Chapter 3: Siege of The North

Proto watched on, simply observing the happenings of the settlement he found himself outside of. He felt a little weirded out, observing people. Though he had done the same when he was a new light, he now understood why it was a strange thing to do. There was no way he would try and make first contact with these people though. A walking armory decked in robes and composite armor from thousands of years in the future wouldn't fit in. Even removing the armor left him as a robot, still not fitting in. Something else he had noticed about these people was that they seemed to possess a form of hydrokinesis. It made sense that they had settled here then. They could make buildings by waving their arms around, and at this temperature, they wouldn't ever melt. He had observed a particular young girl thrashing other students in "test fights." Almost like The Crucible, but much less deadly. They did teach outsiders though. In the same area, though not participating in training, was a young boy in short orange robes and loose-fitting clothing with arrow tattoos on his head and the backs of his hands. His clothes seemed a far cry from their current climate. He was very underdressed compared to the Northerners who all wore thick, fur-lined overcoats.

Movement caught his eye, and he saw a six-legged bison of all things flying into the air. Proto nearly dropped the rifle he was using as an impromptu telescope. A bison, flying? Bison had been long extinct on Earth, but records still depicted their appearance. Though, they usually had four legs. Its speed was nothing to write home about, though glimmer could be programmed into food. It would consume more glimmer. Organic conversions were very inefficient compared to their mechanical versions. He could probably outrun the bison on a sparrow.

"Themis," he said.

"Yeah, I've got nothing," Themis responded, referring to the bison.

"No, could we use the glimmer I have on hand to make transportation?"

"I don't know if we have enough. We still need to be able to synthesize munitions if things get hairy."

"This world is so full of paracausal energy that I think I can just use my abilities all the time."

"Well, it's feasible. But a sparrow isn't very inconspicuous."

Proto stopped paying attention, his eyes were fixed on the black-grayish powder falling in front of him, standing out against the blue sky over the settlement. The black snow darkened the water flowing throughout the settlement. People began running for the central structure.

"Themis?" Proto asked, the rest of his question going unsaid.

"It's soot mixed with snow."

"Soot?" Proto asked. Though he wasn't asking what it was.

"Yeah, I don't know either."

"But why are they running?" Proto asked himself while lifting his scope to look out to sea. Just peeking over the horizon, was a single black dot. Whatever it was, it had all the Northerners in a tizzy.

"Let's go for a walk, see if we can't get a better idea of what we're dealing with," Proto said to Themis, who didn't respond but had disappeared again. Looking to his left, Proto saw a roiling cloud front in the distance. His temporary "residence" would soon be overtaken by a whiteout. It would probably be in full force by tomorrow. He continued to walk along the upper ice shelf until he came to one of the protrusions overlooking the sea. Once again raising his rifle, Proto caught a clearer glimpse of what had disturbed the Northerners so. It looked like a narrow version of those old boats in the Cosmodrome. Except all dark and metallic, with no rust or holes. The superstructure was taller, and a cloud of unburned fuel billowed up from a protruding smokestack. It was just one ship though. An invasion wouldn't happen with just one ship. Many were needed to actually bring any settlement with substantial defenses under siege. Proto decided that there were too many unknowns, so he sat down and waited, watching the sea and settlement.

Eventually, the settlers began to file out of the central structure. Many took up positions at the walls, most wearing masks or face paint. The bison from before and the young boy with tattoos were there. Two of the Northerners didn't have face-obscuring articles or paint. A dark-skinned young girl, who had shown mastery over her hydrokinetic abilities, and a young boy of similar complexion with a boomerang. The boy had three red lines on his forehead, as did several others in the lineup. Almost all of the Northerners on the wall had spears that looked to be fashioned from bone. The lone ship he had spotted before was now visible to the unaided eye. An orange light appeared on its deck and flew up and into the air.

A flaming projectile launched from the ship, black smoke trailing behind it. It flew up to the apex of its arc before starting its shallow descent. It slammed into the center of the ice wall, sending the people that manned it flying. Cracks spread from the marred symbol, causing large chunks of ice into the sea below.

Another projectile from the same ship made the follow-up shot, sending a flaming hunk of rock over the wall and into a canal within the settlement.

The next shot landed next to the first, hitting the wall again. The bison took off with the orange-clad boy atop, a staff of some kind gripped in one hand, reins in the other. At the same time, the young girl used her hydrokinesis to dig herself out, and small floats filled with unarmed Northerners made their way into the water, propelled by hydrokinesis below the water line if the arm movements of the people at the back were anything to go by.

Returning his attention to the bison, Proto saw a shot headed right for it. Immediately his gun was up, tracking the projectile. Hoping that the kinetic energy of his bullet would be enough to knock it off course. With an exhale, he squeezed the trigger and felt the aggressive kick as the round left the chamber. His shot grazed the underside of the projectile, cutting a swath through the smoke and flames, but not changing its course in the slightest. His next shot was lined up when the boy swung his staff, a jet of condensed air sent the rock wide, right into the face of the cliff he was standing on.

Feeling the ice shudder underneath, Proto dematerialized the rifle and picked up the spent casing at his feet. He silently cursed himself for that shot. Even though everything had turned out fine, he had missed. He forgot to account for the fact that the projectile was arcing. Looking back at the wall, he saw that his attempt to save the bison and the young boy hadn't gone as unnoticed as he had hoped. Suppressors were unfortunately never one hundred percent effective. While all settlers down below were still mainly concerned with the battle, a handful had been shooting his position glances. Though confident he was not spotted, he wouldn't be surprised if a couple decided to do "recon" and investigate the very ice cliff he was standing on. Proto moved further away from the cliff and looked back out to sea. There he saw a sizeable fleet behind the foremost ship, though it was laughably tiny compared to "small" cabal fleets. The foremost ship had now stopped firing and had been effectively immobilized. Hydrokinesis also detailed the ability to change water to ice. Stasis could be disguised as hydrokinesis in that case.

Proto turned away from the cliff and began to walk back around to move closer to the Oasis.

"Shouldn't we help?" Themis asked.

"We know nothing about this world or its geopolitical nuances. And we both know whichever side we pick will win," Proto said curtly.

"Didn't stop you from trying to help that boy," Themis challenged.

Proto hesitated for a moment, considering his response. "The shot made was an attempt to save a life, not an intervention on the side of the settlement," he said.

Themis didn't respond to that. The trek continued in silence, and Proto's mind began to wander. Thinking of ways to get home. He had considered a multitude of options, none of which were viable, but he didn't want to wait for rescue. However, simply staying put became more likely with every idea that he shot down.

While Proto was thinking, the moon rose, and the sun set. He was broken out of his trance by an extended silence. The bombardment had stopped. From atop his perch, he could see the extent of the damage done. Many buildings now lay in ruin, the hard-packed snow and ice now floating in canals or in a formless mound. Some of the people who had hydrokinesis were attempting to rebuild structures in areas that saw little damage. The settlement, battered and bruised, still stood defiantly. Gleaming in the moonlight as if daring their attackers to try again. Honestly, Proto wasn't sure why they had stopped firing. If he were commanding, he would have ordered a continuous barrage. Unless they had some kind of infantry ace up their sleeves, these invaders couldn't hope to match the hydrokinetic capable individuals on the ground. If hydrokinesis was being taught to outsiders, like the boy in orange, surely the invaders would know about it.

Movement caught his eye in the oasis below. The boy in orange, the young but talented hydrokinesis-capable girl, and another young woman with white hair in a purple and more decorative overcoat. The boy seemed overjoyed by the grass, as he was rolling around in it with a smile while the young girl with dark hair removed her blue overcoat and spoke animatedly to the white-haired individual behind her. A small black and white lemur-like creature with large ears landed on the bank of the pond and stuck his paw in. It was quickly retracted after the lemur was approached by the two women, who glared at him before he slunk off toward the boy. The three of them spoke briefly before the young boy adopted a meditative sitting position, his legs crossed over one another and his hands rested in his lap. Proto looked on while the boy meditated, and the two women looked on from behind. A shout echoed its way up the basin as the boy threw his hands up in frustration. He had quite a pair of lungs on him. After a moment, the boy resumed his meditative state. Proto felt a shift, the paracausal energies shuddered. At the same time, the boy's tattoos began to glow.

"What on Earth?" Proto asked himself, watching intently.

For a time, absolutely nothing happened. Minutes turned into hours. That had been a huge shift in energies. The only time he had felt paracausal power remotely in this bracket had been when taking on Rhulk. Proto imagined that something similar happened when he gathered his power, but his sensitivity to paracausal energy was somewhat dampened while he had enough of it flowing through himself to fry beings that were supposed to be gods. Proto was about to begin meditating on this when another figure entered the oasis. This figure looked to be a man. He wore thick layers of all-white clothes, but his face was still exposed, revealing a unique scar that covered most of the left side of his face. His black hair was pulled tightly into a ponytail-like style leaving most of his head bald and he had a length of rope wound around his torso. Apparently, he was not welcome as the white-haired woman ran, probably in search of reinforcements, and the hydrokinetic capable woman took a stance while the man did the same. The man moved first. As both combatants were, as far as he could see, unarmed Proto naturally assumed they would be engaging in a battle of hydrokinetic abilities. Proto felt his jaw open involuntarily when from the man's outstretched fist erupted a gout of flame. The young woman countered with her own control of water, overpowering his first attack and pressing the offense. A few volleys of flame and water later found the pyrokinetic-capable man trapped in a sphere of water that was turned into ice. A moment passed and the ice began to glow orange, before completely shattering. The two combatants resumed their clash before the young girl pinned him up against one of the basin walls with a torrent of water which she froze, effectively trapping him. This time, it seemed he was down for the count.

If pyrokinesis really was something that the invaders possessed, then the hydrokinetic fighters didn't have as much of an edge as he thought. Especially if the invaders could create fire on demand whereas the settlers needed an available source of water. The sun began to rise off in the East, quickly rising as was befitting of their current latitude. Movement in the oasis below. The man appeared to be ready for their next round as he had freed himself from the ice and was pressing his advantage having caught the girl unaware. His flames seemed much more vibrant than they were the night prior, and for some reason, the young girl's hydrokinesis seemed weaker. It didn't take long, but soon the young girl was out of the fight. The man stood over her while one hand gripped the boy, relishing in his victory before he bound the boy's limbs and began to scale the basin.

Up above, winds were beginning to pick up and Proto was unsure of what to do. On the one hand, part of him wanted to intervene. The boy was unable to defend himself as he was, and while it appeared that the man didn't necessarily mean him harm, he was obviously being taken against his will. On the other hand, his stance on non-interventionism to avoid conflict with a larger entity prevented him from doing so. The man didn't appear to be slowing down so Proto decided to stay out of sight and follow from a distance. Proto jumped up and glided backward behind a rock, keeping an eye on his radar while pressing himself up against the cold hard surface. After some time, a grey band appeared on the edge of his radar, directly behind him. The snow was coming down hard now and the wind was indecisive, changing what direction it blew in and how hard randomly. The grey band grew into a full slice, which moved from directly behind him to his nine o'clock and turned back into a band. Proto turned his head to the left, watching the boy and his captor trudge on. After a few minutes, Proto stood up and began walking. Proto's unburdened hydraulic actuators had no trouble pushing through the snow, but his quarry was struggling more. Routinely over the course of the next ninety minutes, Proto would have to backpedal in order to avoid getting too close and giving himself away. Around this time, the snow buildup, plus the man and the boy's combined weight had caused an ice sheet to fail. The man moved much faster now, trying to avoid his certain demise. Of course, he didn't know that Proto was watching the whole time, ready to blink in and yank him and his prisoner to safety. Eventually, the man found a cave and decided to wait out the storm in there. Behind a nearby rock, Proto watched. The man was looking out into the storm contemplatively.

The environment had dimmed considerably over the last forty-five minutes or so, meaning that it was probably close to sunset, or maybe even twilight. But without a clear look at the sky, Proto had no way of knowing for sure. A flash of light overhead caught his attention. A blue light streaked across the sky, before lighting up the very cave that he was keeping watch of. A moment later, Proto saw the young boy clad in orange tumble out still bound. The man pursued him, a snarl affixed to his face, which Proto could see sported a bruise and some minor cuts. The man's cheek was slightly swollen. The man easily caught up with the boy, who was trying to worm his way out in a more literal sense of the term. The boy was grabbed by the man, who spoke, allowing Proto to catch his first bits of conversation.

"That won't be enough to escape," he said through a growl.

'So we speak the same language? Strange, but I'm not going to look a gift-reality in the mouth,' Proto thought.

The boy looked past his captor. Proto followed the boy's gaze and saw the flying bison. "Appa!" the boy shouted with glee. The flying bison landed nearby with a loud groan, and the young girl jumped off to meet the man, who dropped his prisoner and adopted the same fighting stance from earlier.

"Here for a rematch?" He tauntingly asked the young girl from before who had jumped off of a large saddle.

"Trust me Zuko," she began. "It's not gonna be much of a match," She said with determination, bringing up snow to block the incoming fireball, before sending snow careening towards him, using it to lift him up and then slam him back down.

Another individual hopped off the saddle and freed the boy.

"Hey," came his voice. "This is some quality rope!" he exclaimed while cutting through it.

"We need to get back to the oasis. The spirits are in trouble!" The boy said hurriedly while untying himself and jumping for the reigns of the large bison.

Once he and the person who had cut his bindings were on board, the boy hesitated.

"Wait, we can't just leave him here," The boy said while looking at the now-named Zuko.

"Sure we can, let's go," The same voice that had commented on the quality of the rope said with finality.

"No!" Said the boy. "If we leave him, he'll die," he said while jumping off of the bison to retrieve Zuko.

"This makes sense. Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us," The other person said, his voice laced with sarcasm as the boy hauled Zuko on board.

The bison raised its tail and took to the skies. Proto watched them go and waited a moment before throwing caution to the wind and moving as fast as he possibly could through a series of teleports to return to the oasis. As he was moving, he felt it, the psychic call for aid that rang out across the landscape. At the same time, the moon turned red. A lunar eclipse. Were he at the tower he would have stopped to admire The Moon, but here it pushed him further. Arriving just above the oasis he saw the bison and its passengers; the boy had his hands up in a placating gesture. Off to one side, an older man with grey facial hair and long hair tied in a topknot in red robes pointed an accusing finger at an armored, middle-aged man who wore a cape of all things. This man also had his hair in a topknot and held a bag that periodically moved up to his fist. Pyrokinesis then. He was flanked by four unarmed soldiers who had faceplates resembling skulls. The older man assumed a fighting stance. Proto prepared a glacial grenade. A risky move but if deployed right it would immobilize the man holding La hostage.

It seemed however, his intervention was unnecessary as the man knelt down and released La back into the pond. However, Proto had a nagging feeling at the back of his head and kept his glacial grenade charged, just in case. His gut feeling was proven correct as he saw the man rear back. Proto threw the concentrated crystal of stasis as hard as he could. The crystal made contact with the edge of the pond, and a wall of dark blue ice popped into existence. On the other side, the man's flames splashed harmlessly against it. Tui and La immediately moved to the opposite side of the pond before continuing their cycle. Proto jumped and slowed his fall at the last possible second to land with a splash in the pond, the water line resting halfway up his calves. Proto heard gasps behind him but paid them no mind, choosing to unsling the glaive and prepared a burst of light to shatter the ice wall and shatter it did. The force of the blast sent the soldiers and the man flying backward. With groans, they all started to get back up.

"Who are you?" The man asked, his voice harsh and angry.

Proto didn't respond. Choosing to bring his glaive to the down and ready position, in preparation for a charge. The soldiers tensed and took stances.

"Answer me!"

Proto responded in a monotone voice. "Your executioner has many titles," Proto charged.

"Kill him!" The man yelled. Two of the soldiers launched small fireballs at him, while the other two moved back to directly protect the man. Proto jumped while spinning over the fireballs and landed a heavy kick to the first soldier's head. Proto landed behind him as he crumpled to the floor. The second soldier moved to strike him but Proto used the staff of his glaive to for his hands up, causing his flames to flare out harmlessly overhead. Proto leaned back on one leg, while the other delivered a high kick to the soldier's lower jaw. The next two soldiers moved to attack in tandem. Proto flipped his weapon upside down and used the back of the blade to force the hands of one soldier down, while the other behind him was hit in the jaw by the back end of the weapon. Pressing the attack on the one remaining soldier, Proto rolled the back of the blade along the soldier's hands and planted the blade in the ground before using it as an anchor point for a double kick which sent them flying into the basin wall and out of the fight. Proto noticed with a frown that the man responsible had escaped.

Feeling the psychic tug once more, Proto heard Tui and La speak in tandem.

'We will not allow this gross offense to go unpunished. Bring The Avatar to us.'

'Avatar, Avatar. Hmmm. Probably the one who can glow,' Proto thought to himself while re-slinging his glaive.

"Are you a spirit sent to destroy The Fire Nation!?" an enthusiastic and friendly voice asked.

Proto turned around and saw the young boy looking at him with wide eyes. Everyone else seemed wary but had dropped their fighting stances or lowered their weapons.

"Er, no. But I can tell you that Tui and La will. They just need you to stand in that pond," Proto responded awkwardly.

"Oh, ok!" The Avatar said with a smile before stepping into the pond.

The Avatar's tattoos began to glow, and he dropped into the shallow pond becoming completely submerged. Blue and white light grew outward from the pond's center, and the spirit-infused water rushed out and formed a giant koi fish creature with the Avatar at the center of its chest and a yin and yang symbol upon its forehead. It lifted its arms before it began moving through the settlement. A boy approached Proto, a boomerang strapped to his back. His ocean-blue eyes regarded Proto with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.

"So… if you're not a spirit who exactly are you?" he asked.

"My name is Proto."

Thanks for reading! I've enjoyed reading all the feedback I've gotten so far. This is my second ever fic, and while I thank you all for your very high praises of my writing, skill, and experience are two different things. CheesusChrist15 (I love that name by the way) helpfully pointed out that the narrative introductions made in chapter two felt crowbarred in. Those are the things I want to fix. If you see errors like that, please point them out so I can improve. I'll see you in the next chapter.