Mero sighed as she ploughed at the rough soil. Her double-edged-iron shovel slipping into the brown dirt effortlessly.

"Is this still not deep enough?" She muttered as she stared at the 4 metre deep hole she was standing in.

"No it's not deep enough, I need to dig deeper." she groaned as she began digging yet again. Her greenish scaled skin rippled and her muscles bulged as she dug deeper with fervour.

It was at this moment that a loud rumble and then a bang resounded throughout the forest. A shock wave shook the ground and a strong gust of wind blew.

Mero halted, her ears twitched as the trees rustled. Birds flew away in a hurry and small creatures ran from their homes.

Mero waited for a few minutes without a sound until the forest settled.

"What was that?" she wondered.

She leapt on to the side of a large tree, the tree was easily the size of a five storey building. She reached the top of it in a matter of seconds.

Her pointed ears twitched and her yellow eyes widened as she stared at the large crater that now lay in the middle of the forest. She whistled, "Now that's a big hole. What could have created that?"

She hesitated as she stared at the crater. Common sense was telling her to go back to the village and tell the elders what she'd found, but curiosity was telling her to investigate. Before she could stop herself she had already jumped from the tree and was hurtling towards the crater.

The wind whipped through her silver hair and her brown cloak billowed. She smiled with pointed teeth as she landed on all fours at the very edge of the crater.

"Something big must have fallen here." she muttered, "Could it have been an asteroid? No...it couldn't be, an asteroid this size would have shown in the sky and I saw nothing. Then.." Her metal boots halted just as she was about to step into the crater. "Could it be a pract.i.tioner!"

Fear ran through her all of a sudden. "No...no it couldn't be...Pract.i.tioners are bound by the treaty, they can't come to mortal regions without making an announcement...unless...it's a rogue and evil Pract.i.tioner." She s.h.i.+vered at the thought.

Just as she was about to turn and run, she heard someone groan, "Oh my G.o.d that hurt!!! Ow ow ow ow ow ow."

Mero paused and turned around.

Her yellow eyes connected with deep brown ones.

....

Mao Lu had quite literally smashed into the ground. He hadn't thought the Tempering Heart trial would just let him crash into the ground, and he'd fallen head first as well.

The moment he pulled his head, which had been stuck in the ground, out, he groaned "Oh my G.o.d that hurt!!! Ow ow ow ow ow ow."

He rubbed his somewhat aching temples and looked around. He almost jumped back in shock when he saw a yellow-eyed person staring at him.

Even though they were a distance apart, when their eyes made contact they both froze like deer caught in headlights.

Her skin was green with patches of red, white and brown. She was covered in scales. Her hair was a fine silver and she wore a tight fitting black bodysuit that had a billowing brown cape at the back. Her ears were pointed like elf ears. She was like a character from a science fiction fantasy comic who had just walked out of the pages.

Mao Lu was aware that aliens existed.

Ever since he became a Gatekeeper he understood that humanity was far outnumbered by a vast number of highly intelligent species.

And in his first few weeks of being a Gatekeeper, pract.i.tioners from other planets had come to visit him, and they had all been pretty bizarre looking. One Pract.i.tioner had even looked like a giant centipede. Mao Lu had had quite the shock when the thing appeared outside his residence, bowing towards him before quickly leaving. Compared to that thing this girl appeared pretty normal.

So Mao Lu wasn't surprised by her appearance, what did surprise him though was how shocked and terrified she looked as she stared at him.

She stepped backwards in fear but ended up stepping on her own cape and tripping. As she tripped forward in horror she slid down the side of the large Crater and ended up right in front of Mao Lu.

When her eyes connected with his yet again and she realised how close she was to him, she squawked in absolute terror. She s.h.i.+vered and her legs seemed to have become weak. She shook like a leaf.

"Please don't kill me...Pract.i.tioner please don't kill me." She trembled and thick green tears began to fall from her eyes.

Her words at first sounded like nonsense to his ears but suddenly they began to make sense and he could understand her. Mao Lu immediately felt fl.u.s.tered. Why did she think he would kill her?!!!

"I'm not going to kill you! Why are you crying?! Ahhh don't cry please, I'm harmless really." Mao Lu said helplessly he waved his arms in front of himself and tried to look as harmless as possible but it didn't stop her tears.

This girl had looked like a fierce warrior in her black bodysuit, who would have thought she was such a crybaby.

It took Mao Lu a full thirty minutes to calm her down.

"You-You're really not going to kill me?" she asked when her tears eventually dried up.

Mao Lu's eyebrows twitched, "That is what I've been saying for the last half hour. I don't even know you, I have no reason to hurt you and I'm a pretty much harmless guy. So calm down."

The girl squinted at him, her previous state of terror now replaced with a shrewd calmness. Her yellow eyes scrutinised him the same way an animal scrutinised an opponent.

"You're a pract.i.tioner aren't you?" She asked.

Mao Lu shook his head, "No I'm not a Pract.i.tioner." This was the truth, Mao Lu was a Gatekeeper, not a pract.i.tioner.

When she heard this she sighed in relief and visibly relaxed.

Her yellow eyes now sparkled with curiosity and excitement, "Who are you? Where are you from? I've never seen anyone that looks like you before. Are you from another planet, which one? How did you get here? Did you see what caused this crater?"

She asked all these questions in one breath, leaving Mao Lu overwhelmed. He chuckled slightly, "Don't ask all these questions at once, how am I supposed to answer. And before you start interrogating someone shouldn't you introduce yourself." Mao Lu outstretched his hand and shook hers, "My name is Mao Lu, what's your name?"

"Ah I lost my composure there for a second. I apologise. My name is Mero, Mero Karne, I'm the daughter of the village chief." she said as she warmly shook his hand with both of her hands. That was when Mao Lu noticed her long black claws.

"So Mr Lu, where are you from?" she asked.

"You can just call me Mao Lu, and Mao is my surname not Lu" he explained.

Mero tilted her head to the side in confusion, "Then why do you say your family name first, it should be you and then your family name."

"That's just the way it is where I'm from, though other people from other countries on my planet introduce themselves the way you do."

Mero nodded in understanding, her eyes glowing as she looked at the sky. "Out there are so many different cultures and people. I dream of seeing it all one day." she said wistfully. "You're the first person I've ever met that isn't from this planet."

Mao Lu smiled warmly, "I'm sure one day you'll be able to explore and meet many more people."

Mero sighed, "Such a thing is only a dream. Only Pract.i.tioners and the super rich have the right to own or travel on a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. And only Pract.i.tioners can gain pa.s.ses to other Realms. For a lowly and poor mortal like myself, dreaming about travelling is only dreaming."

She looked Mao Lu up and down, "Now that I think about it, you look too weak to be a pract.i.tioner, you're far too skinny. I haven't met many Pract.i.tioners but from what I know Pract.i.tioners are super strong and terrifying absolute beings. They wouldn't be as pathetic as you. I can't believe I was so scared earlier, hmm I'm such a fool."

Mao Lu laughed awkwardly, he was a Gatekeeper though, someone who Pract.i.tioners bowed to. If she realised this she'd probably faint.

"You must be an elite right, are you from a very prominent family. Were you out exploring and then your s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p crashed?" she asked.

Mao Lu laughed awkwardly and said, "Umm something like that."

"Wow it must have been quite the s.h.i.+p to cause a crater like this and for it to be completely destroyed like this, wow. I'm surprised you're okay." she said in awe, "Ah but I hear that the super elite hire witches to give their children all sorts of charms and protective magic. So I guess even if your s.h.i.+p crashed and self destructed you would still be okay." she said whilst nodding her head as if this all made sense to her now. "I wish I was rich enough to have just one of those charms, it would make hunting so much easier."

Mao Lu just laughed awkwardly, he hadn't said anything, she had just answered all her questions on her own. He wasn't going to tell her otherwise, just let her a.s.sume what she wanted.

"Um, can I ask you where we are? Like where am I right now." This had been the question at the forefront of Mao Lu's mind. He was sure he was still going through the trial but this place felt so real, the girl didn't seem like an illusion or anything and he was certain this wasn't a memory.

"You're in the northern region of Realm ten, the Gallagher galaxy, in solar system ZA, on planet ACER, on the continent of Tenner, country Nazarick in Karne Forest." She said nonchalantly as if she were reciting from a book.

Realm ten....Mao Lu's eyes widened, the trial had taken him to another Realm, " I wonder if the Gatekeeper of this realm is aware of my presence here?" he wondered

"No, the Gatekeeper is not aware, the trial is separate, there will be no interference," The Light's soft voice entered his ears again.

Mao Lu raised an eyebrow, "What am i supposed to do here?" he mentally asked.

Light gently laughed in his ears, "It wouldn't be a test if I told you that. Good luck." it whispered before fading away.

Mao Lu slowly digested this information, his brain whirred. So the trial could even hide things from Gatekeepers in their own Realm. Mao Lu found his mind wandering back to the meeting with the other Gatekeepers, he remembered how the enemy that framed Chàng Bo had an ability to get in and out of Realms without anyone noticing. Wasn't this similar to that?

Mao Lu felt a creepy feeling down his spine, like he had just thought of something he shouldn't have thought of.

The Tempering Heart Trial must have been created by The Creator to test and advance the Gatekeepers. One, The Creator was an existence that could enter any Realm and the Gatekeepers would be helpless against.

"Ah but that can't be, the Creator would have no reason to do things like framing Chàng Bo. And the Creator hasn't appeared since the dawn of the 400 realms, why would they appear now? It could be someone else with a similar skill." When he completed the trial Mao Lu decided to ask the Light if it knew anything.

"Hey, h.e.l.lo!" Mero was waving her hands in front of Mao Lu's face

Mao Lu blinked, "Ah sorry I was lost in thought."

Mero sn.i.g.g.e.red, "I could tell. I was just asking you what we should do. The only place with s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps on this Planet is continent Juu and sadly that's on the other side of the world and I can't take you there, it's Pract.i.tioner territory."

"Pract.i.tioner territory?"

"Ahh you don't know...well I guess different planets have different rules. As you know Realm ten is a mortal Realm, meaning 1% of the population are Pract.i.tioners. I don't know how it is on other planets but on this one Pract.i.tioners see themselves as extremely superior. They're greatly arrogant and easily angered. They kill mortals like me and you as if we're ants to be squashed. Mortals in Pract.i.tioner territories are similar to objects, they'll use you and discard you." Mero's expression was dark with anger as she said this but at the same time she trembled with fear. "The only reason some of us are safe is because the more benevolent pract.i.tioners didn't like the cruel treatment towards mortals and created safe zones like this continent. Even if you're a super rich mortal, you're still from another planet, your social standing at home won't matter much here. If you went to Pract.i.tioner territory you'd just become a slave. So it's better not to go there."

"That's terrible, I imagined that in some places it might be like this, but I didn't want to believe it." Mao Lu sighed.

Mero was surprised, "Is it not like this where you're from?"

"Where I'm from the Pract.i.tioners like to keep themselves to themselves and are generally very peacekeeping and don't hurt mortals."

Mero's eyes sparkled, "Wow that sounds lovely, it must be so peaceful."

"It is lovely but don't think it's peaceful. Mortals hurt each other and enslave each other and discriminate amongst themselves all the time. Even if the pract.i.tioners aren't involved it doesn't stop these things from happening. Whether mortal or pract.i.tioner horrible people and horrible things happen everywhere, but at the same time lovely people and lovely things also exist. It's just life." Mao Lu replied

Mero sighed as she heard this, "So the world out there isn't too different from the world in here." she sighed again and then giggled, "I've sighed more times in this five minute conversation then I have in my entire life."

Mao Lu also laughed, "Sorry I made such a bad mood."

"It's fine." She said as she looked at the horizon, the sun was getting lower in the sky. "For now just come to my village where it is safe, we should leave this place before it gets dark, we don't want to be devoured by the creatures out here. I'll have to finish what I was doing here tomorrow."

"What were you doing?" Mao Lu inquired.

Mero laughed, "I was making a trap for this large animal, it's called a Refa. It has a really tall neck and short stumpy legs so it has a hard time climbing out of steep holes. I was digging a hole for it earlier. Its flesh is so succulent it's a delicacy." her mouth watered

"I'll have to try it once you've caught it." Mao Lu laughed.

"Yep but that is for another day."

Mao Lu and Mero quickly climbed up the side of the crater. Mao Lu was surprised by how nimble and fast Mero was on her feet, but then again she wasn't human and she was probably very used to this environment.

As they reached the top of the crater Mao Lu stared in awe at how large it was. Had his body really created that just from falling there?

Mao Lu had had no idea that his body had gotten so strong. Ever since he'd completed Sense of the Realm he'd had a sense that his body had toughened a lot, but not to this degree.

He wondered how tough his body defense and physical strength was compared to Chàng Bo. As he thought of Chàng Bo his mood soured, "I need to finish this trial quickly, I need to find out if he's alright."