Avatar - Conquering the Elements

"I hope there are no more surprises," I thought, still reeling from the bizarre experience of being a woman—so different from being a man. I was lucky she never experienced intimacy with a man...

My mind was a mess. I hadn't had time to process everything last time either. And there's this nagging discomfort at the edge of my consciousness, like something's trying to break free. I just hope it's not something foreign.

A minute passed, and I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when that same vortex began forming behind me. My back tensed, my muscles clenched, and I twisted my neck as far as it would go. With my peripheral vision, I watched the entire process unfold. And then—miraculously—something started destroying it!

But that wasn't all. The virtual reality space, which had always been faintly lit by daylight, began plunging into darkness. Once I was engulfed in pitch blackness, my virtual body started to fade. My thoughts swung between "Finally, I'll be ejected into reality" and "Something even worse is definitely going to happen."

In a way, everything turned out fine. I remained floating, standing, or hanging in an absolute void with no light sources. To make matters worse, it felt like I was in the most soundproof room imaginable. That's when panic started to set in.

I'm not sure how much time passed—maybe fifteen minutes. That's when the strangeness began. Sometimes, it sounded like an ambulance with its blaring siren was passing nearby, but that couldn't be possible. Other times, it seemed like a girl was singing a lullaby, which would've sent shivers down my spine if I had a body. Guess my love for horror movies in my past life is showing.

The complete silence was crushing my psyche. That's when I started wondering if I'd traded one problem for another. I urgently needed to occupy my thoughts with something else. Luckily, I found just the thing. With all this nonsense with sounds and darkness, I'd completely forgotten that I wanted to properly sort through my two past lives.

Analyzing everything that's happened, I can say with absolute certainty that it was all orchestrated by you-know-who—and no, it's not Voldemort, but someone even worse... I'm no expert on the psyche, but something like this doesn't just vanish without a trace. Yet, I don't notice much change in myself—and that's the strangest part. I remember the lives as if I'd lived them myself, but it's like they've been "sifted through a sieve." I feel some experience, I'd even say my core has grown stronger. Kenji and Beifong went through a real school of life—it's not like being born with ready-made strength into a family of local rulers. Something did get passed on to me. I just need to figure out what...

So there I was, sitting who-knows-where, and for the first time, I was watching movies with my own eyes, spanning years. There are perks: take away all my powers, and I'd be the best factory worker in the Fire Nation or the best caregiver for children of all ages. To some extent, Kenji's feelings have been passed on to me, and no, I'm not ready to have a child yet. I'll think about it in five... maybe even ten years.

I was about to dive into my "own" memories for a second round when I found myself in the real world—if you can call a fictional cartoon universe that.

"What the...?!" My own words thundered in my ears, forcing me to immediately shut my mouth.