Rejecting society’s vices and avoiding the corruption of the environment.
Killing the benders in this camp could cost me my agreement with Wan Shi Tong, my access to any book in his archives, and my continued learning.
Nobody was forcing me.
I’d chosen to come here.
I couldn’t shift responsibility to rare cases of self-defense, which Air Nomads were allowed.
Hovering in the middle of the Fire Nation camp, eyes darting in all directions, I knew I had to act non-lethally.
I didn’t hesitate.
My hands sent four sand tornadoes in each direction, using every grain from my gourd.
The ready warriors didn’t expect their bodies to be carried away by simple sand.
Even less did they expect it to start cutting their exposed skin.
As for the Captain, I reserved a separate tornado for him.
He managed to dodge out of his tent and, with a single flame-boosted leap, landed a few dozen meters away.
Our eyes met briefly.
He was genuinely surprised by my element.
I, in turn, was calculating how to disable this camp and focused on the stones I’d scattered earlier.
“Never fought a sandbender before.
But that’s just a pile of pathetic grains.” Taking a quick step forward, the man began raining punches through the air, sending a machine-gun burst of fireballs.
Precise and explosive.
I didn’t need to know their techniques to understand the danger.
Firebenders could tear their muscles violently during attacks, but that style was completely foreign to me.
I transformed part of my sand armor into a tentacle, dodged sharply, and hurled a pre-prepared stone at the bender.
Boom.
He leaped high, redirected the stone into a steel plate with a flame from his foot, and landed on the rubble, grinning at me.
“Break those rocks.
The dust-blower won’t have any proper ammo.” A squad of firebenders, unable to get closer because of the tornadoes, managed to shatter the stones with fireballs.
Simple fire shouldn’t have done much, but the force of the impacts turned the stones into gravel.
These attacks carried immense energy, destroying my convenient ammunition.
“Surround him.
Don’t let him escape!” Other benders shouted, sending streams of fire at me.
The attacks were fast.
The warriors were well-trained.
Fireballs flew like buzzard-wasps, just as numerous, hemming me in from every side.
Whoosh.
I dove forward flat, dodging balls from above and below.
Without touching the ground, I pushed off with sand particles, avoiding the concentrated volley.
I even hovered in the air for a second, arms spread, fingers clenched.
The Captain created a dense pillar of fire.
He didn’t understand how fast sand could be controlled.
Using some of my armor’s sand, I formed a blade and placed it in the path of the attack.
The pillar split in half, while my stone armor protected me from hits to the back.
“How is he moving like that?” voices murmured around me.
Then everyone realized all four tornadoes had vanished.
The sand had turned into long tentacles, swirling around me like a living creature.
The tips of the “octopus” touched the destroyed stones.
They gathered the gravel and restored them to their original stone form.
“Impossible.” The Captain’s mouth fell open.
Perhaps only simple Earthbenders were limited by material within this iron camp.
My control allowed me to restore the stones no matter how badly they were damaged.
I attached the stones to the ends of the tentacles and began swinging them slowly.
“Run!
Agh!” The tentacles’ swings sent benders flying, making them lose concentration.
No, I wasn’t hitting with the stones.
At that speed and with that leverage, it would have crushed them.
Instead, I struck with the tentacles, simultaneously smashing catapults and breaking the supports of watchtowers.
I had to adopt an Earthbender’s power stance to control the sand with such heavy attachments.
The stones couldn’t withstand too many impacts.
Plus, the benders kept trying to get closer, breaking things too.
But my element allowed me to repair the damage.
“How is this possible?” The Captain was stunned as loud impacts echoed everywhere.
First, I accelerated the stones with bending, then with my tentacles, until the soldiers backed away, fearing they’d be hammered into the iron floor like nails.
When everything around was destroyed, I stopped and looked at the furious Captain.
The stones lay where they’d fallen.
I slowly walked toward him.
“You…”
“I won’t kill you.
But I’ll make sure you never command again.”
“One bender.
Using sand.” His face contorted.
He took a stance , clearly ready to die rather than surrender.
He probably thought that without the stones behind me, I couldn’t be a threat.
“Just sand.” What was there to fear?
That’s what his eyes said.
We stopped a few meters apart.
He exhaled a thin stream of flame from his nose and snarled.
He leaped forward, striking with both hands.
“Attack from behind!” He wasn’t an idiot.
He’d planned a flanking tactic.
His fire reached me and stopped against a sand shield.
Time for Waterbender techniques.
Whenever holes appeared from his attacks, they healed instantly.
Taking a moment to check the approaching firebenders, I created sand projectiles, fluid spheres that struck them and hardened quickly.
Unlike similar Waterbending techniques that froze in ice, stone couldn’t be melted by fire breath.
Unlike Earthbending, these projectiles worked like water.
Of course, they weren’t as strong as real stone projectiles, but they didn’t need to be for simple immobilization.
“Useless idiots!”
“I really need to improve my hardening,” I muttered, standing half-turned to the Captain and startling him with my gaze.
He tried a few more punches, some attacks even came from the side, but each one met my regenerating shield.
This technique could only be overcome by superior power or overwhelming numbers.
He had neither.
The main army had already left.
Everyone was terrified.
And for those who still had any courage left, I knocked sense into them.
Creating a scooter, maneuvering between fire bursts, I reached the Captain.
His long jumps didn’t help.
I was faster than everyone in this camp.
I pressed him into the ground with sand, managing to touch his exposed neck.
I looked around at the shocked, terrified faces.
“…I order you to run.”
“Raa!
Don’t listen to him!” The Captain screamed, spitting a stream of fire.
“Or the same thing will happen to you.” Applying just a little force, I began to drain his body.
His roar turned into a scream.
The fire spewing from his mouth rapidly diminished.
His Chi was degrading, disappearing.
His body became a shriveled old man barely able to move.
I stood and stepped back.
Silence fell over the camp.
Everyone stared in shock at the Captain, who was leaning on the ground with withered hands.
Somehow, he managed to stand, clutching his throat, begging for water.
Whispers spread among those who witnessed it.
“Monster.”
“He’s definitely an Earthbender?”
“Could he be the Ava…
no, definitely not.”
“Ah…” No words could escape his mouth.
Overwhelmed by rage that surpassed even the fear of death, the Captain looked at me and tried to summon fire from his hand.
With his Chi system destroyed, he obviously couldn’t use it anymore.
Perhaps only Waterbenders could help him, but restoring his body was impossible.
He’d probably live longer than he should, but you could hardly call it living. Get faster updates on g.com.
“Choose:”
1: Continue training and eliminate everyone except the Captain (No one will know your power.
The enemy will resist fiercely, giving you practice.
The bodies will warn the returning army.
The surviving Captain can’t speak but will spread fear).
2: Release everyone (Your power becomes known.
A bounty is placed on your head.
It becomes easier to gain fame among the Earth Kingdom.
You don’t break your promise to Wan Shi Tong, but you feel guilt for releasing enemies.
The enemy retreats in fear).
3: Imprison the enemies in stone (You’ve learned to choose less honorable options.
The captured enemies can be found by Earth Kingdom soldiers who will deal with them.
It’s unclear when a day or a week.
The Fire Nation won’t learn of your power if you capture everyone.
The owl’s promise isn’t broken.
Low chance of improving relations with the Earth Kingdom.
Training for speed, tracking, and hardening).
The consequences of each choice were described carefully.
This decision had major implications for the story.
Only one question remained.
What about the army marching toward Omashu?
They’d return, making the third option pointless.
But it wasn’t Anubis who answered.
It was Afka.
She appeared beside me, pointing toward the returning army.
They must have received some signal.
“So I have to fight everyone.” Anubis had conveniently omitted that detail.
If I’d destroyed the army earlier, it wouldn’t be this hard now.
He just wanted the situation to push me into intense training.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t strong enough to choose the third option.
My strength was depleted from all the Airbender acrobatics and techniques I’d been using.
Chasing everyone and tracking them down as Anubis suggested would be too difficult.
The only thing left was to feel guilt that the army would keep living.
I just stood there, watching the people scatter.
The Captain tried shouting at them, but eventually he too shuffled away like a wilted old man.
When they met the army, they didn’t turn around to finish me off.
I kept causing chaos for show, demolishing everything with stones.
The Captain was defeated.
The camp was gone.
There was no point defending it anymore.
Just as Anubis said, they retreated in fear.
“Huh.”
Looking at my hands, I was surprised.
The blend of techniques from three nations that I’d used fit every situation.
Without the Air Nomad speed techniques, I’d have died in seconds.
Only they allowed me to maneuver.
The sand shields helped against the barrages.
I finally understood why the Avatar, mastering all four elements, was so powerful.
Though, he relied less on defense.
Air Nomads only dodged.
That was their downfall.
I was more adaptable.
“Well…
what about metal?” Like a curious child, I looked at my feet and touched the material that could potentially be mine too.
A message appeared before my eyes.
“Don’t get your hopes up, weakling.”
“Tch.”