THE OTHER AIRBENDER (Book 2)

(III) Air

"How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka asks, as we follow Chong's lead towards the famous tunnel that leads to the city of Omashu.

"Actually, it's not just one tunnel. The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth!"

"Labyrinth?" Sokka asks, sounding alarmed.

Chong waves his hand dismissively. "Oh, I'm sure we'll figure it out."

"All you need to do is trust in love... according to the curse," Lily explains.

Trust in love? That sounds kind of sweet. I wonder what it means.

We finally reach the dark entrance of a cave within the mountain, where Chong celebrates by waving his arms around. "Hey-hey! We're here!"

"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka asks, sounding a bit scared.

"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise, you'll be trapped in them forever," Chong explains.

"And die," Lily adds.

"That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!" Sokka replies, crossing his arms.

"Hey! Someone's making a big campfire!" Moku says, pointing to some black smoke raising in the distance behind us.

I widen my eyes. "The Fire Nation."

"So all you need to do is trust in love to get through these caves?" Aang says, as we all collectively decide that the cave thing is a better alternative.

"That is correct, Master Arrowhead," Chong replies.

"Well, let's go into the cave!" I declare, and we start walking inside.

However, I hear a commotion outside the tunnel's entrance, and there's a loud explosion. What little light we got from the outside world suddenly disappears, leaving us completely in the dark. Appa grunts in a panic, while Aang and I try our best to calm him down.

"It's alright, buddy. You're fine," I tell him, knowing he hates being underground as much as I hate flying.

Suddenly, someone lights up a torch, and I'm able to see everyone again. Even though the light is still very limited.

Sokka takes the lead. "All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last?"

"Uh, about two hours each."

"And we have five torches, so that's ten hours!" Lily says, lighting up the other torches.

Sokka immediately snatches them away from her and puts them out. "It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!"

"Oh, right."

"I'm going to make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been. Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through."

"This is going to take forever," I complain, as we enter deeper into the cave.

***

We've been wandering inside this tunnel for what seems like hours. I can confirm that it has at least been two hours because we only have four torches left. According to Sokka, the best way to navigate through this place is by exploring and recording our steps, but to be honest, it feels like his tactics are only making us get even more lost.

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to," Katara complains.

"This doesn't make sense. We already came through this way," Sokka mutters, studying the map he's been drawing closely.