CHAPTER 13: Spirit World
"Even in the midst of our greatest darkness, there is light to be found."
Nii opened her eyes and found herself immersed in a surreal landscape.
The ground beneath her seemed to be composed of grasslike iridescent crystals that shimmered in the ethereal sunlight from the sky above that stretched into infinity, painted with hues of vivid color that seemed to dance and shift like living paintings.
Spirits of all shapes and sizes drifted through the air, while the landscape around her encompassed towering mountains that scraped the heavens, vast forests where the trees whispered secrets of the ages, and shimmering lakes that mirrored the sky above.
Waterfalls cascaded from impossible heights, their waters flowing upwards rather than downwards, while floating islands drifter lazily through the sky like celestial ships.
Although Nii always found herself amazed upon entering this sacred space, this time she knew that she had not come alone, and she still felt a slight twist of pain over the skin on her arm.
She looked down and was surprised to see the mark of a hand on her wrist.
"Aang," she whispered.
And just as his name left her lips, the landscape before her shifted like the pull of a fabric, and she closed her eyes as she felt herself spinning, her senses overwhelmed by the rush of movement and the exhilaration of defying gravity.
For a moment, time itself seemed to stand still, suspended in the air like a fleeting breath. In that brief instant, Nii felt the weight of the universe pressing against her skin.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, the spinning stopped.
All of a sudden, there was nothing but a deafening silence pounding in her ears.
Nii opened her eyes only to be met by a most terrible sight.
Before her and as far as her eyes could reach, laid nothing but a haunting sea of bones.
Skulls, ribs, spinal columns, limbs, pelvises, all devoid of any vibrant color, each one a testament to the life it once supported.
The bones were weathered and bleached by the sun above, and the air was heavy with the weight of history, carrying with it silent voices and echoes of long-forgotten life stories.
In the distance, jagged peaks rose like broken teeth against the horizon, casting long shadows across the bone-strewn landscape. Amidst the silence and stillness, Nii could not help but feel a sense of dread at the sight of such vast and timeless desolation.
No signs of life remained in this seemingly desolate realm, save for the young boy in monks' clothes who sat in lotus position on top of one of the boney mountains.
Nii slowly started moving closer to him with deliberate care, fearful of disturbing the silent echoes of the past, guided by a silent reverence for the fallen. With each step, she paused and tested the stability of the bones beneath her weight, gingerly stepping around the skulls and jetting femurs.
With each careful step, it was as if she could feel the weight of the past pressing down upon her as a solemn reminder of the fragility of life and the inevitability of death.
She soon closed in on the peaking pile of bones on which Aang was sitting, his back turned to her. She noticed that he seemed smaller as he sat there, perhaps a younger version of himself than the one she had met outside the Spirit World.
"Hey Aang," she whispered, afraid to disturb whatever he was doing.
Aang did not turn around to face her, but she saw his shoulders moving slightly as if he inhaled deeply. He wore Airbender ropes in colors of orange and pale yellow.
"Hey," he sighed out in a defeated tone.
He sounded like a child.
Nii bit the inside of her lips while taking another look around them.
"Who are these people?" she asked.
"Air Nomads. My friends. My people," he answered in a flat tone, while his eyes seemed fixed on nothing in particular in the distance.
Nii closed her eyes and put a hand over her chest.
She was pained seeing him like this. She could not imagine what he must feel like, knowing that everyone he once knew were dead. Gone forever.
She exhaled deeply.
Aang's expression was vacant as he sat there, devoid of any emotion or thought, his features slackened in a mask of indifference. His eyes seemed dulled and distant, as if veiled by a fog of uncertainty. He did not blink, nor did he acknowledge the passage of time, lost in the depths of his own contemplation. His body was motionless, detached, save for the gentle rise and fall of his chest with each breath.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to him.
He still had his back turned to her.
"Why are you sitting here?" she asked.
"Because I miss them," he said with a pull on his shoulders. "I want to talk to them. Ask them what they want me to do with the Air Temples. How to restore them."
Nii took another look around them, and she still felt the silence pounding against her eardrum. It seemed as if death was the only thing that surrounded them.
"And are they answering you?" she asked in a solemn voice.
"No," he stated blankly.
A silent moment went by.
Nii did not really know what to say.
"You know," she tried. "Your friends are worried about you."
Aang did not answer.
The silence was laden with unspoken tension, and as it stretched out, it filled the space between them with an uneasy weight, as if the air itself held its breath for a response that never came.
"Are you a spirit?" Aang finally voiced out.
"No," she said.
First then, he turned around to look at her.
His eyes were like windows to a hidden world of emotion, betraying the turmoil within him while his exterior remained stoic. The sparkle that she imagined once danced within them seemed dulled, replaced by a subdued glimmer that flickered with the weight of unspoken sorrow.
"You look like a spirit," he said before turning his back to her once more, staring out into the void before him.
"But I'm not," she said, weighing the words in her mouth. "Come. Why don't we go back to your body?"
Aang shook his head in a slow motion.
"It's too much," he said as his shoulders drooped with the weight of defeat. "I'm too tired. I can't do it without them. How can I restore a culture, an entire Nation all by myself, without any Air Nomads to help me?"
Aang's posture seemed to crumble, succumbing to the invisible burden of disappointment and resignation.
With a heavy sigh, he allowed the weight to drag him down. His shoulders slumped forward in a gesture of surrender.
It was as if the tension that had once held his frame erect gave way to a sense of weariness, as if he had fought too long and too hard against an insurmountable foe. His chin tucked in towards his chest, as if seeking solace in the safety of his own solitude.
As she watched him there, Nii felt a profound sense of sadness settling upon her like a heavy shroud, enveloping her heart in a cloak of empathy and compassion.
She could not help but imagine a future in which the Avatar actually gave up, a future of possibilities slipping through fingers like grains of sand, as he spent the rest of his life in the Spirit World amongst the bones of his lost friends.
As she felt a single tear wetting her cheek, Nii also felt a glimmer of hope inside of her. A hope that, even in defeat, there was still room for growth and healing. She believed in the resilience of the human spirit.
She knew that even the darkest night is followed by the light of dawn.
She took a few steps forward and reached out a hand, grasping at the air as if trying to pull Aang back from the blink of oblivion.
Her voice trembled with urgency and emotion, as she said: "You are not alone, Aang. In every breath you take, in every moment of the wind, you're surrounded by your ancestors who are guiding you, supporting you, cheering for you."
She felt as if something was taking over her, filling her spirit with warmth. Her voice continued, gentle but firm.
"Just take a look around you. Although the material presence of your fellow Air Nomads have left the physical world, their spirit lives on within you. You carry their legacy, their wisdom, their love within your heart."
Her words sounded like a fervent plea spoken with raw intensity of someone who knows of the devastation wrought upon the air temples and the desolation that now pervaded the once vibrant sanctuaries of the Air Nomads.
Nii's eyes lingered on Aang's bowed shoulders, the weight of his sorrow palpable even from a distance.
Though she could not see his face, she could sense that he was crying now, his body shaking slightly.
In her heart she offered a silent prayer of solace, an unspoken whisper of a promise to stand by him through his pain.
As she spoke, her voice grew even more hoarse with emotion, her words echoing off the nonexistent walls of the Spirit World like a prayer.
She felt as if someone else was speaking through her as she said: "Embrace your pain. Embrace the memories of your people, honor their legacy, and try to see the strength in the bonds that tie you to them, even if it fills you with sorrow. You carry the light of their spirit within you."
Aang turned around to look at her, and she watched this young version of him as tears cascaded down his cheeks. His lips trembled and quivered with an effort to contain his sobs, but as their eyes locked, he let them go.
Instinctively, Nii reached out an arm to hug him, and she was surprised to see herself right there next to him all of a sudden, as if something had moved her up to him on the pile of bones without her noticing.
As she laid her arm around him, he finally gave in.
Aang cried loudly into her chest as if all the anguish and sorrow of the world were channeled through him, coming undone right there in her lap.
There was a haunting beauty in his sorrow, a beauty born of vulnerability and raw emotion, a beauty that spoke to the depth of her entire being as his tears flowed.
"I know," she hushed as she felt the wetness from his tears fall onto her thighs, "That the road ahead may seem totally overwhelming, but you're not alone. You have friends by your side, ready to support you however they can. They're with you. I'm with you, right now in this very moment."
"But you're not really here," Aang sobbed into her lap.
"I AM here, just as you," she said while she let a hand graze his cheek. "And my body is right there beside yours in the physical world, holding your hand as we speak. Katara is there. Zuko is there. Toph, Sokka, Appa. We're all there to help you. We're not gonna let you do this alone."
This caused Aang's body to tremble.
"Promise?" he soon asked in a small childish voice.
"Promise," Nii smiled at him.
She hugged him closer, and she soon sensed a calm settling over him like a breeze. His breathing, once ragged and erratic, gradually slowed down until it became deep and steady in the quiet aftermath of his release.
As the tears dried upon his cheeks, his features softened as if the tension from before melted away like ice beneath the warmth of the sun.
A serene and childish smile played at the corner of his lips.
As they basked in the stillness of the moment, surrounded by the gentle rhythm of their own breaths, they both knew that they had weathered the storm together and emerged on the other side, stronger and more whole than before.
And soon, Nii would offer him her hand, and they would accompany each other on the path that lead them back to their physical bodies.