Flight

The sun shone in all its glory on the clear blue sky. The rough terrain of the Earth Kingdom peninsula is a challenge for anyone with its steep mountains, lush vegetation, and the occasional encounter with raiders.

The journey to Kyoshi Island would take about a week at the very least. The journey towards the coast would take enough time as it is, and sailing on the treacherous waters of the Southern Earth Kingdom coast would be a navigational nightmare.

Ren remembers that the Avatar and his team would stay in Kyoshi Island for a few days, but a week later and there's a good chance they might've been gone. He needs to get there fast, preferably within 3 days.

How should he traverse tens of kilometers of mountainous land and cross the ocean within 3 days then?

Atop a towering cliff, Ren stood on the edge. The vast expanse of the Southwest Earth Kingdom stretched before him.

"Three days." Ren muttered. "And I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere."

He glanced at the rugged terrain below. Everything that he can see are either steep mountains or overgrown forests. Travelling on land would be a nightmare, even for him.

He turned his back to the sky. The lack of clouds signaled a fair weather for the entirety of the day. Ren mused, the wind tousling his black hair.

"Well, let's just fly then."

As a transmigrated man, Ren's knowledge extends beyond the world he's been thrust into. He recalled a saying from his past life: Flight isn't about wings. It's about overcoming the force pulling you down.

"Gravity isn't an enemy." he mutters. "It's a tool. Just need to know how to use it."

He considers it a massive gift that he's been sent in this world as an Earthbender. It paved the way for him to enter a realm of Earthbending that hasn't been reached before, even in the main series.

His experiences as a bender had already hinted at this. Over the year, he'd realized that Earthbending wasn't just about controlling the earth beneath his feet—it was about manipulating the forces that bound everything together. By focusing not on the rock, but on the energy and weight it carried, Ren had started to grasp a new form of bending.

"You're right, Mr. Beckett. It actually did help me one day." he recalled his Physics professor. "Reduce gravity's pull on me and shift the forces around me."

Atop the cliff, Ren stretched his arms, rolling his shoulders as he contemplated his next move.

"First of all, reduce gravity," he muttered.

Focusing his energy, he felt the familiar pulse of bending flow through him. It's still a foreign sensation, of course, but he's slowly getting used to it. 

He wasn't bending the earth beneath him this time, but rather, the force tethering him to it. Slowly, the weight on his legs eased, and he felt himself grow lighter and lighter. With a small push from his legs, he leapt into the air.

For a moment, he hung there, suspended in mid-air, exhilarated by the sensation of weightlessness. Then, he began to fall.

"It works," he said, his feet once again making contact with the ground. "But flying will be more complicated than that."

Ren concentrated once again, this time not just reducing gravity's pull on his being but reversing it entirely. A small, cautious leap sent him shooting into the sky. The ground fell away beneath him as his momentum grew faster and faster.

Experiencing this, he grinned.

"Not bad at all," he murmured, inwardly ecstatic.

But not for long.

As he fell to the sky, exhilaration quickly turned into discomfort. The sudden acceleration tugged at his chest and stomach, making him nauseous. His vision blurred as the G-forces slammed against him. He faltered mid-air, and the active thought of reversing the gravity around him disappearing. Within a few seconds, the natural law of the world had wrapped its hand around him once again.

He went into free-fall for a moment, reversing the pull of gravity little by little to slow his descent. His brain is still rattled by the G-forces he experienced, but it's enough to do this much.

Ren landed with a thud, breathing unstable. His knees buckled, and he kneeled on the ground, clutching his head.

"That was," he muttered, "really fucking unpleasant."

He sat there, catching his breath, his mind racing. "So, reversing gravity works, but the forces are the problem. G-forces are crushing me every time I shift too fast. Not to mention air resistance–it's like stuffing myself inside a washing machine."

Ren stared at the ground, tracing patters in the dirt absentmindedly. His thoughts drifted back on his problem and what he can do to solve it. He recalled the physics lectures from his past life. How astronauts dealt with forces during space travel–how they relied on controlled environments to maintain stability.

"A controlled environment," he repeated aloud.

That was it. That could work. 

He needed to create a stable zone around himself, a pocket of gravity that moved with him. His very own gravity field.

"If I can bend gravity around me like a barrier," he mused, "I won't feel the forces directly. I can shift the entire bubble instead of just myself. The air resistance won't touch me. The G-forces won't crush me."

It sounds easier in theory, but he had to try.

Standing again, Ren closed his eyes and extended his senses outward. He visualized a sphere around him, a zone where gravity bent inward to hold him steady. The field formed slowly at first, a faint shimmer in the air around him.

When he felt it lock into place, he once again reversed the gravity around him.

This time, the sensation was entirely different. Inside the field, the air was calm, the motion smooth. He wasn't accelerating directly–he was being carried along, as if on a steady platform.

Ren grinned as he pushed the field forward, faster this time. The landscape blurred beneath him, but inside the bubble, it felt as though he were standing still. And he for sure is.

"Much better," he said, laughing.

He tested turns, banking sharply left, then right. The field held steady, his body protected from the jarring forces. Even the wind seemed to part around him.

"This is it," Ren said, his voice filled with triumph. "This is what flight should be."

Completing his tests, he aimed towards the distant coast and blasted off. His initial estimation of a day of flying quickly reduced to barely half a day, as the only thing limiting his speed being his own imagination at this point.

Oh, and the mental fatigue.

*

Ren descended onto the rocky shores of Kyoshi Island, the ocean breeze carrying the scent of salt and seaweed. His legs wobbled slightly as his boots hit the ground, the toll of keeping the barrier and flying through the ocean evident in his posture. His head throbbed with a dull, insistent ache, his face a shade paler.

He landed on the relatively undeveloped part of the island, away from the main village. He wasn't in the mood to interact with anyone yet. His headache is making even breathing a hassle.

"Bloody hell," he muttered, clutching his head. "Shouldn't have gone too fast. Had to use all my strength to keep the barrier from being broken by the counteracting forces."

Ren took a deep breath, trying to ignore the head-splitting headache, and took a step forward. 

Unfortunately, that was all it took before his vision spun out of control and everything faded into black.