At the site of the campfire, where some food had been cooked not long ago, tightly packed algae smouldered, without damaging the trunk of a large tree in any way. The water mage Hugh manipulated the liquid inside the plants before my eyes, pulling the leaves out of the swamp by their roots, squeezing them tightly and tossing them into the fire. I watched this skill in silence while the guru talked about the chakras:
"Those who do not even think about opening their chakras block themselves from a lush and beautiful world. I would be delighted to teach the people of the world on this tree, perhaps then there would be fewer wars and deaths. Will you join me?" "Handing me a cooked beetle that looked like a large fly, I accepted it without any repulsion and bit off the juicy flesh, washing it down with banana and onion soup. Hugh also ate, despite his philosophy that we are all one, explaining it as a natural necessity — to eat in order to survive.
"Most of the population couldn't survive on a diet of beetles. "More soup?" I added a little more and watched as the mage happily slurped up my broth. Afka, sitting off to the side, clearly demonstrated her urge to vomit, covering her eyes with her paws. She looks like a spirit, but she's so squeamish.
"The chakras of an ordinary person are usually heavily contaminated, magic flows through them with a long delay and does not pass through the entire stream. The so-called talent comes from a person's personality and how many chakras they have opened. I remember those days as if it were yesterday, with my streams closed, I learned more slowly and couldn't protect anyone. The magic of liquid... - he raised several seaweed leaves in front of me," - It didn't work at all. Think of a person who is not prone to fear. Do you know anyone like that? If so, tell me - is he strong?
My eyebrows came together. I knew very few magicians other than those who lived with me. Tassad seemed to show very little fear, and compared to other magicians, he was really not bad. Not that he trained a lot, but he was really not bad. And then... Azula, if you remember the canon. Now there's someone who is not prone to fear, guilt or shame — incredibly talented. She probably has at least three chakras open.
"I'm starting to understand.
"Advanced abilities become much easier to learn when your body is pure, but the most important problem is clearing the blockages, right? Close your eyes, sit still. Remember what you're afraid of." His kind voice allowed him to isolate himself from the threatening environment. Without thinking about being stabbed in the back, I didn't take long to find the answers within myself.
Obviously, failure and its consequences were the strongest factors in my fear. How many times had there been gas leaks, knives falling at my feet, and strange creatures attacking with the intention of tearing me apart, killing me, robbing me or eating me?
"And what did you do to fight the fear?
My eyebrows took on a life of their own, arching from serious thoughts: Obviously, I was trying to survive. At first, I limited my contact with my surroundings. Then I started trying to fight it. Not always. I was the first to run away from moths, not out of fear, but out of common sense.
"You're already starting to separate survival from fear. Running away isn't always considered cowardice; the outcome of your personality depends on your actions. You went after your friend despite your fear. You almost opened your first chakra.
"But there are still many things I wouldn't do because of fear.
"Fear makes you survive. Can't you reject your animal nature and rely solely on your mind?
"But... I'm limited to the desert. I have little material to specialise in, and the risk of death increases many times over.
"Hmm... but you obtained the powdery substance even here, did everything you could to survive.
At that moment, something began to tell me that I had gained enlightenment. Am I as limited as I thought before? The fear that I was far from the desert held me and my thoughts back. The land around me is constantly in piles, and even if it is unsuitable for use, like liquid peat, it can always be adapted. I can dry the land to make it dead, break up rocks if I am in the mountains. There is sand everywhere. There is always a way to survive. And if I really have to, even simple rock will do.
All doors are open to me, the main thing is not to lock them.
Tdum*
My heart became calmer. I felt something... as if a stone had been lifted from my very being. Finally opening my eyes, I looked at the world without the old horror. I am here and I have to survive, there is no other choice.
"The Earth Chakra is open," Hugh shrugged casually. "I'll make a good teacher."
Tuk*
"A-af! - At that moment, Afka placed a parchment and a pen in front of me. The greedy fox wanted to know all my thoughts and even how to open the chakra, so it's quite possible... I will be the first author to convey this knowledge without distortion and blurred images. As I slowly formed my thoughts, preparing the first pages of my magnum opus, Hugh, who was watching, chuckled.
"You increased your talent yourself, but I don't know how to help with the second chakra. I never blamed myself, so this chakra opened on its own," I raised my gloomy gaze, looking somewhat rudely at this show-off. He said that it was forbidden to skip steps in opening the chakras, that you had to follow a strict sequence.
Guilt was responsible for the Water Chakra, and opening it would unleash even more potential. It didn't matter if you were a fire or water mage, everyone could find harmony between the elements within themselves. But only the Avatar could use the elements themselves. Or just freely parody them, like me. The next chakra would probably improve the results of copying the water style.
I spent several days with Guru Hugh, writing down my thoughts and walking through the thickets. I checked how much my thinking had changed when cold reason replaced fear in my decisions. It began to seem that this was precisely why Anubis had sent me to this world: I could overcome the absence of failure not just with a system, but with complete submission to my destiny.
But in the end, I was forced to continue on my path. I felt a certain stagnation until I learned from other professionals in my field. However, even I was able to learn some important skills from an advanced water magic user.
"I control algae to cover myself with a thick layer of armour. Usually, I look like a monster, which scares away strangers," said Hugh, who was seeing me off, as he dove into the water and emerged covered in a pile of plants. This incredible mage controlled every particle of moisture inside them, turning them into a truly powerful weapon.
"Creepy," I said calmly. The power of dense matter — earth mages understood this better than anyone else. I could repeat the same trick, as long as I practised. In this form, he led me to the edge of the swamp, scaring away anyone who might attack. He was a kind of local alpha predator, commanding the respect of the spirits. So my Bad Luck was overwhelmed by authority.
"All you have to do now is get some good training from a mage of your element to use your new abilities," said the mage, standing at the edge of the swamp, near a rock with a large opening through which we could continue on to Omasha. He placed a vine on my shoulder and said, "And if you open your second chakra, you can come back to me. I can tell you what to do with the rest.
"I'll probably be far away by then... but I understand the general principle of how to proceed. Thank you," I said, shaking the outstretched stump, and saw the fox lick the algae-covered head of the monster it had been riding all this time and jump to my feet. Waving my hand, I moved across the rocky canyon. A scooter had already formed under my feet, and I rode off into the distance.
***
I stopped in the middle of a rocky area where, no matter where I looked, there were giant mountains blocking my way. The grass began to grow sparser again, more like small islands of life; from time to time, I could see small rivers, but it was very difficult to reach them because of the huge differences in elevation. We were only on our way to Omas, and it was already becoming clear why, according to the canon, this city was so difficult to capture.
"Choose:
1 - Train the Earth Mage style (Power techniques will receive the strongest boost)
2 - Train the Air Nomads style (Speed techniques will receive the strongest boost)
3 - Train the Water mages style (Techniques balanced to perfection will receive the strongest boost)
4 - Learn to transform matter (you will learn to adapt the battlefield)
Deciding to take a short break, I stopped on a mountain plateau and fortified my position. At that moment, I had no problems with material for battles, there was stone everywhere, but to hone the same trick that Hugh had performed, it would be easier to start with sand. For this, it was worth learning how to completely change matter to suit my desires.
This trick was much more difficult than simply compacting sand. The stone was much more tightly bound together — the earth mages put most of their effort into tearing pieces out of it, so I first made the ground tremble. My legs created weak vibrations, and thanks to magic, I was able to weaken the rock.
Then I plunged my hands in and reversed the compaction process I had been practising since childhood. Small particles began to rise from the ground, and the rock began to settle. In the end, I got a little sand, about a third of a pumpkin. Not much, but it worked the first time — perhaps the result of my improved talent.
And of course, Anubis made me suffer. No sooner had I created a couple of sand craters than he made me learn how to compact the sand back into rock. Ten thousand repetitions of the same actions.
At this rate, I think I'll even learn how to turn coal into diamonds.
"Af..." - Meanwhile, Afka, looking into the distance, narrowed her eyes. She saw black smoke rising into the sky.
***
Advanced chapters:
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