Hello all. It's been over a year since the last time I published a Fanfiction, and now I'm somewhat back. Criticism in reviews is appreciated, and it would be helpful to state exactly what this story needs improving on. I did minor edits for spelling and grammar, but some of the tenses of words might be jumbled and/or contradictory. Anyhow, enjoy.
Prologue
The glint of a honed blade glanced off the outer walls of the Fire Nation Royal Palace. The cloaked duelist gently climbed the short set of stairs leading to the majestic entrance of the main tower, surrounded by two wings. It was great planning and timing; the duelist slipped through unnoticed, conveniently when the guards were switching shifts and catching a break before returning to their respective posts. Sneaking inside the palace was a challenging task; the land surrounding the palace was barren and rough, deprived of any form of plant life, making infiltrating nearly impossible. The intruder sheathed his katana and mentally retrieved the map of the area from the back of his mind, locating the throne room. It would definitely be heavily patrolled by copious amounts of Royal Procession elites; the best of the best of guards. Two plain guards strolled by chatting to each other from the east, just as the duelist turned a corner to conceal himself.
"Your first day here?" The taller guard asked the shorter one.
"Yes. This place is an impenetrable fortress though. Are all these guards really necessary? Seems a bit excessive to me." The short one replied.
"Probably shouldn't doubt the Fire Lord's actions," the tall guard berated, "might get you into trouble."
The conversation of the duo was muffled out after they passed by the hidden duelist and turned a corner. The duelist extracted himself from the shadows and continued on his little quest, inwardly smiling at the irony in the conversation he had just heard. He called up the mental map again and headed north towards his final destination: the throne room. He sneaked past another pair of guards returning to their post, then reached a courtyard. The garden was devoid of any cover, which was bad news for the element of stealth. The cloaked duelist looked around; the left and right paths lead to unknown areas, which rendered that option unsatisfactory to the duelist's standards.
Left with no other option, he risked stepping out of cover and into the sunlight for a brief moment before swiftly ducking under the base of an enormous tree. The cloaked duelist proceeded to silently crawl to the opposite side of the courtyard, sneaking through without incident. He spotted the correct hallway and crouched, quickly hiding in the shadows the corner provided as an entire squadron of guards marched through. An oblivious captain led the cadre to the corridor on the right, disappearing from the duelist's view whilst engaging in several conversations with his crew. The intruder walked briskly down the hallway, making sure his footsteps were inaudible. He rounded a corner yet again and came face to face with a guard. In a split second, he knocked the guard unconscious before dragging the body into a room adjacent to him, and shutting the door softly.
"Hope he's not discovered anytime soon," the duelist muttered to himself, before proceeding on with his mission. The palace was resembling an intricate maze more and more to him, with half a dozen corridors branching off to other unknown territories. It was difficult to recall the correct path from his mind now, as there were too many misleading paths to remember. So the intruder changed tactics. As another guard walked past, he stepped out of cover and knocked him out via a jab to the solar plexus, without bothering to cover up the crumpled body, leaving it on the floor in plain sight. Sure enough, the next guard who turned the corner yelped in surprise as he nearly stepped on the motionless form of his comrade. The guard recovered from his astonishment and notified the other sentries on patrol of a possible intruder, then carried the fallen guard away.
Half a minute later, five Royal Procession guards stormed from the northeast expanse into the corridor, and grilled the sentry on duty questions relating to the whereabouts of an infiltrator. The triple-eyed faceplate proved to be a menacing view.
"Any signs of an intruder in this section of the palace?" one of the Procession guards demanded.
"No sir, there have been no sightings of a trespasser." The sentry looked nervously at the wall, avoiding eye contact with the Procession guard.
"Very well. Keep your position, you are not relieved from your duties. We will take over." Before the Procession interrogator managed to turn around, the agile duelist was already on him, knocking him out with a swift punch. The other four remaining guards turn towards the cloaked duelist, preparing to Fire Bend in fighting stance. With a single movement, the duelist knocked all four of the Procession guards off their feet with his elegant katana, before sheathing the blade again. He briefly considering legitimately killing the now writhing and groaning guards, but decided against it, as the consequences would be too severe. He glanced at the quivering sentry through the slits of his helmet, before progressing through the passageway towards where the Royal Procession guards approached previously. As he walked along the long corridor towards the throne room, he heard shouting behind him, and deduced it as the reinforcement discovering his handiwork.
The destination of his quest came into view as he walked on. He arrived at the throne room doors and quietly slipped through without a moment's hesitation. Once inside, he glanced around the room. The throne room was now much larger than it was before, rebuilt after Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin settled a dispute over an unintentional battle. Black pillars surrounded the entrance, decorated with ornate golden bases, and connected to pitch black floor tiles, reflecting the huge quantity of flames in the room. His eyes settled on a figure, sitting upon a magnificent throne on a high platform. The figure was separated from the duelist by a wall of fire, and beyond that, an awe-inspiring dragon head was perched on the far wall. But the duelist wasn't here to admire the architecture.
"Fire Lord Zuko," he enunciated each word slowly but firmly.
