Camp Avatar
Chapter 3 – First Quest
Disclaimer: I own nothing
"Yes, yes", Ursa laughed tearfully on the phone. "I know, Noren. Don't worry, Zuko is doing fine. Azula, too. We are all alright here", she blinked happy tears at her two children. "We are finally alright."
Zuko smiled back at his mother. He was starting to warm up to this, but it still felt a little awkward and foreign.
"Yes, he is right here", Ursa said to the phone. "Your uncle wants to talk to you."
"Hello?" Zuko spoke to the phone.
"Zuko? Zuko! Thank Agni! Are you doing well there?" his uncle exclaimed.
"Yes, Uncle. I'm fine", Zuko felt his inside melt into a warm gooey thing.
"That's good", Uncle Noren said and Zuko could hear Aunt Noriko saying something in the background. "Yeah— wait your turn!" there was some argument and a sound that Zuko guessed was Aunt Noriko smacking Uncle Noren's arm. Then his aunt's voice came out of the phone. "Zuko! Are you doing alright there? Azula, too?"
"Yes, Aunt Noriko. I'm doing fine. Azula, too", he smiled, already missing his aunt and uncle all over again. "We got attacked by a minotaur but Azula killed it", then he frowned at Avi who was sitting with his tongue wagging, looking at him with his icy blue eyes. "Do you know that Avi can transform into a giant orange wolf?"
"Uh…. Yeah, about that…" there was suddenly a sound like crumpling plastic and Uncle Noren's voice came from the phone next; classic Aunt Noriko, when things get tough, get Uncle Noren to deal with it. "Hello?" Uncle Noren called.
"Avi", Zuko simply said.
His uncle had the audacity to laugh out loud. "It's a long story", Uncle Noren said with a trace of mirth in his voice. "Short version is I ran into Avi long ago when I was a camper, on a quest. I met Avatar Iroh on that quest and he told me that Avi will come to me again much later and he will be our guardian. When Azula showed up and I learnt that she's an Iroh's camper, it just feels right that Avi should come with you two."
"Woof!"
"You should be honored", Uncle Noren said. "Ember wolves are noble creatures."
"So I've been told", Zuko muttered.
"He will keep you two safe", Uncle Noren promised. "Now get that sister of mine on the phone!"
"This brother of yours wants to talk", Zuko put the phone out for Ursa.
Lin sat on the floor, leaning on the couch next to Azula's legs; the girl kept bumping her knee on his shoulder. Avi walked towards the Oracle and lazily nestled on his lap. It reminded Zuko that Lin had had a rather strange reaction when Uncle Noren suggested they brought Avi along and said that Avi would protect Zuko. "Yes, he will", Lin had said with a chuckle.
"You knew that Avi's not just a dog", Zuko said, sitting on the floor and rubbing Avi's tail.
"Yes", Lin said, patting Avi on the head. "We have ember wolves in the forest. I go there and talk to them often, and sometimes ask them for help when we are about to do War Games or a field trip to the forest, or if we have campers who go missing in the forest", then his eyes narrowed as a thought came to his mind. "Hmm… maybe that's why Hira'a is quite monsters-free", he thought aloud. "There must be a pack of ember wolves there."
"Hira'a is monsters-free?" Zuko sounded skeptical. He began to feel the phantom of the sores from the time six possessed football team members threw him around like a basketball with limbs.
"Have you been to other part of Fire Nation?" Lin asked.
"Shu Jing", Zuko said. "I attended a seminar and a few competitions there. We were gonna go to Ember Island for the winter break, but all this happen."
"Ah", Lin smiled. "Shu Jing is probably the safest place in the whole Nation; Master Piandao lives there", he said; Azula nodded absently. "Ember Island is also safe, which is probably why your uncle and aunt chose the island for vacation; it has the largest population of ember wolves. In fact, that's where the Island gets the name."
"Don't forget Li and Lo", Azula muttered.
"Right", Lin grinned.
"I know", Ursa said on the phone, one arm embracing Azula's shoulder and pulling the girl into her embrace. "It might be a bit difficult, but I'll try to come and visit you. Yeah. Okay, brother. I'll talk to you soon. You have a goodnight too."
She put down the phone on the coffee table and squeezed the reluctant Azula and squealed. "Seems like both you and me get our brothers back."
"Yay…" Azula said with zero enthusiasm.
"And now I have a little doggie", Ursa squealed like a little girl. Avi, sensing a pampering coming, leaped onto her lap. "Aww, what a cutie boy!"
Avi licked her face.
"Eww!" came from the three teenagers.
"Wait, you're a boy, right?" Ursa lifted one of Avi's rear legs.
"Mom!" Azula looked mortified.
"What? I'm just checking", Ursa pouted.
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"How do you transform your knife into the saber?" Azula asked out of the blue as the Kais and Avi walked down the hallway of the only shopping center in the town.
"I press the pearl on the hilt", Zuko replied, only half-listening. He was still trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
The 'mall', as Ursa had called it, was a large and tall octagonal pagoda. Now, the first thing that Zuko found weird was that he had clearly see from the outside the pointy top of the pagoda, and yet, inside was roofless and they had sunlight and natural breeze flowing through the establishment. The layout of the establishment was simple: right in the middle was a tall fifty feet statue of Avatar Azulon and the middle was hollow all the way to the opening on the top, and the stores opened up on the sides of the walls, with wide walkways in front of them. The walls are colored brick red with black trim and the other strange thing was the amount of trees and indoor plants in the mall, in between building, and even jutting out of the wall, surrounding some of the stores like a leafy frame, as was the case with the herbal pharmacy to Zuko's left.
And it was also weird the mash-up of the varieties of stores there; pharmacies standing next to a shoe store, designer clothing line in a store next to the one selling nothing but candles. And many of the merchandises, Zuko was sure, would not even be permitted for sale anywhere else in Fire Nation; loots from battle which included a pair of antler as tall as Zuko, furry pelts that looked like it once belonged to giant white apes with one eye right in the middle of the forehead, a fishbowl with a single pulsating amber pearl floating in the center, some fangs and claws of various sizes and shapes, and many more. And they had lots of weapons shop –lots and lots of them- and many shops that sold snacks. A few place sold fresh produce but nothing fancy in this department, and they had more stores that sold street food and snacks. Zuko looked up and counted at least a dozen floors above and the building still towered up. Zuko wondered if all the floors were occupied.
Also, Zuko now noticed that the shoppers were just as strange. Most of them were not human. When he first entered the mall, he had thought he had walked into a regular crowd of shoppers, aside from some campers who showed up in armor and armed with some weapons, of course, which, despite the short time Zuko had spent in Camp Agni, had felt normal to him.
But then, as he entered the building and breathed the air inside, so clear and fresh and forest-like with a little touch of fried and grilled food cooked and sold in some of the stores, he blinked and his eyes felt itchy. He rubbed his eyes and opened them again and suddenly that old lady Ursa had stopped and chatted with, the one Zuko had only briefly glanced over as a small hunched old lady with silver hair up in a bun wearing a black furry coat, was now a strange looking crone with what looked like a pair of large dark feathery wings wrapped around her and the tip of long curved nose solidified into a yellow beak.
"This is a strange strange place", Zuko looked around slowly and saw more and more strange creatures.
A couple of chalky-skinned men were haggling with a vendor of prayer supplies and equipment in a store right in front of them. They had shaggy long hair that flowed down to their ankles, wearing identical plain baggy robes that swept on the floor at their feet, only one was wearing all white and the other all black, matching their hair color, and they vendor seemed to have trouble understanding them, although, Zuko thought, the two men having their at least a yard long tongues hanging out of their mouth down their fronts like weird looking ties, must made it difficult to speak.
"黑白無常", Azula said; Zuko head it as. 'Heibai Wuchang'.
"What?" Zuko turned to his sister.
"Black and White Impermanence", Azula translated. She sat down on the foot tall circular bench surrounding the feet of Avatar Azulon's statue. "That's the official title, anyway. They're like our version of death reapers. They always work in pairs and they escorted the dead to the Underworld. Be careful, though", Azula warned. "We also have hanged ghosts who have tongue hanging out like that, only they are usually bad. A way to tell them apart: see if they are solo or a duo, and try to touch them", she smirked a little as the pair of Heibai Wuchang finished their purchases of a stack of incense sticks and glided away like a pair of ragdolls with their feet trailing behind a little, snacking on the incense sticks like they were Pocky crackers. "Ghosts, no matter what kind, don't have a physical body."
"Does Mom know she's talking to a bird lady?" Zuko asked in a low hiss; Ursa and the old lady threw their heads back and laughed.
"Of course, she does", Azula frowned. "Didn't anyone tell you that what set us half-bloods apart from regular mortals is just the fact that we have the potentials in us already awakened since we carry the blood of the gods? Mortals can do what we do; they just have to train harder. I mean, our folklores are filled with the stories of regular men and women who became hermits and achieved enlightenment. Many of them even achieved godhood."
"Oh…" was all Zuko could say. He sat down next to Azula and went back to scanning the shoppers.
"Have you ever tried pressing the pearl on your knife while it's sheathed?" Azula asked again.
"No. Why?" Zuko's eyes followed a muscular man who had the striped fur, tail, and ears of a white tiger but face and limbs that were human.
"Try it", Azula said.
"Okay", Zuko tugged his knife out of the strap. He held it by the handle with his left hand and pressed the pearl with his right index. The dagger whirred and suddenly shrunk into a black ring with yellow pear on his left index. "Whoa!"
Azula let out a single laugh. "Weapons of the gods come in many interesting features", she said with a grin. "You should study your weapon. You might make some interesting discoveries."
"Whoa…" Zuko pressed the pearl on his black ring and suddenly he was holding his sheathed knife again.
"I've been wanting to have my weapons enchanted with a concealment spell like that", Azula said, eyeing his knife with slight envy. "But, the enchantment costs quite a lot."
"I didn't know it can do this", Zuko said, pressing the pearl again, changing the knife back into the ring.
"Stories are filled with godly weapons that can change shapes, usually into something small for convenience", Azula got up as Ursa and the bird lady hugged, signifying the end of the conversation. "Sun Wukong's cudgel can change size and shape and he often shrunk it into the size of a matchstick and kept it in his ear; Ne Zha's flaming wheels can transform into a pair of fenghuang birds. Even your uncle's axe can appear like an ordinary woodcutting axe."
They walked towards Ursa and together they coursed through the mall.
"Oh, thank you again for the icebox, Azula", Ursa gave the girl a sideway embrace. "I can keep hot and cold stuff in it at the same time. My next class trip will be a blast!"
"You're welcome, Mother", Azula muttered. "Don't hug me in public. You're embarrassing me."
"Can you blame me for being happy?" Ursa practically squealed. "Our family is whole again."
"Well, not exactly whole, is it?" Azula's tone sounded too venomous to Zuko.
Ursa's smile wavered a little. "No, not exactly."
"Who exactly is our dad?" Azula asked, eyes focused on the floor.
Zuko turned to their mother and saw something sad glinted in her amber eyes. "Azula, you know I can't remember."
"I know", Azula said, shrugging off her mother's hand off her shoulder.
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They had lunch at the food court which was the entire eighth floor. Many options to choose from, from all five nations, and several different realms; Zuko even noticed some stores were entirely run and manned by, and catered to the supernatural. He had almost walked into a store that was entirely made of solid white marble and soft white mist, ran by beautiful girls in white frilly shirts and baggy pants who were all dark-haired and fair-skinned, when Azula dragged him away from there.
"You don't want to eat fairies' food", Azula had said, glaring at the giggling fairies. "The sugar content alone might kill you."
"This is a strange place", Zuko said again after awhile. He did not mind the meaty strips of mushroom in his noodle ramen. Azula had recommended it, saying the mushrooms they used were grown in the vicinity around an ancient slumbering dragon somewhere in the mountains, so the mushrooms had absorbed some beneficial effect from the ground. "How come I still can't see completely through the Mist?"
"Your mind needs more time to get used to it", Azula dropped a piece of meat from her fried rice to the floor where Avi was waiting. "Give it time. The sheer exposure to the supernatural in the Camp will get you there. That's how Mom can see through the Mist. She was raised here."
The vendor who sold them lunch came to their table with a plateful of cut meat and intestines. The stocky old man placed it on the floor for Avi with a friendly smile. "A little something for such a noble creature", he said to Ursa who thanked him sweetly.
"I think he likes you", Azula smirked at her mother as soon as the vendor was out of earshot.
They went home somewhere in the afternoon with take-outs for dinner and some dog equipment for Avi. The husky now had a padded blue dog bed, a couple of super tough chew toys that the seller assured them was tough enough for a baby dragon, a new leash that Avi was not very happy about, and lots of dog treats, including his favorite Milky Moo Mini Milk Bones (to appease Avi about the leash).
Avi must have liked his life here better than in the farm. Everywhere they went, people who sold food would often stop them and offer a little treat to the 'noble creature'; those who did not went on their way to bow to him and pat his head. Avi never said no.
Zuko felt tired and made a beeline to his room. He collapsed on his bed face first, suddenly feeling the sore from the training the day before. Azula barged in without knocking and Zuko looked up. "Hurry, quick!" she said urgently. "It's Lu Ten."
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When they arrived at the Temple, the Kai siblings found that the usually somber main room was filled with around a dozen campers. Zuko saw Ming, Chan the Sozin's camper, On Ji who looked worried, and others he would guess were counselors surrounding a chair that looked too small under Lu Ten's wide frame. The god grimaced through his badly bruised face and pushed Shyu's hand away. The Fire Sage was in the middle of rubbing the camp director's wound with his hand that was engulfed in the Eternal Flame.
"A little rest and some soma, and I'll be good as new", the god grinned. He was missing a couple of front teeth.
"Somebody said you lost an arm", Ming frowned.
"Bullchips!" Lu Ten huffed. "I'm very fond of my arms and nothing will ever separate me from them! They are the source of my greatest joy!"
Chan was among some of the boys who snickered; On Ji looked clueless and Ming blushed instantly.
"I-I mean pranks! Setting up pranks needs hands, people!"
"Where's Lin?" one of the guys asked. Zuko recognized him as the six feet tall, bald teenager who was Roku's Cabin head counselor.
"I haven't seen him all day", Ming frowned and looked around. Zuko suddenly realized that the Oracle was not with them.
"He's in the forest", Shyu answered. "He's trying to negotiate with the mountain spirits to help with the defense of the camp."
"Outrageous!" Lu Ten exclaimed. "He's the Oracle. He's not supposed to concern himself with our Camp's defense! It's your job, guys! What have you been doing?!"
Shyu explained patiently. "We were attacked by the wraith Zhao", he said. "Lin is the only one in Camp Agni who stands a chance to go up against Zhao if he comes again."
Lu Ten seemed to ponder on this. "True", he grumbled. Then he closed his eyes and when he opened them his eyes were a pair of burning amber disks. "I don't see Lin anywhere in the forest… I don't see him anywhere on camp grounds", he blinked and his eyes went back to normal. "Sozin and Iroh!" he commanded. "Send scouting parties to the forest immediately. Locate our Oracle!"
Ming nodded curtly; the Sozin's kids exclaimed 'hoo-ah' like a bunch of marines. They darted out of the Temple after without another word.
Then, Lu Ten turned to the rest of the counselors. "Ursa's Cabin—"
"We'll prepare for emergency medical treatment", the head counselor –a kind looking brown-haired girl around Zuko's age, clad in tattered jeans and a simple black T shirt- replied.
"Also form perimeter around the forest", Lu Ten added. "No one but the scouting parties is to enter the forest."
"Will do", she turned to On Ji and nodded and they both too exited the Temple.
A thin goth boy with spiky hair whom Zuko did not even notice was there spoke next. "Malu's and Ty's will see to the Camp defense", he said; the three Ty's girls groaned, but he and his two siblings stared at them coldly. The boy nodded to Lu Ten and, together, the six Malu's and Ty's children walked out.
The bald Roku's head counselor spoke. "We will send our best spirit trackers to the forest", he said with his deep voice. "Also, with your permission, we'll use the Eye."
Lu Ten snickered sourly. "Just make sure there are no more accidents this time, eh?"
The bald boy's face reddened around the cheeks and ears so fast, he now looked like he was wearing a mask. "I'll do my best", he bowed and held his siblings out of the Temple.
Lu Ten turned to the Kai siblings. Zuko and Azula looked around and noticed they were the only campers left there. Shyu sighed and packed up his medicine box. "I will join the search", he said. "I'm in a good relation with the mountain spirits. Perhaps they have some information", he inclined his head a little at the god, smiled briefly at the campers, and he too walked out.
Lu Ten's eyes narrowed at Zuko. Then, without warning, he caught Zuko by the arms and pulled themselves close together, too close for Zuko's comfort. The camper cringed as Lu Ten sniffed him. "W-what are you doin—"
"You've been talking to my dad!" Lu Ten accused. "Where is he?! Tell me! Did he mention me?!"
"W-who?"
"Avatar Iroh!" Lu Ten shook Zuko like he was ragdoll. "Bald top, long beard, big belly; kinda like Mr. Miyagi and Santa Claus combined!"
"We've told you", Azula frowned. "He came and saved us—"
"No", Lu Ten snapped, eyes glaring at Zuko. "This is different. This is recent! No more than two days!"
"W-well…" Zuko began but stopped when Lu Ten began sniffing him all over again, and shrieked a little when Lu Ten sniffed him a wee bit below the belt.
"Smells like brewed jasmine!" Lu Ten shouted.
"You're drunk", Azula said flatly.
"I'M ALWAYS DRUNK!"
Azula reached inside her pocket and pulled out a squeeze ball. She squeezed it with her thumb and Lu Ten suddenly jerked and stiffened. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"What's going on?" Zuko stepped back and bravely hid behind Azula. "Can I have that ball?" he reached for the small orange ball but Azula slapped his hand.
"That's for emergency only", Lu Ten managed to wheeze through his grimace; his body had stiffened, his shoulders squeezed, and neck angled in an awkward position as if he was being gripped by an invisible hand.
"This is an emergency", Azula said dryly. "Like last time when you got too drunk and broke into the girls' bathroom, only worse", Azula gave the ball another squeeze and Lu Ten squeaked. "I'll have you know that my dear brother is unmarried and I'll not have you sully his virtue before his time."
"Hey!" Zuko protested.
"Okay… Okay…" Lu Ten wheezed. "Uncle… Uncle!"
Azula released the ball. Lu Ten relaxed like the air was returned into him. "What can we do?" she offered. "I don't want to just sit and do nothing."
"I don't know", Lu Ten sank back in his chair and sighed.
"Lin went to negotiate with the spirits", Azula pondered. "Could it be that he was transported to the Spirit Realm? Perhaps as part of the negotiation process?"
"No", Lu Ten shook his head and nursed his still bruised face. "I can see through the Veil. I didn't see Lin in the Spirit World. Besides, I have put a mental tag on him. If he is on Camp grounds or nearby Spirit Realm, I should be able to find him easily. It works like a GPS tracker."
"So, what can we do?" Azula asked with a low, almost a whisper, tone.
Lu Ten looked resigned. "We can only wait."
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Zuko was lying on his bed, listening to music from his laptop. His mind raced with many thoughts about nothing in particular. It was five in the afternoon and suddenly a gong was heard across the island. He sat up and frowned, and he instinctively pressed the pearl on his black ring, turning it back into the knife.
Azula's head poked through his opened door and said. "Long single gong like that means everyone is invited to dinner at the Camp. Attendance is compulsory."
"Does it happen often?" Zuko asked.
"Not as often as you think", Azula stepped into view and leaned on the doorframe.
"You doing okay?" Zuko asked with a touch of concern.
Azula scowled like he had just asked her her bra size. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I mean", Zuko shrugged. "Lin's… disappeared and all."
"He will be fine", Azula stepped into the room and lazily plopped on the bed beside Zuko, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. Zuko had seen her more often in her hoodie. Now, she was in a simple black sleeveless T shirt and a pair of baggy jeans, and Zuko thought she looked smaller. "Lin can probably beat any campers in one-on-one fight."
"Was he a Black Rider?" Zuko scooched deeper into his bed and leaned his back on the wall.
"I suspect so", Azula muttered, placing one hand on her forehead. "He never tells, we never ask, but he doesn't even try to keep it a secret. His fighting style is different. When he gets bored, he would join combat training wearing his black armor. And he never hides his profound knowledge about the Underworld and the creatures that lurk in it."
"What are the Black Riders?" Zuko asked exasperatedly. He remembered asking such question to some people, but he never got any satisfying answer, or any answer at all.
"They are like us, I suppose", Azula yawned a little. She wormed deeper into the bed so she could put her bare feet up on the bed. "People don't like talking about them because many in Camp Agni consider them a taboo."
"How's that?"
"Hmm, or maybe they consider what they do a taboo; that sounds like a better statement."
"What exactly do they do?"
"Before that, do you know why we call ourselves 'half-blood'?" Azula sat up and leaned on the wall next to Zuko. "We are half mortal, half god. The 'blood' in half-blood refers to the blood of mortal, for a logical reason; gods don't have blood. They have some kind of liquid coursing through their veins and we call them ichor. Calling it blood would be like calling orange juice orange blood. Anyway, we can, technically, refer to ourselves as half-gods, or demigods. So, why half-bloods?"
Zuko shrugged.
Azula smiled a little. "We celebrate our mortality", she explained. "Also, unlike the Earth Kingdom half-bloods who proudly call themselves demigods, we expressed our humility by using the term half-bloods. We are, after all, more alike to mortals than to the gods. This should give you some idea of the reverence we, Fire Nation half-bloods, show our gods. We live to serve the gods."
"That sounds like slavery", Zuko commented.
Azula's face scrunched up a little. "Not quite. Don't use modern concept to judge our relationship with the gods that, by the way, is more ancient than civilization", Azula said. "They keep up with the time, of course; just look how Avatar Iroh showed up in front of you, with an ice box and all –I mean, why not a wooden lunchbox? Anyway, think of the relationship between the gods and the half-bloods like… uh… like a family in the olden time. You know how in TV series about kungfu and ancient times, there are usually the premise where a child is expected to carry on the family business and all; something like a child of a scholar must be a scholar too? We're a lot like that. Our 'family business' is keeping the world of mortal safe."
"But…" Zuko frowned. "They're gods", he said. "They must be omnipotent and all. Why can't they just do things themselves?"
"We have Mother of Faces, the Goddess of Nature, Mother of Earth", Azula shrugged. "And do we or do we not still have the problem with global warming?"
Zuko's eyes narrowed.
"There's a long and bloody story about the time when gods walked on earth and how they warred amongst themselves", Azula wetted her lips. "They have strict rules of conduct; one of their most important rules is that they must not act directly on the mortal realm. They may provide guidance and influence things, but they cannot get involved directly. That is where we come in: we act as agents of the gods on earth."
"What does it have to do with the Black Riders?" Zuko asked.
"Hmm? Oh, right, Black Riders. I got carried away. I do that often", Azula straightened up. "You have some understanding of how respectful we are expected to be to the gods. Now, here at Camp Agni, we conduct our combat training in the forest, sometimes we hunt monsters there; and you have seen how effective that is when we have to fight a wraith, which is technically just another form of gods. Now, what if someone were to recommend that we send campers to the Underworld, a realm that belonged to the gods and rule by gods, to fight wraiths there for the purpose of an exercise?"
Zuko thought about this for a moment. "Since the Underworld is a realm that belonged to the gods, wouldn't that be rude?"
Azula let out a humorless laugh. "Beyond rude", she grinned. "Imagine if the gods were to come here and murder our campers for sports! And yet, this is what the Black Riders do", she said. "They are called the Black Riders partly because they ride into the Underworld. Mostly, they do it to save mortals or gods who have somehow wandered there and been trapped by the vengeful wraiths. It's a good deed so not many people actually mind, but no one wants to admit it for the fear of offending the Avatars."
"I don't understand why it's a taboo."
"They practically trampled into the Underworld on regular basis, Zuko", Azula said. "Imagine if we have a biker gang who barged into our house and made a mess every weekend just because. Oh, also, entry to the Underworld for living mortals is…eh, technically forbidden. And yet, the Black Riders even set up training trips every now and then for their trainees, and I heard a rumor that they have set up bases in several realms of the Underworld. They are practically invading."
Zuko let this seep in. "Wait… didn't Uncle Noren said there was a Rider with us back then?"
Azula replied evenly as if she had given this a lot of thought. "Uncle Noren's greatest exploit would be his quest to the Underworld. It made him legendary", she said. "I would guess, around that time, he came in contact with the Riders or with Ikem personally and they became buddies. Lin knows about Uncle Noren's story, which makes it even more likely that Lin himself was a Rider."
"Are you two dating?"
"Who knows?"
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Dinner was rather quiet that night. The citizens who lived in the town surrounding Camp Agni had shown up and the usual number had more than doubled. Extra sets of tables had been set up to accommodate them. Zuko looked around the crowd and saw many campers murmuring to themselves. Mai and Ty Lee had joined them. Ming and On Ji were nowhere to be found.
As he sat there, nibbling on his steak, Zuko began to feel the pressure from the surrounding. Ursa was happy enough to be with her children and some people she knew among the relatives, beaming as she introduced Zuko to them. Azula was absentmindedly playing with her soup. Avi had disappeared again.
"Do you remember that time when you went on a quest to find the Amber of Thousand Suns?" Mai asked suddenly.
Azula looked up.
Mai continued. "A group of hopping zombies attacked the Camp. No one could do anything because… well, how can you hurt dead bodies, anyway. Lin stepped up and rounded up the hundred of them with just some talismans. I wouldn't worry too much about him."
"True, true", Ty Lee added hopefully. "Lin is very tough. He will be alright."
Azula stared at them blankly for another second and went back to playing with her soup. "I'm not worried", she said. "I just have a lot in my mind", which was true.
A gong rang; it sounded smaller and closer. A ball of flame soared through the air and landed in front of the Avatar's table. The flame spiraled and solidified into Lu Ten. The camp director was no longer bruised and battered and, when he grinned, his teeth were all intact once more.
"Good people of Camp Agni", the god spoke and his voice was loud like it came from loud speakers. "Thank you for coming. As you may have noticed, we have closed down the forest and, as I understand it, three days earlier, we suffered and intrusion by a wraith."
A loud murmur spread across the crowd.
"And now, after a thorough investigation", Lu Ten continued. "We have confirmed that our Oracle has been taken."
A loud gasp came from the crowd as a response.
"Now, now, worry not", Lu Ten raised his hand. "I have contacted some friendly spirits and local gods, and we have some lead as to where Lin has been taken to. A quest!" he spread his arms wide. "We shall send a party to retrieve our Oracle and, if possible, punish those who were responsible."
Chan rose to his feet and raised his cup. "I volunteer!" he exclaimed. "For the honor of Sozin!" he declared. His siblings all cheered and banged their fists on their tables.
"Yeah… no", Lu Ten said curtly. "This is… uh, a rather delicate matter. Also, some of our contacts have requested specific people to undertake this quest. Azula and Zuko Kai", Lu Ten called.
Zuko felt cold suddenly and exchanged a glance with Azula. Together, they stood.
"You two will go", Lu Ten continued.
Zuko glanced at his mother who sat across from him next to Azula; she looked a little terrified.
"May I ask why?" Azula asked Lu Ten with a rather icy tone.
"I will explain the specifics in private", he said. "Will you take the quest?"
"We will", Azula replied quickly.
"Good", Lu Ten spread his arms and beamed at the loud applause from the Camp. "Now, feast and enjoy yourselves."
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Which was hard to do…
If the dread of going on a quest so soon was not bad enough, some campers had come and congratulated him and Azula, and some of the more concerned ones offered battle tactics and advices that confused Zuko more than it helped. Some Sozin's campers, led by Chan, came and offered their condolences and had said something about preparing a burial shroud for him, just in case. One look from Ursa sent them packing, though.
Halfway through dinner, Lu Ten came to their table and requested the siblings to adjourn with him back to the Temple, which was okay with Zuko since he had lost his appetite anyway. Avi whined a little but he stayed with Ursa.
The trio walked in silence through the mostly deserted Camp. In the dark of night, without people around, the Cabins looked hauntingly beautiful. Zuko turned to Iroh's Cabin as he walked and frowned. In the dim light of the torches, he thought the Cabin looked… yellow. Bright yellow. If he remembered correctly, the Cabin was gray. Maybe he was just seeing things, he decided. Trick of the light.
Lu Ten led them up the Temple steps; the grand gate flung open as the camp director approached. Shyu was waiting inside by the brazier. Lu Ten growled and hastened his steps.
"We've talked about this", he snapped. "I'll not allow this."
Shyu smiled patiently and gestured with his hand politely at the Flame. Lu Ten groaned and made a hasty gesture towards Zuko and Azula, as if he was herding them closer. Then, he scooped part of the Flame and washed it over his face; Zuko hesitated for a bit but when he noticed Azula copying the gesture, Zuko followed her lead.
"We have no choice, Lu Ten", he said tiredly. "We might be dealing with forces far greater than any campers ever have. We need guidance."
"And Underworld connection", a figure in three piece suit stepped out of the shadow.
Azula pulled a small knife from her waist and threw it; Zuko pulled out his knife, pressed the pearl, and brandished his saber. Zhao slapped away the glowing throwing knife; Zuko lunged after with his saber alight with his celestial aura.
"Stop!" Lu Ten boomed. A shockwave erupted between the Kai siblings and the wraith; Zuko was stopped dead on his flight as the wave of gust hit him hard while Zhao lazily closed his eyes as the wind ruffled his suit. "We are all here in peace!" Lu Ten declared.
"Peace? With this snake?" Azula hissed.
"I am practically your uncle, girl", Zhao dusted the lapel of his suit. "You shouldn't talk to me like that."
"I'm not the one who wants to talk to you", Azula gripped the two small throwing knives she had in her hands.
"Enough", Lu Ten cut in sharply. "We are all here because we have a common interest: finding Lin and getting him back to Camp Agni."
"Why would you care about what happen to Lin?" Zuko glared at Zhao, saber still alight with his aura.
Zhao smiled a little condescendingly. "Because, whether you believe it or not, I am on your side", he said simply. "Also, your precious little Oracle has been taken to the Underworld."
"By you!" Zuko accused angrily. "This is a ruse to get us to the Underworld!"
"And you let him!" Azula turned to Lu Ten.
"I did not let anyone do anything to Lin!" Lu Ten snapped.
"I admit, having you two kids go by your own freewill to the Underworld is a nice bonus for me", Zhao shrugged. "But, I give you my word, I have nothing to do with this."
"We won't go!" Azula barked. "He will come after our mom the moment we set foot in the Underworld."
"He will not", Lu Ten said sternly. He turned to Zhao and his expression hardened. "Wraith, I want you swear by the Flame of Agni that no harm will come upon Ursa Kai", he snarled. "That you will not even show yourself to her and, should any monsters, spirits, or Underworld creatures harm her, you will be held responsible."
"That last part is hardly fair", Zhao narrowed his eyes.
"Swear it!" Lu Ten's voice boomed and echoed like thunder and it had nothing to do with the acoustic of the room.
Zhao sighed like he was bored. "I swear by the Eternal Flame of Agni", he raised his right hand.
"Now, we can move on", Shyu spoke, eyeing the Kai siblings' weapons sharply. Zuko and Azula took the hint but they stored their weapons back with hesitation. "Now, I spoke with the mountain spirits", Shyu began. "They confirmed that they did have an appointment with Lin, but he never showed up."
The sage rubbed his hands and warmed them near the Flame. "Forest sentries though saw Lin entering the forest. Whatever happened to him, happened in the forest. That much we are sure about."
"Roku's Cabin sent spirit trackers to the forest and picked up some scent", Lu Ten said next. "Lin was clearly on the way to the dwellings of the mountain spirits when, apparently, he was jumped by a dozen were-creatures."
"We have no quarrel with any were-clans", Azula said, frowning. "Although, some werewolf spirits possessed some of Zuko's classmates and Lin exorcised them. Maybe there's a misunderstanding."
"No, there isn't", Lu Ten shook his head. "The trackers picked up a variety of scent; a small pack of werewolves, sure, but also a couple of werebears, at least three wereboars, and one werelion."
"Mercenaries, most likely", Zhao offered. He returned the Kai siblings' renewed glare with a smirk. "Wereboars and werelions are sworn enemies. Whoever can get these two clans to work together must wield some terrifying influence."
"And you know something", Lu Ten said with a growl. "You know who is behind this."
"Nope", Zhao straightened up. "I did hear some chatter in the Underworld, about Yon-Rha, the Wraith of South Hall, catching and bringing an Oracle to his domain. He made a big fuss about it. The Underworld is a boring place, it's understandable."
"We need more", Lu Ten snapped.
"And I will give you more", Zhao said with a mocked patience. "The closest entrance to Yon-Rha's South Hall Realm of the Underworld is on the mainland, to the south, of course. The Broken Island, I'm sure you know where that is."
Sure, every Fire Nation knew where the Broken Island was: the small detached part on the southernmost part of Fire Nation's Main Island.
"Before that, obviously you will need some protection against the miasma of the Underworld", Zhao explained. "So, your first stop will have to be due north of the Main Island", he said. "You must visit the Sun Warriors' Ancient Temple City."
"Why?" Zuko demanded.
"Why? Isn't that obvious?" Zhao sneered. The blank look on Zuko's face was the answer he needed. "Right, a newbie."
Zuko was tempted to strangle the wraith.
"You will need the Black Riders' help", the wraith said. "To survive the miasma of the Underworld, you need to receive the protection of the dragons."
"And… the Black Riders have… dragons?"
"Ha! Why do you think they are called the Black Riders, boy? What do you think they ride?" Zhao laughed. "They ride dragons into the Underworld."
Zuko's eyes widened.
"Well, anyway", Zhao clapped his hands and looked around with a smug smile. "I'm guessing you will take friends with you; four questers being the norm and all. But, if –and I'm emphasizing on 'if' here- if you decide to duo this, then, by all means, go right ahead to Broken Island", his smiled widened to a much crueler version. "This is a free information for you two, consider it a token of goodwill", Zhao tugged on the front of his suit. "The Kais mother and children will not suffer the Underworld miasma nor come to harm by the hands of any manners of undead creatures."
"Because whoever you work for wills it?" Azula hissed.
"Well… in your mother's case, yes. You two, however", Zhao paused for an evil laugh. "You two… well, I don't want to ruin the surprise. Just think on it yourselves", he looked around, looking very pleased with himself. "Now, I believe my part is done here. I do wish you two good luck", he inclined his head towards the Kai siblings and disappeared in a puff of noxious smoke.
Lu Ten huffed. "What a freak."
Shyu turned to the director, then to the siblings. "Will you two go on this quest on your own, or will you take companions? You are allowed two."
"I will go alone", Azula said quickly. "I don't want to be responsible for anyone's demise in the Underworld. Also, I don't see why Zuko should come. He's not ready."
"From what I understand, Zuko has had more encounters with danger than most campers have", Lu Ten argued. "And his natural skill with celestial aura, while still crude, is almost on par with the best we have, even almost as strong as Lin's."
"He is not ready", Azula seethed, glaring at Lu Ten.
Zuko turned to her and frowned. "I will go", Zuko argued. "I will not just sit around and do nothing."
"And I will feel better if both my babies are together", a wavering voice said from the entrance. Ursa stood there, framed by the torchlight. Her long hair and coat fluttered in the night breeze with Avi at her side. The lady stepped into the Temple and bowed politely to Shyu and Lu Ten. She scooped some Eternal Flame and washed it over her face, as per the ritual. Smiling calmly, she turned to her children.
"Lin is like a son to me", she said. "You two, brother and sister, will go", she ordered. "Azula, you are my brave girl, I know that. But, you cannot do everything alone; you need help sometimes. Zuko, you are new to all of this, but you're still the big brother. Go with Azula; this will be a good opportunity to learn. Also, keep each other safe and bring back that boy home so I can scold him for going to the forest without weapons, understood?"
"Mom—", Azula began but Ursa's hard stare silenced her.
Ursa turned to Shyu and Lu Ten, and smiled politely. "I believe their answer is 'yes'."
"…Adopt me…" Lu Ten gushed.
Shyu elbowed Lu Ten lightly; the god snapped himself out of it.
"Right, right… uh… where were we… oh yes! Zuko and Azula will go, only the two of you", Lu ten said. "Wait, you guys won't bring anyone with you, right?"
"Does Avi count?" Ursa asked.
"Oh, no. animal companions are counted as tools."
"Woof! Grrrr….."
"Down, poochie."
"I will feel more at peace if you two bring more people with you, but I understand if you don't want to put anybody else in danger", Ursa sighed.
"Right…" Lu Ten grimaced a bit. "It's a no-win— Shyu, no!"
But too late… the Fire Sage had washed his eyes with the Eternal Flame. For an agonizingly long eight seconds, nothing was heard but the stricken low choking sound that came out of Shyu. The voice subsided slowly and agonizingly even to those who heard it, like the last sound a dying man makes. When Shyu spoke next, his eyes were not the color of the Eternal Flame. They were twin disks of burning amber.
"The First of Lives shall guide the four,
who share bonds of blood and oath.
Allies they find amongst warriors of old lore,
where the past rests due north.
To the Hunt they brave, as many as days,
to he who sees, shackled and held where the land meets the flood.
Beware, o' she who seeks what is forbidden,
suffer at the end of your way the treachery of your blood."
Shyu gasped and his eyes went back to normal. He staggered and crumpled to his knees. Lu Ten and Ursa were instantly by his side.
"I-I-I'm alright…" he wheezed. He did not look alright. The Fire Sage was trembling and his lips quivered… he looked afraid. He looked like he had just been tortured. "I-I need some rest… is all…"
"And you will", Lu Ten managed to sound a little angry. "You will, you foolish old man."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Azula and Zuko sat at the top of the steps, watching a few campers on night shift walking around the Camp below. Finally, Zuko spoke. "What was that?"
"A prophecy", Azula muttered.
"Did that always happen?"
"Not since Lin became the Oracle."
Zuko scratched his head. "What do you mean?"
Azula sighed and leaned back on her hands. "Before Lin, there was this old lady. When this old lady… did that Oracle thing, she gave prophecies like what Shyu just did", her head tilted towards Zuko. "Prophecies are basically a higher power speaking through the Oracle, and they always speak in riddle."
"And Lin…?"
"What Lin receives is more 'visions' than prophecies. He sees the future as it is and conveys it", Azula said simply. "Like when he saw in the future that I talked to you in Hira'a and you were supposed to have a scar, that was what he said. He didn't say something like 'the awesome girl speaketh to the scarred boy in the place where livestock stinketh supreme'."
Zuko chuckled a little, he could not help it. Azula sniffed a little and turned her gaze upwards towards the cloudy sky. "We're not going alone, after all", she said.
"Because the prophecy said 'The First of Lives shall guide the four who share bonds of blood and oath'?" Zuko guessed. "Who is the 'First of Lives'?"
"Easy: dragons", Azula answered.
"Why dragons?"
"You know the story of how Agni pleaded the Avatars to save the world?"
"Yeah, everyone knows that."
"Agni turned into the First and Eternal Flame and gave birth to the first entities since the eruption of Tratakoa. The dragons were born of Agni's Flame, Agni's very soul, the first lives since the eruption. Where do you think we get our Eternal Flame from? And how do we have so many of them?" Azula asked. "Every eight years, the Avatars send a dragon to Camp Agni to breathe into the brazier in the Temple. That's why the front entrance is so big, by the way."
"But, I thought the Flame can't run out. It's eternal, right?" Zuko frowned.
"It is", Azula shrugged. "The dragon's visit is mostly symbolic."
Zuko nodded. "And what about 'the four who share bonds of blood and oath'?" he then frowned. "We don't have two more siblings somewhere here, right?"
"You, me, Mai, and Ty Lee."
"They're our sisters?!"
"No, dum-dum", Azula narrowed her eyes at her brother. She sat up and took off the right side her hoodie. She wore her baggy sleeveless T shirt underneath. Azula slid the T shirt off her right shoulder and in the dim torchlight, Zuko could barely make out the mark she had on her skin; a curvy line pointing upward, dark and contrasting her fair complexion.
"It looks like…"
"Fire Nation insignia", Azula said. "The middle part. Ty Lee has the right, Mai has the left."
"What does it mean?"
"An oath of sisterhood. We three are sworn sisters. You and me share the bond of blood; me and them share the bond of oath."
"Like in kungfu series?"
"Just like in kungfu series."
"That's cool."
"I feel smacking you in the face."
"Why?"
"I dunno", Azula huffed, shrugging her T shirt and her hoodie back on. "Anyway, just like Zhao said, we will go 'north where the past rest', the home base of the Black Riders."
"Are they're the 'warriors of old lore' the prophecy talks about?" Zuko guessed.
"Yup", Azula concurred. "At least it guarantees that we will receive support from the Riders and the dragon."
"'To the Hunt they brave, as many as days'", Zuko recounted.
"It might mean the South Hall of the Underworld", Lu Ten said. The Kai siblings turned around and the frat boy god padded towards them, his steps heavy. He wedged himself between the siblings, forcing the two to move a little. "The South Hall of the Underworld is also known as the Hunting Ground", Lu Ten explained, resting his arm on his knees and netting his thick fingers together. "Yon-Rha and his Southern Raiders hunt the souls of monsters and the sinners there for their amusement."
"Southern Raiders?" Zuko frowned.
"Abomination", Lu Ten barked. "Mortals and half-bloods who pledge their loyalties to the Underworld. Their souls are infused with the miasma, granting them immortality in return of eternal servitude."
"And that is bad, isn't it?" Zuko said.
"They have become something less than human", Lu Ten gripped his hands. "No conscience, morals, or ethics; the perfect killing machines. On the downside, they rely on the miasma to keep themselves alive, like addicts."
"Joy", Zuko muttered.
"And the rest of the prophecy", Azula said. "'He who sees', obviously Lin, is'shackled and held where the land meets the flood' in the South Hall? What does that mean?"
Lu Ten exhaled heavily. "I've been to the Underworld only once; it was a brief visit and I never made it to the South Hall", he confessed. "I am not sure. For all I know, the Black Riders know more about the place than I do."
"'Beware, o' she who seeks what is forbidden'", Zuko continued. "Who is that? What is forbidden?"
Azula raised her hand lazily. "Probably me", she said, shocking the two boys. "As for what is forbidden…" she placed a finger on her temple. "…the truth about my father. Do you know who he is?" he asked Lu Ten.
"No, I don't", Lu Ten said.
"He is supposed to be your dad's brother who is forbidden to sire half-bloods."
"About a dozen gods fit that description."
"Is my father Ozai?"
Lu Ten's mouth parted. "Whatever gave you that idea?!"
Azula titled her head a little.
"Okay… sure, Ozai is my father's brother who is also forbidden to sire half-bloods", he began. "But, that is absurd! Ozai hasn't left the Underworld in… millennia!"
"Zhao said Zuko and I won't need the dragon's protection from the Underworld miasma", Azula persisted. "He said no undead creatures of the Underworld would harm us and it's not even because Ozai orders them not to! What else could that mean but that it's because we have Ozai's blood running in our vein!"
Lu Ten grabbed the girl and let her sob in his broad arms.
"Please tell me I'm wrong…" she cried bitterly. Zuko's heart ached just at the sight. "Please tell me Ozai is not my father…" Azula pleaded again.
"He's not your father!" Lu Ten spat harshly. Then, his voice mellowed. "He is not your father. I don't care what, he is never your father."
Zuko watched his sister cry in their cousin's arms and was unable to say a word.
'…suffer at the end of your way the treachery of your blood…'
He wondered how and why he was going to betray Azula.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Zuko growled and grunted, rolled on his bed, and buried his head under his pillow. Whoever was at the front door knocking like he was being chased ghosts was so inconsiderate. Even Avi woke up and barked towards Zuko's door. The husky leaped and pushed Zuko's leg and, when Zuko refused to wake up, leaped onto the bed and licked his face.
"Gaaahhh!" Zuko exclaimed and pushed the dog away. "No treats for you!" he grumbled and got down from the bed. He stretched his way to the door and got out of the hallway. He instinctively turned to the direction of his mother's room but then he remembered that Ursa had stayed behind at the Temple after volunteering to take care of Shyu.
Lazily, Zuko dragged his feet to the living room, rubbing his sleepy eyes. He felt a brush at his leg and knew Avi had gone ahead. Before he even reached the living room, he heard Avi's friendly bark. Azula had opened the door, looking just as messy as he was in her blue pajamas, hair messy and shoulder slumped; Zuko added that to their brother-and-sister resemblance, both were not morning people. On Ji was at the door bouncing and squealing with wild eyes, like he was OD with caffeine or sugar. The bags under her bulgy eyes were big and dark. Zuko arrived just in time to see his sister fall victim to the younger girl's tight hug.
"It's not him! It's not him!" On Ji kept shouting.
"What are you talking about?" Azula asked groggily, trying to free herself.
On Ji let go and grinned widely, holding Azula at arms-length. "It's not him! I double-checked, I tripled-checked, I… whatever checked for the fourth time is! There is absolutely no unexplained supernatural anomaly on those dates! I even checked the time in between just to be safe, and nada! It is NOT him!"
Then, Azula pulled the girl into her tight embrace.
Zuko decided he was dreaming.
Azula cooked breakfast that day; it was the most horrible scrambled egg Zuko had ever had. Around lunchtime, they had already packed for the quest and decided to eat somewhere in the town. Zuko suggested the mall since there were some selections he was still curious about and was itching to try, and Azula did not complain.
Mai and Ty Lee were standing in front of their door when the siblings just about to go out.
"Have you two been standing long?" Azula frowned.
"Yes, but that's not the point", Mai said coldly.
"Why didn't you knock?" Azula asked incredulously.
"We wanna be dramatic", Mai put down her bag at her feet. Ty Lee looked lost then she copied Mai's gesture. Zuko suspected they had rehearsed this.
"We are coming with you", Ty Lee said firmly, as firmly as she could get with that round pinchable cheeks anyway; it was not easy to take her seriously. "We will not take no for an answer."
"Alright", Azula pushed Zuko out and locked the door behind her. "But you two are paying for lunch."
Mai and Ty Lee exchanged a glance. "See, I told you she's gonna do something like that", Ty Lee complained. "We should've just come at the last minute."
Azula was not kidding about getting Mai and Ty Lee to pay for their lunch. Zuko's mood lightened up at the sight of the three. Azula had cheered up a little too and Zuko suspected it had something to do with On Ji's visit that morning. As he was picking on his fries, Zuko asked the girls more about the celestial aura; he still had the inflated feeling inside him from the time when Lu Ten compared his natural skill at using celestial aura to some of the best campers they had.
"Like I said before, it takes rigorous training for anyone to actually bring up their aura, much less to use it in combat", Azula said.
"But, it feels so easy", Zuko insisted. "I mean, I just… do it."
"We know, don't rub it in", Azula grumbled.
Ty Lee giggled. "But, it is amazing how Zuko can hold his aura so long. Even the best in Sozin's and Iroh's Cabins can only bring up their aura a few seconds before they attack."
"The only beings that can hold out their aura indefinitely are the gods", Mai added.
"Do the Riders also use celestial aura?" Zuko asked interestedly.
"Obviously", Azula dipped her fries in ketchup. "All trained half-bloods use celestial aura for combat. In fact, mortals do too, though they may not see the aura itself. They call it 'qi' or 'ki' or 'prana'. You're a martial artist before all this happened. You must have heard or even studied the concept."
"Yeah… but…" Zuko felt slightly violated. Qi is the core of many martial arts he had learnt, especially wushu. And to think that it was something… different that he had learnt of them…
"We have many accounts in history", Azula shrugged, popping the fries in her mouth. "And I mean, historical accounts and not just some myth, about great martial artists who were said to 'shine' with power, especially when they were meditating."
"I've studied the basics of qi", Zuko insisted. "How come I didn't manifest my celestial aura sooner?"
The three girls exchanged a dumbfounded glance and then they burst out a snigger, even Mai. "The same reason mortals who are never exposed to all this…" Azula gestured around. "…could go on living to a very old age and would never ever suspect that anything supernatural is around them. In the ancient days, mortals understood the celestial aura, just as they had believed in the supernatural and could see through the Mist."
"Mortals have grown too proud of their logics", Mai flipped a leaf of lettuce and drew a smiley face with a ketchup squirt bottle. "Things that lurk in the shadows became a hallucination, the gods became myths, and monsters became urban legends. As the concept of celestial aura, which was supposed to be as easy as breathing and blinking an eye, grew into something so… what the word they use?"
"Sophisticated", Azula smirked.
"Yes… sophisticated…." Mai folded her lettuce carefully. "Just another word for 'wrong' and 'perverted'", she popped the lettuce into Ty Lee's mouth.
"Don't be grossed out, they do that often", Azula said to Zuko. Ty Lee feeding her a cherry tomato made her change her previous statement into. "We do this often."
"Yes", Ty Lee giggled. "And sometimes it gets steamy."
"Really?" Zuko gulped.
"No", Mai said then turned to Azula. "Dum-dum. I get it now."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Lu Ten personally drove them to the main city in the small island. He was crossing the bridge connecting the main Crescent Island to the small island when he asked the group. "Like my ride?"
"Woof!"
The girls did not have an answer, neither did Zuko.
Lu Ten's personal ride was… a van. It was obviously old, at least a few decades old, might have been first batch, too, but it ran smoothly enough despite the slight metallic creak that could be heard from time to time. The interior… and exterior of the van were so… Lu Ten. An explosion of colors graced the exterior; base of turquoise invaded beyond recognition by every imaginable colors and every imaginable shapes and patterns, forming something akin to an impressionist artwork.
The interior was a nightmare for ADHD. The dashboard were lined with small plastic toys that Zuko recognized as gifts from the purchase of kiddy meals in numerous fast food chain, including some limited editions. Lining the windshield on the inside was a line of short bright yellow tassels. The rearview mirror was shaped like an elongated Batman symbol. The wheel was covered by red fur covering. The wide front passenger seat where Azula and Ty Lee were seated was fashioned to look like a couple polar bear; it had stuffed polar bear heads on the headrests and the seat belt had a white furry claw on it. Lu Ten's own seat looked like it was made entirely of rattan wicker and it had a cup holder on the left side. It held a squeeze plastic bottle that bore resemblance to Jessica Rabbit with a short stubby straw jutting out of its puckered red lips.
The middle space had two long seats attached to the sides and the middle area was free. Avi sat on the floor between the seats with Mai and Zuko siting on opposite sides. That part of the car looked like a giant painting; every inch of the floor, the interior wall and roof, even the seat cushion were covered by many small colorful murals, ranging from childish stick figures to the rather impressive Renaissance style portrait of a man Zuko now realized was Lu Ten. The back of the car was separated by a thin and short partition from the middle area and Zuko could see a cacophony of objects stuffed carelessly in there: a drum set, at least three electric guitars, coils of wires running through the mess like noodles, two beat-up dao sabers, a garden gnome, a red Fire Temple Almanac, and, for some reason, a four feet tall golden statue of Avatar Azulon, among other things.
Zuko's head hurt just by looking at those paintings.
To distract his mind from the invasion of shapes and color, Zuko raised his point again. "Using celestial aura can't be that difficult!"
"Yes, yes, we know it's easy for you, big brother", Azula sighed tiredly. "It's called natural talents. They happen sometimes. Like Sun Wukong mastering the art of magical transformation and flight in almost no time at all. So, rejoice! You are naturally talented, like a certain monkey was. Now shut up because Lu Ten is trying to kill us!"
Yes, Lu Ten drove through the crowded traffic in a van with the skills that would make the cast of Fast & Furious franchise jealous. Strangely, no other drivers seemed to notice. It was as if the swaying rickety colorful death contraption on wheels was completely invisible.
The girls on the front screamed as Lu Ten made an impossible slip between a trailer and a school bus. Azula, seated directly next to Lu Ten, launched a sideway punch on the god's thick arm.
"Oww! You hurt me! You're always hurting me!"
"Can you drive like a normal person?!"
"You know I can't! I've never been a normal person!"
"BRAKEEE!" Ty Lee screamed
The van screeched to stop right before it hit the butt of a Volvo in front of it. "Phew", Lu Ten wiped his forehead, grinning wide. Azula was hyperventilating, rubbing her chest where her heart was. Ty Lee cringed and melted onto her seat. Avi looked excited and barked happily. Mai, reading a small book with cover of completely black leather, looked unaffected, despite all the swaying. Zuko swallowed hard and regretted the lunch he had had.
Lu Ten slouched back. He was completely unaffected by his insane driving and the busy traffic or the loud peals of totting from the other vehicles around them. The traffic had stopped for some reason. Zuko was suddenly on edge and he noticed Azula's shoulder had tensed as well. Despite what Azula had said about monster attack being minimal in Crescent Island, owing to the fact that Camp Agni was located here, they could not just dismiss the fact that both siblings were attacked twice in this Island outside the Camp. That was the reason why Lu Ten insisted that he drove them to the airport himself.
Keeping his hands netted behind his back, Lu Ten sighed contentedly. "Been awhile since the last time I drive", his bright amber eyes scanned them from the rearview mirror. "I sense that you guys are worried."
"Yes, though not the reason you might have in mind", Ty Lee muttered, looking green.
Lu Ten laughed. "Lin would be fine. Don't worry."
"Ty Lee's right; we're worried about something else", Azula said. "And this is new, considering you were ready to tear down the forest to locate our Oracle."
"I was in shock. Maybe", Lu Ten shrugged easily. "Hmm… I just realized something", he lowered his arms and swiveled a little on his seat, frowning at them. "All of you have known Lin only as Oracle, right?"
All eyes were now fixed on Lu Ten, even Mai lowered her book. They sensed a good story coming. Lu Ten smirked in a way that made Zuko truly believe that he was related to Azula.
"Maybe this will give you some idea of what Lin is truly capable of", Lu Ten grinned. "Remember what I said about the spirit trackers finding out that at least two werebears, three wereboars, a small pack of werewolves, and one werelion were involved in the kidnapping? How do you think the trackers came up with such specific numbers and details?"
Something clicked in Azula's mind. "The scent of monsters in the forest would have masked any lingering smell of the werecreatures… unless…"
"Yes", Lu Ten grinned wider. "The trackers found piles of ash there and came up with those findings. It had taken more than those numbers to subdue and kidnap our unarmed Oracle; our unarmed Oracle who took down two werebears, three wereboars, one werelion, and a small pack of werewolves before he got kidnapped."
"Whoa…" came from the four half-bloods.
Lu Ten laughed. "I have lived a long time, people, for millennia", he said with his grin still wide. "In all the time I've been alive, I've only met a handful of people throughout human history who were as ruthless a fighter as Lin. So, no, I do not fear for Lin; I do pity the fools who have obviously pissed him off", he reached for his Jessica Rabbit bottle and pressed the lips of the figurine to his.
"NOOO!" the girls screamed.
Zuko suddenly remembered of Lu Ten's curse and had yet another 'oh…' moment. The rest of their journey to the airport, Zuko would never ever forget.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Their flight was delayed due to a sudden heavy fog. Again, this set off an alarm in Zuko's head and, from the looks of it, among his half-blood companions too. Lu Ten was just as nonchalant. The girls got bored waiting and Ty Lee had decided to drag them to the duty-free shops. Zuko sat on a bench next to Lu Ten. He was hunched over, right index rubbing the black ring on his left index, ready to spring up his saber at moment's notice.
Lu Ten slouched with right leg up on his left knee, foot waving, arms splayed across the bench and he was singing to the songs from his IPod. He sounded like tortured poultry but, Zuko noticed, nobody seemed to mind. A small child had even come, tapped his crossed leg and smiled a toothless grin at him; Lu Ten had exclaimed happily and pulled out a candy bar from his supposedly empty breast pocket for the child. A group of young backpacking college girls giggled as they walked past them; one of them winked at Lu Ten who replied by blowing a kiss that caused more giggling.
"I love this world", Lu Ten declared to Zuko. The latter could still see some rosy tint on his cheeks and smelt leftover alcohol in his breath so he did not take it to heart.
"You said there were a few people who could fight like Lin. Who were they?" Zuko asked.
"Well, for starter..." Lu Ten pulled out the earbuds from his ears. "I said there were few fighters as ruthless as Lin", he smacked his lips, obviously thirsty but the girls had hidden his Jessica Rabbit bottle somewhere at the back of his car; Zuko doubted it would ever be found again. "And let's see… hmm, there is Zhao Zilong."
"From the Three Kingdoms Era?" Zuko's eyes widened.
"Yup", Lu Ten said. "He was Earth Kingdom, though. Now that was a man worthy to be called a demigod. The way he broke through the barricade of nearly one million soldiers back and forth to save a baby, not to mention that the enemy soldiers were not exactly humans."
Zuko remembered the story that had been adapted into dozens of movies and TV series and he did not remember the story ever saying anything about non-human soldiers or Zhao Zilong, the Little Dragon, being a god spawn. Then, he remembered the conversation he had had with the girls at lunch.
"There was one from the Yang Clan", Lu Ten suddenly sounded gloomy. "Son of Iroh, practically my brother. I don't remember his name, you have to excuse me; the Yang Clan was famed at the time for producing generations of heroes. This particular one, I did not even notice until I heard of his heroic death. He alone led a desperate decoy maneuver to let his defeated lord escape from thousands of enemy soldiers. They said he fought like a devil and killed hundreds of soldiers and the enemies decided to loose arrows at him, and yet he kept fighting. When they finally killed him, in their hatred and fear, they burnt his body. When the fire died down, they found several pounds of arrowheads in the ashes."
"Wow…"
"Yep, wow", Lu Ten made a Fire Nation hand gesture over his solar plexus and closed his eyes for a few seconds to pay his respect. "Then there is Takkuro, the Water Tribe pirate king; they made a movie about him recently", Lu Ten perked up. "He battled the Ancient Dragon of the North Sea and had almost become the first demigod to kill a primordial entity."
"What happened to him?" Zuko asked interestedly.
Lu Ten shrugged. "He made the mistake of lighting up his celestial aura when he was delivering his killing blow; his blade bounced off the Ancient Dragon's neck harmlessly and Takurro got eaten."
"Wait, what?" Zuko's eyes widened.
Lu Ten's brow arched up. "Surely, you have noticed by now. Our celestial aura is a great force when used against evil. But, it is a pure and holy power, little cousin; it simply cannot harm mortals or celestial beings."
"Huh…" Zuko frowned and let it sink in. True, using celestial aura on Chan had not killed him, just like Avatar Iroh had suggested in his mind. He also remembered how Azula's celestial aura seemed to have been ineffective when she fought against Zhao, who, Zuko had to begrudgingly admit, was technically a god, and it seemed to support this new revelation; just as this thought occurred, he suddenly remembered the time Lin had battled Zhao and how Zhao had been wounded by Lin's attack. He told this to Lu Ten.
"Ah, yes", Lu Ten turned to him and looked excited. "Just like any other skills, celestial aura has different levels of proficiency as well. I mean, we do have stories where gods were wounded accidentally by godly weapons, or even intentionally, since, in the past, we did have a celestial civil war or two. Lin's celestial aura technique is… eh, different. He uses the Riders' technique and, over the centuries, the Black Riders have learnt to develop a special aura to combat the wraiths."
"Why don't we learn to do that as well at Camp Agni?" Zuko asked.
"No!" Lu Ten said firmly. "That is asking for trouble. If it can hurt wraiths, technically, it can hurt the gods as well. Urgh…" Lu Ten grimaced. "I guess you're lucky you've never had to be an unclaimed child in Ursa's Cabin", he said with a sad twinge in his voice. "Though, you are, as of now, officially unclaimed by your father, whoever he is, so maybe you can sympathize a little. Many of such children resent their unknown godly parents and you must understand it. They were thrust into this complicated and often dangerous world without their consent and their godly parent can't even be bothered to send their sigil to float and shine over their heads, which was as easy as snapping their fingers, by the way."
"You fear a rebellion", Zuko said without meaning to sound accusatory, but he did anyway.
Lu Ten smiled bitterly. "Apparently", he said. "Avatar Azulon is a little paranoid, which is why the subject of the Black Riders is not always an open topic. Their existence is ignored if not loathed by the Avatars", Lu Ten lowered his voice and leaned closer. "Just between you and me, I'd say you were right: the gods feared open rebellion."
A loud thunder cracked the sky outside the airport, shaking the whole establishment and surprising the people. "Oops", Lu Ten smirked to the ceiling without any remorse.
The girls and Avi came back with bags of souvenirs. "We got something for you!" they declared to Lu Ten.
"Yay, presents!" Lu Ten clapped his hands gleefully. At the sight of the myriad of chocolate liquor, his mood plunged. "Oh, gee, thanks."
"Only the best for our camp director", Azula smirked impishly. "Also, we saw the announcement board. Our plane is ready for boarding."
"Well, alright then", Lu Ten got up and spread his arms wide; the girls scattered but he caught Ty Lee who was too slow. "You take care now!" he planted a wet kiss on Ty Lee's reluctant forehead. "You too!" he reached for Azula who struggled mightily. "Be safe, baby cousin", he crushed the girl in a giant hug. He was about to go for Mai next but the goth girl slid out a knife from the sleeves of her jacket; Lu Ten settled for a handshake.
Zuko snickered at the sight. He gathered up his bag and stood up. Azula knelt and put both hands at the sides of Avi's head so their eyes met. "You won't be coming with us, boy", she said, scratching the sides of Avi's head. "I don't trust Zhao so you have to stay and protect Mom, okay?"
Avi whined sadly and it sounded like. "Ya…."
"Good boy", Azula hugged the dog and got up. She had her backpack and a pouch carrying her bow and swords, and a dark long pouch Zuko knew held Lin's sword. "Don't wait up", she said to Lu Ten.
"Behave", Lu Ten said seriously with a smile. "The Black Riders follow a different path. Show respect and they will return the courtesy."
-0-0-0-0-0-
In their private jet, the girls and Zuko talked more about the supernatural that was their lives. Zuko had just asked them if the werecreatures that had taken Lin were any different to the ones that had attacked Zuko at Hira'a.
"Interesting point", Mai said though she was clearly not interested enough to look up from her book.
"Umm, I'm guessing yes?" Ty Lee said. "Those students in Hira'a were possessed, right? It's not like they were real werewolves."
"Yup", Azula had put her belongings in the overhead compartment and she had the pouch that contained Lin's sword on her lap. "To answer other questions that would have surely come up, let Ty Lee explain it the long way."
Mai wisely scooched away from Azula; Ty Lee got up and ran to the direction of the bathroom.
"Some sisters. Let me explain it the long way", Azula cleared her throat. "Now, surely you have heard of the stories, perhaps in the Journey to the West, about how animals who came into contact with some holy objects or stayed for a long time near a holy hermit or something, they became spirits because they absorbed the holy aura. They developed intellect that is similar to that of a human, they gained the ability to speak and even assume human forms, and they could live for centuries. Some, after long cultivation, were even able to become guardian spirits of a mountain or a forest or something."
Zuko nodded.
"Well, they are not monsters."
Zuko narrowed his eyes.
"They are what we call nature spirits. However, sometimes, nature spirits became tainted with Underworld miasma that escaped to the earth and they develop evil in their soul. They then became monsters. When you kill a monster, you kill the body; the soul, due to the miasma in it, will be drawn back to the Underworld to be reformed and reborn. They will eventually step out of the Underworld with new bodies. Now, the creatures that attacked you were the spirits of monsters that have not yet truly reformed their physical bodies. They could not survive long in the physical world without a body, so they possessed human hosts. By the way, that is how the first of the wereclans came into beings."
"Werecreatures are basically human with dead monsters soul in them?"
"Not quite… or rather, not anymore. The first generation, yes. They, however, procreated with other humans or other nature spirits and their offspring carries the taint in their souls, turning them into pure werecreatures. You see, if there is a human now that is possessed by a nature spirit, we can exorcise the spirit out; you cannot exorcise a born werecreature because the taint is part of his very existence. It would be like trying to exorcise the Fire Nation out of me. What would become of me then?"
Zuko nodded again. "But, not all monsters are werecreatures, right?"
"Yup. Werecreatures, in essence, are monsters that have fused with human bodies souls."
"So, the human side is dead?"
"If the process involves longtime possession or direct infection of a normal human like by biting or blood transfusion, then yes. However, remember that sometimes werecreatures, or even nature animal spirits might mate with humans. In the former case, the offspring is always werecreatures; nature spirits have about 50-50 chance of producing a werecreature offspring with humans. This second generation offspring is not just malevolent spirits in a human shell. They have humanity in them, conscience. They are not necessarily monsters. We have a thunder god who was born a werecreature; can't seem to recall his name but his is a were-eagle. He performed meritorious deeds in his mortal life so he was elevated to godhood."
Zuko looked at his sister blankly.
"Too much to take in?"
"So much…"
"Good", Azula smirked. "A fool would brush it aside and insist to treat all this in black and white: human good, monsters bad. Those people disgust me."
-0-0-0-0-0-
They arrived in the Capitol International Sea and Air Terminal around half past four in the afternoon. The grand establishment, sitting directly on the eastern bank of the Capital Island had once been called Royal Plaza where grand procession would take place when Fire Lords of the past welcomed foreign dignitaries or returning war heroes.
The grand granite towers and walls were remnants of their proud past, along with the gold-lined slanted roof that formed a U, framing a wide and vast airfield. A completely new addition had been placed along the shore, built in a fashion similar to the gray granite, red trim, and gold-lined maroon slanted roof of the plaza; it was the sea terminal where numerous ships of various sizes, shapes, and nationalities were moored.
Zuko had always wanted to visit the Capitol. After all, this was his ideal college destination. The airport was packed full with people. Zuko guessed they were mostly vacationers on early winter break. Azula led them to a cab and gave an address to a hotel where they would be spending the night.
Along the way, Zuko thought he saw… stuff. Like in the mall at Camp Agni, only on a bigger scale. People who were part man, part animals walked among the mortals, fairies in faint shimmering light, a dog on leash that Zuko could have sworn had six legs, and a giant twenty feet tall samurai warrior in red armor stood on top of a tall pagoda like a silent sentinel.
Mai, seated next to Zuko, elbowed him. "Don't stare", she said.
The samurai warrior, as they approached the corner where the pagoda was located, turned his masked face and stared directly at Zuko with glowing red eyes. Zuko gasped and sat back.
"He's a friendly god", Mai explained in a low whisper. "But, it doesn't mean he likes to be stared at."
They arrived at a humble hotel called Rose Inn, a simple two storey hotel with red brick wall and a stylish symbol of a rose above the double door entrance. The lighting in the lobby was soft as they relied more on the sunlight from the opened wall at the back that led directly to center of the square-shaped establishment, which was a grand rose garden surrounding a swimming pool.
The staff wore maroon shirt with a red rose pinned on the chest. The receptionist, a pretty girl in her twenties, whose eyes were bright amber set under delicate brows, with button nose, pink soft lips and delicate looking jaw, looked up as she brush a strand of her jet black long hair that escaped from a simple clip on the side of her face. She caught the sight of the half-bloods and her face lit up.
"Azula!" she exclaimed and beamed. Zuko thought she looked very familiar….
The girl rounded the long marble counter and rushed towards them. She plucked the hooded raven haired girl and hugged her briefly. "It's been awhile", the receptionist called. "Lu Ten called. Your rooms are ready", she snapped her fingers and one of the bellhops waiting on standby came. "Go and freshen up. We'll talk at dinner."
"Kay", was all Azula said.
The girls were given a room next to Zuko's. Naturally, Zuko would sleep alone. He showered quickly and changed. He laid out his new utility belt on the bed. Azula had given him a crash course on the contents of each pouch. On the very left, there was a long thin brush and a tube of red ink for performing basic magic (Azula did not teach him how to do the magic yet), next to it was a small pouch that contained a small box of soma, and next was a pouch that contained a wad of yellow paper talismans, and next to it a pouch that held a small first aid kid, including a tube of Eternal Flame. On the right side, next to the three-pronged dark red Fire Nation insignia buckler, were four thin throwing knives strapped close together. Next to it was a pouch that opened and folded out, revealing a zipper that held several ancient Fire Nation rectangular coinages in the tight space. Next to it was an airtight bag with opening barely enough for a hand to get in, containing ashes of wood burnt in the Eternal Flame (Azula had not explained what this one is for), and the last pouch was a thin square one that looked like a pouch for eyeglasses and it held several needlelike long thin spikes.
There was a knock on his door and Zuko opened it. Mai was there with her usual bored expression, long hair untied, in her usual dark clothes and boots, but with her leather jacket on so she looked like she was ready to either go party or kill some monsters. The girl gave Zuko a quick scan. "Get your weapons and gears ready", she said. "But no armors. We are in enemy territory; arms are wise, armor is a declaration of war."
Zuko doubled back and got his belt. He put on the belt on his way out and noticed Mai had also worn her belt. "Where are we going?" Zuko asked.
"Dinner."
-0-0-0-0-0-
The entire ground floor of the north wing was dedicated for a very cozy dining room. The people dining inside… not so cozy looking. To match the mood of late autumn, the dining room sported soft mellow amber light, with bright red table cloths and cushion on their deep brown tables and chairs. There was a band playing soft jazz to a small crowd that were mostly just as strange as they were. The saxophone player, for example, was a thin man in a white shirt and brown vest, sporting small oval glasses on his goat face… like real goat face, a large goat head on top of his human body. The pianist was a beautiful woman in a white silk dress that had a silver mane and a pair of tall cat ears surrounding her otherwise normal human face, making her look like something that came out of an anime. The dining crowd was just as strange; there was a large minotaur that gave Zuko quite a start. The bull creature's head swayed side to side to the soft melody of the jazz, one cloven hoof tapped the floor softly, sitting on a chair that looked too small for him.
Luckily, Mai led Zuko through the dining room, out to the garden where outdoor seating area had been set up around the pool. The space was completely empty safe for a round table where Azula and Ty Lee sat with a beautiful young woman in a red cocktail dress, with raven hair up in an elegant bun. It took Zuko awhile to realize that she was the receptionist from earlier. She looked so different all dolled up and the contrast between her, and Azula and Ty Lee in their casual clothes was striking.
"Whoa…" Zuko could not stop himself as he was seated right across from the receptionist.
The young woman blushed a little and said in a grumbly voice. "Don't get used to it", she scowled. "I have to attend a meeting later with a rather picky client. As soon as it's over, I'm out of this."
"Right", Azula smirked. Zuko noticed that, unlike Ty Lee and Mai who came with daggers that were mostly concealed when they sat, Azula carried no other weapon but a dark sword with golden dragon engraving fitted around it. Lin's sword. It would make her the least conspicuous of the five, since most of the dining crowd in the indoor area were also visibly armed. That minotaur had a stone club the size of Zuko leaning on a beam next to his table.
"May I?" the young woman extended her right hand; her golden bangles jingled as she did.
Azula offered her Lin's sword.
The woman took the sword and gently caressed the dragon head. She unsheathed the sword a little and the look in her face was rather grim as her amber eyes set on the blade. She sheathed the sword and gave it back to Azula. When the woman spoke next, her voice was businesslike. "Lu Ten told me you request entry to the Sun Temple", she said. "The Black Riders' headquarters."
"Yes", Azula replied. "It is necessary and it's part of the prophecy."
The woman waved her hand impatiently. "Lu Ten told me of the prophecy", she said. "And I agree, it does seem like you will need an aid from the Riders. He told me about some of your interpretations of parts of the prophecy. There were some parts you have not yet worked out. One in particular 'to the Hunt they brave as many as days'?"
"We believe 'the Hunt' means the South Hall realm of the Underworld", Mai said. "We have no idea about the 'as many as days' part."
"I do", the woman said. "I know three Riders in particular who would be very eager to join your quest to the Underworld once they heard Lin is held there. Four of you plus three of them; as many as days."
Almost instinctively, all eyes turned to Azula. After awhile, the girl spoke. "We will welcome any assistance from the Riders."
"Good", the young woman nodded. "Go get him back, huh?"
"We will, Biao", Azula flashed a brief distant smile.
"I will write a letter for the Riders. You will bring it with you to their headquarters", she said and looked up to some waiters coming towards their table with food. "But, now is time for you to eat and rest. You will leave tomorrow morning", she got up and left them, walking back with careful even steps back to the hotel.
Zuko watched her until she disappeared completely. When he returned his wandering eyes to the table, his companions were all staring at him. "What?" he felt heat creeping up his face. "She's hot."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Zuko could not sleep. He had tossed and turned for what felt like hours but he still could not sleep. The soft dim light of his simple room was hypnotizing, but it did not help him fall asleep. Finally giving up, he got up and exited his room for some fresh air. Halfway down the hallway, he remembered that he had forgotten his belt, but he decided against going back to get it. He had his ring anyway. He was not completely defenseless.
His feet carried him to the rose garden. The light reflected on the pool shimmered on the surrounding. The tables and chairs had been cleared away. Zuko had not noticed it when he first came here, but he now felt warm, a contrast to the cool crisp autumn night outside the garden. Then, he remembered that Biao had shown up before dinner in a dress and yet she had shown no sign of being cold.
"Can't sleep?"
Zuko jolted and his right hand was instantly on his left knuckle, ready to bring out his knife. He turned and found Biao smiling warmly at him. The girl had no trace of her earlier fancy makeover. She was wearing a simply baggy red T shirt and cargo shorts; the kind of clothes a tomboy like Azula would have worn.
"I… uh, I have too much on my mind", Zuko said.
"Come sit", Biao said, sitting at the edge of the pool with her bare feet dangling over the water surface. "Talk."
Zuko sat down next to the girl. "I just learnt a lot today. These past couple of days alone has pretty much turned my whole life upside down. I don't even know what's what anymore, to be honest."
"You're feeling like you're a newborn again, learning about the world for the first time. At times, the sheer amount of ignorance felt like a slap in the face, and not in the nice way", Biao added.
"How do you know?" Zuko frowned.
Biao smiled kindly. "That's what 90% of half-bloods who don't know about their legacy until their teenage years feels", she said. "It's alright, Zuko. Take it a day at a time and you will grow into this world. Hmm… although, you are quite lucky."
"How's that?"
"You have a sister and friends who can guide you along the way. Trust me when I say that many don't have luxury."
"Yeah…" Zuko forced a smile. He did not feel particularly lucky. "H-have we met before?" he asked, unable to contain his curiosity anymore.
"No", Biao said. "But, you have met Lin."
Then Zuko realized where he had seen that face. Biao's jet black hair was tied in a messy ponytail, with bangs scuffing on her forehead; the exact same shade as Lin's hair. Her eyebrows were delicately feminine and Lin's was thicker, but their eyes were the exact same amber hue. They have different nose shape but their jawline and cheekbones were similarly shaped. Zuko could now see Biao's resemblance to Lin; or rather Lin's resemblance to Biao since the Oracle had that pretty boy face.
"Are you related to him?" Zuko asked.
"He's my little cousin", something sweet graced the girl's face. "How is his life there?"
"I don't- I don't really know", Zuko admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I joined the Camp maybe three days ago. First time I met him, they were on the quest to recruit me. A group of football players possessed by werewolf spirits threw me and I landed on Lin."
Biao chuckled. "Sooner or later, I know that cousin of mine is going to weasel his way into a quest", she grinned. "He's a born fighter from a long line of fighters. There is no denying the blood."
Zuko gulped. "Was he a Rider?"
"No, he was not", Biao stretched and got up. "He was not just a Rider. He was the Grand Commander of the Black Riders."
-0-0-0-0-0-
"I have a small ship ready", Biao, once again in her humble receptionist getup, saw them off at the lobby. "They will take you around the island to the Sun Temple. The land route is unsafe at the moment."
"Thank you, Biao", Ty Lee moved and hugged the older girl. "We'll say hi to everyone for you."
"You do that", Biao chuckled. "It's clever of you to bring the sword along", she said to Azula.
"I'll call if something happen", Azula said, tugging Lin's sword in front of her like a precious object.
"You do that", Biao smiled. Then, she turned to Zuko. "It's good to meet you, Zuko", she extended a hand. "Black Riders don't get to meet friendly campers often."
Zuko smiled and took the hand. Biao smiled one last time and gestured for the bellhop to escort the four guests to a waiting hotel van. Once they got in and the driver shut their door, Ty Lee and Azula groaned while Mai said a very unenthusiastic. "Yay."
"What?" Zuko asked as Ty Lee and Azula each handed 5 yuans bill to Mai.
"They lost a bet", Mai said. "I said Biao would forget to say goodbye to me; they said she wouldn't."
"I'm sure she doesn't mean to be rude", Zuko said.
"Oh, I know she's not trying to be rude", Mai said with a little smirk. "I'm a child of Malu. I'm pretty much invisible."
-0-0-0-0-0-
The salty wind whipped Zuko's face and fluttered his hair back wildly. He sat on the deck floor, playing with his knife, transforming it from knife to saber back and forth. Their small yacht came equipped with a cozy small stateroom and not much else. It was a ship designed for a lone seafarer. Four teenagers around their age manned the ships. A boy a little older than Zuko was captaining the wheel up on the control room. A small and humorless looking girl stood at the bow like a statue, looking out to the sea, unaffected by the swaying of the ship. Two boys were at the back. All four were wearing armor similar to the black armor Zuko had seen Lin wore and were armed with swords on their back and the three on the deck had crossbows ready in their hands.
Azula stepped out of the cabin and bounded towards Zuko, looking paler than usual. "I hate ships", she said as she slumped down next to her brother. "Did Mom call you at all?"
"No", Zuko replied. Ursa had given them both new cellphones to replace the ones they had lost to the ocean water. "Maybe she doesn't want to distract us. Are you worried about her?"
"No. Lu Ten is there", Azula said. "Besides, he made Zhao swore by the Eternal Flame of Agni. There is no breaking such oath."
"What happens if he breaks the oath?" Zuko asked interestedly.
"Let's just say that there are many things worse than death", Azula smirked and something cruel flashed on her face briefly. "And if Zhao breaks his oath… well, he's immortal. He will suffer that inexplicable fate for eternity."
Zuko did not like that look on his sister's face. He decided to change the topic. "What did Mai mean when she said child of Malu is invisible?"
"Exactly what she said", Azula said, looking up to the gray sky above. "If ever mortal children of the gods were to be endowed with superpowers, the children of Malu would have it. I supposed Ty's children inability to be ugly could be considered a superpower too. Anyway, children of Malu are natural at stealth. You know, Hattori Hanzo the historical master ninja was a son of Malu?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. And look at us, Iroh's campers. We got squat."
Thunder rumbled in the distant.
Azula replied the thunder with a petulant raspberry.
Zuko snickered. Sometimes Azula's antics could be downright adorable.
"We should arrive at the Sun Temple somewhere in the afternoon", she said, yawning. "We may have to stay a day or two. We will definitely spend the night there."
"Why?" Zuko asked. "Why do we have to stay a day or two?"
"Because, apparently, if the prophecy is correct, which it always is, we will need to convince the dragons to help us. Dragons like to test humans. We will definitely be spending a day there if we cannot get an audience with them today", she replied. "And I'm pretty sure we can't. Dragons are creature of warmth. They like sunlight and often go to sleep as soon as the sun sets. Waking them from their sleep is practically suicide; they get cranky easily. Also, this is autumn. We don't have much sunlight anyway during autumn."
"You think Yon-Rha planned this? He timed this kidnapping?" Zuko asked grimly.
"Yup", Azula said. "It'll be officially winter in a few days. The timing can't be a coincidence."
"What kind of wraith is Yon-Rha? I don't know much about him", Zuko asked.
Azula snorted. "No surprise there. We're Fire Nation are children of the Element of Life; as such, talking about death is almost a taboo", Azula sprawled her legs on the deck and tugged on the cord that held her Friendship Horn. "Yon-Rha, according to legend, was a half-blood who somehow wandered into the Underworld and was tainted with the miasma. He, however, chose to embrace the dark energy and became the first wraith to be born of half-blood. That's why his Southern Raiders are like him; half-bloods and mortals who chose to bear the miasma willingly."
"That is sick."
"Funny you mention sick", Azula snickered. "Gods who were tainted are… well, just tainted. Yon-Rha's human half was not so lucky. He became quite sick in the head. I mean, after all, as a half-blood, he was a mortal with the essence of god; his mind was mortal."
"What is he like now?" Zuko asked.
"If you believe the story", the Rider girl said loudly over the roaring waves and machine. "He is quite like his Southern Raiders", she shifted her stiff brown eyes towards the siblings. "You must have heard many stories from many cultures about warriors who embrace insanity in order to fight like beasts; like Korkean berserkers, or Sourthern Water Tribe black-faces, or Fire Nation juggernauts, not to mention the many sporadic stories and accounts about people or, more often than not, some cultists of long dead religions who were overcome by bloody frenzy and performed massacre and other atrocities. They all have roots in the Southern Raiders."
"I thought the berserkers and juggernauts are the result of soma intoxication", Azula frowned.
The Rider girl flashed a humorless smile. "The Southern Raiders predated even them", she explained. "As the matter of fact, at least as the case is with the berserkers, they are the result of Korkean half-bloods trying to replicate the Southern Raiders' prowess using soma. The result, as you are aware, is just as horrifying."
Zuko looked back and forth between the two. He had heard of the berserkers of the Korkean tribe; a well-documented phenomenon in which the tribal warriors of the Korkea Mountain ingest some species of mushroom to dull their fear and become immune to pain. And, yes, the result was, as the Rider girl had put it, horrifying. There were many stories of the berserkers attacking rival tribes and killing every living things there; men, women, elderly and children, even livestock were not spared.
If that was what awaited them in the Underworld…
"How do we deal with them?" Zuko asked.
The girl smiled again. "You don't. You run."
-0-0-0-0-0-
The sun was setting when the ship slow down, though it was hardly any different from the noon sky. The campers were ready on the deck with their bags and weapons, Azula had advised Zuko to carry his weapon in the open as a sign of courtesy. According to her, in ancient Fire Nation customs among warriors, bearing arms in the open when you are entering allies' territory was a sign of honesty; keeping them hidden was just rude and aroused suspicion.
They wore their backpacks along with their weapons, with the exception of Azula who carried her bag in her hand since she was now wearing her blue jian and quiver of arrows on her back, and her red short jian on her waist and her bow across her chest. She also held Lin's sword in her other hand and refused Ty Lee's offer to carry it for her.
The other girls had also displayed their weapons. Ty Lee's bangles had been transformed into their true form, her ornately engraved plated bracers, and she wore her twin daggers on the small of her back. Mai had tucked her leather jacket on the strap of her bag, revealing the rows of dark throwing knives strapped over her tank top, although, even in this form, they were still pretty much invisible, blending seamlessly into the color of her clothes. Zuko had strapped his knife back on the belt and was tugging on the leather cord of his Friendship Horn.
The sea to the north of the Capitol Island was covered in a chalky layer of mist. And the island appeared out of the mist like a nasty surprise. One second it was barely penetrable white mist where the horizon was empty aside from the barely perceptible mountain range in the distance that, if Zuko remembered his geography right, was the mountain range of the Air Nation Western Air Temple, then, almost out of nowhere, the jungle island popped out of thin air.
"Welcome…" one of the male Riders said. "… to Sun Temple Island."
"A word of warning", the other male Riders said. "You are one of the very few campers to have set foot in the Black Riders' headquarters. You have to respect our ways; the most important of which is the acknowledgment that this place is a sanctuary. There will be no violence here", he stared at the campers critically. "On these grounds, you will encounter men and women, mortals and half-bloods, even creatures of the wereclans, monsters and spirits that, I'm sure, most of you have been trained since birth to kill on sight. There will be none of it."
"We understand."
Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee's heads whipped towards Azula as she said that. They were sure Azula would argue or quip a smart remark at that instruction.
The fog cleared as their ship sailed closer to the island. When the ship moored at the pier, Zuko noticed that a dome of clear air shielded the Sun Temple Island from the fog; or rather, the fog shielded the Island from the rest of the world. From the pier, they could see a winding dirt path snaking towards the thick rainforest. The road ended, Zuko guessed at the steps that ran down the side of an ancient temple visible from the distance.
The stone was yellowed and ancient, the shape was pyramidal with flat top and, perched on top, was a conical temple; it looked almost like two different buildings stacked on top of each other. Green leafy vines and thick moss covered the engravings on the side of the stones and the place would have looked deserted if not for two lit torches fitted on scones on either side of the entrance to the temple.
The roar of the engine and the crunch of stones drew Zuko's attention to the incoming convoy of dark jeeps. Three of them arrived manned by two fully armed Riders each.
"The path through the forest is not safe for outsiders", the ship captain, who had joined them on the pier, explained. "We will escort you."
"If we are attacked, does the no violence rule still apply?" Azula asked with that mocking lilt of hers. She was back.
"Yes", the captain said seriously. "If we are attacked, stay your hand. We will protect you."
Azula did not argue. The Riders deposited the four campers on the middle jeep and they rode into the forest in silence. Zuko looked around and, every now and then, he thought he saw faces in the vegetation; he was sure he saw a little child whose head was a large red mushroom and there was a face of a teenage girl on the banana tree they had just passed.
"We have nature spirits living in the forest", their driver said. "They are mostly friendly."
"Mostly?" Zuko raised a brow.
"Yeah", the driver chuckled. "Mischievous as hell, but they won't harm you unless you give them a good reason to."
"This is a strange strange place", Zuko had lost count of how many times he had said that exact sentence these past four days.
-0-0-0-0-0-
The view of the temple from the pier did not do justice of the true size of it. The steps alone was almost four storey high; the temple itself as a whole was a little more than that. Also, the temple was not the only building there; it was the centerpiece of an ancient complex of stone buildings roads. Their Riders escorts got down from the jeeps as they arrived at the edge of the complex. Many of the buildings were nothing but vine-covered rubbles, but most were still intact.
Many Riders were there and the complex was a thriving hidden city. The campers noticed how many of the stone buildings were actually occupied, used as dwellings. The inhabitants were a strange mix of humans and non-humans. Men and women of all age mingled with various spirits of tangible anthropomorphic bodies that made the old crow lady Ursa had talked to looked normal.
A giant of a man who was at least the size of one-and-a-half pro-wrestler had a body that was entirely covered with thick matted brown fur except for his large human feet, his big thick hands and fingers, and his surprisingly handsome but rough looking human face that sprouted a pair of bull horns. The man held his arms up in a U, like he was flexing his muscles, while children, laughing merrily, dangled from his arms.
A little farther from the bull-man, a tough looking female Rider in full armor was talking to a group of eight teenagers in Riders armor, demonstrating a move with her dagger. Five of those teenagers were not human: one was a ram with ram face, curling ram horns, ram hooves, and a little tuff of brown ram tail sticking out of a hole in his pants; the one on his right was a pretty girl who was clearly a fairy, judging from the way her long untied hair fluttered slightly, completely out of synch with the soft breeze that was flowing through the complex, and the fact that the girl had a soft pearly shimmer around her; the boy in the middle of the group was a cross between a regular slim teenager and a red-furred monkey who kept scratching the side of his furry head, propping himself with great balance on a long staff he was holding; the last two were small human-sized werewolves.
Now Zuko realized why they had been warned against any violent action at the pier.
The Riders escorts formed a circle around the campers like a group of honor guards. The inhabitants of the Sun Temple City turned and looked at them as they passed but they soon went back to their activities as if Agni Campers visiting their place was a normal thing. The Riders herded them through a maze of walls and buildings to the base of the temple steps.
As they arrived, the captain inclined his head and stretched out his arm towards the steps, silently telling them to go up. Azula bowed slightly, a gesture of respect Zuko had not seen much of her despite only knowing her for a few days.
Azula led them up, followed by Zuko, then Mai and Ty Lee at the rear. The Riders did not follow. They walked in silence and Zuko could not shake off the feeling that they were being watched by something other than the Riders.
Something not human.
They arrived at the mouth of the temple finally. The temple had three entrances, apparently, on the three walls. The fourth wall in front of them was engraved with a large flame with many tiny flamey spikes and the interior was completely bare except for one large multicolor Eternal Flame. There was a hole beneath it and Zuko thought the Eternal Flame shot out from the hole. But, as he got closer, he realized that the hole was not a hole at all; it was a depression on the floor, neatly circled and polished, and the Eternal Flame hanged suspended in the air above it.
"You are from Camp Agni", a voice of a man came, startling the campers.
A man, who had been standing, hidden, on the other side of the Flame, stepped into view. Zuko hoped he had not. The middle-aged man had a wide face and a much wider frame; broad shoulders that, at some point, Zuko was sure, had been ripped. His arms were thick and legs beefy, and his belly was round and big. The man had a short but narrow goatee hanging down his chin.
His upper face, from the bridge of his nose up, was painted brick red with a white line on the bottom. He wore a headdress of red and gold, with flap coming down along the sides of his head, and on top was a bush of yellow feather that looked like a bunch of hay, pointing at three different directions upward. Aside from a pair large and wide ornate golden plate that covered his neck and shoulder like a hauberk, a wide golden belt that held a single piece of cloth he wore like a skirt and a long red haori with gold trim, the man was quite naked.
The man also wore wide armbands on his fore arms; the left one was a piece of cloth red like his haori, the right was plated with gold. He carried a red wooden scepter taller than he was, bearing a gold circle that symbolized the sun with five pronged flame jutting out around it. All in all, he showed too much skin in a rather unflattering way.
"The Kai siblings", the man said, copper-colored eyes studied the siblings one after another.
Azula bowed and the man returned the gesture. Zuko suddenly realized that the three bunches of the feather on his head was meant to look like a bird. Azula dropped her bag, but kept holding Lin's sword, and reached for the letter inside her pocket. She extended it with both hands. "Recommendation from Biao of the House of Lin, one of your own."
The middle-aged man waved it off but took the letter anyway. "The Sun People are as much a Rider as any Agni Camper", he said, opening the envelope. "We are neighbors and allies, nothing more."
Azula did not reply. Nobody said a word as the man read the letter. Zuko naturally had doubt if this obviously tribal man could read modern alphabets but he wisely chose not to express it. Then, he remembered how half-bloods were naturally able to read Ancient Script. Maybe the letter was written in such language. Finally, the man finished with the letter and folded it. He tucked it inside his golden belt and sighed.
"You wish an audience with the dragons", he said.
"Yes", Azula replied.
"And all because of a prophecy?"
"Prophecies are never wrong."
"Really?" the Sun Chief said. "And what is this I heard about a prophecy regarding your brother changing?"
"It wasn't a prophecy. It was a vision", Azula argued.
"Do not use wordplay against me", the Sun Chief stepped closer. The campers now noticed that his bright amber irises were really a circle of thick syrupy slow burning flame. The Sun Chief could not be human. "I was there when the ape-folk formed their very first syllable. I was one of the few gods of the Beginning of Time who still remained."
"I am not here to argue", Azula's voice lost some of its humility. She was getting impatient, especially now that she knew she was dealing with a god. Gods are immortals; they are infinitely patient have difference concept and perception of time than mortals. She knew that this Sun Chief would be ready to stretch the conversation for as long as he could. Lin did not have the luxury of time. "We have received a prophecy—"
"Which is often wrong."
"—and we are here to save one of your own."
"I have told you: the Riders and the Sun People are neighbors and allies. We are not of the same faction."
"You misunderstand me", Azula hid her triumphant swell from her voice; the Sun Chief had sprung the verbal trap. "I was talking about Lin. He is a demigod…" yes, Azula used the term 'demigod' deliberately. "…and he has the Gift of Clear Sight which he wields with greater proficiency than most Oracles, past and present, could. If the lore is to be believed…" a good jab there, calling the core of their faith into question. "…Lin is almost assured godhood upon his death, provided that he performs meritorious deeds which, as I understand it, he may already have", Azula added quickly, not wanting to leave a hole in her argument. "He will be one of your own. And, I can guarantee you, by the way of his characters and conduct, he is well on his way to attain Ascension."
The Sun Chief scowled. "The arrogance of mortals…"
"We are not mortals", Azula attacked again.
"Are you not?" the Sun Chief sneered. "Were you not born into this mortal world? Do you not grow? Will you not age, wither, and die?" he scoffed. "Mortals?"
Azula had no comeback for this.
"The prophecy indicated that seven individuals will enter the South Hall to save your Oracle", the Sun Chief said. "And Biao promptly concluded that three Riders in particular –the siblings Bara and Taka, and the Earth Kingdom Iwa- which is perfectly understandable, were to join you. Hah!"
The campers flinched.
"The arrogance of mortals!" the Sun Chief spat. "You believe that your own little corner of the world is the only things that matters! Didn't you hear the prophecy?Allies they find amongst warriors of old lore? Where the past rests due north?"
"And that is why we are here", Azula gritted her teeth. "We are here to seek assistance from the Riders!"
"But, we are not at north, are we?" the Sun Chief grinned in such an annoyingly triumphant manner. "Check the world map. We are on the west."
Azula's eyes widened and her face grew pale.
"I suggest you leave. As you know, no mortal creatures can stay in any Underworld realms for long without being changed. Even the best cannot hold for more than eight days", the Sun Chief turned his back on them and faced the Flame.
Azula would not let it go. "What about the first part of the prophecy then?!" she demanded. "'The First of Lives shall guide the four'! The dragons must allow us an audience!"
"They have", the Sun Chief said the second before he turned to the side and walked and his body transformed into the gigantic beast.
His entire body was gold, with shiny almost reflective scales running around its serpentine body that was roughly twice the length and thickness of a metro train. Its head was as big as a trailer truck, its crocodile-like long snout was adorned with two swishing whisker that resembled catfish whisker and its mouth was filled with rows of fangs and big enough to swallow the four campers whole. Two pairs of glaring amber eyes were set above the snout, surrounded by copper-colored lion mane and a pair of long multi-pronged antlers jutted out of its skull. Four birdlike feet were attached to the body. A ridge of fin ran along the spine of its long body down to the tip of its tuff-tipped tail, both bore the same copper shade of its mane. A pair of large leathery wings spread as the dragon launched out of the confinement of the temple and, with its massive and long body, curled around the small temple, sealing all exits, and positioning its large head on the opening in front of the campers.
"Worry not", the voice was that of the Sun Chief but it was now booming and thundering as it came out of the dragon's mouth. "You have not wasted your time in vain; you will receive guidance."
The campers did not -could not- reply; the presence of the golden dragon was too awe-inspiring. They just listened.
"You will journey to the Northern Water Tribe", the dragon said. "There, you will find allies amongst warriors of old lore… amongst other demigods."
"Before there were the Black Riders, there were half-bloods", Azula muttered, her tone almost reverently.
"The first of the mortal heroes had been half-gods", the dragon agreed. "There is no older lore than those of the half-god."
"And the North Pole… where the past rest due north…?" Azula frowned.
"I am not surprised you do not know this", the dragon paused to let out a low guttural growl. The campers suspected it might have been laughter. "The Wolf, Amarok, was the first of the immortal gods born of the primordial beast kin; he achieved ascension in the aftermath of his defeat at the hand the demigod Sanna of the Southern Water Tribe, also the first incident where a primordial beast were defeated by mortals. The North Pole was home to many first, and last, of ancient histories."
"What should we do?" a hint of desperation was audible in Azula's voice. "It's been three days since Lin was kidnapped. We have five days at most to go to the North Pole, find the other three half-bloods who would join us in our quest, and then come back to Fire Nation and head to the Broken Island to attempt to break into the South Hall, and save Lin. Along the journey to and from the North Pole, even if we take Phoenix Air jets, we will have to make a transit in Earth Kingdom for each flight. That's four days just for the journey!"
"Indeed", the dragon concurred. "Which is why, your first stop will be the Earth Kingdom. You will seek help from the Giantess."
"Kyoshi?" Mai spoke for the first time since they set foot in this island. "We are going to the Kyoshi Island?"
"You are", the dragon's head moved a fraction in a tiny nod. "You must form an alliance with the Kyohi's Warriors. With their help, you will need to convince my kin, the primordial sea dragon Unagi, to help speed you on your way for none have mastery over the ocean like Unagi. With his help, you will travel by sea to the North Pole and back to Fire Nation in the matter of hours."
Azula's lips parted. "I see", she said and then she bowed; the other campers copied her gesture. "We thank you, Lord Dragon."
"I remember Lin", the dragon said. "When you have lived as long as I have, mortals and their antics will cease to amaze you… Lin was no exception", he said flatly. "However, if anything you have said to me had any merits, it would be when you told me Lin was of great value to us. I do look forward to his Ascension; perhaps he would be less boring as a god. Bring him home, mortals."
The campers bowed again.
"Now, perhaps there is a little more help I can give you yet…" the dragon said before he roared and lunged at the screaming campers.
