A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign - Chapter 8

“The first thing you need to understand is what you’re protecting” The book of Gates stated as it pulled Mao Lu upwards.

Mao Lu was flung into the air, he tried to grab a hold of something, anything, but he wasn’t able to. Soon the land below looked like miniature figurines. The fields of grass and lush hills became similar to specks of green on a canvas. He barely yelled before he was above the clouds.

He went up an up, until the Earth itself looked like the size of a round-ball of gum that he could pick up and chew.

“I’m in space, yet unlike the stories I’ve heard my eyeballs aren’t bleeding out of their sockets, I’m not freezing to death, and it feels like I can still breathe” Mao Lu thought with amazement. But it didn’t end there.

He travelled higher and higher. The higher he went the faster he was propelled. He quickly passed the moon and the sun. He passed Jupiter and then passed the dwarf planets.

Mao Lu couldn’t even enjoy the beautiful view of the solar system as it flashed past.

He went up and up. Stars flashed by like lights across his eyes. It was a formidable and humbling image. He continued moving rapidly. Eventually after passing a multitude of more stars and planets and systems, more than he could count, Mao Lu came to an empty space.

It was so dark that he felt blind. It was so empty that he wasn’t sure whether he was going up or down or travelling left or right. He began to lose his bearings as he went further into the nothingness.

Just as he felt like he was fading into that empty space, he heard a slight pop sound as he was pulled through a wet surface.

As he was pulled further out, he realised he’d emerged from a glistening blue bubble that sparkled like crystal. As he was pulled even further and faster Mao Lu saw that there was more than just one bubble.

Like a pearl necklace, 400 blue glistening bubbles were connected in a large chain in the middle of a dark abyss. These blue bubbles were gorgeous and sparkled like jewels.

It was only when Mao Lu was far enough to see this that he suddenly stopped. The breaks were halted so quickly that he felt his body shake and tremble from the backlash, yet he felt no pain.

“These are the 400 realms.” the book of Gates voice echoed in his head. “The Creator shaped the 400 realms. Each of those bubbles that you see there, is a realm. Inside of them is an entire Universe filled with galaxies, stars, planets and various life forms.”

“Your Realm is 145, one of the smaller ones on the right. Do you see it, it has a slight green tint to it?”

Mao Lu looked up and spotted it straight away.

That bubble held his home, his universe, and the stars. The experience of staring at it like this was strange.

He knew that humanity had barely explored space. Even sending a drone to Mars was still a rather big deal. “We haven’t even explored the entirety of our own planet yet, let alone explored the greater universe,” he mumbled.

Mao Lu had seen so many stars, so many solar systems and an uncountable number galaxies before he had gotten here, they’d flashed by so fast that he’d been unable to process it all.

“Would humanity ever get to explore the entire universe? And if we did, how long would it take? How many other species would we encounter? If we did get to the end of the universe even, then we still wouldn’t scratch the surface. There are 399 realms just like this that also need to be explored, and whatever lays beyond these 400 realms as well.”

Mao Lu thought about all of this from an outside perspective. In comparison to everything he was such a small existence.

“Out of the 400 realms there are 200 Mortal realms, 100 Immortal realms, 98 Celestial realms and 2 Deity realms. Your realm is a mortal realm,” Gates explained.

“Mortal realms are those with less essence or life force than other realms. As a result, inhabitants have shorter life spans and are generally weaker. 99% of the inhabitants are considered mortals, 1% are the others, or as we call them Practitioners.”

“Practitioners!” Mao Lu’s thoughts flashed. He thought of Mr. Baker and the girl on the bus, they were likely members of that 1%.

“The Immortal realms are filled with 50% more essence than the mortal realms. As a result, there are equal amounts of mortals and the practitioners. In the

Celestial realms 99% are practitioners, the 1% are mortals. Then in the Deity realms near god-like existences, the strongest practitioners reside.”

“Each of these realms have Gatekeeper to act as border control, to prevent invasions of one Realm over another. To maintain the balance and the essence levels between the Realms. A Gatekeeper is one that keeps the peace”.

As the book said this, Mao Lu felt his gut swirl in his stomach as he suddenly began to drop. He screamed as he fell, further and further all the way back.

It was a horrifying ride.

_________

When Mao Lu finally returned to that grassy land and laid underneath the blue sky, torrents of vomit came from his mouth. He wretched and shivered.

“Never again!!!” he yelled. Mao Lu didn’t want to do that ever again!

“I apologise, it was the fastest way to make you understand. I took the brunt of the force away from you, but it seems like I underestimated the frailty of a mortal body.”

“No shit,” Mao Lu muttered as he spewed more across the green grass.

Mao Lu felt like Gates was disgusted, which was understandable as everything he’d eaten today was being thrown all over it. Perhaps the green grass here was equivalent to its face or something, if that was the case Lu really felt very sorry about the entire thing, but he couldn’t stop his stomach doing somersaults inside of him. He couldn’t stop the bile launching from his throat.

_________

It was several minutes later that Mao Lu was lying down on the grass with laboured breathing, he was still rather pale but he was no longer being sick.

“Are…are you okay?” the book of Gates tentatively asked.

“I’m okay for now.” Mao Lu slowly replied as he looked into the blue sky and watched a floating Island pass by.

“Where is this place…where are you exactly?” he asked curiously. Mao Lu had been dragged through space and back, he knew that the book of Gates was on Earth at least, but where on Earth could it be? He’d never heard of floating islands before.

“Well” the book of Gates began as it slowly lifted Mao Lu, water cascaded from the sky onto where Mao Lu had spewed his guts out. When the patches of grass were cleaned and sparkling it lowered Mao Lu to his feet.

“I have my own world within me. This is my world, a separate dimension inside me. I exist anywhere that is nearest to the Gatekeeper, if you were a life-form on Mars I’d be on Mars, if you were on Pluto I’d be on Pluto. Since you are on Earth, I’m on Earth. Don’t think that becoming a Gatekeeper is exclusive to humankind, every life-form in this realm has a chance. Mankind are but a small part of a larger picture, you understand?”

Mao Lu nodded, he understood.

“Only you are able to enter my world as you are the new Gatekeeper.”

“May I ask…why out of all the life forms in this realm was I chosen. That’s a lot of people for you to choose from…and I know you mentioned a Gatekeeper must be someone pure of heart, and strong in virtue, but I’m not either of these things. Perhaps you have chosen wrongly.” Mao Lu couldn’t help but feel that there was some kind of mistake.

All his life he’d only worked for himself he’d never done anything for others. He’d always been hiding things like his sexuality, or his bitterness towards others. Like a normal person he had anger and jealousy, in what ways was he pure of heart and strong in virtue?

The book of Gates laughed gently, “only a strong person can admit their faults and see their flaws. Someone who is pure has the ability to self-reflect and has the capacity for great kindness. You do not need to be brave, courageous, or some kind of warrior or some proclaimed martyr. Usually those that do these things do them to hide their insecurities, or to have others think about them in a positive light. That doesn’t mean they are really good. A real pure person firstly has trust in himself, has great inner strength and does not seek rewards. That is the quality needed for a Gatekeeper.”

“Out of all the life-forms in this realm I saw a strong resolve that sits in your heart, I saw a kind soul, and I saw unlimited potential for the future. You may not think so yet, but I believe you will become a brilliant Gatekeeper. Even though you are the 888th Gatekeeper for this realm, I believe that you could become the greatest Gatekeeper this realm has ever seen, at least compared to the ones in the past I have a more special feeling about you.”

Mao Lu didn’t know what to say, such grand claims were pressuring, but he didn’t refute Its words. One needs to know when to accept a situation. He had already opened the book and come here. He had already started the process of becoming a Gatekeeper. There was no turning back from this point onwards. But all those praises were a hard pill to swallow, he couldn’t shake this instinctual feeling that something was strange about his selection, there was something he wasn’t being told.

“It is time for me to explain to you about the Practitioners,” Gates abruptly changed the topic.

A gust of wind propelled Mao Lu upwards yet again, he steeled himself for the worst, but surprisingly it was a brief journey and he soon touched land. The book of Gates had taken him to one of the floating islands in the clouds.

It was surreal for Mao Lu, as he stood on the edge of the island, he could see the land beneath him going past. A few hours ago, he never would have imagined any of this, yet here he was.

“This way.” Gates directed.

Mao Lu turned around and saw an impressive fortress that took up the majority of the floating island. It looked like something straight out of World of Warcraft with its large stone exterior and countless turrets and impressive design and architecture.

Lu couldn’t help but whistle, when he’d been younger and had had more freedom, he’d been really into MMORPG’s. He loved the design put into it. Of course, castles like that were usually products of the programmers and game designers’ fantasies, such impressive buildings like this only belonged in a game. Or perhaps in parts of Europe. Mao Lu never thought he’d ever see or enter a castle like this one in his life.

The drawbridge was as long as the Marco Polo bridge13 in Beijing.. As he walked across it, he felt a slight sense of apprehension.