Bab 19: Chapter 19: Encounter on the Peak - 96 AG
As Sozim awakened, he found himself in the evening's embrace, the daylight hours having slipped away unnoticed. The sun descended in the western sky, painting it with hues of orange, and the once warm air now bore a refreshing chill. His gaze shifted forward, where he observed Iroh's serene presence still immersed in the spirit world.
Upon witnessing this, Sozim couldn't help but sigh, a faint smile gracing his lips. Without waiting for Iroh to stir from his spiritual journey, the young man rose from his meditative spot and leaped down through the opening beneath the rock. He began rummaging through his belongings, unearthing a carefully preserved scroll—a map of the world he had relied on for years. It was a map adorned with cryptic symbols, hastily etched in blood due to the scarcity of ink and quills.
For the first time in a while, Sozim felt a sense of direction and purpose. No longer did he wander aimlessly, although he had never truly considered himself a wanderer, for he had always pursued a singular goal. Now, his path was becoming more defined.
Unfurling the map upon the ground, he scrutinized it with intensity, contemplating the various possibilities that lay before him. The desert, a return to Makapu Village, the air temples, Ba Sing Se, the water tribes—each destination represented a potential step toward fulfilling his objectives. But first and foremost, he needed to recover the water tribe attire he wore when he first entered this world. To achieve that, he had to locate the twins, a task he had yet to make a move on.
Sozim's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a keen sense of someone's approach to the peak. It was not Iroh, who remained perched atop the rock, but another visitor. Quickly rolling up the map and stowing it in his bag, Sozim left the opening and proceeded toward the incoming stranger.
Stationed near the precipice of Laghima's peak, Sozim peered downward, where he noticed a figure he knew all too well—Azula.
"You?" Sozim arched an eyebrow in surprise.
Azula, too, directed her gaze upward, her lips curving into a sly smirk. "Finally! I've found you!"
"You shouldn't be here," Sozim declared. "This is a sacred site for air nomads, and I doubt your presence here is motivated by meditation and spiritual pursuits."
"Who cares about that?" the girl retorted dismissively. "Duel me again! I'll redeem myself by delivering your head to Father!"
Sozim shook his head firmly. "This is not the appropriate setting. Go down from here, and I'll duel you below, but not in this sacred place."
Azula clenched her fist, her frustration evident. "I wasn't asking!"
In an instant, Azula's arms swirled around her, generating a crackling blue lightning. Sozim's eyes widened in alarm, realizing the perilous situation he was in. The peak was behind him, with Iroh's spirit still connected to the spirit world.
"Your uncle's up there, you dimwit!" Sozim shouted, hastily darting to the side to draw Azula's lightning away from the peak. With a two-fingered motion, Azula discharged her lightning toward Sozim. The azure streaks of electricity crackled through the air, momentarily illuminating the dark surroundings before dissipating harmlessly into the sky.
"Fight me!" Azula screamed, her demeanor resembling that of an irate child. She propelled herself upward, scaling the mountain by leaping from boulder to boulder, while Sozim, instead of ascending, began his descent.
As the two adversaries drew closer, Azula extended her clenched fist through the air, sending a searing ball of blue flames hurtling in Sozim's direction. As he maneuvered to evade the fiery onslaught, Sozim skidded across the dusty ground, coming to a stop just beside Azula.
"I said not here!" Sozim bellowed, his hands poised for action. "Your uncle is here, and this is—"
Ignoring his words, Azula redirected her hands toward him, conjuring a precise burst of azure flames between her fingers. However, Sozim swiftly ducked and, with both hands, deftly forced her hand upward, causing the flames to flare up and illuminate the darkening surroundings once more.
Before Azula could complete her fiery assault, Sozim pivoted and unleashed a rapid flurry of strikes, targeting the chi points on her left arm, the very one she had used to attack him moments ago. Instantly, her arm went limp, extinguishing the flames.
Azula growled in frustration, attempting to move her arm to no avail.
"Listen," Sozim urged. "Calm down. If I wanted you dead, you'd be gone by now."
"Calm down, you say?" Azula scoffed with a trace of bitterness. "You're the reason I'm like this! If it weren't for you, MY FATHER WOULDN'T HAVE—"
"It's your own doing," Sozim sighed. "You suddenly want to kill me because we had the same teacher? That's childish and petty, even for kids like us, you shouldn't be this...crazy."
Azula's anger seemed to flare at his words, and she attempted to release an uncontrolled barrage of azure flames at Sozim with her other arm. However, her body abruptly froze, and her eyes widened. Traumatic memories flooded her mind of their previous fight, leaving her feeling helpless under the gaze of the boy in front of her. Anxious, voices began to echo in her head, voices that she too couldn't control.
"Stop," Sozim murmured, controlling his breath. "Just...stop."
Azula's eyes darted around, attempting to free herself from his grip, but she remained trapped, the voices in her head growing louder.
"I know 'crazy' sounds like an insult," Sozim admitted. "But let it go. I don't want to harm you, at least not right now. I'm dealing with something myself, and killing you won't help. It'll only make things worse."
Sozim didn't realize it, but every word he spoke felt like an insult to Azula, making her lose control further. It sounded like he was sparing her, and her inferiority complex blared to the max.
Suddenly, Sozim released his hold on Azula, and she collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, sweat trickling down her forehead. She still couldn't silence the voices in her head or shake off the unsettling feeling.
"Just go back down and head home," Sozim advised, looking down at her. He exhaled deeply. "Or, if you want to see your uncle, come up. But be warned, one wrong move, and I may not be able to stop myself from making your heart explode."
Carefully, Sozim turned away, leaving Azula on the ground. She stared at his retreating figure, her eyes sharp with anger.
Rising to her feet, Azula, with her one remaining functional arm, began to generate electricity, sparks crackling around her. It was a reckless move given her one-armed state, resulting in an unsteady balance.
Sensing the impending danger, Sozim turned back, sighing as he met Azula's venomous gaze. With a calming breath, he bent her blood, immobilizing her but allowing her to speak.
Azula's eyes widened once more, and she screamed in rage, struggling to free herself.
"RELEASE ME, YOU PEASANT!" she raged. "I'M THE PRINCESS OF—"
Before she could finish her sentence, the gathered electricity surged uncontrollably through her, while a burst of wild chi energy propelled her body several feet backward. She was thrown off the cliff, plummeting towards the ground below.
"No!" shouted someone from the peak. Sozim turned to see Iroh, a look of worry etched on his face. Acting swiftly, Sozim rushed to the cliff's edge and, with a deft motion, suspended Azula's unconscious form in mid-air, gently bringing her to the ground near him.
---
Inside the opening of the rocks on the peak, Sozim now just sat in front of an unconscious Azula, while Iroh also sat opposite of him, his hands on Azula's neck, checking her pulse.
"She seemed stable," Iroh commented, then he touched Azula's forehead, checking her temperature. "What she did was a stupid move. Lightning generation isn't to be trifled lightly, the unfinished separation between negative and positive energy is dangerous for a bender."
"She was… desperate," stated Sozim calmly. "How awful is your family really, old man?"
"I don't know too much of their family dynamics, as I am not always there, but Azula is always the favorite of Ozai's children." Iroh sighed. "But because of that, there's a lot of pressure being put on her, that she had to be perfect in her father's eyes, as her brother isn't the perfect son Ozai wanted. While Ursa is kind and teaches her children of love, Ozai's mindset of fear seeps first into her, as after all, she was closer to him due to her talent, and it made her more distant towards her mother."
"But it shouldn't make her like… this…" Sozim stated.
Iroh chuckled. "You underestimate my brother, young Sozim. He never loved anyone, he took Ursa as his wife because of her lineage, he always insults his children whenever they don't fulfill his expectations, he doesn't treat them like his own blood, he treats them like future weapons that need to be trained. Sooner in the future, she'll realize that she's just a thing that can be thrown at any time, especially when Ozai's goal is getting closer and closer."
Sozim just hummed, and his gaze darted to Azula again. While she looked fine, she was unconscious, electricity had flown through her, and an explosion of energy was set up in front of her, Sozim doubted if she was fine.
That's why, he took a look at her anatomy. He raised his hands, and he closed his eyes, he could feel the blood running through her, he could feel every vein inside the girl, and he noticed her heartbeat was faster than normal, no, it's more of that the heartbeat it's out of rhythm. Some of the veins around her arms that were used to generate the lighting have also burst, and there's currently internal bleeding inside her arm, and sooner than later, it's probably going to swell.
"What are you doing?" questioned Iroh curiously.
"An internal bleeding inside this arm," stated Sozim. "It should swell really bad in a couple of hours, I think… I don't know much about medicine. Also, her heartbeat is out of rhythm, I don't know what that means… but it doesn't sound good."
"What? Amazing…" Iroh said, a bit surprised. "You know, Young Sozim, perhaps your ability can be used for other things, like healing internal injuries."
"I don't know about that… I just checked her up, I can't actively heal someone."
"But still, detection is already a good start," Iroh said. "Maybe you can look into that."
Sozim scratched the side of his head. "Maybe…" his gaze then turned to Azula again. "What about her? So like… we stay here until she wakes up again?"
Iroh shook his head. "She will probably attack you again, and we need to find her a healer. We need to bring her down the mountain."
"And how are we going to do that?" Sozim asked, raising his brow. "It'll take a few days to go down."
"We'll carry her. I need to find some cloth to help carry her down while climbing down the ropes." Iroh answered.
"Alright, I think I have some," said Sozim, walking towards his bag as he rummaged through it. "So, did you talk to your son? Did you find him?"
"Unfortunately, no." Iroh smiled a tinge of sadness in his eyes. "I will try again when I have finished bringing Azula home."
"You'll go back here?" Sozim questioned.
"No, it's too far. In the yard of my home is enough." Iroh chuckled. "After this experience, I feel that I am more attuned to the spirit world, but of course, my time there will be short, as no solstice will be happening until next winter. What about you, young Sozim, have you found what you are looking for?"
"I gained answers, I gained more questions." Sozim simply said. "But now I know where I must go, it'll be a busy couple of years."
"I'm glad that you found a path." Iroh nodded. Sozim then pulled a batch of cloth from his bag that is often used for bandages.
"Is this enough?" questioned Sozim.
Iroh stared at the cloth. "Only one way to find out."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone