The Fire Epoch

A Chapter by AFX787359

Season Three of the show.

Here's the next chapter! :) Thanks to the people who reviewed the past chapter! I really appreciate it! :)

Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender or Avatar: the Legend of Aang and all things related are property of Nickelodeon, a division of Viacom International. I am not making any profit off of this work in any way, shape or form.

The Fire Epoch

Many things foreshadowed disaster for almost all of Kataang's enemies in the beginning of the Fire Epoch. This only amplified as things unfolded through the epoch.

In 301:1, Kataang, Maiko, and Sukka began meeting and making plans to conquer and destroy their enemies once and for all. Following up their success in the Earth Era, Kataang destroyed another naval fleet of the Zutarian Empire this year. The very next year, Maiko began taking the offensive by itself. Ordering its armies forward, Maiko destroyed one of Zutara's most prized forts, Zatkar. At the same time, Kataang took possession of one more of Zutara's villages. 301:7 saw a minor victory for Tokka against Sukka but nothing major. 301:8 saw Kataang overrunning another of Zutara's outposts. The next year, Kataang took another Zutara city that they had been laying siege to. All in all, after the first decade of the Fire Epoch, it seemed that Zutara would not have a chance to survive much longer…

302:1 saw a minor victory for Kataang when they destroyed another naval escort.

302:2 saw the rise a very small nation named On Jaang. It put itself against

Kataang; however, it was so small that almost no one regarded it. Any threat it posed was completely dismissed by the Kataang Monarchy. The end of 302:4 and the beginning of 302:5 saw small raids against Kataang from On Jaang. 302:5 saw a relatively major Maiko victory against Zutara when they brought one of Zutara's great cities, Zutram, to its knees. 302:8 saw On Jaang raiding Kataang again. Finally fed up with these annoying raids, Kataang sent its military to completely destroy On Jaang. After the destruction of the small villages, On Jaang surrendered and those that didn't went into self-imposed exile. From 302:8 to 302:9 there were decisive victories for Kataang against Zutara. First, Kataang destroyed the Zutara city of Uttar in the north and after they burnt it down they marched east to meet their Maikoan allies and together the two powerful nations, allied with the powerful Sukkan navy, though not as powerful as Kataang, they destroyed another great Zutara city. Thousands died in these wars, but the Kataangers were ruthless. They wanted revenge for what Zutara had done so many decades ago in 109:6 and its backing of Jetara when they invaded in 207:3. And they got their revenge.

The decade of 303 saw Zutara take back Nasti from Maiko but nothing else occurred in this decade that is worth mentioning.

304:6 saw an invasion of Sukka by Tokka. Backed by the superior Zutarians, they managed to cripple one of Sukka's greatest forts: Grishma. This was a terrible loss for Sukka and so sudden and unexpected that some Sukkans did not accept it and just pretended it didn't happen. The once long enduring and powerful Sukka Empire had faced its very first major invasion. By the time Kataang or Maiko could come to their aid, Sukka lost another of its cities to Tokka. Tokka continued to attack Sukka until finally Kataang and Maiko were able to send relief forces to Sukka at the end of 304:9. But it was too late by now; so much was lost to Tokka that no one saw the point in fighting at their crippled state and instead waited until Tokka could be weakened.

From 305:0 to 305:8 Maiko faced several domestic problems that weakened its infrastructure, political structure, economy, and military. Taking advantage of this, Zutara attacked the Maikoan homeland. For nine years, Zutara hammered away at Maiko until finally Sukka and Kataang were able to send reinforcements and supplies to Maiko in 305:9. Then Maiko made arguably one of the most impressive comebacks in history. Gathering its armies, it attacked one city after another, garnering one decisive victory after another. Over the course of one year, Maiko managed to completely push back Zutara to their homelands but of course, they could not have been able to do this without the help of Kataang and Sukka.

306:6 saw a very, very minor victory for Kataang when they destroyed another naval fleet of Zutara.

307:0 to 307:9 saw very little to mention except Sukka beginning to arm itself for its impending attack against Tokka.

308:0 to 308:9 was very similar to 307. Many of the nations spent these two decades strengthening themselves internally.

309:2 saw a minor victory for Maiko that was extremely embarrassing for Zutara when they burnt one of their port-cities. 309:7 was another year of victory for Kataang. With thousands of soldiers at their call, they once more took control of the Zutarian naval base of Nasti.

310:6 saw an important victory for Kataang. Launching an invasion with 100,000 men, they destroyed another Zutarian city. All in all, things were looking bad for Zutara after almost 500 years. 310:7 saw Zutara scoring an important victory against Maiko when their invasion faltered in the east and 1,500 of Maiko's naval fleet was decimated and over 12,000 of their men were killed in battle.

311:6 saw another decisive victory for Sukka when they took the offensive against the Tokkans occupying their lands. Winning several battles, the Sukkans had a complete and total victory.

312:2 and 312:3 saw major wars between Zutara and Kataang which Kataang won without dispute. Killing thousands of people, the sheer amount of death in these wars is appalling. With each victory, Kataang, Maiko, and Sukka were getting closer and closer to the Zutarian capital at Kako City. At this rate, by the end of the century, Kako City would be burned down to the ground. The end of 312:9 saw such a critical victory for Kataang that most Zutarians to this day refuse to accept that it happened. Kataang was that much closer to achieving total victory in this war.

313:0 top 313:9 was a quiet decade in the Shipping Eon. All of the nations turned to strengthening their internal structure. In 313:8, Kataang, accompanied by Sukka, eventually put and end to Taang once and for all.

The decade of 314 and the following 315 were more "Golden Ages" for Sukka. In 314:6, Sukka once more took the offensive against Tokka in their lands. Destroying the invading army at one of their larger cities, they marched forward… It was time for revenge! Marching forward, Sukka scored victory after victory. Another major victory occurred when Sukka took control of Critko, another major city. Sukka was on a path of total victory which would only continue in the decade of 315. The Sukka homeland was red with the blood of the fallen soldiers who were killed in battle.

Before we go into the battles between Tokka and Sukka, it must be mentioned that in 315:2, Maiko suffered a devastating blow to its morale when disease struck its people. It would take some of the greatest doctors and physicians of the world from both Kataang and Sukka to cure Maiko of this epidemic. Through all this decade, Sukka kept winning victory after victory against the occupying Tokkans; therefore, it is pointless to describe all of them. After recovering from the temporary epidemic, Maiko once again organized its armies to take the offensive against Zutara in 315:8. The anger against Zutara was only amplified when it was revealed that Zutarian biologists created the new virus. With renewed courage, Maiko slaughtered the Zutarian city of Jartha in the east. Only a miracle could save Zutara now. With Sukka slaughtering their most important ally, Kataang approaching from the west and Maiko from the west, Kako City was well within sight of Zutara's enemies.

The decade of 316 had the very morale boost that the Zutarians were asking for! A new queen took the throne at the age of twenty-one. Queen Shizumu rallied her armies and navies and personally led them. With a ruthless army and navy behind her, she marched forward to confront Kataang, first, in the west. The entire decade was one Zutara victory after another. However, all good things must come to an end. After ten years of constant fighting, her armies were tired. But she pressed on. At the Battle of Zutram, a Zutara victory, in 316:4, Queen Shizumu killed the then Kataang King Vinay in single combat. She continued her victories in the west but she neglected to guard herself from Maiko in the east. Taking advantage of this, the newly crowned Kataang King Vikram gathered his armies and navies and set out to meet his allies in the eastern shores of Zutara. Maiko gave complete control of its armies to King Vikram and he set out to put an end to Shizumu's victories. At the end of 316:9, he cornered Queen Shizumu's armies at the Second Battle of Karli and put a halt to her victories.

317:3 was a year of disaster of Kataang when King Vikram's eldest daughter and heir to the throne, Princess Shravya was assinated. The King went into a time of depression and seclusion. However, four years later in 317:7 King Vikram returned with a vengeance that was frightening for even his most loyal subjects, not to mention the Zutarians! He swore that he would take revenge on the Taang assassins that had killed his daughter. Gathering his navies, he attacked and destroyed Taang once and for all in a battle that is recorded in history books today as one of the most bloddy and ruthless ever. Vikram's army of 67,000 sailed to the Taang capital city. There they confronted their enemies and destroyed them one and for all. The battle's casualities number in the tens of thousands. After burning down their capital city, he turned his eyes on eliminating Zutara, Tokka, and Ty Lokka.

The thirty years of 318:0 to 321:9 was the final war in the Shipping Eon. Kataang, Maiko, and Sukka gathered their militaries and set their eyes of destroying their enemies once and for all. Queen Shizumu of Zutara asked Tokka and Ty Lokka to temporarily put aside their differences and help her defeat the big three nations for good. She succeeded. She gathered what remained of the militaries of these three nations and set out to meet Kataang King Vikram and his allies. Ironically, she did not have to go far from her own palace in Kako City. King Vikram was at her door-step. The Sukka navy had completely decimated the Western Zutarian Fleet and the Maiko navy sunk the entire Eastern Fleet. All that was left of the Zutarian navy was the Royal escort of Queen Shizumu. Once upon a time, this was regarded as the most powerful naval fleet in the entire world, but now the Supreme Kataang Royal Fleet had them cornered in the lake surrounding Kako City. Luckily for the Zutarians, Queen Shizumu was safe inside her palace directing her armies defending the city from the enemies that were laying siege to it.

By the end of 318:9, Maiko's powerful artillery was able to bring down the first of three walls protecting Kako City. With King Vikram at their head, the armies were able to scale the walls and take all of the battlements on the wall. Once the wall was secured with the powerful Kataang trebuchets attacking the second wall, Vikram ordered his armies to take a rest.

Meanwhile, Sukka was busy rooting out Ty Lokka and Tokka. After six years of playing hide-and-seek with their overlords, the rebel groups were ready to face Sukka head-on. The powerful Sukka armies, with the brilliant Kataang generals leading them, cornered the rebels in the last month of 319:7. The rebel groups managed to scour up an army of 200,000 to face the invading Sukkans who had an army of 250,000. In a battle that lasted for four months, the two sides faced off. The total number dead were over 150,000 from both sides. This battle is known to this day for its flamboyant and brave, nearly suicidal, tactics on the part of the Kataang generals. Finally, after a long and hard battle, Sukka could claim victory. Chasing down and destroying the remaining rebels, they claimed full victory in this battle.

At Kako City, Maiko and Kataang were hammering away at the city's walls. With no hostile enemy fleet on their backs, they were safe to lay siege and win the war once and for all. After another month or so of hammering away at the second wall to the city, it too gave way to the powerful Kataang siege equipment. By the end of 320:9, Kataang and Maiko had destroyed the last wall to the city. In the second month of 321:3, they stormed the city and marched up to the palace. To their shock and dismay, the Zutara Queen Shizumu had vanished! Maiko took control of the palace temporarily while the combined armies of Kataang, Maiko, and Sukka scoured the entire city for the Queen. In the end of 321:8, they found her with her most royal guard hiding in a nearby forest. The invaders made quick work of the royal guard and captured the Queen.

The Kataang Army captured her and dragged her all the way back to the capital city. Shizumu was humiliated when the Kataang armies dragged her through her once great city, the jewel of the Zutrian Empire, right in front of her loyal subjects. King Vikram ordered her to be thrown into prison until an execution date could be decided. That night, Vikram went to visit Shizumu in the dungeons. When she saw him, Queen Shizumu spat in Vikram's face. By this time most of the fanatical Zutarians, Tokkans, and Ty Lokkans had fled to the remote mountains just as the radicals of the other defeated nations had. The very last day of the Shipping Eon, of 321:9, King Vikram ordered the execution of Queen Shizumu. A guillotine was set up outside the once great Zutara Palace for her to be executed in. It occurred at noon that day. Once it was done, Kataang King Vikram ordered everyone to evacuate the city.

After everyone had left, his armies set the once magnificent, crown jewel of the Zutrian Empire, Kako City aflame. He left the Zutarian Empire once and for all, returning to his own Palace at Nizambad, capital of the Kataang Kingdom.

"And thus the Fire Epoch has ended and so has the entire Shipping Eon," Iroh said. "Whether it has ended on a good not or a bad not is debatable… Indeed, it is said that after his daughter's death, King Vikram had become one of the most ruthless people on the planet. And yes, to this day, historians disapprove of what Vikram did to the Zutarian Empire. The inhumane things that he had committed such as the execution of Queen Shizumu and burning down Kako City are still condemned. But one thing is certain… this Eon has shaped the very destiny of the world…"

And so the Shippin Eon is over. :P The next chapter will be the epilogue. Currently, I'm not satisfied about how the epilogue turned out so I'm going to probably go and revise it before I post it. :) Until then peace out!!! :P

Please review before you leave!! :)

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