51: Zhao's Bizarre Adventure.
This morning, Zhao felt that something was wrong with him. For the first time in a long time, he woke up without a stomachache from the rage of his constant nightmares, and he didn't feel exhausted either.
On the contrary, he felt good, so good that he couldn't believe it. Ever since he started having so many nightmares and constant thoughts in his head, every day, all the time, he had never had a very good morning.
Now, however, he even felt the desire to sing a new tune; his mind was clear, even if he forced himself to think about those complicated issues that had been weighing on him, his mind would quickly drift to something else, more trivial, something that scared him deeply.
For anyone, this would be a good thing, you would no longer have to worry about your repetitive and intrusive thoughts! But for Zhao, this was terrifying, the fact that he had, for no reason or purpose, 'overcome' this episode in his life without even realizing it.
If it had been something he had achieved through peace of mind, meditation, or achieving his goals, he wouldn't feel this way. Because, as a good Firebender with culture, he was someone who meditated all the time, and it was clear to him that while his mental state was not the best, it was at least something he had control over, an idea.
Not this time, it was like when he was young, without any control over his mind, he couldn't force himself to think about anything 'negative', even his feelings were gradually changed, all his current worries quickly disappeared and were replaced by something more 'happy'.
This situation caused him not to leave his room; he had not even put on his clothes, and he just stayed in the clothes he had fallen asleep in. He quickly assumed a meditative posture, hoping to find out what was affecting him mentally.
Just as he entered a deep state of meditation, his being was suddenly pulled to another place. Zhao could feel his mind being pulled to a strange place.
The whole journey was uncomfortable and long, allowing him to see many strange and psychedelic situations, so many strange things he could not understand, almost like the time he went to the desert in search of Wan Shi Tong's library.
During that trip, he had to organize many expeditions to find the famous library that contained all the knowledge that ever existed in this world. During one of these expeditions, he lost his water supply.
This forced him to take a desperate measure, not advisable in the desert, and drink cactus juice. It was the first and only time Zhao understood why many people would rather die than drink the stuff.
Yes, it satiated him, but he saw and experienced what seemed like a lifetime on a psychedelic and incomprehensible trip that ironically allowed him to accomplish two things: find the library he was looking for and improve his firebending.
Why would a trip like that improve your power? He didn't know, but Zhao didn't even want to experience it again, feeling that if he did, he might get lost in all the illusions and absurd situations he might experience.
Now, he seemed to be experiencing something similar; he didn't know why his meditation was drifting into this situation, but he felt that it was only his mind that was attracted, and when he ended up in a strange forest filled with a strange vibe, but full of life, he understood.
"Damn it, I ended up in the spirit world," Zhao cursed under his breath with some trepidation.
Although he had seen the Spiritual World in his meditation, he had never managed to set foot in it, he could only see its scenery through a veil, unable to interact with anything in this strange but colorful and vibrant world.
Now he could see a completely blue 'rabbit' running towards him, and then he looked at it curiously. Zhao felt fear, he knew he couldn't use his Firebending here, so he stepped back.
"Calm down friend, I have no bad intentions," Zhao said quietly, trying to sound as calm and friendly as possible, but the rabbit just stood on two legs and cocked his head.
"I'm not your friend, you're human," the rabbit said suddenly, pulling a hat out of nowhere and putting it on his head.
"Are you Dorothy?" the rabbit asked, making Zhao feel strange.
What kind of name was Dorothy? Was it a name for a person? To Zhao, this was a strange way to name someone, it had nothing to do with anything in the cultures he knew.
"No, my name is Zhao," Zhao replied, unable to lie; no one could lie in the spirit world. If anything, they could stretch or skirt the truth, but never tell a lie.
"Hmm, what kind of name is Zhao? What an ugly name, but will you come anyway? I have been asked to take any human who shows up here to a certain place," the rabbit said, and although he had no visible eyes, Zhao sensed a trace of contempt in his look.
Zhao was reluctant to follow the plans of a spirit, but since he had come here from nowhere, it was safe to say that he was curious; why did someone or something seem to be waiting for him? He did not know, but he might as well follow the strange being.
Thus, Zhao experienced the most? Bizarre journey of his life. He suffered no danger, but he saw a lot. Many spirits with dark and strange energy emanating from them constantly watched him on the road, but although they looked sinister, they were not as bad as they seemed.
He saw many interesting things, such as a strange green spirit that was chubby and somewhat ugly, but was constantly stirring a large cauldron and then feeding many small spirits that came to him.
He saw another spirit that looked like a two-headed bird that seemed to constantly mumble things about the future and the past, but never the present.
The strange thing was that when this spirit saw him, it burst out laughing, as if mocking something he had seen with his apparent abilities.
The worst moment Zhao experienced in the spirit world was when a humanoid spirit in the apparent form of a woman approached him. Just seeing her made him feel strange sensations and even caused him to have a physiological reaction, but the rabbit prevented him from approaching this being.
"Do not be fooled by her beautiful appearance, or you will be left with your mouth. Humans like you or weak spirits can't stand her," the rabbit pointed out, who seemed to have a certain reputation in this place despite not emitting that strange dark energy.
"She reminds me of a legend," Zhao said, remembering something he had heard when he was young.
"She sometimes goes to the human world to have fun with men and women, fortunately, only a few cracks have opened up in the spirit world," the spirit rabbit said, causing Zhao to feel a chill.
Spirits were one of the greatest dangers to humans in this world. Yes, many were good, and even Agni, the being the Fire Nation worshipped, is a rather kind spirit.
But many of them were quite dangerous to humans, even if they were 'inspiring' those illustrious people in the world, sometimes they were just doing it to cause trouble, and besides, the inspiration could drift into madness as well as mental or physical illness.
"What is that energy coming from them? It feels sinister," Zhao asked curiously, ignoring a spirit holding several human skulls as if they were precious jewels.
"It's my master's gift, only powerful or valuable spirits deserve it," the spirit replied with some sadness in his voice, as if not possessing this 'gift' hurt him quite a bit.
"I think you will receive this gift soon," Zhao said, perhaps because of the help and guidance the rabbit spirit gave him, giving him a few words of encouragement that made the spirit burst out laughing.
"Anyone who receives my master's gift is a good person, you are a good person, even if you are human," the spirit said, and although his words were normal, the meaning of them made Zhao turn pale.
'Don't tell me...' Zhao looked at his body, and although he couldn't see the strange energy emanating from his spirit body, he wasn't quite sure. Could it be that he also received this 'gift'?
But Zhao's emotions were redirected to something else, that was the terrible thing about Vaatu's power of seduction and contamination, it didn't manipulate you directly, it simply redirected your latent emotions elsewhere.
It magnified Zhao's curiosity, it magnified Zhao's happiness, it magnified Zhao's tranquility. But this made the man uncomfortable, for him, this was messing with his mind, something he didn't like.
So Zhao was angry, and as if this emotion were flames, it seemed to get fuel and burn brighter. But just as he was about to complain to the spirit rabbit, he noticed that everything around him had changed.
He was now standing in front of a strangely twisted tree in which a huge being seemed to be trapped. Zhao felt his emotions return to their normal course without this subtle guidance.
"I'm sorry if I did that, you might not be able to come to me," an ancient voice full of power came from the tree, then an eye made of dark energy with red lines appeared in the air in front of Zhao and looked at him.
"Who are you?" muttered Zhao, shocked by the immense spiritual power he felt.
"Just an ancient spirit, you know, there are several in this world," Vaatu said normally before continuing to speak.
"As I told you, I apologize for the psychological suggestions, but you needed some peace in your head, you were on the road to madness," Vaatu spoke loosely, as if his actions had not been invasive or dangerous.
"Don't ever do that again! Nobody likes to have their head messed with!" said Zhao angrily, making Vaatu laugh.
"I know! But if I didn't, would you be curious enough to explore this great world? Haven't you seen many interesting and fun things on your tour?" asked Vaatu, this time subtly changing the subject.
He didn't like to use this kind of manipulation, but Zhao was strangely a strong-willed man, only giving him 'peace' to worry him, making him meditate, and then, when he was pulled into the spirit world, increasing his curiosity to ignore the fact that he could easily return to the earthly world, making him follow a harmless rabbit-like spirit.
Contrary to what you might think, Vaatu greatly respected the opinion and free will of his followers, but he was also a master manipulator. He was even capable of doing many things, but almost 10,000 years of not being able to move made you do things to alleviate your boredom.
"It was an interesting journey, no doubt, I never thought I would see so many things in the spiritual world," Zhao replied, feeling that his journey was quite beneficial to his mental state.
Even if he did not visit the spiritual world regularly, the experience was real and quite valuable. He felt that even if he was not pulled back, he could still access the Spiritual World on his own, which was certainly a sign that his mental state had improved greatly.
"Now, help this lonely spirit chat, don't worry, time here is different, no matter how much we talk, how much you tell me, how long you stay here, not much will happen in the real world.
I can sense a large accumulation of negative emotions in you, I think you should chat with someone. You know, being locked up for almost 10,000 years makes you a good listener," Vaatu said, making Zhao hesitate a bit, but knowing that the being in front of him was powerful, ancient, and wise, he decided to chat.
"Well, it all started when I was born..." Zhao began to tell the story of his life, recounting his entire journey, his actions, his thoughts, even his feelings about Shisui.
Zhao didn't know it, but as he talked to Vaatu, small mists of dark energy began to emerge from his spiritual body, signifying that Vaatu's energy within him had fully integrated into his being.
As he listened to the man's constant complaints about Shisui, Vaatu would smile if he had a mouth. Zhao was different from that Waterbender, so he treated him differently.
'Too bad, if this guy had appeared in the future instead of now, he would surely have answered Raava, but that's for later,' Vaatu thought as he heard Zhao's insults against Shisui for the hundredth time.
How much 'damage' had Shisui done to Zhao's ego? Vaatu did not know, but he felt that this was some of the best gossip he had heard recently. Being imprisoned for thousands of years makes one a very gossipy being.