===== 6 - Destructive Magic ==========
The secrets of the sixth chakra... it was hard to imagine that a small society, which everyone hides and oppresses, could possess such a monstrously serious secret. The records of Laghima that must be hidden there are almost priceless treasures, real information gold. And I promised Afka that I would get this information for her.
To influence Wang Shi Tong, I needed to get my hands on something incredibly valuable, otherwise my plan would be doomed to failure. But to do that, I had to leave the capital. Surprisingly quickly, there was nothing interesting left to do here, although I would say that there never really was anything to begin with: the aristocrats and influential officials were afraid to touch me, so there was no point in fighting them; Zuko needed to muster up the courage to fulfil his duties, and the main problem now lay with the damn druids, who valued weed and squirrels more than big cities.
It's a good thing Azula supported my idea to go somewhere. She couldn't have abandoned me, but it would have been easy for the princess to put her foot down and express her wild unwillingness to run errands with me. However, with a smile that foreshadowed something, she gave a single order, and the servants prepared supplies and transport for us in the form of long-legged lizards. But the strangeness did not end there.
"Can I come with you?" As soon as we were ready to board our four-legged transport, an uncertain voice rang out from behind us. Azula and I raised our eyebrows and looked at Zuko, who had decided to join us. Who would have thought?
"Zuzu, why did you decide to leave home? Did you miss your little sister?" My companion chuckled softly at the slightly changed boy. After cutting off almost all of his remaining hair, he hadn't cut it again, and a small safety cushion began to appear on his head — as Azula liked to call it. But his gaze... he clearly wasn't joking now.
"I'll never miss you, Azula. But if you visit settlements or meet people who hate the current politics, I have a duty to solve their problems in order to regain my father's favour. Servants! "Waving his hand at a couple of women and making them flinch, he froze for a second. The young man didn't like his own tyrannical appearance, so he calmed down, brought his palms together, and said quite peacefully, "Prepare another long-legged lizard.
He's not bad, he found out about the situation from Mei, but instead of running away or locking himself in the house, he decided to sort everything out. Even Azula was surprised. Could it be that my book had an effect? Smiling at Zuko as he sat down and nodding, we finally left the palace and then the capital. This time we were on our own and could go wherever we wanted, the giant cliffs and volcanoes visible between them were no obstacle. But our destination was far away from all the volcanoes, important mines and factories.
While in exile, they were forbidden to interact with large cities, and their village was not even marked on the map. But Airo had marked it for me, so after choosing a direction, we rushed forward, and very, very quickly. We were riding the same lizards that were used in the canon to chase Appa. On such beasts, there was no need to worry about changes in altitude, and we reached our destination even faster than we had expected.
Stopping on a small cliff overlooking a small settlement surrounded by soldiers and a palisade, with about thirty people wandering around, all my companions turned to me.
"What is this place? - Zuko obviously knew very little about his own inner territories, especially ones as dangerous as this.
"A village of exiled mages? This is getting more interesting by the second," Azula, in turn, became even more excited. She looked as if she was about to mock the disabled, but I had to admit that it was dangerous even for her here.
If you looked around a little, you could see craters of various sizes in the ground and rocks. The scattered pebbles and cobblestones were of unusual sizes, as if they had been torn to pieces by explosive waves — his hands clenched involuntarily at the memory of the three-eyed mercenary. I don't know how Zuko will solve the problems of the locals, but they definitely need to be kept under close watch — after all, they are clearly being followed by some idiots.
Feeling strong vibrations in the distance, I turned sharply west of the village and hurried behind a small rock. My brother and sister exchanged glances, pulled on the reins to follow, and soon we saw a very small girl, maybe eight years old, standing in a natural rock shelter near a waterfall. Around her, in the stone, were tiny craters the size of an adult's fist.
Her hands were lightly burned, blood was flowing from her palms, but despite all this, continuing to concentrate and frown, she... sent a stream of qi through her body and through her forehead to the place where she was looking. There was a flash, a tiny ball of fire appeared for a second, and then an explosion destroyed the surface. It was quite quiet, almost like a firecracker. The surrounding trees, grass and waterfall apparently dissipated the noise, which is why I only noticed the vibrations.
"I know this magic. It is wielded by the number one mercenary... or rather, was," Zuko glanced at me for a second.
"Yes, but this magic is forbidden to study without permission! - Well, Azula has finally found a target for her bullying. She suddenly jumped off her riding varan and threw a blue fireball at the little girl's feet, which scared her so much that her heart almost stopped. She fell on her bottom and looked sharply in our direction." "What are you doing here?"
"A-a-a-ava," seeing three people on varans, each of whom looked as scary as death itself, she closed her eyes, and energy flowed to her forehead, and who would have thought, but it headed straight for me. I can't say it was done with the intention to kill, but it was unpleasant.
"What is she...?" Zuko frowned at the realisation and turned to me... only to realise that I had disappeared.
"For a child, you have divine control over your qi," I said, appearing between Azula and the girl. With one hand, I deflected the princess's lunge, which she was using to stop my attack, and with the other, I pulled the little girl's head back. Two different attacks: a powerful stream of flame and an explosion, parted like ships at sea. Well, I, standing waist-deep in sand armour that had accelerated me, shook my head at it all. "Let's not tell anyone what you were doing here, and you won't blow us up, okay?"
Interestingly, she didn't have any tattoos on her forehead; most likely, they are tattooed after mastering Ignition. However, she already knows where to concentrate her magic? The mercenary tore off his own arms and legs to find out. Interesting~
"...Uh-huh,
As it turned out, the girl's name was Tu'Li. Despite her very reserved answers, it became clear that she had indeed run away from her village to practise magic illegally. She was afraid to go into details, as she definitely associated the people of the fire with tyrants. And Azula literally confirmed this fact:
"She can't control her powers. You're small, if you look at me, I'll burn your face," she warned, literally forcing him to turn his head away.
But Zuko, who frowned and spoke out against his sister...
"Don't worry, I won't let that crazy girl touch you. Let's go back to the village, I'll help you hide this little secret," apparently deciding whose problem he could deal with. His gaze became confident! In fact, gaining the political support of fire mages is very powerful, but at the same time difficult. If he wants it, I have no idea how he will achieve it.
Zuko put the little girl on his varan and covered her with a cloth. His sister just rolled her eyes as they headed for the village gate. There were about twenty people at the entrance, all carefully scanning the perimeter, and they quickly spotted us approaching.
"Stop! Orders from the Fire Lord, no one is allowed to enter this area.
"Wait, it's the princess.
"What? And Prince Zuko too! But... we were told not to let anyone in.
I don't know how I would have gotten out of this on my own, I probably would have smashed their cabins, but Zuko will surely think of something... or not. He stopped and frowned, apparently not having thought this through.
However, Azula, who wanted to get inside, came to the rescue. She ran her hands through her hair and declared haughtily:
"By order of the Fire Lord, let us in," she said with extreme levity. Her heart didn't even flutter; she lied masterfully and made the men look at each other. But that was bad. It just couldn't work. What was she hoping for?
"I don't remember receiving any instructions," but the guards who saw her immediately lost their nerve. "S-sorry, we're not allowed to let you in."
"Wait, she's with the prince, they didn't just come here for no reason. But who's the third one? - They lost their composure and started talking to each other. They can't let them through.
"Forget about the third one, there are two members of the royal family here, if we don't let them through, they'll burn us to the ground.
"... While I sat there with a devastated look on my face and my companions quietly pushed me forward, the guards decided to let us through after all," - A monarchy based on power has its advantages.
"You only just realised that? - Azula chimed in.
From the inside, the settlement looked even smaller than from the outside. A couple of people standing around the well houses and others who had come outside stared at us intently but fearfully. Looking back at them, I realised that none of them had the damn mark on their foreheads. At the same time, another guard shouted from behind us.
"If you are looking for the Object, he is not in the village right now. He has been taken away for training, but we will order him to be brought back," he said, quickly closing the gate and causing Azulu and Zuko to frown in confusion. What kind of Object was this? Training? Were they training some kind of mage?
"Phew!
At that moment, Tu'Li emerged from under the fabric. The people immediately sighed at the sight of her. A woman ran up, picked up the little girl, and looked at all of us fearfully... especially at me, as if I were the most suspicious person there!
And I can't say that the situation was easy. The concentration of qi in each person exceeded even that of Oza. The qi points dispelled such compressed energy that I didn't even want to stand nearby; it literally looked explosive. And the oldest members of this society confirmed my fears: some had no arms, some were sitting in wheelchairs with both legs missing. There were younger ones, too, with burns on their bodies. It's unclear whether they experimented like this or got them from the guards, but one thing is certain: here, anyone can try to create at least one explosion.
And we are unlikely to survive such a bombardment.
"Stop looking at me," Azula said harshly.
"Shut up, can you calm down for a second?" her brother hissed at her.
Everyone frowned, their argument heated up the atmosphere, and I sincerely wanted to stuff their mouths with sand, but that would only cause more arguments and hysterics. How awful that they don't get along. What can I do to fix this? The pressure increased. And just as some people cautiously clenched their fists...
"It's okay. They helped me," the little one took our side and didn't make the situation worse. It turned out they were related. The entire settlement consisted of people who were related to each other, so everyone was afraid that something had happened to their little sister. It's worth mentioning that fear had accumulated significantly here. Everyone was afraid of people outside their settlement, and any stranger caused the most terrible fear.
But one thing was clear: none of them could control their qi like this little girl, who was clearly a trained mage. Hm... there must be someone more special here, right?
"Tell me, is anyone in your village being taught how to use the Flames? - everyone quickly whispered. The girl's mother took a deep breath, lowered her head, and...
"Let's talk inside.
Under suspicious glances, we were led into one of their huts, the walls of which were either wooden or made of paper, as was customary in the kingdom. There were holes in the floor opposite the bed, which were obviously not soft, but the local residents sat comfortably on them. Apart from the mother, there was another little girl. However, with every second spent in this place, Azula's face grew more and more subdued. She realised that there would be little of interest here, so we sat down in a semicircle around the kettle and listened to what was going on.
As it turned out, after the truce, the Fire Lord needed a Fire Mage for some reason. The mercenary, as you can imagine, was not in contact, and it was impossible to entrust him with an unknown task, so it was decided to find the best mage in the area. This person turned out to be a friend of the family, an orphan whom they looked after: when he was taken away for training, some of the guards went with him, and at that moment, little Tu'Li was able to slip away unnoticed.
Everyone recounted the last part with noticeable excitement, but also with the hope that we would not punish them for such a misdemeanour. What can I say... Azule wasn't very interested; she was watching her younger sister Tu'Li peeking out. Zuko tried to calm everyone down.
"Am I understanding correctly that the secrets of developing the Chakra of Enlightenment are in the hands of the guards? Answer honestly, you won't be punished for talking," I tried to understand the situation and who I should be hunting for now.
"Um..." The woman looked away. "I don't know anything about that."
"Pff," Azula rolled her eyes.
"Don't lie," I put my hand on hers, "You can tell me, no one will hurt you, and no one will try to take this information from you. It's yours by right, but I just need to see it.
"My husband... he hid it in our house before he left," she lowered her head, throwing me into a stupor, "He only wanted the best for his children, he wanted them to study and even go to school. Gyano, his adopted son, is the oldest child in the family, so he's the most advanced in learning this information. If only I had known what had happened to my husband... At first, after he left, he even sent money, but soon the payments stopped. I think the guards took it all.
A lump formed in my throat. Looking at the woman who had dropped her hands in despair, who was genuinely worried about her daughter hiding behind her back, I quickly guessed who her husband was. The crazy mercenary killer had told me about his family, that he was only working to support them. How could such a twisted monster have such a lovely family?
"Want to see my doll? - Somewhere in the background, Tu'Li's younger sister approached Azule and Zuko and tried to befriend them. No, the worst thing was that all his murders were meaningless? The family didn't even get the money, it was just stolen by the local guards? All those people from Shen Guan who he tore to pieces, they just died for nothing?
As the woman continued her story, I became increasingly filled with a kind of inner irritation and anger, every word about the standard of living hitting me like a hammer. This could have happened anywhere, but right now it was very personal — the money that Three-Eyes earned could have been enough to turn the entire village into an expensive hotel, build schools that the locals wanted so badly, and even pay the guards. And the blood money just disappeared into thin air?
"You have a hard life," Zuko finally spoke, holding a little girl's doll. "I would like to help you in some way. You deserve more humane treatment. If you show my friend the information he wants, I will do everything I can to help you."
"Altruist Zu-Zu, there's nothing unusual about the strong taking everything from the weak. These people have such potential, but they don't use it, it's their own fault! At least this orphan should be good for something.
"Don't say that in front of them, bitch. What do you mean? - Zuko's fists clenched so tightly they almost cracked.
"How stupid have you become on this journey, brother? If an orphan is being taught Ignition, it means they will be used for political purposes. I don't know, for example... to suppress uprisings of ordinary citizens? - Her words instantly silenced the room. Not only the woman, but Zuko and I also opened our eyes wide, imagining the situation as the bodies of ordinary people were torn apart by giant shock waves. "Why gather armies against militias when you can use a single mage? He will break the enemy's defences and raise the reputation of the Fire Lord.
"Nonsense," Zuko frowned.
"By the way, my father is also partially defending your honour," she said, turning her gaze to me. "Because of you, the militias are gaining momentum. It's time to praise my father — for your sake, he is ready to rain thousands of huge explosions down on the heads of the infidels! Oh, by the way, he asked you to help destroy the dark spirits, didn't he? So you're going to kill those who return from the other world in the form of curses, ha ha ha ha!
Mad laughter rang through the room, terrifying the woman and her entire family. Tears began to appear on the faces of the two little girls, realising what their brother was being prepared for, and they both began to sniffle and wipe their wet eyes.
It sounded monstrous. But could it be true?
"Choose:
1 - Commander-in-Chief Zuko (You have figured out Oza's plan to eliminate his political opponents, so you decide to seize his influence. Raise Oza's opinion of his son by making him the first person to whom all the mages of the Flame will obey. Note that the subordinate mages will help you in your campaign against the spirits. Your relationship with Zuko will change to First Assistant.
2 - Flame Bearer (Suggest to Azule that she solve problems her own way. Your shared reputation can stop conflicts before they start, so use it! Strike your own people to make your enemies fear you, and make crazy moves. Be careful, the militia will take your side and help you in your campaign against the spirits. Your relationship with Azule will change to - First Assistant)
3 - Dreaded (This option can be combined with the first or second. Despite the fact that your reputation will increase, your pride will not allow you to stand by and watch - take on one of the militias alone, without anyone's help. The required number of people defeated is 1,000. People will start to fear you, so the number of assassination attempts will decrease significantly)
...Just great.