"I hope there are no more surprises," I thought, still reeling from the bizarre experience of being a woman—so different from being a man. I was lucky she never experienced intimacy with a man…
My mind was a mess. I hadn't had time to process everything last time either. And there's this nagging discomfort at the edge of my consciousness, like something's trying to break free. I just hope it's not something foreign.
A minute passed, and I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when that same vortex began forming behind me. My back tensed, my muscles clenched, and I twisted my neck as far as it would go. With my peripheral vision, I watched the entire process unfold. And then—miraculously—something started destroying it!
But that wasn't all. The virtual reality space, which had always been faintly lit by daylight, began plunging into darkness. Once I was engulfed in pitch blackness, my virtual body started to fade. My thoughts swung between "Finally, I'll be ejected into reality" and "Something even worse is definitely going to happen."
In a way, everything turned out fine. I remained floating, standing, or hanging in an absolute void with no light sources. To make matters worse, it felt like I was in the most soundproof room imaginable. That's when panic started to set in.
I'm not sure how much time passed—maybe fifteen minutes. That's when the strangeness began. Sometimes, it sounded like an ambulance with its blaring siren was passing nearby, but that couldn't be possible. Other times, it seemed like a girl was singing a lullaby, which would've sent shivers down my spine if I had a body. Guess my love for horror movies in my past life is showing.
The complete silence was crushing my psyche. That's when I started wondering if I'd traded one problem for another. I urgently needed to occupy my thoughts with something else. Luckily, I found just the thing. With all this nonsense with sounds and darkness, I'd completely forgotten that I wanted to properly sort through my two past lives.
Analyzing everything that's happened, I can say with absolute certainty that it was all orchestrated by you-know-who—and no, it's not Voldemort, but someone even worse… I'm no expert on the psyche, but something like this doesn't just vanish without a trace. Yet, I don't notice much change in myself—and that's the strangest part. I remember the lives as if I'd lived them myself, but it's like they've been "sifted through a sieve." I feel some experience, I'd even say my core has grown stronger. Kenji and Beifong went through a real school of life—it's not like being born with ready-made chi into a family of local rulers. Something did get passed on to me. I just need to figure out what…
So there I was, sitting who-knows-where, and for the first time, I was watching memories with my own eyes, spanning years. There are perks: take away all my bending abilities, and I'd be the best factory worker in the Fire Nation or the best caregiver for children of all ages. To some extent, Kenji's feelings have been passed on to me, and no, I'm not ready to have a child yet. I'll think about it in five… maybe even ten years.
I was about to dive into my "own" memories for a second round when I found myself in the real world—if you can call a fictional cartoon universe that.
"What the…?!" My own words thundered in my ears, forcing me to immediately shut my mouth.
Opening my eyes was out of the question. It felt like they were physically sliced by light, causing them to tear up. At the same time, my nose was hit by a bouquet of various colorful smells. My clothes had been washed and rewashed countless times over these three months, but only now did I smell the previously nonexistent scents of Dria so intensely.
I shouldn't have thought about my clothes. The mind clings to everything. My loose clothing now felt like it was squeezing me, practically trying to strangle me. Okay, I know what's coming next���
"Am I on an airship?" I thought melancholically as my vestibular system did unknown somersaults for what felt like the hundredth minute. "My senses have betrayed me! Sounds like the start of a good story over a cup of jasmine tea…"
Calibrating my hearing involved alternating between the sound of sand moving outside the walls, driven by the wind, and the thunderous pounding of my heart, which felt like it was right next to my ear. Judging by my vestibular system, sometimes I was falling from a height, but more often we were in zero gravity. Though my backside could feel the mattress, a mystery of the century—who to trust now.
My eyes were fine, consistently closed. No more surprises there. My nose was living its own life, apparently in a floral paradise… My mouth, thanks to all the Wats and Raws, was closed, no mischief there.
Twenty minutes later
"Is it over?" I asked uncertainly, in the quietest whisper of my life. Everything seemed to have returned to normal. *Strong words in the great and mighty language mixed with local obscenities.*
"The third chakra is open. Oh, how 'happy' I am," I continued my verbal diarrhea.
To be honest, I was even grateful for those two lives. Thanks to them, I passed the third chakra test without even noticing. It could've gone very differently. Even the healthiest person would lose their mind a bit in a zone without any senses.
Sometimes my enhanced senses "misfired": my vision would sharpen, showing even the tiniest pores on my hands, or the wind from the desert would ring in my ears. But I'm gradually learning to control them.
"I see you've quickly mastered your new abilities," a voice sounded nearby. "I want to tell you…" Before he could finish, I simply and straightforwardly punched him in his arrogant head.
Oh, how I'd wanted to do that for so long. My hand felt like it hit steel, and it didn't harm the spirit at all. The anger overwhelming me began to subside, but that doesn't mean I've forgiven Van Shi Tong for these games.
"If it makes you feel better, you can hit me as many times as you want," he said calmly. "And I sincerely apologize," he bowed his head at the end.
"Why was all this necessary?!" I shouted directly in his face.
"You've heard from Jong-Jong about the dark forces that almost control the entire Fire Nation, right?" he replied with a question.
"Yes, and how is that connected?"
"The Fire Sages have been playing with ancient rituals and summoned a dark spirit into the human world. You know what happens to those aristocrats who've come into contact with their firebending, but I can add new information. If, in a battle with them—and there definitely will be one—even a tiny particle of their dark flame hits you, negative thoughts will overwhelm your consciousness. The more you're hit by their attacks, the stronger they'll change your worldview. That's half the trouble. I could teach you methods to counter them. And a strong will, like that of a former admiral, could nullify their efforts. I think that's why he didn't tell you about this peculiarity—with his life experience, he simply didn't notice the strong influence."
"Okay, but if there are methods against their firebending, what made you act so zealously?"
"You understand that in the future battle with Vaatu, you'll definitely have to be on the front lines, right?" he saw my nod and continued, "Look at how even a fraction of a percent of his true power affects us, passing first through the barrier in the Tree of Time and then through another barrier protecting the human world. Even we, ancient spirits, will have to fight off intrusive thoughts because Raava won't be at her peak and won't be able to shield us with her power, as she did with the first Avatar."
"Only your will can save you there. No methods or techniques will give you confidence against the real power of darkness and chaos. I had to somehow instill in you the wisdom and experience of righteous people. You play one of the main roles in the future battle—you unite people. And you never know what will happen to a person when they gain absolute power in the world, which is exactly what you're striving for."
"I simply can't afford to miss any opportunity that could help us," he turned away at the end. "According to my plans, you were supposed to live four lives in each nation, but I didn't account for the early opening of the new chakra. It disrupted the entire system, but I believe you've learned a lot even from the two lives you've lived."
"I noticed you were too biased against the people of the Fire Nation, so I showed you the life of a simple worker, whose numbers haven't decreased much over the years. Don't write off the entire nation just because of the sins of its leadership."
I had nothing to say to that. I had indeed become too accustomed to the stereotype that the Fire Nation equals the enemy.
"Wait!" a thought reached me. "If you know something's wrong with the Fire Sages, why don't you intervene?"
"Easily. Bring them to me and force them to attack my body directly. Then I can bypass the rules and simply erase their existence. Understand that with the barrier erected by the first Avatar and Raava, spirits can't influence the human world too strongly, or we could be killed—not permanently, of course, but then we'd have to regain our strength over millennia. That's not my style. We have just over seventy years until the release of the spirit of chaos and darkness. I think it would be reckless to lose our powers on the eve of a battle that will decide the fate of the world."
What kind of barrier did the spirit of light and the first Avatar put in place?! And isn't that why Raava is so weak?
"And think about it yourself. Vaatu's dark energy has already infiltrated the human world. If we get rid of the Fire Sages, it will pass into other hands and lie dormant for a while, gathering even greater strength."
"I'd like to apologize again. You have every right to be angry with me, but if I had a choice, I'd do the same thing."
"Give me time to cool off. Logically, I understand you did the right thing—in war, all means are fair—but my heart demands I hurt you as much as possible," as I said, he'll have to work hard to regain my trust. "Why didn't you just warn me?"
"I couldn't eliminate one problem. If you knew you were going to live a virtual life, you wouldn't have been able to fully immerse yourself in the lives of these people. It's very strange that you would've figured out from the very beginning that it wasn't reality, as it was with Kenji, but the process would still have proceeded as planned and in full. There are things even I can't understand," he spread his wings.
Alright, he might be right. Earlier, I definitely wouldn't have stopped at one punch, but now I'm somehow more calm about it. Shit happens, and it's been worse.
"In a week, your sources should start working again, so it's worth thinking about choosing a new bending art. I'm ninety-nine percent sure you'll be able to gain at least one new bending ability. I'll personally help you find a spirit and accompany you from start to finish, protecting you if necessary."
"And you know how to make amends, you old schemer?" My mood immediately lifted a bit.
"Catch," he threw me a book that he pulled from under his feathers right before my eyes. "In it, I've compiled all the spirits I've encountered. There are their approximate skills and powers, strengths and weaknesses. Choose wisely. But in your place, I'd pay attention to the spirits without names, marked with question marks. They have the most unique powers, and their strength is the only one I couldn't fully understand or study…" It was clear how annoyed he was by not knowing or understanding something.
"Alright, you can rest this week. After your source opens, we'll resume practice. Not all spirits have been covered, and I hope you don't mind?"
"Sure, just no more surprises this time!" He was about to nod but then simply disappeared. "That was agreement, I hope…" Though I understood that if there were chances to increase our odds of victory, he'd take them, so I didn't make any promises.
Sometimes it seems dealing with dark spirits is much easier. You just know they want to kill and eat you—sometimes eat first, then kill. But with peaceful ones… it seems like they're doing everything for your benefit, but sometimes that benefit smells like lemon slices. So, it's best to keep your ears perked up.
Entering the room, I immediately lay down on a proper bed and immersed myself in reading the encyclopedia of spirits.
"Too many spirits of the four main elements in various variations," I muttered in dissatisfaction. I want something special. "Fire ferret, fire wolf, fire badger, ugh," I started flipping through pages with prefixes like fire, water, earth, and air.
"Spirit of combustion! Definitely Gildarts' spirit!" Spirits of combustion have a bright red manifestation of power, "which means the local Baels."
"Gravity, healing, bloodbending, sound, illusions—everything sounds delicious, wrap it all up for me!"
"Ah," I yawned, already forcing myself to look at the letters in the book, "I'll finish reading tomorrow."
Two lives, opening a chakra, a tense conversation with Van Shi Tong—all of it had drained me considerably. Tomorrow, I'll start everything with new strength.