The tower of heaven will open in a few minutes, he decided to begin preparations for his speech. He had started giving the speech when he became a realm lord and it has become a tradition ever since. The stress of having to think of something different and special every time is honestly getting to him. He didn't want to be known as a lazy realm lord so he continued.
While the realm lord is thinking of what to say for his grand speech, down below, outside the realm tower are people waiting. It has been 200 years already. The people that have made plans to meet outside the tower of heaven are waiting. Some of the participants will choose to exit at their planar gates. Regardless of their choice no one will assault or pressure the participants for their rewards. It is a law of the realm, and the will of the realm cannot be fooled. If there is one thing the realm is particular about it will be fairness during the trial and protection of the Survivors after it because they represent the good seeds to nurture.
A multitude of people is waiting in a ring some distance around the tower of heaven. They are filled with friends, acquaintances, family, and well-wishers of the participants. For most people, the experience of the start and end of the trial of heaven is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. But no how anxious people are they will make sure to be at least 10km away from the tower, this space will only be occupied when the participants are going into the tower and when they are coming out.
In a particular spot close to the 10km boundary, stands a family group. You can tell that they are a prestigious family because only strong and well-known people get to stand so close to the tower, they are standing right in front of the crowd with space around them that no one dares to encroach on. It can also be deduced that they are from the Gemini divine race because the individuals are standing next to identical copies of each other except a select few. The Gemini race always gives birth to twins that are connected on a spiritual level rather than physical as seen in conjoined twins. They have the divine ability of fusion that more than doubles their prowess with the only weakness that the death of one will lead to the death of both of them. This weakness will be fixed and in fact, turn to another advantage when they become origin gods.
Two girls are standing at the very front surrounded by armed guards and two elderly people. The two girls are identical except for different hair colors, one has pure white hair and the other has black hair. They are dressed in simple complementary black and white martial shirts and trousers. It is rare to see Gemini of such complete similarities among the Gemini race, it is a sign of very pure bloodline. Even though the two girls tried to appear brave, one could see the anxiety from their eyes. The two girls had held hands while their other free small hands were clenched into fists. The elderly man behind them noticed their distress, he pat them both on the head to comfort them.
"Don't worry little mistresses, your elder siblings will make it"
"Are you sure?" The girl on the right asked.
"How can you be sure?" the other girl asked before the elderly man could answer.
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"Yes, how can you be sure?"
"Even father didn't say anything."
"Yes, and he should know."
"But he didn't tell us."
"If they are alive or not."
"He only us told to come."
"And gain some worldly experience."
"He said it will teach us to stand strong regardless of good or bad."
"That sounds like bad news."
"What is worldly experience anyways."
"Father must know."
"He just didn't want to tell us."
"Selfish man."
The two girls went on to complain more, they would finish each other's sentences and mirror each other's facial expressions. The elderly man smiled bitterly, he just wanted to pacify the two girls but it ended as such. It is as if they had been bottling their emotions and questions within them but had finally found an outlet. Now he couldn't join in the conversation, there was no way he would disparage their father with them. The elderly woman beside him chuckled at his misfortune.
These two elders are not living beings, they are heroic spirits. Heroic spirits are like gods except they aren't from living beings. In the past when the races of a plane are weak, they would worship idols of great people and icons that had died for their race. The heroic figures will be enshrined, and after generations of worship and faith these idols will gain a will, then consciousness, and when they have enough divinity they will ascend to become gods. These kinds of gods were created from the joint wishes and memories of an entire race, because of this they would be selfless in their thoughts for their race. They were called ancestral gods, they would never die as long as their race remembers them, they could only be weakened. In the early stages of race development, ancestral gods were the backbone of a family's or race's strength, but later on, these ancestral gods were outlived by those on the paths of perfection and by real gods. Ancestral gods can only be as powerful as the most powerful low god. Powerhouses of races could then librate these ancestral gods. Librating them isn't an easy thing, for example for these two, the Origin gods of the Gemini race had killed two celestial gods and used their divine core to turn them into heroic spirits. Only then could they turn into free individuals with individual thoughts and could pursue their interests, but they still aren't people. The original people are long dead, the heroic spirits are just living memories. An advantage of having heroic spirits at the celestial level is that heroic spirits don't face suppression of laws but they aren't as powerful as full origin gods. Even though the two heroic spirits are free to do whatever they want they seldom leave the race. Even now these two are accompanying the two girls to wait for their family that partook in the trial. These two particular heroic spirits have witnessed the ebbs and flows of about ten thousand origin cycles worth of the history of their race, they had witnessed the rise and fall of geniuses, they had witnessed the transformation of several snotty brats into powerful sovereigns and origin gods, they had even had a hand in helping these powerful figures, so even though the race doesn't require them anymore they would continue to help out the next generation because of their attachment, and they will forever be appreciated for their sacrifice.