book III: spirits chapter 4: sensations

"Sulfur hexafluoride bags will keep dropping from the top of the arena, your job is to firebend at them and stop them before they touch the ground

-Alright, sounds easy enough

-Remember, you're not just a firebender, you're the avatar, you can use what you learned when it comes to airbending to help you, airbenders are the optimal best when it comes to feeling objects around them just by a slight change in the air" and as soon as Akira finished his sentence, small plastic bags started dropping, and Yin kept firing at them, for am absurdly long time 5 hours to be exact.

"When is this stopping? (Yin)

-why would it?

-this is accomplishing nothing, other than boredom

-well how would you know? Who's the master here?

-I'm not appreciative of the attitude

-well, I give off people's vibes" said Akira with a provoking smile. Yin just went back to firing at bags, trying to keep his calm, which he succeeded at.

5 more hours passed, and Yin finally stopped, he was too tired to continue

"Now that we wasted 10 hours of our time, what's the next thing?

-you really haven't changed throughout the years have you? Still the obnoxious pessimist Yin I know

-I got a little stronger, wanna test me?

- you just proved my point further, you take everything personally, which makes you act upon your emotional feels quickly, I guess we need to work on that

-I finished my spiritual training, I only need my material one

-doesn't look like it"

After a few minutes, they moved to an open arena, Akira requested that Yin would fight him, he wanted to see if his ways needed modifications or not.

The first thing Yin did after having a blast fired at him was block it off with an earth wall, then he moved the wall toward Akira's direction, which Akira lightningbended at and broke

"You're only allowed to use firebending

-and so are you, but you decided to earthbend, so here we are

-I'm the avatar, I am supposed to make all of my bendings work together

-and I'm a bending master, I'm supposed to make all of my ve disg extensions work together

-ok you know what, I won't use any element other than fire, as long as you do too"

And with that Akira threw another boulder of fire at Yin, which he bended and dropped to the ground putting it out. He never once, fire ended himself, he always just used Akira's fire. And to be sure of that, Akira did something he knew Yin couldn't, he bended a long thick wave of fire toward him, which he responded to be penetrating it, then he bended fire from it into spheres, and threw them at Akira.

"Interesting" Akira though to himself, as he kept pushing Yin to his limits.

Suddenly while fighting, Yin entered the avatar state, and all 4 elements surrounded him. What's wrong? What was happening? No one knew, all Akira and Yang could do was just stare, then a light beam came out of his mouth into the sky. Shortly after, it disappeared, and he fainted. Akira caught him and he was able to get these words from him "th-the tree of time" before he fainted completely.

After a long fire healing session, Yin woke up, and he was able to talk

"It just happened so quickly, I had a vision that i was inside the tree of time, and a drop of the golden water running inside of it became black, then all I saw was a blank white space.

-the avatar's visions are never not to take seriously, your vision is truth!

- I know, there's a million of things we need to figure out first before taking action: is the vision an insight of reality or a metaphor? Why did the golden water turn black? What effect does that has on us? How can we stop it? And many more. I believe the best thing to do is start investigations while I keep training on my firebending"

It all happened so fast, Yin didn't want to make any slip up this time, or commit any mistake, if there was something wrong, he needed to figure it out, and he needed to do it before it gets out of control.

The first step to detect what was happening was to talk to an old friend of his, Hiroku.

Him and Akira went around f the northern water tribe asking about Hiroku's house. When they reached it and knocked, they heard someone say "come in" so they did. And the first thing to happen was water heading toward Yin, which he stopped before it hit him

"Literally what's wrong with you? We haven't met in 10 years and this is your welcome?

- I wanted to test your reflexes, and see if my teaching was still present in you, hi"

After narrating his vision to Hiroku, they came up with a plan that could either work, or fail miserably: Hiroku would go to meditate in the spirit world inside the tree of time, and try to feel the golden water rushing between its wood, if there's something unusual he'd know it.

Thry qent to the spirit world, and decidwd that since the three of them were bending masters, maybe meditating together will eesult in something. They all entered the tree of time and put themselves in a rectangular shape, and started meditating, feeling the presence of the empowering yet vivid energy surrounding them, connecting with what's around them, material it was or spiritual, after merging with thenselves, their third eye has opened, and they started feeling what normal people can't feel, the power, the intensity, the balance. Hirolu started feeling the golden water, rushing through the tree's veins, it felt so pure, clean, mistical, until one small bit was found black, it ruined the whole feek, and woke hiroku up making him gasp. That gasp also woke the two others up, it disturbed everyone

"What's wrong?" Yin asled, concerned for the spirits, they were dear to his heart

"You were right, there is an inpurity in the veins of the tree of time, and it's extremely filthy compared to the beautiful golden water" hiroku replied, angry because of that drop that ruined everything

"well I, and I'm sure you two, has felt a small disturbance in the spirit world, but it's nothing unusual, it happens from time to time doesn't it?" Akira added, wishing for the best.

"Then why is the golden water not golden anymore? I'm not letting anything slide by again, not making that mistake twice. I know a way to make sure things aren't right. We need the original element benders" (Yin)