Chapter 14 The Man in the Library

Nazca was tired. He had been following Aang for some time and recently they had decided to take a journey on the sky bison into the desert. Nazca had followed them on foot and not only was he tired from walking all day but he also was thirsty, the sun was sucking all the moisture out of him and he couldn't stop thinking about his dry throat. Also his earthbending was subpar having been affected by the sand, it was softer and grainier and he couldn't feel the vibrations nearly as well and it was really distracting and confusing seeing as his waterbending sight was pretty much completely useless with the deprivation of water particles in the desert. He sighed then sat down. If he was going to figure out where Aang and his friends where going to land he would have to be able to see somehow. He pushed his hand into the sand, picking up a handful of the loose grains. He focused his earth bending, bringing the handful of sand into focus, trying to get accustomed to it. He felt the particle shift easily as he tilted his hand one way and then the other, they tumbled over each other, out of control. Then he realized. The particles were just like water. Of course they were denser and were made of larger particles but it acted just as water did. He stood up and expanded his range of view feeling all the chaotic grains within a thirty foot radius around him. He then raised one foot and stomped. He felt the vibrations traveling through the particle, disrupting them, but also moving around a rock that was twenty feet away. He smiled realizing that the particle would move like water under any vibration. They might just quiver, he realized as he felt the shape of some skull at least fifty feet away from him, but they still move. He started to run in the general direction that the group had left in but then stopped. He would really never be able to catch up with the flying bison by running unless he somehow propelled himself forward, then he smiled, realizing he could. He stepped into a running stance with one foot forward and the other back. He pushed off with his lead foot using the sand particles to accelerate him even faster. He then used the other foot in the same manner creating some sort of earthbending run. He smiled as the wind blew at his face, his speed increased tenfold of what it had been, he would catch up to them in no time.

He had been traveling for a couple minutes and then he felt it. It was fifty feet over to his left and he would have completely missed it if he wasn't blind but he was. He stopped his sand run and quickly ran over to the object. It was a spire that was sticking maybe twenty feet out of the ground and went for at least fifty under it. He walked up to it and smacked his hand against it, feeling the vibrations travel through it. He gasped, the building, whatever it was seem to go on forever. It was completely hollow and he felt water particles on the inside, in front of him. Finally he sighed he would actually be able to see clearly. He earth bended the part of the spire in front of him opening it like a door. He stepped forward and walked on to a platform he made using sandbending. He raised the earth back up behind him restoring the spire to its original shape. He expanded his mind using the water particles. He gasped as he realized the spire seemed to descend forever. He sighed, only one way to find out if it ends. He gathered up as much water as he could creating a small pillar five feet high under him and then jumped. He fell waiting to feel something and he almost immediately felt it. It was fifty feet under him, something to land on. He expanded the pillar of water under him and waited. As he hit the ground beneath him he used the water to soften his billow, rolling as he came out of the fall. He was pretty banged up but after a quick scan he realized nothing was broken. He patted himself off and expanded his mind just in time to see an owl coming at him. He turned and faced the beast surprised at its size and the amount of energy echoing from it.

As the owl landed in front of him Nazca quickly asked, "Are you a spirit?"

The owl sighed, "Ignorant mortals, yes I am the spirit who brought this library form the spirit world to the mortal world so that you could all use my wisdom."

"Oh," Nazca said disappointed, "This is a library."

The spirit tilted its head, " Yes, were you expecting more than infinite knowledge?"

"No!" Nazca said backtracking, "it's just that I'm blind."

The spirit looked at Nazca thinking, "Are you an avatar?" it asked.

Nazca looked at him confused, "Yes,"

"There is someone here who wants to see you, he came here a long time ago, and told me that one day a blind avatar would come and he must go to him," The spirit said walking away.

"Wait what," Nazca said confused, "Where is this man, how do I find him?"

The spirit turned towards him, an expression resembling a smile appeared to be on its face, "Why he is at the very bottom of the library. As to get there, you have to jump," The spirit said indicating towards the emptiness underneath the platform.

Nazca expanded his mind searching downward but the bottom was nowhere in view.

"How," Nazca said turning to the spirit, but it had already disappeared.

Nazca expanded his mind, searching downwards. He seemed to be in the middle of two bridges that intersected in the center of the library. The bridges seemed to connect the different sides of the immense library. Upon viewing down, Nazca found multiple floors all with the same four way cross. He calculated that if he launched himself into the middle of one of the gaps he would fall all the way down interrupted. He began to collect water but realized at the speed he was going when he reached the bottom wherever it was, no amount of water would help, he would just have to hope this man could save him. He walked to the edge and got ready to jump. He took a deep breath and then terrified stepped down. His heart was pounding insanely fast beating at his rib cage.

"This is insane!" he yelled hearing his echoed words come back to him. He paced around in circles trying to clear his head. Then all of the sudden he just felt calm and relaxed. He walked over the edge, climbed on top of the railing and hoped off. Then the calamity left him and he screamed for his life. He felt the wind rushing by him as he fell. He was terrified at what he had just done. There was no way he could survive this, he had known that and for some reason he had decided to jump. He then realized he was still falling. Nazca laughed at the situation. He could have seconds left to live or he could have a year before he hit the bottom of this library. The spirit said it was infinite wisdom, maybe it really was and in that case it just went on forever. Then he realized he would eventually die of starvation. He sighed as he continued to fall, then he realized, he might be able to learn airbending and save his life, he was after all an avatar and he had mastered air over a thousand times before. He inhaled and focused forgetting about everything, losing all control free falling through time and space. He felt himself lose all fear all guilt that he had. He let go off any shame that he had, he lost all grief all sorrow that he had felt. He let go of all emotions allowed himself to realize that all things were one, gaining freedom within himself and then he let go. He let go of Katara, of Sokka, of Suki, Toph and that cute girl Ty Lee. He let go of everything and everyone. The he opened his mind and entered the avatar state.

Aang was riding on Appa, his sky bison, looking for the library. He was tired and was giving up hope that this library even existed. It had been an hour since he had left. He stretched back against Appa's neck relaxing. It had been a long day and Sokka's mini-vacation wasn't that much fun right now. He began to close his eyes taking a short nap even though he was supposed to be helping to look for the library. He shut his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. He felt himself falling and he realized he had to save himself. He felt himself uncontrollably began creating an air bubble round him slowing his descent rapidly. He then released the air bubble and fell five feet to the floor. Aang felt himself look up and see a dark figure waiting for him, then he snapped awake.

"Wait what's that," he heard Sokka yell.

Aang turned to where Sokka was pointing and saw a spire sticking out of the sand. He turned Appa towards the spire and headed over to what he already knew was the lost library.

"What do you want, who are you?" Nazca called at the cloaked figure. He had only seen him for a moment while he was in the avatar state but he saw the man cloaked in black standing across from him.

"I wish to speak to you," the man said in a sinister, echoing voice.

"Well now I'm here," Nazca stated bluntly.

"I can see that but the you that I need to speak to is not here."

"What?" Nazca asked confused.

"You have yet to learn the dark secrets, but in time you will as I have done before you. You will know when you achieve this power and when the time comes you must return to me, do you understand?"

"Yeah but why did you have me jump down who knows how far and almost kill myself?"

"You jumped down five stories. I just suspended you and made it appear as if you where falling so you would , master the avatar state."

"What!?" Nazca asked even more confused.

"You have successfully opened all of your chakras and by doing so you now can enter the avatar state upon your own will."

"But I don't want to! If I go into the avatar state Aang will become completely vulnerable," then what Nazca just said hit him, "Oh no, Aang, I…"

"Aang is fine, in fact he is about to enter this library right now," the spirit took a more serious tone, "Approaching here are sandbenders, earthbenders that have acclimated to the desert. They are going to kidnap Aang's sky bison, Appa. You will want to stay near Aang so follow Appa and Aang will come to you, Now leave."

"How am I supposed to get all the way back up there?" Nazca asked.

"Like I said it was only five stories," He said with a smile, "There's a tunnel behind me that will lead ten feet below the surface near the top of the spire."

Nazca nodded and ran towards the tunnel. He began climbing up. When he was about ten feet up he heard the man yell, "Remember when the time comes return to me!"

Nazca nodded, "I will," he said under his breath as he neared the top. He earthbended through the last ten feet and propelled himself above the surface. The first thing he felt was that the library was sinking. It was somehow being pulled under the earth. He felt Toph trying to stop the library and save her friends that were still in there and also the sandbenders pulling away Appa, the sky bison. Nazca was tempted to free Appa but he knew he had already interfered to much when he pulled Aang into the avatar state and he would help Appa when the time was right. He quickly stole aboard one of the sandbenders vehicles and prepared for what was to come.