THE ELDER (1 )

(in a city of fire nation)

Drip...a drop of sweat touches the ground and the sound could be heard clearly. The entire city square is silent and the sweat was dropping off from the bandits like they are taking a shower. The closer the Haoren gets to the bandits more the pressure they feel. Haoren takes one step at a time towards the bandit before he could come close to them, the bandit knees caves in and kneels down bent to the ground and wasn't even able to lift his head. When the city knight was at a meter from the bandit, sweat stopped and even his clothes started getting dry. his throat went dry he wants to beg for mercy but wasn't able to move a single muscle. Every single cell in his body felt burning sensation and excruciating pain could be seen in his bloodshot eyes. He wanted to scream in agony but even his throat went dry. Even breathing air felt hard. Slowly smoke start getting out of his body and his hair got burned, with a charcoal-like smell from his body at this point even if the city knight stops advancing towards him, it's impossible to save him. His inners were already burned and he went blind, deaf and dumb and there are holes in his lungs. Death is the only thing that awaits him and death is the only thing that he wishes.

After watching this the entire crowd was stunned if all that happened without moving a muscle then what would happen if he makes a move? The fear struck every person in the city. Yet that made them feel safer than fear. As long as they won't breach the rules they won't get hurt. The feeling of being watched and the fear to get caught when done a mistake kills all the malicious thoughts from the people which is necessary to keep the order in check.

Before the city knight could reach the bandit, he caught fire and burned into ashes. Then the city knight looks at two of his army men and they both stabbed a bandit each. Though they haven't taken down the city they have killed so many innocent people to get this far, they stole food from weak and left them to starve to death. Any single reason among robbing and killing people was good enough to kill them.

After displaying his power the city knight turned towards the crowd and says, "this city is under my protection. I won't spare anyone who crosses the rules. Anyone who disobeys the rules would be killed instantly, without any questions asked."

The city knight waves his hand and two of his army men comes in front and place their hands on the ground. With a loud rumble, walls start to appear from the ground and rise slowly and then those walls merge together and form a building that almost looks like a fort. This entire process took them five hours to complete and everyone in the city watched the strange building popping up from the ground slowly. The entire situation was so much shocking that they can't believe what's happening right in front of them. If they don't see what's happening with their own eyes there would be no way that they could have believed it.

It was almost evening and the sun was about to hide behind the hills. The two army men had finally completed building the fort-like structure in the centre of the city square.

They look pale And weak after the work but no one would dare to underestimate them. Just by a single look, one could clearly say that they have a tremendous amount of power and can't be messed with.

Seeing the completion of the knight's Fort the city knight waves in satisfaction and orders everyone to talk among themselves and write the problems that they face at this moment and need to be resolved as soon as possible and to create a report based on that and should be handed over to the city knight by the next morning. All the army men with city knight enter the fort to take rest. Though they are resting, two knights sat on top of the fort cross-legged and closed eyes. They look like they don't care about what's going on but the aura that they emanated feels like the entire area surrounding the fort is enveloped with their aura and ever one who approaches the surroundings can't shake the feeling of being watched by a strong existence.

At this moment the young man and the elder were walking slowly. The young boy was startled because he can't measure the strength of the seemingly weak elder. His thoughts were running wild but the silence made it heard to approach the elder. Just when the young boy was thinking about it the elder spoke slowly, yet the voice was clearly heard by him. it's like no one other than him could hear this elder and no one would realize they were walking. They blend in with the surroundings, not just the crowd around them but with the nature of the world itself.

With an amiable smile, the old man says "Do u want to ask anything?"

The young man was flabbergasted by this. Though he wants to ask a question, what if he asks something that opposes the elder? What if the elder gets offended and kills him? His thoughts are wandering and he looked at the elder with a conflicted look. He wanted to say nothing to the elder but after seeing the amiable smile of the elder he felt smooth and calming. He finally decided to ask the elder," did you come from out side the city". The elder simply nods in response.

with excited eyes the young man said, "Then you should have come from the outer world. So do u know what happened on that night? How is the world outside this city right now? Why is our city floating in the air? What happened to royal guards, why haven't they returned yet? And also one last question are you related to the magic knights?"

Just when the young boy completed asking the question two people walked right through them. The young boy can clearly see the two people. yet both of them have no idea about the young boy and the elder. They walked right through them like they never existed over there. seeing this the young man throat went dry for a second. He wanted to know what just happened right now and how can they walk pass through him and elder. His thoughts started wandering again, am I a ghost now? Did he already kill me? He felt like crying at that moment but buffed up his tears and look at the elder with tears filled eyes and mind full of questions, but with a simple smile, the elder said "Don't worry nothing will happen to you. We are aligned with nature so we can move freely through nature. As long as we are aligned with nature no one can see us or hear us. You can learn this if u want all u need to do is to come to the magic academy".

"Magic Academy? do you mean that i have to Cultivate? no way, I am not from any of the great family and who will teach me?" said the boy.

Taking a deep breath the elder said, "Have u heard about KALI, the Legendary mage? Legendary mage is the title given to the mage who is the strongest among all the mages in the empire. And it's no easy feat to get the title just because you are stronger than others doesn't get u the title of legendary mage title one should defeat the mages of the same realm and nine of them at once it isn't an easy task to get there and several experts tried to achieve the same and failed to do so.

His greatness isn't something that we can just talk in a single day. He created an education system where they will teach you the basic cultivation techniques and guide you to reach greater heights. To join the academy all you need is to have the interest to cultivate and one should not have any criminal background and as for the resources they will give you the missions and you need to complete them to get points, which you can exchange for resources in the academy."

"as for you asked about the outer world, you asked, you can say that we are in the night as far as I know there was a war between us and otherworldly beings and lots of them have sneaked into our world. Something went wrong in the war and many people died. We are in the dire need for powerful mages. The world is on the verge of collapse and all I know is that the legendary mage Kali is still alive and his magic is stopping the world from collapsing".

At this moment the elder suddenly moves his hand. The entire area went blur and they felt like they are standing at a point yet they were moving at an unbelievable speed that not even his eye could see what's out there. Just in a second they were standing somewhere else and when he finally saw something, he was on edge of a rock and it is steep. God knows how deep it is. Just by looking at it, he felt drowsiness and he subconsciously moved a step back and asked the elder, "where are we? What's this place ?" With a worried expression, the elder said "it's the edge of your city. Haven't you been here before don't you know your city is floating in the air". After seeing the sight in front of him, his eyes bulged out and he lost sanity for a second. "Elder, I have heard about it before while I was in the city but did not dare to come to see it as they said it's extremely dangerous to go near such places", said the boy. Understanding the situation the elder nods in response. Just when he was about to ask something a massive shadow covered the area all of sudden. He looked up to see the source of the shadow. The sight that unfolded in front of him made him shudder in fear and he fell to the ground looking upwards. "Just what in the hell is this? What's going on?" he shouted in panic.

seeing the panic in his eyes the elder explains the situation ,"As u can see there are other areas with the same issues that your city is facing. The above landmass floating in air quietly is one such example. It's the outer area of your city due to the rotation of the earth and the gravitational force of the Sun, the Moon and the wind currents of the areas that are separated from earth's core are moving and the KALI's magic is trying to put them in check".

Just after he spoke these words there is a golden glow under the huge landmass and a massive chain pulls the floating landmass to the area where it belongs and disappears. Seeing that sight the young man opened his mouth and said "just how much magic power does one require to pull such a heavy land mass and if the chain disappears after placing the landmass in its position wouldn't it move again?."

"Yes, it will move again but only if the forces act too high the landmass will move, but it's a waste of magic energy to keep the chain intact after the work is done. The force required to pull a moving object is more than the force that required for the object that isn't moving." said the elder.

"So you are saying that there is something other than the chain that keeps keeping the landmass from moving again?" asked the young boy

"Yes," said the elder.

After hearing that he observes the landmass again and there is a thin strand of the golden line under the landmass which isn't visible if one doesn't pay enough attention to it. While they were talking he felt a sudden chill and halted his movement.