“Each element has a fundamental element behind it”
David found himself in one of the many rooms in the chamber, having been led there by Richard for his training. Sensing that there was something strange about it, he went down and placed his hand on the ground below. The room seemed empty and was made of stone and designed with massive hexagonal pillars in both the floor and wall, but as David pierced through the earth, the room was made; he was able to see that those hexagonal pillars weren’t a design choice, for each one of them was a massive pillar, held together and connected to form both the ground and walls to the roof.
“Impressive, isn’t it? A marvel of architecture and design of the ancient world,” said Richard.
“It really is,” said David with eyes filled awe and wonder as he looked around the room, appreciating the impressive architecture of the room, wondering how anyone could build something so impressive.
“Alright, any gawking at the architecture. It’s time to begin your lesson”, said Richard before taking in a breath with morphing in to brown dragon eyes and then proceeded to strike the ground, causing the pillars to ripple and rise and send David flying straight up, colliding with the roof before crashing back down.
“What? Why? How?” David groaned as he got back up from the cold ground.
“This place was designed specially to train golden dragon warriors. It’s where your ancestors trained to understand each of the fundamental core attributes of the elements. And is where you will learn as well,” said Richard before using his powers to make a pillar rise out of the side of the wall and hit David.
The ring of the bell echoed throughout the academy, and as it did so, the students began venturing out of the academy, following their instructors on their dragons out in to the forest for power training.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” exclaimed Akiri, feeling the overwhelming and crushing weight of the massive boulder strapped to his back while, along with his fellow earth dragon warrior student, ran through the forest.
“Keep moving, you maggots! Come on, are you earthworms or earth dragon warriors?” their instructor yelled ahead of them as he led the way.
“Easy for him to say; he doesn’t have a hundred tons weighing against his back,” Akiri spoke underneath his breath.
“What was that?” asked the instructor, turning to face Akiri.
Akiri, looking as his imposing muscular physique, the battle scars littered all over his body, the most glaring of them all being the one on his right eye, with memories like how, occasionally, he would chuck flying boulders on the students while they were blindfolded, saying it was to hone and sharpen their senses, they all had to pay a visit to the school infirmary afterward, so how miraculously managing to survive with just a few broken bones. Akiri, upon replaying those memories in his head, looked at the instructor with a forced smile on his face, “Nothing, sir.” Not mad enough to dare to upset Ereti, a man crazy enough to put them all through hell for training.
“Okay, then pick up the pace. All of you, seriously, you’re all like babies who just learned how to walk”, said Ereti.
A student then stumbled and fell due to the massive weight of the boulder on her back.
“More like babies who can barely crawl, much less walk”, said Ereti as he continued leading the way.
Akiri then walked up to the fallen student and extended a hand to help him up.
“Thanks,” said the students before they continued their journey through the forest.
After what felt like a lifetime of walking and enduring the crushing weight of the massive boulder on their back, they were finally allowed to stop and free backs from the crushing weight of the boulders. Ereti had instructed them all to stop somewhere in the middle of the forest in front of the entrance of a dark cave.
“Thank goodness we can finally, back is killing me,” Akiri exclaimed while stretching his back, hearing the sound of his back cracking as he did so.
Akiri had managed to remain standing on his feet while most of the other students simply collapsed on the hard ground below upon being free from the crushing weight of the boulders on their back, too overcome with relief for their legs to continue to carry them.
“Unbelievable,” the booming and earth shaking voice the instructor echoed around them, jolting the students who were on the ground back to their feet.
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“Don’t tell a simple stroll is enough to bring you all down,” said Ereti.
“Stroll,” Akiri said underneath his breath, wondering how on earth anybody could call what they had just faced a simple stroll.
“What was that?” asked Ereti.
“Nothing, sir,” said Akiri nervously, hoping he didn’t hear him.
“Unbelievable, do you kids even understand what it means to be an earth dragon?” asked Ereti.
“The earth is strong and stiff; it is the foundation of which mountains rest. It is great enough to support the steps of all who plant their feet on its solid ground. And as earth dragon warriors, the strength and power of the earth are ours to command. It flows through us, within each breath we take and our very blood”, said Ereti before striking a fist down to the earth below.
Akiri, along with the other students, then felt something from underneath the very ground they stood on.
“None of you understand the true power of the earth and strength you possess, and as your teacher, it’s my duty to show you,” said Ereti.
The ground underneath the students began to move, pulling and dragging them all towards the cave, leaving them no time to do anything but panic in fear, thinking that Ereti had finally lost it and was about to kill them.
Ereti, once all the students were inside the cave, used his power to seal the entrance of the cave with boulders the students carried.
The students, panicked and confused, looked on with fear and dread in their eyes as they saw the light from the cave’s entrance vanish as Ereti sealed the cave. They all then began to panic, wondering what on earth was going on Ereti’s head, knowing how extreme he could be at times, but sealing them all in a cave was taking things far even for him.
“Listen, you maggots,” Ereti spoke from the other side of the sealed cave, with a serious tone in his voice.
“When the headmaster assigned me to be your training instructor, he did so with the condition that I would go easy on you all,” said Ereti.
“Easy, what on earth is he talking about?” one of the students murmured.
“I’ve had to have broken every single bone in my body during each one of his training sessions, and he’s been going easy on us,” another student questioned.
They all then felt a light rumble from the ground underneath their feet.
“However,” Ereti continued.
“In light of recent events, the headmaster gave me the go ahead to do with you all as I please to make you all strong enough to defend yourselves if you ever run into trouble,” said Ereti with a smirk on his face.
The rumbling grew louder and louder, eventually transforming in sound of a horde of matching mad beasts as it the ground beneath began to quake and shake. Then, the massive pieces of rock and stone that hung above them all at the top of the cave began breaking apart and then proceeded to fall straight down towards them.
The students, sensing danger, saw the rocks plummet and fall down from the top of the cave and used their powers to create a protective shield made of earth and stone above their heads to protect them. Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, stone spikes began to sprout from the ground underneath them, forcing them all to have to dodge and leap out of the way before the spikes could reach them while always avoiding the rocks that were busy falling from up above their heads
Ereti then took a breath in. “You have no idea how good you have it. You all truly don’t know how lucky you are not be born during my time. You’ve probably been taught in your class about how terrible everything was back when the Dark Dragon Lord was alive. I truly envy you all for not having to face what we had to”.
A student, while trying to avoid the spikes, stumbled down to the ground and hurt his foot. And looming the students heads were huddling straight down for him. The student, with the injury on his leg, got up in and to protect himself as the falling rocks fell, and it seemed as though he was done for, but then, just as the rocks were about to reach him, someone leaped to his aid. Erecting a massive wall from the earth below and using it to protect the student.
“Are you okay?” asked the person who just said her
The student then looked up at her savior; although the cave was pitch-dark and only faint shadows could be seen within the cave, the student, using her senses alone, could make out who it was; it was Akiri.
“We thought we could move on past the pain and loss after he was defeated, but idiots just don’t know when to quit. Stubborn and ruthless, they are willing to do anything and cross any line to achieve their stupid mission, and that includes hurting you all,” said Ereti.
“*Sigh*, that’s why you all need to get stronger,” said Ereti.
The then began to pound and quake as though hundreds of hammers were continuously pounding against it, causing even larger chunks of rocks to rain down. The rumbling earth beneath their feet made it difficult for the students to dodge the rock as they barely escaped being flattened and crushed by it.
Akiri was forced to grab hold of the student and leap out of the way to avoid being crushed by a massive rock.
“What’s going on? Is Mr. Ereti trying to kill us?” the student asked, fearing and panicking for her life.
Akiri just remained silent and gently placed the ground. Akiri then looked at his hand, recalling what the instructor said, and “...that's why you need to get stronger.
‘Stronger,’ Akiri thought to himself, as flashes of memories of the dark dragon warrior’s attack flooded his head.
‘Strength isn’t really my strong suit, ironic seeing as I’m an earth dragon warrior,’ Akiri recalled seeing his father’s lifeless corpse amidst the scattered rubble.
‘I would much rather bury my face in a good book than seek out strength, *sigh*, however.’ Akiri’s fist tightened as he recalled how he, Flora, Susan, and Steven went after the dark dragon warriors to rescue David.
‘Things have changed. Don’t want to have to lose anyone else, especially her’, Akiri said, recalling how he struggled during his fight against the dark dragon warriors with an image of Flora being attacked by the dark dragon warriors flashing in his mind.
Akiri then took in a deep breath, closed his eyes shut, and opened them up as brown dragon eyes.
“Akiri,” the student asked, sensing something change within him.
Akiri then leaped off, his body turning in to earth, and with a ready fist, he collided with one of the massive rocks headed straight for them.
