Prologue: Dealing with giants.
Jin felt a nervous sweat trickling down his brow, causing an almost maddening itch begging to be scratched. But he would not dare. If commander Asuma saw him he'd have a fit and start berating him in front of the whole squad about "breaking composure in front of the monsters". Like anyone could really keep their cool in front of the Oni.
A head taller than the tallest man and strong enough to rip apart a saber-toothed moose-lion the Oni were the subject of many stories designed to frighten children into behaving "be good or an Oni will eat you up!" Jin should know, he had told a few of those stories to his own children from time to time. In truth nobody new much about the mysterious race of giants who appeared across the world seemingly out of nowhere almost a century ago. Some say that they are spirits, or monsters sent to punish the fire nation for the genocide of the Air Nomads, and the rest of the world for allowing it to happen. Jin did not know or want to know. All he knew was he never wanted to meet one face to face.
And yet here he was. Sent with the strictest most un-diplomatic officer in the whole Fire Nation and a team of scholars from the army's RND department to try and convince a tribe of Oni to willingly swear themselves to the Fire lord. He must have been horrendously cruel to puppy-bears in a previous life to deserve this kind of karma.
To make matters worse the team was comprised of the afore mentioned Commander "Flame Fist" (or Hot Head behind his back) Asuma, some sub-par scholars who seemed to think of the Oni as nothing more than dangerous savages and were mostly shaking in their boots and wishing they were back in a nice cozy laboratory and some rank-and-file soldiers like himself. Not exactly a team that inspires confidence.
Jin loved his country like any good soldier, but he was under no delusions that their leaders were particularly caring or forgiving. He knew that there was only one reason a team as shoddy as this would be sent on this kind of mission… No one expected them to succeed and if this turned violent, they were all expendable.
Its not that the Oni are unbeatable but…well… let's just say any fight with them ends up with more casualties on the human side than theirs. Like on a scale of ten to one.
Jin was snapped out of his thoughts by commander Asumas gravelly booming voice "Alright men! We're coming up to the Oni settlement now, remember your training and we'll have these monsters fighting for the glory of the fire nation in no time!" he bellowed with is usual unearned confidence. The man honestly had no idea that he was not in command's good graces at all. His stiff attitude and arrogance had caused a multitude of problems on and off the battlefield and he only retained his rank due to family connections.
"Just remember the mission!... protect the eggheads while they try to explain to the Oni that they are in the Fire Nation and are therefore beholden to his majesty the Fire Lord! And when the barbarians prove too stupid to comprehend this, we burn'em until they do! HAHAHA!"
"Please let him get squished" Jin heard the soldier to his side mutter. No one seemed particularly confident in this plan.
As they crested the hill, they saw it. Perched on a mountain in an almost uninhabited corner of the Fire Archipelago. The Oni settlement.
It was almost impressive, large stone houses had been carved out of the side of the mountain. Making the place look like a Buzzard-hornet hive. They approached in the open to appear as peaceful as possible. Well as peaceful as you can look covered in armour and with a commander wearing a scowl like he had just trod in something foul.
When Jin saw his first Oni, he was almost disappointed, sure they were unnaturally big most standing around eight feet tall. but aside from that they looked like normal people there were even some children running about! The only thing that set them apart other than their size was the varying differences in their appearances.
Some looked like anyone on the street in caldera city. Black straight hair and brown eyes, others looked like they could comfortably fit in in Ba Sing Se or even with the Water Tribes. But others looked like no person he had ever seen before, with golden or red hair, or skin darker than any Water Tribesman. All had their eyes locked on the approaching soldiers.
As per the plan the head scholar, Muchi approached first. He spoke slowly in the Oni's bizarre sounding language. Some traders and scholars had managed to record and work out the Oni's native language known internationally as Giant's Speak over the decades and had figured it out to some extent (some claimed that the Oni have dozens if not hundreds of languages but that was just ridiculous). It was clear from the looks on the Oni's faces, ranging from mild amusement to annoyance that this scholars grasp on their tongue was shaky at best.
After Muchi had finished the Oni spoke amongst themselves for a moment before one of them, a broad-shouldered pale man with short red hair and a beard to match motioned for them to follow him further up the mountain.
Up they went, trying to ignore the wary and curious stares from the giants surrounding them. Until they came to a particularly large cavern in the rock. This cavern had been fashioned into a hall of sorts, with a long stone table up the middle large enough to seat the whole village. And sat at the head in a large stone chair covered in bits of cloth and hides from hunted animals was this settlements leader. Their "Jarl".
The red-headed Oni spoke to Muchi, presumably introducing his leader and stepped aside allowing Jin to get a good look at him. The Jarl was large, even by Oni standards. He had almost ebony black skin and his hair was fashioned into a series of braids to the point that it almost resembled a bunch of ropes. He nodded in the unit's direction and spoke in a deep almost soothing voice.
Muchi turned to the commander "This is Jarl Ezekiel; he welcomes us to his village and asks if we would like any refreshments" Muchi sounded almost stunned. Which matched the rest of their party perfectly. They had half expected to be roasted on a spit but instead they were being offered food and drink?!
Some other Oni had already brought stone cups of water and platters of meat and bread and laid them out on the table.
None of this impressed Asuma (Although he may have simply not noticed) He stepped forward and spoke harshly to Muchi.
"Tell this barbarian that he and his tribe are to report to the nearest military site for deployment against the enemies of the Fire Nation immediately, or we will burn this pathetic excuse for a "village" to the ground and all his people with it!" He ordered with a tone that brokered no argument.
None the less Muchi tried.
"P-perhaps a more diplomatic approach would be mor appropriate here s-sir?" Mochi stuttered. His face now bearing a fine sheen of sweat that had nothing to do with the Fire islands humidity.
"Tell him or you will burn first" Asuma growled. Muchi gulped and spoke to Ezekiel. The Jarls face darkened, as did the face of every Oni within earshot. The soldiers began shifting nervously, with some wondering if they could get away with knocking out their commander in this situation.
Ezekiel spoke. His deep voice rumbling like thunder. He kept a calm and civil tone that was still clearly dead serious. Muchi turned back to Asuma, now trembling with fear. "Jarl Ezekiel informs me that his people have no quarrel with the Fire Nation but neither do they have any reason to fight the Fire Nations enemies. Please sir we must stay diplo-
Muchi was suddenly cut-off by the furious bellowing of Asuma. "NO REASON?!" "THESE INSOLENT ANIMALS THINK THEY CAN LIVE IN FIRE NATION TERRITORY AND NOT SERVE THE FIRE NATION?!
He lit up a fire ball in his hand and launched it into a crowd of Oni who only just managed to dodge in time though some yelled in pain and surprise as their clothes caught fire.
"MAYBE THAT WILL TEACH YOU YOU'RE PLACE! YOU BARBARIAN FREA-
Asuma never finished that sentence. For faster than a charging Komodo Rhino Ezekiel had launched himself out of his chair and planted a head sized fist square in the center of his torso, there was a grotesque sound like snapping branches and Asuma was lifted off his feet and sent flying off the mountain and out of sight.
There was a deadly silence until Ezekiel spoke to Muchi one more "He *gulp* he said that anyone who wants to run will be let go and no harm will be done to them. A-anyone who tries to fight will be given no mercy.
Panic erupted among the soldiers as more than half scrambled for the exit while others surged forward in a crazed spur of patriotic duty to their fallen commander. They were dealt with swiftly as more Oni fell on them from the sides.
Jin ran and did not look back.
It was a week later, and Fire Lord Azulon was not pleased. Not only had that fool Asuma completely failed at his mission to recruit the Oni, but he had also gone and gotten himself killed and so could not be adequately punished for his stupidity. That would be the last time Azulon ever gave anyone a chance to redeem themselves for past failures.
He had never really expected the Oni to serve him just by asking nicely and had expected to use force further down the line to bend them to his will anyway. But this was done far too early and with no strategic thought at all.
To make matters worse it turns out the Oni are more advanced than he thought. They had access to messenger hawks, how he had no idea and had sent word to other settlements across the world. Now there were reports of Oni attacking Fire Nation troops everywhere. Some even seemed to be working with the Earth kingdom forces! Though most seemed to favour skirmishing tactics. Attacking from the wilderness, ripping apart tanks and men in equal measure and disappearing again before his soldiers were any the wiser.
Azulon had just made a very troubling enemy. All because of one loudmouth, no brain officer. He decided to have the mans family stripped of all ranks and possessions. "Let them see how incompetence is punished" he thought to himself.
And just when the Fire Lord thought his day could not get any worse his second born walked in to make him watch his brats perform like circus animals.
A mere week later Fire Lord Azulon passed away peacefully in his bed. He was succeeded by his second born as per his wishes. And thus began the reign of Fire Lord Ozai.
Ozai looked out at the crowd bowing before him. A feeling of smug satisfaction bubbling up inside. He had everything! All the might of the greatest empire the world had ever seen was now at his fingertips. He had all the power in the world!
And nothing could stop him.
Well there we go!
I hope you all enjoyed the prologue to my first ever story. This all came about from me daydreaming about giants/super strong humans in the world of avatar while I was supposed to be working. I tried to portray the Oni (or "Giants as they are known internationally) as strong without making them too OP. Super strength doesn't matter much if someone blasts fire in your face after all!
This is my first ever attempt at fanfiction so any advice or tips would be welcome!