Chapter 13: The Swamp Guru

The sand surged like a frantic river, maneuvering between collapsing trees. Staying above the river in an environment completely unsuited for combat was the last thing I ever intended to do; survival factors had been hammered into the subcortex of my mind not merely through trial and error, but scorched in by walking the edge of life itself.

My heart hammered like a drum. The call pursuing me, capable of weakening the mind of the unprepared, seemed to rise from the depths of the underworld. I knew this sound well: a gurgling, screaming roar, so loud that all around were forced to hear it. It was like the rasping rattle of an alpha predator.

My wild, terrified eyes scanned for a suitable platform. Periodically, feeling the threat crawling up my spine, I would spin around, lock eyes with the shapeless shadow, and strike with a sharp sand-blade, cleaving every tree in my path into perfect halves. Yet, even if the blow connected with the creature, it seemed incapable of dealing any real harm.

Around me were only small islands of soil ill-fitted for battle.

"It’s surrounding me!" The swirling grains of sand transmitted knowledge of the encroaching threat. Whenever I felt someone displacing them, I had to bolt at full speed, and for good reason. In that moment, something massive leveled the trunks of majestic trees. A falling branch blocked my path, but instead of slowing down, I simply encased myself in a Sand Shield and plowed right through it.

It was taking my sand. Periodic strikes against the tendrils I used to grapple the trees scattered the grains to a distance where I could no longer control them. I even had to deconstruct my gourd to continue following the precepts of the Air Nomads, fleeing by utilizing their ancient knowledge. The creature’s chattering seemed to crawl right up to my ear; to avoid losing my head, I had no choice but to drop.

Splash!

Encasing my body in a dense barrier of sandstone, I plummeted into a deep river. Turning for a fraction of a second to look up, I saw a stretching silhouette dart across the exact spot where my head had been. My hands weren't just shaking anymore; they were flailing in panic, searching for something to grip to pull myself from the water. Could the water save me? Considering it dove in after me, it only made things worse.

"I need more sand! Not enough sand. I used it too recklessly," I thought. Our eyes met, but now It was many times closer. A split second more, and my luckless body would be turned into food. The spirit of indistinct form prepared to feast, and I didn't know which would kill me first, the enemy or my failing heart.

In the moment of my greatest fear, I extended the arms of my armor into long spikes. They braced against the riverbed, gathered spiritual energy, and triggered a forceful thrust. I was launched out of the water onto the nearest bank, my body landing on yielding, black soil. My head spun in an attempt to find something to defend myself with, until...

"Peat," I whispered, looking down. The substance I lay upon was heavily saturated with moisture, making it almost impossible to compress; separating its components would require the combined strength of a Waterbender and an Earthbender... or a single Sandbender. Plunging my hands into the marshy substance, watching the faint, submerged silhouette racing toward me with a trembling heart, I poured all my strength into dehydration.

The moisture vanished rapidly, leaving behind a loose sediment that crumbled like sand. Lifting this black mass into the air and refining it into small, sharp pebbles, I moved my hands fluidly through the air. The peat-stones flowed like water. In a sincere desperation for my life, I applied a Waterbending technique, directing the fluid stream toward the enemy and abruptly hardening it into a single, impenetrable mass.

My muscles bulged. Pressing my palms toward each other, I attempted to crush the trapped opponent, squeezing it like a lemon wedge. In response to my salvation attempt, a shriek erupted. The screeching of ten thousand creatures.

Rustle-rustle-rustle—

Several translucent spirits managed to break through and reach the surface. Large bugs, resembling moths, their glowing wings bore a pattern like two angry eyes. They were coming for me, seeking revenge for the thousands of bugs I'd crushed. There was no doubt!

By huddling together, their wings began to chatter and slice through the trunks of thick trees upon contact. But this also meant they were tethered to this world; it was quite possible the swamp held them here like shackles. They couldn't pass through walls, unlike Afka.

A vortex formed over my palm and was unleashed forward. The works of the Air Nomads contained the correct movements for granting superior speed, but most importantly, they held the technique of a true Tornado. I moved the currents from bottom to top, spiraling two of them as if winding them onto a spindle. It didn't push the air away; it sucked everything in. The moth-spirits fluttered in an attempt to overcome the air currents but were powerless. Their bodies were swept into the sand-vortex. Then, touching the tornado to the water, I transferred all the energy to the river.

A whirlpool formed. I wasn't a Waterbender, but I managed to transfer the rotational momentum without excessive manipulation. Every creature, including those under the water, began to be sucked in and spun at high velocity. To ensure no one escaped, I took a firm stance, tensed my muscles, and compressed the earth. I encased everyone trying to catch and eat me in earthen coffins. Only then... a relaxing silence fell. Only the drumming in my temples prevented me from focusing, and my hands shook violently.

"The swamp... I hate the swamp," I realized, a new truth of life taking hold.

To avoid inviting new trouble or waiting for the old to break free, I ran forward again. Instead of sand, I now used a mixture of black peat, which was just as well-suited for high-speed travel. There was only one problem: Afka was still missing. Hoping she hadn't been devoured by spirits, I climbed into the canopy of a tree, which offered a vast view of trees growing to the horizon. What drew more attention was a titanic tree, reaching almost to the clouds, resembling a giant mushroom.

"Sniff-sniff-sniff," a familiar voice sounded somewhere beneath my feet. But looking down, I saw only a translucent silhouette of a fox, stepping toward the great tree. Then, the strange mirage vanished.

"What... That’s not Afka... but maybe other spirits are showing me where she is?" Squinting, I found it hard to believe in anything. I couldn't trust the images of those who had attacked me. That’s why my shoulders relaxed so much when the text appeared before my eyes:

[Choose:]

[1 — Go toward the Great Tree (A chance to meet a companion. A meeting with a stranger is predetermined)]

[2 — Stay put and wait for the companion to come to you (It is much safer here than deeper in the mires. The companion will likely return)]

[3 — Turn back and leave the swamp (The safest option, involving no risk. You will change your path, a high chance for Earthbending development)]

And again, everything hinged on the principles I tried to uphold. Not to put myself in danger, to leave and even accelerate my bending development? With great pleasure! But the fear permeating my body had to be overcome. Otherwise, it would be the same as with that bandit, a gradual degradation of bending and a stagnation in growth.

Encased in armor, I ran forward, only this time through the treetops. Long whips moved like octopus tentacles; I didn't plan on descending. Though even here I was "lucky" enough to run into trouble, many bugs hovered right above the swamp, and large birds hunted them. For some reason, everyone chose me as their new food source. I found it so loathsome and stressful to deal with that I left a tornado in my wake while I flew like the wind.

With my heart nearly stopping, the Banyan-Grove Tree finally appeared. Stepping onto the trunk like a true paranoiac, I constantly looked back, searching for a trap. A sound on the edge of perception reached me, resembling the little fox's sniff, but now even that was hard to trust. Armed to the teeth, with several sharp blades and whips extended from a single limb, I climbed upward.

There, behind a root jutting out at an odd angle, sat a strange, disheveled man with messy grey hair, stroking my little fox’s head. Hearing my footsteps, both looked up and squinted.

"...Who are you?" My heavy voice made the strange man smile.

"Just a simple watcher of the swamp. I knew you’d come; this spirit ran to me to persuade me not to drive you away." I looked down at the fox, who had her tongue sticking out. I felt like doing something... uncharitable... but realizing there was no threat, my strength began to fail. I leaned against the tree, the tension leaving me with a heavy breath.

Afka came to my feet and sat beside me.

"I was worried, you know. I thought that damn moth had eaten you; they almost ate me too, for that matter!"

"Arf."

"She says she knew you’d manage," the stranger said. I stared at him, squinting. He spoke as if he understood. "But I’m honestly surprised you ran into the Wasp-Moth spirits during their high-aggression period. They usually try to avoid people, and meeting them in the whole forest is almost impossible. You’re lucky!"

"..." I was still running the same question through my head, trying to remember who this was. Among all the people I remembered, only the Foggy Swamp Tribe lived here. But I didn't quite grasp why he understood my Afka, or why he spoke as if he saw everything happening in this place.

"Grrr," the fox grabbed my trousers and forced me to approach the man. In true reluctance, I surveyed the spot before him but sat down anyway. The man watched us with genuine amusement.

"My name is Huu. It is my duty to be the protector of this swamp and this tree, to guard it from all who wish to cause harm. There are people who think we are somehow different from one another, from the spirits or these trees, and so they desire destruction." His hands affectionately stroked Afka.

"Arf."

"Ha-ha, yes, exactly."

"How do you understand her?" I frowned again. I won't lie, it bothered me that they were talking so calmly, glancing mockingly in my direction. But my suspicions bothered me even more. Only Gurus and Avatars can communicate so easily with spiritual beings. And this old man definitely doesn't look like Aang.

"Because we aren't different! Listen. You can feel the life beating in this place, the trees growing. We all have the same roots, so why shouldn't two closely related beings understand each other?" His words... were much more haphazard than the works of various gurus I’d read in the library, but because of that reading, I still understood something. The man before me was definitely one of the enlightened.

"We are all spirits, and you have mastered yours," I summarized. To which I saw a very satisfied smile. It was simple: only by mastering oneself, the inner spirit, can one fully merge with nature and the two worlds that exist so close to each other. "I want to do that too! I'm trying to open the first chakra to temper and improve my bending, but I feel I lack the experience or advice to achieve the desired effect."

"Is that so? Well, I know just how to help you."