Fenri fell from the tunnels, the unconscious form of Halvard flopping down beside him. Those things clawed at Halvard, trying to drag him back by his legs, but Fenri dug his claws into the big man’s wrists wrestling for control. All they had to do was make it out of the tunnels and the shadows would leave them alone.

Moonlight, starlight, any light would do, as long as it wasn’t that blackened pitch of subterranean tunnel.

But those things weren’t just shadows, and even as Fenri won the tug of war for his partner’s unconscious body, the half-shadow, half-boneshifter stepped into the light.

The form was feline. Fenri knew it well; he had killed it moments before the shadows closed on them. Or perhaps it was mere moments away from dying before the shadows stole it away, trailing entrails and all. Now, the once shimmering dark fur of the catlike boneshifter positively exuded darkness.

It stepped into the moonlight as if testing the sensation. Then it closed its eyes and purred.

That was all Fenri needed to see, and all the pause he needed to sling Halvard over his shoulder and run for his life. Where? He had no idea. Anywhere as long as it was away from the shadow-damned boneshifters.

***

Yaosen flowed from blazing arc to brilliant attack. Lu Gun fought predominantly with earth, but each time he managed to draw a bullet from the band on his chest, or send the razor of a wolfboar spinning at him, Yaosen fought like an airbender, making himself impossible to hit, impossible to even find within the torrents of white then purple-blue fire.

Rook did not stand idly by, whatever the monk had told her. She closed on the metalbender slashing with her sword whenever she got close, obscuring his face in shadow whenever he readied a ranged attack.

The first time Lu Gun caught Rook’s sword with metalbending, she had been surprised enough to take a rock to the gut. The next time an invisible weapon barred her attack, Yaosen moved in, taking advantage of Lu Gun’s split focus and cutting a burning line of bright white fire down the metalbender’s shoulder.

Only because they had scored a hit on the metalbender, did the fighting take a pause long enough for them to notice the collapse of the caldera tunnel and the Earthbreaker forces pouring over the ridgeline. Here on the mountainside, they had a perfect view of the unfolding battle, and the impending Earthbreaker victory.

Lu Gun raised his palms in temporary cease-fire. He was smiling, but Yaosen’s eyes never left his hands.

“We’ve won lightbender,” said the Earthbreaker assassin, “Your defeat is inevitable.”

Yaosen said nothing, but he knew Lu Gun was right.

“Yaosen, I need to…” Rook’s voice trailed off. There was little she could do, but she still deserved to be with her people, not the foreigner who had brought the battle to her doorstep.

Yaosen replied to Rook without taking his eyes from the metalbender, “Go. Be with your people. I’ll take care of this one.”

Rook ran up the steep slope shouting for Gama.

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In a flash of motion Lu Gun drew a bullet and pulled it back to fire at the retreating shadowbender. Yaosen sent a gout of white fire billowing toward the metalbender, forcing him to defend himself and abandon his attack on Rook’s back.

“The least I can do is rid the world of you,” snarled the monk, all attempts at restraining his anger abandoned.

“Funny,” said Lu Gun, with a look that said he was actually enjoying this, “Your great-grandfather said something similar about my entire nation.”

Yaosen looked at Lu Gun in confusion. Yaosen’s great-grandfather was a companion of the avatar, one of the saviors in The Hundred Year’s war. Did Lu Gun mean great-great-grandfather, the Fire Lord who had the gall to proclaim himself Phoenix King and try to scour the Earth Kingdom of all life?

“You don’t even know how deep your people’s crimes go, do you? You think to find the avatar, and aid the Fire Nation with a firebending peacekeeper. Bah. Bring balance? Bah! The Four Nations are done for. The line of avatars is broken. It's time for something new.”

A metal projectile slung from Lu Gun’s hand, so fast Yaosen barely saw the motion and only just managed to slip out of its way.

“Let me guess,” said the monk, “A mountain of bodies for you to plant your own flag upon.”

A line of white fire cut toward the Earthbreaker and it almost cut right through the stone Lu Gun pulled up at the last second. He gave Yaosen’s skill an appreciative nod.

“A few hundred is hardly a mountain,” said Lu Gun gesturing to the village below, “Are they worth giving up the opportunity to rebuild the Four Nations on a new continent. Think about it. A new nation run by my chosen metalbenders. Pay homage to me and you could build your own nation of lightbenders. You could be their king. What do you say monk? Join me?”

Surprisingly, the offer was not punctuated by a bullet. Lu Gun was actually offering him a chance to reform the Fire Nation’s hierarchy here in the Farwilds. And what was more surprising, Yaosen actually believed Lu Gun’s offer was sincere.

The man respected power, specifically in the bending arts, and Yaosen had proved himself an equal to the elite metalbender. A few months ago, all the Light Temple monk wanted was to earn his place in Fire Nation society, and now here he was with the chance to forge his own place in his own society. All he had to do was burn holes in all the wild benders that opposed him.

Wild benders like Duu and Fenri. Wild benders like Rook.

He looked down to the village below, at the pathetic defense they put up in the heart of the village while the Earthbreakers rained boulders down upon them from all along the ridgeline. The caldera that was supposed to be their protection had become their greatest threat. The village that was supposed to be safe from petty violence and Farwilds brutality would, in the end, be their prison and their tomb.

Yaosen looked back to Lu Gun and narrowed his eyes.

“The Farwilds already have their Four Nations,” said the monk, “You and I are stuck with the petty, broken world we made for ourselves.”

“Shame,” said Lu Gun, and he actually meant it. The metal bullet came out just as fast as the others, but Yaosen was ready for it. He ducked it and sent a ray of focused flame-

Yaosen stood frozen at the end of his last motion. He repeated it. But no fire came to hand.

Lu Gun didn’t waste an opportunity.

Yaosen was on the defensive in a flash, dodging for his life as his firebending motions still produced nothing, and he suddenly had no defense but frantic desperate movement.

Finally Lu Gun lifted a slab of rock so wide, Yaosen couldn’t hope to run out from under it. He dropped it on Yaosen who desperately launched a basic slashing defense of fire.

The scythe of fire came, thank the comet, but it was surly and red, barely forceful enough to split the rock and save Yaosen’s life, it was barely hot enough to warm Yaosen’s face, though he had sent all of his desperate energy into it. This was not the pure white or blue-violet he had achieved a moment ago.

Lu Gun smiled.

They both knew what was happening, though the monk didn’t know if this was the assassin’s express plan, or if it was just a happy consequence. Lu Gun had offered Yaosen exactly what the Light Templ monk’s heart desired: a place to belong, a way to prove himself worthy of an honored place in society, and Yaosen had turned it down flat. Yaosen’s purpose was gone, and with it, the will that fueled his firebending.

Lu Gun lifted a dozen rocks into the air. None would be fatal, but the monk couldn’t dodge them all. The Earthbreaker smiled. Now it was time for Yaosen to take his beating.