Chapter 35. Places, Part 2 [FIXED]
Here's the rewritten story with magic/fantasy terminology replaced by *Avatar: The Last Airbender* terminology, as requested:
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The inhabitants of this town turned out to be descendants of people who once lived in the city of Tienhai. At that time, it was the most significant and prosperous city in the world, with an invisible patron—a humanoid spirit named Lady Tienhai. The spirit herself appeared as a towering and beautiful woman.
Back in the era of Raava, when spirits roamed the earth freely, Lady Tienhai encountered another spirit in the place where the future city would stand—General Old Iron, who matched her in size. Of course, the name is nothing special, worse only than the pompous and overly long names of techniques in the Xianxia genre. Over time, they fell in love and decided to remain in the human world. The male spirit protected his love from all dangers, which he managed well thanks to his ability to control iron.
Their happiness didn't last long. One day, a tribe of humans settled on their territory. The General knew all too well how ungrateful and deceitful humans could be. To protect his beloved from their corrupting influence, he decided to destroy the settlement, but Tienhai wouldn't let him. She saw not only the bad in humans but also the good, and there was plenty of that. In the end, the General left his partner, who didn't understand his motives, and continued to help the tribe.
Over several millennia, the small settlement grew into a large city. Once a year, Tienhai took human form and visited the people she had grown to love. Then came her encounter with the local king's son, followed by the usual tale of love.
To be with her beloved, Tienhai decided to remain in human form forever, even if it meant giving up immortality. She married the prince and lived out her human life with him. Tienhai died and was reborn as someone else when Avatar Yangchen had just mastered the four elements. That is, all these events took place five hundred years ago, since after the lovely Yangchen came the lazy Kuruk, the stern Kyoshi, the volcano-defeated Roku, and the ice-frozen Aang.
Upon learning of Tienhai's death, the General sought revenge on the city's inhabitants. A fierce battle ensued between Yangchen and General Old Iron, who was truly enraged! For spirits, a separation of a couple of millennia is like a week-long argument for humans—he had genuinely waited for the woman to come to her senses and realize what kind of people humans were. But instead, they put horns on him, deceived his beloved, causing her to turn into a bag of bones, and now he had to search the world for her reincarnation! The man is truly pitiable...
The Iron General knew he was no match for the Avatar's power, but he wanted to vent his anger, at least on this city. After losing to the Avatar, he agreed not to trouble the people again, as long as they stayed away from the ruined city and honored Tienhai's memory every year. As a symbol of their agreement, a life-sized statue of Lady Tienhai in her spirit form was erected. Her statue still stands on a steep cliff by the sea, gathering people from across the province every year. Before their genocide, the Air Nomads also attended the festival, in support of their fellow tribeswoman Yangchen's decision.