Chapter 19- Searching For Some History

"Woah... now this is cool," You breathed out, looking at all the books as you were holding onto the top with one arm, as your arm was still bandaged from the stab wound. Katara helped you down as Zei was looking around with excitement.
"My word! The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol-..." Zei trailed off before coughing awkwardly.

"...Eh, nice owl," He sheepishly said, but then you all heard rustling behind you, so you all hid behind pillars. You peeled to see a giant owl, staring at the rope and turning his head backwards.
"I know you're back there," You shivered at the voice of the spirit who guards this library.

Zei then walked out of his hiding place and walked forward.
"Hello, I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University," He introduced himself.
"You should leave the way you came. Unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology," The spirit motioned to stuffed heads.

"Are you the spirit who brought this library to the physical world?" Sokka asked as you all walked away from the pillars.
"Indeed, I am Wan Shi Tong, "He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things." And you are obviously humans, which, by the way, are no longer permitted in my study," Wan Shi Tong explained.
"What do you have against humans?" You tilted your head.

"Hm! Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. Like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy," For some reason, you know that Firebender was Zhao, which made you shiver and rub your arms gently.
'Now I know why Twig didn't like it here,' You thought.

"So... who are you trying to destroy?" Wan stared into your soul very closely, making you take a step back.
"Believe me, we're not like that," You breathed out, looking away.
"Then why have you come here?" He asked and tilted his head.

"Um... knowledge for knowledge's sake?" Sokka guessed and pushed you back.
"If you're going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it," Wan said with an unimpressed tone.
"We're not lying, We're here with the Avatar, and he's the bridge between our worlds. He'll vouch for us," You said and motioned for Aang to come closer.

"Uh, yeah, I'll vouch. We will not abuse the knowledge in your library, good spirit. You have my word," Aang told the spirit and you all bowed.
"Hmm, very well. I'll let you peruse my vast collection on one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge," He explained.

"Please accept this tome as a donation to your library," Zei lifted his study tome.
"First edition, very nice," Wan nodded and took it.
"I have an authentic waterbending scroll," Katara handed him a scroll.
"Ooh, these illustrations are quite stylish," He took it as well.

"All I have to offer is the (L/N)'s recipe for spicy curry. Passed down for 24 generations," You hand him a scroll, and his nodded.
"Sounds delicious, I'll try it for dinner," He swiped the scroll and you took a step back.

"Uh ... oh, I know!" Aang took out his wanted poster, and Wan shrugged.
"I suppose that counts," He said.
"Oh, great spirit, check this out," Sokka grabbed some top and made multiple knots.
"Ta-da! It's a special knot. That counts as knowledge!" Sokka grinned.

"You're not very bright, are you? Enjoy the library," Wan sighed and took the knot, turning to fly away. Sokka deflated and you all walked around the library. You tapped some books as Momo landed on your shoulder.
"Look Momo, history on Tiger Monkeys, I'm sure Twig will like this," You smiled at the lemur, who cooed.

"Hey, look at these weird lion turtle things, you said you saw these things in your dreams (Y/N)," Aang showed you some pictures of a lion turtle.
"Oh yeah, I thought I made them up because of my concussion," You said in awe. You all continued to search, and you spotted something in the Earthbending side.

"Maybe there is some special books on Lavabending," You mumbled and kept on searching until you found a green and red scroll with the combination of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom symbol.
"This is promising Momo," You said and held onto it for later.

Just then, you saw Sokka running with some piece of burnt paper.
"Sokka, where are you going?" Aang shouted for him.
"I want to know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day. This could be promising! The information on the Fire Nation should be right up here!" He called out and ran off.

You all followed him and made it to a hall with a fire symbol, but as you came in, everything was burnt.
"Should've known Zhao covered his tracks," Tou hissed as Sokka groaned.
"That's so unfair! Just when I think I'm one step ahead of the Fire Nation, it turns out they beat us here a long time ago. I need to know what happened on the darkest day," He said with determination.

Behind you, you heard one of the fox spirits standing on his hind legs.
"Hey look," You said, and the rest watched as the fox ran off.
"Seems it's trying to assist you," Zei suggested.
"Um, sure, I guess I'll follow you," Sokka mumbled and you all followed him to a giant seal, where the fox went through a hole and suddenly, the seal opened.

The fox spirit then pulled a lever, and the dome above you started to move.
"This room is a true marvel, a mechanical wonder. It's a planetarium that shows the heavens moving," Zei said in fascination.
"Uh, this is beautiful, but how is it helpful?" Sokka asked.
"Maybe these dials represent dates and times," You guessed looking at the dials.

"Sokka, try entering that date from that parchment you took," Katara said, and Sokka hushed her.
"Shh, Katara, not in front of the fox, he's with the owl," The fox spirit whimpered, and you patted his head for comfort. Sokka checked the date and moved the dials, making the dome move again until the moon covered the sun.

"Hey wait, what happened to the sun?" Katara asked.
"Great you must've broken it," You snorted at Aang's words, but Sokka placed a finger under his chin.
"The sun is behind the moon. It's a solar eclipse! It's literally the darkest day in Fire Nation history. Now I get it. Something awful happened on that day. I don't know what, but I do know why. Firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse!" Sokka explained with excitement.

"Oh yeah, I remember Princey Zuko saying something about him moving with the sun who's you move with the moon, that's cool," You noted, with a smile.
"We've gotta get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. We'll wait for the next eclipse, then we'll invade the Fire Nation when they're totally helpless. The Fire Lord is going down!" Sokka grinned, but then Wan Ahi Tong appeared behind you all.

"Mortals are so predictable, and such terrible liars. You betrayed my trust. From the beginning, you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes,"He tsked and stared down at you all.
"You don't understand. If anyone's evil, it's the Fire Nation. You saw what they did to your library. They're destructive and dangerous. We need this information," Sokka explained to the spirit.

"You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified? Countless others before you have come here seeking weapons or weaknesses or battle strategies," Wan blankly said as Aang walked forward.
"We had no choice. Please, we're just desperate to protect the people we love!" He pleaded with Wan.

"And now I'm going to protect what I love," Wan Shi Tong then clapped his wings and the whole library started to shake.
"What are you doing?" Katara asked, frightened.
"I'm taking my knowledge back. No one will ever abuse it again," Wan said and you realized what he's doing.

"He's sinking the building. We've gotta get out of here!" You shouted, but then Wan formed into a more bigger beast.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that. You already know too much," He then struck, but you all dodged and ran off to escape.

You had to keep pushing Zei forward to run, and Aang sent a gust of wind to knock Wan out.
"We've gotta get back to the surface!" Aang yelled, but you noticed Sokka stopped moving.
"Come on Boomerang!!" You said, but Sokka turned back.

"But we still don't know when the next eclipse is gonna to happen," He said, as the building was being filled with sand.
"Don't be stupid! We'll find out later!" Katara pleaded with her brother.

"No, we won't. If we leave this place, we'll never get the information. Aang, come with me to the planetarium, I need cover. Katara, (Y/N), take Momo and get out of here!" He said.
"But-" Wan returned and struck again, making you grab Momo.
"Come on water girl!!" You grabbed her hand and ran off to either hide or escape.

"Here!!" You pulled Katara against your chest as you scooted against a book wall, with Momo on your head to hide.
"At least I'll have one specimen to add to my collection," Wan appeared and started to attack again. You grabbed Katara and Momo and ran to the entrance where you saw the rope.

Momo flew up to escape as you and Katara got ready to attack. Wan lifted his wings to challenge you all.
"Your bendings won't do you much good here. I've studied every style of bending there is," You then lifted rock up and formed it into lava to surround him, before Sokka struck his head with a heavy book.

"You can't predict a style if I made it up!" You grinned and and motioned everyone to climb, but then you noticed someone missing.
"Professor!! Let's go!" You called out to Zei who was still reading.
"I'm not leaving. I can't. I've spent too long trying to find this place. There's not another collection of knowledge like this on earth. I could spend an eternity in here," Zei smiled and hole onto the books.

"May your spirit be guided to afterlife once you finished with your reading!" You called out, and he nodded. It was hard for you to climb with one arm uninjured, but then Wan started to shake the rope, cutting it loose and causing you all to fall.

Aang then grabbed you all and flew up to the window, where you all fell into the sand. Toph who was holding onto the tower let go, and the whole thing disappeared into the sand. You panted with adrenaline pumping, and you looked at your hand which held the Fire and Earth scroll and Tiger monkey history.

"That... was... so awesome!! We actually escaped a spirit!! And all of the Lavabending history scrolls I grabbed, it was worth it!!" You cheered and kicked the sand in excitement, turning to Twig.
"Oh man Twig!! You should've been there-... Twig?" You stopped, smile flattened as you didn't see Twig with Toph or Appa anywhere.

"Twig... ? Twiggy? Twog?? Twigster??" You called out, turning around frantically as Aang was looking for Appa.
"Toph..." Toph winced and covered her head at you using her name instead of your nicknames.
"Where Twig and Appa?" You asked in a soft tone, and she shook her head.

"I'm sorry..."
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Oh no...