Chapter 3: Filtering the Cosmos
The bottom of the great lake was totally silent. The dark water was completely still.
Tian sat perfectly quietly on the smooth, grey stones. He did not move a single giant muscle. He closed his large, glowing eyes. He ignored the freezing cold water touching his golden scales. He ignored the tiny silver fish swimming quickly away from his huge nose. He pushed all of his mental focus deep inside his own massive chest.
He was looking directly at his own soul.
With his physical eyes closed, his ancient soul looked exactly like a giant, blinding sun. It was made of pure, wild cosmic energy. It was every single color in the universe mixed closely together into a bright, painful white light.
It was incredibly loud inside his head. The wild energy roared like a massive, angry waterfall. It crackled loudly like a giant forest fire. It pushed and pulled in every single direction at the exact same time.
It was absolute, total chaos. It was beautiful to look at, but it was completely useless for his new plan. He absolutely could not give this wild, burning sun to the tiny, fragile humans living in the peaceful village above him. The raw magic would instantly burn them to dry ash.
He desperately needed to break the giant sun into four separate pieces. He needed to create perfect order.
The glowing blue System box floated calmly in the dark space of his mind. It gave him a very clear, simple goal.
[Initiating Filtering Protocol.]
[Target 1: Isolate Fire Frequency.]
[Status: 0%]
"Okay," Tian thought to himself. "Let's start with the heat. Let's pull the fire out first."
He reached out with his invisible spirit hands. He pushed his spirit directly deep into the blinding white sun.
It hurt him immediately. It felt exactly like grabbing a huge handful of sharp glass and hot, burning coals. The wild cosmic energy absolutely did not want to be touched. It fought him hard. It aggressively tried to push his invisible spirit hands away. It burned his mind with terrible, sharp pain.
But Tian was a giant cosmic dragon. He was the Great Protector. He absolutely refused to let his own magic power defeat him.
He pushed his spirit hands even harder. He searched carefully through the blinding white light. He looked only for the feeling of pure, angry heat. He completely ignored the heavy parts of the magic. He completely ignored the wet, flowing parts of the magic. He only looked for the burning, destructive, angry red energy.
He finally found it. It was hiding deep in the exact center of the bright sun.
He grabbed the red heat tightly. He pulled it backward with all of his mental strength.
It was exactly like pulling a very thick, heavy, stubborn rope. The red energy slowly stretched out of the white sun. As he pulled the magic out of the mix, his physical dragon body reacted violently.
Down at the bottom of the quiet lake, his bright golden scales suddenly turned a dark, angry orange color. They grew incredibly hot. The freezing cold water touching his skin instantly began to boil.
Millions of tiny, hot bubbles hissed and popped loudly all around his massive body. The clear water quickly turned into thick, white steam. The water temperature rose so fast that the smooth grey stones beneath him started to crack from the extreme heat. Any fish that were too close quickly swam away in absolute terror.
The mental pain inside his mind was terrible. Holding the pure, separated fire was much harder than holding the mixed sun. The pure fire was incredibly angry. It desperately wanted to explode. It wanted to completely destroy the cold lake. It wanted to burn the beautiful green bamboo forest above into black smoke.
Tian clamped his giant jaws tightly shut. He forced the angry red energy to stay in a tight, perfectly round ball. He squeezed it hard with his invisible mind.
The blue System screen chimed with a helpful, soft sound.
[Target 1: Isolate Fire Frequency.]
[Status: 25%... 45%... 70%... 100%.]
[Fire Frequency successfully isolated. Stabilizing the pure energy...]
The clever System quickly placed a thin, blue digital box directly around the red ball of fire in his mind. The blue box locked the angry fire safely in place.
The terrible burning pain in his chest slowly faded away. The dark lake water around his real body completely stopped boiling. The thick white steam slowly drifted up toward the surface of the lake.
Tian let out a long, very tired breath. One element was finally done. Three more elements were left to pull.
He was already completely exhausted. His ancient spirit felt incredibly heavy and sore. But he knew he absolutely could not stop resting. The giant dark monster at the black mountain was still hitting the magic door. The terrible clock was still ticking down.
The blue System screen updated immediately. It did not care that he was tired. It only cared about finishing the great mission.
[Target 2: Isolate Water Frequency.]
[Status: 0%]
Tian looked back at the giant sun in his soul. It was no longer pure, blinding white. Because he took the angry fire away, the sun looked a little bit darker. It looked slightly blue and green now.
He reached his spirit hands back into the remaining energy. This time, he did not look for burning heat. He looked for the feeling of deep, quiet flow. He looked for the cold, smooth energy that gently wanted to heal cuts and gently wash away pain.
He found the Water frequency very easily. It was swimming lazily around the soft edges of the sun.
He grabbed it and pulled it backward.
The blue Water energy did not fight him like the angry Fire energy did. It was very smooth and incredibly slippery. It easily slid right out of the mixed sun. But holding it tight was a completely different problem.
The Fire was angry and wanted to explode. The Water was totally lazy and simply wanted to spread out everywhere. It absolutely did not want to stay in a neat, round ball. It constantly tried to leak right through his invisible spirit fingers. He had to squeeze it incredibly tight. He had to force the lazy water to hold a perfect, solid shape.
His physical dragon body reacted again. The terrible heat in his scales completely vanished. His golden body quickly turned a pale, sickly blue color. He instantly became much colder than solid ice.
The lake water all around his giant body instantly froze solid.
Thick, heavy blocks of clear, hard ice quickly formed completely over his sharp claws. The freezing ice spread quickly up his thick legs and directly over his long, heavy tail.
Tian was suddenly trapped deeply inside a giant, frozen tomb at the bottom of the dark lake. He could not move a single muscle. The terrible cold went deep into his ancient bones. His giant heart slowed down to a very slow, sleepy crawl.
He ignored the terrible freezing pain. He squeezed the blue Water energy in his mind even harder. He forced it to become a perfect, solid ball.
[Target 2: Isolate Water Frequency.]
[Status: 35%... 60%... 85%... 100%.]
[Water Frequency successfully isolated. Stabilizing the pure energy...]
The helpful System created a second blue box. It quickly locked the smooth blue ball of Water right next to the angry red ball of Fire.
The freezing pain instantly stopped. The thick, heavy ice covering his real dragon body loudly cracked. It suddenly shattered into thousands of tiny, clear pieces. The broken ice pieces floated quickly up toward the surface of the lake, leaving him free again.
Tian was finally halfway done. His giant dragon heart was beating very slowly. It was a heavy, incredibly tired rhythm. He felt exactly like he had been running fast for a hundred years without stopping to drink water.
The bright System screen flashed again.
[Target 3: Isolate Earth Frequency.]
[Status: 0%]
Tian looked at the remaining magic energy in his soul. With the hot Fire and the cold Water completely gone, the sun was much smaller now. It was a swirling, heavy mix of dark green and chaotic white light.
He reached deeply in for the Earth.
He searched closely for the feeling of absolute, unbreakable weight. He looked for the stubborn, hard, perfectly solid rock. He found it sitting heavily at the very bottom of his soul.
He grabbed it tightly. He tried to pull it out.
It did not move at all.
The pure Earth energy was incredibly heavy. It felt exactly like trying to lift an entire stone mountain with his bare hands. He pulled backward with all of his mental strength. Nothing happened. The dark green energy stayed perfectly still at the bottom of his soul.
Tian gritted his giant teeth. He decided to use his fear and his anger.
He clearly remembered the ugly, dead black mountain. He clearly remembered the starving, terrible, faceless beasts desperately trying to eat the beautiful green world. He pulled the heavy green energy with absolutely everything he had left in his tired spirit.
Slowly, very, very slowly, the heavy green ball lifted slightly out of the mix.
His physical dragon body groaned loudly. The extreme weight of the pure Earth energy transferred directly into his heavy dragon flesh. He suddenly weighed ten times more than normal.
His massive chest quickly sank deep into the bottom of the lake. The smooth, grey stones beneath him loudly cracked and completely exploded under his extreme, impossible weight.
A giant, dark cloud of brown mud and dirty dust kicked up into the cold water. The mud completely blinded his physical eyes. The entire bottom of the great lake shook violently like a terrible earthquake. Tian felt exactly like he was being crushed completely flat by an invisible giant's heavy hand. His thick bones creaked loudly in the dark water.
He held the green Earth energy incredibly tight. He absolutely refused to let it fall back down into the mix. He lifted it high up in his mind and forced it into a perfect, round shape.
[Target 3: Isolate Earth Frequency.]
[Status: 10%... 30%... 55%... 80%... 100%.]
[Earth Frequency successfully isolated. Stabilizing the pure energy...]
The third blue box quickly appeared. It safely locked the incredibly heavy green ball safely away from his mind.
The terrible, crushing weight on his physical body instantly disappeared. Tian gasped loudly, sucking in a huge, grateful breath of the cold water. The dirty brown mud slowly settled completely around him.
The bottom of the beautiful lake was completely ruined. It was smashed into a giant, deep crater by his own extreme weight.
He looked tiredly at the bright System screen. There was only one single step left to finish the great quest.
[Target 4: Isolate Air Frequency.]
[Status: 0%]
Tian looked directly at his soul one last time. The blinding, chaotic white sun was completely gone. All that was left was a wild, incredibly fast, spinning tornado of clear, white wind.
This was the pure Air energy.
Because the other three heavy elements were gone, the light Air energy was completely out of control. It was bouncing crazily around inside his chest exactly like a trapped, terrified bird in a small cage. It was far too fast. It was incredibly sharp. It was completely chaotic.
He did not need to slowly pull it out like the others. He just needed to figure out how to catch it.
He reached out quickly with both of his invisible spirit hands. He tried hard to grab the fast, spinning white wind.
It slipped easily right through his fingers. It loudly cut his spirit hands with thousands of tiny, completely sharp blades of pure air.
He tried again. He chased the fast wind around the empty, dark space of his soul. It was exactly like trying to catch thin smoke with bare hands. It was completely impossible to grab directly.
His physical dragon body started to shake violently. The wild Air energy was making all of his giant muscles twitch quickly. His giant tail whipped fast back and forth, smashing hard into the soft mud.
Massive, incredibly powerful currents quickly formed in the lake water all around him. The cold water started to spin faster and faster in a giant circle.
High above him, the flat surface of the great lake began to swirl crazily. A giant, dangerous whirlpool formed in the exact center of the blue water. The gentle wind above the green bamboo forest suddenly started to howl loudly. The pure Air energy spinning inside him was completely changing the real weather up in the sky.
Tian realized he absolutely could not chase the wind anymore. He had to easily trap it instead.
He used the clever System to help him. He mentally commanded the three blue System boxes holding the Fire, the Water, and the Earth to move. He moved the three solid boxes together into a tight, perfect triangle completely inside his mind.
He created a strong cage made out of the other three elements.
The wild, fast Air energy bounced hard off the heavy green Earth box. It bounced sharply off the burning red Fire box. It bounced quickly off the slippery blue Water box.
It suddenly had absolutely nowhere else to go.
Tian reached right in and grabbed the trapped white wind. He squeezed it incredibly hard with both of his invisible hands. He crushed the wild tornado down until it was a very small, perfect, clear ball. It vibrated wildly in his hands, trying desperately to escape, but he held it totally tight.
[Target 4: Isolate Air Frequency.]
[Status: 70%... 90%... 95%... 100%.]
[Air Frequency successfully isolated. Stabilizing the pure energy...]
The final blue box instantly snapped perfectly into place. It locked the clear ball of Air safely away forever.
Everything suddenly stopped.
The dark water completely around his body totally stopped spinning. The dirty mud settled peacefully back to the bottom. The terrible freezing cold completely returned to normal.
Inside his tired mind, the incredibly loud roaring noise of the chaotic sun was completely gone. The silence was perfectly beautiful.
Instead of a blinding, painful sun, Tian now had four perfectly separate, beautiful spheres of pure magical power. A red sphere. A blue sphere. A green sphere. A clear white sphere.
They floated peacefully and quietly in the dark space of his soul. They absolutely did not fight each other anymore. They were perfectly balanced together. They were perfectly, completely ordered.
The giant, golden System screen popped up quickly. It completely covered his entire vision. It flashed brightly with happy, exciting colors.
[Main Quest Completed: The Cosmic Filter.]
[Absolute cosmic power has been successfully categorized into Four Stable Elemental Disciplines.]
[Massive System Expansion Unlocked.]
[New Feature: Class Templates are now fully available in the System Directory.]
[- Class Unlocked: Waterbender.]
[- Class Unlocked: Earthbender.]
[- Class Unlocked: Firebender.]
[- Class Unlocked: Airbender.]
[Warning: The ambient chi of the Ta Lo dimension is rapidly reacting to the Guardian's massive internal change. A global environmental shift is currently occurring.]
Tian slowly opened his real, physical eyes. He felt incredibly, painfully weak. His massive dragon body ached terribly in every single golden scale. Just moving his heavy head felt exactly like trying to lift a giant boulder.
But despite the pain, he also felt incredibly clean. His human mind was perfectly sharp and completely clear. The confusing, terrible noise of the wild magic was completely gone. He knew exactly how his amazing power worked now. It was sorted. It was safe.
He looked closely at the dark water floating directly in front of his large nose. It looked totally different now. It was still dark and cold, but it now glowed with a very faint, highly structured, beautiful blue light.
The System warning was completely right. By fully changing the magic inside his own heart, he had accidentally changed the magic of the entire outside world.
The wild, loose silver dust of the Ta Lo dimension was quickly changing. It was splitting into four distinct, bright colors. The blowing air, the cold water, the heavy dirt, and the bright heat of the sun were all rapidly shifting into strict, perfectly solid rules.
Tian smiled warmly, showing his massive, sharp white teeth in the dark water.
His crazy plan actually worked. The cosmic filter was successful. The solid, unbreakable steel wall was finally ready to be built. The hungry dark monster would never be able to eat this structured magic.
He closed his incredibly heavy eyes again. He let his exhausted, aching body completely rest on the cracked grey stones. He desperately needed to sleep for a few short hours. He heavily needed to let his new, separated energy settle safely inside his chest.
But he knew he absolutely could not sleep for very long.
High above him, in the tiny wooden village surrounded by the green bamboo maze, the ordinary, fragile humans were just about to wake up. They were about to step outside their doors and realize their simple, quiet world was completely gone forever.
They were about to discover the amazing, dangerous magic of the Four Elements. They were about to feel the heat, the cold, the weight, and the wind in a completely new way.
The true, final test of the Dragon Avatar System was just about to begin.