I dropped myself into the nearest trench line, perpendicular to the rest of their fortification and barricades, placing my left hand on the loose ground to support myself as I vaulted into the trench, falling into a feet hole, but still managing to land on my feet, balance intact.
All I could hear before dropping into the trench was the rumble of the tanks moving around me. I was at the very edge of the trench line so I hadn't just dropped into the middle of the Earth Kingdom army, no, they were sending all of their men to the center of their fortifications to fend off against the metal monsters driving over their intricate trench lines, that had taken months to set up and defend, in a matter of seconds.
Where I was though, that rumble of the tanks was just a white noise in the distance. In the trenches though, it almost seemed, quiet. I looked around me, seeing that behind me, towards the enemy camp, the trench ended in a dead end, rising to ground level. That wasn't where I wanted to go. The fighting was down here. And down here was where I was aiming to be.
Zek hadn't followed me. I didn't blame him. From the distance on top of that hill, watching as hundreds to thousands of tanks rolled indiscriminately over mines, blowing them up underneath them, rushing to meet a barrage of weaponized earth when just so weaponized fire, only a psychopath would've been dumb enough to follow me, or be me for that matter.
I stayed where I was though, and took advantage of the momentary silence, slowing my heart rate, calming myself down, watching the trench lines, seeing the directions they went. The main trench line went north. The enemy camp was to the northeast. Tanks were going over the trench lines now, straight towards the camp. Infantry would be right behind the tanks, ready to secure the trenches at a moment's notice while the tanks finished off the camp. I had my bearings, and I walked, coming to the first corner, a turn to the right, north. I peeked around first, seeing nothing, choosing to move right after. The trench line, after 50 feet or so of heading north, turned east.
Earth Kingdom trenches, or many trenches for that matter, never faced perfectly in one direction. Made them too easy to storm and harder for the enemy to secure while defenders could fight guerilla battles in their own trenches, perfectly secure. Now though, that was an advantage for me. When the real battle began though, and infantry stormed the trenches, then things would get bloody.
I turned east, looking ahead at the next turn and paused. Voices.
I listened. "Just get him out of the trench and we'll come back to- "
Coming towards me.
I took a breath, created a mental image of how I'd turn the corner and get the jump on them, however many, fast enough to move before they could react. They were on the edge of the battle. They wouldn't be expecting resistance. I'd prove them wrong. I had the advantage here. Now I just had to used it.
I took a breath, flexed the muscles in my left hand, allowing myself to feel the chi flowing in my body, and I turned the corner. I didn't spare a moment to see the looks on the faces of the men as I turned to meet them 5 feet in front of me. I just fired.
I allowed a constant flow of fire to pour from my hand, engulfing them in flames that seemed to change in color as they moved about their bodies, desperate to find material to cling to and feast on. Jeong Jeong was always right. Fire. Fire was different. It was alive. And it was hungry.
I lowered my arms, and they were dead. 3 of them. 2 supporting an injured man between them, all dressed in Earth Kingdom attire. All combatants. Fair game. I continued along, moving North along the trench line the dead man had just been treading along seconds ago.
The trench then turned to the left, west, and I followed it. It was a much shorter segment, and the noise was picking up now. I was beginning to hear the shouting, the tanks rolling along the ground, and the sounds of war ahead of me. I went straight ahead, forgetting to scan the intersection where the line went north and instantly saw the two Earth Kingdom soldiers staring at me with the same surprise I did them, but they were quicker to recover than I, or at least, one was.
The left most soldier send a hastily grabbed chuck of rock flying in the air towards me. I flung myself to my left, slamming along the westmost side of that trench line and fired a bolt of fire. It missed the bender but hit the nonbender archer who apparently was in the middle of nocking an arrow. The blast took him in the chest sending him to the ground as the bender now constructed a solid disk of Earth, hurling it straight at my face.
I threw myself backwards to the ground, the disk of earth slamming of the wall behind me, the debris caking me in its shards and dust, and I conjured another flame, and shot it at the bender, taking him in the right of his chest, sending him to the ground without a sound, dead.
I took only a second to recover my breath, and stood again, knowing now more than ever, every second counted as I neared the battle more and more. And now, as I moved along that northern trench line, the sounds of the battle really made themselves known. Artillery fire, screaming, blast of fire and the crashing of Earth, in every direction of me.
I stepped over the 2 fresh bodies, moving north, until the wall to my left exploded as a tank's rear treads applied to much weight to a weaker part of the trench wall, sending the rear of the tank falling into the trench directly behind me, only a foot, sending me to the ground from the explosion of earth, shuffling my feet to recover, falling again. The tank recovered its ground, still sending shots of fire from the turret at combatants on ground level, too high for me to see until a spear from what I could only assume was that tank's latest victim came flying into the trench right in front of me.
I was still stumbling to regain my footing, the trench, in the thick of night, being lit only by the occasional nearby blast of fire, which in my case, just saved my life, for I was rushing towards the next corner in the trench, a blast of fire from the battle above illuminated two shadows, two approaching men, running straight towards my trench.
I didn't take a second to hesitate. I grabbed the spear to my left, clutching it with my left hand, balancing its weight with my armpit, and charged, hoping to meet them face to face before they had the opportunity to catch me at a distance and blow my head clean off. So I charged, and they turned the corner, and the Earth Kingdom soldier taking point didn't have a second to blink before I plunged my spear into his chest one handed, nailing him to the wall behind him.
I turned to my right, raising my right arm to fire until I had that sudden reminder, provided by the pain it dealt, that it was still broken. The Earth Kingdom soldier, still taken aback, had, despite his shock, already raised his sword for a killing blow when the earth behind him exploded in flares of red, orange, and yellow, sending him flying in a dozen pieces as his corpse shielded me from the explosives more damaging effects, sending me to the ground all the same.
I pushed his corpse off of mine, sending the limbless and near headless torso to my right as I attempted to stand, seeing the tank that had just saved my life, smiling to see as it continued northeast towards the enemy camp until its turret aimed towards me, and I realized, I was in the enemy trench, before the infantry had gotten here. Everyone in this trench, for all intents and purposes, was Earth Kingdom.
I dived to my right, behind the corner wall as the blast of fire exploded directly around the corner, caking me in dust, muck, and blood from the corpse still waiting there.
I peeked around the corner after a moment to see the tank was moving along, focusing on bigger and better things, and decided to do likewise, continuing east, in the near same direction as the tank, taking a left, then another left to the point I was facing west once more, ready to turn northwards, looking this time.
I could tell by the noise now, the screaming of orders, and the pure increase in volume of the chaos around me, that I was at the center of things now. I turned that corner for a look, and what I saw just confirmed that. 30 Earth Kingdom soldiers huddled together, some operating mortars, more firing disks of Earth at the oncoming enemy, and more manning the sides, guarding the real soldiers.
They saw me the second I turned that corner and the disk of earth coming my way missed my head by a second, breaking apart against the corner of the trench wall.
I took a breath or two, flexed my hand, and got ready to turn that corner for what would probably be the last time either way, knowing I wouldn't let myself turn and run the other way.
I sprung off my left leg to make the turn when suddenly, over 20 firebenders and Fire Nation soldiers dropped into the trench, some dropping some jumping, in the literal middle of the Earth Kingdom formation, burning and stabbing and slashing at the enemy as I watched in pure awe as the 30 Earth Kingdom soldiers were reduced to corpses in the span of 10 seconds.
The soldiers then went their own ways, 10 going north, 10 going south, passing me as I still stood in awe, watching them, at the last moment, seeing the patches on their left shoulders. "The First Legion" I mouthed as they passed by me. Iroh's personal infantry.
Of course.
I shook myself out of my state of awe, and went north, towards where the thicker fighting was bound to be. The armored had passed as I could tell from the lack of tank treads rolling in the midst of the rest of the chaos now amplified by the war cries of Fire Nation infantry as they stormed the trenches, eliminating the defenders that had been left shocked and disorganized by the armored blitz that was our nation's mechanical might.
I followed the 10 soldiers heading north, the shortest among them by a disturbing amount, none of them less than a foot taller than me. And as I went north, I realized the trenches were done. Earth Kingdom corpses lied motionless on the ground, bloodied, gorged, dismembered, dead or dying.
It was done here. I turned to leave the trench, searching for the nearest ramp leading out in the hopes of getting to their camp before the fighting there was done. A minute had passed until I found the nearest exit leading to the east and I took it up, and realized then, I was too late.
I looked to the northeast, where the Earth Kingdom camp was, or rather, had been, and saw nothing but the fire and smoke rising from where their tents had previously stood as Fire Nation tanks rumbled in the distance, finishing off all remaining opposition.
And as soon as it had begun, without warning, the battle had ended. We were victorious, but in that moment, it didn't matter to me. I had missed it.