(Spiritbending)
Soul out of body.
This wasn't an exaggeration — it was literal. His soul had actually left his body, separating cleanly into two distinct forms.
Kahn stared blankly at his own translucent spirit, then at the body sitting motionless on the floor.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
Did he meditate too much and just… transcend?
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
He didn't even have time to appreciate the surreal freedom of floating as a soul. Panic rose instantly as he searched his memories for anything useful.
In every story he'd ever heard — in both of his lives — a soul being forcibly separated from its body was never a good sign.
Even worse, this world had real deities. What if he accidentally ran into the equivalent of Black and White Spirits and they decided his time was up?
He definitely wasn't strong enough to start a fight in the Spirit World.
He searched through every memory he had… and found absolutely no solution.
But after digging deeper, he recalled a detail:
He had left his body through meditation, and Iroh had mentioned something strange about meditation recently. Iroh might understand this.
When in doubt, ask Iroh.
This was a truth Kahn had learned through years of living in this world.
Iroh was always the best.
At this time, Iroh had not gone out; he was napping in his room.
Kahn rushed there immediately. When he reached for the door, his hand passed straight through it, and he nearly fell face-first through the wood.
Normally, he would've paused to marvel at ghost physics.
Not today.
He didn't know whether his spirit voice worked, but he still shouted with everything he had:
"Uncle Iroh! Uncle Iroh!"
"Can you hear me?!"
"Moshi Moshi?!!!"
Under his frantic yelling, Iroh frowned in his sleep, groaning as he pushed himself upright.
Before opening his eyes, he sighed and scolded, "Disturbing an old man's sleep is not a good habit. Why is your soul out of your body?"
Then he opened his eyes, saw Kahn's floating spirit, and smiled.
Kahn ignored the laugh — the fact that Iroh could see him was enough to finally calm his heart.
"You can see me directly?"
"Of course," Iroh said, now fully awake.
After thinking for only a moment, he nodded knowingly, "Did you overdo it with meditation?"
Those calm words finally let Kahn breathe again. If Iroh knew what was going on, then it couldn't be fatal.
But…
"Meditating too much makes your soul leave your body?"
Kahn's eyelid twitched. No way. Too absurd.
"Hahaha! Normal meditation won't. But Spiritbending will."
Iroh chuckled.
He had long suspected Kahn's soul was unusually strong.
He had even predicted this might happen one day — and now it finally had. And indeed, Kahn's translucent form was noticeably more solid than Iroh's own spirit.
Iroh guided Kahn back to the courtyard. He instructed him to sit cross-legged and align his spirit with his body.
"Calm your mind. Return to a meditative state. Imagine yourself floating in the air… then slowly descending… feel the ground beneath you again…"
Kahn followed every step carefully. Soon, he opened his eyes again — back in his body.
Iroh was always the best!
Relieved, Kahn immediately turned curious.
"What exactly happened? And what is this Spiritbending you mentioned?"
Iroh stroked his beard.
"Well… it's a long story."
"Give me the long story short!"
Kahn quickly brought fruits, snacks, and tea, sitting down obediently.
He loved listening to Iroh's ancient stories — especially when they were probably real history.
Iroh began.
"Legend has it that long ago, before there was an Avatar, before Air, Water, Earth, and Fire existed as bending arts, Spiritbending was the only art humans had…"
"Spiritbending — the art of bending spirits. 'Spirit' refers to the mind, the soul, even deities. All things possess Spirit."
And among all spirits, the strongest…
Deities.
All things had spirits — humans, animals, even every blade of grass, every tree, every river and mountain.
But deities were an entirely different category.
They were born as Spirit, without physical form, immune to aging, the oldest and most powerful beings in existence.
In ancient times, long before the Avatar cycle began, the world was ruled by these deities. Humans survived only under the protection of a few benevolent ones.
And Spiritbending was the only way humans could communicate with them.
Eventually, the deities granted humans the Four Arts and withdrew from the world.
Under the Avatar's leadership, humans rose to dominance, and Spiritbending declined — its awakening rate was extremely low, and deities became elusive.
"Spiritbending," Iroh concluded, "is the oldest bending art — the original bending art."
Kahn exhaled slowly, mind drifting to that ancient era of living deities and struggling humans. Spiritbending suddenly felt… significant.
"So," Kahn asked with anticipation, "does that mean I awakened Spiritbending?"
"Haha! Not only did you awaken it, you immediately performed a soul-separation technique on your first try."
Kahn's smile froze. That experience wasn't pleasant.
But considering everything just now, it was obvious Iroh had awakened Spiritbending long ago — only a Spiritbender could see souls directly.
The experience was terrifying at first, but the more he thought about it, the more he saw its potential. And since the ability had already awakened…
"Uncle Iroh, this Spiritbending seems really interesting…"
Iroh laughed, rubbing Kahn's head.
"If you want to learn, I can certainly teach you."
"That's great!"
Kahn immediately hugged his teacher's thick thigh and declared proudly:
Iroh, always the best!
...
Author's Note:
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