Screaming... There was lots of it. As I looked around me, I saw people running. I looked up to the sky to see what looked like black snow descending slowly. I looked down at the ground next to me to find scorched bodies everywhere. Some of the people were still alive, but I couldn't tell who they were... They were too burned. Three people dressed in red armor approached me. I stood there, not able to move. A translucent green spirit in the form of a rather large bear with a glowing emblem of a feather on its rushed to me, knocking over all of the people.
"Daddy!" I cried, recognizing the emblem when the bear looked at me.
It turned to me and nodded, then went on top of one of the armored men. The man screamed as the spirit bear bit into him. The bite mauled his flesh, but it also pulled out his soul, which the spirit bear ate after swinging around in its mouth a few times. The two other men tried to attack it with fire that came out of their hands. The bear glowed a little and the fire went right through it. It turned around and roared, making the ground shake and me lose my balance. The men ran away in fear. Then the spirit bear looked at me again. It bowed its head and I deeply bowed back to it.
"Where is he?" I asked.
The bear motioned for me to follow it with its paw. I ran alongside it for a while until it suddenly came to a halt and roared loudly. There was a blinding glow and then it seemed to burst into little tiny lights that looked like fireflies. They all floated slowly away into the sky, mixing in with the black snow until they faded.
"Daddy! Daddy, where are you?" I yelled, horrified that I was alone again.
That bear was the strongest spirit that my father, the Chief of the Death Shamans, had ever caught. The last roar it had given was one of pain and now it was gone. I ran around frantically through my burning village trying to find my father. My mother and brother had already been killed. They were still inside of my house when the first fireball hit. The only reason I was still alive was because I ran away from the servants, not wanting to take a bath. I saw someone on the floor with long black hair and a feather in it. I ran up to the person.
"Daddy! Daddy, no!" I yelled.
The man looked up at me. "Liiru... Y-You found me..."
I looked at this man and saw that he was badly burned and a rather large spear was pierced through his chest. I heard the sounds of chains rattling in the distance. It was the same noise made by the tanks of the fire nation.
"Run... Liiru!" my father said.
"But I can't leave you here! I left Karii and Mommy in the house and now they're not here anymore! I can't leave you too!" I cried.
My father grasped my hand tightly with one hand and then put his other hand on my cheek.
"Go. You must... Make it out of here alive... I love you, my child. Don't forget that..." he said.
The intricate pattern of dots and lines around his eyes and the feather emblem on his forehead along with his eyes and the opening of his mouth started to glow a lime green color. I clutched his hand tightly and cried, begging him not to go. He opened his mouth and the same "fireflies" that the bear had turned into came out from his mouth. I screamed as the tattooed design on my face, similar to his, glowed purple. When all the "fireflies" left, he fell limp...
I winced as I felt a pain from an impact on my stomach. I tried to clutch it, but the chains on my wrists and ankles would let me. Even though my dream was horrible, it wasn't worse than the reality I had been suffering since that day... I didn't remember anything before that day, and that day was at least three years ago. All I understood was that my home and everyone that I had known, if I had known anyone was gone. This was my home now... A cold, dry, dark cell that I was shackled in.
"Get up! You've got a show to do today. It's the first Friday of May." a voice said.
These "shows" that I had to do were the only way that I knew how long I'd been locked up for. So far I'd done about 36 of them, meaning that I was here for three years. I opened my eyes to see a fire nation soldier in front of me.
"Good morning to you, too..." I said with a little laugh.
My annoying attitude wasn't really the smartest path to take, but it gave me a little bit of joy. The soldier snarled a little and then blindfolded me. He pulled me up by my hair and I felt the shackles unlock from my hands and feet. Different pairs that weren't attached to the wall were put on in their place. I almost tripped when the chains on my neck were jolted forward. I wasn't expecting them to start moving so early...
Sadly, this was all normal for me though. We stopped moving and I put my arms to my sides as I heard the unlinking of chains. They were still on my limbs, but they were no longer connected to each other. I was dragged by the chain around my neck towards what my feet knew was the dueling grounds. I took a deep breath in as the cold rain pelted against my skin. I heard a boom of thunder and took the blindfold away from my eyes. Around me was a crowd that consisted of mostly, if not completely men. They were all jeering as I was quite skimpily dressed in a short green robe that barely covered my shoulders and rear end. I looked unmoved at the six armed men, all convicts, that formed a hexagon around me. They all stood about twenty five feet away from me. I eyed all of them as they smirked. After their eyes flitted up and down my body, they fell to my left arm, which had tribal style black tattoos of an anaconda, a bear, a crocodile and a hawk on it in that were centered around the largest tattoo of a leopard. The tattoos all connected in some way as they trailed down my arm.
The six men charged at me, weapons in hand. I rolled out of the way... right in front of two of the other men. As I rose from the ground, I brought both my hands up above my head forcefully. Right before the two blades of their swords hit me, a barrier that looked like translucent purple hawks spiraling around me emerged. The clang of their swords against the barrier was heard before they were thrown back. It sounded as if metal had clashed with metal, but that was not the case. I pointed my arms at the men and the swarms of spirit hawks that had just protected me went after them. They all formed into two large hawks that screeched before grabbing the men with their talons when I closed my open hands into fists. The men dropped their swords and screamed as they were pinned against the walls of the arena. I brought my arms parallel to my sides and opened my hands again. The hawks obeyed my commands and bit down into the necks of the two men. They screamed as the birds tore into their flesh, taking out their souls. Their souls were still screaming as the hawks flew towards me. They ate the souls and then returned into my body, making my eyes, the tattoos on my face, and the tattoo of the hawk on my arm glow purple for a moment. I turned to the other four men with an emotionless look on my face. They all shuddered.
"I change my mind! I'll take the ten years! Please!" one of them begged to the men on a balcony.
I looked at the people he was talking to.
"You've made your decision, now fight! These people didn't come here for nothing!" said one of the men who watched from the balcony.
He was accompanied by about four soldiers who stood tall next to him. Zhao... I hated that man with my life. Deep down, all my hatred covered up was fear. He was the one who threw these shows for the disgusting, horny bachelors of the fire nation just so he could put extra money in his pockets, despite the fact that he was dishonoring the Agni Kai Grounds(not that I cared much for Fire Nation traditions anywho). He was the reason why they took me instead of killed me, like the rest of my clan...
I stood there, breathing heavily after I killed the last of the convicts. Once again, the crowd was cheering loudly. I looked up to main balcony as General Zhao appeared to make a little speech about how the next time it would be eight men instead of six. I looked around, seeing the only face that my heart soften was no where in sight. As the soldiers approached me with chains to put back on my limbs, I crossed my arms above my head and brought them down forcefully, making the hawks swirl around me again. They all were thrown back. I jumped up and a large spirit hawk appeared under me. Using the hawk to get up to the balcony, I landed on top of Zhao. My eyes and tattoos on my face glowed purple as I put my hands on his throat. Just as my hands started to glow, I was kicked off of him. A very tiny fragment of Zhao's soul came with me. I held onto it and opened my mouth, greedily eating it then licking my lips and laughing. The soldiers in Zhao's entourage surrounded me, ready to burn me to a crisp.
Zhao laughed as he stood up and brushed his shoulder off. "Stand down. I can take her. She's out of fuel anyway."
"But sir, I-" started one of the soldiers.
"I SAID STAND DOWN!" Zhao shouted.
All of the soldiers back away. I looked at Zhao and snarled. He put his hands up and got into a fighting stance.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" He asked.
I growled at him and charged.
I screamed in pain as a whip was lashed across my back. I clenched my teeth and breathed deeply with my head hung. Zhao grabbed my hair and pulled it back so I could see his face.
"Not so tough now, are you? You know, you're lucky you've got such a pretty face, otherwise I would've burned it off already. It's a little too nice to waste and I don't like sticking myself in things that are ugly." He said with a chuckle.
I spat in his face and then laughed as if I had lost my mind.
"Is that the best you've got!?" I yelled.
It was pretty stupid of me to go after Zhao, but it was well worth getting to steal a little bit of his soul even though the fragment I had gotten was no bigger than a small pebble. He wasn't only talking about me being tired when he said I was "out of fuel". I used up the energy I had attained from the six men's souls fighting them and summoning the animals from the Spirit World. That was the gift of the Death Shamans. In exchange for souls, the creatures of the Spirit World could be summoned and their powers used.
Zhao wiped the spit off of his face and backed away. "You wanna be like that now, do you?"
I screamed as the whip lashed against my back again, this time it was on fire. The fire burned my flesh beneath the cut it made. I clenched my teeth together and started laughing again. I fell to the floor as the chains gave way. They were still attached to my arms, but they were no longer attached to the wall. Sweat stung as it dripped into my eyes, but that little pain couldn't distract me from the immense burning on my back. I was slammed onto my back from being jerked by the chain around my neck. I screamed again.
"Get up!" Zhao screamed.
I got up on my feet as Zhao tugged the chain from the stone wall. I was pulled onto a bed from the wall I was chained to before. The chains around my arms were linked to the wall right at the head of the bed.
"No! Please!" I cried.
Zhao grabbed the chain around my neck and pulled it so I was inches away from his face. "Struggle and the pain you just experienced will be nothing compared to what you'll feel when I'm done with you here."
I bit my lip as tears rolled out from my eyes. I would endure any amount of physical pain compared to this... This was the real torture... Zhao laughed and dropped the chain. His shirt was already off. I on the other hand had been completely naked the entire time. I saw him unbuckle his trousers and lick his hand to rub his saliva "below his belt". He smirked and parted my legs as he mounted me. I closed my eyes tightly as I felt him push into me. At least this way, one sense was relieved from the violation I was going through...
After Zhao had his way with me, I was tossed into another cell. I had no idea where I was since a bag was put over my head. All I knew is that the trip there by tank took a while. I sat there in the darkness, chained up against a wall, once again. I had no idea how long I'd been in that cell for. I didn't even know how long it had been since the last time I had seen daylight... I didn't even know why they were still keeping me alive since Zhao had me stop doing "shows".
Everyday, all I thought about was him... I was starting to forget what he had looked like since I didn't see him at my last show.
"Why hasn't he come yet...? He said he'd get me out of here..." I said to no one in the darkness.
I hadn't seen him since the day before my last show, when I attacked Zhao. I used to talk to him everyday before that. He'd come into my cell everyday at midnight and we'd talk for two hours. Even though every second usually lasted an eternity for me, those two hours went by like milliseconds. They were the only thing that I used to live for. I started to hate him since he never came back even though in the back of my mind, I knew the only thing I was still alive for was the slim chance that he might come back. I heard the sound of the door opening.
"Not again! Please, not again!" I yelled, clenching my hands into fists.
My pissy attitude with the soldiers had gone away once I stopped doing shows. Before, I had just been Zhao's "prize". Now I was basically a freebie for all the guards. I kept my eyes to the floor; I figured out that they were a little bit "nicer" if I didn't look them in the eyes after the first couple of times. I clenched my teeth together tightly as I waited for it to be over. Instead, I heard a "CLANG" and my arms fell from the wall they were chained to, free for the first time in what I found out later to be two years. I ringed my wrists with my hands, massaging them a little and then looked up. The person in front of me was cloaked. From the slit in his cloak I saw he was holding one broadsword and dressed in all black. A blue mask prevented me from seeing the face of my savior. I looked at this figure in disbelief of what he had just done. He reached up and took off his mask. It was... him...
"Z-Zuko..." I said, barely above a whisper.
I bolted up and hugged him tightly, crying into his shoulder. To this day, I can't recall ever having a better feeling than having his arms around my waist as I embraced him.
"You came..." I said.
"I'm sorry for making you wait, Liiru..." He answered.
I let go of him as I felt his hands drop to his sides. He leaned his sword against the wall and removed his hooded cloak.
"Here, take this..." He said.
I took the cloak and put it on, and then handed Zuko his sword. He sheathed it and took my hand.
"Let's go." Zuko said.