Disclaimer – all original Avatar: The Last Airbender characters in this fanfic (excluding my OCs) are the property of Bryana Konietzko and Michaela Dante DiMartino.
Chapter 22. The History of Yuan'Shi – part 3
Spirit World, The Tree of Time.
While Huo kept his orange-colored eyes fixed on the possessed girl, Yan Zu looked at the fox-like spirit, who moved slightly and groaned. "So what happened exactly?" the man asked, trying to understand the situation. "I get that Min Yan is now possessed, but what happened to Yuan'Shi?"
"Yuan'Shi knew that her physical body would be destroyed, but her immortal and corrupted spirit would survive," Wei'Rai explained. "She was aware how much destruction that would cause so she casted away the corruption in her body by bending and splitting her own spirit in two. The uncorrupted half of her spirit remained in her original body while the corrupted half possessed the girl."
"So now we have two Yuan'Shis, but one is corrupted and the other isn't," Yan Zu summarized.
"Yes," Wei'Rai confirmed.
"Min Yan!" Gavon called out, drawing everyone's attention. The man managed to get back to his feet but had no idea what had just happened. He ran up to the girl with a concerned look. "Are you okay?!" he asked, noticing the change in her appearance. "What happened?!"
The girl sharply turned her head towards him and looked at him with orange-colored eyes, which were full of hatred and rage. She took a deep breath and screamed, magnifying the sounds waves with airbending. Gavon covered his ears, but he could feel his eardrums being ruptured. Screaming in pain, he fell to his knees.
Gavon lost his hearing, but he felt the heat and lifted his head, noticing a palm in front of his face. The girl was charging an attack, and the last thing he saw was a blinding orange hue as an enormous flame was shoot directly at him. The man was reduced to ash, and the ground beneath him was scorched. When it was over, the girl looked at her palm, conjuring a tiny orange flame. She squinted her eyes, and the flame turned black in mere moments.
"A spirit of a Fire Keeper, or Yuan'Shi in this case, can change the flame color of the person they possess to the one they originally use and vice versa," Wei'Rai explained. "It can be done at any time as long as they inhabit the physical body. When Shen'Rai possessed your son, he could've change his blue flames to his violet ones."
Yan Zu nodded and glanced at Huo, who silently observed the girl. As if completely ignoring the fox-like spirit, the girl turned and looked at the settlement in the distance. She made a few awkward steps and wobbled. Since Yuan'Shi's original body was quadrupedal, she had trouble moving on two legs. Still, she lifted herself off the ground with airbending and flew towards the settlement.
"She's going to... kill them," Huo said.
"Every last one," the phoenix stated. "The whole settlement was reduced to nothing. We were lucky she was more focused on the humans rather than on her uncorrupted half. It was a golden opportunity for her, but she didn't take it."
"I don't understand," Yan Zu replied, squinting his brown-colored eyes. "An opportunity for what?"
"She could've absorb her chi and become whole just like she plans to do with the Avatar," Wei'Rai explained. "The uncorrupted Yuan'Shi is much weaker since she had to cast away the corruption. However, the corrupted Yuan'Shi was overwhelmed by her rage and the only thing on her mind was to kill the humans. Luckily, we all sensed right away that something was wrong."
Just as he ended his sentence, a wall made of multicolored fire burst from the ground, and four Fire Keepers emerged from the flames. The Water Keepers emerged from the whirlpool, which appeared in the middle of the lake. The ground quaked as the Earth Keepers burst from under the ground, and the Air Keepers emerged from four whirlwinds that came down from the sky.
Immediately, all sixteen Keepers noticed the human bodies scattered all over the area. The Earth Keepers even sensed the bodies located underground or what remained of them. "What happened here?!" asked Shen'Rai. While the sight was dreadful, the Keepers became horrified when they saw in what condition Yuan'Shi was.
Nukuio slithered closer to the fox-like spirit and used the water dripping from his body to heal her burned eye and wash off the blood from her snout and paws. The phoenixes immediately realized that, aside from them, only one being had enough power to harm Yuan'Shi with fire. "She did this?!" Wei'Rai asked, clearly upset. "She attacked you?!"
"Yes," the fox-like spirit answered weakly as the Water Keeper healed her eye. When the wound was gone, Yuan'Shi tried to get up, but she was too weak. She began to explain between deep breaths. "She tried to kill me... after giving me a poisoned meat. I tried to use... energybending to take away... her element but, I failed. I casted away my corruption but it... possessed her."
All Keepers exchanged concerned looks. Before anyone said anything, rumbling sounds and dozens of screams were issued from the settlement. The spirits took a quick glance towards it, noticing smoke and fire. Houses were crushed by large slabs of earth or pierced by long ice spikes.
"You have... a few minutes left," Yuan'Shi added. "You need to... hurry."
While the Water Keepers stayed with Yuan'Shi, all the others headed towards the settlement.
"A few minutes for what?" Yan Zu asked, turning his head towards the real Wei'Rai.
"When a spirit doesn't leave a human body, the human eventually dies," the phoenix began to explain, keeping his eyes on the settlement. "When that happens, the spirit needs a moment to adjust to its 'new' body, but during that moment, the spirit is defenceless. We waited until the girl died and used that opportunity to defeat Yuan'Shi's corrupted half, by burning all of her chi. We did the same thing I did with your son."
"I'm actually surprised you all decided to rush and act so quickly," Yan Zu pointed out. "But I'm guessing it was not to help the humans."
"Oh believe me, for what they did, they deserved to perish," stated Wei'Rai. "That only proved what I said. Humans are violent, greedy, and care only for themselves. It was a fitting end for them. However, we saw the bigger picture and decided to act."
Huo stared at the settlement, immersed in thought. From the very beginning, when Qhavaq began to show themYuan'Shi's history, the boy realized that he was able to tell what would happen in certain parts as if he had seen everything before. Since Wei'Rai was with them, he could provide him with answers, but the boy decided to wait until the end.
After a couple of minutes, the rumbling and all the screams stooped. The Keepers returned with the unconscious body of Min Yan and lay her down on the ground. The human spirit was absorbed by the corrupted spirit and gone forever, which meant that Min Yan was dead, and the corrupted Yuan'Shi now owned her body for good.
The uncorrupted Yuan'Shi was healed and cleaned up but extremely tired. Casting away the corruption took a heavy toll on her body, and she couldn't stand up.
"So what now?" asked Denger, looking at the corrupted Yuan'Shi. "We have to decide quickly before she regains consciousness and attacks us. The second fight won't go so easy and the Fire Keepers can simply burn her chi over and over again."
Huo and Yan Zu got closer in order not to miss anything. "Obviously we can't kill her," stated Nin To. "If we do, her corrupted spirit would return to her original body and the corruption would began to spread once again. In her state, Yuan'Shi wouldn't be able to cast it away a second time."
"We should try to purify her," Shen'Rai stated, looking at Nukuio and his siblings.
"Easier said than done," replied Nukuio. "Spiritbending won't be effective against her. She's just too strong for that. It would only work after we'd convince her to calm down and good luck with that."
"We could combine our elements and seal her in the Tree of Time," suggested one of the Earth Keepers.
"Even weakened, she'd free herself with her own bending shortly after," replied Wei'Rai. "And even if we'd take away her bending, it would be fruitless effort."
"Maybe we can place her in the Mist of the Sleeping Souls then," Shen'Rai suggested. "That's a perfect prison where her physical body would remain asleep and unaffected by time or the need to eat and drink."
The Keepers thought about that suggestion. "That's not exactly prison since she can escape by simply waking up," pointed out one of the Air Keepers.
"But if she thinks that the dream is reality, she will stay in it," stated Nou'Rai. "Maybe even after a few centuries of dreaming, she'd calm down and would be more willing to be purified. Still, we'd have to be careful with our negative emotions if we decide to place her there. She can sense them and if she realizes that she's in a dream, she'll break out."
"That's... a good idea," the uncorrupted Yuan'Shi seconded, listening to their conversation.
"It's decided then," Wei'Rai announced. "Let's hurry before she wakes up."
Shen'Rai grabbed the corrupted Yuan'Shi by the arms and flew off along with Nou'Rai and Nin To while the remaining Keepers helped the fox-like spirit stand up. "We're going to take you to the pedestal," said Wei'Rai. "As long as you two are divided, you won't have any strength to even move on your own."
"Thank... you," Yuan'Shi replied weakly as the Keepers took her and left.
"Nothing more about her past there is to learn, to the present, we must return," Qhavaq raised his tentacle with the glowing light and once again began to create another sandstorm. When it finally ended, all of them were back in the dark, underground cave, standing on the lake. The spirit of time was once again the only source of light, and Huo's eyes needed a moment to accustom.
Yan Zu looked at Qhavaq and bowed his head. Huo quickly did the same. "Thank you for everything, Qhavaq," said the man.
"Many things await you and for our next meeting, I look forward to," said Qhavaq. Before Yan Zu or Huo could reply or ask for an explanation, the spirit's watery body became one with the lake. The leaves on the water began to glow and levitate, returning to the roots above. The whole cave was again illuminated by their yellow light, which became brighter and brighter.
Wei'Rai, Yan Zu, and Huo closed their eyes. When they reopened them, they were back at the surface, close to the Tree of Time and the entrance to the Qhavaq's realm, which was quickly sealed shut. Yan Zu guessed Qhavaq did this for Wei'Rai since the phoenix would not be able to leave in his condition.
The man exhaled and massaged his forehead. "Now do you understand everything?" Wei'Rai asked.
The man turned towards the phoenix. While many things were explained, he still had some questions. "What's stopping Yuan'Shi from simply killing herself right now as we speak and corrupting her other half?" he asked.
"Because if she does, there's a slight chance that Yuan'Shi might cast her out again," Wei'Rai answered. "If that would happen, she'd be left without a physical body in a spirit world far too weak to escape and fight us. Of course the chances of that happening are slim to none, but she has no idea in what state the other Yuan'Shi is so she doesn't want to risk it."
"Why didn't you take away her bending?" the man asked another question. "She would be a whole lot less dangerous without it."
"You clearly underestimate her power," Wei'Rai answered. "Yes, we could have taken away her bending with energybending or affect it with the other elements, but she'd restore it herself without much effort some time after. Even we cannot fix or restore our bending ourselves. Such is her power."
While Yan Zu sighed, Huo took a few steps toward Wei'Rai. "I also have a question," he said. "From the moment Qhavaq began to show us Yuan'Shi's history, I was able to tell what would happen as if-"
"As if you saw it before," the Fire Keeper interrupted, knowing what the boy wanted to ask. "You have parts of Yuan'Shi's memories because you ate the flames that burned her arm. Eating the fire, which spreads and expands, replenishes and even increases ones chi. However, eating the flames that burned sentient beings causes the user to gain their experiences and memories. If you'd eat flames that burned a whole being, you would gain all the memories and experiences of that being. It's forbidden to use it like that for many reasons, but mostly because you can forget who you really are."
Huo gulped nervously and nodded. "So what now?" Yan Zu asked. "You're just going to return to your realm and wait with the other Keepers until she becomes whole?"
"Yes," Wei'Rai answered straight out. "As you heard, killing Yuan'Shi won't solve the problem. We thought that maybe staying in the Mist of the Sleeping Souls would calm her down and give humanity time to change, but it became even worse. Humans destroy nature and everything they get their hands on. They even killed the Ancient Ones, who protected them, and forced us to rely on them."
"Wait... what do you mean they forced you to relay on them?" Yan Zu asked, squinting his brown-colored eyes.
"We shared a bond with the Ancient Ones and their bending," Wei'Rai explained. "As long as they existed, our powers and forms remained unaffected, but when the first Avatar sealed Vaatu and closed the portals, the Ancient Ones relinquished their roles as protectors of humanity and started to roam the world. Humans eventually started to hunt them down. Our powers began to weaken and our forms shrunk. As much as we hated it, we needed to bond ourselves with the humans and their bending instead. And now, because of the war, the Air Keepers are on the verge of completely losing their powers because only one airbender remains."
"That's why the Air Keepers we saw were much bigger than the one that came with you when Shen'Rai fought Yuan'Shi," Yan Zu realized.
"Exactly," Wei'Rai confirmed. "Normally, the Air Keepers would be able to use their energybending to spread it around the physical world and give the non-bending humans the element of air at random from our realm, but the spirit portals have to be open. Unfortunately, the Avatar closed them, and we can't open them."
"Can't you ask the Avatar to open them?" Huo asked.
"The Avatar vanished without a trace," Wei'Rai replied. "And even if we'd find him, I doubt he'd open the portals, if we'd tell him what we were planning to do. In his mind, creating airbenders at random would surely cause chaos and unbalance. Even though the current war happened because he didn't do his job properly."
Yan Zu crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah," he agreed. "I can imagine what would happen if random non-bending humans all over the four nations would suddenly became airbenders. Fire Nation would surely began to hunt them down."
"Wei'Rai!" a familiar voice called out and drew the attention of the three. Huo recognized two phoenixes in the sky. Nou'Rai and Vin'Rai flew straight toward them. When they reached and landed next to their brother, Nou'Rai immediately noticed his injury. "What happened?" she asked, looking at the hole in his wing.
"I got into a fight with Shen'Rai," Wei'Rai replied. "He injured my wing and scrambled the nerves in my body."
"What?! Why?!" Nou'Rai asked.
Wei'Rai sighed and began to explain everything while Vin'Rai started using energybending to help his brother move again.
When the leader of the Fire Keepers finished telling his siblings everything that happened, Nou'Rai and Vin'Rai looked at Huo, who smiled sheepishly. "Ehhh... figures Shen'Rai would do something like that," Vin'Rai said, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry," Huo apologized, looking at the ground.
"It's not your fault," Nou'Rai reassured. "Shen'Rai was always like that. Curious, rebellious, but at the same time kind-hearted and compassionate."
"Let's not waste anymore time here, we must return to our realm," Wei'Rai said, unfolding his wings. He felt relieved being able to move normally again. Vin'Rai also used firebending to fix the wound in his wing, so the phoenix was fully healed.
While Nou'Rai and Vin'Rai prepared to take off, Wei'Rai sat down and looked at Huo. "You're coming or do you need an invitation?" he asked.
"Huh?!" Huo was confused, just like his father. The boy looked at Yan Zu and back at the phoenix. "I can go with you? But I thought-"
"Yuan'Shi roams the physical world so the Spirit World is the only place where you'll be safe," Wei'Rai pointed out. "If you'd die, everything Shen'Rai did and sacrificed was for nothing. And besides, you borrowed some things from Wan Shi Tong. It's your job to return them when you're done."
"Oh!" Huo actually forgot about the book and the scrolls. He looked at his father. "But what about-"
"I'm able to handle myself, Huo," Yan Zu reassured, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm a spirit as well, remember? You can be sure, I'll find a nice place to stay and find a way to contact you. So you can visit me like before."
"O-okay," Huo replied, albeit somewhat sadly. He didn't completely deal with the fact that his father was dead. At least not yet.
"Everything will be alright, Huo," Yan Zu reassured once again. "You're a brave and strong boy. You can do anything if you put your heart to it."
Huo exhaled and smiled slightly. He hugged Yan Zu, who hugged him back. After a few moments, Huo pulled away and walked up to Wei'Rai. When the phoenixes took off, Yan Zu smiled and waved to the boy, who waved back.
A few days later – Spirit World, Realm of Keepers.
Without Shen'Rai visiting him daily for casual conversations, living among the phoenixes wasn't the same for Huo. The boy had food, water, and a place to sleep in his cave, but he wasn't the same as before. Even when he practiced firebending, his blue-colored flames were small since Huo had no drive. There was no reason for him to learn it anymore since Yuan'Shi woke up, and he didn't need to focus on training to keep his negative emotions in check.
After waking up, Huo went further down to wash up in the hot springs. Thanks to his heat redirection, he could cool off the water whenever he wanted and reheat it when he needed to take a hot bath.
As he splashed the water on his face and looked at his reflection, he focused on the scar on his face and thought about his mother. She was in the physical world where Yuan'Shi searched for the Avatar. Shaku and Eilu were also there. Not to mention the people from the village he was born. He wanted to protect all of them from Yuan'Shi, even his mother, but he knew he was no match for the spirit.
When Huo cleaned himself up and ate his breakfast, which consisted of red-colored sweet-and-spicy fruits, he left the cave and sat down on the yellow-red grass. He exhaled and closed his orange-colored eyes. He really wanted to find a solution to this dire situation. When he heard the sound of wings flapping, he reopened his eyes and looked up, spotting Nou'Rai, who carried a bunch of fruits in her claws.
"Good morning, Huo," Nou'Rai said as she dropped the fruits and landed on the grass. "I brought you more fruits."
"Good morning," he replied with a weak smile and lowered his head. "And thank you for the fruits."
"Is everything alright?" Nou'Rai asked, moving closer and sitting right next to the boy.
Huo sighed and shook his head. "No," he replied. "I'm worried about my mom and my friends. Yuan'Shi is searching for the Avatar so there's a chance that she might encounter and hurt them. Because of me, Yuan'Shi woke up. I just wish there was something I could do to fix this."
The phoenix unfolded her wing and touched the boy's back. "It's not your fault, Huo," she said reassuringly. "Avatar was the one responsible for keeping the peace and balance in the world, not you."
"Can he defeat Yuan'Shi?" Huo asked, looking at the phoenix.
Nou'Rai shook her head. "When the Avatar masters all the elements and can enter the Avatar State at will, the power of his bending exceeds Yuan'Shi's since she has only half of her power," she stated. "Still, that won't matter since her forms and techniques are something even the Avatar never saw before. Not to mention she can also energybend, which is a bending art long forgotten by the humans."
"Her bending is so advanced?" Huo asked, partially worried about the gravity of the situation and partially in awe.
"Even one Keeper at his strongest would be able to defeat the Avatar with the bending arts we know," Nou'Rai added and folded her wing. "You did what you could to stop Yuan'Shi from waking up, which was more what the Avatar ever did."
The phoenix folded her wing and stood up. "I'll try to find your father and see what he's up to," she added. "Who knows, maybe he found a place to stay already."
"Okay, thank you," Huo replied as Nou'Rai took off. The boy leaned back and lay on the grass, closing his eyes and placing his hand behind his head. He tried to think of something else, but his thoughts were constantly drawn to Yuan'Shi. He felt guilty and even asked himself why the Keepers didn't kill him to prevent Yuan'Shi from waking up.
Suddenly, Huo's eyes snapped open, and he sat down abruptly. He recalled everything Nou'Rai said to him, and he got an idea. The boy stood up and rushed to the place where the phoenixes usually rested.
Huo spotted the three phoenixes, who sat and rested after their training. Wei'Rai was the first one to spot him. "What happened?" he asked as the boy stopped to catch his breath.
"Is there something wrong, Huo?" Nou'Rai asked as well.
Huo looked at Wei'Rai with a serious expression. "I want you to teach me everything about the art of firebending," he said straight out. "And I mean everything you know."
"And why should I do that?" Wei'Rai asked, squinting his red-colored eyes.
"Because I want to stop Yuan'Shi," Huo answered decisively.
Wei'Rai rolled his eyes. "And when I thought I heard everything," he commented. "Even if we'd train you, it won't change anything. No matter what you'd learn from us, you're not going to be able to kill Yuan'Shi."
"I don't want to kill Yuan'Shi," Huo replied. "I want to kill the Avatar."
Please R&R ;)