71 Light pt.1 2 (1/2)

REALM 10, MORTAL REALM, PLANET ACER, KARNE FOREST

Mero sighed as she ploughed at the rough soil. Her double-edged-iron shovel slipping into the brown dirt effortlessly.

\”Is this still not deep enough?\” She muttered as she stared at the 4 metre deep hole she was standing in.

\”No it's not deep enough, I need to dig deeper.\” she groaned as she began digging yet again. Her greenish scaled skin rippled and her muscles bulged as she dug deeper with fervour.

It was at this moment that a loud rumble and then a bang resounded throughout the forest. A shock wave shook the ground and a strong gust of wind blew.

Mero halted, her ears twitched as the trees rustled. Birds flew away in a hurry and small creatures ran from their homes.

Mero waited for a few minutes without a sound until the forest settled.

\”What was that?\” she wondered.

She leapt on to the side of a large tree, the tree was easily the size of a five storey building. She reached the top of it in a matter of seconds.

Her pointed ears twitched and her yellow eyes widened as she stared at the large crater that now lay in the middle of the forest. She whistled, \”Now that's a big hole. What could have created that?\”

She hesitated as she stared at the crater. Common sense was telling her to go back to the village and tell the elders what she'd found, but curiosity was telling her to investigate. Before she could stop herself she had already jumped from the tree and was hurtling towards the crater.

The wind whipped through her silver hair and her brown cloak billowed. She smiled with pointed teeth as she landed on all fours at the very edge of the crater.

\”Something big must have fallen here.\” she muttered, \”Could it have been an asteroid? No...it couldn't be, an asteroid this size would have shown in the sky and I saw nothing. Then..\” Her metal boots halted just as she was about to step into the crater. \”Could it be a practitioner!\”

Fear ran through her all of a sudden. \”No...no it couldn't be...Practitioners are bound by the treaty, they can't come to mortal regions without making an announcement...unless...it's a rogue and evil Practitioner.\” She shivered at the thought.

Just as she was about to turn and run, she heard someone groan, \”Oh my god that hurt!!! Ow ow ow ow ow ow.\”

Mero paused and turned around.

Her yellow eyes connected with deep brown ones.

....

Mao Lu had quite literally smashed into the ground. He hadn't thought the Tempering Heart trial would just let him crash into the ground, and he'd fallen head first as well.

The moment he pulled his head, which had been stuck in the ground, out, he groaned \”Oh my god that hurt!!! Ow ow ow ow ow ow.\”

Even though they were a distance apart, when their eyes made contact they both froze like deer caught in headlights.

Her skin was green with patches of red, white and brown. She was covered in scales. Her hair was a fine silver and she wore a tight fitting black bodysuit that had a billowing brown cape at the back. Her ears were pointed like elf ears. She was like a character from a science fiction fantasy comic who had just walked out of the pages.

Mao Lu was aware that aliens existed.

Ever since he became a Gatekeeper he understood that humanity was far outnumbered by a vast number of highly intelligent species.

And in his first few weeks of being a Gatekeeper, practitioners from other planets had come to visit him, and they had all been pretty bizarre looking. One Practitioner had even looked like a giant centipede. Mao Lu had had quite the shock when the thing appeared outside his residence, bowing towards him before quickly leaving. Compared to that thing this girl appeared pretty normal.

So Mao Lu wasn't surprised by her appearance, what did surprise him though was how shocked and terrified she looked as she stared at him.

She stepped backwards in fear but ended up stepping on her own cape and tripping. As she tripped forward in horror she slid down the side of the large Crater and ended up right in front of Mao Lu.

When her eyes connected with his yet again and she realised how close she was to him, she squawked in absolute terror. She shivered and her legs seemed to have become weak. She shook like a leaf.

\”Please don't kill me...Practitioner please don't kill me.\” She trembled and thick green tears began to fall from her eyes.

Her words at first sounded like nonsense to his ears but suddenly they began to make sense and he could understand her. Mao Lu immediately felt flustered. Why did she think he would kill her?!!!

\”I'm not going to kill you! Why are you crying?! Ahhh don't cry please, I'm harmless really.\” Mao Lu said helplessly he waved his arms in front of himself and tried to look as harmless as possible but it didn't stop her tears.

This girl had looked like a fierce warrior in her black bodysuit, who would have thought she was such a crybaby.

It took Mao Lu a full thirty minutes to calm her down.

\”You-You're really not going to kill me?\” she asked when her tears eventually dried up.

Mao Lu's eyebrows twitched, \”That is what I've been saying for the last half hour. I don't even know you, I have no reason to hurt you and I'm a pretty much harmless guy. So calm down.\”

The girl squinted at him, her previous state of terror now replaced with a shrewd calmness. Her yellow eyes scrutinised him the same way an animal scrutinised an opponent.

\”You're a practitioner aren't you?\” She asked.

Mao Lu shook his head, \”No I'm not a Practitioner.\” This was the truth, Mao Lu was a Gatekeeper, not a practitioner.

When she heard this she sighed in relief and visibly relaxed.

Her yellow eyes now sparkled with curiosity and excitement, \”Who are you? Where are you from? I've never seen anyone that looks like you before. Are you from another planet, which one? How did you get here? Did you see what caused this crater?\”

She asked all these questions in one breath, leaving Mao Lu overwhelmed. He chuckled slightly, \”Don't ask all these questions at once, how am I supposed to answer. And before you start interrogating someone shouldn't you introduce yourself.\” Mao Lu outstretched his hand and shook hers, \”My name is Mao Lu, what's your name?\”

\”Ah I lost my composure there for a second. I apologise. My name is Mero, Mero Karne, I'm the daughter of the village chief.\” she said as she warmly shook his hand with both of her hands. That was when Mao Lu noticed her long black claws.

\”So Mr Lu, where are you from?\” she asked.