The world has never been kind to the lowliest of souls. Even light itself, so faint, so distant, becomes a treasure to be longed for. Nowhere does this truth ring louder than within the walls of Ba Sing Se, where those who dare resist the earthly mold are ground down into submission, persecuted with the cold indifference of a loveless state.
Yet the faithful whisper of a day to come, a day when they will no longer creep through the shadows like vermin. On that day, the prophecy shall be fulfilled, and the Master's radiant host will descend from the heavens to deliver the imprisoned acolytes who only yearn to share his sacred word.
Within the dimly lit hall, a fervent proclamation resonated. The leader of this enclave brandished a gnarled wooden staff. Standing upon a small mound of earthen soil, his voice booming across the room. He spoke of the hastened arrival of the Master's celestial army, a divine host that would sweep through Ba Sing Se and save them all from this oppression.
The acolytes murmured prayers for that day, desperate for its advent, for their patience had frayed against the endless defiance of a city steeped in sin.
"The Master has bestowed upon us his power!" proclaimed a man with long, unbound hair, his eyes alight with fanatic zeal. "He has expressed his gratitude, thanking you for your enduring faith. As we labor to reshape Ba Sing Se in the light of truth, one day he shall descend and bring forth the Eternal Balance! Let us revel in this ceremony of purity!"
Chants and paeans erupted from the congregation. Unlike most citizens of Ba Sing Se, the men of this cult shunned the traditional queue, leaving their hair loose, a subtle mark of their defiance.
Mayumi peered cautiously through the lone entrance of the hall. As the zealots danced and chanted with erratic fervor, her gaze was drawn to a fierce light at the center of the room.
A pit of fire roared atop a heap of smoldering wood. Even through the dark folds of her disguise, the Kyoshi Warrior discerned pale shapes among the flames.
"A-are those… what I think they are?" she whispered, prompting the Dai Li agent beside her to lean closer. The acolytes remained oblivious, trusting Wang An as their steadfast guard. Yet even in secrecy, a chill ran down Mayumi's spine, testing her resolve to probe deeper into this nefarious cult, a faction poised to claim dominion over all under heaven.
The Inquisitor regarded the burning pit with detached calm. "It is a peculiar irony that those who rail against the so-called idolatry are often drawn to the most archaic of practices."
Long before the rise of the first Earth Sage, even before the establishment of the earliest settlements, the less sophisticated peoples of this continent indulged in the horrifying rites of human sacrifice. Over the centuries, such practices had faded into obscurity, surviving only in the burial rites of few monarchs. Yet those clinging to antiquated doctrines still enact archaic rites. Perhaps this is merely another grotesque manifestation, albeit far more ludicrous.
"Human bones," Mayumi breathed in aghast, as the acolytes' cries of praise to their Master echoed against the walls.
Her horror deepened when the Dai Li casually remarked that he had witnessed far more egregious transgressions from these self-styled devotees, who are apparently inconsistent with how they even define their beloved deity.
"You would be repeatedly surprised by the audacity of these creatures," he explained. Slowly, he revealed that the burning ritual is tied to their warped notion of purity, a tribute to their spiritual Master offered in his absence. Gold and silver, however, is conveniently never consigned to the flames. Those precious metals are reserved for the high-ranking leaders, who would 'deliver' them to their celestial lord.
Typically, this infernal rite demanded the sacrifice of an animal. Unlike conventional worship directed toward local spirits or deities, this is devoted solely to their Master. Yet on rare occasions, a human life is offered, supposedly to serve the Master directly rather than be reduced to ashes.
"Abhorrent," Mayumi hissed, disgusted by the cruel irony that these the acolytes condemned simple food offerings to shrines as corrupt, yet embraced this barbarity.
"You fret over morality, while my duty concerns their defiance against the city," the Dai Li emphasized with harshness. "Their audacity is intolerable, a violation that demands correction."
As a prominent figure of the Dai Li, he could not even tolerate the notion that a fringe cult might brazenly operate within Ba Sing Se. Even the city's own citizens feared the enforcers. So, what right do these zealots have to flout the capital of the Earth Kingdom?
"Perhaps you should summon reinforcements," Mayumi suggested, mindful of their numerical disadvantage.
"Unnecessary," he replied. "Not yet."
Mayumi turned back to the hall. Beyond the blazing pit of human bones and the frenzied, contorting men, another sight drew her concern. A cluster of women seated quietly at the hall's far end. Some clutched their children protectively, perhaps fearful of the state's wrath should their clandestine worship be discovered. It is a treasonous congregation awaiting its reckoning.
And still, the Dai Li advanced, undeterred.
Mayumi scarcely had time to process the audacity, her eyes widening beneath the disguise as the enforcer's presence asserted itself with unmistakable authority. Not even the cacophony of singing and dancing could fully obscure the intruder's quiet approach.
The first to perceive the violation was a seated woman, her horror immediate. She clutched her child with renewed desperation, recognizing that the nightmare she had feared had come to pass. Slowly, realization rippled through the congregation, each gaze fixing on the interloper.
The earthen boots tapped lightly against the floor, an understated percussion of inevitability. From the elevated mound of earth, the elder's wooden rod shot forward, trembling with righteous fury.
"How dare you profane this sacred ground!" he thundered.
Mayumi's attention flickered from the elder to the Dai Li. For all their solemnity, this so-called sacred ground seemed laughably fragile. Yet her concern was not for the sanctity of the space but for the exposure of the acolytes. Despite their numbers encircling the embroidered enforcer like a swarm, the Dai Li betrayed no concern for personal safety.
"Repent in the Master's light!" the elder intoned. "Repent, and you may yet find mercy. The Master's grace extends even to those who falter in the manifestation of his Heavenly Kingdom upon Ba Sing Se!"
The acolytes awaited the Dai Li's response, some gripping crudely fashioned weapons, implements sufficient only to pierce the Dai Li's seemingly delicate robe.
"Live, or die," the Dai Li stated, devoid of theatrics. "Do not squander the opportunity I have so generously afforded you."
"Children, punish this trespasser! Strike for the Master's honor!" The elder cried.
Mayumi hesitated, unsure if intervention was required.
The first acolytes lunged with crude blades, desperate to pierce the Dai Li. In a gesture of disdain, the enforcer did not even call upon his bending at first. Instead, he drew his single-handed blade, carving through the throats of the unarmed zealots while steadying himself for the true threat ahead.
A volley of stone followed. Boulders surged toward the Inquisitor, and for a heartbeat their leader exulted in triumph. Yet the Dai Li merely shifted aside, the earthen mass grazing so close it stirred the hem of his robe without so much as grazing his flesh.
His response came with chilling efficiency. From the gauntlets of stone encasing his fists, he loosed a series of compact earthen pellets, small and almost imperceptible. The acolyte Earthbenders collapsed in turn, crimson trickling across the ground in quiet rivulets, their deaths as understated as the strikes that felled them.
The survivors recoiled, retreating a single step from the implacable figure before them.
"One more step, and you will regret it." The elder's rod waved furiously, trembling with impotent rage. "How dare you desecrate this holy site with the stench of blood?"
The acolytes faltered. Without their Earthbenders, they are powerless before this remorseless enforcer.
"You call this a holy site?" the Dai Li taunted, pacing the disordered congregation. "I am disappointed to see citizens of this historic city elevate this pauper's mausoleum above even the Royal Palace. A humble teahouse in the Lower Ring offers more comfort. Your spiritual leader, it seems, has a poor eye for architecture. Perhaps I might instruct him in refinement."
The insult ignited fury. To the acolytes, their Master's dignity is absolute, and no worldly authority could supersede it.
"How dare you mock the Master!" the elder seethed. "Who are you to presume superiority? Repent your moral transgression and embrace the light! The Master's mercy extends even to the most worthless of younglings!"
Chants of indignation swelled, yet no hand dared rise against the Dai Li. His gaze lingered on the fire pit, captivated by the charred remains of an adult and child. Even in distraction, his menace remained undiminished.
"Another sacrificial ritual?" he asked, casually surveying the pyre. "From my perspective, sparing a few for labor is far more practical than a heap of bones."
"The honor of serving the Master is beyond your comprehension!" the acolyte leader cried. "By the blessing of the newly chosen Apostle, Ba Sing Se shall be elevated to the Master's throne! Only the impure would reject this great opportunity!"
The heap of bones and charred skulls offered no answer, no confirmation of whether the so-called ascension of the acolytes had been worth the cost.
From the entrance rang the metallic whisper of a sword being drawn. A cloaked woman stepped into the chamber, her blade gleaming in the flickering firelight.
"Another trespasser!" the sect leader thundered. "You are vile creatures, ignorant of submission, and must be enlightened in the ways of the Master! Bow to him, and I shall guide you both to the light."
Mayumi said nothing. Seconds ago, she had glimpsed among the smoking remains the bones of a child. Was it madness or cruelty that anyone might ponder whether the young one had a choice in this absurd ritual? Were these misguided beliefs alone sufficient to twist the innocent into instruments of such atrocity?
The Dai Li's eyes flickered with reproach at her unsanctioned intrusion, yet even he could not remain indifferent to the sight of a child reduced to ash. One could speculate endlessly about the fate of Wang An's missing family, but the reality of burning flesh silenced theory.
"Your tongue must learn restraint, woman," the elder with the wooden rod intoned sharply despite Mayumi hadn't said a single word, as if the mere thought of dissent demanded punishment. "Audacity, rebellion, these are the marks that displease him. No maiden in this world can be pure if they refuse the Master's dominion."
The Dai Li stepped forward, reclaiming the tense dialogue. Though the remaining acolytes are nothing more than impassioned peasants, their disregard for self-preservation lent them a dangerous potency. Offers of surrender were met with unanimous, defiant refusal.
Calm and resolute, the elder raised his rod and stamped it upon the floor, demanding attention from his followers. "Foolish are you, to think the Master's children can be cowed! Unlike you, lowly Dai Li, we shall reap rewards in the great harvest. Chains and metal are meaningless against those empowered by the newly appointed Apostle! The Eternal Balance promises gifts beyond imagining. Even in death against the darkness, our spirits will rise to the Heavenly Kingdom!"
Faith, they believed, is absolute. It is the audacity of the weak to presume they could confront the insurmountable. For these acolytes, any defeat is merely evidence of insufficient devotion.
"Only those lacking faith in the Master will fall!" the elder cried. "Show them no mercy! Weapons are superfluous, for the Master has granted you powers! You shall be impervious! You shall not die! With faith, failure is impossible!"
The acolytes straightened, fists clenching, stepping forward to meet the intruders.
Mayumi raised her blade, a threat more implied than spoken. Still, the unarmed zealots advanced with reckless fervor.
"Many of you have already perished," she said, her eyes sweeping the advancing ranks. "I saw it myself. And yet I do not see the power you claim."
"Those who serve the Master are mighty, but not perfect!" one of them roared, a defiance sharpened by faith. "Only the Master is flawless."
"These Earthbenders lack sufficient faith!" another spat, glancing at their lifeless brethren strewn across the ground.
The acolytes would not relent. The Dai Li exhaled, a thin line of impatience escaping him. Worst of all, the acrid scent of burning corpses thickened the air, each inhale is a torment.
"Your stubbornness displeases me," he stated.
The Dai Li then issued Mayumi a calm yet firm command to stay back, even as the room bristled with imminent violence.
"Forward, children!" the elder urged. "Spare none—"
Horror froze the crowd as chains erupted from the Dai Li's sleeves, ensnaring an unfortunate believer. Pulled close, the man was pummeled with flying earth pellets. His scream echoed through the chamber, and even the most fervent disciples faltered before such a display. In that moment, Mayumi saw the Dai Li spring into motion, spinning upward with the fluid grace of air itself, a terrifying semblance of flight.
"Stop him, children!" the elder bellowed.
The Dai Li soared over the terrified acolytes, his gaze fixed on the man wielding the wooden rod. Mayumi remained behind, poised and vigilant, prepared to strike any who dared approach.
One acolyte, reckless and defiant despite her long, curved blade, charged forward. "Anyone allied with the Dai Li is an enemy of the Master! And anyone opposed to the Master is my enemy!" His fist swung, and Mayumi's blade found his wrist with cold precision, sending him crashing to the ground.
"What trickery is this?" demanded another enraged attacker, eyes wide with disbelief as Mayumi's blade flashed through the air. "Surely this is the work of evil spirits! Burn the witch! Purge her corruption with fire!"
Mayumi cursed under her breath, scarcely able to fathom how anyone could confuse the disciplined use of a sword with sorcery. Even delusion, she thought, should have its limits.
The Kyoshi Warrior swung her blade with fierce precision. Amidst the chaos, a few attackers who had dared approach unarmed found their hands severed. Yet their fervor, fueled by unyielding faith, remained a dangerous force, their zeal sharpening every desperate attack.
"Begone, foul enchantress!" a female acolyte shrieked, brandishing a torch from the pit of fire, intent on searing the dark veils that conceals Mayumi's identity.
With a swift arc of her blade, Mayumi cleaved through the wooden torch, sparks scattering across the floor. Still, the acolyte refused to yield. With a furious cry, she drew a knife, poised to strike. Just as their weapons are about to clash, an unexpected voice cut through the turmoil.
"You fool!" one of the injured acolytes on the ground yelled, his tone rigid with authority. "How dare you bring a weapon onto sacred ground?"
Mayumi initially assumed the reprimand was directed at her. Yet, observing the helplessness of the other acolytes, she realized it must reflect some asinine tenet. To her astonishment, the woman she had been fighting froze mid-motion, then sank to her knees.
"I did not mean to!" the zealot pleaded, dropping her knife and prostrating herself in the dust.
Mayumi blinked in bewilderment. But as she watched the interactions, it became clear. These two are husband and wife, bound by a law in which even a minor infraction, such as who is allowed to even carry a weapon, demanded ritual atonement.
"You have not only defiled this sacred ground with disobedience," the paralyzed man scolded his wife. "But you have also defied the Master. The only way to atone is to cleanse yourself. You know what must be done."
Rising to her feet, the woman charged past Mayumi, then leapt willingly into the pit of fire. A hellish scream rent the air. Stunned by the grotesque spectacle, Mayumi can only be grateful that Satchiko was not present to witness such madness, where logic can find no solace in a place like this.
Her attention snapped to the paralyzed man, who remained unnervingly composed. She has no time to contemplate as another group of enemies approached from the far end of the hall.
"Back off!" one of them shouted.
Mayumi faltered at the sound of their voices. their pitch too high, too fragile.
Children. Every one of them. No blades gleamed in their hands, no threat radiated from their slight frames. And yet, as she weighed how to shield them from harm, the tide suddenly closed in around her.
"W-what are you doing?" she stammered, panic breaking through her composure. She had hesitated an instant too long. Small hands latched onto her arms, tugging with desperate resolve. Though each was weak, together they bore down like a flood, smothering the strength of the seasoned warrior beneath the sheer press of their numbers.
"Quick! Push her into the fire! The Master will cleanse her!" One of them cried.
"Got it!" another chimed in.
Mayumi's jaw nearly dropped. Even children could be consumed by such deranged fanaticism. She struggled, threatening to wield her blade, but reason and morality made that seems impossible.
The children shoved her closer to the inferno, where the remains of charred bodies lay scattered, butchered with grotesque precision. Despite knowing she might be next, Mayumi could not strike them.
"Children."
A calm voice rang out from the far side of the hall. "Children, release her."
The young acolytes recognized it. Not wishing to disobey, they heeded, relinquishing their hold as the frail elder emerged from among the mutilated corpses. Mayumi quickly stepped back, keeping the impressionable minds at a safe distance.
As the juveniles awaited more wisdom, the elder's body suddenly slumped towards the floor, tumbling across the bloodstained dirt. For all this time, the Dai Li had controlled him like a puppet, ensnaring his spine with an earthen gauntlet, a cruel ruse to manipulate the children. Freed from this grip, the elder's limbs twitched uncontrollably, even survival meant a vegetative state, denied a merciful death.
"How does it feel?" the Dai Li asked, his boots crunching over the corpses of the dead acolytes, stepping closer to Mayumi. "To face enemies who defy convention, surely it is unfamiliar for an accomplished warrior such as yourself."
The despair etched on the children's faces, the ruined sanctity of the hall, and the cold cruelty of the Dai Li, all weighed heavily upon the Kyoshi Warrior. She surveyed her surroundings, realizing that confronting people like these required abandoning any expectation of ordinary marauders driven by mere bloodlust or greed. But among them still lingered frightened women and children. They are defenseless, yes. But even under the watchful eyes of Ba Sing Se's cultural guardians, such people are no less determined in their desire for the city's downfall.
"What are your intentions toward them?" Mayumi asked cautiously, her concern focused on the fragile younglings before her. She is all too aware of the Dai Li's cruel reputation. For centuries, even the smallest hint of treason in past Earth Kingdom dynasties had been punished harshly, and age is not exactly the most reliable shield.
He regarded her silently, prowling around the remaining acolytes with an unflinching gaze. Not an ounce of compassion softened his painted expression. "Too soft, too delicate and too weak. It is almost comical that you would defend those who once sought to end you. Nevertheless, they are still seditionists. Left unchecked, they will grow into conspirators against the state, not ordinary citizens."
"May I interpret that as… sparing these children?" Mayumi asked, choosing each word with painstaking care.
"I suppose," he replied, intentionally vague, as if to needle her for daring to intervene. "Despite the reputation of myself and my colleagues, we are not entirely unreasonable."
The Dai Li then ordered the surviving acolytes to surrender. A tall request, given that their most revered elder had been grievously injured and many of their companions had already perished at his earthen hands.
"S-stay back!" one woman cried, clutching a small infant swaddled in white cloth. Her distress was palpable, a mother's desperate instinct to shield her child from the instruments of a city they regarded as a bulwark against their Master's vision. Yet even this resolute courage seemed to falter beneath the unyielding gaze of the Dai Li, a gaze feared by all citizens, regardless of their loyalties.
"Resistance is unnecessary," the enforcer said plainly. "Hand over the child. Pray that I do not ask twice."
Mayumi sensed no need for excessiveness here. She implored the enforcer to temper his intimidation and extend leniency toward the innocent pair.
"Watch closely," he said, not turning to Mayumi. "Do not interfere. Watch."
Almost theatrically, the acolyte mother proclaimed her intent to deny Ba Sing Se the child at all costs. In her mind, this bastion of tyranny must not claim a single soul who do not revere their Master as the one true figure of devotion, lest they be molded into laborers, or worse, soldiers who would defy the Eternal Balance.
"I know what you intend for my son!" she shrieked, her words a torrent of frenzy that left Mayumi momentarily stunned. "You wish to see our people suffer! In our darkest hour, it is the Master who gave us hope, yet the world stands against us!" She hugged the infant tighter, almost suffocating him. The Dai Li had already sealed every escape route with Earthbending, leaving her with a terrible choice. "The Master has blessed me with a son. I swore I would raise it to be a faithful who will fight for him to the very end!"
Mayumi felt a cold dissonance. She could not condone such fanaticism, especially after witnessing firsthand the violence committed in the name of this fledgling faith. But this mother may not be entirely wrong, who knows what the Dai Li would to these impressionable children, since the alternative is for them to become threat to anyone outside their dogmatic circle.
The Inquisitor delivered his final ultimatum, surrender the child or face execution for treason.
"If this child cannot serve the Master, I will ensure he never learns to oppose him or the Eternal Balance," the mother warned.
"No!" Mayumi cried as the mother snatched a stray knife and lunged at the infant. Mayumi sprang forward, but even her warrior's reflexes could not prevent the blade from grazing the child.
A pebble, small but precise, struck the woman's arm, sending the knife clattering to the ground. The infant was spared, though faint blood had already stained his skin.
"Enough of this farce," the Dai Li said, composed and unruffled. "One final time. Hand him over."
"Never!" the mother screamed, her desperation unfaltering.
Horror gripped Mayumi as the woman charged toward the pit of fire, intending to offer herself and the infant as tribute to their so-called deity. The Kyoshi Warrior was unprepared for such unyielding madness.
Mayumi helplessly cried as the Dai Li's steel chains shot through the air, cruelly wrenching the infant from the mother's arms as she plunged into the searing flames. She then closed her eyes and ears, not unlike her sister when Hao Jing fell to marauders, the air thick with the screams of the helpless, a cacophony of horror shattering even the steeliest resolve.
But the Dai Li remained unflinching, his gaze fixed on the hapless acolyte, whose flesh are being consumed by flames. The cultural guardian watched as devotion to superstition collided fatally with the authority of the state itself.
"How unnecessary," he remarked, indifference to all of it.
With surprising gentleness, he passed the crying infant to Mayumi. As for the remaining acolytes, trembling survivors of the Dai Li's sudden purge and the vegetative elder who lingered in fragile consciousness, would doubtless wrestle with the terror of capture.
"We should douse the flames first," Mayumi suggested. It would be cruel if the survivors suffocated before reinforcements arrives.
She expected refusal from the Dai Li. Instead, some of the paralyzed acolytes protested in despair.
"You cannot extinguish the sacred fire!" one man shouted, indignation and fear mingling in his voice. "The Master is wrathful! He will demand our heads on stakes should you even dare!"
Before Mayumi could further reason with these cultists, the Dai Li bent a pile of earth into the fire pit. The acolytes' cries rose as the sacred blaze was obliterated without ceremony.
"You fool! You have doomed us all!"
"Consider yourself fortunate to still draw breath," the Dai Li replied evenly. "Savor it. Those who conspired against the city shall taste no respite."
...
Wooden carts groaned under the weight of the captured acolytes, the newly arrived Dai Li agents preparing to transport them to unknown fates. Women and children, merely kin of the insurgents, were granted the barest leniency. But even they could not escape the vigilant eyes of the city's cultural guardians, shadows that had clung to Ba Sing Se for centuries.
"I always savor this sight," the Inquisitor said, assuming the iconic pose of the secret police, bloodstained hands hidden within his sleeves.
"You mean the city without lights?" Mayumi asked, standing beside him. "And what will become of them?"
She spoke of the women and juveniles associated with the Acolytes of San Bao in the Lower Ring. Naturally, there will those who might be less keen on fully believing the distant authority of a Master who held no sway over Ba Sing Se itself.
"The fate of seditionists is none of your concern," the Dai Li replied, tone as cold as the stone beneath their feet. "Do not forget your place. Ba Sing Se is not yours to govern. Yet I trust this demonstration may enlighten you as to how my colleagues and I preserve the peace and cultural heritage of this pristine city, just as the founder intended."
Mayumi stifled her fury, it simmered beneath her composed exterior.
"I find your emotions to be a dangerous liability," the Dai Li continued. "Suppress them. Against those who do not fear death, swords and spears alone will not suffice. You must make them tremble, force them into hiding. Yet when cornered, their rashness is inevitable."
As group after group of acolytes were herded onto carts and wagons, Mayumi asked whether such scenes were commonplace. The Dai Li replied with chilling indifference. It was an unavoidable fate, for those who conspired against Ba Sing Se often left behind families. In truth, they are fortunately spared the harsher statutes of past dynasties, when the law demanded not only the execution of the offender but also assured the beheading of their entire household. Even distant acquaintances, irrespective of guilt or involvement, are not spared.
"The mortal frame is fragile, destroyed by steel and flame," the Inquisitor spoke on. "But to kill an idea, especially one that threatens the harmony within these walls, requires far more intricacies, expertise I believe is still lacking amongst your people. Regardless of how you all perceive me and my colleagues, I do hope what is seen today can be put into good use when you return back to your home island."
The caravans grew, drawn by ostrich horses. Mayumi estimated that perhaps a thousand acolytes had been captured tonight, involving the destruction of many secret gatherings. This is perhaps just a mere fraction of those likely scattered or secreted away in the city's Lower Ring. Whatever methods had been applied to prior captives, the results were sufficient to uproot much of the sects from Ba Sing Se's hidden corners.
She dared not ask where they would be sent. Against those who sought to erase all tradition and replace it with devotion to a single figure, such severity was perhaps... unavoidable.