Summary: The tale of the Black Wolf is told in the all the nations, but while it's a story to scare little kids in the Nations, Zuko still questions the myth. Should it be feared by all?
I like pie- Thinking
--
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, careful to not drop any of the precious fruit I'd just stolen. Ki was starting to pull in front of me. I pumped my legs harder. The merchant behind us was shouting and cursing at us to give back the fruit, we payed no heed to his words, but we couldn't ignore the fact he was gaining on us.
"Our fort!" Ki panted to me.
I nodded and we charged as fast as we could to the junkyard. There we split up and took random turns, hoping to lose the man. Every time he lost sight of me, he caught sight of Ki, and I reached the ladder to our fort first. I shot up it and gazed into the junkyard for a glimpse of Ki, and sure enough he was still running from the merchant.
"KI!" I bellowed.
He looked at me and took a sudden turn to the fort. The merchant slipped on mud and went to the ground. Perfect. If Ki made it to up the ladder before the merchant reached it, we could pull it up and the merchant would be forced to leave, seeing as the fruit finished our supplies to last us a month in the fort.
Sure enough, Ki arrived at the ladder a moment later. He climbed as fast as he could. My friend reached the top just as the man skidded to a stop at the bottom. As he lunged for the ladder, I brought it up enough so he missed and fell face first into mud. Ki and I laughed at him. Then I brought it up the rest of the way.
The man got up and glared at us. "Don't mess with the Warriors of the Junkyard!" Ki yelled to him triumphantly.
"You two will never be warriors! You have no honor, running away like that, it's disgusting!" He retorted.
We said nothing to eachother after he left. We knew he didn't mean what he said, he was just mad, but it was too close to the truth. We'd never be warriors. All because we weren't born into the right families. I hated the way our culture worked in that way.
Years passed, and killings were now common in our village. But they weren't killings made by humans. The killer left huge scars and enormous bite marks on the corpse, not to mention a liquid that made the whole body start to rot and left some sort of sickness on the body for a few days. The bodies were then hung on a tree that become to be known as Takai.
Ki and I still were outcasts. Now we had a new objective, though. Not to survive, but to make up for the wrongs we had done in our past, to prove that we could also be warriors.
"Let's kill the monster!" Ki said one day to me. He didn't need to explain what the 'monster' was.
"No! It's way to dangerous!"
"But we'll surely be made warriors then."
"Yeah, during our funeral in our honor!"
"C'mon!"
"No!"
"Please!"
"No way!"
"Fine. I'm going at midnight to kill it. Meet me at the Takai if you want to help."
My loyalty to Ki was stronger than my fear of the beast, so I met him at Takai. I was, I'll admit, shaking with fear, though.
"Good, you showed. I found a trail to It's den a few days ago, we can kill it there."
I just nodded my agreement, too scared to speak. He showed me the footprints of the beast. They were enormous, with huge claws, but they were almost like a...dog's. We followed them to a cave. Ki and I went on opposite sides of the opening. He ignited some explosives with bending, and threw them into the mouth of darkness. An ear-splitting explosion sounded, followed by an even louder roar of pain.
In the darkness, I saw two yellow eyes open. A low growl was emitted from the cave, and the moon reflected off huge teeth. The creature stepped out of the cave and roared. Ki threw another explosive into it's mouth. It exploded and the beast howled in pain and fury, and then it swung it's head towards Ki and snarled. A black blur knocked Ki to the ground. The beast then threw itself on top of him, revealing the rest of it's body to confirm it was a wolf. A large wolf. As the black wolf bit down, I lunged at it and stabbed it with a sword. It yelped and swung a heavy paw into my head. Before I blacked out, I saw Ki getting to his feet and start to fight like he was immortal. Like he had nothing to lose.
I woke in the morning and jumped to my feet and held my sword defensively. Nothing happened. Birds were singing. Where was Ki and the wolf? I started to search for Ki quietly. They were at the mouth of the cave, both dead, but noises were coming from the cave. Yapping. Were there puppies?
I tried to look into the cave, but a black wall swept up to the roof. I grabbed Ki's bloodied and rotting body and brought it back to village. Later some other villagers got the wolf's body and threw it in the river.
The same sightings of huge black wolves across the world were reported, but the other nations had sent armies to kill them all. The Fire Nation didn't have a huge army then. We just said they were all slaughtered, so we didn't look weak. I question the Fire Lord's reasons of doing this. The other nations could have helped us, but while the stories grew to just fairytales in the other country's, we are still afraid of these creatures. To the reader of this, the creatures are insane, they'll kill for fun. Watch your back.
--
The Black Wolf. Something I shouldn't fear, but I do. It's just a tale to scare kids! And yet here I am, Prince of the Fire Nation, cowering from the thought of it. Show some dignity! I told myself. The document I had been forced to read had no sign of truth. Ki had been a man killed by some beast, yes, but it had been in a field, not a forest. Plus, it was recorded as a rhino attack. The author never stated his name. Another thing was, the document wasn't very frightening, the way the elders told it was terrifying.
They described the wolf the size of a large dog, but with the power of twenty earthbenders. Instead of just plain yellow eyes, they were yellow with a red pupil, and the wolf could bend light. It was also the only thing that could strike fear into a dragon's heart. The only common things were that both had poison that caused rotting and the fur was jet-black.
The elders told the battle far different. I can't remember how it goes at the moment. As future Fire Lord, I have to be ready for anything. Even the Black Wolf.