You Have No Right

Thorian looked at the young man, who had spoken, and smiled slightly. "What are you talking about right now?"

"There was no need for this massacre if we had already surrendered. What's the point?" Derek was overwhelmed by the scene before his eyes and couldn't believe that none of the people around seemed to care.

"We are the monsters? I don't like to victimize my people, but you do exactly the same. Where have you been in the wars of recent years?" Thorian's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at this young man, who seemed to have no idea what they had done during the invasion. "I have no problem showing you what your people have been doing in other nations' lands over the past few years, but I don't have the necessary time as another battle awaits me."

Derek coldly looked at Thorian and said, "Ten years ago, you attacked this same colony where half of its inhabitants died. You started the war, so you can't blame us for simply defending ourselves. We defeated the Air Nation's army victoriously and have been trying to end the war for years."

"No matter what you think, the reality is that you invaded our nation and massacred the Air Nomads. Do you know what's most amusing? There's no Air Nation army; you went there on a lucky night and slaughtered all the children, elders, and men without giving them a chance to escape or live."

Aside from not understanding Thorian's words from the beginning, Derek heard an absurd story that happened between his people and the Air Nomads. It was known in history books that the Fire Nation had a glorious confrontation with the Air Nation army. Where did the notion that there was never an army come from?

"It doesn't matter; you've taken charge of writing your own history, so we will write ours. Now we have a great army, and your settlers are falling like pieces in my battle. I wonder what your emperor's thoughts are at this moment. You will now be sent to an icy prison; anyway, you are of no use here, where you can become a problem."

When all the young soldiers were put on cargo cruisers to be later sent to a maximum-security prison, many of the inhabitants of this colony watched as Earth and Water Nation soldiers entered their city without any problem.

"Go to the prisons of this place, find survivors, and treat them immediately," shouted Darío, looking at the desolate streets left behind by panic among the people.

Derek, who was being dragged towards a cruiser, looked at Thorian and shouted, "Show me, prove to me that everything you're saying is true, and I'll swear allegiance to you."

"You traitorous bastard, I'll make sure to burn you to death."

"Take everyone up except him." Thorian showed interest in this young soldier, and perhaps he could be the beginning of a significant increase in soldiers among his ranks.

Thorian's goal with his coalition army was to have a force that could handle all elements so that, with the defeat of the Fire Nation, all other nations would decide to name him the supreme emperor. For that, he needed faithful believers who could be his soldiers, and if Derek is as loyal as he claims to be, it might be the beginning of an absurd increase in soldiers among his ranks. Of course, these could only be young people because it was likely that they had not committed genocide against enemy peoples.

"The actions taken by your nation in the past are the cause of this problem. All those who have been killed know it; maybe you know it too. Is it normal to praise the emperor as if he were a god in the classes taught to children? They brainwash all of you from a young age to be useful and effective. My father was also someone important in the Fire Nation, but he defected; he married my mother, who was from the Water Tribe, and later, after nine years together, they massacred my village."

Derek fell silent upon hearing Thorian's words and seeing the blue flames between his fingers; only then did he understand that he was telling the truth.

"This war has been in dispute for a hundred years, after the Avatar's death, who was a close friend of the Fire Emperor at that time. But when the Avatar died, the emperor, who wanted to rule all nations under one command, knew that the only person who could stop him was an Avatar, and he knew where to find one. When the comet that passes once every hundred years came close to the Earth, with the powers of the firebenders enhanced, they attacked the Air Nomads."

Thorian paused and said coldly, "Believe me, it would have been easier for me to massacre everyone in this colony, but it wouldn't be different from those who killed my village. That's why I'm giving you a chance to surrender. We won't kill or harm the civilians; I can assure you of that."

"Thank you for that; I will help in whatever way I can to maintain order." Derek said, feeling very strange and knowing that he needed to think on his way to some officers who would tell him what to do.

These plans weren't so bad; usually, a person from the town was sought to take control of the civilians and ensure that there was no revolt, but now it was different and riskier due to Thorian's plans.

"The care in this colony requires more consistency; make sure to be clear with your words and to keep the fleet safe in this narrow sea," said Thorian, looking at the soldiers around him.

Darío was confident in his defenses, so he didn't say much.

Later, after imprisoning all the soldiers, Derek made sure that no civilian did anything foolish as they had done in the other colony so that they would not be killed.