The next morning, Korra and I got out of bed, neither of us talking, as our relationship was still shaky. As she left the room, I took a deep breath and went through my morning routine, taking my time as I also used it to clear my thoughts.
After an hour had passed, Kyoshi knocked on my door, causing me to stop as I glanced at it. "Aang, are you ready?" "In a moment." As my voice rang out, there was a moment of silence before she responded, while her footsteps faded down the hallway. "Meet us at the usual spot." Even though she couldn't see me, I nodded, more of a subconscious action than anything.
Changing my clothes, I grabbed my bo-staff and exited my room, heading to the peak of Jathr where we'd stored all the portals we'd created throughout the several years. As I walked down the hallway, lined with shimmering portals on either side, I eventually reached the end, where Roku, Kyoshi, Korra, and Fan were waiting.
"Are you guys ready?" Glancing between Kyoshi, Roku, and finally Korra, they firmly nodded; of course, they were ready. We've been prepared for years. "Are you ready, Aang? You will be protecting Jathr by yourself." As Kysohi's concerned voice entered my ears, I flashed a confident, even if slightly forced, smile. "I will be fine; I had been holding back a little during our battle." She nodded, accepting my response without question, though that wasn't the same for the others.
"Just a 'little'? So humble you are, Aang, I'm sure it's more than just a 'little' bit." Softly scoffing with a shake of his head, Roku skeptically eyed me, causing me to retain my smile. As Fan gave some final pieces of advice to the trio, Kyoshi shifted her gaze to the portal and stepped through, wasting no time, prompting Roku to follow.
"Um, Aang-" Before Korra could continue speaking, I sealed her mouth shut with my lips, surprising her, though after a moment, she reciprocated the kiss, going so far as to grab my face, pulling me deeper. However, after nearly a minute, I separated a lip, a string of saliva breaking between us as I retracted my head.
"Be careful, Korra." Smiling, I patted her head before gently pushing her towards the portal, causing her to display her bravo while stepping through. "Heh, don't worry, I'll beat up Father Glowworm twice as hard since you're not here!" As she stepped through the portal, my smile slowly vanished, replaced by the weight of what would come from them attacking Father Glowworm's base —the root of this realm's corruption.
"Fan, how many spirits can fight?" Turning around, I walked the way I came while Fan quickly caught up with me. "A little over one thousand… Including those that'll probably die, then double that." "Are they ready?" "Yes. They've been ready for decades." "Good." Exiting Jathr's trunk, I grabbed Fan and leaped from one of the tallest branches, falling from what seemed the height of the world until we gently landed over a minute later.
"Go get them then… Today will be the final time Jathr will be attacked." Setting down Fan, he solemnly nodded before turning around, transforming into a goat, and running back into Jathr to gather the two thousand spirits. While Fan did that, I sat cross-legged, resting my bo-staff on my lap, meditating as I expanded the range of my influence, sensing beyond the valley we resided in, just waiting for the corrupted spirits to come.
'If no spirits come, this would be incredibly awkward.' It wouldn't only be awkward, but the others would be missing out on a vital fighting force. However, as the minutes passed, I began to sense a shift in the realm —the sky, which always faintly shimmered with corruption —glowing brighter than usual, and even Jathr seemed to strain under the sudden weight of corruption.
Minutes continued to pass. During this time, I sensed numerous spirits exiting Jathr, all of them standing several feet behind me as they waited for Father Glowworm's final, desperate attack of overtaking Jathr before being defeated at the hands of my companions.
After nearly fifteen minutes since the others vanished through the portal, I snapped my eyes and stood up, having sensed the arrival of the spirits from beyond the valley. Stabbing my bo-staff into the ground, I stared at the peak of the hills, waiting for them to emerge from beyond them, as for the spirits behind me, I didn't bother addressing them or trying to raise morale; I wasn't a commander, anything like that. Besides, they were more sore the final line of defense against any corrupted spirit that happened to slip past me.
It wasn't even a minute later before we saw a greenish wave emerge from beyond the valley; they were so densely packed that rather than ants, they looked like one flowing wave of water, as if we were standing in the path of a greenish ocean. As they charged down the hills, their numbers only continued to skyrocket, and it wasn't long before the sheer amount of them surpassed anything we'd faced at once, though this time, I was basically alone.
However, what made things worse was that these weren't just weak corrupted spirits; there were a lot that had some decent strength to them, and I'm sure as this continued, the truly strong ones would eventually arrive. "S-So many." Glancing at Fan to my right, who stared at the incoming horde with despair, I raised my bo-staff, creating a soft gust of wind, snapping him out of it.
"Fan, return to Jathr's side, in case the worst scenario comes to pass." Although still scared, Fan nodded and turned around, leaving for Jathr. Shifting my focus to the horde, which had just reached the bottom of the valley, now heading straight for us, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, Korra's face flashing through my mind, filling me with strength even if my heart hurt.
Without warning, I shot towards the incoming spirits, small blasts of vortexes underneath my feet acting like springs, propelling my every step as I covered ground. Once I got close enough, I came to a halt and channeled air to my limit as I spun my bo-staff above my head, creating stronger gusts of wind with each full rotation.
The wind around me rapidly grew stronger and expanded as a small vortex formed with me at the center, though I didn't stop and continued spinning my bo-staff, causing it to grow in size and strength, reaching the level of a tornado, yet even then, I had no intention of stopping. A mere tornado wasn't my limit; besides, I knew just that wouldn't be enough to stop the horde of corrupted spirits.
The tornado continued to grow as it sucked in more air, reaching a height even taller than Jathr, stretching seemingly infinitely into the sky while it already covered the entire area, though I continued, eventually enveloping even Jathr within it. Once I realized the whole valley was within the tornado, I looked at the spirits, watching them get picked up by the wind, which was strong enough to rip small chunks of earth from the ground; they were carried high into the sky, never to be seen again.
With the first tornado done, I stopped spinning my bo-staff clockwise and reversed it, causing several massive, but much smaller tornadoes to form around me; now the spirits would get shredded if they got too close to the other tornadoes.
Slamming my bo-staff onto the ground, I stood in place, maintaining the technique while watching the corrupted spirits running towards their doom. Though I didn't let my guards down as I knew even this wouldn't be enough to finish the strongest corrupted spirits, I'd have to personally face them when they arrived.
'So long as I stand, no spirit will reach Jathr.'
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Korra POV
"Damn, why are we having such a problem? We haven't even gotten to the mountain yet!" Clicking my tongue, I whipped my arms forward, cutting a stream of water through several corrupted spirits before leaping backward, dodging an attack from the side. Before I could retaliate, a bolt of lightning struck the spirit, causing me to glance at Roku.
"Careful." "Thanks, but I would've dealt with it." "Haa, even after 8 years, you've hardly experienced mental growth." Feeling my face twitch at his rude ass remark, I was just moments away from drenching him with water, though, before I did, I noticed the air was suddenly moving in a different direction.
Holding my finger up, I furrowed my brows and focused as the air hitting my finger was faint, but I could feel it; the air that had suddenly been still was now moving towards Jathr. 'What are you, Aang?' Looking into the distance with a worried yet also proud feeling, a small rock hit the back of my head.
"Focus, Korra." "Sorry, Kyoshi. C'mon, let's rush the mountain!" "And get surrounded? No thanks." Running towards the mountain, I controlled the water, intercepting spirits, creating a link between several of them while Roku used lightning, or straight up killing them with regular attacks.