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

Chapter 54- The Day of Black Sun (part 2)

"I had a feeling that you were behind the invasion," Zhao said to me smugly, standing confidently. He blocked the staircase to the lower floors of the tower, trapping me. I examined his facial features. While he had already appeared greyer and more worn when he had attempted to kill me in prison, he looked even worse now. His hair, while still mostly dark, was considerably more grey. His face looked more sunken, as if he had aged tenfold in the span of a few weeks. But his eyes still had hatred behind them.

"Are you here for a rematch?" I taunted him smugly.

"Oh trust me, it won't be much of a rematch," Zhao commented casually. He gave no impression that he would suddenly attack, but my guard was still up. "After all, you're cornered, have limited water, and the eclipse doesn't start for another hour,"

He said it so nonchalantly that it took a moment for his final words to sink in. My confidence faded as my face no doubt dropped. Zhao knew about the eclipse??

"Yes, I know all about the eclipse," he grinned egotistically.

"How?" my voice betrayed me, cracking as I spoke. Zhao's smirk grew wider.

"The Earth King told Princess Azula and her friends everything while they were undercover in Ba Sing Se," he explained smugly as my heart continued to drop. "Your little girlfriend was rather excited to report your plans to the Fire Lord,"

"Ty Lee?" I questioned. While she certainly wasn't my girlfriend, Zhao must be referring to Ty Lee, but there's no way that she'd betray me like that.

"Ah yes, that's her name," Zhao confirmed. "It seems that she wasn't as close to you as you may have thought,"

"Shut up!" I told him, starting to get angry. "You don't know anything about me, and you certainly don't know anything about Ty Lee,"

"That may be true," Zhao admitted. "But I know that she betrayed you. Is an uncle not allowed to look out for his nephew?"

"Enough!" I shouted at him. Fiction or not, I wanted to hear nothing more about what Zhao was saying. I got into a waterbending stance as I tried to regain my confidence. "If you really want to lose to me again, I won't stop you,"

"Your confidence is admirable, my nephew," Zhao jeered. "But I've been training every hour of every day since returning to the capital. This will be a swift and decisive victory,"

"If you say so," I said quietly under my breath. I didn't doubt Zhao's claims of training daily- his haggard appearance certainly projected it- which made me slightly nervous. With only the finite amount of fluid in my waterbending pouch, I was going to have to be strategic if I were to defeat the Admiral.

Zhao made the first move, and it was an extraordinary one which caught me completely off guard. He bent a huge rectangular wall of flames in front of his body and sent it in my direction. The wall was so large that it consumed the entire top floor of the tower and rapidly moved towards me. Unable to dodge or block the flames, I jumped back towards the ledge of the top floor. Thinking quickly and using all the athleticism that I had, I fearlessly stepped backwards off of the tower. I would have fallen to my death if I hadn't planned so swiftly.

After stepping off, I caught myself on the ledge of the top floor. My fingers were the only thing preventing me from plunging to my doom. I felt the onslaught of fire pass over my head, where I had been standing only two seconds ago. I had survived, but instantly Zhao had sent a message that he was not to be underestimated.

I yanked myself back onto the top floor athletically, landing gracefully on my feet. Zhao seemed surprised that I survived the attack, but wasted no time in sending a deadly bolt of fire towards me. I rolled under it before controlling some water from my pouch. I turned the liquid into a water whip, lassoing it so that it wrapped around Zhao's ankle. Then, before he could counterattack, I yanked harshly on the rope so that Zhao was dragged to the ground. Using a great amount of strength, and assisted by the waterbending, I was able to wrestle the lasso so that I lobbed Zhao over my shoulder and off of the building. Now it was Zhao's turn to plummet to his death.

My whole world seemed to go silent for a moment, despite the echoes of war in the distance. Had I just... killed Zhao?? While I certainly didn't feel guilty, I had to admit that there was a wrong feeling with killing a family member.

Before I could ponder on it for too long, though, I heard a strange sparking noise approaching. Suddenly, Zhao appeared, levitating over the ledge. He had flames firing from under his feet. Zhao had learnt how to fly. Of course, it was never going to be that easy to kill him.

Though it seemed that he definitely couldn't maintain being airborne for long, it was enough time for him to drop down and attempt a kick to my chest. Luckily I reacted even faster, sending my whip flying towards his body again. It wrapped around his torso, and I used the firebender's own momentum against him, sending him flying into the floor. He skidded against the concrete a few times before tumbling down the nearby staircase.

After taking a second to breathe, I ran halfway down the wooden stairs in pursuit of my uncle. He was standing up in the room, brushing himself off, though once he saw me he wasted no time in sending a flaming bolt in my direction. I ducked under the blast with relative ease, feeling the tower shake slightly as it made harsh impact with the wall behind me. Zhao sent another fireball, this time not at me but rather the staircase beneath my feet. The wooden steps crumbled to the floor, sending me hurtling with it.

Cursing Fire Nation architecture, I was barely able to roll away from Zhao's next blast of fire before athletically jumping to my feet. Controlling some of the liquid from my waterbending pouch, I threw numerous spikes of ice at the Admiral. He dodged and weaved around them, even catching one in midair and shattering it in his grasp. Though I didn't dare admit it, this new version of Zhao was far more powerful than the one I had last fought against in Ba Sing Se.

Deciding that my best option was to retreat to more favourable ground- preferably somewhere with water access- I made a dash for the next staircase. Zhao sent a wave of fire at me so that I forced to dive head-first down the steps to avoid it. I tumbled down the stairs, landing at the bottom bruised, but otherwise okay.

I heard heavy footsteps rushing down the stairs, so I scrambled towards the next staircase. Before I could get there, however, Zhao sent a stream of fire out of his fist, blocking the path to the stairs and cornering me in the room. He threw a few discs of fire at high velocity in my direction. It was difficult to avoid them all, but I just about managed.