Chapter Text
He was sent to inspect anomalies found within the Spirit World, which caused new havoc in the mortal world and… needless to say that the civilians in Republic City lost their heads over disturbance of their everyday lives.
It was his day off, however, as there was no one else available to take the jo, it was him, who had been sent into the spirit portal.
As he approached the portal, he already noticed that something was amiss. The energy field, which surrounded it and could be felt from a mile away, was missing. Instead of gusts of wind dragging him closer to the opening, there was no more than the typical breeze he felt whilst walking around the town as he did every other day.
Carefully, but not too careful, he approached the portal. Careful– was quite the wrong word. He approached it casually.
Without the usual draft, the Spirit Portal seemed a lot less dangerous. Besides, it had been the umpteenth time he approached this portal, and he knew there was no need to be afraid of this entrance to another world. Did he like it? Not really but he also didn’t fear it.
As he got closer, he got blinded by the light it emitted. The portal had always been bright. One could see it from a dozen miles away. It even was a better point of orientation than any light house near the coast. A large yellow-green pillar shining in the distance?? –ah, yes, we are approaching Republic City. Though granted, if one was only to follow the glow of the portal and ignore the light houses, they would miss the bay and cause a naval catastrophe that would surely end up in the news.
“Collision with Yue Bay Harbor! Captain struck by the light of the Spirits! Insider reveals. A couple of people dead.”
That would surely cause some stir within the republic. Yes.
As he got closer, he got blinded by the light it emitted. Interestingly, instead of yellow-green, the pillar glowed bright yellow, almost golden. From research brought to him, conducted in the Water Tribes, portals don’t usually change their colors. Of course, the existence of the sun or the moon did impact the hue, but in general, the colors remained the same. Now, it was noon. The sun has reached its highest point and was burning down with the fire of a thousand dragons. The sun was the same as every day at noon, but the color was not – maybe this was a symptom caused by the anomaly he was sent to investigate.
Without further ado and without further thoughts wasted on color theory, General Iroh stepped into the portal. Dazzling light covered his sight. Covered his view. But he continued to walk ahead without a thought of turning around. A couple of steps more and he would land in the World of the Spirits.
A couple of steps more and he landed in a world different than his.
The sun was towering the world as it was on his own. Little creatures with wings were twirling around him. They were frolicking, they were giving life to the world that seemed otherwise empty. It seemed empty. Because the spirits were missing. The frolicking creatures with wings circling around the flowers and plants all around him? They were not spirits. At least none General Iroh had known so far – and he knew a couple of spirits! From his ordered ventures to the Spirit World, he met a bunch of them, even the fabled Hei-Bai – and one day, he was certain to have the graceful encounter with Koh, oh, how he did not look forward to that conversation – so, he knew his fair share of spirits. These…… balls of light with wings were no spirits in his accounts.
Though maybe – though very unlikely – he had just been transported to a place he had never been at and those were only spirits he had never known – still very unlikely. Thus, he made his way through the little forest he ended up inside. Nothing about the air, the wind, the smell, the atmosphere felt familiar. It didn’t feel like the Spirit World.
And it wasn’t. The second he stepped out of the little forest; he had the view ahead of him: A vast building with towers all around it and dense red fog surrounding it towered before his eyes. There were rectangular …pillars, which shone in a dangerous red, signaling anyone who dared to approach, that danger was ahead of them and they may act at their own risk.
It didn’t need a genius to know that the place he had ended up at was not the spirit world. Iroh looked around and noticed mountains unknown to him, structures that made sense but were unfamiliar for what he knew. There was nothing reminiscent of the place he was supposed to end up at. They say that the Spirit World alters based on someone’s state of mind, though it has not been confirmed if this also applies for those, who walk through spirit portals or if it only occurs for those, who enter the spirit world through meditation. It could have been the spirit world after all, knowing how it was perceived differently by Avatar Aang and Avatar Korra.
But then… he looked around more… and turned around towards where he came from – the little forest – and his eyes fell on structures that were clearly human made. A round building looking like an abandoned arena and walls elevating a landmass… ruins scattered all around him and animals that looked too normal to be residents of the spirit world. No– no, no matter how he looked at it, he could have done a handstand and looked at it from upside down, there was just no way he was at where he was supposed to be.
Now, this could have been a divine prank. This could have been the spirits messing with his head or this could have been an accident. Some power dragged him off his trail as he was entering the Spirit world. Or. Or this was the anomaly he was supposed to investigate.
Very interesting find. The bright yellow might cause people to end up in a vastly different world. Intriguing. He was going to put that down in research files.
He was.
He would have but there was no way to return. Most striking was the absence of the pillar that brought him here. The little forest he arrived at was there, yes, but no portal.
In other words, he had no means of returning to where he came from. Not for now at least.