It was always somewhat dark in the morning at the inverted Air Temple, because the rising sun on the horizon did not reach the buildings on the underside of the cliff until a little before noon. Kali had always been an earlier riser, even while recovering from injuries, so she found herself laying on her small makeshift bed unable to fall back asleep after waking from a strange dream that she couldn’t recall. Deciding she’d might as well get up, she sat up and looked around. A light and slightly illuminated fog covered the area, signalling that it was in fact very early. She checked the nearby cots of her companions. Three of them were empty: Zac’s, Aang’s, and Zuko’s.
Kali stood up and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She hadn’t slept very well, and her burns were acting up a little, stinging slightly. Thankfully, though, they no longer hurt to be touched. Curious, she wondered if the trio had left already to go to that… What was it again? The Sun Warrior civilization? The idea sounded pretty cool, and Kali wished she could tag along, but she knew that Zac needed to go and learn on his own.
With a yawn, she made her way out onto a part of the temple that was exposed to the open air, and, to her surprise, she saw Appa, the giant flying bison, sitting there in wait. He acknowledged her with a distinctive grumble, and Kali smiled back at him sheepishly.
“Do you know where Zac and the others are?” she asked, well aware that the bison couldn’t answer, though he did reply with another grumble.
As the sun begins to rise over the distant mountaintops, bathing the world in it’s golden rays, Zac watches the great orb from his perch on the edge of the temple, his legs hanging above the abyss below. He had been sitting there for hours, now, having barely slept since he bid his friends goodnight, what the darkness had said having been weighing heavily on his mind, such as it does now.
Am I really that useless? he wonders. I mean, I know I can fight, but the girls are getting stronger… What’ll happen to me when they realize I’m no good at planning ahead, that I’m just...dead weight?
At that moment, he hears Appa, the giant bison, grumble and turns to find Kali next to him. He opens his mouth to call to her, but something holds him back, making him, instead, turn back toward the steadily rising sun.
Appa’s eyes seemed to be looking somewhere else. Kali followed their gaze and saw a lone figure sitting on the temple’s edge, looking of into the distance toward the rising sun. Her heart hurt a little when she saw him there. She took in a deep breath and told herself that, hopefully, after this, he may feel a little bit better.
She walked up toward him from behind and placed her hands on her hips.
“Are you excited?” she inquired quietly.
Hearing his friend walk up behind him, then ask if he was excited, Zac looks up at Kali, attempting to fake a smile just for her sake, and says, “Oh, hey...Didn’t notice you.” Looking out back toward the sun, he adds, “Yeah...I guess you could say I am…”
Kali smiled back at him.
“That’s good,” she said. “I’m excited for you, too. I know you’ll learn something unforgettable.”
She took a step forward to come sit next to him for a few minutes when she heard a few footsteps coming toward them from further inside the temple. Kali stopped and turned to see Aang and Zuko walking toward them, both with a small pack of supplies.
“Kali!” Aang said in surprise. “You’re up early.”
Kali scratched her head with a shrug.
“I’m always up earlier,” she explained. “I’m just here to see you three off and to wish you all good luck.”
Aang nodded at her.
“Well thanks!” he said jovially. With a gush of wind, he jumped up onto Appa’s saddle and placed his supplies down. For a brief moment, Kali turned to look at Zuko. She gave him a questioning look in an attempt to silently ask him if he had talked to Aang about keeping an eye on Zac. Zuko understood the gesture and nodded assuringly to Kali who subsequently let out a small sigh of relief.
“We’re all ready to go!” Aang called from the top of Appa’s back. “All aboard!”
Kali turned to Zac and crossed her arms nervously.
“Stay safe,” she told him. “And tell me how it goes.”
Zac, who had risen to his feet, looks down at Kali and, yet again, forces another smile. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulls her into a hug and says, “I will.”
That said, he releases his friend and walks over to Appa. Before he climbs onto the bison’s back, he turns to Kali and says, “Tell Althea I said hi.” That said, he climbs on and settles down in the back of Appa’s platform, away from Aang and Zuko, waiting to take off.
“Bye, Kali!” Aang called out to the brunette before grabbing the reins and shouting, “Yip yip!”
With a roar of effort, Appa kicked his powerful tail, sending them soaring into the air. First they dipped a little lower into the valley, but then jumped back up into the sky and out of view. Kali stood at the cliff’s edge for a moment, with her hands clasped over her chest, and, with a sigh, turned and walked slowly back into the temple.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a few hours of flying, Aang turned around from the front to face Zuko and Zac.
“All right,” he said, “How close are we?”
“I think we’re almost there,” Zuko answered.
Sitting toward the side, he turned and looked over the edge of his seat. The green landscape below changed to a more brown color, then to a sunkissed golden color. They were high up, but it looked like a bunch of clay ruins were built into the landscape. From the looks of it, it had been abandoned years ago.
Tugging on the reins, Aang lead Appa downwards. They descended lower and lower, and eventually landed in an open space in the ruins.
“Well, here we are,” Aang said, looking around at the ruins. “It looks kind of… dead.”
“The Sun Warriors disappeared centuries ago,” Zuko explained, standing up. “It’s been dead for years.” He jumped out of the saddle and landed on the stone ground, followed by Aang soon after.
“Well…” the young Avatar said expectantly. “Where do we go?”
Zuko turned to him with a puzzled face. “Well, I dunno…” he admitted. “Maybe we could just look around and find something interesting?”
“Great plan…” Aang grumbled with disappointment.
As Aang and Zuko walk off to explore the ruins, Zac hangs back a little, marvelling at how the ruins still seemed to be in great shape for being thousands of years old and abandoned.
However, he found himself unable to shake the feeling that he was being watched and opens his mouth to bring this up to his friends, only to realize they didn’t look as uncomfortable as he felt. Deciding not to make a fool out of himself, he keeps his mouth shut and quietly follows the duo.
The three of them continued through the ruins, mostly in silence. Aang occasionally looked at the walls, which were painted with exotic shapes and figures. There were people, plants, fire, and other unrecognizable shapes and objects, but the most prominent figures were shapes of curling dragons. The pictures probably told a story, but Aang couldn’t deduce what it was exactly.
“Why are there so many dragons?” Aang asked Zuko as they walked along.
“Firebending came from the dragons,” Zuko explained. “Just like how earthbending came from the badger-moles, and waterbending from the moon.”
“Ohhh,” Aang replied, looking at the pictures more closely.
“But they’re all extinct now,” Zuko added. “People used to kill them for honor. My uncle is the one who supposedly killed the last dragon in existence.”
“Really?” Aang asked, turning around.
“Yeah. But he’s changed a lot since then.”
After a few more minutes of wandering, the tall walls on either side of the trio opened up and they arrived at a large, open plaza. The floor was constructed from two different kinds of stones. One variety was lighter in color, while the other was much darker. At first glance, it looked like the stones were laid in no particular order, but upon observing it further, it created a vague picture. At the bottom, where Aang, Zuko, and Zac stood, primitive stick figures stood in a group. Above them, a cloud of darkness raged angrily above them. The image of a dragon swirled around in the sky and seemed to be blowing fire at the darkness, trying to banish it.
“Wow…” Aang said after looking at the picture of a few seconds. “I didn’t realize this darkness has been around for so long…”
Zac follows Aang and Zuko into the open plaza and feels his gaze immediately drawn upward to the dragon fighting off the darkness above. He attempts to look away, but finds himself unable to, as if the darkness were trying to pull him in. Accept it, Zacary, the voice within says. Allow yourself to succumb to the darkness.
“N...no…” he says quietly. Although he refuses, however, darkness slowly begins to crawl up his legs from his shadow, gradually covering his clothing and flesh in the cold blackness of shadow.
Immediately sensing something was wrong, Zuko and Aang turned around to face Zac. In shock, they both realized that he was on the verge of losing his control, just like Kali had warned. This wasn’t good; neither of them knew how to stop or defend themselves against the darkness.
“Zac!” Zuko called out, taking a step forward. “It’s okay, Zac! We’re here! Just, calm down…”
Seeing Zuko step forward, Zac takes three steps back as the darkness continues to spread further up his body, making Zac use every bit of his willpower to keep himself from turning right away. “Stay back!” he yells, his eyes beginning to glow yellow. “If you don’t wanna get yourselves killed, leave me alone!” Poor, poor Zacary, the voice says. Doomed to be alone, to be hated and feared by everyone. Holding his head in his hands, he yells, seemingly to no one in particular, “Shut up! Just shut the hell up, already!”
Aang and Zuko looked at one another confusedly.
“He’s really suffering,” Aang said, feeling empathetic pain for Zac.
“How can we help him?” Zuko asked quietly.
“I don’t know,” Aang answered honestly. “I don’t want to bend at him and risk hurting him…”
Aang turned to Zac and held out his hands.
“Zac, please! We’re your friends! You can fight the darkness! Don’t let it overtake you! You’re stronger than it!”
Zac continues to struggle for a few more moments before his body suddenly relaxes. Hunched over, his arms hanging down, he whispers three words: “No...I’m not.”
Suddenly, darkness begins pouring from his body, the force of it pushing against Aang and Zuko as the darkness, now free to do as it pleased, completely covers his body. Slowly, the force of the darkness weakens until it’s nothing but a couple of wisps trailing up from various parts of Zac’s body like smoke.
The thing that used to be Zac slowly raises it’s head and regards the two young men in front of him with his glowing golden eyes, as if assessing their strengths. Then, with surprising speed, he charges toward Aang, his clawed hand poised to strike.
Aang, in complete shock, quickly jumped backwards with a puff of his air to propel him further than normal.
“Whoa!” he shouted in surprise.
“Aang!” Zuko yelled, watching him fly backwards. He quickly realized that Zac was now closer to him, and he didn’t know what to do. He seemed to have gone through some kind of transformation… Had Kali or Althea ever seen him like this?
Either way, Zuko knew one thing: he had no bending. So he ran.
“Let’s go, Aang!” he yelled as he ran past him. “We can’t risk hurting him!”
Aang nodded and darted away as well, following Zuko’s footsteps.
Watching Zuko and Aang run off, Zac lowers himself into a crouch before taking off after them on all fours, bounding from the floor to whatever walls might be present as he chases the two of them with a kind of agility that would make even lifelong free-runners jealous.
Soon, he digs his claws into a wall and aims his hand at the fleeing pair. A sphere of dark energy forms in his palm before shooting off toward Zuko and Aang, splitting up into four tendrils of darkness that seem to seek the pair.
“Look out!” Aang shouted as he saw the darkness that Zac had blasted from his hand, but his warning was too late. The tendrils smacked into both of them, sending them sprawling further down the path they were on.
They both laid on their back for a second and struggled to stand back up.
“That really packed a punch,” Zuko said, wiping some dirt from his mouth.
“We can’t stick around to find out what else he’s capable of doing,” Aang told him. He stood up and held out his hand to Zuko, measuring the distance between them and the fastly accelerating figure of darkness that was pursuing them.
“Hang on tight!” Aang said. Zuko grabbed his hand, and Aang released a burst of air which sent them straight up into the air, and, with another blast of wind, the flew off toward the right over one of the walls. They landed on their feet, Zuko more shakily than Aang.
“Let’s keep moving,” Aang said, and they took off running down another pathway.
Do you see? the voice says. No one wants to be friends with a monster like you. See how they run away? It’s as if they’re just desperate to prove me right.
Although Zac refuses to believe it, he still can’t help but feel, deep down inside of his heart, that the voice might be right. In the outside world, Zac, still in his Heartless form, releases a loud cry of anger, hatred, and anguish, feeding off of the traces of negative emotion in his heart.
Holding both hands out in front of him, facing off to the right of where Zuko and Aang took off, a large sphere of darkness forms in front of his palms moments before being released in a large beam, destroying the buildings in front of him while missing Zuko and Aang completely, but close enough for them to see the destruction it causes.
Zuko and Aang glanced behind them as they ran when they heard the sound of a deafening explosion erupt from where Zac had been. A temple shook as part of it crumbled to the ground, looking evne more like a ruin than it had before.
“Where did all that power come from?” Aang wondered aloud.
“The darkness inside him,” Zuko answered grimly. “I sort of know what that feels like…”
“You mean with firebending?”
“Yeah,” Zuko replied. “He can’t be stopped. Not like he is now. We just need to keep running so we can stay safe.”
Aang nodded and they continued running, hoping that Zac wouldn’t find and continue chasing them.
Zac jumps up onto the roof and looks around, searching for his quarry. Suddenly, his vision turns black, the buildings outlined in a shade of blue only a shade brighter than the background. As he looks, he can make out two points of light moving away from him. Their hearts, the voice inside says. Go, seal your fate.
Zac moves to chase after them, but stops, his body rigid. Why do you still resist, Zacary? Why not just give into the darkness, accept the incredible power bestowed upon you.
Long moments pass until Zac replies, his voice strong inside his heart, If hurting my friends is the only way to be strong, then I don’t want it.
Suddenly, Zac’s shadow-possessed body lets out another roar as it clutches it’s head once more, darkness once again pouring from his body, forming a massive black tower that stretches into the dark sky above.
Zuko and Aang stopped suddenly when a loud roar echoed behind them. This time, when they looked, an ominous tower of dark energy jutted straight upward into the sky, visible for miles.
“What is that?” Aang cried out in horror.
Zuko furrowed his brows.
“Something not good.”
“Zuko, we can’t just leave him there,” Aang said.
“We can’t go back!” Zuko argued, stunned at what Aang had said. “He’s too dangerous, he’ll hurt you!”
“He needs help.” Aang’s tone was definitive, and without another word, he summoned his glider and shot off into the sky toward the column of darkness. He circled around it a few times and could feel negativity radiating from it. It was overbearing, but Aang remained unfazed.
“Zac!” he called out in his loudest voice. “Snap out of it!”
While his body seems to be in anguish, inside of his heart, Zac argues with the darkness. What do you mean, ‘your friends?’ it says. I’ve told you, they don’t care about you! They deserve what comes to them!
You’re wrong! Zac fires back. Althea, Kali, and I have known each other for as long as I can remember! They wouldn’t abandon me just because I’m not as smart as them!
Haven’t you seen how the two of them speak to one another when they go off together? Haven’t you seen how they both look at that Zuko guy? They know he’s a much better person to have on their side than you!
Zac could see that the darkness was beginning to falter. It was literally using anything and everything it could to back up its’ side. Realizing this, Zac chuckles, then says, You obviously don’t know my friends as well as I do. Thinking about Kali, about Althea, he says, You don’t know anything.
Outside, the tower of darkness, which seemed to have punched a hole through the layer of darkness far above, revealing a red-orange sky as the sun sets, begins to thin out until it disappears, revealing Zac, kneeling and his head hanging.
Aang’s eyes widened when he saw the tower of darkness begin to falter and, finally, dissipate, leaving Zac kneeling on the ground with his head hanging down. Aang’s heart beat quickly as he swooped downward.
“Zac!”
He flew by and landed a couple yards away from the boy’s figure. Just then, Zuko appeared behind Aang, out of breath. He had just run to catch up.
“Zac, are you alright?” Zuko called out nervously.
Zac chuckles weakly and, lifting his head as he opens his eyes, revealing his normal, golden-brown color, says, “Just peachy.”
He attempts to rise to his feet, but falls back to his knees, groaning. “My entire body feels sore,” he groans, feeling as if someone was constantly stabbing needles into his muscles all over his body.
Both Aang and Zuko gave a collective sigh of relief with Zac’s lighthearted reply, but they both rushed forward to help him when he staggered down to his knees after attempting to stand. They came to his side and held him steady.
“Just try to take it easy,” Zuko said.
“Yeah, don’t strain yourself,” Aang agreed.
Of course Zac’s body would be sore. If only he had seen the almost superhuman feats he just pulled of. The young avatar and the fire prince wondered how many more outbursts like that his body would be able to endure.
“We can take you back to Appa and--”
Suddenly, Aang stopped talking. Immediately, he jumped up from Zac’s side and donned his glider at his side.
“Who’s there?” he called out.
Out of nowhere, a quick slinging noise rung out and a thin rope with a rock attached at the end flung by Aang’s shoulder. Then, a barrage of these roped pebbles came flying from seemingly nowhere, like they were coming out of the walls. The pebbles themselves didn’t hurt at all, but Aang quickly realized that the pebbles weren’t for hitting.
“Aang, it’s a trap!” Zuko called from Zac’s side.
But it was too late for the three of them. The weighted ropes quickly tangled them, and the more they struggled the more they found it hard to move. The pebbles kept coming, and eventually, they were left on the ground, completely immobile and covered in the strange, seemingly unbreakable ropes.
Aang, struggling on the ground, caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. At the end of the alleyway there were in, a crowd of people emerged. They were covered in facepaint, headdresses, and all the males were naked from the waist up. They wielded spears and other primitive-looking weapons.
They came up to the group and they picked up each of them.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Aang cried out, struggling to break free.
They didn’t respond.
“Just stay calm,” Zuko advised him from behind. Aang did as he was told and they allowed the strange people to carry them for what seemed like an hour. From Aang’s horizontal angle, he had a hard time figuring where exactly they were going, but they ended up inside a large, open-air temple with a great fire burning in the middle, surrounded by beautiful, painted stone flooring. The group of painted people set the trio down on the floor, and a tall and fat man emerged from the group in front of them. With a snap of his fingers, the ropes around their bodies disintegrated into ash.
“What were you doing in our sacred city?” the man’s booming voice inquired. “For trespassing on our sacred ground, you will be severely punished!”
Aang and Zuko looked at one another in confusion.
“We didn’t come here to trespass, we’re looking for the ancient origin of all firebending,” Zuko explained.
“Yeah right,” said a man next to the chief. “They’re obviously thieves, here to steal Sun Warrior treasures.”
Sun Warrior treasures? These were the Sun Warriors? They must’ve survived all this time!
“Please,” Aang pleaded. “I don’t normally play this card but… I’m the Avatar.”
That seemed to help, because the chief and the other man looked at each other hesitantly for a second.
“Just hear us out,” Aang said.
“My name is Zuko,” the fire prince said. “I’m the crown prince of the Fire Nation… Or, at least I used to be. I know my people have distorted the ways of firebending to be fueled by anger and rage… But now I want to learn the true way, the original way. When we came here, I never imagine the Sun Warrior civilization was secretly alive. I am truly humbled to be in your presence. Please. Teach us.”
“What about that boy?” the chief asked with a straight face, referring to Zac. “Does he firebend too?”
“No, not exactly,” Aang cut in quickly, not wanting them to get off topic. “But he has a similar problem. We need your help.”
The chief stared at them for a moment and said, “If you wish to learn the ways of the Sun, you must learn them from the Masters, Ran and Shaw.”
“Ran and Shaw?” Aang asked. “There are two of them?”
The chief ignored his question and stepped closer to the trio.
“When you present yourselves to them, they will examine you. They will read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry…” He said the last part looking intently at Prince Zuko. “If they deem you worthy, they’ll teach you. If they don’t… you’ll be destroyed. On the spot.”
Aang gulped.
“If you wish to see the Masters, you must bring them a piece of the Eternal Flame,” he explained, pointing toward the smoldering fire. “This fire is the very one. It was given to man by the dragons. We have kept it going for thousands of years.”
“I don’t believe it…” Zuko murmured.
“You will each take a piece of it to the Masters, to show your commitment to the sacred art of firebending.”
The chief pulled some tongues of fire from the central one and he held it in his palms and carefully distributed it to Zuko and Aang, who caught his fire very tentatively. Suddenly, the two of them looked at Zac questioningly.
“Were you the one who nearly destroyed our city?” the chief asks.
Zac nearly averts his gaze from the older man’s, but meets his eyes unflinchingly, somehow knowing that it would be best if the chief could look into his eyes, where he could see for himself if Zac was lying or not. “Yes,” he answers, causing a buzz of conversation among the people surrounding them. After a few moments, he continues, “I was the cause of it all, but I didn’t mean to.”
Reaching up, he places his hand over his heart and says, “The problem these two told you about is what you saw. I have no control of the darkness in my heart and it’s constantly fighting me for control. Even now, I can feel it stirring, waiting for me to drop my guard. If I do, I turn into that...that thing again...and I’m not sure I could come back if it happens again…”
The chief looks at Zac for a few long moments before turning to some guards nearby. “Take these two and show them the way to Ran and Shaw. Leave this one here.”
The rest of the Sun Warriors began to move toward them and open up a way that lead off to two craggy mountains in the distance. Aang and Zuko stood up, but they both looked concernedly at Zac. They were certain the chief would not be pleased at all with him. He was angry enough at them already for trespassing, but destroying half of their town? That was a whole ‘nother thing.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Aang whispered to Zuko but keeping one eye always glued on his little fire.
“He’ll be fine. He knows how to protect himself,” Zuko responded.
“We’ll be back, Zac,” Zuko called out to him before the guards moved in closer, forcing them down the stairs and on their journey to meet the Masters.
Once they were gone, the chief’s advisor instantly says, “We should put him to death, my lord.”
Hearing that, Zac only looks down at the ground, having already decided that was his fate. However, the chief says, “No. It isn’t his fault that had happened.”
Looking up, Zac looks into the chief’s eyes, but sees nothing to tell him why the man came to that decision. His advisor says, “But, my lord, he destroyed half of our city! He must be punished!”
The chief looks at the thin man and says, “Why should I punish a man whose actions were not his own?” Looking back at Zac, he says, “Looking into this young man’s eyes, I can see he speaks the truth and he would not purposely cause the damage he did.”
Before his advisor can argue any further, the chief says to Zac, “Come. I want to speak to you.”
Zac wastes no time in scrambling to his feet and following the heavy-set man, feeling the advisors’ eyes on the back of his neck as he passes. Once they were alone, Zac opens his mouth to ask why the chief decided to spare him, but the older man says, “I didn’t spare you for your sake. I did so for your friends. I can see in your eyes that you possess great power and I know that you would make a valuable asset if you could learn to harness it.”
Soon, they come to a large, open room. “Sit there,” the chief says, pointing in the middle of the room. As Zac does so, the older man says, “From the way your other self cried, I could tell your power seems to stem from rage, much like the type of firebending the Prince’s people use. If I’m correct, you could learn to control it if you found the true reason you have this power.”
“What’s the true reason?” Zac asks.
The chief offers a grim smile and says, “That is for you to discover. Now...sleep.”
Suddenly, Zac’s vision fades as his head lolls forward, his consciousness fading.
Opening his eyes, Zac finds himself in a large, black space. Looking down, he sees that he was standing on top of a large tower with what looked like a stained glass floor, depicting an image of himself in a forward-facing view with a large, black hand behind him. Feeling a presence behind him, he says without looking behind him, “There you are. We need to have a talk.”
The swirling darkness behind him flowed back and forth in a fury, radiating malevolence.
“Hello again, Zacary,” it chuckled, unnervingly calm. “Have you come to grovel and seek more power?”
Zac chuckles and says, “Please. Like I need any help from you.” Turning around, he faces the swirling mass of darkness and says, “I just came to talk to you.” Taking a deep breath, he uses his most assertive voice and says, “This is my body, whether you like it or not. So, as long as you’re here, you’re gonna play by my rules or not at all, got it?”
The darkness hissed at his assertiveness.
“Such insolence…” it seethed. “Do you think it’s that easy to control the darkness? I am a part of you, Zacary, ingrained deep into your heart.” A tendril of darkness leaps forward and whips a few times around the dark hand that is visible behind Zac’s form on the stained glass.
“The darkness has always been here…” it continued. “You need the darkness. Without it, you’re useless.”
“I know,” Zac says. “I’m not denying that. But if I have to decide between giving myself over to you and letting you destroy everything I know and love or I get killed without using the darkness, I’d choose the latter every time. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my friends, even if I die.”
Then, he smiles and holds a hand out to the darkness, saying, “But, those aren’t our only options. You may be strong, but we can be even stronger if we work together to protect everyone. We wouldn’t have to waste energy fighting one another if we worked as one.”
The darkness bubbled, pondering Zac’s proposition. Normally, the darkness never cut corners or made compromises. But Zac made it obvious that he wasn’t going to give up fighting it, and that he would even opt to cut it off completely.
“Zacary Yoxall…” it boomed. “Your obstinance has won you a compromise… For now.”
With that, the darkness surged forward and began to swirl around Zac at high speeds. Slowly, it closed in on him and began to seep into his skin and his veins.
“Be careful what you wish for,” it reminded him ominously, coming out as a voice in his head. “With great power comes great responsibility…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slowly, Zac reopens his eyes to find himself back in the room with the chief. “Have you solved your problem?” he asks as Zac rises to his feet. Zac notices the man’s eyes were fixed somewhere to his left.
Looking down, his eyes widen as he realizes what the man was staring at: his left arm, instead of it’s usual flesh and blood, was now pitch-black and cold to the touch. His fingers each ended in a sharp-looking point, as if his fingers had become talons, and small wisps of darkness circled his arm. Chuckling dryly, he mutters, “I guess I’m not surprised. I should’ve known something like this would’ve happened.”
Looking at the chief, he asks, “How long was I out?”
“A few hours,” the chief says. “Your friends have returned while you were unconscious and wanted to be let back here, but it was too dangerous. While you were unconscious, part of you transformed, so I didn’t want them back here in case you woke up early. They’re waiting for you outside.” Zac nods his thanks and follows the chief out of the room.
Zac and Aang were waiting for them outside. Both of them had, somehow, managed to successfully rekindle their firebending abilities and had survived their scary encounter with Ran and Shaw. They were chatting idly in the open-air temple where they had started. Appa sat outside nearby, his saddle packed and ready to go.
When the chief and Zac had returned, they both turned to him with smiles, awaiting to hear how his adventure went and eager to tell him about how theirs had gone. However, the words got caught in their mouth as soon as they saw his left arm: it had completely changed. Instead of his normal skin, it was now pitch black and his fingers were complemented with five dark claws.
“Whoa!” Aang shouted, stepping back in surprise.
“Zac!” Zuko said, rubbing his eyes. “What happened to your arm?!”
Zac looks down at his arm and the thin wisps of darkness swirling around it and grins at his friends. Holding it up, he says, “What, this? Don’t worry, it’s nothing to be worried about. It’s just a sign that I’ve gotten stronger.”
Looking at his arm, he concentrates for a few moments. The darkness swirls around his arm faster, growing thicker as it spins, and begins gathering around his hand. A moment later, a large, black blade juts out from where his hand should be. As it vanishes, Zac says, “And I’m pretty sure that’s not the extent of my power. I just have to figure out what else I can do.”
The young Avatar and the prince started at Zac in awe for a moment before glancing at each other. Zuko shrugged and Aang nodded. They both turned back to him and smiled.
“Well that’s good news,” Zuko said, “and we have good news too.”
On cue, Aang stepped forward and held out his palm. A small column of bright orange fire swirled upward and then dissipated outwards in a puff of sweet-smelling smoke.
“Ta-daa!” Aang grinned at Zac and Zuko.
Zuko turned to Zac and performed the same move to show that he too had gotten back his bending.
“Oh, and we should head back soon,” Zuko reminded both of them, nodding to Appa who grunted in response. “We don’t want the others to think we’ve gone missing.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Zac says. Turning to the chief, he asks, “Uh, do you have any bandages or something? I, uh...don’t want my friends to see this, just yet.”
The chief nods, knowing that the young man was afraid of what his friends would think, and sends one of his servants to go get the bandages. A few minutes later, Zac’s left arm was completely wrapped up in bandages, the darkness covering it hidden from sight. Turning to Aang and Zuko, he says, “Alright, ready when you are.”
Zuko nodded and the trio mounted Appa.
“Remember to keep us a secret!” the chief reminded him. The group agreed that they would, and with another grunt from Appa and a “Yip-yip!” from Aang, they went soaring into the sky.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After another couple hours, the familiar canyon that marked the hiding place of the inverted Western Air Temple appeared on the horizon. However, by that time, it was the dead of night and when they arrived in the main part of the temple, everyone was fast asleep. Quietly, they dismounted.
“I guess we’ll have to tell them all about our adventure in the morning,” Aang whispered with a smirk.
“Yeah,” Zac agrees, looking down at his hand as he flexes his fingers, loosening the bandages around them to make his hand move more easily. Looking up at Aang and Zuko, seeing their concern in their eyes, he grins easily and says, “I’m alright, really. I’m just trying to get used to this.”
As he walks into the building his friends were sleeping in, he says, “Good night, guys. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night…” Aang said rather tentatively, watching Zac leave. Once he was out of earshot, Aang turned to look at Zuko.
“He… does seem to be in control now,” Zuko said, reading his thoughts.
“But his arm…” Aang replied.
“Well, think about it, Aang. If he could consciously control himself while he was that… thing earlier, he’d have a lot of power at his disposal.”
“Don’t you think there’s any other way for him to attain power?” Aang pressed.
Zuko shook his head.
“I don’t know. They’re not from here, remember. For now, though, he seems to be okay. We won’t say anything.”
Hesitantly, Aang nodded and the two of them walked off to their bedrooms for the night. In a few hours, the sun would rise again and it would be a new day.
