Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Avatar: New Century's Dawning ❯ Chapter 1: Twilight at the Earth King's Palace ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender series; I do not own any of the orginial canon characters mentioned in this story nor the world or concepts used in the series. I do not make any profit out of this story whatsoever. I am just merely a fan and a writer.

Setting: The setting takes place a little over a hundred years after the timeline of the series. It has been about 15 years since the death of Avatar Aang and the new avatar has yet to be known, let alone be sure if the avatar has even been born yet (at least the water tribes claim not to know). The Generation of Avatar Aang has led to many changes throughout the world. The most important being the recovery of the airbenders. Off the central west coast of the Earth Kingdom there is a population building a society of new ideologies, a society of mixed benders. Meanwhile a radical group of Firebenders are attacking the against other Nations and amongst themselves in the name of Ozi and Azula. It started off as guerilla warfare, but recently their attacks have become more frequent and organized. Some regions of the Earth Kingdom are spreading rumors that the Fire Nation as a whole is attempting another war. But public is completely unaware of a greater threat growing in secret, waiting for the perfect time to reveal itself.

It was a night of a new moon. The scattered large clouds cut off any visual of the sparkling ceiling of stars, making the night pitch black, especially around the quiet surroundings of the central palace of Ba Sing Se. At one of the higher floors of the palace, an open window flapped in the breeze, tapping aloud as it closed and opened. No sooner was the window gripped shut from the inside.

“Lock must’ve slipped open,” shrugged a palace guard, the one who had closed the window, hardly any light to expose much appearance. The guard tipped up the conical straw hat and took a glance outside. Couldn’t see a thing outside. Though what it especially hard to see made it hard to see was the light from the distant hallway in the back, reflecting light on the window from the inside.

“What are you doing in this lounge, Hanara?” A voice asked from behind.

“Huh?” The guard turned around to see a tall body standing behind. The light from the hallway revealed ‘her’ face, “Oh, chief? Sorry, I came into the room when I heard this window tapping open. I was just closing it, sir.”

The man, nodded as he turned around and started off the room, “Hanara, just stay sharp.”

“Yes sir,” she replied as she asked herself if that was all the chief ever said, Stay sharp. She gave a last scan on the room before following her chief’s lead into the hallways. Stepping into corridors she exposed herself by the light radiating from the wall hanging lamps, walking her separate ways. Hanara wore the traditional garments, similar to the Dai Li, though it lacked the draping robes and included light armor, easily revealing her feminine curves. She was equipped with a katana and small knife, which she handled with expertise.

Harana Aou continued her regular duty, patrolling the hallways of the vast bastion of the Earth King. Harana never expected this job to be so humdrum. It irritated her to think of all the discrimination and sass talk she had to deal with just to be part of the Earth Kingdom’s royal guard. She was the first woman to ever be part of the legion, taking advantage of Ba Sing Se’s transition of breaking tradition and hailing introduced liberal notions. It wasn’t easy getting accepted. What made it even harder for her was the fact that she wasn’t even an bender. The experience was much more of a communal challenge than a physical, people attempting to pile up a mental block of dissuasion on her. Not even her family supported her. But she fought it through. Just about a week ago she had made it. She earned her title in the league fair and square, and it was an achievement she felt was well-deserved. She loved the city of Ba Sing Se, and felt she had every right to defend it. But she didn’t expect it to be boring most of the times. The halls seemed to create a endless maze among the palace with so many lounges, libraries, vacant bedrooms…you name it, it’s there…most likely empty.

***

About an hour has passed yet with the complete ennui and the long empty corridors, Hanara’s mind fell victim to the illusion that it had been forever. She had made it to the first floor, still trekking the routine path of her patrol. The hallways of the first floor were much taller. As she turned into through a three-way intersection to another indistinguishable hallway she paused a minute. Standing right in the middle of the junction she peered down every direction.

Hmm…I could’ve sworn…Oh, I hope I didn’t get lost again. Hanara had did her best to memorize the map of the palace as best as possible, but had gotten lost twice, which is nothing shameful. One wouldn’t be human if one didn’t get lost in this place…unless they had a map at hand. In fact, she had just a tiny glimmer of hope that she was lost; being lost would at least have her mind attentive on something.

Ah, I am at the right spot…shucks. She paced forward to the direction she was originally was heading and then stopped at a particular door. This was indeed particular for it was much larger than any other in the palace complex. It was the door to the Royal Archives, storing information absolutely top secret. Hanara looked both ways of the hall, placing her index finger at the bottom of her lips while deep in thought. “That’s funny. There should be someone standing guard at this door.” Hanara reached for the knob (one of the few doors with hinges and knobs), and tried to open the door. “It’s locked?” Hanara was puzzled, rattling the knob curiously. Of the many arbitrary traditions in the palace, one that still stuck out was to never lock doors. Rooms that needed security would merely be guarded. Locks would only be used during emergency scenarios, and as far as Hanara was concerned there ceased to be any form of excitement on this tedious night.

Hanara gave a hard yet rhythmic knock on he door, loud enough for it to be heard in he large room on the other side, the possibility that a royal scholar or two had insomnia had gain permission for be a hermit in for the late hours. But there was no answer. After giving another knock Hanara stepped back from the door. She really didn’t worry, concluding to herself that one of the guards had decided to be lazy and take a break, locking the door for insurance. It’s peculiar nonetheless. Should go tell the chief of it. And with the thought she paced on in she of her superior. Got nothing better else to do.

***

The chamber of the royal archives descended below the first floor. The wide room was completely dark albeit the several candles let a particular corner. Within the radius of the light there was shelf after shelf on the wall full of books and scrolls. All was quiet until a soft steps tapped onto the floor. Slowly a shadow emerged from the darkness into the candlelight.

That was close, thought the shadow. The shadow was hesitant to continue when the knocking from outside the room had suddenly stopped. Why didn’t they attempt to brake in right away. Ah, they must have gone to fetch a key. Better hurry this up. The shadow, who had the stature of a man, took off a small backpack which was a already open, some scrolls exposed from the pockets. The shadow took hold of a candle as it skimmed the light through and over the shelves. Finally honing in on a scroll ledge, the shadow picked out a clump of scrolls. Putting the candle down he opened them up and examines the writings.

This is it! Sparing no time to celebrate, the shadow placed the scrolls in his backpack and took the scrolls he already possessed and replaced them with the one he stole, placing them in there neat arrangement as if nothing was touched. Gathering his pack he took a candle and started out for the chamber exit. Halfway through he paused for moment. He looked down at the body of sentry who was originally guarding the archive’s entrance. Despite the guard’s enormous size, the small sleep dart still had instant effect on the big oaf. That there’s still a chance the sedative could ware off sooner. The shadow had already bind his legs and arms. There was no point in killing him. The big guard would wake up and be just as useful with the case as much as if he were dead. Beside, killing wasn’t anything he preferred, especially with the use of sedatives and other stealth tricks. Such a method wouldn’t demonstrate the power he really had. Such covertness wasn’t his style, but it’s what he’s being paid to do.

Getting ready to leave he thought through of the inevitable footsteps he’d leave. Though he left fake scrolls in place, the officials would swamp the room, checking everything, since it would be odd to have ‘nothing disturbed.’ The shadow walked through an aisle of bookshelves, scanning swiftly until a title on the shelf caught his eye. Grabbing the scroll on the shelf he put the candle down looking through. Great! This may actually come in handy. And the shadow stuffed it in his sack. With this scroll apparently missing, it would increase the chance of the officials focusing on this missing piece than figure out what the real target actually was.

Leaving the candle behind, the shadow blended back into the darkness. The sound of his rapid steps was a giveaway indicator of him climbing up stairs. Slow down, he told himself, Take it easy, bud. It was a bit difficult to be absolutely calm in the situation. He did just break into the palace of the Earth King. And what even got him more excited was the fact that everything had went so smoothly…not at all what the shadow expected.

The shadow knew he made it to the top as he reached the lighted horizontal slight under the door. He stopped a few steps away, looking down through the light to see if he any shadows walking by. Nothing. He stepped closer, putting his ear on the door. No sound. The shadow still wasn’t positive if there was someone simply standing by the door, temporarily in place for the guard he hushed. There was only one way to find out. The shadow, quietly unlocked the dead bolt, and then lightly knocked. In such a case, it was better if he surprise-attacked the guards out there instead of him walking out with the guards surprising him. He knocked again only to get no answer. Well…here we go…again. He thought with a sigh.

He opened the door calmly, the hinges not creaking one bit, while looking side to side of the hallway. Coast is clear. The shadow stepped out into the corridor still in all black. Only his eyes and between were exposed from his stealth suit, his eye color not easily noticeable in the rich candlelight. Creeping to the end of the hallway as fast and as quietly as he could, the ninja stopped at the end of a junction. Okay, so if I took this turn, then came from the right, right, left, right…it’s actually going to be left, left, right, then…The ninja continued sneaking on his way, recalling every turn he took. He had memorized a map he had before he arrived. Though right now he was focusing on getting to a higher floor. It would be safe from any direct earthbending attack, plus barging through the front gates wouldn’t sound reasonable on his part. The best thing to do was to sneak out the same window he came in.

He was lucky to make it through the corridors before. But now he was an eyesore dress all in black. But he was confident that he would be able to find the stairs before…

The ninja suddenly halted himself, as he came across an obstacle. A 12 foot wall had sprouted straight from the ground in front of him. Ah…damnit! Son of a-

“Pao over here! We have an intruder!” A voice called out from behind him. The voice then ordered, “Alright mister, put your hands in the air, now!”

The ninja did so, still staring at the newly emerged wall, This is just…great.