When Jack came to again, he was laying down on a bed in a dimly lit room. The room didn’t have much more than a simple bed, prayer mat in the corner and a desk with a bookshelf. The room looked to be carved from a cave as the walls were rough.
When Jack sat up, he could feel something different. His body was light and seemed to be filled with a mysterious power. His hearing was several times better than before and he could hear distant murmurs through the walls. It took him a while to adjust his eyes as well, his eyesight was beyond good. The door to the room was at the opposite side of the room from the bed but Jack could see every splinter individually from the spot he was sitting at. “What the hell...”
As he murmured that to himself, the door suddenly opened and the familiar middle aged man walked in with two other people. They were all wearing the same clothes, black jeans with a black shirt and jacket that had a letter embroidered on the left breast pocket.
On the middle aged man’s jacket, the letter was W the other two had a C embroidered on the jacket. On the back, there was simply a red tower with chains wrapping around it. The middle aged man smiled to Jack and said, “You are up, that was faster than I was expecting.”
Jack looked at the man in vigilance, for some reason, he could feel awe and absolute power radiate from the man. He could feel that he was no match for him, no matter how he tried. Jack nodded his head cautiously and the man let out a laugh. He then waved his hand and Jack rose up from the bed and levitated in front of the man. Jack was extremely alarmed but he felt as though he couldn’t move a muscle, all he could do was levitate there, a few inches off the ground.
The man walked a circle around him and then put his finger on Jack forehead. Jack felt a stream of warm energy enter his head as the man nodded and his smile widened. When the energy disappeared from within Jack, he gently dropped to the ground as the man said with a smile, “Those clothes suit you well.” It was only now that Jack looked down at his own clothes and saw that he was wearing the same kind of clothes as the three of them were. However, on his jacket there was a JW embroidered on his left breast pocket.
The man gestured for Jack to sit down as he said, “I will explain everything to you now and also, answer all the questions I can.” The other two people looked at each other with confusion as the stole glances from the middle aged man in front of them. Jack thought for a second before he sighed and did as he was told.
From the little demonstration of the levitating trick, the middle aged man had shown Jack that he was in complete control here and if Jack decided to run, he wouldn’t be able to get far. Jack then thought back for a second to the meeting on the bridge and smiled wryly. He himself had taken his hand and he himself had chosen this path. If he hadn’t taken his hand, for some reason, he knew that he wouldn’t be here.
When Jack sat down, the man started, “First things first, introductions are in order. My name is Men Shi. I was born in the same world as you but not in the “world” you grew up in but in the previous civilization.” Jack tilted his head a bit, “Same world, previous civilization? What the heck is he jabbering about?” as Jack thought that inside his head, the man explained, “We were born in a “Blessed World”, a world that will never have magic, Qi or anything. All humans will be and will always stay as mortals, no matter how much time passes. However, every so often, a couple quadrillion years, the world gets reset.”
Jack blinked as he tried to process what the man said. Men Shi went into more detail as he explained. “As a civilization grows, so does their thirst for knowledge and the more they advance in technology but there is a limit to that before they make a mistake and self destruct. When the previous civilization dies out, either by their own mistake or not, and the world prepares itself for the next civilization, that is called a “Reset”. Understand?”
Jack thought for a moment before weakly nodding his head and giving a brief summary, “So, the civilization grows to the peak and then by either their own mistake or the “world wanting it”, it starts declining and dies out. Some time passes and new intelligent species are born that start the same journey?” Men Shi looked at the two people that he had brought along with a hint of smugness as said, “Yes, that is exactly it. Once a civilization grows to a certain point, now matter the cause, it will surely start declining and the world will slowly erase all of the traces of it’s existence from the world. When a new civilization becomes sentient and start yearning for more knowledge, they start advancing in technology. They advance to the peak and then they will die out. And then the cycle continues.”
Jack fell silent as he lowered his head and fell into thought. As he kept thinking, Men Shi’s voice echoed out, asking the same question Jack had been asking himself, “Why is it like that?” Jack looked up and nodded his head in all seriousness.
Stolen novel; please report.
Men Shi gave a sad smile as he said, “The “Blessed Worlds” are the only worlds that can create Souls. All the other inhabitants of other worlds have always first been born in a “Blessed World”, lived out their life, died and been born again in another world. To make sure that these worlds didn’t also achieve immortality, every once in a while it is needed to reset the Worlds so that they can keep producing Souls for the other Worlds. If the “Blessed Worlds” achieved immortality, then there would be no more Souls to inhabit the bodies of other worlds, making the other worlds die out.”
Jack’s head fell down as he murmured, “So the “Blessed Worlds” are just giant farms that produce the cattle, that are Souls, for the other worlds.” Men Shi stood up and let out a deep sigh as he said, “You can think of it as like that.”
Jack thought about it a bit more and then sighed deeply as well. He now understood the meaning behind Men Shi’s sad smile from before. Both him and Jack had been born in a “Blessed World” so the two of them had actually been born as the “cattle”. Men Shi continued, “The “Blessed Worlds” are the foundation of out Plane. They produce the Souls needed for the inhabitants, then come the Minor Worlds, Major Worlds and the Nether Realm and Celestial Realm. While the “Blessed Worlds” produce the inhabitants of our Plane, the other four realms produce the Protectors of our Realm.” Jack looked at Men Shi in puzzlement again.
He could understand the foundation part but the protector part was what was a bit of muddled to him. Men Shi then said, “These four Realms practise Cultivation, the powerhouses of the Realms carry immense power that could destroy a “Blessed World” with a nothing more than a snap of ones fingers. These Realms produce the people that deal with the outside threats.” Jack’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “Outside threats?” Men Shi nodded his head seriously, “Just like there is life and a civilization in our Plane, there are other planes out there that have done the same. We aren’t unique or special in the greater perspective. We are all like one cog in a giant mechanism of the existence.”
As he said that, Men Shi’s eyes grew distant as fell into more thought. Jack didn’t say anything and a few moments passed in silence before Men Shi snapped back to reality and continued, “Nether Prison is a very special Organization. It’s sole purpose is to protect this Plane we call home from all the outside threats form other Planes. And this brings us to the topic of why you are here.”
Jack looked at Men Shi in astonishment as he pointed a finger to himself, “Me?”
Men Shi nodded and explained, “Although all the members of the Nether Prison are from the Four Great Realms that protect our Plane, the seat of Warden, the head of the organization, has and always will be occupied by someone from the “Blessed World”. Just like me and the countless other Wardens before me, we all come from the “Blessed Worlds”. My time as the Warden is coming to an end and I have to make sure I have a successor to take on my mantle and seat on one of the most powerful but also thorniest thrones in the Plane.”
Jack looked at Men Shi with a dumbfounded expression. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could Men Shi continued, “Nearly 10 Quadrillion years ago, I woke up in that bed after taking up the offer similar to yours. The lifespan of a Warden is still limited by Heavens and there is nothing one can do to combat that, so every 10 Quadrillion years, if the Warden has survived that long, he chooses a successor for himself or herself.”
Jack just sat on the chair completely dumbfounded, just staring at the man with a blank look and an open mouth. Jack then asked, “Why me?” Men Shi then started walking towards the door as he said, “Come on, follow me.” Jack stood up and followed Men Shi from the small room to another room. This room was extremely spacious and in the centre of the room, in the air stood a giant spherical glass ball. Around the glass ball, in mid air, sat three old men in white garbs meditating.
The room was filled with people dressed in the same clothes as the four of them were but with different letters embroidered on their jacket pockets.
Jack took in the grand sight and Men Shi explained, “Those three men are the “Three Seers” of Nether Prison. Using the precious treasure, the glass ball in the sky, as a medium, they can peek into the future. As there are countless different ways for the future to play out, they use the help of the treasure to find the most likely one to happen. When someone tries to invade or someone from our Plane starts stirring major shit up, they let us know and we deploy the most optimal personal to deal with the situation.”
Jack raised an eyebrow as he asked, “Stirs shit up from our Plane?” Men Shi sighed as he shook his head, “There have been countless invasion attempts. Some have been able to leave behind Legacy Sites that have brainwashed people from our Plane or they have left behind a Soul Fragment and taken over someone from our Plane. We can’t be everywhere at once and we can’t deal with everything completely clean all the time.”
He then took a deep breath again, “Some fish slip through our net and we have to deal with them at later times.” Jack sighed as he understood the reasoning and logic behind it now. Absolute defence was nothing more than an illusion. Jack looked at the glass ball in interest as he saw the occasional light sparks flicker through it and every time they did, one of the old men would either furrow their brows or turn serious.
As Jack observed the “Three Seers”, Men Shi’s voice echoed out next to him, “I asked them to use the precious treasure and work together to find the most suitable successor for me. After many days of searching thorough every possible future, they chose you.”