Chapter 43: Airbending Grandmaster

(Aden 's P.O.V)

I closed my eyes and finally turned away. When I opened them, I found myself somewhere else. The rocky landscape had changed into a mist filled highland with mountain peaks, scattered trees growing out of the rocky lands and clouds that hung close to the earth, showing just how high I was.

The sun shone brightly above the sky but even it's rays could not trump the cold breeze that blew, ruffling my clothes. I looked around and felt the calmness of the whole area, wash over me. There was a shadow that hang above head. I turned to see what it was and a sigh at the majestic sight escaped my mouth.

The Southern Air Temple. The place where Aang called his home. To reinforce that claim, there was a field on one of the peaks where a popular Airbending sport called, Air ball was played. The posts stuck out straight, looking untouched by time. Even thinking of Aang sent a pang of regret at how the whole trial had gone down. I took a deep breath to center myself.
"I can't change the past. For my ideals, I have to move forward."
I repeated that statement for a few more times like a mantra.

It helped to self hypnotize myself into adopting the right mindset. A mindset of understanding that I could not change what had already occurred and instead focus on seeing through my objectives. I breathed out, finally having calmed myself enough to wonder…where the hell was I? Or better yet, Why the hell was I at a place that closely resembled the Southern Air Temple from Avatar?

I was supposed to receive a text box from the System telling me I had completed the Advancement Trial. I doubt I had to beat another Airbender to get to Grandmaster level. Aang seemed more than enough. Too much for me to bear even, seeing as I had to resort to…other ways. So this must be something else. And given the fact that I found myself here at the homeland of the Airbenders…I had a feeling on where exactly, I was supposed to go.

My steps were light as I moved forward, steadily approaching the entrance of the Temple. The whole building felt grim, abandoned and sacred. Vines grew along it's walls. And the path leading down the mountain was full of weeds, showing that it hadn't been used for quite some time.

I stepped through the entrance which emptied out into a courtyard. The architecture was impressive. The wall fence, keeping people from a deep dive into the unknown was constructed by a great craftsman. Showing no wear or tear despite the fighting that had occurred here, if this was actually an authentic copy of The Southern Air Temple. Which it was, given the fact that I spotted one or two fire bender helmets.

In the middle of the courtyard was a statue of a monk in a cross-legged position. The resemblance to Aang was uncanny. His name was Monk Gyatso and he'd been a father figure/master to him. I looked at him and once more thought of Aang. This time however, I had fully accepted what had happened. So I walked forward and bowed in respect.

My head rose up and I took the stairs, continuing along a hallway and arriving before a door constructed in a weird fashion.

Two large megaphone like objects with tubes growing out of their ends and criss crossing each other in a maze like display were framed on the main entrance. I remembered Aang telling Katara and Sokka that only an Airbender could open this door. I feel into a stance and manipulated the air to shoot out of both of my palms at the same time and into the holes made like diameter horns.

The doors were the entrance to the Air Temple Sanctuary. If there was a place I could get answers, this was it.

The air made a deep groaning sound as I pushed it into the tubes, leading to two locks on the middle section of the door clicking down and aligning with a third one. With that, the door swung open. A smell of mildew and dust hit me as I stepped through. This room was supposedly more sacred than anything else in the temple. The atmosphere it gave off showed there was some truth in that.

My feet stepped through the darkness and I belatedly realized I could have given anything for my serum powers to come back. Especially the senses. The darkness on my sides totally blinded me in a way I had never felt before. Even Adaptive Physiology was similarly suppressed.

The light from the outside fortunately allowed me to walk forwards unhindered. The Air Temple Sanctuary housed the statues of all the previous Avatars. My eyes swept through the whole area and I gaped. Instead of all the reincarnated Avatar's, there was only one statue. Mine.

I was dressed in my ideal Superhero Costume. The costume idea I had in my head and...and I looked older. Somehow, this statue was a representation of me as an Avatar. Did that mean that when I died I would reincarnate into another life? Better yet, what was my Avatar State if I didn't have past lives to draw knowledge from? I'd always known I wasn't a normal Avatar. But this...this confirmed I had no idea how deep the rabbit hole went.

The statue itself was pristine and gleaming in the little light that reached the room. I gingerly advanced to it and stopped. As if I was in a trance, I reached out a hand and touched it.

I opened my eyes and found myself on a peak of some sort. My body was sitting cross legged on the ground and everywhere I looked I saw clouds, beneath me. I was dressed in Air bending robes that felt warm and snug on my body. The sun was shining down at my head and a heavy wind assaulted me from all directions. My breathing came out hurried and fast.

Where was I now? And what was the deal with showing me the Southern Air Temple?

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"I completed The Advancement Trial, stop playing games with me and-"

My words were cut off by the sudden appearance of a text box.

(Congratulations in completing The Advancement Trial. Your results have been tarried and the rewards promised will be given to you after you exit this space. Do you wish to exit?)

Of cour- wait. My finger stopped in mid air before I could click on the exit key. What was I doing? I can't believe I almost made such a big blunder. Such a mistake would have seen me regret everything. If I had learned anything from the System, it's that it never did anything without a reason. So why would it decide to send my spirit here if it was just going to allow me to leave the very first minute I requested it?

I waved the text box away. Maybe the Advancement Trial wasn't done. Maybe this was the other portion of the trial. Relying on the System to magically, give me the power and experience of a Grandmaster Airbender, was incredibly shortsighted and foolish. This was something I had to do myself.

What the system had done was provide me with the best place to do it. The peak I was sitting on was constantly buffeted with air from all sides. The best place for an Airbender to train. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, falling into my usual rhythm. It was hard. Especially with the constant whistling the air made when it swayed by me.

Difficult as it was, I doubled down on my stubbornness and after some time, I calmed down. The whistling sound of the air went from being annoying to comforting. The difficulty in breathing lessened, my chest exhaling and inhaling once every minute.

My mind emptied of all distraction as I fell into the same trance that I had been in during the time M'gann had disrupted my training. A trance where every single part of me had grown connected to the air around me. And it was in that position, I confirmed all my previous conclusions. In comparison to a true Air bending master like Aang, I was merely an expert practitioner.

The rankings in the system was not a clear representation of skill. instead it was a representation of power. Of how much damage I could do with Air bending because...in the DC verse what mattered most wasn't Skill. Not really. Not when facing beings like Darkseid. Madam Shiva was the greatest Martial Arts along with Richard Dragon but they could never face off against someone like Sinestro head on and win.

In that same train of thought, my flight was imperfect. It wasn't backed by the true spirit of Air bending, instead it was because of my sufficient control and the amount of power I shoved into the Subskill. It was unrefined. I could have made it into something more. But I hadn't seen past my immediate success.

So the System measured my proficiency in terms of power and not skill. That's why Aang had bested me in the same element. And the only way I could bridge that gap is by becoming more than Aang. It was more than mastering the required 36 Airbending moves or creating my own to earn my Air-bending tattoos and become a recognized Airbending Master. It was by becoming the air itself.

"Let go your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty and become wind."

I repeated Guru Laghima's Mantra. Over and over again. Zaheer had achieved flight by merely letting go off his earthly attachments. Granted it was the death of his girlfriend that had been the final fuse he needed but...I had the same grief too.

Within the blink of an eye, I had lost everyone I had ever known my entire life. My parents, my relatives, my friends and my real life. The pain was always there. Burning and cutting me deep inside, despite the picture I portrayed on the outside. I hadn't really dealt with it. Believing that time would heal the wound in my heart and I'd forget the agony.

However, I had to face it. I was probably never going back. Their faces ran through my mind on loop and I forced myself to remember all the good times and the memories filled with life. Bad and good.

And then...I let go of all if it.

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