Chapter 22

-[Aroh]-

His eyes narrowed briefly as he had only one thing to say in the face of Roku's revelation.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" He asked, not letting down his guard or tension.

It had been ten years since he arrived in this body, spending those ten years in the hell that was war. He didn't have the luxury of retaining knowledge that wasn't beneficial to his survival.

He could barely remember whether he had a favorite food or not. Something like this, if it was even true, wasn't essential so he could only doubt it.

If it was true, the significance was lost on him seeing as how it hadn't helped him and he didn't see that knowledge doing him any good.

Requests from a man claiming to be his ancestor would not play at his heartstrings one but. "Last try."

-[Roku]-

He was a bit taken aback by Aroh's casual dismissal. He'd thought that revealing that connection would make him even just a tiny bit sympathetic to Aang but it barely had an effect.

To be more accurate, it didn't have an effect.

Aroh didn't ask whether he was lying or for proof of his claims. The teen in front of him didn't care in the slightest, once again making him envious of his decisive nature.

He had one more explanation to give before things would turn violent. From what he had seen, he doubted that Aang's body could move fast enough to evade a killing blow.

"In that case, let us make a trade. Knowledge in exchange for Aang's life. Knowledge you would be very interested in knowing." Roku said, watching the minute narrowing of Aroh's eyes.

"Talk. I'll decide whether it's worth it or not after I hear it." Aroh countered.

Roku could only accept and talk. Truthfully, Aroh had the upper hand in this deal. He couldn't even attempt to force Aroh to agree, seeing as how he would kill Aang if he didn't find his words satisfactory.

"The power that is inside you, that dark power, belongs to an ancient and powerful spirit. Its name is lost to time but the stories of its intentions remain. This evil and powerful spirit which was supposedly said to be sealed has found its way into the mortal realm but not without consequences." Roku explained, watching as Aroh took in his words.

"The barriers separating the mortal and spiritual world are at an all time low, thanks in no small part to this war. War breeds hatred and negative emotions. That amalgamation of negativity was enough to allow this spirit passage but in return, its power got scattered."

"This scattered power causes changes to the places it taints. What you absorbed is that power. For some reason, you were able to make it your own rather than becoming a slave to it." It was something that bothered him for a while.

He didn't know of any living thing that could take in that much of the spirit's power without succumbing to it.

He was telling the truth. He only hoped that it would be enough to assuage Aroh. It was tense for a few moments but just when it looked like Aroh was going to attack, the boy turned away.

"Get rid of this thing." Aroh said, referring to the barrier of air that Roku had maintained around them.

They were still in the middle of it as it swept the soldiers and tanks around. He quickly noticed that he was reaching the limit for his time taking over Aang's body.

-[Aroh]-

As Roku pulled down the barrier of wind, Aroh shot forward at high speed, decapitating a soldier and dismembering another soldier that was close to him.

Before they could show their surprise, they were killed by a thrust to the heart.

The tanks were a bit trickier to handle.

He leaped out of the way of a fireball that was shot from the opening on the tank before it closed back.

Waiting for one of them to open up in an attempt to fire at him, he wasn't disappointed as one of them gave him his opening as they attempted to throw a blast of fire at him.

Their efforts were rewarded with a Aroh appearing in front of him in a burst of speed, his lightning covered sword tearing through metal, fleshed his and bone in one slice

Apparently, he didn't need to do much more as a wave of water poured from above, drenching the courtyard. Aroh jumped over the support as it solidified into ice, trapping the soldiers in their tanks and the tanks unable to move.

Aroh looked up to see Katara and Sokka riding Appa down towards them. "That took some time." He said to Katara who looked sheepish

Sokka quickly noticed Aang passed out, depleted from Roku's possession. Before the watertribe boy could say anything, Aroh spoke over him. "If you're going to throw accusations at me again then just save it. He did that to himself."

Sokka scowled as he carried Aang back on Appa. "Come on, Katara. Let's get out of here."

"What about stopping the fire nation?" Katara asked, getting a frown from Sokka.

"There's fire nation right beside you. You wanted to help, you've helped. Now let's go." Sokka argued, Katara shaking her head.

"Well I'm not going just yet." She said.

Sokka let out a groan. "Katara, Aang is unconscious. How are we supposed to beat them all?!

Aroh couldn't see what Sokka was complaining about. The guards here were weak and slow. Not wanting to drag it out any longer, he sped off, ignoring the conversation between the siblings.

Moving into the temple, he found fire nation soldiers patrolling, as well as some normal looking people being paraded around to move things.

They were the first 'civilians' he was coming across.

The guards were tense as they turned at almost every sound. Their paranoia came to fruition as Aroh gripped his sword tightly, blurring forward with his sword already in a swing.

In one swift move, he beheaded a soldier and moved on to the next man, thrusting the cackling sword through his armor.

"Stop him!"

Aroh dodged a blast of fire, ducking under another one as he was quickly in front of them.

All the soldiers saw was a flash and they fell like sacks of potato to the ground, robbed of life. Aroh turned to the 'civilians', a middle aged man and a chubby teenager.

He knew that the deeper he went, the higher the compensation would be. His main objective was securing the scientist in charge of the weapons production, anything else was secondary.

He walked up to the two who were terrified by his horrific display. "Where is your leader?"