My life started without spectacle, inside an earth kingdom village thirteen years before the defeat of firelord Ozai. I grew up amongst farmers, carpenters, and other simple people that made up the majority of our small settlement. There was always difficulty growing up. I can remember how the fire nation often came by in convoys to take our food and leave us barely enough to live, as their every arrival bore the strong scar of starvation into my young mind. But I grew up, and learned to love the things that I did have, such as my family and the community that often surrounded us. We helped each other get by, and it was this commitment that kept our village together when many others had faded away. In the end I think I would rather have had this humble life than the one I have now, but I had no choice in the matter. It was at the age of thirteen that I faced the most painful and unwelcome change in my entire life, and it was the moment where I directly saw the hate that had fueled the war. By this time I had learned to earthbend, much to the dismay of my father, who lost a conscripted brother because of it. He made sure I used it minimally in order to keep myself safe, and as a result I learned little of how to use it properly. This would prove to have been my biggest regret, as the day of Sozin's comet approached.
That day as most know, firelord Ozai had attempted the beginning of his mission to annihilate the entire race of earth benders. He had begun, but never got very far as the avatar had stopped him. Not even the avatar himself knew of our little village, nor will he ever, as it was sparse and barely visible amongst the trees and familiar stone pillars. We were directly in the path of the fire that sprung out of Lord Ozai's fingers. We were expecting something to happen, as the raids had stopped a few weeks ago, but nothing to this kind of scale. I saw the flames raining down on the shores only a little away from us, and it was the strangest sight... I saw a powerful energy in the flames, unlike any I had ever seen before in any fire, and was mystified for a moment, despite it's close proximity. Everyone knew that there was no running from such destruction, but some still ran. I suddenly screamed for my mother and father to get near me, and once they came close I proceeded to cover us up with as much earth as I possibly could bend.
It was not enough.
I had only seconds before the fire enveloped us. We all held our breath underneath the stone and earth, and I had just barely covered us before we were enveloped. It was only a few moments later that I felt a scorching pain and screamed, along with my parents. We were being cooked alive together, in a grave that I had hastily constructed. My mother and father tried to hug me to keep me away from the scorching hot stone, but I was still burning. It was at this moment that Avatar Aang saved my life, by interrupting Ozai's cleansing, but just barely. I felt the energy from the blast leave, and I instinctively knew that I had to get out of the hole. With all my strength, I shot out all of the rocks around of habit I took a deep breath after leaving the claustrophobic cave, but there was nothing besides smoke coming in. I coughed uncontrollably, as the fire had sucked out all of the oxygen, and ran as fast as I could. I did not know where I was going, nor did I care. I was blinded and choked by smoke, with the roaring of still burning flames deafening my ears, and the burning rock cooking my feet. There was history being made not far off, a battle of epic proportions. It didn't matter to me. I had finally found a cellar that was not fully destroyed, and the sweet air it held was a greater savior to me at that moment than anything else.
I slept. I do not know for how long, but by the time I woke up the battle was over. Not much can be remembered from that time, I was covered in pain and much of my body was literally cooked alive. I still bear the scars that cover me in random patches, refusing to heal them so that I would never forget who I am and how I was created. Every step hurt, but I exited the cellar and wandered the scorched earth, hoping to find my parents. I never found them, even after searching for an entire day. I eventually realized that none of the bodies could even be recognized after nearly mistaking one for a pile of burnt rubble, and so I left to wander the woods in pain. Every night it hurt me to think that I may have been able to drag them out with me if I had been able to keep calm...