Embodiment Of The Sun

CHAPTER 4 : THE EARTHEN CITY

Falling inside a chasm in the earth was the last thing she remembered when she lost consciousness. Aneya slowly opened her eyes after feeling like she was laying on sand for one or two hours.
"Aghhh.... My head hurts... , " she said.
She looked around her surroundings but saw only ruins. By the looks of it, it was a great civilization which is only sand and stone now.
"Where the hell am I? " she grunted.
A few steps left of her, she saw a sign which was covered in sand and was left to rust in a pile of stone.
"Heaven on Earth, EARTHEN CITY" the sign read.
"But there's no city here, only ruins! What am I gonna do now..... "
While she was grunting, she didn't notice someone coming towards her.
"Are you a human? What are you doing here? " the stranger asked.
Aneya turned around and saw a woman , who had similarities with Akshen. She had the same sand like body but with just one or two stones attached. She had a big basket on her back which was made from hardened sand.
"Some guy named Akshen told me that my people would be here..." She replied.
Her face broke into smile as she saw the brown gem in her  forehead. She put down the basket and handed her something that looked like a big coconut.
"You are at the right place but at the wrong ground level. Come with me. Eat this. We call it softnut. It looks like it's rock hard but it's super soft when you bite into it. It's so nutritional that you can survive a week just by eating two of these. " the woman said who was wearing a gown like dress.
"But there's nothing here, " Aneya said.
"Just follow me. Oh my, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Sarin.
And yeah we are your people. We call ourselves the Anshath. Watch your step! We don't wanna lose our earthweilder " she said.
"This is all so confusing.. I don't even know how to control the earth and this - " Aneya had nearly fell inside a big hole again when Sarin stopped her.
"We need to jump down this hole but we need to hold something first." She took out a tiny shard out of her pocket which was wrapped with cloth. "This is a small part of the gift we were given from our earth dragon. By holding this you can enter the Earthen City. " Sarin said.
Aneya was listening silently while munching on the softnut.
"But is it enough for us? " she asked.
"You are an earthweilder, you can literally move mountains, with the power of that gem passed down from generations. It is a part of the earth dragon itself, so you will be fine. I am gonna jump down first" Sarin urged her to jump down after her.
A second later, she jumped inside the dark hole. After thinking for some seconds, Aneya jumped too.
"Here goes everything!!!! " she screamed.
For some seconds she couldn't see anything. Then she saw a thousand blobs of light illuminating the way underneath. Which she thought was fireflies. Then suddenly she felt a pressure upwards. She suddenly started going upwards and with a thud, hit the ground but managed to land on the ground somehow.
"Woahhhhhhhh.., " she said with wonder.
It was a huge cave..... maybe the size of mariana trench or bigger. But what stunned her more was the huge civilization on the roof of the cave.
"Gravity works the opposite here. A gift from the dragon too, an earth crystal sustains this wonder. It's kept at the heart of the city.
Come, follow me" said Sarin.
They both were walking forward on the roof of the cave which was the ground for the underground city. Aneya was left in awe as she saw many huge buildings made from bricks and many Anshath kids playing, people working and laughing.
"Due to this city being underground, we use ghostflies as our light source. They are immortal and harmless creatures. Just give them some grains from time to time, they will keep on shining brightly" Sarin said, "Grandpa! Look who I found! "
An old man came out of a house and a crowd gathered around them. "It's the newest Earthweilder! "
The crowd cheered and jeered. The man said, "Hello human. I am Sora. Elder of this city and chosen to be the mentor of the next Earthweilder which you are" said him.
"I am Aneya. I just want to meet with my sister and friends again.... " she said.
"We haven't seen a human before in 80 years. I was a little kid when the last Earthweilder had been sent to my father to train. He grasped the technique quite quickly. You can't leave until you have learned how to control it, " said Sora.
"What if I don't want to do it all! I just want to go back to my friends, send me back, please! " Aneya requested.
Sarin placed a hand on her back, "I am sorry, you have to go through with this, but to be our savior you need to be strong. You can go meet your friends after you have learned the basics. "
"What did I get myself into... " she sighed, "I feel sleepy too... , it must be at least 3 am back at home. " she sighed.
"You are wrong, my child. Time works differently here. 75 years here might only be just 10 years on earth. Sarin will give you a room. We need to start the training from tomorrow" he replied.
After resting for what it felt like one night, her training started.
"We suffered a lot in the war, the tyrant raged upon us, many of our people perished. We had to go underground to save the rest of the people. Now you can be our savior" Sora said,"You need to connect with your dragon. That gem is a part of your soul. You need to find the dragon in your mind, establish the connection. Then you can control the earth itself like the dragon" Sora said.
"And how? By meditating? " she grunted.
"Exactly, " Sora replied while Aneya looked at him with confusion and annoyance.
Some days went by, Aneya could finally establish the connection by seeing the bronze dragon enter her body through the gem's vision.
"I did it!" She screamed after she managed to cause a small earthquake and lifted a building few feets off the ground after rigorous training to control the earth.
"I believe you are ready, you can go to your friends now. I will tell you how, it's relatively easy after you have made the connection with your dragon", Sora said.
" Yay ; finally! I miss my sister and friends so much! " she said with delightment. But it was gonna be short lived as a shadow suddenly rose from the ground and coiled and twisted itself into a hound that was at least 15 feet tall. It's jaw had thousands of teeth and shadowy wisps were emanating from its body as it howled with rage.
"Oh no, the shade is back!!! Everyone get to safety!", screamed Sora.
Everyone started running while the hound was slowly making it's way towards Aneya. " it sensed your presence Aneya! You have to go to safety", screamed Sarin.
"No, I won't let it harm you guys anymore! " she screamed.
A brown hue started glowing around her as she started controlling the earth to do her bidding.
"Go away, you monster! " she screamed as she made an upward motion and lifted a big piece of earth and threw it at the hound.
It easily dogded it and tackled Aneya to the ground. She tried to lift another boulder to hit the hound but it easily swept past it.
"What do i do... What do i do.. " she made a down right motion and rained stones from the ground of the cave. Some big stones were able to hit the hound while it was trying to look for a way to not get hit.
One by one, Aneya kept hurtling big boulders at him and slowly started to gain the upper hand.
"Aaaghhh! "
Suddenly the hound bounded to bite her and managed to smash her a into a building, though surprisingly she wasn't hurt badly as the hue acted as a protection.
"Get away, you fowl creature!! " she screamed as she let the building crash down onto to the shade hound.
It made a whimpering noise before disappearing back into the ground.
"Gosh, that hurt, " Aneya wiped off the blood from her lips and dusted off herself.
Sarin came to help her and check her injuries. "Will you finally tell me how to go to my friends? " she said to Sora.
"Thank you for saving us, " Sora and Sarin said.
"You need to close your eyes and imagine meeting with your desired person, the dragon will guide you and take you there," replied Sora.
"Take care of yourself, hope your friends are okay, " Sarin wished her well as Aneya thanked them and said her goodbyes in return.
"Alora, I am coming.., " she sighed as she closed her eyes and disappeared......