Western Earth Kingdom.
Rebel Army Camp.
[Lian POV]
I looked at the huge map on my table. It had multiple pieces with different roles and colors. I'm not a strategist, nor do I like to be one, but every leader should know what is going on around his army. The red pieces represent Fire Nation, the green ones represent Earth Kingdom, while the blue ones represent us, the rebel army. Currently, the blue pieces were scattered, with some lying on the table like a dead person, well, it was supposed to represent a dead, since this piece was meant for a unit that has fallen.
I know that my decision has led to that, but it's not something I could prevent from happening. I couldn't oppose any order from Kizer himself, since I'm just a replaceable pawn within his board—one wrong decision from me and I will be replaced like a normal soldier. I wanted to ask myself, how come it comes to this? But deep down, I know why. It was when I took that hand. I wanted power, both strength and influence, so I took it, and I know there will be a price, but I still took it like a greedy stray dog seeing food. And the price was this: being a pawn—a strong pawn, but a pawn nonetheless.
"I just wanted to fight," I said with a deep sigh.
And fighting was given to me almost every single day while being the leader of this small army. I managed to strengthen it to the point that it could contend with two big armies just by fighting together with them. I gave the decision to Li while I fought, and with that combination, our army grew, and now it was getting smaller every single day due to my decision to follow that order.
I didn't bother getting close to every single one of them, since I knew a time like this would come—and then it did. Many men that I chose to sacrifice were good men, they only had one goal, and that was to make every life equal for everyone. I don't think they will achieve that, even with my help, but it was a good mindset. They wanted to be released from the oppression of the nobles who treated them worse. And those men were now gone, replaced by an emotionless army that would execute anyone without a single hesitation once a command was received. Even I was terrified the first time I saw those people in the underground training facility under Omashu, they were still quite small in number, but they were quality men—each could defeat normal soldiers 1:10—though it would be different against an enemy bender.
Those mindless soldiers don't have any goal, they just live to be ready for any command that their commander orders them. Even when a few of those elite soldiers were given to us, the rebel army was still able to win any battles against any other army, even without Li and me being there. They are the very reason that the rebel army still stands despite the pressure from two massive armies, and now these elite soldiers will fill every single unit of the rebel army. It's still not enough to just rush in and defeat the Fire Nation and even the Earth Kingdom almost quickly, but with an army that won't complain about any decisions I made and will manage to guarantee a victory for me without me fighting myself, my mission here will get easier.
Till this day, I still don't understand why Kizer himself was taking everything slowly. With how powerful he is, we all could invade the whole Earth Kingdom fully within a few decades and then conquer the world after that, but Kizer, for some reasons that I couldn't comprehend, was doing everything slowly.
I broke off my thoughts when I sensed Li was now close to my tent, I sensed him walking towards my tent a long time ago.
"Come in," I said, not taking my eyes off the map.
My right-hand man approached me with his usual calm and unreadable expression, walking like he was the commander here and not me. Well, I don't really care about that, and I've known him for many years now, the only time that he doesn't carry his authorized attitude is around Kizer. He probably won't hesitate to lick his foot when he gets permission.
"I received a new report," he said, and he took a green statue on my map and placed it on northwest. "The Earth Kingdom is preparing to launch an attack on the northwest where our army has blocked a major route connection towards the Frontline against the Fire Nation."
"Why is it important that you have to go and say this to me?" I asked, already knowing the reason why.
"A general and many major high officials were leading this, I doubted that even the elite soldiers and I could win a victory against this," Li said, taking the green piece to topple a blue piece on the northern part of the map. "We have to win this, since, from what the report said, the army from the Earth Kingdom wasn't just there to take back that route but to support the struggling Frontline they have. Once this army advances to the Frontline, it could potentially push back Fire Nation and tha-"
"I get it, don't explain it anymore," I said, waving my hand. "Go get our army ready, let's go and meet those bastards."
I could finally fight again, and this one should be very strong since even Li is doubting himself. The Earth Kingdom must be panicking by how much they are sending this time. Li nodded and left my tent immediately, while I wore my best suit. It will be a big fight this time, and I have to look good at it. I wore a long sleeve geen suit with golden lines on every edge, a long dark green pants and boots. On my arm was an armband with the rebel army symbol on it. I designed this logo on a whim, but it come out pretty great nonetheless; I just copied the old earth kingdom symbol and slash a line diagonally to it—it basically means that our army was created to destroy the earth kingdom. Others put different meanings to it, but it all came to the same point. Soon I found myself walk onto a stage that I built using my earth bending without effort, and looked down on the army I built with seriousness.
"The Earth Kingdom nobles and royals for decades has treated us worse than trash, we serve them with gold but they left us with trash. They seen us as just slaves, blind slaves that will follow their every will. We had enough! That's why this army was created! It's created and was fueled by our hatred against those who treated us that way! We want everybody to be treated as equals yet the tyranny of Earth Kingdom don't want that, especially the Earth King, who was probably eating the highest quality of food while we fight to death!" I said and took a deep breath. "To keep everything equal for everyone! But that won't be easy and that would require an army of hardworking and determine people. We may not comeback but if we keep this will then our voice and action will be heard and see and it will be passed down, we have to remember that we don't die in vain, every life contributes to our cause!"
I took a moment to pause and let my speech resonate more into their minds.
"And right now is the time where I, no, our people need us, need us to free them from the oppression of the regime that was eating off us! Today, we will march!!"
They all pump their chest in unison.
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