- Location
- Brazil
any recommendation? Something less eventful at the very least. Zagreus is due for a break. Asura's Wrath is like Olympic Realm, way too high level for Zagreus.
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DODGE THE WHEEL
- Thread starter BrunofanofK
- Start date
- Crossover
For a break how about a nice relaxing zombie world like the walking dead.
- Pronouns
- ImBuda
Maybe Ghosthunters?? Most of the stuff they do isnt that stressing and It happens during several months before the final battle.
What about Evangelion?? Not by piloting the EVA but getting hired as the psychologist (and the new expert of occult of NERV), and trying to help the kids with their issues with the help of philosophy might be really nice.
And last but not least, assasination classroom which I recomend because I liked the series.
Edit: How about Pirates of the caribbean, have a pirate life and try to find some of the secrets of the seas, like the fountain of Life or Calipso
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Fear and Hunger Termina 4
- Location
- Brazil
Well, it seems I survived my hubris after all. And everything I have as scars is a new set of coruscant purple tribal tattoos adorning my trunk, back, thighs, and arms up to my elbow. I could feel burning from the sword inside my bone marrow but this is expected. I have achieved enough proficiency to turn the spooks of my pneumatic chamber in my sleep, so my little nap would be the equivalent of weeks of acclimation. This discomfort is a far better deal than I deserve.
I won't be using [Zagreus] again if I can help it, the [Red Virtue] that the godling left behind will serve just fine as a replacement.
I eat and drink more of my spirit wine, something tells me this is the last stretch and I will need my strength for the trials to come.
I have made a point to track and map out my progress with the Golden Tread after my success in the forest, that is why I notice the architecture of the church doesn't add up. I bring the steel pick axe from my shadow and start to carve out a path, eventually reaching a secret chamber that existed just under the main church's stained glasses.
I am feverish and weak as my new burden is too much for my soul to handle just yet but even then, I press on, killing black priests and mind flayers and genies I come across with disinterested ease. They are no threat to me in their lonesome as their every move leaves a Golden Tread for me to read and predict. Even the flayed pillar men were efficiently dealt with as their lungs had distended from their ribcages to their bellies, making them easy targets for my discerning eyes.
That was when at the end of the corridor something slowly approached me from the upstairs… this is too much of a walking innuendo for me, even the horror doesn't make up for it. A girl with a phallic cocoon for a head and a girl's head where her crotch should be, two extra arms take on the additional burden of her form.
"He tells… Y-you must die…" the girl says.
"Who is telling you this?"
"H-him… H-he wants you… dead…"
"You don't have to listen to him! Please, don't make me do this." I begged.
The girl strains against the leash and screams in pain, breathing heavily.
Maybe, if I destroy the cocoon the girl will be freed? I exploit her turmoil to use all my four stored breaths to deliver a decisive victory, performing a drizzly cascade of swings faster than what mortal eyes can track, cutting the cocoon into ribbons.
It wasn't enough, she still attacked me with a vortex of her distilled malice, and only my supernatural agility and familiarity with the magic allowed me to scurry away in time.
"What a shame…"
I reach the mausoleum ally and find another monster. A desiccated black man with a mass on his head that looked like a parasite of sorts, but upon closer inspection it looked to be just a growth or a mutation. He also had a floating eye in his other hand and as soon as he spotted me he cast a vortex of malice in my direction.
I am still too frayed to dare to invoke my virtue so I backpedal and use my ivory bow to fill his chest with holes as I dodged and weaved around his spells, taking my time disassembling it until he succumbed.
At the end of it, I got the [Enlightened] Soul, a pursuer of understanding of the highest order, wisdom is their creed… together with the hunger for power. Was he lured here in search of power?
I am beyond carrying at this point. Entering the altar of the head collector god I find the leftovers of a massacre as blood and gore litter the ground.
That is when a furred humanoid beast using a skull decorated with eyes for a helmet and wielding twin spears jumped down, closing my path.
"Mataneko-kone-Magnificat. That is my name. The last name you hear before heads start to roll! My blood is rushing WIIILLLD!"
"…"
"Let's howl while we slice each other to pieces! A sergal never backs down from a chance to bask in euphoric mutilation!"
"I don't deal with animals, but this once I'll put you down." I finally say to the stupid beast blocking my way. I just want this night to end.
"Animal!? ANIMAL!? A bald, testicle-looking ape here dares to call me an animal!? That's the first mistake, the last mistake!" the Sergal screams as he charges at me with reckless abandon-
Just to run right into Cerberus's distended jaw, taking both of its legs like it was a land shark from a horror movie. I then separate its head from his shoulders by riding the converging Golden Tread created by its uncontrollable fall, using the beast's momentum and weight against it.
Pathetic.
Once again, I had Cerberus bite him in half then I used his head as target practice.
That is when I reached the city's museum. To my surprise, there were a lot of monstrous people there in merriment with each other as if this was a symposium or mask gala and not a dead city of monsters. This alone was unsettling and disgusting but as long as they didn't get in my way I don't care.
I genie popped up from time to time but you have seen one you have seen them all. They also fall all the same way.
Far more interesting was the Museum itself, it had been enchanted with a variation of dimensional paradox logic that made all of its corridors self-contained in a recursive loop. I worried at first but it isn't really obstructive. I even found a [Yggaegetsu amulet], an eastern-style amulet that is said to have belonged to the deity of the wandering warriors, capable of boosting confidence in one's prowess.
That was when a man with glass shards penetrating deep into his skull and arms and some kind of torture device on his neck to stretch it beyond normal measures decided to pick a fight with me.
He was not the only one. A thing more of a machine than an organic being. Although parts of it look very human-like, with a lower body resembling a cooler station and blades for arms.
[Latent] Soul bear great untapped potential but are incapable of self-actualization out of their own volition, needing outside stimulus and great adaptability. A living if quiet contradiction.
The [Shadowed] soul is fated to be obfuscated by others, always a step behind yet it gives the opportunity of unprecedented freedom as one often slips notice from others.
… time to have some words with this party's organizer.
I knew this was the place because of how wrong it felt, my primal instincts told me to run away and never look back. Reaching closer to the monolith makes me feel dizzy, something troublesome since it exasperates my current fever. My sight is getting blurry and I can hear my blood running in my head.
My heart beat like a drum as I reached the door, I felt the inexplicable temptation to touch it… fuck this!
I bring [Zagreus] out and blow the entrance open with a single slash. I don't need anyone's permission to go wherever I please! I am not asking for a meeting; I am demanding a confrontation.
The symbol in the ground has changed since I last saw it in my dream, becoming the brand of the god Rher. The hollow tower rises up to dizzying heights. After reaching the peak I have a brief glance at the city then in the blink of an eye I find myself once more in the presence of the Moon God and his "servant".
"Hey there, Kefkar! Long time no see you. My, why the long face, friend? Where all the bluster you had has gone?"
"You chicken shit! You ruined it! the blood wasn't meant for you! How in Sulfur's name do you think you are!?" the clown screams at my face in indignation.
I simply turn my back to it and raise the dimensional Portal out of my shadow. This place bears the perfect conditions to fuel the magic necessary to get me out of this hole and I intend to use it.
"How did you figure out that the trickster moon god is gone?" the clown starts to expostulate, unknowingly typing off his hand to me, I made an effort to hide my smile. "Termina is a natural phenomenon caused by the faint traces left of Rher's existence. A fading echo of the distant past."
"And that is when you come in, I presume."
"Yes, without a guiding will behind these forces of nature, my fellows and I decided to give a new purpose to it. The effects the moon has on people create many opportunities to increase our numbers and shed blood for our master… like YOURS!!
With an overdramatic spin, the clown does a getup change. He was wielding a moon disk in one finger too.
I open my own shadow drawing from it over a dozen zombie soldiers fastened together by vines I created from denizens, all of them held weapons I found while spelunking through town. Much like a child soldier, the bullets from a zombie are just as efficient as bullets from living adults.
"Hasta la vista, you fucker."
With a snap of my fingers, the zombies start to shoot, following muscle memory and an internalized route for the win. Whatever magic the guy had in his hat didn't prepare him for the old reliable lead shower! Zombies with guns, the best idea I ever had since I landed here; I don't even care that they are basically nazis at this point.
Kefkar, or whatever his name was since I never bothered to remember it, eventually falls. Unmourned and unremembered as he dearly deserved. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
That is when the blue butterfly dances in the moonlight, landing on my finger. I looked up… is the moon getting closer?
Worthless, deceitful clown! What about this looks like a directionless force of nature?
Rher took notice of me and somehow, he entered the stage despite all common sense and decency. Trying to make sense of what I am seeing only deteriorates my mind. It is the nature of gods to live apart, unspoken and unremembered. An island in the sun. it is only natural that Rher doesn't fit anywhere but on the moon.
I have the zombies start to shoot once more. I don't really care at this point. Rher… or his remnant tries to claw always at my mind, and scorch me as he did with so many but I already endured his attention for this entire tenure here. What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.
My soul ascends once more, reaching the 4th rank of the Sophic Realm and I manifest my carrion intent as the upper body of an infernal giant smiling skeleton filled with ethereal muscle fibers. My sword reshaped itself to fit his frame and the spectral warrior brought it down with all the might its two hands could bring to bear as the air itself screamed under the strain of my virtuous technique.
Rher felt that I really wooded a god! And immediately get mauled but moon rays and maddening evil eyes for my trouble as the god retaliates.
That was when a familiar butterfly landed on my shoulder, and then the next thing I knew, it became the hand of a half-cybernetic woman who pushed me back with uncontestable strength.
Right into my portable Portal, just as it opened.
The last thing I saw was the outraged face of the tricked trickster moon god.
I am not sure if this is that of enlightenment or that of terror, but I wake up to a new reality. Suddenly, the dark void above me feels much larger, almost infinite. With this newly acquired understanding, even the most minor sensations have this altered nuance to them.
I never thought of such a possibility, it is different from a split foundation and not as concerning, but only just. I will have to take stock of everything I took from Termina Festival, deviation and heart demons can be the end of any cultivator, double so for myself as I will receive no outside assistance on that front.
Also, where the hell am I?
The frigid wind hitting my face is not the biggest problem as my cultivation and breathing techniques more than make up for it. it is more the fact I can only see icebergs floating over frigid ice water that set me off. Please, someone, tell me I am not in the Antarctic!
Since when do penguins have four limbs and weasel faces?
Zagreus' adventures in Fear and Hunger and he even got some souvenirs out of it. All that midnight strolling got him a lot of moonlight bath, and he built an affinity for Rher the same way as if he had performed rituals and actions in the god's name. While most of his foundations are onyx, there are traces of chalcedony here and there.
I made this tablet just as a reference for myself since otherwise I would have to double back to the wiki all the time.
I won't be using [Zagreus] again if I can help it, the [Red Virtue] that the godling left behind will serve just fine as a replacement.
I eat and drink more of my spirit wine, something tells me this is the last stretch and I will need my strength for the trials to come.
I have made a point to track and map out my progress with the Golden Tread after my success in the forest, that is why I notice the architecture of the church doesn't add up. I bring the steel pick axe from my shadow and start to carve out a path, eventually reaching a secret chamber that existed just under the main church's stained glasses.
I am feverish and weak as my new burden is too much for my soul to handle just yet but even then, I press on, killing black priests and mind flayers and genies I come across with disinterested ease. They are no threat to me in their lonesome as their every move leaves a Golden Tread for me to read and predict. Even the flayed pillar men were efficiently dealt with as their lungs had distended from their ribcages to their bellies, making them easy targets for my discerning eyes.
That was when at the end of the corridor something slowly approached me from the upstairs… this is too much of a walking innuendo for me, even the horror doesn't make up for it. A girl with a phallic cocoon for a head and a girl's head where her crotch should be, two extra arms take on the additional burden of her form.
"He tells… Y-you must die…" the girl says.
"Who is telling you this?"
"H-him… H-he wants you… dead…"
"You don't have to listen to him! Please, don't make me do this." I begged.
The girl strains against the leash and screams in pain, breathing heavily.
Maybe, if I destroy the cocoon the girl will be freed? I exploit her turmoil to use all my four stored breaths to deliver a decisive victory, performing a drizzly cascade of swings faster than what mortal eyes can track, cutting the cocoon into ribbons.
It wasn't enough, she still attacked me with a vortex of her distilled malice, and only my supernatural agility and familiarity with the magic allowed me to scurry away in time.
"What a shame…"
-//-
The [Changeling] Soul is destined to walk off from the beaten path, this morphic nature opens the bearer to many possibilities and what-ifs at the risk of opening them to self-doubt… and the opportunity of self-affirmation. If only she had never come to this city…
I reach the mausoleum ally and find another monster. A desiccated black man with a mass on his head that looked like a parasite of sorts, but upon closer inspection it looked to be just a growth or a mutation. He also had a floating eye in his other hand and as soon as he spotted me he cast a vortex of malice in my direction.
I am still too frayed to dare to invoke my virtue so I backpedal and use my ivory bow to fill his chest with holes as I dodged and weaved around his spells, taking my time disassembling it until he succumbed.
At the end of it, I got the [Enlightened] Soul, a pursuer of understanding of the highest order, wisdom is their creed… together with the hunger for power. Was he lured here in search of power?
I am beyond carrying at this point. Entering the altar of the head collector god I find the leftovers of a massacre as blood and gore litter the ground.
That is when a furred humanoid beast using a skull decorated with eyes for a helmet and wielding twin spears jumped down, closing my path.
"Mataneko-kone-Magnificat. That is my name. The last name you hear before heads start to roll! My blood is rushing WIIILLLD!"
"…"
"Let's howl while we slice each other to pieces! A sergal never backs down from a chance to bask in euphoric mutilation!"
"I don't deal with animals, but this once I'll put you down." I finally say to the stupid beast blocking my way. I just want this night to end.
"Animal!? ANIMAL!? A bald, testicle-looking ape here dares to call me an animal!? That's the first mistake, the last mistake!" the Sergal screams as he charges at me with reckless abandon-
Just to run right into Cerberus's distended jaw, taking both of its legs like it was a land shark from a horror movie. I then separate its head from his shoulders by riding the converging Golden Tread created by its uncontrollable fall, using the beast's momentum and weight against it.
Pathetic.
-//-
I eventually get out of there via a side entrance, reaching the Temple site and reach a rich suburban area. Of course, this wouldn't be Termina if a giant man straight out of a slasher movie didn't jump out of a coffin and tried to kill me.
Once again, I had Cerberus bite him in half then I used his head as target practice.
That is when I reached the city's museum. To my surprise, there were a lot of monstrous people there in merriment with each other as if this was a symposium or mask gala and not a dead city of monsters. This alone was unsettling and disgusting but as long as they didn't get in my way I don't care.
I genie popped up from time to time but you have seen one you have seen them all. They also fall all the same way.
Far more interesting was the Museum itself, it had been enchanted with a variation of dimensional paradox logic that made all of its corridors self-contained in a recursive loop. I worried at first but it isn't really obstructive. I even found a [Yggaegetsu amulet], an eastern-style amulet that is said to have belonged to the deity of the wandering warriors, capable of boosting confidence in one's prowess.
That was when a man with glass shards penetrating deep into his skull and arms and some kind of torture device on his neck to stretch it beyond normal measures decided to pick a fight with me.
He was not the only one. A thing more of a machine than an organic being. Although parts of it look very human-like, with a lower body resembling a cooler station and blades for arms.
[Latent] Soul bear great untapped potential but are incapable of self-actualization out of their own volition, needing outside stimulus and great adaptability. A living if quiet contradiction.
The [Shadowed] soul is fated to be obfuscated by others, always a step behind yet it gives the opportunity of unprecedented freedom as one often slips notice from others.
… time to have some words with this party's organizer.
-//-
Finally, finally, I find the stupid tower.
I knew this was the place because of how wrong it felt, my primal instincts told me to run away and never look back. Reaching closer to the monolith makes me feel dizzy, something troublesome since it exasperates my current fever. My sight is getting blurry and I can hear my blood running in my head.
My heart beat like a drum as I reached the door, I felt the inexplicable temptation to touch it… fuck this!
I bring [Zagreus] out and blow the entrance open with a single slash. I don't need anyone's permission to go wherever I please! I am not asking for a meeting; I am demanding a confrontation.
The symbol in the ground has changed since I last saw it in my dream, becoming the brand of the god Rher. The hollow tower rises up to dizzying heights. After reaching the peak I have a brief glance at the city then in the blink of an eye I find myself once more in the presence of the Moon God and his "servant".
"Hey there, Kefkar! Long time no see you. My, why the long face, friend? Where all the bluster you had has gone?"
"You chicken shit! You ruined it! the blood wasn't meant for you! How in Sulfur's name do you think you are!?" the clown screams at my face in indignation.
I simply turn my back to it and raise the dimensional Portal out of my shadow. This place bears the perfect conditions to fuel the magic necessary to get me out of this hole and I intend to use it.
"How did you figure out that the trickster moon god is gone?" the clown starts to expostulate, unknowingly typing off his hand to me, I made an effort to hide my smile. "Termina is a natural phenomenon caused by the faint traces left of Rher's existence. A fading echo of the distant past."
"And that is when you come in, I presume."
"Yes, without a guiding will behind these forces of nature, my fellows and I decided to give a new purpose to it. The effects the moon has on people create many opportunities to increase our numbers and shed blood for our master… like YOURS!!
With an overdramatic spin, the clown does a getup change. He was wielding a moon disk in one finger too.
I open my own shadow drawing from it over a dozen zombie soldiers fastened together by vines I created from denizens, all of them held weapons I found while spelunking through town. Much like a child soldier, the bullets from a zombie are just as efficient as bullets from living adults.
"Hasta la vista, you fucker."
With a snap of my fingers, the zombies start to shoot, following muscle memory and an internalized route for the win. Whatever magic the guy had in his hat didn't prepare him for the old reliable lead shower! Zombies with guns, the best idea I ever had since I landed here; I don't even care that they are basically nazis at this point.
Kefkar, or whatever his name was since I never bothered to remember it, eventually falls. Unmourned and unremembered as he dearly deserved. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
That is when the blue butterfly dances in the moonlight, landing on my finger. I looked up… is the moon getting closer?
Worthless, deceitful clown! What about this looks like a directionless force of nature?
Rher took notice of me and somehow, he entered the stage despite all common sense and decency. Trying to make sense of what I am seeing only deteriorates my mind. It is the nature of gods to live apart, unspoken and unremembered. An island in the sun. it is only natural that Rher doesn't fit anywhere but on the moon.
I have the zombies start to shoot once more. I don't really care at this point. Rher… or his remnant tries to claw always at my mind, and scorch me as he did with so many but I already endured his attention for this entire tenure here. What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.
My soul ascends once more, reaching the 4th rank of the Sophic Realm and I manifest my carrion intent as the upper body of an infernal giant smiling skeleton filled with ethereal muscle fibers. My sword reshaped itself to fit his frame and the spectral warrior brought it down with all the might its two hands could bring to bear as the air itself screamed under the strain of my virtuous technique.
Rher felt that I really wooded a god! And immediately get mauled but moon rays and maddening evil eyes for my trouble as the god retaliates.
That was when a familiar butterfly landed on my shoulder, and then the next thing I knew, it became the hand of a half-cybernetic woman who pushed me back with uncontestable strength.
Right into my portable Portal, just as it opened.
The last thing I saw was the outraged face of the tricked trickster moon god.
-//-
When I regained my conscience, I realized I was no longer the same person as I was just a brief moment ago. The moonlight tainted (a traitorous part of my mind pointed out – tempered) my existence.
I am not sure if this is that of enlightenment or that of terror, but I wake up to a new reality. Suddenly, the dark void above me feels much larger, almost infinite. With this newly acquired understanding, even the most minor sensations have this altered nuance to them.
I never thought of such a possibility, it is different from a split foundation and not as concerning, but only just. I will have to take stock of everything I took from Termina Festival, deviation and heart demons can be the end of any cultivator, double so for myself as I will receive no outside assistance on that front.
Also, where the hell am I?
The frigid wind hitting my face is not the biggest problem as my cultivation and breathing techniques more than make up for it. it is more the fact I can only see icebergs floating over frigid ice water that set me off. Please, someone, tell me I am not in the Antarctic!
Since when do penguins have four limbs and weasel faces?
-//-
[AUTHOR'S ROOM]
Zagreus' adventures in Fear and Hunger and he even got some souvenirs out of it. All that midnight strolling got him a lot of moonlight bath, and he built an affinity for Rher the same way as if he had performed rituals and actions in the god's name. While most of his foundations are onyx, there are traces of chalcedony here and there.
I made this tablet just as a reference for myself since otherwise I would have to double back to the wiki all the time.
Skill | Effect/ Use | Description | Cost |
Reveal aura | Find the mutated forms of other contestants | Reveal position of the other contestants through examining a map. To sense these positions, a spike of energy is required. You can't sense a person without this. | Passive |
Mind read | Automatically used in conversation on the overworld | A moon magic that reveals the inner thoughts of fellow humans. | Passive |
Golden gates | Travel through the Golden Gates in the Rher dimension | A gift from the Moon God himself. Gain access to golden gates that lead you out from madness and world of deceit. A passive ability. | Passive |
Mind Expansion | +25 mind | Passive | |
Lunar Meteorite | Summon a small piece of the moon. | Active | |
Lunar Storm | Summon a waterfall of moon meteorite pieces to fall. | Active | |
All seeing eye | Cause mind damage | Active | |
Mindscape | Active | ||
Moonscorch | Active |
Who was the cybernetic woman and will she be important later on.
- Pronouns
- ImBuda
I suposed that was logic, who decided to help the main character after activating the generators and through them allowing her birth. Also how badly is his soul after the battle with the god?? Is he corrupted or did his base suffer due to the gods influence??
- Location
- Brazil
It's more like a Solus situation where he is stuck with a split foundation but instead of a clean split Zagreus's is mixed like a milkshake. The fact he got tempered by an Old God, consumed many souls from that dimension, and even suped on the soul of a new god doesn't help.
- Pronouns
- ImBuda
Well eldritch lore based on the stars, the moon and revelation of ones nature seems really usefull, and probably will give him some means of damaging his enemies at a distance and defeating heart demons. Also due to Zagreus being god of madness most of the mental damage of eldritch knowledge will be dealt easier. Can he use the Golden Gates??
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What do you mean by "Solus situation"?
It would be really funny/fun watching the Gods in the Percy Jackson books series react to him or Zagreus acting as a life counselor/mentor to a main character (like ImBuda said)
It would be really funny/fun watching the Gods in the Percy Jackson books series react to him or Zagreus acting as a life counselor/mentor to a main character (like ImBuda said)
avatar the last airbender 1
- Location
- Brazil
"So, are the two of you ready for some hunting?" I ask the siblings.
"No way, I got to show you what a true South tribe huntsman can do. Why don't you go help Grangran or something while I hunt our diner?" Soka answers full of bluster and bravado.
"Sassy brat." I give him a good shelly upside the head for his cheek, but Sokka only smiled and laughed good-naturedly in return. As the oldest boy left behind when the men of his tribe left for war, he was in desperate need of a guiding hand and male validation.
"See to it that you catch for everyone in the tribe or I will have you swimming with the penguins in your birthday suit."
"You can count on me, Zagreus!" Soka turns back to his hunting, poor Katara is in for a long trip now. I smiled apologetically but she had lived with him her whole life, she knew him better than almost everyone alive by now.
Instead of watching them go, I turned to the leading elder of his sorry lot of dregs of war. "So, granny. Any work for me?" I ask the stone-cold bitch and braced myself for the worst. A lifetime of warfare has calcified the winter witch into a menace. How her grandkids never noticed it is a miracle; I half suspect her son-in-law joined the war to escape from her.
"Ho ho, don't I always?" Grangran just smiled.
Crap baskets.
The scars I got from Rher even helped somewhat in my situation, his moon scorch seared me well done enough for people to suspect I was another victim of the Fire Nation, earning me some sympathy despite my nature as a strange foreigner.
Fire Nation… I don't know if this is some kind of kink from the Babel shard, but these name conventions are really… straightforward. Not that it matters for my situation, foreigners are only ever welcome for their wealth… or their usefulness. It's both familiar and comforting to become the community's jack of all trades of the village once more. Gods know that people love to foster unwanted jobs on others., though the South Water Tribe situation is more justifiable than most.
Less than fifty habitants, half of which are children and elders while the rest are women. Life for them was a daily struggle. Fortunately, I am more than capable of hunting for them all. Sokka still dunks himself in cold water every day as training in the hope he too can hunt prey underwater with a spear like I do.
Considering how hunting is an occupation traditionally held by men and only Sokka is old enough to hunt by himself, their situation was dire. They managed enough to scrap by but this is still a single bad streak away from starvation. Fortunately, this was something in my capacity to remediate, and preservation of stockpiled food isn't difficult at this temperature. The fact the women of the tribe use animal parts for everything my efforts were appreciated.
Not that subsistence is their only concern, despite the boy's gluttonous tendencies. The 'village' consists mostly of a hole carved in the ice to protect against arctic wind and improvised barracks made of sticks and animal pelts as houses. While I by now a competent mason, I also never worked with ice as material before so it was a challenge…
Challenge is good, challenge keeps the hands busy and the mind too occupied to remember everything it saw. I worked day and now, keeping my ghosts at by and helping my saviors and benefactors. Two birds with one stone.
Now the people of the South Water Tribe have enough Igloos to house them and more properly hold in human heat, making their lives more bearable. Their food dispensers are full and I even managed to create some camouflage with the frigid tundra to decrease the likelihood any incoming Fire Nation ship ever detects it.
My efforts didn't go unnoticed and I managed to get the trust of these people, Grangran notwithstanding. From there my standing went from warry hostility to apathetic tolerance until it morphed into open curiosity, starting from the youngest members.
In the end, children are naturally curious, inquisitive, and fascinated by new things and experiences. A musical instrument out of turtle shells and animal guts was everything I needed to make myself into an attraction. The rest, as they say, is history.
That is how I found myself in this position, being attacked by over a dozen knee bitters full of enthusiasm and replaceable milk teeth. I won't let their delighted smiles and jubilee giggles fool me. Children are evil!
At once twelve Golden Treads manifest in my mind's eyes, going from them to me as they converge and tangle with each other in a chaotic knot I attempt to puzzle out as the infantile mob charged me with reckless enthusiasm.
Cultivation is the study of Virtue and it can be cultivated through performative excellence, there are an infinite number of things that a man can do to refine himself and excellence to be found in every action. At some point, it matters less how on cultivate than what Virtue they pursue. To be exposed to new experiences and broaden your horizons is also part of cultivating virtue.
Two boys less than ten years old jumped at my legs, I spun in my own echo in one leg, avoiding the first boy entirely and getting behind the second one, bringing my leg under him and having his momentum trip him in soft snow.
Magnitude, Motion, Time. A philosopher's wisdom states that all phenomena can be measured by these three categories. That obviously includes a cultivator's own senses for pneuma. Magnitude gauges its effective range, Motion defines clarity which outside pneuma can be felt and divined, while Time defines how clearly the picture of reality can be taken with one's pneuma sense alone.
Even with my back turned, I could still feel the sleeping pneuma of the younglings as one flung himself to my back, while the other two tried to go for my waist. I carelessly swung with my shoulder, adding to the boy's momentum and causing him to overshoot, hitting the recovering due. The two girls got a gentler approach as I picked them both from the air and threw them back into the soft snow.
Of course, none of the little monsters got demoralized by action. On the contrary, it only egged them on. They screamed how today they would finally get a win and attacked in force. We also mixed goals and games to make things interesting, but children love contact sports like wrestling so eventually I succumbed and was brought down by the rascals.
Or I would have if a giant pillar of light didn't pierce the arctic sky like the Aurora.
No rest for the wicked.
I turned to Sokka.
"It was Katara's fault!"
"What!? How is this my fault?" Katare roared in indignation.
"You are the one that broke him free with your magic water!" Sokka responded just as incensed.
"OK you two, I think this is enough for our comedic skit. Why don't you introduce your new friend to everybody before nightfall; We only have three months for it anyway." My nonsense-level words were more than enough to put the two teenagers in line.
"And about you," I turn to the young air bender, the elemental power from his aura as unmistakable as Katara's own. The boy clamped up under my stare, after reaching the Philosopher Realm I grew another twenty centimeters in the months I lived here, putting me at seven feet of stature, the limit of the mortal frame. "It's a good thing Katara and Sokka found you, The Arctic can be as rash as any desert, at the very least I can get you a filling meal and a good night's sleep in a warm bed."
"Oh, boy. That sounds lovely, I thank you for the hospitality, mister!" Aang answers genially, without any of the suspicions and wariness of a child raised during wartime. What is his deal? Is he that carefree?
"Gramgram will guide you," I said.
"Sorry?" The ice witch asks, not apologetic at all. I just looked to the other two for her to relent. Most of the tribe already went to sleep and whatever Aang might be, he was still a boy. A heavy meal and he would succumb to sleep, giving us more time to figure him out.
"I will accompany you, Gramgram." Katara made to follow. Always helpful, that one.
Sokka made a face that I knew would lead to an argument but I put a hand over his shoulder.
"We need to talk. Tell me what happened."
"I know! I told Katara to not trust him either! That bolt of light might be a signal for the fire nation."
"Sokka, do you really believe that?" I ask, making it as if he was stupid or something. Something he is prone to do in paranoia.
"I-I guess this is a bit far fetch."
"Likely so, he is an air bender after all. The real deal… and that is why he might be dangerous."
At my words, Sokka clamped up, for all his sharp mind and down-to-the-earth nature, he was still a teenager. The true horrors of this life have not scarred him directly yet.
"Sokka, the avatar has been gone for a hundred years, and his job wasn't merely to keep the balance between nations but also between spirits. What are the odds Ang is the real deal? A young boy that tried to escape the Fire Nation a hundred years ago and ended up succumbing to the elements and is now a ghost."
"D-do you really think it is possible? Don't get me wrong Zagreus, I respect you. But ghosts?!"
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange eons even death may die; this is not something I would ever like to tell you about, you already have enough problems in your place, but spirits are real and like people, some are malicious by nature. The boy… is powerful, so stronger than me it isn't even funny. That is why I want you to avoid mentioning the Fire Nation and the war around him. If he is suppressing his memories out of pain a trigger episode might lead him to blow up the village in his rage and pain."
"You are serious… and you have dealt with spirits before as well." Sokka accused me now.
"Sorry, sometimes ignorance is the best defense. I wanted to spare you from this, if you now brought a dangerous amnesiac spirit here the blame lies with me. I will watch him through the night, so go get some sleep."
Under my sincerity, Sokka just signed in exasperated impotence. Nothing gets under his skin like being treated like a kid so my confession exasperates him while touching him at the same time. For all his bluster he has a good head under his shoulder, he only needs to remember to use it.
"We will have a talk about this tomorrow…"
"Sure, I will answer you anything you want to know, I promise."
"I don't appreciate this tone, boy. Dealing with him would be easier if it wasn't for you." She accused.
"Because you would be too destitute to feed him as well. Come on, you know spirits are capricious and unreasonable by nature, living only by their own standards, this is hardly my fault. Plus, Katara is clearly taken by him, she hates it in here and wants to explore the wider world."
"And whose fault is it that youngster lacks caution?" She fired back; it seems I touched a nerve.
"Old crone, just because you look as old as dirty doesn't make it true. You know the two are struggling in here, this was a problem long before I got here."
She ruffled and gave me the cold shoulder in answer.
But even then, the difference between us is bigger than my standing alone, violence is an expression of the human spirit, and that is why we call them martial arts. As someone who died his soul crimson with blood, as a good-natured boy Sokka simply fell behind, he was no killer.
Even then necessity makes monsters of us all, he is no coward either so I prepared him for the day I prayed would never come with all I had. Using my superior range I strike at his feet where I see his stance is the most lacking, just one month ago this would be enough to have him fall over and limp for the rest of the day but Sokka now was capable of forging through the pain while correcting his stance the best he could.
That is how our combat lessons went, the body has its own language and pain is a certainty in a warrior's life. Sokka never once complained about my methods, not during training at least. How could he? His mother was taken by the Fire Nation and his father has joined the war effort in the Earth Kingdom, he confessed to me one day after a particularly hard session. This is the reality of war.
"So, how one even begging to deal with spirits?" Sokka asks as I punish his open flank by just having enough to push all the air from his lungs. He almost stumbles but instead of struggling against my blow he loosens the body and rolls with my blow, using the moment to create some distance while standing up back on his feet.
"Wrong question, there are as many ways to deal with spirits as there are spirits. That is why avoidance is the best policy." My answer clearly gets under his skin so he draws his boomerang at my head, forcing me to duck. "Failing that… either in deep knowledge of its nature might reveal some weakness. Humans also can be qualified as enfleshed spirits so those with latent spiritual power might be capable of harming spirits the same way a man can harm another man."
The boomerang came back, Sokka had taken my lessons to heart and practiced some trick shots by having it rebounded on the hard ice surfaces and even timed it well enough to pounce me bearing his club in two hands while I twisted to catch his boomerang from the air before he hit someone else.
"That is not exactly an option for me," Sokka complained as he struggled to overpower my grip on his club, as I pull he instantly let it go and tried to burry his knee in my crotch, I simply answered with my own knee and waited for his counter as Sokka blink through the white pain of the blows.
"Not necessarily – hunger, mind, and spirit. My sword is infused with the intent of its creator to the point it bears both a spiritual essence and a 'lethal intent' to direct it. I certainly killed enough spirits with it for it to work on its own." I bring my new club in a horizontal swing, Sokka dunks and charges low, grabbing at my legs while headbutting my crotch. Better, instead of kicking his head I bring my hand down and let him drop me down as I bring my foot under his chest and catapult him a good ten feet into the air.
Sokka rises from the snow pile like a wet dog. "Zagreus, have you ever killed someone? I mean, people."
"… that has nothing to do with spirits, Sokka."
"And you told me you would answer me anything."
"Sophistry now? You really are Katara's brother, heh? And speaking of willful girls."
Both of us turned as Katara finally joined us, too busy showing Ang around the tribe.
"Sorry, I am late!" She says out of breath.
"Damn right, you are! First, you throw a fit to join us and now you can't even bother to get here in time. I thought you were serious about learning your stupid water magic." Sokka's frustration heard its ugly head again as he went off on his sister.
I could feel a headache incoming.
"Excuse me?! You are the one playing warrior all day and night while you couldn't even put one foot in front of the other without tripping. I have done nothing but dedicate myself to mastering water bending from scratch on my own-
"Until a magical flying boy offered to fly you to the North Pole where you could get some proper tutoring, I take it."
"What!?" Sokka roared in outrage and to Katara's credit, she was bashful for getting caught head-handed like that.
"That is enough from you two. Whatever Aang is, he is more than a simple airbender. Both of you should keep this in mind. Did I make myself clear?"
They both hesitated but nodded, I knew better than to expect them to listen though.
Then the Fire Nation attacked.
A cultivator's eyes are far sharper than those of a mortal man, maybe any mortal animal. It didn't take much for me to convince them to evacuate.
Taming bear polar dogs is a delicate balance in a dangerous and delicate business where one needs to ensure the dog beats up the bear but the rewards are worth it. They are not only excellent hunters but also have the strength to pull a sled bearing a load as heavy as themselves. While I normally use them in long hunting trips to transport big quarry – and to practice the more esoteric aspect of my faith outside of praying eyes – a practice I rarely do both these days, Termina took all my desire for solitude, I can barely sleep alone these days.
This time I used it to get everyone out.
I turned to Sokka. "Listen carefully, this is the last chance anyone will ever be willing to give you and one more than you deserve. Get in the sled and get out of here. We can always rebuild as long we are alive; I am only staying behind to avoid pursuit. I don't intend to kill anyone today, only to bleed them enough to be too much trouble. As far as we know this is just a curious ship snooping around. You follow my lead."
"I am not backing down now! this is the reason I endured this hellish training. I promise I won't get in the way." Sokka smiled my way, his war paint making him look more ridiculous than intimidating, but he would stay whether I let him or not. In this, he was just like Katara.
I myself am also guided for war. The Raven's Mantle is ironically too conspicuous for the personable tribal life. I dress like the natives, a set of clothes much like Sokka's own war attire under my heavy fur coat and the familiar weight of my Kopis sword under my belt.
I turn to his sister. "Katara-
"I am not hearing it! I am staying as well."
"You are a water bender, if they decide to capture you, I will have to kill the entire crew to stop them from ever coming back. And thing brings its own set of problems." I told her the reality of our situation, my bluntness taking away the wind from her sails.
"… I can at least heal the two of you afterward. Sokka has allowed me a lot of practice with his everyday training."
"The two of you are impossible. Fine! But then you are to hide in a good spot and help me from the rear. And use your heads for once! And what about you? Are you staying as well?" I asked Gramgram and boy, she wasn't happy.
"I might as well, and for the record, if I die, I am haunting you."
"Lovely."
Thankfully, Katara managed to create a pocket of air under the snow hill, camouflaging them all in an unlikely spot.
From there the stage was set for my dramatic confrontation with the Fire Nation.
Their ship cut a trail through the thick ice as if it were velvet despite its diminutive port, one century of warfare innovation for you. A ramp was opened from the ship's deck and a scarred young man flanked by three men with spears and three unarmed men, likely benders, emerged.
"Where is he?!" The young official questioned me with a cracking teenage voice.
"Where is who? I am the only adult man living in this village, my lord. You will have to be more specific."
"You take me for a fool? I know you are hiding the Avatar! Hand him over right now if you know what is good for you?" The young man made a point by bending a tongue of fire my way, alas it has been years since I last feared the kiss of an open flame, perks of being a cultivator blacksmith.
I just raised a disdainful eyebrow at the young firebender, his foul mode reaching explosive levels at my cavalier attitude.
"Him would happen to be a bald person with arrow tattoos and a master of air bending?"
"Yes, the Avatar!"
"Never heard of him."
That did it. He attacks with literal fire and fury but I polished my fighting ability every day and helping Katara figure out the kinks of her water bending has left its mark on me.
Bending requires synchronization of body and spirit, to bend water effectively one needs to be as fluid and graceful as water itself. As Bruce Lee said, be formless, amorph, like water. If you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. Water can flow and it can crash, for running water never grows stale, it only keeps on flowing, acting in concert with the environment.
The essence of water bending is to let defense become offense, turning the opponents' own forces against them. Even when taking an attack stance, a bender must move always keeping to the flow from one step to the next, mimicking the flow of the water they bend.
Turns out that even without bending, one can benefit from the lessons taught by the water.
I moved like the waves, swinging low after each fire jet and jumping like a carp at each fire whip, with startling celerity I closed in on the young warrior, delivering a swift punch to his throat and sputtering his flames. His subordinates joined the frame to rescue him, bearing lances and fire but I could read their colluding golden treads trail as clearly as the waves. Attacks came within inches yet might as well have been the chasm between heaven and earth, I grabbed the young commander and flung him at his subordinates' using his desperate counter's momentum against him and swiftly disarmed the lancers and knocked down the benders with blows and kicks to the shins and head.
"This battle is over, you are outmatched. Leave and never come back."
The teenager stands up with difficulty and throws me a look full of vitriol. "Do you really expect me to tug my tail between my legs and run always?!"
"If you know what is good for you? Yes. The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. That is how the Fire Nation has lived for a hundred years, even if you are just savage runaway flames, burning everything in your path, you should understand the concept of a greater imposition."
"You dare! The Fire Nation is fighting a righteous and just war to bring the world into a new age of prosperity!"
"Oh, I can see that," I point to the desolated little camp and the trail of destruction his entrance has caused. "This is the last chance anyone will give you, and one more than you deserve. Leave." A philosopher can bend the mind of one hundred citizens with their rhetoric, of course, this isn't mind control. To citizens, a Philosopher is a profound existence, but even then, fools rush where angels fear to tread. Passion and hunger often overwhelm reason.
The boy was trembling like a green leaf, he could see murder in my eyes now but this alone wasn't enough to prevent him from taking a fire-bending stance.
"Fool," I drew my Kopis sword from my sheath, its metallic sound like an ominous melody-
That is when I saw a blue flash from up the deck together with a surge of vital breath, that was the only thing that saved me. With the one heartbeat of forewarning I was granted I warped my sword in rhetoric to counter the conductivity of lightning by countering its motion and redirecting the excess to be dispersed to the ground as it traveled my body.
But even then, I wasn't yet capable of outpacing the wind itself, swinging my blade before the attack could be released was my only chance.
My world was consumed by pain.
Catching lighting in your hands was a mad venture, cutting it apart was even more so. Only my experiences in Termina prevented me from losing control of my Wheel Turning breathing technique as the lighting overwhelmed me. I could feel the smell of cooked meat as the lighting literally microwaved my flesh. Even then I kept to my stance, sinking my foot to the earth as the power of the lighting was followed by the push of the thunder which threatened to overwhelm me.
By the time I dispersed the attack I had been pushed halfway across the village, harmed and bleeding but unbowed. For about one second or so.
My flesh was spasming uncontrollably and my traitorous body gave in. My knees hit the ground and I had to use my blade as an impromptu cane to keep myself from falling.
"No!!" Sokka and Katara both emerged from their hiding place, despite Kanna's best effort to keep them under cover.
Right in the line of sight of the old bastard that attacked me!
What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.
I summoned my fourth principle and unfurled the full might of my pneuma like a bonfire, using it all to turn the Wheel in my chest like it was a spinning top, I was literally smoldering from the accelerated healing as I got back in my feet. Even then it was a struggle to get up. The old lightning bender accesses me with cold eyes.
Just for Aang to barge in while riding a penguin, knocking the young fire bender on his ass.
Crap baskets!
So yeah, Iron can be a scary bastard. Especially when Zuku is involved. Zagreus landed in the South Pole due to the meddling of the Moon Spirit(s?) and went native for a while. Termina is a hell of a ride so he needed the downtime.
"No way, I got to show you what a true South tribe huntsman can do. Why don't you go help Grangran or something while I hunt our diner?" Soka answers full of bluster and bravado.
"Sassy brat." I give him a good shelly upside the head for his cheek, but Sokka only smiled and laughed good-naturedly in return. As the oldest boy left behind when the men of his tribe left for war, he was in desperate need of a guiding hand and male validation.
"See to it that you catch for everyone in the tribe or I will have you swimming with the penguins in your birthday suit."
"You can count on me, Zagreus!" Soka turns back to his hunting, poor Katara is in for a long trip now. I smiled apologetically but she had lived with him her whole life, she knew him better than almost everyone alive by now.
Instead of watching them go, I turned to the leading elder of his sorry lot of dregs of war. "So, granny. Any work for me?" I ask the stone-cold bitch and braced myself for the worst. A lifetime of warfare has calcified the winter witch into a menace. How her grandkids never noticed it is a miracle; I half suspect her son-in-law joined the war to escape from her.
"Ho ho, don't I always?" Grangran just smiled.
Crap baskets.
-//-
It's been over five months since I found myself in the South Pole of these mystic lands. I really lucked out, when I think about it. Wounded and half-mad from the tender mercies of the trickster moon god, I ended up being found by a pair of young siblings and dragged to the only civilized settlement present in days' worth of travel.
The scars I got from Rher even helped somewhat in my situation, his moon scorch seared me well done enough for people to suspect I was another victim of the Fire Nation, earning me some sympathy despite my nature as a strange foreigner.
Fire Nation… I don't know if this is some kind of kink from the Babel shard, but these name conventions are really… straightforward. Not that it matters for my situation, foreigners are only ever welcome for their wealth… or their usefulness. It's both familiar and comforting to become the community's jack of all trades of the village once more. Gods know that people love to foster unwanted jobs on others., though the South Water Tribe situation is more justifiable than most.
Less than fifty habitants, half of which are children and elders while the rest are women. Life for them was a daily struggle. Fortunately, I am more than capable of hunting for them all. Sokka still dunks himself in cold water every day as training in the hope he too can hunt prey underwater with a spear like I do.
Considering how hunting is an occupation traditionally held by men and only Sokka is old enough to hunt by himself, their situation was dire. They managed enough to scrap by but this is still a single bad streak away from starvation. Fortunately, this was something in my capacity to remediate, and preservation of stockpiled food isn't difficult at this temperature. The fact the women of the tribe use animal parts for everything my efforts were appreciated.
Not that subsistence is their only concern, despite the boy's gluttonous tendencies. The 'village' consists mostly of a hole carved in the ice to protect against arctic wind and improvised barracks made of sticks and animal pelts as houses. While I by now a competent mason, I also never worked with ice as material before so it was a challenge…
Challenge is good, challenge keeps the hands busy and the mind too occupied to remember everything it saw. I worked day and now, keeping my ghosts at by and helping my saviors and benefactors. Two birds with one stone.
Now the people of the South Water Tribe have enough Igloos to house them and more properly hold in human heat, making their lives more bearable. Their food dispensers are full and I even managed to create some camouflage with the frigid tundra to decrease the likelihood any incoming Fire Nation ship ever detects it.
My efforts didn't go unnoticed and I managed to get the trust of these people, Grangran notwithstanding. From there my standing went from warry hostility to apathetic tolerance until it morphed into open curiosity, starting from the youngest members.
In the end, children are naturally curious, inquisitive, and fascinated by new things and experiences. A musical instrument out of turtle shells and animal guts was everything I needed to make myself into an attraction. The rest, as they say, is history.
That is how I found myself in this position, being attacked by over a dozen knee bitters full of enthusiasm and replaceable milk teeth. I won't let their delighted smiles and jubilee giggles fool me. Children are evil!
At once twelve Golden Treads manifest in my mind's eyes, going from them to me as they converge and tangle with each other in a chaotic knot I attempt to puzzle out as the infantile mob charged me with reckless enthusiasm.
Cultivation is the study of Virtue and it can be cultivated through performative excellence, there are an infinite number of things that a man can do to refine himself and excellence to be found in every action. At some point, it matters less how on cultivate than what Virtue they pursue. To be exposed to new experiences and broaden your horizons is also part of cultivating virtue.
Two boys less than ten years old jumped at my legs, I spun in my own echo in one leg, avoiding the first boy entirely and getting behind the second one, bringing my leg under him and having his momentum trip him in soft snow.
Magnitude, Motion, Time. A philosopher's wisdom states that all phenomena can be measured by these three categories. That obviously includes a cultivator's own senses for pneuma. Magnitude gauges its effective range, Motion defines clarity which outside pneuma can be felt and divined, while Time defines how clearly the picture of reality can be taken with one's pneuma sense alone.
Even with my back turned, I could still feel the sleeping pneuma of the younglings as one flung himself to my back, while the other two tried to go for my waist. I carelessly swung with my shoulder, adding to the boy's momentum and causing him to overshoot, hitting the recovering due. The two girls got a gentler approach as I picked them both from the air and threw them back into the soft snow.
Of course, none of the little monsters got demoralized by action. On the contrary, it only egged them on. They screamed how today they would finally get a win and attacked in force. We also mixed goals and games to make things interesting, but children love contact sports like wrestling so eventually I succumbed and was brought down by the rascals.
Or I would have if a giant pillar of light didn't pierce the arctic sky like the Aurora.
No rest for the wicked.
-//-
His name was Aang and he came in a giant six-legged bison.
I turned to Sokka.
"It was Katara's fault!"
"What!? How is this my fault?" Katare roared in indignation.
"You are the one that broke him free with your magic water!" Sokka responded just as incensed.
"OK you two, I think this is enough for our comedic skit. Why don't you introduce your new friend to everybody before nightfall; We only have three months for it anyway." My nonsense-level words were more than enough to put the two teenagers in line.
"And about you," I turn to the young air bender, the elemental power from his aura as unmistakable as Katara's own. The boy clamped up under my stare, after reaching the Philosopher Realm I grew another twenty centimeters in the months I lived here, putting me at seven feet of stature, the limit of the mortal frame. "It's a good thing Katara and Sokka found you, The Arctic can be as rash as any desert, at the very least I can get you a filling meal and a good night's sleep in a warm bed."
"Oh, boy. That sounds lovely, I thank you for the hospitality, mister!" Aang answers genially, without any of the suspicions and wariness of a child raised during wartime. What is his deal? Is he that carefree?
"Gramgram will guide you," I said.
"Sorry?" The ice witch asks, not apologetic at all. I just looked to the other two for her to relent. Most of the tribe already went to sleep and whatever Aang might be, he was still a boy. A heavy meal and he would succumb to sleep, giving us more time to figure him out.
"I will accompany you, Gramgram." Katara made to follow. Always helpful, that one.
Sokka made a face that I knew would lead to an argument but I put a hand over his shoulder.
"We need to talk. Tell me what happened."
-//-
"Sokka, you realize how crazy that sounds, right?"
"I know! I told Katara to not trust him either! That bolt of light might be a signal for the fire nation."
"Sokka, do you really believe that?" I ask, making it as if he was stupid or something. Something he is prone to do in paranoia.
"I-I guess this is a bit far fetch."
"Likely so, he is an air bender after all. The real deal… and that is why he might be dangerous."
At my words, Sokka clamped up, for all his sharp mind and down-to-the-earth nature, he was still a teenager. The true horrors of this life have not scarred him directly yet.
"Sokka, the avatar has been gone for a hundred years, and his job wasn't merely to keep the balance between nations but also between spirits. What are the odds Ang is the real deal? A young boy that tried to escape the Fire Nation a hundred years ago and ended up succumbing to the elements and is now a ghost."
"D-do you really think it is possible? Don't get me wrong Zagreus, I respect you. But ghosts?!"
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange eons even death may die; this is not something I would ever like to tell you about, you already have enough problems in your place, but spirits are real and like people, some are malicious by nature. The boy… is powerful, so stronger than me it isn't even funny. That is why I want you to avoid mentioning the Fire Nation and the war around him. If he is suppressing his memories out of pain a trigger episode might lead him to blow up the village in his rage and pain."
"You are serious… and you have dealt with spirits before as well." Sokka accused me now.
"Sorry, sometimes ignorance is the best defense. I wanted to spare you from this, if you now brought a dangerous amnesiac spirit here the blame lies with me. I will watch him through the night, so go get some sleep."
Under my sincerity, Sokka just signed in exasperated impotence. Nothing gets under his skin like being treated like a kid so my confession exasperates him while touching him at the same time. For all his bluster he has a good head under his shoulder, he only needs to remember to use it.
"We will have a talk about this tomorrow…"
"Sure, I will answer you anything you want to know, I promise."
-//-
"So, as an expert you should know. Is the boy really flesh and blood or is he a spirit?" I ask Gramgram.
"I don't appreciate this tone, boy. Dealing with him would be easier if it wasn't for you." She accused.
"Because you would be too destitute to feed him as well. Come on, you know spirits are capricious and unreasonable by nature, living only by their own standards, this is hardly my fault. Plus, Katara is clearly taken by him, she hates it in here and wants to explore the wider world."
"And whose fault is it that youngster lacks caution?" She fired back; it seems I touched a nerve.
"Old crone, just because you look as old as dirty doesn't make it true. You know the two are struggling in here, this was a problem long before I got here."
She ruffled and gave me the cold shoulder in answer.
-//-
Sokka charged me with his club, after months of my tutelage he is decent enough with it, making use of its extended range to its full capacity while avoiding overextending himself. Probing blow meant to destabilize an opponent.
But even then, the difference between us is bigger than my standing alone, violence is an expression of the human spirit, and that is why we call them martial arts. As someone who died his soul crimson with blood, as a good-natured boy Sokka simply fell behind, he was no killer.
Even then necessity makes monsters of us all, he is no coward either so I prepared him for the day I prayed would never come with all I had. Using my superior range I strike at his feet where I see his stance is the most lacking, just one month ago this would be enough to have him fall over and limp for the rest of the day but Sokka now was capable of forging through the pain while correcting his stance the best he could.
That is how our combat lessons went, the body has its own language and pain is a certainty in a warrior's life. Sokka never once complained about my methods, not during training at least. How could he? His mother was taken by the Fire Nation and his father has joined the war effort in the Earth Kingdom, he confessed to me one day after a particularly hard session. This is the reality of war.
"So, how one even begging to deal with spirits?" Sokka asks as I punish his open flank by just having enough to push all the air from his lungs. He almost stumbles but instead of struggling against my blow he loosens the body and rolls with my blow, using the moment to create some distance while standing up back on his feet.
"Wrong question, there are as many ways to deal with spirits as there are spirits. That is why avoidance is the best policy." My answer clearly gets under his skin so he draws his boomerang at my head, forcing me to duck. "Failing that… either in deep knowledge of its nature might reveal some weakness. Humans also can be qualified as enfleshed spirits so those with latent spiritual power might be capable of harming spirits the same way a man can harm another man."
The boomerang came back, Sokka had taken my lessons to heart and practiced some trick shots by having it rebounded on the hard ice surfaces and even timed it well enough to pounce me bearing his club in two hands while I twisted to catch his boomerang from the air before he hit someone else.
"That is not exactly an option for me," Sokka complained as he struggled to overpower my grip on his club, as I pull he instantly let it go and tried to burry his knee in my crotch, I simply answered with my own knee and waited for his counter as Sokka blink through the white pain of the blows.
"Not necessarily – hunger, mind, and spirit. My sword is infused with the intent of its creator to the point it bears both a spiritual essence and a 'lethal intent' to direct it. I certainly killed enough spirits with it for it to work on its own." I bring my new club in a horizontal swing, Sokka dunks and charges low, grabbing at my legs while headbutting my crotch. Better, instead of kicking his head I bring my hand down and let him drop me down as I bring my foot under his chest and catapult him a good ten feet into the air.
Sokka rises from the snow pile like a wet dog. "Zagreus, have you ever killed someone? I mean, people."
"… that has nothing to do with spirits, Sokka."
"And you told me you would answer me anything."
"Sophistry now? You really are Katara's brother, heh? And speaking of willful girls."
Both of us turned as Katara finally joined us, too busy showing Ang around the tribe.
"Sorry, I am late!" She says out of breath.
"Damn right, you are! First, you throw a fit to join us and now you can't even bother to get here in time. I thought you were serious about learning your stupid water magic." Sokka's frustration heard its ugly head again as he went off on his sister.
I could feel a headache incoming.
"Excuse me?! You are the one playing warrior all day and night while you couldn't even put one foot in front of the other without tripping. I have done nothing but dedicate myself to mastering water bending from scratch on my own-
"Until a magical flying boy offered to fly you to the North Pole where you could get some proper tutoring, I take it."
"What!?" Sokka roared in outrage and to Katara's credit, she was bashful for getting caught head-handed like that.
"That is enough from you two. Whatever Aang is, he is more than a simple airbender. Both of you should keep this in mind. Did I make myself clear?"
They both hesitated but nodded, I knew better than to expect them to listen though.
-//-
Trouble started with a second light in the sky in just as many days, a flare from an old warship. The situation escalated fast from there, Ang got exiled and Katara almost followed him.
Then the Fire Nation attacked.
A cultivator's eyes are far sharper than those of a mortal man, maybe any mortal animal. It didn't take much for me to convince them to evacuate.
Taming bear polar dogs is a delicate balance in a dangerous and delicate business where one needs to ensure the dog beats up the bear but the rewards are worth it. They are not only excellent hunters but also have the strength to pull a sled bearing a load as heavy as themselves. While I normally use them in long hunting trips to transport big quarry – and to practice the more esoteric aspect of my faith outside of praying eyes – a practice I rarely do both these days, Termina took all my desire for solitude, I can barely sleep alone these days.
This time I used it to get everyone out.
I turned to Sokka. "Listen carefully, this is the last chance anyone will ever be willing to give you and one more than you deserve. Get in the sled and get out of here. We can always rebuild as long we are alive; I am only staying behind to avoid pursuit. I don't intend to kill anyone today, only to bleed them enough to be too much trouble. As far as we know this is just a curious ship snooping around. You follow my lead."
"I am not backing down now! this is the reason I endured this hellish training. I promise I won't get in the way." Sokka smiled my way, his war paint making him look more ridiculous than intimidating, but he would stay whether I let him or not. In this, he was just like Katara.
I myself am also guided for war. The Raven's Mantle is ironically too conspicuous for the personable tribal life. I dress like the natives, a set of clothes much like Sokka's own war attire under my heavy fur coat and the familiar weight of my Kopis sword under my belt.
I turn to his sister. "Katara-
"I am not hearing it! I am staying as well."
"You are a water bender, if they decide to capture you, I will have to kill the entire crew to stop them from ever coming back. And thing brings its own set of problems." I told her the reality of our situation, my bluntness taking away the wind from her sails.
"… I can at least heal the two of you afterward. Sokka has allowed me a lot of practice with his everyday training."
"The two of you are impossible. Fine! But then you are to hide in a good spot and help me from the rear. And use your heads for once! And what about you? Are you staying as well?" I asked Gramgram and boy, she wasn't happy.
"I might as well, and for the record, if I die, I am haunting you."
"Lovely."
Thankfully, Katara managed to create a pocket of air under the snow hill, camouflaging them all in an unlikely spot.
From there the stage was set for my dramatic confrontation with the Fire Nation.
Their ship cut a trail through the thick ice as if it were velvet despite its diminutive port, one century of warfare innovation for you. A ramp was opened from the ship's deck and a scarred young man flanked by three men with spears and three unarmed men, likely benders, emerged.
"Where is he?!" The young official questioned me with a cracking teenage voice.
"Where is who? I am the only adult man living in this village, my lord. You will have to be more specific."
"You take me for a fool? I know you are hiding the Avatar! Hand him over right now if you know what is good for you?" The young man made a point by bending a tongue of fire my way, alas it has been years since I last feared the kiss of an open flame, perks of being a cultivator blacksmith.
I just raised a disdainful eyebrow at the young firebender, his foul mode reaching explosive levels at my cavalier attitude.
"Him would happen to be a bald person with arrow tattoos and a master of air bending?"
"Yes, the Avatar!"
"Never heard of him."
That did it. He attacks with literal fire and fury but I polished my fighting ability every day and helping Katara figure out the kinks of her water bending has left its mark on me.
Bending requires synchronization of body and spirit, to bend water effectively one needs to be as fluid and graceful as water itself. As Bruce Lee said, be formless, amorph, like water. If you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. Water can flow and it can crash, for running water never grows stale, it only keeps on flowing, acting in concert with the environment.
The essence of water bending is to let defense become offense, turning the opponents' own forces against them. Even when taking an attack stance, a bender must move always keeping to the flow from one step to the next, mimicking the flow of the water they bend.
Turns out that even without bending, one can benefit from the lessons taught by the water.
I moved like the waves, swinging low after each fire jet and jumping like a carp at each fire whip, with startling celerity I closed in on the young warrior, delivering a swift punch to his throat and sputtering his flames. His subordinates joined the frame to rescue him, bearing lances and fire but I could read their colluding golden treads trail as clearly as the waves. Attacks came within inches yet might as well have been the chasm between heaven and earth, I grabbed the young commander and flung him at his subordinates' using his desperate counter's momentum against him and swiftly disarmed the lancers and knocked down the benders with blows and kicks to the shins and head.
"This battle is over, you are outmatched. Leave and never come back."
The teenager stands up with difficulty and throws me a look full of vitriol. "Do you really expect me to tug my tail between my legs and run always?!"
"If you know what is good for you? Yes. The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. That is how the Fire Nation has lived for a hundred years, even if you are just savage runaway flames, burning everything in your path, you should understand the concept of a greater imposition."
"You dare! The Fire Nation is fighting a righteous and just war to bring the world into a new age of prosperity!"
"Oh, I can see that," I point to the desolated little camp and the trail of destruction his entrance has caused. "This is the last chance anyone will give you, and one more than you deserve. Leave." A philosopher can bend the mind of one hundred citizens with their rhetoric, of course, this isn't mind control. To citizens, a Philosopher is a profound existence, but even then, fools rush where angels fear to tread. Passion and hunger often overwhelm reason.
The boy was trembling like a green leaf, he could see murder in my eyes now but this alone wasn't enough to prevent him from taking a fire-bending stance.
"Fool," I drew my Kopis sword from my sheath, its metallic sound like an ominous melody-
That is when I saw a blue flash from up the deck together with a surge of vital breath, that was the only thing that saved me. With the one heartbeat of forewarning I was granted I warped my sword in rhetoric to counter the conductivity of lightning by countering its motion and redirecting the excess to be dispersed to the ground as it traveled my body.
But even then, I wasn't yet capable of outpacing the wind itself, swinging my blade before the attack could be released was my only chance.
My world was consumed by pain.
Catching lighting in your hands was a mad venture, cutting it apart was even more so. Only my experiences in Termina prevented me from losing control of my Wheel Turning breathing technique as the lighting overwhelmed me. I could feel the smell of cooked meat as the lighting literally microwaved my flesh. Even then I kept to my stance, sinking my foot to the earth as the power of the lighting was followed by the push of the thunder which threatened to overwhelm me.
By the time I dispersed the attack I had been pushed halfway across the village, harmed and bleeding but unbowed. For about one second or so.
My flesh was spasming uncontrollably and my traitorous body gave in. My knees hit the ground and I had to use my blade as an impromptu cane to keep myself from falling.
"No!!" Sokka and Katara both emerged from their hiding place, despite Kanna's best effort to keep them under cover.
Right in the line of sight of the old bastard that attacked me!
What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.
I summoned my fourth principle and unfurled the full might of my pneuma like a bonfire, using it all to turn the Wheel in my chest like it was a spinning top, I was literally smoldering from the accelerated healing as I got back in my feet. Even then it was a struggle to get up. The old lightning bender accesses me with cold eyes.
Just for Aang to barge in while riding a penguin, knocking the young fire bender on his ass.
Crap baskets!
-//-
[AUTHOR NOTE]
So yeah, Iron can be a scary bastard. Especially when Zuku is involved. Zagreus landed in the South Pole due to the meddling of the Moon Spirit(s?) and went native for a while. Termina is a hell of a ride so he needed the downtime.
- Location
- Brazil
As I mentioned, cultivation of virtue is from the Virtuous Sons light novels series. Solus is the deuteragonist of the series, a Roman cultivator instructed in his infancy by Aristotles, giving him a split foundation of Greek and Roman cultivation styles.
Moon Spirits anonymous. Everyone there hates Rher
If you're talking about Tui and La then only one of them is the Moon Spirit, the other is the Sea Spirit
- Pronouns
- ImBuda
He has a heart demon, Im also really excited of having him be the avatar's team equivalent of Iroh (who is a scary dude).
The setting might be really good for him, knowing the flow of chi through the body and all the skills you can learn from It (Chi sealing, increased physical power, increased ability to use bending or other mystic arts, ability to sense people through distance...), all those abilities that work through the spirit world and the probably less known ability of awakening the Seven chakras, like Aang which might help him deal with his heart demon and gain a lot of power through the opening of the seventh ( maybe with the help of the enlightened book? or thats a gift for the bird spirit of knowledge??). Also Moon Spirit connection might allow him to use water bending once he meets the other two spirits in the north pole. Also studying the avatar state might allow him to use something similar with his own past incarnations, due to relate to his greater mistery of reincarnation, although without the knowledge and lesser power.
The setting might be really good for him, knowing the flow of chi through the body and all the skills you can learn from It (Chi sealing, increased physical power, increased ability to use bending or other mystic arts, ability to sense people through distance...), all those abilities that work through the spirit world and the probably less known ability of awakening the Seven chakras, like Aang which might help him deal with his heart demon and gain a lot of power through the opening of the seventh ( maybe with the help of the enlightened book? or thats a gift for the bird spirit of knowledge??). Also Moon Spirit connection might allow him to use water bending once he meets the other two spirits in the north pole. Also studying the avatar state might allow him to use something similar with his own past incarnations, due to relate to his greater mistery of reincarnation, although without the knowledge and lesser power.
Heh, it took me till the Avatar chapter to realize he has no knowledge of the settings he's been thrown in, that or they are removed during the dimensional transfer, since he seemed like a person from modern times during that introduction in the first chapter.
avatar the last airbender 2
- Location
- Brazil
Well, things certainly could have gotten worse, all things considered.
After Aang surrendered for our sake Katara and Sokka decided to pursue them with the boys flying bison, which turned out indeed could fly.
Kanna, the stone-could bitch that she was, sent me together with them. Unnecessary to say, we could not return after this. Aang turned out to be a big deal, a world savior kind of deal.
Luckily, by the time we got there, Aang had already given them the slip and we escaped without a rematch against the old dragon.
Now we return Aang to his home. Or what is left of it.
"Look, it's the Potola mountain range! We are almost there!"
"Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders." Katara says with a mother's gentle touch.
"What about them?"
"Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless, they killed my mother. They could have done the same to your people."
"Just because no one has seen an air bender in one hundred years doesn't mean the fire nation killed them all. They probably escaped."
Spoiler warning: they didn't.
As it turned out this quirk reached every aspect of their society, including sports.
The airball game was magical soccer done in a field of tree stumps and a single foal on each side. The ball was a wooden casket made to spin with air bending. This meant only Aang could really get the ball rolling, literally, but this didn't mean I was out of options.
I decided to consider this physiotherapy, A philosopher is mostly immune from the long-lasting sequels of any mortal gouge, but some injuries have ways to last years. The lightning bending is one of them, I manage to compress months of rest and healing into mere days by manipulating time together with my foundational mystery of the Orphic House, but my limbs still remember the kiss of the lightning.
Aang throws the airball with everything he has, but I can easily predict and extrapolate its trajectory with the Golden Tread. With one gentle motion and let it slide through my back and up my other arm, altering its trajectory without taking any of its momentum, the air ball hit each post like a pinball until it got Ang blindsided, sending him flying out of the field.
"That is not exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to cheer him up," Katara complained weakly while Sokka laughed his ass off, a vicarious revenge after losing again and again.
"Yeah, and it is about to get worse." I point out the Fire Nation helmet Aang just 'found' totally by accident.
"Aang!"
After that we found Gyatso's body after combing the temple, he was surrounded by a battalion of dead fire nation soldiers. It was a sad sight but it was for the best. The world Aang remembers is completely unlike the one he finds himself in. While I don't want to crush his innocence, he needs to be more careful.
I walk up to him and put my hands over his shoulders before he breaks down and has another access of Avatar rage. "Young Aang, I will be frank with you, I don't care that you are the avatar. if you really want to, I can make sure you live free of this burden. Katara and Sokka will be more than happy to keep your nature to themselves too. The world has survived without you for a hundred years, it can survive another. You are not responsible for any of this, the world is too chaotic and uncaring to be controlled. This goes for the Fire Lord as much as it goes for you."
"C-can you really do that?" he asks, tears in his eyes.
"Give me your air nomad cape, I can turn it into a rag of anonymity that will prevent people from associating you with the air nomads and separate you from your reputation as the Avatar."
Aang just stared at his robes and grabbed them for dear life. "I- that is, this is everything I have left. I can't get hide of it."
"What do you want to do then? Give Gyatso a proper grave? Do you know how to do it on your own or do you need help?"
"…thanks, but actually, Gyatso said I should meet someone capable of giving me answers in the sacred chamber of the Air Temple. I should go there at once, get some answers."
"OK, I will clean up things here. Sokka, Katara, accompany him."
The siblings nodded and I turned to do my usual work after they were far enough away to hear anything.
"You know, it is quite rude to eavesdrop, even for a dead man."
At my words, the specter of Gyatso manifested in front of me.
"So, you can see me. I guess this is a relief in its own way."
"… why didn't you show yourself to Aang, you certainly loved the boy enough to tether yourself to this land for one hundred years."
The ghost of Gyatso smiled, it was a thin pathetic thing. "Look around, I no longer deserve to call myself his guardian… I killed so many, and in doing so I betrayed the way of my people. It is better if I only live in Aang as a memory."
"Do you want me to give these men a proper burial too?" I finally ask after a small silence settles between us.
"I would be thankful."
In the end, I opted for a cremation ritual for the Fire Nation soldiers. Melting their bones and armor inside a pyre made of interwoven stone blocks. My skills in spiritualism cultivated in that nameless land of death were more than enough to ensure their transition from one realm to another by cleaning their Karma and letting them pass to the other side.
After this, I transported the mortal remains of Gyatso to the highest peak of the South Air Temple for a proper air burial. In the process, I found a small locket containing a poem. A pearl of wisdom.
"Don't begrudge me for giving the boy this, Gyatso. Burials are as much for the living as for the dead. Return to the wind and scatter."
That was when the temple flared to live in another surge of power.
"Really? One hour! I leave them unattended for one hour and they already managed to get themselves in trouble."
"Come on, Zagreus! I am doing no harm to it, plus it is fun." The young avatar protests.
"Zuko himself is also mostly harmless but can you say being pursued by him is fun?" I shot back because apparently, I am the grumpy old man of this party. God, but I am starting to hate teenagers!
In the end, Aang is a willful and flighty boy and goes ahead with his foolishness. That is when a giant sea serpent tried to make lunch out of him. At least he is fast on his feet and manages to get away.
"By the way, we are surrounded."
As soon as those words left my mouth, a troupe of teenage girls wearing heavy makeup and samurai armor while wielding war fans tried to ambush us. Because of course, they had to be teenagers!
Katara finally put all my training to good use and quickly melted then froze their feet in two circular motions. From there Aang and Sokka subdued them while Katara harassed and destabilized their movements until they were encased in ice.
"Aren't you girls a bit too well dressed for muggers?" I inquired about them.
"Yeah, don't you girls know not to get tangled in men's businesses, like war?" Sokka says, because the filter between his mouth and brain came cracked from the fabric. At least Katara made a point to encase it in ice, forcing him to fall like a pendulum.
"…anyway, cut the tough act. You attacked us and lost, how things go from here depends on your cooperation."
"Yeah, spending hours putting on heavy makeup and training useless stances. They sort of remind me of someone, actually."
In his defense, Sokka became quite bashful wherever I reminded him of his chuuni tendencies.
"Come on Sokka, we both know you are interested in them. There is nothing wrong with expanding your horizons. The Sukki girl did put up a good fight, even if her choice of weapon is as ridiculous as yours."
"Hey!"
"I stand by what I say. War fans are ambush weapons more fit for surprise attacks and assassination than the frontline, the same goes for boomerangs. And neither of you two are air benders capable of leveraging trick weapons beyond their means."
"And so what? I still almost got you anyway. And while I agree war fans are ridiculous Sukki kind of managed to pull it off so-
"Sokka, go into your little play date with the Kyoshi warriors. I won't think you any less of a man for it."
"R-right, I will be going my way then!"
I swear, that boy is incorrigible.
At least this gives me time off for my own pursuits. Aang is too busy showing off to his fan girls, Katara is oscillating between checking Aang and being passive-aggressive about his new big head, and now Sokka is busy chasing skirts.
With it, I am free to go after the Unagi, the giant sea serpent is just the trump card I need for aquatic situations. When nightfall hits I pull the Raven's mantle and slip away.
In the end, it was a bit anticlimactic though. The Unagi was just an animal and I had [Zagreus], separating its head from its body in one swing was easy enough. I actually spent most of the night embalming the body and storing it in a fold of paradox logic to occupy less space in my shadow inventory. And like that, I officially became a Pokemon trainer.
At least Aang accepted my idea to hide his identity with rags of anonymity from now on. I even managed to disguise Appa as a cloud by fiddling with its hair. This should shake the banished prince out of our trail, and his scary uncle with him.
Plus, this time I managed to put my foot down and Aang came up with another of his 'brilliant' ideas when we reached the city of Omashu. I simply pointed out all the ways things could go wrong if we went ahead with his plan of using Omashu's delivery system as a roller coaster. With excruciating details.
The one hundred years of war have changed things, the sooner this went through Aang's head the easier our lives would be.
After ensuring they would be out of trouble, I went fishing for information about the Fire Nation, the war, and the news of the Avatar. Somehow Aang alerted the entire world of his return with his stunt in the Air Temple.
And would you look at that? Aang's old childhood friend, Bumi, has become king of Omashu. And to think I was actually happy for the little guy for a moment, just for him to go behind my back and do what I expressly forbade him to do.
I was so incensed with the three brainless teenagers that I let Bumi get his pound of flesh by making Aang hop through ropes for his amusement. That this experience serves as a lesson they won't soon forget.
There are many towns under Fire Nation occupation and neither Katara nor Sokka are ok with that. Aang is a wily kid who is happy to help as long nobody mentions he is the Avatar and this is supposed to be his job.
Due to this, I decided to take point. The Raven makes his debut. More spirit than man, he is the distilled essence of countless vengeful spirits of victims of the Fire Nation in their war. He speaks with a thousand voices and is made of living shadows as if existing halfway between the land of the living and the dead.
After I busted an earth-bending sea prison riding a Unagi while hallucinogenic bees caused havoc in the middle of the night, rumors went wild. Spirits are a fact of life and soldiers are a superstitious lot. This was great war propaganda and did not prevent us from moving freely.
Demoralization is the best kind of warfare.
I offered my services eating the damn thing, but Aang's internalized guilt for skirting on his avatar duties turned its ugly head again and the boy was basically guilt-tripped into helping the village. I am with Sokka on this one, we are all going to get eaten by a spirit monster.
"Aang, where is your body?"
"I… seem to have kind of lost it? I am in the spirit world!"
"And what is it with the ghost dragon coming our way?"
"What?"
"Aang… this is the first time you decided to embrace this destiny. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, but it is not a good thing either. Five minutes. I will give you this short window of time but if you get another bad blow like in the first time, I am jumping in."
"Thank you! I won't disappoint you. I promise."
Well, when did my useless pipsqueak grow into a man of his word? He pulled it off. He pacified the enraged spirit and convinced it to return the abducted villagers plus Sokka.
There is a problem though. No, a new development.
Sokka's soul awakened to its place in the world after his little surprise spirit journey. He is now a cultivator.
Ah, and Avatar Roku wants to talk with Aang so we will infiltrate the fire nation in the next twenty hours.
"That will depend on you, apprentice. And it isn't infallible. Once someone notices you, they can smoke you out by drawing attention to your direction, pointing out inconsistencies."
"Don't get me wrong," Aang cut in. "This lesson seems important but I don't think it is the right time for it."
"Oh, on the contrary. It is the perfect time for it." I answer in turn.
"And why is that?" Katara questions.
I simply point toward Zuko hot in our trail. I will have to hand it to him, the boy is persistent to the point of being scary. He fires at us with his ship's catapult and the mantle of inconsequence is broken.
We are neck-deep in trouble now. Again.
"We can always go under it." I turn toward Katara. "Think you are up to it? Creating a pocket of air with water bending?"
Katara freezes like a deer caught in the red light, but with one quick glance at the presents she fortifies her resolve, nodding with confidence she didn't feel.
"Aang, you assist her, anything that increases our odds will be welcomed. Sokka, you take the reins and watch, this is what a true cultivator of virtue can do."
We all took our positions, in order to pull it off we will have to brace through the catapult's ideal range. The mysteries of the Orphic House aren't really ideal for this kind of situation, but I was not really out of options yet. The scars left by Rher are permanent marks on my tripartite soul and now I summon it to my aid.
With fifty hands of carrion intent shining with the sick green glow of the disdainful moon god, I invoked the foundational mystery that defined Rher as a fragment that reached the Earth after crossing infinity separating the celestial bodies themselves.
[Lunar Storm]!
The veritable meteor shower the Fire Nation fired our way was met blow for blow as [lunar meteorites] clashed and broke the attacks meant to shoot us down. By reading the Golden Tread of their attack with practiced ease, like it was a mathematical formula, I was capable of holding an entire navy felt at by. In the meanwhile, Katara and Aang tried to work out the kinks of a new move on the fly and Sokka practiced screaming like a little girl.
Fortunately for all on board, Katara and Aang pulled through and we merged underwater like a submarine, using the sea as a protective blanket against further attacks, finally emerging on the other side mostly unscathed.
"Nope."
"No."
"None."
"Hahaku."
"AAAHhh."
Good.
The place was almost like a fortress itself. A normal bender would have been hard-pressed to force their way in but the windows reinforced with iron made it easy and Aang had a good grasp of altitudes as an airbender. Even the heavy iron door was not much of a challenge, some rhetoric about trees and the sound of their fall to muffle its sound as I cut Aang a way through and we were set.
Zuko and Zaoh got in here just in time to watch the show as Avatar Hoku destroyed the temple and sank the island, giving us a window of opportunity to escape.
Now, if only the news he brought weren't so dire.
"What should I do? I have to master all four elements before that comet arrives, next summer!"
"Relax, you pretty much mastered air bending and that only took one hundred and twelve years. You got it!"
"What am I going to do?!" Aang screams to heaven as he is wont to do every time avatar business gets trusted into his life.
"Well," I start instantly calling the attention of all present. Not surprisingly, I was the only adult around and it showed wherever they burned threw personal funds from donations like it was their allowance; some days I feared they would go hungry without me around. "We have sort of suspended Katara's own water-bending training since this whole adventure started, so how about this? We find a good river bank to give Appa a break and I start to drill you in the basics so by the time we get to the North Pole the local master only has to finish polishing your skills."
"Really? You taught Katara water bending?" Aang asked fascinated.
Sokka snorted, "Yeah, she was basically useless before Zagreus turned around to teach her how to play with her freak magical water."
At Sokka's barb, Katara fired back "As if you were any better! You could barely put one foot in front of the other without tripping! I bet you would still use makeup if Zagreus hadn't cut this short."
"Actually, he never stopped." Aang, the innocent summer child that he is, threw Sokka to the she-wolf. "I saw him rocking a Kyoshi warrior uniform."
"I can explain!"
"Don't need. I promised you I wouldn't judge you for it and as your master I must set the example and keep my word, now Katara on the other hand …"
"You could clean the gunk out of Appa's toes" Aang offers him a tree branch.
"Actually, he is participating in this lesson." I interrupt. "Sokka is a cultivator now, he needs to train both his body, spirit, and mind from now on."
"Oh, boy! Are you telling me I will learn how to control shadows and throw meteors at people?!"
"Nope."
It was super-effective, Sokka was devastated. He literally melted into a puddle and is now staring at the sky with lost vacant eyes.
"Sorry, Sokka. I won't teach those things because I literally can't. They are Greater Natural Mysteries of the world; you would need to pilgrimage there to be inducted in them and the means to reach them are beyond me. But tell you what? You just need another trip to the spirit world and get scarred by a Great Spirit to have a mystery all of your own."
"I will take the normal training, please."
"Good. Now listen, the theory of the elements states that all substances in nature can be broken down into their basic components into one of the four elements, and those can be identified by four properties that combine to create them. Katara."
"Right, those are fire, water, wind, and earth. The properties are Hot, cold, dry, and wet." Katara intoned as a good teacher's pet. I continued.
"Aang, for some reason you need to master all four elements to tap into the potential of your Avatar power. I have a theory about why – just as every material object on this earth can be reduced to its composite elements, so too can abstract concepts. As the bridge between men and spirits and keeper of the balance you have to embody this balance yourself."
"Wow, that actually makes sense! You even sound like a bending master like that."
"Ok, ok, that is nice and all, but how does that help me?" Sokka interrupt.
"Really, my student? The question itself is half of the puzzle. To know you don't know something is sometimes enough to guide you in the right direction. If you ever want to be a man of principle then put that head of yours to use."
Eventually, Sokka figured it out. "Principles! That is it. What does it mean to be a cultivator of virtue? If abstract concepts can be broken down into elements then what about virtue?"
"See, you can do if you try. Aang's training will focus on familiarizing himself with each element and considering nature is ruled by sensitivity we will achieve this by having him differentiate each element by its unique properties - Hot, cold, dry, and wet. By familiarizing himself with how each element feels, followed by synchronizing his will with the elements to then move them as an extension of his own body."
"Sounds easy enough. How do I do it?"
"Aren't air nomads supposed to be monks? Get down that giant waterfall and start to meditate until you are bloated." Then I turned to Sokka while ignoring Aang's downed expression. "You, on the other hand, take whatever spot feels most natural and focus on your spark, try to familiarize yourself with how it feels until you have a good grip on it." I had my suspicions about what would happen but saying anything could easily lead him astray. Unfounded assumptions are the enemy.
"So, should I join Aang then?" Katara asked with the most genial and innocent expression she could come up with, trying to weasel her way out of what was to follow.
"Katara, you are already too advanced for that. You are already familiar with the nature of the water element and are sensible to its movements, causing water itself to answer readily to your will. The only thing that is left is to focus on moving the element as an extension of your own body, but for this, you have to learn how to move first. Don't you?"
"…yes."
"And how do you propose we achieve that then, student of mine?"
"With a thorough exercise regimen and plenty of rest and meditation?"
"Close, but not quite."
"… what is it I need then?"
"It's pain."
"AAaahhhhh, I knew it would end up like that! I hate you so much sometimes, Zagreus!"
I love my job.
Instead of pursuing further mastery of water, I thought it more prudent for him to focus on basic familiarity with each element. Half of bending has to do with a spiritual component, which is why all elements respond to a bender's emotional outburst. I made sure to push through the kid's skull he is no use to the world by going off in one of his rage episodes.
I know he will forget this lesson sooner rather than later but some kids only learn through mistakes. Even then letting a kid play with fire is careless even with two healers standing by, so I put him to meditate by the flame of a single candle instead of our campfire. The results validated my worry, the kid has more talent than sense, Aang quickly found communion with the flames as they breathed as one yet he melted the candle in seconds due to his excitement and then started to juggle with its runaway flames.
To Katara's credit, one look her way was all that she needed to get the hint, even if her kind nature made her averse to my approach. Aang got drenched with the coldest downpour she could put off.
After that I set Aang to train earth bending, stating we wouldn't progress further into fire bending until his earth bending caught up with it. He protested but my logic was sound so he relented… as he always does, doesn't he?
All elements have an intrinsic nature that defines how the bending arts must be approached and performed. Fire is aggressive, Water is reactionary, Wind is fleeting, and Earth is unyielding.
Well, it seems Aang will struggle with earth bending for a while.
As for Sokka…
"You keep that up and you are going to become an icicle."
My words break his concentration, Sokka opens his eyes and realizes he froze all the water around the stone he decided to meditate on.
"W-wha-tt happened?!" Sokka tried to take stock of the situation while quickly attempting to rub heat back into his freezing limbs.
"You found the use of your Virtue, and it seems you brought a piece of your homeland with you. Feeling nostalgic already?"
"I did that?!"
"Yes, congratulations. You are one of us magical freaks now."
Slowly, Sokka smiled.
So, yeah. This happened. The origin of the cultivation of virtue is that it is a divine spark stolen by Prometheus, the thief of Flame. It elevated humanity in the smallest of ways yet it gave them the means for each culture to build their own silver ladder to the heavens. Zagreus also lied, he could have used his rhetoric to evoke his lived experience, tempering Sokka's soul in Greater Mystery. Instead, he decided to let Sokka walk his own path, creating his own cultivation method.
Amazing what some adult supervision can do.
After Aang surrendered for our sake Katara and Sokka decided to pursue them with the boys flying bison, which turned out indeed could fly.
Kanna, the stone-could bitch that she was, sent me together with them. Unnecessary to say, we could not return after this. Aang turned out to be a big deal, a world savior kind of deal.
Luckily, by the time we got there, Aang had already given them the slip and we escaped without a rematch against the old dragon.
Now we return Aang to his home. Or what is left of it.
"Look, it's the Potola mountain range! We are almost there!"
"Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders." Katara says with a mother's gentle touch.
"What about them?"
"Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless, they killed my mother. They could have done the same to your people."
"Just because no one has seen an air bender in one hundred years doesn't mean the fire nation killed them all. They probably escaped."
Spoiler warning: they didn't.
-//-
The air temple was unlike anything I had ever seen, prof that the air nomads were a society comprised entirely of benders. Not a single thought was spared toward accessibility, if you couldn't fly you were out of luck. Seriously, I would kill for some stairs.
As it turned out this quirk reached every aspect of their society, including sports.
The airball game was magical soccer done in a field of tree stumps and a single foal on each side. The ball was a wooden casket made to spin with air bending. This meant only Aang could really get the ball rolling, literally, but this didn't mean I was out of options.
I decided to consider this physiotherapy, A philosopher is mostly immune from the long-lasting sequels of any mortal gouge, but some injuries have ways to last years. The lightning bending is one of them, I manage to compress months of rest and healing into mere days by manipulating time together with my foundational mystery of the Orphic House, but my limbs still remember the kiss of the lightning.
Aang throws the airball with everything he has, but I can easily predict and extrapolate its trajectory with the Golden Tread. With one gentle motion and let it slide through my back and up my other arm, altering its trajectory without taking any of its momentum, the air ball hit each post like a pinball until it got Ang blindsided, sending him flying out of the field.
"That is not exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to cheer him up," Katara complained weakly while Sokka laughed his ass off, a vicarious revenge after losing again and again.
"Yeah, and it is about to get worse." I point out the Fire Nation helmet Aang just 'found' totally by accident.
"Aang!"
After that we found Gyatso's body after combing the temple, he was surrounded by a battalion of dead fire nation soldiers. It was a sad sight but it was for the best. The world Aang remembers is completely unlike the one he finds himself in. While I don't want to crush his innocence, he needs to be more careful.
I walk up to him and put my hands over his shoulders before he breaks down and has another access of Avatar rage. "Young Aang, I will be frank with you, I don't care that you are the avatar. if you really want to, I can make sure you live free of this burden. Katara and Sokka will be more than happy to keep your nature to themselves too. The world has survived without you for a hundred years, it can survive another. You are not responsible for any of this, the world is too chaotic and uncaring to be controlled. This goes for the Fire Lord as much as it goes for you."
"C-can you really do that?" he asks, tears in his eyes.
"Give me your air nomad cape, I can turn it into a rag of anonymity that will prevent people from associating you with the air nomads and separate you from your reputation as the Avatar."
Aang just stared at his robes and grabbed them for dear life. "I- that is, this is everything I have left. I can't get hide of it."
"What do you want to do then? Give Gyatso a proper grave? Do you know how to do it on your own or do you need help?"
"…thanks, but actually, Gyatso said I should meet someone capable of giving me answers in the sacred chamber of the Air Temple. I should go there at once, get some answers."
"OK, I will clean up things here. Sokka, Katara, accompany him."
The siblings nodded and I turned to do my usual work after they were far enough away to hear anything.
"You know, it is quite rude to eavesdrop, even for a dead man."
At my words, the specter of Gyatso manifested in front of me.
"So, you can see me. I guess this is a relief in its own way."
"… why didn't you show yourself to Aang, you certainly loved the boy enough to tether yourself to this land for one hundred years."
The ghost of Gyatso smiled, it was a thin pathetic thing. "Look around, I no longer deserve to call myself his guardian… I killed so many, and in doing so I betrayed the way of my people. It is better if I only live in Aang as a memory."
"Do you want me to give these men a proper burial too?" I finally ask after a small silence settles between us.
"I would be thankful."
In the end, I opted for a cremation ritual for the Fire Nation soldiers. Melting their bones and armor inside a pyre made of interwoven stone blocks. My skills in spiritualism cultivated in that nameless land of death were more than enough to ensure their transition from one realm to another by cleaning their Karma and letting them pass to the other side.
After this, I transported the mortal remains of Gyatso to the highest peak of the South Air Temple for a proper air burial. In the process, I found a small locket containing a poem. A pearl of wisdom.
"Don't begrudge me for giving the boy this, Gyatso. Burials are as much for the living as for the dead. Return to the wind and scatter."
That was when the temple flared to live in another surge of power.
"Really? One hour! I leave them unattended for one hour and they already managed to get themselves in trouble."
-//-
"Riding the elephant koi fish? Aang, what is it with your obsession with harassing animal life? The point of vegetarianism is to prevent cruelty in the first place. The monks taught you this, right?"
"Come on, Zagreus! I am doing no harm to it, plus it is fun." The young avatar protests.
"Zuko himself is also mostly harmless but can you say being pursued by him is fun?" I shot back because apparently, I am the grumpy old man of this party. God, but I am starting to hate teenagers!
In the end, Aang is a willful and flighty boy and goes ahead with his foolishness. That is when a giant sea serpent tried to make lunch out of him. At least he is fast on his feet and manages to get away.
"By the way, we are surrounded."
As soon as those words left my mouth, a troupe of teenage girls wearing heavy makeup and samurai armor while wielding war fans tried to ambush us. Because of course, they had to be teenagers!
Katara finally put all my training to good use and quickly melted then froze their feet in two circular motions. From there Aang and Sokka subdued them while Katara harassed and destabilized their movements until they were encased in ice.
"Aren't you girls a bit too well dressed for muggers?" I inquired about them.
"Yeah, don't you girls know not to get tangled in men's businesses, like war?" Sokka says, because the filter between his mouth and brain came cracked from the fabric. At least Katara made a point to encase it in ice, forcing him to fall like a pendulum.
"…anyway, cut the tough act. You attacked us and lost, how things go from here depends on your cooperation."
-//-
"Man, can you believe the audacity of these girls? Pretending to be warriors." Sokka complained while Aang was out and about enjoying the fame of being the Avatar.
"Yeah, spending hours putting on heavy makeup and training useless stances. They sort of remind me of someone, actually."
In his defense, Sokka became quite bashful wherever I reminded him of his chuuni tendencies.
"Come on Sokka, we both know you are interested in them. There is nothing wrong with expanding your horizons. The Sukki girl did put up a good fight, even if her choice of weapon is as ridiculous as yours."
"Hey!"
"I stand by what I say. War fans are ambush weapons more fit for surprise attacks and assassination than the frontline, the same goes for boomerangs. And neither of you two are air benders capable of leveraging trick weapons beyond their means."
"And so what? I still almost got you anyway. And while I agree war fans are ridiculous Sukki kind of managed to pull it off so-
"Sokka, go into your little play date with the Kyoshi warriors. I won't think you any less of a man for it."
"R-right, I will be going my way then!"
I swear, that boy is incorrigible.
At least this gives me time off for my own pursuits. Aang is too busy showing off to his fan girls, Katara is oscillating between checking Aang and being passive-aggressive about his new big head, and now Sokka is busy chasing skirts.
With it, I am free to go after the Unagi, the giant sea serpent is just the trump card I need for aquatic situations. When nightfall hits I pull the Raven's mantle and slip away.
In the end, it was a bit anticlimactic though. The Unagi was just an animal and I had [Zagreus], separating its head from its body in one swing was easy enough. I actually spent most of the night embalming the body and storing it in a fold of paradox logic to occupy less space in my shadow inventory. And like that, I officially became a Pokemon trainer.
-//-
All good things come to an end, and Zuko is certainly a good party pooper. Kyoshi burned to the ground as I sort of took the Unagi for myself. Ops.
At least Aang accepted my idea to hide his identity with rags of anonymity from now on. I even managed to disguise Appa as a cloud by fiddling with its hair. This should shake the banished prince out of our trail, and his scary uncle with him.
Plus, this time I managed to put my foot down and Aang came up with another of his 'brilliant' ideas when we reached the city of Omashu. I simply pointed out all the ways things could go wrong if we went ahead with his plan of using Omashu's delivery system as a roller coaster. With excruciating details.
The one hundred years of war have changed things, the sooner this went through Aang's head the easier our lives would be.
After ensuring they would be out of trouble, I went fishing for information about the Fire Nation, the war, and the news of the Avatar. Somehow Aang alerted the entire world of his return with his stunt in the Air Temple.
And would you look at that? Aang's old childhood friend, Bumi, has become king of Omashu. And to think I was actually happy for the little guy for a moment, just for him to go behind my back and do what I expressly forbade him to do.
I was so incensed with the three brainless teenagers that I let Bumi get his pound of flesh by making Aang hop through ropes for his amusement. That this experience serves as a lesson they won't soon forget.
-//-
So yeah, freedom fighting. Nobody talks about the fine details of this when everybody is busy romanticizing the practice of standing up to an evil empire. Something the Fire Nation decided to fit to a T. At my level, beating up the bad guys has become the easy part, making sure change sticks after we pass through is another thing altogether.
There are many towns under Fire Nation occupation and neither Katara nor Sokka are ok with that. Aang is a wily kid who is happy to help as long nobody mentions he is the Avatar and this is supposed to be his job.
Due to this, I decided to take point. The Raven makes his debut. More spirit than man, he is the distilled essence of countless vengeful spirits of victims of the Fire Nation in their war. He speaks with a thousand voices and is made of living shadows as if existing halfway between the land of the living and the dead.
After I busted an earth-bending sea prison riding a Unagi while hallucinogenic bees caused havoc in the middle of the night, rumors went wild. Spirits are a fact of life and soldiers are a superstitious lot. This was great war propaganda and did not prevent us from moving freely.
Demoralization is the best kind of warfare.
-//-
Speak of the Devil and it shall appear. Spirits, even when instinctually knowing they are a part of life, I somehow overlooked it. Everything started when we passed a burned forest and reached a destroyed village. A vengeful spirit called Hei Bai has been going on a rampage and kidnapping humans.
I offered my services eating the damn thing, but Aang's internalized guilt for skirting on his avatar duties turned its ugly head again and the boy was basically guilt-tripped into helping the village. I am with Sokka on this one, we are all going to get eaten by a spirit monster.
-//-
Son of a fucking bitch! I am going to eat that damn monochrome monster like he is a fucking Oregon! He took Sokka! Right under my nose too. And-
"Aang, where is your body?"
"I… seem to have kind of lost it? I am in the spirit world!"
"And what is it with the ghost dragon coming our way?"
"What?"
-//-
"Please, Zagreus. Let me try talking with the Hei Bai one more time. I know you are worried about Sokka, I am too, but this is my responsibility. As the Avatar."
"Aang… this is the first time you decided to embrace this destiny. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, but it is not a good thing either. Five minutes. I will give you this short window of time but if you get another bad blow like in the first time, I am jumping in."
"Thank you! I won't disappoint you. I promise."
Well, when did my useless pipsqueak grow into a man of his word? He pulled it off. He pacified the enraged spirit and convinced it to return the abducted villagers plus Sokka.
There is a problem though. No, a new development.
Sokka's soul awakened to its place in the world after his little surprise spirit journey. He is now a cultivator.
Ah, and Avatar Roku wants to talk with Aang so we will infiltrate the fire nation in the next twenty hours.
-//-
"Man, this whole invisibility trick sure is convenient. We will slip through the Fire Nation Navy blockage like it was nothing! I can't wait to learn it." Sokka said animatedly, ever since I broke the news to him, he has been over the Moon.
"That will depend on you, apprentice. And it isn't infallible. Once someone notices you, they can smoke you out by drawing attention to your direction, pointing out inconsistencies."
"Don't get me wrong," Aang cut in. "This lesson seems important but I don't think it is the right time for it."
"Oh, on the contrary. It is the perfect time for it." I answer in turn.
"And why is that?" Katara questions.
I simply point toward Zuko hot in our trail. I will have to hand it to him, the boy is persistent to the point of being scary. He fires at us with his ship's catapult and the mantle of inconsequence is broken.
We are neck-deep in trouble now. Again.
"We can always go under it." I turn toward Katara. "Think you are up to it? Creating a pocket of air with water bending?"
Katara freezes like a deer caught in the red light, but with one quick glance at the presents she fortifies her resolve, nodding with confidence she didn't feel.
"Aang, you assist her, anything that increases our odds will be welcomed. Sokka, you take the reins and watch, this is what a true cultivator of virtue can do."
We all took our positions, in order to pull it off we will have to brace through the catapult's ideal range. The mysteries of the Orphic House aren't really ideal for this kind of situation, but I was not really out of options yet. The scars left by Rher are permanent marks on my tripartite soul and now I summon it to my aid.
With fifty hands of carrion intent shining with the sick green glow of the disdainful moon god, I invoked the foundational mystery that defined Rher as a fragment that reached the Earth after crossing infinity separating the celestial bodies themselves.
[Lunar Storm]!
The veritable meteor shower the Fire Nation fired our way was met blow for blow as [lunar meteorites] clashed and broke the attacks meant to shoot us down. By reading the Golden Tread of their attack with practiced ease, like it was a mathematical formula, I was capable of holding an entire navy felt at by. In the meanwhile, Katara and Aang tried to work out the kinks of a new move on the fly and Sokka practiced screaming like a little girl.
Fortunately for all on board, Katara and Aang pulled through and we merged underwater like a submarine, using the sea as a protective blanket against further attacks, finally emerging on the other side mostly unscathed.
-//-
"So, I know one shouldn't double down on a losing strategy but most people aren't as obstinate as Prince Zuko. Aang, you already came here once with Roku's spirit guide so we will infiltrate by scaling the pagoda and then forcing our way inside. Less chance of encounters with the locals. Any objection?"
"Nope."
"No."
"None."
"Hahaku."
"AAAHhh."
Good.
The place was almost like a fortress itself. A normal bender would have been hard-pressed to force their way in but the windows reinforced with iron made it easy and Aang had a good grasp of altitudes as an airbender. Even the heavy iron door was not much of a challenge, some rhetoric about trees and the sound of their fall to muffle its sound as I cut Aang a way through and we were set.
Zuko and Zaoh got in here just in time to watch the show as Avatar Hoku destroyed the temple and sank the island, giving us a window of opportunity to escape.
Now, if only the news he brought weren't so dire.
-//-
"Would you sit down? If we hit a bump you will go flying off!" Sokka complained to Aang, who was too busy freaking out by the news.
"What should I do? I have to master all four elements before that comet arrives, next summer!"
"Relax, you pretty much mastered air bending and that only took one hundred and twelve years. You got it!"
"What am I going to do?!" Aang screams to heaven as he is wont to do every time avatar business gets trusted into his life.
"Well," I start instantly calling the attention of all present. Not surprisingly, I was the only adult around and it showed wherever they burned threw personal funds from donations like it was their allowance; some days I feared they would go hungry without me around. "We have sort of suspended Katara's own water-bending training since this whole adventure started, so how about this? We find a good river bank to give Appa a break and I start to drill you in the basics so by the time we get to the North Pole the local master only has to finish polishing your skills."
"Really? You taught Katara water bending?" Aang asked fascinated.
Sokka snorted, "Yeah, she was basically useless before Zagreus turned around to teach her how to play with her freak magical water."
At Sokka's barb, Katara fired back "As if you were any better! You could barely put one foot in front of the other without tripping! I bet you would still use makeup if Zagreus hadn't cut this short."
"Actually, he never stopped." Aang, the innocent summer child that he is, threw Sokka to the she-wolf. "I saw him rocking a Kyoshi warrior uniform."
"I can explain!"
"Don't need. I promised you I wouldn't judge you for it and as your master I must set the example and keep my word, now Katara on the other hand …"
-//-
"Great. So, what am I supposed to do?" Sokka asks, as he typically does wherever the more esoteric topics come around.
"You could clean the gunk out of Appa's toes" Aang offers him a tree branch.
"Actually, he is participating in this lesson." I interrupt. "Sokka is a cultivator now, he needs to train both his body, spirit, and mind from now on."
"Oh, boy! Are you telling me I will learn how to control shadows and throw meteors at people?!"
"Nope."
It was super-effective, Sokka was devastated. He literally melted into a puddle and is now staring at the sky with lost vacant eyes.
"Sorry, Sokka. I won't teach those things because I literally can't. They are Greater Natural Mysteries of the world; you would need to pilgrimage there to be inducted in them and the means to reach them are beyond me. But tell you what? You just need another trip to the spirit world and get scarred by a Great Spirit to have a mystery all of your own."
"I will take the normal training, please."
"Good. Now listen, the theory of the elements states that all substances in nature can be broken down into their basic components into one of the four elements, and those can be identified by four properties that combine to create them. Katara."
"Right, those are fire, water, wind, and earth. The properties are Hot, cold, dry, and wet." Katara intoned as a good teacher's pet. I continued.
"Aang, for some reason you need to master all four elements to tap into the potential of your Avatar power. I have a theory about why – just as every material object on this earth can be reduced to its composite elements, so too can abstract concepts. As the bridge between men and spirits and keeper of the balance you have to embody this balance yourself."
"Wow, that actually makes sense! You even sound like a bending master like that."
"Ok, ok, that is nice and all, but how does that help me?" Sokka interrupt.
"Really, my student? The question itself is half of the puzzle. To know you don't know something is sometimes enough to guide you in the right direction. If you ever want to be a man of principle then put that head of yours to use."
Eventually, Sokka figured it out. "Principles! That is it. What does it mean to be a cultivator of virtue? If abstract concepts can be broken down into elements then what about virtue?"
"See, you can do if you try. Aang's training will focus on familiarizing himself with each element and considering nature is ruled by sensitivity we will achieve this by having him differentiate each element by its unique properties - Hot, cold, dry, and wet. By familiarizing himself with how each element feels, followed by synchronizing his will with the elements to then move them as an extension of his own body."
"Sounds easy enough. How do I do it?"
"Aren't air nomads supposed to be monks? Get down that giant waterfall and start to meditate until you are bloated." Then I turned to Sokka while ignoring Aang's downed expression. "You, on the other hand, take whatever spot feels most natural and focus on your spark, try to familiarize yourself with how it feels until you have a good grip on it." I had my suspicions about what would happen but saying anything could easily lead him astray. Unfounded assumptions are the enemy.
"So, should I join Aang then?" Katara asked with the most genial and innocent expression she could come up with, trying to weasel her way out of what was to follow.
"Katara, you are already too advanced for that. You are already familiar with the nature of the water element and are sensible to its movements, causing water itself to answer readily to your will. The only thing that is left is to focus on moving the element as an extension of your own body, but for this, you have to learn how to move first. Don't you?"
"…yes."
"And how do you propose we achieve that then, student of mine?"
"With a thorough exercise regimen and plenty of rest and meditation?"
"Close, but not quite."
"… what is it I need then?"
"It's pain."
"AAaahhhhh, I knew it would end up like that! I hate you so much sometimes, Zagreus!"
I love my job.
-//-
Between thoroughly trouncing Katara for a good two hours, I went to check on the boys. Aang, unsurprisingly, is a prodigy. Water came easily to him, more easily than to Katara even, yet earth and fire have been less cooperative. I offered my insight; If bending is like a muscle then to the young Avatar who is supposed to have four different sets of them, they might be horribly cross-wired due to a lifetime of disuse. Mastering the elements might well be like physiotherapy as Aang untangles said knot.
Instead of pursuing further mastery of water, I thought it more prudent for him to focus on basic familiarity with each element. Half of bending has to do with a spiritual component, which is why all elements respond to a bender's emotional outburst. I made sure to push through the kid's skull he is no use to the world by going off in one of his rage episodes.
I know he will forget this lesson sooner rather than later but some kids only learn through mistakes. Even then letting a kid play with fire is careless even with two healers standing by, so I put him to meditate by the flame of a single candle instead of our campfire. The results validated my worry, the kid has more talent than sense, Aang quickly found communion with the flames as they breathed as one yet he melted the candle in seconds due to his excitement and then started to juggle with its runaway flames.
To Katara's credit, one look her way was all that she needed to get the hint, even if her kind nature made her averse to my approach. Aang got drenched with the coldest downpour she could put off.
After that I set Aang to train earth bending, stating we wouldn't progress further into fire bending until his earth bending caught up with it. He protested but my logic was sound so he relented… as he always does, doesn't he?
All elements have an intrinsic nature that defines how the bending arts must be approached and performed. Fire is aggressive, Water is reactionary, Wind is fleeting, and Earth is unyielding.
Well, it seems Aang will struggle with earth bending for a while.
As for Sokka…
"You keep that up and you are going to become an icicle."
My words break his concentration, Sokka opens his eyes and realizes he froze all the water around the stone he decided to meditate on.
"W-wha-tt happened?!" Sokka tried to take stock of the situation while quickly attempting to rub heat back into his freezing limbs.
"You found the use of your Virtue, and it seems you brought a piece of your homeland with you. Feeling nostalgic already?"
"I did that?!"
"Yes, congratulations. You are one of us magical freaks now."
Slowly, Sokka smiled.
-//-
[AUTHOR'S ROOM]
So, yeah. This happened. The origin of the cultivation of virtue is that it is a divine spark stolen by Prometheus, the thief of Flame. It elevated humanity in the smallest of ways yet it gave them the means for each culture to build their own silver ladder to the heavens. Zagreus also lied, he could have used his rhetoric to evoke his lived experience, tempering Sokka's soul in Greater Mystery. Instead, he decided to let Sokka walk his own path, creating his own cultivation method.
Amazing what some adult supervision can do.
- Pronouns
- ImBuda
Is Sokka a waterbender now, or has awakened some spiritual abilities of the spirits of his homeland???
Ed: Also cultivation of virtue really combines well with the Avatar setting, learning and using the secrets of the spirits that live around them with the end result being becoming more like a spirit each time like some form of spiritual communion.
Ed: Also cultivation of virtue really combines well with the Avatar setting, learning and using the secrets of the spirits that live around them with the end result being becoming more like a spirit each time like some form of spiritual communion.
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- Location
- Brazil
It's more like a pure manifestation of like Gravitas (heaviness), that is both spiritual and physical. I mentioned Sokka attempted scuba diving in the South Pole frigid waters to imitate Zagreus. While he isn't sure about the nature and name of his first virtue yet doesn't mean he doesn't have any. And yes, the study of [natural mysteries] such as spirits and places like the Mystic Swamps also serve as sources of inspiration to cultivate virtue.
avatar the last airbender 3
- Location
- Brazil
Again, I am amazed at the amount of trouble children manage to get themselves into when my back is turned.
"Can you believe it?! Katara is so head over heels for this Jet guy she can't see he is fucking crazy! He is trying to blow up the dam to destroy that Fire Nation colony!"
"Yeah, I know."
"You knew? Then why didn't you do anything?" Sokka asks, genuinely disappointed in me for the very first time.
"Sokka, Jet is weak. His little resistance will crumble the moment the Fire Nation firms their control over this area. If he doesn't do something soon then he and his friends will follow their parent's fate. What he is doing is cruel, but it isn't unreasonable. He is indeed fueled by hatred but he isn't its slave, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten where he is. He is merely applying the lessons taught to him by the Fire Nation. That the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. I am more interested in knowing why you, who know the same pains, disagree so much when the life of everyone you love is in the line as well."
Sokka was at the foot of the heavenly ladder, a citizen of the 1st rank. To him, a philosopher is a profound experience, as rhetoric capable of bending his mind to any viewpoint desired for Reason itself my trade.
But men are not reasonable creatures. Far from it, irreverent and conceited creatures, men gladly throw themselves to the flames to prove to themselves they aren't piano keys to be made to sing at the press of a button. Reason can be overwhelming, and maybe this is even a good thing.
I waited for my first student's answer with bated breath.
"SO, WHAT!? I don't need a reason! Jet is wrong and so are you! Fire Nation or not they are still people! Don't you feel nothing when you see them suffering and in pain? This is why this stupid war has lasted so long! Because these savages can't even see they are hurt people just like they… and I thought you would be able to see it too." Sokka deflated after his early outburst, his eyes looked painful like he wanted to cry. "I am going to stop Jet, with or without your help." Sokka turned his back to me.
"Sokka, thank you."
From all things for me to say, these words seem to have been the most surprising to Sokka, washing always the hurt and disappointment from his face and replacing it with surprise and guarded shy hope.
"I never told you this before, but I am really glad you are my first student instead of someone like Jet. I would never be able to guide him toward a proper path, because I myself am lost. The wisest man ever known once succinct that there are evils in this world, demons in the hearts of every man. And that cultivators pursue excellence within themselves to overcome those evils. We strive to better the worlds within ourselves, to battle those demons in our hearts, so that we can do the same for the world outside ourselves."
"I… I don't understand." Sokka answers as if lost with my confession.
"That is ok, I don't really understand either. Some truths are plainly known, not through reason but within one's heart. I lost something, but every day spent with you, Katara, and Aang helped me remember it. You three are strong, stronger than me even, in your own particular ways."
"Now that seems like an exaggeration. Flattering, but way out of context, I couldn't even defeat a bunch of normal kids."
I just snorted in answer, "Those who open their hearts to love, respect, and loyalty must accept and brace for the risk of attacks aimed at one's virtuous heart. As a cultivator ascends and becomes more, the heights those woes can reach defy mortal comprehension – while humiliation can deprive a mortal man of his confidence, humor, and appetite, the same might be enough to lead a cultivator to spit blood." I paused, letting the implications of Sokka's new existence sink in. "Emptying the heart carries its own dangers, however, for desolate or hate-poisoned souls open themselves to the worst demons of human nature. "
"So, you are going to help me then?" Sokka asks with an eager enthusiasm that only appears around subjects of his interest.
"Nope."
"Ahh, why not? What is your problem!"
"I am sick Sokka. I might hide it well, but it doesn't change the fact I have been staling. Treating the symptoms instead of pursuing a cure. But I am done running now."
"There is anything I can do for you, Zagreus?" Concern entered Sokka's voice and he looked me up and down in search of any sign of my illness he might have missed. A hilarious sight considering the difference in statures.
"Yes, go save the town Sokka. You can do it… and tell Katara and Aang that you three are not only this world's hope, but mine as well, if I don't pull through. You three can turn things around for the better… even without me around."
"Zagreus!" Sokka closed in on me with all the celerity his vital breath could grant him. Grabbing at me as if I was going to disappear like smoke.
If this is to be our last talk, then I might as well turn this into a lesson.
"Why are you worried? Sometimes even a master has to learn from their students instead of the other way around. I am simply taking a leaf from your book – Opening my heart to the world, its people, and its suffering, for even to desperation the medicine can be found inside the very disease."
I could feel once again the almost forgotten ecstasy of ascension as my soul deepened and my pneuma multiplied as I reached the 5th rank of the Sophic Realm… and in doing so, my inner demons found the bearing to attack me from the inside out. Something I have been bracing myself for ever since I landed in this world.
I blacked out, the last thing in my sight being my worthless, compassionate, and brave student worried face.
I decided then that I didn't like or care to see that expression on his face ever again. One way or another.
Some ascribe the cultivation of virtue as the ordering of a chaotic soul. The imposition of perfection. My foundational mysteries dissuade me from these sensibilities – men are born whole but unconscious and to fit in they sacrifice who they really are by crafting a persona that is eventually confused for a face.
In a sense, the process of cultivation is as much about becoming more of who one is by rescuing these lost fragmented pieces and reaffixing them to the self. This is Individuation, and for the goal of physiological (soul) wholeness, one must be willing to abdicate from self-imposed ideals of perfection. There will always be cracks, one must never forget what human beings truly look like, especially at their worst.
Cultivators rose on the principles that had built the strongest empires of history, and they fell in just the same way. Internal strife had toppled more than one great empire. The souls of cultivators were said to be grand things, marble cities built by their souls as monuments of virtue. A Foundation of marble or some semiprecious stone depending on the Greater Mystery said soul was tempered by, followed by a Parthenon meant to bear ten towering pillars of Reason, internalized principles carved from the same Foundation stone.
The tracks of the race for divinity are treacherous by nature. the racer can easily get lost or even be driven off from it. The most dangerous thing about Deviation of the soul is that even the most minute of diversions by the smallest of degrees have a tendency to be aggravated in time due to the very nature of cultivation for cultivation only makes someone more of what they are. Both in virtues and flaws.
Of course, if this is to be the risk uncured even by those who walk the beaten path, what about those who dare travel through uncharted paths?
In my participation in Termina Festival I endured the attention of Rher, gorged myself in the essence of its monstrous inhabitants, consumed nine very special souls – had my own soul awakened to its place within their gears – and even supped on the divine.
This changed things, not a split foundation exactly, but a deviant one, tethering on demonic cultivation. Psychical imperfection is the price for wholeness. One I worked every single day to pay off ever since I awoke in the South Pole.
My Foundations once made of purest polished onyx now bear shine veins bearing the inner light of my [Tormented Soul]; whether this is a characteristic that Rher awoke in me when he made me a contestant I can't say. Though considering the destiny of the special essences drawn from the nine greater souls of the other contestants, leaving them free might never have been an option. Worst of all, traces and veins of chalcedony bearing the green glow of Rher can be seen like veins across all of it.
My first powering pillar of principle – No matter the tribulation, there is always a way forward – has been tempered by the devoured essence of the [Changeling Soul], and bears the element of Air (hot & wet).
My second pillar of a rule of nature I made mine own – The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must, for now… – has been suffused with the essence of the [Domination Soul] of the godling I slayed, and bear the element of Fire (hot & dry).
My third monument to lived experience I internalized – Human bodies may cast shadows but hearts contain them – was tainted by the stolen essence of the [Decrepit Soul], and bears the element of Water (cold & wet).
My fourth principle I claimed as my motto – What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger – is supported by the essence of the [Latent Soul], and bears the element of Earth (cold & dry).
My fifth principle held by my virtuous heart – Opening my heart to the world, its people, and its suffering, for even to desperation the medicine can be found inside the very disease – that is embraced by the essence of the [Caressing Soul], bear the element of Fire (hot & dry).
Besides these five, there exist five more foundations dedicated to restrain and prepare the essences of the Blank, Enlightened, Shadowed, Endless, and Radiating Souls.
These pillars can be called monuments of self-love, the greater aspirations of my soul. For that side of ourselves, we leave free and unintegrated to the whole is left free to manifest by its own volition after accruing enough energy and potential. In order to avoid the manifestation of Heart Demons I took a page, more like a whole book, from Aristotle's.
Men create pillars of reason to impose order on the world, but eventually, they can become a prison to the mind, stifling imagination and scientific curiosity. As a truly wise man walking the path of the scholar who will defend his beliefs even in the face of greater opposition, he preserves himself against obstinacy by "humbling himself" every time he is proven wrong, shedding his cultivation and restarting from the 1st rank.
While not as radical, what I did follow similar mechanics. I focused on refining my towering pillars of principles by recasting them under the rash glow of Rher, which is self-described as revealing the truth hidden under human filth. Aristotle wasn't wrong to describe a man's soul as a knot that must be untangled to be used as a rope to reach the heavens. Rher is after all an Older God, embodying unilateral distribution of power, he is also sort of dead/gone, similarly to the God of the Deep. In this, a path similar to the god of Fear and Hunger may be viable.
More than that, he was right when saying to know the truth a man must see for himself with his own eyes.
Hell, maybe the butterfly robot girl might be it even. Did I lose the chance to seize divinity after all? Not at all. The divine essence of the godling was a bigger bounty than I could hope for, especially for the insight I grasped from it.
Some rules are universal, Heaven's cruelty even to those it means well seems to be one. Its gifts are poxes on the soul. The soul of the 'new god' I acquired is surprisingly similar in composition to the soul of the moon-scorched monsters I fought, down to its familiar green rue taint of Rher. If Zeus can sabotage the Heroic Realm by replacing the original muses with impostors intending to steal heroic hearts to make heartless tyrants then what are the odds some elder trickster god wouldn't build a dead end for divinity to prevent humans from reaching similar standing to himself?
The god of Fear and Hunger as well as All-mer stand as examples of ivory heights mortals can reach. That is why I decided to gamble it all by using the [Book of Enlightenment] before I started my dance with Deviation.
It is possible for cultivators to target each other's foundations both in the octagon and in the agora, with fists as well as words. Normally, the shattering of one's ego is the end of a cultivator. To this point, most cultivators of virtue would choose the death of the body before the death of the ego. Of course, it is possible to do the same on their own but to tear down these monuments is like flaying oneself alive. The pain is just that unbearable.
Even so, I forged on. The experience granted by the mysterious book I porched from the Pocketcat was unlike anything I could ever describe. Somehow it feels as if my experience in masonry somehow paid off and I learned more about myself and the nature of the soul than I ever could have achieved by hundreds of trials and errors. Until I reached the right configuration for my soul.
More than that, even if the path forward leads to a dead end, there is still merit in witnessing it for oneself. It seems that these "new gods" achieve great power at the cost of being overwhelmed by the natural impulses of their souls. Even if the path is untended, the power available from it can be achieved.
This is what we call hitting two birds with one stone… or flying too close to the sun. I will either overcome Rher's and Zeus's curse or die in the attempt. Using the two curses to cancel each other out.
I have no intention of surrendering my virtuous heart to false idols, so the Higher Power I decided to appeal to is the higher self that exists as potential inside my soul. To have the reflection of divinity come to my side instead of the other way around.
I am appealing to the Divine Daemon that I nurtured with the divine essence of the Heartless One. Now is the moment of truth, A heart demon takes time to gain its bearing and understand its strength, but when a cultivator deepens his soul so too does his heart demon assert his footing.
Alas, who is it that said a Heart Demon has to be an inside enemy? Socrates once possessed the guidance of a Daemon who instructed in what he should not do. This is not a feature unique to himself.
Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path. You may remember this "something" as a signal calling in childhood when an urge out of nowhere, a fascination, a peculiar turn of events struck like an annunciation: This is what I must do, this is what I've got to have. This is who I am.
This Daemon has been with me since I discarded my robes of mortality for the calling of high-minded principles. This is the purpose of the First Virtue, it guides us in the direction of our purpose through intuitions, fantasies, sudden urges, synchronicities, and dreams.
In most of us, however, our daemon is buried deep in the depths of the unconscious. After years of following a life-path for reasons of ease, security, and the need to please others, the daemon has been silenced. One must always be wary of the temptations of these wrong roads, for if we succumb to them our daemon will turn demonic – it will shame us for our cowardice and punish us with pain. Illness is the answer every time we begin to doubt our right to our task – every time we begin to make things easier for ourselves.
I look at the embodiment of my soul's higher aspirations, what Jung calls [Anima], an entity that serves as the divine medium between a man's soul and the divine [Archetypes]. Will it be a Muse keeper of my heart or a Fury that will drag me to the underworld? This is very much a confrontation with the unconscious. I feel like Yusuke Urameshi watching his spirit beast's egg ratchet, waiting if it will be an evil demon that will devour him from the inside out or the most dependable ally.
"Alas, this turned out to be a disappointment. Worthless Daemon, are you perhaps still too weak?"
"…"
The figure in front of me is a vaguely feminine shadow bearing green rues of green. The only true human feature is a single glacial blue eye bearing a piercing stare that shook me in its intensity.
Despite that, I can't hear a pipe from the Anima.
"Well, considering you aren't trying to tear me apart from the inside out, I will take this as a victory, even if you turn out to be useless. Be thankful, you freeloader."
"…"
"Still nothing? Man, this might be serious. Am I missing something? So much for hopes of getting early access to the heroic help perks. Well, nothing I can do about that now. Time to wake up. Take care, you grumpy girl."
"…"
Sokke even ascended to the 2nd rank of the civic realm when he managed to save the colony town. Alas, neither the siblings nor Aang took the news about me hiding my condition very well. They have been treating me like I am their old grandmother, which is something neither of us two needs or is willing to play along.
I was literally made to sit down in Appa with a bunch of old and sick people as Aang decided to help two refuge villages cross the largest canyon in the whole world! And they even got attacked by a swamp of its crawler! Giant insects with crocodile heads. I wanted to add one to my collection so much!
At least Aang figured out the kink to earth bending after dealing with herding a bunch of obnoxious and selfish people for days.
Besides this incident we mostly kept up the basics, having him practice with Katara while we were travelling and training other bending arts wherever we stopped so Aang might actually master all elements by summer.
Sure, we were attacked by some commando archers of the Fire Nation, but I dispatched them mostly without fuss or trouble even if the children struggled. Hell, I even let them go after just severing their string-pulling fingers alone. Proof positive that I have gone soft after integrating the Caressing Soul's essence.
Aang was really squeamish about the whole situation but appreciated my compromising with his pacifist ideals. Plus, after that, the trope judged me mostly back to peak performance.
Aang also defeated a volcano in a spit match. Saving another village in the process.
Things more or less settled in a routine until Sokka found his father's trail… and his wooded retained, a man called Bato. And Aang's insecurities once again showed their ugly heads.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Aang?" I intoned from behind him, making the kid practically jump from his skin in his fright, and stopping him from destroying the message Sokka and Katara's father sent. "This is Bato's life we are talking about here, all for fears you don't even know whether they are real or not."
"… I can't believe they would abandon me." Aang finally confesses while giving me the map.
I just patted his bald head. "That is good because they won't."
"You head them just as well as I did!"
"No, I actually heard better since I picked up the fact that the greater good of their family and the world stands above their personal interest. Sokka and Katara are not like you, Aang. They are Water Tribe, and they grew up under the shadow of war. Their father didn't leave them behind because he wanted to, but he had a responsibility. And so, do they as well."
"… because I am the Avatar." Aang suspire, even more despondent.
"That is what you think? I thought you only cared that they did not leave your side. Why are you sad now? Did you want more than that? How greedy."
Alas, Aang has already gotten used to my personality since the beginning of our travel, he knows I care little for good guy acts. "So, what if I am greedy then? Is it so strange to not want to be separated from those you love? They are my family now!"
"I never said being greedy was a bad thing… but it is strange for you, who always has been fleeting and free like the wind to demand others to grow roots."
My words had a fulminating effect on him. His internalized guilt for always running always when things get tough, as he did when the fishmonger accused him of cowardice.
"…"
"Aang, what is the First Virtue?"
"What? That thing you and Sokka keep talking about?"
"Not only Sokka and I. You are supposed to be a monk, aren't you? What is most dear to the last air nomad, Freedom or Compassion? Your personal desires and self-image or your mission to guide and save all worldly creatures?"
"Can't you be more direct? I am not in the mood for riddles." He answers despondent.
"Vacuous apprentice, ask the right question if you want a proper answer. I will go first. What do you think everyone meant when they say you will 'defeat' the Fire Lord? Do you think they meant for you to spank him like a naughty kid and put him in the corner timeout until he has learned his lessons?"
"They want me to kill him!?" Aang screams in panic, finally realizing what is at stake. "I-I can't do that, killing is wrong! It goes against everything the monks taught me."
"Yet, even Gyatsu resorted to lethal force in the end, when his back was forced against the wall."
Aang flinched, exhaling all the air from his lungs as if I had punched him. He was trembling too, faced with grim reality. I could see him gripping Gyatso's locket for dear life under his shirt. I walked up to him and once more patted his bald head, giving him a tether he could cling to.
"Aang, to be a man of principle is to exist in opposition against grim reality, for the world is too big and capricious and uncaring to respect our opinion of how things owe to be. I am sure the Fire Lord count himself among our number, like us he has his own ideal for how things owe to be and he is willing to use force to see this vision a reality."
"Are you telling me a should suck it up and kill him then? … like Gyatso did?"
"No."
At my blunt answer, he shot up and looked at me, and I mean really looked.
"What I told you about unfounded assumption, Aang? Let me sway at least one of your doubts. You are right, if you sacrifice your own ideals for the sake of the world you will lose yourself forever." Somehow despite the grim topic, these were the words Aang wanted to hear ever since he learned about the war. I continued, "Aang, the reason people pin their hopes on you is because as the Avatar, you are the face of Justice itself. By executing the Fire Lord, you will be pinning all the one hundred years of sins on a single person. Anyone else, and the war continues. This time in the Fire Nation territory."
"If you know what is at stake, then why are you telling me not to do it then?"
"Because even If you are the Avatar and all people of the world and all spirits approve and praise you for your actions, you will never forgive yourself. Someone once said a person can only commit a single murder their entire lives, anything after that is just slaughter. Killing someone… it is the worst feeling. But deliberately premeditated murder? You will never walk from his. Gyatso didn't, and part of me wonders if he decided to die with his victims in the end."
"I… I can't abandon the world like this for my own well-being. Not like this, not again."
"And that voice, does it come from the same place that told you killing the Fire Lord is wrong?"
"Yes."
"Good, your path is clear then."
"It is?" Aang asked with a puzzled look.
"My worthless, airheaded, and most greedy apprentice. You have finally learned the difference between Compassion and Cowardice, the dividing line that separates Virtue and Vice. To cultivate a virtue is to challenge every man who came before you in its pursuit. It is to shape yourself to it as if it were a second skin and brace for the consequences of what is to follow by walking this path… You are strong Aang, and I am not talking about your status as the Avatar. You might be able to do it. I have hope in you… and if this hope is misplaced, well, at least you will die on your own terms."
"That… doesn't sound as nice as you think it does. But I guess it is the best I will ever get, isn't it? Thanks, I think I needed to hear that."
I nodded, the force ghost of Hoku looked ready to manifest and strangle me for putting such ideas in Aang's head. Sucks to be him though. If he wanted things to play differently then he shouldn't have died like a chump.
Aang's life is his to decide.
Someone already mentioned it, but Termina left some pretty bad scars in Zagreus. The concept of deviation to a cultivator of virtue has two main causes. One is the betrayal of virtue or trauma, the second is something alluded to when introducing the Amazons of the Blind Maiden Cult. Although there is strength to be found in consumption, there is a risk in engaging too much in it, drinking too deeply from other's essence.
Zagreus was sort of suffering from both, but he knew Aristotle once broke his ego to become once again a 1st rank philosopher in order to "humble himself", and Griffon once reformed his First Principle, editing it to fit best with his new resolution.
Demonic cultivation exists and what it might mean for a cultivator of virtue is shilling.
There were risks involved with crippling himself, so he gambled by using the Book of Enlightenment he poached from Pocketcat and put the brunt of his efforts in the following months on how to mend his cultivation.
There is certain controversy about how one becomes a Heroic cultivator, whether people need outside help from Higher Power or if they can do so on their own and the Higher Power only follows. The same problem exists for the New Gods, so Zagreus tries to use one as the antidote to the other.
"Can you believe it?! Katara is so head over heels for this Jet guy she can't see he is fucking crazy! He is trying to blow up the dam to destroy that Fire Nation colony!"
"Yeah, I know."
"You knew? Then why didn't you do anything?" Sokka asks, genuinely disappointed in me for the very first time.
"Sokka, Jet is weak. His little resistance will crumble the moment the Fire Nation firms their control over this area. If he doesn't do something soon then he and his friends will follow their parent's fate. What he is doing is cruel, but it isn't unreasonable. He is indeed fueled by hatred but he isn't its slave, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten where he is. He is merely applying the lessons taught to him by the Fire Nation. That the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. I am more interested in knowing why you, who know the same pains, disagree so much when the life of everyone you love is in the line as well."
Sokka was at the foot of the heavenly ladder, a citizen of the 1st rank. To him, a philosopher is a profound experience, as rhetoric capable of bending his mind to any viewpoint desired for Reason itself my trade.
But men are not reasonable creatures. Far from it, irreverent and conceited creatures, men gladly throw themselves to the flames to prove to themselves they aren't piano keys to be made to sing at the press of a button. Reason can be overwhelming, and maybe this is even a good thing.
I waited for my first student's answer with bated breath.
"SO, WHAT!? I don't need a reason! Jet is wrong and so are you! Fire Nation or not they are still people! Don't you feel nothing when you see them suffering and in pain? This is why this stupid war has lasted so long! Because these savages can't even see they are hurt people just like they… and I thought you would be able to see it too." Sokka deflated after his early outburst, his eyes looked painful like he wanted to cry. "I am going to stop Jet, with or without your help." Sokka turned his back to me.
"Sokka, thank you."
From all things for me to say, these words seem to have been the most surprising to Sokka, washing always the hurt and disappointment from his face and replacing it with surprise and guarded shy hope.
"I never told you this before, but I am really glad you are my first student instead of someone like Jet. I would never be able to guide him toward a proper path, because I myself am lost. The wisest man ever known once succinct that there are evils in this world, demons in the hearts of every man. And that cultivators pursue excellence within themselves to overcome those evils. We strive to better the worlds within ourselves, to battle those demons in our hearts, so that we can do the same for the world outside ourselves."
"I… I don't understand." Sokka answers as if lost with my confession.
"That is ok, I don't really understand either. Some truths are plainly known, not through reason but within one's heart. I lost something, but every day spent with you, Katara, and Aang helped me remember it. You three are strong, stronger than me even, in your own particular ways."
"Now that seems like an exaggeration. Flattering, but way out of context, I couldn't even defeat a bunch of normal kids."
I just snorted in answer, "Those who open their hearts to love, respect, and loyalty must accept and brace for the risk of attacks aimed at one's virtuous heart. As a cultivator ascends and becomes more, the heights those woes can reach defy mortal comprehension – while humiliation can deprive a mortal man of his confidence, humor, and appetite, the same might be enough to lead a cultivator to spit blood." I paused, letting the implications of Sokka's new existence sink in. "Emptying the heart carries its own dangers, however, for desolate or hate-poisoned souls open themselves to the worst demons of human nature. "
"So, you are going to help me then?" Sokka asks with an eager enthusiasm that only appears around subjects of his interest.
"Nope."
"Ahh, why not? What is your problem!"
"I am sick Sokka. I might hide it well, but it doesn't change the fact I have been staling. Treating the symptoms instead of pursuing a cure. But I am done running now."
"There is anything I can do for you, Zagreus?" Concern entered Sokka's voice and he looked me up and down in search of any sign of my illness he might have missed. A hilarious sight considering the difference in statures.
"Yes, go save the town Sokka. You can do it… and tell Katara and Aang that you three are not only this world's hope, but mine as well, if I don't pull through. You three can turn things around for the better… even without me around."
"Zagreus!" Sokka closed in on me with all the celerity his vital breath could grant him. Grabbing at me as if I was going to disappear like smoke.
If this is to be our last talk, then I might as well turn this into a lesson.
"Why are you worried? Sometimes even a master has to learn from their students instead of the other way around. I am simply taking a leaf from your book – Opening my heart to the world, its people, and its suffering, for even to desperation the medicine can be found inside the very disease."
I could feel once again the almost forgotten ecstasy of ascension as my soul deepened and my pneuma multiplied as I reached the 5th rank of the Sophic Realm… and in doing so, my inner demons found the bearing to attack me from the inside out. Something I have been bracing myself for ever since I landed in this world.
I blacked out, the last thing in my sight being my worthless, compassionate, and brave student worried face.
I decided then that I didn't like or care to see that expression on his face ever again. One way or another.
-//-
Cultivation can be summarized as a race toward divinity as the finishing line. Even when the standards and end goals diverge from culture to culture, this theme remains the same. Cultivation only makes someone more of what they already are, not something else.
Some ascribe the cultivation of virtue as the ordering of a chaotic soul. The imposition of perfection. My foundational mysteries dissuade me from these sensibilities – men are born whole but unconscious and to fit in they sacrifice who they really are by crafting a persona that is eventually confused for a face.
In a sense, the process of cultivation is as much about becoming more of who one is by rescuing these lost fragmented pieces and reaffixing them to the self. This is Individuation, and for the goal of physiological (soul) wholeness, one must be willing to abdicate from self-imposed ideals of perfection. There will always be cracks, one must never forget what human beings truly look like, especially at their worst.
Cultivators rose on the principles that had built the strongest empires of history, and they fell in just the same way. Internal strife had toppled more than one great empire. The souls of cultivators were said to be grand things, marble cities built by their souls as monuments of virtue. A Foundation of marble or some semiprecious stone depending on the Greater Mystery said soul was tempered by, followed by a Parthenon meant to bear ten towering pillars of Reason, internalized principles carved from the same Foundation stone.
The tracks of the race for divinity are treacherous by nature. the racer can easily get lost or even be driven off from it. The most dangerous thing about Deviation of the soul is that even the most minute of diversions by the smallest of degrees have a tendency to be aggravated in time due to the very nature of cultivation for cultivation only makes someone more of what they are. Both in virtues and flaws.
Of course, if this is to be the risk uncured even by those who walk the beaten path, what about those who dare travel through uncharted paths?
In my participation in Termina Festival I endured the attention of Rher, gorged myself in the essence of its monstrous inhabitants, consumed nine very special souls – had my own soul awakened to its place within their gears – and even supped on the divine.
This changed things, not a split foundation exactly, but a deviant one, tethering on demonic cultivation. Psychical imperfection is the price for wholeness. One I worked every single day to pay off ever since I awoke in the South Pole.
My Foundations once made of purest polished onyx now bear shine veins bearing the inner light of my [Tormented Soul]; whether this is a characteristic that Rher awoke in me when he made me a contestant I can't say. Though considering the destiny of the special essences drawn from the nine greater souls of the other contestants, leaving them free might never have been an option. Worst of all, traces and veins of chalcedony bearing the green glow of Rher can be seen like veins across all of it.
My first powering pillar of principle – No matter the tribulation, there is always a way forward – has been tempered by the devoured essence of the [Changeling Soul], and bears the element of Air (hot & wet).
My second pillar of a rule of nature I made mine own – The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must, for now… – has been suffused with the essence of the [Domination Soul] of the godling I slayed, and bear the element of Fire (hot & dry).
My third monument to lived experience I internalized – Human bodies may cast shadows but hearts contain them – was tainted by the stolen essence of the [Decrepit Soul], and bears the element of Water (cold & wet).
My fourth principle I claimed as my motto – What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger – is supported by the essence of the [Latent Soul], and bears the element of Earth (cold & dry).
My fifth principle held by my virtuous heart – Opening my heart to the world, its people, and its suffering, for even to desperation the medicine can be found inside the very disease – that is embraced by the essence of the [Caressing Soul], bear the element of Fire (hot & dry).
Besides these five, there exist five more foundations dedicated to restrain and prepare the essences of the Blank, Enlightened, Shadowed, Endless, and Radiating Souls.
These pillars can be called monuments of self-love, the greater aspirations of my soul. For that side of ourselves, we leave free and unintegrated to the whole is left free to manifest by its own volition after accruing enough energy and potential. In order to avoid the manifestation of Heart Demons I took a page, more like a whole book, from Aristotle's.
Men create pillars of reason to impose order on the world, but eventually, they can become a prison to the mind, stifling imagination and scientific curiosity. As a truly wise man walking the path of the scholar who will defend his beliefs even in the face of greater opposition, he preserves himself against obstinacy by "humbling himself" every time he is proven wrong, shedding his cultivation and restarting from the 1st rank.
While not as radical, what I did follow similar mechanics. I focused on refining my towering pillars of principles by recasting them under the rash glow of Rher, which is self-described as revealing the truth hidden under human filth. Aristotle wasn't wrong to describe a man's soul as a knot that must be untangled to be used as a rope to reach the heavens. Rher is after all an Older God, embodying unilateral distribution of power, he is also sort of dead/gone, similarly to the God of the Deep. In this, a path similar to the god of Fear and Hunger may be viable.
More than that, he was right when saying to know the truth a man must see for himself with his own eyes.
Hell, maybe the butterfly robot girl might be it even. Did I lose the chance to seize divinity after all? Not at all. The divine essence of the godling was a bigger bounty than I could hope for, especially for the insight I grasped from it.
Some rules are universal, Heaven's cruelty even to those it means well seems to be one. Its gifts are poxes on the soul. The soul of the 'new god' I acquired is surprisingly similar in composition to the soul of the moon-scorched monsters I fought, down to its familiar green rue taint of Rher. If Zeus can sabotage the Heroic Realm by replacing the original muses with impostors intending to steal heroic hearts to make heartless tyrants then what are the odds some elder trickster god wouldn't build a dead end for divinity to prevent humans from reaching similar standing to himself?
The god of Fear and Hunger as well as All-mer stand as examples of ivory heights mortals can reach. That is why I decided to gamble it all by using the [Book of Enlightenment] before I started my dance with Deviation.
It is possible for cultivators to target each other's foundations both in the octagon and in the agora, with fists as well as words. Normally, the shattering of one's ego is the end of a cultivator. To this point, most cultivators of virtue would choose the death of the body before the death of the ego. Of course, it is possible to do the same on their own but to tear down these monuments is like flaying oneself alive. The pain is just that unbearable.
Even so, I forged on. The experience granted by the mysterious book I porched from the Pocketcat was unlike anything I could ever describe. Somehow it feels as if my experience in masonry somehow paid off and I learned more about myself and the nature of the soul than I ever could have achieved by hundreds of trials and errors. Until I reached the right configuration for my soul.
More than that, even if the path forward leads to a dead end, there is still merit in witnessing it for oneself. It seems that these "new gods" achieve great power at the cost of being overwhelmed by the natural impulses of their souls. Even if the path is untended, the power available from it can be achieved.
This is what we call hitting two birds with one stone… or flying too close to the sun. I will either overcome Rher's and Zeus's curse or die in the attempt. Using the two curses to cancel each other out.
I have no intention of surrendering my virtuous heart to false idols, so the Higher Power I decided to appeal to is the higher self that exists as potential inside my soul. To have the reflection of divinity come to my side instead of the other way around.
I am appealing to the Divine Daemon that I nurtured with the divine essence of the Heartless One. Now is the moment of truth, A heart demon takes time to gain its bearing and understand its strength, but when a cultivator deepens his soul so too does his heart demon assert his footing.
Alas, who is it that said a Heart Demon has to be an inside enemy? Socrates once possessed the guidance of a Daemon who instructed in what he should not do. This is not a feature unique to himself.
Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path. You may remember this "something" as a signal calling in childhood when an urge out of nowhere, a fascination, a peculiar turn of events struck like an annunciation: This is what I must do, this is what I've got to have. This is who I am.
James Hillman, The Soul's Code
Like he said, "extraordinary people" are extraordinary because their calling comes through so clearly and they are so loyal to it. They serve as exemplars of calling and its strength, and also of keeping faith with its signals. Who has vocation hears the voice of the inner man; he is called. And so it is the legendary belief that he possesses a private demon who counsels him and whose mandates he must execute.
This Daemon has been with me since I discarded my robes of mortality for the calling of high-minded principles. This is the purpose of the First Virtue, it guides us in the direction of our purpose through intuitions, fantasies, sudden urges, synchronicities, and dreams.
In most of us, however, our daemon is buried deep in the depths of the unconscious. After years of following a life-path for reasons of ease, security, and the need to please others, the daemon has been silenced. One must always be wary of the temptations of these wrong roads, for if we succumb to them our daemon will turn demonic – it will shame us for our cowardice and punish us with pain. Illness is the answer every time we begin to doubt our right to our task – every time we begin to make things easier for ourselves.
I look at the embodiment of my soul's higher aspirations, what Jung calls [Anima], an entity that serves as the divine medium between a man's soul and the divine [Archetypes]. Will it be a Muse keeper of my heart or a Fury that will drag me to the underworld? This is very much a confrontation with the unconscious. I feel like Yusuke Urameshi watching his spirit beast's egg ratchet, waiting if it will be an evil demon that will devour him from the inside out or the most dependable ally.
"Alas, this turned out to be a disappointment. Worthless Daemon, are you perhaps still too weak?"
"…"
The figure in front of me is a vaguely feminine shadow bearing green rues of green. The only true human feature is a single glacial blue eye bearing a piercing stare that shook me in its intensity.
Despite that, I can't hear a pipe from the Anima.
"Well, considering you aren't trying to tear me apart from the inside out, I will take this as a victory, even if you turn out to be useless. Be thankful, you freeloader."
"…"
"Still nothing? Man, this might be serious. Am I missing something? So much for hopes of getting early access to the heroic help perks. Well, nothing I can do about that now. Time to wake up. Take care, you grumpy girl."
"…"
-//-
So yeah, my little stunt at least freed me from my post-Termina magical indigestion case, as the chaotic confluences of foreign energies were ordered, making me stronger in less obvious ways than ascension.
Sokke even ascended to the 2nd rank of the civic realm when he managed to save the colony town. Alas, neither the siblings nor Aang took the news about me hiding my condition very well. They have been treating me like I am their old grandmother, which is something neither of us two needs or is willing to play along.
I was literally made to sit down in Appa with a bunch of old and sick people as Aang decided to help two refuge villages cross the largest canyon in the whole world! And they even got attacked by a swamp of its crawler! Giant insects with crocodile heads. I wanted to add one to my collection so much!
At least Aang figured out the kink to earth bending after dealing with herding a bunch of obnoxious and selfish people for days.
Besides this incident we mostly kept up the basics, having him practice with Katara while we were travelling and training other bending arts wherever we stopped so Aang might actually master all elements by summer.
Sure, we were attacked by some commando archers of the Fire Nation, but I dispatched them mostly without fuss or trouble even if the children struggled. Hell, I even let them go after just severing their string-pulling fingers alone. Proof positive that I have gone soft after integrating the Caressing Soul's essence.
Aang was really squeamish about the whole situation but appreciated my compromising with his pacifist ideals. Plus, after that, the trope judged me mostly back to peak performance.
Aang also defeated a volcano in a spit match. Saving another village in the process.
Things more or less settled in a routine until Sokka found his father's trail… and his wooded retained, a man called Bato. And Aang's insecurities once again showed their ugly heads.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Aang?" I intoned from behind him, making the kid practically jump from his skin in his fright, and stopping him from destroying the message Sokka and Katara's father sent. "This is Bato's life we are talking about here, all for fears you don't even know whether they are real or not."
"… I can't believe they would abandon me." Aang finally confesses while giving me the map.
I just patted his bald head. "That is good because they won't."
"You head them just as well as I did!"
"No, I actually heard better since I picked up the fact that the greater good of their family and the world stands above their personal interest. Sokka and Katara are not like you, Aang. They are Water Tribe, and they grew up under the shadow of war. Their father didn't leave them behind because he wanted to, but he had a responsibility. And so, do they as well."
"… because I am the Avatar." Aang suspire, even more despondent.
"That is what you think? I thought you only cared that they did not leave your side. Why are you sad now? Did you want more than that? How greedy."
Alas, Aang has already gotten used to my personality since the beginning of our travel, he knows I care little for good guy acts. "So, what if I am greedy then? Is it so strange to not want to be separated from those you love? They are my family now!"
"I never said being greedy was a bad thing… but it is strange for you, who always has been fleeting and free like the wind to demand others to grow roots."
My words had a fulminating effect on him. His internalized guilt for always running always when things get tough, as he did when the fishmonger accused him of cowardice.
"…"
"Aang, what is the First Virtue?"
"What? That thing you and Sokka keep talking about?"
"Not only Sokka and I. You are supposed to be a monk, aren't you? What is most dear to the last air nomad, Freedom or Compassion? Your personal desires and self-image or your mission to guide and save all worldly creatures?"
"Can't you be more direct? I am not in the mood for riddles." He answers despondent.
"Vacuous apprentice, ask the right question if you want a proper answer. I will go first. What do you think everyone meant when they say you will 'defeat' the Fire Lord? Do you think they meant for you to spank him like a naughty kid and put him in the corner timeout until he has learned his lessons?"
"They want me to kill him!?" Aang screams in panic, finally realizing what is at stake. "I-I can't do that, killing is wrong! It goes against everything the monks taught me."
"Yet, even Gyatsu resorted to lethal force in the end, when his back was forced against the wall."
Aang flinched, exhaling all the air from his lungs as if I had punched him. He was trembling too, faced with grim reality. I could see him gripping Gyatso's locket for dear life under his shirt. I walked up to him and once more patted his bald head, giving him a tether he could cling to.
"Aang, to be a man of principle is to exist in opposition against grim reality, for the world is too big and capricious and uncaring to respect our opinion of how things owe to be. I am sure the Fire Lord count himself among our number, like us he has his own ideal for how things owe to be and he is willing to use force to see this vision a reality."
"Are you telling me a should suck it up and kill him then? … like Gyatso did?"
"No."
At my blunt answer, he shot up and looked at me, and I mean really looked.
"What I told you about unfounded assumption, Aang? Let me sway at least one of your doubts. You are right, if you sacrifice your own ideals for the sake of the world you will lose yourself forever." Somehow despite the grim topic, these were the words Aang wanted to hear ever since he learned about the war. I continued, "Aang, the reason people pin their hopes on you is because as the Avatar, you are the face of Justice itself. By executing the Fire Lord, you will be pinning all the one hundred years of sins on a single person. Anyone else, and the war continues. This time in the Fire Nation territory."
"If you know what is at stake, then why are you telling me not to do it then?"
"Because even If you are the Avatar and all people of the world and all spirits approve and praise you for your actions, you will never forgive yourself. Someone once said a person can only commit a single murder their entire lives, anything after that is just slaughter. Killing someone… it is the worst feeling. But deliberately premeditated murder? You will never walk from his. Gyatso didn't, and part of me wonders if he decided to die with his victims in the end."
"I… I can't abandon the world like this for my own well-being. Not like this, not again."
"And that voice, does it come from the same place that told you killing the Fire Lord is wrong?"
"Yes."
"Good, your path is clear then."
"It is?" Aang asked with a puzzled look.
"My worthless, airheaded, and most greedy apprentice. You have finally learned the difference between Compassion and Cowardice, the dividing line that separates Virtue and Vice. To cultivate a virtue is to challenge every man who came before you in its pursuit. It is to shape yourself to it as if it were a second skin and brace for the consequences of what is to follow by walking this path… You are strong Aang, and I am not talking about your status as the Avatar. You might be able to do it. I have hope in you… and if this hope is misplaced, well, at least you will die on your own terms."
"That… doesn't sound as nice as you think it does. But I guess it is the best I will ever get, isn't it? Thanks, I think I needed to hear that."
I nodded, the force ghost of Hoku looked ready to manifest and strangle me for putting such ideas in Aang's head. Sucks to be him though. If he wanted things to play differently then he shouldn't have died like a chump.
Aang's life is his to decide.
-//-
[AUTHOR'S ROOM]
Someone already mentioned it, but Termina left some pretty bad scars in Zagreus. The concept of deviation to a cultivator of virtue has two main causes. One is the betrayal of virtue or trauma, the second is something alluded to when introducing the Amazons of the Blind Maiden Cult. Although there is strength to be found in consumption, there is a risk in engaging too much in it, drinking too deeply from other's essence.
Zagreus was sort of suffering from both, but he knew Aristotle once broke his ego to become once again a 1st rank philosopher in order to "humble himself", and Griffon once reformed his First Principle, editing it to fit best with his new resolution.
Demonic cultivation exists and what it might mean for a cultivator of virtue is shilling.
There were risks involved with crippling himself, so he gambled by using the Book of Enlightenment he poached from Pocketcat and put the brunt of his efforts in the following months on how to mend his cultivation.
There is certain controversy about how one becomes a Heroic cultivator, whether people need outside help from Higher Power or if they can do so on their own and the Higher Power only follows. The same problem exists for the New Gods, so Zagreus tries to use one as the antidote to the other.
The concept of a heart demon not being necessarily a bad thing is something I've seen here or there in Xianxia novels over the years but people never develop that aspect much; you would think they would at least use it as some summoning move considering how cavalier the genre as a whole is with Eleventh Hour power ups but nope, shows up as a twist and is never brought up again.
Curiously, inner demons as a powerup are more common in manga, though it's usually a literal demon in those cases, except when it's like in Persona with the whole Shadow thing.
Curiously, inner demons as a powerup are more common in manga, though it's usually a literal demon in those cases, except when it's like in Persona with the whole Shadow thing.
- Pronouns
- ImBuda
So I have noticed something, magic sword that represents ones own tripartite soul and created with his own blood and the dark essence of several beings? Check.
An inner manifestation of one subconcious mind created by devouring the souls of several beings with a lot of spiritual potencial? Who is unable to talk and almost doesnt exist, but due to its nature its true power might be even stronger than the human that created it? Check and check
An inner mindscape which symbolizes ones true nature and inner turmoil in which that being exist? Check.
My only question is if I´m right that you have planned to go to the world of Bleach and that thing is going to become a Zampakuto spirit?? Because if that is the case, you are a genious.
An inner manifestation of one subconcious mind created by devouring the souls of several beings with a lot of spiritual potencial? Who is unable to talk and almost doesnt exist, but due to its nature its true power might be even stronger than the human that created it? Check and check
An inner mindscape which symbolizes ones true nature and inner turmoil in which that being exist? Check.
My only question is if I´m right that you have planned to go to the world of Bleach and that thing is going to become a Zampakuto spirit?? Because if that is the case, you are a genious.
- Location
- Brazil
It is like one of these youbube videos "why bleach is forever" or something, because I just realized it now!