Karne village was an underground paradise straight from fiction.

The ground was made of a reflective black crystal, when Mao Lu waded his way out of the lake and his trainers touched the black surface his steps became silent, as if the crystalline ground was eating the sound.

Surrounding the village was a large chunky wall made of blue and green crystals. As they got closer Mao Lu realised how tall the wall was, it seemed to stretch far and high inside the underground cavern.

Standing at the entrance were four guards. They were dressed in armor that was similar to Mero's, except it glowed.

They had large spears in their hands. These spears were three metres taller than the guards that held them. They seemed to be made of a strange blue metal and yellow crystals. There were several spiked ridges across the staff and the staff itself had a strange rune patterns decorating it. The blade glowed like a torch.

Despite the extreme height and probable weight of these spears the guards held them easily by their side and stood up straight with impressive posture and presence.

Their faces hidden under grilled masks.

They didn't make a movement or a noise as Mero pulled Mao Lu through the crystal entrance and into the village.

Inside the village the buildings were like small huts, the type you would see on a hawaiian beach, except they were made of a variety of different crystals. Blue crystals, clear crystals, white crystals, purple crystals and more. All of these crystals glowed iridescently, so despite being underground there was a bright warm light which stretched to every corner.

Mao Lu was mesmerised by the s.h.i.+fting and changing colourful lights and the peculiar architecture. He'd never seen anything like it.

The sound of children squealing and people chattering soon greeted his ears. The village was very lively. At the very entrance there was an open market and dozens of people were buying and selling all kinds of items. Food and creatures he'd never seen before were laid across some stalls whilst peculiar items and weaponry laid across others.

A band dressed in robes of red and gold played music and dancers in green and gold freely swayed around.

Children chased each other and played amongst the shopping adults.

It was all so beautiful and exciting.

A glowing ball bounced and rolled on the ground, stopping at Mao Lu's feet. A child with yellow eyes similar to Mero's, pointed ears, and scaled skin, ran up to Mao Lu. Grabbing his ball.

As the child did this he looked up at Mao Lu and yelped. This loud yelp caused some attention to focus on him, which caused more murmuring and surprised yelps, leading to everyone at the village entrance staring at him curiously.

The dancers stopped dancing and the music abruptly halted.

Their pointed long ears twitching and their eyes flickering. Their fanged teeth moved as they chattered amongst themselves nervously.

Mao Lu was not perturbed by their reactions, it was only to be expected. He was the new person in town and he looked different from them. It was likely that they had never seen anyone who looked like him before.

"Mero Karne!" A loud voice disrupted the chattering of the villagers.

The crowd parted as a man dressed in a golden coloured body suit walked through. He had long white hair, yellow eyes, and his scaly skin was mostly white rather than patchy. Runes covered his armour and glowed warmly. At his waist he had two dual daggers holstered, a black cape fluttered at his back.

Mero seemed to visibly stiffen when this man came towards them. Mao Lu couldn't tell whether this was out of fear or whether she was just nervous.

"General Xander" she said rather respectfully as she bowed her head towards him.

He ignored her greeting and only curtly said "You have things to explain to the council, follow me...you as well." Xander glanced at Mao Lu. His gaze filled with curiosity, apprehension and some fear.

His gaze didn't linger long before he turned around and began walking deeper into the village.

Mero didn't say anything. She followed General Xander and Mao Lu followed along obediently.

Mao Lu felt the curious gazes of everyone following them as they left.

....

As they walked Mao Lu couldn't help but think that calling this place a village was incorrect, it was more like an underground city. It was huge and the streets were like a maze, twisting, turning, and numerous. There was a variety of hut shaped buildings.

As they pa.s.sed by Mao Lu noticed people quietly watching him from their windows.

They walked for perhaps thirty minutes before reaching a large waterfall. It lay between two large huts, the water fell from the ceiling of the underground cavern and disappeared into the black crystal ground. It was like a straight veil of water.

Xander and Mero didn't hesitate walking into it. They disappeared into the waterfall.

Mao Lu raised an eyebrow and did the same. He was confused, for a village of mortals there was quite a bit of magic here. This waterfall and that secret lake entrance as well. He found it all very peculiar.

Just like the lake the waterfall was some type of teleportation device, and when Mao Lu walked through it he found himself in a large field.

This field was several acres wide, it was made up of a long stretch of blue glowing gra.s.s and a variety of glowing flowers.

At the centre of this field were ten stone benches, all of which were placed in a circle.

In the middle of this circle was a large throne made of red crystal.

Sitting on these stone benches were five old women and five old men. They wore flowing silky platinum coloured garments which had runes running across them. Their clothes glowed a warm yellow light and made their jewelled headdresses glimmer. Subtle light s.h.i.+ning on their wizened faces.

On the red throne was a man who appeared rather young, but his eyes betrayed his age. They were filled with the weariness of experience.

Unlike the elderly men and women his garments weren't luxurious, neither did they particularly glow, they were in fact rather plain and white clothing. His scales were a variety of colours like Mero's and his hair was long and silver.

Mao Lu was surprised, so far everyone in the village had been mortal but this man wasn't. The essence tended to be thin around mortals but gathered more around pract.i.tioners. Many of the essences in the area comfortably settled on this man. The life essences on his skin were lime green, if Mao Lu remembered correctly that meant this man had a lifespan of between 10,000 to 30,000 years. He was most definitely not mortal.

Even though they were still a great distance from each other their eyes still met. As the man's yellow eyes connected with Mao Lu's a variety of emotions showed on his face. In the end his expression became extremely cautious...

When Mao Lu, Mero and Xander had walked up to the council, Mero bowed her head low, "I give my greetings to the village Elders and the village Chief." she said

Mao Lu and General Xander followed her lead and also bowed their heads.

When the village Chief looked at Mero his gaze softened, he sighed gently and the wind seemed to sigh along with him, "My dear daughter why is it that you're never too far from trouble? Bringing this man to the village...let me hear your explanation."

Mero kept her head bowed. "Father I was out making a trap for the Refa that I'd been tracking these past few weeks when I heard a large bang, it made the small creatures run and the trees tremor. And when I came from the trap I saw a large crater, I was curious and explored it and I came across Mao Lu…"

Her voice trailed off when she heard the sharp intake of breath her Father made. She could hear the anger in his voice as he said, "You see a large crater and you explore it? Do you have no regard for your life? Do you not know fear? If there was something hostile in that crater you could have very well died."

She kept her head bowed. "I was wrong Father." she said rather tearfully.

The Village Chief's voice became soft as a feather as he said, "It is fine as long as you learn from your mistake and never do such a thing again."

His eyes then glanced at Mao Lu. "So tell me what happened when you met this man."

"I...I" Mero felt embarra.s.sed, "I was startled when I saw him and I was scared he was an evil pract.i.tioner and began to panic, but he calmed me down. He isn't scary nor does he seem overbearingly powerful, and he told me he isn't a pract.i.tioner. At first I suspected that he must be some elite mortal from another planet whose s.h.i.+p had crashed here leaving him stranded."

"And what do you suspect now?" Her Father asked.

"There was no s.h.i.+p wreckage in sight and he didn't know about basic things in this realm like the forest spirits and other things. Now I suspect that he is a pract.i.tioner from elsewhere." As she said this she could feel the growing fear and animosity from the Village Elders, "But! I don't think he has any bad intentions. He didn't hurt me. I don't know why he lied and said he wasn't a pract.i.tioner but I don't think he's a bad person." Mero hurriedly explained.

"It's fine child you don't need to explain anymore." the Chief said. He glanced at Mao Lu again and then said, "I would like to speak to him privately. I also believe he means no harm, so do not worry."

The Chief didn't say anything more, his silence in itself was their cue to leave.

The village Chief waited patiently until everyone had walked through the waterfall exit before stepping off of his throne.

He then got on his knees and bowed reverently towards Mao Lu.

"This humble ones name is Sea Karne, I apologise for the earlier rude treatment. I welcome you to Karne Village." He bowed even lower to Mao Lu, "May I be at liberty to ask which Realm you preside over and why you have come to visit, Lord Gatekeeper?"

To Sea Karne, Mao Lu was covered in a flurry of light. The essences around him were so thick and potent that his ability and power appeared unfathomable. The moment Karne saw him he knew this wasn't a Pract.i.tioner, this was a Gatekeeper. An existence he never thought he'd face in this lifetime.

Sea Karne was scared but he was also proud.

He didn't want to let his daughter or the elders to see him grovel towards this man, which was why he had sent them away first despite the risk of offending this Gatekeeper by doing so.

Mao Lu extended his hand to Sea Karne, "You don't need to bow to me. I'd like it if you pretended that there was no difference in status between us. I am here in your land after all."

Sea was taken aback for a bit, but when he saw the warm and calm smile on Mao Lu's face, he took his hand and stood up.

"My name is Mao Lu, I'm the Gatekeeper of Realm 145. I'm here unofficially for some personal reasons. I don't have any bad intentions. After I'm finished with what I need to do here I'll leave." Mao Lu bowed towards Sea Karne, "I'd be thankful if you'd let me stay here for the time being."

Sea Karne was bewildered, a Gatekeeper was being polite to him and asking for his permission. Mao Lu's att.i.tude was nothing like the haughty and overbearing att.i.tude that he'd heard Gatekeepers had in rumours.

"You are more than welcome to stay as long as you wish." Sea Karne replied, "I will just tell the others that you are a good pract.i.tioner, and that you are suffering from an injury and accidentally fell here. I'll tell them you're staying here while you recover."

Mao Lu nodded and then glanced at Sea Karne curiously, "They're all very scared of Pract.i.tioners but you're a pract.i.tioner, do they not fear you?"

Sea Karne looked into the distance as if recalling memories of the past, "I have long forsaken the pract.i.tioner way. 2,000 years ago I realised that I had reached my limit as a mage when I entered the Nascent stage. I didn't have the talent to reach Immortality. It was around about that time when I came across this tribe of mortals.

In the past all Pract.i.tioners on this planet owned mortals like pets. Mortals breed quickly so they were treated like pests by pract.i.tioners or used like livestock for experiments or for resources.

After many many years of such traditions, some Righteous Pract.i.tioners felt that this was wrong and decided to make a territory, a so called safe s.p.a.ce for mortals, where they could live in freedom. That's how the continent of Tenner came into existence.

At first this freedom wasn't a good thing. Many mortals back then were raised to be slaves, many didn't know how to survive on their own or didn't know what to do with this newfound freedom. It was around about this time when I stumbled upon this small tribe. They were struggling to survive and were carnal and savage. We were of the same species yet the differences between us was profound. They made me realise how lucky I was to be a pract.i.tioner and not a mortal. I took pity on them and decided to help them flourish their civilisation.

I taught them to hunt, to build shelter, to cook, to educate, to stand on their own and they developed quickly. Some left the village and went out to spread their knowledge to other mortal civilisations in this territory. At that time I thought of leaving but I had fallen in love with these people, and I fell in love with this land that they had named after me. Karne Village, Karne Forest. In the end I stayed and oversaw their development.

Much later I then fell in love with a mortal woman from this tribe, I ended up having a daughter with her, and that's what made me decide that I would stay here and look after this village until I perished.

I'm sure my people have noticed that I do not age the same way they do. I'm certain they suspect me of being a pract.i.tioner but they respect me and see me as their saviour. I believe that is why they do not fear me the same way they fear other pract.i.tioners."

Mao Lu smiled, "You have made an amazing underground land. The people here seem happy and well, you should be proud of yourself."

Sea Karne also smiled, "I am."

_________________________________

A s.p.a.cE BETWEEN s.p.a.cE

Chàng Bo stared at the skeletal hand in suspicion. "Sorry, I don't shake hands with people I don't trust."

Hypnos paused and then laughed, the black cloak shaking, "That is a good rule to live by." he said as he put his hand back into the depths of his black cloak.

"Explain, how are we brothers exactly?" Chàng Bo's voice was calm but his heart was erratic. He felt extremely nervous.

"It's a biological thing you see, people are brothers when they share the same Mother or F"

"I know how people can be brothers!" Chàng Bo interrupted, a vein near his temple twitched. Was this man mocking him!

"Explain to me how we are related. If you are who you say you are than tell me where my Mother has been for most of my life. Tell me why she disappeared." he ordered.

Hypnos sighed, "You know you're very demanding, you remind me of our other brother Thanatos. Honestly where does that arrogant and demanding personality come from, maybe Mother…" Hypnos muttered to himself. "Well don't be impatient young Bo. I'll tell you the answers to those questions soon, but first let me tell you the story from a different beginning. It all starts with the birth of our Mother."