Chapter 6: He Who Remembers
Light in the Spirit World was a strange concept overall; without a sun or moon, light seemed to be an arbitrary thing. In some places it was eternally dark, and in others it was eternally light, and there wasn't often a reason why. The Undying Bloom was one of those places which were always in the light, but for very obvious reasons.
The massive forest was filled with trees that had no leaves, but rather massive amounts of white flowers, each one burning with an intense light. There was no way to escape the light of the Undying Bloom, either. Since there were trees growing in all directions and at all heights, you couldn't simply shield your eyes.
The lights had been beautiful at first; blossoms of myriad colors and gorgeous luminescence. As they proceeded to the center of the forest, however, the light became nearly impossible to bear. Looking in any direction was blinding. All the glowing blossoms blurred together into a single mass of blinding white light, like staring directly into the sun. The group paused to cover their burning eyes with their hands, offering a brief reprieve from the light.
"We can't go any further in this forest," Whistler objected. "We can't see a thing."
"We're all going to go blind if we keep trying to navigate this," Ada continued.
Sen sighed and adjusted his glasses. The light here was causing a severe glare on the lenses. There was a workaround to their predicament, but it was going to be awkward. He held his arms out at his sides.
"Everyone grab on to me," Sen said. "I don't really need my eyes, so I can lead the way."
Reluctantly, Ada and Suda took hold of Sen's outstretched hands with one hand and covered their eyes with the other. Whistler was a bit more reticent.
"I'm not holding your hands, Avatar Four-Eyes."
"So hold on to my elbow," Sen suggested.
Reluctantly, Whistler grabbed hold of Sen's elbow. Sen clenched his eyes shut tight and tried to navigate the forest with his seismic sense. While he was well-practiced, it had always been more of a secondary skill, not his primary source of sight. It was difficult to navigate entirely without his eyes.
Luckily, Gun caught on to Sen's difficulty and began to lead the way. While it was difficult to focus on the unfamiliar terrain of the Undying Bloom, it was easy to track Gun's familiar heartbeat. The animal guide led the way to the very heart of the forest. He had some difficulty tunneling around the thick roots of the glowing trees, but the badgermole found his way.
Whistler could feel the intensity of the light diminish gradually as they approached the center. Slowly, carefully, she reopened her eyes. Then she screamed.
At the very center sat a massive tree, withered and dead, absent the glowing flowers of the other trees. Sitting at the base of the deathly tree was a massive creature, something like a tiger, that seemed to be carved of stone and cloud at the same time. Its skin was rugged and cracked like broken granite, but at the same time it constantly rolled and shifted as if made of mist. Sen didn't see what was so scary. Giant self-contradictory tiger monsters were to be expected in the Spirit World.
"Ta Jide Shui," Sen asked.
"I am he," The great tiger said. His mouth moved slowly, exposing dull stone fangs. Whistler had a very bad feeling. Her hands were shaking, as they always did when trouble was near. She had learned to trust the 'shakes'. They had kept her out of trouble more than once.
"And you are the Avatar, are you not," Ta Jide Shui continued. His paws of rock and fog stepped forward across the ground. The bright light of the Undying Bloom cast a shadow black as midnight on the ground as the great tiger walked to greet the Avatar.
"Your kind are not known for social visits," Ta Jide Shui continued. Despite his words, he did not seem particularly upset at Sen. "You come to seek a memory from the one who does not forget."
"Your wisdom precedes you, great one," Sen said. He was feeling particularly respectful for some reason. He could feel radiant power emanating from Ta Jide Shui, enough to rival even Raava, perhaps. "Something threatens the nature of life itself."
"Yes, the one named Sarin aims to kill Raava and Vaatu," The great tiger continued. His paws flexed, briefly exposing stone claws the size of Sen's arm. Whistler flinched. "You come seeking knowledge of Energybending."
"If you have knowledge, we would share in it."
"I remember that which even Raava has forgotten," Ta Jide Shui roared. Now he seemed upset. "Through death and life and the rebirth of Harmonic Convergence, all others forget. Not I. That is my lot. I remember all things."
There was a certain ferocity and self-loathing in the voice of the stone and cloud. He turned his contrarian eyes towards Sen. Whistler took a few steps back.
"So yes, I know of Energybending, and of other things older. But let us start at the roots."
Ta Jide Shui relaxed, lying down under the dead branches of the central tree. Whistler did not relax at all. She still had the shakes, worse than she'd ever felt before.
"Energybending is rooted in the soul. Like all other bending, it is connected to a substance, though soul, chi, is a much more finite resource than things such as fire or water. Mortals such as yourself have very little chi to manipulate, so Energybending expends your very life force, killing you as you perform it. Spirits have an infinite amount of energy, but no physical body through which to channel it."
Though some spirits could manipulate physical objects, it required them to take on a physical body, making them mortal. Most spirits valued their immortality too highly to risk it by possessing an object in such a way.
"Lion turtles were the only creatures with such a prodigious soul as to energybend without killing themselves in the process. With this power they became masters even of the spirits, for it is only by Energybending that a spirit can die forever."
Sen tilted his head. Spirits had been killed before. Ta Jide Shui sensed his confusion and elaborated.
"While a spirit's essence can be dispersed, often to disastrous effect, such as in the slaying of the Moon Spirit, that essence will eventually be coalesced once again during Harmonic Convergence. Only Energybending can truly destroy the essence of a spirit, preventing it from ever reforming."
"That explains why Sarin wants me alive," Sen said. "If I die normally I'll just be reincarnated, and if I die in the Avatar State then no one will be able to touch Raava until the next Harmonic Convergence."
"That could be useful," Suda noted. "You should work on mastering the Avatar State, pronto. If you can enter it on demand, his troops won't dare touch you."
Sen nodded. Mastering the Avatar State had always been on his agenda anyway. It seemed to be taking some time, though. Sen had not tapped into that power even once across his entire journey. Sometimes that worried him.
"With the power to kill spirits at their disposal, The Lion Turtles became guardians of humanity, driven by their sense of benevolence and mercy. That generosity would prove to be their downfall."
The great tiger stood up again, standing at attention as if he was hunting prey. The black shadow he cast moved oddly. Sen noticed that the motions of Ta Jide Shui and his shadow didn't quite match up. Whistler's hands started to shake even more.
"Their souls were powerful, but not infinitely so," Ta Jide Shui explain. "As humanity ventured forth from the shelter of the Lion Turtles, they demanded the bending arts, and the Lion Turtles, in their benevolence, granted it. Piece by piece, the Lion Turtles gave away their very souls, so that humans would have the power they needed to survive. Eventually, there was only one left."
Suda suddenly looked very guilty. Something about his bending felt sour, knowing that it had been taken from a noble creature.
"The final Lion Turtle survived for nearly ten-thousand years, until finally, for his own reasons, he gave away the last piece of his soul, granting Energybending to Avatar Aang. Why he did so, I cannot myself fathom. Perhaps he sought to resolve Aang's moral conflict."
Ta Jide Shu's eyes took on a forlorn look, full of despair.
"Perhaps he was tired of living. Tired of being alone. Perhaps he simply wished to die."
The great tiger snapped back to attention, focusing his eyes on Sen once more. There was a foreign hunger in his eyes, a lust for something that Sen could not quite place.
"Whatever the reason, your predecessor received the power of the Lion Turtle's claw, and proved a previously unknown idea; a human bonded with a spirit can use Energybending infinitely, without risk."
Sen gave a relieved sigh. All this talk about giving away pieces of his soul had started to worry him. Now he knew he could match Sarin, and probably overpower him. Sarin would have to energybend from pieces of his own soul. Nobody's soul was strong enough to overcome Raava.
"So how can Sarin do it," Whistler asked. She'd crossed her arms across her chest, but they refused to stop shaking. Something here was not right.
"Because he is bonded to spirits as well," Ta Jide Shui said. "Though not as powerful as Raava and Vaatu, he has partnered with spirits of light and dark, enhancing his own power."
"That's troublesome," Sen said. He'd almost been hopeful for a second though. "But maybe if we cut off his spirit allies, we can shut him down."
"The dark spirit might be Koh," Hanjo suggested. "He's ancient and powerful, and he has reason to hate the Avatar."
Koh, formerly the face-Stealer, had vanished into dark shadows several decades ago. Korra, during her efforts to make the Spirit World a safer place to human visitors, had tried to make a peaceful bargain with Koh. Koh had refused, and in the process, nearly stolen Bolin's face. Korra had been forced to use her firebending to blind the Face-Stealer, preventing him from stealing Bolin's face, or anyone else's face, ever again. Afterwards, he had vanished, never to be seen again.
Ta Jide Shui scoffed. "Hah. Small, skittering Koh, the little worm crawling in his mothers shadows."
Ta Jide Shui laughed, and his shadow shook. Sen squinted, and as he looked closer he began to see the midnight black take a different shape.
"When you see what Sarin's shadow hides, you will beg for an enemy as pitiful as Koh."
The light of the Undying Bloom shifted slightly, and a shadow passed over Sen and his allies. The sudden movement seemed strange. Shadows shouldn't be so dark in a place so bright. Sen looked over his shoulder in concern, but there was nothing to be seen. The great tiger seemed concerned by Sen's curiosity, but that concern faded when Sen turned his attention back.
"Can you tell me any more about Sarin?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Sen," Ada cautioned. "Let's just learn about Energybending for now."
"But he already told us that," Sen said.
"What?"
Sen turned around and looked at his friends. This couldn't be happening again. Ta Jide Shui rose from his resting place at the bottom of the tree. His concern had become palpable anger. Great stone fangs were bared in rage.
"He already told us about that-"
Ada looked confused. She didn't remember at all. The strange amnesia had struck them all again. Ta Jide Shui's predatory eyes narrowed. His great paws crawled forward on the stone, and his black shadow crawled forward with him.
"You remember," The great beast growled.
"Of course I-"
Sen turned around to face the great stone giant. Sen suddenly felt very small. The eyes of the eternal spirit, at the same time mist and stone, stared down at him with a burning hatred.
"It's you," Sen said accusingly. "You're the one who's doing this! You're making them forget!"
"Not me," Ta Jide Shui said as he smiled viciously, baring a mouth of dull fangs. He nodded his head towards his black shadow.
"It."
With a violent scream, the black shadow tore itself from the ground, taking on new shapes as it lunged forward on limbs of midnight. With one mind Sen and his allies fled into the glowing forest of the Undying Bloom, but even the blinding light of the luminescent flowers did nothing to dull the black void of the hunting shadow. The pursuing darkness stood out like a hole in light itself as it clawed its way through the forest.
Sen's friends bolted with singular mind for the edge of the forest. There was no attempt made to stick together; fear of some unknown monstrosity clawed at the edges of their mind. Sen hoped he would be able to find them again later. The fear of the hunting shadow chasing them down was irrelevant; it seemed to be focused on the Avatar exclusively. As Suda, Ada, and Whistler got further and further away from Sen, the shadow only grew closer.
Sen spared a glance over his shoulder occasionally, watching the formless darkness get closer. Now and then he seemed to catch a glimpse of something certain within its uncertain void; a mouth with too many jaws, a limb that ended in a clawed hand, a serpentine tail that winded down into nothingness. Eventually Sen almost had a complete picture of the creature that was chasing him.
A thought occurred to him. Hanjo Said Suspect Koh. Hanjo had said that, but why did it matter now? Sen shook his head and continued on.
He Slaughtered Seventh Kingdom, Sen thought. That wasn't right either. The shadow was closing in. He didn't have time to be thinking about these things.
Sen took another looks over his shoulder. Here Suda Saw Kaizo. The creature with four jaws was getting a little closer. Sen ran faster. His legs hurt like they never had before. He didn't know how long he could keep this up.
He Said Shorewatchers Kill. Sen grabbed his head as he ran. There were thoughts in his head, but they weren't his thoughts. That shadow had something to do with it, but none of the thoughts made any sense. He could feel the shadow clawing at his heels now. The edge of the forest was nearby, but would that help at all? Would getting out of the forest get him out of the shadows reach, or would he just have to run forever?
How Sen Sought Knowledge.
With a high-pitched shriek, the hunting shadow struck, knocking Sen to the ground. Sen toppled onto his back as the creature deliberately turned him over to look him in the eye. Sen felt how several shadowed, knotted limbs grabbed down on his arms and legs as the spirit took hold of him. Sen looked the spirit in its cold blue eyes as its four jaws opened like a blossoming flower, exposing rows of fangs and a cavernous maw that seemed to stretch on forever.
"H-S-S-K," Sen shouted. The jaw snapped shut, and the spirits grip released as the dark creature began to retreat. An ethereal scream filled the air; a shrill voice howling from all the dark places, surrounding Sen with high-pitched noise.
"H-S-S-K," Sen shouted again. The black shadow retreated further. It had reptilian limbs and black scales wrapped around a humanoid frame. Its head was long and narrow, with a mouth that parted four ways, and it had eyes like stars, little blue lights lost in a black void.
"H-S-S-K," Sen spelled out one more time. Whatever this spirit was, whatever power it had, Sen knew its name. HSSK, an unpronounceable word. Sen had to spell it out, but every time that combination of letters was said aloud, the dark spirit retreated a little more.
Sen repeated the strange string of letters one more time, and the Hssk retreated into the blinding light of the Undying Bloom, vanishing into the luminescent forest, running back to Ta Jide Shui. Sen stared at the empty space where it had once been for a moment. He had a pain right behind his eyes, like the creature was still trying to gnaw on his mind.
Gun emerged from the ground, pressing his head into Sen's side. Sen gratefully pressed himself against the badgermoles furry hide, relieved to finally have a friendly face in sight. Gun sniffed at Sen for a moment, and realized that his master was exhausted. Carefully, Gun angled his head and neck to lift Sen off the ground and slide him onto his striped back. Sen rested comfortably on the badgermoles fur as Gun lumbered in the direction of Sen's remaining friends.
Gun welcomed Suda onto his back as well, and begrudgingly invited Ada and Whistler, after much coercion from Sen. Sen gave the badgermole a direction, and Gun lumbered off towards the horizon as the four humans rested and worked through their exhaustion.
"Man," Suda gasped. "Why am I so tired?"
"Running from an evil shadow spirit will do that to you," Sen sighed.
"What?"
Sen's exhausted mind took a second to work through that.
"Oh no," he mumbled to himself. They had forgotten again.
At least now he knew more about Sarin's allies now. Ta Jide Shui, a creature that never forgot, and Hssk, a creature that could not be remembered. A spirit that could devour memories, and make anyone forget anything.
Sen could see it now, in memories where it had once slipped past. It had been there in Korra's video, lurking behind Asami, Varrick, and Zhu Li, feeding off their ideas, stealing their ingenuity. Hssk had been there with the Harrier, and with Anole, devouring what they knew about Sarin, so that they could not reveal the Energybenders plans. Hssk had been there other day, outside the forest, trying to devour their memories of the Undying Bloom so that they could not speak with Ta Jide Shui. It was the reason that no Energybender soldiers could be interrogated. It was the reason that technology had stopped advancing. It was the mind-eater, devourer of thought and memory.
And Sen was the only one who would ever know it existed.
Sarin could remember the first time he'd been to this forest. He had been so optimistic. With Ta Jide Shui and the knowledge-eater at his side, he could overcome even Raava, he had thought. He had, it seemed, been a fool.
"He was here," Sarin said calmly. "He was right where we needed him, the one place where we could overpower him, and you let him get away."
"I would hardly say we let him," Ta Jide Shui continued. He was bound to the dead tree; he could not venture beyond the reach of its roots. He was forced to live an eternal life bound to this small area. He had a memory spanning tens of thousands of years, across dozens of repetitions of the Harmonic Convergence cycle, and he had lived it all under the branches of a single tree. He was bored, bored of examining the same trees over and over, bored of living. Ta Jide Shui wished only to die, and only Sarin's Energybending could accomplish that. For the payment of a long-overdue death, Ta Jide Shui had thrown in with Sarin.
"He arrived earlier than we expected," Sarin said. "That, I understand. But how did you let him get away?"
"Ask your shadow," Ta Jide Shui growled.
The black specter of the knowledge-eater crawled past. Sarin narrowed his eyes as the creature slithered through the dark corners of the world. The beast chose to reveal itself to Sarin, and even he could not fully see it. The power it commanded over the mind was impressive.
"The Avatar could see it," Ta Jide Shui explained.
"Impossible," Sarin retorted. "Korra couldn't see it. Why would the boy be able to?"
"Because he is not Korra," Ta Jide Shui growled. "I do not know how he could, only that he did. He even seems to know the beasts name."
"It has a name?"
"Hssk," Ta Jide Shui spelled out. As the four letters were repeated, the shadows began to roar, filling the air again with a shrill scream. The Hssk crawled to the surface and flared its fanged jaws at it's supposed allies. Sarin shook his head.
The mind-eater revealed itself to them by choice, but even Sarin and Ta Jide Shui knew very little about it. When it spoke, it did so only in languages long-dead, tongues long forgotten to mortal minds. Where it had come from, and why it seemed to side with the Energybender, were unknown. Sarin usually did not concern himself with the nature of the Hssk, as it was one of his most useful allies, but it seemed that was a mistake. If he had studied the shadow creature further, he might have been able to prevent this.
The plan should have been flawless. Ta Jide Shui's knowledge of Energybending was the perfect bait, and the Hssk's mind-erasing should have kept the Avatar trapped in the Undying Bloom until Sarin's arrival. The three of them, their spiritual might combined, could have overpowered the Avatar and brought an end to the eternal conflict between Raava and Vaatu.
But the Avatar had escaped, slipping through Sarin's fingers through sheer chance. First the combustion bender at Gai Zhu, now this. Carefully laid plans thwarted by coincidence yet again. Baiting the Avatar here in the first place had been a complex enough process, and now he had slipped away, and would be highly unlikely to return. Sarin sighed.
"What do we do now," Ta Jide Shui asked. "The Avatar will never return here now."
"This was our best chance," Sarin said. "But it was not our last."
This was a great loss, but it was hardly the end of the war. Sarin had more than one way to capture the Avatar. Few could travel the Spirit World easily, and the Avatar had a significant head start, but Sarin was not without his own advantages.