Chapter 1
Beautiful savior.
What were they going to do to her? It was a question that was etched into the girl's head the moment the Fire Nation soldiers chased her into the woods.
It was her own fault, she was being careless and bending, and they saw her earthbending, so it was only natural that they gave chase to one of the biggest threats to their nation.
It was simply dark outside, the only light shining was that of the moon as the trees simply started to mix together, just blurs of shapes and the sounds that they made when stepped on or trampled.
There was no end to the trees, or the clearing, there was an end to something however, the moment the girl tripped over a stone was the moment she simply could not run any longer.
She fell face first, her face in her arms as tears started to flow down her face. Perhaps she realized simply how awful everything was, how impossible escaping the situation was.
Perhaps she wanted to laugh, her parents were gone and she had no one...so it wasn't like the world was going to lose anything important.
There were steps, and the sound of breaking branches echoed through the night, they were there and it was nothing that she could do to stop it or change it, she was completely powerless.
"Hey...I found her!" There was a yell, as a shiver went up the girl's spine, a soft red light was shining on her. The light that would normally be warm, was absolutely terrifying as more steps followed, there were all there...looking at her.
All having a soft flame in their hand, as the girl peeked over her shoulder, there were three of them all simply staring at her, their armor red and black.
"Eh, this was pretty annoying..." One of them sighed, as he rubbed his chin, they weren't wearing their mask, which was natural considering they were more of patrol's then those who would go on the front lines.
Of course it was annoying they were just finished chasing a girl through the woods, what was supposed to be their night off turned into such an awful event...at least for them.
"Taking her back, would be a pain..." The man said, almost uncaring, however the tone he used continued to send shivers up the girl's spine as the final guard looked at the girl and gave a light shrug.
"We're the only ones that know she's here...right? It would probably be easier just to kill her than follow those stupid rules,"
It was jarring the sheer worthlessness of her life to them was almost hilarious as the girl twitched slightly falling on her back, she was looking face to face with the three people that were going to kill her.
She wasn't going to beg, there was no need, they weren't going to listen to her whines or cries as the three men prepared their hands, preparing to turn her into what would amount to a pile of burning flesh.
However, those flames never came.
It was a simple quick motion, and in an instant the entire top half of one of the Firebenders were gone, as if a giant jaw bit it off, leaving only a waist and legs.
The other two firebenders barely had a time to react as one was simply split in two horizontally his pieces being dragged into the darkness, leaving one confused.
Fear and anxiety filled the remaining firebender, his eyes traced the scene of the forest wondering what creature would do such a thing,
"Gah!" He screamed, like a coward his voice rose, it was annoying his voice of fear and terror was irritating as he ran, into the woods his screams followed.
Though that too was cut short as the screams ended abruptly as the girl simply stared at the events that transpired as the pools of blood showed it was a reality, they were gone...the people that were going to harm disappeared, vanished from existence.
Then a figure, painted in inky black crept up towards her, tentacles outstretched its red eyes staring directly through her. The girl simply stared at it, wondering what it was, wondering if what she was looking at truly existed.
It was large, but that was the only thing the girl could tell, its undefined limbs twitched about unnaturally as the girl simply stared, something must have been caught in her throat, her voice did not come out despite her mouth being open.
It then slithered away, moving unnaturally backwards leaving the girl to judge her own situation, leaving to understand what had just happened.
"Beautiful..." That was the only thing that escaped her mouth, the horror the violence was nothing compared to the sheer joy the girl had in her heart of being saved, when one is saved the savior can only be beautiful.
And so she decided right then and there, that no matter the cost, she would see her savior again.
The events of the night before was erased with the sun, along with any hint of her being the Earthbender being crushed along with the firebenders.
The sun looked far brighter that day, it was amazing, as she walked through the colony scattered with guards, it was saddening. How everything was simply stripped away by such monsters, it was impossible for her to view anyone from the Fire Nation as more than a monster.
"Cuìruò!" A voice snapped her to attention, perhaps it would have been best if she didn't enter a daze when buying items from the store.
"Oh...sorry," Cuiruo gave a light smile as she ran her finger through her short brown hair.
The older woman sighed as she handed a weaved basket back to the girl, her absent mind was rather annoying.
There was a large amount of food among other things in the holding basket as Cuiruo paused for a moment, looking at the woman wondering if she should waste time asking a question that she knew the answer to.
"Ah...do you know if any spirits are around here?" It was a random question from a curious girl as the woman stopped for a moment before laughing, it was odd for a young person to get into such old tales, then again the woman wasn't that old herself.
"No, I don't recall any spirit stories around here, or any of them living in this area, it's completely bare,"
Those words were disappointing, but it was clear that what she met was clearly not human as Cuiruo smiled and tilted her head.
"Okay, I guess I'll be seeing you," The conversation needed to end there as Cuiruo walked away from the small shop, looking around her village that had been taken over by the Fire Nation.
They were everywhere, their symbol, their marking their people, they stripped down everyone from the village and she was the only one left. Cuiruo could still remembered when they first appeared, she could never forget such a day as she sighed.
But in the end she was powerless, she wasn't able to bend well, she had no teacher to do so and even if she did she was only one person. And despite her hate, she wasn't capable of killing anyone, at least not yet, at least not in her current mind set.
Cuiruo walked with her head down, there was nothing to see, there was no joy in seeing the same people who lacked a smile on their face.
It was actually quite maddening, not being able to change anything around you, not being satisfied with the way things were and being unable to force them in the direction you want.
"Eh-" It was a shock, but it seemed that Cuiruo bumped into someone, she was just hoping it wasn't a Fire Nation guard of some sort, as she shut her eyes before slowly opening them.
It was strange, the person in front of her was only slightly taller than Cuiruo, her long black hair flowed down her back. She looked close to 18 or 19, she was wearing a common Earth Kingdom dress, however those weren't her most defining features.
Her most defining feature was no doubt her red eyes, almost unnaturally so, something that would belong to a beast more than a human as the older girl smiled at Cuiruo before chuckling.
"You should be more careful," The reply was short, though it was odd, despite having a smile on her face, the response sound stoic and robotic.
"Ah..." Cuiruo simply continued to stare at her, her skin was pale though her hair was something that could only be described as perfect.
She was probably looking like an idiot, as the brown haired teen quickly shook her head, snapping out of her daze. Cuiruo was trying to recognize the person in front of her, but it was simply impossible, Cuiruo did not recognize her at all.
Which was impossible since visiting the village and leaving required a large amount of thought.
"Have we've met before?" Cuiruo asked as the black haired woman simply shook her head.
"No, now if you excuse me..." It seemed she wasn't one for words as Cuiruo simply sighed, the first new person she met and she wasn't that interesting, though she wondered why anyone would want to go her village considering how awful it was.
"...I should get home, and make something to eat," Cuiruo simply sighed as she walked along the dirt roads of the village.
Night came quickly as Cuiruo simply looked out of her glassless window, the moon was bright in the sky, and yet she could not get the beauty of her savior out of her head, she wanted to meet it again, whatever it was, no matter the cost.
But here she was sitting in her single room home, with her single bed and table. There was nothing there in her makeshift home, but shelter as Cuiruo moved uncomfortably in as she sat up from her seat.
"If...I go alone, I might be devoured myself, maybe if I can lure another Fire Nation soldier
into the woods, I can speak with it..."
Even if Cuiruo was incapable of killing anyone herself, she didn't care about the lives of the Fire Nation soldiers so even if she was leading them to their deaths, it was fine, at least in her mind.
After all, she said it herself, no matter who had to die, she wanted to see her savior again.
"There are guards around the village at night, if I can find one by himself and show him I can earthbend, then I should be able to lure one of them to chase me..."
Cuiruo knew she was putting her life at risk, but her current existence probably couldn't even be described as a life, more like a shell going along hoping for an ending.
The brown haired girl sighed, as she got up, she was shaking, because deep in her mind she was going to do it no matter what, and she knew the results of failing would be.
Really there were so many things that could go wrong with the plan that it probably was only a fools dream, but still it was something that had to be done.
So with a deep breath, Cuiruo left her house for, preparing to sacrifice someone to meet a rather important person.
Author note
This chapter was going to be longer, but this one is up to judge interest in this story.
It really just plays off of otherworldly mythos and it's mostly a story centered around such thing.
It's also a story about Cuiruo slowly Jumping the Moral Event Horizon and rationalizing her decisions or simply not caring after awhile. Her not being able to kill anyone? Yeah that's not going to stick for long.
