Chapter 113 - Chapter 115

Unsteady eyes fluttered open. A mind in shambles, and a wavering heart. Dragon awoke on what felt like sand. With the help of his hands, he pushed himself up. His heart was racing and he had a splitting headache.

His eyes needed a second to get used to the blinding light provided by the sun hanging in the clear sky. He was sitting up and as his eyes readjusted themselves to his surroundings, he saw that he was sitting on an island. But it wasn't any kind of island he'd seen before. The island was entirely from sand. No vegetation around, and Orlando was also nowhere to be seen.

The island was very tiny. It would take about thirty seconds to walk from one side to the other. This tiny piece of land was surrounded by the ocean, as far as his eyes could see, there was just water. 'No life?' He tried and connect with the water through bending and he succeeded. But there was no life. No fish, no vegetation in the water.

"This is most peculiar. This is like a barrel without content. A world without life, just a shell and nothing more. How did I get here?" Dragon stood up and looked around, but no matter what, he couldn't find any signs of life.

He closed his eyes and spread out his senses. He used his aura and spread it out, looking for an auratic response from anything considered alive. "Nothing, huh. Orlando is not here. But where is here?" Dragon opened his eyes after his aura pulse failed in finding anything.

He walked to the edge of the island and bent down. He touched the water, and it was without substance. Like touching a hologram, it wasn't real. "Okay... So at least I should be able to deduce that this isn't real. Is this maybe the spirit world? That would make sense, and that would also explain why Orlando isn't here, right?" He asked as if expecting someone to answer his question. Which of course no one did. There was complete and utter silence around him.

"Let's just try and leave." He started floating and his body soon shot off like a bolt of lightning. He disappeared into the distance.

"Okay, so that didn't work." He sighed out loud when he found himself arriving at the same island once again. He floated down and stepped down on the island again.

"It has to have something to do with the spirit world. But what?" He closed his eyes and sat down in his meditative position. He started to clear his mind of distractions and tried to recall everything that happened before he lost consciousness.

"Oh, maybe not the spirit world. But spirit bending. What if the key is learning and mastering spirit bending?" A smile grew on his face as he felt he was starting to figure it out. But that soon melted away when he realized on important detail. "I have no idea how to spirit bend," He sighed and plopped down on his back. He laid there, staring at the sky with no clouds, and the sun that gave off no heat.

Suddenly, from nowhere a pulse-like force came from inside of Dragon's body. His body spasmed, and he spat out blood on the ground. "Not you again!" Dragon said, recognizing the energy signature as the one who previously took hold of his body on Roku's island.

Dragon shot up in a sitting position. He spat out more blood, and he felt a pain like no other. It wasn't physical, it was a pain assaulting his very being. It was dark and evil.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BODY!" He roared. A red coloured light started appearing, and it was slowly covering his body. "Not this time you bastard!" Dragon roared out even louder, and his magnificent and powerful aura was released. The same pressure that broke the Tsuchikage's arm. The same aura that could shake an entire continent. The space around him started vibrating and suddenly out from his chest flew a dark red spirit with tentacles.

"T-There you are, you piece of shit!" Dragon said with a dark and scary tone. His personality switched and he stared at the tiny spirit sitting on the ground.

"For a human with so much power. You have a pathetic excuse for a soul. But I admire your tenacity, maybe not even the Avatar could withstand the assault your soul was forced to endure." It looked at Dragon and spoke with no clear indication if it was happiness or anger it felt towards him.

"You who invited yourself into my body. Who are you?" Dragon said with a slightly calmer tone. Though he was ready to fight at any time.

"Vaatu. You are wrong, traveller. I did not let myself in. Our merge was accidental when you entered this world and therefore unstable. I have been trying to leave your body for some time now." Vaatu said again with no clear emotion in his tone. He was almost impossible to read.

"Traveller? You know I am not from this world? How?" Dragon sat down on his knees, still fully on guard against an attack.

"When you entered this world, you manipulated space and time in ways I do not understand. But as you entered the world, your soul passed through the tree of time where I was trapped. And we accidentally merged and I was released. And as we merged I got a glimpse at your outer memories. There I saw other worlds, people with strange clothes and using strange techniques." Vaatu explained how this all happened, and Dragon was not fully following but he understood most of it.

"I see. So you were trapped in this tree of time. What happens to it now when you are gone?" Dragon didn't know what that tree represented, but time was a sensitive thing, so he didn't wanna screw with it in this world.

"Nothing. If anything would happen, it would be positive. With my presence gone, it will most likely bloom once again, and spirits will return to its surroundings." Vaatu said.

"Vaatu. Since we are trapped here. Tell me about your history." Dragon said and summoned forth his emperor aura and stared down on Vaatu.

"Very well. Listen well, traveller." Vaatu said.

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