Heaven's Door

It has been 6 years since that day, and time hasn't been very kind to Raymond.

Shortly a few months after he had asked his grandfather about the book, his grandfather disappeared from the city.

No matter how much he and his father searched they couldn't find Theo anywhere, it was as if he had vanished into thin air.

Raymond cried his heart out when he couldn't find his grandfather and spent his days locked up in his room. It wasn't until his father gave him a tight slap and told him to man up, did he stop crying for his grandpa.

From that day onwards he was determined to get stronger and look for his grandfather on his own.

Raymond shook his head thinking about his grandfather.

'Damn geezer, where the hell did you go, without telling anyone?'

*knock**knock*

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of knocking.

"Come in." He said.

The door opened and a beautiful girl around the same age as Raymond came in. She had tanned skin and dirt blonde hair that just fell short of reaching her slim waist. She had a pair of enchanting green eyes and a beauty mark under her left eye.

She had a sizable bust that couldn't be hidden by her maid outfit. She was Raymond's personal maid Jasmine. She was an orphan who was rescued from a slave house by Raymond's father when she was 10 years old.

Ever since then she was extremely grateful to Raymond's father and wanted to repay him.

So when she was asked to become Raymond's maidservant she readily agreed. Since then Raymond and her have grown up together under one roof.

"Ah, young master, there you are. It is time for you to go through Heaven's Door. Master Thomas is waiting for you. Come quickly." She hurriedly informed him.

Heaven's Door was a specially made magical artefact which helped a person to sense their mana core when they reached adulthood.

Raymond had just turned 16 yesterday, so his father had arranged for him to go through Heaven's Door to sense his mana core and start cultivating.

Raymond followed Jasmine to a private courtyard in the family compounds, where he found his father waiting for him.He bowed to him as a show of respect.

"Greetings, father."

His father laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

"Hahaha, when did you get so tall, it feels like yesterday when you had snot running down your nose."

Raymond's lips twitched in frustration at his father's comment. His father would never let go of any chance to embarrass him. Raymond heard Jasmine giggling beside him. He pulled her cheeks in retaliation.

"Aawrgh, pwease stawp dowing that." She tried to push his hands away from her face.

"Alright, stop messing around, follow me to Heaven's Door, Jasmine you come as well. You also turned 16 last month, you can sense your core before Ray." Thomas beckoned them to follow him into an isolated room.

Room was empty except for a heavily decorated 10 metres tall and 3 metres wide gigantic door frame made of pure gold which was covered in an innumerable number of magical runes. The heavy door frame was nearly 2 metres thick, a person could easily sit or stand on it.

This was a magical artefact called Heaven's Door, which could help a person to sense their mana core for the first time. It needed a large amount of mana to activate, which could be supplied by using mana stones.

Mana stones were very expensive and very limited in supply every year, hence why there were a few people who could afford to use Heaven's Door.

Both Jasmine and Raymond were seeing the door for the first time and both were awestruck by its majesty.

"Haha, if you are done gawking at it, Jasmine you can go first." Thomas chuckled seeing them awestruck. He had the same reaction when he saw it for the first time.

Jasmine nodded shyly and stood inside the door. Thomas activated the rune formation using his own mana instead of mana stones, after all he was just a step away from becoming a Martial Emperor, he had plenty of mana to activate the formation and sustain it for a long time.

Magical runes lit up after being infused with mana and started producing fog which completely enveloped Jasmine. The fog slowly induced a sleeping effect on Jasmine which caused her to close her eyes.

She opened her eyes to find herself in a place completely covered in darkness. She could not see her own hands and could not smell anything. She could vaguely hear the sound of something moving.

She followed the sound in a trance and after sometime she came face to face with a gigantic brownish red sphere which was constantly rotating without any rest.

She felt drawn to the sphere and tried to touch it with her hands. As soon as she touched it her consciousness was sucked inside the sphere. The inside of the sphere was massive with a golden brown light flickering in the middle.

Just as her consciousness was about to touch the light she was yanked back into the endless dark space where she was at the start. She could clearly feel the outside world right now unlike before. She slowly opened her eyes and was mesmerised by the sight.

She could clearly see the mystical energy called mana dancing around her and trying to enter her body.

Jasmine was ecstatic about this development. She had been waiting for this day all her life and she could finally sense mana and thus begin her cultivation journey.

"Good job, Jasmine. I am proud of you." She heard Thomas's voice and stepped out of the door with an ear to ear grin on her face.

"Master Thomas, I didn't do anything." She said shyly.

"Haha, don't mind the small stuff. You can begin your cultivation from today, you need to get stronger and protect Ray in the future." Thomas chuckled.

Raymond's lips twitched in annoyance after hearing that.

"Damn you, old man. I can protect myself." He snorted in anger.

"Hahaha, alright. Then go ahead and step into the door, what are you waiting for?" His father suggested.

Raymond nodded and went into the door. Thomas once again infused his mana to activate the runes. Very soon Raymond was covered in fog and closed his eyes unknowingly.

He opened his eyes to find himself standing in complete darkness. Suddenly he heard a whisper from somewhere in the darkness.

~Come this way, Theo~

"Huh? Who is calling for Grandpa?" He followed the voice in confusion.

Soon he found standing in front of a gigantic brownish red sphere which had countless fissures on it and the sphere was completely still without any movements.

"Strange! Why are there so many cracks on this sphere? Eh? Isn't it supposed to rotate according to what I read in books?"

Raymond was extremely confused about what was happening. He was expecting to find a completely fine core, not this broken one. It had white light pouring out from the fissures and when he touched the light he felt the strange calmness and warmth radiating from it.

He moved ahead to touch the sphere and he was sucked inside instantly.

Inside the sphere he found a massive space and he could even see the fissures up close. In the middle of the sphere was an enchanting white light that completely drew his attention as soon as he saw it.

There were many chains made of pure light extending out from the centre of the white light and attached to the broken part of the core. It looked like the white light was using the chains to keep the broken parts of the core closer to each other so as to maintain the shape of a sphere.

"Hmm, is this light trying to keep my core together? What is this made of? Why does this light feel strangely familiar?" Raymond scratched his chin in contemplation. Even after thinking for a while he could not figure out anything.

He shook his head in resignation and went to touch the light. As soon as he touched it he was enveloped in blissful warmth.

"Ah, this feels so good, I never want this to end." Raymond was lost in this euphoric state. Suddenly he opened his eyes to find himself stumbling out of Heaven's Door.

"Ray? Are you okay? What happened?" He heard his father's voice from a distance.

His head felt like it was splitting. He had no idea what had happened. One minute he was enveloped in bliss and the next he was assaulted with a massive headache.

"Young master, why are you sweating so much? What happened?" He heard Jasmine shouting and running towards him.

Blurghhh

He vomited whatever he had eaten that day along with blood and collpsed on the floor unconscious.