When I was a boy, my father told me the story of how the Hundred Year War ended.
—
Hong Shen peered through the opening on the back of the stage. Adjacent to the stage stood thousands of the colony's inhabitants, waiting in eager anticipation for the featured entertainment of the night – the play that he would perform later. Smirking, Shen sneakily retreated from the backstage and into the dressing room behind.
As he approached his table, he glanced at the costume folded and laid neatly in front of him. It consisted of the usual, scarlet and gold garment that he usually sported when playing his character. His mind flashed back to the last time he wore the costume, when he used to live and perform here — is living and performing here again, he mentally reminded himself. He wasn't on the run anymore, not since Kanku and his Fire Nation troops left when the War ended a year or two back.
Snapping out of his train of thought, he grabbed his costume and unfurled it before focusing his effort into fitting into it. Finished, he observed the remaining objects on the table, props that he didn't use last time – the white mantle that was to be attached above the shoulders, and an indigo cap adorned with the symbol of a blooming white flower. It was a symbol that was hitherto recognised by everyone in the world – the insignia of the Order of the White Lotus, whose Liberation of Ba Sing Se was in fact to be recreated in the play.
Finishing up his appearance, Shen lowered his hand to the bottom of the table and pulled the drawer — a small, black bottle inside. Popping the cap off, his fingers dug into the interior of the bottle, extracting the viscous, dark face paint contained in the bottle, before proceeding to smoothly apply in to his face, though not the entirety of his face, but a pattern that imitated the face of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. He chuckled at the absurdity of the thought — Sun Wukong, member of the White Lotus, liberator of Ba Sing Se? A far cry from the initial depiction of the Monkey King who deceived the Earth King and gifted the Fire Lord the Impenetrable City himself — although, given the current atmosphere, he thought the audience would be more receptive towards this portrayal. Stowing away the bottle, he stared at the reflection in the mirror, internally readying himself for the big event, before walking out to act his best performance yet.
—
Zhen watched in awe as the flames danced in the air. Despite the hundreds of people that surrounded him, with his younger brother the only head he could spot, he could still clearly observe the streams of fire swirling from the lamp-posts on the stage slowly circling the scarlet and gold figure hypnotically waving his arms about — the Monkey King. Readying himself into a defence stance, Sun Wukong waited as the horde of soldiers in red and brown uniforms blindly charged at him, their battle cries ringing through the air. Without delay, Sun Wukong leapt into the air and struck his arms out. The ribbons of fire instantaneously sped towards the troops, who appeared to be barely able to block in time — a testament to their acting. Landing softly on the ground in a stance, the Monkey King paused as the mock Fire Nation troops stumbled on the ground.
"Sun Wukong!"
The Monkey King raised his head at the sound of the steely voice. In front of him, on top of the mock wall that undoubtedly signified the impenetrable walls of Ba Sing Se, stood a man covered head-to-toe in elaborate gold armor — the Phoenix King. The tyrant quietly descended the wall and onto the battlefield, pulling his arms down. Two balls of flame jumped from the lamps and hovered above the despot's palms as he menacingly approached the hero, his steps laced with conspicuous malice.
"You may have defeated my firebenders, Sun Wukong, but you cannot stop me now! Sozin's Comet has made me more powerful than before!" The Phoenix King arrogantly taunted, the spheres of flame flaring brightly above his hands.
"No need, Your Majesty! Why would I need to defeat you, if your excuse of a belt has done that for you?"
Responding momentarily with a contorted face, the Phoenix King turned to his lower body, before his expression transformed to that of pure embarrassment at the sight of his fallen pants. The audience guffawed heavily at the absurdity of the Phoenix King pulling his pants up in a panic, while Sun Wukong stood quietly behind him, his mischievous look only adding to the hilarity of the scene. Huffing, the Phoenix King turned to feet, only to notice the Monkey King patiently readying into an attack stance. After a comical gulp, he cried as he was thrown back by a powerful blast emanating from Sun Wukong, receiving cheers from the audience as he climbed the mock wall towering over the shrunken Phoenix King.
Once atop the wall, Sun Wukong replied, "Many thanks for welcoming me into this great city! The Avatar will commend you for your selfless and grateful gift of a free Ba Sing Se!"
Ending off with a cheeky grin behind his painted mask and his signature two-fingered salute, he savoured the standing ovation that boomed in the square as he slipped through the curtains in the back of the stage.
Zhen whispered, "C'mon, let's go!" His brother promptly responded, and the two weaved their way out of the crowd.
—
"Dad!" Shen staggered back from the impact of a couple of bodies jumping towards his abdomen, chuckling as he rubbed both his sons' heads.
"Hey, what are you two doing here?" Shen asked, looking down on their faces.
"We wanted to see you!" Zhen replied cheerily, and his brother exclaimed, "That was so cool the way you took down the Phoenix King!"
"Can we get some fire flakes later, Dad?" Zhen asked. "Sure, son. Just let me take of the paint first, yeah?"
Shen glances down on his two boys. His biological son, Zhen, was a chip off the old block, the stockier build of the son the only feature that distinguished him from his father. In contrast, the boy beside him was different altogether, his face displaying his much more boyish personality than his adoptive brother, and a curious face that marked across his face. Shen smiled at them, then wiped the paint of his face, before grabbing his sons' hands and bringing them out of the tent.
—
How the nations were returning to harmony.
—
"What're they doing, Dad?" Zhen suddenly enquired, while munching on the fire flakes. Shen stared up to understand his son's source of confusion, and a smile formed on his face. In front of them, were two pairs duking it out on an arena with their firebending and earthbending. However, in contrast to the scene of firebenders versus earthbenders that everyone hitherto expected with the war, each pair consisted of an earthbender and a firebender working in solidarity against the similarly-matched pair.
"They're holding a sparring session, Zhen. I heard they got their inspiration all the way from Yu Dao itself, where the Earth Kingdom natives and the Fire Nation colonists train together."
"Why are the two working together, Dad? I thought they were enemies," Zhen further asked, his curiosity piqued at the intriguing notion of previously-sworn enemies cooperating together, despite the War ending a year or two back.
"Not in Yu Dao and the older colonies, Zhen. There, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom citizens married each other, hence the solidarity between the earthbenders and firebenders there. Yu Dao showed that the nations don't need to be separated, and in fact shows a new kind of harmony for the world right now. In fact, our home is trying to do the same. Rumour is, all the colonies are going to unite to be a new nation."
"Are we one of those colonies, Dad?"
"Do you see that symbol, son?" Shen asked, pointing up to a piece of paper posted on a wall. Emblazoned on the paper appeared to be an irregular pentagon, with legs jutting out from its bottom left and right sides and a circle slapped in the middle. "That's the symbol of those colonies that'll form this fifth nation, Zhen."
"Everything's going to turn out great, right, Dad?"
"I certainly hope so." Shen hopefully answered. He was relieved when the War ended, not only because that meant he could return without Kanku forces searching for him at every nook and cranny, but also because he understood what the whole conflict engendered – broken families. He witnessed it personally with his neighbours, whose fathers and sons had been conscripted by Kanku to assist with the conquest of the Earth Kingdom. With the new peace forged, he had believed that the arriving new world wouldn't separate families any further, that it would bring them closer. Then perhaps finally, everyone could go back to their lives in peace, something he had cherished his entire life.
His belief was for naught a moment later.
—
Then, everything changed when the Society attacked.
—
"Power to the Fire Nation! Death to the traitorous colonies!"
Shen instantly whipped his head around to identify the source of the chants. To his abject horror, figures dressed in dark garments and masks topped with white headbands stormed the streets of the colony, throwing punches of flame and brandishing deadly arms at hapless civilians who happened to be in their way. Shen grabbed his sons and sprinted as far and as fast as their legs could carry them, holding them tightly.
Despite only a momentary glance, Shen recognised the assailants that were assaulting his town. He heard reports that originated all the way from the Capital back in the home islands, and the descriptions elaborated on the reports were consistent with the instantaneous observation he made – the terrorists were none other than the New Ozai Society. As he concentrated all his efforts dodging the plethora of attacks that were hurled at him and ensuring that his children were as safe as possible, despite most of his mind mind loudly shouting not to dwell on such thoughts, some opposing, dark recess in the back of his mind couldn't resist wondering about the presence of the Society in a colony far from the eyes of the Fire Lord. Just why this colony? The thought only just escaped his mind when he found himself arriving at their home.
Swiftly, he dragged his sons to the back of the house. Pouring his strength into the endeavour, he struggled as he lifted the giant rock in the back – revealing a trap door underneath. Despite his anticipation of possible attacks, he never thought he'd need to use them so soon. Yet, after Zhen was nearly kidnapped just before the end of the War, he realised that he'd have to protect his sons by any means possible – and this was the best measure he had. Lifting and placing them in the hidden bunker under their house, his sons watched with fearful eyes as they attempted to drag him back into the bunker.
"Don't go!" Zhen cried, his younger brother similarly weeping. Shen smiled sadly, cupping both of their faces. "Don't worry, I'm just getting help. I'll be back before you know it."
"But the bad men are still out there!" the younger brother exclaimed. Shen looked to his adoptive son, and replied, "I'll be safe. He'll be watching out for me."
Turning back to Zhen, the expression on his face transformed into that which conveyed seriousness, before sternly asking, "Protect your brother, okay?" Zhen nodded, gulping.
"Good." Shen turned to the opening of the bunker, and slowly left. The bunker door closed, and darkness engulfed the two brothers.
—
The scraping sound awoke the two brothers. Rubbing their eyes, their heads rotated to the noise that generated from the bunker door. Their eyes widened as to the implication of their guest, and they rushed to open the bunker door without sparing a thought, their faces displaying a glad certainty that their father had returned to greet them.
It was not their father.
Instantaneously, Shen moved in to step in front of his brother, holding his arms wide open to shield him against the towering assailant. Despite the show of bravery on demonstration in front of the New Ozai loyalist, the eyes of both siblings betrayed their fear to the attacker, whose eyebrows creased at the sight in front of him. Gradually, the masked man held his hand up, attracting a stream of flame to amalgamate into a ball of fire hovering above his palm, before altering the orientation of his arm to a certain angle. It was clear who his next targets would be.
"NO!"
Confused, all three turned their heads to the source of the shout. The New Ozai loyalist was thrown back from the subsequent blow, while the two boys could only watch in reverent awe at their would-be rescuer.
He was dressed in all-black, with only a scabbard behind his back. However, what surprised them the most about this new player was his face, or rather, what was on it – a red Oni mask. Even though they'd never seen anyone dressed in such a peculiar fashion, they had heard the stories about the legendary figure who stood in front of them, from both their father and their neighbours, about how he stole food and supplies from Fire Nation soldiers, and how he harassed them when one of the colonists were about to be drafted.
It was the Red Spirit.
The brothers merely stood in reverent awe as the Red Spirit proceeded to unleash a torrent of attacks on the assaulter who dared to attack two little boys. It was conspicuous that the attacker stood virtually no chance – the body slumping to the ground demonstrated that, even though there appeared to be no visible gashes on the fallen body.
The two brothers continued their stare as the Red Spirit turned to stare at them in turn. Before any of them could react, however another New Ozai loyalist sprang from nowhere and tackled the latter. As both masked men furiously tumbled on the floor, the invader got the better of the folk hero, and promptly teared off the mask from the latter's face. As both men wrestled on the ground, each trying to gain the upper hand against the other, the boys could only gape at the utter disbelief at the identity of the legendary Red Spirit.
"Dad?!"
"RUN! JUST RUN!" Hong Shen absentmindedly ordered, staring straight at their fearful eyes.
The distraction proved to be his downfall.
Exploiting the warning the Spirit gave his sons, the New Ozai loyalist shoved his opponent off his body. Mustering all his strength, the terrorist unleashed a potent sphere of inferno at the Spirit, landing squarely on the chest.
As Hong Shen's lifeless body flopped to the ground, his final thoughts dwelled on his failure to protect his sons.
—
To state that Zhen and his brother experienced sadness at the moment was a severe understatement. Tears welling up in their eyes, Zhen urgently dragged his brother to escape into the forest.
Zhen's mind replayed the painful events that had played out mere moments ago, unable to truly comprehend the gravity and weight of the situation at hand. He doubted his even younger brother could even begin to do so. All their thoughts dwelled on one single notion: Dad was dead.
The leaves behind them rustled. Startled, the brothers looked back, and dread overcame them. Behind, the New Ozai loyalist was fervently pursuing them, clearly intent on finishing the job. The siblings became so distracted that they failed to notice the overgrown root that obstructed their path. Falling with a yelp, they looked up nervously ath the masked man staring over them, his eyes raging with hateful fire.
Such was his attention focused on the brats that he couldn't hear the flying axe until it struck him at the chest.
Momentarily witnessing their attacker's body fall to the ground, alarm rang in the boys' minds as a figure approached. Just as before, Shen moved in to step in front of his brother, holding his arms wide open to shield him against the possible assailant before them. Instead of fear, however, curiosity filled them.
The individual that approached them was covered in a glistening armor that shone against light of fire, yet it appeared comfortable. Various weapons were strung across the armor, and there was a holster on the side that was clearly shaped to hold the axe that flew past their heads. What struck them the most, however, was the helmet that the figure sported. Although there were other characteristics of the helmet, the distinctive feature was the strange, T-shaped visor.
Slowly, the figure bent down, the visor at eye level with the boys. Zhen instinctively shielded his brother again.
"Where are your parents?" the figure spoke.
Silence filled the air.
"Where are your parents?" the figure asked again.
Zhen wished he could muster the will to explain the horrifying things he had seen, but all that came from his moth was, "Dead."
The figure looked on, the visor obstructing any facial expression it might be demonstrating. Then, the figure raised his hand, indicating his intentions.
Zhen and his brother looked at each other. Even though they knew the figure before them as a stranger, it also saved them. Judging by the inferno that raged in the background, they surmised they had no option left.
And with the fighting skill that their rescuer demonstrated, it had a better chance of protecting them.
Zhen and his brother accepted the figure's offer.
The three trudged through the forest, never looking back at the city once.