One by one, we disappear. From twenty-one Keepers, it's now down to ten. At a span of five years observing the anomaly, many unknown incidents have happened which led to the disappearances of the those who were supposedly exiled from the realm; fortunately, I'm one of the more cautious ones so I'm sure that I won't ever be found out unless I become too careless. My name is Mendila, the seventh Keeper to handle the anomaly's soul in the cycle of reincarnation.

We initially intended to take turns observing the anomaly, but the disappearance of Amonos around two years ago was a sign that something or someone was hunting us down. As a response to Amonos' disappearance, we decided to observe in pairs or groups and that did lead to nothing happening for a while until Noshna and Lanto failed to return one day. We tried to look for them but we only found the severed arm of Lanto. By then, we wanted to leave and abandon our sentence and duty, but to abandon our duty would mean meeting a fate worse than death. We do not fear death, as death will return us to the realm safe and sound, however, there are considerable consequences for a celestial being to die in the mortal realm; that is the loss of karma accumulated and as a result, the likely removal of one's status as a celestial being thus no longer being allowed to return to the celestial realms. As for dereliction of duty, the Chief declared that permanent banishment was the punishment; that would mean that we would be stuck here forever and will be left exposed to those who were hunting us down. Both of these having their own drawbacks, either subject ourselves to die and lose ourselves, or be made as ingredients and materials by those who see us as such.

Although this punishment may seem harsh, I would personally consider this as fair. My lapse of judgment and unnatural behavior when handling the anomaly's soul may have been due to the unknown properties of that anomaly's soul, but even if I were to put the blame on such, my own fault of allowing myself to be manipulated is unbecoming of a Keeper. Only after the Progenitor's examination of our vessels were we able to learn that we were put under the control of an unknown entity, supposedly the anomalous effects of the soul that we handled. As our actions, despite manipulated, would eventually lead to the potential destruction of the universe, this sort of task where our very existence is at stake would definitely be a fair one.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Due to my cautious nature, I inhabited the body of one of the mortals. Although I did not actually entirely take over her body as that would lead me to lose karma due to usurpation of another's body, I would influence her thoughts and actions, while simultaneously guiding her to choices that would, in my opinion, be beneficial for her in the future. I have also been slowly convincing her parents, indefinitely prolonging their stay in the nearest city to the anomaly's village. This was my attempt of hitting three birds with one stone where it would be easy for me to perform my duties, keep myself safe, and a potential back-up plan in case things go wrong. This kind of relationship may seem parasitic, but I believe this to be more symbiotic. The karmic penalty of inhabiting a mortal body being offset by the benefits and improvement I give such a body.

My first encounter with the anomaly was actually unexpected. The anomaly suddenly appeared at a public lodging that my host's family was staying at. Although I wondered why Amonos did not inform me of this, I did not put too much focus on that matter as I had to perform my duties of observing the anomaly; and I performed that by actively guiding my host to interact with the anomaly. It only required a little influence but my host successfully established an acquaintanceship with it. As much as I wanted to read the mind of that anomaly, I'm already using most of my abilities to attach myself with my host and increase our compatibility, I believe my observance for that day was enough and that I had properly done my duties.

However, the very next day would lead to me realizing that my own cautiousness could also lead to recklessness.