Chapter 41: The Vulture (5)

The soldiers of Zhao stood in stunned silence as the eyes of the numerous Avatar statues blazed with light. The quiet disappeared only when the radiance abruptly ceased, replaced by a low rumble of conversation as the soldiers discussed the incomprehensible phenomenon. Isolating Zhao’s voice from the general murmuring, I focused on him.

“So he’s alive…” the Captain whispered, mesmerized.

Unfortunately, besides that single phrase, which merely confirmed Princess Azula’s earlier words, nothing else useful came from him.

The entire world believed the Avatar had been permanently eliminated after the destruction of the Air Nomads. Only a small fraction of people were certain the Master of All Elements was still alive and merely in deep hiding. Azula had told me that even certain members of the Fire Nation royal family adhered to the view that the Avatar no longer existed, including herself and the current Fire Lord.

I don't know why the Avatar entered this special state, but by doing so, he drew the attention of everyone without exception. It was a declaration, a statement. And it most certainly landed. It landed on everyone. Now, everyone in the world would know that the Keeper of the Balance and the most powerful bender of all had begun to act.

My priorities were rapidly being re-evaluated—specifically, what I wanted from this world. The Avatar was alive. This changed everything. The desire to meet him and speak with him became unbearable. After all, he was just like me…

According to rumors, the Avatar reincarnated into this world again and again. Once he died, he was simply reborn in a different vessel. And this wasn't mere reincarnation. The numerous scrolls I’d managed to read mentioned that the Avatar possesses the wisdom of his past lives, meaning he retains his memory after death!

My hands started shaking with excitement. My heart pounded furiously. My breath hitched.

In the Avatar, I saw a kindred spirit. Perhaps even a mentor who could show me how to live correctly when you cannot die. He could explain the meaning of an endless existence. He could guide me to the true path.

I glanced around. Azula, Zhao, the Fire Nation soldiers, and the citizens of the Si Wong Desert… they suddenly became utterly insignificant to me the moment I heard the news that the Master of All Elements, my compatriot in perpetual rebirths, was alive.

I was about to make an impulsive decision, to leave the Princess and Zhao, abandon their company, and set off in search of the Avatar, when the ground violently shook from the impact of something clearly very heavy. Barely keeping my feet, I looked around. To my right, several meters above the floor, a pair of enormous red eyes glowed. The Buzzard Wasp Queen that Zhao had been searching for had finally arrived. It seemed she had been hanging from the ceiling all this time, studying us.

A buzzing sound followed. In the next second, the enormous Buzzard Wasp scattered Zhao's entire squad. Her equally massive beak struck several men lying on the floor. They were killed before they could even scream. A person rarely survives being severed in two. And the Wasp wasn't biting the bodies; she was striking them with her beak. The force of the impact was so great that the floor shook again, and the men who were struck were instantly torn apart.

“Get up! Surround the Queen! Kill the beast! Avoid the strikes!” Zhao’s commands rang out, helping the stunned soldiers pull themselves together and start fighting back.

I hadn't noticed Azula approach me and grab my forearm. I wanted to roughly remove her hand, but something stopped me.

“Let’s go. Let Zhao’s men deal with the Queen. We shouldn’t risk ourselves needlessly in a fight with this monster.”

Hesitating for a second, my gaze fixed on the corridor leading up, I ultimately followed Princess Azula. We hid behind the statues of the Avatar’s past incarnations and watched the battle between Zhao’s group and the Buzzard Wasp Queen. The monster had the advantage. The Queen dominated the Captain’s men thanks to her huge size. But that very size also became the cause of her defeat. The Buzzard Wasp was an easy target. Although her chitin seemed incredibly tough, minor wounds were still appearing on it. Soon, Zhao realized the need to focus attacks on a single spot. For some reason, the Queen’s most vulnerable spot turned out to be under her abdomen. Not her neck, like the other Buzzard Wasps—that was incredibly tough, so much so that one soldier even shattered his sword against it. 

As Zhao’s fighters and the Captain himself shredded the Queen’s belly with every attack imaginable, she, in turn, annihilated them. The Captain’s group was visibly diminishing. Literally every second, someone was dying. The Buzzard Wasp actively used her beak and numerous limbs. Several impaled bodies even dangled from the Queen’s sharp legs. One of the fighters was still alive and screaming desperately, begging for an end to the monstrous torture. Thankfully, a man took pity on him and severed his head with a sand sickle. But this act of mercy cost the bender his own life. Distracted by the soldier skewered on the wasp’s leg, the bender missed a beak attack and met his end.

The Queen, like the other Buzzard Wasps, was an intelligent animal, so at one point, she decided simply to drop onto her belly and crush the lingering men of Zhao. She then rolled several times, which further increased the casualties in the Captain’s group. But victory in this bloody battle ultimately went to the humans. At an enormous cost, with no more than two dozen men left in his squad, Zhao defeated the Buzzard Wasp Queen.

“Si Wong Rock, all this miraculous ore is ours now!” Zhao let out a victorious cry, raising his fist above his head. “We will smelt it and…”

“So that’s what you needed here…” a voice came from behind the Captain, forcing him to interrupt his speech.

Zhao tried to turn around, but in that very instant, he was run through with a sword. Blood flowed from his mouth and the wound on his chest. Azula, who had dealt the fatal blow, appeared before Zhao’s eyes.

“The Fire Nation doesn’t like traitors, Captain Zhao. Former Captain, to be precise.”

Zhao recognized Azula’s voice. He looked at the girl with hatred, spat out the word “Princess”, and collapsed face-down onto the floor, silenced forever. A pool of his own blood immediately began to form under the body of the slain Captain.

Azula dispensed with her disguise, slightly raised her hands, and ignited her blue flames.

“Shall we dance?” she asked the survivors with a defiant expression.

Zhao’s soldiers, who had heard rumors of the Princess's power, took several steps back in fear, then turned completely and ran towards the exit of the man-made underground cave. However, the only way up was blocked by a suddenly appearing wall of fire, in front of which I now stood.

The slaughter continued…

…

Twisting the neck of the dead Captain's last remaining soldier, I straightened up and walked towards Azula, who was sitting on one of the Buzzard Wasp Queen’s legs. She was looking at her slightly damaged manicure with interest.

“And, Long, can you take care of nails too?” Azula asked, without much hope for a positive answer.

“Yes, Princess,” I nodded.

She looked at me in surprise.

“Before serving in the military, did you by any chance own your own beauty salon? Or did you work in such a place?”

“No, I was just a simple village boy…”

“You’ll have to tell me sometime where you acquired so many surprising skills that aren’t typical of your background.”

“I can do that right now. I was raised by my mother alone. She passed all her knowledge on to me. And when I say all, I truly mean it. She was the one who taught me how to properly care for hair, apply makeup, do manicures, and much more.”

The lie was quite simple, so it wasn’t hard for me to remember it. Princess Azula couldn't possibly verify my words. And why would she? Furthermore, she doesn’t suspect that the word ‘manicure’ had never even been uttered in my native village. For her, the daily life of ordinary people is still a dark forest, especially for village folk. Azula is highly knowledgeable in many things, but the everyday lives of people in her country’s colonies certainly weren't part of her lessons.

“That’s quite strange… teaching a boy such skills. Were you close with your mother, Long? I’m almost envious…”

“Life in the village is simply incredibly boring, and we occupied our time however we could,” I shrugged. “My mother loved me…” Azula’s face grew sullen. “Only up to a certain point, though. When she realized I was a Firebender, her parental feelings for me cooled.”

Azula looked at me with renewed surprise. The lighting helped me read her emotions. The Buzzard Wasp Queen she was sitting on, and the corpses of Zhao’s soldiers, were slowly burning. Fortunately, the cave had marvelous ventilation. That was the only reason no one had suffocated during the descent. The Captain’s men certainly produced a lot of smoke…

“We are alike, Long… You could even say we are kindred spirits.”

I strongly doubted that, but I didn't try to change Azula’s mind.

She elegantly rose to her feet and approached me. A satisfied smile was on the Princess’s face. Azula placed her hands on my shoulders and leaned in for a kiss. I wrapped my arms around her waist and did not refuse.

It was me who had to pull away first. Azula was getting into it and was ready to go further right here and now… amid the corpses of the men and the Wasp Queen. I wasn’t squeamish. It’s just that I had a different goal before me now.

“Princess, what do we do next?”

In truth, a lot depended on Azula’s answer, including her own life. She had nursed an extremely dangerous snake at her breast.

“I was thinking of continuing the search for Wan Shi Tong’s Library,” my hands squeezed Azula’s waist slightly, “but without people, finding it will be extremely difficult. Especially since Zhao himself, who had been there once, couldn't find it for several years. We are changing the objective of our journey. From now on, we search for the Avatar.”

“Very well, Princess.”

My grip loosened. I leaned in towards Azula’s lips… With the Princess’s resources, finding the Avatar would be easier than doing it alone. Therefore, I’ll stay by her side for now. Magic, knowledge from the Library… none of that is as important right now. My kindred spirit awaits me—the one who can finally explain the purpose of my endless existence, or at least how not to fall into despair, for example, from the constant losses that are an obligatory complement to our lives.

If Azula had chosen to continue the search for the Library… I would have had to dispose of her. She wouldn’t simply let me go. Leaving the Princess alive and just walking away would doom me to trouble. Azula would guaranteed interpret that as betrayal. I would be chasing the Avatar while she, meanwhile, would be chasing me. It's fortunate that we now share the same goal.

During this kiss, Azula herself pulled away.

“Before we leave this place, we need to search it. Nothing is known about this temple. Perhaps we'll find something valuable and useful.”

“Sounds reasonable, Princess.”