Chapter 1 - Avatar World? I'm Going To Cultivate!

Feeling someone shake me awake, I frowned and groaned as I waved them away. "Five more minutes, I have a migraine."

"From what Zen? I just thought you'd want some food I managed to steal from the Chu Brothers." A voice I had never heard before said.

I opened my eyes to find myself in what seemed like a small hut and a teenager with brown hair and eyes in front of me. He held a piece of bread in front of me and I took it without much thought before I froze at another figure next to me.

"What the hell are you!" I yelled in surprise as the man I saw was half a tree and half a human.

"Knock it off Zen! That's rude!" The teenager said to me angrily.

I looked at the being before I got off the floor and demanded. "Where am I and who are you guys?!"

The two of them looked at each other before they frowned and the teenager asked. "Did you really lose your memories from that fall yesterday? I'm you're older brother remember. I'm Wan."

I shook my head and another huge migraine hit my head as memories from my old life and what seemed to be this life clashed against each other. I remembered living on the back of a lion turtle who was able to give the power of fire to people. I remembered how spirits had turned the old man into a tree human hybrid. I remembered my twin brother Wan, how he was always hot headed and a trouble maker while I was more introverted.

This personality tried to take over my own mind but I resisted it and fought back. In my life, I was a fighter in the cage and lived a rather harsh life. I suffered just as much as the original personality of this body and much more. So when our minds clashed and I came out on top, I suppose it meant this body was now mine.

I didn't know how or who sent me into this world but I didn't mind since I had just heard of the news that I had cancer. A new body was just what I needed and I wasn't going to waste it. Especially since I was in a world where magical powers existed, one that I knew fondly of as the Avatar series.

Seeing my twin brother's worried face as well as the old man's, I slowed my breathing down and explained to them. "I think so. My memories are kind of hazy right now."

"You should rest after you eat Zen." Wan said as he began to speak with another younger boy and the old man.

I ate the bread and slowly closed my eyes as I thought about the path for my future. It was a force of habit that led me to a better life so I kept with it. My first goal should be power, and since Chi was the main power of this universe that was the base of almost all other powers, I needed to cultivate it.

"I wonder if cultivation in chinese novels will work the same since people in this world have a chi network and a dantian. There's also spirit energy in this world, which is especially abundant since the spirit portals are still open." I said as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the strange energy in the air.

I suppose being in a world without any or much magical energy in the world made me more sensitive to it. Something I was going to abuse to try and become a cultivator if that was even possible. So I started by trying to sense my own internal chi, which turned out to be easier than I thought. Within moments I could feel a warm swirling sensation all throughout my body that followed a set path. Some were flowing slow, some were flowing quickly, and some were being blocked off by something.

I continued sensing and trying to control my chi until I was shaken out of my focus. I opened my eyes to find my older brother Wan looking at me with both worry and determination.

"Zen, I've decided to do something that will enable us to change out fate." Wan said.

Knowing what was going to happen as I had watched the both amazing and terrible Korra show, I was both excited and nervous as I asked. "What are you planning Wan?"

"Don't worry about that Zen. Just wait until I come back tomorrow afternoon." Wan said before he walked over to his side of the hut and dozed off.

I then thought about my future plan once more as I made a second goal which was quite something as said goal was immortality. Normally this would be impossible but in this world where spirits exist as well as two parallel universes of the physical and spiritual, impossible is an option. I knew that the harmonic convergence was an event of astronomical energy fusing both the physical world and spiritual world. It was also used to fuse the spirits of Wan and Raava together.

In my case however, I was planning on fusing my spirit to my physical body. Aging might also be a problem but if I master chi or energy bending before that time, I might be able to solve that problem. The solution being to seal Vaatu within my body and soul, using him like a battery to keep my body young and eternal. Not to mention having a boost of power from a primordial of Darkness and Chaos wasn't going to be too bad.

With more determination than before, I kept manipulating and sensing my chi as well as unblocking my chi pathways. It looked like it would take a while before they were unclogged but I was patient if not anything else. By the time I had cleared out more than twenty percent of the clogged pathways, it was already morning.

"Good luck Wan." I said in a still unfamiliar voice.

Wan gave me a thumbs up and left while I used this time to sleep. When I woke up again, it was late afternoon and Wan had come back and this time, he had a fireball above his palm. That was power, true power and I wanted it.

"Wan? Aren't you breaking the rules by coming back into the city with the power of fire?" I asked him in a worried voice, perfectly mimicking the old Zen thanks to his memories I inherited.

"It won't matter after we take over the city! Now let's go!" Wan said and I followed him.

Just as I expected, after a while with Wan running wild with his power, he was taken down and brought to the lion turtle where he begged the lion turtle to keep the power of fire. After all, without it he would have most likely died in the spirit wilds.

"It will be allowed, but never again will you set foot here again." The lion turtle said as the other humans opened a path for Wan into the Spirit Wilds.

As this was the best time, I stepped out and yelled. "Lion turtle! Please give me the power of fire too so that I can stay with my brother! He's the only family I know of so, please!"

While I couldn't say I would win an Oscar with my performance, it seemed to make the others emotional as the Lion Turtle agreed and gifted me the power of fire. Standing there, I felt it's two hard claws on my forehead and chest. At the moment of contact, I could feel a spark of chi integrate into my dantian located in my belly area. It was a warm energy that was filled with power and made me feel excitement.

"Now go." The Lion Turtle said as I ran and caught up to Wan who had a shocked expression.

"Why would you do that!" Wan said angrily as he finally understood what I had done.

I merely sighed as I stated. "While I know it's dangerous out here, I want to experience everything that is out here in this world."

"But that's not worth your life Zen!" Wan argued.

"Then what is my worth Wan? I live in a hut most of my days and do nothing. Now that I'm out here, I can do anything and experience life cause what I was doing before was anything but living Wan." I said with determination, slipping in my own personality into my voice.

Wan seemed shaken when he noticed my changed behavior but I didn't care and continued walking as I stated. "Accept it or not, the decision has been made."

A little later and Wan accepted the situation while I began to play with my new power which I could access instinctively somehow. Sensing how my chi behaved with the spark of fire within my dantian, I quickly comprehended how it worked. When I created fire, my chi flowed through the spark and changed its properties before flowing through my pathways. It was then projected as fire and heat which I was able to manipulate a little as it wasn't as much chi as it was now an element. Something I hadn't trained to control yet but a little control was better than nothing.

"You're pretty good at that Zen." My brother stated.

"Yeah, I must be a prodigy." I said with a smirk.

Through practicing my firebending, I managed to learn how to control my internal chi better as well which is a major plus for me. I stopped a while after an hour as my internal chi reserves were running less than ten percent. I was feeling fatigued and was breathing heavily but I was also having the greatest time of my life.

"Hey, I think I see something ahead of us." Wan said as he made his way through some bushes.

I followed and when we reached the end of it, we saw an oasis of sorts with clean water and fruits growing on trees. Another notable thing was that spirits were crossing onto the oasis from a bridge and I could hear my brother's stomach growl from seeing the fruits. My own stomach wanted food as it made noises too.

"Let's try go and get some food. We'll have to be sneaky though as those spirits can attack us at any moment." Wan said.

Just like in canon, Wan was caught and then thrown out by Aye Aye, the lemur spirit caretaker of the Oasis. Wan and I then left with empty stomachs and slept in a tree for the night as it approached. I myself however used this time to train my chi reserves which were growing as I trained but not fast enough.

"I guess now is as good a time as any to try cultivating." I muttered before I sat cross-legged and took a deep breath at the base of the tree.

I could feel the spirit energy in the surroundings flowing around me but not into me. No, the spirit energy was flowing into me but it was a miniscule amount that I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't so sensitive to energies. I didn't try to absorb the energy straight away as I had no idea how to, so I sensed how my body did it naturally.

The spirit energy seemed to enter through certain parts of my body within openings in my chi pathways flowing through my chakras before entering my dantian. The problem that occurred when this happened was that my seven chakras were being blocked which minimized the spirit energy absorption rate even further.

Not liking how slow my chi recovery was, I decided to try and unblock my chakras first before I even started training myself to cultivate. I first thought long and hard before organizing my knowledge on the seven chakras. The first chakra was the earth chakra that dealt with survival and was blocked by fear. Meditating hard on what I feared, it soon became apparent to me.

"I fear that this is all a dream, that I'm still in the hospital bed dying of cancer. That this is all an illusion created by my mind before it dies." I thought to myself before stating. "But that's fine since this little adventure has already been enough if it is a dream."

After accepting this, I could feel a large chakra located at the base of my spine release a warmth of energy. It was both refreshing and amazing which made me open my eyes, my mind feeling more refreshed than before.

"If it's that easy to open the first chakra then I understand how Aang was able to do it in a day or two. Unless it's just because I'm more spiritually sensitive than most and Aang was the Avatar." I said before deciding to sleep for the next day.

***** *****

"Man I'm hungry!" Wan said and I agreed.

"Me too but what can we do." I said as we hadn't found any food since we woke up.

Then like canon, we both stumbled into the deer cat which was caught by hunters. Wan told me to stay behind as he approached with fire in his hands but after hesitating, he put his hand down.

"Sorry Zen but I just can't kill him." Wan said as he climbed the tree to try to release the creature.

I had already accepted this would happen so I wasn't too angry at him until I noticed the hunters approaching.

"Wan! Hunters are here!" I yelled, alerting both Wan and the hunters.

"What do you think you're doing! After being banished by the Lion Turtle you wish to still steal from us!" The man who led the hunt said with anger.

Wan didn't hesitate to cut the deer cat free before blasting the hunters with fire. They escaped unscathed but then chased Wan with two of them running after me. I ran away from Wan at this moment as I decided that spending time with Wan wasn't going to be very beneficial to me. I didn't want to stay with him and experience what I already knew so after traveling far, I stopped by a cliff.

"Stop right there you traitor!" One of the hunters said breathing heavily.

"You really suck at breathing you know." I said, tired but in control of my breathing.

"Shut up!" The man said before he charged at me with a fireball in his hands raised high.

I sighed and grabbed his wrist as it was being swung down and flipped him over my shoulder over the edge of the cliff. His screams became an echo before silence reigned.

"You! You've killed him!" The other hunter said in both anger and fear.

"Yes, Yes I did." I said before charging at him with my guard up.

The man panicked as he stumbled backwards, releasing a wave of fire at me. While I could have dispersed his flames and finished him off, I decided against it as I flung myself backwards off the edge of the cliff. I fell off but controlled my fall by releasing flames like a jet from my feet and palms. My control while not good or terrible, allowed me to slow down enough to not become slop on the ground like the man beside me.

Looking at his broken corpse, I felt a little disgust and guilt but moved it aside as I wondered to myself. "Now where should I go?"

***** *****

A few days has passed since I had separated from Wan and I loved every second of it. I managed to find a fruit tree that was a combination of a pear and apple with a river running nearby. Making that my base, I had been training my firebending skills and energy bending skills, also known as Chi manipulation.

"I think it's time I focus on unblocking my second Chakra." I said as I sat down beneath the fruit tree.

Remembering the words of Pathik who wasn't even born yet, I stated. "The second chakra is the water chakra, governing pleasure and blocked by guilt. What am I guilty of."

Remembering my first kill and how the man's face looked like, I accepted my actions and how it caused his life to end. Sadly this didn't open my chakra, but it did crack a little. So I dove deeper into my mind before I found what I really felt guilty about.

"Zen, the original one. I took his life away when he had a chance. He was only sixteen when I took over his body, but that's already done and in the past. I'll live for the both of us and hopefully if my goals are fulfilled, forever." I thought in my head, feeling the water chakra being unblocked which released a torrent of chi.

I got up and stretched my body before I inhaled a deep breath and smiled.

Each time I released a blockage to my chakras, I felt more alive and relaxed than I was before. My mind was no longer tense and I was no longer as worried as I was before. It was amazing how it changed me and it also allowed me to understand myself better.

The third chakra was the fire chakra which governed willpower and was blocked by shame. What I shamed was my fear of this world and how I could die at any moment. It took a while but I accepted my fears and that everyone has it. How what only mattered was how one conquered their fears, something I did upon opening the chakra.

The fourth air chakra was the governed by love and was blocked by grief. It took me over a week to truly understand what I was grieving over. My mother, she had passed away due to the abuse of my father and I hated him for it. She had died but after remembering her last words, how she said she would always love me in life and death, the chakra was released. This also released the hatred I had for my father as it was a history long gone in the past as he had also passed away already.

The fifth sound chakra was governed by truth and was blocked by lies. It took me over a month before I finally released the block and opened it. The lies I told myself was that I was strong, that I knew everything that was going to happen, but I knew change was going to happen. There would be inevitable events changed from my presence. I accepted this and the fact that I was weak at the moment, releasing the chakra's blockage.

The sixth light chakra was governed by insight and blocked by illusions. This was rather hard as it took six months to unblock as the concept of non-separation Pathik used on Aang wouldn't work as I already understood it. I trained hard day in and day out before I realized that using my internal chi, I could slowly chip away at the blockage until it was gone. This was the reason it took so long but I finally did it and was one chakra closer to true power.

Lastly there was the thought chakra which governed pure cosmic energy, blocked by earthly attachments. There was a problem though as I couldn't let go of my earthly attachments, namely power, my body, and my goals. So with no other choice, I chipped away at the blockage which was more heavily blocked than all of the others. Thankfully though, it only took a year until I completely unblocked my chakras.

After a year and a half of training and releasing the blockages of my chakras, I was finished and could feel the changes within my body. My energy was flowing more smoothly, quicker, and with more power than before. My physical recovery was accelerated, my chi reserves had grown, and I could recover chi quicker than before.

Meditating all night, I opened my eyes to the morning light and stated. "I'm finally ready to begin cultivation."