Chosen by the Spirits | A male reader x Avatar the Last Airbender story

Chapter 33- Crossroads of Destiny (part 1)

I lay on the floor of the earth palace's throne room, completely immobilised. My upper body had been chi-blocked, and I was forced to stare at the ground. A few moments later, I heard many footsteps approaching. Multiple strong arms grabbed me and pulled me up from the ground, and I found myself staring into the evil amber eyes of Azula. Mai and Ty Lee stood behind her. I craned my neck to see multiple Dai Li agents securely grabbing onto me. Clearly, they were part of the coup, too.

"Lock him up where his friends won't find him," Azula instructed the Dai Li. Handcuffs made from earth were placed over my wrists, holding my arms behind my back. A black blindfold was forced over my eyes before I was led away, unaware of where I was going.

I was silently guided around for about half an hour before we came to a halt. The blindfold was finally removed from around my eyes, gifting me the sense of sight again. I was in some sort of earthy cave. The chambers of the cave were lit by many large bunches of green crystals that illuminated light across the halls. The Dai Li agents removed the earth handcuffs from around my arms before earthbending a small hole in the wall of the cave next to me. It revealed a small chute that lead downwards somewhere.

"Enjoy your stay," one of the agents said to me, just before another Dai Li member shoved me into the hole. I fell into the chute and tumbled down the decline roughly before hitting the ground. Immediately I looked back up the chute and was able to see the Dai Li agents smirking down at me. Then, they covered the hole in the wall, leaving me alone in despair.

Punching the earthy wall in frustration, I looked around at the situation that I found myself in. I was in a small earth cavern, only illuminated by the same green crystals that had lit the rest of the cave. If it were not for the fact that I was trapped here, I would have described it as cool.

I spent the first hour or so pacing anxiously across the small cavern as I desperately tried to think of what to do. There was absolutely no water here, and there was not even the slightest trace of a liquid inside of the earth of crystals, either. With Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph all far away, my opportunities of escape were looking bleak. If only there was a way that I could communicate with them.

But then I started thinking. Is there a way for me to communicate with them? I could always enter the spirit world and just pray that Sokka, who I had previously trained to enter the spirit world that one time at the Serpent's Pass, would also be there. But the chances were slim to none; I hadn't seen Sokka enter the spirit world since I had taught him. In fact, I doubted he would even know how to get back in. I could hope that Kyana would be waiting in the spirit world, and maybe she could sent a letter to the rest of the gang? But no, that wouldn't work, either. Ba Sing Se would fall to the Fire Nation way before any of the team even received the letter. Then I thought, what about Aang? As the Avatar, he would know how to get to the spirit world, and although he didn't know how to meet in the same area that I always travel to, maybe I could send some kind of message? It didn't seem likely, but it was better than nothing.

I sat in the centre of the room in a meditative state. Creating a peaceful atmosphere certainly wouldn't be an issue, since it was only me in the chamber. But what was an issue was that there was no water. Whenever I had entered my little area of the spirit world, I had always been next to water. I relied on the sound of flowing water being pushed and pulled around me, and without it, I was struggling to enter the spirit world. But maybe I didn't need to fully enter the spirit world to send a message to Aang? I balled my eyes shut and concentrated on my thoughts.

"Trapped underground. The Fire Nation is in Ba Sing Se," I thought in my head, and I soon felt the message leave my mind. Had it worked? I could only hope.