....
Once we arrived at the Southern Air Temples, it was quite a nice structure. Something very majestic, even by modern standard, in a world where skyscrapers exist. The towers that were risen seemed like they were fused with the mountain.
"This is the Southern Air Temple!" Aang pointed at the place as Appa landed on the ground. "But… no one is here…" he looked around disheartened. "Where is everyone? There are no Fire Nation soldiers. So there would always be some Airbenders around…"
I put my arm around his shoulder and asked. "How about you show me those games? Though I can't Airbend, I bet I could beat you."
"I thought you would be hungry by now," commented Katara with a knowing smirk. There wasn't anything that needed to be said between us, we both wanted to distract Aang from any grief he was feeling.
"You have a bad opinion of your cool brother. If you only knew how cool I was… *sigh*" I shook my head with a disappointed look in my eyes.
"You? Cool? You're the opposite of cool." Katara took the bait and knew what to do. Thankfully this is just us trying to get Aang's mind off things, and she doesn't think of me like that… who am I kidding, Sokka left me with heavy baggage, his sister's opinion of him was about as low as it could go.
Though every younger sibling thinks of their older sibling as lame, they just knew too much about each other.
"Cmon now guys," Aang, like the pacifist, always intervene to stop any fight. "Sokka, how about we try those games?"
The game field was just a bunch of poles where the Airbenders could stand and on the opposite side was a target, that was called a goal. It seemed like some kind of football made for benders.
I sat on the opposite side of Aang. "You ready?" he asked, but before I could answer he threw the ball propelled by his Airbending.
Fwosh!
I barely was able to dodge the ball, and it hit the goal behind me. "Damn, that's fast."
"Yeah!" my airbending friend exclaimed in excitement. "Aang 1, Sokka 0."
"I was just getting used to it, Katara, give me my spear," a malicious smirk made its way on my face as my sister awkwardly gave me my spear. "Aang, let me show you how to win against an opponent who has an advantage against you," my words got his attention and my smirk widened, then I looked in surprise at the sky. "What?! Appa is eating a tree!"
"Where?" asked Aang, turning around.
With that, I used my spear as a baseball and hit the ball, with Aang distracted he couldn't react in time. "Hey! That's cheating!"
"Yeah, and that's my secret to dealing with opponents who have an advantage against me… just cheat…" I shrugged nonchalantly with a smug look on my face. "Don't be mad that I am just good."
Aang got agitated by that and his fighting spirit fired up. "I will show you how to win fairly."
[Quest: Win Against Aang]
[Compete against the Avatar and win in a long-forgotten airbending game.]
[Rewards: 200 Exp]
For such a difficult task, the rewards were kinda bad. Though it was still just a game of no major consequence so it wouldn't give any big rewards.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
…
In the end, we played for hours and he won with a three-point lead. It was tiring and Aang could get very competitive, maybe because in the begging I was winning, but after a while, he learned my tricks. He didn't fall for the same tricks a second time, and coming up with new tricks for a game I never played before wasn't easy.
Though this game was worth it and amazing, I got a whole 8 points in Agility. Maybe having Aang as an opponent helped and he wasn't going easy on me either. But my agility was now at 33. Only seven more till I can learn Chi Blocking. Also from all my scheming my Wisdom increased by 4 and brought that stat to 20.
By the end of it, Aang was tired and he laid down on the ground. "Sokka, you have more stamina than a Turtleback Snorkel."
...I have no idea what that is, but my stamina was due to the Gamer's Body Skill. With just a little rest my stamina can be fully recovered, meaning that in endurance I was the best in the world. If it came to outlasting my opponent, I was pretty confident.
As Aang laid down, I went towards the corner of the game field. Almost fully covered in snow laid a Fire Nation soldier helmet.
[Fire Nation Soldier Helmet]
A hundred-year-old relic of a massacre. Due to its construction, it's quite hard to see from wearing the mask structure.
+1 Firebending Lvl
-2 Agility
"What's wrong-" inquired Katara before her eyes widened at the sight of the Fire Nation helmet sticking out of the snow. "No… Aang…"
"Should we tell him?" I asked, not as bothered as her by the revelation. After all, the Air Nomads are already dead, crying about it wouldn't change anything. "He has to know about it. Soon he will discover the thing himself."
"Let's not right now, better try and ease him into it along the way," she mumbled, using her waterbending to bring the snow down.
I went along with her decision. Not wanting to be the one to tell a twelve-year-old kid that his whole family and anyone he has ever known died. By now Aang was probably so far in denial that showing a helmet of the Fire Nation wouldn't be enough to convince him.
"Well, let's get our Avatar to show us around this place." I insisted, grabbing Katara's hand. She was still a child whose mother was killed by the Fire Nation. While I was worried for Aang too, in comparison to the amount I was worried about Katara, the worry for him would feel insignificant.
"Hey, Sokka, do you think we can win this war?" She wondered as we walked together.
Looking at her eyes, the uncertainty in them was saddening. So to lift her spirits, I patted her head. "Don't worry, as long as you have me here, it's pretty much guaranteed that we will win."
Katara chuckled at my silly confidence, but at least it got her mind off some terrible things. Having a reasonably smart sibling was a pain, they always thought of depressing things.
***
After some resting, Aang showed us around, introducing us to a statue of Gyatso. He then showed us where the monks used to meditate, his unclean room, he also guided us toward some other places and explained a little about the culture.
Along the way, I snatched up some items and put them in my inventory. I ended up robbing from another historical site, just like when I did in the Fire Nation ship.
In the end, we arrived in front of a very ornamental door with a strange contraption in front of it.
Aang looked at the door in a trace and then looked down in sadness. "There is someone I am ready to meet."
"I…" Katara wanted to say something but seemed hesitant at first, but in the end, she took a deep breath, and her gaze hardened. "Aang, I don't think there is anyone who could have survived on the temple for a hundred years unaided."
"But I did," Aang refuted. "I lived in an iceberg for a hundred years."
Katara looked at me for assistance, but I just shrugged. What could I say? The dude had a point.
Aang bends two focused currents of air into the large doors' ornate mechanism. This caused the locks to disengage and the doors to slowly open.
Once the door is fully opened, there is only darkness seen on the inside. Aang walked forward bravely, showing no fear. Katara and I followed him, into what would probably be one of the most despairing moments in his life.
As predicted, there were hundreds of statues of the previous avatars in the darkened room. While Katara and Aang looked at the statues, my gaze wandered towards another statue that didn't seem like it belonged to an Avatar.
The statue was right behind the door and it was of a monk with a ferocious look in his eyes. Below its statue was a craving that seemed hurriedly written.
-I'm so curious about knowing the unknown, it can be scary, but I see it as a game.-
Reading this sent a chill down my spine.
[For reading the phrases of a well known Monk, you have become wiser]
[+1 Wisdom]
[+ 1 Wisdom]
[+1 Wisdom]
[NEW QUEST!]
[•The Mysterious Monk's Inheritance]
[A mysterious Monk who constantly chased after the unknown has left his heritage all around the world. Finding it all will enable the Monk's radical last words to not be lost in the annals of time.]
[Completion Reward: 150,000 Exp. 1 Unique Skill, +30 Wisdom, ???? Title.]
Those rewards were too high for this to be just a normal quest. There was more to this quest than the description said.
[+1 Intelligence]
Yeah… something's going on here...