Chương 52: The Nation of Light
Pov Aang:
I was very confused, I couldn't understand what had happened to the city. Everything was destroyed and there was nothing left but death.
We didn't know how long we had been searching the ruins, but with every passing minute, my heart seemed to feel enormous guilt, as if I were somehow responsible.
The city was clearly well-structured, even in its current state, and it was easy to imagine what its best times would be like.
I see Katara crouching down to pick up an almost charred toy, looking into a dark alley with tears in her eyes. I approach cautiously and see a sight that is painful to imagine.
The dark alley had several signs of having been exposed to a jet of flames, in its center were some human bones, but their size was that of a child, or worse, several children.
I turned in the opposite direction and saw the bones of a giant creature with several spears embedded in its bones. Its head was pointing in the direction of the alley, with a trail of flames that made it clear what had happened.
Katara slowly entered the alley and placed the toy next to the children's bones, saying a prayer for them.
Haru was two streets ahead of the group, looking at a flag with a sun symbol, practically the city's coat of arms. Sokka was walking with Suki, both of them silent, as if what they were saying couldn't express what they were seeing before their eyes.
Sokka noticed that there was a small dark flame on the ground that emitted neither light, as if it were the opposite of fire, nor heat, as if it were a flame that caused cold. Out of curiosity, he picked up a broken spear from the ground and brought the tip of the blade close to the dark flame. To his surprise, the tip of the blade caught fire easily, but he sensed that something was wrong.
- Be careful, we don't know anything, so don't touch the fire. - Suki warned, wary of the dark flame.
- The flame managed to set fire to the metal itself, but what struck me was that it showed no signs of weakening. - Sokka watched the flame, almost hypnotized.
- What do you mean?
Sokka picked up another spear from the ground with only half the tip and joined the two ends together, causing the other to ignite with simple contact.
- This dark flame spreads easily on metal, any surface could catch fire. - Sokka couldn't help but be surprised. - If metal catches fire like that, then maybe not even water can put it out.
- A fire that can't be put out? That's very dangerous. - Suki shuddered to imagine what would happen if the Fire Nation had such flames.
As the hours passed, it became clearer how many people had been killed by these winged creatures.
The group climbed a staircase that belonged to the largest building in the city, which was decorated with various precious metals such as gold.
- Why did those things attack those people? - asked Haru, leading the way.
- I'm more curious about those faceless animals we saw. - said Sokka, seeing a small, faceless creature crawling around aimlessly.
- I think they're dragons. - I said, unsure, looking at the corpse of a dragon with spears in its body stuck in the wall.
- Dragons? The fire-breathing lizards that the Fire Nation has always worshipped? - Sokka asked curiously.
- Yes, they're the original fire masters. - I said as I saw a section of the staircase surrounded by dark flames. - It took me a while to recognize them, but I remember seeing some illustrations of them in history classes at the Southern Air Temple.
- So the dragons must have great enmity with these people to have attacked!
- I think you've made a mistake in your theory! - said Haru, stopping at the top of the stairs, seemingly mesmerized by something.
Team Avatar quickly finished climbing the stairs and looked at the entrance to what would become the palace, which was adorned with several dragon statues made of gold and over 30 meters high. Each of the dragons was very different, some were more robust, more imposing, or had feminine features.
- It seems to me that the dragons were quite close to these people. - Haru said.
- So something must have caused a war between the dragons and these humans. - said Suki, unable to stop admiring the figures cast in gold. - Aang, you said Eclipse War... What happened here?
- Kyoshi had told me about a war in the spirit world, but I didn't know the details. - I replied worriedly, looking at the statues. - But I think those statues are the celestial dragons.
- Celestial dragons? - Suki asked.
- Yes, Celestial Dragons, the same one that fought with Kyoshi weeks ago.
- Wait, wait, wait! wait, wait, wait! That woman was a dragon? - Sokka asked in disbelief.
- I didn't understand at first, but ever since we've been walking around this city, some memories of Kyoshi have come to mind.
- But if this woman is a dragon, why does she look human? - Katara asked with confusion in her eyes.
- I don't really understand how the rules of the spirit world work, I only know the basics, but I once heard that spirit beings can change their appearance depending on the situation.
- Damn, now it makes sense how that woman fought Kyoshi on that level. - Sokka looked indignant. - We've got the Fire Nation, an evil spirit and now a dragon on the list of enemies, what could be worse?
- Aang... when Master Kyoshi was fighting, did you even hear the conversation between the two of them? - Suki was nervous, probably because she remembered her destroyed house.
- Hmmmmmm... I remembered that the albino woman had said something about the hypocrisy of the Avatars and that no Avatar is innocent. - I commented doubtfully.
- Innocent? - said Suki and Katara.
- This woman seemed to be accusing the Avatars of some kind of crime.
Unconsciously, the group turned towards the apocalyptic view of the city, leaving doubts in the hearts of the Avatar team.
- I don't like making assumptions, but do you think this city belongs to those Celestial Dragons? - asked Katara, looking again at the golden statues. - Some kind of society where they all live together?
- Even if that were the case... why did this woman accuse the Avatars of being hypocrites? - Haru asked, looking at Aang suspiciously.
- What are you saying? That the Avatar did it? - Suki looked at Haru. - The Avatar is the symbol of hope, a pillar of freedom and order! The Avatar would never be responsible for this!
- Maybe, but what if he wasn't aware of his actions? - Haru noticed that Suki shuddered at his words.
Suki understood Haru's intention, practically comparing Aang's uncontrolled power, when he went into Avatar mode to save himself, with the ruined city they were all trampling on.
- What are you talking about? - I asked, confused.
- Forget it, Aang. - said Sokka, stepping forward to enter the palace.
Sokka opened the large wooden door with considerable effort, thanks to the gears that were still working, allowing him to get an idea of what the palace looked like inside, or what it must have looked like in the past.
Surprisingly, the door revealed a large corridor leading to what looked like some kind of giant throne. The marble walls bore several claw marks or flame trails.
- This is practically a throne room. - Suki commented, surprised by the size of the place.
- Look at this throne, how many meters is it? 20 or 30 meters? - Sokka ran towards the throne, mesmerized by the enormous sculpture.
The king's throne wasn't a chair like that of a Water Village chief or a Fire Nation throne. It was big enough to provide the comfort of something extremely large by human standards, like a giant bed for something giant to lie on.
- That's way over exaggerated. - Haru said, trying to hide his surprise.
- Guys, look at this! - Katara knelt down and saw that the throne had huge claw marks.
- Hmmmm... those claw marks could easily break a person in half. - Suki's seriousness was obvious.
- I think it's an invitation to leave. - said Sokka, not wanting to meet the kind of creature that could do that.
- We can't leave, we promised to save the people who were taken by the spirit. - I speak with conviction. - I refuse to leave these people behind.
- Aang, I respect your desire to save these people, but we can't risk you dying. - Sokka said worriedly. - We don't know if there are dragons out there with teeth ready to shred our flesh!
- Silence! - said Suki with her metal fans ready to fight. - Do you hear that?
- I don't hear anything! - said Sokka, his weapon ready for battle.
Suki, unlike the rest of the group, was the only one who had her five senses developed for battle, and as she had been on alert since entering the city, she was fully prepared in case anything came her way.
- Don't make a sound! - Suki ordered, closing her eyes to maximize her hearing.
When it came to fighting, I always trusted Suki and Sokka because they seemed to be the most prepared for this kind of task. So it was natural for me to obey them when the situation was serious.
- All of you! Hide behind the throne. - Suki ordered quickly, her concern growing. - Don't make a sound, especially you Aang!
- Why am I being scolded? - I asked angrily.
- Shhhhhh!
- But...
- Shhhhhh!
Team Avatar hid behind the giant throne, only Suki was staring at the door with half her face hanging out. Everyone looked at Suki, curious as to why she was so worried.
It wasn't long before everyone heard heavy footsteps, clearly indicating that something much larger than a human was coming up the stairs.
A 35-year-old man with dark skin and green eyes appeared in front of the palace doors, running with obvious fatigue in his body, his right arm broken with a compound fracture. He was crying tears, but at the same time he seemed to want to give up.
- FUCK! FUCK! WHAT DID I DO WRONG, SPIRITS? WHAT DID I DO WRONG! - The man screamed, falling to the ground after twisting his leg.
Hearing the man's groans, Aang tried to help him, but Sokka held him back just in time.
- Let me go! - I complained in frustration.
- Don't you hear those heavy footsteps? - whispered Sokka, noticing that the heavy footsteps were getting louder. - Something's coming!
A huge shadow appeared in front of the large door, its height was something absurd to think about, it could have been over 20 meters. Its heavy footsteps were completely terrifying, especially for Suki who was watching the draconic creature.
The dragon was holding a giant centipede with a human face in its mouth, it looked exactly as if the centipede had been completely mutilated in half, the dragon's teeth were big enough to easily break the strange creature's shell, as if it was eating something crunchy in the dragon's perception.
- PLEASE! DON'T KILL ME! - screamed the man, panicking, as he saw the dragon approaching with an evil expression on its face.
Katara, driven by her curiosity, snooped around the scene and the giant dragon on the other side of Suki. When she saw the huge creature, her breathing stopped, her brain stopped thinking at the sight of a mythological creature.
Even in their stupor, Suki and Katara managed to notice that the draconic creature was anatomically different from the golden statues. The dragon's body was completely burnt, with parts of its flesh exposed, it had two pairs of wings and sharp horns, one of which had a human corpse impaled on its chest, and the most striking detail was that the dragon had four eyes, but only one of them seemed to be working.
The dragon growled at the pleading man, as if ready to attack at any moment.
- PLEASE! I HAVE A FAMILY! - screamed the man, who had wet his pants with fear. He knew instinctively that the creature in front of him was death itself, staring him in the face.
Unable to contain himself any longer, Haru, still blaming himself for the deaths he had caused in prison, came out of his hiding place to everyone's surprise, amazed at the imposing size of the dragon. Aang, taking advantage of Sokka's inattention, ran up to Haru, determined to save an innocent.
- Hey, you! - called out Haru. - Why don't you eat that!
Haru tried to bend the earth, but to his surprise, he couldn't bend it, and this example was repeated with Aang, each of them completely baffled by their inability to bend their respective natural elements.
- ROOOOAAARRR! - roared the Eternal Dragon, angry that his hunt had been interrupted, and in one fell swoop he threw Koh's body against the wall.
- What the hell! - said Sokka and Suki, who ran towards the giant dragon to support the group of benders.
- What are you doing? Use your powers! - complained Sokka.
- I can't bend! - said Haru with obvious fear.
- I can't bend either! - I said fearfully when I saw the dragon looking at me.
The Avatar team had just made a very serious mistake by underestimating the rules of the spirit world.
The most basic rule of an Avatar was that it was impossible to bend any element in their spiritual projection.
Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki and Haru were each in their own spiritual projection, virtually as vulnerable as the injured man. This particular man's situation was even more delicate, as he had been physically abducted into the spirit world by Hei Bai's spirit along with some of his friends.
Hei Bai's spirit was being manipulated by an ancient spirit called Koh, son of the Mother of All Faces. The problem was that Koh, afraid of being hunted down by the original fire benders, the Celestial Dragons, decided to hide and create a new hunting ground on the edge of the spirit world's forbidden territory.
Although celestial dragons avoid hunting within forbidden territory, Koh underestimated the Eternal Dragons. Ever since Hei Bai opened portals to the human world to hunt humans for Koh to increase his collection of faces, he caused disturbances in the spiritual energy, attracting the eternal dragons that had been hibernating for thousands of years.
The ancient Koh spirit and the forest spirit were completely destroyed by the awakening eternal dragons, with no chance of survival. The humans who didn't fall victim to Koh were unlucky enough to be the next targets of the hunt while the eternal dragons were still active due to spiritual stimulation.
- Aang! What are we going to do? - Katara asked, terrified by the monstrosity in front of her.
Tears fell from Aang's eyes, a feeling of remorse weighed heavily on his soul, a feeling of guilt so heavy that he fell to the ground, with no strength in his feet.
- Aang! - The whole group shouted, not realizing what was happening to their Avatar.
Aang looked up at the still weeping Dragon, his eyes shining, his expression not as angry as the other times the Avatar state was activated, but somehow he seemed to be someone else.
- Your Majesty Hana... - whispered Aang, a female voice overlapping his own.
To human ears, the Eternal Dragon's roar was no more than a warning of its fury, but to Aang or Raava, it was clear that it was a plea for help and desperation.
Showing no sign of mercy, the dragon crushed the terrified man with the weight of its body, spreading blood and guts all over its paw. The dragon's corpse raised its entire head and opened its jagged mouth beyond its limit, breaking its jaw.
Above the dragon's mouth, space began to distort, forming a dark flame ball with a small white light inside. The sphere was at least 2 meters in diameter, and growing larger by the second.
The colors surrounding the place began to fade, turning everything in the palace into a black and grey canvas, as if everything that had any color had been absorbed by the dark sun.
Aang, under Raava's influence, realized the nature of the attack, the same kind of attack that Kyoshi had faced against the Celestial Dragon on Kyoshi Island, but even more dangerous.
Without delay, Raava's mind created a vortex of air that drew the entire Avatar team to his position. He created a sphere of air large enough to move the entire group away from the oncoming attack.
Raava quickly flew towards the exit and into the skies of the Nation of Light. Allowing him to bitterly contemplate his greatest failure as a guardian spirit of life and peace.
The Avatar team watched Aang's display of skill with amazement, never imagining that he could have been manipulated by a primordial being.
- Wow! Well done, Aang! - Said Sokka, trying to balance himself on the mass of air.
- I thought you couldn't bend! - Haru watched Aang, impressed to see the avatar state up close.
- Aang, is that you? - Katara watched worriedly as Aang acted strangely.
The spirit of Raava that controlled Aang turned and saw the palace falling, the wreckage spinning violently around the black sun in its own orbit.
- Aang! I don't know what your plan is, but you have to do something! - shouted Sokka, beginning to realize the similarity to the sun.
The 50-meter diameter of the black sun began to compress until it fit inside the dragon's mouth and, in an instant, the monster violently closed its mouth on the compressed sun. When the dark mass was swallowed, the grey colors disappeared and the bright colors returned to normal, confusing the hearts of the Avatar team.
- What's that monster doing? - Haru asked, seeing the static dragon with its single eye glowing white.
- I don't know...
- BEWARE! - Suki shouted, interrupting Sokka.
Thanks to Suki's warning, Raava managed to dodge a blast of fire that could have killed everyone at that moment. Everyone looked up and saw two dozen Eternal Dragons, each with a zombified appearance, their mouths glowing to shoot jets of fire.
The sky suddenly turned into pure hell, with fire raining down from all directions as the dragons attacked without restraint, consumed by the darkness.
- AANG, GET US OUT OF THIS HELL! - shouted Sokka, drenched in sweat.
Aang, still possessed by Raava, surrounded the Avatar team with a large amount of spiritual energy. But before Raava's energy completely covered the group, the colors around the place faded, and it was even more obvious that the flames of the other Eternal Dragons were losing their colors.
Raava, recognizing the amount of energy being released in his direction, accelerated the process of his technique, teleporting the spirits of the Avatar team away from the hell.
A second later, a bolt of black lightning shot towards Team Avatar, and the Death Laiser violently tore through the sky, but was fortunately stopped by a barrier of golden energy as it crashed a few kilometers away.
The giant dragon that had just dealt this fatal blow roared in pure hatred and agony, causing other Eternal Dragons to follow suit.
The black energy dispersed through the golden barrier, revealing a dome that acted like a giant barrier, isolating the Eternal Dragons from escaping and destroying the spirit world.
A barrier that was easy to invade, but impossible to escape without the necessary preparations to deceive the barrier itself.
The spirits of the Avatar team fell just a few meters from the barrier separating the spirit world from the Forbidden Lands. The division was so clear that they could practically tell the difference, for on one side, nature was almost at its peak, while on the other, nature was dead.
- Are you all right? - Suki asked, disoriented.
-I'm fine! - said Sokka and Haru, also disoriented.
- Aang? Are you all right? - asked Katara, seeing how her friend's tattoos were no longer glowing.
- Ouch... My head hurts! - I groaned in pain. - My head... It feels like it's going to explode.
I held my head as if somehow it was going to fall to the ground, it was a kind of pain that easily entered my worst life experiences.
- I don't want that to happen again. - Sokka got up from the floor, staggering.
- Why did those things attack us? - Haru asked. - What the hell is going on?
Before the Avatar team could process what had happened, a huge shadow in the sun covered the Avatar team, revealing a red dragon with a long body and short wings.
- You've got to be kidding me. - Sokka was incredulous; everyone had just escaped death.
The dragon landed gracefully, apparently not surprised by the unusual number of human ghosts in the spirit world.
The red dragon approached his head cautiously, as he could understand the reason for the humans' mistrust, for he too feared the other side of the barrier.
Although Aang had a terrible headache, he didn't feel threatened by the red dragon, as if it knew him somehow.
- What should we do? - Haru asked.
- If that dragon wanted to kill us, it would have done so by now. - said Suki, still tense about the situation.
- I know you. - I get up from the ground and walk carefully over to the dragon. - You... you're Hoku's animal guide!
The dragon nodded, pleased that the Avatar had recognized him even after his other reincarnation.
- He was the Avatar's pet before you? - Sokka asked, still disturbed by the dragon's presence.
- I think he's tame. - said Katara as she approached the dragon.
- Any animal is tame compared to those monsters. - Sokka whispered.
- Aang, why is that dragon here? - asked Suki.
- I think he wants to help us get back? - I said, stroking the imposing dragon's snout.
Suddenly, images appeared in my mind, showing me a large tower on a relatively small island, in the shape of a half-moon, with a golden statue on top, the figure of Hoko, and then a flaming comet tearing through the sky.
I moved away from the dragon, feeling as if the headache had disappeared, but that didn't matter because the dragon had come not only to help me, but also to deliver a message.
- Guys... I have a message. - I turned to see that everyone was confused. - Hoku has sent his animal guide to tell me that I need to talk to him urgently.
- A meeting with Avatar Hoku? - Katara couldn't hide her surprise.
- Yes, an urgent meeting, I don't know why, but I think I should...
- I'm sick of surprises! - Sokka couldn't hide his indignation. - We almost died two minutes ago!
- Sokka! - said Suki, irritated.
- We almost died because of the dragons! And now we've been given a mission by one of them! Am I the only one who sees the coincidences?
- It seems to me that the deeper we get into this journey, the less favorable things seem to be for us. - Haru commented.
- We're here to help Aang become the best Avatar possible, we can't save the world without him, and now his predecessor can help him get better. - Suki said firmly. - Besides, all the information about how to defeat the Fire Nation is completely valid.
Sokka lowered his head in annoyance, seemingly trying to come up with a good reason not to deviate from the path to the North Pole, since they still had the advantage of the Fire Nation not having discovered their location.
- BORING! Okay... where are we going? - Sokka looked at Aang with a bad feeling.
- The island where I can communicate with Hoku is in the Fire Nation. - I replied uncomfortably.
- FUCK! - Sokka shouted.
***
After a few minutes, Hoku's animal guide brought the spirits of the Avatar team safely back to their bodies, discovering that they had been in the spirit world for almost a whole day.
Although they had survived the near-death experience, the fact was that they had failed in their attempt to save the kidnapped people.
Aang felt guilty for not being able to protect the people, even if this time it was impossible for him to make a difference in that place surrounded by hostile dragons.
As traumatic as the incident was in many ways, Aang and his friends couldn't imagine that Hei Bai's attacks had only happened because Aki hadn't been watching her own territory for the past few weeks, which encompassed the borders of the Forbidden Zone, due to her mission to find her grandson.
Feeling defeated, the Avatar team broke the news to the Senlin village, confirming that people had died. To soften the news, Katara altered the story to make it seem as if all the victims had died painlessly.
To lie any further would be to underestimate the intelligence of the villagers, all of whom were victims of Hei Bai's merciless attack and who knew only too well how dangerous the spirit was.
With a bitter and sad farewell, the Avatar team left for Fire Island. They left the grieving people of Senlin behind.
It had been a difficult night for the villagers and, as a final farewell, all the men, women and children went to the edge of the forest to have a funeral.
In the middle of the forest, which had been destroyed in battle years ago, everyone paid their respects to the victims of Hei Bai's attack.
- Tonight we say goodbye to our friends, family and loved ones. - said the village chief. - We can't give them a proper burial, but we can hope that their souls will be well received by the spirits.
The village chief sighed, for he too had lost someone special, and he believed that the Avatar could save the people from this monster.
- The journey will be hard, and difficult times will come, but if we stick together, there's nothing we can't overcome!
Some seemed comforted by the leader's voice, but it didn't heal the heavy emotions that covered their hearts.
As the leader spoke, a few meters behind him, the air seemed to shatter like glass. What began as a small crack in the air spread to the point where it was noticed by some onlookers.
-The boss is behind you! - shouted one of the men in obvious confusion.
The village chief turned around, his eyes scanning each crack in the air as if he were standing in front of a giant pane of glass.
- What is this?
Before the village chief could question the supernatural event before his eyes, a huge paw with razor-sharp claws broke through the air and crushed the village chief in seconds.
It wasn't long before people began screaming in horror, each running in different directions in sheer desperation as they watched someone die before their eyes.
The dimensional rift separating the mortal world from the spiritual world was collapsing. Even though the spiritual barriers had rejected it, they couldn't resist the creature's power and were completely broken, leaving enough space for the winged creature to enter the mortal world.
With Hei Bai's various journeys from the spirit world to the mortal world, and with Aang forcing his way into the spirit world in his Avatar state, the barrier became damaged, with a small crack, and the remains of the Avatar state in the mortal world became a subtle signal, allowing an unexpected invasion.
After the barrier was broken, the universe took a few seconds to repair the damage caused, but that didn't stop what should have been forbidden from opening its two pairs of wings in all their glory, with a wingspan that exceeded the size of its body to allow it to fly.
- ROOOOAAARRR! - roared the Eternal Dragon who had followed the Avatar's trail.
In all its glory, the Eternal Dragon was an abomination to nature and balance. People who saw the creature stood still or screamed in panic.
The cries for help faded away one by one, ending with blood and guts strewn across the ground like a battlefield.
The creature that had once served as a balance turned its head towards where the Avatar team had flown with the Flying Bison, but that wasn't what mattered to the dragon; they were three unique energies that had been linked since the first light of the universe.
The Eternal Dragon roared even louder, causing a clap of thunder, then spread its four wings and flew off into the sky at its own pace.
Next chapter: Dragon vs Dragon
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