ATLA Universe, Sun Warrior Ruins
Avatar Timeline: 98 AG (After Genocide), 1 year before Aang's awakening
Universal Time: September 27th, 1988
Time until Elder Blood Teleportation is available: November 26th, 1988
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Between cracked stone walls, Harry let out a heavy sigh. The high humidity proved unbearable. His t-shirt stuck to his skin in the most annoying way. Above his palms floated the eternal flame, which remained steady despite how uncomfortable he felt. The simple flame required minimal effort to maintain - a result of spending so much time perfecting fire control for his paintings.
Behind him, dozens of Sun Warriors followed in complete silence. Their bare feet made no sound against the worn stone path, yet Harry could feel their presence. Every time he glanced back, he saw their eyes fixed on the flame he carried - some filled with reverence, others with wariness. His instincts also told him they couldn't defeat him, so he wasn't too concerned about going through this test of theirs to gather some information about the world. If it came down to it, he could just fly away anyway…
The walls ended abruptly, opening into what must have been a city square long ago. At the center stood a small ruined temple.
From the back of the group, Chief Huemac's voice rang out with clarity. "The path lies there." His outstretched arm indicated a narrow trail that snaked up into the nearby mountains, leaving the ruins behind.
Harry nodded, careful not to let the movement disturb his flame. The eternal fire burned with a pure orange color that reminded him of sunrise.
The trail proved steeper than it looked at first glance. Sharp rocks threatened to catch his feet with every step, but Harry kept his eyes forward. The flame never wavered. After twenty minutes of climbing under the merciless sun, the path leveled out.
Harry came to a sudden stop. A stone bridge connected the two mountains ahead, stretching over a chasm too deep to see the bottom. The bridge looked sturdy, but what made him stare were the cave entrances. These massive round holes had been carved into each mountainside, like giant eyes watching him from the rock.
Harry glanced down at Chrysa by his side. "I don't like those cave entrances. They remind me too much of eyes."
Chrysa bumped her head against his leg and made a soft sound of agreement.
"The bridge looks solid enough." Harry took a step forward, then paused. "But something feels off about this whole setup." The eternal flame remained stable above his palms as he looked at the mountains. "Two caves, perfectly round, carved into the rock face..."
The Sun Warriors spread out below the bridge, forming a wide circle. Several pulled drums from their backs while others took positions around the perimeter. The sound of quiet footsteps made Harry turn his head.
Chief Huemac approached slowly. "Go to the center of the bridge. Present the eternal flame to the Masters."
Harry frowned. "Just... stand there?"
"The Masters will come when they are ready."
Chrysa's tail swished back and forth as she stared at the caves. A low growl built in her throat.
"You sense it too, don't you?" Harry whispered. "Whatever's in those caves isn't normal." He looked down at his companion with concern. "I think you should return to your ball. If something dangerous happens, I need to be able to move quickly."
Chrysa turned her golden eyes toward him and made a protesting sound.
"I know you want to protect me." Harry smiled. "But if these Masters are as powerful as everyone implies, having you out here might make things worse." He pulled the Premier Ball from his belt once he saw that the Chief had left. "I promise I'll let you out the moment this is done."
After a moment of consideration, Chrysa nodded. Red light surrounded her body as she returned to the safety of the Premier Ball. Harry clipped it securely to his belt before narrowing his eyes at the bridge.
The first stone step onto the bridge sent a shiver up Harry's spine. Each footstep echoed against the mountainsides as he walked forward. The eternal flame burned steadily above his palm despite the wind whipping at his shirt.
In the middle of the bridge, Harry stopped. He glanced left and right at the cave entrances, waiting for... something. A minute passed. The sun beat down on his head while sweat trickled down his neck.
"What am I supposed to do now?" Harry mumbled under his breath. The massive caves stared back at him like empty eyes. No movement, no sound, nothing but the wind and distant bird calls.
Below the bridge, drums began to beat. Harry looked down to see the Sun Warriors spread in a wide circle. Some struck drums while others maintained rings of fire through circular firebending.
More Sun Warriors joined the ceremony. The drums grew louder, building to a rhythm that seemed to shake the very mountains. Harry's heart began to beat in time with the sound.
Chief Huemac's voice cut through the drum beats. "SOUND THE CALL!"
A Sun Warrior took a deep breath before putting his lips to a gargantuan stationary horn. The blast that erupted made Harry flinch. Birds exploded from nearby trees in panic as the sound echoed off the mountains. The eternal flame trembled for a moment before Harry steadied it.
The ground beneath his feet started to vibrate. Dust and small rocks fell from the cave entrances as something inside stirred. Harry's muscles tensed. Whatever lived in those caves was moving.
A deep rumble came from both caves simultaneously. The sound raised every hair on Harry's body. That wasn't the sound of any creature he knew. The vibrations grew stronger, and more dust fell from the cave mouths.
Harry's eyes darted between the two entrances. The eternal flame remained steady in his hands through sheer force of will.
That was when the next two seconds foreseen through his Inner Eye finally caught him utterly by surprise, leaving him staring wide-eyed at the cave entrances. Two seconds later, two massive shapes launched from the caves, accompanied by earth-shaking roars.
Dragons. Eastern dragons with scales that gleamed red and blue in the sunlight. Wings spread wider than any creature he'd ever seen. Long serpentine bodies moved with impossible grace as they soared past him.
The wind from their passage nearly knocked Harry off his feet. He planted himself firmly, keeping the eternal flame stable even as his heart hammered in his chest. The dragons circled the bridge at speeds that made them blur at times to even his vision.
These were the Masters? Harry watched them wheel through the air with growing concern. Running was pointless - they moved too fast for him to escape, even as an eagle. His thousand knives spell wouldn't even scratch those scales. Soul Resonance Mist might affect them, but using emotional manipulation against such beings seemed like a terrible idea.
Lightning... maybe. But only natural lightning from storm clouds would guarantee killing something that size. The clear sky above offered no help there.
The Yin Flames could absorb their fire, but maintaining the emotional void required through Soul Resonance Mist under this kind of pressure would be nearly impossible. And his Mantis Style would be useless against creatures that massive.
The dragons slowed their circling. Harry watched as they swooped down toward the bridge with frightening precision. Each dragon grabbed onto the stone pillars supporting the bridge, massive claws digging into the ancient rock. The blue dragon settled on his left, the red on his right.
Harry's breath caught in his throat as two pairs of eyes fixed upon him. These weren't mindless beasts - intelligence burned in those ferocious eyes. The dragons looked at him with an intensity that made his skin crawl. Their eyes moved between his face and the eternal flame still burning steadily above his palms.
Harry could somehow tell that they were looking not just at his face or the eternal flame, but into his very understanding of fire itself. The red dragon's expression softened with something like recognition. The blue dragon tilted its head, acknowledging some truth Harry couldn't yet see.
When they opened their jaws, Harry's first instinct was to protect himself. His fingers twitched, ready to empty his emotions into Soul Resonance Mist and shield himself with Yin Flames. But his Inner Eye showed him the truth - these flames weren't meant to harm.
Orange fire erupted from both sides, but Harry didn't move. The moment the streams met around him, the world transformed. Colors beyond imagination burst outward, colors that shouldn't exist, colors that made his artist's mind struggle to comprehend their meaning. The flames spiraled upward, surrounding him in a tornado of prismatic fire that defied every principle of art he'd ever learned.
Within the spiral of impossible colors, Harry felt the flames speak to him. Not in words, but in truth itself. These weren't just flames - they were Fire in its purest form.
Every color carried meaning. In the red, he saw how fire brought warmth to cold bodies. In the gold, how flames cooked food to nourish life. In the white, how the sun gave energy to plants. In the blue, how lightning sparked new growth after forest fires.
Fire created. Fire nurtured. Fire transformed.
The realization struck Harry like a physical blow. He had been been missing something fundamental about fire all along. He'd long understood his azure flames were just another manifestation of Fire itself. But Fire wasn't just that - it contained the very essence of Life itself.
The sun didn't create techniques to give energy - it burned because that was its nature. Plants didn't learn methods to grow - they reached toward light because that was their essence. Even his own divine healing wasn't truly about guiding energy - it was about letting life flow naturally.
Tears fell from Harry's eyes as the truth overwhelmed him. He felt the fire in his blood, in every heartbeat, in each breath. Not as power to be used, but as Life itself expressed through Fire. His hands moved without thought, and bright golden flames burst into existence - not created by him, but flowing through him like breath itself.
These Yang Flames weren't techniques he'd mastered but truth he'd finally understood. They radiated vitality because that was their nature, healed because that was their essence, shared energy because Life could do nothing else but give of itself.
But in the darkness between colors, in the gaps where prismatic fire didn't touch, Harry gasped at what he felt deep in his soul. Brief as a heartbeat, yet as important as Life itself. These spaces weren't empty - they were Death. Not as opposition to Life, but as part of Fire's complete nature. His eyes widened as he understood why his attempts at Yin Flames through Soul Resonance Mist had been mere imitation. True Death wasn't an emptiness created by removing emotions - it was a fundamental state as natural as Life itself.
The prismatic flames faded slowly, revealing the two dragons still gripping the bridge supports. Harry looked at them with new eyes. The red dragon radiated vitality - Life itself expressed through Fire. The blue dragon emanated something deeper – Death as fundamental as Life. These weren't just powerful beings, but the original understanding of what Fire truly meant.
This wasn't about balancing Yin and Yang like his azure flames. That had been a stepping stone, teaching him control and unity. The path to mastering Death within Fire lay open before him, but he would need to comprehend it as intimately as he now knew Life - not as an opposite force, but as an equally fundamental aspect of existence. Only then could he create flames like the dragons had shown him, understanding that Life and Death were never truly separate at all.
The dragons must have seen his understanding. Both inclined their heads slightly before launching themselves back into the air. Harry watched them soar back to their caves, each movement displaying the perfect unity of Life and Death within Fire.
The drums below fell silent. Harry took a deep breath, feeling the bright golden Yang Flames still burning above his palms. These flames felt different from any he'd created before - they radiated outward with pure vitality, warming the air around him without his conscious direction.
Chief Huemac rushed forward with wide eyes. "By the Masters..." He stared at the golden flames. "Life Flames! You actually created Life Flames!"
Several Sun Warriors climbed onto the bridge, whispering in excitement as they saw the golden fire.
"What?" Harry looked between the chief and his flames in confusion.
Huemac laughed, a bright sound that echoed off the mountains. "We Sun Warriors have understood for generations that both Life and Death exist within fire. But understanding isn't the same as manifesting!" He grinned widely. "In our entire history, only a handful of Sun Warriors have ever created Life Flames after seeing the Masters' truth. And none..." His voice filled with wonder. "None have ever grasped them so quickly. All outsiders until now have only grasped a small part of Life…"
"And here we thought you might be a spy!" A younger Sun Warrior called out from behind them. The others laughed. "Shows what we know!"
"Those were Ran and Shaw," Huemac said with reverence. "The original masters of fire. Ran," he gestured to the red dragon's cave, "represents Life. Shaw," he pointed to the blue dragon's lair, "embodies Death."
"Death Flames remain beyond even our greatest masters." Huemac shook his head, still smiling. "To think you understood Life Flames in moments... You are full of surprises, pale one."
Harry felt his cheeks heat up. "I only understood part of the truth. Death within fire..." He glanced at Shaw's cave. "That will take much longer to grasp."
"Ah, but you've seen the path!" Huemac clapped him on the shoulder. "That's more than most ever achieve. Now come! We must celebrate - it's not every day we witness someone grasp Life Flames!"
Harry blinked at the sudden change in Huemac's demeanor. The stern chief from earlier had vanished, replaced by someone whose smile reached all the way to his eyes. Around them, the other Sun Warriors broke into excited chatter, their earlier suspicion forgotten.
"I don't understand." Harry glanced between the gathered warriors. "An hour ago you were ready to throw me in your deepest cells."
Huemac let out a deep laugh. "The Masters judge true hearts. Had you carried deception or ill intent, they would have burned you to ash where you stood." He gestured at the golden flames still hovering above Harry's palms. "Instead, they gifted you with understanding few have ever achieved."
A younger warrior - Necalli, Harry remembered - stepped forward with an embarrassed smile. "We protect these ruins because many seek to abuse the Masters' power. The Fire Nation..." His face darkened. "They would twist the Masters' teachings into weapons of war."
"The Masters are the original firebenders," Huemac explained as they walked back toward the path. "They taught humanity that fire means life, growth, energy. Not just destruction." He shook his head. "But some see only the power, not the truth behind it."
Harry absorbed this while carefully maintaining the eternal flame he still held within one palm. "So when I showed up mysteriously..."
"We assumed the worst." Another warrior grinned. "But the Masters saw your spirit. No spy could fake that kind of understanding."
Harry nodded slowly. "Speaking of the Masters..." He lifted the eternal flame slightly. "What am I supposed to do with this now?"
Huemac waved his hand. "You may extinguish it. The Eternal Flame grows stronger each day - this small portion has served its purpose."
"Oh." Harry closed his fingers, snuffing out the orange flames. The golden Yang Flames remained steady above his other palm, radiating warmth that seemed to make the air around them feel more alive.
They started walking back to the village, and Harry noticed the warriors walking beside him now instead of following behind. Several asked questions about his homeland that he had to redirect, while others pointed out interesting features of their territory.
"See that red-leafed tree?" Necalli pointed toward a gnarled trunk growing from a crack in the mountain. "Ren breathed fire on a normal tree many years ago. Now every leaf burns bright red year-round."
When they reached the village gates, Huemac raised his voice. "Today we celebrate! The Masters have blessed us with a new bearer of Life Flames!"
The news spread quickly through the streets. People walked out of homes built into the mountainside, their faces lighting up at the sight of Harry's golden flames. Several children broke away from their parents and ran forward.
"Can I see?" A small girl with missing front teeth begged. "Please?"
Harry knelt down to the little girl's level, bringing the golden flames closer. "What's your name?"
"Citlali!" She bounced on her toes, eyes reflecting the warm light. "The flames look different from Papa's fire."
More children gathered around, whispering and pointing at the Yang Flames. A boy who looked about six reached out before pulling his hand back quickly.
"It won't burn you," Harry assured them. The flames crackled softly above his palm. "Feel the warmth."
Citlali stretched her small fingers toward the golden fire. Her eyes widened. "It feels like sunshine!"
"My turn!" The boy who'd hesitated before stepped closer. Soon a dozen children surrounded Harry, each wanting to feel the strange flames that radiated life instead of heat.
"The plants!" One of the older children pointed at the ground. Small green shoots pushed through cracks in the stone around Harry's feet, drawn to the Yang Flames' energy.
Huemac watched with a small smile. "Come, let's move this gathering somewhere more appropriate. The great hall awaits!"
The great hall turned out to be a massive cavern carved into the mountainside. Stone benches lined the walls while carvings covered the ceiling - dragons breathing fire that spiraled across the rock. Brass bowls filled with flames lit up the space.
People started filing in, and Huemac guided Harry to a raised platform near the back. "We must speak of important matters before the celebration begins."
Harry sat cross-legged on a cushion, the Yang Flames still crackling above his palm. "Important matters?"
"What you learned today..." Huemac settled beside him. "The true nature of Life and Death within fire - we keep this knowledge hidden from outsiders." He glanced at the gathering crowd. "Most who seek the Masters' wisdom receive only basic teachings. The forms, the breathing, the techniques."
"Why tell me this then?"
"Because you didn't just see the truth, you understood it." Huemac pointed at the golden flames. "Life Flames prove that. The Masters judged you worthy of deeper knowledge." His expression grew serious. "The Fire Nation would use such understanding to spread destruction. They've forgotten that fire means more than power."
"So when others come seeking knowledge..."
"We teach them what flames to make, how to move, when to breathe." A slight smile crossed Huemac's face. "But nothing of Life or Death. Those truths remain sacred, shared only with those the Masters choose."
Harry shifted on the cushion, watching the Yang Flames flicker above his palm. "So I guess I shouldn't spread the existence of the Masters and their teachings." He glanced up at Huemac. "I'm good at keeping secrets, but what else am I supposed to hide? The Fire Nation was mentioned before - who are they?"
Huemac's eyebrows shot up. "You don't know of the Fire Nation?" He frowned deeply. "The empire that's been waging war across the world for nearly a century?"
"I..." Harry rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "Where I come from, we don't have a Fire Nation."
"Impossible..." Huemac shook his head slowly. "Even the most remote villages know of the Fire Nation's conquest." His eyes narrowed. "Just where are you from?"
Harry stared at the Yang Flames above his palm, buying time to think. He knew how suspicious he must seem - appearing from nowhere, knowing nothing of this world's conflicts. He had to give them something, especially after learning how to improve his firebending thanks to them.
"I..." Harry let out a heavy breath. "I was at home with my guardians. I'd just returned from exploring a forest near our house." He looked up at Huemac. "Then something pulled me away. Next thing I knew, I was standing in your ruins."
"And in your homeland?" Huemac sat back in his cushion. "No one else bends fire?"
"No one." Harry shook his head. "I'm the only one who can create flames like this. We don't have benders of any kind where I'm from." The Yang Flames crackled softly as he spoke. "I didn't even know there were others who could bend fire until today."
Huemac stroked his chin, face deep in contemplation. The sounds of people gathering in the hall filled the silence between them. Finally, he spoke. "Perhaps this is the work of a spirit."
"A spirit?"
"The Masters are not the only ancient beings in this world." Huemac gestured at the carved dragons on the ceiling. "Spirits move in ways we cannot understand, crossing boundaries that limit mortals."
Harry raised his eyebrows at that information. "What kind of spirits?"
"Some take physical form, like the Masters." Huemac pointed at a carving of a massive fish. "Others exist only in the spirit world, crossing over during solstices when the boundary grows thin." He smiled at Harry's wide-eyed expression. "Perhaps one brought you here to learn from the Masters."
"That might explain..." Harry trailed off as men entered carrying platters of food. The smell of roasted meat and spices filled the air.
"We can discuss nations and spirits another time." Huemac stood up. "For now, we celebrate! Everyone, gather round!"
The hall was alive with excitement as people found seats. Children squeezed between adults, pointing at Harry's golden flames which still burned bright above his palm.
"First," Huemac raised his voice over the crowd. "We feast! Then..." He grinned at Harry. "Our guest can demonstrate his Life Flames?"