Story [Avatar: Last Airbender] Path of Fire (Sequel to Heart of Fire, Complete 10/18)

Chapter 20: Duel in the Dark

Azula fell down a long tunnel, rolling and beating against the sides of it as she descended. None of the injuries were particularly damaging, but the constant jolting and bumping kept her from concentrating enough to firebend, or even take much in of her surroundings. All she could tell was that she was falling at an incline through a tight space. Finally Azula was spilled out onto a level space.

Quickly the princess scrambled to her feet, looking around intently to try and understand where she was. Azula could feel that she stood in a large open space, but the darkness still hung too thick for her eyes to make out any more details. Raising one hand she called a bright blue flame into it, illuminating the area around her enough to confirm her suspicions. She was in a large cavern, obviously some distance beneath Jian Chin's fortress.

Suddenly she was struck from behind and sent sprawling facedown on the stone, her fire sputtering and flickering out. Azula could feel the weight of whatever had hit her resting on her back, and then a hand grabbed her hair and lifted her head slightly up.

"You're mine now, princess," Wei Ming's voice hissed in her ear. "Tell me- how does it feel to be helpless?"

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Ty Lee's mouth opened in a stunned cry as the earth swallowed Azula up. Before the ground had even stopped moving she launched herself into the air, jumping on ledges and the heads of startled soldiers as she made straight for Jian Chin. The warlord stood with an easy confidence and directed the men who stood on the balcony with him to engage the acrobat. His expression changed to terror as she lightly dodged their attacks and felled each in turn with a series of quick blows. Blanching, Jian Chin ducked through the door at the rear of the balcony and pulled up a wall of stone to seal it off.

Before Ty Lee could even attempt to react she was forced to dodge a very large rock that came sailing past her head. Apparently with their leader no longer on the balcony the other earthbenders were now perfectly willing to open fire on it in an attempt to pulverize the acrobat before she could take down any more of them. A second boulder- larger even than the first- came shooting straight for Ty Lee, and she barely managed to leap off the balcony before it was smashed to pieces.

She really didn't envy whatever soldier got stuck with the job of telling Jian Chin about that particular bit of unplanned remodeling.

Ty Lee landed on the ground of the courtyard and dodged the falling rubble as she ran over to stand beside Captain Shin. Looking up, she saw several of the surviving earthbenders leap down from the walls and land across from them, pulling up several boulders and preparing to launch them. "What do we do?" she asked quietly. "Azula's gone!"

"Keep fighting," Shin said simply. "Stay behind me!" Ty Lee ducked low behind the captain as the earthbenders launched their projectiles. Concentrating intently, he blasted each with carefully positioned fireballs, causing them to explode harmlessly before reaching their targets. Shin grunted. "I can't keep this up forever!"

"On it." Ty Lee sprang to her feet and ran forward as the earthbenders 'reloaded'. Dodging under the floating rocks, she came up and managed to immobilize two of them before the rest retreated backwards and formed the earth around them into a wall. The acrobat hurried back to Shin.

"Quickly," the captain said, motioning towards the door to the main part of the building. "Inside!" He and Ty Lee both turned and ran, reaching the door and slamming it behind them before the earthbenders could react.

Both paused for breath inside the fortress's entrance hall. "I bet they won't shoot any more big rocks at us while we're in here," Ty Lee said, "but they'll be coming though that door in just a minute. You're the officer- what do you think we should do?"

"All we can," Shin said. "Find Princess Azula and Lady Ursa, and get them out of here. And if we see Jian Chin- take him down."

"Sounds like a plan

 

Now that strange girl is gone, now it's time to go rescue her family and friends.

 

Yikes, I missed a lot! I'm catching up! Just read Chapter 16. I'm getting even more interested in Wei Ming. Who is she? Why does she haet Azula? What's up with the dark shadow Ty Lee sees?

 

Chapter 21: The Warlord

Hands bound by stone shackles, Ursa was escorted into the fortress's courtyard, Ty Lee and the soldier whose name she hadn't caught at her side. Despite her situation, she held herself erect and still, not allowing the warlord's men the satisfaction of seeing that she was shaken. The soldier was glaring at his captors with an expression that could have set a tapestry on fire, and Ty Lee's face was scrunched up in concentration as she wiggled her hands, trying to pull herself loose- to no avail. Finally the three captors were marched through the door and into the courtyard, Ursa wincing at the unexpectedly bright light. Jian Chin stood there, flanked by his closest lackeys. He shook his head sadly as they approached, though the effect was belied by his victorious smile.

"I'm disappointed, Ursa," he said. "You should have known better by now than to try and escape me."

"My only regret is that I didn't try sooner," she replied coldly. "Now tell me- where is my daughter?"

"Dead, most likely," Jian Chin said, waving the question away. "Not my problem any longer, and that's all I care about. You shouldn't miss her, either- evil little creep, from all I here. The world is better off without her."

Ursa's eyes narrowed dangerously and her hands began to smoke. "The world should consider itself fortunate that you were never a parent, Jian Chin," she said. "What lies between Azula and myself isn't your concern- she is my daughter, and if you hurt her, I will kill you."

Jian Chin laughed. "Really, Ursa- if you were capable of killing me you would have done it years ago. Enough of this talk!" He raised a hand and motioned his earthbenders forward. "Kill the two intruders. When they're dead, we're going to go to Ba Sing Se and bring it down. I will be king, and then you will be my lords."

The earthbenders stepped forward and planted their feet, drawing sharp stones up from the ground and pointing them towards Ty Lee and the captive soldier. The acrobad began struggling more intensely against her bonds, while the soldier simply faced forward, face expressionless. Ursa closed her eyes and looked away.

The ground rumbled beneath their feet. Jian Chin and his men stumbled backwards as a crack formed in the middle of the courtyard and blue-white light flashed in its depths. "What's going on here?" the warlord bellowed. "Who's doing that?" his men shook their heads confusedly.

The ground rumbled again and then the courtyard burst open, cobblestones shooting into the air along with bolts of lightning. A figure pulled itself slowly from the hole, wreathed in fire. Her clothes were torn and filthy, an ugly gash ran down one side of her face, and as she pulled herself to her feet she seemed to hold herself strangely, as though she'd been injured. Despite it all, Ursa recognized her daughter.

Azula turned slowly to face Jian Chin, the expression on her face so terrible that the warlord backed up a step before he caught himself. "Your friend failed," she said quietly. "Wei Ming is dead. Release my mother and my companions now, or join her. Your choice."

Seeing Azula for the first time in seven years brought a storm of emotions to life in Ursa. All too well she remembered the child who had from an early age internalized everything that Ozai believed about the place of royalty and the Fire Nation in the world and the ruthless methods necessary to ensure that. But at the same time other, more primal instincts were stirring. Whatever else she was, Azula was her daughter, and if Jian Chin wanted to hurt her, he would have to go through Ursa to do it.

Unfortunately, the fact that she was bound rendered her little more than a helpless observer to the coming battle. Ursa could do nothing but stand anxiously and watch.

Jian Chin backed away slowly, his eyes never leaving Azula's. "Kill her," he shouted to his earthbenders when he was safely out of range. They raised their boulders and prepared to launch them, but Azula only laughed. The sound was high and cold, and it set everyone in th

 

Wow, we're coming to the end! This was a fantasic story, and I can't wait to see Ursa return home!

 

Epilogue: Possession

Jian Chin still lived.

This fact was a source of amazement to him- he'd felt his body break as he struck the cliff side, and it had been damaged further by the massive amount of rock that had fallen on it. No matter how he'd survived, he knew that it was a moot point- he could feel himself being slowly crushed, and his life was ebbing from his body. He might have minutes left, if he was lucky.

The warlord groaned and tried to curse, though nothing came from his mouth but a wet cough and some blood. He was Jian Chin, the greatest warrior in the world! It wasn't supposed to end like this. It just wasn't fair?

It doesn't have to be this way, said a voice that seemed to rise from the very stones. I can offer you glory beyond your wildest imagining. Accept my offer, and Chin the Great will be forgotten- it will be your name that is the standard by which earthbender conquerors are judged!

Jian Chin tried to focus his blurry vision, but he couldn't see the person who was speaking to him. "Who? you?" he managed to gasp out.

The voice chuckled. A simple spirit who recognizes greatness when he sees it. For years I have waited and watched for a champion to wage the ultimate war and unite the mortal world under one rule. I thought that the Fire Lords might do it, and the Fire Nation's General Azun when they failed. We've met once before, when I was in the body of the girl you knew as Wei Ming. She was nothing more than an untrained commoner when I found her, and I was able to make her one of the most fearsome warriors alive. You I could imbue with the strength of a thousand earthbenders!

"Why should? believe you?"

You're alive, aren't you? The fall alone should have killed you, but I intervened. I can't keep you alive for long, however, unless you allow me to inhabit your flesh as I did with Wei Ming. Then our spirits and wills shall become one, and you will have all the power you need to bring this world to its knees. Are you interested?

Jian Chin gave a broken smile. "Yes," he breathed.

For a moment nothing happened, and then the warlord's body was wracked with agony more intense than anything he could have imagined. He felt as though something was drilling into his skull, shoving aside his thoughts and identity and restructuring them to its own liking. He'd thought he was too damaged to speak above a whisper, but now Jian Chin was screaming at the top of his lungs.

It was over with the same suddenness with which it began. The pain was gone now- Jian Chin felt healthier and stronger than he ever had before. Flexing his muscles, he burst free from the rocks piled atop him and landed on his feet, whole and alive. Power ripped through his body- he felt like he could have moved a mountain, had he been so inclined.

Now even the Avatar cannot stand against you, the voice said in the back of his mind, now sounding very like his own. Jian Chin flexed his arm and knew it to be true. For a moment he considered climbing back up to his fortress and annihilating his would-be-killer, Azula, but another plan was forming in his mind. Having apparently risen from the dead and wielding earthbending that was powerful beyond imagining, it would be child's play for him to raise an army and take Ba Sing Se. Then the Avatar and the Fire Lord- and the Fire Lord's sister- would come straight to him, and he would destroy them all before the eyes of a horrified world.

Jian Chin smiled, and the voice in the back of his head gave its full approval. "Do you have a name, spirit?" the warlord asked conversationally.

Yes. I am called Zhan Zheng. Jian Chin's smile broadened. The name of his knew benefactor was one he was well familiar with.

Zhan Zheng. War.

TO BE

CONCLUDED

AN: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed- I really appreciate it! Watch for the third and final fic in this series to begin posting next week!

 

Catching up to find out we're at the end!

Great job, and I can't wait for part 3!

 

Wow, I am looking forward to the next story!

 

Woah!!

The battle with Wei Ming and her death was my favorite - very well-written!! And I loved Azula finally putting Ozai to rest VERY glad she's got her mother now and they're heading home!!

And I'm really, REALLY excited to find out what's up with this spirit! Can't wait for the next story!!