The North Pole Tundra, 3rd Winter Trimester

Zuko bit back a curse as he stumbled again, scrambling out of the packed snow before it sapped away the last remains of his heat. He paused before standing upright, willing away the haziness in his vision as he trudged forward, undaunted by the blizzard surrounding him.

Zuko did not know how long he had been stranded, stalking to what he hoped to be the Northern Water Tribe.

But he was well aware of the fallacies of hope.

Zuko breathed in, gritting his teeth as the frozen air pierced his teeth, punctured his throat, ruptured his lungs, and breathed out, puffing a bout of flame to keep himself from keeling over, a frozen husk.

He ignored the fact that the flames were getting smaller and smaller.

Zuko paused as a glimmer of white caught his eye, a part of his mind hardwired to look for a flying bison. He stared at the night sky only to learn that along with everything else in the world, now his mind was playing tricks on him as well.

Of course, it could have also been the snow storm.

Zuko breathed another - smaller - puff of fire, stuck between cursing himself for fighting against the Avatar when he tried to capture Zuko, and repelling that traitorous thought, knowing that it was a matter of honour that he not be taken as prisoner.

Of course, this assumed that he had any honour remaining in the first place.

Zuko stumbled once more, this time cursing rather loudly with a slew of words that Uncle would have been wide-eyed at, and the crew of the Wani would have laughed at.

It took longer than last time for him to gather the strength necessary to push himself up, only to notice that the snow and ice under him were no longer shining pale blue, but rather a deep crimson.

Blood?

Zuko craned his neck to the sky, widening his eye as he stared at the red light pulsating from the moon.

Zuko gaped for a moment, forgetting his previous weariness as he scrambled back up to stand over the tundra shadowed by the moon’s baleful glow.

Except, Zuko was no longer in the tundra.

Zuko stared at his surroundings, both thankful that he was no longer trapped in a blizzard, and apprehensive as to how and why he was here in the first place.

He stook in what could almost be described as a crater, with large jagged rocks shattering the edges to form a ring. As the stone raised upwards in the centre, small patches of moss transitioned to gnarled roots that grew into a massive tree that dwarfed the landscape.

Zuko breathed a few times to himself, using the respite from the chilling air to build up his inner fire. Slowly, the puffs of hot air transitioned back to flame as a voice pierced the din of his ears.

“Help… Me…” The voice, low, dark, and smooth surrounded him, and yet remained far away. Zuko shivered - not from the cold - as the voice spoke again, weak yet hiding underlying strength, “Please… Free… Me…”

Gaining control over his chattering teeth, Zuko turned his head to eye the tree, which he reckoned was where the voice had come from, “Are you in the tree?”

A pulse of red, orange, and violet emanated from the eye of the tree, “Yes… Trapped…”

With the red light of the moon, Zuko couldn’t help but feel that the presence of the tree felt sinister.

Though he wondered if that was from the voice, or from the tree itself.

Zuko stepped closer to the tree, recalling disjointed ramblings his Uncle made about spirits and the spirit world, “Are you a spirit?”

“Yes… And my other half… Betrayed Our balance…” The voice hissed, sounding far more aggravated than before.

Zuko stopped for a moment, remembering one particular aspect of Uncle’s lessons about the spirits that he emphasised above all others.

Never interfere with the dealings of the spirits, nephew.

Zuko scowled to himself. He hadn’t really paid attention when Uncle talked about the spirits, because unless it involved the mythical Avatar spirit, then it had no bearing on his mission. Now, though, he wished that he did, so that he had some more knowledge to go off of when facing something like this.

Zuko knew that Uncle would probably advise him to stay away from this spirit, but it also seemed to be very unhappy, and somewhat hurt, which he also knew would probably spur Uncle to help.

Of course, sometimes it was hard to predict what the old man would do.

“I sense… Indecision… Will you… Not help?” The voice asked, fading and returning at irregular intervals.

Zuko frowned, “I’m not even sure if I could,” He recalled one of the few things he remembered from Uncle, “I don’t think I can firebend in-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the world briefly flashed with light as the moon lost its crimson hue, before the light drowned away as the moon faded away entirely.

And then, the voice screamed .

It wasn’t a conscious thought on Zuko’s part. Even with him just pointing out just moments ago that his firebending wouldn’t work in the spirit world, his first instinct was to break the spirit out of its prison, to help it in any way he could.

And in this case, the prison was a giant tree. The thing about trees was that they burned .

Zuko slammed one fist forward, shooting a glowing stream of fire, arms shaking as he willed his breath to remain regular, to not start racing like his heart was at the moment, because the cold from the blizzard was still reducing his inner flame, and-

Zuko collapsed in exhaustion, fire petering off in front of him. He panted before rolling over to see what remained of the tree.

But, aside from it being caked in black, with flakes of ash strewn about, only a few peels of bark fell off.

Zuko panted a few more times before the voice spoke into his mind, “One more push… Please… Let me Free…”

Gritting his teeth, Zuko ignored the voice - Uncle’s voice - yelling at him to stop, to reconsider what he was doing.

Zuko didn’t. He was never particularly gifted in thinking ahead. It was a blessing in some ways, allowing him to retain his dogged determination in catching the Avatar after three years of meandering. It was a curse in others with how he found himself in situations of his own making.

Zuko pushed more flames, greater, brighter than before. He could almost hear the voice yelling in jubilation as the tree peeled apart some more.

Finally, his fire snapped away. Zuko collapsed once more as the freshly restored moonlight shined overhead.

He didn’t know how long he stayed like that - Agni above, everything hurt - but, like with everything else he had to endure over the past three(+) years, he pushed through it, and stood-

And fell back down.

Zuko heard a groan - was it his? - and closed his eyes, trying - and failing - to recover his breath.

It wasn’t for another few minutes that the ringing in his ears retreated enough for him to hear the spirit’s voice, “ No… No… It was so CLOSE…”

Despite the lingering pain in his neck - his whole body, really - Zuko rolled on his side to eye the tree.

It seemed remarkably intact, only suffering its bark peeling off in ashes while the rest of the tree stood as a blackened monolith. Yet, for all his effort into freeing the spirit from its prison, it was all for naught.

That’s why you’re so useless, Zuzu.

You can’t get anything right.

Zuko’s sight blurred, and he stood once more, his legs shaking under the strain of his weight.

The spirit was silent, and it was Zuko’s fault. The spirit remained trapped, and it was Zuko’s fault.

Zuko needed - he needed to make this right. His honour demanded it. He stepped towards the tree. Was he so inept that he couldn’t burn a tree? His boots crunched under the blackened bark, turning it into ash. His fire - his will - his honour - was always weaker than that of his father and sister.

Weak.

Stupid.

Useless.

Zuko gripped a piece of bark still attached to the tree, yanking at it in a futile effort - just like he did with everything else.

The wood didn’t budge, so Zuko tried again. Nothing more came of his effort, and he collapsed once more, heaving empty breaths that weighed more than his lungs.

Before he could wallow in his failure, though, the spirit’s voice returned, fainter than before, “ Come… Closer… ”

“W-What?” Zuko asked, feeling slightly delirious from the residual cold and his lack of flame - was his sight always this blurry?

Once more, the spirit beckoned, “ Come… Closer… ”

Zuko came closer, not entirely understanding why, but not caring enough to question it a second time. He had already failed in freeing the spirit. The least he could do was to listen to its parting words.

He reached the edge of the tree, feeling the blackened wood for any loose bark - there was none . After several moments, he asked in a hesitant voice, “I’m… sorry. I don’t believe I can do anything to help you.”

“ Perhaps not… ” The spirit’s voice whispered, sounding far more malevolent even with how weak it sounded, “ But there is one more chance… ”

“Wha-” Zuko snapped his jaw shut, yanking back as a tendril of darkness wrapped itself around his arm, “Wait!” Two more tendrils grabbed his legs, “STOP!” He struggled in vain as the dark spirals combined, lifting him into the air, before shooting him towards the tree.

Zuko closed his eyes, bracing for impact. He bit back a scream when his skin met charred oak - he wouldn’t scream, not like last time - yet he didn’t slam against the tree, instead going through it as if the tree was made of water, passing around him until he collapsed within.

Zuko almost thought that he had died rather painlessly - almost pleasantly - when a voice - the spirit’s - rang all around him, “ I sense you are still breathing, child. Get up. ”

Zuko sprang up - the voice was so close; too close - scrambling back as the shadows of the chamber warped and twisted in unnatural ways, “Get away from me, spirit!”

Whereas earlier, the spirit had sounded small and weak, what rang around the chamber was a large and cruel chuckle, “ What’s wrong, child? You were so eager to help just a moment ago. ”

Zuko’s eyes were still adjusting - it almost seemed… clearer in here than it did outside - yet he couldn’t see anything more than a silhouette of shadow, “Get me out of here, spirit !”

“ Oh? ” The shadows shifted, glittering lights of ruby, sapphire, and amethyst gleaming in the darkness, “ And who are you to command a spirit such as me? ”

Zuko’s face twisted, both in dismay and in rage. He may not know much about spirits, but he knew that giving one’s name to them was a pathway to destruction.

Names held power, after all. Especially to spirits.

Still… Perhaps his name and titles could hold enough power for the spirit not to immediately kill him - it wasn’t like he could do anything else at the moment; damn his idiotic self! - “My name is… Zuko, son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai, Prince of the Fire Nation,” He paused, almost stopping there - oh, but his rage was growing, and it had always been difficult for him to control it - “And I demand you to release me!”

He was met with silence from the shifting void, and he began to think that perhaps what he just did might have been slightly stupid.

Before he could descend once more into panic, a dark chuckle radiated from the shadows, “ Oh, you are a precocious one, aren’t you? ” The shadows shifted, and for the first time, Zuko could see the sparkling maroon outlines trailing behind the spirit, “ And how, may I ask, does that give you the right to command me? ”

Zuko faltered - Agni, he didn’t know how to deal with spirits; wasn’t this the Avatar’s job? - and tried to recall what he had always been told by his teachers of his family’s right to rule, “The Royal Family is sanctioned as Agni’s vessel in the mortal realm…”

It sounded weak to his own ears.

Thankfully, the dark spirit just seemed more amused than anything… Or perhaps it was just waiting to kill him, it was hard to tell. Hells, why couldn’t it be both ? It wasn’t unusual for Zuko to be hurt by those who enjoyed it.

Zhao.

Azula.

Father.

Zuko’s spiralling thoughts were interrupted once more by the spirit - it had gotten close - “ So it seems that Agni too has decided to chain himself to you humans… ” Zuko frowned at the spirit’s derisive tone, “ Not to mention forcing his chosen people into one conglomerate - a singular Nation , really? Surely Kai would have fought against that. ”

It took a moment for Zuko to piece together what the spirit meant - and who was Kai? - at which point, he scowled, “We weren’t forced into it! The Fire Nation united under the strength of Agni and the Fire Lord!”

“ And how do you know that , child? ” The spirit asked, rearing back languidly, “ Were you there? ”

Zuko frowned - he felt like he was being tricked - “No…”

The spirit nodded - which looked weird, now that Zuko could see that it looked more like a kite than anything - “ Ah, of course… You were told then, ” It’s voice held a definite note of disgust, “ And tell me, child, what were you told of me? ”

Zuko blinked, confused at the question, “...You?”

“ Yes, me , ” The spirit mimed shaking its head, “ Are you unlearned, child, or simply unintelligent? ”

Now, Zuko scowled , “I told you that I’m Prince of the Fire Nation! I’ve been taught of all of the Great Spirits!”

“ And yet you- ” The spirit stopped, and then Zuko began to shiver as the temperature decreased to near-freezing levels, “ Raava. ”

Gritting his teeth from the cold - he already felt weak - Zuko bit out, “What the hell is a Raava ?”

The cold faded away, and the dark spirit reared back to Zuko, seemingly radiating surprise, “ You have not heard of her? She has bound herself to the mortal realm through reincarnation… Surely, she has not died off without me knowing… ”

Zuko took a few moments to breathe deeply now that the cold had receded - he missed the puff of flame from his lips - and asked, “Reincarnation?” A suspicion began to form in his mind, “Do you mean the Avatar Spirit?”

“ The Avatar- Ah… Of course… ” The spirit seemed to sag, whether in relief or annoyance, Zuko didn’t know, “ She would have… I take it you worship her? ”

“What? No! ” Zuko hissed, revolted - he had seen the Avatar at his dumbest; he couldn’t worship someone that childish - “It’s my mission to capture him.”

“ Him? Oh… I understand, ” The mass of shadows twisted to face Zuko, “ You speak of the vessel. ”

Zuko scowled - he was feeling increasingly lost - “The vessel? What do you mean?”

“ The human vessel, child, do keep up, ” The spirit tilted its… head , considering, “ The spirit within - the one you call the ‘Avatar Spirit’ - That is Raava, the Great Spirit of Order. ”

Zuko’s eye widened - The Avatar Spirit was a Great Spirit? - “What?!”

The dark spirit ignored Zuko’s question, continuing its monologue, “ And if you - if humanity is ignorant to her existence… ” The spirit emanated a harrowing noise that almost sounded like a growl, “ Then none would know of me. ”

Before Zuko could say or ask anything more, the dark spirit rose, towering over Zuko as the gemstones adorning its form glew, “ Gaze upon me, Zuko of the Fire Nation, for I am Vaatu , the Great Spirit of Chaos, The Dark Half of Balance. ”

Zuko sucked in a breath. He was in the presence of a Great Spirit! Oh Agni- He was surely doomed.

However, the Great Spirit seemed to mistake Zuko’s wide-eyed terror for awe, as it stood proudly, “ Ah, so you seem to understand your fortune in meeting me, child. ”

Zuko couldn’t help the small - hopefully inaudible - scoff that came out of his mouth, “ Fortune? ”

“ Yes… ” The Great Spirit tilted its body, appearing considering, “ One would have to bear a unique sort of luck to stumble upon me at the very moment of the death of a Great Spirit… ” Ignoring Zuko’s choking noises - death of a Great Spirit? - Vaatu floated towards the edge of the chamber, its gems glowing in increasing frustration, “ It makes me wonder how far my other half has fallen for two Great Spirits to die, back-to-back. ”

Two Great Spirits- Zuko shook his head, dispelling those thoughts, lest his migraine get worse. In the ensuing silence, Zuko jolted, remembering just what he was in the presence of, before bowing, hoping that it could appease the agitated spirit, “I’m… sorry? I don’t exactly understand what you’re talking about, Great Spirit.”

Zuko fought very hard against quivering when the spirit growled in response, keeping himself bowed as he saw the spirit shift closer in his peripheral, “ It does not matter whether you understand or not, child. You are but another mere pawn in Raava’s game. ”

Against his better judgement, Zuko snapped back, “Don’t call me a pawn ! I may not understand everything you’re talking about, but I understand enough to know that you’re trapped here!”

In actuality, Zuko didn’t know this, at least not for certain. It seemed likely, given different context clues, but for all he knew, this Great Spirit simply chose to remain here.

Yet, whether Vaatu sensed these thoughts or not, it responded with a threatening chuckle, “ You are bold to speak to me as such, so much so that I almost believe you are fishing for death, ” Miraculously, at least to Zuko, the Dark Spirit seemed to relax, almost sounding giddy, “ Besides, child… ” Dark tendrils rose from the shadows, surrounding Zuko, “ I will not be trapped for much longer… ”

Without warning, Vaatu shot forward, multiple streams of darkness wrapping around Zuko’s limbs, torso, and face. Zuko only had a second to scream before his mouth was covered, and another to see before his eyes were forcibly closed.

And all at once, a foreign presence in his mind, his spirit, pierced through and staked a claim, expanding rapidly as it seeked to submit its will over his body.

And all at once, Zuko saw, Zuko smelt, Zuko heard, Zuko tasted, Zuko felt each and every sensation he ever had in life, from the pleasant tickle of Turtleduck fur on his palms to the burning burning burning burning burning

burning

burning

burning

‘You will learn respect!’

Burning - Zuko was burning - Zuko looked up - His tears were burning - a radiant shadow stood over him - burning - the shadow flickered as darkened flames - the shadow - his Father - his nightmare - extended a hand - burning - and placed it over his eye

burning

‘And suffering will be your teacher!’

And Zuko was burning - burning - burning - he screamed in agony - in desperation - in self-loathing - in rage

And the shadows - the darkened flames - the charred skin flaking away in spittles of ash - recoiled

And Zuko’s eyes opened - one burning in flame - one burning in tears - and the shadows quivered - in shock - in disgust - in remorse - and the fire around Zuko went from black to a blinding white as he screamed - rage lighting an inferno in his eyes

The shadows - the inferno - the Firelord - the spirit - they all called for him to SUBMIT

Submit his will

Submit his drive

Submit his honour

He refused

He reached out

And grabbed the shadow

And Zuko tumbled, falling onto a meadow of flowers.

Where before the shadows of the black flames had blinded Zuko, the light of the sky overhead forced him to close his eye in pain.

Slowly, but surely, he opened his eye to witness a sprawling valley with rows of multi-coloured flowers teaming in a chaotic canvas of hues and shades, unending as far as he could see.

The pain in his head - his mind, his soul - began to lessen as he sunk to his knees, both in exhaustion and in wonder.

He did not see the shadow creep behind him.

“ What are you? ” Zuko stilled upon hearing the voice - hoarse, unsteady - “ How did you come here? ”

Zuko turned, eye narrowing as a certain clarity reached his thoughts, “You tried to - to take over my mind !” He scrambled back up, facing the Great Spirit in a fighting stance, despite his lack of bending, “I don’t care if I have to die and take you with me. This will not stand! ”

“ I have, ” The spirit assented, not showing any sort of remorse for its actions, “ And yet you retained the strength of will to cast me out… But with what I saw… ” It turned upon Zuko, but did not advance, “ How have you not been driven mad? ”

Zuko growled, “In case you haven’t noticed, I am very mad! ”

“ Your sire inflicted such a wound, and yet you retain such loyalty to him? ” The spirit questioned to itself, not caring for Zuko’s fury, “ You are an enigma. ”

“ENOUGH!” Zuko took a step forward, anger feeding into the edge of hysteria, “You invaded my mind! WHY?!”

The spirit remained silent for several moments, staring across the meadow of flowers. As Zuko was about to verbally explode, the spirit sighed, “ I have been trapped for nearly 10,000 years… I have had much time to think, and plan. ”

Zuko snarled, though retained enough control not to shout, “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“ You were an opportunity… ” The spirit explained, “ My counterpart, Raava… She took a human as a vessel to overpower me. It was with her power in that human’s body that allowed her to imprison me. ”

Suddenly, the shadows surrounding the spirit grew larger, more agitated, as the spirit’s voice rose to a bellow, “ She took our Balance, cast it aside, broke it, shattered it, and Banished it, as if it was Nothing! ”

“ WHO IS SHE TO PLAY GOD! WHO IS SHE TO DECIDE WHAT IS JUST? WHO IS SHE TO DOOM US? ” The spirit roared, growing until its shadow echoed across the entire valley.

Zuko winced as his ears began to ring with the spirit’s roar, yet he held in his stance. After a moment, the spirit retreated back to its original form, seeming almost forlorn as it stared towards the flowers, “ Consider the Flowers of the Valley. ”

The spirit shifted until it stood between Zuko and the valley, indirectly forcing him to obey the spirit’s command, lest he turn his back on it, “ What do you see, child? ”

Zuko’s lips thinned, not wishing to answer. He didn’t for several minutes, waiting for the spirit to grow impatient and attack, yet it never did, instead staring serenely ahead.

Eventually, Zuko abdicated, feeling more exhausted by the ordeal than anything else. He surveyed the valley, noting the flowers as they grew and fought for soil, growing to differing heights and shining in differing colours. He could see flowers grow and die as other flowers overshadowed them, before too dying as they aged and withered. He could see roots grow and tangle, orchids blooming together before being torn through by another, crisscrossing in a wild medley of petals and vines. He could see trails of tick-bees and spider-hornets fighting to pollinate the flowers, their dull buzz rumbling across the valley almost as loud as an earthquake, rising and lowering in intensity as time flowed. He could see the herds of various creatures, large and small, as they lived together, loved together, fought together, finding mates, losing kin, birthing children, before dying and becoming one with the soil that birthed the plants from which they ate.

Zuko ultimately didn’t answer, instead staring at the picture ahead, seemingly infinite in scope and variety. In the end, Vaatu spoke, shifting next to Zuko, “ You see it, don’t you? The variety of colour and size. The duality of joy and anguish. The cycle borne of life and death. See before you the image of Chaos in its purest form. ”

“Yes… I see it… ” Zuko grit his teeth, sweat beginning to trickle down his brow, “ ...Please… Help me turn away… ”

Dutifully, a tendril of darkness grasped Zuko’s head and gently turned it away, prompting Zuko to gasp in a breath of air.

As Zuko reeled from the overload of what he witnessed on his mind, Vaatu spoke in a soft, yet no less harsh, whisper, “ It is indeed overwhelming… ”

“You…” Zuko coughed, spitting out a small amount of blood - he was dehydrated - “You said… You said you were the Dark Half of Balance… ” Zuko raised a wary eye up to Vaatu, “What… What about the other half? ”

Vaatu hummed, sounding vaguely pleased, “ You speak of Raava’s vision of the valley, child, ” The spirit paused, almost seeming hesitant, “ Do you truly wish to see? ”

Zuko brought his head up, baring his teeth in a grimace - he could taste the blood in his mouth - “Show me.”

“ Very well, ” And before Zuko, the valley shifted, blurring over Zuko’s vision as the sky overhead shined brighter , temporarily blinding Zuko.

Zuko blinked the stars out of his eyes, and stared at the valley of flowers before him. Except, it could no longer be called a valley, for the distant mountains had been carved away, and every incline and mount had been flattened, stretching the horizon in a flat expanse.

And the flowers before him bore naught but a single colour - shining bright, uniform crimson. Lined in neat rows were cultivated Caldera Roses, perfectly spaced, with no sign of deformity upon the petals or the stem. He could see the flowers as they grew neither faster or slower than their brethren, all dying at once before a new generation sprouts, appearing and growing exactly the same as those that came before. He could see the roots, perfectly spaced so that each flower wanted for nothing and fought for nothing, their stems and thorns angled all exactly the same, none coming into contact with another. He could see single file lines of fire ants march between the roses, the tick-bees and spider-hornets pollinating in perfect rows, the buzz of their wings rising until a stark silence overtakes the field when they retreat for the night. He could see individual groups of creatures, walking as one, finding no passion in love and birthing progeny with the same eyes, the same size, the same of everything as that of their parents.

And as Zuko watched the field of roses, the crimson rows extended upwards, becoming a field of humans, clad in the same shade of red, marching forward at the same pace as one another.

And as Zuko watched the faces of the infinite crowd, he could find no difference in their faces, in their hair, in their eyes - ever so blank.

And as Zuko stepped forward, the field of people became a field of crimson blood, pooled together, mixed together until it was one whole.

And as Zuko knelt down, and picked a rose, he pricked his finger on a thorn, and watched as a drop of his blood fell into the pool of crimson ichor, and became one with it.

Zuko scrambled back as the field of blood rippled as boots stomped over it, the crowd from before marching forward in unchanging - Fire Nation - armour, all of the same height, the same width, the same voice .

The same mind.

And Zuko tumbled, falling back against the inside of the tree.

Zuko breathed , almost feeling as if it was his first breath in life. He continued to breathe for several moments before wheezing, “That’s what the Avatar - Raava wants?”

From the other side of the chamber, Vaatu answered, “ That is her endstate, just as mine was the valley you first witnessed… ” The spirit paused, before continuing in a more fascinated tone, “ ...If what I am now made to understand is correct, then I presume that Raava’s human vessel likely wouldn’t want that, were he to understand what it truly entailed. ”

Zuko brought a hand to his face with a groan, “If you’re meant to - what - balance Raava, and you’re trapped… What’s to stop her from achieving that?”

Vaatu hummed, “ That very question has plagued me for millenia. When I was first trapped, I thought for sure that balance would be forever lost… ” At this, the spirit turned to Zuko, “ But now… I believe I understand what stayed her hand. ”

Zuko narrowed his eye, still nursing the aftereffects of his back-to-back visions, “Why are you looking at me? ”

“ You have revealed something that I hadn’t… considered, ” The spirit shifted closer, “ I had initially believed that Raava simply used her pet human as a host, removing its will… It seems, though, that I was mistaken. ”

Zuko frowned, “How do you figure that?”

“ Because of you , ” Vaatu purred, circling around Zuko like an oversized owl-cat, “ Your will matched mine - no - it overpowered it, briefly, but enough to dispel my attack. Perhaps I could have overridden it had I put all of my effort into it, but that would be foolish considering what I now know. ”

Zuko continued to eye the Great Spirit warily as it stared outwards, as if seeing something beyond the tree, “ That is what I missed all those years ago. Raava didn’t simply use her human as a puppet, she bonded with that human’s soul… ”

Vaatu turned to Zuko, “ And here you are, stumbling upon me in an act of destiny. ”

Zuko tried to back away, but found himself blocked by the edge of the tree, “What are you saying?”

“ Raava bested me last Harmonic Convergence with the combined power of a Great Spirit and a human soul, ” Vaatu crept closer, “ It is only natural that I shall do the same… ”

Zuko’s mouth straightened into a grim line - he could see where the spirit was going with this - “Do I have a choice?”

“ I suppose you could stay here and die of dehydration… ” The spirit tilted his head, almost in mockery, “ Given your will to live, it would be a rather anticlimactic end, would it not? ”

Zuko’s eye twitched, staring ahead as a pool of dread settled into his stomach, “And… You - your counterpart, Raava… She… You’ll want to bend all of the elements to match her… Like the Avatar .”

“ Yes… ” The spirit hissed, “ Do you take issue with that? ”

Zuko bit his tongue, keeping the instinctual urge to fight against the very idea of it from surfacing.

Zuko’s terms of banishment was to capture the Avatar, the sole bender of every element.

What did it mean if he was an Avatar too?

Would his Father welcome him back to the Fire Nation after his newfound power?

Would his Father kill him as an affront to the very nation he fought for?

Zuko clenched his fists, blinking away tears as he shoved those thoughts away.

He would find a way…

He had to.

“Fine…” Zuko took a calming breath as he extended a hand to the dark spirit - his death or his salvation - “I’ll… I’ll do it.”

Vaatu stilled, and Zuko almost thought that Vaatu had set this all up as a wild prank - suddenly, an image of Azula’s tiny face sprouted in his mind, and it hurt - before the spirit rose, several tendrils of darkness curling around Zuko.

“ I will make it swift, child, as this will be immensely painful for the both of us, ” Before Zuko could do or say anything in response to that, Vaatu wrapped around Zuko, and combined.

Mind and Soul.

Drive and Will.

Honour and Purpose.

Zuko closed his eye and opened it, revealing a sea of violet stars.

He stood in a valley, a field, a crater, a snowstorm, a tree, and with a roar, he bellowed forth a blast of monochromatic fire, embers of black and white spiralling all around them as the tree, the prison, the tomb burned with them inside.

The Tree of Time, that which had stood for over 10,000 years, fell in a pile of ash.

And from the ash, a new Avatar emerged, a soft, malevolent glow of violet settling around him as he stood on shaking legs…

Before losing his footing and tumbling down the mountain of ash.

Zuko snapped his eye - amber, with the tiniest shade of violet - open, gasping at the newfound fire and coldness rushing through his veins.

He almost passed out then and there, only catching himself by reminding himself that he still needed to escape this realm, and get back to civilization.

‘Yes. It will be quite nice to see something other than this crater for once.’

Zuko gasped, nearly losing his footing. He jerked his head from side to side, not seeing Vaatu around him.

‘That is because I am you, and you are me. We are one, now and forever.’

Ignoring the ominous undertones of that statement, Zuko hissed, “How can I hear you in my head?”

‘I have already stated this, child. We are one and the same.’

Zuko stared ahead, faintly horrified. Did the Avatar have a voice talking in his head?

‘I imagine not. Perhaps the first few would have heard her, but after 10,000 years of reincarnation…’

Zuko frowned, “So you’re saying that I can hear you, but my…” Zuko’s eye widened as what he was about to say fully registered for the first time, “ Reincarnations won’t hear you.”

‘That is correct, in essence. Consider yourself lucky, child, for being present to my Greatness.’

Zuko grumbled, shoving the oncoming crisis for later - he had enough of those already . He hiked back up to the edge of the crater, eyeing the place upon which he fell into the Spirit World.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Now that he could see it in full, it almost seemed like the entrance to a cavern, just from the point of view from within the cave itself. However, rather than being open, it seemed blocked off by a solid wall of ice.

Zuko hissed, walking close enough to the ice to place his hand against it, “This might be a problem.”

‘...Indeed. I did not expect something like this, nor have I ever seen it.’

Zuko frowned, sliding his hand off of the slick wall of ice with a shudder, “I could melt through it with firebending, if I had it.”

‘Perhaps, but without the Blessing of Agni or Kai - or, perhaps, a Lion-Turtle - you are out of luck.’

“Wait… A Blessing?” Zuko asked, stepping carefully away from the ice.

‘Indeed, child. A Blessing from a Great Spirit of Fire may allow you to firebend within this realm.’

Zuko’s eye widened, “Wha- Where? How would I go about getting that?”

‘I couldn’t tell you. Perhaps we could start by looking for the Great Spirits. It has been some time since I have communed with them.’

Zuko stayed silent for a moment as he digested this - oh, what would Uncle say if he saw him now? - before asking, “Could you… I dunno, direct me to them?”

‘...Perhaps. I cannot pinpoint exactly where they are, but I can help with the navigation of this realm, assuming it hasn’t changed too much since my imprisonment.’

Zuko sighed. It was better than nothing, he supposed, but it didn’t help with his growing anxiety.

He still had to capture the Avatar, after all. He couldn’t afford to waste his time in this place!

In the end, though, Zuko trudged along, walking down to where Vaatu said was south-adjacent, which made no sense to Zuko, given that Vaatu also mentioned south-parallel and negative-south.

Zuko had a feeling that this wouldn’t be as easy as he hoped.

…

The Rolling Valley of Towers

“We’re lost, aren’t we?”

‘While this plane is unfamiliar to me, I am sure we will find our path soon enough.’

Zuko sighed, once more cursing his own stupidity for getting himself in this situation.

He had been wandering for a long time, though he couldn’t say for certain exactly how long that was. Time didn’t pass in quite the same way within the Spirit World when compared to the mortal realm. There wasn’t a singular sun and moon to count days by, as the sky bore numerous suns of varying sizes and colours, shifting around one another in a discordant pattern as he trudged along the valley.

He could have been wandering for as long as months or as short as hours, and he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. He didn’t even know if time passed at the same rate as it did in the mortal realm, which was probably one of the many things he missed when he ignored Uncle’s ramblings of the spirits.

If nothing else, he could at least see the change in scenery when compared to the crater he initially awoke in. All around him were mounds and hills, waving and rolling at the edges of his vision, almost akin to a wheel. Sprouting up, down, sideways, and reverse were stone towers cobbled together into shifting spirals and monoliths, touching the sky and the depths below, ever-moving at the edges of his vision. Yet, anytime he paused to catch these movements, the mounds stayed still, as if waiting for him to turn away for them to resume.

‘The hills have eyes, child. They are watching you.’

“Thanks,” Zuko grumbled, kicking a small blue pebble into a gust of lime-green vapour, “I needed that image in my head; it will surely help me sleep.”

‘Yet you haven’t fallen asleep once, child.’

It was true. For whatever reason, whether due to Zuko’s union with a Great Spirit or simply due to the Spirit World itself, he never felt tired. Oh, he certainly felt exhausted , but not in the same way that one felt before falling asleep.

If it was any consolation, it was no longer quite as cold as it was in the crater. Though it wasn’t warm, and Zuko still lacked the ability to produce his own fire, he no longer shivered.

What wasn’t a consolation was the damn sand . Zuko wasn’t even certain if it could be called sand when it was coloured blue and turquoise, and glinted in the same way metal did when near a fire, but he didn’t know what else to call it. The winds carrying the bright particles weren’t harsh by any means, but even the few specks of blue sand rubbing against his skin irritated him, especially near his face.

After a particularly large gust of wind blasted a cloud of blue sand onto his face, Zuko hissed out a question as he batted the specks of dust out of his eyes - he had been distracted by a shadow on the horizon - “How much longer until we get someplace else?”

‘Gaze upon the breach in the sky,’ Zuko looked up, noticing a line of parted clouds pointing ahead of him, ‘Continue heading south-parallel until the clouds dissipate, and we shall find the realm of a Great Spirit.’

“Great…” Zuko mumbled, eyeing to his side as the shadow of one of the towers shifted and disappeared, “Uhh, Vaatu… Do you sense any other spirits following us?”

‘Yes,’ Zuko’s eye widened, ‘It picked up our trail when we first came upon this valley. I am surprised you noticed it.’

Zuko scowled, shoulders tensing as he noticed other shadows disappear around him, “Is the spirit dangerous?”

‘I do not know. The aura of this spirit is unfamiliar to me.’

Zuko’s eye twitched, “Then why didn’t you say anything when you first noticed it?”

‘Because I would have found it amusing when it snuck up on you. That you managed to sense it before it did is impressive, child,’ Interestingly, Vaatu’s voice did hold a genuine level of mild respect.

Zuko ruminated on this for a few moments before coming to a stop. Ignoring the questions forming in his bond with Vaatu, Zuko cast his eyes out across the valley and spoke in a level tone, “I… I seek no quarrel, spirit of the valley. I am merely passing through.”

‘Spirit of the valley? Such an inspired name.’

Zuko scowled - it wasn’t as if he knew the spirit’s name - before levelling his face, “May I… receive passage?”

Several moments passed before Vaatu sighed, ‘You have no need to act so formal unless it is a Great Spirit.’

Zuko lowered his eyes with a hiss, “Well, it’s not as if I can go about badmouthing random spirits, either!”

He looked back up and flinched back as a shadowed figure appeared before him, scrutinising him with a face of darkened blue and endless black eyes.

The spirit stood nearly twice as tall as Zuko, yet it crouched to be near his height. Though it kept still, locked in a staring match with the banished prince, its body moved of its own accord, almost as if it was liquid.

Before long, the spirit shifted, and with a clank, a wooden mask appeared at Zuko’s feet. He didn’t dare break eye contact with the spirit - did it even have eyes? - to see the mask, at least, not until the spirit crouched lower, contorting its legs in ways that no human could.

Zuko lowered himself as well, slowly picking up the mask with numb fingers, eye still locked with the spirit’s own, noting a small, almost invisible, smile of grey fangs. Bringing the mask up to his face, he could finally see its familiar etchings, the worn-out paint chipping at the ends from how much use it had received over the past three years.

The Blue Spirit.

Zuko’s eye widened - the spirit's black eyes, the smile, the dark blue of its form - and he dropped the mask and hastily bowed, “F-forgive me, Blue Spirit, for wearing your face without your permission.”

Within himself, Zuko felt Vaatu hiss. Zuko felt like hissing himself, appalled at the new depths of his old stupidity.

Of the many ways to transgress a spirit, wearing its face without permission was one of worst.

Zuko hadn’t even considered for a second that the Blue Spirit was real . It was a play , fiction! He thought for sure that he’d face no supernatural consequence by wearing it; it was just a mask!

Now, though, with the Blue Spirit in all of its silent terror before him, Zuko bowed, hiding his own panic behind it, “I- I didn’t know you were real. It was a mask from a play. Please forgive me, spirit, for my transgressions against you!”

‘I would highly recommend regaining control over your mouth, child, lest it cut out your tongue out of annoyance!’

Zuko bit his mouth shut, waiting for the spirit’s judgement. When he felt the hand - soft, formless - reach his shoulder, he braced for pain, only to be shoved back onto the ground.

Staring back up, Zuko watched as the Blue Spirit crouched over him, fangs stretched in a cruel grin. Vaatu stirred slightly as the Blue Spirit brought a hand to its face, gripping it, before ripping it off as if it were a mask.

And before Zuko could turn away before seeing what unimaginable horrors lay behind its face, he saw his face looking back at him, eyes ice blue, his own mouth stretched into a too-wide smile with far too many teeth for a human skeleton.

And the not-Zuko’s smile stretched further, wrapping around its cheeks, below its ears, and around its neck, as it opened its maw, rows of human teeth and tusks and fang warped together in water and blood as icy mist drifted out of its throat, suffocating the air around him, before freezing over as the abomination reared back and screamed .

And though Zuko cowered, and though Zuko shook, and though Zuko trembled in primordial terror , he did not look away.

And though Zuko stayed still and silent, not-Zuko smiled, and its face twisted, skin melting into waxen water, before forming back into the snarling grimace of the Blue Spirit.

The Blue Spirit stood, freeing Zuko from its grasp, and allowed him to stand back up. The Blue Spirit tilted its head at Zuko as he stared back in residual fear and confusion.

After a moment, Vaatu spoke up in his mind, ‘It seems that you have yourself in luck, child, for this spirit has found you worthy.’

Zuko blinked, still not taking his eyes off of the Blue Spirit, “Worthy?”

‘Indeed,’ Something shifted within Zuko, as if Vaatu was moving around his body, ‘This spirit is of the same vein as me. He is the Blue Spirit, Arch-Spirit of Trickery, and Emissary of Chaos.’

Somehow, the Blue Spirit seemed to hear Vaatu, as it mockingly bowed, extending its hands, sharp metal blades lining its fingers.

Zuko’s mouth twisted, still feeling ill at ease, “Arch-Spirit? And you didn’t answer my original question.”

‘Arch-Spirits act as Emissaries for the Great Spirits, yet it seems that this spirit has been nearly forgotten; its power is waning,’ Vaatu hummed, prompting the Blue Spirit to cross its too-long arms twice over, staring down at Zuko is feigned offence, ‘Yet, you have not forgotten it, even if you only knew a bastardised version of it. Your actions under its mask have been judged as worthy, for it has renewed the Spirit of Trickery in the souls of the world.’

Zuko stayed silent for several moments, trying to parse out what all of that meant, “...Does that mean… It won’t kill me for my transgressions?”

Vaatu chuckled, which inherently sounded cruel, ‘Oh, quite the opposite. It seems to wish to grant you its Blessing,’ At Zuko’s widened eye, Vaatu continued in an amused hum, ‘It seems to desire picking you as its vessel, though you have already been chosen as mine . As such, it has chosen to do the next best thing.’

“What?” Zuko blurted out, before widening his eye as the Blue Spirit tilted its head at the admission, seeming amused, “What… What does that mean? ”

‘I do not know,’ Vaatu answered unhelpfully, ‘I suppose we shall see in time, for the Blessing has already been given, and once given, a Blessing cannot be denied.’

Zuko breathed out a gust of air, confused and wary in equal measure, “Oh…” He paused for a few moments before asking, both to the Blue Spirit and Vaatu, “Does that mean I have passage through the valley.”

Vaatu rumbled, ‘It does,’ There was a distinct pause in Vaatu’s words, which increased Zuko’s wariness, ‘It also seems that the Blue Spirit wishes to travel with us, for a time.’

Zuko’s first instinct was to reject this, but he stilled his tongue. He had already gotten lucky - or lucky for his standards - that the Blue Spirit didn’t want to kill him. Denying him in such a way now wouldn’t do him any favours.

Besides, a small, but prevalent, part of Zuko actually felt excited at the prospect. ‘Love Amongst the Dragons’ was one of his favourite plays . Not to mention his questions of how accurate the play’s portrayal of the spirit was, given how everything he knew of it came from that production.

Because of this, Zuko ultimately bowed his head once more, “It would be my honour for you to join us, Blue Spirit.”

‘Once again with the formalities, child.’

Thankfully, rather than being annoyed as Vaatu was by Zuko’s formality, the Blue Spirit only seemed amused, giving a small nod of its head before melting away, forming back into a shadow trailing behind Zuko.

After a few moments in which Zuko stared at his shadow, and the small, subtle smile cast upon it from an unknown light source, Zuko asked Vaatu, “Where do we go from here?”

‘South-parallel, child. Follow the clouds, for they shall fly true.’

image [https://i.imgur.com/sO30BU6.jpg] image [https://imgur.com/sO30BU6]

Rolling Valley of Towers

image [https://i.imgur.com/62oK577.png]

The Blue Spirit and not-Zuko

…

The Elder Dragon Graveyard

‘This realm is not quite how I remembered it.’

Zuko’s face was grim as he stepped over ancient dew and bone, a blue shadow trailing behind, “How did you remember it?”

Vaatu remained silent for a moment, pondering his answer. Zuko continued to wade through patches of bone and dead briar as he waited.

Eventually, as Zuko crested a hill, Vaatu answered, almost in mourning, ‘When I was last here, they were all alive.’

Zuko surveyed the landscape, a flat dune of molten red, with sharp cracks of black and orange spiralling across the ground. Bubbles of red and blue magma burst periodically, splashing burning rock against the ancient bone that climbed up to towering skeletons of beasts with wings that splayed across the horizon.

Zuko surveyed the skeletons for several moments, watching as bone slowly sunk into the magma to burn for aeons before melting away, trailing from the head for kilometres until reaching the tail.

They were unlike anything Zuko had ever seen, and it brought a profound sadness to him that had been borne years before when he first learned what his Uncle’s title as ‘Dragon of the West’ truly entailed.

“They were dragons,” Zuko murmured, surveying the graveyard as flocks of violet vultures cawed overhead.

‘The were the Elder Dragons,’ Vaatu intoned, and Zuko was now certain that the spirit was mourning, ‘It was from them that the Lion-Turtles learned how to bestow the gift of fire to others. They were the original firebenders.’

Zuko stayed silent, allowing Vaatu to grieve. He had heard the same from the scrolls he had read before he was banished: ancient legends of dragons being the first to master fire from the sun, before then gifting it to those that would one day become the Fire Nation.

And now, here they lay, in death.

“Vaatu…” Zuko mulled over his question before asking, “These… Elder Dragons, they were alive when you last saw them?”

‘10,000 years ago, yes,’ Vaatu rumbled, his voice sounding melancholy, ‘They were Kai’s pride and joy, being their Mother,’ There was a definite pause, and Zuko felt a spike of fury that wasn’t his own, ‘It seems that she, too, has disappeared.’

Zuko’s brow creased, “You’ve mentioned this ‘Kai’ a few times… Would you care to tell me who she is?”

A spike of surprise, then anger, then resignation rose up in Zuko, and Vaatu answered, ‘It seems that Raava’s wrath has extended beyond myself if you have forgotten one of the Great Spirits of Fire…’ Vaatu sighed as Zuko widened his eye, ‘Kai, The Great Spirit of Dragons, The Love of the Sun… She was the Soother to temper Agni’s Passion. She was his other half, just as I am to Raava.’

Zuko’s frown became more pronounced at the connotations of that, “And since she has been forgotten while Agni has not…”

‘Indeed… Just as the Balance between Order and Chaos have been unbalanced by my absence, it seems that the Balance of Fire has too been imbalanced.’

The pool of dread in Zuko’s stomach began to build, “And if the Balance of Fire has been imbalanced… Does that mean the Fire Nation is-”

Before Zuko could finish his thought, a quaking roar brought Zuko to a fighting stance, only to waver as he registered what lay before him.

From the horizon, flying rapidly towards him, was a great red dragon. Though it was far smaller than the skeletons lining the graveyard, Zuko could see, even from this distance, that it would tower over him.

Zuko briefly considered running away, but shook the thought away. Such was a coward’s choice, and he was no coward.

The dragon reached the hill that Zuko stood upon, and landed with a gust of wind that staggered him. Zuko prepared himself once more for a fight; not that he wished to start one, but with his family’s history of hunting dragons, he couldn’t be sure that this one wouldn’t take vengeance for its brethren.

Thankfully, no such attack came, as the dragon calmly regarded Zuko, almost seeming amused by his paltry attempt at defence. With a small huff of smoke, the dragon lowered its neck, briefly startling Zuko before he registered what the dragon seemed to want.

“Do… Do you want me to - er - mount you, sir dragon?” Zuko asked, trying - and failing, given Vaatu’s snort - to sound respectful.

The dragon blinked again, not saying anything, though Zuko supposed that, as a dragon, it couldn’t say anything.

Given no other obvious option, Zuko decided to fulfil the dragon’s apparent wish, crossing his leg over it before grabbing onto the fur on its upper neck.

Before he could say or ask anything else, the dragon reared back, flapping its wings as it rose, before shooting forward.

Zuko grit his teeth as the dragon flew over the graveyard, blinking tears out of his eyes from the winds. In a matter of seconds, the magma-covered rock hardened to a dull blue stone, before softening with patches of moss and buds, rising up to a tall hill that overlooked the graveyard.

The dragon descended, causing Zuko’s stomach to flip. He hadn’t eaten in a long time, and though he didn’t go hungry in the Spirit World, it didn’t make the sensation any easier.

Finally the dragon landed, allowing Zuko to drop back onto the ground. He almost fell, feeling an acute sense of vertigo from the flight, but kept himself upright after a few moments. He stared ahead, looking to the top of the hill, only to find a kneeling figure waiting for him, one that almost seemed familiar.

The dragon huffed behind him, and the figure moved, as if roused awake. The figure stood up and turned around to face them, a pair of amber eyes meeting Zuko’s own.

And though it had been nearly a decade since Zuko last saw this, he could remember instantly who it was that stood before him.

The first of his family to be taken away.

“Thank you for bringing him here, Fang,” Lu-Ten spoke to the dragon, his voice as light and friendly as Zuko’s memories, “Say hello to the old man for me, will you?”

Zuko almost didn’t notice the dragon huff before flying away, staring ahead at the ghost that was now walking down to meet him. Lu-Ten’s face was split in a youthful grin, joyous even marred with the piercing scars across his temple, “Well, look at you, little cousin! You’ve grown!”

Zuko didn’t - couldn’t - say anything in response, shocked still as the image of Uncle’s shit-eating grin seemed to bleed onto his son’s face, “I never imagined we’d meet like this, and certainly not this soon .”

Finally, Zuko regained his voice, if only to pathetically utter, “Lu-Ten… You’re alive?”

Lu-Ten’s smile became a grimace, “Eh… No , I’m very dead,” Lu-Ten tapped a finger against his temple, specifically where a prominent dented scar remained, “Skull got crushed back at Ba-Sing-Se. There ain’t no recovering from that .”

Zuko felt an eye twitch, both in horror and surprise at Lu-Ten’s lackadaisical tone - as if a crushed skull was just another day in the garden - “Wha… How are you here?”

Lu-Ten’s face became blank at the question, and Zuko briefly feared that he somehow said something offensive before Lu-Ten burst out in laughter, “Y’know what? This is why you were my favourite cousin!” Lu-Ten sighed - it was a melancholic act - “Lala always liked to use tricks and word games to get what she wanted. You’ve always been much more blunt,” Lu-Ten sat down, crossing his legs, “Sit. I’ll answer what I can before I have to go.”

Zuko blinked, and sat down, but not before asking, “Before you have to go?”

“I’m here on borrowed time,” Lu-Ten answered primly, as if that wasn’t as worrying as it sounded to Zuko, “Roku owed me a favour, and, well…” Lu-Ten extended a hand towards Zuko, “What better time to cash it in when my little cousin stumbles into the Spirit World like a lost Turtle-Duckling.”

Ignoring the teasing - unlike with Azula, Lu-Ten was never cruel about it - Zuko frowned, “I still don’t get what’s going on. How are you here? Why are you here?” Zuko’s eye narrowed in thought, “How come you didn’t show up for Uncle? He never mentioned meeting you when he travelled through the Spirit World.”

‘Your Uncle travelled through the Spirit World, and returned?’

Zuko scowled - now’s not the time - as Lu-Ten sighed, looking far more forlorn, “My dad… He wasn’t quite in the right headspace to see me yet,” He gave a small, sad smile, “He… Hasn’t entirely moved on with my death, and appearing before him… It would have only made things worse.”

Lu-Ten shook his head, dispelling the heavy air that befell them, “To answer your other questions, well… Simply put, the spirits saw fit to keep me tethered to this realm. Until I choose to move on and live anew, or get caught by the Face-Stealer, I’ll be wanderin’ around in the Spirit World, even if I’m invisible to most.”

‘Oh? So Koh remains?’

Zuko’s face twitched - Vaatu, please hush - “You said you’re here on borrowed time… You can’t stay?”

Lu-Ten’s face softened, and it pained Zuko how similar it looked to Uncle, “I wish I could, Zuko, but it isn’t the way of things,” Now, Lu-Ten’s eyes brightened with a mischievous gleam, “But I can still watch , even when you can’t see me. And, really, the first moment you spend in the Spirit World, and you bond with the Great Spirit of Chaos? You never did anything by halves, didn’t you?”

Zuko felt his face go red - it wasn’t his fault his luck was so crap! - “Whatever! What do you have to tell me, Lu-Ten!”

“Ah,” Lu-Ten snapped his fingers, “ There’s the temper I remember,” Lu-Ten’s grin faded, his face turning more serious, “But I suppose I must answer your question. I came here to guide you on where to find your quarry, and to warn you of the dangers ahead.”

Zuko calmed, somewhat, at least enough to tersely prompt Lu-Ten, “Go on.”

Lu-Ten leaned back, and he seemed distinctly wary to Zuko, “You’ll find that your search for Agni is not unlike your search for the Avatar, but where the latter acted against you, the former will let this world act against you.

“The Spirit World is vast and ever changing. What you see now will not remain the same the next time you return, and the road from here to Agni will be treacherous,” Lu-Ten gave a small smile, though there was only a bitter humour in it, “And given your particular brand of luck, I imagine you will have quite the journey ahead of you.”

Zuko grumbled, his frustration returning, “I thought Uncle’s proverbs were confusing, but yours made no sense!” For the first time in what felt like months to Zuko, he allowed his frustration to get the better of him, “I’ve already seen how the Spirit World likes to fuck with me! First, I get sucked in during the middle of a blizzard, then I get sucked in again to a tree ! Then a spirit - no - the Great Spirit of Chaos happens to be there, torments me, strong-arms me into combining, and I’m still stuck!”

“That’s not even to mention everything with the Blue Spirit, and the graveyard…” Zuko’s voice petered off as his frustration waned, exhaustion taking its place as he asked, “It’s already felt like ages since I first came here. How much longer do I have to go?”

Lu-Ten’s face was grim as he replied, “Longer than you’d like.”

Zuko groaned, and Lu-Ten continued, his voice remaining serious, “And that’s why you must remain strong , Zuko. Dad wasn’t stuck in quite the same way as you were. He chose when and where to go in the Spirit World,” Lu-Ten’s face turned apologetic as he regarded Zuko, “You don’t have the same luxury, especially when you’ve caught the notice of so many powerful spirits.”

Zuko’s head snapped up, a resigned dread settling like stone in his stomach, “What?”

“When you combined with the Great Spirit of Chaos, becoming a second Avatar,” Lu-Ten paused, hesitating for the first time in his speech, “That changed some things.”

Zuko felt Vaatu perk up inside of him - change - and asked, “What do you mean?”

“The Spirit World - hells - both worlds have started shifting,” Lu-Ten winced, “I don’t know about the mortal plane, but the Spirit World has gotten a lot more active, and as a result, a lot more dangerous .”

‘This implies that the worlds had been stagnant before,’ Vaatu mused darkly, which Zuko ignored, for the time being. He shook his head before noticing that he could start to see through Lu-Ten, startling him into yelping, “You’re disappearing!”

Lu-Ten widened his eyes, looking down on his form before giving a self-deprecating chuckle, “I guess I am, listen,” He pointed behind him to a towering mountain in the distance, “I don’t have much time left. If you’re still going after Agni, you’ll want to go through the mountain. It’s the quickest way to Agni’s Court,” Lu-Ten was fading quickly, and his voice faded with it, “Going over it is a death sentence, but there’s a cave system underneath the mountain that will- ”

Zuko stared, watching as Lu-Ten disappeared, his voice going with it, “...That will what?”

Vaatu remained silent for a moment, before answering in a low tone, ‘I expect your cousin meant to say that the cave system would lead you on the other side.’

Zuko remained silent, thinking over everything he had learned, everything his cousin had said. “Vaatu,” He asked after a minute had passed, “What would happen… What would happen if I were to die before we could escape this place?”

‘I… cannot say for certain. But with our spirit trapped in the Spirit World, it would prevent the reincarnation cycle…’

“...Which would probably mean we would be trapped here, forever,” Zuko finished with a whisper.

‘...Yes… I would very much like to avoid that.’

Zuko closed his eyes, taking the moment to breathe in and out, mimicking the breath of fire without the fire.

Even with the lack of flame billowing from his mouth, the breathing exercise helped him calm down, just as Uncle always said it would. He stared ahead, towards the towering, twisting mountain that Lu-Ten had pointed to, crimson snow colouring its peak.

It almost looked like a bloodied tooth.

“Well…” Zuko stood back up, beginning to step down the hill and towards the base of the mountain, “Seems like we’ll have to go through the mountain.”

‘And perhaps find a secret tunnel? Such a thing is an ill omen for our desire to live.’

…

Secret Tunnel

‘...You know something, child? I do believe the humans of my era wrote a song about this cavern.’

Zuko grunted, crouching under a slab of stone, “That’s great, Vaatu. Can you help me navigate this place?”

‘I do believe the song largely consisted of them repeatedly yapping ‘secret tunnel’, simpletons that they were,’ Vaatu continued, completely ignoring Zuko’s request.

Zuko merely sighed, not having truly expected Vaatu to be of much help. The Great Spirit had become largely silent since Zuko first stepped into the cave system, rarely speaking over the past several hours - days? - in which Zuko traversed the depths.

Zuko instead turned to face his shadow, which was nearly invisible, if not for the faint lights of the green crystals around them. The blue figure within extended a shadowed hand, pointing to a tunnel on the left.

Zuko nodded in thanks to the Blue Spirit, who had proven far more helpful than his resident Great Spirit in navigating the cave system. A part of him wondered if it was wise to take council from a spirit just as lost as he, but some help was better than none.

Besides, he could almost feel as if the caves were beckoning him.

The earth…

The mountain above him rumbled, and once more, Zuko was reminded of the bloodied tooth of a beast. The peak of the mountain was the sharpest point, bathed in bloodied snow, and here below, Zuko traversed through the caves - the veins and arteries - of the greater monster.

‘Ah, but that is the question, child…’

‘Is the monster the world… or those within it?’

Before Zuko could answer, the earth shifted, twisted, tangled, and turned. The crystals bathing him in light shattered, their iridescent glow dimming to a mournful murmur.

And in one moment, when Zuko had been cast in green light, he was cast in darkness. And now, without sight, he was left with only that of which he could feel to guide him forward.

Zuko almost stepped forward in the darkness, feeling resigned to his fate to wander blindly in the caverns. Yet, he was struck still by Vaatu, who commanded him to wait, and listen.

And so Zuko waited, for what he knew not. Then, he felt it: the residual quakes of the earth, circling around him, as if a spider-cobra had found its prey and was snaking around it, surrounding it, before consuming it.

And the earth shook, and it shook violently , so violently that Zuko almost believed that the mountain would collapse upon itself, crushing him within.

Yet, before long, the quaking ended, and in a flash of light, a crystal glew so bright that it blinded him.

Blinded by both Dark and Light.

Zuko blinked, and his eye adjusted, and the path ahead of him revealed itself. An archway, carved in stone and marble, both ancient and new, stood before him.

There stood two statues on either side of the archway, one male and female. Their eyes bore no pupils, yet they both pointed to him, judging him, accusing him, scorning him.

He stepped through the archway, and a trail of crystals lit up before him to reveal a vast cavern, with moss and roots digging up and down with a stream of orange water trickling down.

And a voice, no, two voices beckoned as one, “ Come, Zuko, Son of the Forgotten Mother, Son of the Forsaken Father, Chosen of the Shackled Chaos, Bear witness to our tomb.”

Behind Zuko, the earth shook once more as the statues moved, stepping forward to stand next to him. Guarding him and accusing him in equal measure.

Zuko gulped as he turned to see them, knowing that the towering monoliths of stone could crush him if they so chose, “You… honour me with your presence…” He tilted his head to them, silently asking them for their names.

The statue to his left opened its mouth, and from it came an old, masculine voice, “ I am Oma, Great Spirit of the Mountain, The Duke of Resilience. ”

Zuko felt a small spike of surprise - and wariness - from Vaatu, but said nothing as the other statue to his right spoke, its voice more feminine, “ I am Shu, Great Spirit of the Desert, The Duchess of Deception. ”

Then, as one, they spoke together, and their voice rumbled the very earth they stood upon, “ And you, oh Child of Fire, have trespassed in our Realm, ” They stomped, and large boulder crashed from the top of the caverns, “ And you, oh Child of Chaos, have trespassed in our tomb. ”

They stomped once more, then again, and again , and Zuko braced himself to be crushed, only for the stones above them to fall in every spot of the cavern but the very spot they stood.

The statues moved, marching forward in slow, strong steps, and Zuko harshly whispered to Vaatu in panic, “Do they want me to follow them?”

‘I expect they do,’ Vaatu answered, sounding distinctly wary, ‘Be warned, child. Oma and Shu are stuck in their ways. Be careful not to transgress them.’

Zuko grumbled to himself, “Seems I already have be existing ,” but ultimately ran forward to follow them as they passed the stream of water, and into a forest of wood and stone, the ground beneath them softening into a swamp that somehow persisted even under the dark of the mountain.

With every step the statues took, the earth beneath and above them rumbled. Zuko could see trails of blue light and feathers rush away as they went past, spirits and fae fleeing as the Great Spirits carved a path through the underground swamp. Only once did he find a creature that didn’t flee, though he quickly turned away as the baboon stared back at him, unseeing with a stolen face.

As they went deeper into the swamp, the air around Zuko grew heavier, both in breath and in spirit. As he brushed against low-hanging roots from the ceiling, he could see glimpses of people, places, things that he couldn’t - wouldn’t - recognise.

A raft of wood, chipped at the edges-

A tuft of fur, coarse yet comforting-

An eye of milky green, unseeing yet strong-

An azure flame, burning brighter and colder-

A shattering fear, in a handful of dust-

A crackle of lightning, casting death unto life-

A flaming hand, curled around the child’s eye-

A flaming hand, burning one half in fire and the other in light-

Zuko blinked, and before him, stone steps covered in moss and roots rose to the tip of the cavern, from which great roots sprouted from above. The roots grew large, larger than his body, twisting against one another as they spread across the cavern, across the mountain, across the earth .

The statues stopped, and turned, gazing upon Zuko with emotionless faces, “ Come, Child of Fire, Child of Chaos, Come and touch the Root of the World, and Feel the Connections of the Earth below and the Earth above. ”

Zuko blinked, not understanding what they meant at all , but acquiesced all the same. It wasn’t as if he could reject their demand - he was a prince; he was not to be ordered around - lest he face the wrath of their stone fists, and the mountain above him.

He stepped up the cobbled stairs, reaching the singular, massive root that grounded itself both in the ceiling and the ground. He paused, unsure, turning back to face the statues, still towering over him even as he stood over the rest of the swamp.

They stared back, unmoving, their very heartbeat - cold, cold stone - reverberating across the mountain.

Zuko turned back to the root, asking Vaatu in a low tone, “What am I supposed to do here?”

‘Have you tried touching it?’ Vaatu asked, dryly.

Zuko scowled, feeling a little stupid, as he reached over and grazed the root with his palm, “There-”

Before he could say anything else, Zuko’s eyes closed, and his vision was opened.

And before him stretched the world, its wide expanse almost infinite in scope, with mountains and valleys, and forests, and deserts stretched around him.

And he felt the steps of every man, every woman, every child, and every beast as they walked along, ran along, marched along, limped along, all across the world in a circular rhythm.

And he saw not with his eyes but within the earth those he loved, those he knew, and those he knew not.

Within the north, his Uncle trudged along, searching for a nephew he knew - he prayed - was still alive.

Within the south, a small girl, stomping across a stone arena, kicking butts and stealing names as the Blind Bandit.

Within the east, an aged man, sitting atop a mountain of ancient dreams and corpses, opens his eye and winks.

Within the west, a girl two years his junior, stepping through a fighting stance in perfection, as Father stays still, watching, judging, accusing.

And Zuko blinked, and fell down onto the earth, the lingering sensation of it tickling his feet and fingers, before fading away.

Before he could regain his bearings, the cavern shook as the statues marched before him, extending twin arms to point away from them, “ You must now leave, Child of Fire, Child of Chaos, for you have been beckoned by the Dark One, The Lord of Eternal End. Go, and remember the Mountain Unyielding, the Desert Merciless. Go, and remember. ”

Zuko scrambled onto his feet as the earth began to quake even more, rocks and stones falling from above. Vaatu wordlessly pushed him forward, wishing to leave the presence of the Great Spirits of Earth.

They were stuck in their ways, ever harsh, ever solid. But they could be kind, and it was a kindness that they granted unto the Child of Fire, the Child of Chaos.

A Great Evil lay ahead, and for the Dark Avatar to survive, he must remember their faces.

Unmoving.

Unchanging.

Lest he forget, and his face be stolen by the Dark One.

image [https://i.imgur.com/hokPLzI.jpg]

Oma and Shu and their Tomb

…

The Realm of Koh

The Mountain of Oma and Shu stood behind them, nearly disappearing behind the horizon. The sky above had shifted to a murky brown, blotting out the suns and the moons ahead, for no light, holy and unholy, shall pierce this hallowed ground.

There were few creatures, and they all remained still, staring at Zuko with eyeless faces as he trudged towards the gnarled tree standing over the canyon, inverted and twisted in unnatural ways, with its blackened roots of wood, stone, and bone extending into the sky, twisting together as if crying for help, for mercy, for death.

And all around Zuko, small planets of stone and blood hovered together, cast in chains of wind, binding themselves in the freedom of imprisonment, the freedom of emptiness. For when the birds of the sky passed through the chains, they fell, and bled, and lost their eyes as they too became one with the scores of eyeless, lifeless husks that stared and stared and stared.

And Zuko stepped forward, with each movement being tracked by creatures with broken necks, the cracks of unhealing bone piercing over the cold wind of eternity that rested upon the plane.

For Zuko knew where he was - had heard horror stories and faerie tales with terrible ends of this place. For here lies a spirit that would never be forgotten, for it had taken so much, and would take more still.

‘Be wary, child, and remember the Earth,’ Vaatu’s voice came in a whisper, but it was not in fear, no…

It was in fury.

For all that the Spirit World had changed since his imprisonment…

The Realm of Koh was exactly how he remembered it from 10,000 years ago.

Zuko stepped up to the tree, and with a shuddering hiss, the bark split open, and he walked in and down into the depths of Koh’s Lair.

‘Listen to me, and listen well, child,’ Vaatu’s voice was soft in Zuko’s mind, and he actively forced his face into a neutral stare as Vaatu continued, ‘Keep hold of your temper, and remain polite. The Face-Stealer will goad you, but he must answer your questions truthfully. It is the way of things.’

“I will,” Zuko whispered before turning the corner to reach the end of the tunnel, facing a wall of shadow.

The sounds of the wind outside were blocked off by metres of ancient wood and carved stone. Any chirps of bugs, and calls of birds were silenced by the darkness, the emptiness of oblivion.

Yet, within the darkness, within the silence, Zuko could hear the shift of stone, the click of pincers, of teeth, the inhuman giggles of dying children held in stasis to forever die and live with no hope of escape.

He kept his face blank, lest he join the ranks of oblivion.

And from the darkness, from both ahead and behind him, the voice of oblivion rumbled, “Welcome, Child of Fire, Child of Chaos,” in the edge of Zuko’s vision, mandibles of black ichor crept against the shadows, a cast of light illuminated the edges of teeth, twisted in a smile, “How fortunate am I, to host not one Avatar, but two in the same season?”

Still submerged in shadow, Zuko couldn’t see anything more than the Face-Stealer’s body, and the white of its eyes. Even then, without seeing it, he could feel its smile, revelling in Zuko’s silent fear, revelling in Vaatu’s silent disgust, “You have come for knowledge, child, and from knowledge, guidance. You seek the Sun, but in its Light, you have been blinded, child, so you have turned to the Dark,” The Face-Stealer twisted around Zuko, staying out of sight, as if circling one’s prey, “Tell me, child. What is it that you seek?”

Zuko tracked the Dark One’s movements with his good eye, “I seek the Great Spirit of Fire, so that I may receive the Blessing of Fire, and escape this realm.”

Mandibles clicked discordantly, and the spirit hummed, a cruel chuckle bubbling in its throat, “You know not what you seek, for your eyes have been pulled back and staked. You see only the flower in front of you and not the meadow ahead. Tell me, child, and be truthful, what is it that you seek?”

Zuko actively kept himself from scowling, taking a few seconds to calm enough to answer without stuttering, “I seek to restore my honour.”

The spirit remained silent for a few moments before rising, “Oh? And that is all? You do not seek balance in the world?” The spirit shifted, and Zuko could see its face, painted in tears and blood, twisted in a cruel smile, “It seems as though your vessel is not of the same mind as you, Vaatu…”

‘That will change in time, Koh,’ Vaatu hissed, sounding as if he was restraining himself from yelling, ‘But you wouldn’t understand the value of ‘change’, Koh. You have always been narrow-minded.’

For the first time in the encounter, Zuko watched Koh’s face twitch, before twisting into that of an old man, “Oh, but that is where you misunderstand, Vaatu…” The Face-Stealer rose, its body towering over Zuko as its faces shifted, twisted, morphed together as it smiled with bleeding black teeth, “I am Koh, The Great Spirit of Death, The Face-Stealer, The Lord of Eternal End. What once was shall always be. I have seen the birth of the first star and shall see the death of the final supernova. I am what remains of the ashes of destruction, and in it I shall LAUGH! ” Koh appeared before Zuko’s face at his final yell, attempting to startle him.

Zuko blinked - his Father was scarier - and Koh reared back with a dark chuckle, “Perhaps it is your vessel who is correct between you,” Koh’s lips twisted, stretching with fangs across its body, “There is no use serving a lie. And Balance is the Greatest Falsehood.”

And all at once, the world shook , with both Zuko and Koh stumbling as the earth cried out from above and below, before stopping as suddenly as it came, leaving both spirit and man to recover from the quake.

In the ensuing silence, Vaatu hissed in agitation, ‘Raava unleashed her power, at least for a time… It seems her Avatar was in distress.’

“And for a quake of that size, the child must have been in quite a rage,” Koh mused with a cruel smile, before sighing theatrically, “I tire of our feud, Vaatu. Are not Death and Chaos meant to work parallel?” Koh shook its head, shooting back to Zuko, its stolen lungs huffing breaths against Zuko’s face, “After all, I am not unreasonable, ” Koh circled around Zuko, its smile widening with rows and rows of teeth, “I am a collector of faces, a collector of souls. And souls have a price, especially one such as his… ”

Zuko felt Vaatu hiss within himself, and watched with growing dread as Koh’s face shifted to that of a child’s, its brow crinkled in apparent wonder, “Prince Zuko, son of Ursa and Ozai, son of Forgotten Mother and Forsaken Father…” The child’s face smiled, and its mouth bore no teeth, “I have been watching you for quite some time, Prince Zuko…” Koh’s face shifted to one that appeared vaguely familiar, the shade of its eyes appearing almost as bright as his own, “Your family stole something of mine a long time ago, and I have ached to settle the score.”

‘Koh…’ Vaatu hissed out in warning, but the Great Spirit of Death did not heed it.

“And a face such as yours, made much more beautiful and terrible than I ever could have imagined…” Koh hissed in pleasure as a mandible dug into Zuko’s scar, causing him to bite his tongue in pain, but remain still, “It is such a shame that your mother paid so that I would not seek your face for my collection…” The spirit smiled in the shadows, its face shifting as long, black hair drifted down to the ground below, “Such a shame… Because it wasn’t I who stole your face in the end…”

Zuko fought to keep his growing unease from his face as he asked, “My… My mother?”

“Oh…Hohoho…” Koh creaked a grating laugh, its eyes shining within the shadows - its smile, with familiar lips, twisted in a bleeding grimace - “Silly me! I forgot you wouldn’t know of it… You were so young at the time. So unlearned of the cruelties of the world, the reality of it…”

Koh shifted, and stared at Zuko from the darkness, “Oh, but it isn’t the way of things to tell you… Unless you ask for it…” Koh dropped low, the ichor from its smile dripping onto the ground.

‘Child,’ Vaatu whispered in warning, ‘Remember your purpose-’

“Tell me,” Zuko demanded, not allowing Vaatu to finish. Though his face remained still, his desperation was apparent in his voice, “Tell me what happened to my mother!”

Koh smiled , and within it, the chains of oblivion waited in longing, “Your mother… She was always blessed with extraordinary vision,” Koh rose, and the eyes of its stolen face gleamed a shining amber, “She knew of my enmity with your family, and yet… She still married the Forsaken One, out of love ,” Koh’s smile twisted, in mockery, “But, like everything, that died a slow and gruesome death, and it began with you ,” Zuko’s eye twitched, and Koh smiled, creeping closer, “Your Father had dreams of glory, a throne of fire ruled by cascading generations of warlords… But in your birth, you were weak, pathetic, and in your life, a part of your Father died…” Koh chuckled, finding humour in Zuko’s silent anguish, “So when his Father gave him the command of filicide, he felt no hesitation…” Koh’s smile widened as Zuko began to tremble - Azula always lied; except… when she didn’t - “But your mother, who loved you so much , she begged him to reconsider,” And Koh’s smile grew wider, crueller, “And your Father agreed, but with a price: the act of patricide, and the promise of protection for his face and soul…”

Koh twisted its body, its hair cascading around it, framing its face in the darkness, “Your mother agreed, and with a drop of poison, her father-in-law passed in his sleep. But with the second demand, oh, she was clever ,” Koh began to slowly twist around the chamber, staring at Zuko the entire time, “She knew of my enmity with your family, and knew of my desire for your face, so when she appeared before me, she altered the deal laid out by your Father,” Koh paused, and turned away, “In addition to protection of your Father from my wrath, she demanded that I withdraw all attempts in the mortal realm to steal her son’s face…” A dark chuckle emanated around Zuko, and a growing despair settled inside of him as Koh continued, “And I accepted her deal… For a price…”

Koh turned, and with Ursa’s face, stopped mere millimetres before Zuko with a chilling smile, and a feminine - familiar - voice, “ I T H A S B E E N S O L O N G , M Y S O N ! C O M E J O I N M E , A N D W E S H A L L B E T O G E T H E R F O R A L L O F E T E R N I T Y !”

And Zuko shook , his legs nearly breaking apart, his lungs failing to breathe. But as his body tried to break apart at the seams, he willed his face to remain still.

And his mother’s face smiled at him in ecstasy.

“Do you see?” Koh’s voice came out as a hellish mix of his own and that of his mother’s, “Do you see how funny it is that, after paying such a price, you stumble before me? Without me having to move? ”

Zuko could hear Vaatu try to calm him down, but if he were to lose even an iota of focus on keeping his face neutral, then he would join his mother in oblivion.

It already took so much effort just to hear Koh speak.

Koh slinked back, Ursa’s once-beautiful face split by the skin and bone as teeth wrapped around her cheeks, “But now that you’re here… Perhaps we could make a deal.”

‘Child, do not listen to its words!’

“Your mother,” Koh’s face lowered to a small smirk, “She only ever seemed to care about her son, and never her daughter. Her protection does not extend to her…”

Zuko breathed in and out, “Don’t… Don’t go near my sister .”

“Oh?” Koh reappeared back to Zuko’s face, Ursa’s brow lifted in mock confusion, “But why ever not? It isn’t as if Ursa ever cared for the brat ,” Koh turned away, swaying up and down as it spoke, “And it isn’t as if the little girl ever gave you reason to…”

“That doesn’t matter, she’s my sister! ” Zuko yelled, before clicking his mouth shut and relaxing his voice as Koh rounded onto him, its face once more painted.

Koh stared at him in silence, then lifted as Ursa’s face grinned down at him, “You are a protective one, aren’t you? Even to those who do not deserve it…” Koh shifted, Ursa’s face crinkling in thought, “But what about your Uncle? He is spirit-touched, and foolish enough to come to me if he believes it will save you from my grasp…”

Zuko’s mouth pulled back as he restrained himself from exploding again, “Say what you mean, spirit. ”

“I still have enmity with your family, and will continue to do so until I am paid my due…” Koh turned to Zuko, peering at him with Ursa’s soulful - soulless - eyes, “But I am not unreasonable, and I may retract my enmity… For a price.”

Zuko hesitated a few seconds before asking, “What’s your price?”

Koh smiled, “Ursa never forbade me from obtaining your face, only from seeking it out…” Koh’s mouth twisted, a prideful smile gracing Ursa’s lips, “And a face such as yours… Prince of a Nation, Scarred by the Forsaken, Chosen Child of Chaos… It fetches a high price- ”

‘NO!’ Vaatu roared, and Zuko trembled as Vaatu wrapped himself out of Zuko and appeared over him, ‘YOU OVERSTEP YOUR BOUNDS, FACE-STEALER!’

Koh snarled in response, “And you overestimate your worth , Vaatu! You may not have seen it, but the world moved on without you! You will not be missed if I steal your vessel’s face!”

Vaatu twisted, and glowed with such visible malice that Zuko began to step back, “And you overestimate your worth to me, and for that, I curse you with loose lips and loose claws, and may you drop your most favoured faces with each new one you collect, keeping no more than four in limbo, casting the rest onto the river of rebirth. I say this in the name of Vaatu, The Great Spirit of Chaos, Your Superior, and YOU WILL BOW BEFORE ME!’

And the force of Vaatu’s proclamation echoed across the realm, and all of the Spirit World shook as Koh buckled, falling onto the floor as its body bent and twisted in a bow, hissing out, “This. Is. The way… Of things…”

Koh collapsed, plates and mandibles peeling off as gaseous echoes of screams of terror and jubilation filtered out of the beast. Faces cracked, fell, and reformed as Koh’s innumerable faces escaped after an eternity of imprisonment.

Finally, after minutes and centuries had passed, Koh gave a shuddering laugh, peering back up at Zuko, blood leaking out of Ursa’s smiling mouth, “You may have cursed me, Great Spirit of Chaos, but I will still keep my prize. ”

Koh chuckled, coughing up blackened blood as it did, “You spoke of change, Vaatu… So here’s the change you craved,'' It stared ahead, eyes glinting in malice and hatred as it snarled at Zuko and Vaatu, “You have declared war on Raava, and now you have declared war on me! I cast enmity upon yourselves and all your reincarnations, so that as long as I exist, I shall retain the undying hatred for what you have done to me!”

Koh rose, and with an enraged roar, extended several mandibles to the exit, “Now LEAVE! Go east - true-east - and you shall find the river from which I feast. Remember my name, remember it true; For in this life and all that comes, my Face shall always haunt you.”

Zuko, regaining his bearings after being shocked still by the events in the chamber, scrambled backwards and ran up the stairs, away from the Face-Stealer and his rage.

And as he emerged from the inverted tree, Vaatu spoke up, sounding particularly proud - of himself or Zuko, he didn’t know - ‘We must leave now, child, for we have wasted enough time with filth. Go east, as Koh said, and do not look back.’