Chapter 9: The Rune Blades

The Governors, Lin, Zu, Li, Khana and Sky remained within the confines of Zu and Li's house, the tune of Sky's flute reverberating around the room whilst over them as the chaotic winds swirled around Republic City.

"Sky, in your battle against Talos..." Jin interjected as Sky stopped playing.

"I got my butt kicked faster than you expected?" Sky sarcastically replied.

"No... how did you do that Fire Tornado?" Jing curiously asked as he swirled his finger around whilst Sky pulled one of his Rune blades from its leather scabbard.

"With these!" Sky replied as he flashed the blades, the room reflecting off the metal as Jing observed with a curious wonder.

"I've never seen anything like these before," Jing quizzically replied, gazing at the runic symbols.

"They're one of a kind, and finding them wasn't easy," Sky told him as he pulled the blade back, gently twirling it in his hands.

"Would you care to share your tale?" Jing asked him, hoping to know more.

"It all started back when I was a boy, about eight years old if memory serves," Sky replied, beginning to spin his story.

The young Sky awoke to the sun peering through his window within the middle ring of Ba Sing Se, stretching his arms as he got out of his bed, grasping two short wooden poles and running out into the garden, practising his sword swings before breakfast.

But as he trained, Sky heard a commotion coming from the streets, crowds of people aligned down a pathway as a group of Five mercenaries marched through the streets, their clothes glistening in the sunlight as they strolled through. Sky quickly ran into the crowd to get a better look, pushing his way to the front of the crowd and seeing them up close.

"Who are they?" Sky wondrously asked.

"They're The Chargers! A mercenary company hired by The King from what I've heard," An old man replied, and without thinking, Sky lunged out in front of the Leader, stopping him in his tracks.

"What's the big idea, kid?" The leader asked, his gravelly voice intimidating Sky. Compared to Sky, the leader was like a mountain, his stature dwarfing him as his steely gaze glared down at him.

"I think he wants an autograph, chief!" a yellow hooded woman called out to their leader, breaking his steely gaze as he leant down to Sky's level.

"Well, why didn't you just say so?" The leader asked with a friendly grin, pulling out a small scroll and quill.

"Who am I making it out to?" The leader asked.

"S-Sky!" Sky nervously replied as the leader smiled as he wrote Sky's name, adding a small quote beneath it, then handing the scroll to Sky, patting his head before standing back up.

"See you around, kid!" The leader told him with a two-fingered salute as Sky inched back over to the crowd, watching the Chargers departed.

"I'm gonna be like them!" Sky whispered to himself, venturing back into his garden to continue practising with his wooden poles.

Sky would practice for several years, becoming an expert in fighting with dual swords. After his sixteenth Birthday, Sky bid his mother farewell to set out into the world to become a Mercenary.

Sky ventured outside Ba Sing Se and throughout the Earth Kingdom, asking for jobs and checking village boards for jobs people needed doing, accepting all that came his way and completing most of them successfully. Sky would escape near death several times during his years as a Mercenary, gaining renown with each passing job.

During his journey, a mayor commissioned Sky to take out a bandit gang which situated itself on the outskirts of the United Republic. Sky deftly ventured around the perimeter of the bandit camp, using the cover of the moonless night to his advantage, stealthily executing one bandit at a time, but the dwindling numbers worried the bandits, causing a group of them to run to their leader. They entered his tent, a hulk of a man with a large claymore and platypus bear cloak draped around his shoulders.

"Boss! Some of our men have gone missing!" A bandit informed the leader. Their leader's eyes perked open as he arose from his wooden throne.

"No one messes with The Crimson Hand and gets away with it!" The leader exclaimed as he grasped his claymore, swinging it around and onto his shoulder.

But as the leader smirked to himself, a knife pierced his neck as the blood trickled down his spine, trying to reach around to pull it out.

"Get it out!" The leader exclaimed as his muscles restricted his arm movements. One bandit reached for the knife, grasping the handle tightly, but the leader's flailing caused the bandit to slit the knife around his neck, slaying the leader and sending him to the ground with a mighty thud, the Claymore letting out a loud metal ringing as it followed.

The bandit frantically looked to their leader and the knife, his breathing shaky and his body quivering, and as the bandits had their attention on their leader's corpse, Sky sauntered out from behind the wooden throne.

"Would either of you gentlemen mind helping me carry that Claymore back to the United Republic?" Sky sarcastically asked as the bandits intensely glared at him.

"Get him boys!" one bandit shouted as they charged Sky, weapons at the ready. Sky shrugged as he engaged the bandits, deflecting the pack leader's attack and running him through with one of his dual swords.

The next bandit threw a punch at Sky's face, to which he avoided and wagged his finger.

"Tut-Tut, can't go bludgeoning this pretty face!" Sky taunted him as he pulled a knife from his chest pouch, jabbing it into the bandit's head.

The final bandit looked around, dropping his sword and fleeing from the tent, but Sky gave chase, grasping one of his dual swords by the pommel and throwing it with a mighty force. The blade spun in the air as it arched and descended onto the bandit, impaling their chest as Sky gave an approving wince.

"And here I thought I'd miss!" Sky jested to himself as he waltzed over to the Bandit's corpse, pulling the blade out then returning to the leader's tent.

Sky knelt down beside the Claymore, grasping the handle then propping it up on the blade's tip, heavily breathing as he balanced it.

"Whew... this thing is heavy," Sky breathlessly exclaimed, but as he tried to work out a way to carry the Claymore back to The United Republic, he could hear something rattling inside the handle, his eyebrows raising as he rattled it further, hearing what sounded like paper inside a hollow space.

"Secret compartment? What were you hiding?" Sky asked as he gazed down at the leader. Sky twisted the pommel, putting most of his strength into it, the pommel finally turning as the Mercenary let out a loud sigh before twisting it casually.

The pommel came off, allowing Sky to peer inside, seeing a small scroll of paper, pressing his finger against the scroll and sliding it up along the handle's interior. Sky gazed at the small scroll and the claymore, carefully laying it down against the wooden throne as he read from the scroll.

"The time has come, and so has the Avatar. Four keys now seal our swords, buried and forgotten by time," Sky read aloud, raising an eyebrow to what he read, then gazing at the bandit leader.

"Now why would you have this in your sword?" Sky curiously asked as he pocketed the Scroll, grasping the Claymore as he lugged it back to The United Republic.

Several days passed as Sky dragged the Claymore back to The United Republic, leaving a long scar on his returning path before arriving in a small town near Republic City, quickly being greeted by the mayor who had given him the job.

"Oh! You did it! And brought the scumbag's Claymore!" The mayor exclaimed as he gazed at the Claymore. Sky let out a loud grunt as he swung and perched the Claymore before him, presenting it with pride.

"Well, of course! So, where's my payment?" Sky breathlessly asked as the mayor grumbled, rooting around in his pocket before pulling out a large sack of gold, presenting it to Sky with glee.

Sky dug the Claymore tip into the ground, letting the earth support it as he took the sack of gold.

"Pleasure doing business with you!" Sky told him as he waltzed away, relieved to no longer be carrying the Claymore.

Sky curiously unravelled the scroll, reading what it said once more in his head.

"Four keys seal our swords..." Sky muttered to himself as he theorised.

"Four Keys... Four Nations... Possibly Four landmarks?" Sky theorised to himself, looking to the sunny sky with curious wonder.

Sky travelled for several days throughout the Earth Kingdom, eventually reaching The Great Divide, a canyon known for being the largest in the entire world. A crescent moon hung in the sky, surrounded by a scattering of stars.

"The Great Divide! From what I've heard, not a well-liked place," Sky told himself as he started his venture into the Canyon. But before he set a foot inside, a sign caught his attention.

"Abandon all food if you hope to survive," Sky read aloud, taken aback by the warning as he removed his satchel, pinning it into the sign with a dagger.

"Good thing I already ate," Sky told himself as he abandoned his supplies, venturing into the canyon.

Due to his lack of bending, Sky utilised his swords to climb across the walls where an Earth-bender would create pathways to explore the Canyon, and as Sky continued pulling himself along the Canyon, sweat grew in his palms loosening his grip on his handles, as he strained to hold on with all his might, but his hands couldn't hold him any longer, and his grip broke on one of his swords, his eyes widening as he dangled.

"Well, better to lose one sword than two!" Sky told himself as he clasped his other sword before pushing himself from the wall, falling into the canyon's depths.

To Sky's luck, he descended into a deep oasis, quickly gaining his bearings and swimming out from the oasis and sucking in a large amount of air as he crawled out, gazing to the sky whilst he caught his breath.

"I don't think I'll be getting that sword back," Sky told himself as he sat up beside the oasis, grasping the sword which fell with him and re-sheathing it, Silence looming over the Canyon whilst Sky thought to himself.

"Sky..." a voice whispered as Sky's heart skipped a beat, the Mercenary leaping up from the floor and unsheathing his sword into a duel sword stance.

"Oh... yeah, one sword," Sky muttered to himself as he clasped the sword with both hands.

"Fear not, Sky..." The voice whispered again as Sky's eyes twitched from left to right, scanning for the disembodied voice.

"Show yourself then, that'll ease the fear!" Sky replied, but the silence returned as Sky's heart slowed down.

"Follow our voice, Sky," a second voice echoed. Sky swallowed his fear and walked towards the sound of the voices, an anomaly hanging in the air as he continued his venture into a dark cave.

"This must be some kind of trick..." Sky muttered to himself, beginning to turn back, but as his foot spiralled around, the dark cave lit up with fire, revealing a relic atop a pedestal.

Sky turned back around to see the relic, cautiously approaching it, swiping it from the pedestal before quickly looking around, expecting a booby trap, but nothing came for him. The Mercenary twirled the relic in his hand as his grasp tightened, a chill running up his arm, and his eyes became pure white, seeing visions of two swordsmen battling against a shaggy-haired man with a goatee, their duel coursing across farmland.

Sky regained his senses, shuddering all over as the relic crumbled in his hands, revealing an Emerald Key trapped within.

"Go now to cliffs of Black, find the keys," a voice whispered to Sky as he gazed at the key, his body tingling all over, whilst a light emitted beneath his feet, instantly consuming him and transporting him back to the entrance of The Great Divide.

Sky stumbled backwards as he kept his grip on the key, looking around to see Canyon Crawlers, fluffy spider-like creatures with a long snout had already dug into his supplies, rolling his eyes at the sight of them.

"Great..." Sky groaned as he began walking away from the Canyon Crawlers, venturing towards the nearest Earth Kingdom village.

Sky rested for the night, gathering supplies in the morning before departing for the Fire Nation.

"Well, Cliffs of Black... obviously they were referring to the Black Cliffs in the Fire Nation," Sky said with a smirk as he ventured across the land and ocean towards the Fire Nation, strolling through villages within the nation, getting directions and tips from the locals about the Black Cliffs, eventually arriving at the bay where Team Avatar orchestrated the plot for the Day of Black Sun.

"Feels like I'm on hallowed ground here," Sky jested as he walked around the beach, waiting for a calling from the voices back in The Great Divide, and as Sky tapped his foot, looking out to the sea as the water swept along the sands, an odd ringing pervaded his mind.

"Ah, so you came," A voice echoed as Sky's body tensed up before he let out a shaky breath.

"Took your time," Sky replied with a smirk as he began looking around.

"Follow our voice," Another voice echoed as Sky repeated his actions at The Great Divide, venturing towards the voice, but could only find a solid wall.

Sky observed the wall, becoming increasingly befuddled the more he gazed at it, but a thought came to his mind, pressing his ear to the wall and tapping the bolster of one of his knives against the wall, hearing that the area behind it was hollow, widening his eyes as he stepped back, kicking the wall with his foot, causing the ancient wall to crumble at his strike as Sky gawked for a moment, observing the collapsed rubble.

"I thought that'd take a few more hits," Sky muttered to himself as he ventured inwards, approaching another pedestal and swiping the relic, rushing out of the cavern, but his grasp tightened again, seeing the brothers and the shaggy-haired man's battle surging across the Fire Nation as a crackle of lightning pierced through the skies.

Sky let out a heavy breath, looking at the relic crumble to reveal a Ruby Key, smirking at it as he pocketed his find.

"Go forth to the frozen caverns, find the keys," a voice whispered as a chill went down Sky's back.

"Frozen Caverns... oh, not those frozen caverns!" Sky groaned as he began his venture up to the North Pole.

Sky travelled for days before arriving at the icy walls of the Northern Water Tribe, gazing up at them with an impressed weary sigh, observing his sun illuminated surroundings for the entrance to the Underground Ice Caverns.

"Hey! What are you doing down there!?" A Northern Water Tribe guard shouted, spooking Sky as he twisted around to see a bow and arrow aimed at him.

"Balls!" Sky exclaimed as he made a run for it, ducking behind a chunk of solid ice as the arrow flew at him.

"Come on, voices. Give me some guidance," Sky muttered as he continued scanning for an entrance, noticing a group of seal-turtles making their way somewhere. Sky perked his head up over the ice to see the guard still aiming at him, deciding to crawl along the ground and follow the seal-turtles.

The seal-turtles plopped into a small opening of water in the ice, dismay crawling over Sky as he looked at it.

"Of course... water..." Sky groaned, taking in a deep breath before diving into the water hole, swimming alongside the seal-turtles, struggling to keep his breath as he swam through the hole.

Sky finally emerged inside the Ice Caverns, lunging out of the water and onto the solid ground as the seal-turtles lowed whilst Sky shivered all over.

Sky whipped his soaked jacket off, wrapping his bare arms around himself as he tried to warm up with what body heat he had, moments passing before he stood up from the ground, letting out a heavy sigh as he looked at his surroundings, picking up his soaked jacket and strolling around the cavern.

"Only two keys left now. Follow our voice, Sky," a voice whispered as Sky lightly scoffed, following their voices.

"I guess they only show up when I'm close," Sky muttered as he ventured into the caverns, discovering a hollowed-out cave blocked by a chunk of ice. Sky shrugged and swung his fist at the ice, but nothing happened to it as a tremor travelled up Sky's arm, wincing in pain as he drew his fist back.

"Probably should've led with the sword on that one," Sky told himself as he withdrew his sword, smacking the blade against the ice, and with every grunt and swing, Sky slowly chipped away the ice, eventually creating a hole big enough for him to crawl through.

Sky pumped his arm in victory, but as he looked at his sword, a gaze of despair came over him. The blade's edge had chipped and rolled, on the verge of breaking, The Mercenary let out a heavy sigh as he sheathed the damaged sword.

"These swords better be worth it," Sky muttered as he crawled into the cave, approaching the pedestal and swiping the relic, holding onto it as he awaited the vision, his hand tensing around the relic as his eyes turned white.

Sky saw a vision of the brothers and shaggy-haired man duelling within the Northern Water Tribe, but their demeanour was much more friendly than before, and their swords differed from his previous vision.

Sky snapped back to reality as the relic crumbled to reveal a Sapphire Key in his hand, gently twirling it before pocketing it.

"There's quite a story here," Sky told himself as he exited the cave.

"The last key lies in the south, across the one-way bridge," a voice whispered as Sky gulped, crawling back through the ice block, but as he did a light engulfed him, transporting him back outside the small ice hole.

But to Sky's dismay, a group of guards surrounded him, intending to bring him into their chief.

"Oh, come on, you couldn't have taken me to the south!?" Sky exclaimed.

"Well, why didn't you ask?" a voice asked as a light engulfed Sky once more, teleporting him to the front of a massive gorge, and an earthen bridge spanning across it.

Snow raged around as the night hung in the sky whilst Sky gazed at the bridge with a speechless glare.

"I'm going to freeze to death out here, aren't I?" Sky whimpered as he began crossing the bridge, seeing no other way out of his situation.

But to his luck, empty guard huts sat on the midsection of the bridge, making Sky brim with hope as he charged at one, kicking the door open and huddling up in the hut's corner after quickly igniting the fireplace.

"Just my luck!" Sky happily exclaimed as he warmed himself up by the fire, draping his soaked jacket near it, hoping to dry it out.

The night passed by and Sky awoke to the sun hanging in the sky, as well as two guards looming over him, slowly blinking to see their displeased expressions.

"What's an Earth Kingdom citizen doing all the way down here?" One guard asked.

"Not a clue," the other guard replied as Sky stood up, grabbing his now dried coat, clearing his throat as he looked at the guards.

"Sorry for breaking in here, but I'll just be going now," Sky replied as he shimmied between the guards, taking his leave across the bridge whilst the guards gandered at him before looking at each other.

"Do we stop him?" One guard asked.

"We could, but we don't get paid enough to care," The other guard dismissively replied as they took their post on the bridge.

Sky ventured across the Bridge, walking out to see a deadly landscape, jagged mountains and paths of almost impassable ice, thick layers of snow coating most of the earth.

Sky slowly nodded as he gazed at the terrain, smacking his lips before grimacing.

"Of course, the last key is in a giant death trap," Sky grumbled, but despite the intimidating landscape, Sky cautiously ventured in, climbing along stalagmites of ice and stone, shimmying along walls with paths barely the size of his feet, nervous sweat coated his body as he attempted to keep himself from shaking.

"What I'd give to be an Earth-bender... or Water-bender," Sky grumbled as he continued his perilous venture, making his way through the inhospitable terrain, coming to a small open area of snow and stone, cautiously observing his surroundings, waiting for the voices to talk.

"You've finally arrived," a voice whispered as Sky jumped before realising who it was, taking a deep breath as he looked around.

"Yep, I'm here, now where's this last key?" Sky replied, his tone riddled with annoyance.

"Follow our voice, and you shall have your answer," The voice whispered as Sky followed it, walking into another small cavern.

Nothing blocked his way, but he still proceeded with his damaged sword at the ready, approaching the pedestal as his eyes jumped around the room, waiting for something to pop out.

Sky gazed at the relic, swiping it from the pedestal and quickly sprinting from the cavern, looking back in with a perplexed relief.

"And here I thought something would definitely leap out at me," Sky jested as his grip tightened around the relic, his eyes flushing white as he saw visions of the brothers forging two blades, etching runes into them as the shaggy-haired man barged in, angered by what they were doing.

Sky stumbled back as the relic crumbled, revealing a Quartz Key, The Mercenary stared at it with a curious gaze before pulling out the other three keys, looking at them with a theory brewing in his mind.

"All these keys are the colours of the elements..." Sky muttered.

"How very perceptive, Sky," a voice whispered as Sky pocketed the keys before placing his hands to his hips.

"Alright, I got your keys. Now what?" Sky curiously asked as a silence loomed over him before a light engulfed him once more, transporting him to the far eastern side of the Fire Nation.

"We dive into the abyss," a voice whispered as Sky looked at the ocean, gulping at the sound of the word 'Abyss'.

"Well... I've come this far, may as well finish it," Sky told himself as he leapt into the ocean, swimming down to the depths, but the further he swam, the more his consciousness faded, seeing a blurry sight of a cavern before turning around and swimming back to shore, lunging out of the ocean and onto land, gasping heavily as he pulled himself out of the ocean, rolling onto his back as he gazed at the afternoon sun.

"I'm gonna need a water-bender," Sky mumbled to himself, taking a few minutes to himself before setting out into the Fire Nation, hoping to find a Water-bender.