The library of limitless knowledge

Zuko couldn't believe how useful these balloons were.

Despite not being optimal for stealth appearances, even though most people don't usually look up at the sky since the end of the air nomads, it was still a hell of a fast way to traverse mountainous terrain.

The travel that would take around some days to Gaoling, had been accomplished in less than a day.

Gaoling was located in a valley surrounded by steep, rocky hillsides, and the nearest town to the Foggy Swamp.

Most of Gaoling's residents are middle-class people whose families have lived in the town for many generations.

The center of the village features a bustling marketplace with ornately decorated buildings.

The area served as the village's center of commerce, and as such, it was filled with merchants, barkers, and shoppers.

On the outskirts of the settlement are large, expansive estates where the wealthiest families, such as the Beifongs, live.

Now after his empire occupation, not muc had changed besides his soldiers now patrolling the town.

Master Yu's Earthbending Academy had become a center of recruiting earth benders to join the empire. With Earth Rumble stadium now serving as where they would await to be sent to Toph and The Boulder.

Interestingly, Xin Fun had enlisted himself after setting himself to learn lava bending.

Toph's father wasn't pleased at all in surrendering and swearing loyalty to the empire.

Knowing the man was a matter of time until he began conspiring and trying to reach earth kings from omashu and ba sing se.

But Zuko was patiently waiting for that to happen.

Poor Poppy Beifong would be devastated and alone if her husband got arrested for treason.

Regardless, Zuko's business was to deal with the first traitor of his empire.

"Ex-Commander Zhao." Zuko said grimly as he stood in front of a cell.

Bound, gagged and chained, Zhao could only plead through his eyes for mercy.

"For your crimes against the Blaze empire, I sentence you to death." The young emperor announced while having every single guard bowing in respect. "I've been informed that no record has been found in your possession. You most likely burned everything in order to bargain the information for your life."

Despite just being sentenced to death, Zhao still held hopes that the location of a spiritual library would make the emperor reconsider.

Zuko entered the cell, standing tall over the kneeling prisoner. "You might be hoping that I would reconsider my sentence. That I would dishonor myself… but I have spoken."

He grabbed Zhao with one hand and placed the other one over his chest.

Instead of lights shining bright, this time nothing unnatural happened.

At least not on the surface, but inside their minds, Zuko faced Zhao in a spiritual environment.

"What?" Muttered Zhao as he checked for the disappearance of the restraints that had been placed on him.

"You should consider yourself fortunate." Zuko announced as fire began emanating from his image. "You will be the first person that I will be trying this technique… I need to test it on someone that I had no reservation of breaking their spirit."

"What?" Zhao only managed to mutter a word before the intense fire took a hold of him.

Suddenly an influx of memories began pouring into Zuko's mind.

He saw Zhao's whole military career, since he first held the ranks of lieutenant, captain and commander.

His training with the traitor Jeong Jeong, and the missions he had taken for the sole purpose of glorifying his name.

And the supposed location of the famous spiritual library.

He was aware of rumors of a place hidden deep in the desert, of a magnificent palace that reached above the endlessly shifting sands.

The sandbenders avoid it, the locals who live on the fringes of the desert deny its existence.

Every now and then, foolish people risk their lives trying to find it, but only true seekers of knowledge are aware of its location.

They travel the world on their foxy feet, journeying far and returning with tomes and scrolls.

Removed from the mortal coil, they will spend eternity in servitude to the Spirit of Knowledge, an eternity chasing that which drew them to the Library in the first place.

Wan Shi Tong's foxes.

Zhao had managed to capture one.

Back to reality, Zuko opened his eyes and noticed Zhao's lifeless body.

Releasing him, the prisoner fell to the ground like a rag doll.

"Take care of his body." Zuko stated before leaving, the soldiers praised him for avenging the admiral that Zhao had dishonorably murdered.

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Wan Shi Tong's Library, also called Wan Shi Tong's Spirit Library, is an enormous library located somewhere in the center of the Si Wong Desert and was once a popular destination for many adventurers.

The library was considered to be very difficult to locate, as it was almost completely buried under desert sand.

Several thousand years before the 100 years war, Wan Shi Tong built the library with the intention of preserving all the world's knowledge.

With time, it eventually held a vast collection of ancient books, scrolls, and other documents with information pertaining to the World of Avatar, gathered by the spirit's Knowledge Seekers.

At one point in time, the library was accessible to humans, as Wan Shi Tong hoped they would benefit from the vast amount of information.

Because of the library's otherworldly origins, its collection also contained a great amount of information concerning the spirits.

But in canon, Zhao would only seek the library's knowledge in order to destroy his enemies.

There, Zhao learned that the Ocean and Moon spirits, Tui and La, were located at the Spirit Oasis and concluded it was the key to defeat the Water Tribe.

Zhao had the portion of the library concerning the Fire Nation destroyed to stop anyone from discovering his nation's weaknesses.

Angered by the abuse of his knowledge, Wan Shi Tong would close the library and prohibit humans from accessing his collection.

Though the building of the library was the size of a large palace, most of it would be buried beneath the sands of the desert, with only its topmost spire visible from above ground.

Curiously, the entire library structure bears a resemblance to the Taj Mahal in India and its massive size is also consistent with the mausoleum's most conspicuous characteristic.

With the help of Professor Zei, Team Avatar managed to rediscover the library during canon.

Wan Shi Tong would grudgingly allow them to peruse the library after each had made a contribution to his collection, on the condition that no knowledge from the library would be used for violent purposes.

During their visit, Sokka would find a small note reading "the darkest day in Fire Nation history." With only that small line and a date on the top, he would decide to go deeper into the library to find out what happened to the Fire Nation on that day.

After finding out that the entire wing of the library dedicated to the Fire Nation had been destroyed by firebenders, Sokka further expressed his determination to find out more about the note. Subsequently, a Knowledge Seeker would appear and lead the group toward a domed planetary calendar room in the library. This calendar revealed the date of the upcoming solar eclipse to Team Avatar, who would use this information to formulate an invasion plan.

Outraged at the betrayal of his trust, Wan Shi Tong decided to completely bury the library in order to "take his knowledge back".

But right now, Zuko landed his war balloon right in front of the large palace, after following a small fox all the way across the desert, standing above the ground in a pristine condition.

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The library was silent, for a long moment seemingly existing in a space between worlds, between life and death, spirit and physical, an ethereal dream that few yet sought and fewer still ever found.

Knowledge was like that.

Tangible yet fleeting, coveted by many, but truly understood and appreciated by few, more precious than gold but so often carelessly lost or abandoned or misused.

That was the purpose of the Library.

Knowledge for knowledge's sake.

Wan Shi Tong slowly rose from his favorite spot located close to his favorite section of the library.

Its elongated neck and almost serpentine body reformed into the more benign shape of a giant bird since he no longer needed to reach documents on the higher shelves.

When the spirit had long ago chosen a physical form, it had picked an owl, the classic symbol of wisdom.

A bit of a cliché, but something even the humans could understand.

A fox nudged his feathery wing softly, a low whine echoed down the silent chamber.

The spirit owl understood, its foxes had an insatiable curiosity and constantly sought out knowledge, this one had never failed to bring something that caught its attention.

Wan Shi Tong sighed.

Time and time again his Library had been abused, but still the spirit refused to ban all humans, nor deprive the physical world from such knowledge by sinking the enormous building beneath the shifting sands back to the spiritual world.

Its foxes came and went, bringing it tomes and scrolls and artwork.

Its library stood outside of time, apart from the world in which it existed, quietly preserving knowledge that would otherwise be lost.

It clacked its beak together, green spiritual flames lit the torches that lined the corridors, releasing light but neither consuming air nor emitting damaging smoke.

The spirit, of course, needed no light.

It knew the Library's architecture as well as it knew each and every book that resided here.

The light was for the comfort of the foxes, which were not all that far removed from the mortal coil.

Wan Shi Tong was an ageless being.

It had been collecting knowledge since the world was young.

Very few things could surprise it now.

It had witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations long forgotten, the beginning of bending, the birth and rebirth of the Avatar, the split of the Water Tribe and the demise of the Air Nomads.

Humans tended to live their lives in cycles.

Cycles of birth and death, of war and peace.

What many failed to realize was that the old owl had witnessed many wars and so-called 'justified' abuses of its knowledge.

Now the Fire Nation was the aggressor, or however it called itself now, in times past it had been the Earth Kingdom or the Water Tribe… in the future who knew which group of people would rise up at the expense of another country's well-being.

It was endless.

It was sickening.

The spirit shook itself, large obsidian feathers realigning themselves in proper order, and took flight.

Large wings carried it silently through the long corridors to the planetarium, a creation of an ancient tribe of star worshippers who had died out long ago.

The room had been a gift made for it, the technology used to move the mechanical sun and moon around lost forever to the world with their passing.

The giant owl clacked its beak again, a fox brought a book, one which was still mostly blank.

A feathery wing floated over a page and a new entry was added.

Wan Shi Tong, much like its precious knowledge, was neither good nor evil.

It has allowed countless humans access to its library in spite of knowing what they would use its knowledge for.

Because humans, while predictable as a species, were capricious as individuals.

And, after all, the very reason it had brought its library to the physical world was to share knowledge, to give the humans a chance to learn from past mistakes, to better themselves.

It had sat and watched their actions to see if one of them would have a crisis of consciousness.

The owl shook its head and instructed the fox to return the book to its proper place.

It was its chosen duty to watch and record, not to interfere, revenge was not generally in his nature.

Things had a way of balancing themselves, without the meddling hands of humans or spirits.

The truth had been documented.

Many spirits came here and read his collection.

Wan Shi Tong cocked its owl head to one side, sharp hearing picking up the sounds of another group of humans approaching.

Leaving the foxes to clean up the mess he had made while chasing the knowledge of another thing, it once again took flight.

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Zuko was already prepared for the owl's stealthy approach.

"Oh mighty and noble Spirit of Knowledge." He stated in a respectful tone as he made a hand symbol. "I've come seeking knowledge."

The creature gave up on shadowing him and decided to tower above Zuko, probably attempting to make the young emperor feel small in more ways than one.

It looked like a cat-owl, but without the distinctive furry tail.

Instead, the Spirit was covered in ebony feathers that shone in the ambient light filling the airy atrium he stood in.

White feathers, smooth as undisturbed snow on a mountainside, covered the Spirit's birdlike face.

Its two eyes gleamed like obsidian above a small, hooked beak of a bird of prey. "Human, I welcome you to my library. But I have a question for you."

Zuko nodded in agreement. "Nothing more reasonable. Please, ask your question and I swear to answer it honestly and to the best of my capabilities."

"We shall see…" It said without advertising its cold state. "Why do you seek knowledge?"

Already prepared to answer it, Zuko replied. "As much as it pains me, I've not come seeking knowledge for knowledge's sake…" He noticed an air of disappointment from the spirit, but also trust. "I've come to fulfill my duty of bringing light to this world, to my fellow human. I've come to gain knowledge that would aid me in freeing my species of its barbaric state, to seek guidance from enlightened civilizations that once achieved great accomplishments in certain aspects of life. And to free it from its detestable cycle of stagnation."

The spirit changed its subtle hostility towards his for a more friendly behavior.

"Despite not receiving the answer I wanted, you also have not given me the justification I feared you would." It stated. "But how can I be sure that you have not come seeking knowledge only to gain an edge against other humans?"

Zuko smiled and said. "Oh, but I'm on the path of subjugating other humans." That seemed to have soured Wan Shi Tong's mood. "But I wouldn't dishonor you nor your esteemed collection with petty motives. No, just as I already told you, I've come to gain knowledge that would help my species and provide a prosperous future for my empire."

"Ah yes, the fire nation had just renamed itself… how childish." It remarked. "But what guarantee do you give me that you are not lying to me, the one who knows ten thousand things?"

Still completely calm, Zuko raised his hands and opened his palms. "Believe me, I don't need help with subjugating others."

Two flames manifested, the one so dark that no light escaped its presence, the other so bright that none could endure staring at it.

"Fascinating." The spirit remarked with clear curiosity. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Tell you what, I know you require each person that wishes to access your collection to provide a contribution. I'm willing to donate a piece of my power for you to study. Though I will request unrestricted access to your library and permission to transcribe any document I desire to."

A fragment of the spirit that resembled humans clicked, it wished to bargain. "And if I refuse abiding by your terms?"

"That won't be a problem, as an emperor, I can offer countless pieces of information from my personal collection." Zuko offered. "Better yet, I won't be requesting anything else beyond regular access to your library, since I won't be sharing my divine power."

The spirit narrowed its eyes, probably attempting to intimidate the young emperor, but gave up eventually. "On second thought, I accept your original offer. You have my approval, human." Wan Shi Tong declared, retracting his neck so he no longer occupied Zuko's personal space

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Easier said than done, his flames weren't simple types of fire.

As soon as his flames had made contact with anything, even if it was just a small flame that had been contained in the strongest material Wan Shi Tong knew, the flame would quickly spread until it completely covered everything, besides, nothing seemed to be enough to endure it.

His black flame burned anything while his white flame froze anything.

The spirit had to settle for studying it in Zuko's palms.

Exactly what he had planned for.

His inextinguishable flames refused to be contained simply because Zuko wanted it to.

Not that the spirit would mind, it lacked the human trait of seeking knowledge to gain advantage over others, so having Zuko listen to everything it was uncovering from his flames wasn't a problem.

Unfortunately Wan Shi Tong's analysis didn't go anywhere for now.

But the young emperor assumed that if someone was capable of learning something from his gift, would be the spirit that knew a thousand things.

After Wan Shi Tong had decided to check everything in its collection that might help understanding Zuko's black and white flames, the young emperor went to reap the benefits from his deal with the spirit of knowledge.

Everywhere he went, he was greeted by monolithic shelves standing at least three stories high that towered all around him.

Every shelf was filled to the brim with books, scrolls, and other forms of literature.

Zuko approached and examined some of the books on the closest shelf.

"Northern water tribe: tribal laws", "The reign of Yunrak the terrible", "The tiger seal ordeal".

Nearby a red sign read "Political History of the Water tribe".

This must be the Politics section of the library, Zuko thought, as he looked the shelf up and down.

He selected a particularly aged looking scroll, and carefully enrolled it.

Titled, "Chiefs of the water tribe", it did not seem to have an author, but at the bottom of the scroll in very small handwriting there seemed to be a date.

A moment later the young emperor smirked and held the scroll tightly.

It was written in 3,830 Before Sozin's Comet!

Three thousand years before the formation of the four nations.

Making this document almost quite literally as "old as time itself", with invaluable worth.

The young emperor was satisfied with the find, but also careful of damaging the priceless relic.

Zuko knew of only a few artifacts in the world that dated as far back as 3,000 Before Sozin's Comet from the fire lord's private records, and they were only scraps, pieces of things that had once been whole.

And here was this scroll 3,000 years old, perfectly intact, and just sitting on a shelf like a weekly tabloid.

This was the perfect opportunity to research his theory of energy bending.

Han'i had been sent to bring some blank scrolls, he might as well learn every bending technique stored in this library.

As a matter of fact, he wondered how precise the maps would be. Since most artifacts in the library were thousands of years old, it would be hard to find archeological places forgotten by time of dead civilizations.

Not to mention the still living civilizations that had chosen to isolate themselves from the world.

And spirits like Koh and the mother of faces.

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(25/12/2020)

*Hope this chapter is of your liking. Anything you wish to ask, feel free to do so.

Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.

Any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.

** Please don't hesitate to tell me if the quality is dropping. I really wish to continue trying to update fast, but I don't want to make it reflect badly on my writing.

*** Apologies for the delay, the preparation for coming festivities are taking a toll on my time schedule.

**** Merry Christmas!!!!