Harzek

"How did," Zaik gulped. "How did you know?" Idiot! What kind of stupid question was that, admitting guilt in the process?

"This is my library and my knowledge. Do you truly believe I do not know of all that transpires within these walls?"

He had made no motion to the fox who appeared behind him, but its presence did enough to confirm what was suspected.

"Why, you furry traitor," mumbled Zaik.

"Do not blame him for being loyal to his master. Loyalty is a precedent of his kind, just as warfare and destruction seems to be a precedent of yours."

"You act so surprised," I say, seeing this as the only time to speak up if there ever was one. "It's you who's gone out of your way to compile all of this information, you yourself saying you keep it in the physical realm for our kind to have access to!"

"Knowledge must not have limitations, unlike your kind who will only bring ruin and chaos to the world if you are not properly…restrained." He spoke the last work with a chilling venom that had me subtly reaching for the knife by my side, no part of me any longer expecting this having a good ending.

I still need to hear what Zaik had to say.

"If it's that important to you, we'll just be going now." I turned to the man by my side, grabbing his wrist by my hand. "Come on, Zaik." We needed to get out of here. Quickly. We could decide what to do once we were safe. That effort, of ours, would be interrupted by the feather-light figure of Wan Shin Tong descending directly in front of us, blocking our way out.

"I'm afraid that is no longer possible. You already know too much."

My eyes widened, watching as his neck grew exponentially in length, his head rearing back, building the force necessary to lunge forward, coming straight at us.

"Zaik, run!" I pushed my comrade out of the way, to my left, myself leaping to the right out of harm's way, the antagonized spirit's beak clashing onto the stone ground in between us, where both of us had stood just moments ago.

As I fell to the ground, I managed to work the knife out of my belt, throwing it to our latest enemy, watching as the blade was simply swept aside, Wan Shi Tong letting it shoot to the ceiling of this great hall, the point becoming stuck in the masonry overhead.

Seeing me defenseless now, no longer at threat, he turned his attention away from me and to my comrade.

I grimaced. I need to get that owl's attention on me and off of Zaik.

Still on the ground, I clambered to my feet, rushing immediately to the pile of documents I had lying on the ground. I could have picked up any one I imagined, and the spirit would have gone after me, but there were documents there that were important, and I had no intention of backtracking to this room, assuming I even got out of here alive, which was still up to debate.

I slid across the ground as I got close, grabbing the curled scroll I knew to be the one making reference to the two fish, myself believing it to be of importance one way or another. I narrowly avoided another attack from the owl, clambering quickly to my feet once again, scroll in hand, that being the determining factor in keeping it after me rather than my friend.

I sprinted to the far side of the room, using the support beams for cover, varying the moments in which I transitioned from one spire to another, keeping the spirit from noticing my patterns, allowing me to make it to the one nearest the doorway. It's still too far. I won't make it.

"Hey asshole!" I heard Zaik's voice call from the other side of the doorway, followed by a wet squelch that I could only assume to be the sound of a thrown dagger sinking into the spirit's side. Whatever it was, it had bought me enough time, the sound of my footsteps themselves being drowned out by the owl's pained shriek.

I rushed past the great beast as it writhed in pain at its injury, very likely starting to regret its presence in our world. I reunited with Zaik on the other side, pushing him along as we left this wing of the library and sprinted elsewhere, just desperate to be out of harm's immediate way.

Wan Shi Tong's shrieks still filled the chambers behind us as we clambered up the stairs to the level above, knowing that whatever escape we chose would only grant us a moment's respite. This was his library. He'd knew where we'd be hiding. We didn't have much time, and Zaik realized similarly as I pulled him aside into the alleyway between bookshelves, away from the ledge where the spirit would be very easily enabled to catch us.

The two of us were still in the process of catching our breaths, both exhausted and terrified, myself just barely managing to let out, "Tell me," between my labored breaths. "What did you find?"

"The Fire Nation," he breathed out. "We have a weakness." He coughed, gasping for air. "One that could kill us all."

"What!?" I wanted to yell.

"An eclipse. A solar eclipse. Over 2 centuries ago. "The Fire Nation's Darkest Day." All firebenders. They lost their power. The Fire Nation was attacked. Tens of thousands were killed, the capital pillaged. It said it would happen again. If it-if it does, and the enemy is prepared, then we-"

"Then we could be destroyed."

A solar eclipse. The sun was the firebender's power. And so, if the sun was blocked, then, then it was true. We'd be defenseless.

The sun was our Nation's power. We worshipped it as a god. As the waterbenders worship their moon.

Wait.

And it all clicked.

The documents I'd seen earlier, those of lunar eclipses, and the ones I'd seen after that, speaking of the horrific losses of waterbenders on full moons. They were full moons, but during lunar eclipses. The red moon. The moon being obscured in the Earth's shadow. It all, it all made sense. That was it! That was our edge! That was how we could win!

"Umm, lieutenant?" Zaik asked. "Did that spirit hit you in the head? Because I do not think you should be smiling that wide after what I just told you."

"It's not that!" I wanted to laugh at the top of my lungs. I had it! We had it! That was it! "A lunar eclipse!" I nearly shouted, suppressing my volume so as to not alert the knowledge spirit.

"Umm, no. I said a solar eclipse. You know, for the sun, not the moo-oh."

"Our weakness, it's only a parallel of their own. We need to-we need to find Zhao. We need to find him now!"

"Found you!" Came the ethereal voice from directly behind us, Wan Shi Tong's figure emerging from around the bookshelf we'd been hiding behind, his neck angling around its corner to reach at us, myself just barely pulling Zaik out of the way of the violent attack.

"Run!" I yelled, pulling him to his feet as we sprinted in the opposite direction, towards the area that Zhao was set to be covering.

The spirit was directly behind us, hot on our heels. "Zaik!" I called out. "Grenades!"

He nodded, reaching into his pocket as we dashed across the bridge spanning over the abyss of the library. I heard the sizzle as the fuse was lit, the friction of the washer over it igniting it, Zaik promptly tossing it behind him as we ran.

The explosive went off too early, but still momentarily caused the spirit to halt its flight in the wake of the ball of fire, fearful of getting too close, granting us some extra ground.

It resumed its flight soon enough, however. We were almost across the bridge. "Another!" I called out.

Zaik had learned from last time, setting the fuse again, allowing it to cook longer, taking in account the extra footing we'd gained, and let the grenade loose. I could hear the clawing on the stone of the bridge as Wan Shi Tong skidded to a stop, the noise of it immediately overpowered by the boom of the explosion that followed.

The smoke of the explosion concealed our next maneuver, the two of us splitting up, blending into the rows of pillars that marked the entrance into the next wing of the library, both me and Zaik hiding behind separate ones, waiting for the spirit to pass. The sooner he did, the sooner we could get to Zhao without bringing feathery peril in tow.

The smoke cleared soon enough, and from it, he emerged. I immediately ducked behind cover once again, intent on not allowing my head poking out to be spotted.

I could not observe what happened next, myself too terrified to even ponder looking around, only having the shifts in the air to guide me as to where he was, his footsteps too quiet, too unearthly silent to be heard.

"I know you are in here."

Then came a crash, one that echoed across the hall we were hiding in, the sound of stones clashing against the floor, myself needing to poke out for just a moment to see what had transpired.

Where an ornately carved stone pillar had stood only seconds ago, a pile of rubble remained. He could rebuild. He was willing to do anything to catch us. Damnit!

I hid back behind my pillar, breathing, tying to keep my cool.

Another crash.

I needed to believe that he'd stop before he reached me.

Another one, closer.

I had no idea where Zaik was.

Another crash.

Wherever he was, I prayed that if Wan Shi Tong reached me first, he'd take the opportunity, and run.

Another crash, nearly right on top of me.

He knew what he had to tell Zhao. He would have to finish the mission. He'd have to. I had to have faith in him.

I closed my eyes, awaiting the next crash I knew was about to come, this one destined to either sever me in half along with the pillar I awaited my fate behind, or crush me beneath its weight as it came toppling down.

"I'm right here!"

Zaik. No.

Wan Shi Tong had been waiting for just the moment for one of us to make our appearance.

He wasted no time in immediately turning to the other side of the hall, moving faster than a Yuyan archer's arrow in immediately clasping both of Zaik's shoulders in its talons, pinning him to the ground in the center of the hall.

"Let him go!" I yelled, leaping out of cover, but the owl's attention was set on Zaik, having its prey solidly in his grasp, nothing about to change that, not even me, not until he was done with his current target.

Wan Shi Tong's gaze was transfixed on Zaik, nothing else in the world about to take his attention away as his talons sunk deeper, drawing blood from Zaik's body, feeble and pathetic by comparison. My attention was similarly directed, looking along in horror as Zaik attempted to raise his head, grunting from the pain.

And this time, it was his turn to tell me, "Run."

It was then that I noticed the metallic cylinder sliding underneath the ghastly owl's mass, fuse lit, ready to go.

No.

I dove for cover, the explosion sounding off the selfsame second I did, loose stones blowing off of the corner of my pillar as well as surrounding ones, myself immediately emerging from cover to find what had transpired. What I saw first was Wan Shi Tong's figure, his rear feathers and much of his back caught in a burning inferno, his screeches penetrating the otherwise dead-silent atmosphere of the library, trailing ever closer to the edge of our level, his talons hardly making contact with the surface as he reared ever closer to the ledge.

As well as that, I saw Zek's body on the stone floor, blood pooling around him. I fought the urge to immediately run to his side, knowing that if I gave the spirit any respite, it would use it to kill us both.

I took the chance I had, rushing the spirit while his guard was down, distracting by the flames dancing through his feathers, no solid footing to be had. I reached him, and as I'd done so many times during training when busting down doors and practicing unarmed combat, I slammed my shoulder into him where he stood at the edge. Despite his size that towered over my own, he lost his footing, the talons scratching at stone but finding no grip, and he toppled over the side, falling aimlessly into the abyss below.

I stood there at the edge for a second, watching his form become overtaken by the darkness below, and then I remembered.

"Zaik!"

I turned around, rushing to where he lay on the ground, more of his blood outside of him than in him. He was gasping for air, no shortage of shrapnel still protruding from his weakening body, the deep scratches at his shoulders not helping him much either.

"It's alright," I said, immediately sliding to and sitting by his side, taking his head into my hands atop my lap. "It's alright. I'm here now."

I looked over his wounds. He had practically next to his own grenade when it went off. It was a miracle he was still alive right now, but he was bleeding from a hundred wounds.

He would not survive.

He coughed out a glob of blood, chunks of his guts a part of his emission. "Shh, shh. It's alright. You did good, Zaik. You did good."

His coughing slowed for a minute, his gasps fading, but himself not yet dead, looking up at me, listening to what I had to say with the last of his strength.

"You saved my life," I said, smiling down on him, forcing back the moisture I could feel rising to my eyes. "You saved…your nation."

And I could have sworn I saw the slightest of smiles rise to his lips as he allowed his eyes to close, the last of his life escaping him, myself needing to find some solace in knowing that he died peacefully, knowing that he fought to save his comrade, to save his nation. It was a death I wish to have myself when the time came.

I waited there for a few seconds longer, eventually bringing my arm up to wipe away at the rogue droplets of water forming at the corner of my eyes.

And now Zaik joins the fallen.

All we know of was the lunar eclipse, ourselves still haven't having done anything to ensure the information of the solar eclipse fell into enemy hands. Has he really saved his Nation? Has anything we've done here really ensured we'd win this war?

No. There has to be more. There has to be more we can do.

I look around me, Zaik's lifeless head still resting in my lap. I had to find Zhao. Together, we could finish this. We had to.

I looked down at Zaik one last time before setting down his head back onto the cold stone beneath us. We'd come back for his body once this was all over. He'd get a hero's burial. For joining us on this mission, for fighting alongside his allies bravely, for saving his comrade, for saving his Nation.

Thank you, Zaik.

And so I left him there, promising him that I'd come back, that his family in Tozanji would hear about what he did. And so I headed deeper into the library, knowing that I had to find Zhao. That we had to finish this once and for all.