DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender
WARNING: Reviews may contain spoilers of future chapters. Read them at your own risk.
Month 12, Beginning of Winter 90 ASC: Nine years prior to the Avatar's return…
Private Chey stood at attention alongside his fellow soldiers aboard the Elegant Dragon. He was a cocky, fresh out of training, twenty year old explosive's expert. On his right was his best friend, Kyudo. Chey had known him all his life, they even shared a birthday, and when their sixteenth birthday came around, they both enlisted to be a part of the Fire Nation Navy.
Kyudo was an archer, often bragging that he was the best one on the entire planet. And where others failed to live up to their words, Kyudo didn't. He was able to hit an apple off of someone's head from three ship lengths away, and often tried to get Chey to be the one being shot at. Kyudo had hair slightly below his shoulders, some of which was tied in a messy topknot at the crown of his head. He was also much shorter than most soldiers, but that never deterred him from picking fights with anyone, always saying that he was a harder target to hit.
Junior Lieutenant Zhao marched in front of the row of five soldiers, before finally stopping and turning to address all of them, "Men, I do believe congratulations are in order. You five managed to impress Admiral Jeong Jeong, whether it be through your training for some of you or the skills and strategy you employed during battles for others. The Admiral has instructed me to take you on a special mission. If you succeed at this mission, then you will be joining the honorable Admiral as an elite task force taking direct orders straight from Fire Lord Azulon. Be forewarned though, this mission will not be easy, some of you may not return. If you are scared of death, then you are more than welcome to rejoin the normal navy." Zhao paused to see if any of the soldiers would waver, when none did he continued, "That's what I thought, this is why the Admiral has hand selected you. None of you are afraid, in fact you embrace death if it means it will bring your nation closer to victory. Now then, I will be handing each of you a scroll, these scrolls grant you special access to high level areas. When you receive your scroll I want you to give me your name, title, and age."
Zhao strode toward the man directly to Chey's left, he seemed to be the oldest out of all the soldiers, even older than the Junior Lieutenant. He had brown spiky hair, though it was already beginning to grey and had a thin mustache leading out to sideburns. He had no topknot and was the only soldier around without one, even Chey had tied some of his shaggy hair into one.
Zhao reached into a packet on his belt and pulled out a scroll and moved it towards the man, who in turn grabbed it and promptly placed it in his belt and returned his hands to behind his back. "Jee, Private, 38 years old, sir." It was unsurprising to hear that he was still a private at that age, usually in order to be promoted in the Fire Nation army or navy you either had to accomplish something legendary or be born into a family with high stature. The latter being the case for Junior Lieutenant Zhao.
Zhao moved down one person and again extended a scroll towards Chey this time, "Chey, Private, 20 years old, sir."
He moved down the line once more to Kyudo and handed him a scroll, "Kyudo, Private, 20 years old, sir."
The next person in line had a completely shaved head save for a small patch of black hair at the top which led down into a braided stand of hair running down the back of his head. He had a goatee and mustache that tapered down and was braided at the ends. A gold ring also hung from each of his ears and one in his nose, which was completely against protocol in the navy. Zhao didn't even give the rings a second glance though, clearly this man had earned the right to wear them. He took his scroll greedily from the outstretched hand of Zhao. "Mongke, Private, 22 years old, sir."
Mongke was not the strangest of the bunch, for next to him stood quite a rare sight, a woman. She had a well defined body and brown hair that trailed down to just above her lower back. Typically any woman that enlisted would end up serving their nation with security work on one of the home islands or the colonies. Very rarely would they be seen aboard a ship, much less about to embark on a special mission. Zhao approached her just as casually as the rest and put forth another scroll which her small hands quickly darted out to grab. "Janan, Private, 19 years old, sir."
Zhao returned back to his position from before to address them, "Now for your mission briefing: I will be leading the five of you on a mission through the heart of the Earth Kingdom. Once we reach port we will join up with the Fire Nation Army, I know that none of you have yet seen combat outside of the sea, but fear not, for we will be serving under the grand General Shu. With the aid of his division we will be pushing towards Si Wong Desert. There we will we part with the army and undertake the rest of the mission. Any questions?"
Mongke spoke up quickly, "What is the rest of the mission exactly?"
Zhao went face to face with the soldier, "That's on a need to know basis, and currently, you don't need to know. Is that understood, private?"
Mongke gritted his teeth and nodded and Zhao backed up to address the whole team once more, "Good, now then, we arrive in a week, until then you are dismissed."
All five saluted simultaneously and walked off towards the underbelly of the ship.
The week passed by slowly for everyone, days at sea typically stretched on forever.
Jee sat at the bow of the ship with a Pai Sho set. He sat alone with only one chair set up at the table, nobody dared approach him to ask him if he needed a partner. Chey was observant and had noticed him practicing firebending in the early mornings, but that was all he knew. Jee was a silent firebender who spent all his time training or playing Pai Sho, and that was all anyone cared to find out.
Mongke was the polar opposite of Jee. He was usually set up at the stern of the ship and he was guaranteed to be doing one of two things. The first was trying to create lightning, but each attempt only ended with a loud explosion that shook the entire ship. When he wasn't nearly blowing his hand off, he was bragging to any soldier who happened to walk by him. Apparently back in his village, him and four other of his friends were vigilantes who enforced their own brand of "justice" and went by the moniker "Rough Rhinos".
Kyudo, normally just as boastful as Mongke, seemed completely fascinated by one of the ship's weapon systems. The Elegant Dragon was one of the newest vessels off the production line, and as such was armed with all the newest developments in Fire Nation technology. The ballista was the one that held a particular interest with Kyudo. He was always studying the weapon and drawing different pictures and jotting down notes. Whenever he was asked about his obsession, he would always reply with a brief explanation that it was for "research" or he was "just curious".
Janan was never seen on deck, her pale skin clearly reflecting that she was almost never seen in the light. She was either in the galley eating the small portion she called a meal or running along the railing of the ships, trying to practice her unique way of fighting. On the first night, when Chey still believed that he should get to know his fellow squad, he had a short conversation with Janan and learned her history. She had grown up in a village close to the capital and was a bounty hunter since she was sixteen. Janan used the word "assassin" to describe herself. When Chey had asked if she was a bender, she responded by yanking him forward by his collar and putting a knife to his throat. Once he got the message she let him go and concealed the knife in her shirt sleeve.
Chey spent most of the time in the armory, concocting various explosives to use on the upcoming mission. He had found success by combining a small metal tube and blasting jelly. Chey used a spark rock to light the wick, which made it the perfect quick bomb. It took no less than two seconds to arm, was lightweight, and packed quite a punch. Typically, in order to be an explosives expert, one had to be a firebender to be effective. Chey, crafty as a fox, had proved time and time again that he was able to light a bomb faster than any firebender.
Not to be outdone, Zhao had proven to be much harder to catch a glimpse of than even Janan. He spent all his time in the bridge of the ship, casting a menacing silhouette against the red glass windows. He was in the bridge more than even the captain, never appearing to move from his place in front of the window.
The ship docked just before sunset, pulling up alongside several other nearly identical Fire Nation ships. The plan was to meet with the army the next day and then continue north to Si Wong Desert. They had docked on Whaletail Island, a recently established base was serving as a launching point for the attack. This attack could be a landmark victory for the Fire Nation, having never attempted an attack this far south in the Earth Kingdom. The nation was divided in three separate large landmasses by the mighty Kawa River. Currently, the Fire Nation had almost complete control of the northwestern landmass, they had already begun settling the land, but it was the smallest of the three landmasses.
The original plan was to launch the invasion from the land they already had won, but the Great Divide, Yama mountain range, and Kawa River were too great of natural obstacles to move a great amount of troops through. Chey had poured over maps and thought up strategies for the entirety of his teenage years, and to him, this planned attack made no sense. There were no records of any major Earth Kingdom battalions in the southern landmass and the Fire Nation troops have been able to pass through the land with no problems. The only major Earth Kingdom stronghold was Omashu and the plan had them passing miles south of the city. In fact the entire landmass, in Chey's opinion, was useless. It was impossible to get to the northeastern landmass due to the enormity of the Si Wong Desert, which was exactly where they were headed.
Chey thought about bringing up his concerns with the plan to some of his superiors, but ultimately decided against it. He was a faceless soldier, trained to kill, conquer, and die for his nation, but never ever talk.
The three week journey to the deserted village just to the south of Si Wong Desert was quite an interesting excursion.
They entered the Earth Kingdom through Chin Village and didn't stop for a second. They left the town dazed and confused, wondering why the Fire Nation had no interest in settling this land.
The army had split from Zhao's team with plans to go invade Omashu. General Shu informed the team that once they were finished with their mission, they were to go to Omashu, which would be under Fire Nation rule shortly. The General's confidence was well placed, they had the largest assembled army in Fire Nation history. There is no way that they couldn't succeed.
The team travelled by two wagons being pulled by komodo rhinos. They arrived at the desert village just as night fell, the whole squad nearly bursting with anticipation. Tomorrow morning, they would find out exactly why they would be going into the desert.
Morning came and it went the same as any other morning for the four weeks that the six Fire Nation soldiers had been together as a squad. Zhao woke later than all five of the others and when everyone looked at him expectantly, he remained silent. Seeing that they weren't going to get any answers, they loaded the wagons and prepped themselves for their journey through the desert.
The grueling heat of the desert beat down upon the backs of the six travelers. They had abandoned the wagons and komodo rhinos on the first day into the endless sea of sand, the dunes proving too difficult for the animals to navigate. So they were forced to take what supplies they could, only able to carry what they could with backpacks. It had been three days since then and Junior Lieutenant Zhao had made no indication that they were getting any closer to their destination.
They refused to complain though. They were Fire Nation soldiers, the heat was their element, and there was no way they could be defeated by it.
Zhao stopped momentarily and the others took it as an opportunity to take a swig of water from their water skins. They might be Fire Nation, but they weren't invulnerable to the sun's effects. Water meant survival, and their water supply was beginning to run dangerously low. Their leader checked his map, smiled slightly, and began walking up the giant dune that was currently shading the squad.
The others silently followed him up the steep incline, which began to angle so heavily that Jee and Chey were forced to use their hands for balance. Zhao had stopped at the top of the mountain-like dune, gazing out towards something out of the sight of the others. The rest of the group finally reached the peak and looked upon whatever had captivated their superior.
No more than two hundred feet away stood a giant pillar that stretched at least three stories up into the desert sky. Clearly this pillar was what they were sent out to find, but it still left all of them except Zhao confused. The structure was impressive yet there was no sign of military presence and the tower couldn't possibly have military purpose, with it being in the middle of a limitless desert.
Zhao spoke for the first time that they had left General Shu and his forces, "There it is squad. Our mission lies within that tower."
The group tapped into their energy reserves and quickened their burdensome pace and made it to the spire in no time. They panned out and searched the building for some sort of entrance point. Seeing that there was none, Chey began busying himself with rigging an explosive to blow a hole at the base of the structure.
Kyudo came up to him chuckling, "Always so quick with the explosives Chey. Now watch and learn." He readied his bow and shot an arrow with a rope attached to it towards the top of the pillar. He gave the rope a hard tug and satisfied with its strength, turned back to the others, "It'll hold, but only one person at a time."
They all nodded and Kyudo grabbed the rope to begin his ascent before Zhao moved forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Not so fast soldier. I'll be going first and then you follow."
Not thinking twice about the command, Kyudo moved aside and allowed his superior to climb the tower first. He stopped at the top and rested in the windowsill, awaiting the others to climb up with him. The others followed suit and peered down into the tower. Expecting to see stairs, they were quite surprised to see a nearly infinite abyss down below. Crisscrossing across the abyss were several stone bridges which led deeper into the structure which was obstructed from their bird's eye view.
Kyudo and Chey combined their strength to rip the arrow out from the window of the spire, Chey untied the rope and Kyudo replaced it in his quiver. The explosives expert secured the rope around the support beams of the window and tested the strength of his knot. After seeing the knot would hold, he handed the rope off to Zhao.
The Fire Nation officer got a firm grip on the rope and descended to the bridges below, the rest of the group following him. Once they reached the bottom of their descent, they all checked to see where exactly their leader had led them to. All around them were bookshelves, miles and miles of bookshelves filled to the brim stretched all across the structure. It appeared to be miles deep as well, bridges, just like the one they were standing on, were built all the way down to the base of the immense library.
Janan, usually so sure of herself, stared around in amazement and asked wondrously, "Why would someone build a place like this in the desert?"
Her question would hang in the air forever, for a few seconds after she spoke a giant owl swooped in from below and landed on the bridge they were positioned on. He looked expectantly towards the humans, who all took up defensive positions, save Zhao. He just stood there, smirking menacingly.
"Why have you mortals sought out my sanctuary?" The giant owl spoke in a regal and noble voice.
Zhao turned to address his troops, "Men stand down." The soldiers cautiously lowered their weapons and their superior turned to speak to the owl again, "We are knowledge seekers, I heard of a mighty and wise spirit who brought together all knowledge into a single library."
"I am the spirit that you seek, Wan Shi Tong. And I don't allow mortals to walk my grounds so easily anymore, in order to peruse my vast collection of books, you must first supply me with some form of knowledge from your world."
Zhao reached into his backpack and brought out a large book, "I present to you the current edition of the Fire Nation encyclopedia."
"Very well, this will do." The owl swept one wing towards Zhao's outstretched book and mysteriously grabbed the book and tucked it away. "You are free to walk the grounds, but if you dare to take anything without my permission, then you will be making a fine edition to my collection of disembodied heads."
The calmly made threat made the squad shiver slightly. The owl spread its wings and soar down many levels, no doubt to go catalogue the new book.
The leader of the mission spun to give his team directions, "Alright, I want you to go to the Fire Nation section of the library. Under Chey's guidance, I want you to set up explosives all around the area and blow every bit of critical information on the Fire Nation to pieces. I'll be making a slight detour, meet back here in three hours and then we'll leave." After delivering the orders he walked across the bridge and disappeared behind a bookshelf.
The rest of the group walked opposite his path and split up to look for the section they were looking for.
Janan walked down several flights of stairs before something piqued her interest. One row of bookshelves was completely devoid of any books. In their places hung various posters that seemed to be depicted various kinds of swords and daggers. At the end of the shelves there was sword hanging from two prongs in the wall.
She ran to the sword to get a better look. Upon closer inspection, Janan saw that the sword was a katana, a very expensive one at that. The blade was gleaming silver, but the real beauty was found on the hilt. It had no guards on the handle to prevent from one's hands from slipping up to the blade, clearly the blade was meant for a master. The hilt was in the shape of a dragon, the blade serving as its tail. The hilt was a pure gold and in the dragons mouth at the hilt's base was a gorgeous sapphire gem.
Just as Janan reached to grab the sword, a voice from behind had her whirling behind and putting a hand on her racing heart. "I apologize, I did not mean to startle you. I saw you admiring the blade of the dragons." She hadn't even heard the owl approach, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been caught by surprise.
"I'm sorry, I've just never seen a sword with such amazing craftsmanship. May I use it?" The owl nodded and she grabbed the majestic weapon off the wall. She made a basic three point practice attack before staring at the weapon in awe. "Incredible! I've never wielded a sword with such perfect balance."
"Yes, the weapon is over 300 years old. The master blacksmith who created it set out to create the perfect sword and they accomplished just that. There is another blade, its twin, somewhere out there, but my loyal fox knowledge-seekers have never been able to find it. So I am led to believe that it has been lost forever." Janan hadn't thought that an animal could display an emotion so clearly, but she had never seen more sadness than right now in the spirit's eyes. "If you wish, you may take it. A weapon has no place in a library."
Before she could ask the spirit if they were serious, it had already turned and flown off to another location. Janan examined the weapon one more time before taking the sheath off the wall as well. The sheath was the same rich blue as the sapphire and had several intricate carvings of dragons engraved on it. She put the blade in the sheath and secured it around her back, going back the way she came to continue the search.
Jee paced up and down countless aisles of bookshelves. He finally found a well lit corner with a table set up in it. He found this promising enough to go investigate.
Once in view of the table top, Jee saw that there was a Pai Sho set on top of the table. The set was composed entirely of gold, with marble tiles adorning the checkered pattern. Jee took a seat on the two chairs and admired the work of art.
Before he got too lost in the game, a fox-like creature came up to the table and hopped up into the chair opposite the soldier. Jee stared wide eyed at the animal, completely perplexed. The creature used its nose to push a tile into the center of the Pai Sho set.
Seeing that the fox wanted a game, Jee leaned forward to see what tile was placed. He gazed upon it in confusion, the White Lotus tile. It was so rare to find and not for the reason of being a powerful tile. In fact, it was actually considered the weakest and not many were produced. The only property the tile had allowed the owner of it to place another tile. The White Lotus tile was defeated by any other tile and could not be used to defeat any other tile. Typically, when it's played the opponent has to check the rulebook to see what it does, but Jee was no amateur, he knew what every tile did.
The fox took its consecutive turn and Jee slid a tile over to counter it. The game continued like this, the fox would move a tile and Jee would move a tile next to it to neutralize it. Soon, Jee had surrounded the original White Lotus tile in an intricate pattern, the fox had run out of moves.
The creature seemed satisfied and hopped down from the chair and ran away. Jee gathered his bag and prepared to continue to look when he noticed something odd about the table. All the tiles were arranged in the shape of the White Lotus flower. Jee grabbed the tile in the center of it and saw the fox had left a note in its chair. He grabbed the note and read it, "Everything serves a purpose, unification brings those purposes to light." Jee pocketed the note and tile, then preceded with his search.
Mongke raced around furiously looking for any sign of his Nation's history. He blew smoke out his nose angrily before finally spotting a door that looked to have some potential.
He kicked the door open and stepped into the dimly lit room. Sitting upon an altar like table were four distinct feathers. Upon closer inspection, the firebender could see that each one was a different color: white, dark blue, deep red and lush green.
Mongke recognized these as the marks of great leaders from each nation. Having studied spirituality for his entire youth, he knew the history of these feathers.
According to legend, four majestic birds roamed the lands, their feathers were like no other birds. It was a time without rule and all the nation's had a contest to hunt down these birds. Whoever caught the bird and took its feathers would be crowned the ruler of their respective land.
Mongke didn't really believe that legend, but he did know that anyone who has worn these feathers in the past has been a great and powerful leader.
He grabbed the set of red feathers and positioned them atop his head. After checking the mirror to see if they were straight, he set out on his search once more. Mongke made it to the door before swiftly turning around. He turned the altar and feathers into ash, turned and walked out the door.
Kyudo wandered around aimlessly, he had given up looking for the Fire Nation section after the first hour. It wasn't exactly critical that he be there, Chey was the one with the explosives and if he needed to, could finish the mission himself.
The archer was brought out of his musings by the sound of chimes somewhere in the distance. He went to go investigate and ended up in a room filled with instruments. The room was constructed so that the music made could echo all throughout the library.
Kyudo found one instrument that interested him in particular, a harp. He had learned to use the instrument after he saw that the strings were very similar to the string he used for his weapon. He sat upon the stool next to it and began to play.
The harp was beautifully tuned and Kyudo played with perfection. The sweet melody was rocking him into a state of serenity until he heard a sharp twang that had no place with the music. He pulled the string again and got the same results. Clearly, this string was not meant to be a part of this harp.
He took a knife off his side, checked to make sure nobody was around, and went to cut the string out. The string refused to be cut, it wasn't even getting weaker. Kyudo finally gave in and began to physically untie it from the instrument. He examined the string for a few moments before a smile broke out on his face. It seemed to be the perfect length for what he was planning. Even better, it could not be cut and was extremely flexible. Kyudo put the string in his bag for later and continued to play the harp.
Zhao tore and ripped his way through every book he could find on the Water Tribe, but his efforts were not rewarded. Every book seemed to say the same thing, the moon spirit was the first waterbender and taught the ability to the Water Tribes.
This knowledge was useless though, he needed to know if there was a way to get rid of waterbending. In order to become the great man that his father had predicted of him, he would have to do something legendary. Being the leader who destroyed the Northern Water Tribe would more than accomplish this. However, in order to accomplish this he needed a way to get rid of their main method of attack, waterbending.
The junior lieutenant slammed his fists down on the table in anger, which disturbed a scroll. The scroll rolled off the table and came to rest against a statue on the far end of the hallway. Zhao growled in frustration and stomped his way over to the scroll. He bent down to pick it up, but then stopped when he realized what it had stopped against, a statue of a magnificent creature. It looked like some sort of hybrid between a lion and turtle, but he had never even heard of an animal like this.
He admired it for a few moments before something behind the statue caught his eye. There was book on the shelf that appeared to have no business being there, it was two times bigger than any book in this section, and it was nearly falling off. Zhao took the book and brought it back to the desk. He began flipping through it, it was a book talking about all the known spirits. He turned to the section pertaining Water Tribe spirits and that's when he saw it. Zhao smiled manically and wrote down the critical information on a piece of a paper.
Chey sat for a moment in order to rest his sore feet. He may be young, but they had been walking nonstop for weeks now and it was beginning to get to him.
He decided to check the shelves for a some sort of light reading while he rested. All the books seemed to have the same insignia on them, the Air Nation's symbol. Chey stood up and saw that he was now in the Air Nation section, which was quite small.
He had learned at school that the Air Nation people were very antisocial, it was hard to get information on them and little was gathered before they were wiped out. Chey decided to look through a book that detailed their philosophies and history, figuring he would get a good laugh at their ridiculous ways of living.
The book was about how the Airbenders lived in the mountains, to be one with the sky and clouds. They were peaceful people, Chey scoffed at this, wondering what kind of peaceful people would have an army. Chey continued to read while walking, only half paying attention to either task.
He turned down three corners before reading something that both surprised and confused him. The book said that the Air Nation had no formal army and never would construct one, they were all pacifists and only defended when attacked. Chey had always been taught that Fire Lord Sozin wiped them out because they were preparing to attack the Fire Nation. This had to be a mistake by the author of the book, but it was written by an outsider that the Air Nation allowed to study them. The author had no reason to lie, but why would his great nation lie to its people? Chey kept repeating that question in his hand before finally he found what he was looking for. He dropped the book to the floor when he saw it, an archway with the Fire Nation insignia on it, his nation appeared to have an entire wing dedicated to it.
He turned to pick the book that he had dropped, but then thought better of it and entered the wing without it. Chey started to arm the bombs all around the section, figuring he could finish before any of his squad mates would find him.
AN: Thank you for reading the first chapter of The Deserted and Forgotten. For this story, the focus will be entirely on Chey (look him up on Avatar wiki if you don't know him) and another person that has yet to be introduced. I also guarantee that this story will be different than most others out there. I don't want to go to in depth for now though because this first chapter was a lot of background and foreshadowing and I want to leave it up to you guys to interpret on your own. I am also trying to stick to the known Avatar timeline, but I will be changing some things around. I will be updating this story periodically, once every two weeks or so, and all the updates will be this length or longer. Anyway, thank you and enjoy.
Edit: I have changed the way the time is recorded. The calendar is now counted on twelve months, the end of the year being one month into winter. Also, a new year starts the day after the Winter Solstice in this universe. Also for your reading convenience, here is the breakdown of the seasons: months 12 through 2= winter, months 3 through 5= spring, months 6 through 8= summer, months 9 through 11= fall. Avatar Aang emerges from the iceberg in Month 12, 99 ASC, just like he does in the show. And yes, ASC is the official year counter in the Avatar universe, it stands for After Sozin's Comet. I hope that this change in the time will make it easier to understand the whole timeline of this story. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them to me either through a review or PM, I will respond assuming it isn't a spoiler.