Burning Chapter 21: Puppet Master

“Quick, we can still get to them,” Aang said, sifting through the piles of debris that’d filled the hole. “We need to move all this wood out of the way.”

Taking a deep breath, he threw his hands forward, exhaling deeply as a massive gust of air rushed through the hole, pushing everything back for a moment, only for the hallway to once more seal itself as the debris rushed back.

“No.” Clenching his hands shut, he threw his fist forward, sending a stream of fire and air that exploded against the debris, causing the room to shake violently. “NO!”

Feeling an arm on his shoulder, he looked over to see Katara standing by his side while Ty Lee stood a little further back, looking a little startled.

“I know you’re worried, but getting angry about it isn’t going to solve anything,” Katara said softly. “We need to figure out what our next step is. If we can’t go through the hallway, maybe we can find another way around.”

That might have worked earlier, but the spirit had long since disappeared. There was no way they’d be able to track it now. They could probably regroup outside and then figure out what to do after that.

Leaning against the wall, he let out a tired sigh. This was just supposed to be a place for them to stay while it rained. If he’d known that it’d turn out like this...

“We never should have come here.”

“I’m sorry,” The girl murmured softly. “This is all my fault, I really didn’t mean for all this for all this to happen, I just...” Trailing off, she hugged her legs to the chest, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze. “I was lonely and when I saw you guys in town, I wanted to get a closer look...”

“Don’t say that, it’s not your fault,” Katara said, sitting down beside her. “If anything, it’s that thing out there’s fault. You had nothing to do with it. You’re Kue, aren’t you?”

Nodding slowly, she kept her gaze focused on the ground.

“But... Now you’re stuck here with me,” Kue lamented. “And your friends are gone too.” Covering her face, she let out a quiet sob. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean it.”

“Hey, now, there’s no need to worry. They’ll find a way out,” Katara hummed reassuringly. “Sokka’s really resourceful and Honō has experience with this sort of thing. He once even went to the Spirit World with Aang to find our dad... What’re you still doing in this place?”

Settling down a little, Kue wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

“But...This is my home, where else would I go?” She asked softly. Looking over at Aang, she shyly hid her face behind her sleeve. “Did you really go to the Spirit World? Papa used to talk about the Spirit World and how it was really dangerous and difficult to get to.”

“A spirit helped get us across and, well... I’m the Avatar, so it’s not as dangerous for me,” Aang answered. “Actually, do you think that you could tell us what happened here? If we can find out why this spirit’s here to begin with, we might be able to put a stop to it.”

And find Sokka and Honō in the process.

Kue’s eyes widened. “You’re the Avatar? Then maybe you really can help. This village wasn’t always like this. There used to be lots of people here, but then...” Looking away, she let out a soft sigh. “Everything changed when the war reached the Earth Kingdom’s shores.”

“But wasn’t that like decades ago?” Ty Lee asked suddenly, before wincing. “Sorry... I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Nodding Kue continued.

“Papa and the other villagers were really worried when the Fire Nation started moving inland. They always used to say that something needed to be done and that if the Earth Kingdom wasn’t going to help, then they needed to take matters into their own hands.”

With how the village had turned out, whatever they’d done obviously hadn’t worked as they’d intended.

“Then one day, papa said that we had a new protector... A spirit that would take care of our village,” Kue continued. “People asked for lots of things, but... The more they asked, the less like people they became, until there was nothing left. Eventually the village just... Disappeared.”

“All of them?” Katara asked softly. “Then... What about you?”

“I’ve been alone ever since they disappeared.” Smiling sadly, Kue looked up to stare Aang dead in the eye. “No one that’s taken by it ever escapes. Not even death can free you once it has you.”

...Burning...

Coming to, I found myself lying on my back on what felt to be a broken wooden floor with several sharp pieces of wood digging painfully in my side. Opening my eyes, I blinked slowly, my mind still hazy from being unconscious.

Why was I back in the barn again? I was doing something else, wasn’t I? We’d been exploring the town and then I was being carried down a hallway by...

Jumping up in a burst of speed, I held my arms out defensively in front of myself.

Hearing a soft creak come from further back, I immediately turned towards it, ready to hit it with all that I had, only to find Sokka snoring softly on his bedroll, looking as if he didn’t have a single problem in the world... If that was even him to begin with.

Breathing slowly as my heart thundered in my chest, I slowly made my way over, keeping an eye out for any out of the ordinary. Reaching out, I grabbed his shoulder and shook him lightly. “Sokka, wake up.”

Swatting my hand away, he rolled over. “Hmm, five more minutes.”

That did seem like him, but I had to be sure.

Grabbing his bedroll, I gave a harsh tug, throwing him onto the hard wooden floor below.

“GAH! What the heck?!” Sokka yelped. Letting out a short groan, he stared up at the ceiling. “Was that really necessary?” Dusting off shards of broken floorboard as he stood up, he winced and looked back. “I think you gave me a splinter.”

“I had to make sure that you were still you,” I shrugged. “What’s the last thing that you remember?”

“Of course I’m still me, who else would I be?” Sokka squawked indignantly. “What do you even...” Trailing off, he stared at the large hole in the wall... daylight shining in. “Wait, we’re out?”

Watching Sokka as he walked over to the barn doors, I caught a hint of movement hovering in the rafters. Acting on reflex, I grabbed a hold of him, flinging us both back as several distended arms shot down from the ceiling, slamming into the ground directly in front of the door.

Feeling around on the floor, the limbs slowly retreated upwards, grabbing onto the walls and the door, before finally disappearing into the dark, leaving behind a hand that hung above the doorframe, just barely visible.

“I thought you took care of that thing!” Sokka yelped

“How could I? I just woke up, same as you.”

Blinking, Sokka slowly realized what that meant. “Then... If we were both asleep... That thing could have forced us to eat those...” Looking downright disgusted, he did the only sensible thing and stuck a pair of fingers down his throat. “Gotta... I’ve gotta get them out!”

“Sokka, I really don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about. We’d probably be feeling sick by now if it managed to force feed us those seeds.”

They were poisonous after all.

“But I am feeling sick,” Sokka said, gagging loudly.

Yeah, that was probably because of what he was doing right now.

Still...

Something was seriously off here.

Spirits often operated under their own specific rules and laws that they, for some reason or another, refused to break.

Hei Bai stayed out of human affairs and wouldn’t harm anyone so long as his forest wasn’t disturbed.

Wan Shi Tong would allow you to use his library if you made a donation, but would attack if you threatened to misuse his knowledge.

Even Koh would tell you what you wanted to know so long as you didn’t show any emotion while facing him... Something he had used to his advantage.

Back in the manor, it’d tried to trick us into drinking that ‘tea,’ even going as far as to try and force Sokka to swallow some of those seeds by having Yamiko jump on top of him.

So then why hadn’t it tried to do the same to us when we were unconscious? Why wasn’t it trying to do anything right now?

...Unless it couldn’t.

You should be cautious of those eager to help. Sometimes a helping hand isn’t what it appears to be.

Looking over to the hand hanging above the door, I saw what looked to be a scroll held tightly within its grasp.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Seriously?! Aunt Wu couldn’t have worded it a little better.

Taking a breath, I stepped towards the door, causing several arms to drop down defensively. I better be right about this.

“Um, not to tell you how to do your job or anything,” Sokka mumbled, his tongue still hanging out of his mouth. “But shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, LIGHTING THAT THING ON FIRE?”

“In a minute,” I replied, taking another step. “There’s just something I need to test first.” Standing so that I was only a few feet away, the arms began to sway restlessly. “Excuse me,” I hummed, pushing my way through the extended limbs.

A few of them tried to grab onto me, some brushed through my hair while others lingered on my clothes, but none of them made any threatening moves.

Looking up at the little hand holding the scroll, I slowly reached towards it. Grabbing the end, I gave a small tug and suddenly found it in my hand.

Making my way back out, a few of the hands tried to hold onto me, but let go once I left the cluster.

Okay, so I guess I was right... That didn’t necessarily bode well. Palming the scroll in my hand, I slowly slipped it open and immediately felt my stomach drop.

“We have a problem.”

“Aside from the fact that you just befriended a sentient mass of limbs that abducted us and may or may not want to turn us into mindless zombies?” Sokka asked sarcastically.

That’s just the thing, it wasn’t trying to hurt us. Quite the opposite actually.

“It was protecting us.”

A lot of the details had faded over the years, but I was still able to make out the basics.

It seemed to be a set of instructions to make a spirit using a mixture of various dried flowers, seeds and grave dirt, along with a vessel and it seemed the one who’d made the scroll had a very specific person in mind for that.

The spirit that’d abducted us was little more than the spiritual remains of the people who’d lived here... Looking for what was taken from them.

“Protecting us from what?”

“The only other thing in the manor that could have been controlling those bodies,” I answered, turning the scroll around, revealing a faded image of a little girl. “Kue.”

And the gang was currently stuck with her.

Suddenly there were several loud bangs as the barn doors broke open, revealing a long hallway where the outside that was absolutely filled with a number of leathery bodies, several of which appeared to be wearing old Fire Nation armour.

Falling on top of one another, the bodies all lumbered into the room, only for them to suddenly be thrown out as the doors were slammed shut.

Dropping down from the ceiling, the spirit pushed itself against the doors, further reinforcing them as the puppets tried to break in.

Looking around for anything he could use, Sokka let out a short “Aha,” before rushing over to a large wooden beam that’d long since fallen from the roof. Grabbing a hold of it, he let out a strained grunt. “Help me move this against the doors.”

“Good thinking.”

Heaving the beam over, several hands latched on, leveraging it firmly against the door.

Looking back over the room, Sokka hummed thoughtfully while a few of the hands began to curiously pat him down. “Okay, there doesn’t seem to be another one of those beams... We could probably use the floorboards– Do you mind?” He snapped, swatting the hands away. “I’m trying to THIII–“

Without warning, a few of the hands latched onto him, flinging him through the hole in the wall.

Feeling an arm wrap around my waist, I was lifted into the air and briefly saw the door breaking down behind the spirit, before being flung out of the room to join Sokka, who was in the process of being licked by Appa, on the ground outside.

Immediately getting up, I quickly made my way over to the hole in the barn wall, only to be greeted to an empty room with the doors ajar.

Standing next to me, Sokka stared into the room with a look of silent contemplation on his face. “Any idea on how to get everyone else out?”

“We need to find the vessel and destroy it,” I said, gripping the scroll tightly.

And I had a good idea on where it might be. Firstly, however, we needed to find some shovels.

...Burning...

Walking through a dimly lit corridor with her hand gliding across the wall, Ty Lee was officially creeped out. If it wasn’t being trapped in a house with a monster that was apparently after them, it was being led through it by a creepy girl who might actually be a ghost.

She honestly couldn’t say which was worse. Why couldn’t Mai or Azula be here with her? They were always so fearless... Or if she could have gone with Honō instead. She wanted to help him, really, but it all happened so fast. One second he was there and the next… Poof, he was gone.

Coming to a split in the hallway, Ty Lee sighed, before suddenly stiffening when she noticed several markings carved into the wall. Moving her hand further down, she felt her blood run cold.

“Hey,” Katara hummed softly. “Are you doing alright? You’re looking a little worried there.”

“Ah, yes... I’m fine,” Ty Lee replied. “And you?”

“I’ll be doing a lot better once we’re outside,” Katara said, offering a strained smile. “We’ll get through this... We’ve been through worse before.”

Somehow, Ty Lee wasn’t so sure about that. “Hey, Katara. We’re friends, right?” She asked softly. “You trust me?”

“Of course.” Katara nodded. “What’s this about?”

“Just...” Ty Lee took a shaky breath. “When I say the word, I want us all to run down the right hallway, okay... Don’t tell Kue.”

Not saying anything more, Ty Lee started walking a little faster, until she was right behind Kue who was moving towards the left path. She wasn’t entirely sure if this would work, but it was worth a try.

“Oh, um... Ty Lee, right?” Kue asked softly.

Striking her with a flurry of quick jabs, Ty Lee let out a short breath as Kue collapsed.

“Hey, what the heck–“ Aang started.

“I’ll tell you later,” Ty Lee said, grabbing his and Katara’s arms. “For now, just run!”

Running down the right hallway, they must have gotten just over a dozen feet, before it suddenly folded in on itself, keeping them from going any further.

Trying to break through it with her fist, Ty Lee winced and pulled back when the wood dug into her arm painfully, drawing blood.

Turning around, a deep chuckle flooded the hallway as Kue’s body laid on the ground in front of them.

“How did you figure it out?”

Jerking to the side, her body twisted and stretched, growing long spindly arms with needle-like fingers. Standing up, her head almost reached the ceiling.

“Well, girl. Speak up.”

“I... Was leaving markers on the wall, so I could find my way back if I needed to,” Ty Lee explained. “But I wasn’t the only one that thought of that. Someone left a message... Don’t trust her, she’s not what she seems.”

Leaning forward, the woman smirked. “I’m impressed... You’re not as empty headed as you seem. I think you’ll make an excellent doll.” Reaching forward, her hand was slapped to the side by a sudden gust of wind. “Ah, yes. The Avatar. How could I forget about you?”

“Not another step,” Aang warned, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

“You know, I wasn’t entirely sure if you existed... I only know as much as the villagers and none of them had ever seen you,” She commented. “Tell me, was that intentional or are you that bad at being the Avatar? Either way, it doesn’t matter. You’re mine now.”

Reaching towards them, her fingers twitched eagerly, before she suddenly froze. Looking up, she let out a short, interested hum. “It seems that something else is demanding my attention. I think a few weeks down here should help put things in perspective for all of you.”

Stepping back as the walls began to wrap around the small group, she gave a short wave, before it sealed them in entirely.

Forming a small flame to light the now dark hallway, Aang took a short breath, flaring the fire in his hands, before taking aim at the wall. “Stand back!”

...Burning...

Despite the village having reverted to its original, broken-down state, the graveyard remained almost completely untouched. There was, however, one thing that was different.

The surrounding plants... Grass... Trees... Hedges. They all seemed to have withered away... All except for one single grave which was covered in a number of flowers. Thick roots twisted into the ground, leaching what little life there was from the graveyard, leaving it a dried up husk.

Let’s change that.

Flicking my hand forward, a small spark of blue flames hit the gravestone, before rapidly growing into a blazing inferno that incinerated the surrounding vegetation.

“I can already tell that I’m not going to like this,” Sokka moaned, resting his shovel on his shoulder. “You’re sure we’re in the right place?”

Glancing over at the obviously unnatural grave, I gave him a pointed look. “Sokka–”

“I know, I know,” Sokka sighed. “Let’s just get this over with. The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can pretend none of this happened.”

“Sure,” I hummed, letting the flames die down.

There was a very good chance that this spirit would act to defend itself, so we’d need to work quickly.

Stabbing my shovel into the grave, I threw a mound of dirt over my shoulder, before repeating the process. On one side, the ground was still soft from all of the rain, but on the other, it was filled with thick roots that were difficult to dig through.

Nearing what I assumed was the half way point, I stopped for a moment, wiping the sweat off my head as I took a quick breath.

This would have gone a lot quicker with an Earthbender. Hell, if Toph was here, she probably would have felt something was really wrong the moment we first landed and squashed it like a bug. I was really regretting not bringing her on board sooner, but she would have hated the North Pole.

“Man, that’s a lot harder than you’d think it is... Really works the arms,” Sokka commented. “It looks like we’re almost done too... Looks like we won’t have to worry about–“

Jumping as a decayed arm burst out of the ground, I watched with no small surprise as a body quite literally crawled out of its own grave.

Okay, I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting that.

Bringing my hand down in one sharp movement, a thin arc of blue flames cleaved through the body, causing it to jerk to a stop as if it was a puppet and its strings were just cut.

“Well,” Sokka said, looking disgusted at the smouldering remains sticking out of the ground next to us. “At least there was only one of them this time.“

At that moment, several more graves broke open.

“Sokka–“

“Stop jinxing us?” Sokka asked. “Got it.”

“Actually, I was going to ask you to keep digging,” I said, climbing out of the hole we’d just dug. “I’ll take care of this.”

“You got it.” Nodding, Sokka began to dig twice as fast.

Letting out something that was halfway between a growl and a cough, several of the bodies began to make their way towards us, some crawling, while others stumbled over. Their movement was stiff and jerky, far unlike the puppets back in the manor.

Taking a slow breath, I swung my arm in a wide arc, unleashing a wide wave of flames that threw several of them back.

Casually walking through the graveyard with the intention of taking care of the stragglers, my instincts kicked in and I jumped to the side just as a spear passed by, impaling the ground beside me. Fire Nation insignia printed on its side.

Looking over to the graveyards entrance, I found a lone Fire Nation soldier that’d obviously been long since dead standing by the gate. Several more soon appeared behind him while a few leathery former Earth Kingdom soldiers pulled themselves over the wall.

All of which seemed a great deal more mobile than the bodies that’d just climbed out of their graves.

“Sokka... You might want to speed it up a little,” I called out. “Things are starting to get serious over here.”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Sokka yelled, shoveling dirt over his shoulder. “Seriously, I’m just a guy with a boomerang. I didn’t ask for all these zombies and stress.”

Spotting one of the Fire Nation soldiers readying their spear while the others drew their weapons, I threw my fist forward, scoring a direct hit to his helmet, only for the soldier to stumble to the side.

Okay, so I was going to have to get around their armour. That shouldn’t be an issue. They were a lot sturdier and better prepared compared to the other bodies, but still extremely slow compared to what I was used to dealing with.

 Grabbing the spear at my side, I idly twirled it in my hand, before turning towards the mixed group of former soldiers that lumbered through the graveyard.

Scanning the group to see which of the soldiers would give me the most trouble, I flicked the spear forward, piercing through one of the Earth Kingdom soldiers that’d still been on the wall, before rushing forward.

Launching myself off a gravestone, I planted my feet firmly against a Fire Nation helmet, before kicking it to the side, getting a loud snap for my efforts.

Landing in a low crouch on the floor, I looked up to see one of the soldiers lumbering nearer with a sword in hand.

Lashing out with a concentrated blast of fire, I reached forward, snatching the sword from the former soldier’s hands.

Cutting through the next one that came my way, I caught one of the former Fire Nation soldiers by their mask, unleashing a concentrated stream of fire through the breathing vent before moving on.

One by one, the soldiers fell. Their bodies piling up on each other as the graveyard was steadily filled, until it all went silent.

Breathing slowly, I was just about to make my way back to Sokka, only to pause when I caught a hint of movement out of the corner of my eye.

Diving out of the way, a massive fist crashed into the ground where I’d been standing a moment earlier, shattering a nearby grave stone.

Hitting the ground, I immediately began to move, sending a quick jet of fire back at the massive figure while putting some much needed room between us.

Stopping near the cobblestone wall, I took a breath and brought both arms up, generating a bolt of lightning that sparked around my body. Joining both fingers, I copied the Waterbending stand that was in the scroll I gave Katara and flicked my hand towards the hulking figure.

A loud crack washed over the village as lightning struck. For a moment, I felt a hint of worry when the much larger puppet took a step forward, before letting out a breath when it split down the middle, with each half falling a different way.

Lightning was already lethal on its own, but that... That was something else.

“Bravo, that was quite the show. Unfortunately, it’s about time we brought this to an end.”

Turning around, I found what appeared to be a tall and extremely thin woman standing idly by with her needle-like hands held firmly by Sokka’s throat.

Taking a step forward, she pulled back and tightened her grip.

“Uh, uh, uh.” She tittered.  “We wouldn’t want your friend here to have a little accident, now would we?” Humming amusedly, she looked over to the freshly dug grave. “I must say, your little group has given me the most trouble I’ve ever had. No one else has ever managed to get this far.”

Spotting something blur in the distance, I took a step back and sat down on one of the tombstones, drawing her attention. “So, what exactly is it that you want? Also, do you mind putting my friend down?”

Stepping forward until she was towering over me, she dropped Sokka on the ground. “Did you know, I actually considered letting your group go?” She lied. “But there is one unfortunate problem. You know too much.”

“Right. Burn the coffin and you disappear too. It’s the only thing keeping you tethered after all,” I said pointedly.

“You humans, always so proud of your knowledge,” She hummed, cupping her face. “The moment you figure something out, you can’t help but flaunt it. That’s what makes you worth collecting.”

“You spirits, always so sure of yourselves,” I said, copying her. “The moment you feel you have the upper hand, you can’t help but brag about it... Until it ends up burning you. You should ask Koh how that ended for him.”

“Who?” She smirked. “Oh, that doesn’t matter. I’ll find out soon enough.” Reaching forward, her hand slowly inched towards my neck, stopping when smoke began to emanate from her hand. Pulling back, she stared down at the limb curiously, before it suddenly caught on fire. “No.”

Looking back over to her grave, the entire thing had been set on fire. Standing only a few feet back, Aang took a short breath, before thrusting his palm forward, unleashing a wave of flames directly into the pit.

Grabbing onto one of her arms as she tried to rush over to her grave, I leveraged myself against a tombstone. “It’s a little different now that the tables have turned, isn’t it?” I grunted, struggling to keep her from leaving.

“Let go!”

Bringing her free arm down, it was suddenly tugged to the side by Sokka who’d wrapped his shirt around the offending limb to keep from burning himself.

“I said... LET GO OF ME!” Raising her leg in order to stomp on us, a blade of water suddenly shot through, removing it from her body.

“I don’t think so,” Katara snarled. Flicking her hands forward, several small arcs of water slashed through the spirit’s body, reducing her to a shell of herself.

“No...”

Struggling against our hold, a loud crack sounded as she quite literally broke free, only to crumple to the floor, her body breaking down into smoldering pockets of ash and smoke, until, finally, there was nothing left.

For a moment, everything was quiet, before the wind began to pick up, accompanied by a bluish haze of villagers, silently talking with one another as they passed through the streets, before finally fading with the wind.

A few, however, remained.

Standing in front of the open grave with his wife and children, Takeshi offered a single nod, before they too disappeared, returning the graveyard to its restful silence...

...Only for it to immediately be broken by the loud growl of a stomach.

“Sokka,” Katara groaned.

“What, am I supposed to tell it to keep quiet because we’re having a dramatic moment? It’s not like I can control it,” Sokka argued. “Besides, I haven’t eaten all day.”

...Burning...

Crouching in a tree with a telescope in hand, Colonel Mongke narrowed his eyes. The fight he’d just witnessed... What came after... It seemed that the great Commander Zhao had neglected to mention a few things.

“Orders, sir?”

“We’ll keep observing for now. I want to know more about our target and who he surrounds himself with before we make our move.”