Hey there. I'm back. Been a bit busy with other stuff, but I finally got this finished.
I just want to say something before we start, in response to a review. Sorry if this sounds like a rant.
Ahem.
While I accept criticisms and constructive words, I am not interested in writing the next big thing. I'm not wanting to become the next Shakespeare, or write the next Lord of the Rings, or anything like that. I'm just interested in getting my ideas down on paper and out to anyone interested in them. I want to give people a fun and exciting story that's been bubbling about in my head. I'm happy if this is legible and mostly makes sense.
By all means, if someone points out something that messes with canon early, and it's just a minor thing (like someone can actually understand a language, and I was using it for a joke) then I will change it. But if someone points out something months later, and it's a key part of my story (like how Bloodbending affects Alex) then I'm keeping it in. I take a while to get my ideas down on paper and in a structured order sometimes, and I don't want to waste time and energy trying to make past chapters still work with current chapters with the changes.
Now that we've got that all out of the way, enjoy the show.
Chapter 12: That Is Not Dead Which Can Eternal Lie
The Southern Water Tribe was as silent as a grave now. More Northern ships had arrived within a day, creating an even stronger blockade to stop all who would dare enter or escape. Most people were barred within their homes, a few spending their nights in a cell. In fact, after their hostile takeover of the South through Dark Spirits, many Southern soldiers were caught repelling the invaders and were summarily thrown into the prison far away from the village. Any who tried to pass without permission were sent to join them. The walls had already survived at least three attempts to free the prisoners within. The last one had only been 3 hours ago. The guards were certain that nothing was getting past them.
And as they thought that, a massive black pillar pierced several walls before reaching the heart of the complex.
"Men, spread out and free our brothers." Tonraq shouted as he Waterbended streams to bludgeon the nearby guards. "Bring them back to this point at all speed." They heard a scream as several guards tried to sever the pillar, only to be likely skewered by spikes erupting from it. Tendrils near him shifted into the shape of cannons, pointing down the corridors they found themselves in. As a guard poked his head around, the cannon facing him fired off a stream of flames to burn him alive. The other guards were far slower to engage after that, and Alex took advantage of their hesitation. His cannons laid down a barrage of covering fire, while tendrils snaked outwards and down the halls. Tonraq's skin crawled as he watched him go to work. It reminded him too much of the Dark Spirits. Abominations against the natural order. But he was willing to swallow his discomfort if it meant that they could kick Unalaq and the North out. Some of his men came running down the halls, unconscious guards lying behind them. The former prisoners looked at the encampment in shock and horror, almost paralyzed by disgust. "Keep moving. You won't come to harm if you start leaving right now." The lure of freedom and the voice of their chieftain managed to uproot them from their spots. They ran through the tunnel, trying their best to ignore the mass surrounding them. They were joined by four, then three, and then six-score more of their brothers and sisters. That was all of them. At least, it was going to have to be. Alex was already retreating back through the tunnel he made, his creations turning into liquid and flowing away. Tonraq followed them in time to see him cleave through a Dark spirit with his blade arm. The two halves shivered and writhed, before turning into smaller creatures. He then slammed two large fists into them and forced them to dissipate. They will return from the destruction he caused, but it will take them time to do so. Alex Earthbended boulders to cover the hole he made and slow down their attackers, before bending the snow under their feet into a giant sled of ice. As he latched on with tendrils, two extra arms grew from his back and blasted flames at the spirits following them. And when they got near the bottom of the mountain, he caused an avalanche to cover their tracks, leading them away under a shield of snow and ice. Once they were near a certain part of the cliff, Tonraq bended the snow to reveal a tunnel big enough for them all, the men following him as Alex watched the rear. Only when the last man had gone through did he follow, dumping the shield against the hole and blotting out the moonlight. Just as Tonraq lit up a torch they had stashed nearby. Motioning everyone to remain silent, he led them through a twisting labyrinth of tunnels and walls until they reached a large underground room. The building and defences were all sculpted out of the Earth, with black tendrils replacing metal on the largest defences. People flocked towards them, smiling as their relatives and friends joined them.
"Alright, all you pessimists who thought we were going to fail, pay up." Alex shouted at the crowd, smirking under his hood. The crowd grumbled a bit, but most of it was good-natured. Several handfuls of Yuans were passed along until they found their way into Alex's hands. "And let this be a lesson. When I say I'm going to do something, I mean it."
"Thank you Alex." Tonraq interrupted him. "To our newcomers, as you can guess this is our base of operations while fighting back. From here, we can reach almost everywhere in the Southern Tribe. Find someone who's been here for a day already and buddy up with them. These tunnels are meant to confuse the Northerners, not us."
"What the plan of attack, Chief?" Someone asked him.
"Our current plan of attack is to use these tunnels to launch quick strikes against Northern patrols and forces. Attack them in their bunks; sabotage equipment; blow things up; even just harass them. If it's going to force them to leave, let them have it. As long as you check in with one of the team leaders before going out, you can attack whenever you like. We have to keep the pressure on them until they crack and run. But for now, get some rest. Eat some good food. You've been stuck in a cell for over a day; have some downtime first." The crowd cheered before walking off, friends and family chatting away as they headed elsewhere. Tonraq turned to see Alex watching him, before he tilted his head towards the main base. Tonraq sighed. He already knew what this would be about. And he was right.
"So are we done wasting my time?" Alex asked him once they had closed the door behind them. "Can I finally go after them?"
"No, not yet. They still hold our former armoury and our stores. We've been stealing what we can, but we need to take them both back. Without them, we won't be able to last long. And then we'll have to force the rest of the Northerners out of town."
"We already know where they're running to. The Spirit Portal. Unalaq's got all his remaining forces there for whatever reason. I don't have your weaknesses. I can be in and out before they even realise it, wearing their chieftain's face as I do so."
"We still don't know enough. Why are they there of all places? Why aren't they worried about cutting themselves off from their supply lines? How does he control all those Dark Spirits? We can't just barge in without a plan, no matter how successful we're becoming."
"Well what's your plan then? Take back the town and just ignore them? Unalaq started this whole thing to get that Spirit Portal open for something. And I bet that whatever's on the other side, it'll rip through your men like paper."
"Alex, you're our best weapon right now. I'm not sending you off to die against superior numbers for a theory." He looked down at the battle plans they had for the town. "Now, if we use the westbound tunnels to sneak into the docks, we could cause a spark in the fuel tanks and blow up their ships. While we're doing that, you can sneak into the armoury and take out all the guards. Signal us when you've done so, and then we'll…"
"Tonraq, I'm not a moron. The only reason you're against this idea so much is because you don't want to see your brother end up dead." Alex interrupted him. "Do I really need to remind you that he doesn't share the same feelings about you? He already had you exiled from your home and took your place as Chieftain for himself. He already tried to take Korra from you for his own plans. Hell, he was going to ship you off to the North where you'd probably rot for the rest of your life. And if Korra and I hadn't found out the truth, she'd still act like his loyal lackey. How can you seriously not want to have him killed for all that?"
"Because I don't believe that he deserves to die for his actions." Tonraq replied sternly. "The South hasn't had the Death Penalty for centuries, not since before the Hundred Year War. When we bring him in, we'll strip him of his power over the South and bar him from ever returning again. We will become our own sovereign nation. But that's all we'll be doing." He used a tone of finality that he used when Korra ever acted up. Sadly, it didn't seem any more effective on Alex than it did on her.
"Well then let me grab him. I can bring people back alive, you know. And as long as he doesn't act up, it'll be in one piece too."
"I said no, Alex. This is the end of the discussion. Korra sent you to help us drive them off in time for the United Forces to arrive and aid us. We are not engaging in murder or kidnapping."
"It's regicide and hostage taking, actually."
"We're still not doing it." As he said that angrily, he sloshed water out of a pot and splashed Alex with it. The man jumped suddenly at the contact, latching onto the roof and having his tendrils reach out everywhere. His form flickered and shifted for a second, before reforming back into a scowling Alex. He then gingerly dropped down from the roof. He still didn't understand why Alex was so afraid of water, but he wasn't complaining about it. They glared at each other for several seconds before Alex stormed out in a huff. Tonraq took a deep breath once he left, along with having a large drink of nearby mead for courage.
It took everything he had to stare such power in the eye, and see only darkness in it.
It was now near morning, the time that the guards and patrols would be less attentive. The resistance members moved silently through the empty streets, taking advantage of the guards' desires to return to their beds to sneak past. They trekked through the alleys and hidey-holes of the docks, ambushing anyone standing in their way. Eventually, they reached the large tankers refuelling the ships, long back lines hooked into them. Guards were watching carefully, but for every attentive guard there were at least two obviously having a nap. Tonraq used his bending to make a series of splashes by the water, alerting the awake guards and luring them away. As they looked over the edge, wondering if they had merely heard it, they found themselves attacked from behind. They were gagged and knocked out, before tied up and tossed aside behind a stack of cargo. No one onboard the ships shouted at them; they still had the element of surprise. The rebels unlatched the lids on the tankers, recoiling from the strong, pungent smell of the fuel. Two of the men placed their packs at their feet and got out the soaked lines they had prepared before. Dipping one end into the fuel, they rolled it out like a fuse until they were standing behind significant cover. With a firm nod, Tonraq ordered them to light the lines, the men running even further as the fire rushed towards the ships. They were almost to the tunnel when they were all knocked by the sheer power and force of the tankers exploding. And because of that, they were already down when the ships exploded too. Alarms rang out everywhere as men screamed in pain, the survivors scrambling to douse the flames and not giving any attention to the possibility of sabotage. This gave them all time to continue running to the safety of the tunnel, where they followed it to the centre of town. As they climbed onto the rooftops for a better scouting position, Tonraq saw the trail of a flare flying into the sky. That was the signal, the one Alex used to say that he had captured the armoury. He was certainly quick; quicker than expected even. And most of the guards patrolling the town were too busy rushing to aid against the fires to bother noticing them. They ran through the streets unimpeded, until they reached the familiar doors of their armoury, now cracked and thrown aside. Inside, there were streaks of blood on the floor and the walls, the men they belonged to missing.
But there was no sign of Alex himself.
"Where is he?" Tonraq asked aloud. "Can anyone see Alex in here?"
"Can't see any sign of him chief." One of his men replied. "But look at what we've got here. The North must've stored their own stuff in here too."
"This one's got some weird symbol on it. A pair of wings behind a star. What is that supposed to mean?" Another man asked him. Tonraq remembered such a symbol on paperwork sent down to them from Republic City, warning about possible sightings of Blackwatch soldiers. And just as he feared, when they opened the case they found several of the weapons they used lying inside.
"Dammit Alex. I needed him to help move all this." He muttered. "Everyone, grab as many things as you can carry. We might be able to take one with us, but we'll have to break the rest. B Squad, head on over to the stores for supplies. We don't know how much longer we've got." The teams moved to gather whatever they could carry, leaving him alone to ponder Alex's disappearance. He doubted that Unalaq had anything capable of kidnapping him, at least not without tearing the whole place apart from the fight. So he had to have left willingly. But where would he go? The shipyard, the armoury, and the stores were the only big targets they had left to hit. After that, they had minor squads to target before…
The main camp at the Spirit Portal.
"Alex, you reckless bastard."
Getting into the camp was easy for him. With the Northern soldiers his enemy, it was simple enough to grab a few for consumption. True, their spirits wailed loudly for a few moments as they realised where they were, but the other spirits silenced them quickly enough. He snuck in past their guards by just acting like he was returning from a tiresome patrol, while casually mentioning the port attack. It didn't send as many soldiers running as he had hoped, but there were a few less men to worry about. He was halfway into the camp before it all turned to shit. The dark spirits around the campsite wailed loudly and went berserk, with the strongest-looking ones piling up on him. As he fought them off, he could tell that his disguise was compromised.
Of course, the Waterbending slicing into him made him a bit more certain.
"Bastards." He muttered as he borrowed some water to bash aside soldiers. As they fell like skittles, he crushed a spirit in his grip before using it to knock some more spirits clear. He was then charged by a mech, the treads grinding furiously against the ground as it tried to push him. He drove his blade through the cockpit, wincing slightly as it exploded around him. Stupid non-Future Industries knock offs. At least Sato's work didn't explode at the drop of a hat. As he pushed aside the wreckage and continued on towards the command tent, he heard a very familiar clicking sound.
"Geez Lin, you're getting sloppy." He said to himself as he spotted a line of soldiers holding onto rifles. They opened fire on him at full speed, showing some skill with the weapons. But there were a few who were nearly bowled over by the unexpected recoil, their bullets flying harmlessly overhead. He blocked them with his shields, while two extra arms grew out and shot spikes down underneath them. Several of them were skewered before the spikes fell apart. Guess his biomass didn't like snow either. He retracted them and pulled the snow out from under their feet, knocking them all down and watching the chaos as they kept shooting while they fell. A quick 360 showed him a few soldiers far away, holding onto rocket launchers. With a contemptuous smirk, he bounced their rockets back at them, barely noticing as they screamed and exploded. He slashed open the command tent to find the Unalaq had vanished, along with his officers. Well, it was to be expected. He had plenty of time and warning to run for it. Luckily, there was only one place he could've escaped to without Alex spotting him.
"Nothing ventured and all that shit." And so for the first time of any of his lives, he entered through a portal to the spirit world.
On the other side, he found a large open rocky area, the ground jagged and curved to resemble two colliding whirlpools. At the other end of the plain, he saw a dark hole in the centre of the swirls. Wherever it went to, it was still closed off. And in the centre, right where the swirls collided, was a barren tree with a large whorl on the front. There was something inside of it, but he couldn't see it that well. He stepped forward to take a closer look.
And as he got closer and closer to the tree, a faint tortured wailing filled the air. The sky turned blood red as more jagged rocks grew. Flesh seemed to grow over the ground in patches and lines, pulsating as they did so. Spirits started floating through the air, turning into Dark Spirits as they tried to flee. The tree seemed almost to chuckle at him.
"This is very illuminating." He tensed as he heard Unalaq's voice. "While I had doubts about what the spirits said, I now see what they meant about you being an abomination. You truly are a monster without peer."
"I've been called a lot of things. Most are worse than what you could come up with." Alex responded, trying to pinpoint Unalaq's location. But something about this place made him feel uneasy. He didn't know why. And he didn't like that.
"I suppose as an outsider, you aren't aware of the true nature of the Spirit World. It acts as a reflection of the beings within it, showing their true nature and emotions. A happy spirit will create a beautiful meadow, filled with light and warmth. A fearful man, afraid of horrifying spirits, will see the spirits as the monsters he expects. And a monster like you, an aberration of all humane things, will create only a dark wasteland of madness, fit only for the most heinous of beings. You twist and pervert whatever you touch, leaving only ruins behind."
"Admit it, you're just jealous of me. I'm better than you, I'm stronger than you, and I took that barren look you apparently like so much and made it my own. Oh, and I figured out that you were a traitorous scumbag from the moment I met you. That had to hurt." He thought he saw something moving from behind the tree, but he kept getting distracted by the tree itself. There was something in there, something… unusual. "And unless your plan is to unleash your friend in the tree on me, you're all out of options. Come on out, and I'll make this reasonably quick."
Unalaq's chuckle filled the air. "You honestly have no idea what you're dealing with. Vaatu is far greater than you could ever be. He can do things you can't even dream of. But he and I are willing to talk, and make you a deal."
"Not interested. Unless you're offering to let me kill you. Then I'm all ears."
"You are short-sighted then. A mistake that should never exist."
"At least I'm not a whiny bitch hiding behind a tree." As he said that, Alex unleashed a multitude of tendrils around the tree, the lot of them meeting together behind it. They speared into what felt like ice, the surface melting and lashing out with water. As the tendrils were severed, he raced around the side and slammed into the ice bubble, knocking it away and causing it to shatter. The people inside fell in different directions, one unlucky soldier landing close enough for Alex to curb-stomp him. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as his arm was severed, quickly growing armour before the follow-up strike lashed at his leg. Desna and Eska were fighting, unleashing an almost never-ending barrage of spikes. They shattered against his plating as he grabbed his arm, fusing it back on before blasting them with a wave of fire. As he bowled them over, the two of them only just protecting themselves with a wall of water, he felt even more pain as something large pierced him. It flung him through the air on its point, grinding him against the ground and smashing through outcroppings before slamming him into the ground. The point kept spinning as it drilled through him, the hole in his chest growing bigger as it forced its way through. As he drained his biomass away, he was washed apart by a tidal wave of water. His mind was fractured, only just holding on long enough to create a small ferret. His little paws allowed him to dodge the strikes as he skidded through more biomass, growing bigger and bigger as he moved. After a few fraught moments of this, he managed to regain human form and blasted a wave of earth to crush Unalaq. But the chieftain sliced through it with a blade of water. And he wasn't alone anymore.
Normally, Alex wouldn't hesitate to attack again, even with Unalaq's army of Dark Spirits by his side. But normally he wouldn't have been torn apart so easily. If he was hit with that kind of strike again, he wasn't sure he could reform properly again. As much as he hated it, this was going to have to happen another time.
"I look forward to ripping apart the next lot of soldiers you send after me." He said as he ran for the portal. His acute hearing heard the ripping of the air as Unalaq attacked, dodging to the side as a spear of water flew at him. He spun around quickly, slicing through a line of spirits behind him as he kept going. Once on the other side of the portal, he created a wind tunnel to allow him to nearly rocket away at speed.
As much as he told himself this was simply a tactical retreat, it still brought a sour taste to his mouth.
Tonraq was not happy. Just a few minutes after they managed to sneak past the few patrols not busy with the fire, Alex had returned in a foul mood. He nearly bit a man's head off when he was asked where he ran off to, actually did throw a man into a wall when things got physical, and it was only when Tonraq told everyone to stop fighting that stopped Alex from attacking every resistance member in the caves. After that, Alex had left to his quarters to sulk. Clearly, the attack on Unalaq hadn't gone the way he wanted. Tonraq hoped that it was because he failed, rather than because he couldn't kill his brother fast enough.
That had been a day ago. And he still refused to remove that door of black chitin he made to cover the doorframe.
He sighed as he looked over the map of the city, now marked with new information. "How many ships did the scouts see approaching the harbour?"
"At least another dozen Chief." He was told. "And they looked a lot more heavily armed than the last ones. I guess we really got to them with that raid on the armoury."
"Or more likely, they're replenishing their numbers after Alex's one-man assault on their camp." Tonraq replied. "And I'll bet you anything that they're going to doing everything they can to hunt us down now." That was the reason he didn't want to attack their camp directly. At least, one of the reasons. "When do you think they'll arrive?"
"At their current speed? I'd say they're practically at the docks by now. Do you think we should send Avatar Alex to attack them?"
"It might be a good idea. I doubt they really want to fight an Avatar known for ending small armies on his own. But I'll have to see if he's done sulking yet. That man acts like a child. In the meantime, tell the scouts to see if they can figure out just how many soldiers there are. But they need to be careful too." The man nodded, leaving Tonraq alone with his thoughts. And things weren't looking good right now. No matter how much patriotic they had, there was simply no denying that the North had more man power and firepower than them. They were outnumbered at least 2 to 1, and their city had been taken over already.
As much as he hated to admit it, Alex was their best weapon. And so that was why he found himself standing outside his 'door' moments later.
"Alex. We need to talk." He said as he banged on the door. There was no response, so he banged harder. "Alex, open this door right now. I am not going to ask again." Still no response, but he felt the door become coarser under his fist. So, that was how he was going to be. Fine then. He pulled out a long stream of water from his flask, fashioning it into a large blade before slicing it right down the middle. The material writhed as it tried to fuse back together, and spikes started growing from it. But he stepped back and pushed the water outwards, creating an opening for himself. He then bended the water into smaller blades, carving the door into pieces that wriggled on the floor. Once it was big enough for him to get into, he found himself standing inside a dark room. Only two glowing pinpricks showed where Alex was resting.
"Alex, this has gone on long enough. Korra sent you with us to fight back against the North, not sit in a room sulking like a spoilt brat because you didn't win. Now start acting your age and help us out already." He ordered, glaring back at him. It was at times like these, especially when Korra was acting up, that he wished he had been more in her life than he had. And as soon as he thought that, he understood that he was losing. Alex was too much like her. He wouldn't listen to anyone else on sheer principle.
But then how was he to convince him to keep fighting?
"I had him." Alex growled. "I had Unalaq right in my sights, his army was dead or running. And then he hit me with some mega water blast that practically tore me apart. Do you know how painful it is getting torn to shreds? It fucking hurts."
"Well, maybe that'll teach you to think before you act, instead of just charging in and smashing everything in sight." Alex growled at him, filling the room with a sound like thunder. Tonraq sighed. "What do you want?"
"What?"
"What do I have to give you to get you out of this room and back on the field? As much as I hate it, you're our trump card. Our strongest fighter. We're going to barely hold out without your help. So once again, what do you want?"
"I want Unalaq's head on a pike." Spirits, he was so single-minded at times.
"Well if you can't get that, then I doubt we can do any better. So what else is there?"
"…Targets. Give me something to hit."
He smiled. "You're in luck. A small fleet of Northern ships just arrived at the docks. Go out there and break as many things as you can. Then head on back as soon as possible. Without any side tracking." He added sternly as Alex pushed past him.
"Yeah, yeah. Straight there and back. Don't go to any strange nightclubs. Got it, Dad." Alex replied, pointing his middle finger at Tonraq as he left.
Just like a child. He's going to be even more of a handful.
A week had passed since then. The Northern soldiers were practically halved when Alex attacked them. At least three ships were scuttled, and a third of what was left was dead in the water. They managed to chase after a team back towards the false base in the mountains. While Alex diverted their troops down secret passages, the soldiers were slaughtered by his creations. So the North was responding more aggressively, nearly killing anyone they caught. At least 15 of their men were captured, and Alex rescued all but four. From what he said, those four had been tortured brutally for answers.
Something was going to give at this rate, and with every attack Tonraq wasn't sure if it was going to be the North.
"Alex." He called out as he got closer to his quarters. "I need you to go and ready a strike at the city hall so we can rob the stores again. Food is running low, so we need every bit we can…" He stopped, realising that his room was empty. Dammit. Where did he go this time? "By the ancestors, please tell me that someone knows where Alex ran off to." He shouted at the men, having raced out in hopes of catching up to him. "Anyone?"
"He said that he was checking up on something in the library." Someone called out.
Tonraq sighed. "Well, at least it's close to city hall. Have someone at the radio while I'm gone. I'll call you when he's ready to play decoy." He raced out through the tunnels, stopping only to check the sensors Alex somehow made, before opening the snow and ice. Once through, it was easy enough to sneak into town and down to the library.
Hmm, too easy.
"You think we've got enough light here?" He overheard a Northern soldier ask his friend as they sat inside an abandoned home, Tonraq sneaking overhead on the roof. "Maybe have a couple more lanterns ready?"
"We put any more fires in here, and there won't be enough room for us. I'm pretty sure we're breaking some law or another about fires." His friend responded, dusting his hands off as he stepped outside. "Good thing we've got these fancy Blackwatch sticks by our sides."
"Lot of good they did for Blackwatch in the end. That monster annihilated them all." The first soldier scoffed. "Spirits, why did we agree to come here in the first place?"
"Because our chieftain ordered us to. And they conveniently forgot to mention that we were fighting Avatar Alex. Man, I sure hope that wherever he came from, he's the only one of whatever he is."
"Don't say that."
"What? You'd rather there be two mass murdering monsters running around out there?"
"Because it means that Blackwatch, with all their new-fangled stuff and skills, were created to deal with one… thing. That scares me. It scares me to death." The wind howled overhead. Even though Alex was his ally, Tonraq still shivered in fear. "I don't think I can stay here any longer. I need to get back to camp."
"In this storm? Great idea. That way, he could be right next to you and you wouldn't notice till he rips your spine out and beats you to death with it."
"He can't do that. Can he?"
"Well they're pretty sure he tried with someone, judging from the mess. Besides, he just strolled into camp and totalled the place. At least here we've got oodles of flames to hit him with and scare him off." They grew silent, and Tonraq kept going.
Well, that would certainly explain the quietness. None of the soldiers would be willing to leave the theoretical safety of their buildings to become easy prey for Alex. It looked like their plan worked better than he could hope. It looked like only their loyalty to Unalaq was stopping them from running.
That, and half the boats were totalled.
He reached the library, noting the blood trails on the floor along the way, before tripping over a pile of books near the entrance. He grabbed hold of a bookcase to halt his fall, almost tipping it over too. Once he got back to his feet, he noticed the glowing eyes watching him.
"I don't know how you can see in all this darkness." He grumbled as he fumbled for the light switch. Alex created a small flame before stuffing it into a torch and returning to his reading. "And I thought I made it clear that you were supposed to inform me when you go running off like this."
"You were busy. Didn't want to disturb you." Alex replied tersely.
"Busy doing what? I was just walking through the caverns."
"I don't know. Chief stuff. I couldn't be bothered finding out. Anyway, before you start getting all prissy at me, get over here and see if you're getting what I'm getting." Tonraq raised a finger to tell him off, before stopping and resorting to merely groaning in frustration. As he got closer, he noticed that a lot of the scrolls and books he was reading were about old times. Times where they shared the world with the spirits. "When I confronted Unalaq, I fought him by this big old tree with something trapped inside. He said he was working with someone by the name of Vaatu. So I figured I'd do a little digging before I rip his stupid smug grim off his face."
"And you thought to look in these old things? For all you know, he could be lying to you. Wasting your time on stupid things like this while he tries to secure victory."
"That's pretty much impossible for him now. No, he's after something in that portal. And I think I might've found out what." He rustled an old scroll before handing to him. "Snuck in and grabbed his personal chest earlier. Torched his tent for a laugh too. Have a look at this thing." Tonraq sighed before squinting at the scroll. It'd probably be easier if it wasn't in some kind of antiquated language.
"'Here be the last few words of Wan, The Bridge Between Worlds." He read. "It has been the 50th year of my age since I sealed the Dark One in The Tree of Time, saving all of land and spirit land from his chaos. Raava still speaks to me at times, but her voice grows quieter with every year. Mayhap because we are not two, but one. A single agent of order, righting the chaos I unleashed in foolishness. Once, I thought it to be easy now that Vaatu is gone. But my bones are weary, my body aches, and my spirit is tired. And still there is chaos, even though the spirits have returned home and left us in peace.'" He looked at Alex in confusion. "How does this help us at all?"
"It's informative." Alex replied. "A few of my memories said that the Avatar is the embodiment of the planet itself. But from what this says, it looks like it's just a person bonded to a powerful spirit of order. Raava. And they worked together to stop Vaatu from making chaos, or something." He shook his head. "Sounds like old Vaatu is your Devil."
"Again, how does this help us right now?"
"It doesn't. Except that your brother is even crazier than we thought. What kind of nut-job unleashes an ancient evil on the world for something stupid like power?"
"Perhaps the people that made you?" Alex chuckled at that.
"Point made. But there's got to be something else. Big bad spirits like Vaatu always have a weakness. I just need to figure it out so that Korra can rip him a new one and kick his ass back to whatever Hell he came from."
"You can do that later. Right now, I need you to distract the guards so that we can steal more supplies."
"Have you seen the guards out there? They're staying in the relative safety of their houses. The guards here are already dead. There's nothing to stop you guys from just waltzing in and taking everything they want. Now shoo. Go and get your supplies already. I need to keep researching about all this spirit shit."
As Tonraq turned to leave, Alex grabbed another scroll from the chest by his feet, and was soon deep in his studying.
The spirit world was unbelievable. Practically everything about it went against everything he thought he knew about physics. It was a place where one could take a single step, and be on the other side of the world. Where up could be down, and North could be East. He hungered to find it, to enter it himself.
It would be so much easier if he could actually get himself to meditate.
"Useless." He muttered, after spending an hour sitting in his room and trying to calm himself down. It was an exercise in futility. There was too much pain and anger in him to ever be calm. Voices shrieked for his suffering, while others wanted to die. And there were those who were trying to take control from him. Try as he might, he just couldn't silence those voices. There had to be an easier way.
"Alex? What are you doing now?" He heard Tonraq ask him, turning to see him standing at the door. Alex groaned in frustration.
"Well, until you interrupted me, I was trying to meditate and get into the Spirit World." He replied testily. "The scrolls were a bit lacking on some important information, and supposedly the Spirit World's got to have something else. They've been watching Vaatu and Raava fight for eons."
"And you thought you could meditate and get there? Meditation requires a sense of calm, of peace; and a deeper understanding of the world along with letting faith take you further. Things that you're sorely lacking."
"How do you know so much about that?"
"Unalaq's been obsessed with the spirits since we were children. He could prattle on and on about the 'proper meditation techniques'. But aren't you forgetting something? We've got a massive portal to the spirit world right before us. It shouldn't be that difficult for you to just walk on in that way."
"The portal to the Spirit World is sealed from that side. That's part of what I think Unalaq wants to get opened. Besides, apparently the spirit world changes to reflect the person entering it. Good people see nice things, sad people see darkness…"
"Warriors like you would see only pain and fear."
"Exactly. If I could just calm myself enough to travel there through meditation, hopefully I wouldn't immediately start fucking the place up."
"Well, you might have an easier time if you chose to meditate somewhere more spiritual than your bedroom. Apparently the mountain tops are a good choice."
"You know, if you wanted me out of the base, you could've just said so." Still, it wasn't like he was doing any better here. "Alright, I'll give it a try. It's got to be better than having you jabber in my ear all the time." Alex got up to leave, pushing past Tonraq as he went.
"You know, maybe if you focused on why you're so angry, you might be able to push past it. Just a thought."
Well, this was even more of a bust that before. At least back in the cavern, he had relative silence (as long as he muted his super-hearing). But out here, he was constantly besieged by the howling wind. And he was having a bit of trouble focusing his extremities into the shapes he wanted them to be.
This was really starting to piss him off. He was doing everything right. He was assuming the right positions, he was at a possibly spiritual location, he was trying to find inner peace. So what was going wrong?
Monsters like us aren't meant to have inner peace. We are too violent, too angry, too twisted. Our voices tear ourselves apart.
Our voices.
Well, it was worth a shot. Even if it was possibly the most stupid plan he had ever come up with.
He sealed off his mouth and eyes, leaving him without a way to communicate. Tendrils speared into the ground and wrapped around him, turning inert at his command. A shell grew over them, cutting off the wind as he dissolved his limbs. It took him a while, but he eventually managed to practically declaw himself. Make himself harmless. Relatively speaking. Then, he focused inwards. He was back in his tower, his lieutenants standing before him. Outside, bars were closing over the windows and doors of the homes. Blackwatch found themselves covered in a thick layer of concrete, vanishing under it all. His men ran off, reappearing over the prisons he had built within his mind. He kept going, kept suppressing, until only he was still free or unoccupied.
Then he meditated.
And his first sign that something was different was when he heard a bird singing.
He opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by a meadow, the world awash with bright colours. Mountains and rivers floated overhead, while the ground curved upwards like a drum. As he watched, the stream beside him switched from going downhill to going uphill, a fish jumping out of it as it moved the wrong way.
He had done it. He was actually here.
And better yet, this world didn't seem affected by him.
"Guess Unalaq's not as smart as he thinks." Alex said with a smirk. "Now, Gotta find someone who knows about Vaatu. Just my luck that I appear at the most remote area on the fu…" He had stepped forward to go hunting, only to find the ground beneath his feet falling away. As he fell down the hole, he looked up to see a square hole in the ground above, a hinge attached to the underside. No problem. He thought as he summoned the wind to lift himself.
Unfortunately, he missed the scroll that pointed out that bending was impossible in the spirit world without a body.
"Shit." He hissed as nothing happened, the ground further below getting closer. Well, guess I'll just have to shapeshift myself some wings.
In his defence, no one ever thought shapeshifting was possible in the first place. So no one told him that was impossible for him too.
"Shit!" He yelled, flapping his arms uselessly as the ground rushed to meet him. He slammed into it hard, bouncing off it to fall further along. Where the ground was now curving downwards. He slid along on his face, trying desperately to grab hold of something. As he crashed into a rock, he rolled over it and skipped along the ground, only stopping when he managed to grab a large weed. He hung in mid-air, gasping for breath. At least he was safe.
"Hey!" The weed shouted at him. "What's the big idea, buster? Get your grubby hands off my head." Alex looked up to see two beady eyes watching him from under the weeds. The spirit didn't look happy.
"How about you get me out of here and then I'll let go, you walking shrubbery." Alex retorted. The spirit turned beetroot purple before shaking wildly. Alex tried his best to hold on, but the loss of his super strength made it more difficult. With a final swing, the spirit dislodged him. Alex yelled as he fell again, turning to see large spiked rocks pointing upwards. Come on. Come on. He shapeshifted in the real world. How much more difficult was it to shapeshift here?
He smacked himself in the face. "Idiot. You're going about this all wrong." He had been trying to tell his body to grow wings. Here, he couldn't do that anymore. He had to believe he had wings. He closed his eyes and fiercely believed that he was a dragon. That he was large scaly wings and sharp teeth. That he could breathe fire and roar like thunder. He was a dragon. He was a dragon. He was a dragon…
He yelped as some force pulled him sideways, twisting him wildly as he tumbled through the air. Seeing the rocks almost in his face, he pulled on the muscles in his back and was rewarded with a leathery flap sound. Now, instead of going downwards, he was moving upwards and forwards. The spikes zoomed past him as he went into a controlled glide. Yes. He did it. He was flying. He laughed in excitement. He was Alex Mercer. Zeus. King of Blacklight. And the spirit world was now his…
And then gravity decided to do a 180 on him. He groaned as he ploughed into the ground at a sizable speed, right before falling off the cliff and landing in some water.
Fuck you Spirit World.
Back in the real world, a black egg sat upon the mountain top. The wind howled against it, but it would not move. It would not waver. It was as unmovable as the ground it stood on.
But inside, there was one small, constant sound.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
"Ah. Now I remember why I like the laws of physics." Alex muttered. "At least with them around you can tell WHERE THE HELL YOU ARE!" He shouted that last part as he stood on a landmass that was upside down. The spirits around him gave him a look before scurrying away. "How the hell am I supposed to find anything in this place? 'Finding the library's easy. Just take a left at the tree shaped like a face.' Yeah, real helpful if that dammed tree didn't get up and walk the other way!" He seethed in anger as he continued stomping towards the horizon. Every time he ended up above the mountains (or they seemed to shrink down. It was hard to tell in here) he could see a line of sand on the horizon. He figured that maybe if he kept going, he might come across something helpful. Anything better than the lazy spirits hanging around here. Or the cliff that spoke in riddles. Or the ground shaking beneath his feet.
Wait, what?
"Oh, son of a…" And he only got that far before he was hit by a heavy flood of water, as if this place was stopping him from swearing at all. He tried to swim upwards, but everytime he would crash into something and get flung around back into the water. He was almost about to start punching something when he suddenly popped out of the flash flood.
"Great. Now decides to start working again." He groaned as he grew himself a pair of wings again. Just in time to see a face in the clouds. All scrunched up as its nose quivered. "Oh you've got to be…"
"AH-CHOO!" The cloud sneezed, the gale-force winds slamming into Alex and blasting him outwards towards the horizon. He twisted and yelled as he tried to break free, his wings tattered and gone from the force. His yelling stopped when he slammed into a sandy wall. That he now realised was actually the ground.
Goddamn physics.
"Hey, human." Alex looked up to see a large wolf spirit thing smiling down at him. No, smirking. "What's the matter? Did you fall in love with the…?" He stopped smirking as Alex got his hands around his throat.
"Listen up. I am not in the mood for your fu…" Sand blew into his mouth. "For your stupid games. I am tired, I am sore, and I've got a group of murderous people trying to break free back on Earth. Either you lead me to the Library, or so help me I will try and rip you limb from limb with my bare…" He barely finished before the wolf ran off, with him still holding on. The sand buffeted and scoured him as they went, filling his lungs and mouth whenever they simply moved through a dune. Thankfully, it didn't last very long.
Fuck this place.
"There you go, mister angry guy." The wolf said. "One library. Just be careful. Wan Shi Tong doesn't like humans very much." And he scampered off.
"Just my luck. The only library in the spirit world, and the guy in charge is already pissed with me." And he didn't even have his strength to go off on. Or his bending. He was going to have to be very careful wandering these halls.
Still, he could've sworn he's heard the term Wan Shi Tong before.
As he walked towards the library, he was tripped by the sand turning into grass beneath him, like someone flicking a rug on a cartoon. No, not grass. Leaves. And above him were tree trunks leading up to the ground…
"I hate this place." He groaned as he started climbing the walls to get inside. "Hate it, hate it, hate it." Luckily, he still remembered the ways he slid down the side of walls, allowing him to get inside without a sound. Shaking off his slightly blistered hand, he crept through the halls and bookcases. And as he looked at how large the place was, he started feeling very worried. "And knowing my luck, this place has never even heard of the Dewey Decimal System." A small whine caused him to nearly jump, hands ready to crush. But it was only a small fox, looking up at him quizzically. He sighed. "Another spirit. I don't suppose you have a clue how this place works, do you?" The fox whined again, pawing at some books. Alex took a closer look. They were all about tea leaves. "Great. Ok, calm down Alex. There's got to be some system to this place. I refuse to accept that the library's as crazy as the rest of this world." He looked at the fox again. Well, it wasn't like things could get worse for him. "I'm looking for any information about Raava and Vaatu. Do you know where I can find it?" The fox left in shadows. "Yeah. I didn't think so. That's what I get for trusting an animal." He left the bookcase, silently running through the halls for any sign of order.
This was going to probably take a very long time.
The wind had blown itself out, and the moon shined down upon the egg. It was covered in a layer of frost and ice and snow, black almost hidden underneath the white.
But it couldn't hide the cracks in the shell.
Tap tap. Tap tap. Tap tap. Tap tap.
"Why would anyone want to know 101 ways to pop a boil?" Alex asked in exasperation as he threw a book aside. This was pointless. He had looked through dozens of bookcases and found all kinds of books. Ancient Bison feeding tips, memoirs about times spent on the back of Lion Turtles, the agonising effects of quicksand on a person's flesh. Nothing useful to him. As he leaned back against the wall and sighed, he felt something tug at his sleeve. He opened his eyes to reveal a fox. No, the same fox. And by its paws was a book.
"Huh. Thanks, I guess." He petted it on the head before picking up the book. Yes, this was exactly what he was looking for. It had everything he needed to know. And a lot of it was incredibly interesting. Such as the fact that Raava and Vaatu could not destroy or disperse each other forever. As they were 'two sides of the same coin', when one died they would reform in the other. Vaatu had the power to bring out the darker side of people and spirits (obviously), while Raava could calm down the imbalance (again, also obvious). However, the more spirits Vaatu corrupted, the weaker Raava would become. At least, that what would've happened before she merged with humans. It might not happen now.
Still, it wasn't like he needed an excuse to disperse dark spirits.
But none of this told Alex what Unalaq stood to gain from working with Vaatu. Sure, it could be the clichéd promise of being spared when he destroyed the world, but even Unalaq wasn't that naïve. No, he had to gain something tangible and powerful from this. Alex mentally ran down a checklist of things he knew about Unalaq. He was an idiot; a coward; desired power and control; banished his brother to become chieftain; was probably jealous that Tonraq's daughter was the Avatar…
"Bingo." He smirked. It started making sense. If Raava could fuse with a human to create something as powerful as the Avatar, then logically speaking so could Vaatu. All they had to do, was stop him from getting free. He skimmed through the book again, finally finding reference to Vaatu's imprisonment near the back. It said that if the two portals were finally opened, if the spiritual energy from the human and spirit worlds were unleashed on Harmonic Convergence (some once-every-10,000-years thing), then Vaatu would draw on enough power to free himself.
"Easy as pie." He said to himself. And then he heard the flapping of giant wings. "And I jinxed myself." He grabbed hold of the book and scurried away, looking past the edge of the bookcase at whatever was flapping around in here. He saw a giant owl land in the centre of the library, eyes glaring at everything. Worryingly, they seemed most focused on his location.
Right. Now he remembered. Wan Shi Tong means 'He Who Knows 10,000 Things'. Basically, this bird was apparently all-knowing.
"I know you are here, monster." Wan Shi Tong said. "You will no longer defile my library. Come out so I may hand you off to one who knows how to deal with your kind for good." He looked the other way, stalking towards the other end of the library.
Huh. Guess 'all-knowing' wasn't what it used to be these days. Alex took advantage of the bird-brain's stupidity to try and escape. He circled round the hall, trying to get back to the hole in the wall. As he took another step though, something went crack under his foot.
It was someone's skeleton.
"Are you kidding me?" Alex hissed in disbelief, running even as he heard the owl screech and chase after him. He was damn persistent too, refusing to be shaken off. It was sheer luck that he didn't seem to have some kind of… of death ray or laser vision. But he was too close for Alex to climb out before he was grabbed. So he had to make do with running round and round the hall instead. Eventually, he found himself back where he started.
An idea came to him.
He grabbed the skeleton by the robe and threw him backwards, just as Wan Shi Tong rounded the corner. He was blinded by the bones and clothing covering his head, squawking as bones poked his eyes. Alex used that to smash him over the head with the book, the human skull shattering under his blow. As Tong fell, he raced round the other side of the bookcase and started pushing, filling his mind with memories of when he tore cars apart. He felt himself grow stronger, bit by bit, until the heavy bookcase fell. Another loud squawk filled the air, but Alex was already running towards the hole. He was about to start climbing when something told him to jump. He pushed himself off the wall just as Tong crashed into it.
"Wow." Alex smirked. "You fell for the oldest trick in the book. And I wasn't even trying." He jumped on Tong's head and started pounding, only for the owl to get back up. His unnatural strength wasn't much use here. So he pretended that he was a bear.
Tong certainly wasn't prepared for a giant brown bear to smash his skull down. Alex gave him a couple more blows before changing back to normal, jumping off his head and turning into a spider. Well, he had eight legs and the wall-climb ability. That was enough for him. He twisted over the edge of the hole, falling down towards the trees.
Except that he went right through the leaves.
At this point, he wasn't even surprised anymore. Especially when he was grabbed something big. He looked up to see a dragon, holding him within its claws. The sky and mountains moved faster than ever, until they were somehow back in the floating plains again. He yelped as the dragon dropped him, tumbling up and down before gravity decided where he was meant to go.
He closed his eyes as he smashed into the ground.
Taptaptaptaptaptap. Crack.
The shell shattered into fragments, a hideous malformed monster crawling out of it. Dozens of mouths gnashed and yelled, while large pincer limbs reached out for empty air. Heavy feet stomped the ice to sleet, and a spiked tail made the air sing. It sniffed the air, in search of prey. It roared and screamed to the heavens.
And then it turned back into Alex Mercer.
"Oh god that was painful." He hissed as he fell to the ground. He nearly started sliding down, but hooks formed and gripped the ground around him. "Oh sweet rational gravity, how I've missed you." He flipped over onto his back, basking in the glow of the world. He looked upwards, using the sun's passage to tell the rational passage of time since he started.
Three days. He had been in there for three days.
He turned around and looked down at the town. Smoke billowed out of several holes in the ground. Fighting echoed through the city. And a new, fancier ship sat near the port.
"Yes. Finally, something I can hit."
Well, for those of you wondering why this took a while; there's your reason. Apart from the fact that Unalaq manages to beat the resistance just before the Krew get there (so they can't help them out at first), we know nothing of what really happened there. Add in the fact that the places I looked didn't specify an exact timeline for all this, and I had to make some guesses. That is why Alex takes nearly 2 weeks or more to wipe out the North.
Interestingly enough, Alex wasn't originally meant to enter the spirit world. I always figured that by his nature as a legion of souls, Alex was incapable of entering it. But I had to give him something to do so that we don't get a page of exposition from the Krew, as well as keep him from just tearing through the North for days until he gets lucky. I suppose that it's a good thing Unalaq is a Waterbender, since that at least gives me a reason Alex can't just march in and kill him. Well, that and the spirits.
So yeah, as I was saying Alex wasn't originally meant to go. But when I thought about it, his biggest hurdle is the fact that he's a collection of souls. Theoretically, one soul could go through. So I sent Alex, the original Alex our hero's based on, into the spirit world. That's why he doesn't have any bending. Or powers. No body.
But I had to give him some shapeshifting. There's still a mental side to changing your shape. Apologies if this doesn't mesh with canon. (and see the rant at the top of how I feel about that.)
Funnily enough, when I decided to send him over, my first idea was that he was going to meet Wan Shi Tong before Jinora. Yes, originally, Alex was going to be another reason he hates humans. But things I read made it sound like Jinora was trapped in the spirit world for a week, so it didn't quite mesh together.