Chapter 8

It has been some uneventful weeks, most of my daylight hours have been spent on training and fishing. I try not to catch too many fish in the same area, and move up and down the lake, though I have no idea if it has any effect, as the fish are very plentiful. I deep freeze the vast majority of what I catch and then train by moving the massive block of ice around. I have no idea when I next will be in a plentiful fishing spot, so I plan to take as much with me as possible, and after all these weeks of training I can now move what must be almost a ton of ice around, while still having enough concentration to scout my surroundings. Even with my big chi reserves it still takes a lot to move the giant ice block around, after some tests, I concluded I would be able to move for around 6 hours a day at top speed, and still have around 50% of my reserves left for emergencies.

Since I don't have any light, it's hard to do anything when it gets dark. Which lead me to the next training I've been doing. When night comes I retreat to my now much nicer hole, and train bendings precision, and new techniques. Since I have trouble seeing in the dark I wanted to method of seeing without my eyes. Inspired by Toph's seismic sense, the first thing I tried was sensing the water particles in the air, but the result was mixed at best. Don't get me wrong, it worked surprisingly well when I eventually figured it out, but not only does it cost a ludicrous amount of chi, but also a lot of brain power to use. For now, I've shelved it as something to train in the future and focused on the now.

Since I'm going to be moving around on ice and snow mostly, I ended up developing the water version of Toph's Seismic sense, though not nearly as accurate, and have the downside of needing my feet to be connected directly to the ground. Which lead to the next thing I tried to sense. Blood.

There have been two full moons since I came here, and each time I felt my bending become immensely more powerful, and since I was too scared to try bending blood on myself, and ended up trying on fish. The first night I had zero success. I just sat on the icy lake the whole night and ended up taking my frustration out on my hill, I had to build everything anew before I could go to sleep.

The second full moon, while I didn't get to bend any blood, had a small success in me finally beginning to sense the blood within the fish. Something I've since been training to be able to do in the daytime too, and just a couple of days ago finally found success in. I spent the last couple of days blending my ice seismic sense and blood sense so that I hopefully don't get ambushed.

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I set upon my makeshift freezer and gaze upon what has been my home for almost 2 months as I reminisce my time here. Quite a bad time I've had, all things considered, I ended up throwing myself into training, but even bending eventually lost the excitement it had in the beginning. Still, I carried on with it, not only because I need to be good at it, no, excel at it to survive, but it has been the only exciting thing out here. There has been a disturbing lack of animals, besides the fish under the ice, and some birds with a bigger then normal wing to body ratio, the only animal I've come across is the corpse of a turtle seal, not recent either.

Nevertheless, it has been home, and unless I find a better spot I'll probably return at some point simply because I've always enjoyed being alone, not isolated as I've been, but alone. If that weren't the case, I would have talked to myself way more than I have. With those thoughts I mentally say goodbye, turn around, and begin walking away with my giant makeshift freezer in tow.

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1st day traveling and I haven't encountered anything new yet. I've walked what I think is south for about 6 hours, and snow is the only thing in sight. I really hope the Northern capital isn't the only place in this goddamn arctic where people live.

I decided to stop for the day, and just practice to take my mind off negative thoughts, something that has quickly become a habit.

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4th day of traveling, I finally found something new, or more like something new found me. A pack of wolves is currently surrounding me, I managed to avoid a surprise attack, but that only really make the situation a little better. They seem a bit on edge because of the giant piece of ice I have with me, and an idea forms in my head.

Before they can jump onto me, I catapult myself quickly on top of the big ice cube, while also bending all the snow in the surrounding area back and forth to inhibit their movement. The leader seems to understand what is going on and gain its bearing a lot faster than its peers, while seemingly signaling a retreat, but before they get any further I piece through two of them with sharp ice. Seems like it's very hard to aim at multiple targets, as the rest miss their target. Before I can make my next move, the wolf's retreat, seems I'm not worth the risk. How anticlimactic, and here I was full of adrenalin, more excited than terrified for my first real fight.

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Unknown day number, I stopped counting after day 10. It seems that I've moved closer to civilization as I've begun to encounter a lot more animals. Mostly some weird arctic camel and buffalo, but I also encountered another group of wolfs. Not the same as the first one, this one was a bit bigger, or the others were a hunting party, who knows? Anyway, this time I didn't let them escape and conjured an ice wall before the fight began.

I must admit, I've become a bit of a hunting junky since my first battle. I've mostly begun training more long-ranged attacks, so I can ambush my prey before they spot me, but sometimes when against a predator I step out in the open on purpose for the adrenalin. Though the first polar bear dog I found managed to smell me, way before I even got a chance to ambush it, I ended up crushing it with my freezer in a panic.

Not my best moment I admit, but quite a brutal sight as well, it didn't even die instantly, so I quickly sent an ice spike through its head. The sound of me crushing the polar dog ended up scaring away all animals in the area, and I didn't see anything for two days.

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It is time for another full moon, earlier today I captured some white hamster-like creature, which I plan to practice on when night comes. Though with nothing better to do until then I begin my practice prematurely, and with no success besides a bit of improvement on the range of more blood sense.

While waiting for night to come I contemplate why I've been unsuccessful until now.

The last time I trained it, I tried to force my way with a lot of chi and a lot of intent, but no matter what I try it seems I can't overpower another being intent, at least not forcefully. I've tried to pull my chi into another being, but it only succeeded because of my large amount of chi. And it didn't even result in blood bending, instead the fish I tried it on just sort of imploded, something interesting to experiment with, but not bloodbending.

Maybe I should just try to find that water bender somewhere in the fire nation, Hama, or something like that I think, though that comes with a lot of other dangers, not just traveling and the fire nation, but if I remember correctly, Hama isn't very mentally stable.

As night comes, I feel my power increase. A weird feeling if I'm being honest, my chi doesn't increase, but instead just seems to do "more". As if the water around me is suddenly more susceptible to my intent. Looking at the small creatures in front of me, I begin focusing intently on them. Instead of just thinking of them, I focus on their body, on specific blood vessels, and in particular the visible ones in their eyes.

For a long time nothing happens, and we just stare at each other, but suddenly while I try to picture the blood completely stopping, I feel my chi drain, and the little guy's eye explodes, with a disgusting sound. I tune out the things painful shriek, as I focus intently on what I just felt. For just a moment I felt as if everything around me was in control, as if not just blood, but the world itself would only move if I allowed it.

I look down at the small group of hamsters that have gotten as far away from me as possible in their little cage, while I was lost in thought, trying to recall that drunk feeling of unrivaled power. I check my pathways, and am surprised as I find new pathways all around my body, but most intensely around my brain. Looking back at the rats, I move my hands while recalling that feeling of power. And one of them moves, or more like intensely tumbles, but no matter how little, it was forced to move, and that's all that matter.

I let out an intense laugh, even if I'm not sure yet how to blood bend, all that matters is that I found a proof of concept. My laugh becomes a bit maniacal as I recall the feeling of absolute power, and think to myself.

'Beware world, for there is a new blood bender in town!'