Chapter 47

Chen was lost in this world, and he couldn't find his way back. What made it worse was the rain that followed him everywhere. The spiritual rain got too much. It was as if the sky was mocking him. He wanted to look at the sky and scream at the annoyance. His control over his emotion, however, kept him from doing such childish behaviour. 

"What a pain…" he sighed. "All I wanted was to kill Unalaq, but who would have guessed that I attacked his soul." Clicking his tongue, he muttered. "If I knew that, I would've used the shadow flame to ruin his soul. That might kill him." 

He kept walking until he stopped at a forest with leafless trees. It was quite dark. He stepped on something, and he looked at the ground. 

"Hey, look to what you are walking on!" screamed a voice. 

Chen lowered his head and lifted his foot. A little humanoid frog was clenching its fist at him. It looked like a pet material. 

"A talking frog, that would make a good pet for my girl," Chen said. 

"How dare you call me a talking frog." The frog frowned at him. It started growing up in size and it passed Chen in height. It became more than ten meters tall. "Let's see about you, maybe I need a talking human to my wife." It then extended its gigantic hand to hold Chen. 

Chen clicked his tongue. Although his heart skipped a beat at the intimidating height of the spirit, he had seen and fought for what was worse. 

He'd realised that dark spirits can be fought with yang energy. The opposite was true. As for the neutral spirits, they should be fought with neutral energy. 

In Avatar Wan's time, people could fight against spirits with their bending alone. But that lasted until Vaatu had changed the attribute of the spirits. After that, all of the humans had been killed. 

He pointed his hand at the spirit. A red aura of Chi wrapped him. Focusing that aura at one point, he aimed at the hand of the frog. 

Chen's hand glowed up in red glint. A beam then left it and hit the giant palm. The human frog retrieved his hand, falling and rolling on the ground. 

"Hey! This is hurt." The humanoid green frog looked at Chen with horror in its eyes. "Wait, you energybent? This is impossible. The turtles should have stopped teaching humans that." 

 Chen looked at the hand of the frog with a lifeless expression. The hand had parts missing from it. There was no bleeding. But the damaged parts had faded. It was like when he'd attacked Unalaq. 

He pointed his hand at it, and he charged his energy. "How about I say hi to your wife for you? Any last words? Don't tell me, because I'm going to give a fuck." 

The spirit opened its eyes in horror. Chen surely was cruel. No, he was just in a bad mood that he was lost and drenched. 

"Please, stop, I'll do anything." The frog shrunk in size until it was Chen's size. He stood up on two legs.  

"Anything, huh?" Chen thought for a second. He was lost, and he needed help. However, he couldn't trust a frog he'd just met. 

However, if there is someone to trust in the spirit world, it would be the Avatars and Iroh. Both were dummies to play a trick on Chen. 

"Well… not anything… you are into humans only, aren't you?" 

A red beam passed by the frog's ear. The humanoid frog moved its eye slowly to its damaged ear, and its forehead started sweating up. 

"Fine, you do whatever you want." 

"Stop being stupid," Chen said. "I need to meet a human here. Do you know any?" 

"Well, there's that guy… grey-haired, tea lover…" the spirit said. 

Chen felt a pat on his shoulder, and his heart almost skipped a beat. There was no way someone could sneak up on him. 

"Did someone summon me?" said a voice. "I felt some energy seeking me. It could be you, young firebender." 

"Uncle Iroh." The frog said. "This human is crazy. I'm out of here. You take care of him." The frog then shrunk, becoming so small that it was hard to see him, before running away. Chen didn't care about it anymore.  

Chen turned his head. A short fat man was behind him. The top of his head was bald, and his hair was long and snow white. He was wearing robes, with a belt around his belly.  

"How did you know that I'm a firebender?" Chen asked. 

Iroh took his hand back, and he smiled. "The Chi attack you just used didn't require you to breathe. But you breathed like a firebender before you released it. I see that you are here in your physical form." 

"Yeah." Chen nodded. 

"How did you come here?" Iroh said. "Entering this world physically should be impossible for humans." 

"I was lost on the road of life,"  Chen said with sarcasm. "Of course, I came here through a portal."

Iroh opened his eyes widely. "Did you meet an owl, or did you meet a dark spirit." 

"How did you know?" Chen said.

"Well, there are portals, and there are locations that link the material world to the spiritual one. Wan Shi Tong library is one of them." 

"Yes, you are right. I met a dark spirit." Chen decided to spell it. "I was trying to wait for someone who's trying to free it. I tried to kill him, but he was just a soul. I then was thrown here." 

"Hold on right there, young man," Iroh said. "I can see you are in rush. Such a big matter needs calm thinking. Join me on tea, and we'll solve this."

Chen put his hand on his chin. He thought of it a bit. 

Iroh had been here for so long. 

If there is someone who knew ancient powerful spirits, it would be him. 

Chen needed someone to fuse with, for the worst-case scenario. He may become a pseudo-Avatar. 

"Tea. I would love to." 

Iroh smiled slightly. He then turned and walked, guiding Chen through the dark forest. 

"I see," Iroh said. "By the way kid, Your eyes are strange for a firebender." He pointed to the fact Chen's eyes were blue. 

"I am racially mixed." 

"I see. Aang had done well for creating a peaceful environment" Iroh said. "So you came from Republic City?"

"You can say," Chen replied.

-x-X-x- 

Chen felt a bit relaxed when he sipped the jasmine tea. Iroh made it so good. The smell alone made Chen less agitated. 

He had one question when looked at his reflection. How the hell can you make tea in the spirit world? But again, this world didn't make much sense in the first place. 

Chen had told Iroh about Unalaq and his plan to set Vaatu free and what happened. That left the old man with his jaw wide open for some time.  

"So, you have been tricked?" Iroh sipped. "By the time you are here. He may trick the Avatar to free Vaatu before the harmonic convergence. Given how you portrayed the Avatar, it should be easy to trick her."

"I know. She's so silly." Chen sighed in frustration. "Sometimes, I can't understand people like her, why are they trying to prove themselves." 

"Maybe you don't realise that. But she'd been restricted her whole life. It's like being raised inside of a jail." Iroh said. "She's more like an elite soldier who had been trained from their youngest ages to fight. The battle is the only thing they know. The same could be said for the current Avatar. She only knows that it's her job to save the world and keep balance, from a very young age.

 "she barely had any interactions with other people, other than the ones who cared about her, until she became an adult. She knows nothing about true human nature. 

 "Her only friend is a bear dog. I guess if she had friends as you did, she would have had a different view, a more realistic one, of the world."

This made him understand more about Korra, and why she was so trusting toward the others.

"Friends like I did? Hehe." Chen found that funny. He remembered the people he used to hang out with in his previous life. If Korra had friends as he had, there would be a possibility she would become the dark Avatar. "I'm more of the lonely type," Chen replied. He'd seen human nature, and he'd lost his faith in humanity, a long time ago. 

"Come on, be optimistic. We are having tea, and we're friends." Iroh said. 

Friends he said. For an old man who should have lived more than a hundred years, he was so silly. 

"For now, sure." Chen sipped. 

"Anyway. Why did you say that you are looking for an ancient powerful spirit?" Iroh asked. "I know they don't like interacting with humans. But I still want to know the reason." 

Chen placed his teacup down. Iroh stared at him with serious eyes, seeking his answer. 

There's no harm in telling this old man. 

"I'll fuse with it," Chen said, opening his hand. "I've learnt a technique that allows me to keep the spirit inside of me and take its power. 

"By fusing with an ancient powerful spirit, I may become a pseudo avatar, and I will be ready for the worse case. I only need a small power boost." 

Now, Chen was no hero. The only reason he wanted to stop the ending of the world was that he wanted to enjoy the world. 

Life had finally smiled at him, and he wanted to enjoy it. There's no way he would allow the end of the world to happen. The world's end can only happen after he would die from old age. Because at that point, he won't care.

Iroh opened his eyes widely at Chen, blinking repeatedly. 

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