The Visitor from Afar
Disclaimer: I don't own either Avatar: The Last Airbender or Naruto
Summary: The death of the Moon Spirit had unforeseen consequences…
Prologue
It was a sight that drew the attention of everyone in the village. Men-not many left now with so many conscripted into the army-stood beside women and children as they all looked into the sky. The moon shined down with an unholy light. Even the elderly were astonished. Normally jaded, they too gawked. It was unlike anything they had ever seen. The full moon shone red with the color of blood, its rays highlighting everything on this clear, cloudless night. All in all, what was happening here was not unusual. Because on that night, in thousands of homes all around the world, millions of people looked up and saw the bloody moon. Events unfolding at the North Pole had brought it forth. But what made this one Earth kingdom village unique was what happened next.
Briefly, the moon's rays returned to their pale light, and the village residents relaxed. But then, the moon itself vanished from the sky, like a blown out candle. At the same time, the ground shook. A terrible sound came from the forest north of the village, as if a hundred trees were felled at once. Fear and hysteria gripped the residents. What was that? Was there a landslide? What happened to the moon? Where did it go?
They didn't have to long to panic. The moon itself soon returned, as beautiful as ever, to its rightful place in the night sky. The village headsman shouted for order, promising that tomorrow they would see what the disturbance from the north had been, but tonight everyone should go back to sleep. He didn't even try to address that business with the moon. No, that was something that hopefully took care of itself. The next morning, he and three other men trekked out into the forest. They walked for an hour through the familiar terrain and were about to climb down a hill when they saw it.
A monster. That was the only way any of them could describe the thing. A serpent so huge, it looked like it could coil itself around their entire village. The thing looked dead enough. Its purple scaled hide was badly burned in places. Its reptilian turquoise eye remained open but motionless. Nonetheless, the men felt nervous as they climbed downhill to get a closer look. That was not an easy task. The trail that normally led downhill was gone, along with a wide swath of foliage that led all the way down to the monster. It looked as if the monster's body slid all the way down the hill, snapping trees out of their roots like twigs.
Only when they finally arrived at the base of the path of destruction did the four men truly appreciate the size of the monster. Its mouth, still half open, could have swallowed any man like a morsel. One of them quickly spotted footprints leading from the serpent's mouth. They carefully followed the footprints as they led to a section of the forest untouched by the destruction, only to reach an unexpected dead end next to a tree. The men, perplexed, searched around the area, trying to find where the trail began again. Yet none of them thought to look up. For at that moment, a pair of eyes from above calmly observed everything they did.
They were as intent as a hawk's eyes, and just as pitiless.
To be Continued...