Chapter Text
Eight hundred years ago, the four kingdoms of the human realm lived together in harmony.
The Air Kingdom, Patola, was once renowned for its beautiful mountaintop temples, majestic sky bison herds, and peaceful culture. No matter one’s age, nationality, gender, or class, all were treated with equal respect by the people of the Air Kingdom, and there was rarely any conflict within the kingdom itself or with the other three kingdoms.
Perhaps the most famous and beloved individual who hailed from this prosperous kingdom was Crown Prince Aang. From the moment he was born, the prince was adored by everyone who met him. The boy was not only handsome, but he was spirited, intelligent, and kind, and his mothers, the queens of Patola, would often say, "He will surely one day become this nation's most beloved ruler."
At just age four, the Crown Prince was discovered to have been blessed with the ability to airbend, a talent that certain people amongst the Air Kingdom possessed. Thus, he was sent off to the Southern Air Temple to begin his airbending training, and was quick to make friends with the other trainees there. While the other head monks of the temple often shook their heads at the lively boy’s antics, Monk Gyatso, the old airbending master who trained the Crown Prince, was very fond of him and doted on him often.
Aang eventually returned to Patola Palace much sooner than anyone had expected—at the young age of twelve, he had managed to completely master airbending, setting the record for the youngest airbender in history to do so. The queens of the Air Kingdom were very proud of their son, and a grand ceremony was held at the palace to reveal the Crown Prince’s airbending tattoos and status as a master.
While Aang very much loved his mothers, he often felt somewhat distant from them. Having been practically raised by Monk Gyatso, he had grown to view his airbending master as a sort of father figure, a person he could truly be himself around. Aang had specifically requested that Gyatso come back with him to serve as head monk at the capital city’s temple, and the old man had agreed only after a significant amount of pleading. He often served as a source of emotional and spiritual support for the young Crown Prince from that point forward, and as Aang grew older, he often voiced his concerns to the monk about becoming the monarch one day.
"I wish I could just be a monk like you. I don't care about the power and riches that come with being king," Aang often said. “I just want to take care of my people."
"Which is why you will make an excellent ruler someday," Monk Gyatso would often remind him. "Not every kingdom is lucky enough to have such a monarch."
As he grew older, the young prince often spent much of his time studying the other three bending arts, fascinated by their similarities and differences. When Aang was thirteen, he announced to his parents that he was going to travel to the Water Kingdom in an attempt to learn the art of waterbending.
Initially, the queens were hesitant. Their boy was gifted, to be sure, but only a handful of individuals throughout history had managed to unlock the ability to bend more than one element. The last person to have done so was Roku, a cultivator from the Fire Kingdom who had managed to master all four elements before ascended to godhood only a few years prior to Aang's birth. The prince was adamant, however, and the queens found they could not refuse their son's request. Thus, Aang traveled to Agna Qel'a, where he not only found a teacher—Master Pakku—but two close friends: Katara, a low-born waterbending prodigy only two years his senior, and her older brother, Sokka, a skilled warrior.
When Aang returned to Patola one year later, he had become a master waterbender, and Katara and Sokka had returned with him. A grand banquet was held in the capitol city with the Water King in attendance, and Katara and Sokka were granted the honorable positions of royal healer and Aang's bodyguard, respectively.
Despite having already achieved the great feat of mastering two elements, ever the ambitious prince, at age fifteen, Aang set his mind on attempting to unlock the ability of earthbending next, traveling to the Earth Kingdom with his companions to find himself yet another master. This time, he found one in a blind girl his age from a noble Earth Kingdom family, Toph Beifong. Seemingly demure and soft-spoken at first glance, she soon revealed herself to be an assertive, competent, and fiercely loyal individual.
Out of a desire to get away from her stifled life in her parents' manor, Toph requested to travel back to Patola with Aang to teach him earthbending. He granted her request, and over the course of the next two years, he trained with her day after day, rain or shine, eventually mastering earthbending. Rather than return home to her family after this, Toph decided to stay in the Air Kingdom with her friends, fighting by their side whenever the need called for it.
At last, when Aang was seventeen, he and his companions traveled to the Fire Kingdom, where Aang had very little difficulty finding a master, as his reputation was well-known by this point. He spent a year learning and mastering firebending under the tutelage of Master Jeong Jeong, and to celebrate his mastery of the element, a was invited to attend a banquet at Hari Bulkan, where he formally met King Ozai and Crown Princess Azula for the first time.
Strange, Aang thought. I could have sworn that last I heard, the Fire Kingdom had a Crown Prince, not Princess. When he later asked his master about this, a dark expression appeared on Jeong Jeong's face.
"Crown Prince Zuko and his mother, Queen Ursa were killed by assassins just a month before you arrived," the old master explained somberly. "It was a dark day for the kingdom."
Then why didn't either the King or Princess look like they were grieving? Aang had wondered.
Eventually, however, the matter slipped from his mind, and Aang returned to his homeland, now a master of all four elements.
To celebrate such a monumental achievement, a grand parade was held in the capital city a week after the prince's return, which also happened to be his eighteenth birthday. Many people traveled to Patola from all four kingdoms to witness the spectacle, and to catch a glimpse of the talented and handsome Crown Prince with their own eyes.
At first, the celebration went off without a hitch. The capital city boomed with ecstatic cheering as the Crown Prince was paraded through the main street, with Katara, Sokka, and Toph—his three closest companions—at his side.
Suddenly, a chorus of gasps and screams rang out from ahead of the palanquin—a person had fallen from the top of the city gates!
Luckily, Aang's instincts were quick, and he immediately used a gust of airbending to shoot himself into the air.
"Don't worry. You're safe now," Aang said as he caught the person in his arms. The person, a young man looking to be only a few years older than Aang himself, said nothing, only staring at him with an awed expression. The young man was dressed in extremely thin, ragged clothing, and the entire left side of his face was completely covered in bandages.
When they had both landed softly on the pavement, cheers erupted from the crowd once more, and the young man immediately jumped out of Aang's arms. "Your Highness," he said, bowing his head. "Please forgive me... I only wanted to get a better look..."
"There's no need to apologize," Aang replied kindly, placing a gentle hand on the man's shoulder. "You needed help, and I was happy to provide it."
The young man flinched at Aang's touch, and his head shot back up, staring at the prince with a dumbfounded look.
Aang's brow furrowed when he noticed the state of the man's clothes, as well as how thin he appeared to be. "Hey, why don't you come back with me to the palace?" he asked. "I can get you some new clothes, and a warm meal."
The young man's visible amber eye widened. However, before he could answer, his gaze briefly flickered over Aang's shoulder, and he immediately bolted into the crowd.
"Thank goodness you caught him!" Katara said as she came to a stop next to Aang. "I don't know if my healing abilities would have been able to help him if you hadn't!"
"Yeah, and it wouldn't have been a good look if he'd bashed his brains out on the road," Toph said bluntly, resulting in Katara shooting a frown her way.
"Either way, good job, Aang," Sokka said, slapping him firmly on the back. "That guy's probably gonna remember this moment for the rest of his life. Imagine being saved by the Crown Prince of the Air Kingdom," he joked.
As his friends continued to converse behind him, their voices began to fade as Aang craned his neck to scan the crowd into which the young man had vanished. I wish he hadn't run away... Aang thought. He looked like he really needed help.
One day, about a month after Aang had returned to Patola, he caught word that as the winter solstice was growing near, a dark spirit had been terrorizing the inhabitants of a rural Fire Kingdom village close to the Air Kingdom’s border.
At twilight the day before the solstice, he traveled with his companions on his sky bison to the edge of the forest where the spirit was said to dwell.
“Well, this place is creepy,” Sokka said immediately as they landed next to the village gates, which faced the forest.
”Yeah… the vibes are definitely off,” Toph said and she jumped down onto the ground with a thud.
”Aang, should I go let the villagers know we’ve arrived?” Katara asked.
Aang nodded. “Go ahead, but be quick, and make sure they all stay indoors. It’s almost twilight.”
Katara nodded curtly in return and immediately darted into the village.
”So… has anyone fought a dark spirit before?” Sokka asked as the three of them walked to the edge of the forest, peering over Aang’s shoulder into the darkness.
"Nope,” Toph replied, a bored look on her face.
"No,” Aang said. “I’m actually hoping to not have to fight it.”
"Not fight it?” Toph said, sounding disappointed.
“You should know how I operate by now, Toph,” Aang said.
“You’re no fun, twinkletoes,” Toph grumbled. “You do realize you’re a prince, not a monk, right?”
Suddenly, Toph shot down into a crouch, placing her palm on the ground with a serious expression. “It’s coming!”
Not a moment later, an otherworldly black-and-white monster slowly emerged from the forest, and Sokka unsheathed his sword, while Toph slammed her right foot into the ground and raised her arms in an attack stance.
“Why are you hurting these people?” Aang asked, his first priority, as always with any enemy, being to attempt to reason with it.
The spirit only replied with a question. “Where is this?”
Aang’s brow immediately furrowed. He had been told by the villagers that the spirit could not be reasoned with, only ever asking three questions. If one answered incorrectly, the spirit would snatch them up, running off into the woods with them, and the person would never be seen again.
“This is the human realm,” Aang replied.
“This is the abyss,” the creature replied, indicating he had answered incorrectly. “Who am I?”
Two more questions to go, Aang thought. I don’t want to fight it, but I might have to if I get these wrong.
“You’re the spirit of this forest,” Aang replied after a moment of contemplation.
The spirit bristled for a moment, as if unsure whether to count Aang’s answer as correct or not. Eventually, it reluctantly moved on to the final question. “What will you do now?”
What can the right answer to that be? What am I supposed to do? Aang thought, beginning to grow nervous. Spirits are usually dark for a reason. Something must have upset it.
“I’m going to help you, if you’ll let me,” Aang replied carefully. “Did something happen to your forest?”
The spirit was quiet for a moment. Then, it opened its mouth, revealing several rows of sharp teeth.
Aang quickly darted out of the way as a blast of spiritual energy erupted from the spirit’s mouth.
“Please, spirit!” Aang shouted as the creature continued its attempts to shoot him with its energy. “If you’ll just tell me what’s wrong, I can fix it!”
“You cannot,” the spirit replied angrily. “It is too late!”
Suddenly, the creature staggered as a large rock slammed into the side of its face.
”Toph, stop!” Aang yelled. “You’ll only make it angrier!”
”What am I supposed to do, let it blast you to pieces?!” Toph yelled back.
Aang simply groaned before turning back to the spirit. “What do you mean, it’s too late?” Aang asked, dodging another blast.
“Humans. You have damaged my forest beyond repair!”
“Beyond repair?”
Suddenly, the spirit lifted one of its massive four arms, but before it could reach him, Sokka darted in front of him with a yell.
“Sokka, no!” Aang shouted.
Sokka attempted to slice through the creature’s hand, but to his astonishment, his sword passed cleanly through, and before he knew it, the spirit had snatched him around the waist, causing him to drop his sword.
”Sokka!” Aang heard Katara cry out from behind them, turning to see her run towards them from the village gates. She pulled the water from her satchel and whipped it forward, where it struck the spirit in the side.
The enraged spirit turned to face her and raised another one of its arms, but before it could swing it forward, Toph shot up a pillar of earth from the ground below it, and the spirit was knocked backwards.
”Be careful, Toph!” Aang shouted angrily. “It still has Sokka!”
"Well, I wasn’t about to let it grab sugar queen, too!” Toph snapped in reply.
Aang pinched his nose bridge and groaned.
“Guys!” Sokka yelled. “I think it’s– aaaah!”
Instead of staying and continuing the fight, the spirit had darted off into the forest, Sokka still in its hand.
“Wait! Spirit! Please!” Aang yelled as he dashed into the forest after it, hopping onto his glider to increase his speed. “If you’ll just explain to me what happened here, then maybe I can–”
Suddenly, he emerged on the other side of the forest, and immediately gasped in horror at what he saw as he landed, Katara and Toph running up behind him.
In front of him stretched miles and miles of ash. Presumably, this was once a large section of the forest, judging by the amount of charred stumps that littered the ground. The only tall structure left standing appeared to be a stone statue of a bear.
“What…” Aang murmured as he slowly walked closer to the statue, his hands shaking slightly as a mixture of both sadness and anger began to swirl within him. He looked down at the inscription at the statue’s foot. “Hei Bai.” As he spoke this name, the spirit suddenly appeared in front of them again, causing him to take several steps back. However, Sokka was nowhere to be seen. “Is that your name?”
Just for a moment, the spirit’s form shifted to that of a black-and-white bear before returning to its former state. “Yes.”
“Who did this? Was it intentional?”
“Humans did this,” Hei Bai snarled. “Firebenders. The Fire King ordered it himself.”
“Fire King Ozai?” Aang replied in astonishment. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“How should I know?” Hei Bai replied angrily. “All humans know is cruelty and destruction.”
“Not all of us,” Aang replied softly as he looked back out over the fields of ash, feeling a twist of pain in his chest. “Not me. The Fire King was in the wrong, and I’m going to make sure he knows it. You have my word.”
“What does it matter? My forest is still destroyed!” Hei Bai bellowed. “It’s destroyed, and there’s nothing you or I can do about it!”
Aang’s brow furrowed again, and he looked down at the ground. “I know…”
Suddenly, he caught sight of something in the ash. He crouched down and picked up the small object, using his sleeve to clean it off.
As he held the object in his palm, his eyebrows rose in realization. “Look,” he said, holding out his hand so the spirit could see.
“It’s an acorn,” the spirit observed.
“Exactly! If this acorn survived the fire, then I’m sure hundreds of others did, too. The forest isn’t gone forever. It will grow back one day. This acorn is proof of that.”
The spirit stood silent in front of him once again, and Aang gripped his staff tightly, fearful that the creature might attack again. However, after a few moments, its form shifted again, this time fully transforming into a bear. “…Thank you.”
With that, the spirit turned around and walked back into the unscathed portion of the forest, leaving a path of bamboo in its wake. From the bamboo, Sokka and the missing villagers emerged. Katara immediately ran to her brother and squeezed him into a tight hug.
While Katara, Sokka, and Toph escorted the villagers back to town, Aang sighed in relief as he turned to walk towards the bear statue again. When he reached it, he knelt down in front of it and quickly dug a small hole, placing the acorn inside, and carefully buried it.
When he turned back around, he flinched slightly when he saw that an old Earth Kingdom man was standing behind him.
“Hello, sir,” Aang said. “Can I help you? Were you one of the people who were taken by the spirit?”
The old man shook his head and smiled. “I’m merely a humble traveler passing through.” He looked over Aang’s shoulder at the statue. “You said the spirit had taken people?”
“Yes,” Aang replied. “You’re very lucky, in fact, to be passing through when you are. I just freed several people from the nearby Fire Nation village who had been captured.”
“Did you, indeed?” the old man asked, bushy eyebrows rising. “How did you manage to do it? How did you get it to free them?”
Aang smiled. “Well, I realized that I just had to remind it that even when things look helpless, there’s always hope.”
The old man gave him a small smile in response. Suddenly, a blinding white light flashed in front of Aang’s eyes. He immediately took a step back, squeezing his eyes shut, and when he opened them, the old man was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a handsome young man dressed in opulent green and gold robes stood before him.
“Well done, Your Highness,” the man said. “The heavens are quite pleased with you. We have been watching you for some time.”
“Who… Who are you?” Aang whispered, eyes wide in awe.
“I am most commonly known throughout the mortal realm as the Heavenly Emperor,” the man replied, his smile widening. “But you may call me Yun.”