"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."
-Howard P. Lovecraft
Wrath Of The Dark Spirits
K9: The First
Disclaimer: I don't own the Avatar World. However, my interpretation of Avatar History before and after the show, a majority of the Spirits and other things is mine.
Epilogue
And So It Ends
'The hour of men lasts not forever. And for millennia the nature of its end has not been known. But in my dreams I have been given glimpses as to the end of not just of the world of Men, but of the Spirits themselves. I have been chosen out of all men to pass this knowledge to the world as I attain it, may it bring peace to all of the nature of Evil and its final defeat.
Praise to the Greatest and Highest Life Spirit, Creator of All.
Praise to the Great Ocean Spirit, giver of life. Praise to the Great Moon Spirit, the lantern of the Dark, and bringer of the waterbender's grace.
Praise to Da Di, Daughter of Earth, Mother of Kings, Great Earth Spirit whose beauty is without compare.
Praise to Agni, Great Fire Spirit, glory of the Sun, the one who brought life-giving fire to man.
Praise to Feng, Great Air Spirit, bringer of inner peace, and guardian of Righteous Fury of Storms.
Praise to the Avatar Spirit, preserver of balance.
And Praise to Pan Ding, the Great Spirit of Judgment, Basher of the Baleful, the Avenging Hell Hound, Protector of the Innocent, and Patron Spirit of Judges.
The First sign was a Great War. The war was the worst humanity had conceived to that point, and technology and knowledge was faster in advancement then before or since. The War was of the Centurion, and was timed with the Rise and Fall of the Bloody Sky, Da Di's favored Son was betrayed, and Air and Earth fell.
The Second sign followed the First immediately, for that incarnation of the Avatar followed the path of the Black Avatar and forsook its duties. That Avatar refused to detach itself of earthly desires even for the world it was charged to protect, so it therefore claimed the powers like that of the Life Spirit, learned from foolish guidance from the last Leviathan. And with its new blasphemous powers, that Avatar Incarnation raped the soul of a man, and was glad. ... Yet the people ignored the deeds, for at last peace was present. And so that Avatar worked to make peace in the world once more, and it was so.
That Avatar ultimately did not follow the path of the Black Avatar, though the Spirits quivered in fear that it would be so. Instead that Avatar died in its sleep, ripe with age and gained wisdom, having learned the true nature of its blasphemy and never abusing its power again, and never teaching it to another.
The Dark One, the Evil that killed the First Great Spirits was enraged at this, and thus came the Third sign.
The Third sign was this, the Fire was unsettled and thus turned inward in War Uncivil. The Dark One gained possession of the leader, and began to search out his buried physical body. The Avatar's Incarnation took a sword not of this world, and ran the Dark One through once more, just as Wan Jiu, the Avatar Spirit, did long ago.
And so for a Time, a Time, and Half a Time, the Dark One remained Trapped in the Gulfs of the Spirit World, the Beast lay dead yet sleeping under the sea floor, and the Black Avatar ensnared by the immortal Hell Fires that burn yet do not consume.
This was not the case for long though, for the Dark Spirits, the Three Abominations, spawned more like themselves…'
-Monk Fu Huai
First Chapter of the Fu Huai writings
Crystal Caverns International Park, Two-hundred forty miles South West of New Ba Sing Se.
These caverns formed over eons, and rivaled those underneath the Earth Kingdom capitol. Almost every sort of crystal formation imaginable could be found among the columns, stalagmites and stalactites, from opaque white with a powdery texture, to the commonplace smooth polygonal shafts, glowing with emerald phosphorescence. The miles of tunnels and caverns had long been a site for geographical studies, but the caves became a center of historical importance when they became a shelter for millions of citizens all over the Earth Kingdom during the turmoil of Second Strike and its aftermath.
For centuries, interest groups petitioned the Earth King to make the cave system a preserve for posterity. When the disasters dismantled the world, so to was the opposition, and now massive groups of people, some estimates at half a million a month, wander through the awe-inspiring museum of nature, back-lit by the now ancient technology of electric lighting where needed.
Today there was a medium sized group taking the tour, full of parent and grandparents with their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. 'Oohs' and 'Aaahs' were heard from all, each sound echoing from the distant walls of the cavern…
Except from one young boy, no more than six, who seemed content to hide his face in his mother's side.
"Mommy," he whispered, lust loud enough for the woman to hear him, "I don't like it in here, it's scary."
The woman, who showed an ancestry of both the Earth Kingdom and the Air Nomads, kneeled down next to her son, forcing him to look her in the eyes.
"What's wrong baby?" she asked, "Why's it scary? I thought you weren't afraid of the dark anymore?"
"I'm not." The boy said, the tiniest bit of his usual pride showing itself. Besides, with all the lights strung up throughout the cavern, fear of darkness hardly seemed reasonable. "It's the monster sleeping here…" he whispered.
The woman barely managed to stifle an amused snort. "Oh honey. You know there's no such thing as monsters!"
No sooner had the 'M' word begun to leave her mouth when the earth around them shuddered. Someone screamed and the lights began to flicker non-stop.
An unearthly roar reverberated across the chamber, so deep that it made the very bones of the witnesses rattle against each other painfully.
From the deepest, darkest depths of the chamber, where even the lights of the lamps couldn't dare to reach, a horrid beast arose, much too small for the impossibly large cavern. It turned its head to the tourists with its angry hellfire eyes.
And all went black…
BRAIN HQ, beneath New Ba Sing Se
When the events of Second Strike happened, the city now known as Middle Ba Sing Se was devastated, and had to be rebuilt. However, rumors spread that whatever killed the Spirits would someday turn its eyes to the mortals.
In response to these fears, the Unified World, the official government formed from the remnants of the four nations, founded a special organization to research the threat, and develop weapons to counter it. That organization went under the acronym BRAIN.
When New Ba Sing Se was constructed over the ruins of its predecessor, the build also went down as well as up, deep into the earth, turning the city into more of a fortress than Middle Ba Sing Se ever was. The underside of the city was the headquarters of BRAIN, and in the deeper area of the living quarters sat a dark office, the lights always dimmed due to the weak eyes of the man who owned the office: Anil, the Commander of BRAIN, the man in charge of the salvation of mankind in lieu of the now long gone Avatar. The darkness gave the room an undue sense of foreboding and ominous intent.
On the desk sat a phone with a hard-line set to the command center forty levels below.
It rang.
"Yes? …I see. Very well, detonate the entrance, we want to slow that thing down as much as possible. …Yes I realize that there are still civilians down there, but we can't afford to lose any time. …No I'm sure the Council of Five wouldn't approve, but if you go to them they would tell you the same course of action as me. …Good. See to it then Tama."
He hung up.
A sigh came from the seat across the desk, where another man sat, the Sub-Commander, Ming Yun Xu.
"Was that about what I think it was?" the other man asked.
"Yes. It appeared in the Crystal Caverns."
"Well so much for that little field trip I was planning." Ming Yun took in a deep breath and let out a sigh. "It's been nearly Twenty years."
"Indeed. Fortunately Shinjiko is due to arrive any time now." Anil rose from his seat, using his middle-finger to push up his shaded glasses, which had slipped down his nose. "Come on, let's head on down. I want to see the military boys get their anus' raped raw." He said with a smirk.
Xu responded in kind. "Oh goody. Nothing says a good time like distention."
The men walked out of the dimly lit chamber.
http://www . youtube . com / watch?v equalsign 1ftld7Ohojg
Well, here's the first chapter of my first truly dark fic. It's obviously an Avatar fic, but it's also a fussion of sorts with H.P. Lovecraft and an anime that I wish to remain anonymous about for now. Reason being that those who know of it would guess much of the plot, and those who don't would be curious and find out for themselves.
I can't promise speedy updates, but hopefully having this out there will provide some incentive.
If you can interpret the prophecy, congrads, and good luck as the story progresses. But don't get mad at me if you don't like what you see. Fu Huai was only getting snippets of visions and was only going by what he thought he saw.
And I'd like to thank my good friend Tari Silmarwen for being my Beta.
