Chapter 16: Spirit World (2)

Some time had passed since they left Kyoshi Island, they were currently flying aboard the flying bison.

"Sokka... I saw what you did earlier" Katara crossed her arms and the boy raised an eyebrow at this.

"I do a lot of things, could you be more specific?" Sokka asked with his usual sarcasm.

"You kissed Suki" the girl responded quickly and her brother looked up at the sky.

"To be fair, she kissed me," Sokka corrected, turning around and Katara approached him, with the typical curiosity from a sister.

"Do you like her?" Katara was smiling.

"It's none of your business," Sokka suddenly cut in, "We don't have time for that Katara."

"We have more important things to do right now" Sokka crossed his arms without thinking much about it.

"Well, well, okay" Katara walked away a little doubtful, although of course being her sister she had the right to want to know some things.

But suddenly, Appa began to descend. Katara looked at the avatar, who had a serious face, "What's wrong Aang?"

Aang didn't respond, and then they landed. There was a charred forest, the entire landscape was gray, there was no trace of life.

"This was... the Fire Nation..." Aang clenched his fists, "If I had been there sooner, I could have stopped it!"

"Dude, what did I tell you about the past? Just let it go." Sokka crouched down to his level and Aang looked at him.

"That doesn't make me feel better, nor does it prevent what has happened." Aang looked down at him and Katara put a hand on his shoulder, compassionately.

"Aang, if you hadn't shown up, I'm sure more things like this would have continued to happen."

"But now you are here to prevent them and save people" Katara told him smiling. Aang turned to her and smiled.

"There must be a town nearby, let's stop there for a moment," Sokka pointed out, getting up, "Besides, I'm hungry."

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"Disappearances?" Sokka repeated what she had just heard from the vendor where they went to shop.

"That's right, lately people from the town have been mysteriously disappearing," the salesman commented, looking at them.

Aang looked around, there were destroyed houses, as if a great monster had attacked the village, "Who did it?"

"Hei Bai, the spirit of Sanlin Forest, is furious" an old woman passing by came up to comment and everyone turned around.

'Spirits? That interests me,' Sokka thought with a smile, "And do you know when that spirit appears in the town?"

"Every time it gets dark, disasters happen in the town," replied the old woman, "We need help, this must stop."

"Today it will stop, I assure you, the avatar is here" Aang spoke with determination and the salesman's eyes widened.

"Thank you very much," Sokka took the shopping bag from there, and they walked away, "Do you have any plans to catch a spirit?"

"I don't know... do an avatar trick?" Aang asked with a nervous smile and Katara laughed at that.

"Very funny bald, you'll let the spirit get you" Sokka commented with his arms crossed.

"What? Why would I do that?" Aang scolded him.

"First, because you can't kill a spirit, and second, to know more about the spirit world" answered the warrior.

"But Sokka, what if he doesn't come back?" Katara was nervous.

"He will, he's the avatar," Sokka replied smiling, "I'll go explore this for a bit."

Sokka turned around, 'I need an ability to be in the spirit world.'

He also planned to enter the spirit world, gain more knowledge and everything else. So he entered the system store.

[Spiritual awareness]

[Allows the user to interact with spirits as well as their world]

[Price: 7500 XP]

"This is what I needed" Sokka smiled, he needed everything to go well for tonight.

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Then the moment arrived, a giant six-legged monster appeared that expelled light from its mouth, destroying booths.

"Hey Hei Bai!" Aang shouted from the roof of a building, expelling a current of air to attract the spirit.

However, the spirit had focused his gaze on one target: Sokka, who was several meters away from him.

"Sokka?! What the hell are you doing there?" Aang used his glider to quickly fly towards Sokka but the monster was already far away.

With one paw he grabbed Sokka and Aang clung to Hei Bai's body, until they disappeared after crossing the entrance to the village.

When Sokka opened his eyes, he saw a peaceful forest. There was the sound of a nearby river, "So this is the spirit world."

He saw animals running around, one approached him. Sokka realized something... That animal had no face!