Slice Of Life (4)

The faction meeting had started by the time Yul had walked in. They quietened slightly at his entrance and he paused and looked round the room before sighing and taking his seat.

"It seems working with the All-seer is so great that you even come as you like to such an important meeting," someone said and all others froze. Yul was one of the three. Only this idiot would always pick a fight with Yul. Yul glanced at the one who spoke and sighed slightly before leaning back as though to sleep.

No, all those in the hall knew he was really asleep. They remembered how he had done this time and again and how they mistakenly discovered not only that he went to sleep every time he leaned back and rested his head, but more importantly that he was temperamental when woken.

When they remembered the incident, many shivered. The one who had scolded Yul seethed in anger when Yul ignored him. Those sitting around sighed in response. This happens all the time. The All-seer's descendant from the second branch and Yul never saw eye to eye. Or at least the descendant always picked fights with Yul while he ignored him. On one side was one of the Three and the other was a descendant the All-seer especially liked, neither could be offended.

"Will the All-seer be joining us, Yul?" the man heading the meeting asked calmly, but there was no response. The man did not seem offended by this and looked away as though this was normal.

"Let us continue. As I have asked before, I will again. What should be done with the visitors? Do we enlist them in the war against the demon race?" he asked.

"Of course!" someone insisted.

"But we cannot get them to enlist. Even if we offer them some," another started to say.

"What is there to offer? They join us or die. It is not like their masters in the outer world can enter, right?" the other protested.

"True," Many concurred with him

"They live here for now and while they are here, they share in the light realm's issues," some nodded in agreement.

"Still, no matter how isolated the light realm is. There are some things we should not do. Even though we believe that the light realm cannot be entered and left as pleased, we should always give room for exceptions. We know that the demon race is here, but are we completely sure that they did not enter? We are locked in this world and cannot leave. We do not know how the other worlds are, what they have developed and how vast the worlds out there are. With our little knowledge, we cannot act and force anger of other realms upon ourselves," the one who had protested their ideas said.

"You coward! There is no way in or out of the light realm for us. The light realm has been locked for so long, if there was a way out, someone would have found it by now. If the other realms had issues with the demon race after some long, we would have heard of it from their young that come here. It only means that the demon race we are fighting is just remnants of the last war here, before our time. They too have not been able to leave," the other protested.

"The light realm has been locked several times," An old voice sounded at the entrance and they all turned to look at the one who spoke, and stood up in respect.

"All-seer," they greeted.

"It is not known how many times. But it makes one wonder if it has been locked several times, does it mean it has been opened several times too?" the All-seer made his way to the highest seat.

"You agree with commander Jie?" the one leading the meeting asked calmly.

"He is right to say it wrong to not consider the outside because the outside cannot reach us," he said and commander Jie bowed in thanks.

"But, I wonder if there is a reason the light realm keeps getting locked. Long ago, my master spoke of one incident where a plane god created a frightening order of powerful women over and over again as he was trying to create a god and one woman was so successful in ruling over the lands, that during her rule, she made the light realm her stronghold. Powerful cultivators were used as warriors and the light realm became a garrison. She placed a lot of treasures here to grow her soldiers. For some reason, the god locked away her soldiers to become a battle force that only works for the patriarch, as long as he held the key. They come and go across time as the patriarch of their time needs. Then he locked the light realm," the All-seer said.

"This story, how does it have anything to do with the surrounding worlds?" the one heading the meeting asked.

"Yes, Ise, in this story, the light realm had bridges to many rare worlds and realms and even planes; even the elusive dark realm," the All-seer answered.

"So you are saying it is possible for other worlds to enter and leave at will?" Chief Commander Ise asked with a frown. He was not the only one who frowned at this. To think that even though their world is locked, it is too special that there are many means they may not see coming for many to enter.

"After all, there was a time when other worlds could not enter the light realm at all," he said and they paused. None in the light realm is known to be as old as the All-seer. The All-seer has always been.

"You mean there was a time worlds could not enter every cycle?" someone asked in shock. Why do they not know this?

"Yes, one day they just showed up and have continued in precise clockwork we now call the cycle. Till now, we do not know the portal they use to enter. To this day, when the cycle opens, the visitors just appear. Has anyone ever seen their portal in and out? We cannot leave, yes; but what if it is that we do not know how? After all, when the cycle is over, they just leave. We have never once seen a portal in and out of the light realm," he said and they paused.

"What do you suggest, then?" Chief Commander Ise asked.

"I am proposing to you the same as I have to the other powers; about the visitors, kill them all," he said and the hall paused.

"Your Greatness!" Commander Jie called in a panic.

"Even I think that is too drastic, your greatness," the one who opposed commander Jie frowned.

"Oh, I have convinced the other powers to do so. Do you want to hear my reason?" he asked and no one noticed Yul open his eyes.

"Please," chief Commander Ise called for him to continue.

"The boy; he must die," he said.

"What does this have to do with the boy?" someone asked.

"Before all of you, there was a time I do not want to repeat itself. Now that the demon race is here, if we ask the visitors to fight, they may refuse, of course, there are those who wish to make them baits. Send them out to die instead of those from the light realm. They will probably see this and refuse to join. After all, there is no benefit, even if we learn something, there is no true way that we can be of help to other worlds and vice versa. We are too isolated. But, they are here and they are manpower. A report of the demon race has come in and you have all seen it by now. They are a force on their own that could help us, the visitors; at least reduce the casualties. It is without saying that even though I can convince the entire realm to kill them, I cannot convince those who wish to capture them and use them in the war to stop. There are forces that will resort to this. Then the better option to end all future troubles is to kill them all. No one leaves. That way, no matter how we use them, no matter how many die, they cannot return to tell their world. My proposal is simple; use one, kill one," the All-seer said.

"I see; just in case there really is a way in. We cannot stop the other powers from forcing them into a war and no visitor has ever been captured by us to stay after the cycle. For some reason, when the cycle is up, they return even those held imprisoned. Only those who wished to stay behind do. If their world knows the demon race is here and that we are using their young for the war, they will no more send them and may even lock the ways in and our quest for finding out ways to leave will be lost," someone analysed.

"But, you all forget the ethereal stones. I hear they come here because we have the most in all the worlds; it is basically why we are this strong. There are too many strong here according to what we have heard from some of them, the number of strong we have here could drown some worlds. They come here for our ethereal ores. They will keep coming no matter what so that analysis has no basis," commander Jie said, then paused and looked worriedly at the All-seer.

"I do not mean that your reasons are wrong I mean that.," he started to explain, but the All-seer only smiled, not at all offended.

"True," he answered, "But, I am not worried about them never coming and the lack of enough people to fight the demon race in the future. I am worried about what they will bring next time," he said and they frowned.

"You may forget, but I do not. The visitors have brought the most horrid things to the light realm before. When the night cultivators started coming was when we first saw a refined corpse. Some had the ability to fight a heaven seeker and kill very easily. Do you forget? The worlds are vast. Every time the cycle ends, we develop to be able to counter them if necessary. I am asking you to kill all before word spreads to other worlds that we intend to use them in the war. So that they do not bring in things we do not know," he said.

"What if they already have?" Chief Commander Ise asked.

"Then we deal with it with all of our strength. This is the only way," the All-seer said.

"But there have been incidences in the past where atrocities were committed against the visitors. We have never taken this drastic step, they have never responded drastically too. Why now?" Chief Commander Ise asked.

"Because the boy is here. I do not expect it to end as should. I expect things to go wrong so, we might as well take these measures. That boy is here," the All seer said.

"What does it have to do with the boy?" Yul was the one who spoke this time.

"Because of who is in that tomb. For someone to be able to take it, he is probably just like the person in that tomb. The problems before your time must not repeat themselves. That boy is probably the reason we can see the demon race," the All-seer answered.

"You know this boy, your greatness?" Chief Commander Ise asked.

"I know his predecessor. Don't you find it odd that you can only see the demon race if you look again? The boy probably saw them and said, maybe to someone who did not; 'anyone who looks again will see them.'"He said and the hall descended into chaos.

"He is that strong?" the commander in chief Ise asked.

"His predecessor once said to a boy who saw the Nsikong Ocean part as he passed and asked him how he did it and he tussled the boy's hair and casually said, 'it is a simple act of will, anyone who waves a bit can ask it to part," he said and the hall stilled. Is he saying this is how the Nsikong Ocean started parting with a few waves of the hand?

"Then he must die," commander in chief Ise said. The All-seer only looked at him deeply, got up and walked away. He did not even need to explain much about how the boy's existence was dangerous. People do not like those too strong to comprehend, too strong that they would be helpless. He knew it. Yul knew it.