High in the sky, Sora guided Inma toward the northeast until a small, isolated island came into view, its shores ringed by a dense canopy of towering trees.
Deciding it was time for a well-deserved rest, he brought Inma down to land.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Sora took a deep breath, inhaling the crisp, refreshing scent of the trees blended perfectly with the earthy aroma of coastal grass and saltwater.
He walked down toward the shoreline, carrying a sharply carved wooden spear to hunt for fish.
Stepping into the surf, he felt the cool, refreshing bite of the ocean waves against his skin.
All around him, fish broke through the glittering surface, leaping gracefully into the air before diving back into the deep.
The sheer stillness of the scene brought a sudden wave of calm and clarity to his mind.
Raising the wooden spear in his right hand, Sora locked his eyes on the water, waiting for the perfect moment.
After less than a minute of absolute stillness, he thrust the spear forward with explosive speed.
Channeling a sharp burst of airbending to boost both the velocity and piercing force of the strike, the spear impaled three fish at once.
He retrieved the catch, lined them up on the sand, and repeated the process until he had secured sixty fish.
It was a massive haul, but entirely necessary to feed both himself and Inma, who was exhausted and starving after their long flight.
Once they had finished their meal, Sora stood up and looked out at the vast expanse of the ocean.
“I need to change things up,” he muttered to himself.
“I need a new kind of training to push my air control further.” Glancing around, there was nothing but trees, grass, and the endless sea.
Suddenly, a spark of inspiration hit him, and he decided to test the idea immediately.
Stripping down to his shorts, Sora used a powerful jet of air to launch himself high into the sky before diving straight into the ocean.
He kept his eyes shut tight against the stinging salt as he plunged into the depths, sinking deeper until he reached a substantial, heavy current.
Once he settled into the deep water, Sora prepared to bend.
He tried to thrust his right hand forward, but the crushing pressure of the ocean resisted his movement, slowing his limbs to a crawl.
A small pocket of air managed to escape his palm, but it was instantly crushed and dissipated by the weight of the water.
He tried again, pushing his left hand forward to launch a gale.
A brief ripple of wind nudged the surrounding water before vanishing entirely.
He hadn’t expected the ocean’s resistance to be this overwhelming.
The sheer weight of the sea felt like a crushing physical burden pressing down on his entire body.
Refusing to back down, Sora adjusted his stance on the seabed, burying his feet deep into the fine sand and slick algae to anchor himself.
The texture beneath his toes was strange—a bizarre mix of slimy and soft—but he ignored the distraction.
Gathering his focus, he drove his right fist forward, channeling far more airbending power than before.
His fist cut through the water, leaving a chaotic trail of swirling bubbles in its wake.
A massive blast of air erupted from his hand, violently churning the deep water and forcing a powerful current forward.
Without breaking momentum, Sora shifted his body, unleashing a rapid succession of punches.
The underwater displacement grew immense, creating a localized jet stream that swept across the seabed, carrying small fish, shrimp, and clouds of fine sand along with it.
Feeling the strain, Sora stopped bending.
He planted his feet and launched himself upward, racing toward the surface to catch his breath.
He could have stayed under longer, but he actively avoided the suffocating sensation of running out of air; in his past life, he had suffered from severe asthma, and the memory of that suffocating panic was a feeling he never wanted to experience again.
He broke through the surface like a rocket, launching nearly a meter out of the water before using his airbending to hover steadily just above the swells.
Looking down, he caught his own wet reflection dancing on the water’s surface.
“Woohoo!
Now that is refreshing!” Sora shouted into the open air, a grin breaking across his face.
Flying, swimming, and pushing his body to the limit brought him pure joy.
In his previous life, swimming had been one of his absolute favorite escapes.
Deciding to experiment with the boundary between sky and sea, Sora summoned a violent gust of wind around himself, shaping it into a rapidly spinning sphere.
The massive orb of air rotated at a blistering speed, violently pushing the ocean water away from his center.
But as he hovered inside the eye of his own storm, he knew he had to push harder.
This isn’t enough.
I need to take this sphere down into the depths.
If I can repel the ocean itself, my defense will be unstoppable.
Sora descended back into the ocean, the massive bubble of air still roaring loudly around him as it kept the water at bay.
At first, the resistance was manageable, but the deeper he sank, the heavier the external pressure became.
By the time he reached a moderate depth, the spinning sphere began to violently hitch and stutter, the crushing weight of the sea actively choking the momentum of his wind.
Sora quickly adapted, condensing the sphere until it tightly hugged his silhouette.
With the shield narrowed, he poured an immense amount of power into the technique, the veins on his forehead and arms bulging from the sheer exertion.
The battle between wind and water grew brutal.
The compressed air shield spun furiously, protecting Sora from the crushing sea, but the sheer weight of the ocean kept slamming against his barrier, trying to tear it apart.
Sora refused to yield, though his extended arms felt heavy, aching with an exhausting strain that felt like lifting tons of dead weight.
Sweat poured down his body, instantly mixing with the damp air inside the bubble.
Suddenly, the extreme pressure caused the outer layer of the vortex to warp inward.
Sharp, erratic currents leaked into the interior, cutting across his skin and leaving a dozen small, bleeding gashes.
Looking at the fresh cuts opening up across his body, Sora decided he had pushed far enough for one day.
He redirected the remaining air of the sphere upward, blasting a narrow, clear column toward the surface.
Without a second thought, he used a massive burst of airbending to launch himself straight up through the tunnel, the wind tearing and whistling around him.
He rocketed out of the ocean and into the open air.
The moment the warm sunlight hit his face, Sora let his body go entirely limp, falling back back onto the surface and letting the gentle ocean swells carry his floating form.