In the long-abandoned Air Temple, the sound of stone breaking and the howling of the wind was heard. If anyone saw what was happening on the training grounds, they would be bewildered at first, and then shocked.

Michael stood, surrounded by several water columns, he had taken off his shirt a long time ago and stood only in his pants. His leg twisted and a fist-sized water sphere flew out of one column. He immediately turned towards the projectile and cut it in half with an air blade. But as soon as he turned around, several more spheres flew towards him, only to be stopped a couple of meters from the target.

He glared at it. "Okay, this doesn't work." The water fell to the floor and the columns returned to the pound. Michael took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the dust off his hands.

'I control water and I know that it's flying in me. It's more or less a good way to train to multitask, but as a way to train Bending its crap.' Michael's eye twitched, and he was seriously considering that Jasmine decided to mock him and really did leave him with damaged nerves. He sighed heavily and walked towards the tower where he lived.

During the first month of his life here he was able to learn basic Bending in both styles, but nothing extraordinary. The fact that these natures were annoyingly freeform helped, but only a little. So, to distract himself from his thoughts, he decided to do what he had been doing for the whole month – go dig some dirt.

He collected all the bones he could find and laid them at the foot of the mountain, it was not as hard as it might seem. The most difficult part was digging graves for three hundred people. In the first thirty days, Michael was able to dig only fifty graves. He didn't want to use Bending for this, it felt a little disrespecting to him. And he couldn’t figure out how he could have used it anyway.

The soldiers of the Fire Nation lay in the same land as the Air Nomads. The two warring parties ended up in one place. 'It's poetic. I wonder if Jasmine is The Reaper in all worlds? Then where did the Grim Reaper stereotype come from? Hmm, I should ask her if we meet again.' He thought, shoveling a chunk of dirt over his shoulder

In addition to dragging the bones, he also tried to collect all the weapons and armor that were abandoned and made a small arsenal in the room opposite his. He would figure out what to do with it later.

After a while, the shovel stuck into the ground next to another completed grave. They had no names on the gravestones, only the letters FN and AN; Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. He just looked at the remaining bones and sighed heavily, he still had a lot of work to do.

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Entries in the Diary of Michael Cordato.

{Day 42.

I found this empty book in one of the teachers' rooms, so now I will sometimes write here and try not lose my mind completely. Boss did often say that I have a few loose marbles, so I guess I can't call myself really sane. Such a bummer.

This will be my first entry here and I'm sure a couple of my former friends would've laughed at me for even thinking about it. Well, right now, I don't give a damn about them, even if I miss some of the people whose faces, I can't remember. That's really weird, you know? To not remember anything about a person, sans their vague figure and still miss them. It's really fucking confusing.

My progress in Bending became a little faster after I started the elements individually. I swear sometimes my choices are way too fucked up. Anyway…

(Side note) Why the fuck am I writing with an ellipsis?

Airbending Scrolls helped me to some extent, I was able to learn a few movements, but they all seem wrong to me. It's like someone makes me eat fish and says it's meat. I have no other fitting comparison.

All movements are aimed so that your inner Chi can affect the world around you more, the problem is that this does not work for me. I can Bend the air around me without even moving now, so for me, all these forms are practically useless. Of course, it looks cool, but in battle, doing all these unnecessary – for me – movements are simply stupid. It's a waste of energy and time.

Waterbending is progressing steadily, but slower than Airbending. Without other Benders around I won't be able to compare my strength, but judging by my memories I am at the level of your average cannon fodder. Oh joy. Well, when the Avatar arrives, I could ask for pointers. And hopefully come along with their merry band of children. I said it already and I say it again – oh joy.}

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{Day 56.

I started figuring out how to properly use wind in my attacks. Close range, medium-range, long-range, wind is everywhere, I just have to reach for it. I also noticed that my emotions do not affect the strength of my Bending, which is both a good and a bad thing.

This means that even if I am furious, my Chi will not flow any harder (better? don't care). Feels like an output filter but in my body. Weird.

Maybe what I'm using sounds more like magic. Jasmine said that my body would be changed, but she didn't say anything about my abilities. Fuck, this is confusing. Why didn't I ask more questions before going here?

By the way, about my body, it seems to me that I no longer have a development limit. After every workout, I feel like I'm getting stronger, but my muscles don't change. I'm scared to imagine just what Jasmine did. If I don't have a developmental limit, then I need training equipment better than stones. Sure, it’s fun to throw then around, but after some time it gets boring.

I have not been able to find a Mirror yet. Wait, I'm a Waterbender, what am I thinking?! I'll just use water to look at my reflection.}

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{Day 73.

I met that fucking flying lemur; the asshole stole my fruits. I have two choices: kill an endangered animal or befriend it. Well, I don't want to be partially responsible for the extinction of an entire species, so fuck that idea.

I had to lure him in with food, but eventually, he stopped thinking of me as a predator. So now I have a friend in the form of one fluffy Momo. I would prefer Yaoyorozu, but what can I do? Maybe the Avatar will begin to trust me faster if he sees me with Momo. After all, villains don't usually make friends with strange pop-eyed animals.

Apart from this incident, nothing special happened. I started working on Soundbending but immediately ran into a problem. I need to protect my eardrums if I want to use that as an attack.

More work for the God of work, I guess.

Also, my stupid ass thought to polish one of the swords and look at my reflection. Water was great and all, but steel is better. I haven't changed much, except that my former damaged eye is now brown. Maybe Jasmine is colorblind?}

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The next entry was a little messy as if it was written in a hurry.

{Day 85.

Do not piss off the devil birds.}

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Michael raised his hands and watched the water follow his movements. It slowly rose into the air taking the form of an elegant snake. Coming face to face with Michael it froze and tilted its head, waiting for the new order. Michael smiled and stroked its chin. He kept eye contact with the snake and ordered it to move with his mind. The snake remained motionless, which made Michael frown. Tilting his head, he noticed how the snake copied him and he smiled, but then sighed in annoyance.

He wanted to use his powers without moving. Was it too much to ask for?

'How is this supposed to work? Lore says that without movement, Chi will stand stagnant, but I’m not from this world, my Chi is different.' Michael idly scratched one of his aching scars, keeping an eye on the snake. 'What if I try to move it on my own? Then it will make me more of a Mage than a Bender.' Remembering that the core of Chi was in the stomach, Michael dismissingly dropped the snake and sat down, getting comfortable.

Michael closed his eyes and turned his focus inside, searching for his core. He shushed the thoughts that reminded him that he was copying cultivators from these kinds of Chinese novels. Unfortunately, this was his life now and he couldn't change it. Moreover, he couldn't think of anything else - all his imagination was spent on new torture techniques - so he had to use this method. Besides, why invent the bicycle all over again?

After a couple of minutes, he felt something new in his body, something that flowed through his veins like blood, but at the same time not. It was strange to know that there was an energy source in your body that definitely wasn't there a couple of weeks ago. Michael doubted sensing it should be that easy, but he was born without the ability to Bend, so he dropped his ability to feel his Chi on lucky circumstances. Or maybe Jasmine took a liking at him, who knew?

Michael snorted and lost concentration. Cursing softly, he tried to feel the flow of energy in his body again. The Chi in his veins moved slowly, as if reluctantly. Like a sleepy child getting into the kitchen. Michael took a deep breath, and his Chi accelerated a little with the movement of his lungs. Holding his breath, Michael stopped to move completely and felt his Chi halt. Mentally considering it a victory, he tried to make the Chi move with sheer will, but it didn't even budge.

'I repeated the word Chi so many times in my head that it almost lost its meaning.' Exhaling heavily, Michael put his hands on his knees and frowned. He didn't have a drop of theoretical knowledge about Chi - the Air Nomads library didn't help much in his search, there he only found that Chi exists in all living beings, but in different quantities - so now he could only draw conclusions from his own experience.

He knew that it was impossible to use Bending without movement, but he did not know how small these movements should be. Leaving thoughts of Psychic Bending for a while, Michael began to twitch here and there, and watched his Chi's reaction. And after a couple of hours, a smile split his face.

"Ho~ that'll be useful."

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The next page had droplets of blood on it.

{Day 93.

Scraped the knuckles on my right hand, and that's really unpleasant to get used to again. Antiseptic and other things from the first aid kit are running out. It's strange to feel anything with both hands again.

Apparently, the time to start learning about the plants of these places has come, I hope there are suitable books in the library. Or scrolls.

I also thought about studying Healing Arts, but in that case, I will have to start my studies at the North Pole. The Avatar's friend could probably help me. I don't think one can use such a complex art without proper training.

But the bandages are not going to run out anytime soon. Looks like Jasmine deliberately put so many bandages in my bag. The days are getting colder, the summer is over. If I didn't know how to prepare food, then I would have died of hunger a long time ago.

I tried to create a vacuum with Airbending, the results were not very pretty. I was almost sucked inside, so I had to hold myself with a shit-ton of water. I need to be careful with these experiments.

Started training at Icebending, honestly, it was not very difficult. But if I want to become skillful enough at this, then I need even more training and that sucks.

I also thought about making myself a revolver, just in case. I still carry knives all over my body. Perhaps those steampunk people in one of the Air Temples could make one for me in the future.}

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{Day 109.

I shouldn't progress so fast. I can already be considered one of the best Master Benders in the world and this worries me. How and why was I able to achieve this in just three and a half months? I am not an Avatar with their past lives. So, all that remains is pure talent and hard work.

I may be a hard worker, but I would never have been able to achieve such mastery in such a short time. And the less said about my talents, the better.

But how could I make such progress in that short amount of time? What the fuck happened to my body if I can do this? No, I can't blame everything on my body and what Jasmine did. Am I really that good? Well, I don't know that. I can only hope that my sudden power has no side effects.}

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{Day 138.

It started raining, so I spend most of the time inside. I recently found an old glider staff and took it apart. The piece of shit was almost rotted away so it was pretty difficult to understand how it was made. Turns out the design is pretty simple, so I can recreate it in a couple of tries. Most likely I will make my staff out of metal, it will be more convenient. Thankfully I still remember how to build a primitive forge. Who knew that would come in handy?

Momo started spending more time in my room. He doesn't like rain. Although I find it sounds soothing. Maybe it has something to do with my past life.

I will need to burn this journal when I leave with Avatar, I don't need anyone to read it.}

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{Day 154.

I started to meditate.

Yes, I'm really, really bored.

It was easy enough to make the staff, but working with the fabric was difficult, I didn't practice for too long. I had to sacrifice one of my T-shirts, but I can always get more. And it's not that I didn't have enough clothes. Well, maybe I was in a hurry with this decision, but what's done is done. I still have a warm raincoat, a pair of long sleeve shirts, and three pairs of pants.

And now I have a badass steel glider staff with black wings. Are they called wings? Don't care.

I tried Plantbending and failed. I just don't know how Bending plants feel, I don't even know what I need to do to get started. I need to interrogate those Plant Tribe fucks.

I also started learning Hyper Sensitivity and I can only say that I'm freezing. How can Toph walk barefoot all the time? Well, I haven't made much progress yet, but I'm just getting started. There are so many smells, so many sounds around me. It seems that all Airbenders have ADHD, otherwise they would not be able to withstand information overload.}

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{Day 162.

He is awake.

I felt it in my bones, the whole world seemed to resonate. A huge column of light from the south also helped. How I was able to see it is not clear to me, but I'm not going to ask.

My time in the Temple is coming to an end, I need to pack my things and finish my business here. I will miss this place, if only a little.}

Michael closed the book and looked at it for a long time. Momo, seeing his friend's eyes, jumped on his shoulder and made a melodic chirp. Michael scratched the lemur behind the ear and got up from the table.

"It's okay, I'm just a little… Not fine." He shrugged, smiling slightly. Taking the book, he fished the lighter from his pocket. The fire quickly began to devour the paper, Michael increased the concentration of the air and in a second there was not even ash left from the paper.

He stared at it for a moment and slapped his forehead, groaning. 'I can use this to be a pseudo-Firebender. My lighter is endless… Fuck, why didn't I think about this sooner?' He left his room with a twitching eye and it started to piss him off really hard. Jasmine was probably laughing at him when she had time.

After half a year, Michael had not changed at all, except for his grown hair. It went down to his neck and he was very happy about that. He really missed his hair, although he would still need a haircut.

Well, it was time to prepare for the Avatar's arrival. 'Our battle will be Legendary!' Michael cackled like crazy and put on his black coat. Life is about to get interesting!