"Gasp!!!"
"Did I zone out?" Kayne questioned his mind.
"Oh yeah, I was floundering, and now I'm..." he realized passing out didn't grant him release from the veins.
He began shaking and twisting his anatomy to break loose.
"Aah!!" he cried. "Stop it, don't go for broke!!" Yohn yelled at Kayne.
It was of great wonder that the old hag was still breathing.
"The more you try to resist, the more they crush you. My only mobile parts are my mouth right now," he said.
"Look what you got us into," Kayne complained.
"Why were you trying to steal my food in the first place?" Yohn asked.
"I'm trying to survive here, and who asked you to fight an angry spirit, which I saved you from," Kayne argued.
"I appreciate your help back there, kid, but it didn't seem to end it all as you can see," Yohn added.
"If you only let me keep the snack, we wouldn't be here," said Kayne.
"If only you asked me first, you wouldn't have to... ugh!!!" Yohn groaned.
The veins resumed squeezing and tightening harder around his body than before. "Looks like yelling at each other doesn't help, so let's work something out," groaned Yohn.
"Huh!?" Kayne asked.
"What bender are you?" Yohn demanded.
"Have you forgotten already? I tried to stop you with a boulder of rock," Kayne said.
"Can you bend the mud? All earthbenders should be able to bend mud," Yohn asked.
"You got a plan with that... I don't think mud can..." Kayne paused to think of the situation and realized he could save them or himself. All he had to do was think around the issue.
Both men were strangled and tied up by spirit veins at the edge of their death. But this time they have no avatar to save them.
Kayne grinned and groaned as he screwed and squeezed his feet out of the vein, removed his sandals, and each toe of his feet stretched to touch the ground. With the plan to mud bend them out. But for a price in return.
"Hey, old man!! I'm gonna save us both, but in return, you give me my share of the meat!!" he exclaimed.
"Fine, just get us out of here," Yohn responded, gradually overshadowed by the veins squeezing harder.
Kayne struggled to bring his feet to the ground. He bent his hands and turned his feet. This forcibly pulled out mud out of the pond. It crawled on his skin upwards until it swarmed around his body. The grip loosened due to the slippery nature of wet mud. The mud slipping in between them made it slippery for the vein. He gained enough space to land both feet and managed to make a pillar pose to push wet sand towards Yohn and cover him as well.
"Hang in there," said Kayne.
He started to spin on his axis and loosen from the roots. With enough energy recovered, he pushed the veins into the distance and slipped out of the grip before it closed in. He earth-bent and held the veins in a hill of mud and stiffened his fist to trap hold it down.
He then swung his arms and saved Yohn in the same way and helped him move out if the pond as he tried to catch his breath from the heavy squeeze that caused his suffocation. He took him to a nearby tree to rest.
Blow!! Whoom!!
The veins broke free. They went towards them. Yohn rolled away and escaped but witnessed the veins pulling Kayne back into the pond by the feet. The others joined, and Kayne was trapped again.
"Get off me," he screamed.
"I said.... get off me!!" his voice filled with anger. He forcibly earthed the ground up like a platform to elevate himself upwards. He changed the pose of his feet as his arms were spread still gripped by the veins.
Thump!! Thump!!
He stomped his bare feet and earth-bent the ground surrounding the veins and pushed heaps of rocks at them. His arms were freed. He jumped off the rock pillar and landed with a stomp.
Thomp!! Wham!!
Each step to the ground pushed chaotic sprays of pointed rocks and gravels all over the floor and stabbed the veins in the air. Kayne leaped slightly and hit the ground with both arms, leaving them pulsing, bringing out an enormous boulder which he kicked midair, smashing and pushing the veins with the entire area of the forest in the way away.
Kayne fell to the ground in exhaustion.
"Here is your share," Yohn handed over the price of food as agreed. Both settled beneath a huge tree.
Kayne, without hesitation, pushed the junk into his throat. Yohn was shocked to see this. The boy was done within a blink of an eye.
"Let's start all over, hi I'm Yohn," he said, pushing his spread palm for a handshake.
Kayne paused motion while eating, stared at his hand, and resumed consumption.
Gulp!! Ahem!?
Kayne swallowed it all down and cleared his throat. He then apologized for the theft act and shook Yohn's outstretched hand.
"I'm a hermit, I live in a cave due south. You?" he asked.
"I'm, uh, I'm lost. I've been starving for some hours now, thinking of soft sand to fall in case I died walking until I met you," Kayne said.
"At least you would rest in peace, away from the pain of the human flesh. The spirit feels nothing," said Yohn.
"It's been difficult to sleep. I get nightmares every time I try shutting my eyes. And they're eerie ones too," he complained.
"What nightmares?" Yohn asked.
"Every time I rest, I see spirits. But not what we see normally. Humanoid, and they all have a bright glow in their eyes and markings," Kayne narrated.
"Did you try meditation?" Yohn asked.
"Meditation? I don't think that helps. Does it?? I'm not a full diver and mostly doze off in the act," said Kayne.
"If you learn to do it, you can speak to those spirits and drive them or accept them depending on the reason they trouble you," said Yohn.
"I can teach you if you're willing to do it," he added.
Kayne accepted it and started practicing throughout the evening till sunset. He saw a glimpse of the spirit world in the process and woke up scared but also joyful.
"It worked, I did it!!" Kayne celebrated.
He thanked Yohn and accepted some advice on it to keep practicing. He packed up and left for home.
Kayne now sits in his room with a scroll in his hand. He had reminisced on everything the monk told him. And decided to begin meditation. He sat in a lotus pose, both legs crossed, and arms resting on his thighs. He shut his eyes, relaxed, inhaled, and exhaled.
His aura spread across the area like ripples of water. It spread over trees and houses and animals. He could feel everything and even the spirits and could feel the souls of people dwelling in their bodies. Finally, his own spirit appeared in the spirit world close to the city spirit portal.
It seemed to be a random spawn. He came out into the physical world at the swamp.
"Wow... this is beautiful. I'm spirited in the physical. I'm sure it's possible because of the spirit's capability to be here as well," he said in amazement.
"The souls of people too."
He closed his eyes and caused a ripple effect again. He could feel the people around in that radius. Only the ones alive were visible. With every glance, he learned wonders of the spirit world.
"But why can't I feel Lrosa's soul?" he asked. He suddenly gasped in realization. This pushed him out of concentration and back into the physical world. He moved in haste to the sleeping site of his Aunt.
He tried waking her but nothing... he moved the back of his hands to her nose to make sure she was still breathing.
But the air around her nose wasn't warm.
"Oh no," his voice trembled.