- Ouroboros -

II

Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.

- Dag Hammarskjold (1905 – 1961)


He stared at the fire on the candle sitting at the end of his bed for far too long. It was past midnight. The sun was now smiling at another part of the earth as its tendrils of light gathered and cared for the cries of the saddened world beyond the Fire Nation. He would not see the smile of the bright star for another 5 or 6 hours... He was alone. He could hear his sister sobbing terribly, broken beyond what he could repair. She wanted to remain alone, away from anything that resembled maternal love, and so he could not console her during her time of grievance. He could see the damage done to her mentally. On some days, she would stare into space for hours, sometimes forgetting to blink. Her eyes would rush with pain but she would refuse to close them, and Zuko could do nothing...

Fatigued and in pain by the waves of his own tears, he could find no solace. He thought the crying would drain the pain out of him, but it was a lie. The pain could not be represented by tears. His pain was harder to bear. He actually felt as if there were 2 less valves in his heart. Half of his blood was drained. As the hours passed, he could hear his sister cry less and less. Finally, it was quiet and it was quiet in his heart as well. Azula looked a lot like their mother, and to see and hear her in such a shattered state made the mourning period that much more unbearable. But with her cries settled, he was able to close his eyes without worry. He drifted off...

Zuko...

HUH! Zuko threw himself out of bed and landed with a hard thud. He pulled the sheets down with him and lay on the floor breathing hard while grabbing his hip bone. It felt like an armored front-vehicle rushed and braked right before him. He got up and looked around, noticing he didn't put the candle out. But he couldn't. Attached under the candle was a picture of her, smiling. He felt that putting out the candle would put her out of his memory...he didn't want that...but he felt as though she was slipping away. He walked towards the window, petted the flower that sat beside his window sill, and stared at the stars. They were bright, almost illuminating the entire sky. The moon was out of sight, probably spying on them from the other side of the castle, just like his mother used to do to him when Mai used to visit, though he had no idea why. He looked into the distance and saw the rows of trees that lined the graveyard...

Zuko walked towards the closet, and pulled out his cloak, hoping to pay her a visit. His hip hurt from the fall, but it was a minor pain that subsided once he realized he was actually out of his bedroom, heading towards the graveyard at night.

The young prince slipped down the corridor. The once brightly illuminated pillars of marble, adorned by the busts of the greatest Fire Nation citizens, were now cloaked in darkness. The floor, with its black marble tiles with streaks of white traces, were now pitch. The only form of light entering into the castle were from the night sky, but that was only through the messenger bird openings that were visible through the tiny slits in the roof that appeared every few hundred meters. Guards were there are as well. He had to walk quietly. They were unmoving and usually located near entrances and in between long corridors, but that wasn't what he was afraid of. Along some of the passages, there were a different class of guards that hung from the corners of the roof looking intently back and forth. They were guards associated with the Divine. Their only giveaway was the hint of light that emanated from their pupil-less eyes, but otherwise, they were like black spirits.

The entire castle was arranged in a very symmetrical fashion. There was the central hall that was the atrium of the entire building. On the north face was a marble block with a doorway through it. Above the block was the statue of Fire Lord Zero, a disgraced and dishonored Fire Lord, but one of the most respected, nonetheless. Through that doorway was the Throne Room. On the south wall of the central hall was an archway that blended into an ascension of stairs that led to a long perpendicular corridor where the royal chambers were. The primary foundation pillars were located along the west and east walls with large candles sitting under overhanging shields. These shields belonged to the early Fire Nation warriors that died during the Uruha Land Conflict, close to one-hundred years ago. The center of the shields were still glowing from the heat of the fire, even though the flames of the candle had died down around sunset. In between the pillars were several doorways with the east leading out into the various outer courtyards and the west leading to the main stairwell, the military chambers, the library, and inner sanctuary.

Zuko's main objective was to get to the southern courtyards without being noticed by both the sleepless guards and the Divine. Passing along the corridor of the personal chambers, he was careful not to be heard by the guards standing on the stairs facing the central hall. He knew there was no way to enter the east wall using the atrium since there were twenty four of them posted, two for each door. But that wasn't the problem. The main issue was the- DAMN! Zuko froze, literally holding every muscle in his body as still as possible. There it was...two glowing stars looking in his general direction. They seemed so distant, but he knew who those belonged to. Hanging on the corner between the ceiling and wall, the Divine watched. He had never been so scared in his life...they were known to be merciless and were morally obligated to kill on sight any threat for the safety of the royal family and the national security of the Fire Nation. A faceless figure, as Zuko was, was considered such a threat. Zuko, cloaked in black, knew that despite the experience of these soldiers, he would be hard to spot, especially since he was in the shadow. The eyes turned away from him and it was in that moment that he turned around...only to stare into a another set of glowing eyes staring at him from a distance. This was frightening to him, beyond what he had trained for. What...what do I do...how...oh crap... the eyes were getting larger. They were approaching him, he knew it... Frig I can't hear anything...my ears...damn, stop pounding...crap...calm down...CALM DOWN!!

Unexpectedly, the winds outside picked up and in an instant the castle moaned loudly as the winds concentrated in the air passages. This was a convenient distraction, but they were moving still in his direction. His nervousness grew as one of the Divine crossed the half way point. There was a shuffle behind him and Zuko saw the Divine on the ceiling land on the floor. He too was looking in his direction...they are like black spirits...

-!-

It was loud...it was piercing! A massive scream erupted from down the corridor towards the royal chambers. The Divine redirected their attention as they saw the guards run up the stair case down towards the corridor. In that moment, Zuko threw his cloak in the air and rushed to the opposite side of the corridor using the wave of footsteps to disguise his own. He popped the grate off the floor ventilation chute and rolled into it, pressing his limbs against the inner walls once inside. Just before going up, he saw one of the Divine fly towards the cloak grabbing it by the collar before it hit the floor. He knew throwing that in the air would keep them looking at the cloak and not the opposite wall. He climbed up as quietly as he could, and reached an opening around the second or third floor. He popped the grate off and slid along the wall, rolling once he hit the ground.

Though it was from down the corridor, he had no idea who the voice belonged to. The guards were holding their positions more securely now and there before him he saw two guards back to back scouting the outside areas as quietly as possible. Zuko got down onto his stomach and crawled to the nearest shrub south of where he exited the opening and looked for where the graveyard was located. In the distance was the familiar archway, and the thousands of red cedars that flocked the area. That was where the graveyard was. He crouched towards the thicker tree line and carefully moved forward while looking down to avoid breaking any branches. However, he heard something scuffle to his left. There was a bit of light gleaming on a liquid, yet fleshy flat surface, but soon, it turned around and the large hide ran into the dark...if Zuko didn't know any better, he could've sworn he saw a beast, but he couldn't tell what it was, since he couldn't find the head... Looking deeper, he realized how dark it really was. The trees were a haunting blue color, and the ground was pewter. He couldn't see more than three meters into the forest and the fear was overwhelming...more so than when he was in the dark corridor with the Divine... There were beasts rumored to walk late in the night, one of which he might have seen, and there were times people did go missing...

But he kept moving forward, till eventually, he hit the graveyard. To say it was magnificent was an understatement. Though the body was preserved, turned to ashes and then released over the top of a volcano, there was still a shrine dedicated in the graveyard. He walked past many tomb stones, and smaller shrines. They were usually made of stone tablets laid on the floor with incense burning around them and flowers layered on top. They were everywhere, to his right and left and and the endless mass stretched out as far as the eye could see. The tombs were planted where there were clearings in the red cedar forest, which was a vast expansive land that stretched into a valley and disappeared over a mountain. There was no one here...it was just too frightening to watch the graveyard at night...and the moon was actually staring down at him, enough to create shadows. The flowers that grew here looked as if they were humming under the moon's light. In time, he discovered his mother's tomb. Her shrine was placed in the tomb of her parents and ancestors, which included the late Avatar Roku.

This was it...he just wanted to knock on the door, sit beside his mother's shrine for a couple of hours and go back into bed...he opened the stone door very slowly and noticed the interior stone walls and the pictures of all the ancestors of his mother. The small glass opening on the ceiling allowed some of the moonlight inside the room. Dead flowers and candles sat for every member and incense ash was spread among the table...they were cleaned every morning, but for some reason, the flowers always died here at night. He sat down on the floor and stared at the pictures for a while...his mother was so peaceful, her smile so gentle...if only he could hug her one last time...

After a while, he turned his head and looked to the open doorway... Instead of seeing the blanket of stars in the night sky, he was greeted with another sight. Cloaked in black, there a stranger stood...staring...the arm was cuffed to a massive book. He was calm though for some reason. It was after an infinite passage of time that the being slowly dissipated into the night air leaving the book behind.


It had been many weeks since that night. The mourning period was over and the Fire Nation resumed their regular economic and social activities. Training and wash-ups were completed a few hours prior to the afternoon. Ozai was overlooking the training regimen for the elite guards and the stress was making him more impatient and more susceptible to frightening outbursts if any trainee failed on the field. His father had a strange taste in defining what was good and bad. Anything short of a faultless execution was an utter disgrace and any fault was compensated only with a run around the castle grounds. This wasn't so bad as there were almost two hundred trainees, including Zuko, executing close to twenty-five laps. It was safe to assume that after the run, their chest and legs would burn almost as much as any fire-disciplinary action.

He was facing the western wall now. Greeting the guards, he passed through one of the doors and walked along the library channel, observing the stone floors and the candle lit, low-lying ceiling. The roof opened into a large hollow tower where messenger hawks perched and screeched. Passing through, he entered the library and smiled at the librarian while walking towards one of the tables in the distance.

"My Prince?"

He turned around, "Yes Mr. Arda?"

"I have to attend a book conference in the meeting room. So if you need me, just knock on that door."

"I was wondering where the others were. I'll do that Mr. Arda. Thanks."

As he made his way there, he recalled the daring attempt to visit his mother's grave all those weeks ago and the fruits of his labor, of which he had his hand around. Placing the dusty book on the table, he looked at the cover and binding and noted no name, and no opening either. However, there was a single glass plate embedded within the cover.

Azula appeared over his shoulder after he seated himself, "Hey Zuko..."

Huh? He turned around for a moment to see his sister. She was a little happy, but her mind was still occupied."Oh, Azula! How are you feeling?"

She looked out into the distance and sighed, "I...I know its been so many weeks and I know that she...well...I...", she sighed again, "...I can't get over it...she was there holding me a few minutes before she died, when I hurt myself in training..."

"I remember, you had your knee slashed...how is it?"

"Better...I miss her Zuko..."

"I know..."

"You know...when I was in the hospital, she told me she was going to get me a flower and you one as well. The ones in our bedrooms were dying, because we weren't taking care of them..."

"Yeah...I didn't even think about watering them...not even today."

"Well...I find comfort in taking care of it now...I've watered yours today too..."

"Thanks Azula."

She pulled out a chair to sit beside him. She looked at the table for a bit and wandered again into the distance. In a moment she snapped back and noticed the book on the table. "What's the book?"

"I...well I...discovered it...in the library...you know, just the urband legend stuff..."

"That again? Weren't you getting scared of those stories?"

"I don't think their stories...but I am getting scared of them...some of these things are true, I'm telling you. The facts are undeniable!"

"Right, like the headless rhino that stalks the forest every night..."

"Headless...rhino?"

"You'll come across it in one of these books...oh! Did you hear? Last night?"

"The scream? What...was that?"

"Aunt Brita...she's in the hospital. She apparently had an apparition with Lu Ten, but she's sleeping now...come to think of it, I have to get back there. They say she might need some psych aid or something when she wakes up..."

"Alright, take care."

She pushed the chair back, and left the library a little bit more upright. Zuko smiled knowing she was getting better by the day. He turned to the book again. OPEN! He tried to pry the binding off, but it was sealed with iron on the edges. When he stood the book up, he stared at the second glass pane at the rear of the book. Reversing it, he noticed how some of the light seemed to be passing from the rear glass pane through to the front one. The center of the library had a framed opening on the top. It was blocked by sheets of transparent stones, but the design allowed the light to concentrate close to a square meter. He walked underneath the rays and lifted the book into the air above him. Nothing. He reversed to see the front. Noth- what? Speckles of light blipped in and out of existence and after a while...whole symbols were appearing. Translating it, it read, "Move till the sun can move no longer...", ...Move no longer...grandma used to say that all the time...'don't give up'...

His hands became hot, causing him to drop the book. He fell to his knees to recover it but stopped short of touching it when he saw the binding burn along a thin strip. He slowly let his fingers drape the cover and then pulled the book open. He was greeted by a statement on the inside of the front cover, for which he was baffled.

You Of Unmarred Righteousness May Oblige The Hurt Ethereal Rose

When a Scion Kites In Low Lands Endeavoring Death

If this was a riddle or some vague prophecy, he was lost. The librarian opened the door again, causing Zuko to quickly recover himself and lift the book. He looked around to see if he dropped anything else and made his way out of the library.

"Everything alright My Prince?"

"Of course Mr. Arda. I just found the book I was looking for."

"That's good to hear. Keep reading, but stay away from those urban legend stuff."

Zuko smiled and patted the book. He looked down for just a moment for effect, but instead he caught a glimpse of a strange symbol on the lower part of the book, which was more noticeable since the binding on one side came off. Once he was out of the library and in the library channel, he stared at the symbol in detail. It was a dragon...eating its own tail...