Plans for the future

Chosen trait - Full potential-Airbending 

Silent Feathers (rank 3 perk) bought - 2 trait points spent

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Your puppet stretched its wings, and you pushed the air. A ragged gust burst forth, tugging at a few loose leaves and stirring the dust. It was hardly more than a breeze—uneven and jittery—but it thrilled you all the same. 

Was it even a question what you'd choose? How else would you ever get the chance to gain airbending, with only one airbender left in existence?

It was a shoddy, weak version of it, true, but it was airbending. The implications were vast, far outweighing any misfortune-based traits you could have gained. At least, a big part of you thought so.

This was the power of the wind itself, and it was yours now, however small and unsteady.

You tried again, sending another surge of will through the crow. This time, the gust was tighter, a bit more focused, like a knife's edge barely forming from raw wind. It was still weak, hardly enough to be anything but a momentary breeze. More blasts followed, faint swirls and gusts, each barely tugging at the oasis's shadows. You couldn't use it with anything but your wings, you realized.

It was like a toy gun, this skill of yours. You could get better at aiming it, but it wouldn't blow up houses or uproot trees, wouldn't drag your opponents to you, and it wouldn't turn into anything else but a toy gun.

This... this would be worth it. With time and trait points, you would mold this feeble breeze into a storm, and for now, it was enough to aid your vessel's flight.

The crow moved with grace, wings cutting through the night, the oasis below a patchwork of lights and deep shadows. She flitted between trees and low-roofed huts, her form a shifting silhouette against the dim glow of lanterns.

A ragged group—thieves and beggars by their furtive glances and the way they lingered on the edges of the oasis—didn't so much as glance her way as she passed. The Silent Feathers trait worked perfectly in tandem with Stealthy Shadows, turning your presence into a nullity. 

For five precious minutes, you weren't merely unseen—you were unthought-of, unnoticed, as if the night itself had swallowed you whole. Even the slightest rustle of feathers was coated in silence, muffled by the crow's new trait.

Then, the crow stopped. Her body froze mid-movement as you withdrew your will, halting her like a marionette caught in a moment of stillness. You needed to think, to calculate your next move. It was tempting to settle, to enjoy having a body again,(even if you had been a ring for barely a day beforehand) but you weren't looking for comfort right now. The crow—no matter how perfectly it had served—was a stepping stone, with how impossible it became to strengthen yourself while using a vessel.

You needed a new host, this was non-negotiable.

But there was a problem: your ring, your core, was lodged deep in the crow's stomach. This was a boon for control—you'd gained dominance far faster than it should have been possible—but it made leaving her tricky. Every attempt to extract the ring had failed. It was completely stuck.

So, three options.

The first was to get the crow killed. Her mind and soul were already dead; it would just be a matter of physicality. If you succeeded, your ring might be freed, and the oasis was teeming with people—someone who could be your next host. But it was risky. What if the ring remained trapped in her body? What if some random beggar took the ring? You could call to someone who matched your preference, but you couldn't stop anyone from picking it up, after all. The quality of the host could turn into a gamble.

Option two: be eaten. If another creature devoured the crow, perhaps your ring would follow, and it would be a repeat performance... You'd have a say in the choice of predator, at least. This was a safer bet, but...would the ring remain stuck inside new host as it did with the crow? Less likely, but not impossible. What was sure that you would either get a new host, or your ring would be free...in a pile of shit...in an unknown place.

And lastly, the third option, which was basically ignoring the problem for now: To leave the oasis entirely.

 The world was vast, full of hosts waiting to be found. The crow could travel far under cover of night, unimpeded. You could plot a course, find and memorize a map, and fly until you found a suitable target. But distance carried its own dangers, and traveling blind was never ideal.

"Hell, the posssssibilities are limitleeess!" a voice rasped through the darkness, rough and croaky, echoing like a cracked whisper in your ears. Your feathers ruffled involuntarily before you realized the sound had come from you—no, from the crow. 

Huh.

It made sense; crows could mimic human speech, and you had just forced it from her throat. It was unsettling, to hear your thoughts given voice in such a guttural, alien way...

"Also supremely usssseful..." you muttered, quieter this time, your voice like gravel dragged over stone.

The crow's eyes shifted upward, her gaze locking onto the vast, cloudless sky above. Stars dotted the heavens, like a thousand cold, distant eyes watching your every move. The moon hung low, a crescent blade, cutting through the blackness. It was the kind of night that felt alive, thrumming with possibility, and in that brief silence, the air itself seemed to hold its breath. 

You flexed the crow's wings—your wings now—and felt the rush of cool air beneath them. The future was uncertain, yes, but it was yours to shape, to bend, to command. You were already imagining what came next, the possibilities stretching out like the infinite stars above.

There would be no going back.

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Ring traits (4/10)

Iron Stomach - lvl 1

Stealthy Shadows - lvl 1

Silent Feathers - lvl 1 

Full Potential - Air Bending - lvl 1

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Trait points available - 0

(You can merge any traits. Hell, you can merge them all. If you don't want to morph the effects (this happens when merging), you can just "feed" one trait to another to use as fuel, say you give Iron Stomach to Air Bending to get it to lvl 2)

(Also, give me your best plan for the future! If it's cool and realistic enough, I shall award trait points.)