“Whoa, that’s genius, and it just might work. Actually if I’m right, with the talent you showed during that sparring session, we can triple the range.” Said Hope with clear excitement.

“Ok big sis, I’m going to start now. “said Koren as he knelt down and put his left hand on the sand. Koren changed all of his elemental points to earth, and concentrated it on his left.

He then put his right hand, the one with the ultrasonic instrument, on the sand as well. “Here goes nothing.” Said Koren as he closed his eyes and started to ‘see’ the earth. He activated the instrument, as it gave off a ping sound, followed by another after a second, representing the ultrasonic image completed rendering.

“Nice Koren the range was extended, but only by 5 km, you need to concentrate on the earth and leave the radar to me.” Said Hope as her form super imposed on Koren.

Koren concentrated only on the earth, and tried to use his earth elemental power to reduce the friction the sound will face when going down.

‘…ping…ping…’

“Oh my, Koren we found the caverns. The range this time was 65 kilometre’s, you did it.” Said Hope as she started to jump up and down in glee.

“I can see it Big sis” said Koren as he started to inspect the 3d render of the underground caverns. The caverns were a web of underground tunnels, they seemed endless. Koren noticed a few red dots in some of the tunnels.

“Big sis, are those the locations of the Sand beasts, or the spiritual beasts.” Asked Koren looking concerned.

“Not sure, the radar can only differentiate if something is alive or not, we would need more power to activate more sophisticated instruments to detect the exact type of creature. For now we can only try this approach.” Replied Hope.

“OK big sis, I can use the earth elemental spiritual power to make myself sink underground, but what if they are stronger than me. I mean, I don’t exactly have an advantage when fighting underground.” Said Koren

“Don’t worry, the Armor will pick up their levels, as soon as we are within a kilometre of them.” Said Hope reassuringly.

“But what if they are a lot stronger than me, I won’t be able to escape.” Asked Koren with obvious worry.

“Oh Koren, You are wearing the most advanced Guardian Armor ever made. Don’t forget it kind of used to be my body, I know what its capable of even in its current state. I would never ask you to go down here if I thought you could get hurt.” Replied Hope, her voice full of confidence.

“Now Koren, its time.” said Hope as her turned to mist and she appeared on Koren’s helmet display.

“OK then, here we go.” Said Koren as the sand started to pull him in.

************

In a dark room, slightly lit with glowing blue crystals imbedded in the icy roof, stood eight statues carved out of ice.

“My Lady, the connection is ready, you can speak.” Said a woman as she and her helper’s bowed.

Ukara stepped forth and gestured with her hand to be left alone. The woman looked up at the Lord of frost city, Ukara Halfrist, and nodded, she gestured her assistants to follow her and walked out of the room.

Ukara looked at the statues, which at this point had started to glow as bright as the crystals overhead. “Why was I called.” Said Ukara in a nonchalant tone.

“Little Princess, you should have heeded the words of the council, I can’t stand up for you now.” Said the 3rd statue.

“Thank you Uncle Rolf, but I don’t need the councils permission to do what is right.” said Ukara, her voice calm, her demeanour fierce.

“Lord Ukara, we have convened this meeting to decide your punishment, for your reckless actions on the flat plains.” Said the 4th statue, in an assertive tone.

“Yes, yes. You reckless woman, you should have just let the crown prince make a fool of himself. The Draconians would never dare to attack the 9 great cities when they have the Raavi to worry about. But, but you, YOU!!, you actually used the dragon essence crystal. You rogue!!” Said the 8th statue, in a scurried tone, with a distinct stutter.

“Hmm, indeed. Your actions were not in line with our doctrine.” Said the 1st statue, in a kind but inquisitive tone.

Ukara, who at this point was looking at the 4th statue spoke. “Lord Anso, I did what was right, what you were too afraid to do.”

“We humans, as a race, have been stuck in a vicious cycle of neglect and ignorance. When are we going to realize, that the status quo is not permanent. Every single Lord of Frost city since it was first established in the wild ages, has attempted to complete the essence path and died in its pursuit. No lord has lived past the age of 30, my father included. Numerous Lords, may I ask, how old are all of you.” Said Ukara as she turned to all the statues.

“Ukara, its more complicated than you think, we had our city to take care of, our descendants.” Said the 3rd statue, in an apologetic tone.

“Lord Ukara, your father was a great man, and he gave his life up for the betterment of the human race. But he also left you in charge of Frost City at the age of 16. You were not ready for such a huge responsibility, and the actions you have taken on the flat plains are proof that you have learned nothing over the last 10 years. Your actions have jeopardised all 9 great cities.” Said the 4th statue, its voice flustered and defensive.

“Lord Anso, since my ancestor, first discover the ‘Gem’, buried in the heart of the colossus glacier on which this city was built, we have been busy studying its power.”

“100 years ago we finally found a way to use our essence and blood from powerful spiritual beasts to create the essence crystals. Since then we have made so many leaps in perfecting the technique, and 2 days ago I proved that the essence crystal can help us promote our spiritual path cultivation by 2 whole levels for a brief amount of time.”

“This discovery can change the dynamic of power, and finally help us gain a foot hold. Why, why must we continue to hide. All of you are only worried about your people, but what about our people, the millions of human slaves in the draconian kingdom, the millions of humans living on the dregs of the Raavi. What about them, or do they not matter.” Said Ukara, her voice calm, but loud enough to move the statues from their bases.

“What I did in the flat plains was only a demonstration, the Draconian Kingdom now knows that we are in possession of something that can increase our battle capabilities. I intend to mass create the essence crystals, and spread them to the human warriors outside the Luna range. I am not asking, I am telling this council of my plans.” Said Ukara as she turned around to walk away.

“You bitch, I…I will not let you ruin us. If you do this, then…then I will stop you. The Gem belongs to all of us, not just your frost city.” yelled the 8th statue, its voice not having any effect as Ukara walked away.

“It seems we have to act.” Said the 4th statue after Ukara left the room.

“let me speak to her, I will arrive in frost city in a weeks’ time and try to change her mind.” Said the 3rd statue.

“Rolf, she is too headstrong, just like her father, she won’t listen to reason. However, I know Freyaz was your friend, so I will give you the chance, but if you fail, we will act. Is everyone in agreement.” Said the 4th statue as it looked at all the others.

After 7 distinct sound of ‘Aye’, the statues finally started to go back to normal blocks of carved ice, faceless and blunt.

************

“Ah, reminds me of the good old days, back then this world was mostly volcanos and oceans. I had so much fun exploring, I often used to bury myself underground to search for exotic matter.” Said Hope with a sigh as Koren was slowly being dragged down underground.

“Big sis, weren’t you lonely. I mean you were the only intelligent creature around.” Asked Koren, while using his earth elemental power to sink further.

“Well, yeah Koren, it does kind of get lonely, but you know I had a mission. The United Earth Defence Force was my home, my mother raised me there for 7 Sol Cycles, that’s around 5.4 years on this worlds time, and trillions of years for an AI like me. I had an intense desire to get back.” Said Hope, as her eyes started to get misty.

“Big sis, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” Said Koren apologetically.

“No, no. Koren you have nothing to apologize for. As my mother used to say, everything happens for a reason, although I can’t prove that mathematically, but I still feel comfort hearing those words. You and I are together now, one day, I will take you to Earth, and show you the wonders of the 33rd century.” Said Hope in a nurturing tone.

“Big sis we are close, we will enter one of the tunnels soon, and there’s a red dot nearby.” Said Koren as he closed the 3d render.

“Koren, look at your display, this one is strong” said Hope with worry and excitement.

Koren quickly looked at the stats for the red dot.

Name: Sand Serpent, Type: Earth, Level:9, Harmonization Level:6