CH 13 - ATLA 12 - The Moon Spirit

(Word Count: 2,797)

I ran as fast as I could towards the palace. The spiritual oasis was in a Crack in the glacier behind the palace and through a tiny wooden door. From what I remember it seemed like this entrance was in a walled off courtyard behind the palace, so I would need to go through the building to get there.

The palace itself was separated from the city raised up on its own plateau, with a set of large stairs that bridged up. The palace was a beautiful pagoda style tower, with a large set of stairs leading up to the main entrance. I bolt up the stairs 3 at a time. There were some dead guards from when Zhao passed through, which, while morbid, did provide me with an easy path to follow. I just needed to follow the path of crispy bodies.

“Hey you! Soldier!” A man shouted, he looked to be some official in the water tribe.

“Sorry, no time to talk!” I shouted as I ran past him.

Finally, I ran through a broken wall and made it to the entrance of the spirit oasis. I heard a voice, it was Iroh.

“I'm no traitor, Zhao. The Fire Nation needs the moon too; we all depend on the balance. Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you tenfold! Let it go, now!” Iroh roared.

I enter the oasis silently to see Zhao release a koi fish back into the pond, momentarily cowed by Iroh's threat. Knowing what came next, I quickly earthbend a stone wall between him and the pond, just in time to catch Zhao's angry fireblast. The wall hit beneath Zhao’s hand, pointing his blast harmlessly into the air.

Everyone was stunned. Partly that Zhao actually sent a blast that would have killed the spirit, and partly at the random earthwall that sprung up.

“Phew! That was too close! Sorry I'm late,” I say, sweating at how close I had come to failing. I was so caught up in disconnecting my Jin Lee persona from myself that I lost track of time.

Inside the spirit oasis, there was the Avatar's party, Zhao and five more men, Iroh and Zuko. Everyone turned to look at me that just showed up.

“Who are you?” Zhao shouted angrily at me.

At the same time, Aang, Katara, and Sokka all recognized me and shouted, “Callan!” I gave them a smile before turning back to Zhao.

“My name is Callan Stone. I'm a wandering Earthbender. A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” I said sarcastically, brandishing my sword at him. He paled when he saw it.

“How did you get that sword!” Zhao demanded.

“I defeated the man that had it, obviously. It’s a nice sword, so I took it. Now why don't we all step away from the spirits? I don't want to get them caught up in our fight,” I say.

Zhao scoffed. “You want to fight me? Then bring it on! I won't fail here when I'm so close!” He immediately shot a large wave of fire towards me. I stomped the ground, bringing up a wall in front of me, then shifted the ground by the pond, creating a little stone covering so the fish won't be blasted by a stray fire blast. They were my priority after all.

As soon as the fire disappeared, I punched my wall and it shot out in several large chunks towards the firebenders. Most of them dodged, including Zhao, but I did manage to hit one of them. The large rock sent the man flying backwards where he laid there, knocked out. 

Zhao roared and charged me, sending a flurry of fire balls at me. I spun around and between them. Baguazhang really was a lot more suited for this than the Northern Shaolin I was using as Jin Lee. With each fireball I dodged, Zhao got angrier. I took some potshots as well, taking brief opportunities to send rocks flying at him. 

Behind Zhao, Iroh had leapt in and was quickly taking out the four remaining soldiers. Aang, Katara, and Sokka all joined in, helping subdue the soldiers.

In all the confusion, no one noticed Zuko had escaped from his ropes on Appa.

I dodged around Zhao's fire whip, then kicked the ground, making the ground beneath one of Zhao's feet shift. Zhao fell into a split, where I used the opening to lock the legs and hands in place. Zhao struggled in place but due to the awkward positioning, he couldn't get the strength required to break free. “Let me out of this, you d***ed earthbender!” he yelled futility at me.

“No,” I said, and I earthbend some rock around his mouth to keep him quiet. I turned around to find everyone watching me. They've already subdued the other soldiers. Though the Gaang were a bit wary of Iroh since they saw him with Zuko, they left him alone because he helped them out.

“Avatar Aang, Sokka, Katara. It's good to see you kids again.”

“Callan! You were amazing! I had no idea that you were such a powerful earthbender!” Katara said, blushing a little bit. I raised an eyebrow. Ah… don't tell me… Nope! Best to not acknowledge it, and it'll disappear.

 “Yeah, man! I didn't know you could use a sword too! That's so cool! What kind of sword is that, with those waves in the blade?” Sokka asked.

“Yeah! I forgot to ask you last time, but how'd you learn those Airbending forms? Do you know any air nomads?” Aang asked excitedly.

I laugh a little at their excitement. “Thanks guys. I'm sorry Aang, but I learned these forms from an ancient Guru named Pathik. He was a friend of the nomads when they were still alive. He's living at the Eastern Air Temple.”

Aang’s excitement fell, but quickly brightened up. “A friend of the Air Nomads, he must be really old then.”

“Yes, around 130 years old if I had to say. But we will talk more about him later. There's still a war going on. Avatar Aang, I believe that you came to speak to the Moon and Ocean spirits?”

Aang’s eyes bugged out. “That's right! I completely forgot!” He looked around. “Where did the pond go!”

I earthbend away the stone slab I had used as a lid, revealing the two koi fish. The Moon and Ocean spirits. They were alive and well.

“Phew.” Everyone reached a sigh of relief.

Princess Yue came forward and bowed in gratitude. “Thank you, Mr. Callan Stone. Your quick action saved the spirits. The Water Tribe is in your debt.”

Iroh blinked at her in recognition. “You. You've been touched by the Moon spirit, haven't you?”

Princess Yue nodded. “Yes. When I was little I was very ill, and it was the Moon Spirit that gave me life.”

Iroh looked troubled, before looking relieved. “Then be especially glad that Callan stepped in when he did. If the Moon Spirit had died, I suspect that you would have had to step in to fulfill its role and restore the balance.”

“What!” Sokka exclaimed. “You mean she would have turned into the moon!”

Iroh nodded. “Though this is just conjecture at the moment. The Moon spirit is safe now. There is no need to worry.”

Yue looked sick. “Yes, I had a feeling about that.” She bowed again towards me. “It seems the Water Tribe is in an even greater debt than I had thought.”

I cleared my throat awkwardly, not used to all this gratitude. “Please, Princess Yue, it was nothing. Anyway, we're getting sidetracked again, let's let Aang do his avatar thing to commune with the spirits. We'll need their aid to drive off the Fire Nation attack.”

We turned to look at Aang, who fidgeted awkwardly at the attention. “Right… I guess I'll meditate.”

He went over to the pond, and as soon as he sat down, his eyes and tattoos started glowing brightly. The eyes of the koi fish were glowing the same color. I blinked. That was fast. I guess the spirits were ready and waiting to commute through Aang.

This was no longer just Aang, but the Avatar. The Avatar stood up and spoke in a multi-tonal voice, as if a thousand people were talking at once. The feeling I was getting from this being’s Chi was even greater than the Lion Turtle's. Ancient and unknowable.

“Iroh is correct. I had foreseen this day and had made preparations for a successor to take my place when I died. Yue was going to be my heir, but now it is no longer needed.” The Avatar looked at me. “Otherworlder. You have changed fate and saved me. Because you’ve already received earthbending, I cannot give you waterbending. So instead, to show my gratitude, I give to you my blessing. When under the moonlight, I give to you my strength. Now your bending will gain power from the moon just as a waterbender’s would.”

By now, it was obvious that it wasn’t just Aang before us, but the Moon Spirit speaking through him. At the decree, I felt a warmth pass through me. Curious, I wanted to pull up my status page, but perhaps that would have been too rude to do in the middle of meeting the Moon spirit.

The Moon Spirit turned to look at the bound Zhao. “Zhao. Having taken a physical form, I am not often at liberty to exert my power. But with the Avatar as a bridge, I am free to act as I wish.” It raised its hands towards Zhao and a column of silvery light came down over him. I looked up, and gasped in shock to see the moon appearing 10 times larger in the sky, directly overhead. Like a massive eye watching us.

Zhao thrashed against his bindings before his body became transparent. His body phased through my rock bindings for a brief moment like a ghost before he completely faded away.

Another column of silver light surrounded the Avatar, but instead of fading away, Aang’s body rose up into the sky towards the moon, until it seemed like he was swallowed up by the moonlight. 

From our limited perspective in the small valley, where we could only see a small slice of the sky, it seemed as if the Moon took up the entire sky. Hundreds of beams of moonlight shot down throughout the city. Was the Moon Spirit abducting the entire Fire Nation army? 

I mean yeah, they were fire nation soldiers who were raiding a city, but they were also just people following orders. But there were also the soldiers that killed citizens. Even then, was it morally justifiable to attack even if they were just following orders. Didn’t I attack some of the watertribe soldiers too? I didn't kill anyone, but I did hurt a lot of them pretty badly. I run my fingers through my hair, frustrated. War just sucked, flat out.

I turned to Iroh, who was watching the scene in awe off to the side, and whispered to him, “Iroh. You should go find Zuko quickly and escape while you still can.”

Iroh snapped out of it and nodded. “Right. Thank you Callan.”

I looked at him apologetically, “I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner. You had to reveal yourself and now you'll be labeled as a traitor.”

Iroh waved me off. “Do not worry about this old man, Callan. I can take care of myself.”

“Even so, I want you to have this,” I said, pulling out my bag of coins and giving it to him. Things honestly turned out for the best, because Zuko needed this journey through the earth kingdom and he needed to be labeled a traitor for that, but that was also why I felt so guilty towards Iroh. For being glad that he'll have to suffer. “I'll be staying here for a while and won't need this. Plus, I've got a lot of trade skills. So I can earn money wherever I go.”

Iroh chuckled, taking the money pouch. “Well, if you insist!” He bowed. “If we do not meet again, Callan Stone, it was an honor to know you.”

I bow back. “The honor was all mine, Iroh.”

He left and I rejoined with the group. They were too busy watching the scene of the Moon Spirit attacking. It was as beautiful as it was terrifying. I let myself get lost in the scene until it was over.

Another beam appeared over the pond and Aang’s body descended out of the moonlight. The massive moon shrunk back down to normal size. Aang collapsed to the ground and Katara and Sokka both rushed over.

“Aang!” Katara cried.

Princess Yue stood there, unsure of what to do.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Now that everything was over, I checked my status page.

STATUS SCREEN

NAME: Callan Stone

TIER: 1

GLOBAL LEVEL: 12 20,476/22,323 Exp

CLASS: Brawler 10/10 9,586/9,586 Exp

CLASS HISTORY: Street Rat 10/10

STATS:

Str: 29 => 30

End: 43 => 45

Dex: 26

Int: 15

Wis: 41

Cha: 15

Free Stats: 0

SKILLS:

Skill Points: 10

[Deception LVL 100/100]

[Forestry LVL 100/100]

[Axe Handling LVL 100/100]

[Wood Chopping LVL 100/100]

[Persuasion LVL 100/100]

[Hammer Handling LVL 100/100]

[Blacksmithing LVL 100/100]

[Sword Handling LVL 100/100]

[Knife Handling LVL 57/100]

[Sewing LVL 40/100]

[Cooking LVL 100/100]

[Leatherworking LVL 23/100]

[Running LVL 100/100]

[Sprinting LVL 100/100]

[Jumping LVL 100/100]

[Leap LVL 52 => 54/100]

[Acrobatics LVL 100/100]

[Sneak LVL 100/100]

[Muted Steps LVL 100/100]

[Hide LVL 60/100]

[Meditation LVL 100/100]

[Archery LVL 50/100]

[Carpentry LVL 100/100]

[Sailing LVL 70 => 71/100]

[Baguazhang LVL 100/100]

[Chi Manipulation LVL 83 => 84/100]

[Chi Sensing LVL 66 => 67/100]

[Low Cosmic Connection LVL 14/100]

[Horse Riding LVL 52/100]

[Fishing LVL 100/100]

[Wood Carving LVL 100/100]

[Swimming LVL 70/100]

[Drawing LVL 80/100]

[Haggling LVL 25/100]

[Chi Enhancement LVL 54 => 64/100]

[Parry LVL 100/100]

[Dodge LVL 87 => 90/100]

[Counter LVL 90 => 91/100]

[First Aid LVL 10/100]

[Intimidation LVL 12 => 25/100]

[Earthbending LVL 70/100]

[Seismic Sense LVL 73/100]

[Earth Softened Steps LVL 43/100]

[Chi Enhanced Senses LVL 42 => 51/100]

[Northern Shaolin LVL 80 => 87/100]

[Language(Hanzi) LVL 40/100]

[Calligraphy LVL 28/100]

[Situational Awareness LVL 60 => 78/100]

[Painting LVL 32/100]

[Sunder LVL 45 => 50/100]

[Pickpocket LVL 1/100]

[Discombobulate LVL 1/100] *NEW*

WP: 1,850 => 2,900

[Discombobulate LVL 1/100]

When making a bludgeoning blow against a target, you can use stamina to increase the chance to disorient the target.

+1% Chance of discombobulation/LVL

Looks like I capped my class. And doing some quick math, I realized that once I had capped Brawler, I was only gaining Exp for the Global Levels, and nothing for my classes. It makes sense since it was capped, but it was a waste of around 2,000 Exp because I didn't switch to a new class right away. 

Having gone through my available classes and what I want to do next, I chose Monk. I also used all of my skill points from my Global Levels to level up my Low Cosmic Connection skill.

Monk 0/10

You’ve meditated and learned to move your Chi alongside your body. Use it to your advantage.

+1 End, +1 Vit (Locked), +1 Wis, +1 Chi (Locked) per level

+10% damage with bare hands, kicks, and body blows.

+10% efficiency to Chi skills.

+25% learning speed to Chi Skills.

[Low Cosmic Connection LVL 14 => 24/100]

The water benders are able to heal and I wanted to see if I could somehow replicate it with my earthbending. Not to mention my Chi skills were taking a lot longer than the rest of my skills, so even though two of the given stat points were locked, I still felt like this was the better option right now. Then with the extra 10 levels in the Low Cosmic Connection, that’s another 100% boost to my Chi skills.

Looking through the status page, I don't see anywhere the blessing I had received, but it makes sense. It wasn't exactly a skill and I didn't buy any module to display blessings or perks. Wait, I never thought about it, but wouldn't the gift of earthbending count as a “blessing” from the lion turtle? And I also didn't see any of the class perks listed anywhere. I sigh. So much smarter than I was when I started, but I'm still overlooking things.