A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign

"And who are you exactly? How can you fight for us and protect us when our Chief can't? How can we trust you?" A male soldier asked, he looked like an older version of Xander, the likeness was so striking that they had to be either brothers or some other type of close relative. The main difference between the two was that his hair was short, and his eyes were dark and beady.

Sea Karne's face turned purple with anger, "How dare you question him Helios, apologise now!!!"

Helios didn't back down, "Our peoples' lives are in danger, I just want to know who we're entrusting our hope to, nobody knows this outsider. I'm sure we all feel the same, and want to know who he is and what his motivations are for helping us."

"YOU-" Sea Karne began to yell in anger but Mao Lu stopped him.

"His questions are understandable Sea; you don't have to get mad at him." He said.

Mao Lu turned towards Helios and made eye contact with every council member, a cool aura emanated off of him and he oozed confidence. It made the agitated crowd calm down.

Mao Lu was also inwardly surprised by how calm he was, he generally felt good and in control. At first, he'd felt anxious but now his heart was at ease. There were no doubts in his mind.

"I am a Gatekeeper." he said, as that one sentence left his lips, the previous look of suspicion in Helios's eyes turned into stark fear. Many of the other council members immediately fell to their knees. Others bowed deeply and shivered.

All of them knew what a Gatekeeper was, and they had all heard tales about them as children. Gatekeepers in their minds were equal to Gods, even practitioners had no right to even look at a Gatekeeper, let alone mortals like them.

Helios's knees gave way and his hands clasped together, "Please great one, have mercy, I spoke wrongly!"

"Enough cowering." Mao Lu snapped. He didn't speak loudly but his voice rang in all their ears.

"As a Gatekeeper I have the ability to help you. And as for why I'm helping you…I... Ever since I became a Gatekeeper, I've seen how ruthless existence can be, death is at every corner, and survival is a struggle. The creator doesn't want us to be happy, the creator wants us to be strong. That's what I've come to realise. But does that mean the weak don't have the right to live.”

“You should have be able to grow and become stronger, the children that live here shouldn't be allowed to die without the opportunity to blossom. Existence may be cruel, but it's also filled with hope and beauty. I want to save you because I believe in that hope. I want you people to become stronger and live on. And as for your last question...you asked whether you could trust me? Ha" Mao Lu smirked slightly, "You're asking about trust in this type of situation? It's kind of laughable. It doesn't matter whether you can trust me or not…

I am your only option."

His words resounded in their heads.

Even though Mao Lu had told them to stop cowering they still shook in fear, staring at him silence. It was rather burdensome, but then again fear was good, it meant they would be obedient.

"There is a canyon a few miles from the village. I came across it while I was exploring. Do you know about its Sea?" Mao Lu asked

Sea Karne was confused by this sudden question but he still nodded. "I know of that Canyon."

"I felt a breeze coming from it, meaning air currents from the surface are coming from that canyon, meaning inside of it is a passage to the surface. You should evacuate everyone to the Canyon and use it as a means to escape."

Sea Karne shook his head, "That Canyon is like a maze and is unmarked territory for me. I fear there are a lot of demonic beasts inside it as well. They'll feast on the weak citizens."

Mao Lu's expression became cold, "Then you'll have to protect your weak citizens. I won't be with you for that journey, it's up to your people to survive and become strong. I'm sure those demonic beasts are far easier to deal with than the Grotesque, so it's up to you which poison you want to pick. Or were you expecting me to babysit your people through this entire thing?"

Sea Karne shook his head quickly and said in a meek voice, "No I didn't mean that, but it will be hard for us to navigate out of the can-"

Mao Lu cut him off, "I'll have the essences guide your people through the canyon, they know the path. But that's all I'll do for you. Your fate is up to you and your people’s strength from then on."

"W-what will you be doing whilst we escape?" Sea Karne asked.

"I'll wait for the barrier to break and hold off the Grotesque and give you more time to escape, and if I'm able to find Wind I'll stop him." he replied bluntly.

An awkward silence once again descended upon the chamber as everyone stared at Mao Lu. A vein on Mao Lu's temple slightly bulged as he yelled with impatience, "Get a move on then!!!! Evacuate the people!!!! We don't have time!!!"

As if his voice were thunder, they all jumped up like startled birds and ran for the doors. Orders being yelled, and before long the Sapphire pavilion's chamber was almost empty other than Mao Lu, Sea Karne, and a shocked Mero that stood by his side.

Sea Karne bowed deeply to Mao Lu one final time. "I am eternally indebted to you; I will pay you back one day."

Sea glanced at Mero, about to tell her to come with him, but she avoided his gaze, and with a sigh he left the pavilion, alone.

Mao Lu glanced at Mero, "You should get going, you need to evacuate."

Mero stared at him with round eyes, "You're a Gatekeeper."

"Not the Gatekeeper of this realm but yes, I am one. Does that change your opinion about me? Are you also scared of me now, Mero?"

"I... I… I'm not scared I know how kind and gentle you are. You're not like the horrible Gatekeepers in all the stories." She replied.

Mao Lu smiled gently.

At that moment, a loud horn sounded that filled the entire village. "Evacuation! Evacuation! Evacuation! Everyone, head to the Canyon near the east ridge. I repeat…"

Mao Lu grabbed Mero's hand, "Take this, use it to guide the people safely through the canyon."

Mero gasped in surprise when she saw a bright blue eel-like creature swimming in the air above her palm. "Is-is-is this an essence?"

Mao Lu nodded, "It's probably your first time seeing one since you’re mortal, right?"

"Un" she agreed as she continued to stare at the time essence with a mesmerised expression.

The announcement sounded out again.

"Now hurry and leave." Mao Lu said.

"This...." Mero had concern in her eyes, "Isn't this unfair to you. I saw how much you suffered after you saved Xander and I. You're hurt and weak right now. You shouldn't be doing this; you shouldn't be risking your life for us when we don't deserve it. My father caused this is issue why should you bear the burden of it for him?"

Mao Lu's gaze softened, and he reached out his hand and softly stroked Mero's hair, "You're such a lovely person, to be concerned about me like this."

He stroked her hair gently again, "I understand your point, but these innocent citizens shouldn't have to pay for your father's mistakes as well. And... I’m doing this for a reason….

I was told that I am critical of myself, I'm hardworking, self-disciplined, compassionate, trusting and I also have a strong willpower. I was told that these were my strengths, and that by coming here I would accept these strengths, gain confidence from them and gain further strength from that. But you know what?"

Mao Lu gave a self-mocking smile, "I think these strengths are just like my shortcomings. My strong will is the same as my stubbornness and my trusting nature is the same as my naivety. I know that these people don't care for me, I know that my compassion is rather useless. It's not like I can save them every time their danger, it's not like all of them even deserve to be saved. Yet I still want to help.

“This is all so foolish. My bad points are practically aligned with the good ones. I guess that goes with the idea of Ying and Yang. The trials for light and darkness make no sense. Everything is just monochrome. I have neither a completely good side or bad side, in my strengths are weakness and, in my weakness, there is strength. I can accept that now. I understand now. And it's because I can accept that, because I now understand myself and my motivations, I know that I'll probably continue doing dumb things like this in the future. I feel at peace with myself now, and even though this fight will be hard, I feel confident that I can get through it."

Mero looked at Mao Lu with confusion and tears in her eyes, "Well I wish you the best. I hope you survive this; I hope this isn't the last time I see you."

Mao Lu flashed a handsome grin, "I'll definitely live to see you another day. Now go quickly."

Mero nodded, just as she was heading towards the door, she turned on her heels and ran back to him.

"Take this, it's a good luck charm my Mother left me before she died. I want you to have it." she said quickly, as she pressed a silver chained ruby pendant into his hands. Before Mao Lu could respond she had ran out of the door in a hurry.

Mao Lu looked at the blood red ruby and muttered "Thank you" before placing the warm gem on his throat.

"Mao Lu!" A voice called.

Mao Lu looked behind him and saw Xander standing there in the doorway. The heavily bandaged stub which used to be one of his arms, made him look rather pitiful.

"I hear your sacrificing yourself for us." Xander said.

"It's more like I'm offering a helping hand, it's not a sacrifice." Mao Lu replied.

Xander rolled his eyes, "Even if you put a rock in a dress that doesn't change the fact that it’s a rock."

Mao Lu blinked not knowing what to say to that.

"You saved my life and yet I am too crippled now to return the debt, and now you put me in even more debt by protecting the people I care for." Xander continued.

"It's not like I'm intending to put you in debt." Mao Lu shrugged.

"Your intentions don't matter; I am indebted regardless. That's why I'm giving you this." Xander held out the golden sword, the same one Mao Lu had seen him use in the forest.

"When I was younger, Mero and I used to explore the forest together. One day we went out too far and ended up meeting a dangerous demonic beast that chased us. In order to hide we ran into a cave and there I found this sword stuck in a stone. It's a magical item that probably belonged to a powerful practitioner, as a mortal I can barely use 1% of its power yet it's still such a deadly weapon. It would do better in your hands than mine. I can feel it whispering to me, it tells me you’re its rightful owner."

Mao Lu was slightly taken aback, but he still took the sword from him. It glowed softly and gave him a warm feeling.

"Thank you." Mao Lu breathed.

"Thank me by surviving." Xander said as he left the pavilion without a single goodbye.

Mao Lu watched him leave and then he looked at the gorgeous sword. The blade seemed to be made of a material like pure gold. There were all kinds of essences, not just the essence of heat, but the essences of time, creation, and destruction whirling around in the blade. This truly wasn't an ordinary weapon.

The hilt was made of a material similar to pure diamond, and on that diamond, hilt were small words engraved in gold.

At first Mao Lu couldn't read them, the characters were weird, but then as he focused, they became clear.

"To my dearest M, may our love be eternal and even reality be defeated against your blade. Love, C."

Mao Lu felt a strange feeling of nostalgia as he stared at this sword. His heart felt conflicted. A single tear came from his eyes. Mao Lu was shocked, why was he crying?

Why did this sword make his heart feel so wrong?

It took him a few moments to regain his composure. When he did, he left the sapphire pavilion and walked on the empty streets.

If anything, these people were fast, Karne Village was like a ghost town now.

As he walked, he saw doors hanging wide open, luggage and items abandoned.

It was all rather eerie.

In melancholy he walked to the lake entrance of the village.

It was still frozen over. The Grotesque creatures that had tried to come through earlier were still ice statues. But there were now several cracks across the ice surface of the lake.

Soon they would break through.

Mao Lu breathed in slowly, he felt calm. He was ready.

He stood there and waited for the barrier to collapse. He stood for likely three hours before the lake made a worrying groaning sound.

He brandished the golden sword.

"CRACK"

As if lightning had struck, the lake snapped, and in a flash a thousand of Grotesque poured out like some morbid flood.

Mao Lu shouted at the top of his lungs as he charged at the creatures. He ran at them…. ran at them...ran …

And then he stopped.

Mao Lu looked around himself in surprise, the scenery had changed, and he was now standing on a cloud. All he could see was endless blue sky surrounding him.

"Congratulations!" said the very familiar voice belonging to the Light trial. "You have succeeded in understanding and accepting your strengths, finding confidence in those strengths, and becoming stronger from them. You even completed the hidden test by realising strength and weakness are one in the same. Your good and your bad are like conjoined twins. Out of all the Gatekeepers I've seen take this test, you have passed it the fastest and with such high results. You now accept yourself, understand yourself, and have reached a state of calm and confidence that will allow you to reach greater heights in the future."

"Wait." Mao Lu interrupted, "What about the people? It's all well and good that I've passed the test, but you can't take me away at such a vital moment. They're depending on me."

The gentle voice of the Light trial sighed, "You don't need to be concerned with all of that. Everything you just went through wasn't real. Karne Village did exist a long time ago, but it was wiped out by an army of Grotesque. They were never saved. All you were seeing was a replica of those events and of those people. They may have felt real, but they were simply remnant ghosts."

"They're all dead…" Mao Lu felt choked up inside, he thought of Mero and his heart ached. "They're dead." Tears sprouted from his eyes.

"I'm sorry Mao Lu, but don't cry, the people you met were just a projection, the real people never met you. It was simply an illusion. Those promises you made to them don't count."

Mao Lu stroked the ruby pendant, "Even if the promises don't count and they were illusions, that doesn't change the fact that my heart is aching right now."

Mao Lu mourned for Mero, Xander, and Sea Karne, even though he'd technically never met the real them, he prayed that wherever they ended up they'd be happy.

When he calmed himself, he sighed and called out, "Then let's move on to the last test than."

"Before that, you are due the next piece of your weapon."

The ruby pendant on Mao Lu's chest glowed and transformed into a long red bow string.

The black limbs of the bow emerged from deep within his body and combined with the bow string.

"When using a bow, you need your strength and confidence to pull the bow string back and take aim. This string is the embodiment of the lessons you've learned in this test." The Light said.

Mao Lu gingerly ran his fingers across the bow string, it was strong and firm yet supple, the texture made Mao Lu excited, he wanted an arrow so he could try it out now. He was itching to use this bow. But he guessed that he wouldn't get his arrows until he completed his next trial.

Mao Lu looked at the golden sword that he held in his other hand.

"What is this sword, is it not also a part of the bow?" He asked.

The Light hesitated before answering, "That sword invaded the trial, it wasn't supposed to be there. I do not know where it came from or what compelled that Xander to give it to you, that was out of my control, however I sense this sword is greatly linked to you, perhaps a remnant of your past life.

"A remnant of my past life!?" He looked at the sword with wonder in his eyes. How was it connected to him?

He read the engraving on the hilt again, his gaze lingering on "Love, C". Just staring at it made him feel extremely emotional. Was this really from his past life, he wondered if C was Chàng Bo.

"Now then, the next trial is that of potential and opportunity. In this test the extent of your talent will be weighed, and more abilities within you will be awakened. You will soon understand your chosen path of time and get to pick how you'll use it."

A doorway appeared next to Mao Lu. The surface rippled like water.

Mao Lu didn't hesitate to run into it.. In seconds he was warped away into the next and final trial.