Chapter 6: Earthbending... or not

The young man, after stopping the sailer, moved away letting his superior drive, while Solon focused all his attention on the older man as he tried to make his idea reality.

He started trying to use pure strength to rotate the sand, which led to the sand being thrown around the place hitting some people in the face. The moment Solon saw the way the man used earth he immediately understood what he was doing wrong and wanted to correct him.

"No, no, no. What are you doing? Why are you-"

"I don't want your help, outsider, I will manage this on my own. Don't think that because the lion-turtle spared your life we will actually listen to anything you say."

"Tsk, I just wanted to help you don't have to be a dick about it."

After throwing sand around and hitting almost everyone with it, the man decided that he had enough.

"That's it, let's go back, I need more time to practice this, time we don't have right now since we need to take the food back." he orders with frustration at his failure.

"Yes, sir." X29

Answered the soldiers and started driving the boat towards the huge lion turtle that has been looking at them since he got there.

[half an hour later]

"Respected lion turtle, I know that no one can take the power of the element inside the city, due to the chaos that happened 20 years ago, but I ask of you to choose one of us to keep it, in order to be able to fight against this man in case of something going wrong."

"This man doesn't possess the power of the element. However, I will allow it as long as you don't abuse it's power for your own benefit. As for who will keep it, it will be you, general Bumi, because you have shown your loyalty to the human race as a whole."

"Thank you for your trust." answeres the middle-aged man now known as Bumi.

"So your name is Bumi huh...? Nice to finally meet you."

"Shut it outsider, from now on you will be following me around, no matter where I go. That way I can keep my eye on you."

"Yeah, ok I get it you don't trust me, you made that clear."

"Let's go, I have to inform the king about you."

[Solon POV]

'The one who designed this city is a fucking lunatic.' I think as I am climbing the 10 thousand stairs that lead to the city.

"What happened outsider? Tired? If you want to quit, you can always leave." Bumi says with a smile

"As if, you bastard. I will get into the city even if it's the last thing I do."

"HAHA, that's the spirit." he says with a smile.

[1 hour later]

"Told you I would get up here." I look at him with a smile.

"I must say I am impressed. I expected you to chicken out after 1000 steps. Now come with me to meet the king."

"Ok , lead the way."

As I am walking behind Bumi I look around the city.

'This place looks nice, although the color brown and green are not my favourite they match a lot with the way people here live I think as I look around the stores around me.'

"The people here seem nice, but they act way too passively in their life. Why is that?"

"What do you mean?" Bumi asks me.

"We just passed by a store where the custommer and the owner were arguing about who will name their price first. Shouldn't the owner name a price and then bargain with the customer about it?"

"Oh, you mean that. You see most store owners in the market are hunters that travel and collect the things they sell." he tells me as if that is an answer.

"What does that even mean?"

"Well, if you want to go outside you must obtain the power of the element and in order to use earth for anything you have to wait and listen for the right moment to strike. That lead to hunters developing a passive personality since they always wait to strike."

"It didn't seem that way when you tried to impale me with a stone spike."

"Silence, we have reached the palace. You will be meeting our king now so be respectful." he tells me and I decide to wait until later to ask my questions.

[Third POV]

"General Bumi? May I know, why are you here?" asks a guard holding a spear in his right arm with respect on his voice

"I am taking this outsider to meet the king."

"Outsider? What is he doing here?" he said as he signaled at a servant that left quickly.

"He is looking for someone named Aether, I would have executed him on the spot once I found him, but the lion-turtle vouched for him."

"I see, go on the king is on the throne room."

Then Bumi lead Solon inside the throne room where a man with a thick beard and huge muscles, wearing green robes and a green, metal crown sat on a stone chair and looked down on them.

"Your majesty." said Bumi as he kneeled in front of the man

"General Bumi, who have you brought here to meet me?" 

"Greeting your majesty, my name is Solon."

"Why are you here outsider? I thought that no one is foolish enough to leave the safety the lion-turtles graced us."

"I seek knowledge, so I want your permission to learn how to use the power of the earth from your hunters, as well as every piece of knowledge you can and want to provide me." he said changing his plans at the last moment.

"I thought you were looking for someone named Aether, did you lie to me?" asks Bumi with clear anger in his voice.

"Of course not, I am indeed looking for someone named Aether, however after looking around the town I cannot contain my curiosity about everything in it. So I changed my plans, Aether can wait, right now I jut want to learn everything I can."

After a moment a servant went and whispered something to the king.

"Hmm... Very well, I shall allow you to learn every piece of knowledge you can obtain and I will even have Bumi here to teach you to use the power of earth. However I won't provide assistance in obtaining the power from the lion-turtle, and I would like for you to give us a part of the techniques you invent if you manage to do so." The king states his demands.

"That is acceptable. So, do we have a deal?" Asks Solon?

"We have a deal. You can leave now, Bumi will be providing you with everything you need during this time." says the king with a smile.

"Thank you." says Solon with a smile

~~~~~~~~~~{Chapter end}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~