real problem was the consequences that Vaatu caused the day before the Harmony Convergence.

Vaatu created a vast army of corrupted spirits to invade the Nation of Light, a battle that would have been considered large-scale except for the celestial dragons, which numbered in the hundreds.

Vaatu's real plan was never to defeat the Celestial Dragons, as he understood their role in the cosmic balance. However, for his plan to change the laws of the universe to work, he needed the ember of light from a dragon.

Since a single dragon would be powerful enough to weaken him in his battle against Raava, the Spirit of Chaos gambled on a distraction. He created a huge battle to keep Hana, the Queen of the Spirit World, and her younger brother, the White Emperor, far enough away to steal the light of a baby Celestial Dragon.

At the time, only one celestial dragon was still a hatchling, Hana's only child. The Guardians and allied spirits did everything in their power to protect the prince of the spirit world. Unfortunately, Vaatu succeeded in his mission and immediately left for his battle with Raava.

When the dragons returned from battle, they were faced with the urgent need to save the prince, and the only way to fully restore the little dragon's light was through the power of the dragon king. As Hana was the obvious choice to become queen of the dragons, she headed to the place where the Harmonic Convergence would take place so that she could seize the king's power and save her son.

To everyone's surprise, the Harmonic Convergence was interrupted and the connection between the two worlds was suddenly severed.

With the mortal and spirit worlds violently separated, the Dragon King had to repair the connection between the worlds immediately, or the worlds would destroy each other.

With Vaatu trapped in the Tree of Time by the power stolen from the Dragon King at the hands of the newly created Avatar, it was impossible to reverse the damage done to the prince's soul.

The real problems would come later, when the prince became the first Eternal Dragon. The next 1000 years were filled with a constant war against the celestial dragons, corrupted by darkness, and the spirit world was completely devastated by the war, named the Eclipse War.

When the Dragon King finally repaired the barriers between the two worlds and tried to prevent corruption from falling into the mortal world, he finally used the last reserves of his power to repair the spirit world, where, by then, 99% of the spirits had died or been corrupted.

With the Dragon King's enormous energy depleted, he decided to hibernate, hoping that the new successor would arrive before the next Harmony Convergence.

When the huge amount of information finally finished passing through Azula and Kai's minds, they were both disoriented, taking a few minutes to absorb so much information into their minds.

Aki sighed, with a hint of fatigue from using a technique that wasn't practical for her abilities. Azula and Kai had a slick of sweat on their skin.

- I think you now understand the extent of the problem. - said Aki, tiredly. - It's hard to explain in words.

- I would never have imagined... - said Azula, still stunned.

- The Dragon King couldn't open the portal? - Kai asked with a headache.

- It's not that simple... Raava used the power of Harmony of Convergence to rewrite the laws of the universe so that only the Avatar could reopen the portal. - Aki said sternly. - With the Eclipse War and that bitch's god complex, we never managed to reopen the portals, even after almost 10,000 years.

- One thing I don't understand, how did the first Avatar manage to use the Dragon King's power? - Azula asked.

- Raava's nature as a spirit of light allows him to access this power only when he possesses the Embers of Light. Vaatu, being dark, couldn't simply use the power of the Dragon King, so he had to absorb the power of a dragon first in order to fully understand the power of light and use it to change the laws of the universe.

- So why are you here? - Azula asked the last question of the meeting.

- Katsu predicted that something terrible would happen to Kai, so we decided to pre-empt his search before the Sun Fragment returned. - Aki confessed seriously. - Since there's nothing in the mortal world that can kill a celestial dragon, it would be safer to keep you away from the spirit world until then. It was a ridiculous excuse, of course, but I think I now understand why we had to wait. - Aki looked at Azula with interest.

- Wait... what do you mean "something terrible could happen"? - Azula asked anxiously.

- Calm down, there's nothing I can sense that could cause Kai's death, I've carefully examined the mortal world. - Aki replied proudly. - Even if something happens, I'm here to protect the three of you!

Azula breathed a sigh of relief, the meeting had gone in a direction she wasn't prepared for and she had completely underestimated how things would go in a few hours.

- So... what do we do now? - Kai looked at Aki doubtfully.

- I guess... - Aki's expression became extremely serious. He stood up from his chair, his muscles tense. - That roar... It can't be... I recognize that roar.

- Aki... - Azula looked at Aki, worried.

Kai stood up from his chair with a serious expression, the sweat dripping from his forehead even more evident.

- Aki, is that roar what I'm imagining? - Kai asked seriously.

- Yes.

Azula watched the two men's reaction with confusion and concern, not understanding what was going on. Aki and Kai's five developed senses could hear the roar of an Eternal Dragon from kilometers away.

Next chapter: The Attack of the Eternal Dragon Part 2