Jack turned towards Men Shi with round eyes. He muttered, “Me?” Men Shi nodded his head as he stepped past Jack and started observing the crystal sphere.

He looked at it for a moment before he started, his eyes fixed on the sphere, “That treasure is our Planes most precious and important treasure. Through it, we can peer into the many futures and rid ourselves of troubles that have yet to come. The same way, we can find ourselves the people most suitable to deal with certain situations.”

He then took a deep breath and turned around towards Jack, “My time as a Warden was a fairly peaceful one but the time in store for the next Warden is a turbulent one. To ensure our survival, we need to have a strong Warden.” Jack looked down and asked, “So you chose me? But….”

Just as Jack wanted to continue arguing, Men Shi raised his hand with a smile, “Don’t worry. You are without a doubt the right choice for this. All you have to do is believe in yourself. Also, I have laid down ad much ground work as I could for you but it will still all be up to you.”

Jack fell silent as he started thinking to himself. In all honesty, he just had a hard time accepting this. He was basically told to be responsible for the entire Plane. Besides that, he was just told that his time looking over the Plane was going to be riddled with one disaster after another.

Jack looked at Men Shi with clouded eyes as he said weakly, “Can I be alone for a bit? I need to think it all over. It is too much to take in all at once.” Men Shi nodded his head and said, “Take all the time you need little friend.” He then gestured for someone to take him back. The man nodded and lead Jack away. When Jack left the room, Men Shi turned to look at the crystal sphere again. After a few minute of silence, one of the Seers said, “Well, that was blunt.”

Men Shi let out a weak laugh as he answered, “There is no use in sugar coating it. Out of the millions of futures, only a dozen of them speak of a peaceful time. The rest are all riddled with wars. He would get himself killed if I kept this kind of vital information from him.” The old Seer sighed, “I am not saying you acted wrong. In my opinion, you did the right thing.”

He took a breath as he continued, “He is someone who has to take command during the most turbulent times our Plane has ever seen. If he lacks the conviction to do that, he will fall. When he falls, the rest of us will go down with him.” Men Shi sighed again as he nodded his head with difficulty. Another one of the Seers opened his mouth, “We are going to rely on the giant shield he is going to be, of course he has the right to know what he is going to be in for.”

Men Shi gave a sad smile as he asked with a sigh again, “How long do we have until the first Trial begins?” The third Seer then said, “As of now, we have only around a million years until the first big Trial shows up. Until then, you better do your best to make him as prepared as a person can be.” Men Shi nodded his head and said, “I will give him a few days to get himself accustomed to his situation, then I will start his training.” With that, the discussion between them had ended.

When Jack left the room, he wasn’t taken back to the room he woke up in but to a tranquil little courtyard. It had a small bond, a flowerbed, a lone willow tree and a few birds and small animals running around. In the far corner, there was a little pagoda with a small table and a few chairs. Jack took a seat and a few drinks and a few fruits and such were brought to the table. Jack didn’t pay attention to them at all. He was in his own world as he went under the willow tree, sat down and closed his eyes.

In his head, he went over all the information he had learned today. It was a lot to take in and he had a hard time adjusting to it. Until yesterday, he was nothing more than a trouble maker child that very few people wanted anything to do with. Now he was asked to take charge of the defence of an entire Plane. The lives of the entire Plane would lay on his shoulders and on the decisions he makes. Every decision he makes from now on may cost someone their life but at the same time save billions. Or vice versa, he can save one but it will cost the lives of billions. This kind of responsibility….

To say that he had no pressure was a lie. The pressure of it was enormous. No matter how he thought about it or from what angle he looked at it, he couldn’t see how he had what it took to take up such an important position. He had low self esteem and his faith in himself was very low, so he couldn’t see what others saw in him.

In his mind, they had made a mistake. As Jack was lost in his negative thoughts, a young woman appeared next to him. She wore robes white as snow with a golden dragon emblem on it. The sleeves were adorned with exquisite golden patterns. She had pitch black, waist long hair, green eyes and her features were fairy like. She opened her mouth and a melodious voice escaped her mouth, “You are doubting yourself, aren’t you?” Jack opened his eyes and looked at the new arrival. Jack was taken aback by her beauty but for some reason, he wasn’t enchanted by it.

Jack remained silent as the young woman continued, “Let me clarify one thing that the Warden didn’t: Although you will be in charge and responsible for the Plane, you will not be alone with it.” Jack still kept his silence as he listened. The woman continued, “Just as it is your duty to protect the Plane, so is it ours. We will all stand behind you. If the decision is bad, we will advise you otherwise.

If the decision is the best under the current circumstances, no one will object.” Jack opened his mouth for the first time and asked, “Why me?” The girl gave a charming smile as she said, “Because of your karmic merit.” Jack tilted his head in confusion hearing the answer.

The girl giggled seeing the reaction and explained, “We observed you for two and a half years before we made contact with you. During that time, we saw you help out hundreds of people and save them from suicide, depression or from another kind of bind.”

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Jack was taken aback from the revelation but before he could say anything, the girl continued, albeit a little more seriously, “You talked seventy two people out of committing suicide and helping them fight their depression and helped all of them get their lives back on track or even better than before. Those are only the suicidal people you helped but indirectly you helped hundreds of others with little things that changed their lives.”

The girl then flashed a brilliant smile to Jack as she concluded her story, “In two and a half years, you have changed the lived of so many people for the better, either by helping them directly or indirectly you still accumulated karmic merit. That isn’t even important to you now but rather the fact that you helped so many others in such a short span of time even with how your life had been. It shows you are of great moral character and of great will. You didn’t give up on those that all others would have already given up on.”

She then lowered her head as if in embarrassment as she mumbled, “Those are only the people we know of, how many people you have truly helped without even meaning to…. Those numbers are in thousands if not in millions.” She then looked at Jack and said seriously, “You have helped thousands without even meaning to, you just have that charisma and charm of a leader. You never abandoned anyone, no matter how lost of a cause they were. Who better to have as a Chief Commander during the most turbulent times of our Plane than you?”

Jack lowered his head and stayed quiet. Jack then raised his head and looked at the girl seriously. The young girl was startled at the seriousness as Jack said coldly, “I have no idea who you are or who you think I am. Those around me have only met one disaster after another and I have just given my best on helping them get through them. Every person there had a specific value to me, no matter how you sugar coat it, I only helped them for my own needs. Don’t try and over glorify everything.” The young girls eyes opened wide as Jack stood up and gave her one more look before departing, “Each of them had their purpose for me to help them, they fulfilled that purpose for me and became obsolete. I am no saint, only a demon.”

After saying so, he walked towards the door where the man who brought him there was still waiting. The man heard what Jack had said and was staring at him in awe. The girl seemed to be dumbstruck from Jack’s words as she hadn’t moved or said anything. When Jack reached the man, he said coldly, “Take me to Men Shi.” The man snapped out of his daze as he nodded his head and started leading the way. Before turning around, he gave the girl one last glance. “This is the first time someone has dared to rebuke Her Highness like that….”

As he thought that to himself, he started leading the way to another room. Before entering the room, he knocked on the door and waited permission to enter. Jack was puzzled as this unadorned door seemed like any other. When the man got permission to enter, he only opened the door and gestured for Jack to enter. He himself didn’t step half a step inside but when Jack had entered, he closed the door behind him. The room was full of bookshelves and in the middle of the room was only a desk and a chair.

On the desk, there were meter high stacks of papers and from the noise, it seemed as though someone was hard at work behind the giant stack of papers. Jack waited for a few moments and soon Men Shi’s familiar voice could be heard form behind the paper towers, “I will talk with you in a minute, let me finish some of these things first.” Jack was taken a back as he sized the giant stacks up and down. He mumbled, “This is going to take a bit longer than a moment.”

As he had nothing better to do, he walked to the desk and took one of the papers in his hand. To his surprise he could understand the words written on them. He couldn’t read these characters but somehow, as his eyes ran over the words, inside his head, he knew what each character and word meant. As he stared at the paper with wide eyes, turning it around and reading again, a merry laugh sounded from behind the stacks of papers, “If you are wondering why you can understand the letters and words, then it is because I imprinted the language to your Soul. It is the universal language of the Plane so it will come in handy in various situations. That is also why you can understand what we are talking and you yourself are also talking in the universal language.”

Jack put down the paper and went over what Men Shi had just said. Suddenly, Men Shi’s words sounded out again, “You see the prayer mat in the corner?” As the words reached Jack’s ears, he turned around and saw a prayer mat in the corner. When his eyes fell on it, Men Shi’s voice sounded out again, “Sit down, close your eyes, steady your breathing and focus on the characters. Try to write and draw them in your mind.” Jack sighed at the unusual instructions but he still went and sat down on the prayer mat. When he sat down, he didn’t feel any different but when he closed his eyes, he felt his breathing calm down and he felt himself slip into a weird state of both clarity and being muddled.

He was startled and just as he wanted to jump up, Men Shi’s voice echoed out in his head, “Focus on the characters and words you saw on the paper. Try to write and draw them in your mind.” Jack closed his eyes again and started doing as Men Shi had told. Very soon, he had perfectly written and drawn each of the characters and words on the paper in his mind.

Then other letters and words started appearing in his mind and he kept doing it. Every time he wrote the letter or word in his mind, the meaning was imprinted in his mind and he learned to use them without needing rely on the imprint Men Shi had left for him to communicate. When Jack had quieted down, Men Shi’s eyes opened wide as his hand stopped writing. He focused intently on Jack and mumbled to himself with a smile, “To enter a complete meditative state for the first time so quickly but… This seems a bit different.”

He observed Jack a bit more and then continued with his paperwork. As he kept doing his paperwork, every so often he directed his attention to Jack and looked at how he was doing. His mouth was moving a bit as if he was trying to say the words and sometimes his brows furrowed a bit but soon relaxed. Men Shi nodded his head and kept doing his paperwork. After what seemed like hours had passed, Jack opened his eyes. His head was now filled with a completely new language. He picked up a spare pen and paper from in front of him, that had been put there by Men Shi, and started writing all the letters and words he had now learned.

When he was finished, he picked up the paper and smiled at the perfect job he had done. At some point in time, Men Shi had stood up and next to Jack. He quietly watched on as he kept being more and more astonished.

When Jack had finished and was admiring his work, Men Shi’s astonished voice sounded out, “You truly are a genius. It only took you nine hours to learn an entire language from an Imprint…. It took me four and a half days to reach the same stage as you and I was considered fas amongst the Wardens...”