Monotonous training, forcing me to repeat the same actions over and over, definitely didn’t drive me insane.
I’d be willing to repeat that statement ten thousand times.
Because of all those repetitive exercises, I freed my mind and left room for reflection.
Back during my two-year stint in the caves, I’d learned to distract myself to avoid going genuinely crazy.
Without human contact, living like a hunted, beaten vagrant, I usually pondered the benders of this world.
Ever since that sandstorm where I nearly died, I’d been fascinated by the world’s enhancement factors.
A sandstorm objectively boosted sandbenders.
The volume of grains and the speed they carried made it easy to control much larger amounts of material.
It would probably also enhance Airbenders, simply through the air currents.
What about the others?
What miraculous power did Sozin’s Comet carry, making Firebenders exponentially stronger?
Or the solar eclipse whose date I’d grabbed from Wan Shi Tong’s library.
The sun was just being blocked by the moon.
At night, it disappeared entirely to illuminate the other side of the planet.
Did Firebenders lose their powers every single night for a significant period?
Of course not.
Did they draw power from reflected moonlight?
Then their strength would wane throughout the day and vanish almost entirely during the new moon.
And what about the full moon, which gave Waterbenders their greatest power, but had no effect on Firebenders at all?
The moon was always full at night.
Its illumination depended on the sun.
There were no tricks or divine interventions.
The satellite reflected light.
That was it.
But it still drastically affected Waterbenders.
I wouldn’t be surprised if during the appearance of Planet Nibiru, the locals awakened a fifth type of bending.
Friendship and idiocy.
I would have kept joking if I didn’t have two theories.
The benders’ power came from mindset and blind faith.
Water Tribe people subconsciously couldn’t unlock their full abilities without such an INCREDIBLE event as the full moon.
As if they were subconsciously connected to something that gave them inner confidence during different events, loosening the blockages in their chakras.
And from there, my second theory focused entirely on the spirits.
Weren’t they the ones who made people so steeped in faith that it partially cleared their blocked chakras?
Spirits entered into full contact with humans, unleashing their inner potential.
So Sozin’s Comet also contained some kind of spirit.
And did chakras even exist?!
“Phew.” Taking a sip of water so I wouldn’t lose my mind from overthinking, I sat by the fire and seriously contemplated.
What were chakras?
Probably mental barriers that everyone had.
Personal or natural limitations, complexes, or poor education prevented benders from reaching their full potential.
Spirits could simply help them overcome these, like a priest absolving a person’s sins and making them believe they’d become better and somehow changed.
In reality, the person had to change themselves.
Perhaps benders were more closely tied to personality.
I didn’t think I could’ve just turned off my fear earlier.
That worked differently.
But now I had theories about the second Chakra.
Guilt, to put it more bluntly.
I needed to take actions that gradually overcame my limitations, just like with fear.
“That will be difficult.
Feeling guilty is normal.
It’s your conscience acting up when you’ve done something wrong.
But I think it’s more about not forever punishing yourself for a mistake.
The question is, how do you look guilt in the face?”
“Rrr…” Before I could fall into a spiral of thoughts, sharp teeth grabbed the hem of my shirt.
Afka was trying to get my attention again.
“I wish I could understand you faster.
Otherwise all my clothes will be full of holes from your teeth.” I had to stand up and follow the fox.
She led me to the edge of the mountain plateau.
And I realized Afka never bothered me for no reason.
Marching across the mountain ridges were people bearing Fire Nation emblems.
An entire procession, hauling ballistas for besieging fortified structures.
Behind the army, in the distance, black smoke billowed.
A camp they were currently leaving.
Crunch.
Boom.
I grabbed a piece of stone from the ground and covered the fire to hide my position.
I pulled my mask and hood on.
I pressed myself to the ground, surrounding myself with sand to blend in.
I watched where the army was heading.
“Hm.
Are they planning to attack Omashu?”
“Choose:”
1: Observe the army from a distance and secretly follow (Training temporarily pauses.
You can help repel the siege on Omashu.
You’ll gain access to the city as a reputable Earthbender).
2: Attack immediately (Your training transforms and becomes more difficult.
You won’t feel guilty for allowing the Fire Nation to attack the city.
No one will know of your deeds).
3: Sabotage the Fire Nation base (You’ll deal a significant blow to their positions.
The enemy can’t launch frequent attacks on Omashu.
Training becomes extremely difficult.
You won’t feel guilt for killing several hundred people).
“Guilt?
Omashu was never captured before the canonical events.
Although…” Looking at the number of ballistas, I frowned.
A single volley from that many projectiles against the walls could potentially overwhelm some benders.
And if something hit the city directly?
The second option involved genocide against the Fire Nation.
They deserved it, honestly.
But I had no doubt it would be a direct violation of my vow to Wan Shi Tong.
Afka would stop following me.
I had to maintain a relatively peaceful stance.
So this was a choice of difficulty levels.
The most suitable option for me was the hardest.
“Well, I’ll have to find another way into Omashu later.
The sand that burst from my gourd immediately began swirling around me, forming a tornado that let me descend smoothly.
Like a true Airbender.
Afka followed, curious about my plan.
The suspense lasted until the end.
I circled the entire army on her watch, blending into the yellow background, propelling myself with fast currents, and soon found myself near the Fire Nation camp.
A normal person might imagine rows of tents stretching to the horizon.
Or perhaps, given the Fire Nation’s advancement, they’d expect a massive clearing with endless surveillance, tanks, and dinosaurs with flamethrower-wielding benders on their backs.
But it was much larger than that.
The entire camp was wrapped in metal.
Massive metal plates were bolted to the walls.
Instead of dirt, they walked on a metal floor anchored by giant rivets.
The madness started when you realized even the buildings were made of iron, and the watchtowers were constructed from it too.
The Fire Nation clearly didn’t suffer from material shortages and spent it freely when fighting Earthbenders.
Especially if they’d been here for a long time and it was a necessity.
A premium outpost.
Costly, but no team of two Earthbenders could completely shut down the entire camp.
I even felt like turning around and committing genocide against the army.
But things weren’t as hopeless as they seemed.
“Afka, can you scout for me?
I need to know if the captain is here or if he left with the army.” The little fox pressed against the ground and nodded silently.
She vanished into a mirage and dutifully set off on her mission.
She was clearly pleased we’d decided to disable a base to prevent more deaths.
I clenched my fists and prepared.
If I hadn’t unlocked my first chakra, I’d be shaking like a Chihuahua right now, my mind consumed with survival strategies.
Training in decompression and compression with a star rating.
Good thing I didn’t have to actually defeat the Captain.
I wasn’t sure I could, after only two years of training.
Besides, most of the army had left, leaving only the defenders.
As soon as Afka appeared next to me, I confirmed the Captain was indeed still in the camp.
She showed me his approximate location.
I stood up and ripped several large boulders from my cliff.
Whish.
Whish.
Whish.
I replaced the catapults, hurling stones as large as I could lift toward the camp.
And that wasn’t particularly impressive.
To reach the target, I had to use rocks my own size.
Seven of them formed a ring, concentrating around the Captain’s presumed quarters.
Then came the tricky part.
I tensed my arms and lifted the stone beneath my feet, launching myself.
Becoming a projectile wasn’t exactly safe.
But wrapped in sand armor, jumping off and hovering before landing, I executed the most dramatic entry the local soldiers had ever seen.
Sustaining myself with a sandstorm, I surveyed the startled, unprepared benders.
“What’s happening here?
An Earthbender attack?” The main boss finally appeared.
The door to his metal bunker opened, revealing a stern man with a pair of grim companions behind him, discussing and planning attacks.
But seeing the storm in front of his quarters, he slowly looked up and focused on me.
“…Sand?”