13 Time exists in me 2 (1/2)
\”This…this is the essence of time.\” Mao Lu's eyes widened in wonder. They looked like little flying electric eels except that they emitted an iridescent neon light. They even moved like eels, swimming in the air around him, their tails of light flicking behind them.
They rubbed against him and purred gently like a bunch of kittens.
Mao Lu became frightened when smaller eel like creatures emerged from underneath his skin, they popped out seamlessly from his body and began dancing around with the other eels.
As they did this even more eels began emerging from him like a flood, and began happily flying around.
It was the strangest sight and gave him the strangest sensations. His skin began to feel hot and cold at the same time, his breath became crystallised and then turned to steam. He couldn't discern what exactly was changing but he knew that something drastic had transformed in his body.
\”Do not be scared, the essence of time has always been with you. Those emerging from your flesh is your own time essence interacting with the external time essence of this realm.\”
As Mao Lu watched the eels swim about he suddenly became aware of other creatures. Some were like formless slime oozing out of the ground, others took the form of butterflies or birds, some were like rain droplets falling from the sky.
In an instant Mao Lu realised he was surrounded by all kinds of creatures.
\”Since you have awakened it is only natural that you see the other essences. All essences are pure energy but they have different types. There are common elements of water, fire, earth, and air. Then there are the special ones with rarer forms. The most common you will see are the life essences.\”
As Gates spoke Mao Lu began to notice very small ant like creatures that were crawling all over him. They were probably the size of one hair, they glowed blue and were walking across his entire body.
Mao Lu began to see them on his fingers, his arms. They were all over him.
Mao Lu wasn't normally the squeamish type but when he saw these things crawling on him he nearly screamed. He could only guess that these were the life essences that Gates was talking about.
Despite the way they crawled across him, Mao Lu didn't feel a thing. He expected to suddenly feel itchy but in contrast they gave him a gentle and refreshing feeling.
\”As a Gatekeeper on the path of time you are limited to only using the time and life essences. If you attempt to embrace the other essences that is the same as violating the 2nd rule which is not to cultivate, practice magic or deviate onto another path.
This goes for other practitioners too, the essence of time, destruction and creation are exclusive only to Gatekeepers, if they tried to use them it is the same as courting death.\”
Mao Lu was initially amazed that these things were around him in his everyday life yet he hadn't realised it. \”To think that for most normal people living in this realm they would go their entire lives never seeing these things. Yet they are all around us.\”
But that initial amazement turned into growing horror as he saw more of them, it was like a huge amount of data was being forcibly uploaded to his brain.
It was like he was taking a weird trip on drugs, reality became distorted and his mind couldn't keep up with the sudden change in the scenery.
\”Relax!\” Gates voice echoed, \”You are far too tense, at the moment all your senses are being heightened if you panic the sensory overload could send you into shock. You need to relax and accept the essence in front of you.\”
Mao Lu gritted his teeth, it was easier said than done. Relax? How could he relax when he felt all his faculties become warped.
The pleasant sensations from before had slowly transmogrified into intense pain. His eyes felt like they were being stabbed by thousands of needles. His nose felt like it was burning off as millions of different potent smells invaded him. He could taste blood in his mouth as he felt his bones and flesh being melted.
He could see the small life essences becoming bigger and brighter on him as they sunk their jagged teeth into his skin. How was he supposed to relax when this was happening?
Mao Lu had never felt such agony before. But he knew he shouldn't be overwhelmed by the pain, so he tried to calm himself down.
He began breathing in large gulps of air as he told himself again and again \”bear with it, bear with it.\”
\”Bear with it\” was a phrase that Mao Lu had been saying most of his life. Every time something happened he'd tell himself to \”bear with it\”. Bearing with the pain, the hardship and the heartbreak. He'd unknowingly become a master of bearing with things over the years.
He never let anyone ever see him at his most weakest, the last time he'd cried was in front of his mother's grave. Because of this Mao Lu's heart was tougher than the average person, his resolve was much stronger.
So when he told himself to bear with it, even when he felt like he was going to explode, he held on until the end.
Mao Lu had no idea how long he struggled for. All he knew was that when he next opened his eyes he was standing in front of that large black metallic door again.
An oozing smelly sweat permeated from Mao Lu's every orifice, and he was covered in a thick layer of grime that he could feel caked against him.
\”Congratulations on successfully awakening Mao Lu, you are now officially a Gatekeeper of Time, the Gatekeeper of the mortal realm 145.\”
Mao Lu didn't know how to respond. The moment he opened his mouth it was filled with the flaking grime that was caked on his face. He nearly threw up.
At that moment he felt unsteady on his feet and a wave of exhaustion hit him like a truck. Just as he was about to collapse he felt Gates flinging him up again into the air.
This time when he landed he splashed into a warm shallow pool.
\”Wash yourself in this spiritual water and you will be refreshed.\” Gates instructed.
Mao Lu obediently took off his clothes and began cleaning himself in the water. As the grime washed away from him he felt invigorating strength abruptly emerge.
As he clenched his fists he felt a breathtaking amount of force hidden behind them.
Before, Mao Lu had never been able to open his eyes while underwater, but now as he opened them it was almost the same as being on land. And when he bopped his head to the surface of the pool he could see the floating mountains flying in the distance as if they were right next to him.
His eyes felt like a high definition camera, and through them the world seemed to sparkle and glimmer in ways he'd never seen before. All the colours were so vibrant and bright.
As he looked at his own arm that he'd just washed from all that grime. His skin seemed paler and so clear it was almost translucent and he could see his shimmering veins underneath.
And when he focused his eyes on that patch of skin he was able to see all the essence surrounding his arm all at once. The life essences on his flesh were now the size of slugs and they were even brighter blue than before, the time essences happily swam in and out of his skin.
When he unfocused his gaze they disappeared from sight but when he refocused they reappeared again. He did it again and again. And even began playing with the time essences swimming around him like a school of fish.
\”This really is incredible.\”
\”When one awakens all the unnecessary impurities from one's body are expelled and your senses are heightened. As a Gatekeeper your awakening was harsher than others. This is because you can see the essence of time. Your senses are now far stronger than others at the same stage as you.\” Gates commented.