The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao consolidated all the knowledge he had gained in this one day. The night passed away. Just before the sun came up in the sky, the boy could see the curtain of darkness lifting and the stars looking so pretty. Ryu Jinshi said, “Master, what are you thinking?”

The boy replied, “I wonder if such stars can be seen back at home as well. The pollution clouds have become a pain now.”

Ryu Jinshi nodded and said, “We can make things happen. It will take time but we can surely change things around. No?”

Yang Dao said, “Until humans are shown the wonder of elements. They will never be attentive to all the destruction they are causing. Even if they are conscious they will not have the sincerity.”

His words were correct, humans were not sincere in their effort to save the world as they were in their race of development.. Yang Dao wished to change this mindset. Suddenly a soft voice asked, “Master, why can you not show all this to the other people?”

Turning his head to the side, he found Sushi sitting at the ledge, swinging her legs in the void with a silly smile on her face. Yang Dao asked, “What do you mean?”

Sushi replied, “Master, do you not have those things moving on that box. Like images? I forgot what they were called. But you can make such images move, and tell the people about it?” her question was like a bomb in Yang Dao’s brain.

He stood up all of a sudden and said, “You are a genius, Sushi.”

He was so excited by this idea, that he hugged the girl in his embrace and gave her a swing. He calmed down quickly as well and said, “I will have RALF design a theme park and a movie setup looking like this and then, we will show the world the magic of the elements.”

Ryu Jinshi smiled at this. He was happy cause Yang Dao was happy. The next moment the boy said, “Ryu, let us go to the Salamanders. I wish to see their territory and then go back home.”

The azure dragon nodded and the three people came out of the house. Yang Dao found an elder walking over to their place holding a tray. The two met outside the house. Gnome elder asked in confusion, “Lord, is there something troubling you? Did we not make proper arrangements?”

His eyes were evidence that he was really upset and concerned about Yang Dao’s stay. The Dao Child smiled and said, “Elder, nothing is the matter. You are worrying too much. The thing is that I need to keep on moving as I have less time at my hand. I need to go back home and deal with things. Thus, I was going to bid you all a farewell and go to the salamander region.”

The elder was happy that they did not make any mistakes but he was sad that the emissary of heavens will be going back to his place so soon. However, after the things they learned yesterday, they all realized that change is the only constant in the world. And this was not a final goodbye. Yang Dao may visit them in the future.

The elder nodded and handed over the tray in his hands. He removed the cover and said, “Lord, this is the breakfast we prepared for you. Please, eat before you leave. We will be thankful.”

Yang Dao shook his head with a smile and said, “I will be grateful to have eaten something before going. To be honest we were about to come and ask for some food.”

The elder was old and a smile surfaced on his face as soon as he heard this. Yang Dao took a fruit from the tray and ate it with a smile on his face. He gave Ryu Jinshi and Sushi one each. After the breakfast was complete the boy decided to meet the elders of the Gnome council once before leaving.

Most of the spirits would wake up with the sun coming up on the horizon, the Gnomes were the same, they would wake up and get to their tasks after cleaning up. The weather in the morning was slightly chilly but comfortable.

After the farewell to the elders of the gnomes. Yang Dao and Ryu Jinshi came to the teleportation channel. The latter channeled his fire source energy and they teleported to the land of Salamanders.

Salamanders were like a primitive species. They would like in stone huts but the huts were unlike Gnomes. They had no rules, everything was decided by strength. Unlike Undines, who followed orders, Salamanders worshipped the strength of an individual above anything else. When Yang Dao and Ryu Jinshi appeared near the teleportation channel they found no one guarding the place.

Ryu Jinshi raised his eyebrows in utter dissatisfaction. Salamanders were humanoid creatures and their looks were the closest to a dragon than any other species. However, his presence made no sense to them? They did not come to greet him and his master? Since they worship strength, were they looking down on their strength?

All these questions came up in his mind and he was getting angry. Yang Dao said, “Ryu, calm down. Things are not as simple as they seem to be.”

Ryu Jinshi took a deep breath and said, “Yes, master. What shall we do now?” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

Yang Dao smiled and said, “Ofcourse, we go forward.” with that he moved forward. The teleportation channel in this region was a big boulder filled with cracks and it seemed that molten lava may drip out of the surface anytime.

The heat waves were too close for comfort. However, the Dao Child had an all weather blessing. The three people walked forward after sensing the movements. After ten minutes they came to a building where a lot of people were gathered. Ryu Jinshi walked in front and asked a man standing at the back of the gathering.

“What is going on here?” he said in a deep voice.

The male salamander did not turn back but said, “Brarut is going to challenge the old Elder, Bezor.”

Ryu Jinshi said, “Move aside, we need to pass.”

The salamanders were very arrogant and they only believed in the strength of an individual. Hearing Ryu speak in a commanding tone, the salamander snorted and turned around as he said, “Do you know who I am? How dare you…”

Before his words could complete, Ryu Jinshi waved his hand and a wall of fire split the crowd. The thing about this wall of fire was that flames of the wall were all blue. The red sky stood in stark contrast with the fire.

The salamanders were told a story from childhood. Blue flames of the god, was the title of this story. The whole crowd froze, and people started to kneel on the ground. The wall of fire receded and Ryu Jinshi snorted.

He took a step back and turned to his side as he said, “Master, please.” making a gesture with his hand to let Yang Dao walk forward.

The kneeling Salamanders turned their heads to look at the young boy walking forward. Suddenly they caught a glimpse of the azure halo floating over his head. They shivered with fright. This boy was the god king the people were talking about.

Yang Dao walked forward and where he passed he left a gust of hot wind in his wake. The salamanders liked heat and this gust was a bliss for them. Walking to the center of the crowd, they spotted two people standing against each other.

They both held a spear in their hands. Their eyes were brimming with the intent to fight. Ryu Jinshi said, “What is going on here? Care to tell us, late comers more?”

His voice attracted the two people standing in the ring. They were irritated to hear someone disturbing them but after they saw the people in the circle kneeling on the ground, and the attire worn by Yang Dao and Ryu Jinshi. They strangled the thoughts and curses in their mind and knelt to greet the people.

Several more people came out of the crowd they all had a strong aura surrounding them. Ryu Jinshi exhaled heavily and all the aura vanished. Yang Dao recognized one of them. This was the person he saw in the spirit council citadel.

The same man came forward and knelt on the ground. He said, “Lord, we are graced by your presence.”

Yang Dao asked, “What is happening here?”

The man said with a sad smile, “The son wishes to succeed his father, the father says the son is not eligible yet. So the son exercised his right of duel of ascension. In short, they will fight to death.”

Yang Dao took a deep breath and said, “Can they not stop before killing each other? Even if you all worship strength, you must have some emotions inside you, right?”

The young one said, “Pardon me, Lord, but only weak talk about emotions.”

His intent maybe something else, but he successfully pissed of Yang Dao by indirectly calling him weak.