The One Who Collects

Adam woke up, but all he saw was darkness. He tried to move but couldn't. He then tried to open his eyes but couldn't.

'Why can't I open? I don't even know where I am. Z, can you tell me where I am?'

[Why are you asking me? Find out yourself.]

'At least I am not dead.'

[How do you know that?]

'I can hear my heartbeat. Can I see my body?'

{

Body Statue: Left-arm bones almost completely shattered, two ribs are destroyed, legs bones all shattered, right eye pierced by a rock, all nerve cells from the waist down are destroyed, one eardrum is destroyed.

Time till death: 14: 12: 34

}

'This happened to me just because two dragons slapped me? Damn, I could have died if I didn't protect myself with a condensed air shield.'

[No, you could have still died from the fall. The seal I put on your soul activated and protected you when you were falling from space. It was a one-time activation and you used it up in your first world. You are stupid.]

'If you protected me from the fall, how did this still happened to me? Wait, I just noticed the timer... I am even dying!!! How? I thought you protected me.'

[I only had to make sure you didn't die. Someone is even healing you, so be happy. If you see yourself two days ago, you could have been happy from seeing the injuries you see now.]

{

Body statue update: One rib healed.

Time till death updated: 14: 27: 44

}

[I am also going to be updating you on how your body is doing, be appreciative.]

Adam tried to use seismic sense but couldn't.

'Damn, I am not on earth.'

"Kirima, tell me about his injuries. I know it is disgusting to treat something like this but bear with it." A man asked. His voice was coming from his right side but he heard if from his left ear.

"His injuries are strange. His body is twisted unnaturally, look at his waist, how can it twist one-eighty degrees? The front now facing the back. All his ribs are destroyed and some are even tearing through his skin."

"Also, when I was healing him, something happened and now there is a piece of rib close to his lungs and if he breathes heavily, the bone will pierce through his lungs and he will die. That is why I am healing his ribs first. Almost all his body is destroyed. I don't even know how his skin is still attached to his body. His skin also has multiple burn marks like he was thrown into a fire. What exactly happened to him. Maybe I will ask him after he gains conciseness." The female named Kirima said.

'Because of this stupid woman, I am going to die If I breathe heavily. Damn! Z show store.'

{

Iron bending manual (2,000,017 Points)

Energy bending manual (3,000,000 points)

Manual to chi blocking (398,097 points)

HINT *OFFER* (1 point)

Glass bending (726,272 points)

}

'No healing things? Z, can you just please put something for healing in the store. I am dying here.'

[Not my fault you jumped into a fight between two dragons.]

'WHY, please, I am begging you, at least remove the bone that is close to my lungs.'

[The woman healing you, relax.]

'I can't if there is a time before I die. This is scary z, please help me. I will hurry up your mission. I will even forget about any reward from the missions forever.'

[I helped you when the Badgermole beat the shit out of you, and I am not helping you again. The reward you get from missions helps you more than me healing you now. You will see when you get the reward. It is not like you are going to die.]

 'Haaa, then buy HINT... I am falling asleep. Quick Z, tell me some facts or riddles to keep me awake.'

[I don't have any.]

'If I sleep, I may have a night mere and breath heavily. Sleeping could kill me.'

[I don't have any.]

'Please... I am falling into the abyss. Keep me awake...'

ahhh the light

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Aerin walked out of the house where Kirima was healing the person and signed.

"I should go out to do something. It's getting boring staying with these thieves. Maybe I can go back to being a bounty hunter at least I get to know many people and gain a connection with some higher-ups in the earth kingdom." Aerin said as he walked through the village.

The houses in the village were made of wood and have steeply pitched thatched roofs and there is no paved road. All the inhabitants of the village were part of the Flying Opera Company.

"Where is your leader? Call the person out. I want to have a talk with the person about something that belongs to us." A deep loud, threatening voice said.

Aerin looked toward the direction he heard the voice from and walked toward the place, which is the part of the village closer to the ocean. When he walked out of the village and walked toward the shore, he saw Kyoshi, her girlfriend, Wong, and a youthful man, with sandy short-cropped hair and long, muscular arms. He wore sleeves bound with thin straps of leather, boots, and headwraps, which he wore loosely around his face and neck. He was called Lek. 

There were standing facing a beautiful young woman with a big bust and she has very pale skin, large light brown eyes and long brown hair reaching her waist. She had on the Royal armor for the fire nation and she was also riding a Komodo Rhino.

The komodo rhino has a thick, hide, which serves as a natural protection for its body. Three large, curved horns dominate its face; two carvings down from its forehead and one curving upward from its snout. It's mouth and jaw structure look somewhat reptilian, but the small ears on either side of its head are mammalian. Its torso resembles that of a rhinoceros but ends in a long, lizard-like tail. The rhino's feet are short, muscular, and clawed.

Beside her was a man, who was also riding a Komodo Rhino. He was a big and built man, that will rival Aaron. He had on a red and black armor accompanied by a helmet.

Behind them were twenty fire nation foot soldiers with a carriage drawn by a Komodo Rhino. And behind them was a large ornate royal barge docked. 

"What is the fire nation princess doing here with a Fire Nation cruiser and with soldiers?" Kyoshi asked, bravely.

'She is brave. If she is really the fire nation princess, I would not talk to her like that.' Aerin said while he sunk himself underground. 'Let me just listen from underground. Good thing I practiced holding my breath for a long time.'

"And who are you to speak to her Royal Highness this way with no respect?" The big man said. He was about to ride his Komodo Rhino forward, toward Kyoshi but he was stopped by the Princess raised her hand.

"Introduce yourself." The princess said nonchalantly.

"I am the successor of Avatar Kuruk, Avatar Kyoshi. Nice to meet you." Kyoshi said arrogantly.

"The avatar? That impossible! Stop lying little girl, you can't be the avatar..." The big man was saying but stopped after the princess raised her hand.

"Oh really, prove it." The princess said.

Kyoshi produced a big fireball. "Believe me now? Only the avatar can use two elements. I am an earth-bender using fire bending."

"How will we know you aren't a fire-bender wearing earth-bender clothing? Do you really think we will believe that? Foolish, now get out our..." 

Kyoshi stomped her foot and send a wave of said toward the man. The komodo rhino quickly moved out the way and the man fell from the rhino, the sand wave hitting him.

"Interesting." The woman said, not caring about the man's predicament. She looks at Kyoshi for some time then smiled. "I am First princess Kalama and second child of the fire lord. Nice to meet you Avatar. That big guy is Ignatius. Now, let's get down to business, can you give us the person you took from the crater to us? We know you took it because when we went to investigate the site, an old woman told us that the people living at chameleon bay took what was in there."

"Oh, him? You can take him. I don't care, he is about to die anyway. Let me lead you guys to him. And what's up with him? He fell from the sky but didn't die right away. Do you have anything to say about that? And about his injuries..." Kyoshi said, walking away

"..."

There was no answer.

'Oh, he is about to die? Haaa~ I wasted my time staying here for two days.' Aerin said snicking into the ship. 'At least I can get some good thing from a princess ship. This will make up for the time I wasted here.'

Kalama rode her rhino after Kyoshi and the soldiers with the rhino 'dragging the carriage followed. No one even cared about Ignatius that fell off his rhino. He stood up, walked to his rhino, slapped it, climbed back on it and rode after the group.

As they moved through the village, there were some whispers here and there, but no one from the group cared.

"He is being healed by one of our people in there. Wait here." Kyoshi entered the house and after some time she walked out with a female. "You can go in now."

Kalama and Ignatius got down from thair Komodo Rhino and walked into the house. Six people, that are dressed like water benders, came down the carriage and also entered the house. The soldiers stayed outside the house to guard it and the carriage.

"You guys should go check if he is still alive." A female said when the water-benders entered.

"He is alive princess, but his injuries are severe. *Explains Adam's injuries*" A male water-bender said while shivering.

"Then heal him, at least he is not dead. Most of those injuries can be handled after about a month of healing. When you guys think he is stable enough to be moved, you can tell me so we will move him to the ship and go back home." Kelama said, sounding relief.

The six water-benders brought water out of their water skins and started healing him.

"I don't like acting stupid and as if I am your lackey. I could have killed that girl if I didn't have to obey you. Why do I have to pretend to be below you?" Ignatius said, closing the door of the house and resting his back on the door.

"You won't want no one knowing that you are alive since the 46th Earth King hates you so much that if he knows you are alive, he will go to war with the fire nation just to kill you. My father likes ruling with peace, even if our military is stronger than the Earth Kingdom, you think he will go to war just because you chose to **** the Earth King wife? Why did you even do that?" Kalama whispered to Ignatius then walked off to inspect Adam.

*COUGH**COUGh* "Forget that. Did you know someone sneaked into the ship?" Ignatius asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Let the person be, it not like we have anything important there. Ignatius com here, look at his injuries." Kalama said, moving out the way for Ignatius to see.

Ignatius walked forward and inspected his injuries. "Damn, he is still alive after this? How will we twist around his waist so it will face the right way? He is blessed, not dying after these injuries and Being the only one to be able to bend all elemen..." He stopped talking off after Kalama elbowed him in his abdomen. The house fell into silence.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We have healed most of his outer wound, and his ribs have been healed, but not fully. He will be all good unless he gets roughed around." A water-bender woman said, after twenty minutes of all six of them healing him. 

"Ok, I will carry him into the carriage and we will move to the ship, their you guys will continue healing him." Ignatius said, walking over to Adam, grabbed his waist and was about to fling him over his shoulders but a water-bender stopped him.

"Sir... Sir that could be dangerous..." The water-bender female, that said 'he is safe' said.

"Oh really?" Ignatius said, glaring at the female, like a predator looking at his prey. "You think I don't know what I am doing!? HUH!? Tell me what I am doing wrong, you weak water-bender!!!" Ignatius shouted at the woman, scaring every water-bender in the house and some soldiers outside. Kalama just shook her head, signing.

The woman was so frightened she couldn't do anything but shiver.

"No seriously, tell me what to do. I don't know what I am doing." Ignatius said, shaking his head.

"Why did you say it that way? You sounded and looked like you were going to kill her or something. You supposed to carry him softly not aggressively like you were about to do." Kalama said, while looking at Ignatius like he is stupid, "You suppose to be smarter than me and you don't know this." 

"Ohhhh..." Ignatius said realizing what he was about to do, "Is that what you wanted to tell me?" he said, turning toward the sacred water-bending woman. 

The woman nodded still shaking.

"You could have told me. Sooooo... How should I carry him?" Ignatius asked, still looking at the woman.

"You... You supposed to... Carry him with something but since we don't have it... We can use the bed as a substitute." She said, looking down.

"So I have to carry the bed?"

The woman nodded.

Ignatius looked at the woman like she was crazy then looked at Kalama, and Kalama nodded.

"Oh shit... I broke my arms... AHHHGGG... It hurt, it f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurt." Ignatius shouted, rolling on the ground.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone was speechless.

"Just carry the bed. You are wasting our time." Kalama said, opening the door and walked out of the house.

Ignatius looked at the water-benders. "My hand is paining me, all of you should carry the bed together." Ignatius said, standing up without the support of his hands.

"Sir all of us men can't carry him alone since we are WEAK water-bender," A water-bender man said, bowing, emphasizing the weak, "If we carry him together it will be rough moving him around. Only a strong man like you could carry him, sir."

"Ignatius, please hurry," Kalama said, coming into the house. "You guys should come with me so we could prepare the carriage." Kelama said. She then walked out of the house and the water-benders followed her.

After they all left, Ignatius signed, "Haa, when he is healed, he will have to pay me back for my suffering."

Ignatius picked up the bed with his left hand and held it above his head and walked towards the door. When he got close, he found out he can't fit through with the bed, so he destroyed it with a big fire-ball from his other hand, but it didn't make much noise and walked out of the house. He looked around and didn't see the carriage around, and only five of the twenty foot soldiers were left outside the house.

"Where is the carriage?" Ignatius asked the soldier at his left.

"They left. Princess Kalama said she wants to go back to the ship and left with the healers." The soldier answered while saluting.

"Oh really? Does she think because of her father she can play with like this? He needs to teach his children some respect. Wait... she even took my Rhino? This has goon too far, I will talk to her." Ignatius said angrily. "Also, are you a female?" Ignatius said with a calm voice, looking at the soldiers.

"Yes, sir." The female soldiers said while stiffening up.

"Oh really?" Ignatius whispered to himself. "Ok, meet me in my office when we get back to the ship, I have a job for you."

Ignatius started running toward the shore while also making sure he didn't shake too much and the five soldiers ran after him. When he reached the ship, he saw Kalama talking and laughing with the Avatar. Looking at her smiling beautiful face, he licked his lips.

'Hehe, I can't wait. When Adam is healed, I will tell him my plan.'

When Ignatius entered the ship front section of the main deck, he saw the water-bender male that confronted him, standing beside the stair leading below decks. He was an average height man with gray eyes, dark brown hair and a light skin tone. He also had on the normal Light clothing of a water-bender.

"Sir, I will lead you to the room where we will continue healing." The man said, gesturing to the steps.

"Lead the way." Ignatius said, studying the man. They entered the dark stairway that led to a dark and narrow, metal-walled corridors and was dimly lit with red lamps. "What is your name and how did you learn water-bending."

"My name is Adua, sir. I am a self-taught water-bender and I was taught healing by the southern tribe leader." Adua said, still walking forward.

"Oh, the southern tribe leader healing? That means you are really good at it, right?" Ignatius asked. 

"Yes, only five people are better than me in healing at the southern tribe. That is the tribe leader, his wife, his son, his daughter, and the tribe leader teacher. My tribe could have not sent me to come with you guys to heal someone if the person was still alive, but princess Kalama threatened him with his daughter's life." Adua said with some hint of pride in his voice.

"I know she threatened him. Will you teach a guy I know? He is already proficient at water-bending, so you don't need to teach him that. All you need to teach him how to heal people with water." Ignatius said as if he was expecting a yes.

"And why will I do that?" Adua asked, turning around and facing Ignatius.

"Because you will not be able to go back to your tribe before I see he can heal as proficient as you or better. I already observed you in the house, you seem to be the leader of them despite beaning the youngest, so I have some idea of how good you can heal. Not that I know anything about that subject."

"You will start a war between the Fire Nation and the Water Tribe." Adua said frowning.

"Do you really think that they will start a war with the fire nation because of an insignificant person like you? Even if you are the sixth-best healer, they can just train a new one. Also, don't say tribeS like the Northern tribe will even help you southern tribe with a quarrel that won't hurt water bending as a whole." Ignatius said laughing lightly. "If you finish teaching the guy, you can go back no problem. I will take care of your shelter, clothing, food, and also your safety while you are training him so you don't have to worry about that"

"Ok, but who is the guy I am teaching?" Adua asked, giving in.

"This guy in my arm." Ignatius said, using his head to gesture at Adam. "His name is Adam by the way."

"I thought he was a fire-bender?" Adua asked confused.

"He is a water-bender also self-learned. You will teach him healing and it will be all good." Ignatius said, nodding his head.

"Oh... Ok... If you say so." Adua said, still confused.

"Ok lead the way. When you are done showing me the path, go tell Kalama, if she is still talking with the Avatar, that it is time to go. If she is already on the ship, tell the captain to start moving toward Capital City." Ignatius said to Adua.

"Ok." Adua said.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Inside a room with twelve water-benders healers and Ignatius standing around Adam bed. 

"So how will we do this? I mean, twist his waist around the other way." Ignatius said looking down at Adua beside him.

"You grab his waist, while we hold him down, then you twist, it around." Adua said while inspecting Adam's waist.

"Damn, isn't that going to hurt him?" Ignatius asked thinking about the pain he would possibly feel when he is being twisted.

"No. It seems like he can't feel anything from his waist down. As long as you don't turn it too quickly, it will be alright." Adua said walking closer to Adam and holding him down. "Ok people, hold him down. When you are ready Ignatius, tell us. Remember, twist it slowly, if you twist it too fast, the force may cause a lot of pain to his upper body"

Ignatius grabbed his waist. "I am ready."

"Ok, 1..."

"2..."

"3 GO."

*TWIST**CRACK*

With one quick twist, Ignatius twisted his body around.

"..."

There was silence.

Till someone spoke.

"Hmm... what that? Did it hurt? THE PAIN!!! AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!! OHH THE AGONY!!!" Adam screamed at the top of his lungs, creating a wider, hot blast of fire from his mouth. 

Ignatius quickly controlled all the flame and kept it in check. But then the ship kept rocking back and forth from the raging water around the ship. 

"Why is it now that a thunderstorm wants to hit the ship." Ignatius shouted. He knew it was caused by Adam's but just said a random thing to cover it up. But thankfully, there was an incoming lightning storm.

The medics quickly got close to Adam and started appalling pain killer healing on him.

"Why did you do that Ignatius!? I told you to do it slowly." Adua shouted at Ignatius, punching him in his c.h.e.s.t. "What if the fire he breathed out killed us all."

'That was a weak punch.' Ignatius thought then said, "That would never have happened since I am here. Don't worry, as I told you, I will take care of your safety. What you scared you will die from a little fire like that?" Ignatius said, patting his head while smiling. "I will have to train you to be stronger if you want to be Adams master."

"Don't pat me like a pet." Adua said, removing Ignatius's hand form his head. "Leave the room, we will start his healing. He won't be able to walk for about a month after we heal him. I also have a lot of questions for you about him but that will have to wait for later."

Adua pushed him out of the room and closed the door. Ignatius looked at his hand.

' That felt like a girl's head.'