2 Chapter 2

After I had finalized the last details of my assassination of the Firebender, the second speaker left somewhere for about ten minutes, leaving me alone with the first.

"Why are you telling me all this?" The voice of the First reached me. "You do understand that after something like this, they will keep you locked up even longer, if they ever decide to release you at all? And some of your tales sound like the ramblings of an insane person!"

"Oh, don't worry. Sooner or later, I'll find myself on the outside. If I don't escape on my own, someone will free me, looking to use me for their own purposes, or some fanatic will emerge. And perhaps there will be a traitor among you eventually. There's always a way. All that's left is to wait and not go insane from boredom. And these stories help with that, don't they, dear guards?" I asked both guards, lying on the hot stone with my back, sensing the presence of the second guard.

"You're a psychopath! A damn maniac!" Second finally said, emotionally, as he approached the cell bars.

"Everyone has their own life. Their own goals. Hopes. Paths to their goals and ways of moving forward. They all have the right to exist. My path has given me the opportunity to avenge my family and loved ones. If someone came to you and killed your entire family, parents, brothers and sisters, friends... all the people dear to you, wouldn't you do something? Really? If you're such a pacifist, then you belong with the Air Nomads."

"They were all wiped out decades ago."

"I know what I'm talking about. I know."

Silence fell, and I continued to lie on the stone floor. My back began to ache slightly from the heat. A small smile slipped from my face, and I placed my left hand on the stump of my right, feeling the pain from the missing part of my arm. These pains still lingered and periodically resurfaced. But that was a good thing; feeling pain meant I was alive.

Twenty minutes later, the voice of the Second came from above again.

"So, what happened next?" He asked, but the First answered him.

"Haven't you heard enough already? He's completely gone mad!" The quiet voice of the First reached me, fortunately, my hearing was good.

"But it's still interesting..."

"Hehehe... I have a lot of interesting things for stories and discussions. And as for what happened next, I left the Fire Nation soldier's camp, leaving behind my intriguing works of art. I seized three flasks, which I placed on my belt, on the sides and in the back, filled them, took some supplies, and so I set out on the road, the same road the merchant took and where the soldiers came from."

*****

The moonlight illuminated the road, making it easy to see, and it was an effortless walk. The cool breeze went unnoticed, and the dark forest didn't seem as intimidating as before; it no longer made me afraid. It was strange; in my previous life, I had never experienced such fears, but here... despite the experience and knowledge, it felt like I was reliving my childhood, without all of this, experiencing irrational fears again. However, overcoming them had become much easier with experience under my belt.

A hangover set in, and I felt the desire to sleep, as my body became heavier... but I needed to keep going, so I continued. I only stopped when dawn began to break. Climbing higher into a tree onto a thick branch, I tied myself to it with a rope and fell asleep.

I was awakened by the sunlight piercing through my closed eyes and the sensation of heat. I untied myself and, sliding down from the tree, continued down the road. It was boring; my legs hurt from yesterday's sprint and the long march on the road, and my muscles ached all over, despite having slept. To distract myself, I practiced waterbending. Opening one of the flasks, I extended a stream of water, which formed a rotating, mini-current sphere with internal eddies. Closing the flask again, I practiced changing its shape and other manipulations. My own peculiar, smooth hand movements seemed funny and inappropriate to me, but it was much easier to control water this way. It was probably just a psychological effect, but I still wasn't skilled enough to attempt direct mental control. At least my attempts yielded no results, except for being able to hold tiny water droplets with my thoughts, but nothing more. So time passed more quickly, and the journey became more enjoyable. When I was focused, time flowed by unnoticed, and muscle fatigue was almost imperceptible to my consciousness.

Soon, I noticed that the sun was setting, and the sky was painted in a red hue. It was a beautiful sight, to say the least.

Another night on the road, and by the evening of the following day, I reached a new settlement.

Entering was easy, as there were no walls, and people were still walking around the village. So, I quickly approached a man in sandals with a big belly, thick mustaches, and a contented smile. He looked like he wanted to be hit in the fat belly with an ice block, and I wanted to ask him where he had found his happiness.

"I'm sorry to bother you. I'm trying to find a merchant who should have arrived here recently. I need to deliver a message to him. Can you tell me if he's still here or has he already left?" I asked the portly man.

"Oh, no need to worry, young one. You're in luck. He's been here for trading all these days, and he's only leaving tomorrow morning. So, you'll have plenty of time to pass on your message!" the portly man replied with a smile.

"Thank you so much; you've been a great help!" I exclaimed, doing my best to display a genuine smile and happiness on my face.

"No problem at all, lad. Take care!" he said as he went about his business.

I looked at him and thought that he was quite strange, but it didn't matter. I quickly found the merchant in the village, which was much larger than our little village. I located the house where he was staying and then headed to wait for him on an old bench under a tree, positioned at a distance.

I waited through the night. Soon, there was no sunlight left in the sky, and only the stars illuminated the path, along with the crescent moon. For days now, there hadn't been a single cloud in the sky, and the moon's half-light illuminated the road.

During the night, I approached the house and knocked on the door quietly, having already opened all the water flasks.

Inside, I heard footsteps, and soon the door opened. It was the same merchant. He looked at me, expecting to see someone of his stature but didn't have a chance to say anything. With a swift motion of my hand, a stream of water shot out from the flask and wrapped around the merchant's mouth, penetrating through his lips and teeth into his mouth. Then I clenched my fist, and the water turned into ice. Two more hand movements, and two large streams of water burst out of the flasks. One of them coiled around his arms, while the other entangled his legs. The water formed makeshift handcuffs and leg restraints, turning into ice. I brought my hands together, and the water stream between the icy handcuffs tightened, pulling his hands and legs together, freezing into thick ice.

"Daaad!" I heard a voice from a nearby room, along with the sound of footsteps. "Are you coming soon?"

And then my eyes fell on a kid—the same one who had witnessed our magic training session with my brother. The very same kid from whom all of this had started. The one who had triggered this whole mess. With three more hand movements, I bound the boy in the same way as his father.

I quickly went through the house but found no one else. Returning to the merchant lying on the floor, I leaned in.

"Do you know why I came to you, merchant? Here's a hint: you recently stayed in the village where I lived, and your son saw how my twin brother and I were training in waterbending. Then this little one couldn't keep his mouth shut and started telling you everything. I wouldn't care, and almost anyone wouldn't care, but those who did care happened to be nearby! From the look in your eyes, I can tell you're starting to understand. Yes, because of the two of you, or rather, because of your son, not too long ago, Fire Nation soldiers came to us! Why do you think I took these actions, and why am I very angry right now? Are you scared? You're right to be, because because of you two, I lost my home, my entire village, my friends, my uncle and aunt, my beloved mother and brother! And I am very angry right now! I killed all the soldiers who showed up, but it won't bring back the people closest to me... but I can take final revenge for them! Oh, I see you understand. Yes, I'm here to kill both of you. And believe me, I'm trained on soldiers, so you should start dreaming of a quick death!"

With these words, I waved my hand and a stream of water flew out of one of the bottles. The palm of my hand straightened and the stream compressed into a thin thread of water. A wave of my hand and a muffled mooing through my nose, and the first blood splattered around me.