Incident Report
Date: Autumn, 29th Year of Azulon
Location: 3 miles South of Yu Dao
Conflict Participants:
Fire Nation Army, 29th Imperial Regiment
Fire Nation Citizenry
Earth Kingdom Rebels
Earth Kingdom Army of Unknown Origin
Yu Dao Citizenry
Yu Dao Police
Entity of Unknown Origin
Casualties:
Fire Nation Army, 29th Imperial Regiment:
129, Dead
73, Minor Injury
45, Permanent Injury
0, Captured
Fire Nation Citizenry
65, dead
105, Minor Injury
56, Permanent Injury
0, Captured
Earth Kingdom Rebels
16, dead
0, minor Injury
0, Permanent Injury
1, Captured*
Earth Kingdom Army of Unknown Origin
7, dead
0, minor injury
0, minor injury
1, captured*
Yu Dao Citizenry
113, Dead
77, Minor Injury
35, Permanent Injury
0, Captured
Yu Dao Police
115, Dead
10, minor Injury
65, Permanent Injury
0, Captured
Entity Of Unknown Origin
Status Unknown
*killed before Interrogation could take place
Reported by Major Lee, Fire Nation Army, 29th Imperial Regiment
The incident began when a patrol outside Yu Dao interrupted an exchange of arms by the Earth Kingdom Military Personnel. As all combatants were wearing normal clothing and the ones we captured did not survive the incident, we have no knowledge of where the arms were coming from, though we can confirm the Rebels were natives of Yu Dao, and were buying the shipment.
The soldier in charge of the patrol, Sergeant Fawn, avoided being seen by the enemy and managed to maneuver his men above them in a path in the cliff face of the canyon the deal was taking place in. He had his men wait for the enemies to do something that would indicate which, if any, of them were benders, so they could take them out before charging. Archers singled out two benders, one of which seemed to be the leader of the Military Personnel, and fired on them before ordering a full charge.
The encounter lasted less than ten minutes, during which Sergeant Fawn's team incapacitated all enemy combatants with only two (2) casualties, both with minor injuries. One (1) of the Earth Benders who had been singled out by the archers survived, the same Earth Bender believed to have been the leader of the Military Personnel. One (1) of the rebels also survived, having surrendered after a crossbow taken from the arms shipment failed to fire.
Sergeant Fawn sent for reinforcements to secure the surrounding area. No reinforcements for the Earth Kingdom Military Personnel arrived.
The arms shipment manifest was captured and confirmed. The shipment included Twenty (20) Crossbows, Twenty (20) Quivers with Thirty (30) bolts in each quiver. The Bolts were tipped with sharp iron razor heads. The shipment was carried on a small covered wagon, pulled by one (1) Ostrich Horse. The Shipment was later destroyed during the secondary encounter with the Entity of Unknown Origin.
The Entity made itself known at approximately Midnight. Reinforcements had been dispatched and were securing the surrounding area. The prisoners were being treated for wounds and were being prepped to be taken to a holding facility where they would be interrogated.
As at least one of the crossbows had proven to be defective, Sergeant Fawn decided to test the remaining. It was during this testing that the entity made itself known.
While the exact cause of the entities appearance can only be speculated, interviews from the men present at the time of its arrival have noted it appeared after Sergeant Fawn decided to test the remaining crossbows on the Ostrich Horse. As I was prepping the captured prisoners, I did not witness this part of the incident. According to one soldier who will not be named, he had two soldiers break the Ostrich Horses legs and hold it down while he fired the crossbows at a range less than five feet. He picked up a new crossbow after firing. After the fifth test, the Ostrich expired. Immediately after its death, we experienced a small earthquake. During the earthquake, the surrounding area became darker than it was previously; originally we suspected that clouds had passed in front of the moon, but according to multiple survivors of the incident, the sky was clear that night. I do not recall personally, but I take this to be true.
The canyon was illuminated by a bright yellow-red light. Exactly what was beyond this light I do not know. The light never diminished long enough to see what, if anything, was producing it. I assert that I did have some kind of physical form, and that the physical form included some kind of arm, tentacle, or other appendage that it used to grab and grapple, and that the appendage(s) were great in length, as its range of attack seemed to be over 500 feet. Given the condition of the bodies we recovered, I also assert that it had some kind of teeth or beak.
Three fire teams were present in the immediate vicinity of the entity. My (Major Lee) Fire team, Alpha, made up of Seven (7) men, plus Two (2) captured prisoners, Sergeant Fawn's Patrol Team, Beta, made up of five (Five) men, and 1st Lieutenant Hyu's Fire Team, Delta, made up of Seven (Seven) men.
1st Lieutenant Hyu and I were mounted on Rhino's, though I was not on mine when the Entity made itself known. The Rhino's became disturbed, erratic, and bucked 1st Lieutenant Hyu, causing him to fall. It's unknown if the broken neck, the assumed cause of death, happened as a result of the fall or as a result of the immediate trampling.1. He was the first death, on our side, of the night.
I ordered Beta and Delta team to form a defensive line, while Alpha secured the prisoners and 1st lieutenant Hyu. When the line was formed, Alpha fell in behind it. I ordered all Fire Benders and soldiers armed with Bows to prepare to fire, while all soldiers armed with standard equipment to form a crouching phalanx in front of them, so they would have a clear line of fire.
The Entity attacked. One of the aforementioned appendages grabbed hold of Sergeant Fawn's leg. It pulled him up into the air, but did so fast enough that it pulled Fawn's leg off. He ended up about 100 feet in front of the Phalanx.2.
I ordered the Phalanx to move up so that we may retrieve Fawn, as he was still alive, but bleeding critically. The men hesitated and did not move forward, but also did not break formation. I continued to command, but they did not respond.3.
Sergeant Fawn began crawling back to us, but he was once again grabbed by some kind of appendage, this time seemingly wrapping around his waist, chest, and neck. He was severed in at least three places, possibly more.
I ordered the Fire benders and Archers to open fire and cover our retreat. As they fired and we fell back, the prisoners escaped their bindings using their Bending. Together (as one was injured) they ran towards the entity.4. Something resembling a spotlight shined on them, and they were set ablaze, burning in an odd, green and yellow fire.
I ordered the Fire Benders and Archers to cease fire and ordered a full retreat back to our Garrison in Yu Dao.
Though I do not know the specifics of what happened, two Fire Teams, led by 2nd Lieutenant Tora, and Sergeant Kyoto, were later recovered. There were no survivors; we recovered ten bodies, but records confirm fourteen left the garrison. I speculate that they were covering the surrounding areas and entered the conflict after I ordered a full retreat. Their actions may or may not have slowed the Entity's pursuit of us long enough so that most of us could make it to the Yu Dao garrison.
When patrols spotted us running towards the garrison, they sounded the alarm. As soon as my last man entered the gate, I ordered a full lockdown. Colonel Wei was woken up and armed, and I was brought to him. I explained the situation, but he unfortunately did not believe me. He was under the impression it was some kind of illusion. He belayed the order for a full lockdown, and men were in the process of returning to normal status when the Entity came into visual range, having been hiding behind one of the cliff faces near the garrison.
I ordered everything to return to full lockdown. Colonel Wei tried to supersede my order, but given my situational awareness extended beyond his, I took it upon myself to command the situation, and had him knocked out.5.
I ordered everyone who could to open fire. As I was below the walls commanding, I did not see how effective this was, though given the rate of which it advanced, I would assume very little. As I was commanding a counter attack, our Rhino's (Exact number unknown, roughly twenty) broke out of their pens and ran rampant in the compound. As the gates had been sealed by the lockdown, they could not escape, and began viciously attacking any and all personnel.6.
During this chaos, the Entity gained entry to the garrison, knocking down the entire south section of the wall. Morale and unit cohesion broke down at this point. I ordered a retreat east so that we would draw the entity away from Yu Dao. However, most men were retreating North, towards the city. I had no choice but to follow.
The majority of our soldiers were killed or wounded before they could make the retreat. Many of those who did get the chance to retreat did not full make it. I myself lost half of my left leg while running from the entity, though one of my subordinates was close enough to pick me up and continue on.7.
After cauterizing my wound and attaching a metal bar to the stub, I took command again. The police force of Yu Dao became the vast majority of our counter-attack. As per their surrendering agreement, the Police of Yu Dao are native citizens of the area, many of which are Earth Benders.
As fighting the entity proved fruitless, I began focusing our efforts on covering an evacuation for the civilians. The Earth Benders created a series of walls to slow the Entity's advance. Though it did little, when combined with repeated attacks from Archers, Fire and Earth Benders, it did seem to buy us a small amount of time.
We began in the south side of the city and slowly moved back, with Earth Benders creating a new wall every time it broke through one. Our Earth Benders were quickly dwindling, however, and by the time we were halfway through the city, we did not have enough healthy Earth Benders to create the wall.
At that point, my options for defense were limited. I requested any who were willing and able to help create a diversion to lead the entity away, so that the citizens would be able to escape. We had twenty men who were willing, Six (6) Fire Nation soldiers, Ten (10) of the Yu Dao Police, and four (4) armed citizens.9.
We began assaulting the Entity as it broke through our last wall and we began moving East. It followed us. We continued to fall back, with our earth Benders creating smaller walls to slow it, but I do not believe it had that effect. Our diversion force began dwindling significantly.
As we continued, we eventually found ourselves cornered against a wall. We fought as best we could, but the entity shined its light on us and engulfed us in fire. As a Fire Bender, I managed to escape the attack with minor wounds. The few men left either died or suffered crippling burns. I made the decision to play dead, and it left.
When it was out of visual range, I began attending to the wounds of my comrades. I pulled them into a building. As I was suffering blood loss and other wounds, I decided to stay with them for the rest of the conflict, though I monitored the Entity's progress from a window.
It continued to move about the city, destroying a great deal of it, but it did not follow the citizenry north. It burned down most of the city for the rest of the night. It dissipated at Sunrise. 10.
1. Both Rhino's were recovered two days later, Sixty (60) and Sixty-Seven (67) miles North of Yu-Dao. They seemingly died of exhaustion. 2. Note that, as a Fire bender, Sergeant Fawn was behind the Phalanx. None of the men in the phalanx noticed or interacted with the appendage that injured him.3. As all the men in the Phalanx died, I would not have them charged with Insubordination. Their inaction was reasonable given the circumstances, and I do not believe we would have been able to save Sergeant Fawn in any case. 4. I do not know if they knew what the Entity was, or if they simply believed it was attacking us and not them. In either case, it did not seem to harbor an allegiance with them. 5. His body was never recovered, but I attest that the men who incapacitated did not injure him and likely did all they could to get him to safety.6. Though we did not know this until after the fact, inspection of the corpse of our communications officers revealed that our messenger hawks had a similar outbreak. Initial inspection of the bodies confirm the hawks killed our three communications officers.7. As I am the only soldier who was "touched" by the entity and survived, I can confirm that the entity had some kind of appendage. However, given that no one was able to see it, I speculate that it was invisible to the human eye.8. One of whom was a Fire Nation Citizen, the other a citizen of Yu Dao. The other two were both sons of one Fire Nation citizen, but both were Earth Benders and had one Earth Kingdom parent. As such, I do not know how to classify their citizenship, nor do I think it matters. 10. I did not witness it dissipate, as I had succumbed to my wounds at this point. However, I monitored its progress until the very moment I lost consciousness, which I believe was only an hour before sunrise.
Additional notes: As the police of Yu Dao are the only reason anyone in the city is alive, I would recommend that pension be paid to the deceased families, and that medical expenses be paid to those who are critically injured.
Addendum: As they acted in defense of Fire Nation citizens, we have agreed to pay their pension. Those permanently injured will receive medical benefits equal to that of Fire Nation soldiers who were injured in the line of duty.
Aang stared at the paper, astonished by such barbarity, both on the side of the Fire Nation and on the spirit who retaliated. Innocent civilians were caught in its rampage. He was briefly reminded of when Hei Bai attacked Senlin Village near the winter solstice, after the Fire Nation burned down its forest. Even enraged as it was, Hei Bai did not kill any of Senlin Village's citizens, merely transported them to the spirit world, and eventually gave them back. What kind of Spirit would be so violent?
A sting of fear briefly overcame Aang as he though back to his encounter with Koh, the Face Stealer. He shook his head, doing his best to forget about that monstrosity, and turned the page of the report to an addendum pertaining to Major Lee.
Interview with Fire Nation Army Major Lee.
Date: Autumn, 29th Year of Azulon (8 days after the Incident at Yu Dao)
Interview by Dr. Sasuke
Scribed by Yamamoto
Initial notes – Major Lee is missing his left leg from the knee down, though he has a crude prosthetic in place. He is disturbingly pale. It's obvious that he hasn't eaten or slept in a great deal of time. He is in the corner of the room in the fetal position. According to interviews with those who witnessed the incident, he claimed to be under attack and killed four people, two with his fire bending, and two with his bare hands.
Dr. Sasuke – "Hello, Major Lee. My name is Dr. Sasuke."
Major Lee – "doctor. Doctor. I need a doctor. I lost my leg."
"Is it causing you problems? are you in pain?"
"It burns. My foot burns. My foot isn't there and it burns."
"I can give you something for the pain."
"Nothing to give. Nothing to hurt. Not in pain. Burns. Won't stop burning."
"Major Lee-"
"What? what do you want!?"
"I want to know why you attacked your doctors during your checkup."
"I wanted to stop."
"And you couldn't?"
"I don't know how to stop. I would if I could. I don't want this."
"Major Lee, you did stop."
"I did?"
"When the guards came in. you stopped and surrendered."
"I did what I needed to do. I…I didn't want to. Ten one hundred."
"Excuse me?"
"I did what I needed to do to make it stop."
"make what stop?
"the pain."
"You killed them to stop the pain?"
"Nine one hundred. I killed them so the pain would stop."
"Lee, you said something about one hundred."
"one hundred what? people? did I kill one hundred people?"
"No, Lee, you said something like…" asks Scribe to repeat "Nine one hundred."
"No more, please. I don't want to do this."
"Lee, I have to find out why you did what you did."
"what did I do?"
"You killed four people."
"I know! Stop telling me things I know! Eight one hundred!"
"Major Lee, are you counting down?"
"I think so, yes."
"What happens when you hit zero?"
"Don't know. Never happened before."
"Then can you please stop? Its unnerving"
"Want too. can't. Sorry."
"Why can't you?"
"Because I'm not saying anything. Seven one hundred."
"Lee, why did you attack the doctors giving your check up?"
"I had too."
"Why do you think that?"
"He told me. Six one hundred."
"he who?"
"Khan."
"Who is Khan?"
"I asked him the same thing. He never answered. He just told me I had too. didn't, at first. couldn't take it after a while. he said he'd kill me if I didn't. Don't wanna die. I didn't survive Yu Dao to die here."
"Is Khan you?"
"No. yes. He's a part of me."
"a part of you?"
"he has a part of me."
"I don't understand…"
"He has my leg. He took it from me. he took it with him back to the spirit world. five one hundred."
"Khan is the spirit that attacked Yu Dao?"
"Yes."
"and he took your leg with him when he went back to the spirit world?"
"Yes."
"And he's…"
"inside me! he's inside me! get him out! FOUR ONE HUNDRED! Burning! I'm burning!"
"Lee, you're fine."
"I won't stop burning! Someone help! Someone help!"
"Lee, you're not on fire."
"He won't stop burning me. make it stop make it stop THREE ONE HUNDRED."
"Lee, please. You are not burning. You'll be fine, just please calm down."
"I can't. I don't want to, please! He didn't do anything, he wasn't even at Yu Dao!"
"Lee, is Khan talking to you now?"
"Please! Haven't I paid enough? I killed them like you said! I did what you wanted please stop burning me TWO ONE HUNDRED!"
"Lee, you're frightening me." Dr. Sasuke motions for guards to come in.
"Just Run! RUN! I can't stop him from taking over. I can't stop the burning without. incompressible mumbling"
"Lee, calm down, we can help you."
"ONE ONE HUNDRED."
"restrain him."
guards begin restraining Major Lee. He exhales deep, and exhales green and yellow flames, burning the guards. "BURN! BURN LIKE ME! I'M BURNING!"
Additional Notes: The Guards and Dr. Sasuke did not survive. Mr. Yamamoto was taken hostage. Lee then made his way to the bottom of the facility, to a storeroom, where he forced Yamamoto to pour oil on him. He then set himself on fire. According to Yamamoto, he thought this would stop the burning.