At the ample age of four, I fell down from the stairs of the orphanage I lived in, courtesy of one of the older orphans who hated my guts simply because I had the characteristics of a Fire Nation citizen.
As my head slammed onto the ground with a sickening thud, in that instant, memories of a past life surged out from a shell hidden deep within my mind, exploding outwards as information blasted through my cracked skull.
I came to after three days of being in a coma with the memories of an older me, though the memories were in fragments. All I knew about this past life was that the world was much more advanced than my current one and that I was in some sort of entertainment show, like a circus but "digitally."
... The fragments of memories were scarce at best. It's like reading a scroll that had its start and end ripped out, only leaving pieces of information to find and place, but what I do know for certain now is that in the next decade, the Avatar will return and stop the Hundred Year War... I think.
The memories didn't show the finale, but I hoped that he won. Fire Lord Ozai was an ass. The tariffs and rules that he imposed on non-Fire Nation citizens were just brutal. A blanket 50% outright and an additional 30% based on the price of Fire Nation produce? Crazy.
And I needed to get ready.
So, the game plan is simple.
First, recover and train.
Two, learn how to Bend.
Three, run away from Gaoling as fast as I can. I would prefer to run to the Air Temples, as no one in their right mind would remain there after the Fire Nation "cleansed" them.
... What? I am being practical right now. I don't have the survival instincts of a Friday the 13th side character, thank you very much. No idea what that meant, but it felt right to use that reference.
The Earth Kingdom is going to fall no matter what, from what the memories of Zero, I'll call my past self that, had shown. Omashu, one of the few bastions in the world where King Bumi resides, would fall into the hands of the Fire Nation.
King Bumi, THE greatest Earth Bender in the world, would lose his city. I am not going to be subjected to Fire Nation cruelty; I've heard what they do to people in the other nations.
So, yeah. Reasoning complete. I was getting the hell out of the Earth Kingdom!
... Is what I'd have liked to happen a few months ago, but let's go back to the start, where my recordings first began, Year 89 AG to be exact. From what Mr. Iroh explained, the exact year would provide a better reading experience for the readers to visualize the timeline better.
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It is the 13th of May, Year 89 AG; I liked keeping track of the time and date, and I had officially been training for two whole years... Well, as much as I'd have liked to have trained. At this stage in time, my body's fat had disappeared, though there were no visible muscles that were out of proportion.
It was in line with my expectations, but I wished I had more resources to train up my body for Bending. At this point, my physical prowess was twice as much as before I started, but my current state is just too weak to practice Bending.
Two weeks ago, I finally sought after a renowned dojo in the middle sectors of Gaoling with all the coins that I had, but the dojo rejected me.
There were multiple reasons behind that decision, one majorly being my body type. It was frail and scrawny due to the lack of dieting and food options that the orphanage could muster up with its tight budget.
And the second major factor was... I went to an Earth Bending dojo to train how to Bend, but after testing my Chi typing, I was instantly kicked out when they realized that I was a Fire Bender.
They had the gall to spread the fact out to the lower sections of the city as well, if my looks weren't enough to incur hatred. Ugh, this was a pain.
But the Chi testing that the dojo held had granted me with a boon! I can now sense my own Chi within my body! I take whatever I can take!
Every living being has Chi, even plants. But the energy is not accessible to normal people. However, some citizens of the four nations have the potential to tap into the Chi within their bodies and use it to Bend the elements. That is the basis of Bending.
As for how it felt... To the common people who would read this journal in the future (if I even publish this; scroll paper is expensive), Chi was this residual heat within one's body that flows around freely in a circulation, with most of it concentrated in the stomach area.
Benders, like myself, have this natural innate ability to manipulate the Chi in their body. And by shaping their Chi into various forms and sizes, they can, well, Bend the elements.
With this gift that fell right into my hands, I dove deep into training on how to manipulate the Chi in my body. It took me a few days to learn how, and another few more days to consistently pull and push my Chi around.
Then, I tried Fire Bending. Of course, I didn't train it in the orphanage or in the city either. I didn't want the people to actually realize that the rumors surrounding me were true, so I went out of my way and found myself a nice clearing for me to practice Bending fire.
The first attempt was... horrible, to say the least. Turns out, I was not immune to fire!
That delayed me for a good four days before the light first-degree wounds healed (looks like Zero's world had degrees of how bad a burn is, very convenient). I also found out that a Bender had a faster rate of healing compared to a normal person. Perhaps it was due to the increase in circulation of Chi? I needed to do more research on the topic.
The following attempts weren't that promising either, but it was a start! But you might wonder how I was able to Bend when I didn't even have anyone teaching.
I just punched the air and let my Chi explode outwards from my fist.
DO NOT DO THAT, BY THE WAY! IT WOULD CAUSE AN EXPLOSION DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF YOUR FIST. I learned that the hard way.
As a Fire Bender, the first lesson that you learn when Fire Bending is to coat your whole body with Chi as to not harm yourself with your own fire-converted Chi. Then, once you were experienced enough, you would layer another coating of Chi so as to avoid being harmed by other Fire Bender's flames.
It took me three tries, spanning across a whole week due to waiting for my wounds to heal, when I made this discovery. Combining it with my meager Fire Bending skills, I was able to ignite a small ember by the punch of my fist.
That made my day so much that I splurged on a nice lunch meal.
My happy mood, however, would soon be replaced, as a day later, one of the sister matrons of the orphanage dropped a bomb.
"Dear Renji, congratulations are in order!" The lady whispered with excitement. From her tone, she was hoping to keep this a secret. I tilted my head after I politely placed down my spoonful of porridge and asked.
"Sister, what do you mean?"
She clasps her hands. "Well, the head matron is keeping it under wraps, but apparently the Beifongs have ordered for a strong child roughly four to six years of age to be selected for service into their household, and you've been chosen by our head matron!"
... Huh.
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A/N: Currently, I have 6 Chapters of this fic as of writing this Author Note, I'll be posting 2 every week until it's caught up to Patre0n. Then, it'll be a chapter a week for this fic.
NEXT UPDATE: Take a Deep Breath, Deep Breath, The Butler Who Can Bend Fire (14 Jan, Wednesday)
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