Phoenix of the West
Innocence Lost
By Pat Squared
Warning:
Graphic depiction of violence.
Those with weak stomachs and
those under 17 should not read this.
The author does not condone this behavior,
and neither does the law.
Those who perform such act will be
hunted down and killed by their fellow inmates.
Li Ling had a secret that she kept from everybody.
She was afraid of the dark.
Fire benders were instinctively apprehensive about the dark. When the sun went down their powers diminished. Fearing the darkness, the ancient fire benders created numerous legends of creatures the live in the darkness waiting to eat human flesh. As a little girl, Li Ling listened to her older siblings swap tails about the oni, vampires, the hungry ghosts, and a myriad of other creatures that bump around in the dark. So intertwined with the culture that the Fire Nation created elaborate rituals and built their home so as to foil the foul creature's plans to consume the living.
Every night after, Li Ling heard Senda's soft breathing; the Fire Nation princess religiously performed the ancient rituals. Setting out bowls of water, keeping a lamp ready, hanging a spirit trap, laying out some banknotes of hell to bribe desperate spirits, and softly chanting the ancient incantations to drive away the foul spirits were all parts of her nightly ritual. In the morning, Li Ling would wake up just before the sunrise and hide the evidence of her fears before Sedna could find out.
Unless you were a little fire bender who grew up in the Fire Nation, no one could understand the importance of these rituals. To outsiders, it would look ridiculous. No matter what their station, the people of the Fire Nation held unto their pride and would do anything to prevent the lost of face...anything... save forgo these nightly rituals that were kept a secret from all those who could not bend fire.
Eastern Earth Kingdom Crown Prince Kaminoyama Masato and his men had snuck into Tsuyu no Kami. It was not that hard. Tsuyu no Kami was deep in the land held by the Outcast Clans. Unlike the borderlands, the town was not fortified. One by one, his crack team eliminated the few town's watchmen and made their way to their assigned posts to await Kaminoyama's signal.
Masato lead his men to the prize. In the center of town are the ancestral homes of the Chi and Li families. No matter who was elected to serve in the Council or was appointed to serve as the Clan Master of the Outcast Clan, it was the Chi's and Li's that dictated the policies of the Outcast clan. The Chi's ran the domestic affairs and economy via strategic marriages and kinship arrangements with the Abe's, Fong's, Sato's, and Suzuki's. The five families controlled three quarters of the commerce and virtually all of the industries of the Outcast Clan. The Li's handled international affairs and perhaps the world's best intelligence service. Thanks to the notorious assassin Jian Li's bedding of two royal princesses and later the intermarriages between the royal families of the West, to conquer the Outcast Clan meant you had to fight the entire West.
A hundred years ago, a prophet predicted his coming...predicted his ascendancy over the mongrel peoples of the West. Every true blooded Earth Kingdom woman from the time she first bled was tasked to breed so that he would have an army large enough to take on the West.
Tonight, the hopes and dreams of his people were going to come to furision.
Tonight, he was going to chop off the head of the rebellion that deprived his nation of its western provinces. After the Outcast Clan, he would march on Chen and Kyoshii and decimate their population for betraying their ancient oaths of loyal to the Earth Kingdom. He would enslave the Water Tribes and the Air Nomads. One by one he was going to cut of the fire benders from their subject peoples. The he would annihilate the Fire Nation. Not a single life shall be spared. Every demon shall be slain no matter what form it took. Old man or an infant girl...all those of the Fire Nation shall be no more.
Fire...there was one fire the Fire Nation could not bend. He would walk up to the gate of the Fire Nation palace, personally slay the bitch that ruled those dogs, and sink the home islands of the Fire Nation into the waves.
His men waited. He gave the signal.
Li Ling was finishing up the ancient ritual when the shutters were broken in.
Two figures in oni masks burst in the room. One pulled out a hammer. The other a throwing dagger and threw it at her.
Li Ling avoided the thrown dagger, not deliberately, but by tripping over her feet. Rolling out the way, the Fire Nation Princess instinctively summoned the flame and threw it in the direction of the intruders.
"Sedna, wake up!"
Li Ling threw another flame.
Like other children, Li Ling was not blessed with a great deal of qi, or at least the qi one could tap into to make fire. She knew that she had to defeat her attackers fast. However, three years of training kicked in. Like the element itself, a fire benders martial art was about the attack. Fire was not defensive.
If she lived through this, Li Ling would never try to ditch her fire bending lessons ever again.
Li Ling went berserk and attacked the nearest assassin.
The assassin did not expect the behavior and was stunned that a little girl was actually attacking a full grown adult. It was the last mistake of his life as in her fright, she let loose a flame that burnt his face and traveled down into his lungs. The superheated gases destroyed his ability to breathe.
Sedna spotted the water bowls and summoned ice spikes. Distracted by the gruesome fate of his companion, the second assassin found himself with a dagger-sized ice shard in his neck. He fell to the ground bleeding to death.
Li Ling grabbed her friend and opened her hiding spot. It was not big enough for the two of them.
"Wait here. I need to get help."
Sedna for the first time in her life was truly afraid. She did not need prompting but dove into the hidey-hole.
Li Ling closed up the hole. There was a small crack through which Sedna could see.
Sedan heard a blow and felt something hard hit the floor.
"What do we do with the child, your highness?"
There was silence.
"You two, stand guard. We can't let anything happen to Princess Li Ling...yet. Strip her, bind her arms. She burned one of us and will pay for her crimes. The other one...ice knife to the throat. Check under the beds and in the closets. I want Princess Sedna alive if possible. I want her to understand she is lower than any Earth Kingdom brothel slave. I want her alive to tell that Fire Nation cow exactly what I did to her daughter. Both are to be untouched...for now."
"Yes your highness."
Sedna could see them drag the unconscious princess by her hair. Letting go, Li Ling's head hit the wooden floor and Sedna could see Li Ling's busted face. Li Ling eye was swollen and her nose was bleeding badly. Sedna bit her lip to avoid crying as Li Ling moaned.
There is no rescue.
One of the men checked under the beds, but he did not notice the eye looking at him through the crack.
It was sun up by the time the slaughter was finished.
The elderly and infirm were impaled. Any man of military age was stoned to death. Anyone know to be a bender was in the same manner. All the surviving boys were castrated and put in chains to be marched back to the True Earth Kingdom and sold as slaves.
The smell of smoke and burning flesh saturated the air.
Prince Kaminoyama Masato was not going to defile his parent element by burying traitors in the earth. Burning unfortunately was necessary. He hated it...not because of the stench, but because fire benders believed that it honors the dead and immediately admits the soul to the yama (kings) of the underworld. However, soon loyal Earth Kingdom serfs would be transplanted her and would be farming this land and Kaminoyama did not desire a pestilence.
It was time to sort all the female prisoners.
His men were disciplined, not damaging the merchandise. His intelligence officer consulting drawing made by spies had already segregated the Chi's and Li's from the other females. The Chi's and Li's would have to die. Despite having some attractive flesh, the Chi's and Li's represented the old order, a focus for any resistance movement.
The others would be reeducated. Some would be used for labor until they died from exhaustion. Others would be used for pleasure until they were too old or scared up and then sent off to the labor camps. All these things ceased being members of the Outcast Clan and were now slaves to be used for the betterment of the True Earth Kingdom.
His men had fought a dangerous battle and defeated an enemy that had hounded the True Earth Kingdom for three centuries. Now it was time to let these slaves know their place.
"Hiro, make these vermin kow tow."
Izu Hiro was his second in command. The son of his father's chief bodyguard, Hiro was a loyal companion since childhood. Hiro protected Masato twice from assassins hired by his rival half brothers. Hiro slew half a dozen rivals for Masato's seat. Hiro was his sword brother. When Masato would ascend to his father's throne, Hiro and his sons would be the only intact men, not of the blood, to be allowed to reside in the Palace. Hiro was Masato's companion and lover.
Hiro gave out a command and the men immediately knocked the females face first into the earth.
"Have the Fire Nation brat brought to me. Hiro, except for the brat you get first pick of the virgins for your harem. Pick any two you desire. Kill the Chi's and Li's. And then let the men celebrate today. Break the spirit of the scum. If the merchandise dies...so be it, we can get more."
Now it was time to deliver a message that the Fire Nation would understand.
Li Ling was standing. Despite her obvious pain, she did not kow tow or beg for mercy. Even in defeat, a fire bender never bows.
Spirited, most in this situation would have resigned themselves to their fate.
Masato looked at the eight year old girl.
Women were supposed to be subservient, meek, and submissive to the men. It was the natural order of things. However, the Fire Nation, once known for binding the feet of their girls, was now ruled by women. Men groveled to her orders. This thing acted like she was the queen, standing in his presence.
This thing was now his to break.
He lashed out with his fist to her gut. She fell and lost her breath. However she staggered back up to her feet and spit blood at him.
"I bet you believe your mother will come with her fleet to save you. Don't worry, I will send you back to mommy...just as soon as I am done with you. You have the honor of being instructed by Crown Prince Kaminoyama Masato in manners and etiquette. First thing is that scum like you is supposed to kow tow whenever one of my men is in your presence."
With the words kow tow, Masato performed a leg sweep on the little princess. He knelt and with his hand pin the princess' face to the earth.
"You will eat earth, little whore. You will eat earth knowing that scum such as you is not worthy of living on it. I will subjugate the ancestral lands of my nation. I will subjugate the Water Tribes. However, I will eradicate your nation off the map and turn your people into ghosts. You will live just long enough for you slut of a mother to get this message. I will personally come for her head."
Masato grabbed the child by the hair and took her inside to be broken.
The child woke up huddled in the corner of a darken room. Her body was covered in her filth and her insides were constantly in pain.
The gods had not heard her prayers. She did not ask for someone to save her; she did not rate that high. All she asked was for the gods to let her die.
A man had cuffed her on the side of the head to wake her up.
It had happened countless times before.
The man mounted her, hit her, sated his needs, and kicked her before walking away for the next one.
She had long since lost count of how many men did this to her. Day and nights were the same...more abuse.
She groveled as she was taught. She mouthed the words she was taught. She endured the beatings as she was taught. She wanted to defy them...maybe then one would get angry enough to beat her so bad that she would die.
She did not have a particular name. She was not allowed a name save for the pet names that the men gave her as they mounted her.
Cunt...slut...whore...bitch...ass...
The pet names rang through her head.
One she was once a girl. She knew that once she was happy. However, now all she remembered was being hurt over and over again. They said that she was proud and defiant. They had beaten and raped all the spirit and goodness that was within her. Everyday, the master would come in and make her say the words.
Another man came in and repeated the process. First there were a lot of them. Now they dribbled in. There was nothing left to take. There was no more hope to shatter.
Another one of the girls brought a bucket. No words were exchanged. No words could be exchanged for they removed the other girl's tongue. The mute girl waited for her to stand up and then poured the bucket on top of her. The girl then grabbed a bar of soap and a brush and scrubbed her. Afterwards, the other girl took her by the hand to another room upstairs.
Once in a while, a high ranking master would come and she would be expected to entertain him. Unlike most of her abusers, the high ranked one would insist that she be clean and perfumed. However the abuse would still be the same.
For a week, Sedna only came out of her hiding place in the middle of the night and only then to steal some food and get some water. She knew that she could not hide here forever. In the hiding place was Li Ling's stash. Sedna was use to the darkness and about to see the box.
Knowing that Li Ling was dead, Sedna opened the box. Inside were two swords, a mask, a wad of flying money (paper bills), and the necklace Li Ling's mother gave her for her birthday.
Sedna was ashamed. Her best friend was killed trying to alert the others about the attack while Sedna cowered in the hidey hole. However she knew that if she went with Li Ling, nothing would change save for she too would be dead.
Sedna felt the vibrations of coming footsteps and peeked through the crack in the floor. Two girls, one leading the other by the hand entered the room. One huddled in the corner while the other one walked off.
Sedna examined the young girl. The body was covered with bruises and cuts, the hair was cut short. However it was the eyes that scared Sedna the most. They were empty as if the life was sucked out of them. Something very bad happened to this girl. Sedna vowed to kill herself before she would let herself fall into this state.
She felt another set of footsteps and grabbed on of the sword handles. It was one of the invaders. The child kow tow. Satisfied by the jester, the man commanded the girl to get into the bed. A set of clothing landed on the floor.
Since the girl climbed into the bed where Sedna use to sleep, Sedna could see the rape. The little girl was crying as the man put his thing inside of her. The man hit her and told her that she should act like all the other horny cunts.
Li Ling died to save her. Now it was Sedna's turn to help another soul in need. Sedna crawled out of the space with her sword.
With all her strength, she slashed at the man. The sword did it's job.
Sedna had a hard time trying to roll the body off of the girl. She knew that the man would be missed and that hiding in the hole was no longer an option.
Senda looked down at the sobbing girl. There was birthmark on her left thigh. It was Li Ling. However, this was not the same Li Ling that Senda knew. Sedna shushed Li Ling to be quiet. Senda took a pillow case and put everything she found inside the hidey-hole inside the pillow case save the swords. The swords, she slung over her shoulder. They had to disappear tonight. Tomorrow, the invaders would hunt down the pair.