Lord of Fire

CHAPTER 29: AN APPARITION

Zuko felt a cold wash over his entire body. A sort of cold he had never felt since he came into this strange world. He could feel the incredible pain his body was in that his mind could just barely stay conscious. It was through his sheer will that he could barely contain his own thoughts.

Using all his strength he pushed through the pain and opened his eyes. The Sun was just about to set beyond the horizon and creater a magfinicent almost orange like energy of light that basked the area. The angle allowed the light to shine deeper into the cave of the entrance of the cave he had collapsed. Aang and Katara continued to lay on the hard cave floor completely unconscious. Feeling their bodies he felt the immense and almost ominous cold of the bodies. For but that moment his mind had forgotten that his entire body was still in cuts and bruises. Most of the blood had dried up but he still looked like a zombie in the outfit mixed with torn clothes and dry and slightly wet blood.

He scanned the environment for a moment carefully and noticed he was completely alone. Even the cave seemed empty and safe-ish. He hurried over to the forest ground and grapped some fire wood before returning. Deep in the cave and as far away from the entrance as possible he arranged the sticks into pyramid like shape. Using just the snap of his fingers he created a flame and bend it into the stack of wood. With just a little boost from his chi the fire became lively. Using this as the opportunity he hurried over to Katara and lifted her up from the ground and carried her over to the fire. He placed down her body not too near the fire but enough for her to feel its wamrth but not too close to perspire too much. He did the same thing with the limb body of Aang.

With all of that done he sat down on the floor and leaned back against the cave wall. He faced the entrance of the cave while carefully scanning for any movement in the shadows. As his nerves calmed and his body calmed the rush of pain washed over him yet again but he still refused to give in to the demands to sleep. Using his sheer will he stayed awake and looked towards the entrance of the cave. Time continued to pass and he just stared at the entrance. A minute turned into two, into five, into ten, twenty and thirty. Eventually a whole hour passed and Zuko was caught in some sort of trance at staring at the entrance.

"You are pushing yourself too much!" A familiar voice suddenly shook him from his trance.

He hurriedly looked over to Aang and Katara but they both layed unconscious.

"Did you already forget about us?" Another familiar voice came at him.

This time Zuko was sure he knew who the voices were. He closed his eyes and calmed his mind. As he returned to the familiar black cosom he noticed those three standing or rather hovering above nothing.

"You guys are still here?" Victor(Zuko) asked non challantly.

"Well we wont live until you dont need us anymore," Masuku answered after hesitation from David.

"We are here because your mind still thinks you need us or maybe just one of us and the other two are just part of the package," David added after regaining his composure.

"Interesing predicament I find myself huh?" Zuko asked.

"You need to rest now,"Masuku quickly changed the subject. "At the moment you are running on fumes."

"Suku is right," David agreed. "At this rate you might suffer long term injuries if you dont let your body rest and recover."

Obviously Victor agreed with their warnings but he still could not change the fact he was not completely sure they were safe. They were so far from the city but still could not completely lower his guard just yet.

"How about this?" Paul suddenly began as he noticed Victor deep in thought. "There mught be a way for us to act as a look out for you as you rest."

"Huh? How can that be?" Victor asked obviously.

"You have been blessed with an incredible amount of chi, almost on the same level as the Avatar." David began.

"Using all of your remaining chi one of us can appear in the real world as a sort of apparition or phantom." Mausku joined in. "We cannot interact with the physical world but we can act as a lookout while you just rest your body for a while. If any trouble arises we can quickly wake you before it gets too late to do anything about it."

Victor liked the idea very much although he could not help but feel a bit suspicious. It bothered him that they knew so much about this world, even more than he did. Of course they were also fans of the franchise as he was but the knowledge they seemed to possess went beyond that. Whether it was naivety or simply blind trust of his three best friends from high school he ignored the suspicion.

"I'm game," he agreed. "How exactly am I going to do this?"

The three looked to each other for a few seconds as if talking telepathically to each other. They then turned to Victor. Paul on the right hovered closer to him.

"Place your right hand on my chest. Raise all your chi and pour it into me. It will act as a tether connecting me to your body. It will also allow me the strength to appear in the physical world and not just in your mindscape." Paul explained.

Once again doubt crept into the mind of Victor but he ignored it and blindly trusted his friend. He raised his right arm and placed his hand at the chest of the very tall Paul. All his remaining chi he charged and poured it into the body of Paul. As the chi left his body he noticeably felt weaker. He didnt feel the same connection to fire he had before. Even the pain he was in increased ten fold. He literally could not stay awake anymore as his mind faded into unconsciousness.

Once again the three phantoms were left alone in the black cosom.

"Well that was easy?" Masuku said.

"Keep him alive," Paul added. "Alive and strong was what Vumala said."

"Remember that only he can see you now," David joined. "You must not give him any reason to doubt you."

"I could already see the suspicion and doubt in his eyes," Masuku added.

"I saw it too," Paul agreed. "If it was anyone else he might have already made up his mind about distrusting us."

"So for now you need to avoid giving him any reason not to trust you." David added. "You know how his mind works. It might not be on the same level as back on earth but it is still formidable."

Paul nodded to David in agreement and vanished from the dark emptiness.

"Are you sure about this?" Masuku asked to David after a period of silence. "I mean I know the plan but its still Victor dude."

"Its too late to have anymore reservations now." David answered. "We wouldn't be in this situation if it wasnt for Victor. We have our own goals just like he did on earth. We cannot afford to antagonize Vumala or 'him'."

"So now we wait." Masuku surrendered.

"Its all up to Paul now." David agreed.

---

The legendary King Bumi of the Earth Kingdom city of Oma Shu had gathered his top advisors and generals in the great hall of heroes. Along with them were a group of misfits known by their self proclaimed monikor as the Freedom Fighters. Additionally they were joined by the ever beautiful Suki and her boyfriend of sorts in Sokka of the southern water tribe.

"Are you serious about this my lord?" Tamutae questioned the orders of the king. "What if the Fire Nation invades?"

"There have been reports of a Fire Nation base to the north thats been armed to the teeth." Another General added.

"There are only a few strongholds left for the Earth Kingdom," Tamutae said. "We cannot afford to lose Oma Shu!"

"Watch your mouth young man. You are still talking to the king," Bumi showed his authority by staring a hole through the General. "The Fire Nation will not be invading for some time. The recovery of the Avatar is the best course of action. Only with him fighting by our side can we have any chance of winning this fight."

"King Bumi is right," Sokka joined in the conversation. "Without the Avatar this war is as good as over. Yes we might fight for a few more decades but we are simply delaying the inevitable."

"You might be right but we still cannot afford to live the rest of the city defenseless not to mention the nearby bases and villages." One of the advisors commented.

"We never said we wanted to live them defenceless," Sokka shot back.

"All we need is help defeating the Fire Nation Prince," Suki added. "As Jet and his crew can attest we cannot defeat him without some serious bending."

"Suki is right about all of that!" Jet agreed. "If it wasn't for King Bumi, everyone of the freedom fighters would be dead including me. You all saw the forest that was burnt black by him."

"King Bumi is the strongest earth bender in the world!" Sokka declared. "On our way over to the city, Prince Zuko himself stated that besides his father, the Fire Lord and his Uncle Iroh. There were very few people in the world who could even begin to think of challenging King Bumi."

Everyone finally seemed convinced by the words of the native of the southern water tribe.

"The Prince was correct actually," Tamutae agreed. "By my own estimation besides the Fire Lord and his brother there are maybe only three or four other people on the entire planet that can challenge King Bumi but it only makes my point more. We cannot afford to be without the King for long."

Silence proceeded the words of the highest ranking General.

"So let me propose an alternative," he proceeded. "I might not be on the same level as the King but I am still the strongest General not in Ba Sing Se. Let me join you in your journey to find the Fire Nation Prince and bring back the Avatar. That way we can be certain the city and the surrounding areas won't lose much protection."

[A/N: This marks the end of VOLUME 1. I decided to end it here because I had a long hiatus. I already started planning the next volume but in the mean time there will be a few filler chapters. As always you can read 10 to 20 chapters ahead on my patreon available now. 

patreon.com/ImperialFantasies]