17.The Fire
Soon enough, I will be able to open the first chakra, which will increase all my physical characteristics at once. This chakra is blocked by a feeling of fear, and in order to open this chakra, you need to consciously find your main fear in yourself and overcome it. I don't even know what exactly I'm afraid of yet, there are, of course, some fears, but these are not even themselves, but simple fears. Right there, most likely, there will be something from the deep subconscious, where people often unknowingly stuff and forget the most traumatic.
Things are going well at the south pole, but people are a little afraid of the new arrival of the Fire Nation warriors. Maybe they have already written off the Southern Tribe, but when they decide to come and see why there has been no connection with this group for so long, they will definitely take revenge for the Southern Invaders.
On my last visit, I hoped too much for the disguise of a new village, but here people are also far from stupid, they can even start combing half the tundra.
As a last resort, an underground tunnel was made, which ends two kilometers beyond the village. A temporary underground bunker was also equipped there, which will allow residents to stay inside for up to two weeks without worrying about anything.
Of course, we will have to change perishable food after a while, and clear the exit itself from the piled snow, but I think it's much better than sitting and waiting for the fire people to come.
In the meantime, they'll be safe, I'll be there in time. Well, that's at least the plan, how things will be in the future, I can only guess...
In order to buy time for the residents themselves to evacuate or somehow warn them about the likely offensive of enemy forces, it was decided, together with former hunters, to make traps in the territory of the old village, which they definitely would not disdain to fully inspect.
They made the same ones around the new village, and some of them will create enough noise so that even the most deaf can smell something amiss. I will hope that the screams of the soldiers who get caught in them will serve as a fairly accurate signal for the residents. After warning people where not to go, they quickly organized a patrol that would look to see if any animals that could discredit the presence of the traps themselves had fallen into the traps.
Throughout the whole time, I went through the portals, I always took a rodent with me. It had an effect! Even now, the rodent appears with me in the southern tribe in one piece. But during my experiments with the rodent, I completely forgot that they do not have their own magic, and they have a meager amount of vital energy. It turns out that a sufficiently strong magician can walk this path even without my help, while when crossing with a non-mage or a weak gifted one, I can safely protect him with my energy. Although the rodent is small, I spent half of my energy reserve on it. What if even my reserve is not enough to protect a person? I need to get a person who I definitely won't feel sorry for, but in the meantime it's worth trying to move some cattle, I think it will be harder with them.
I do not stand still in comprehension of the mysterious magic of blood. It began to turn out to move the blood of one rat, but the movements come out somehow unnatural, even his relatives avoid him at this time. At least, this is already a small success. It turns out that it was necessary to feel exactly where and how the blood moves and in which places it interacts with vital energy. At first, I thought that I just need to move the blood, say, to your arm or paw, and it will start moving on its own. No, it's all about the reactions that the body produces when blood and vital energy come into contact in certain areas.
Your own blood and vital energy are the hardest to recognize, because it is a part of your body. We don't think about how to raise our hand, we just raise it. There is the same analogy here, even the bloody puppet technique was created more subconsciously, the body itself tried to adjust the movement of blood with vital energy, and it was so good before that, I already thought that it was really so easy to control my blood.
Why was Amon able to use blood magic to block Korra's magical abilities? Why could he control a whole crowd of people without a single movement? And all because he knew exactly how to manipulate blood, he was able to understand if not all the vital energy, then some important part for sure. That's what I need to strive for.
A significant day is approaching, the solstice, for which I have about eighteen hours. During this time, I have to find the dark spirits I need, finish with them or him as soon as possible and get out of the spirit world. I have no desire to wait there for the next solstice.
It is worth understanding in advance which element I should choose. I would like to find some kind of spirit of time or space, but even if there are such, you need to find them first, and they are rare anyway. In addition, it will also be difficult to develop such elements, rapid development with insufficient numbers for devouring is impossible, and there are no techniques or scrolls for these elements among people. Okay, I rolled my lip too much, maybe there is no possibility of getting a new element at all.
It is clear that I need to choose from three main elements, water is already there, earth, fire and air remain. In fact, water magic is a very flexible element, with the help of it I can defend well, attack quickly enough and have some mobility. One disadvantage is that until I learn how to get water from everything around me, I always have to carry some water with me.
Air would also be useful, but to glow with such an element now is one hundred percent to bring trouble upon yourself. Of course, I am a strong conqueror, but I definitely cannot stand up against an entire country, especially since this constant tension. This is a danger to loved ones, there are too many significant disadvantages.
Earth and fire remain, both elements are very "tasty". As the earth developed, it would give me new branches of this magic – this is the manipulation of metals and lava, it is also not a problem to find teachers of this element, but fire has one feature that I really need.
Fire mages interact more closely with their qi, in fact, in order to create fire, they program their vital energy, and it seems to me that they even add a little bit of it in the process of creating fire, which they get automatically. Conquerors of fire create their own element, well, of course, if there is something to burn in the air... You can't fight fire in an airtight space, but you still need to be able to get into such an exceptional situation.
Another example, lightning – in the series, we were roughly told how to create it. By special destabilization of qi flows with the addition of fire energy, the magician releases an electric discharge. Another good reason to take fire is the technique that we were shown in the story of Korra's Avatar, when she was struck by a dark spirit and lost her memories.
The energy reading technique, seems to be it was called like that. It allows you to read human energy, because you can view not only physical health, as water magicians do, but also the state of your spiritual body. And this is your energy, the channels of vital energy, and, probably, the mind itself. Maybe this technique can't cure, but knowing the problem, you can fight it. This is exactly what this ability gives us, allowing us to diagnose almost everything in a row.
There is an unsupported idea that this technique is based on the manipulation of vital energy. All this can be learned only from your own experience, well, or sneak up to the Sages of Fire and read all their teachings. Maybe Wang Shi Tong also has a lot of knowledge about this ability, although he definitely should have it, after all, the spirit of knowledge, he just doesn't send his assistants anywhere. It seems to me that he even knows roughly where something new is opening in this world, and already knowing the approximate place, he sends his assistant spirits.
***
Sitting on the grass near the Oasis of Spirits, watching the sun come out from behind the horizon, at the same time a certain spiritual tension began to appear in the air. Being here right next to the portal to the Spirit Realm, it already feels like the boundaries that separate the two worlds are getting thinner and thinner.
As soon as the local luminary appeared completely over the horizon, I entered the portal. I don't know what processes take place at the solstice, but even in appearance the barrier has become dimmer and thinner.
Gathering my strength and covering body with a thin film of water, I went towards the barrier. When I came into contact with the barrier, the energy to maintain protection went away at a high rate, but step by step I was able to completely "push" myself over the other side.
Already being in the Realm of Spirits, the almost spent reserve of energy began to be rapidly replenished from the local background, which at times exceeded the human one. I found myself in a valley that was surrounded by many rocks of different shapes, which were periodically struck by lightning.
There is a certain limitation of thinking inherent in bendering. Having concentrated on the attacking aspect of water magic, completely forgot about other directions. It's good that I have enough skill to create a flying platform out of water, after all, the spirit world is not inferior in size to a human one, and to overcome such distances faster through the air. And it's good that I didn't forget to bring a lot of water containers with me.
After creating a carpet of water, I flew in a random direction. In this place, only the element of lightning is felt, of course, the lightning itself is also strong, but I do not think that it will open up the element of fire to me, I will have to fly further.
Only when I was already in the air that I realized with shock how easily this platform was created from water. This definitely wasn't in the animated series... I have no guesses, however, right now. Unless it's because of my "foreignness," maybe the local laws still have no power over me...
Continuing to float through the air, I scanned with my sensitivity the places with the greatest accumulation of fiery energy. I need to find the fire spirits as soon as possible, because the sooner I find them, the sooner I can digest the new element. The time the element of water appeared, I was passed out for a good half day. And if this time goes according to the same scenario, I may not be able to get home in time.
There is a contact! Turning sharply to the left, I flew at high speed to a place with a saturated background of fire energy. Hovering over the right place, I saw a rift in the ground, inside which a fiery river flowed. The desired goals playfully splashed in it. It would be quite nice if these fire salamanders weren't starving in all directions.
So I need to think about everything. I feel only four spirits, three lower and one middle, the task is easy, but what about the appearance of a new source?!
At that time, it was the average water spirit when I was the lowest, so logically speaking, now I need to absorb only the lowest spirit, so that at least the element I need appears. Yes, the source will be weak, but the whole assimilation process should be much easier, and only then I will gain "mass" for this element. I'll do it well!
Concentrating on the water in the wineskins that I had prepared in advance, I began to gradually give them the shape of bullets. I definitely need to take down three of them at a long distance, so that I don't even accidentally absorb them.
Abruptly sending water bullets into the spirits of fire, the flight of which was accompanied by overcoming the sound barrier. I saw how, having uttered a dying, and it seems a little puzzled cry, the salamanders disintegrated into energy particles. Until I saw how the last particle of energy did not melt in the air, I did not even approach.
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I flew with a jubilant smile at the lower spirit, who continued to foolishly look for his relatives. Creating an ice sword in one hand, I jumped right onto the back of the still unsuspecting spirit. A sharp swing of the sword, and the head of the fire spirit detached from the body, and before it could fall to the ground, it melted, turning into elemental energy.
At that time, I had already managed to move away from the lava river and sit on the ground, feeling in my gut how the energy of the fiery spirit was digested by me. I wanted to shout at the top of my voice: "Yes, after all, a new element!" but knowing what was going to follow didn't let me do it. I had to grit my teeth and wait for the beginning of the appearance of the source, which did not take long to wait.
The whole body, both spiritual and physical, was consumed by pain, and knowing that they are fused together, the pain feels twice as strong, or it's already me winding myself up... In the first minute, the whole body was just soaked with tension, but the pain must be endured while being conscious. It seems that my guesses have been confirmed, the painful sensations are, of course, very strong, but not directly cutting off consciousness, I think I can hold out.
The pain only increased in the first hours, but over the next four hours it subsided slightly. As soon as these torments were over, I sprawled on the ground in the shape of a star with an extremely wide smile on my face. Thinking to myself: "It was worth it."