Zuko forlornly looked out at the horizon as his ship sailed, combing for any sign of Rera's presence. He could only imagine what that demon could be doing to her and others that it might hurt along the way. It stabbed him with pain to think that such cruelty could happen to the most innocent of people, especially the one that he loved with all his heart and soul. He barely noticed his uncle approaching.
"I brought you some tea to help sooth you, Prince Zuko."
Zuko wordlessly took the cup of tea and sighed almost staring at it. He couldn't help but see Rera in the tea's reflection calling out to him in Rera's slurred accent in distress. Iroh, being as wise and observant as he was could sense that his nephew was suffering almost as much as he was. He missed her innocent smile and caring nature just as Zuko did.
The old man sighed and spoke, "You're a very determined young man, and there's no doubt that. I'm glad though that you've have focus on a more selfless matter. Not just for the world, but for Rera as well. She needs you more than anything."
Zuko tried to respond, but something had caught him at the corner of his good eye. Unearthly dark flames had consumed a hamlet, not far from where they sailed. The thatched roofs of cottages fell into their skeletal remains and even from afar, Zuko could smell the rancid odor of bloodstained corpses. He yelled out to his men to set course to shore.
Aang couldn't help but feel Prince Zuko's fiery eyes staring at him as they approached land as if he expected him to betray him. All he ever wanted between them was to be friends, but now he had even more to worry about than being friends with is only enemy.
As the rhinos stomped their feet onto land, the soldiers were in awe of the destruction of the village. Everything was covered in what looked like black soot and purplish black fog swept over the lifeless earth.
The most horrific thing they saw were all the dead bodies scattered about. Some bled from their mouth, some had their insides bursting out; some had even been charred to death. Neither men, women, nor children were spared. A scene, which broke Zuko heart the most, was seeing the deceased bodies of a woman who seemed to be trying to protect her 18-month-old child, but only succeeded in death. They seemed to have experienced so much pain and horror that Zuko couldn't take.
'Please no. Not poor Rera…'
While the others were distracted by the destruction and bloodshed around them, Aang could sense a cold dark presence near a huge building, perhaps had once been a temple, and began running towards it. Zuko quickly took notice and started furiously started chasing the Avatar yelling for him to come back.
Aang entered into the temple. He shivered as he crept through the dark, shadowy halls looking for some sign of life. The boards under his feet creaked and the air grew as cold as ice. Shadows seemed to move all around him and he could feel a sudden gust of wind blowing towards him and turning around, the only thing he could function to do was to scream.
Don't you just hate it when a tv episode is justgetting good and then then it all of a suddenly cut to a commercial? Okay, this isn't tv, but cliffhangers are nasty. Don't worry. More will continue in the next chapter. Anyways, Please R&R.