—Give that back!
The woman with the whip struck again, this time aiming at the hand with which Aang held the statuette. He pulled his hand back just in time, and the whip coiled around empty air.
—Why don't we talk? —Aang insisted, sincerely—. Maybe I can help you instead of having to fight.
—We don't need your help, Avatar.
The woman took advantage of his moment of distraction. The whip coiled around Aang's arm and yanked him downward with all her strength. Aang lost his balance and fell several meters before stabilizing on a lower beam.
—We are tired of a world where only Benders hold absolute power! —the woman shouted, the whip still taut.
—Who are you? —Aang asked, struggling against the whip.
—We are the Renegades!
—The Renegades?
—Why bother chatting? —shouted the archer from below, who had already recovered—. Just kill him already!
She pulled an arrow from her quiver. She rubbed it against the stone floor, and a spark ignited the tip, which began to burn with a live flame. The archer aimed upward, toward where Aang was still struggling against his companion's whip.
—No! —shouted the burly man beside her, reaching out toward the bow—. Fire will destroy everything!
Too late. The arrow had already been loosed. But the man had grazed the bow at the last instant, and the projectile veered slightly off course. Instead of heading toward Aang, the fire arrow traced an unexpected arc and veered directly toward the woman with the whip, who was still holding onto Aang's arm.
She turned her head. She saw the arrow approaching, a burning spark reflected in her dilated pupils. She opened her mouth, but she didn't have time to scream.
High above in the sky, a figure sat cross-legged on a cloud, one hand resting on his cheek, like someone watching a play from the highest balcony.
His eyes did not blink. Beneath his half-lidded eyelids, his heterochromatic pupils gleamed with a faint glow that pierced through the clouds, the temple stone, and the wooden beams as if they were sheets of glass. He saw with absolute clarity every movement Aang made.
The smile curving his lips was that of an entertained spectator.
—How should I proceed? —he murmured to himself, scratching his head casually.
He tilted his face slightly, weighing his options.
—Well, I'll play dumb then.
---
Below, inside the temple, the flaming arrow veered toward the woman with the whip.
Aang saw it in an instant. His mind worked faster than his body. In less than a second, he made a decision and released the statuette.
His fingers freed themselves from the whip, and his body lunged forward without thinking. He collided with the woman shoulder-first, pushing her out of the trajectory just as the arrow grazed their clothes. The fire licked the fabric of his cloak, and the air filled with the smell of burning.
They both fell. The arrow struck one of the main roof beams, and a deafening explosion shook the structure. The flames expanded in an orange flash, and the ancient wood, already decayed by time, gave way with a deafening crack.
The other attackers ran toward the exit, dodging the falling debris around them.
Aang and the woman crashed onto the stone floor. He landed beneath her, absorbing the impact with his body while she fell onto his chest, nearly unscathed. The air was forced from Aang's lungs in a sharp exhale, and a dull pain spread across his back and ribs.
The woman half-rose. Her eyes, visible beneath the cloth covering her face, looked at Aang with confusion.
—You… saved me.
The temple roared around them. A column split in two, and the walls began to crack.
—Kallik, take the map! Let's go!
The woman looked at the ground, next to Aang's head. The Sonam statue had fallen and shattered against the stone. From its hollow interior, hidden for who knows how many years, a rolled-up parchment had tumbled out, yellowed and tied with a leather cord. She grabbed it with a quick motion, got to her feet, and ran toward the exit with her companions.
The temple tower leaned dangerously. The main beams groaned, and tiles cascaded down in a waterfall.
Aang gritted his teeth and stood up. The pain in his back was a constant hammering, but he ignored it. He extended his arms upward, and the currents of air obeyed his call. An invisible whirlwind enveloped the tower, slowing its fall, holding the broken beams and cracked walls in a compressed-air embrace.
His arrow tattoos lit up. First the ones on his hands, then the one on his head: a sky-blue glow that intensified until it bathed his entire body in pure light. His eyes shone with the same radiance.
This was the manifestation of the Avatar State.
It was a unique spiritual state in which the Avatar opened the bond with all their past incarnations, allowing the power, experience, and wisdom accumulated over countless lives to flow through them. Conceived as a supreme defense mechanism, the Avatar State concentrated the strength of all previous Avatars into the current body, filling it with overwhelming energy and granting power beyond all measure.
The eyes of the figure suspended in the sky gleamed with interest as he witnessed that sudden explosion of power.
In his perception, Aang's spiritual energy had multiplied nearly tenfold the moment he entered that state. Yet he was convinced that this did not represent his true limit, but merely a sample of the maximum potential he could achieve.
His attention shifted to the inside of the young Avatar's body. He observed the meridians through which his vital energy flowed and discovered that it was extraordinarily active in seven specific points, aligned in a vertical line ascending from the coccyx to the crown.
—So these are the seven chakras… —he murmured to himself—. They are similar to the eight inner gates of my body… I wonder what would happen if…
The idea barely began to take shape before he dismissed it.
This was not the time for speculation or experiments. That curiosity could wait. He refocused all his attention on Aang and the immense amount of energy stirring within him.
Even with all that power, Aang felt his muscles straining to their limit. The tower weighed tons, and wind alone would not be enough.
Centimeter by centimeter, the tower rose back up. Aang sustained the effort until the structure returned to its original position.
Then, the glow of his tattoos went out abruptly.
The Avatar State deactivated on its own, and Aang fell backward, exhausted. His arms hung limp, and his legs would not respond. The stone floor rushed toward him.
A massive white shadow shot through the air at great speed. Appa passed beneath Aang and caught him on his back. The great bison landed softly among the rubble, stirring up dust with his six paws.
Momo immediately jumped onto Aang's shoulder and touched his cheek with his small claws, squeaking anxiously.
—I'm fine, Momo —Aang said, his voice broken by the effort. His chest rose and fell as he caught his breath—. Just… need a minute.
He slowly sat up on Appa's back. His muscles trembled, and a thin layer of sweat covered his forehead, but his eyes were already back on the horizon.
—We need to go to Republic City —he said, running a hand over his bald head.
But suddenly, his eyes widened.
Up there, in the sky, an orange point of light grew larger and larger. At first, it looked like a shooting star, but it kept growing, leaving a trail of black smoke behind it. In a matter of seconds, the point became a sphere of fire the size of a watermelon, then a barrel, then a carriage.
A small meteorite fell from the sky out of nowhere.
It struck exactly the tower that Aang had just saved. The impact was devastating. The stone structure split in two like a broken stem. The upper half tore away with a deafening groan and collapsed onto the temple, dragging what remained of the roof with it. The crash echoed through the mountains for several seconds, and a cloud of dust rose toward the sky.
When the dust cleared, the tower no longer existed. Only a pile of smoking rubble remained.
Aang stared at the scene, his eyes wide as saucers. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times without making a sound.