Chapter 356 The Sky Doors

Keng squirmed on the bed as Jyu'so and Gorrum watched him. Jyu'so held onto Keng with shadows billowing out of him. He sighed as he pulled away and looked at Gorrum.

"This one is so close to the Vessel that it will cause problems, Gorrum." Jyu'so shook his head. "I fear that if the test continues, he will drag himself down and fizzle out any hope of being independent from the Golden one. Ah, how I wish the God King would've elaborated more on the prophecy he gave me. This child isn't ready for it. What should I do?"

"The God King sent me here to make sure he's ready by then, Elder. I shall assist you the best I can until the day he has to leave." Gorrum told Jyu'so. Jyu'so nodded. He knew it was their job to make sure Keng was ready for whatever Destiny had in store for him and Lee Seng.

"2 Daros years…" Jyu'so sighed. "I'm not sure if he will be ready in 2 years."

"Let him finish the Assessment first and then we'll see where he is. The Shadow Assessment is about testing his capability in different areas. If he gets out of the Assessment, he'll surely understand what he must do."

Keng weakly pounded on the stone brick wall. Tears streaked down his face as he looked down in defeat.

'What am I even doing?' Keng asked himself. 'Why am I even trying? What's the point?' There was a large apparent void in him. He had felt that void when Lee Seng and him split twice across Realms. The second time was after they had argued about paths. He kneeled on the floor, slowly adjusting himself to sit and lean against the wall.

"Y'know how I felt when you left me the second time…?" He whispered as he looked at his hands. "I was scared you'd never come back. I told you I was scared of being apart from you and now we're physically and spiritually apart… I can't feel you. I don't feel safe alone. At least when I was with you, I felt useful. I felt like I could, I could save you from the darkness you were in…

"And now I'm here, again. Alone. Forced to stay until 'Destiny says it's time.'" He balled his fists, digging his nails into his palms. "They were right… I'm just a Fox Spirit who couldn't get his own Vessel under control and allowed him to do whatever he wanted… Maybe… Maybe I…"

Keng began to quietly sob. He had tried so hard to convince himself he was in control. That he chose the right path. Rox'su and Vox'su had chosen them and everything seemed to be putting ifslef into place. And now that he was alone, gods know where, he truly felt it.

The feeling that the path he chose was different from Lee Seng's. The path was hard and lonely. The path that made him sob uncontrollably because his physical appearance didn't match his mental appearance. His humanoid body shifted and the medium-sized Fox Spirit wailed.

When he felt like he could cry no more, he pushed himself up and darted into the darkness to his left.

'I don't know what I'm gonna do.' Keng honestly thought to himself. 'But I want to get out of here. If I can get out, at least I can be with people.' The white fox with streaks of gold and silver sprinted down the dark hallway. His dark vision allowed the darkened path to look lit.

He followed the endless hallway for a while, eventually ending up at an end with three large intricate doors. The three doors were at least fifteen feet tall and 8 feet wide. They all had different pictures on the doors. A pedestal satin in the middle of the three doors.

Keng's body shifted into his humanoid form. He walked up to the plaque and read it.

"Two intertwined paths, separate. Your path splits into three. Which will you choose?" Keng looked around. There were three doors with different pictures etched into the black stone doors.

The first one was to his left. It had a picture of a male Fox Spirit in armor. He held a sword and shield in his hands, back to Keng. He looked towards the horizon where two suns shined brightly.

The second door was straight in front of him. It was a picture of the same male Fox Spirit, this time his face looked behind him. He looked determined like he was looking at Keng to tell him 'are you ready for what's to come?' The male Fox Spirit wielded two daggers engraved with the Moon and Suns. His armor wasn't heavy like the left picture. It was probably medium from Keng's guess. The twin Suns and Moon hung at the top of the door.

The third door was to his right. The ground was far gone and the male Fox Spirit was floating. His body glowed brightly with another Sun and a Moon in the background. This door held only one Sun at the bottom of the door.

"Two suns, two suns and a Moon and a single sun." Keng whispered. "The moon must mean something, right?" He looked back on the first door. He could barely see it, but the Moon hid well in the etching.

"The Moon is what guides those in the night… If I remember correctly, the one who uses the moon as her sign is the water goddess, right?" Keng muttered. "Why is she depicted with what looks like Vox'su and Rox'su?" His eyes wandered to the third door. Vox'su happily floated with the stars with his brother and sister in the background.

"Two twins were born from the hands of the God King…" Keng whispered. "Their light was too bright and they blinded their siblings. They loved the God King so much and wanted to be with him, but they were blinding their own siblings to be with him. In order to be with their father and the others, they took up into the sky, lighting the world for all to see.

"The water goddess filled the lands created by her earth sister and moved herself to hang in the sky when her brothers slept… She loved them so much, she became their company… Teaching her twin brothers to be independent and allow one to visit the others while the other hung in the sky… They eventually learned how to wield their light and decided they would continue to path the way of light, for they didn't want to leave their sister behind."

Keng recalled the story. It was a story that every Fox Spirit just knew. It was the Creation story. Vox'su and Rox'su chose him and Lee Seng to represent them. Keng and Lee Seng were in interesting positions because they co-existed.

Now that they were separated for reasons he didn't know, he was struggling to wrap his head around it. He was thrown into the sky with Lee Seng and eventually got pushed to the earth.

"Maybe it's my time to roam the earth and see what's in store for me?" Keng theorized. "But that doesn't explain the doors…Two intertwined paths, separate. Your path splits into three. Which will you choose?"

He stared at the doors. They were depicting the story of the Sky.

"Why do I have to choose? Eventually it'll lead to returning to the Sky." Keng motioned at the third door. He sighed in frustration. "The path I want to choose would probably be this one then."

He stepped up to the second door and looked up at it. Something about this door urged.him forward. He touched the door and felt the room shake. The door slid downwards as the entire room shook. Silver letters appeared in front of him, forming sentences.

"The Path of Exploration. Two temporarily becomes One in the day Sky. The Moon shall watch over both, eventually calling upon you to return home." Keng read aloud. "Go forth and explore."

"Oh." Jyu'so's eyes rose up to Gorrum. "Something interesting has happened."

"What? Did he finish it?" Gorrum asked.

"Not quite." Jyu'so shook his head. "It seems he has chosen one of the doors… He's picked an interesting door, too."

"What did he choose from the three?"

"The Path of Exploration."

"Interesting. Does that mean he has resolve to continue forward?" Gorrum asked. Jyu'so looked at the sleeping Keng. The shadows billowed around his free hand as he reached back and grabbed him.

"I'm not sure if his resolve is clear, yet." Jyu'so answered with closed eyes. "But what I know is that he's made a decision. Let's hope this choice steers his determination the right way. He has 2 years to grow stronger on his own. Hopefully he will be able to find Lee Seng and return him from whatever evil that blasted Creator has done to his own son."

The Shadows showed Jyu'so Keng walking into the room. The room lead to a single wooden door in the middle of the room.

"Now, what will you do with the door?" Jyu'so smiled. "It appears to be more than what you think it is."