Chap. 14

The Knights

A few minutes earlier…

The jungle landscape was filled with humid air, hanging vines, and trees that popped up form every which way. But Zuko pushed through all of it, not caring about anything but capturing the Avatar. Iroh however, took a different approach.

"Prince Zuko, are you sure we cannot turn back and get something cold to drink?" Iroh asked, as he wiped his heavily sweating brow. The old general was not used to the humidity of the jungle and thus far, had done little more then walk and sweat. Zuko in turn ignored his uncle's question as he had the last three times (even though he was also quite hot and thirsty) and continued to walk though the jungle.

But a moment later, Zuko came to a halt, as he saw a large clearing in the distance. Motioning to his uncle, Zuko quietly began to sneak up to it, barely making a sound. Iroh followed, though not as well as his nephew (mainly due to his age). Still the two of them managed to sneak behind a large tree and listen in to what was happening.

"How many?" Iroh asked.

"At least twenty, plus Zhao himself. But it looks like they're all riders. Where are the rhinos?" Zuko asked.

"We'll worry about that later. They're probably in the jungle somewhere. Do you see the Avatar?"

"Yes, he's standing in the back, with his Water-tribe friends. And I can see Fuego too….."

"Zuko, what is it?"

"There are people with him. They're dressed like him, but in different colors. They're saying something, but I can't make it out."

"I can hear a little better. It's something about other elements, but that's all I can make out. What do you think it means?"

Before Iroh could answer, another voice said from above, "Oh, I think you'll find out." Eyes widening, the two Firebenders looked up……..

Now……

"… around you right now." Agua finished. And as the blue man spoke, there came a crashing noise from the jungle. Everyone whirled around to see a huge tree shaking back and forth. Suddenly it pulled itself up, and began to move forward on its roots. Stretching out two of it's branches, a voice issued forth, "Look who I found." As it displayed the captive Zuko and Iroh for all to see.

"How did he get here?" Tierra, Sokka, and Zhao all said in unison. Not seeming to care, the tree dropped the two Firebenders to the side, and then began to rustle as it shrunk into itself. Leaves vanished, bark became soft and pliable, and branches retracted as the tree shrank to the size of a man. Finally, it finished its transformation as a stocky, tall man dressed in green stood there, a large battle axe slung to his back.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked, in a rich, earthy voice.

"No, you're right on time." Fuego replied.

But before the red man could say any more, Zhao yelled out, "Enough of this! Attack, before anymore of them show up!"

Of course, as the soldiers moved forward, that happened as well. As the line of troops started to advance, there was suddenly a rumble from the skies, and then a crack as lighting shot down, forcing the soldiers back. As the smoke cleared, another figure rose up, dressed in silver and holding a bronze staff.

As the soldiers backed away from this man as well, there was suddenly a clank from the jungle. A few troops turned, only to see a pair of chains shoot out from the jungle, wrap around their ankles and drag them back. But before they were dragged into the jungle, the chains rose, suspending them in the air by their ankles. As they hung there, another man emerged, dressed in gray. The chains seemed to be sprouting from holes in the man's palms. The gray man stood there a moment, and then suddenly whipped the chains forward, slamming the two soldiers into the group with a thud. Holding his hands out, the gray man watched as the chains literally retracted into the open holes in his palms. The holes sealed as soon as the chains retracted.

The remaining troops attempted to advance on the gray man, but suddenly they found themselves blinded by the intense light of the sun. As they stood there, trying to cleanse their eyes, there was a cry from the heavens and then something fell into their ranks, clawing and kicking like a wildman. The troops were too blinded to properly attack, so they all fell to the ground within seconds. Only then, could they see their attacker. Looking up, they saw a golden figure, holding what appeared to be a golden ball in its hand. But then their vision cleared, and they saw the golden woman who had defeated them, and the light ball she'd used to blind them.

But they had little time to admire that either, for they suddenly felt the sands under them begin to pull at them. Almost instantly, the troops began to struggle against the pull, to no avail of course. Within minutes, every Fire Nation soldier was up to his neck in the sands. As Aang, Katara, Zuko and the others stared in absolute amazement, the sands began to gather up and rise into a shape, until finally, a tall, muscular man in orange had emerged from the sands.

"Impressed yet?" Fuego asked, as the figures came to stand by him and his brothers. "I told you there were more of us Zhao. And considering how easily we just put down your men, I don't think you want to fight us. Why don't you just leave now?"

But if Zhao was anything, he was prideful. "Never!" he cried back. "I don't know how you did that, and I don't care. I am the great Admiral Zhao! I fear nothing!"

But as Zhao spoke those words, he suddenly felt a chill in the back of his spine. Slowly, the admiral turned around, as if he suspected an unholy monster to appear behind him. And he wasn't far off. For when Zhao finally saw what was behind him, he actually screamed in terror, seeing something that no one could explain or understand. As everyone turned at the sound of the scream, they also gaped in horror. For the creature that had so frightened Zhao was his own shadow.

But it was not simply darkness on the ground. Somehow, Zhao's shadow had stretched upwards, gaining substance and dimension. The huge black mass stretched to almost ten feet tall, and though it had kept the basic shape of the Admiral, a pair of red eyes glowed within its face.

As Zhao tried to back away (a pointless endeavor, since no man can escape his shadow) the huge black shape actually bent forward, stretching its arms out to hold Zhao in place. As the Admiral cowered, the huge black face came down and looked at him, with a sense of almost curiosity. Then, even though it had no mouth, the shadow spoke, in a voice that was like Zhao's but mixed with that of something that had died and come back to life.

"What's wrong, Zhao?" the shadow whispered, as it leaned in close.

"Do I frighten you? Is the great Admiral Zhao afraid of the dark? Of his own shadow?" it asked, as Zhao cowered in terror.

The shadow let out a laugh then, a dark sound like nails on a chalkboard. "You must show more spine Admiral. Isn't that what the Fire Lord wants? And you don't want to disappoint him do you? To be less then those soldiers you command…. You fear that more then anything else, don't you? You can't stand to made less then you think you deserve."

The shadow pulled back then, drawing itself up to it's full height, but then, it began to shrink. "Don't be afraid of low rank, Zhao." The shadow said, as it continued to lessen in height. "And don't be afraid of the dark either." It said, as it stopped its descent, reaching the height of the Admiral himself. For a second, the shadow kept its form of Zhao, and then began to change its shape, becoming more defined and less 'Zhao-like.' And as the shadow drew into itself, the blackness that comprised it vanished as well, revealing the man in black. Seeing that the shadow was gone, Zhao tried to get to his feet, but before he could, the man reached over and pulled him up. Drawing Zhao close, the black man said, as his red eyes glowed, "Be afraid of me."

With that, the black man suddenly pulled his free hand back and released a blast of flame at Zhao, blasting him back onto the ground. But this flame was different. It was black and blue, and Zhao came to a halt, his teeth were chattering from cold. As the Admiral's troopswatched their leader struggle to his feet, Fuego and his siblings came to stand by the black man.

"Do you understand us now?" the black man said, as he looked at Zhao.

But the Admiral only stared back and asked, through his chattering teeth, "W-Who are y-you people?"

At that, the black man actually let out a chuckle. "I forgot to mention that, didn't I? If you must know, my name is Oscuridad. My brothers are Bosque (a gesture at the green man), Trueno (the silver man now), Hierro (the gray man) and Desierto (the orange man)."

"This one here,' the newly-named black man said, gesturing towards the golden woman, who came up and stood next to him. "is Luz, my wife. Of course, in a much simpler vernacular, we are Darkness, Forest, Thunder, Metal, Desert, and Light, four elements that can still be mastered, and two that never will be."

"But what are you?" Zhao asked again, with more arrogance in his voice.

Sighing, Oscuridad said, "I see the Fire Nation has forgotten its mythology. A pity. But if you really must know…" With that, the man in black held out his gauntleted palm, a motion that the others followed. As the ten beings stood, their palms suddenly began to glow, as ten circular symbols suddenly appeared in their palms. A few were recognizable; Zhao and the soldiers recognized the symbol of the Fire Nation on Fuego, and Katara acknowledged the symbol for the Water Tribe on Agua. Aang recognized the Air Nomad sigil on Aire as well as the Earth Kingdom symbol on Tierra. But none of the others were known.

Or so they thought. For as Iroh looked upon the symbols, something stirred within his memory. A story he had been told by the ancient Fire Sages in his youth, about the gods and how they had become angered at the excesses of humanity. How they had decided to make their own voices heard upon the mortal plane. How not only the gods of the four elements had made this chose and therefore placed their power on the mortal plane, but others, who had become elemental gods by their decisions to have their voices and powers placed as well. This had eventually led to the creation of the Avatar, but there had been something else created that day. And as Iroh continued to think, he remembered the rest of the story, and with a gasp, realized who stood before him.

And then, General Iroh, the famed Dragon of the West, who had attacked Ba Sing Se for six hundred days and nearly taken it, did something that shocked his nephew and put a sliver of fear into the heart of Admiral Zhao. Iroh walked in front of the siblings, then fell to the ground and prostrated himself before them in worship.

"Uncle?" Zuko said, in confusion as he moved to stand next to Iroh.

"On the ground Zuko." Iroh said in reply. "Do you not remember the story? Of the gods and their voices?"

For a second, Zuko stood in confusion, as he tried to remember the old story. But then it came back, and with a gasp of shock, Zuko also prostrated himself before the figures.

For a second, there was silence. Then Oscuridad nodded. Turing back to Feugo, he said, "You were right about these two." Motioning to Zuko and Iroh, the man in black told them to rise.

"It is good to know our legend has not left the land totally." He said, as he looked at the two Firebenders. "But I must ask something of you. Speak my name. My true name. Tell them who I am, and who we are."

Iroh nodded. Turning around, he looked right at Zhao and said, "Admiral, allow me to introduce you to Nightstalker, the Knight of Shadow and mortal voice of Rastla, Goddess of Shadow."

As Iroh spoke the words, all measure of pride and rage left Zhao's face. Instead, it became filled with an amazed terror at the beings who stood before him. As the soldiers behind him also began to quake in fear, Fuego suddenly spoke

"You know now, don't you Zhao? We are the Elemental Knights, the mortal voices of the gods. And we have been sent here with a mission. Protect the Avatar from the likes of you."

But while the Firebenders took this news with fear, Katara and Sokka seemed confused.

"Elemental Knights? Voices of the gods? What is he talking about?" Sokka asked.

"You mean you don't know?" Aang said, his voice filled with strange wonder.

"We never heard of them in the Water Tribe." Katara said.

"Well I have." Aang replied. "The Airbenders said that long ago, the gods became angry with the indulgences and greed of mankind. They saw their creation being ravaged, and decided to create their own representatives, their own voices on Earth. They were given the powers of the elements, and sent to Earth in order to create balance. They helped to create the Four Nations using four of the elements to create bending and give the people discipline, and before they left, created the Avatar Spirit to watch over the world."

"Well told Avatar." Luz said, as she looked over at Aang. "And now, we've come back, to safeguard what we created."

"You see Zhao," added Oscuridad, "you fear the Avatar because he represents a force greater then any man could ever control. And you have more reason to fear us Zhao. We aren't men at all."

With that, the man in black reached up, and began to undo the wrappings on his face. Within moments, he'd removed them, and pulling off his hat, revealed his face to the group.