Exit?
Or an entrance somewhere?
I really don't like the vibrations underground that I felt at the very beginning, and the entrance is just the size for a decent worm.
Brrr, I hate underwater and underground crap, whatever there is to be found there. And even more so here. I'm even afraid to imagine what might be there in the fog below.
As if sensing my thoughts, a slight vibration went through the ground and a huge... dog appeared from the fog? Fox? In general, something from this category, its dimensions were simply gigantic, a huge tree under which Aang was now located, for this animal, like a bush that, if desired, it would pull out with its mouth.
Motherfucker, I want to go home. There are at most dragons there, but here? What to do about it? Although, if she does not have a skin made from local wood, then I may well pierce her in the neck area. If I try really hard. But I don't even want to think about it, don't let Agni start fighting with such an animal, it's just fucked up.
Meanwhile, Aang, apparently resigned to his fate, went down this rabbit hole. This is where I got stuck. What should I do? Climb after? Or wait? Then it's kind of scary. It only looks like a way out of the ass, and not from the world of spirits. But at the same time, you can accidentally stay here forever. Or how it works.
I decided to wait. Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll come out soon. To be sure, I decided to wait about fifteen minutes.
It was really difficult to do this. As it turned out, waiting in such a place is not such an easy thing, but thank Agni, when I had already decided to follow him, a whole Aang flew out of the passage and, looking around and listening to the whole village, said somewhere into the ground:
"Spirits, I'm in danger, I need to return to the earthly world," where the hell is he looking?
While he was diving into the water under his feet, something white and black, isomorphic without eyes and with a huge jaw of teeth, jumped out from behind him, straight from the depths of the fog. I was already thinking about what I should do to save this idiot, because this is my only chance to get home or not, but right as I was walking, he lit up with some kind of haze and became just a big panda. What kind of game is this? At that moment, Aang turned around with a smile on his face. Psycho. Well, exactly.
- Hey, bye! — he was clearly happy to see this crap. And he jumped right on his neck. And the panda just purred something, there's no other way to say it, and happily rushed along the rocks. Well, even though I managed to hide in a crevice and the spirit jumped right above me, I even managed to see its belly.
Having crushed in this small crevice some kind of scolopedia-like dirty trick that was crawling right in front of me, I decided to give the panda and the avatar a small head start so as not to get burned. And at the same time look into this hole.
Oh, I shouldn't have done that, because when I jumped onto that island and looked there, I saw something huge, bitch, scolopedro-shaped, oh, in vain I just crushed its brother, rustling there.
I won't go there. Because of the similarity with cannibal literary critics, I am only satisfied with my nails, which still cannot turn into a normal color. I don't need any of your auricotherapy. And especially of this size.
-And how does Appa raise Aang's titanium eggs? — I muttered out loud, which apparently was my mistake. From this hollow, I felt my ass staring at me and I, trusting my ass... intuition, jumped sharply and strongly, right back two islands.
To see how something black slid out of the hole in the air for a couple of seconds, clicking its claws, apparently trying to catch me. The body of this game stuck out about five meters, and then suddenly, like spaghetti when you suck it in, it crawled back inside.
True, it didn't end there, while I was dumbfounded at this spectacle, some incomprehensible, isomorphic something of different types began to climb onto the island, immediately rushing at me.
Agni, why didn't they like my voice so much?
Fighting this crap became a problem because, unlike the forest spirits, these were not so slow and vulnerable. And when I tried, banally, to escape, I was knocked down in the air by one of the orange-bloody colored bodies.
Moreover, it hit far from the island and a moment later I found myself falling down. What I didn't want was to see where this crap was coming from.
Therefore, I urgently slowed down my fall, although I was in no hurry to inflate myself towards the rock. On it, a word on a branch coated with sugar in a hive, crowded on top of each other, biting, throwing each other off and crawling over their heads, the same amorphous bodies as those that attacked me. The whole rock was simply covered with these living creatures.
For a second, before the saving breeze, panic directly overwhelmed my mind. I really don't want to see what's below, much less go down, considering how the spirits or whoever they are crowded around one rather quietly spoken sentence. More like demons, I imagine hell to be very similar to this place!
Therefore, I carefully did not look down, again with my heel... feeling intuition that if I saw something through the fog, I would go crazy or at least not be able to sleep peacefully for a long time.
When the breeze swept through my consciousness and my brain began to think rationally, one simple truth dawned on me. They don't jump on me! They climb to where they heard the sound and only attack there, but now it's like they don't see me. Maybe they have no vision as such? Or they see things differently altogether.
In any case, I gathered a lot of air and released them from my legs and, like a champagne cork, flew towards the forest.
By the way, an interesting thing, my purely rational mind noted at that moment, maybe it's worth trying to learn to fly? I'm actually flying anyway, I just need to balance this matter a little and...
- Oh, fuck! — control the flight! I flew too fast, so much so that I didn't have time to catch how I flew into a tree. Into this hard bitch tree. And then, rubbing my head, it dawned on me that I had said something again.
Why don't they react to the avatar like that? Like yours or what?
In any case, I had to urgently catch up with Aang, almost losing feces along the way. When I wanted to be a strong magician and win my place in the sun with a beauty next to me and the latest technology, I did not mean to flounder in such a cesspool, a cesspool of the local world.
True, I lost sight of the panda and it turned out to be a mistake. Having jumped to the forests, I rushed into the depths at full speed to fly out of the bushes and end up right in front of Aang on the panda. Apparently they didn't go in a straight line?
***
- A person in the spirit world? - Aang exclaimed, clearly not recognizing me. Still, in my image, first of all, too many different elements catch my face to remember my characteristic features of appearance.
- Stand! - I answered, trying to catch up with the devil.
No, the avatar nearby does not drown out my "noises" as I hoped. And from all over the forest living creatures attacked me, this time less Lovecraftian, but still dangerous.
And at that moment Aang tried to run away, but despite the crowds of living creatures, I rushed after him. Although, like Aang, this panda chugged away from me at a new speed. Something strange is going on in this Sherwood Forest.
I flew like Tarzan or a shinobi, jumping from branch to branch and accelerating myself with the wind, trying to catch up with the Avatar. Some macaques rushed towards me, apparently in the forest the spirits have normal vision, but the madness below does not. Or who the hell knows, honestly, I'm not a local guru, I don't have time to guess at all, I'm making sure I don't fly into a tree or hurt myself on a branch.
And at the same time, trying to catch up with the panda and Aang and at the same time not letting any animal that rushes at me so suicidally try a piece of me. What do they all want from me?
The terrain changed again, just as abruptly, as is customary here, and we found ourselves in some kind of swampy area. There was more water, the paws of normal animals and people should get stuck here and sometimes sag, the trees were covered with a crust of moss, oh and of course the smell of mustiness hit the nose. But the trees I needed were still present, along which I followed Aang.
We walked at this pace for about five to ten minutes, going deeper and deeper into the swamp. A panda and a boy stopped on it, near some kind of wooden product with a symbol, standing right in the middle of the forest, it happens. The same thing happened in the ordinary world around fish. Ha, here it is the door.
I wonder if these two worlds are somehow connected geographically? Because then I would go around the place of that canyon on the tenth road, even if they promise me three brides and five castles with Wi-Fi.
True, these gates most likely need to be activated somehow. Therefore, I decided not to attack, but to wait until the door opens and then... then try to attack the avatar again.
An excellent plan, and most importantly reliable, like a Swiss watch. Which has already sounded in my head several times and every time this asshole leaves. Well, that's why he is, of course, the Master of Air. Nimble as a rat squeezed in a corner, I would be the same if they were chasing me. And who the hell would catch, that's for sure, I'm sure.
And this one also has an ace in his pocket, he's an avatar, damn him. There is always a weapon of last chance, if you couldn't escape, so a suicidal attack and the avatar will help.
Meh. Now it might be more interesting if I immediately push him away from the exit and if his condition is not available here, which may well be true, then he will have to somehow get through me, and not me to attack him. So it's quite possible I'll finish here.
We didn't have to wait long, the panda opened its mouth and shot something into the arch and something glowing opened there. Why isn't it a door through which it's time to enter?
Time.
This time, absolutely without sounds, already from experience, I jumped, wanting to kick, using a huge wave of air at the avatar. It was strong, but he somehow felt the attack and jumped several tens of meters in a second.
Therefore, I walked straight into the water, knocking the ground quite a bit and leaving a decent-sized hole, like a crack. The air wave played its role.
- Who are you? Why are you attacking me? Are you a spirit? — Aang immediately began to ask questions.
But I achieved my goal. The arch was behind me, the avatar needs to go there.
Of course, I didn't answer him, I don't need a monkey uprising here again, I'll stand quietly and remain silent, the tea will guess that I'm not talkative.
- I'm an avatar, you know? — the guy stupidly stood in place and bombarded me with questions, without even thinking of approaching. He's as simple as a fucking stick, he'll just stand there stupidly asking questions for half an hour. I know, I know that you are an avatar, that's why I'm chasing you like that. Come on, dear, let's dance.
And I decided to hurry him up, making a small cato and sending several wind blades at Aang, which he broke by spinning his staff. And again, he didn't even think about attacking, he just looked at it like an unknown animal and came up with different options.
Okay, I'll go on the attack. The main thing is to control where the gate is.
A quick jump forward, almost without leaving the ground, the entire direction of the push to the side, to land near the author and begin to throw various blades at him.
Too late, one simple thought came to me. I have nothing with me. No rapier, no gloves, not even a hatchet, just me with air magic. Against the master of the air with his weapon. Zar-raza.
I realized this when I realized that with air, all I can do is throw it, changing the consistency a little. But Aang didn't even try to show off his attack reserves, he just dodged, bombarding me with questions and requests to stop.
Moreover, it was clear that this was not a very dangerous matter for him, the wind in his head most likely also plays a role, but he simply, sometimes sticking out his tongue, dodged my air. He feels it too well.
Give me my rapier or fire and it will be a hundred times harder for Aang, but air is his path, and here I still won't compete with him at all.
Okay, we can use this too. In the end, even if he attacks, I will still be able to dodge. The main thing is to understand in which direction he jumps each time and whether there is any chance of catching him doing it.
There is no way I can catch him with air, I am now weaker than him as an airbender, he feels almost all my manipulations, and what he does not feel at the moment of creation, he does not feel at the moment of attack.
-Are you an air spirit? - Aang continued to try to get to me with words, - why are you attacking me. Is this... because I abandoned my people when they needed me?
It sounded sad. Apparently the boy blamed himself for this more than once or twice. In vain, as for me, he wouldn't have made a difference there, they followed him, but let him dig in himself. That's actually good.
The truth is, when he resolves this conflict within himself, then he must grow a lot as an Air Mage...
Because of this thought, I even stumbled for a second during the fight, for which I hit him on the body with a stick, and given the increase in air, I flew a couple of meters, and then crashed into a local tree, which you can't break.
There is no time to think so deeply now. I need to somehow defeat the avatar and get out of here to improve my life, find May again. The groom should beat her... My goals for life are over. Well, okay, at least achieve these, and then think about others.
For example, I want to draw a picture of this world. To sketch the entire ass-pocalypse that is happening here, so that not only my ass will tremble in the future at the words "spiritual world."
But the idea was very interesting, I should remember it and then run it through in my head properly. At the same time, it seems so simple and logical that it's even strange why it didn't appear before. But then everything comes later.
All these thoughts flashed through my mind in a second while I was recovering from hitting an iron local tree.
The plan is simple, I need to somehow get the flame and catch the avatar with it. But I didn't know how to do this; to strike an elementary spark I needed iron and stone. Or how? There are a lot of rocks here and the idea is that there is a chance that I will strike a spark.
Grabbing one stone from under my feet, I ran towards the avatar and began to try to push him back. Well, from the outside it looked like it, because he just moved away and dodged, sometimes sending waves of air with his stick at dangerous moments.
At the same time, filling the surroundings with fiery air, I brought Aang with his back to a decent-sized stone, which was half buried in the ground. An ordinary Kamenyuka like that, if I didn't know that I was in the world of spirits, I would have thought that I was earthly. Unlike the trees and other surroundings, it did not give off something so incomprehensible.
The plan had gaping holes, but I couldn't come up with a better one. Now Aang will realize that it will not be possible to resolve the issue peacefully with me, and then I will already run and defend myself. From Air and Water, which he most likely mastered, at least to a good level.
- Well, that's enough, who are you?! - the avatar shouted, stopping near the stone.
"I am Kira," I answered, throwing stones from hand to stone with all available force, even accelerating with air.
Aang immediately began to twist the air, thinking that the stone was supposed to fly at him, but not fate. The idea worked and a spark was struck, followed by a light flash of blue flame around Aang, from which he was thrown back and severely scorched.
Ha, it's your turn to hit that fucking tree, you bald asshole.
And now I had access to a flame, because I did not let the fire go out. Now it should be easier.
Actually, I probably would have been right if I had not sent a wave of air at the avatar, just in case, when he was lying near the tree. I actually cut off part of his head; I actually cut off a good fifth of it.
But instead of brains and blood, some kind of radiance came out, preventing even traces of the wound from being seen, and the only eye lit up.
When the glow subsided a little, I shit a fair amount in my pants. I forgot that this is the spiritual world. Who is the avatar in the spirit world? Well, obviously someone or something. And now I see something, as if part of some huge woodlice or similar animal leaked out a little from the avatar's body and twitched slightly.
Fucking hell, does Aang even know what a shell is for some kind of flatworm? True, I have a subtle suspicion that a lot here depends stupidly on the desire of this woodlice herself. She wants to become a beautiful maiden and what can you say? In any case, the appearance is real.
When a wave of air flew at me and then a probe of water, I only thought about what next?
-Are you awake? was the first thing Aang heard when he opened his eyes. The memories after that mysterious spirit was introduced to him were absent and he did not know how he ended up in his body.
His head ached and his body was slightly sluggish, so only after a couple of seconds it dawned on the avatar that it wasn't Katara's female voice that asked him, and he was lying far from the source with the perfume. He then realized that he was tied very tightly and, shifting slightly, sat on his ass, staring at Zuko. It was dark in the cave and quite difficult to see, but the prince in a white robe was struggling out of the darkness.
"Yes, I woke up," Aang answered, exhaling at Zuko, thereby knocking him off his feet and flying out of the cave into the snow.
True, the avatar had no further plan, and a second later the prince came for him and picked him up by the collar and said:
- So you won't be able to escape!
- Appa! - Aang shouted without even realizing it when he saw his bison from behind the prince.
Then everything was, in principle, expected for the avatar, Katara at night, when there was solid water all around, defeated the exhausted Zuko, Sokka and the princess untied him, and he insisted on taking the prince with him. At the very least, he owes him his life, that's for sure.
Certainly
But right up to the city there was a feeling that he had forgotten something. But what?
True, he suddenly felt uneasy about this when everything around him turned red, and something in Aang's head hurt badly and seemed to say that there was trouble with the spirit of the Moon. Which he voiced to his comrades.
They arrived just in time, Zhao stood near the pond with the spirits and held one of them in a bag, preparing to strike with fire.
- Calmly! — he said, bringing his hand clenched into a fist closer to the bag.
- Zhao! No! - Aang said, throwing away his stick.
"My destiny is to destroy the Moon and the Water Tribe!" - he said.
— By destroying the Moon, you will harm not only the Water Tribe. You will hurt everyone! Including yourself. Without the moon, everything will be out of balance, you have no idea what kind of chaos will reign in the world," Aang tried to persuade him.
"He's right, Zhao," the man came out, throwing back his hood and revealing the face of the Prince of the Fire Nation.
- General Iroh? - the admiral raised one eyebrow, - well... your betrayal does not surprise me.
- I am not a traitor to Zhao. The Fire Nation also needs the moon. We all depend on balance," he said, and immediately anger appeared on his face, which no one had seen before from such a kind old man, "no matter what you do to this spirit, I will repay you tenfold!" Let him go!
Aang took a quiet breath as Zhao untied the bag and released the spirit. Thank the spirits, Zhao has come to his senses... But at that same moment his heart skipped a beat and froze, because the admiral raised his hand to strike and fired a flame right at the fish in the pond.
The whole world turned gray and it seems that Zhao was even frightened of his action, judging by his face and the way he immediately turned around and ran somewhere.
Aang, as if through a layer of cotton wool, heard and saw how Iroh was dealing with Zhao's personal guard, his gaze was riveted on the fish and the wound on its side.
The solution seemed to gently knock on my head. And Aang really liked the option that the spirits put into his head. Time to take revenge.
Zuko, looking at this whole scene, thought of only one thing. How tired he was. He had long since woken up, and as soon as the avatar's team got off the appa, he calmly got out of the ropes, but that wasn't the reason why the thought settled in his head.
All these points are clear to him. There was not even any resentment from the fact that Katara defeated him, in such a state and with such advantages in the form of night and water around, the opposite would have been strange. It's a pity that it came to the prince too late.
More annoying is the fact that Kira remained in the cave. And before Katara knocked him out, he managed to notice some slight red light coming from the cave. And my thoughts during the flight were occupied only with this. What could be glowing there? Kira even has blue flames.
In any case, he stopped caring about this when he saw what was happening to Aang and how he was sucked into the water, and then a huge wave, somewhere glowing with luminescence, went in the direction of the fleet that had already entered the city.
"It seems we won't take the North Pole today," a thought flashed through Zuko's head.
It was only when the wave was halfway along the path leading from the lake to the exit of the gorge, where all this was happening, that someone jumped straight onto one of the banks from above.
Zuko blinked at the height. But then I understood everything when the same strange man jumped again.
A click reached the prince's ears and blue flames poured from the man's feet, which allowed him to overtake the wave with Aang and fly somewhere closer to the fleet.
And then a huge fish of some kind began to form from the water with Aang inside. It only now dawned on Zuko's brain that if this fish avatar now floods the entire fleet present here, then the new Fire Nation will not be able to form very soon. And if you remember how many people were gathered here, including land general Iroh and Kira, it seems that losing by losing EVERYTHING is impossible now.
Therefore, Zuko froze, watching as huge waves of blue flames flew into this monster, which almost unsuccessfully crashed into the water over and over again, but Kira, and who else could it be, did not subside, continuing to attack and attack.
However, Zuko could hardly help Kira in this matter now, but he could easily help with inspector work. Traitors must be cleaned out.
And Zhao is the worst traitor. To pull off this operation, he went over his head and ended up doing things that will be remembered for a very long time, in this he is right.
But in a very, very bad way. There is hardly a single person who will miss Zhao.
***
It turned out to be not so easy to dodge a shot down avatar with an ensuing blessing or whatever the fuck it is. And to be more precise, it's not at all easy.
Water and air are a dangerous combination, and the elements are somehow always together, bitch, dangerous, and in the end I had to twist it like it was in a frying pan. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold the flame and spin, so I was left with air again.
The situation was stalemate, or rather close to checkmate. Mine, fuck! I had absolutely no idea what to do and ended up spinning as best I could, sometimes sending waves of air that this something didn't even notice.
Lord, like some kind of parasite brrrr. After all this, should I cut myself, find out if some kind of crap lives inside me?
It doesn't feel like it, but who knows.
Some sad thoughts before his supposed death. Or how? What will happen if I die here? Like in the matrix? Neo, if you die inside the matrix, you die outside. Or maybe I'll be lucky and just return to my body?
It's hard to believe, to be honest. That's why I was spinning around like I was in a frying pan. I was thinking about what to do next. I can hardly do anything against this monster, running away is also not a very good option, how will I return home if not through this portal?
But between dying and getting lost with the opportunity to survive later, I still chose the second.
Therefore, after waiting for a probe of water and several windy walls to fly at me once again, I dodged all this, jumped out onto some more or less solid surface without water and let a lot of wind down.
In order to cause a decent-sized dusty curtain from which I jumped exactly in the opposite direction from the avatar. Oh, how hard I ran - I can't express in words, and how much air I lost...
I stopped only when the location had already changed and I ran out of the swampy area somewhere into the forest. Quite dense with a large number of different tall trees, the crowns of which seemed to completely cut me off from sunlight.
It was possible to see something in this forest only due to the rarely breaking rays of the sun and some glowing insects. Approaching one of the trees, I literally fell under it, because I had spent so much energy. How fast I ran, I don't know. But there seemed to be no pursuit.
After ten minutes of sitting, I realized that I was right. I really hope that the avatar has already left and now I can look for a way out.
True... but where should we run?
No, at first I thought I knew, because I specifically remembered the direction, but after I ran for about ten minutes in this direction, I realized that somehow it didn't fit. And the trees seem... familiar.
No, it's definitely crazy to look for familiar trees in a forest full of these trees.
But I decided to play it safe and made a rather visible mark on the ground in the form of a cross. And this time I ran much slower, carefully watching where I was going so that it wouldn't turn out that I was walking in circles. When a couple of minutes later I went to my cross, I sighed heavily and walked, literally on foot, marking the next goal just as I was taught.
You take, look in front of you in the direction where you want to go, put marks, the tree from which you are going and to which you are going, for example, you approach that tree and look at the direction and line it up exactly the same, at least approximately, to the next point.
After twenty minutes of such shenanigans, I returned to the cross. Fuck yes. Class. World of benevolent spirits!
I wandered around for a good few hours, constantly bumping into my own mark. After spitting once, I began to mark every five meters I walked. And yes, I still returned to the same mark. Devilry and magic.
Then I decided not to follow the direction from which I came and went strictly perpendicular, immediately leaving marks. To my surprise, after ten minutes I did not return to the cross, and the location had clearly changed.
Apparently the spirit that caught me in this trap clearly wanted me to go in the direction it wanted. Okay, let's play by his rules, there's nothing to do anyway.
After another ten minutes I came to some kind of fucking oasis. The trees expressed themselves in such an interesting way and sprouted roots and branches that they formed some kind of dome-shaped space under them. There was some kind of water source and a small bank made of clay or something like that.
Well, at least it's not just another cave, after that scolopendra I have a fear of confined spaces.
Well, judging by the fact that even from this place I can see my marks around ten to a hundred meters, they clearly led me here. I wonder if the spirit got very angry when I deliberately did not notice this place for a couple of minutes?
Is it generally a normal desire to piss off the spirit? I think no. But what can I do, I don't like to play by rules I don't understand.
Somehow they didn't leave me further instructions either, so when I entered this space I just sat down on the shore and stared into the water. I know, it's not the best solution, you never know how deep this reservoir is, three meters by two, but it seemed like the bottom could be made out even in the middle. So I'll sit and wait.
Five minutes later, when I was about to turn around and leave and send various spirits back to where they came from, a fish suddenly appeared in the pond.
A white one with a dot on its forehead, exactly like the one that swam in the pond at the Pole.
The first thing I heard in a whisper in my head was the word "finally," followed by other words:
- Greetings Akimaru!
"Yeah, hello," I said, looking at the fish.
"I am the god of the Ocean and the Moon," the fish woman introduced herself, "and my earthly container was just almost killed."
"Uh-huh... bad," but what else could I say.
"And I know for sure that my sister will want to take revenge on people for this," the spirit continued to admonish, "most likely using the avatar as a container."
- A-yeah.
- Do you know any other words at all?! — the voice suddenly stopped being mysterious, but became quite irritated, but immediately cleared its throat and continued, "this is an imbalance and she will regret it later." You must stop her and save your people!
- Yeah, - did I say that I'm annoyed by playing not according to my rules? - and what do you suggest? I can't even get out of here, let alone confront an avatar controlled by a spirit.
"I can help you get out and win," said the spirit, "for this we need to merge, just like the avatar and my sister."
- Uh, no. I don't want the same woodlice to live inside me as in Aang," I answered jokingly, thinking about this in my head and looking for some other options, "my insides are dear to me as a memory."
- What? You... - it sounded again in an ordinary voice, however, again correcting itself - - this will not happen. You are not an avatar, I would rather be a spirit behind your shoulder, we will not be able to merge... so much. Even though you're very close to me.
- So, let's draw a line, you want to merge so that I can make an avatar in the ordinary world, and then what?
"And then I will return back to the lake, and you will go receive rewards for such an achievement as saving the fleet," the spirit simply answered, "the avatar still cannot be killed."
- Why is this?
"He's an avatar," if I had seen the interlocutor's face, he would have clearly rolled his eyes, "an avatar of Ravva, a spirit, among other things, including good luck." You won't be able to catch the avatar, attack him on the sly, or win against him at gambling. You can only win head-on in a fair battle, otherwise the luck of the spirit will work for him.
"Oh, wow," my hands even dropped. How can I defeat this cheater? Fucking forehead to forehead.
"Uh-huh, that's not the right word," the spirit said again, breaking out of character, slightly grumpily for my taste, "so do you agree?"
- Do I have a choice? - I sighed, - only slowly, this is still my first time..
"Joker," the voice said dryly, "I knew your answer, so we already merged." Otherwise, why do you think you hear my voice?
"Hey, this is from us..." I wanted to outrage, but I didn't have time, a second of disorientation set in and again the familiar feeling of flying somewhere, although this time there was a subtle feeling as if I had been grabbed and was being led directly.
Well... oh well. Let's see how much my strength changes from this.
The first thing I felt when I woke up was my rapier on my belt. When you constantly carry it with you for so long, without it you feel not just naked, but standing like a cancer in the shower prison.
All this time in the world of spirits I felt like this and, of course, the first thing I did when I woke up was feel comfortable and good.
And only then did it dawn on me that I was in some kind of cave, at least not tied up and there was no one nearby. Judging by the smoldering fire, there was someone next to me, it's not difficult to assume that it was either Zuko or the avatar-team.
When I went outside, let's call it that, I discovered some slight traces of a battle. Great, how do I get to the battlefield itself?
In response, I seemed to sense somewhere on the edge of my brain where the avatar was. Yeah, the spirit of Water and Night, the answer is clear, let's run. It was only when I used air magic that I was stunned. I have never felt such lightness even in the spirit world.
Therefore, only after I tried to run, I realized that I simply did not need the ground, and within a second I was easily carrying myself with air at great speed in the direction I needed.
I had already forgotten how much I really like flying. And now I felt it again. Oh, how good it is to fly!
And what a speed! I reached the settlement literally a couple of minutes later, when it felt like it would take me a good half hour to run there at my speed! It would most likely take a bison an hour and a half to travel one way.
I made it just in time as never before, when the environment that had previously been gray, apparently due to the death of the container of the spirit that is now in me, became sharply blue. And when I jumped down to the sanctuary where Aang was supposed to be, I just saw a huge wave, where, judging by the sensations, the avatar was.
The plan was formed as quickly as ever and I ran towards the flagship ship, which was already inside the city. From there it will be best to see the avatar and show people who decided here - it will come in handy.
A huge humanoid catfish creature formed from the water and immediately walked towards me. Let's start with a light warm-up? Huge balls and jets of my blue flame immediately flew at the creature, which also intensified, because I was also able to produce noticeably more of the air needed to ignite.
Hmm, all that remains is to find out and figure out how I should damage clean water with fire?
***
It seems this damn thing didn't like the fact that I was doing magic. And waves of luminous water flew at me. From which I began to jump from one ship to another. Unfortunately, those ships from which I jumped off were flooded, and already three ships sank and I realized that this could not continue. It's pointless point zero, and the fleet is thinning out.
So, what do I need to do to defeat this monster? Knock out Aang. What needs to be done for this? That's right - get to it through this thickness of water.
For this I have air, and in order to neutralize Aang himself without the suspicion of everyone around, fire will fly in my direction. Good plan? Excellent if I understand correctly.
You really need to get closer.
Disguising my jumps with flashes of flame, because for simple physics, this is too powerful acrobatics, I began to get to the building that was as close as possible to this scary man and at the same time quite high.
At the same time, dodging decent-sized clots of water that fly at me. This time there were no waves, but just decent-sized balls with luminescent algae inside, which made my direct path look like a zigzag.
This building, apparently, was some kind of capitol, or a hospital... in general, something of that kind, and it was specially made high so that it could be seen from afar.
Maybe. Because only local residents seem to live here, and they most likely know the location of all the important buildings like the back of their hand; after all, it's not such a large area that you won't be able to learn what and where in a lifetime.
After several minutes of wobbling, I finally jumped to the right building. I had exactly five seconds while the avatar took aim and threw water. During this time I must hit, otherwise they will definitely hit me.
The beating of the heart in the ears has become more distinct, apparently the brain has released more adrenaline into the body, dodging, running and using flames at the same time is not as easy as it might seem, or maybe I'm just really scared by this colossus? I don't know. Although there is enough wind in my head that I do not feel fear, at least not obviously.
I take a deep breath, the pounding in my ears subsides a little, letting in the surrounding sounds, I do a small cato ending with a blow with my hand from which a very strong wave of air flew, stronger than ever before, I'm sure this could even break through the wall of Basingse, followed by a click and a blue stream of flame flies, so huge and impressive. I even burned a little from the heat.
As if in slow motion, I watched as the air literally broke through a layer of water to the avatar, I saw how Aang's eyes widened and then a wave of flame flew there and beyond the inside of the monster was no longer visible, everything was filled with fire and smoke.
As before our eyes, a huge colossus begins to fall with simple water, losing its shape, and the avatar flies out from behind, unconscious. Most likely, the fire did not cause him any irreparable damage; he quickly put up barriers, but the shock wave hit him with such force that he passed out. It's not worth betting that he will die from a fall either, air magic is such a thing, it won't let you die from it.
The world has lost its bluish tint.
Returning back to the dark colors of the night, not illuminated by the spirit of the moon.
Right now I realized that I had won. And right on the roof of this building there was a donkey. It's a pity I don't have anything hot with me. I wish I had a drink right now and go to sleep.
Somehow this race, starting with climbing underwater with Zuko and ending with this battle, tired me. It would be strange if not, that's right.
By the way, about my arrival. The spirit is still in me.
"Hey, you hear, it's time to get away from me and move back into the fish," I said to my invisible travel companion.
- Certainly. Thank you for this! — a mysterious voice sounded in my head, "and you don't have to say it out loud, I would have heard you anyway," the spirit finished in a grumpy voice.
I immediately felt how I became weaker, the same as before contact with the spirit, apparently he left. I really didn't get any sensations from this, I expected that I would feel at least discomfort. My theory was confirmed by the fact that the moonlight returned a couple of seconds later.
He visited me and left without even saying goodbye! All men are assholes! He was the first.
Phew. If I'm drawn to stupid jokes, even if they're only in my head, it makes me feel better.
What is it - they won, it turns out?
Damn.
It turned out that Zhao "disappeared during the battle," or rather, he was most likely extinguished by Iroh or Zuko was settling scores. It turns out that we completed the capture of the North Pole under my command and now I have to receive too many laurels or, on the contrary, cones for all the mistakes, so to speak.
True, the plan here is simple, I will take the laurels for myself, and blame the mistakes on Zhao. But it's not a fact that it will work.
The Avatar flew away safely after the battle, it's a pity that I was unable to track him down. Many surviving warriors of the Water Tribe, under the command of the leader, went to partisans. And no one knows what to do with them. Chasing waterbenders and locals through snowy forests and mountains... the worst possible plan.
It's good that this is not my headache. My job is simple - to capture, the rest is up to the command. That's why I sent the falcon to General Lee. Let him think. In the meantime, I'm sorting out current affairs, and at the same time finding out what's going on here.
The most interesting thing for me is technology and magic. It just so happens that the northerners have lived separately throughout almost all of history. And maybe, maybe there's something interesting here.
That's why I went to watch, but first of all, magic!
Walking freely through the streets of the city, I felt a little uneasy. I didn't show this, of course, but I just imagined what it would be like to the locals. Of course, in the future their life will clearly become no worse, and maybe even better. But that's in the future, but now unfriendly soldiers are snooping around, many acquaintances, and even relatives, are snooping around the forests, or even killed.
What saves us is that there is iron discipline in the army and that it is mixed. How does the second one help? Girls, with some exceptions, do not allow rape. And just how can I say this... the majority of the army is sexually satisfied. Both the female and male parts, of course, by mutual consent.
But you still won't envy the locals. Brrr.
Well, they have no one to blame but their leader. I sat waiting for something. And what? Did you hope that they would forget about the pole? Oh well.
In any case, the first thing I did was to find out about the local magic used to heal. Why only water? How does water help heal? No, of course some associations pop up, such as there is a lot of water in the human body and so on, but how does this help to treat?
Having sat on the sidelines, of course - without a mask, now they only recognize me by it, whether they are their own, who did not know me before, or strangers, who saw only the mysterious fire magician in a terrible mask, who defeated the spirit, and began to observe.
Local doctors were quickly harnessed to treat everyone. They gritted their teeth, but let's say the reward and the penalty, the legendary carrot and stick, put them in a position when necessary. So I looked. Well, they move their hands wrapped in water, so what? And as it turned out, a lot of things, some wounds are beginning to heal before our eyes.
In general, after talking with the local population, I came to the conclusion that magic, of course, is not a panacea, but also not a brilliant solution. It treats quite well this way, especially external injuries; with some diseases it's already quite good even worse. You even have to use local herbs. And judging by the sensations, they have almost reached the antibiotic. They use mold quite well, but I don't know enough about medicine to understand whether what they call a healing herbal elixir is already an antibiotic or is it just a mess? In any case, medicine here is at a wow level.
Even, probably, in some ways better than ours. The Fire Nation quite successfully treats all sorts of infections such as colds and so on, and some physical injuries, here are the classics, fixation, suturing a bandage, and so on, but here with external wounds the conversation is short, some creature bit him, broke his arm, You come for two hours and they treat you, after two days you have no scar or pain. A week later I'm already as healthy as an ox.
I was pleased with this purchase. Very. All that remains is for my squad to knock out some medicine for themselves.
In general, there are a lot of different, albeit primitive, but quite interesting ideas here, in fact. All that remains is to formalize it all, write it down and send it to the mechanic, so he can figure out what will be useful.
Well, of course, I'm speaking roughly. In fact, it will not take a single month, and I hope it won't be me doing it.
I established the most basic order, even if I had almost no experience, but I was based on the same things on which I once built order in the settlement after the arrival of my poor fellows.
By the way, thank the gods, the poor fellows are all safe. True, now they look at me like I'm a fucking god. Both old and new. Yes, but the rest of the army is not far behind, they are wondering whether I am a spirit of fire trapped in a human body or simply the illegitimate son of the Fire Lord, who trained me since childhood.
Well, the attention flatters me. Moreover, I can easily get away from him by taking off my mask and then no one knows me, no one will recognize me and I can walk around calmly, poking my nose into things that aren't my own.
It also helps a lot in solving problems. As soon as I turn my mask in someone's direction, the speaker's speech apparatus suddenly fails. Respect, in short.
I also had a rather unusual dialogue with one of the water workers. Master Pakku turned out to be one of the members of the white Lotus.
And we sat and played, drinking tea brewed by Iroh, who was also present there. Well, what can I say about the old man, in general, he is dissatisfied when they discussed and chose me to minimize casualties, as the old man did not plan for this to touch his edge so quickly.
In principle, the locals have this way of thinking, I noticed that I don't know anything from my house on the edge. The world and they are separate in the head.
But in any case, beyond this grumbling, he is pleased that, by and large, little blood was shed and this event cannot be called a tragedy.
It's a cynical thing to say, but he's old enough, he's seen so much in his time that for him it's just such an event. It happened and it happened. The main thing is that water workers as a nation are alive and everything will be fine in the future.
I assured him of this. Now this is a colony of the Fire Nation, which means it's my patrimony. I'll sail here to check, I'll give such pussies, God forbid they ruin the doctors.
With such help, winning a war, even God forbid with a trained avatar, is already possible. If a soldier with a broken arm returns to duty in two weeks, well, a month, and not in six months or even retires, can you imagine in percentage terms what these figures are?
The main thing is to properly convey this idea to your superiors.
In any case, we also knocked out Pakku so that he could be pacified among his own people. He was almost in charge here. It's clear that there is a leader, but here, as in tribes, the leader is the leader, and even he listens to the wise elders.
Although here it's more like the wise aksakals are just a bastard to manage everything and everyone and they only decide the really important issues, and push everyday matters onto the leader. That's why they are wise.
He promised to talk and push the right thoughts, and in turn demanded a normal relationship from us. Well, that's what we promised, I said.
The dialogue was mainly conducted by me and Paku, Iroh on the side only wisely drank tea and nodded wisely. That's right, twice wise. The guy knows how to make the right face when necessary. Also a kind of wise elder, no matter what. You can't drink experience in tea.
And then I left, leaving two old men to grind the bones for the younger generation, that is, me.
Why me? Well, for anyone else, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong in their understanding. Or maybe just drink tea and talk about the affairs of the order. Who knows these old people. My job is simple.
All that remains is to wait for instructions from the general or from the Lord himself and you can go back to the warriors. There's still a lot of work to be done there.
I survived this event and thank God.
***
A couple of days later I received an order from General Lee. People are already sailing here and will begin to establish a peaceful life. They call me to the capital and expect me to arrive as quickly as possible. It was clear between the lines that there were no complaints against me, but the authorities would like to hear my report. Like, how it was, what it was. As I understand it, the outside version of events has reached everyone who needs it. Therefore, everyone already knows how and what I did.
Well, so much the better, you don't have to think about how to tell everything so that they understand that I'm great, without boasting. In general, after a couple of days, the right people arrived, and my poor fellows and I loaded onto the ship and were off.
True, before this I talked very thoroughly with the visitors. Like, you can't offend the locals. Considering that Iroh will still be here for some time, and Master Pakku, looking at me with narrowed eyes, said that he would write, I'm not particularly worried. Everything should be fine, and people are generals, after all.
It's a pity that the ship was not led by my old friend Uli Maurer, but by some other incomprehensible captain. It's true that Uli is old, not because we've been friends for a long time, but simply because of our age. Although he is not that old, I'm just used to teasing him with this so much that I continue even in my head.
The journey to the capital passed without complications.
"Major Aki," those greeting me saluted, "come with us, everything is ready for the award ceremony."
Those bitches, they didn't even give me a proper rest after the journey. Well, what can you do, you have to go.
And now I'm somewhere in the Fire Lord's castle, at a celebration of life. Or more precisely, a celebration of a great victory, where the aristocracy has gathered in the main hall, some music with a hint of classics is playing, and there are tables with various snacks and dishes. Most of the local high society were grouped into groups and I somehow found myself out of work.
In any case, according to the general, we must wait for the Fire Lord to speak and then we can carefully cut off.
The only bad thing is that you have to do everything without a mask, according to basic rules of decency. Oh, how I don't like her anymore, she's like family to me. But what can you do?
The Fire Lord sat on his fiery throne and looked at all this, sometimes drinking something. But then a man came out onto the stage next to the Fire Lord and began to speak. Everyone in the room immediately fell silent and focused their attention on him.
I ignored the pretentious introduction - it's not my thing, I was just waiting for my turn, a medal on my chest and goodbye, but I felt something was wrong even at the beginning of his "introduction" of me.
"Inspector Aki," he called me over and had to go out, "you justified the hopes placed on you and valiantly inspected the colonies of Fire..." then there were a good few minutes of listing my merits and I understood that it seemed that this was not a medal on the chest, but complete bondage shining . They want to use me for something, -... You defeated the Ocean Spirit! - there was applause - and they captured the North Pole!
And then the Fire Lord himself stood up and came out closer to me. Damn it, oh fuck, something will happen now.
"You have proven your valor, fearlessness and loyalty!" — the Lord of Fire said loudly and clearly, "And therefore, for your merits, I name you the Dragon of the North!" Wear this title with honor and dignity! — the applause in the hall was like a cannon firing, the applause was so loud, "And I also trust you with the greatest treasure of our people!" From this day on, you are appointed advisor and guardian of my daughter, Princess Azula! Coming soon to the Earth Kingdom!
Fuck-I-I-I-I-yat. Well, fuck hedgehogs in the ass.
The official part of the presentation was over and they explained to me in more military language what this means. Now I'm a colonel. The general was squeezed, but Colonel Aki Dragon of the North already sounds better than the major.
Then they appoint a chief among my nukers and put him in my place, and I quite successfully say goodbye to them. They have their job, I have mine. Now, I will be assigned to the princess and her soldiers with whom I will have to work. At the same time, I'm sort of a colonel, but for Azula's guard I'm a dick from the mountain and in fact, I can't command them without the princess's approval.
That is, it doesn't work that if the princess didn't object, then she approves by default, she must literally repeat and approve my order.
This is nonsense.
But most of all, of course, I was shocked by the event that happened while I was leaving. I was walking, I mean, somewhere to rest and think about what life is and why we are actors in it, in general I was planning to go drink with my poor fellows, when they grabbed me and grabbed me by the forearm and took me to some circle.
- And this is my son! Akimaru! - said the voice that was dragging me. Just beating, what is that, my dad?
- Oooh, your son is the Dragon of the North...
- Wow…
Various exclamations poured out. No, well, I'm sick of this attitude.
"You're mistaken," I pulled my hand away, "my name is Aki." Touch me again without warning, I'll break your arm.
"Shut up, puppy," Jiro leaned over and put his hand on his shoulders, hissing in my ear, "Daisy was imprisoned because of you, and you're still tall here... A-ah-ah."
"I told you, I'll break my arm," I chuckled, looking at how my father was lying and groaning in pain, "you were mistaken." Goodbye.
Then my uncle and his son materialized near me.
"Akimaru, you go home and we'll talk," said Ji Sr. Pronouncing this in such an intonation that, in theory, should not cause any controversy.
"My name is Aki," I came close to my uncle and looked straight into his eyes, "and you order the Dragon of the North?" Do you have enough authority for this? And allies?
He looked away. And I decided to finish it off by moving closer to my ear so that no one would hear.
"But there was no point in selling me like a cow." Now I would elevate your family," I hissed. Old grievances are like that - but now, if I hear that you are taking advantage of my position and still count me among your family, I will challenge Agni Kai to death. Considering that I defeated the Ocean Spirit, you need to think about whether you want to try your hand or not.
With these words, I left to receive military instruction.
As I later found out, my family quite quickly, from the elder's story, clicked that Kira, about whom stories were beginning to circulate, was their runaway and, as they thought, their youngest, Akimaru, had disappeared. And they began to carefully promote this idea. So that at least the closest circle around them can be sure of this.
And they succeeded. Their whole plan was foiled by the fact that I was introduced by the Fire Lord in front of everyone and they needed to show off with me. And in their heads they have the puzzle of the Dragon of the North, and from now on I will mention this title constantly, after all, there is only one like me and that prince of the Fire Nation, and the child they remember me with didn't work out for them, exactly until the moment when I showed himself.
Apparently they thought that everything would be simple, they would look at me gloomily as in childhood and drive me to their room. Haha. It worked even then, only because I had to live somewhere.
In any case, I went to the barracks to see my poor fellows and get into the trash. It turned out that they were already in some local bars and I went right after them. In the tavern where I entered, drinking, partying and even a fight were already in full swing.
Great, just what you need!
- Wake up, you fucking drunk, you'll be late! — someone's rough but slightly familiar voice woke me up. Which made me open my eyes. Hmm, well, I got to the hotel, that's a plus. Some girl in my bed is... well, give or take, depending on how you look at it. It's true that there was no one else and who was screaming then? Fucking squirrel. We've arrived.
In any case, having quickly bathed and brought himself into decent appearance, he began to get dressed. It's good that we had all the items of clothing with us. Having assessed myself in the mirror and realizing that I looked quite presentable, I went to the ship.
In the right dock at number thirteen, yes, I know, but I don't believe it, there was the ship I needed. Some vague suspicions crept into my mind as I approached it, a painfully familiar ship. But when I saw one mustachioed captain, who seemed to be waiting for me, I finally recognized the vessel.
This is none other than "Clover" under the control of Uli Maurer. After greeting with a firm handshake, we went to discuss the ass called Princess Azula. And somewhere at this point I became concerned with one very simple problem. Communicating with someone respectfully is not my thing. Whether with the general or with other ranks, I communicated simply and could afford it, but this is a different case.
- Listen, Uli, we need to meet the princess somehow? Is it okay to say hello there and chat? - I asked a question.
"Well... yes, you should give a proper welcome speech," nodded a slightly puzzled Uli.
- Help me out, help me write a speech, huh? — I asked, "I'm having a lot of trouble with this."
- Oh... well, go ahead and write it down: "Princess Azula, welcome aboard." It is an honor to welcome you..."
Well, I wrote down what to do. And then he went to teach, standing in the fresh air. And everything would have been fine, but somehow the speech was going badly, well, I couldn't remember exactly what to say.
"Princess Azula, welcome aboard." It's an honor to meet you..." I said to myself.
"... welcome you..." said a voice in my head.
"Yeah, thank you," I even nodded, "so here it is: "welcome you to the ship..."." Who the fuck are you? - it finally dawned on me.
"I'm your conscience," said a voice in your head, "ha-ha, just kidding, hello Akimaru, let's meet again, my name is Vatu." And by amazing coincidence, we have the same goal.