Chapter 12: Ba sing Sa (edited)
The journey towards Ba sing Sa was uneventful, maybe the prospect of fighting Iroh, the dragon of the west deterred any attacks that would come this way.
The journey did take a couple days and this was probably the longest time I've been with my elder brother as well as father. Compared to most fire nation men he was responsible, reasonable, and refined in his actions. Although young he had a certain sense of wisdom. Must be a genetic thing, shame Ozai and Azula didn't get it.
"Lu Ten, what is the earth nation like. " walking down the ramp to leave the ship I couldn't help but ask. Placing a hand onto his chin he thought before giving me an answer
" the people of the earth nation are strong and resilient like their element, they are masters of guerrilla warfare and can be brutal when needed. However if it's landscape the earth nation is much better the then the fire nation. The air is clean, there is a wide variety of flowers, trees, and other animals. It is a beautiful nation yet one ravaged by war" the look in his eyes showed hesitation, maybe the fire nation wasn't so united in it desire for war, but in a world ruled by strength the opinions of the many matters little.
Whist on the dock I couldn't help but agree even from here I could already see flowers which wouldn't be able to grow within my nation. In an attempt to take over the world they had polluted and crippled most islands under their rule.
Letting out a sigh I traveled behind Iroh and Lu Ten until we arrived at the end border of the Colonies, it took around three days to arrive.
Ba Sing Sa was truly a magnificent showing of the potential humans possessed within the avatar universe. Looking in the distance I couldn't help but be amazed at what I saw, it was a large wall hundred meters high and many meters think earth benders constantly repairing and interchanged the wall making it virtually indestructible, impenetrable.
The walls around Ba sing Sa stood tall and imposing even to me who was 6 foot 1 currently which is considerably tall for even a grown adult let alone a prepubescent boy.
After a few more hours of travel we arrived at the fire nations garrison. It was large I counted thousands of fire nation soldiers. From infantry, Calvary, siege weapons and more.
At the centre was the generals tent. After entering I was introduced to the commanders and other people that had a level of importance.
Afterwards I was give my own tent by irohs and told to rest as starting tomorrow my days would be long. The night passed seamlessly sitting up from my bed.
" is their a way for me to stop Lu Ten from dying whist making Iroh rethink the war?… fate can be hard to change" walking over to a tall mirror I could see my full body. I was toned even though i barely work out I think it was a by product of sunshine keeping my body in peak condition.
My hair reached my lower shoulder blades and was a pale silver, my once and emerald green had change to a bright golden orange colour. My face was delicate yet masculine features where breaking through, clean signs that time had passed and my body had developing over the 3 years I've been here.
Exhaling through my nose I couldn't help but think ' the more time i spend here the more I release it isn't fiction anymore, I know for a a fact a large majority of the people in this camp will die, is their anything I could do about it, no probably not.' Getting dressed I made my way over to the generals tent.
Nocking three times I spoke " father I'm here for the meeting" soon after I got my responses. " oh mael your a little early, I suppose it gives us time for our own chat"
Stepping into the tent I saw Iroh preparing some tea so I took the seat opposite. After Sitting down Iroh began immediately " so you and Azula hmmm, truthfully I didn't believe she'd be capable of feeling love" looking at him I smiled faintly " well she has mellowed out since we started hanging out, I think she just wants to be acknowledged, for what she is. No offence fair but I think Ozai isn't exactly a good father. Ursa is an excellent mother but she isn't confrontational. so she wouldn't pair well with Azula putting strain on their relationship" stroking his beard Iroh nodded. "Indeed what you said is true. My brother most likely isn't a great father since he's rash and quick to anger. Deep down however I wish to believe he cares."
" I hope so father" afterwards our conversation drifted over to Ba sing Sa. " so father how long have you been the general here?"
"Hmm, it's been 554 days since I became the general for this operation. Although the siege has been going on much longer we've made great progress since I've been put in charge hahaha" giving I hearty laugh I couldn't help worry. 'If I remember correctly on the 600th day my brother is assassinated and Iroh loses his motivation, that gives me some time to work things out'
Soon after the commanders arrived as well as Lu ten. The war talks began, strategies where drawn, I chose to stay silent as I knew nothing of war time strategy. The discussion went on long into the evening before finally coming to an end. " so this is the strategy devised for breaking into Ba sing Sa, if everyone is in agreement remain silent" no one spoke "good I general Iroh prince of the fire nation will carve my name into history"
The plan was basically to do hit and run tactics on the earth benders that set up encampments to impead progress. Small squads of elites would sneak into them cutting out the eyes of the earth kingdom to slowly approach the wall whist also allowing us to bring our siege weapons.
The encampments main goals where to alter the terrain and make us take different routes towards Ba Sing Sa, routes no doubt littered with traps and ambushes.
The days passed on from the meeting. Currently I was in a team that had was composed of 4 including myself. We where wearing dark clothes and something known as a ski mask In my past life. I 'designed' these masks as stealth masks as for some strange reason they wanted to where colourful ornamental masks. Also we aren't aloud to fire bending if necessary as fire bending beings to much attention during stealth missions.
Crouching down and walking through thicket of bushes. We could see the tower in the distance as we got closer spiked pitfalls and other traps which would prove fatal appeared.
Luckily no one fell into them as we took our time making sure to disarm all the traps we came across. arriving at the base of the tower we we could hear the guards having some small talk, what was said was of no importance.
Continuing with the mission I and one others scaled the side to form a pincer attack on the enemy. Once reaching the top I noticed one earth nation soldier facing west and another facing east. Signalling my comrade silently telling him to deal with the one facing east I moved towards the man.
Pulling out a meduim sized knife I stabbed him in the back of the neck severing his spinal cord. Grabbing his body as to not make a loud noice when he falls I see my comrade had silently slit the others throat.
[ skill acquisition success. Assassination acquired, stealth acquired]
Moving down the tower we found more people we needed to assassinate, paying them no heed we continue until we reached the bottom of the tower. This meant it was clear only the stranglers outside where left. Together all 4 of us moved silently as if we where grim reapers. Eventually Taking down what remained of the small garrison without a soul knowing we was here .
Looking over the thicket which was filled with traps I came to the conclusion that we should create a new operation. " men I've got some new orders for you. We are burning down the thicket theirs to many traps within" without saying anything we began.
Releasing a strong stream of blue fire I burned all in my way whist my comrades did the same although with lower results.
Once the path was clear we made our way to the randevu point. Meeting other their like Lu Ten and other commanders was no surprise since they'd been here long and most likely had done similar operation.
The earth nation was resourceful and able to build these camps quickly making fire nation progress painfully slow.
Moving back to the where general irohs tent was took hours it was already a late night. Giving my report I couldn't help but feel exhausted. Walking over to my tent I couldn't help but sleep the second my head touched the pillow
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So this is the last chapter I had to edit. Which means I'll start uploading more chapters.
I decided I don't want to Mael to use an axe anymore. Instead we'll be going with a sword and he'll be developing a style of combat related to bending with a sword. He basically be the Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto of the avatar universe.
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