The village began with the sky veiled in soft gray, low-hanging clouds stirring unease across the mountains. Fang Yuan stood before the stream where his journey into water had begun. His reflection rippled—calm, composed, and different. The man in the water was not the same who had awakened in this world.
His mastery of the elements had moved beyond technique. It was now beyond perfect , using his knowledge from earth and all the things he knew about fiction worlds. He gained perfection
Each movement was born of instinct now, not thought. Fire curled from his fingers like silk. Earth responded to a flicker of his stance. Water danced in swirling ribbons to his rhythm. He could feel the air shifting against his skin, brushing his face in patterns that spoke of oncoming storms.
The boy Ren had started calling him "Master of bending" He was the only one who Saw all the progress Fang_Yuan made since the beginning of his training.
"I saw what you did," Ren said one evening evening, eyes gleaming with awe. "The way you froze the stream mid-flow. You didn't even touch it."
The level of bending that Fang_Yuan had reached was astonishing.
Fang Yuan said nothing.
Even though he himself knew that by the standard of his world his bending was on the next level, his ways of utilizing the elements was quite different and superior unlike the native of this world who were bound by the limitations of their minds.
But he knew that, Power was dangerous when seen. Reverence was a thin veil over fear.
So he kept to the outskirts more often, meditating in the mountains or training deep within the woods, where his control over the elements would draw no eyes.
But even that would soon not be enough.
He could feel something looming beyond the ridge.
A pull
Like destiny itself circling closer.
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******×*******
(Team Avatar)
Far from the village, in a coastal outpost near the Fire Nation's reclaimed border, Aang stood atop a sandstone cliff, eyes closed, hands pressed together in the Air Nomad way. The wind blew hard through his robes, tousling his hair, but his expression was focused.
He saw it again. No he Felt it.
Something deep within him, in a more spiritual form reacted to a flicker of flame that was not his own. A pulse of the earth shifting, but not through him. A ripple in a stream that was neither natural nor spirit-made.
And finally, air.
A breath—steady, quiet, practiced—not born of a monk's teaching but of experience. It was faint, buried under layers of space and distance. But it was there.
He gasped, eyes snapping open. "This again"
Katara who was standing beside him turned to him, concern etched across her face. "You felt it again?"
"I did. Stronger this time. It's not a spirit. It's someone real. Flesh and blood."
Toph leaned back against the rock. "You said whatever it was it can bending all the elements, right? That's not supposed to happen."
Zuko nodded grimly. "The last time someone tried to bend all four elements without being the Avatar, they broke entire provinces, so it says in the history"
Aang looked down. "I'm quite sure who this person is but this time it's presence is stronger that before, like it's slowly getting stronger."
Sokka scowled. "So how are we even supposed to find him or her? It's like searching for a needle in a world-sized haystack."
"Spirits," Aang murmured.
Katara raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I can't find this person directly. But something around them is disturbing spirit within me. It's like… it's s presence warps the world slightly. If I follow that disturbance…"
"Then we might catch up," Zuko finished.
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****×****
(Later That Night — In the Spirit World)
Aang sat cross-legged by a flickering campfire, incense burning beside him. The others gave him space as he entered the Spirit World.
There, the colors were all wrong—bright where there should be shadows, quiet where there should be chaos.
A whisper greeted him.
Not a word. A name without voice.
"The one who bends like the Avatar ."
Aang turned. A great koi fish—its scales shimmering with water, fire, earth, and air—swam through the sky above him.
"You see him?" Aang asked.
"He walks the path unasked."
"Is he a threat?"
"He is…a change. And a change has no sides. He might be threat to you but not the world or be a threat to the world and not you, Although it seems like Raava doesn't truly like the fact that a person aside from you can bend the four elements at will.... That's why she's influcing other spirits to look for that person without even you knowing "
Listen well child of Raava,... The southern valley of the earth kingdom, what you seek is there"
The fish vanished.
Aang opened his eyes, heartbeat racing.
"We head west," he told the others. "To the southern valleys of the Earth Kingdom."
"Great," Sokka muttered. "Valleys full of refugees, hills, mist, and wild spirits. Nothing creepy about that."
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.******×******
(Fang Yuan — Days Later)
The weather turned.
Rain fell in sheets, and the wind hissed through the trees with a warning edge. Fang Yuan stood at the cliff edge, watching the approaching storm.
He had begun incorporating air into his training. Not bending it yet—but listening. The way it moved, what it carried.
Air was one of the dangerous elements, something that can not be seen, or touched, if used properly it can become a powerful weapon.
Fang_Yuan with his eyes closed, he didn't want to rush it because he belive that the beat way to understand something is by taking step by step.
But something was really bothering him,the feeling of discomfort was wrapped around him for almost two days now.
Something was going to happen and he need to do something about it
"I don't know why but I have bad feelings about this. My sixth sense is warning me. Perhaps it's time to move"
Late at night, Fang Yuan looked at the small village for the last time. For two months that he spent here were enough for him and it was time to move on.
He wanted to at least say goodbye to the little guy but something stopped him.
"Yeah, maybe it's best if he doesn't know where I'm going"
With that being said, He left the village that night. Without words. No firelight. No trail.
Only silence.
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*****×*****
(Team Avatar — Arrival in the Village)
Two days since Fang_Yuan left
The villagers had never seen so many people with unusual clothes before. Arriving at their village at once. The boy Ren was the first to run up to Aang and his team.
"Hey what's are those tattoos on your head and arms" he asked, excited.
"You mean these? " Aang asked as he pointed the one on his forehead.
"Yeah! Are you one of those airbenders? "
"He's actually the Avatar" Said Katarra. Her words shocked Ren and the villagers.
Not a single one of them ever though that a day would come where they will be able to see the Avatar in fresh.
"woow"
"It's a pressure to meet you Avatar, I am Hiko the leader of this small village" bowed the old man as he gazed upon Aang and his team
"The pressure is ours. We so sorry to appear unnoticed to your village, we were actually just passing by" Said Aang who was actually hiding the fact that two days ago the spirit he met told him to come here.
But it seems like he wasn't picking up anything, unlike the past few days we're his tattoos would start blinking.
"Ooh I see, then why don't you rest for the day, our village might be small but it's perfect"
"I think it's best if we Lea...."
It was Zuko who was about to protest the idea of resting, when he was cut short by Toph Beifong.
"We would love to"
"It's an honor, Ren guide our guests to my house"
"No need for that we will just stay over there"
The old man looked at where Toph was pointing and realized it was towards the old shrine where Fang_Yuan was previous staying.
A bad feeling boiled inside his stomach.
".... Sure no problem" with a voice full of defeat, he agreed.
"Let's go guys"
"What are you doing Toph" whispered Aang as he follows her.
"You are the Avatar yet you can't feel that something off?"
"What do you mean?"
"Aah! I'm too tired for this, why don't you see for yourself"
Upon reaching the shrine, Toph walked behind the shrine and explained.
"Someone was clearly practicing earthbending here just look at the area."
"You are right, and these dark spots.. It's fire" Added Zuko
"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking" Said Sokka with grin on his face.
As if both if them had an idea of what was going on. But they're thoughts were cyt short by the appearance of Ren
"Sorry the place is shabby and dirty" Said Ren
"Don't worry it's fine we are just resting for while so don't feel bad OK... But can I asked you something" Said Aang
"Uum sure"
"Was there someone living here on this shrine?"
"Yeah, actually there was someone staying a couple days ago but he just disappeared"
The group tensed.
"Disappeared"? What do you mean "
" Well he just left without saying anything, I'm kind sad you know. I thought we were friends "
"Was he perhaps a bender?" It was Aang who asked the boy.
Ren was about to speak when he suddenly remembered that he made a promise to not tell anyone about the fact the Fang_Yuan was a bender.
The hesitation he had was enough for Toph and even Aang to noticed what was coming next.
"No he was not"
Lies
"Sorry but do you happen to know his name?"
"Now that you mentioned, he never told me his name. I just called him big brother"
Another lie
Team Avatar looked at the boy, he was clearly telling lies to them.
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****×*****
(Fang Yuan — On the Road Again)
The valley was silent. Not a bird chirped. Not a branch moved without his sensing it.
He walked with purpose now. No longer merely surviving or seeking answers. His path had formed beneath his feet as he walked.
And though he did not know where it led, he knew this:
The world was waking up around him.
His mastery was nearly complete.
But that wasn't the end of it, there was still more he need to learn.