Avatar: The Warrior's Rebirth Book 2-Inferno

Chapter 10: The Message of Hope

Fire. Air. Water. Earth. These are the four elements. For over ten thousand years, we have learned how to bend these four elements. And in every generation, there is always one who can master all four: the Avatar. In each generation, the Avatar has always been the one to bring balance to the world.

For so long, the Order of the Sun has done very well in keeping control of my home in the Fire Nation. Under Yao Tsung, my people have fallen into a dark era that's all too reminiscent of the Hundred Year War, if not worse.

Thankfully, we struck a real blow to the Order in Ba Sing Se when we revealed their true colors to the world. Now people know about all the terrible things the Order has done to gain power. Our message is what changed things, but now we have to send another one.

There's only one way to save the Fire Nation from falling apart. We have to let the world know that the true heir to the throne is alive. My old friend Kuzon has come out of hiding at last, and I'll whatever I can to take back our home. But before I can, the rest of the world has to know the truth.

***

So many things can happen to disturb someone trying to get some sleep. It could be a bad dream, or your pet dog barking, or insomnia, or even caffeine. But for a young man named Kuzon, crown prince of the Fire Nation, it was an overexcited eagle dove pecking his face.

The young prince sat up with a start, making the bird Kasso flap his wings spastically. His jittery flapping was so loud, it made the albino dragon Magmor groan in his sleep. Kuzon was all set to try and go to sleep again, when the dragon suddenly lifted his tail and brought back to the ground.

After that, there was no point trying to go back to bed. The others all sat up in their sleeping bags, but when they realized what happened, they relaxed. This made Kuzon wonder whether something like this happened a lot. His suspicions were confirmed when the Avatar sighed sleepily.

"Honestly, Magmor? How many times do we have to go through this? You don't need to wake us up unless it's an emergency. We have alarm clocks for that, thanks."

Kyoshi shook her head. "Not anymore we don't? Magmor smashed it the night we left Ba Sing Se."

"Right, I'd forgotten," Jago said.

It was Kuzon's turn to shake his head. "I don't think you should be too hard on Magmor. It was Akosha's bird that woke him up, after pecking me on the forehead, anyway."

Out of everyone in the group, Akosha was taking the longest to wake up, but if she had any stars left in her eyes, she shook them off quickly when she heard her name. She had a defensive look on her face that was made rather comical with half her hair sticking up.

"Hey, Kasso's been getting better about that. This is the first time he's done that since we left Omashu."

"Sure it is," muttered Kyoshi.

Akosha turned her attention over to the young warrior. "Seriously, what's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"Why do you even put up with that thing?" asked Kyoshi. "He's never exactly been helpful, has he? Not like poor Magmor, who always has to carry us and all our stuff. It's got to take a toll on him."

As the dragon groaned in an exhausted tone that Kasso found unconvincing, Akosha rolled her eyes. "Guess we'll find out one of these days. When we do, we'll see there's more to Kasso than meets the eye."

"Well you know I won't," Jago commented, which gave everyone a good laugh. When the laughter eventually died down, the Avatar turned to Akosha. "So, where do we go from here?" he asked her.