A New Path - Chapter 190

Amell should have by now arrived at Sabaody to seek out Rayleigh, but on his way there, he felt something tug on his soul. It was almost like a calling to his very being, and it was coming from off-world. So, in the middle of his flight, he stopped and sat down crossed-legged in the middle of the air and proceeded to meditate with closed eyes. Amell had a spiritual connection to every world he had ever been in, so it was possible for someone to contact him off-world, but you needed to be pretty powerful to do that.

‘Vaatu, help me find this energy source, and if you recognize it, tell me’ He was searching every nook and cranny of his soul to find where this source was coming from. If he could find it, he could backtrack its path and find out which world the calling came from.

‘Found it!” Vaatu’s stoic voice sounded out soon after. ‘And I know who it is, I won’t forget that spiritual presence ever.’ He said. From that Amell immediately jumped to the most logical conclusion.

‘Rava?’ He asked Vaatu.

‘Indeed. It’s an unintentional calling. I assume it to be the avatar, but he is doing it without knowledge. He managed to tap into the lingering spiritual presence of you on that world.’

‘Is it Aang? Is he still the Avatar?’ Vaatu opened up the spirit channel so Amell could tap into the calling as well. As soon as he did, he felt that familiar energy of Aang. Just this time, Aang seemed to be at least a hundred times more powerful than before. “I suppose I could take some time off and go say hello!” Amell gathered abundant amounts of cosmic energy and sent his consciousness towards the outer reaches of the multiverse.

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There existed only one place in the world where Aang could go to escape the stress of being the Avatar and one of the leaders of the world. That place was the mountain where he currently sat and meditated on. The same mountain of the master he hadn’t seen or heard from in over two decades. Aang was thirty-two years old this year, and by this point in time, he was a father, a husband, and one of the two founders of the newly established Republic city. Between all his duties, the only place where he could come and talk freely anymore was here with his forgotten master. Someone only he knew about. Katara and Sokka had mysteriously forgotten about his master when he disappeared all those years ago, and Aang still didn’t know how his master did that. Though, he knew his master was a lot more powerful and knowledgeable than he let on so he accepted it as one of his master’s many magic tricks.

“Master, you would not believe the week I’ve had…” Aang sat with crossed legs and stared at the spot where his master stood when he turned into hundreds of light particles and disappeared. His voice was rough and quite deep as he was now in his early thirties. Aang also looked the part of someone that had left their twenties behind. He looked exactly his age, and he was quite handsome, a “Ladykiller” as his wife had put it.

“I don’t even know where to start. Oh, I can start with my kids as they are growing up fast.” Aang sighed out loud and slowly closed his eyes. “Though, I feel a rift with, Kya and Bumi. I don’t know what it comes from, but sometimes it feels like they are looking at me with anger rather than the tranquillity like I try and instil on them. Is that just my demons playing tricks on me?”

“Do you want an answer to that?” An old, familiar voice sounded out and Aang looked up at the spot in front of him, and there, now sat his old master, Amell. This temples guardian from over a century ago, and one of the most powerful benders in the world.

“Master?!” Aang on pure reflex and instinct shot a blast of air against Amell, and to his surprise, it passed right through his master. “Am I seeing things?” He asked himself and the image of his master.

“You are not. Though, I’m not really here.”

“What’s going on?” Aang sat with his back straight and stared into the eyes of his master.

“I heard your calling and I came to answer. So, here I am!”

“My calling? Do you mean to say, you can hear what I say up here?” Aang was shocked to the core. It was true that no place made him feel safe like this place, but he always thought it was because of the memories planted here, and not the fact of his master still being here.

“No, that’s not entirely right. My spiritual energy will always linger here, and this time you somehow tapped into Rava’s energy. That split second gave you enough power needed to call upon the lingering energy here, which is mine.” The more he talked, the wider Aang’s eyes got.

“Rava? Who is that?”

“How much do you know about the birth of the Avatar?”

“Nothing I suppose. Haven’t Avatars always been?” Aang knew of Avatar history, but not enough to claim to know this “Birth” Amell was talking about.

“Come closer, knucklehead.” Amell’s use of his old nickname for Aang caused a smile to sprout on the Avatar’s face. Aang stood up and knelt in front of Amell.

“Let me show you.” He placed a finger on Aang’s forehead, and in that instance, thousands upon thousands of images and vivid memory fragments played inside Aang’s mind. They stood connected, finger to forehead for ten minutes before Amell removed it and allowed Aang a second to comprehend everything he saw.

“I-I don’t know what to say, Master. How do you know of this? This was a very long time ago.” Aang was still analysing everything he had seen.

“As I said all those years ago. You have your secrets and I have mine.” He smiled at his student, who answered him with a tired sigh.

“I see that you haven’t changed at all, Master.”

“No, I have not, still the same nice guy I was when you were walking around in diapers,” Amell said teasingly. Aang shook his head, but quickly raised his head and stared at Amell’s hand. “Master, you touched my forehead, how?” Aang noted that his air blast went through Amell previously.

“Magic?” Amell answered with another tease answer.

“Master, please! Is it spirit bending? I had no idea you knew that form of bending.” Aang was quite excited about that prospect as maybe his master could teach him more of spirit bending.

“It is. I am using it to be here. And it is spirit bending that allowed me to touch you, though I call it energy bending, it is the same thing.”

“Is this similar to manifesting inside the spirit world?” Aang studied Amell’s figure, but no matter how he looked at this it did not look at all like how he projected himself inside the spirit world. This looked so real, and he had never heard of spirit projection in the physical world by a human who was still alive.

“In a way, this is a more advanced form of spirit projection. By using this technique I can manifest my physical presence in this world, and that’s how I was able to touch you. Though, that is a very draining thing to do.”

“Master, will you teach me more about spirit bending, or energy bending as you call it.” Aang was in the process of reverting to his old child self the longer he talked to his master.

“Do you wish for that? Your family already seems to be slipping away from you, and starting training with me again won’t make that problem stop growing it might get worse since my training will take a few years for most to learn. Maybe since you’re the Avatar it will be faster for you.”

“I love my family. I love my children and I wanna be here for them as long as possible. You can help me with that, can’t you, Master?” Aang’s words held a lot of weight and responsibility, and deep inside those words laid a hidden meaning. The meaning of those words wasn’t lost on Amell.

“Who knew that air-bending brat from a hundred years ago would grow up to be such a caring father,” Amell said and released a little chuckle. “Aang, you’re talking about your fleeting life force, correct?”

“So, I was right, nothing escapes your eyes, Master!” Aang bowed low to him and said with a shaky voice. “Is there anything you can do?”

“Are you doubting me, brat? After all these years, haven’t you learned that there is nothing I can’t do!” Amell said proudly and Aang’s eyes lit up in delight.

“Can you do something about it then?”

“Your spirit is tired. Those hundred years trapped in that ice weakened you immensely. I can rejuvenate you and essentially give you those years back. What say you to that?” Amell saw the delight on Aang’s face grow more prominent.

“I would say please!” Aang bowed his head in respect again.

“Lean forward!” Amell said to Aang and the boy did as he was told by his old master. Amell raised his hand and placed it above Aang’s heart.

“This might feel a little uncomfortable,” Amell said as he began the process. He was right, Aang could still breath, but the sensation he experienced was that he couldn’t breathe and therefore wasn’t getting any air into his lungs. He was still breathing, but the feeling of not being able to breath was so strong that he genuinely thought he wasn’t breathing.

About fifteen minutes later that uncomfortable sensation disappeared and he could once again tell that he was breathing just fine. “We’re done! Your slowly rotting soul is back in peak condition. How do you feel?” Amell asked his student. Aang sat there clenching his fists with a wild smile on his face.

“I feel incredible. I haven’t felt anywhere near this good since back in those temple days with Gyatsu and everyone else. You’re incredible, Master!” Aang looked at Amell and placed his forehead to the ground. “Thank you, Master! I can never repay this debt!”

“Do not worry about that! See this as the parting gift you never got when I left.” Amell smiled and brough Aang up from the ground. “Now, I need to go, I can’t stay here any longer as this is very tiring to do. I am quite a distance away from this place.” Amell laughed, but he was telling the truth. He was communicating with the outer multiverse. It can’t be explained how much energy this drained. Not even someone like Amell could do this for very long.

“Thank you again, Master! Have a safe journey back!” Aang cupped his hand towards his master.

“Thank you. Oh, and Aang, traditions, legacies and all that, it’s all-important stuff. But, nothing’s more important than family, so make sure you spend some time with your family! Also, don’t worry about your energy bending training, I’ll return in time.” Amell said before he exploded into a mass of light particles leaving Aang sitting there looking at his departing light with a stunned expression.

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Amell opened up his eyes and he was still hovering above the ocean with crossed legs. He stared at the horizon for a second before sighing to himself. “I didn’t wanna use you anymore, but I can’t deny how useful you are.” He said before he spoke in his mind. ‘System, hear me!’

[What are your commands, My Host?] That very familiar stoic tone of voice sounded out inside his mind.

‘System, is it possible to sync Aang’s world’s time to this one? One second here is one second there? Is this possible?’

[yes, Host. Divine energy can rewrite anything and everything. Nothing is impossible.]

‘Do it! Sync our world’s times. I want to meet Aang again, and Toph.’

[Syncyng… Complete! Worlds, 11 and 172,222,554 are now synced together]

‘Thanks, System, I appreciate you still being here with me!’

[System is owned by host, Portgas D Amell. The system can not be unbound from Host.]

‘Good to hear, thanks, for now, System.’

[No problem, Host] And with that Amell smiled in success and started planning his return to that world someday in the future. Just then his earpiece started ringing.

“Yes?” He said as he answered.

“Lord Amell, Lady Robin has been taken by who we suspect to be CP9!” The female voice said somewhat emotionally, you could tell the operator cared for Robin’s well being.

“Who reported it?” Amell asked as the winds around him picked up in speed.

“Toshiro Hitsugaya. He was contacted by the Straw Hat crew via Robin’s emergency responder connected to Toshiro. He is on his way to Enis Lobby where he suspects they have taken Robin.”

“I see. Call Toshiro and tell him to lock down Enis Lobby.” Amell hung up and turned his gaze towards the direction of Enis Lobby. “Robin, sit tight! Grandpa is on his way!”

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End