CH02. RESOLVE

Five years later

Zero walked through the hall of his family house carefully. He looked from side to side to ensure no one was looking for him, before quickly making his way into the library.

The library wasn't the largest one he had ever seen, and it in no way compared to the amounts of books he had read while on his pilgrimage.

But that didn't mean that it was completely useless. Because it held something he knew he could use to his advantage. It held an authentic replica of the scroll of Bezel.

The scroll of bezel was one of the nine cultivation scrolls which existed in this era. There were other ones which had existed at other times, but they had been 'presumably' lost to time.

These scrolls were so important to the people of this era because of how easier cultivation became when a person used the scroll to train. When cultivating, the scroll acted as a guide, holding your hand and pulling you in the right direction like a blind man being led to water

But that was not the reason why Zero wanted this particular scroll.

Zero knew all the secrets held within the scroll already, he was the one who had deciphered the secret texts at the ruins of Bezel, where the scrolls were originally found, so he didn't even need the scroll to be able to cultivate using the techniques of bezel.

Zero wanted the scroll for another reason entirely

"Ah, there it is. I just have to reach it but how -- Aha!"

Zero pulled a ladder from the side and used it to grab the scroll from the top of the shelf in the library.

He sat on the floor and opened the scroll in his lap

"Useless, useless, useless. This isn't what I'm looking for!"

Zero turned the scroll over to the back and suddenly did something that would have given the scholars of his day a heart attack!

He tore the scroll in two!

Tear!

"Yeah, that should do it. I just hope that this works. It's the closest I've been to a chance of figuring out the truth for the past two years"

From the torn scroll, Zero pulled out another parchment and held it up to the light. This was the inner scroll, the place where cultivators had their minds imprinted so they would have the scroll of bezel guide them down the path of cultivation.

It was also what zero was going to use in trying to contact bezel himself

"Since I can't get to the ruins to try deciphering it again, I just have to use the next best thing - I have to talk to the soul of bezel embedded into this scroll to see if he can make sense of this sudden transmigration. I don't even know if this will work, but I have to try"

Zero sat in a fetal position and closed his eyes with the inner scroll resting on his lap. He took two breaths, calmed himself, and dove into his inner world

.....

Zero opened his eyes in his inner world. He was in a dark void, there were lights shining in the distance like stars and a single large ball of light in the center of it all

'Is that my soul?'

[You would be correct ]

What!

Zero turned back quickly and saw that there was an old man standing behind him. He had a long beard and wore a long white garment.

'Bezel?'

[Hmm, it seems that even though you don't speak out I can still understand you fairly well. But it would be wrong to call me bezel. I am simply an imitation of the original bezel. A clone if you wish]

'I see. Then do you know why I decided to come to seek your knowledge?'

Bezel looked to Zero with sad eyes.

[Yes I do. But sadly I cannot help you in the way you seek. This power is beyond even my understanding, and I am sure it will be beyond the understanding of my other eight brothers as well]

Zero was disheartened when he heard that even bezel couldn't help him. What was he supposed to do now? There were no other scrolls around for him to ask, and even though there were, it would be useless since they wouldn't know how he came to be here!

'Does that mean I should just keep moving about like some sort of pawn?!! I don't know how I came to be here, and I don't even know if all of this is real! It could all be an illusion for all I know, just one big illusion to make me wither away and die in my own mind!'

Zero's eyes filled with unshed tears. All the pain, all the suffering he had to go through as he wandered through the desert all alone for years kept coming back to him.

'I suffered!'

All the people who died so he could live kept flashing through his mind. His mother, father, his brothers, even her...

'I really really suffered!'

The monsters who had tried to kill him when he was still weaker and the people who had tricked him when he was still naïve. The poisoning, the torture, the pain!

'I suffered so much that I just wanted to die! I went through all this just so I could become strong, just so I could be powerful enough to not have anyone else die for me!'

'And yet some sick f*ck is trying to play this silly game with my life!? Trying to make me think I can lower my guard so they could simply come back and take what is mine away again!'

'I won't let them!!'

Zero screamed out to the void. He shouted out all his frustrations and anger, daring anyone to take what was his again.

He didn't know if this was a dream or not, but he knew that this family was his. It was the same set of people who had sacrificed everything for him to live. It was only right that he sacrificed everything for a chance to be with them again

[I am truly sorry for what you have had to go through all alone. No one person should have to suffer with no ally to support them. Even I had my eight siblings to aid me. But I want you to know that if you truly wish to know what it is that happened with you, then I know of only one being around who can aid you]

"Who? Tell me who it is!'

[Its name is 'Willow of the spring']

Zero scrunched his face up in thought. He had never heard of a Spirit named 'Willow of the spring' before

He had been all around the three deserts and five continents and there was never even a whisper of such a spirit being in existence.

Would this old man really lie to him about something like this

'Old man, I'm not in the mood for games. So if you're lying to me then just know I'll surely take my revenge on you'

[Hohoho~ , and what exactly are you planning on doing to me little one. I am but a manifestation of a memory. I cannot be harmed]

Zero didn't even rise to the old man's bait. He crossed his hand across his chest and pouted to the side.

'Whatever...'

[Fufufu, but know that I am not lying to you, young one. The 'Willow of the spring' does indeed exist. In fact, it is closer to you than you might think. I believe the last place it resided was in a place called Sanctuary -- whoa!!]

The old man was suddenly startled when Zero latched onto the front of his robe and looked him directly in the eyes.

His eyes were wide and shocked. He felt as though the little boy wanted to throttle him

'Did you say sanctuary?'

[W-well yes. Have you perhaps heard of the place before?]

Zero laughed in shock.

'Heard of it? It's the exact same place where all my brothers are schooling right now. And also where all the monsters which attacked the city were converging'

Zero felt anger rise in him when he thought back to the day of the attack.

It had been a simple enough day and there had been nothing which could have been a cause for alarm

But suddenly it wasn't so simple anymore. The monsters gathered on the city like bees to honey. They destroyed and scavenged, burned, and killed everyone who stood in their way. There was simply no way to defend against such an attack without prior preparation

And so, the city fell

Zero let go of the man's robe and began floating around him in a thinking pose.

There was no way it was a coincidence. According to the news, the monsters had come into the city seeking the sanctuary.

Does that mean they didn't come here for the sanctuary, but rather for the 'Willow of the spring?'

'That would explain a lot of their actions that day'