A/N: Man, I'm sorry that it took so long for the next chapter to appear. I had severe real-life troubles and had no free time for myself, much less to write anything. It's okay now, and I can get back to writing :)
Disclaimer – all original Avatar: The Last Airbender characters in this fanfic (excluding my OC's) are the property of Bryana Konietzko and Michaela Dante DiMartino.
Chapter 20. The History of Yuan'Shi – part 1
Spirit World, The Tree of Time.
Just like Yan Zu asked, Qhavaq once again created a sandstorm to recreate past events. Both Huo and Yan Zu closed their eyes. When the wind subsided, Yan Zu opened his eyes and looked around. They were on a bountiful meadow with flowers and white crystals which protruded from the ground. Small ponds with crystal-clear water were scattered randomly across the field, and at the center, there was a hill surrounded by a stream.
"What's going on?!" Huo asked, looking around and drawing Yan Zu's attention. The scenery kept changing, and it confused the boy. Yan Zu decided to calm Huo down before he did something that might anger the spirit of the time.
"Huo, it's okay, you're safe," the man reassured, kneeling and looking carefully at his son, who kept sitting on the ground. The man gently touched Huo's arm. "How are you feeling? Do you hear any voices in your head?"
The boy took a deep breath and exhaled, placing a hand on the side of his head. "The voices... no, I don't hear them," Huo replied with relief in his voice. He even felt lighter somehow. The boy looked around for a moment. "I don't hear them and I don't hear nor see mom."
Yan Zu's eyes widened for a moment. Hearing the flames was one thing, but he never expected Huo would see and hear his mother. It had to be both sad and terrifying, considering what she did.
Huo was silent for a moment, slowly recalling everything. He then looked at his father. "Mom said mean things and blamed me for everything," Huo said as tears began to gather in his orange-colored eyes. "She said that you hate me because you died because of me. Mom... killed you. Why did you lie t-?"
"I could never hate you!" Yan Zu exclaimed and hugged his son tightly. He was on the brink of crying himself. "I'm so sorry! I didn't want to tell you the truth about my death because I knew how terrible you'd feel! It had nothing to do with Yuan'Shi or the Keepers! No child, especially as young as you, should learn such a thing, but I'm here, Huo! Dead or alive, spirit or human, I won't leave you! Ever! I love you more than anything!"
Huo closed his eyes and sniffed, returning the hug. Yan Zu took a deep breath. "Everything will be okay," he reassured. "I'm a spirit, so I'll exist forever. You'll never be alone."
The man pulled back and looked Huo deeply in the eyes. "Do you understand?" he asked.
Huo nodded and wiped his eyes. The boy lowered his gaze, noticing one of the small ponds beside them. He wanted to use the water to wash his face, but before he even touched the water, the symbol on his forehead caught his attention. "Huh? What's that?" the boy asked, touching his forehead.
"A mark Shen'Rai left on your body when he merged with you in order to fight his brother," Yan Zu answered. "It's permanent, so you have to get used to it."
"I remember fighting a phoenix, but I thought it was a dream," Huo replied, squinting his orange-colored eyes.
"No, it was real," Yan Zu stated. "Shen'Rai abandoned his physical form but we were confronted by his brother, Wei'Rai. Without a physical body, Shen'Rai couldn't firebend, so he possessed your body to fight his brother. He won, but unfortunately, the scar you have on your chest was the result of their fight."
"They fought with each other?" Huo asked. "Why?"
"Shen'Rai wanted to permanently merge with your spirit and his brother didn't want that to happen," Yan Zu answered.
"Permanently?" Huo asked. "What do you mean?"
"Shen'Rai is now a part of you," Yan Zu explained. "He added his own willpower to yours. Thanks to him, you have greater control over your flames. That's the reason you don't hear voices anymore, and the flames don't come out of your body on their own."
Huo's eyes widened, and he looked at his own hands. "He sacrificed himself for me?" the boy asked in disbelief.
"Don't feel bad," Yan Zu replied with a reassuring smile. "First, he wanted this, and second, he exists inside you. I have a feeling he'll pop out to speak with you from time to time."
Huo didn't know what to say, to be honest. "Oh," Yan Zu gestured towards the round-shaped mass of water with tentacles. "This is Qhavaq, a spirit of the time. With his help, Shen'Rai was able to merge with you, and he also helped you with the wound on your chest."
The boy raised his head and looked at the time spirit. He touched his chest and looked down, realizing he didn't feel any pain. Huo looked back at Qhavaq, stood up, and bowed his head. "Thank you," he said, clasping his hands together.
"Healing you won't a change a thing, despite many decisions, to your path you will cling," Qhavaq replied with another rhyme.
Huo squinted his eyes confusingly while Yan Zu smiled. "He talks in a cryptic way," he explained.
"Oh, okay," Huo replied, focusing on his father. "Where are we? Is this his realm?"
"Yes, we're under the Tree of Time," Yan Zu replied. "I have many questions regarding Yuan'Shi and Qhavaq can help me with that."
Huo tensed up, recalling the dangerous spirit and the recent events. "Where is she now?" he asked, looking around the meadow.
"She escaped to the physical world to search for the Avatar," Yan Zu replied. "She wants to absorb his chi in order to restore her real body. Wei'Rai told me the Keepers don't plan to stop her and that I should ask Qhavaq to show me Yuan'Shi's past so I can understand the reason why. Qhavaq is able to recreate past events, so I've asked him to show me the history of Yuan'Shi."
Huo had to admit that he also wanted to know the truth and what really happened. He heard so many versions that he had no idea what to believe. He had some strange memories after 'eating' the fire which burned Yuan'Shi's arm, but those were random images, so he wasn't able to make heads or tails of it. The boy began to look around, but this time to observe where they were.
The whole meadow was surrounded by what seemed to be a gold-colored wall with no visible doors, windows, or any means of entering or leaving. Still, as it quickly turned out, Keepers didn't need a door to enter it. Yan Zu spotted in the corner of his eye that a phoenix entered the meadow by simply walking through the wall from the other side like it wasn't even there. Four Keepers, one of each element, entered the meadow and headed towards the center.
The Keepers looked different from the ones who fought Yuan'Shi, especially the Fire and the Air Keeper. The phoenix had a black-colored crest and black flames on each of the five serrated tails. The Air Keeper was much bigger than the one from earlier, towering over a typical human, and its colors were much more vibrant.
Huo was so focused on the black-colored crest and the black flames that he didn't realize at first that the phoenix walked straight toward him. The boy quickly moved to the side, observing the spirit cautiously. The black-colored flames reminded him too much of Yuan'Shi.
"Huo, you don't need to be afraid of them," Yan Zu reassured, noticing his son's reaction. "Everything you see is not real so nothing can hurt us. They don't see us and can't touch us." The man moved in front of the walking Earth Keeper, who didn't react to him in any way. The pangolin-like creature simply walked through him like he wasn't there while Yan Zu smiled at Huo.
The boy's eyes widened, and he looked again at the phoenix. Noticing that the Fire Keeper didn't pay any attention to him, Huo reached out, trying to touch one of the tails. To his surprise, his hand went through it.
"See? Nothing to worry about," said Yan Zu. "Now lets follow them."
Huo nodded, and they followed the Keepers, who stooped near the hill with the lake. "Does anyone has second thoughts?" the phoenix asked with a feminine voice, indicating that she was a female. "Once we do this there's no turning back."
"We need one powerful being to keep balance and guide the other Keepers, ChinRai," replied the Earth Keeper. "We all decided this is for the best. Our siblings know that we, as individual beings, will cease to exist. No wonder they didn't like the idea."
"So this is Chin'Rai," Huo thought, looking closely at the phoenix with the black-colored crest. "So she'll become Yuan'Shi?"
"It has to be done," the Air Keeper added with a masculine voice. "The Keepers also need balance. The faster the better."
"Nen Tu is right, let's not waste anymore time," said the Water Keeper.
The four Keepers surrounded the hill from four sides, closed their eyes, and became motionless. Yan Zu noticed that their bodies started to lose color and become old. It looked as if something was slowly sucking their life out, turning their bodies into cracked husks. The man realized Shen'Rai had to go through the same thing when he decided to abandon his physical body.
Suddenly, the spirit forms of the four Keepers left their physical shells, shattering them to pieces. Just like Shen'Rai earlier, each Keeper had a long, transparent, ribbon-like body with five orbs. What separated them apart were their colors. The Water Keeper was blue, the Earth Keeper green, the Fire Keeper orange, and the Air Keeper grey. The symbols on the end of their ribbon-like bodies were also different. However, Yan Zu didn't get the time to look at them closely since the Keepers immediately flew to the hill, and their bodies collided with each other.
Their ribbon-like bodies began to glow white and merge into a larger one. The blinding light illuminated the whole meadow and caused Yan Zu and Huo to close their eyes. After a few seconds, the light faded, allowing the two to take a look. A white sphere, which seemed to be made out of crystal, levitated in the spot where the Keepers merged. A small figure moved inside it and appeared to become bigger and bigger.
The water in the river around the hill and the rocks began to rise, heading towards the sphere and forming two rings around it. The ground and the grass under the sphere caught fire, and a ring made from black-colored flames formed underneath it. Powerful winds began to blow from all directions, creating an air vortex above the sphere, which started to crack.
With a loud bang, a beam of light shattered the sphere and shoot upwards, scattering the elements in all directions. When the beam vanished, the wind subsided, and the dust settled, Huo's eyes widened upon noticing the entity that stood on the hill.
Yan Zu imagined the spirit to resemble a hybrid of the four Keepers. Instead, the man gazed upon an immense, five-tailed, fox-like spirit covered in gleaming, silver fur. It was big enough for Huo to ride on its head. The entity had a row of sharp, rainbow-colored spikes on its back. On the end of its snout, it had four long whiskers, constantly moving as if submerged in water.
Each of its tails ended with an orb of a different color. Orange, blue, green, grey, and white. Yan Zu guessed that each color represented a bending art, with the white representing energybending. Its eyes shared a similar rule. Every time the spirit blinked, its eyes changed color from orange to grey, from grey to blue, from blue to green, and from green to orange.
Huo spotted the other Keepers, who began to enter the meadow through the wall from all directions and head towards the hill. The boy recognized Shen'Rai and his siblings. He even recalled a few of the other Keepers. Sixteen in total, the spirits stopped near the entity.
"So there were five Keepers of each element," Yan Zu noted. "If you count energybending as a fifth element, it makes sense."
"Greetings, my siblings," the spirit spoke with a feminine voice, which made Huo and Yan Zu's skin crawl. There was no mistake about it. It was Yuan'Shi's voice. "It is done."
The Keepers weren't happy, but they weren't precisely angry either. It seemed like they made peace with the fact that their siblings merged into a completely new being.
"What should we call you?" asked Shen'Rai.
"I'm no longer Chin'Rai, Nen Tu, Zakaio, or Nonger," the spirit replied, using the names of the four Keepers. "From this day, I'll be known as Yuan'Shi the Guiding Light. I'll live inside this pedestal and keep the balance between all Keepers, guiding you all."
"Pedestal? Oh!" Huo looked around, guessing what this place was. "So were inside the golden pedestal located in the center of their realm."
All twelve Keepers bowed their heads towards Yuan'Shi with no word of protest. Once that happened, Qhavaq began using his powers again, creating another sandstorm.
When the sandstorm ended, the Keepers and Yuan'Shi were gone, while Huo and Yan Zu found themselves standing near a lake under a clear blue sky.
"Huh? Where are we now?" Huo asked in confusion, squinting his orange-colored eyes. The boy looked around, noticing strange entities in the sky. He also spotted a cloud of smoke and some tiny houses in the distance. "Is this the physical world? I think I see a village."
"Maybe," Yan Zu replied, looking around. He pointed at a blueish beam of light in the distance. "The portals are open so that explains the presence of the spirits."
Before either of them could ask Qhavaq a single question, Yan Zu spotted a young girl around Huo's age, who ran barefoot towards the lake with a bucket in her hands. She was clad in a simple pair of pants and a shirt. He guessed she was here to get water, but something about her appearance caught his attention. "Wait... is that?"
Huo also spotted the girl and kept following her with his eyes. When she finally stopped near the shore, he approached her. Even though she had blue-colored eyes and tanned skin, the boy knew who she was. "It's Min Yan," he said, drawing Yan Zu's attention.
"You know her name?" Yan Zu asked.
"Yuan'Shi told me," Huo replied as Min Yan looked around nervously. Yan Zu realized something upon glancing at the village in the distance and looking at the girl's behavior. "Many years ago, humans developed a relationship with the lion turtles, later establishing settlements on their backs as a means of protection against spirits who roamed the Spirit Wilds," he said. "Everything we see must've happened before that, so humans live among the spirits and have to fend for themselves. They don't have any bending either, so you can say they're at the bottom of the food chain."
Huo began to look around, noticing many spirits, and something caught his attention. "Hey, look!" he said, pointing at an entity on the other side of the lake. The silver fur and five tails were a clear giveaway. It was Yuan'Shi. The mighty spirit drank water from the lake.
"I didn't expect Yuan'Shi to simply visit the physical world to drink water," Huo said, looking at his father.
"It's not that strange actually," Yan Zu replied. "In the era before the Avatar, humans encountered spirits in the physical world on daily basis so even an entity like Yuan'Shi doesn't draw that much attention. She can enter this world to eat and drink and no human would be crazy enough to bother her."
When the girl filled the bucket and was about to return, the lake sheet moved, and a large, black-colored crab-like spirit enveloped in a dark violet hue burst out from the water. Min Yan, and even Huo, got startled. While the boy gasped and fell over on his butt, the girl immediately began to run, hugging the bucket while the crab spirit screeched and lunged after her.
Min Yan ran as quick as she could, but the heavy bucket slowed her down. The crab spirit caught up to her in no time. It swung one of his pincers and nicked her back, knocking her over and causing her to drop the bucket. The girl cried out but got up with teary eyes and grabbed the now empty bucket. The crab extended his pincer towards her, but Min Yan began to swing it vigorously like a weapon, trying to keep the spirit away.
Huo got up to his feet just as Yan Zu approached him. Both of them looked at the girl. "She's brave, but that spirit is too big and strong," Yan Zu commented. "I think it's corrupted. Still, we know that she can't die beca-"
The man didn't finish his sentence because he noticed Yuan'Shi in the corner of his eye. The spirit ran on water towards the crab and the girl. Yuan'Shi jumped and conjured a black-colored flame, shooting it at the spot between the two.
The crab spirit took a few steps back while Min Yan gasped and looked at the flames, completely surprised. "I think that's enough," Yuan'Shi spoke, landing behind Min Yan. "I know you're angry, but there's no reason to kill a human over a small amount of water."
Yuan'Shi raised her right paw, pulling out the water from the grass. She then began to encircle the crab with thin streams of water, which started to glow gold. After a few seconds, the crab's body also began to glow golden.
"That's spiritbending," Huo stated. "Mom told me about this. Waterbenders can use water to instill a balance or an imbalance within spirits."
The crab spirit was quickly pacified. The dark violet hue was gone, and its whole body color changed from black to blue. The spirit released a gentle screech and slowly backed away, returning to the lake.
Min Yan exhaled with relief and sat down, dropping the bucket. He breathed heavily from exhaustion, and her body was covered in sweat. "That's a nasty wound," Yuan'Shi said to Min Yan, who turned her head towards the fox-like spirit and winced. Since her body slowly came down from the adrenaline rush, the girl began to feel crippling pain. The crab's pincer left a bleeding, severe cut on her back. "I can heal you if you allow me."
Honestly, Min Yan wanted to get away from the lake as fast as possible, but the pain was unbearable. She meekly nodded and leaned forward, lifting her shirt and revealing her back. Yuan'Shi began to waterbend, covering her back with a sheet of water, which started to glow.
Yan Zu noticed many cuts and bruises on the girl's back and arms. After what he had just witnessed, fighting for survival was an everyday experience. "That girl is tough," he noted. "Living in such a world is not easy."
Min Yan inhaled and exhaled with relief as the pain quickly lessened. The wound was gone, leaving only a scar on her back. "There, that should do it," Yuan'Shi spoke and sat down.
The girl readjusted her shirt, stood up, and looked unsurely at the spirit, taking a closer look. Seeing that the entity wasn't hostile, or scary looking, she smiled slightly. "Thank you," Min Yan replied, letting Huo and Yan Zu hear her voice for the first time. It was much deeper than Yan Zu would expect from a girl her age.
"You visit this lake almost every day," Yuan'Shi stated, once again using waterbending to fill the bucket for the girl. "Unfortunately for you, the angered crab spirit decided to make it his home. However, it's fine now, so you won't have any trouble. Just don't provoke him."
Min Yan turned her head towards the lake and then looked back at Yuan'Shi. "Okay," she said. "Thank you, kind spirit."
"You may call me, Yuan'Shi," the fox-like spirit replied.
"My name is Min Yan," the girl replied, bowing her head. "Thank you once again. Now if you excuse me, my father is waiting for me."
The girl grabbed the bucket and headed towards the houses. Hearing that, Yan Zu squinted his eyes. "It's strange that her father would sent her alone for water, knowing that they live among dangerous entities," he commented.
Suddenly, time stopped for everyone except Huo, Yan Zu, and Qhavaq, who hovered closer to the two. "Huh? What happened?" Yan Zu asked.
In the corner of his eye, Huo spotted a phoenix with a blue-colored crest. "Hmmm? It's Wei'Rai," he said, pointing towards the spirit.
The Fire Keeper walked in a funny manner toward the group. The phoenix's body twitched before each step, which seemed to take him a lot of effort. "Is he injured?" Huo asked, tilting his head upon noticing the hole in his wing. He began to move toward the spirit to take a closer look, but Yan Zu suddenly grabbed Huo's shoulder.
Since everything around was frozen in time, the fact that Wei'Rai was able to move could only mean one thing. "Is he real?" Yan Zu asked, looking at Qhavaq.
"Yes, I am," the phoenix replied, hearing the question.
Yan Zu immediately looked back at Wei'Rai and moved in front of Huo, attempting to protect his son. "What are you doing here?!" he asked, looking mistrustfully at the phoenix.
"There's no need for alarm, the Fire Keeper means you no harm," Qhavaq reassured.
"The Watcher of Time knows the past, the present, and the future, so he'd know if I wanted to kill your son," Wei'Rai replied. His head twitched to the left and then turned right, allowing him to look at Qhavaq and bow his head. He then looked back at the two. "I decided to join you so that you won't miscomprehend anything. And even if I want to hurt the boy, I'm incapable of doing it."
Huo peeked at Wei'Rai from behind his father. "Are you okay?" asked the boy. "Why do you twitch like that?"
Wei'Rai looked at Huo and went silent for a moment. The mere sight of Huo made the spirit angry, but he only sighed and replied. "Shen'Rai decided to scramble the nerves in my physical body as a parting gift. Every time I want to move a limb in one direction, a different limb moves instead, and to make it worse, it moves in the wrong direction, so I need to memorize everything and manage. It's permanent until one of my siblings can fix it with energybending."
"I'm sorry," Huo said.
"Just... stop talking," Wei'Rai replied and managed to look at Qhavaq. "Please continue."
Qhavaq nodded with his eye tentacle and allowed the time to move again. Yan Zu kept his eyes on the phoenix for a moment, and while his presence made this a little tense and awkward, he agreed that the Keeper could explain things better than Qhavaq.
Please R&R ;)