======== 56 - The Dead Tell Tales ==========
"Am I doing everything right? - Sitting on the roof of a two-story house, his heavy gaze weighing down on the silent spirit that had turned from a terrifying four-armed monster into a silent panda, Aang thoughtfully studied the situation. Not long ago, he had a serious conversation with Afka, in which she explained what it means to be a bridge between two worlds, what the essence of these words is... and, as it became clear, the main common denominator should be equal relations between people and spirits: one side cannot be overly exalted at the expense of the other. Their separation is an illusion.
The last quote had a profound effect on Aang's thinking, prompting him to look at the world in a new way. But his lack of experience prevented him from giving these words their full meaning.
Instead, the boy realised that he was indispensable! Dagot would not be able to take the title, as he was incapable of fulfilling the necessary duties. In the end, it was he who proved to the spirit that the villagers were innocent of arson and, moreover, promised to sort out the world situation as quickly as possible.Although he did it rudely... but, according to Afka, he needed to learn to show authority to the spirits. Now Hey Bai, as the locals called him, bowed his head respectfully and even wanted to show him something. He beckoned him to come closer so they could head off in an unknown direction.
"Okay, I'll go with you," he nodded in response, but then he noticed Katara running towards him out of the corner of his eye. The girl whose face made the boy smile. And behind her stood Dagoth, who made him frown again.
"I was so worried when he attacked you. Are you okay?" The girl took him by the shoulders and examined him from all sides, smiling again. "Why are you still here? What if he attacks again?"
"Everything's fine, Hey Bai is kind! And he wants to show me something, so I think I'll be gone for a while.
"Really? I wonder what he wants.
And there goes the smile again! Dagoth came closer, looking at Hey Bai as if he were some kind of precious exhibit. No, he always looked at everything and everyone, but resentment played its part. "He's going to come over and take more spirit," thought Aang, snorting, until Katara approached his ear:
"I talked to him, he won't say he's the Avatar. But his reputation could really be useful," she whispered, causing Aang to freeze at first, then think, and finally focus on Dagoth as a man who had done everything for the sake of peace.
Maybe he had ruined the Avatar's good image, which was extremely hurtful, but using him to maintain peace... Aang could accept that, although he was not willing to return to their previous relationship. Only if he decided to apologise himself, and even then, he would have to prove his goodness.
"Listen, Aang... I'm sorry.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, shocked by how quickly his wish had been granted. But Dagoth really didn't seem like a bad person; he was as friendly as possible and still seemed like someone who would listen and give advice. Closing his eyes in realisation of these factors, feeling the pressure of childish naivety, he exhaled sharply, "All right! And I'm sorry I got upset... Wait, what are you doing?
He opened his eyes when the spirit sat down in front of him in a brazen manner and clicked his tongue threateningly.
"Tell me, what do you want from Aang? - Afka jumped on his shoulder and snorted in the same way, forcing the spirit to convey the message in its spiritual language. Even Aang couldn't understand him, but the fox could. It looked as if two bandits were holding the poor animal on both sides, but Aang remembered how powerful this spirit could be. And now he was just pissing himself? "So, the dragon spirit Roku is looking for a new Avatar... Never mind.
After that, leaving Panda sitting there with a lost look on her face, as if she had been knocked over, Dagoth turned around and, before an argument could start, announced that he could teach him how to communicate with all his previous incarnations on his own. No need to fly anywhere, listen to any "dubious" dragons or anything else.
He spoke with such confidence and clarity that his authoritative image took shape on its own. The image of the older brother returned — he sent the people home, drove the spirit away from the village, and herded the team into the room. Even when the village elder wanted to thank them for their help, Dagoth rudely closed the door in his face and sat down in the middle of the room. Even Sokka didn't dare to speak, knowing full well who was in charge now.
"Actually, every Avatar sooner or later learns how to communicate with their past incarnations, but luckily for you, we have Afka," Aang nodded silently, afraid to miss something or disobey, then immersed himself in a brief instruction on the correct meditation technique.
The most important thing, as difficult as it may sound, is to achieve synergy at the level of chi. This can usually be done in a temple — where the "incomprehensible dragon," as Dagoth called it, wanted to take Aang — or in a place with a high concentration of chi. The easiest way is to use the help of an advanced spirit such as Afka.
She can find souls by their chi, wherever they are, which is why she was able to find Dagoth everywhere. She also knew the chi of the other Avatars from somewhere — for some reason, they didn't go into detail about this, and Aang was afraid to ask so as not to interrupt them. Although he clearly heard the fox rejoicing that they had encountered some statues.
"So I'll be able to meet Roku?" Aang asked, already getting ready.
"Um... no. I was thinking about Kuruk — he's the previous Avatar, born a waterbender, so he'd obviously be more useful to talk to. Now just close your eyes."
Afka waved her tail in front of the frowning Avatar, and he suddenly felt different. His body left its physical shell, almost instantly entering a trance. Everything around him now had a pale colour, and his body glowed with a pure blue light. Even the air felt different.
"Wow," he waved his hand and focused on Dagoth sitting next to him. "If I'm in the spirit world, does that mean you can't see me right now? Heh heh. Baa," he stuck out his tongue and made a face at the sand mage until...
"Are you okay? "He tilted his head as if he could see everything! Although he was definitely in the world of humans." "Just so you understand, I can see and understand all spirits if they display their aura so clearly. Oh, what a child..."
"Yes, he still has a lot to learn," and at that moment, an unfamiliar voice rang out. Aang spun around and saw a semi-transparent man with a beard, a manly face, and a hat made of some kind of northern bear sitting in front of him. His clothes identified him as a water mage. "Hello, Aang. Why did you summon me?
"Ah... Avatar Kuruk! Pleased to meet you," quickly finding the strength to respectfully clasp his hands, he bowed to his own incarnation. "Actually... I don't know why we met. I thought I would see Roku, but my friend said it would be better to see you.
Aang suddenly felt like a third wheel. His past life and Dagot exchanged glances, narrowed their eyes, and began to examine each other. It was difficult to even understand what they were doing until Afka jumped onto his shoulder and whispered in his ear that they were "evaluating" each other as magicians.
"So you're the first one the Lotus Order taught? - after which Dagoth spoke, causing the spirit to exhale and nod gloomily," - I am also a member of the order that is already teaching Aang. Tell me, do you know what Guru Laghima said about the fifth chakra?
And at that moment... not only the Avatar's eyes, but also Afka's, opened wide in shock. Dagoth was so tired of extracting bits of information from Aang that he decided to get everything at once from someone who would surely know everything. And it was only logical to turn to Kuruku — as we know, he was more favourable towards Lotus than anyone else in his subsequent lives. If only he hadn't died so young, he might have been able to turn the world upside down by the age of a hundred, or even fifty.
"Laghim... I spent a lot of time in the women's temple of the air nomads, where, ahem... I studied these works. The simplest chakra - achieve maximum honesty with a person in order to connect with them on a qi level. This is the highest degree of understanding the surrounding energy. Some even believe that with its help, you can find a common language with anyone, but this is absurd nonsense. The main thing is that you begin not only to understand the world, but also gain the ability to "talk" to it. Spirits can also feel this connection and find people wherever they are, but only they have this innate ability, and they cannot teach it to others.
"I see... Were you able to awaken all your chakras?"
"No. I couldn't give up my earthly attachments and wander the spirit world in search of my beloved," Kurlak lowered his head, displaying boundless sadness. Aang wanted to support him, but didn't have time. Dagoth quickly moved closer and patted him on the shoulder in a manly way. It was as if they had already become friends simply because of their common kinship with Lotus. "Thank you. But there's something else... Lotus adheres to the same philosophy as in my time, doesn't he?
Becoming more serious, Kuruk made his companion nod.
"I share their position. But other lives will be deeply offended if you try to change Aang, simply because everyone wants to correct their mistakes through subsequent incarnations. This will be especially noticeable in the last incarnation, Roku. Remember, he is not your ally, and until you deal with him, he will prevent you from changing Aang's views.
"Hey, can you explain what you're talking about? I'm kind of listening," snorted the clueless kid.
"Other incarnations can also cause trouble. So be careful. As for you, Aang... I have nothing to say to you, just listen to your friend.
Shhh...
Kuruk's body scattered in the wind, and the world returned to its former colours, even his body was back inside his flesh. Saddened that he had not been able to chat with his past incarnation or learn anything about water magic, he turned to the one whom Kuruk had held in high esteem.
"...I think I understand how to unlock advanced senses. Thank you, Aang, you're the best.
"Ahem. I don't understand anything.
========== 57 - I am a princess ==========
From our conversation, it became clear that Kuruk was not the most educated person, as, in principle, most of the Gurus were. He was unable to explain the subtleties of different techniques and, in general, acted mostly on instinct. But one thing became clear: lies and truth, honesty and openness... The fifth chakra is not really about that, but rather about a connection at the level of qi, which was simply ensured by maximum honesty.
"I need to establish the same connection with the element that exists between the Avatar and his past lives. Listen, guardian of the library, can you show me what this connection looks like? - he turned to the fox reading a book.
"You cannot see the connection between other beings at your current level of understanding of the universe, you are weak," she said, like some higher being mocking a pathetic mortal. "But I can show you the connection that exists between us.
"Huh? Is there a connection between us at the level of qi? I thought you were just acting like... a tracker who recognises qi like a scent.
"Fool? It comes from strong trust," the fox exhaled, tearing herself away from her book and coming closer. "Before you, I only had that kind of trust in books, so I can sense it on a universal level when there is interesting knowledge nearby. And this is how it feels.
Sitting down in front of me and waving her tail, blocking my view for a second, she made me understand what Aang felt when he connected with his past life... no, I didn't become a spirit, but I saw Afka herself and knew what was happening to her. I sensed that she was in danger and even knew exactly where she was. It was similar to my seismological sensitivity, only the information came directly into my head and there was much more of it.
"This ability is limited, because you need a strong connection to find someone, but there have been beings in history who have connected themselves to the qi of their own element, achieving an expansion of their magical abilities. The same Laghima, who learned to literally fly with the help of the wind, and not at all like Aang does.
Exactly, a mage from Korra achieved the same thing, learning to hover without any tricks. Establishing a connection with the element doesn't seem like anything complicated. I, so to speak, tied myself to it when I learned seismic sensitivity, it's hard to feel the element even deeper! Yes... you don't need to feel it deeper, you need to connect with it from a distance, just like I felt in which direction Afka was and could get information from her.
I even had a basis for it; I could tell when someone was influencing the element I control, but now I just need to put it on a passive stream. So that absolutely any soil would communicate this information... I think if I try to pour such information in without limiting the radius of action, my brain will turn to mush.
Although it was hard to believe that I could cover the entire planet, even a diameter of a couple of kilometres would make me even more disabled. I needed the same distance that I used for normal sensory perception.
Concentrate on the ground, create the same connection that Afka showed me. Get any information directly into my brain, just like I usually do when I feel grains of sand flying in the air...
"You are close to discovering the deepest secrets of the world, which are inaccessible to most people. If you want to understand the elements, then this is only the beginning," Afka urged me to continue, showing me what the necessary connection looked like. I had to do something similar... and then, gradually, seismic images began to fill my head.
It was as if the earth was sharing everything that was happening on it, every vibration left by the ants; he could feel the small pebbles flowing in the nearest river; it allowed him to see other people again and feel the energy within them. It was as if he had regained a long-lost hand, a long-lost feeling!
The earth shared all its secrets, like a chatty friend. It was the next level of sensory perception... not only could he see everything from a distance, but he also received an accelerated response. However, as Afka said, that was not all that could be achieved: the feeling of qi provided a huge range of possibilities; he just had to continue learning the mysteries of magic.
It's a pity that this is not enough to open the fifth chakra. I may have used the analogy of a girlfriend, but the earth is not something spiritual; you need emotional attachment. As Kuruk said, the best person is the one who responds to your love chakra.
Well, I guess you could say I'm one step closer to fighting the Avatars... but I really don't want to think about that.
It might have seemed that the ease with which I regained my bald friend's favour would become a strong foundation for our relationship in the future; that such a monumental foundation of mutual understanding had been laid that nothing could shake it... but that was a serious mistake.
Using Kuruka to regain Aang's favour could have been either the best decision of my life or the beginning of a very long war with some not-so-enthusiastic creatures. These creatures have hundreds of years of experience, boundless magical power and, most unpleasantly, the ability to communicate with the current Avatar.
You could say we were two mules pulling a rope under the name of Aang. Whoever was more persuasive and cunning would get the opportunity to use the most powerful mage in their plans, but here's the question: what ambitions could the previous incarnations of Aang have?
I understand myself: I wanted to change the order, accelerate the development of science, boost medicine, but spirits don't even live in our world, so what could they want? That's the problem: I could only predict the desires of someone like Roku, who wanted to correct mistakes and end the war, but the rest are literally a mystery to me.
It turns out that my relationship with Aang only returned temporarily, until their first move. I doubt they've heard the saying, "Don't kick a man when he's down," so their response will be quick and painful. That's why advanced sensory perception is only the first step on the path to my victory. "Ha-ha-ha, rain! - Standing in the river, Aang splashed water into the sky with great force, spraying everyone who was learning water magic with him, and even the ground in a large area around him. The striking power and speed of mastering skills - it seemed that there was some correlation between baldness and power.
But seriously, it was difficult to imagine the power of the other Avatars if even Aang was so rapidly increasing the gap between us. And as in the case of Kuruk, I needed to learn something from them.
One of the Avatars gave me some ideas about advanced sensory perception. It turns out that others are capable of merging with their element, for example, reproducing the power of fighting styles without moving at all, and even blocking lightning. Can the spirits of the dead teach me this? Anubis is a clever one, he understood how events would unfold from the very beginning! Kioshi and Yangchen themselves will be the ones who deepen my understanding of magic. Although they are unlikely to tell me anything themselves...
In order to at least see them and not die from a random gust of wind, I needed to optimise my training process — doing everything as distractedly as Aang was unacceptable.
But the best optimisation, as paradoxical and frustrating as it may be, would be to follow the flow of qi in his own body. It was as if the universe itself was telling Aang how to adapt to new techniques, although I would call it an instinctive understanding of magic.
He is like a bird that knows how to weave a nest, although it would be silly to say that knowledge comes from the air, in which case he would not need a teacher. He quickly understands how to direct qi through his body — something that takes an ordinary person years to learn, he can repeat in... a couple of days? Maybe I should shave my head too?
"I understand perfectly how energy flows through you, no problem repeating it," I said, sitting literally on the shore and letting my body rest, repeating Aang's qi movements on my bare control, allowing the lumps of dirt to move faster and adapt more quickly. It would have been fine if I had just learned a couple of new moves, but I had to adapt to the developing Aang, whose body was always, every second, looking for ways to use magic correctly.
He was already making fewer mistakes in some actions than Katara, so I decided not to be a jerk and give the girl some solid advice. How to move, how fast to direct energy through the body, how, in the end, to make magic tricks stronger. However, it seems that all this started to give Katara some kind of complex.
"You're an earth mage, how can you give me advice on how to use water properly?!" she said, slightly losing her temper, raising a couple of large water tentacles and breathing heavily. The girl couldn't see her own talent, only looking at the more successful mages.
But sooner or later, she would reveal her frightening potential.
"By the way, tentacles are a thing, look what you can do with them," and then, showing her a couple of tricks with the technique she had created, he almost made her cry.
Learning from the Avatars turned out to be the right decision and, as Anubis said, I really advanced my dirt magic, learning to manipulate much larger volumes, and I regained my senses, so it was quite possible to go on a new expedition, somewhere to the top of the mountains to learn a couple of tricks with sand, or to the plateau to hone my earthbending.
"So you're leaving already?" The embarrassed villagers looked guiltily at Aang. They had already realised who the Avatar was and offered their heartfelt apologies. Of course, they tried to fall at his feet, but he quickly stopped any worship. Nevertheless, by mutual agreement, they decided not to spread the word that Aang was the Avatar. They would keep quiet, and we would help them with a few things.
"We should fulfil our part of the agreement," I said as the team settled on App. I transformed the beads into whistles. As luck would have it, the villagers had been extremely unlucky: their forest had burned down, their houses had been destroyed, and spirits were attacking them, so I couldn't leave them without at least some help.
I created a whistle to attract a couple of useful animals that needed to find a new home after the destruction of the forest, and let Aang blow it so that the sound would carry as far as possible. It took a while, but I managed to lure a whole zoo to the settlement, just like a real Disney princess. Birds, large monitor lizards, and other useful creatures that could help with both field work and delivering letters. Taming them was also not a problem, especially in exchange for blood.
"How on earth are we going to feed them all?" said the bewildered elder, watching as a small child crawled onto a rat-tiger and began to ride it happily.
"Well... the forest will be restored soon, and Aang has watered all the acorns that fell on the ground.
"Until then, Hey Bai will help you! Aang said cheerfully, and a shadow appeared at the entrance to the settlement and grew several blades of grass from the literally burnt soil, restoring the land to its former appearance. The spirit of the pandochka was the guardian of the entire forest, and it was no problem for him to accelerate the growth of plants with his special magic. He will be able to quickly revive this place," "Good luck, and we really hope that the fire will not affect you again.
"Finally finished, now let's fly to a legendary place. Before that, however, let's make a couple of stops...
"As you say. Appa, hip-hip!
Soaring into the sky, we flew further north, leaving the contented residents to enjoy their new life.
***
"So this is it. What a strange place," said three people in dark robes as they approached the gates of the bustling settlement and witnessed the strangest reconstruction in history. Large monitor lizards pulled carts loaded with logs; predatory animals, like tigers, sat docilely near butchers and begged for treats, and people worked together with animals like some kind of shamans!
"True harmony, what beauty," said one of the travellers in an elderly voice, riding into the settlement on a large, blind dog whose nose was constantly sniffing the surroundings. The three of them were quickly greeted by a rather smiling old man with a small bird sitting on his shoulder. The old man, and indeed all the inhabitants of the town, did not seem at all afraid of the dangerous beast. But the animals were on high alert and tried to hide. "Greetings, I see you are establishing communication with nature here.
"Oh, yes, after the recent fire, animals from all over the area flocked to us, as if seeking shelter and care!
"...Who are you trying to fool?!" Jumping off the beast and throwing off his hood, one of the travellers revealed a cruel face with a burn covering one eye. The guy grabbed the failed resident by the collar and lit his fist on fire. "Avatar was here, don't try to hide it.
"Stand back, this is my job," said the woman, whose black curls and devilishly cunning face peered out from under her hood. Forcing the young man aside, she let her beast sniff the old man, who was frozen with fear. "Well, Nayla, do you feel anything among this zoo?