Chapter Two

The face Stealer

"Where am I?" Sokka said, scratching the back of his head in confusion. The monster had carried him off to some place he had never seen before. A… swamp of some kind? It was both freezing and hot; he could see his breath and could feel the sweat running down his skin.

"This is the spirit world." A low, gruff voice answered him. Sokka spun around to see who had spoken. Sitting atop a high gnarled root was a water tribe man wearing a tiger seal fur mantle. He reclined lazily against the tree of the root he was sitting on, and he was examining…

"My boomerang!" Cried Sokka, "Give it back. That belongs to me."

The man looked at him. "Is that so? So you're him then. The First Son." He said, flipping the boomerang over. He eyed its edge, tapping the right angle with his fingernail. The boomerang rang like a bell of ice, cold, clear, and haunting.

"Yeah," said Sokka, "That weapon is an heirloom of my people."

"I know." He said. The man flicked his eyes lazily onto Sokka, an annoyed expression on his face. He turned his attention to the blade of the weapon and lightly touched it with his thumb. He drew his hand away and, there where he had touched the weapon, a small ruby drop of blood swelled, falling onto the root he sat upon.

"Just as sharp as the day you were finished," He murmured absently. Then suddenly he stood and threw the weapon into the sky. Sokka listened, raised his hand, and caught his birthright.

He eyed the man wearily. "Who are you?" He asked, though he already had an idea of the answer.

"Surely you know already." Said the man.

"I want to hear you say it."

The man leapt from his perch and into the water beside Sokka. He threw back the hood of his mantle and spoke. "I am Avatar Kuruk."

Sokka nodded, "If you're looking for Aang, he's not with me. I don't think he's in the spirit world."

Kuruk was silent for a moment, then he threw back his head and laughed "Oh he's in the spirit world alright, but it hasn't been my job to guide the Avatar unasked for centuries now."

He put his arm around Sokka's shoulder and said "You're the one I wanted to see, now give your great- well, whatever amount of greats it takes to cover around eight hundred years- grand uncle a hug."

"WHAT! We're related?" Sokka exclaimed, jumping away.

"Oh yeah, you're my sister's descendant. I made that boomerang for her son. He was the first child born in the south pole. That's what the inscription meant originally; it became a title later."

"Well, that makes sense. I always wondered why we called it that." Said Sokka rubbing his chin.

"You look just like him. Even talk and act the same way he did."

"I do? How so?" Sokka said, arms folded across his chest, hand on his chin, and one eyebrow raised. Kuruk looked at him again and smiled sadly.

"Just like that, he used to stand and look at me that way too. And a few weeks ago, when your sister froze your feet to the Fire Navy ship 'I'm just a guy with a boomerang, I didn't ask for all this flying! And magic!' He said the same thing once." Kurk sighed. "That's what makes this so hard."

"Makes what so hard?" Sokka asked, the beginnings of unease filling his stomach.

"Come with me," Said the former Avatar, beckoning over his shoulder as he walked away.

"Where are we going?" Sokka asked, jogging to catch up.

Kuruk didn't answer him. He just continued walking through the spirit world with Sokka at his heels. They waded through pools of murky water and past glowing mushrooms. They climbed over roots and jumped narrow ravines filled with golden light. When they had gone on for what felt like hours they came before an opening; a rent in the ground. A towering tree grew above it.

This cave, or whatever it was, seemed foul. Broken maybe. Unclean. The more Sokka stared at it the more uneasy he felt. It was as if a perfect hole had been bored into the world and night had filled the space with shadow. It drank in the light, leaving the space around it dim, the colors muted.

"What's in there? Where are you taking me?" His hand fell to the handle of his machete. What good that would do him he did not know, but feeling the familiar grip gave him some comfort, slight as it was.

Kuruk was silent for a moment, then he spoke. With great sadness in his eyes. "That is the home of an old enemy. Of Koh: The Face Stealer."

Sokka glanced back at the cave. "Why?"

"To do what's necessary"


Sokka walked down the stairs with Kuruk. He was anxious. Sure, his ancestor had said that Koh wouldn't steal his face, as long as he didn't show any emotion. Sure that was easy enough, just walk into the lair of another giant spirit monster. Super easy not to show just how terrifying this was.

They walked deeper and deeper into the earth. Or was it spirit earth? Sokka wasn't sure, but he didn't think this was the best time to be asking those sorts of questions. Their footsteps echoed in the vast cavern. The only light, from a torch held by Kuruk, flickered and flared sporadically. The light didn't reach as far as it should have, as if the darkness was tangible. Repressing the light so that they could only see the next step below them. When they reached the bottom, the light from the entrance was but a faint outline far above them.

"Koh!" Kuruk called out. "I have brought him." Then he turned and lit a brazier set low in the wall before beginning to climb the stairs back to the light. Sokka closed his eyes and breathed slowly. When he opened them again he was faced by a beautiful woman.

No, not a beautiful woman. Just the face of one. Behind it was a long chitinous being, eight long mandibles around an eyelid that framed the face. When the creature spoke, it was with a deep and foreboding voice that made Sokka's skin crawl and his blood run cold.

"I am Koh." The spirit said as he crawled around Sokka, coiling its long and hideous body around the cave. "Kuruk and I, well, we'll never be friends, but we have a common enemy. A shared goal you might say"

Sokka didn't speak. He stared straight ahead, keeping his face carefully blank.

"The mortal world is out of balance. The Avatar, powerful he might be, requires aid. Raava grows weaker. Vaatu stronger."

"What does that have to do with me?" Sokka asked. Who was Raava? And Vaatu?

Koh circled him, his many legs scuffing the stone floor of the cavern.

"Nothing. And everything."

The corner of Sokka's eye twitched, and the spirit whirled to face him, eyelid closing only to open again revealing the face of a baby. He stared at Sokka intensely and began circling once more. "Raava is the spirit of order. She is the Avatar spirit. Vatu is the spirit of chaos, her opposite and nemesis."

The spirit circled him more, always moving, always shifting. "I have lived here for eons. I have had many visitors, told many things, and won many faces."

"Sozin came to me once. He asked me one question, a common enough occurrence in those days. Mortals would brave the risk of stepping into my lair. They would ask a question of me and I would answer. I stole their faces when I could, when I could not they would leave and tell of their adventure. More would come, some would leave and some would not. My power grew."

As Koh spoke he flicked through hundreds of faces, some had been taken in horror, some while laughing. Others in a rage, and still more in the depths of their deepest sorrow.

"But then Sozin came. Old was he then, but the fire in him burned hotter and darker than any I had seen.. He asked but a single question: When would the firebenders be strongest? When could none stand against them? He asked me. And I told him."

The Spirit coiled once more around Sokka again, wearing the face of an airbender. He looked him in the eye. "I have watched the world since then. I have seen what his nation has become."

Sokka spoke, "So you want to help fight the fire nation? To fight evil?"

Koh laughed then, and the sound shook Sokka to his bones. It was like this pit, like this chasm: foul. It was the sound of a hundred broken things crashing together, again and again, splitting themselves and breaking the air.

"Oh no, I do not care for the petty differences the humans make between themselves. Good? Evil? These are your words, child, and they are meaningless to me. I only want one thing. Order. The sweet perfect order of still water, of the turning of the stars. Chaos I despise. The chaos of emotion written upon the face, most of all.. And the fire inside of Sozin, his light, was touched by it. By Vaatu. How? I do not know. But it spreads even now and it must be extinguished, or Vaatu will grow stronger still. Strong enough to free himself before he is meant to. And if that happens then not even the Avatar will be able to stop him."

The spirit began to climb across the walls, his stolen eyes never leaving Sokka. Sokka, for his part, stared ahead. "What do you want from me?"

Koh laughed then, eyes fixed upon the Water Tribesman. "From you? Nothing. I asked Kuruk to bring me a vessel. Someone with capacity. I knew that Hei Bai would come bearing one with the will needed. That it would be you, a man long descended from my great foe, I had never considered. What a delicious turn of events it is, that you have come to me."

"A vessel?" Sokka asked

"Yes. I can give you power. Power enough to protect what you hold dear. Power enough to destroy your enemies."

Sokka swallowed. He wanted to keep Katara and Aang safe, to keep his tribe safe, to stop the fire nation. Had he not sworn to defend his people? To be a burden no longer? To never again be the weakest link? He was tempted for a moment then. He stood on the edge and looked into the abyss. He could have the power to help, couldn't he?

But if this spirit was the one to help him… No. He didn't know what this creature truly wanted. It might have gone on about order and chaos, but Koh had said that good and evil meant nothing to him. But evil is only the absence of good, and if good was meaningless to the spirit..

Sokka spoke once more, "And if I refuse?"

"Then nothing. You shall leave this place and return to the mortal world, and see many that you hold close to your heart destroyed. You shall walk the earth, a burden to your friends. I have seen it."

Sokka swallowed, but he didn't speak.

"If you take up my power, then you will be mighty. You shall be loved by your allies, and hated by your foes. You shall say nothing and the wicked will flee before you."

"What do you get out of this?"

"A mortal champion. And in time, an Avatar of my own."

Sokka's heart seemed to stop in his chest then. He did not know what it would mean for this monster to have its own avatar, but the very thought of this beast leaving its cave, and touching even lightly the world of the living filled him with dread.

Koh left the wall then and grew smaller. He coiled around himself in front of Sokka and turned to smoke. Where the spirit had been moments before sat a wooden bowl of dark liquid that shimmered and swirled.

Sokka looked at the bowl and was uneasy. He turned and walked to ascend the stairs. He placed his foot on the first step when Kohs voice rang out from all around him.

"You may leave this place if you wish, but your strength is insufficient. She will die."

Sokka stood there for what felt like hours, hearing those words over again and again. She will die. He thought of his mother and could only see Katara's face. She was gone now, even in his memory. He would not let them take his sister too.

He turned and walked towards the bowl, and he sat crossed legged upon the ground. "What would you have me do?"

"Drink and I will teach you to see the light in all people. Their chi. Where you find those who burn with only Sozin's light, you will snuff them out. You shall take them and they will fall to me. You shall face many and I foresee this; thrice more you shall come to me, and thrice more shall I give you strength."

Sokka looked at the bowl. Again those words filled his ears. She will die. He lifted the bowl to his lips and drank.


Sokka emerged from Koh's lair. He looked around for Kuruk but he was gone. Sokka looked up at the trees. He could make out the veins in the leaves now, from so far away. He climbed out of the swamp and onto a root. Had climbing always been so easy?

He watched as a leaf fell from the canopy above, and marveled at how much slower it seemed to fall. He jumped, and felt that he could jump higher than before. Not as high as Aang could, not even close. But higher all the same. He drew his machete and it felt lighter in his hands, he swung it in a kata he had been trained in. The forms were easier for him now, his movements more precise.

He didn't know how long he had been in the spirit world. He hadn't felt tired, or hungry, or thirsty. He had walked with Kuruk for hours, and he didn't know how long he was with Koh. When he drank what had been offered him it had tingled and snapped, boiling and freezing, making his hair stand on end. His composure had broken, and he had writhed on the ground. The mask of apathy had fallen away, but Koh had not taken his face. Of course he wouldn't have. Why would he maim his champion?

He sat on the root, his eyes closed. He just had to wait, Koh had told him that.

He sat there and listened, waiting for Hei Bai to come for him. He heard heavy footsteps approach and opened his eyes. Before him stood a large bear, a panda. The spirit looked at him and drew his paw through the water. Bamboo sprouted up through the ground and Sokka stood and walked into it. He walked for he knew not how long until he came out to see the village. Katara and Aang ran to him.

He looked behind him and the bamboo was gone. Other people had come out of it as well, stumbling around into the village, hugging their loved ones and crying. But there was something more, inside of each of them burned a pale green light. Right in their chests where their heart was, and flowed out into their limbs. Chi, he thought, idly.

Sokka looked at Aang, and he lsaw inside of him. His light was different, It burned with many colors. Brightest was silver, but there was blue, green, and gold too. Aang stiffened, a confused expression on his face. "You seem… different," He said, looking Sokka up and down.

"Well, he did just spend twenty four hours in the spirit world." Said Katara, hugging her brother. He looked at her and saw that she glowed with a deep blue light, as bright as the moon.

"How do you feel?" She asked him.

"Like I seriously need to use the bathroom."