Molting the Mortal Coil

After a few minutes, Sage realized his careful preparations and plans were all in vain. Nobody showed up. It seemed they were alone. On the plus side the Centipede was able to figure out the boundaries of the space tears, but it didn’t really matter as they constantly shifted. When a silken railing was put up, it took only a few minutes before it got swallowed up by the space behind it. After a bit more experimentation and the loss of one Steel Silk Centipede, Sage learned that the torn space wasn’t perfectly stable and anywhere up to three feet from the obvious visual tear might actually be exposed to the emptiness of space. With such a large distance, the webbing wasn’t really necessary anymore, but Sage had the Centipede do it anyway, cordoning off large portions of the room.

Finally, Sage made his appearance and found nothing different from what he saw through the Chameleon Mantid’s eyes. The huge hall truly had only three entrances and Sage walked over to them. Pushing one open he sent the Mantis in as he collected the Centipede and got a good look. The hall behind the door was simple. Not a perfect formation like the cave entrance nor the stone craftsmanship like the main hall, instead it was rough hewn stone that looked like someone just found a natural cave and cleaned it up a bit. At the end of the cave there was surprisingly a wooden wall. The wall looked to be in perfect condition and Sage noticed a few array formations placed around the door frame. The door was something you would find in a traditional home of this world, made of wood with high craftsmanship and low tolerances. It even had paper windows between a grid of wooden frames just like the many classic homes he saw back at the Lang Clan and even in the Holy Flame Sect.

Such a normal looking thing was here deep underground in this cave dwelling. The door was even the simple sliding style, which Sage had the Mantis test out. Sliding the door open, the Mantis walked into an unusual scene. It was like he stepped out of a cave and entered the courtyard area of a large house. There was a six foot wide floor made of fine wood which stretched out towards the left and right. Past the path was a short step down into a large garden. Wooden pillars lined the outer edge of the path and held up a roof that hung over the walkway to protect it from the weather. The garden had no such cover and Sage was amazed to see a blue sky and sunlight blazing down onto a perfectly maintained garden. Gravel paths led to a small pond with fish for viewing, a large tree for shade along with bushes and flowers, all of them perfectly trimmed and maintained.

The garden was a square about fifty feet wide, and all around the garden was the covered wooden walkway like a deck. On the outer edge of the walkway there was a finely crafted wooden walls with doors and paper windows in the same style as the one the Mantis just walked through. After a moment to take in this whole scene, Sage realized that the vision of the sky wasn’t real. The Mantis moved into the garden and saw array formations on top of the sloped roof overhanging the walkway. From what he could tell, the arrays were created to maintain the artificial sky, sunlight and even other types of weather formations and climate. The Mantis walked over to the side and pulled open another door, confirming that both paths from the main hall led to this same area.

When he was about to have the Mantis start to explore deeper into the room, it was at this point that a loud voice echoed into Sage’s mind.

“Alright, that’s enough exploring. Come over here and speak with me.”

In the center of the garden, where the Mantis could easily see, one of the small birds that was flying around landed on top of a stone bench and started to smoke. A thick mist seemed to spill out from beneath its wings. Instead of dissipating the mist covered the bench in the shape of a person sitting down, after a moment the mist cleared away by itself and in its place there was an old man. He looked directly at the nearly invisible mantis and right into its eyes, like he knew that Sage was looking through them. He lifted a hand and beckoned slowly, then patted the spot on the bench next to him.

Sage was instantly terrified. His tricks had been seen through completely. At this moment he only had two choices. Flee immediately and hope he could escape, or walk in and go along with the man’s demands. From his powerful insight, Sage was pretty sure that if he walked in, he would no longer have any method to escape, but at the same time, he was here to get stronger, was he not? Certainly, most Cultivators would die on the route to power, but what other choice was there? He didn’t sense the threat of death from this old man, if he were to run every time he ran into the unknown how was he ever to get stronger? Taking a deep breath he calmed his nerves and slowly slithered his way down the hallway and through the door. Sliding down the steps and moving to face the old man. Taking another breath before he sat down where the old man had indicated.

The old man was very simple looking, dressed in plain brown robes with a blue outline, just like the coloration of the little bird he had been. He had no facial hair and his snow white hair was quite thin.

“Well done, Young Man. It took you a minute, but you came in and followed orders. That either makes you naive, a coward, or full of resolve. The coward would be too scared to dare do anything but obey me. The one full of naivety might decide I look quite nice and want to have a chat. The resolute one would want to run, but can’t leave because of some other reason. I wonder which you are?”

Sage opened his mouth to answer, only to find himself interrupted, “Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter to me which one you are. You also might be here for entirely different reasons. None of that is really important. Actually, I’m here merely to hand out rewards.”

Sage’s eyes seemed to light up.

“Not so fast. I said rewards, not gifts. My Master moved beyond this level of existence long ago, I’m merely one of the caretakers of his old homes. If anyone is to find it, he said it was a change to sow karma between you and himself. In such a situation, the guest will be given a few tests to figure out if you’re worthy of being Master’s friend, or merely an intruder.”

The door directly across from where they were facing on the bench slowly slid open by itself, “That is the old training room. When you’re ready you need to head in there and take a few tests to see what your fate is.”

“What do you mean, fate?” Sage asked with a bit of uncertainty.

“Master moved beyond the constraints of time. For him, viewing the past and future requires a wave of his hand. The testing device in there is just a method to attract his attention for a moment. Once he has a peek at you, he’ll know what to do with you. Good or bad.”