The Saviour

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"The weight of the story couldn't be greater. Should I tell you here and now, or should we wait until tonight?"

- I just got in the water, we have plenty of time, you can start your story.

"As you wish..."

If he said it, he should do it. To remain silent in this case would have been too piggish of me. I didn't want to spoil my relationship with the princess with such a small thing, but it was also too dangerous and stupid to say everything that happened to me right up front. However, to lie or even keep something from Azula... I would have to try hard, placing the hints in such a way that she would guess, and not the one who was watching me now hidden from all eyes.

Remembering the events of a month ago, I decided to begin my story from afar, in other words, from the beginning. It all started with that unfortunate night when Ari arrived at the camp, a knowledge-seeking spirit that looked like a big brown fox. Talking to her, I very quickly found out the purpose of the visit and the method of finding our squad. The very immoral way.

- Did my intimate underwear come in handy? - Covering an ironic smile with her hand, the conqueror of the blue flame announces her hunch.

"Mm-hmm. Now, please don't interrupt me, I'm morally exhausted from the recent events, otherwise I would have made a joke about it. It's embarrassing," I answered her in a tired voice, remembering a not-so-dignified moment in my life.

- Can you feel shame? I didn't know you had such talents. Anyway, go on, I'm listening to you carefully.

And so I continued.

After talking to the vixen for a while, I decided to take a chance and visit Wang Shi Tong's mythical library. I had everything I needed for that: knowledge as an entrance fee and a quick way to get to and from the library. According to Ari, the whole journey wouldn't take long, and I'd be back by dawn, if not sooner. The spirits had their own ways of travelling quickly. To tell you about them now, I found it a little inappropriate. Azula accepted my position, but she'd probably remembered the subject and would bring it up again. Despite the tempting offer, which was impossible to refuse, I decided to wake up one princess in the middle of the night to warn her of my possible absence in the near future. At that time I didn't know what I was going to face. That was the last time I saw Azula, but enough of the memories.

Saddling a fox, as strange as it may sound, we reached the desert very quickly, and soon my feet were on the floor of the library. It didn't take long to find Wang Shi Tong, he himself came out to greet me as soon as I crossed the threshold of his domain....

- And? What happened next, Yoaru? - The princess stretched out, staring expectantly into my eyes, not at all embarrassed by her nakedness. However, this was not the time to enjoy the beauty of a woman's body. I was faced with a task that required all my mental effort.

"Dramatic pause," I replied with a sad chuckle as I watched her face begin to frown. Bringing the 'empress' down to earth is nice and fun as always, but right now such a pause was playing a different role altogether.

- It's not funny, stop pining me and answer me, where and why have you been missing for almost a month? - In a serious tone she asked me direct questions.

"At first, I stuck to a long thought out plan, but after the first few minutes of talking to the great spirit of knowledge, I started improvising. Word by word we discussed the deal. He spoke sweetly, offering very favourable things. It let my guard down. I got what I wanted, but the spirit was far more cunning and powerful than I had imagined. Much stronger and more powerful, Azula," I wrinkle my nose at the unpleasant memories, pausing once again at the right moment. She's a smart girl, should be thinking about this conversation later and paying attention to my every action.

- Don't keep me guessing. What happened next? - The princess grumbled unhappily.

''The deal was done, I got everything I asked for, he got everything I offered. And afterwards, Wang Shi Tong decided to insist that I stay at his place for a while," I answer her, and immediately find myself interrupted.

- 'So you were a guest?

"You got that right, no need to be ironic. Being a prisoner of a creature you can't do anything to... it feels like that," I wrinkle my nose at the unpleasant memories. Being helpless, completely at the mercy of someone else's will, it was a terrible feeling.

- Of course, I hadn't dealt with invulnerable and intangible demons. How am I supposed to know what you felt? - Azula notes ironically, shrugging her shoulders with a mocking smile and spreading her hands apart.

"Heh, well said, but I'm far from invulnerable. I guess being imprisoned by a spirit is bad for your thought processes," considering I haven't had a rest this whole time, I'm still doing pretty well, but I'm not going to make excuses, at least not out loud.

- Why did he do that? As far as I know, the spirits do not interfere in the affairs of people, - oh yes, I forgot, after meeting me, Azula has replenished the knowledge of spirits, no longer considering it silly fairy tales and ravings of madmen. Now she is very well-read on the subject, as well as me. After meeting Wang Shi Tong, I realise how little humanity knows about the capabilities and powers of spirits. Especially the great spirits.

"That's not really true. People... they might just not notice spirits even if they're standing next to them. Because of this, there are very few documented situations with spirits. And because of this, any natural disaster or cataclysmic event is also blamed on spirits. Well, enough about that. I'll continue. A few years ago, Wang Shi Tong let in a man from the Fire Nation, and he was very insulting to the great spirit, so much so that he began to strongly dislike all mankind and especially the Fire Nation. Although it could not be said that Wang had been a man of humanity before. Anyway, when he found out who I was dealing with, his plans changed. I soon realised that the deal didn't include leaving his domain," I said, getting to the point of my story. But I'd better stop here, because I'm getting too brazen, and I don't want to be found out for being stupid.

- Hmm, you've been tricked like a little child, haven't you? - She said with a slight sneer. I didn't have the right words to reply. What can I do about the fact that it's true? Denying mistakes will only increase the chance of repeating them, all that's left is to remember them, and try not to let them happen again.

"It appears so. Van, unknowingly, played a great game on my desire for a body and new knowledge, alas, I realised my mistake too late. But I guess you're more interested in how I got out of there?" - I answered her, wanting to change the subject. I acknowledged my mistake, but it was still an uncomfortable topic.

- Mm-hmm," the girl said with pleasure. - I want to hear the story of your fiasco, too, but you're right, time is limited.

"Then I'll be brief. All month I have been engaged in extremely complex negotiations, with my existence on the line. And since I'm here in front of you now, the negotiation was successful. I persuaded him to let me go, in exchange for one favour."

- A favour? - The princess asks with mild interest.

"To quote his words, 'Man has done evil to a spirit, man must pay for it.' Basically, after becoming a man, I must bring a certain Jao to him, well, or his head. Though the latter is not so desirable," I'm sorry, but I have to lie to you, I hope you understand that.

- Why would he want a living person? And what did he do to make one of the oldest spirits want revenge? - Azula, you're wondering about the wrong things, and I asked those questions myself when I heard about this suicidal man.

''I have no idea why he did it, but what he did was... set fire to Wang Shi Tong's library.''

- Huh? How did he manage to survive in doing so?

"I asked that question too, Wang ignored it. Anyway, that's where the story ends. From the library, I got here by riding Ari. She herself has been gone for a couple of days now, continuing to seek new knowledge for her master."

- Somehow that... doesn't sound particularly believable. He just let you go and took your word for it? And how did you manage to talk him into it?

"Things are strange and unusual with spirits, they have their own secrets and their own ways of holding us accountable for our words. We are not limited by time, a year or two, maybe even a hundred years from now, he may well ask me for a broken promise. As for the agreement. My talents as a schemer, a manipulator, and a superb actor have been aided. You understand, don't you? Stressful situations, when your life is at stake, are the most fertile ground for all kinds of talents to flourish," but they weren't working right now, because I was too mentally exhausted.

- Hmmm..." The Fire Conqueror shut her eyes and threw back her head, thinking about her own thoughts. I can only hope that she is thinking about the right things. - It's getting dark already, you must be pretty tired in this time, share some strength with you?

Then the night begins. There was no doubt about it. Experienced fire mages have no problem sensing the position of the sun in the sky. But the girl didn't seem to pay much attention to my hints. On the one hand it's sad, but on the other hand... she shows me care, how nice and how out of place. To prolong the conversation further would surely lead to increasing risks of my lies being exposed by the wrong person. I've already given too thick hints.

"How thoughtful of you. I won't say no. I feel like a dry lemon that I've been in the desert for a long time," I reply to her with a smile, how nice it is to be thought of and cared for.

- Don't be pampered, you look great," she got up from the bath and let me energise myself. I had to enter her body to do so, but I didn't stay there long.

"Thanks, you should probably get going, get back to unfinished business, talk to Ty Lee, tell her about my return...she's probably been freaking out since I went missing," I bid Azula goodbye, stepping out of the alien body.

- Yeah. About Ty Lee. You know, while you were away, she and I became very close.

Her words made me speechless... but maybe I heard her, or maybe I misunderstood? I need to clarify!

"...How much?" - I didn't recognise my own voice, it sounded so confused. Damn, it sounded pathetic. Pull yourself together, Yoaru!

- As much as you can. We're lovers now," Azula answered me in a completely calm tone, as if it was some small thing.

I guess in such cases you should speak as if you'd been hit on the head with a bag of flour or a bucket of cold water. Ha! You've got to stop thinking about silly things. It's a good thing that due to fatigue and lack of hormones, I calm down very quickly. I don't feel surprised anymore, only calm and mentally tired.

"...Oh, I need to think about all this, let's talk tonight," I say this and remove myself from the room. All this has come on me too suddenly, I need to analyse everything on a calm head and finally get things done.

- Good, you know where my apartments are," the princess' voice comes from behind me.

Alas, I was not allowed to rest yet, I had to finish one thing. Passing through the wall, I immediately fly straight up through the ceilings of the decks, slowly flying out onto the main deck. Stopping at the very bow of the ship, I glimpsed the calm sea, the almost deserted wharf, and the starry sky, and waited. Fortunately, the wait didn't last long.

- You kept your word," I heard Ari's disconnected voice say. I turned around and saw the fox, who hadn't been there a second ago, behind me.

The fox wasn't asking, it was affirming. The spirit had been watching me this whole time and probably will continue to do so. Watching me keep my side of the bargain honestly, which isn't limited to Jao's head.

- I don't like it when you do that. How long are you gonna keep watching me?

- As long as he says, remember every point of the deal and keep it a secret from everyone," I thought she wasn't going to answer me.

- I remember every point of the deal perfectly well, there's no need to remind me.

After finishing the conversation, Ari disappeared, becoming completely invisible to my eyes and any other senses. Even my spiritual sight was useless here. She has the ability to be invisible even to other spirits. No matter what, the fox was assigned to me by Wang Shi Tong himself. With such capabilities, I was sure that she was watching me at all times. And I don't want to mention the peak of her fighting ability that I had to experience. Sinking a ship and burning a city is no problem for her, and that's a relatively average spirit. What a great spirit of knowledge is capable of I'm afraid to even imagine, what I had already guessed was enough to be considered a small god.

Chilling on the main deck of the ship, I soon got bored. The patrolling soldiers were somewhat distracting. Since I was still scheduled to talk to Azula and Tai Li, I went straight to the princess' quarters, where it was quiet and empty. A perfect place for reflection.

Alas, no matter how hard I tried, Zula still didn't pay attention to my hints. So I'd have to find another way to tell her without Ari knowing. And this sudden progress between Ty Lee and Azula. Though on the other hand... their relationship is somewhat natural and a direct consequence of my actions. I think the key factor was my absence. I wonder who took the first step in taking action? I remember pushing the girls to do it myself, almost successfully, but the whole Wang Shi Tong thing put my plans on hold.

How did I get it so wrong? Was I so blinded by the possibility of success? I could have at least thought about it, paid attention to the oddities, thought.... The spirit didn't build his library by himself, and he certainly didn't hire earth mages, and he didn't even use magic, at least not human magic. No, he simply realised it with his own will and his own strength. As now he can make as many weapons as he wants: nuclear, bacteriological, chemical and other weapons with mass destruction. Missiles, machine guns, pistols, electricity and computer technology... literally everything I knew and more.

Wang Shi Tong was far from stupid, on the contrary unusually intelligent, it was not difficult for him to guess and think of things I did not know in detail, but even a brief information on weapons of mass destruction was enough for a disaster.

The great spirit was so self-confident that while I was still in my presence, right during our discussion, he started building a new, hidden floor for personal use and experimentation in the library. It had electricity and computers as the new custodians of his knowledge. As it turned out, the more knowledge a spirit possessed, the stronger it became. Unfortunately, I learnt that too late. Sowych was a real monster, or even a full-fledged god, especially after our meeting.

I had underestimated him from the start, and I regretted it. Better to overestimate someone than to underestimate them. After receiving all my memories, the great Spirit finally became convinced of the grave danger of mankind to the whole world, and thus became strong enough to drive people back into the caves, if not exterminate them, then easily drive them to the brink of extinction. Only his peace-loving nature, his own weaknesses and me stopped him from starting the apocalypse. Somehow I didn't think about how angry the spirits might get if they knew what humans could do to nature, its children, the planet itself... all in the near future. What's a couple of hundred years for an immortal spirit, during which progress will leapfrog several eras? Up to and including the creation of atomic bombs or something even worse. Just nothing.

Fortunately for me, Wang Shi Tong was primarily an abstract concept spirit, and his path was knowledge... absolutely any kind of knowledge. The spirit did not find me dangerous, nor did it kill me immediately, rather the opposite, knowing everything about me, it found my personality interesting and wanted to communicate with me. Knowing full well that my own survival depended on the words I spoke, my mental faculties kicked in at a full three hundred per cent, revealing previously hidden talents.

I wasn't lying when I told Azula that it was through scheming, acting, and manipulation that I was able to succeed. It was a very difficult task to change the mind of a person almost twenty millennia old. Our conversation didn't stop for weeks; they flew by so imperceptibly and fleetingly that no one paid attention. Like I said, when the situation involves survival, it's either do or die.

I wasn't the least bit lucky, I just did it. Solved the problem. I did what Wang Shi Tong did to me. I pressed my strengths against his weaknesses and it worked. I convinced the spirit that humans may be harmful and dangerous, but they are also highly resourceful. With their progress, the rate of creation of new knowledge only increases. And if we unite mankind into one nation, one people, one country, with one language, one traditions, one ruler for all mankind, then people will have no reason for wars. They will become much more peaceful.

Discussing theories, historical and scientific facts from the history of both worlds, we had heated debates about the fate of the entire human race. It was long, more than once I had a headache, and I was exhausted, but by an effort of will I opened a second, third and fourth breath to continue the argument. This went on until I won the negotiations by persuading the spirit to give mankind a chance. But I couldn't call it an absolute victory. The chance of life was given, but the owl set a number of conditions.

The most important of them was the unification of mankind at any cost....