Author: hey is for horses but anyway whats going on just finished this ch and i immediately thought of you guys so here ya go my ppl and as always PEACE!!

Ch 43

It was a typical day when I woke up, the sun had just barely begin to rise over the horizon and I was in a terrific mood. My wife as usual had a small but delicious meal prepared for breakfast and when I was done I went for my normal run, well, normal in a sense. You see, I am a warrior, not just any type but a ground elemental warrior. You see I can feel the ground and the very minerals beneath my feet and bend them to my will.

In doing so, it allows me a special technique that only a few have mastered which is called World Walking. With this technique, I can slip into the very world itself and in a sense become one with it. This allows me to traverse underneath the surface of the ground at speeds reaching thousands of feet per second and so I run. I go from one village to the next. I go through mountains, underneath forest and beneath rivers all throughout the land.

Within an hour, I've traveled nearly 3000 miles roundtrip. I come back home to see my wife holding our infant child smiling over him adoring him. I kiss her gently and stroke my child's soft head. He is nearly 1 years old and his hair is light and fluffy as soon as he sees me he makes goo-goo noises and grabs hold of my thumb and then my wife complains of my sweat and shoos me out the door.

I laugh and head to my field. I live in a fairly large village, but even so my land alone covers more than half of it, 15 miles all farmland. It might seem strange to see a mansion right next to a farm but to me it's normal. With my affinity with Gordonia, raising crops is quite simple and even though my farm is the biggest around it only takes me an hour by myself to tend to it all.

After my work in the field, I return back to my home where a maid has already drawn me a bath. Although I love the warm water I'm a bit reluctant to wash away the dirt because to me dirt isn't just crud and filth, to me it is gods blessing. It gives life to all that we consume, it holds our hopes and our futures in it as well as our deaths. It is part of the circle that completes the chain of life. To me, it truly is special, my wife, on the other hand, hehehe, of course, she wants me clean.

Afterward, me, my wife and son and 2 of my maids travel by carriage to a nearby city. Although I would much rather world walk because it would be much quicker my wife complains of how dirty I would get again and so we reach the city in a little over an hour and my wife's shopping begins. A dress here accessories there, it really is quite boring for me. The only saving grace is when we enter a jewelry store.

My wife, she fancies jewels for their looks, me, I like them because I can feel their essence. I can naturally tell what is real what is fake their density and toughness. I can bend, mold them and shape them to my will and because of that it feels like I'm surrounded by pieces of unmade art. After leaving the store, we head for a nice restaurant to have a meal. Lunchtime has just begun and my group is quite hungry from moving all over the city.

We sit down and begin a meal of roasted meat and veggies. The sides are a red soup that has a refreshing flavor to it along with thick slices of bread buttered. After that is a fresh plate of sperry fruit and although it is quite tasty it can be very spicy, even for me. So when my wife tries it I naturally look at her face to see her reaction and, of course, it's funny. She almost spits it out after one bite and downs a glass of water. Me and the 2 maids immediately laugh loudly, only when she gives me a mean glare do we all finally stop. Today was really a good day.

It was then at this moment that a small light flashed thru the sky and into the man's pocket. He sensed it right when it arrived and he quickly pulled out a communicator and looked it over.

"Honey is that the new communicator you were talking about? the one that works with light."

As I look over the message I am shocked by its contents. So shocked that I don't even hear my wife speaking to me. I stand up so quick that it frightens nearby people in the restaurant.

"Honey, what the matter? what's wrong?"

It was only now that I heard my wife.

"The city of Jules has been attacked. The city lord has asked me to come and rescue them from before its too late."

Hearing this many people in the restaurant began murmuring and whispering amongst themselves.

A look of confusion crossed the woman's face and she couldn't help but worrily ask.

"Can't the city guard take care of it? they shouldn't need you should they?"

"No! the danger is more than expected. The message implied the attacker may be 9th rank or maybe higher. They aren't capable of fending that off."

Once more the restaurant was buzzing with talk.

The woman now had a face of fear she knew her husband was going to go.

"But higher then 9th rank that could only mean."

The woman swallowed her words down to afraid to speak the possibility of the attacker being a 10th rank combatant. She loved her husband with all her heart, but she also understood him the best, it doesn't matter how strong the opponent if the attacker harmed the weak her husband would always defend those that couldn't defend them selfs.

"I must go, if I leave now maybe I can reach the city of Jules in 20 minutes."

His wife wanted to tell him to stay to beg him to stay, but she already knew the outcome she could only utter.

"Brawn please come back safe."

Brawn gave his wife and child a kiss and then a small nod. He then jumped out of the restaurant and into the ground, world walking instantly.

Brawn was a 9th rank warrior, he was considered to be by many as the warrior with the greatest defense and although he wasn't at the 10th rank he had faced a 10th rank fighter before and because of his nearly indestructible defense he and that nameless fighters battle drew to a standstill until the other fighter gave up. This is how he earned a legendary status overnight, giving him the title of Brawn the indestructible.

Although people would call him that he secretly hated that name. He himself knew that he wasn't indestructible. In the face of his opponent at the 10th rank, it was only luck that his defense lasted slightly longer than his opponents mana and if his opponent wasn't a mage but a warrior instead then even after his opponent ran out of energy there would have been no way of him competing physically with a warrior of the 10th rank. People praising him and calling him indestructible, this is what he disliked the most.

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For him, he has fought and trained for nearly 60 years and although that might seem old, but once your power reaches a certain amount, once your body absorbs enough mana essence your aging slows down. So even though he was close to 70 he looked to only be in his late 40's. Even with the many years of battling and training he still hadn't been able to reach his goal of becoming a 10th rank. He thought if he could just reach the next rank then no one would be able to beat his defense and he would never have such a close call again.Unfortunately though he was stuck at the 9th rank with no breakthrough in sight.

While thinking these things he soon saw villages and towns reduced to the ground. It seemed that the closer he got to Jules the more the mana essence in the world began to shake and tremble, almost as if it were screaming at him that something was off. Because of this Brawn became worried and rushed even faster, pushing himself to the limit. He went through mountains and forest rushing at an incredible speed.

He thought it would take 20 minutes to reach the city of Jules, but at this pace it would be less than 15. He ran faster and faster through the world until finally he came across something quite odd, a mountain, but the thing that was odd about this mountain is that well, it was no longer there. Him being a world walker he could naturally feel the landscape and forge it to memory. He had traveled to this place many times before and there was always a mountain, but now, now there was only rubble and dust. The forest as well that was once nearby was completely gone. Nothing left but splintered wood and pieces of leaves it was truly bizarre.

"What the hell is going on?"

Brawn became frantic and rushed even faster. The mana essence in the world was screaming at him. The mana which flowed thru nearly everything became chaotic and wild until finally Brawn had reached his destination. He leaped out of the ground appearing just outside of the city, the sky was strangely bright like the world itself had flown too close to the sun. Brawn immediately entered the city, he could hear constant collisions and people screaming everywhere. From the message, he knew he was to fight a panther and so he ran towards the destruction, it was then that he heard a loud shout.

"My lighting again, you creatures are truly pathetic."

Brawn heard a voice filled with disdain and anger, he looked toward the source up in the sky and sure enough the voice filled with hate was coming from a panther, but what struck him as weird was that in the sky as well was an elf grappling the panther from behind and a small child just in front of the two. There they were, hovering up high. Brawn immediately understood the situation and with a powerful leap he ascended into the sky when all the sudden the small child which he now could see was a boy screamed out.

"THIS ONES MINE BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!"

And in an instant a bolt of lightning struck the elf and the panther and everything went white.

*CRACK-KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

An explosion shook the city striking it and splitting the city itself in half. The mana which was nearly everywhere seemed to vanish for a split second. Everything seemed to shake for almost a minute, those in the city could feel their bodies vibrate for a moment and anyone in the city that saw the strike was blinded for a few minutes as well. After the strike, the world seemed to go silent for just a few seconds before panicked screams once more erupted.

The city lord and his guards rushed towards the strike, many people had looked up at the fight and the city lord saw the strike as well, he wanted to verify himself that the panther was finally dead. When he reached the scene he saw a tall figure standing clouded by dust and smoke. At first the city lord was quite frightened, but then he recognized the figure and he immediately cried out.

"Brawn!!! you've saved us all."

The guards as well began to shout, Brawn has saved us, but as soon as it started Brawn shouted back.

"No!! it wasn't me, it was these two."

It was then that the rest of the smoke cleared and behind brawn were two spheres of hardened rock that looked like they were made from diamond, one was nearly 6 feet high while the other sphere was a little more than 5 feet. The two spheres opened and 2 bodies fell out unconscious with several severe injuries. The city lord recognized the two immediately, he had seen the elf fight in the arena earlier defending the people and he saw the boy as well help her, the city lord murmured.

"These two."

"Yes, these two saved everyone and defeated the panther. I just arrived when the two were finishing up and I had just enough time to encase their bodies in my defenses before that last strike. Now please call the healers their lives are not out of danger yet."

The city lord was quick to act calling his guards to get his best healers immediately while at the same time he finally noticed on the ground the panther laid there completely still. The city lord shouted in panic.

"Brawn!! he's still not dead, quickly finish him."

But brawn simply shook his head.

"Lord this panther is too tough I've already tried. I'm afraid that his defense is comparable to mine and even with someone at the 10th rank I'm afraid they couldn't kill him."

Hearing this the city lord, as well as the surrounding guards, were shocked.

"What, what then? what can we do? as soon as he wakes up he'll start destroying the city again."

"NO lord he won't, as long as I'm here he won't harm a soul."

Brawn quickly encased the unconscious panther in a hardened sphere the sphere quickly turned a darkened blue and continuously shrunk down placing the panther in the fetal position and shrinking until the panther couldn't move an inch. The sphere then changed color once more changing into a pitch black color with a bit of a metallic sheen shining off of it.

"That should do it."

"Brawn are you certain your sphere can hold him?"

"Of course, but just in case get some mage's to continuously cast a sleeping spell on him. with him completely still like this it should be easy for them to hold him."

"But what will we do later? we can't keep him permanently."

"I know, and we will discuss that later, but for now we need to help the people in the city."

end of ch 43