End of the Beginning

Chapter 31

We all cautiously walked down another long narrow stairwell. Trying our best to catch up with the small spirit without tripping and crashing on to the person in front due to the steep steps. Surely enough, we arrived at a small room-like crypt. The wisp abruptly stopped, its blue glow became brighter as it formed a small slender figure.

"Look! Something's happening!" Aang announced loudly.

After a few moments, the form of a cloaked woman appeared before us with a mask covering the entirety of her face. One half of the mask was black and the other white, carved into the mask were swirls that resembled smoke. It was the perfect description of the assailants that people have said.

The dense, suffocating feeling of ash enticed the air, and yet none of us acknowledged it. We just stood rather stiffly as we waited for the spirit to speak.

The voice in which the spirit spoke with echoed softly yet firmly," Greetings Avatar,"

An eerie sensation creeped on my skin, without being able to tell it was almost like the spirits gaze quickly shifted to acknowledge everyone else's presence aside from Aang's. Causing me to unconsciously lower my head as Aang began to speak again.

"You- you're one of the Kemurikage— the original ones, from long ago," He said, a bit shocked we actually were able to come across them as Kei Lo hid behind him.

"I am. For centuries, my sisters and I haunted the warlords of the Fire Islands. For their crimes, we haunted them. We haunted them until the islands were united into a single nation. The first Fire Lord, the one who rests in this crypt brought the warlords to justice and ushered in an era of prolonged peace. Our sadness receded, we never again set foot in the human world."

The others looked down to the lump of dirt that covered the first Fire Lords remains. It was an inconsolable feeling of not knowing whether to laugh or cry. The Kemurikage was direct in her manner of speech, making it all too obvious that they were not at fault for the recent occurrences in the Fire Nation.

However, Aang was still too shocked to understand and continued to ask questions only to receive the same answer again. I sighed as my mind raced, unable to figure out what to do next. In all honesty, being stumped like this made me feel stupid. But feelings of incompetence were quickly washed away with fear of the kidnappings continuing.

"If not them then who?" Kaito asked, mostly to herself.

"Doesn't matter," Kei Lo replied, quickly snapping us all out of the daze," We should get out of here first. There's nothing left for us to find in this place,"

"He's right," I added," For now let's go back to the palace. We've already wasted enough time here,"

>>>

The night was growing colder. While usually this time of the year would be much more comforting for me than the scorching hot days of summer. Had it been any other night, it would've been perfect to sit back and relax under the moonlight. But today couldn't have been any more stressful. With tensions high, and everyone's brains were being rattled like toys.

"I'm telling you, they're not the same spirits as the ones in the scroll!" Aang explained to Zuko as we flew on Appa back to the capital.

"So they're different spirits who just look like the Kemurikage?" Zuko asked.

"Maybe,"

"I don't know," I interjected," Something just feels off about these 'spirits'. What if it's fake and the real culprits are just trying to throw us off?"

"That's a possibility too," Mai added, reinforcing the idea with a small nod.

Kei Lo shrugged, "All I know is, on the roof of the flower shop that night? Those ladies looked creepy,"