savedtheworld | Book 11: Memories Down the Stream [Voice/Action]

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Book 11: Memories Down the Stream [Voice/Action]

[By now, it almost seems like a way of Luceti - that whenever good news happens, it will be followed by bad before long. Just yesterday, Katara had come back to the house. As herself. But today? The house woke up to a different empty room. Toph's.

It seemed like so soon since she had given him his last metalebending lesson. He still had so much to learn. And he still remembered so clearly when she showed up, tunneling from the earth like the little badger mole she was. Her original presence in Luceti may have precluded his, but when she came back, she was from the same time as him. He know that aside from missing one of his best friends, he'd miss being able to relate to one of the few people from that time.

But in a way, Aang knew this could be for the best. He remembered how she had worried about her life, with everything the future had shown to them. The short time that her daughter was around. How Toph feared the possibility of having to live her life in Luceti without ever returning home, that she might not become the person she thought she was supposed to be. But now she didn't have to worry about that anymore. She could live that life for herself. And hopefully, she'd find peace and happiness in that life. They could all still be friends there, too, in that lifetime.

Aang spends a little time wallowing in his grief, first. After all, he misses her already. Then he remembers one of the first things she told him when arriving. "Missed me? After only a month? Come on, don't get sappy!" With a faint smile, he nodded before he rose to do what he had to do. Toph had put her hopes in him.

And he soon addressed the journals.]

Hi everyone. This is Aang. You should know that Toph Beifong is... She's gone back home. I guess our world can only go so long without its greatest Earthbender around. She left some letters to hand out, but everyone who knew her should know... She cared about you a lot more than she says. Even her punches had friendship in them.

[He grabbed the letters that she had left behind, knowing all too well what they all said. After all, he was the one who had to transcribe them for her.

And so, Aang starts to play the distribution game. He first gives out letters to those around the house. If there were any who did not find about Toph's absence at the same time as him, then he would give them the letter and the news prior to the journal announcement. Then, he seeks out Suki, Ion, Fenimore, Shikamaru, Masaomi and Saori to deliver their letters. If there's any he can't find, he'll leave the letter at the door of their house. Or in their mailbox. Do we have mailboxes?

He tries to go about his normal daily activities afterwards, showing few signs of anything wrong. Places to frequent include the Welcome Center, library, tea shop and item shop. And in the evening, after dinner, he takes some of the remaining metal sheets lying around the house out to the forest to do some metalbending practice on his own. Still, every time he messed up, he could almost feel the punches.]

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Wow. [He blinks for a moment as it really settles in.] That long... and he still looks like a kid.

It was because of his Cruxis crystal. He doesn't have it with him now, but when activated, it... transforms the body into something inorganic, that doesn't age. And when the body itself is destroyed, the person's consciousness is drawn completely into the crystal.

[It's kind of a hard concept for him to grasp, but he tries.]

So... so it's a magic crystal that he can keep him him- his self in? Or... no, not magic! Mana?

Yes, that's right. He could use the crystal to manipulate his body's mana at will... even giving himself a way to change his body into a more adult form.

That way he'd look a little closer to his own age. [But you could tell he's bad because he doesn't get a cool beard like Aang.] What did he look like when- when you guys met him?

We first 'met' him in his adult form, as Lord Yggdrasill, the leader of Cruxis. But then ... he deliberately returned his form to the way he looks now, in an attempt to integrate himself into our group ... as Mithos. He succeeded quite readily in that.

L-Lord Yiggg... yiggdrizzle? [He shakes his head.] So he tricked you? Or was he trying to be good?

Yggdrasill. ... It's his last name.

And yes, he tricked us. He even thought he could make my brother choose between him and Lloyd, when all my brother wanted was to have both of his friends with him. But that wasn't Mithos' true goal.

Oh. [He said quietly, without much disappointment. It was just a faint hope that Mithos wanted to - or could have - changed, like Zuko.] That sounds very cruel of him. [A brief hesitation.] Then... what was his real goal?

Do you remember what I said about Cruxis crystals?

His sister, Martel, had died... but her soul was trapped within a crystal as well. His goal was to revive her.

He tried to bring her back? [He gasped.

"I was gone. But you brought me back."]

But... I thought the crystal kept people safe. Wouldn't it be... easy, then?

She didn't have a living body, Aang. And it wouldn't be just any body that would work... the body that would be required for her revival needed to match her mana signature exactly.

Oh... I see. So she was... just a soul. And there weren't any bodies that'd work, right? [He guessed with a frown. Mana signatures sounded like a verily trickily specific thing.]

[She's already regretting going down this path of thought. It was so much easier not to say anything about the truth of their world, or bring other individuals into it. Even if Mithos had already done so in his own way.]

Someone with a matching signature would have to sacrifice their soul so that she would have the body.

A- a sacrifice. I see. Was there... anyone like that?

[And would they volunteer? It's a weighty enough question for Aang. He feels he'd do anything to let someone else live, but giving up his own soul? That felt a lot harder.]

Four thousand years worth of them, or however long the cycles of regeneration were in existence since the world were split apart, and none of them knowing the truth in it. It's all part of a much larger picture. [And usually in such a tale, that picture would come first. Not that there's any right way to explain it.]

Whoa. Cycles of... regeneration? That sounds like - like a lot of people... And all of 'em... were ready to sacrifice themselves?

[He takes a moment to try processing it.]

... Let me try to phrase this as something you might relate to. You're known as the Avatar, aren't you? A chosen one, who must bear the burdens of the people to create a more peaceful world.

[A nod of confirmation.]

That's right. It's our responsibility.

Those who were born into the Mana lineage - and the rest of the world - were brought up to believe this way. When the world was in a state of decline, the day of prophecy would arrive and the Chosen One would receive the oracle. Then they would begin their journey of regeneration. If successful, the journey would revitalize the world and the mana in it.

I see. And... that's a good thing, right? Your world needs the mana.

[She shakes her head.]

We were brought up to believe that was the case, because we didn't understand the true nature of the world. On the surface, it was meant to be a spiritual and religious journey... and I'm certain even after the worlds were reunited, we won't be able to tell the truth of it all to the people, just because of what they believed in for all this time.

Oh. [It sounded like his own journey in some ways, but it was a lie? It couldn't be a coincidence that she used the same amount of time that Mithos has been alive.] Then... What's the truth? Does it have to do with Mithos? [He looks towards her with worried eyes, trying to brace himself for the truth.]

Before all of this... the world relied on a single source of mana, the giant tree. In the great war, it withered and died due to the wasteful activities of the countries involved.

Mithos and his companions had acquired a great amount of power. The power to change the world. They split the countries that had been at war with one another into two worlds, which went on to exist unaware of one another for thousands of years, exchanging their flow of mana in cycles of regeneration and destruction, while a Chosen One had a role to either continue the line of the Mana Lineage, or to go on the journey of regeneration and ... sacrifice themselves for the sake of the world.

Though in reality ... it was a sacrifice intended to revive his sister all along. And so the cycle continued, with none having the ability to question it.

[He quietly takes that in, noting how the system seemed unbalanced. And then he looked down quietly at the final revelation.]

That's... that's horrible. Y-you mean that happened... to that many people? But... that horrible thing should've only happened once, then.

[Something must have went wrong.]

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