Chapter 99: Uncovering Past; Identity Theft is Not a Joke (3)

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"Ugh..." Nik groaned as he sat up while rubbing his head. Even before taking note of his surroundings, his attention was pulled towards the source of pain. Wincing the moment he moved, Nik gazed in the direction of his left leg. The leg of his pants was punctured alongside his kneecap with a gaping wound gushing blood. Weakness hit Nik again as he gritted his teeth and took out a vat of cheap wine.

Waterbending courses barely included more practical sessions on wound cleaning but this was knowledge gained a bit from his previous life and the casual chat upon the experiences of the war-hardened waterbenders. Still, none actually dealt with a punctured knee.

Quickly biting down on a rolled-up fabric as a gag, Nik readied himself and tilted the vat over his wound. The first drop of alcohol instantly made his eyes red with pain as Nik soon poured alcohol around his wound.

Although his body shuddered, he could only grit and focus on himself. There was no sign of any enemy nearby and if there was someone viewing him from a distance, Nik didn't want to spook that individual by disappearing out of thin air. This ability can be used to surprise others well enough.

"Haah... Fuck!" Cursing, Nik slowly regained his bearings but the work wasn't done. Someone bust his knee with a clear intent of making him suffer. Just the accumulated blood loss would soon turn fatal.

'I hope this works...' Focusing as cold sweat began to form over his brows, Nik focused on the blood flowing from the wound on his leg and tried to stop the blood from flowing out. He was no major in biology and he didn't know what's the worst thing that could happen by stopping the flow of blood around the wound but his leg wasn't torn apart itself. He still had a full leg... but Nik was still crippled out of nowhere.

As the blood stopped, Nik sighed in relief but realized that he needed to actively focus on this section and continue to bend blood. Nik wasn't Bloodbending. The essence of bloodbending lay in Bending the blood flowing in someone else's body, i.e., pushing one's control over a stranger. What Nik did right now was plain waterbending just that the fluid wasn't water but blood instead.

There were two options, either freeze the blood around the wound or just keep on focusing the mind around the knee to bend the blood. Of course, Nik didn't need to be an expert in knowing that freezing a wound is never a good option.

'Now... where the hell am I?' Although the pain was nerve-wracking, much worse than the time when Zhao 'sticked' him in the dungeon, Nik couldn't afford to scream. Back then, screaming was just a way to get his body pumping with excitement to counter against the pain but right now he knew nothing about the situation. Sweat oozed from his body as Nik observed his surroundings.

He was in a dark cave. The only source of light came from gaps in the rocky ceiling of the cave that let light trickle down but even then it wasn't too bright. Nik found himself set near the wall of the cave, allowing him to sit up straight while feeling shooting pain from his leg as his face turned pale.

Whoever set him here obviously knew the kind of injury it inflicted.

There wasn't any sign of Sokka either.

'Am I underground?' Nik thought but then realized how could he be underground with a layer of glacial ice covering the region if light can pass through the gaps of the cave? He was stranded pretty deep in, too, from the looks of it as Nik couldn't see or 'hear' the exit.

Just as he was planning to simply devour his surroundings, he heard a weak moan.

"... Nik?"

Looking around, Nik failed to discern the source of the voice which was strange in itself but the voice belonged to Sokka, that he was sure of.

"Sokka? Where are you? I said to fucking let go, didn't I?!" Nik was in no mood to act gently in any form or manner. Not without a punctured knee. As he called, he also pulled out a piece of clothing to cover the wound and one an earthen staff that he held from the first prison the group broke into.

"I'm... hurt... Nik..." Sokka's weak groan echoed again as Nik heard something moving. It felt eery the way it moved. Like an insect with sharp and multiple legs crawling all around the cave. Like a spider, or a centipede.

"Stop talking. Where did you get hurt? Did it get your knee, too?" Nik inquired with a frown while being cautious of his surroundings.

"I'm hurt..." Sokka whispered again, his voice turning softer as if he was moving further away from Nik when he suddenly heard the 'creature' move at an unbelievably quick pace.

"BY YOU!!"

Sokka's malevolent face suddenly appeared in front of Nik with his eyes wide open with menace and his teeth bare in a savage scream that shook Nik.

Nik's eyes widened as he leaned backward, losing control over the blood around his wound as it gushed again while his breathing turned rushed and shallow.

"Ohoho, that's a grrrreeeat expression!"

'Sokka' slurred. His face... was extending from a long, insect-like body with dark carapace all around its body and legs around his face, too, with a fleshy membrane covering the opening of the 'face.'

Seeing the confusion and horror in Nik's eyes, Sokka clicked his tongue, "Damn, Mokshi. Always resisting me. But this makes you all the more delicious to devour."

"Who are you?" Nik finally gulped as he quickly took control over his wound again as the 'face' grew closer to him. One of the shorter legs next to Sokka's chin pushed Nik's chin up, the tip of the lance-like leg already scratching into his skin as a drop of his blood slid down the sharp leg and fell onto the ground.

"Your face is exquisite," Sokka breathed when suddenly, the membrane around his face closed up and then opened to reveal a face of a beautiful woman as she smiled brilliantly, "It makes me wonder who gave you this identity? You, outsiders, have the most wondrous qualities sometimes."

Nik froze for a moment as he leaned back, "Who are you?" he questioned again.

"Did Mokshi not contact you? Your spirit is extraordinarily vibrant. This means that you have come into contact with Mokshi at least twice. Say, you've been traveling with Raava for some time. How does it feel?"

The woman snickered and suddenly moved back.

"Hmm, maybe Mokshi contacted you but you failed to understand the meaning of it? An exquisite face doesn't befit a dull mind."

*Trk*

The creepy creature moved suddenly and coiled around Nik. One of its legs dug into Nik's wound once again with a sadistic smile on its face as Nik struggled under the hold.

"Fortunately, I'm as quick of a thief as I'm a hunter."

The woman opened her mouth wide as another face of a blue-faced demon-like entity emerged who opened its maws with four tusks sticking out. Seeing that the creature wanted to bite his face off, Nik finally pulled out Suki's sword from his personal space and stabbed it against the underbelly of the creature.

*Kccch*

"You filth!" The beast roared as the blade barely penetrated the carapace but the moment it chomped down, Nik disappeared from its hold.

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"Hmm? He vanished?" the creature muttered, "Strange... the other seven could not do this at all."

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"Haah! What the fuck was that?!" Nik heaved and shouted. He was back in his personal space.

"Who the hell is Mokshi? Who is Raava? And where is Sokka?!"

Of the three questions, Nik held the last one as his priority.

'Calm down... calm down. Let's think. This creature is the one who probably stabbed me out of nowhere but where did he drag me into? It's not the North Pole... I know that much. Not to mention, it wants to eat me because... of the thing inside of me. The creature called it Mokshi...'

This sneak attack only affirmed Nik's desire to get a clear idea of his situation before returning. After becoming an intern of the Infinity, Nik knew that he would have to make 'business trips' at a regular interval and if he was having this much trouble right now, who knew what he would have to face then?

After learning more intricate knowledge about waterbending, Nik's thoughts had shifted greater towards tackling the situation. Maybe Yoki rubbed him off the wrong way or it was Hama's relentless drilling that made him feel this strongly about confronting the situation instead of thinking of the most efficient way to avoid the problem.

However, there weren't a lot of things he could achieve with a busted leg.

'Even sword is basically useless against that thing...' Nik thought and he knew that his body needed immediate attention. The smug creature had torn open the clothing around his knee just now and made the situation worse.

Soon... well, relatively soon, Nik managed to wrap clothing around his knee four times, making the area thick with padding, and then successfully managed to pull himself up using the rock staff. His personal space was a safe haven that Nik had explored fully. The knowledge of this personal space, at least, a considerable amount of it, was delivered once Nik was promoted to a rank 1 intern.

This was a secluded space. The region didn't have a fixed shape as it truly seemed like a chunk of land was forcefully isolated. With a total area of 3 sq. kilometers, the piece of land granted to Nik as an initiation was truly great. This land had a sky that followed the celestial pattern of the world Nik travels into. In essence, if it's day outside then the sky will be bright within his personal space, and if it's night then dark. Finally, even if it looks like the land is merely a small part of a bigger world, Nik couldn't step outside from the translucent boundary that surrounds the land and stretches high into the sky.

However, the limitations of this boon were quite vague and this worried Nik. Infinity provides concise information. At least, it did so until now and the information related to who can be brought into the Personal Space, can living beings be smuggled into other worlds using this space, and is it possible for outside threat to break into its defenses were not clear at all. It was as if the Infinity refused to give out the knowledge.

This made Nik feel that this information is either provided at a higher rank or things are just as what they feel now— bleak.

Anyway, the rules of personal space were not of Nik's concern at the moment. He had bigger insects to fry...

'Should I try this?'

Nik used one hand to support himself with the staff, his other hand meanwhile had its palm spread open. Nik felt it. His stomach turned warmer than usual as he felt heat channeling into his arm under his control.

*Puchi*

"Hgh," Nik bit his lips. Focusing on something else, especially as intense as bending made him lose focus over the blood around his knee once again. Although he had done something similar to a dressing to the wound, the blood refused to stop from flowing. The addition of clothing did impede its pace but Nik would rather not want to experience blood loss at all.

'So... bending should be a last-ditch effort. Mokshi or whatever spiritual disease you are... fuck you!' Nik scowled. He almost felt out of options.

Unknown location.

Unknown enemy.

Unknown circumstances.

Unknown skills.

He had no way of finding where he was.

He had no way of interacting with the creature without risking his other knee.

He had no way to find out what the creature can do.

He had no way to assess the situation...

'No, I actually do...'

Nik suddenly made a connection.

After the first instance with fog of lost souls, he had gone through multiple interactions of sorts with the being within him. Mostly, it's the battle of two colors. Orderly blue and chaotic red. Out of them emerges purple and this is probably related to the shift in the pigment of his irises. However, all these interactions have a side-effect of an increase in his energy status.

The most recent session revealed that the being within him was sentient and wise enough to leave a message in a past instance by forming a message using mist and then allowing Nik to see things from their view. So, this also meant that a temporary cooperation can be formed if he just...

'Stop blaming and start acting.'

Understanding this, Nik slowly sat down on a nearby chair which he had swiped away god knows when. In fact, aside from the giant Fire Nation Cruiser chilling in front of him that also held many metal weapons within, Nik had an unusual mess of furniture, clothing, and a small portion of precious stones and jewelry stolen from Ukano.

Keeping his left leg straight even if diagonal, Nik closed his eyes and calmed down his breathing. This was a grave situation in every sense and if understanding why the creature was after him may help him then Nik would find this effort in contacting 'Mokshi' inside of him a worthwhile one.

According to Hama, meditation came as simple as a thought. Just focus on the thing you want to achieve. Of course, meditating is different from working and achieving one's objective but in this rare instance, both aspects seemed to align.

Staying next to Aang after contacting Mokshi seemed to have some positive effects on him but the rather drastic attacks truly placed things into perspective. As Nik continued to recall various instances and the same clash of colors, he fell into a strange trance.

***

A/N: Mokshi comes from the word Moksha which means freedom or liberation (more latter than the former) with 'i' and 'a' silent in both iterations.

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