Rite Of Divine Judgement [III]

"Zhang Xiu Ying. Yes, a true demigod. We very well know of your becoming. But do you?"

Once again, heaviness descended on Zhang Xiu Ying the moment she entered the hallway. Everywhere around her was plunged into darkness, except for the spot at her front where she saw a strange replica of herself. The demigod thought about The strangeness of the image she was seeing.

The image was in white feathers armor, had two large flaming wings, and a blazing feather sword. The more she stared at the image of her future self, the more the dreadful feeling she had about the sword she was holding. Quickly, she put the sword away.

"You do have discerning eyes, Zhang Xiu Ying. We will now show you something about yourself, then, you will tell us what you see."

Her displayed image was reversed backward to an image of a cluster of billions of bright stars connected by pulsating threads. As she watched, she saw a single ray of white light, entering the clusters of stars, and fell upon a particular star. The star started to shine brighter than the rest, breaking away from the cluster and entered a place where the stars were not just bright like itself, but were blazing.

The blazing stars completely ignored the little bright star whose light appeared too dim compared to them. Feeling left out, the little star departed from that place and came to another place where the stars were massive in sizes, and with blazing light. Here also, the little star was put aside.

The star then journeyed from there to a different place. At this place, the little star couldn't see the former clusters of stars, also couldn't see the light from the second set of stars, and could only see specks of light from the third set of stars.

The star looked up, and saw billions of star clusters, bigger and brighter than the last set of stars it had come across. The little star realized that he was even less than a speck here and became dejected before heading back the way it came. It was there for a long time staying on its own, when a single ray of white light entered the cluster again.

But the little bright star was not interested in the light entering the cluster, but in the direction where the ray of light came from. Therefore, it left on a journey to find out the source of the light. It travelled days without end, but kept traveling. It passed the beautiful pond of a yellow light, but kept going. It came to the amazing river of a green light, and kept going. Next it passed the mesmerizing sea of a red light, but didn't stop.

Still forging ahead, it came across the ravaging ocean of a blue light, but didn't give up.

Then one day, it came to a place where it met another tiny little star. It told the tiny little star that it was looking for a place where a single ray of light was coming from. The tiny little star sighed, and told the curious star that it was its job to send out the light.

But the curious star was not convinced that the tiny little star could do such a thing. Then the tiny little star showed its true might, and its size covered half of the heavens. The curious star became frightened to its core, but the mighty little star told the little bright star not to be. That itself still had many stars bigger and brighter than it. At that point, the curious star could only, but asked itself, where it really was among the stars.

When the mighty little star saw the curious little star's dejection, it said consolingly.

"I was once like you, little star. I had to come here to find out like yourself, what I was. For you to be here, you are deserving of being a heavenly star. So, why don't you enter and see where you can truly be."

The star entered a mortal womb where it became a true star shining brighter than ever before the image reverted back to Zhang Xiu Ying.

"What did you see, Zhang Xiu Ying?"

Zhang Xiu Ying closed her eyes in contemplation as her mind wandered off to her early days. From her ancestral teachings, the demigod already knew about how insignificance a soul was in the vast universe with trillions of other souls. And now, she knew she was the insignificance little star which received the thread of light. The beginning of her journey to discover her own becoming.

Then, the demigod came to the realization of her replica she saw earlier. That was a glimpse of her future nascent soul. From insignificance to significance, and from mortality to immortality.

"My origin and my becoming."

With eyes full of tears, Zhang Xiu Ying slowly answered. This was her existence.

"Now that you've seen, where's your place in the universe, Zhang Xiu Ying?"

"In existence with you."

"Very clever, Zhang Xiu Ying. Where the universe put you, yet more with us. You may proceed."

Leaving the passage, Zhang Xiu Ying exited to a serene ivory room with filled with sygil and symbols. Still wondering about the contrasting nature of the room, the demigod heard another voice, different from the previous ones.

"Zhang Xiu Ying. Why are you here in the valley of the gods?"

"I want to be a true immortal."

"May the universe give according to your wish, Zhang Xiu Ying."

Immediately, a nimbus light of different colors descended on Zhang Xiu.

"This is the light of manifestation. It contained the universe's gift to you, demigod. You may leave now."

Stepping out of the room, Zhang Xiu Ying found herself back at the entrance of the hallway. With heart full of joy, she walked towards lord Luyang who was beaming with smiles. The titan lord couldn't contain his joy as he stared at the happy face of Zhang Xiu Ying.

"Home beckons, Xiu Ying."