ZFighter18

The summons came an hour later. Three heavy percussive hits against the solid wood of his door. Not even a full hour after the princess had left him alone and taken her creepy smile with her, the interruption rang through from the other side of his door. The guard outside didn’t even wait for an ans

The news was a wet slap, everyone in the palace who was apparently recoiling the day the messenger hawk hit the second bird tower. It took all of an hour for Ryo to catch the whispers, the servants who brought his meals loud on the other side of his door as they spoke to each other. Guards walking p

The caldera of the Fire Nation capital was home to as many secrets as it had servants, and servants liked to talk. Through those mouths and ears, whispers eased through the palace, catching in the corners of the palace where courtiers and cleaners thought nobody was listening. Stern-faced generals s

The ink on the parchment dried too quickly in the heat. Useful as that was, it served as an annoyance. The heir to the Fire Nation sat beneath the wide brim of a parasol, crimson silk serving its purpose in shading her skin. A brush hovered over the scroll that sat in front of her, posture rigid aga

The throne room felt different when you were the one being praised. Or, when the person next to you was being praised, anyway. Weeks after going battlefield to battlefield across colonies, hunting down deserters and making examples out of people who thought running away was a good idea, Ryo stood th

His chest was still hot, raw where that last guy’s fire blast had hit him straight-on. Even with the blisters on the rest of his skin, the black tattoos somehow didn’t seem to have a single scratch on them. At all. Weird. But not the most important thing right now. His eyes trailed all the bodies sc

Actually finding the deserters took less time than he expected. Unfortunately, way more than he hoped for. It took the whole rest of the day; all eight of them weaving around through the wild, going slow and quiet so they wouldn’t tip off anybody who happened to be on the lookout. Ryo was almost beg

"Man, I hate the ocean." The ship cut through water, all black metal and red sails snapping loud in the wind. Ryo leaned forward on the railing, elbows digging into cool iron as salt spray hit his face. Felt good to be moving again, good to be anywhere that wasn't those four walls back at the palace

A month and two weeks. Not that counting mattered, of course. Not that she would ever admit such a thing if her father deigned to ask her. Not that she hadn’t counted every single day, each rising number in her skull like a splinter she could not reach yet one she could not entirely ignore all the s

The next lesson was just pain. That's it. The whole-ass lesson. Like a tutorial level from some video game designed in hell, where the final boss was also your teacher and every wrong button press got you a game over screen written in your own blood. He’d barely gotten his breath back, lungs and thr

Sukuna stood above him like he owned the whole damn universe, and knew it. Those four crimson eyes shone with the ancient light that made Ryo's skin crawl, and the blood-red fire was still burning in his palm. "Others are born gods." The words echoed. Bouncing off the bone walls in the vast dead spa

The first week was almost enjoyable, he had to admit. But the almost part was the thing. Ryo blinked himself awake that first day, sun already high in the sky and blasting him through a window that was too damn big honestly, bigger than the whole wall of his old bedroom. At least, he was pretty sure

The arena held its breath, four converging lances of fire illuminating every frozen expression in the stands. Ozai watched from his elevated position, golden eyes alight as he watched the events proceed as expected. A necessary spectacle. It was most unfortunate that Azula’s ambition had outpaced he

Sukuna: The Last Sorcerer Book 1: Episode 5 – o – o – o – o – o – o – o – The cold stone bit into her knees as the vastness of the throne room stretched empty around her. Princess Azula of the Fire Nation held the position, spine straight, head bowed in perfect submission. The room had long faded in

Book 1: Episode 4 – o – o – o – o – o – o – o – The heat hit Ryo first, hours away before they made landfall. Long before they even saw the coast, he could feel the raw heat of the place. It was like a sauna, and it only got worse the closer the ship got. By the time the princess’s ship slid into th

Book 1: Episode 3 – o – o – o – o – o – o – o – Son of a bitch, the ocean sucks. The iron railing he leaned on was hot enough to brand skin but Ryo kept his elbows planted anyway, metal half-burning him while he stared out at all that water. Too much water. Like, an offensive amount of water stretch

Book 1: Fire The Dark Avatar Returns – o – o – o – o – o – o – o – There is a lot to be said for the resilience of children. Unfortunately, that lot is often wrong. It can be said that some children are resilient, able to overcome serious hardship and deal with immense trauma, while others are simpl

Sukuna: The Last Sorcerer Book 1: Fire The Boy In The Volcano Fire. Air. Water. Earth. In the days of old, long before the Fire Nation was founded, before the Air Nomads claimed superiority, before the Water Tribes attempted to fight their betters and before the Earth Kingdom rose from the mud. When