“How are you feeling?”
I heard him ask me that, but I didn’t answer. Instead, the reality of the battle was hitting me full force. All the adrenaline that I was riding high on was gone, and it was making my eyelids heavy. I thought that wouldn’t be the case because of the Gamer power that controlled my body. This was the first time I had felt a negative effect of any sort since being in this new world. Of course, if there was a prompt or debuff then I couldn’t find it in the game.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
I kept replaying the battle in my head. Yet I could only ever see myself jumping out of the water during my initial attack. There was a man there and though I didn’t realize it or recognize it at the time, he was barely my age. A child by most standards. They had trained him, given him armor, and sent him to the Southern Water Tribe, the weakest nation in the world. I wouldn’t even call it a nation to be honest.
I bet his parents expected him to be safe…
They wouldn’t even get a body bag. They wouldn’t even know how their son died. They didn’t know that it was quicker than he could react, but I’m sure it would comfort them to know he died a swift death. There was nothing worse than an agonizing slow death, besides knowing your child died one.
You know how grizzled old soldiers will tell you the faces of the ones you killed haunt their dreams? Well I hadn’t even made it to bed yet, or even closed my eyes except to blink, and I was seeing his face.
Shiru, Fire Nation Grunt Lvl 36. He must have been a prodigy to be my age and already at that level. Not far below my fathers own level.
For some reason, all I could think about was the look of shock and surprise on his face. And then I could feel myself bend the ice, and shove it into his torso. He never had the chance to defend himself.
And yet, that is war. I took more lives today. Why is his sticking out in my mind?
The answer was simple really. He was a baby, somebody's baby. I had taken him from them.
I still couldn’t find the will to cry or hate myself over what I had done. I killed a Fire Nation Soldier that happened to be young. How many of my people had the Fire Nation killed? How many children had been taken from the women of my tribe, solely because of their ability to bend the water around them. I was not cruel to Shiru. I gave him mercy.
The same mercy that I will give many many more soldiers in the days, weeks, months, years, or however long it takes me to liberate my people.
I allowed myself a small amount of time to wallow in what I had done. It had been about 2 hours since we took the frigate, and I hadn’t moved from my spot that I had sunk to after the battle. There were 20 more Fire Nation Soldiers on their knees in front of me, with their hands and feet tied and their mouths gagged. Hakoda hadn’t taken any chances.
I steeled myself for what I was about to witness.
“I’m fine.” I told my father, who was standing over me waiting for me to respond to him. He had been worried about me, ever since I didn’t react to the harsh tongue lashing he gave me once he boarded the deck of the frigate we were now on. When I didn’t respond, his anger turned to worry for his only son.
He still left me on the beach, and despite how much I understand why he did it, it still pisses me off.
“What should we do with them, Hakoda?” A stocky man that towered over nearly every warrior I had seen, asked.
Vikkok, Southern Water Tribe Warrior Lvl 39
Strength: 112
Vitality: 121
Dexterity: 32
Intelligence: 40
Wisdom: 25
Renown: 1400
My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. I knew from his physique that he would be strong, but I had no idea that it would be reflected in his stats so much. He was literally twice as strong as my father was, and 4 levels below him!
Of course, he was not dexterous at all, nor was he smart or wise. He gave up all his stats in the other areas of his life, just to be strong. This was a meathead warrior through and through. He lived to fight and he was obviously good at that aspect of it. Of course, I would bet that my father or Hakoda would give him a run for his money in a proper fight. He seemed too easy to outsmart.
I turned my eyes away from the anomaly that was Vikkok, and looked at Hakoda. I just couldn’t help myself from peering into his stats.
Hakoda, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe Lvl 62
Strength: 115
Vitality: 146
Dexterity: 162
Intelligence: 163
Wisdom: 134
Renown: 2050
My jaw dropped, and I didn’t even care that I was openly ogling his stats. Hakoda was fucking broken, and only at level 62. He more than doubled some of my fathers stats, and was close to others. Not only that but he had to be a certifiable genius! An intelligence of 163 was ridiculous and I couldn’t even fathom it. Did he ever forget things? Was he constantly inventing and improving upon his people's lives? Because I had heard good things about the man, but nothing that would tell me he was this advanced.
That makes no fucking sense. If you get 5 AP per level, that does not fit the math. I thought as I did the quick math on his stats. I double checked my work in my mind as well and tried to figure out just what the fuck was going on in this world.
Could it be because he has skills that are boosting those stats? But even then the percentages must be out of this world to be able to boost them like that…
“We do with them what they have done to our people for a century now.” Hakoda told the man with a dark look on his face. He turned and started walking towards me. “Kill them all.”
My jaw dropped for the second time that day.
Kill them!? They’re defenseless.
Vikkok grinned, as if he was expecting and wanted that answer. He drew his club off of his back, which was at least three times the size of the club still in my inventory. His had a wooden shaft, painted blue, with a metal head on it. I doubted my ability to lift the weapon, with my current strength level.
“That’s a war crime.” I couldn’t stop myself, the words just flew out of my mouth. “And it’s not right!” I growled towards Hakoda and Vikkok. The men that were gagged and bound on the deck of the frigate began to struggle against their bonds. Most fell over and tried worming themselves away from us. They had surrendered. That means they were our prisoners, and not lamb to slaughter.
Hakoda stopped walking away, and stared at me. His eyes turned to my father, as if asking for help on the matter. My father turned away from him and looked out into the sea.
Vikkok’s club fell from the air for the first time. I couldn’t look away in time. The first soldier's brains splattered on the deck and some of it even reached my feet.
Even still, Hakoda didn’t do anything. He just stared at me, while my stomach began churning and I felt bile rising from it. I swallowed it back down, so as to not appear weak. Although, I was sure it didn’t do any good.
“We could ransom them! They could bring us sup…”
‘CRUNCH!’ Vikkok’s club swung again.
“...plies for our tribe. These men are more valuable alive!” I was yelling at this point and pointing towards the terrified soldiers running away from the club.
Hakoda crossed the distance between the two of us quickly, and his hands were on my collar. He lifted me to my feet as if I was a baby. For some reason, I didn’t react. I just let him do it. Although, it was best I didn’t try to fight him off. He was the chief of our tribe after all, and I was beginning to suspect that was out of strength and his ability as a warrior.
“Shut your mouth, boy. Do not think I won’t send you back to Wolf Cove! You have no idea what the Fire Nation has taken from us!” Hakoda said, before he spat on the decking below us. He released my collar, and I bounced off of the deck harshly.
I barely caught myself, because of my shock. This was the man I was named after? This was the man that my father looked up to and called his best friend?
“And you have no idea the depths that I will go to see our Tribe avenged. If you don’t like it, you can leave and go play with the women and children!” Hakoda screamed at me, after turning around and pointing at me.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Or you could challenge me…” His voice quieted, and all of the men around the deck, including Vikkok stopped what they were doing to turn to us. They all waited for my answer and I could tell that Hakoda was being serious.
“Enough.” My fathers soft voice carried across the deck. “He’s barely a man. He hasn’t seen a single raid. He doesn’t know any better Hakoda.”
The tension in the air on the deck didn’t disperse after my father said that. Everyone stared at us, and I did my best to match every single one of them. I may not be as high of a level, but I was no bitch. I had just single handedly taken this Frigate for the people staring at me.
The thought, and reminder that these people needed me and that I was valuable emboldened me to say what I did next. It was as much of a threat, as it was a promise.
“One day I will, Chief!” I spat the word out condescendingly. “And I’ll beat the Fire Nation into submission with power and honor! Not cruelty and savagery.”
Hakoda smirked at that. “Well until that day comes, shut your fucking mouth.” He said with a cocky smirk before turning back towards Vikkok and nodding at him to continue.
“To the rest of you!” Hakoda yelled out at the other members of our tribe climbing on the deck of the ship. “Welcome to your new home!” Hakoda said with his arms out wide, gesturing to the Frigate. “Transfer all of your supplies, and strip these men of their armor! Our plans have changed!”
“We’ll make for Wolf Cove, and return all but three ships. We have won the source of our future success today!” Hakoda called out with a smile.
I could hardly think because of the rage that was consuming me
One day, I’m going to fuck your world up Hakoda.
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“Wake up sunshine.”
I opened my eyes with a frown. The fog of sleep still clung to my frame and I barely processed the words that woke me up. I did however, process the pain from my right eye and the fist that was currently impacting it.
“Ah!” I grunted as my head snapped back and impacted something extremely hard behind me.
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You have slept in a bed! All injuries and Ailments have been cured and healed!
I jumped off of the cot that I was sleeping on and raised my hands in front of me to protect myself. It was all for naught. There was nobody there. It was the same small room that my father and I had been assigned to by Hakoda.
Being in a ship this size meant that there was no privacy, except for the captain's quarters. Or maybe the Chief’s quarters now. So we were essentially assigned to a grunts bunk bed that was attached to the metal wall in the ship. It even folded back up to the wall after you were done so as to not take up so much space during the working hours.
“About time you woke up.” I recognized the sound of Bato’s voice beneath me. Of course, I had gotten top bunk. The hardest to get in and out of.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and looked down, to make sure that I wouldn’t land on anything if I jumped. Eventually I did, and the sound of my boots hitting metal rang out in the room. Immediately I turned to my father to ask if I had really been beaten up last night or if it was just a dream.
The question died in my throat, once I saw him. He was cradling his right arm, and a quick glance at his shoulder told me that it was out of place. Not only that, but the right side of his face was swollen and puffy, a clear sign of a recent injury.
“Don’t worry about me son.” He told me as he slowly, but surely swung his legs off of the side of his bed. I could tell by the way he was tensed up that his core was hurting him too, almost like a broken rib or something. “I’m just glad you’re alright. I see you’ve healed yourself.” Bato commented as he gestured to my face, where no signs of injury could be found.
The anger from the day before had stayed with me but mostly died out until that moment. It returned with such force that it was hard to describe.
“Who did this?” I asked as I kneeled down before him and slowly grabbed his wrist and upper arm of the dislocated shoulder.
He winced and hissed through his teeth. When he went to answer, I used a rare skill from my other life and jerked the arm before bringing it up towards his chest.
‘Pop!’
“Mmmmmmmmnnnnnnnn.” He groaned out a long and painful sound as he closed his eyes. I discretely took out a small amount of water from my inventory and bent it to surround his shoulder.
I’d never healed someone before but I had to try. There was no doubt in my mind that the reason he got tuned up was because of me and my outspoken comments the day before. Someone didn’t like that I was standing up to Hakoda. For all I knew, it was Hakoda himself that had done the deed.
Either way it was someone strong. They had knocked me out with a single punch, although I knew that was because of my low stats. While it wouldn’t be outside of the realm of possibilities for anyone else on the ship to accomplish such a task, it would be surprising to me if it wasn’t Vikkok or Hakoda. They were the two highest levels outside of my father.
Bato looked at me with a clenched jaw. “That was not nice.” He muttered as he cradled his arm.
I didn’t answer him and focused on what I was doing. I wasn’t really sure how or what to do so I closed my eyes and focused my chi on the water beneath my hands. That’s when I did my best to shove my chi into his skin, hoping that's the way to do it.
Skill creation failed!
Must have Waterbending Lvl 50, to create ‘Waterbending: Healing’ skill!
“Fuck!” I exclaimed as I pulled back from him and bent the water out of his clothes and onto the floor.
“It’s alright son, it’ll take some time, but I will heal.” Bato said as he patted my shoulder with his left arm. His right, he still wasn’t moving very much. “Now help me up, they’ll be serving breakfast soon.” He told me as he outstretched his arm. I bent down and grabbed him before hauling him to his feet. Luckily, once he was on his feet, I could tell that they hadn’t injured his legs.
“Who did this?” I repeated the question, uninterested. Unfortunately I hadn’t seen a face before I caught the fist to my eye, and would have to rely on his memory.
“Vikkok, and another of his tribe I didn’t recognize.” Bato answered as he began walking away from me.
With my suspicions confirmed, I immediately began plotting our revenge. He was not the Chief, so I could attack that motherfucker all I wanted to. It would be simple retaliation, and I would make sure to do it in front of everyone unlike him.
“You will not retaliate.” Bato told me, in that soft but commanding voice of his.
“Why?” I asked incredulously.
“You don’t understand the politics of the tribes yet, son. Vikkok commands 20 of our 57 men. Hakoda made a deal to earn their loyalty. Any prisoners we took, would be Vikkok’s to do with what he pleased.” Bato explained. “It is only because Hakoda commands the other men that Vikkok is not Chief right now. However, at any moment the balance might shift. I promise, however bad it is under Hakoda, he is the best choice to actually do something in this war we’re going to. Vikkok would see us in a Fire Nation prison at best, and hanging from their walls at worst.”
I took a moment to digest all of that. First of all, that was the first time that I heard our real numbers, and I was appalled. How many men did the Fire Nation command? Thousands? Tens of Thousands? A hundred thousand? And we had 50… What did we expect to do, in reality?
“If I beat him, it would make him look weak. Maybe his men would stop following him.” I explained, trying my best to find a way to enact my will upon the man.
Bato chuckled. “There is more to loyalty than strength, son.” He said as he opened the door we arrived at. I could see that on the other side of that door, was the mess hall and I bit back the comment that I had ready to go about Vikkok and his men.
It seems that we were the last ones to enter for breakfast, and every single head turned to us at once. The room had four long tables that everyone was sitting and eating at. Not every table was full, in fact, none of them were all the way full. But the room did seem to be split into two sections.
That’s when I noticed who was sitting where. Vikkok was sitting and laughing on one side of the room, with what was obviously his ‘tribe’ of men. And on the other side of the room, Hakoda sat with the majority of the warriors. Had my father not just had that conversation with me, I wouldn’t have recognized the polarity.
“Tough battle wasn’t it.” Bato said as he gestured to his arm and face.
The room laughed, as if it was a grand joke.
I watched Hakoda and Vikkok intently then. Hakoda took notice of my fathers injuries, and his head whipped to where Vikkok was sitting. He was surprised and angry, and allowed it to show on his features for just a moment. Vikkok didn’t laugh either. I knew it was because he wanted to break my fathers spirit with what he had done the night before. He wanted to break my own.
“Funny, I didn’t see you while the fighting was going on.” Vikkok commented, through a cruel smile.
His side of the room laughed and I just couldn’t help myself. I mean really the big dumbass just ran right into my comment.
“That is funny.” I said a little too loud while pointing at him. “I didn’t see anyone else but myself on that deck…” I trailed off.
The entire room went quiet. When I say the entire room, I mean it. There wasn’t even the sound of chewed food or a fork on a plate. Everyone was shocked at what I said. I could not, of course, stop there however. I just had to get one more jab in at everyone there. The wound of yesterday, and last night, was too fresh in my mind.
“...oh wait. It was just me… But go ahead and enjoy your spoils of war.” I said with an overly fake cheery voice and gestured to the food on the table.
Silence.
Now realistically I realize that there was fighting going on before I arrived. But to call it a fight wouldn’t really be accurate. It was more like the Fire Nation troops raining down fire on our ships, and everyone else trying to hurl their spears to get a lucky kill.
‘Clap’
‘Clap’
‘Clap’
I turned to the owner who was clapping. It was Hakoda, of course. “You have to admit Vikkok, the young cub has balls.” Hakoda joked. At the same time he held out his hand and gestured to a spot at the table.
“Come join us for breakfast.”
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“And to our youngest warrior, he gets the most important job of all. Janitor!”
I groaned and gripped the bridge of my nose with my fingers. I just knew something like that was going to happen to me when I hadn’t heard my name yet. I expected something a little more important like making sure that we didn’t run into an iceberg or anything considering my bending.
It’s not like I took this ship single handedly or anything…
Multiple hands slapped my back, and the entirety of the mess hall laughed at my expense. I had to admit, once the anger I was holding on to disappeared, the warriors were generally a pretty fun bunch to be around. We ate breakfast but teased each other the entire time. Older men were talking about their conquests in their village, or their loved ones. Someone would always come out with a cheeky line like ‘oh yea I remember your wife real well’ or something along those lines.
It was actually a good time. Hakoda even joined in, although I could see him glancing towards the other side of the room often. I did my best to ignore it, but I knew that I couldn’t bury the resentment I was already holding for Vikkok. He was a cruel man, and he wouldn’t get away with hurting my father the way that he did.
In the end we all dispersed to accomplish our various tasks. Someone showed me where the bucket and mop were and I just waved them off. After all, I was a waterbender and there was no way that I was going to allow an opportunity to grind my waterbending pass like that.
By the end of the day, the frigate hadn’t been cleaned that thoroughly since it was commissioned. Luckily, the toilets dumped straight into the ocean, so the most I had to do was flush it again, or bend some water to clean it more thoroughly.
Waterbending is broken.