Chapter 88: Spirit Tree

Hello, sorry that I didn't upload a chapter last week. But I didn't want to cut this chapter into pieces and its a bit longer than usual. (3,7k words)

Author Note end.

Atlas, Mi, and Bro were meditating silently on the Banyan-Grove Tree. The only sound came from some birds that flew by occasionally. It took Atlas only a minute to get into a calm state of mind. He had meditated almost every day since he was born in this world, and while most of it was used to practice Occlumency and Legilimency and, of course, talking with Hermione, he also liked the tranquility when meditating. It enabled him to get a better understanding of the chi coursing through his body and the progress he had made over the years. His chi paths, which were once underdeveloped, tiny, and obstructed, were now comparable to those of a regular 12-year-old. Everything that had been blocking his chi was slowly flushed out due to his exercises, and the tiny channels were strengthened from regularly pushing them to the limit. The only thing that remained a little lacking was his chi regeneration. While others took a few hours to be completely full again, he needed almost a whole day. He made up for that deficit with his incredible control, but a battle of endurance was still one of his major weaknesses.As he focused on the chi flow in his body, as he was used to, his senses slowly expanded outside of his body. Since all chi was connected, the chi inside his body and the chi outside of him were also connected. However, unlike the usual sensation of chi flowing around him like a small breeze, sensing the chi on the Banyan-Grove Tree was like sitting underwater. The sensation was almost oppressive, but also enlightening. When Atlas was normally able to feel the water through his chi a few meters away, it felt like the dense chi was connecting him to the water at the bottom of the hundreds of meters tall tree. It was as if someone had turned the light on. He could see so much farther and clearer than before, and with each second, his vision was expanding. It felt as if his senses were guided by something. Out of nowhere, despite his eyes being closed, he saw something. A destroyed Fire Nation ship in a lake, with vines and roots entangling the ship like a serpent trying to wrap around its prey. What confused Atlas was that he didn't recognize the lake, despite it being in the swamp. And while he wouldn't say he knew every corner of the ever-changing swamp, missing a lake of that size was impossible. Just when he wanted to look around, his vision vanished, and he was back in the darkness his closed eyes showed him.He knew that the swamp sometimes showed people visions of the past, present, or future, but it was the first time he experienced it himself. Did the swamp want to tell him something, or was it he who affected the chi around him to show him the boat? And if it was the latter, how did he do it? It was a confusing feeling, and it took him some time to return to his calm state. He was here to hopefully learn how to bend plants, so he should focus on that instead of a wreck that would not only give him the metal to build some new tools for the village."Fuck," he thought. Just the mere thought of the possibilities the wreck could give him led his mind into overdrive. Proper blades, saws, hammers, nails, and if he found a magnet, even electricity was a possibility. He could even imagine himself building a mech inspired by the farming robots he had in his first life or the mechs shown in Legend of Korra. The possibilities were unlimited. And a ship of that size would definitely give them a lot of options.Regardless of the possibilities the wreck offered, Atlas attempted to focus on the seaweed in front of him. With the chi density, it was easy to spot the weed in the water bucket, even with his eyes closed. He could feel the water in the bucket, while the weed was like a black spot—a spot that was slowly turning grey. From his previous education, he knew that the seaweed was 90% water, and yet it felt like he was looking at the faintest of water vapor. He knew he could pull out the water, killing the seaweed instantly, but taking control of the seaweed as a whole seemed to be an impossibility. Every time he tried to take control of that vapor-like water, it was as if it was locked in space. He was almost sure that it was because the water was caged in the cells of the weed, but then again, he had tested controlling water in an enclosed space, like a ball made of ice with water inside, which worked perfectly fine. Maybe it was because ice was harder than those cells and he just lacked control to not destroy the cells, but if that was truly the case, then the tribe would have more plant benders than just Huu.Atlas tried for hours without achieving anything. The one time he opened his eyes, he saw Bro with wide open, bloodshot eyes staring at the seaweed, obviously with just as much success as him.With a sigh, he decided that until the full moon, he might as well attempt to locate the wreck using his expanded chi senses. So, he closed his eyes and tried to sense the water in the swamp. He quickly began to sense the small puddles at the bottom of the tree and the river they had used to come here. His perception followed the water, gradually expanding with each passing minute. He could sense the moving black dots, which he assumed were small fish, and the small strands growing from the seabed, which were probably seaweed. He could even feel the motion in the water despite being so far away. Despite his senses becoming sharper, the decreasing chi concentration made it increasingly difficult to recognize anything beyond the shape of the river. To extend his range, he concentrated on one water source at a time, focusing on each river arm in turn. Just when he was about to give up and postpone his search until he was back on the ground to look for the wreck, his senses reached a part of the swamp he knew he had never visited. The death zone—the place where they buried their deceased. The place where people suffocated because toxic gases, methane, and CO2 killed off every animal and every human that dared to enter it. The zone was just within his perception range, allowing him to barely sense the edges of the large lake area, including several small islands of various shapes and forms. None of the forms he detected seemed similar to a wreck. At least, that's what he thought until he sensed an island that had a peculiar pointy shape on one side—something that might or might not be a ship.His focus intensified. He wanted to be sure the ship was there. He wanted to see it, but the pointy shape remained indistinct. He delved deeper and deeper into his meditation, even lowering his occlumency barriers to concentrate fully on the task at hand. However, the moment he did so, a sudden pain assaulted him. It felt as if he were being burned alive, a sensation he was all too familiar with. Reflexively, he attempted to transform into his animagus form, hoping the pain would subside, and to his surprise, it worked.It took Atlas a few moments to recover from the mental shock, but when he opened his eyes, he saw Mi, Bro, and … himself sitting there silently meditating. However, his perspective was as if he had shrunk. A second later, he realized what had happened. He had really transformed into a Bowtruckle, like he could in the Harry Potter universe, and he had entered the spirit world. Or, to be more accurate, he had, like Aang and his granddaughter, entered the spiritual side of the mortal world. The real spirit world was still sealed, making it difficult for spirits and humans to tread upon each other's territories. At least that's what he thought, but looking into the distance, he saw a few dozen small spirits walking and flying through the swamp. He had heard from the village elder that spirits inhabited the swamp and that a few even walked in the mortal plane, but he had never seen one until now.He contemplated whether he should walk down the tree and look for the wreck, as he was sure the gases couldn't harm him in his current form and might not even be present, given the spirit world always had some differences from the real world. However, this presented the problem of being a tiny Bowtruckle on a tree hundreds of meters tall. Even if he managed to walk down, he wouldn't be able to navigate through the rivers without his bending abilities. So despite this new ability, his options in the current situation were limited. He decided to explore his options in the spirit world at a later time, as the moon was slowly rising and he wanted to give sensing the wreck and learning plantbending another chance.He was about to touch his meditating body to return when he had an idea. His Animagus form had the ability to connect to trees. He was able to connect to magical and non-magical trees in the Harry Potter universe, so theoretically, he should be able to connect to the trees in the Avatar world too.He stared at the large tree and remembered how challenging it was to connect with his wand that had a dragon core. Connecting to a tree of such size and energy could probably kill him if the tree wanted to. This, of course, required the trees in this world to have a consciousness too. But Atlas decided it was still safer to try out his theory on the seaweed first.So he walked over the nest-like ground to the bucket. The wooden bucket was larger than him, so he had to make a small jump to grab the ledge with his small twig-like hands and pull himself up. He glanced at Mi and Bro and hoped they weren't too focused on the water itself when he jumped in."plop"As he submerged in the water, he felt the refreshing cold water crawl through his branches. He ignored the fact that Mi and Bro had both opened their eyes and were looking questioningly into the bucket.He grabbed the seaweed that was floating erratically on the water's surface. Within moments, the whole seaweed felt like an extension of himself. He could feel how the weed was enjoying the soft moonlight, moving with the gentle currents caused mainly by his jump into the bucket, and he sensed the metabolism of the weed. Each cell was part of a whole, transporting nutrients, water, and energy to each other—a connected whole instead of a loose puzzle of singular pieces. It was as if he was connected to its life force and could command it as he wished. The seaweed lacked any kind of ego, so it didn't resist. Atlas could guide the life force, the metabolism, and the whole plant to act according to his wishes. The seaweed started to unravel and straighten itself into a spear-like form. Then it shaped itself into an almost perfect circle, a heart, a square, and many more shapes.Atlas saw that Mi and Bro were looking at his still meditating body in shock, and Mi had to cover Bro's mouth to stop him from interrupting the "enlightenment" Atlas was experiencing.For five minutes, Atlas experimented with his connection to the seaweed. While the connection he had with the weed couldn't be considered bending, he now knew what he lacked. Plantbending, like bloodbending, used more than just pure waterbending abilities. It required a deep understanding of the chi paths of the organism one wanted to control. While knowing the chi paths of animals wasn't really that hard when one knew the anatomy, it was quite difficult to find a generalization for plants, as they usually branched quite randomly, causing each plant to have a unique chi path. Only if one understood the chi path completely and used ones own chi to coat the chi paths completely to cut the connection between the chi paths and the plant could one take control of the water within the cells. Otherwise, one would be in constant contest with the plant's metabolism and control over its body.But with this knowledge, many more questions arose. How was Huu able to control so many vines and seaweeds to form the famous plant monster? It should be impossible to do something like that. However, that was a question Atlas could ask Huu in person.He climbed out of the bucket and walked toward his own body. He would try to connect to the Banyan Grove Tree at a later date, or at least after he had calmed Mi and Bro down, who looked like they were about to have a stroke from stopping each other from questioning him.So the small spirit Bowtruckle walked toward his human body, ready to return to the mortal world.But the moment Atlas' finger, which still looked like his old wand, touched his bare foot, something strange happened."Ahhhh!" screamed Atlas as the foot he touched transformed and took on a bark-like texture. His vision blurred between his spirit form's vision and his body's vision. More and more of his body was transforming. His whole foot, including the toes, looked as if it were carved out of wood, and the bark slowly ascended his leg.Atlas let go of his foot as soon as his mind was clear enough to do so, despite the pain. Fully back in his Bowtruckle form, the transformation stopped. It was only then that he remembered that being possessed by a spirit could change a human's body. Atlas hadn't really taken that to heart, as he considered the possibility of being possessed by any spirit close to zero. The only exception he had taken into account was the Avatar spirit Raava, but even that was unlikely from his perspective, and the changes from the Avatar spirit weren't like this.Atlas stared at his own body and could only hope that returning to his human form in the spirit world and then entering his real body would reverse this transformation.He gritted his sharp wooden mouth in anticipation of the pain that would follow. The familiar soul pain returned the second he transformed, but when he reached out toward his body, he realized that his hand wasn't tanned like his current skin. He had transformed into the body he had during his life at Hogwarts.He immediately transformed back into his Bowtruckle form. If his Bowtruckle form could transform him, his human form might as well. While he could explain the wood transformation with a spirit possession, explaining a shift in appearance would be much harder.Atlas was ripped out of his thoughts as he realized that the ordeal hadn't gone unnoticed. Mi and Bro were shaking his body, which had fallen unconscious to the side, and he saw Huu and the other hunters running toward him."Shit. Shit. Shit," cursed Atlas in his mind, panicking."You need to calm down, Atlas. You can do this. Think rationally about this," said Atlas out loud, knowing the others couldn't hear him. He walked the nest up and down, thinking about the reason he transformed into his old body and how he could change that.The reasons he came up with were quite obvious. The first was that it was the body he had when he learned his Animagus form and that it was fixed because of that. The second option was that this was still the body he identified with. The third reason could be that he had unconsciously thought about his old body when transforming. Considering that he had braced himself for the pain, this seemed quite likely.He hoped that the last explanation was the real one, as even the second one could spell doom for him. Changing one's self-perception wasn't something that was possible within a few seconds.So, for the first time since his very first transformation, he spent a considerable amount of time focusing on his image of himself when transforming. It was easier than last time, as he had his literal body lying in front of him, making the visualization easier."AH..." His cry of pain was stifled as he immediately transformed back after seeing his pale hand."Again," he thought and focused on his body."Again."

"Again."

With his failures accumulating, he began to lose hope, but then he noticed something. The pain was diminishing. The soul pain was growing weaker. The damage didn't disappear; it just became an uncomfortable feeling, like when he was in his Bowtruckle form. In that moment, Atlas realized that his fear caused by the pain had affected his thinking. The pain, the wound, wasn't part of his new body. So his focus on this wound would naturally cause him to become his injured self.With that in mind—or out of his mind, thanks to his proficiency in Occlumency and meditation—he attempted another transformation."No pain!? I did it!" he yelled, staring at his slightly tanned hands.He didn't hesitate any longer and basically jumped at his body."Mi, calm down. We will find a solution. He will surely wake up any minute now," said the familiar voice of Atlas' teacher, Tar, as he tried to calm Mi down. But Atlas could hear the hidden worry in his voice as well."How could something like that happen, Huu? Do you think he angered the spirits?" asked Due, concerned."I don't know, Due. Spirits can be quite unpredictable. It is entirely possible that a spirit just got curious. But since the transformation stopped, it should have already left his body. He should wake up soon," answered Huu, but his voice carried uncertainty.Atlas flickered his eyes and groaned, half to signal them that he was back, and half because his body felt strangely numb. To his surprise, his foot didn't feel that much different, and while he couldn't see his toes yet, he could move them."I knew you would make it. What happened? Did you get enlightened? Did a spirit attack you?" asked Bro, who was one of the first to see his eyes flicker."Atlas, is everything okay? Does anything hurt?" asked Tar, now openly showing his concern."Yes, yes, I'm fine, I guess," answered Atlas as he slowly sat upright. "I think I had an enlightenment. Look."Said Atlas, and with a weak wave of his hand, the seaweed in the bucket practically jumped into his hand, winding itself around it like a snake."He is an enlightened!" yelled Bro, ecstatic but also with a hint of jealousy."Indeed, he is," confirmed Huu. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but maybe it would be better to return you to the village to get you checked. Did you sense or see the spirit that entered your body?""I… I think that I'm fine. My foot is… well, I can move it like normal," said Atlas, touching his foot with his hand. "And I can still feel this, even if it feels a bit numb.""Still, we should let Thi check you out," said Huu."I really don't think it's necessary. I mean, I studied the healing arts under Thi my whole life, and even if she is still better than me, I think I know my own body better than she does," answered Atlas, not really believing that a healer in this universe could undo a transformation caused by a spirit. Perhaps an Avatar who was also an energy bender could, but now that he knew his spirit could transform his body, he could do a few experiments to test if he could perhaps transform into his Animagus form without entering the spirit world.The things he learned in the last few hours gave him much to think over, and this was just one point on his seemingly ever-growing list."If you are sure, I won't insist. You are an adult now, no matter how young you are," answered Huu, but his tone made it obvious that he wasn't really happy with this decision."So, what do you guys want to do now? Do you want to continue your meditation, or do you want to share your experiences? Keep in mind that every enlightened one needs to tell the village about their experience of getting enlightened. Even if it doesn't happen often, sometimes it can cause others to get enlightened too."Atlas stared between Mi, Bro, and Huu. With a sigh, he answered, "I will first share my experience with Mi and Bro. If you are still willing to answer my questions afterward, I would be glad to take you up on your offer."He couldn't bring himself to leave Mi and Bro behind. The two of them looked as if they wanted to peel his skin off to uncover his secrets. Letting them wait would be like torturing them. And, over the years, they had become his best students and friends. While he hadn't shared the secret of bloodbending with them, he had, with varying success, tried to teach them every technique he knew."Asking questions when one has something else on their mind only leads to misunderstandings, so ask whenever you feel the time is right. You are always welcome, Atlas," said Huu with a kind and understanding smile.Atlas was sure he meant the last part. Huu had always taken care of him and his mother, especially his mother, even though they hadn't started dating or anything like that. Huu was just a really nice uncle and treated everyone in the tribe as family, but sometimes gave more attention to those in need."Back to your posts! Let the young enlightened continue his meditation," yelled Mi's father, ignoring the chain of command.

Author note:

I hope you liked the chapter. From now on, I will try to return to a "show, don't tell" type of storytelling. However, it would have bloated the childhood section even further if I wrote every interaction in full.

Also, I realized I made a mistake in one of the previous chapters. If you remember my explanation at the beginning of this world: the chi capacity is related to the body, the regeneration is dependent on the spirit, and the flow (which translates to power) is dependent on the emotions or emotional balance. All three positively affect each other. In a later chapter, I mentioned that Atlas has a small capacity, which is naturally wrong. I will fix the issue in the previous chapter in a few days. 

His capacity was small at the beginning because he had the body of a newborn. But as he has trained his body, his capacity is actually above average. The only problem is that his regeneration is about half of that of others his age (his soul is stronger than others due to his experiences, but was split in half and was damaged by Fiendfyre, so this is the result).

Right after reincarnation, his emotions were naturally chaotic. Not only had he not processed that he killed billions of people (and needs to do it again), he was also separated from his lover, who could have ended up who knows where. Additionally, he had just started his third life, which didn't really help with overcoming it. It also didn't help that he was reborn in the Foggy Swamp Tribe, which was a culture shock for him. That his spirit body still had the shape of his old body shows that he still hasn't fully integrated into this body and this tribe. His attempts to increase their level of civilization are, despite their usefulness, also an attempt to change the tribe to his standards. I'm not 100% sure how much I want to focus on this in the story, but I wanted to explain what happened in this chapter.