Prologue

The great carapace of Rig 12 drew above Chao, as he headed down from the construction site. On his left, the sun sank down into the Western Ocean. The smell of engine grease, salt and decaying fish filled the air, forcing him to hurry down from his work site to the living quarters.

'Damn borohyrides' he muttered. The building had been delayed by months to install the new fuel canisters, before someone actually released they didn't work as rocket fuel. Turns out there was a problem shooting out small solid chunks from the engines. Now they'd have wait another few weeks as the next wonder fuel was tried.

Rig 12 was the final of the 12 stations of the Fire Nation Spaceport, to replace the old runways which had punched the first satellites into orbit. The idea was it was positioned right on the equator, allowing it to more easily break the gravity of Earth. There were talks of platinum mining on asteroids, space elevators, space habitats – if they could get fuels good enough to let a large enough craft out. Somehow, Chao doubted it.

Swiping his security card past a disgruntled security man, he headed for the bar. He could sleep tomorrow – it was his last day of shift till he was back in the Fire Nation. But tonight, he'd drink till he couldn't remember the smell of rockets.

The bar – called The Leaping Lemur – was a relic of old space optimism. Above the bar lay a poster which slightly expressed the views of the non-bender barwomen. It read No water to crush us, No earth to bind us, No fire to burn us, No air to break us. Personally, Chao had never seen the optimism in such a statement.

Chao sat down at the bar, as his fellow workman Yamato sat with him. 'Two sake, please.' Yamato said, before looking over at Chao. 'You OK? You need to stay sober to pay off the tab.'

Chao winced. His tab was a long and embarrassing one. He pulled out wallet and tipped it out on the bar. 'Here,' gesturing to the barwomen, 'take this my tab and my drinks tonight. Just keep them tomorrow. I'm paid tomorrow, and I can sleep on my flight.'

That was the start of bad decisions.

The night went on a slightly varying turn, or at least the conversation did. Starting with bemoaning the incompetence of those planning, it went on into the subject of Earth Continent politics, before finally ending on a heated in-depth debate on the tastiest seaweed.

Eventually, only Chao and Yamato were left in the bar, with only a single drink to finish before they'd be thrown out.

'You know, it's like this' Yamato started, before stopping, suddenly concerned. 'Or is it? Like, is what I'm going to say, going to be true. I mean I said it was, but how do I know?'

'What?' Chao asked.

'Right, fireflakes' Yamato started, before another person walked into the bar with a loud crash of the door, drowning out Yamato's theory on seaweed flavoured fireflakes.

'Leave us' the man said to the barwomen, placing a roll of Yen on the bar. She shrugged, and wandered into the kitchen to clean it out.

'Whom do you serve?' the man asked. His voice was deep and slightly booming, spoken slowly with emphasis on each word. His features were covered by long clothing and a hood.

'Uh' Chao said stupidly, before recovering. 'Well, this is a Fire Nation spaceport, so i guess the Fire Lord. Like, eventually, but the man-'

'Enough.' The man spoke. ' I will have the information of the launch craft and I will have it now. No delays.' He spoke with certainty. The chance of disobedience did not seem to have been considered.

'Look, you can't be told stuff like that, State secret.' Yamato slurred. 'Besides, they scrapped the old designs. Borohydides don't work. Need something else. So nought to tell.'

'You truly have nothing to offer me of my goal? Do they not realise the way to the stars in their grasp.' He stared into the distance, leaving an awkward silence. Yamato chose to break it.

'Well we'd better get going. Long day tom-'

'No.' The man said. 'You will offer your meagre knowledge and strength. By this we become.'

'What are you on about?' Chao asked.

'It is simple. To become something new, something old must die. Your bodies must be forfeit.'

'You dar-' Chao started, but Yamato had already moved. Slightly dizzily, but with the practise of drunken bar fights, he hurled himself backwards, and breathed out.

From his mouth fire erupted towards the man, in a larger arc than normal. It was a weird firebender technique – use the alcohol in his breath to give a great flame, compensating for reduced willpower from being drunk. It would send most people diving out the way, certainly enough to get out.

Not this man. He simply raised his hand, and closed it and the fire went out. He then lunged forward, and grabbed Yamato. Light glowed from both pairs of eyes, and with a simple movement, Yamato's neck was broken.

It was over in less than ten seconds. Chao looked over at the scene. Blood was on the floor, and the man was walking over to him slowly. 'What a waste. Little strength, little not already known. Perhaps you know more?'

'You won't get away with this.' Chao said. He couldn't move. 'They'll hunt you down in the rig and find you. There aren't enough hiding places.'

'There is no prison that can hold me, not even the sea.' The man stated calmly. Matter-of-factly. As if this was a normal day with normal occurrences.

Chao looked up to his half hidden face. It was the face of death. 'Who are you?'

'Balance.' Then Chao's skull was crushed.