A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign - Chapter 19

“Isn’t this B&B law firm” Mao Lu looked up at the building, “This is my Gatekeeper Offices?”

“The Gatekeeper offices appear in suitable locations near the Gatekeeper. This was the nearest suitable location to you. On the exterior it is a law firm, but it has now merged with your offices. I’m sure you’ve already met the intermediary between the law firm and your offices. He was the one that gave you your inheritance.” Gates explained.

“You mean Mr. Baker!” Mao Lu exclaimed.

“Yes, I mean Mr. Baker. He has been the chief manager for realm 145’s Gatekeeper Offices for the last 400,000 years. He is an exemplary worker. But you must remember, a worker for the Gatekeeper Offices is not a Gatekeeper, they are not privy to your knowledge and are of a lower status than you. You are their boss.”

Mao Lu didn’t have a chance to respond to those words before he was being pushed by Gates. Unable to stop himself he was propelled right through the big revolving black glass door. He stumbled into the large lobby.

He straightened himself immediately but the moment he entered he received hard stares from the clients waiting in their fancy seats, those eating in the cafe, and from the two receptionists.

Mao Lu wasn’t an idiot, he knew what those types of stares were, he himself had once been a member of High Society. When he was in high school, he’d see his peers give the same judging stares to the scholarship students. When he lost everything, his peers began giving him the same looks. Every time he’d walk near high-end stores, he would also get the same types of stares.

They were looking down on him. Their faces screaming, “Who is he, why is he dressed like that, and is he at the wrong place?”

These people all judged books by their covers, in their own arrogance and narcissism they saw what he wore, and they decided then and there that he didn’t have any money and therefore couldn’t associate with them

These were what Mao Lu called “Toxic People”, when he lost everything he was able to see who his real friends were, and he promised himself that no matter what happened in the future he would never kiss up or socialise with toxic people that assumed they were better than others based on senseless things like momentary wealth.

Mao Lu wasn’t going to be embarrassed by their blatant stares. Instead he pretended not to see it.

As he walked up to the desk, he saw a hint of disgust pass one of the receptionists faces.

“Why did this man come in here? Is he lost? Why is he wearing an old and stained convenience store uniform, and why is his hair all windswept like that. Yuck. Where does he think he is? Should I call security?” Thought the receptionist/desk assistant.

She turned to her superior who was reading some documents. “Hey, Mrs Li, should I call security? A weird man just walked into the building.”

Li An looked up from the papers she was reading and turned to the direction her colleague was pointing. The moment she saw Mao Lu, Li An immediately sprang to her feet. Li An was the same desk assistant that had met Mao Lu yesterday, the first time he’d come to B&B law firm. And she for a fact knew that Mao Lu was connected to Mr. Baker.

After escorting Mao Lu to Mr. Baker’s last time, Li An had even got a bonus from her direct superior a few moments after. She definitely felt like that was no coincidence. This man had to have some form of influence or power.

Li An went and bowed lowly towards Mao Lu. “It is great to see you again Sir, what can I help you with today?”

Her junior desk assistant behind her gaped slightly but then she immediately copied, also bowing. It seemed this strange individual was someone important.

“Ask for Baker” Gates ordered.

“I’m here for Mr. Baker again, he should be expecting me.” Mao Lu smiled slightly.

“Of course, Sir, let me just confirm with him.” She went to the phone on her desk, a few moments later she came back and said, “Follow me Sir.”

Mao Lu found himself following Li An down the same twisting gorgeous corridors as last time. The gorgeous black marble floors and shiny black glass across the walls. Soon they were in the wide fancy elevator.

When it got to the 25th floor, the top floor, Li An bowed again to Mao Lu as he stepped out of the elevator.

Mr. Baker’s office looked the same as before, it was very sleek. There were the randomly placed bamboo roots and rocks ordered in some typical Feng Shui. On one wall there was the mini waterfall and on the opposite wall there was the huge fish tank filled with a whole school of clown fish.

“I’m glad I’m seeing you again so soon Gatekeeper Lu.” A strong voice came from behind Mao Lu. He twisted his head and saw Mr. Baker bowing deeply towards him.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“But it is only right that I do so. I have shown respect to the previous two Gatekeepers that I’ve served these last 400,000 years, I will show respect to you as well.”

Mao Lu couldn’t really argue when he said it in such a stubborn way, but that didn’t stop Mao Lu feeling weird about it. Only yesterday had he met Mr. Baker, and the contrast between the Mr. Baker of yesterday and the current Mr. Baker was too shocking.

“If I hadn’t become a Gatekeeper there’s no way, he would treat me this respectfully.” Mao Lu wasn’t sure whether he liked this change in attitude. In Mao Lu’s mind you should treat everyone the same regardless of status, that was just common courtesy. Mr. Baker bowing to him like this just made Mao Lu’s initial good impression of him decrease.

“Really you can stop bowing now. I didn’t come here for respect I came here so I could find out about the Gatekeeper Offices.” Mao Lu said rather irritably.

Hearing this Mr. Baker stood up, reminding Mao Lu how tall this giant of a man was. Mao Lu was 6ft 2, yet he was immediately dwarfed. “Of course, follow me please.”

Mr. Baker walked towards the elevator. Even though he walked slowly, due to his extremely long legs, Mao Lu found himself running after him. When they were inside Mr. Baker pressed the buttons for floor number 14 and floor number 5. Then after pressing them he pressed the red emergency button.

Mao Lu raised an eyebrow in surprise as the elevator doors closed and then opened again. It hadn’t felt like they’d moved even slightly but when the doors opened the scenery had drastically changed.

In front of Mao Lu was a rather chaotic office. It was wider than a stadium. To Mao Lu it looked like this Office stretched for several kilometres and inside there were people of different shapes, sizes, and race. Some didn’t even look human at all, and were running around the place. There was the sound of phones ringing like crazy, there were papers flying all about. Strange looking magical items were floating zooming and zipping about in the air. And every ten metres there was a desk with someone tapping away on what looked similar to a computer.

Mr. Baker’s face frowned deeply, making his long face appear even longer. He didn’t seem happy. Yet after Mr. Baker glared at the chaotic office for a minute, it seemed everyone was in too much of a rush to notice him.

Mr. Baker’s large bushy brows twitched. He bowed to Mao Lu in apology, “I’m sorry it is not always like this.” Mr. Baker immediately stood up straight, held up his large hands, and clapped.

The sound of his two hands coming together was like miniature bomb going off, the shockwave rippled across the room. As it did the previous busyness descended into an eerie quiet. Many eyes focused on the front of the office, staring not just at Mr. Baker but also at Mao Lu himself. As they saw him, Mao Lu noticed that they all collectively quivered.

“What is the rush, why is everyone so disorganised, why is the Office in such a state!?” Mr. Baker yelled; veins could be seen popping from his neck. “Do you not find this humiliating when the Gatekeeper has come by?” Mr. Baker gestured towards Mao Lu.

As soon as he was introduced as the Gatekeeper all the workers got down on their knees and bowed.

“Station Manager!” Mr. Baker yelled.

“Yes Sir!” A human-sized ferret looking creature came out. It wore office clothes, a white shirt and black pants. It seemed very nervous as it walked towards them, but who could blame it from the menacing way Mr. Baker’s green eyes was glaring at it.

“Report! What is going on?”

The Ferret creature rubbed it’s two paws together and had its head bowed as it answered, “So you see Sir, due to the new Gatekeeper being announced we had a sudden influx of people applying to come to the realm obviously to welcome the new Gatekeeper. And well because of a rumour spreading about that our new Gatekeeper is very promising, the influx of people wanting to come into the realm became rather large. And before we knew it, we were backed up and buried in work. Since this morning it’s been chaotic.”

Mr. Baker sighed and scratched his bald head, “Okay get back to work, I hope this is much calmer by the afternoon.”

“Yes Sir, we’ll have it all sorted.” The station manager promised and then turned to the still bowing office. It clapped its paws. “Come on everyone back to work!!!” and soon enough the chaos resumed.

“What is this place exactly? What are they doing here?” Mao Lu asked Mr. Baker as they began walking down the centre of all this chaos.

“This is the Gatekeeper Office section 1, the Reception. This is where people from outside your realm or within it, request for a Gatekeepers Pass. Our Reception number is 145 000 111858. It works on any device used for messaging.”

“A Gatekeepers pass is a type of Visa and passport. The type of pass determines how long the individual is staying and how quickly they can be allowed into this realm. Those working in the reception deal with the requests of those wanting to go in or out of the realm and figure out what type of pass to give them. Of course, we don’t give out passes easily. For those coming into the realm we expect sufficient payment and they must also fit the criteria to be allowed into our realm. Such as being law abiding, having no significant atrocities attached to them. Those in the Reception do a full background check. For practitioners that aren’t natives of this realm that are trying to get in., it could take them up to 10 years to get a pass.”

Ten years, to Mao Lu that was a long amount of time to be waiting for a pass, but then again considering the lifespan of practitioners it probably wasn’t all that long.

“Of course, that all depends on the status of the individual and what realm they’re from. Since our realm is ranked last among all of the 400 realms, we are a laughingstock. As a result, many of the other powers think they can bully us and try to get passes faster while giving lower payment.

Truly the only reason another realm hasn’t invaded our own is because we have no resources worth their invasion and as a mortal realm our essence is naturally low in amount and quality. Do you know what the nickname for realm 145 is? It’s the trash realm the Offal realm.

That’s one of the reasons we need a strong Gatekeeper, so that our realm no longer gets bullied by the other realms and so that our ranking can increase. It would make the natives of your realm not only regain their pride but also allow those in the Reception to have an easier job. But it’s been hard. Each Gatekeeper this realm has had are often incompetent, or powerless, or cowardly. I’ve only served two others and I can already say this. If you could break this realms chain of suffering and bring us out of last place, truly it would be a miracle.” Mr. Baker rambled as they weaved their way between the desks.

“That’s why I told you it is important that you train. Mao Lu your strength is this Realms strength. Its ranking is dependent on the Gatekeepers ranking amongst the other Gatekeepers. If you aren’t strong enough and you lose to other Gatekeepers during the upcoming meeting, then this realm will remain in last place” Gates reminded Mao Lu.

“Upcoming? I thought you said there was only a Gatekeepers meeting every century. And you said nothing about me having to defeat other Gatekeepers.” Mao Lu hissed in his head.

“Didn’t I? During the meeting between the Gatekeepers that is held every 100 years you must show them your strength and defeat those that challenge you, without killing them, so that you can rise in rank. You inherited last place amongst the rankings, the hope and the pride of this realm rests on your shoulders. You can’t disappoint them. Oh, and didn’t I tell you that the end of the century for the next meeting will be in ten years.”

“Ten years. I only have ten years to train and duel these other monsters that have been Gatekeepers for ages. Are you kidding me!!!! You didn’t bloody mention this.” Mao Lu mentally snarled.

” I didn’t? You obviously just weren’t listening closely enough” Gates harrumphed.

Mao Lu felt a large urge to punch the book, but he held back.

He’d been aware that this role had a lot of responsibility and that he represented the realm, but he didn’t think he’d have to fight so soon. Ten years of training was nothing in the eyes of these practitioners that had lived for thousands of years. What was he going to do?

As Mao Lu worried about this, the endless rows of desks and working people warped suddenly and then they were in a strange room with a gigantic crystal ball in the centre. In the crystal ball Mao Lu could see the eel-like time essences floating inside. The crystal seemed to be filled with clear water that every so often it rippled. As he stared at into it, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.

“This is?”

“This is section 2 of the Gatekeeper offices; we call it Permission. This orb is one that is directly connected to the Gatekeepers consciousness or rather your mind. A Gatekeeper is the one in charge of the realm, to make passes we need your permission. When we can’t get your permission personally, we use this interconnection ball. It allows us to use 5% of your ability to create passes that allow people in and out of the realm.

Of course, we only get to this stage after various checks in the reception. So, the passes made are all verified ones. We only use the orb to make low grade passes for casual visitors who would only be visiting or leaving for a short duration. For passes for more powerful people who want to leave or stay for longer we need you to personally verify and create these types of passes.” Mr. Baker explained.

Mao Lu blinked and walked closer towards the glowing crystal ball. “So, this is a doorway to my consciousness.”

“Only a partial reflection not a doorway.

During the time when Wang Cao died, and we didn’t have a Gatekeeper and the orb didn’t work. We were temporarily unable to allow anyone in or out of the realm, but the moment you decided to become a Gatekeeper it started up again.” Mr. Baker elaborated.

“Of course,” Gates gentle voice spread across the room, “Whenever the orb is used you will be fully aware of it. The reason you did not feel it is because they have not made any passes recently.”

Mr. Baker nodded in agreement. “For those coming into the realm we take ten to twenty years to verify and process their information before making such passes. Usually this realm doesn’t get many non-natives booking to come visit so there are no passes to create. But well you did see earlier that due to your succession as Gatekeeper the office has become a lot busier. So, in ten years we’ll probably be using Permission more to make passes.”

“I see.” he couldn’t help but think this entire place was very peculiar as he walked onwards with Mr. Baker and left the room with the large crystal ball.

The moment they left, Mao Lu felt the scenery warp around him and soon they were standing in a gigantic spherical room that had realistic projections of the stars across it.

The room was so huge and the projections so life-like that Mao Lu momentarily thought he’d been dragged into space by Gates again.

In the centre of the room Mao Lu saw a desk. With all the projections it looked like the desk was suspended in space, floating in nothingness. It was made out of a sleek glass material, on the top of it sat a plaque that read Gatekeeper of Realm 145.

“This is the 3rd section, your office.” Mr. Baker gestured to the gigantic spherical room with his large hands, “This is where you can deal with your business.”

“This is mine?” Mao Lu glanced around, this room seemed the largest and most endless of them all. It really felt like he was in the middle of space. For this to be called an office, it was far more impressive than any office he’d seen before.

“They wouldn’t be called the Gatekeeper Offices if the Gatekeeper himself didn’t have an office; you fool.” Gates rudely whispered into Mao Lu’s ears.

“He’s shown you your Offices, so now dismiss him so we can commence with your training.” Gates was rather impatient.

Mao Lu turned to Mr. Baker and thanked him for the tour before dismissing him.

“Ah before I leave Sir, I’d like to inform you that as Gatekeeper you have also automatically become an Executive of B&B law firm.” Mr. Baker handed Mao Lu a B&B law firm employee card as well as platinum VIP card.

Mr. Baker then bowed again and disappeared like the wind. Leaving Mao Lu staring at the ID and VIP card.

He had just become an Executive of a major law firm just like that.