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This is the introduction Book Two: Zu Yang's Daughter. It tells of Zu Yang's story. It is told by a narrator.
Introduction
Many years ago, in the season of spring an Earth Kingdom woman gave birth to a boy. He seemed as normal as anyone else, but just at first, for that little kid was destined to become the greatest Earth Kingdom general of all time. They called him Zu Yang.
Legend has it that when Zu Yang was one, he bent a whole a bridge between his village and the one across the river; that bridge still stands there. When he was four, he beat his earthbending master. When he was six, he defeated a general that mocked his mother; and no general ever displeased his family again.
They say that he was nine when he joined the army, but he had joined it much earlier, in his dreams. Zu Yang, had been a normal boy then, but he had turned into pure inspiration.
They say that by the time he was eighteen, he tore down the entire mountainside near his village. And this is where the legend stops having facts, but is replaced by rumors.
Yet the true legend still lives on, deep in the libraries of the Fire Nation.
Zu Yang had been given the post a High General, had gotten married, and had two kids – a boy and a girl, by the time he was twenty. But his wife died while giving birth to his daughter. Many say to this day that this ruined Zu Yang, but the fact is that he accepted it like a true warrior. But history never got to know him as such.
The Earth Kingdom had been living in peace thanks to his many victories against rebellions, but a new threat was arising. A threat that Zu Yang was ready to face, but was he ready to win?
It had been by a stroke of luck that an Earth Kingdom citizen had overheard a Fire Nation guard speak of the plans to capture the Southern Air Temple. But to add to the level of detail, the man had heard that the entire fleet of the Fire Nation would be heading there. They knew not how many, but it was fortune that stopped them from knowing. To this day it is said that even Zu Yang would not have been ready to face a threat as such. But that is just myth, for Zu Yang was.
In the next ten days, Zu Yang collected all the metalbenders from around the Earth Kingdom and ordered them to build airships. He then took on the responsibility of gathering every soldier, every man, every maturing boy from around the Earth Kingdom, and get them ready for what was to come. It was bitter work, but by the end ten thousand capable warriors were ready to oppose the Fire Nation. No such force had been seen since Chin's empire fell.
Finally, the day came, and the soldiers departed. Ten thousand souls in two hundred airships flying all together! Zu Yang had once again made history.
But there will always be those who respect glory above all else, and that very night Zu Yang was betrayed by his own brother. Always being outshined is hardly a fate any of us hope for; but for Zu Yang's brother it was an everyday experience. And in his jealousy, he gave out Zu Yang's bunker's location, the place his brother's two children were, so that he would weaken him beforehand, then finish him off.
And that next morning Zu Yang's brother ran into the command room, weeping, "Brother, brother; they found them! They found you kids!"
And he passed a fake letter to his brother, so that he would not know that it was a conspiracy. But Zu Yang had taken matters of precaution, and he had hidden his daughter in a separate place, so that his legacy could live on if an emergency was to be. His brother, not knowing that, had written in the letter that both bodies were found in the bunker. Zu Yang dueled his brother, and won, yet he offered his brother one last wish. He requested nothing, thus Zu Yang gave him nothing. It was ordered that he was thrown out of the ship while still alive, for then he could experience his wish.
Zu Yang and his armies arrived early next morning. They were the last ones to see the Southern Air Temple looking close to what it had been before the Air Nomad Genocide.
The Fire Nation arrived next morning, outnumbered by much, but not outmatched, for they had brought many new inventions with them.
Zu Yang, seeing that they could not win the day, withdrew all his armies back to the airships, and ordered them to retreat. Taking nothing with him, he bended his way to the way to the commanding airship, taking down the others as he went by. Finally, he reached it, but this one was not as easy to tear down, for it was under the command of the only person who could match Zu Yang in a duel – the Fire Mistress.
As Zu Yang climbed on the airship and rushed for the engine, he was interrupted by nothing other than a bolt of lightning. Zu Yang blocked the attack and turned around to face his opponent. The Fire Mistress herself had come out to duel her. One by one, Zu Yang threw rocks and metal balls at her, yet she dodged each one. Zu Yang looked up to see if his troops had escaped safely, but in that moment the Mistress shot him with a bolt of lightning. His leg was now injured, and he could hardly stand up. But he did not give up, and bended a metal shell around it, so that he would not collapse. But the Mistress took advantage of that move too, for when she shot him with another bolt of lightning, Zu Yang collapsed on the group, powerless. The Mistress grabbed Zu Yang and threw him in the engines. There, he was cut into pieces.
The Mistress then targeted Zu Yang's fleet, and, using her lightning and machinery, tore all the airships down. All of her troops then stormed and wiped out the Earth Kingdom army. No one ever returned from that mission.
And this is where Zu Yang's legend ends, for he is no longer known as what he used to be. Yet one little part of him remains – his daughter.
Trivia
- This chapter and the first chapter were released as the official premiere of Book Two.
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