Jin walked a long time down the streets. Although it was unusually calm, he did not mind it. His mind empties out all previous troubles and he regains his vision after a certain amount of time. Jin walked to an old park he’d once played as a kid and sat on the grassy land with closed eyes. There, he could remember memories of his youth. A blurry starry night sky, a nostalgic cool breeze, a family sitting together on the grassy floor leaning against a tree, carefree smiles, the sound of innocence, and the warmth of a family staying together as one while watching the fireworks blossoming in the sky. These were his memories of the dragon festival when he was five. It wasn’t long until he had to give up that innocence back then. But he still treasure that rare innocence.

“Reminiscing kid?” A familiar aged voice said out of nowhere. The old man in satin white cloak leans against the other side of the tree of where Jin was.

“Just remembering some good memories before entering the age of reasons” Jin lightly replies with eyes closed.

“Heh. You are too young to be reminiscing already and acting like an old man but you are also too old to still be remembering childish dreams” the old man chuckled. He vanish from the tree and reappears right in front of Jin.

“Do you always like to appear and disappear like a ghost holy old man?” Jin said with his eyes still closed. “Besides, no matter what people say, I just like happy memories and the thing called innocence. I am not too old to have fun and remembering happy days nor am I too young to be reminiscing.”

“*Hmph* I am here because that other angel of death is too damn slow. So don’t misunderstand” the old man snorts. The old man paces back and forth breathing in the night air.

“I see… But old man, do you have a name at all? I really don’t like calling you old man” only now did he open his eyes and turns to the old man in satin white cloak. When he saw the old man’s face, he wanted to laugh. The old man was wearing a festival super hero mask.

“… Become a saint first. Then you’ll know my name kid.”

“Hmm… Then I’ll name you myself”

“Hey wait dammit! Don’t go naming people random sh*t!”

“Ephemeral. You come and go every now and then and only last for a short while. So the short version would be Ephem. Fitting name no?”

“*Snort* Ahhh damn… better than what most people calls me. Fine kid. Do whatever you want. Just don’t call me anything weird or I’ll whack you with my stick upside your head!” The man angrily snorts.

“I have a name too plus I am eighteen. What part of me looks like a kid?” I frowned

“Ha! You still stink of your mother’s breast milk, you still haven’t given up your childish dream to become a firework maker, your face is smooth and white as a baby’s ass, your body looks soft and unmuscular, you still don’t look like you’ve hit puberty yet, and you still look and talk damn innocent to me even if you have the face of a model and act all strong. Now tell me, what part of you look like a man.” the old man sneered.

“*Che!* This old man comes here to just make fun of me just because I still look young.” Jin grumbles.

The old man smiles at the boy named Jin. Jin was no different than a child in his eyes so he was just teasing him.

“Well on to a more important thing than just teasing. Jin, if I were you, I would’ve beaten those pricks down a long time ago without even letting them take a breath. You are strong enough to do it. You were stronger than all of them combined and yet you still did not do it. Even as a kid you were stronger not in terms of strength but determination. You didn’t have to do it but you took those blows like a man to prove something good. That is all I am going to praise you for. But you can’t always live looking weak. You can’t always be taking hits.” The old man sighed.

“Hm? I just don’t like fighting people and hurting others” Jin sadly smiled.

The old man frowned at Jin and then laughs. “ Ah ha ha ha! What are you talking about? Some of these pricks don’t deserve to be called a person. The depression caused people to become dumber and more savage if you ask me. Forget the rich assholes, even those poor pricks that have no balls can just steal your sh*t and get away with it even if the laws interfere. If you fight, you are protecting something you really desire to keep. Sometimes you have to start sh*t to prevent more sh*t. Messed up logic, but that is how life works since the ancient era.”

“…” Jin sat silently and bitterly smiles at the old man’s words.

“Look Jin, I am someone who has watched this world turned from a beautiful paradise into sh*t itself. I’ve been through what you’ve been as well Jin. The choice to hurt others to protect what you desire most, it is not easy. The only thing that separates you and those losers is the fact that you have a kind heart.” The old man kindly said.

“Then… Have I taken anybody’s life before?” Jin said to the old man

“Hmmm… Do you want to me to tell you the truth or do you want to find out by yourself? I can help with both but you are still not going to like it either way” The old man warns.

“It’s fine then. I’ll find out on my own. I have more questions on saints and heaven than anything else” Jin shrugs.

“Oh? Questions about saints? Fire away. I got time to spare” The old man laughs

“First, what is a saint in your own words?” I ask the old man.

“Hmm… In my words? They are self-absorbed pricks that cares more about ascending to a higher level without the care of consequences of those around them and would even do low blows to others just to satisfy their selfish desires. They would even bend down just to take your ***** so far in their throats just to cultivate it into resources that will allow them to go even one step further to the next level. Well, they are not really saints by book definitions but sixty percent of the saints I’ve seen are like this. The last forty percent? They are freaks of nature that cultivates like crazy. Some are actually honest which are rare and there are those who are far worse than the ones I’ve described to you. But the only thing is that in your past nine lives, you were a saint by both in level and book definitions.” He said in a quick but stern manner.

Jin was completely stunned. This is a saint? He thought that saints were praised because of their ability to cut themselves away from human desires.

“Well, there are many parts in the heavens and there are many regions of beliefs and saints and it is very complex in the heavens so the name saint really doesn’t describe those who ascends to a higher level. To keep things simple, I would call saints…. An evolved game monster if not evolving parasites. There are too many ways to ascend to this so called saint level that I think It should be renamed.” the old man smirks.

“Eh? Aren’t you a saint as well mister Ephem?”

“Hm? Me? I am a not a saint. Think saint as the first evolution of a bug. I am at the ninth level” the man said proudly. But then his face twisted into a dark and ugly scowl. “But god f*cking dammit! I am an angel of light but it is also practically the same as the messenger of the f*cking heavens. I am still stuck doing caretakers’ jobs and sh*t! F*ck their b*llsh*t about enlightenment and happiness in heaven. Listen kid, I do not know what a paragon of light does, but all I know is that the work I’ve done was and are not rewarding at all. I’ve seen more weird religions, done more clean up than even nine other f*cking lazy ass angels does. But the last assignment they gave me recently is to watch over you. I’m not complaining that the job sucks big balls. But the angel of death is one slow as m*therf*cker* and now I have to be your guardian in that person’s place. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH HAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA” the old man huffs and puffs great deals of air that it looks like the world was about to be blown away by tornados.

“Being my guardian is a bad thing?” Jin just said plainly.

“Of course it is. You rushed into a car accident and still came out alive. That scared me sh*tless. You took stun guns to the body and only came out temporary blind as a mortal. That made my heart rate drop a lot. You got a girl and yet you do nothing but just being passive around her which just plain old pisses me old. The only aggressive thing you’ve done all day was whisper sweet words in her ear!” The old man was overly angry. “Sorry. Don’t take that to heart. The heavenly decree is still not in effect for you so if you die here, you have to depend on your own luck and skills to be a saint. If you die now, you will only become a messenger of the heavens and the way to paragon would be hundreds of years more for you.”

“Wait. I never had the extreme luck bestowed by the heavens? I could’ve died? What about the blessings of the heavens? What is the heavenly decree exactly? Is it the will of god?” Jin was curious to know. If he had died, then that means there should be no point in saving people from here on out! He already knew a little about heaven and saints but needed to confirm things. But now there was one thing confirmed. He did not have heaven’s blessings yet.

“Meh. If you’d died, then all you would do is crawl right back out of hell. Heaven’s blessings? You don’t even need some sh*tty blessings. If you were wondering about your face, then it was because you were always tired, beaten up, and sleep deprived for the past thirteen years to the point that you had dark circles under your eyes and always looked tired and so you looked slightly ugly. Must’ve been that three months since you’ve been dead that you finally was able to get a break and so your face recovered its normal look. Plus you were always pessimesstic about things and tend to take hits. So the stress only afftected you slightly facial features wise. But you also believed that you were blessed so I guess one’s outlook on things can change the face dramatically he he”, the old man evilly laughs.

“Oh… wow… then what is the heavenly decree? The will of god?” Jin stopped worrying about the blessings.

“Oh right. Haven’t explained that yet either. The heavenly decree is the will of the people and all living things. If you think carefully, everything in this world used to be one called ‘Unity’ but splits up because of the myriad evolutions. So in heaven, we leave a piece of our soul and memory behind before we reincarnate. Think of it like a flash drive in a computer plugging in, copying data, and leaving behind a detailed documented script of our life in a server. In that server, it connects to many other servers like a wireless router to a bigger server. In the biggest server is the collection of conscious where a part of the unity still exists. When the wishes of those conscious are strong enough and is unified enough, the will of the heavens or in other words the will of the countless souls in the big server will generate or write out a will in the script of souls. These words are the wishes of the people and what they want come to pass. But the same will cannot be written twice because these types of wills are like miracles and comes only once in a life time if not in a few millenniums.” The old man explains.

“Then what is the will of god and what is god?” Jin asks.

“You sure asks some of the most complicated questions. But I will answer as simple as I can” The old man said with a smile. “God is… an existence recognized by the laws of the multiplex. A being strong enough to lead people in the right direction so to speak. So think of him as the one out of one googol of a population that is a special existence. Gods do not have to be righteous either. All god really have to do is to prove that the person is strong enough to be recognized by both the people and the laws of this multiplex of both heaven and hell that he is strong enough to lead them as the number one person.” The old man said in admiration. “God’s will is when god has taken interest in something, that person can create a will of their own. So their power in this world can range from a measly one percent to forty nine percent and when they uses their influences, their right to influence the world decreases. They can only interfere so much in the world and they can modify the will of the heavens but it is rare when such will that comes up from a higher being or the heavens will use their power for just one person. Also, there is no such thing as immortality or lasting forever as far as I’ve seen. Some have to reincarnate back because they ran out of divine juice and have to come back and reincarnate. Gods often reincarnate because they hate their job or want to be human again. Which is why I said that I have yet to see an all-powerful god. There are many gods throughout the ages as well. If there is an almighty god, then he or she must be hiding very well. Thus the will of the heavens and the will of god is two different things where the will of the heaven is a democratic decision recognized by millions or many more souls whereas the will of god is the will of a monarch. Both can be modified but the only exception is that both wills can be overturned when certain conditions are met”

“So why do you say multiplex instead of universe mister Ephem?” Jin said.

“Oh you caught that? Well simple. Universe means one verse. But that would imply that we would be the only one existing. I call things multiplex because the worlds we live in, the time we live in, the space we live in, and the universes we live in are sort of connected together in a strange way where all exists as one but they are still separate by unique layers. Like um…. Multiverses and theories I guess? Like how possibilities exists and suddenly a multiverse exists where possible choices to lead to a type of world. But the thing about the world of possibilities is that those extra worlds are compromised and destroyed after the people make their decisions and only a bit of back up data is left. The weird sh*ts in heaven is more complex than hell.” he tiredly sighed.

“Ow my head…” When Jin heard all this, it felt like his head was about to split.

“Heh… Now you know I feel. I am also taking care of a lot of things for heavens and gods as well. There are many heavens, sectors of heavens, parts of the inner circle, outer circle, layers, and so forth. There are also many gods so it really is hard to keep track of all of them. But thank goodness that the numbers has been reduced over the years… I am forced to take most tasks because I am so free. The best reward you can get is a reincarnation back into a human with a harem with a happy ending. Ha ha” the old man laughs.

“I see. But there is a few more questions I have” Jin said.

“Hm? Still curious? I got until dawn. Go right ahead *snort*” the old really didn’t like questions.

“My first question is, how would I know if I become a saint or not? I mean, the first two choices you gave me sounds like if I die, I would become a saint automatically. But that isn’t the case is it?” Jin points out.

“Ah right. To know if you become a saint through the first two options, you would receive a divinity from the heavens or from a god if you are lucky a few days before your death. Divinity is like an unknown power bestowed upon a person. They would recognize your life if it was good enough or not. Once it happens, you will feel the energies of the upper planes. But the first option is often faster because it can come months before your death and the energy would be purer. If you decide to lose your v card during the time you are already recognized, then the divinity might vanish and you will have to do more deeds. But that is all based on your good deeds and good karma that you built up. If, by any chance, you build up a lot of good karma and exceeds the normal human karma limits, then you could become a saint by definitions of the book and your divinity would come and you won’t have to die which is similar to training in the path of a saint so it won’t matter if you lose your v card if your good karma already broke the normal human good karma limits. But you’ll officially become saint when you die after your divinity. You’ll understand when the time comes” The old man explains.

“Wow…. An entire mouthful and complex…” Jin’s jaws just dropped at the first three lines of words. How does the heaven’s system work? “Then what about training to be a saint?”

“Yeh… an entire mouthful of things… The system in heaven is really hard to comprehend but you’ll get used to it… Maybe… As for training to be a saint… If you are able to become a saint before the time limit then you won’t have to die in three years, the heaven’s decree will be nullified and you will live a little longer than an average human up to a total of two hundred and fifty extra years plus the previous designated date of when you are supposed to die. If you die after you become a saint, you still count as a saint and you will have a strong soul that can materialize. With that, you can wander farther and vaster planes than the regular saints that did not become a saint during their time as a human. You can still get wives if you do become a saint this way and even after your death, you can cross over to the mortal planes for a period of time if you wish as long as you finish your missions assigned by the heavens or gods.” The old man continues to explain.

“Can I become a saint within three years?” Jin suddenly asks the old man.

“*Pffft* Ga Ha Ha ha ha ha!!!” The old man laughs loudly.

“What’s so funny mister Ephem?”

“Oh nothing. Just the fact that you want to reach a saint within three years without even knowing the very first step. *Pfff* Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha”

“…..”

“This has been refreshing. Especially that last question kid. In the hundred years I’ve served the heavens, I have yet to see someone as funny as you. Take a car and still survives. A man who is smoother than those sweet talkers at bars. But most of all, the question to become a saint within three years. Most people have to train over fifty years to become a full saint. Don’t talk about three.” The old man was clearly happy. Too happy.

“Then want to make a bet?” The words came out of Jin’s lips like a winter’s cold breeze. “How about this. If I become a saint, within three years, I’ll give you something. If I lose, I’ll give you something I return.”

The old man in satin white cloak could feel the seriousness in Jin’s voice. ‘Heh… This kid.. You want to have a bet with an angel of light...’

“HA! Yeah right. You’ll be dead. But I’ll make you a different bet. If, by chance, that you do train within three years and do become a saint, then I’ll grant you this” The old man smiled and pulls out two boxes. One white and one black. “Within both these boxes, inside contains something important that belongs to you. I can assure you that both of these boxes are important because you left them in my care. As for the reasons why, you will know when you receive the boxes”

“But what if I lose?” Jin said.

“Then you’ll still get these boxes either way. Just that once you die, we’ll be even” The old man said lightly and then disappears.

“Oh? Sounds good enough ha ha…” Jin laughs at the old man. By now, he could fully see again. His senses returned to the way it was and everything is normal to him now. “Hmm… Faster than I thought” Jin mumbled.

“Hey Lucian. I don’t know where you are. But I’ll need your help to become a saint. I’ll need to become a saint within one year. Cam you do it?” Jin spoke softly in his mind.

“I thought you’d never ask!” Lucian’s voice rang out in Jin’s mind. Lucian was extremely happy when he heard the words: need, your, help, and saint.

In front of him, the image of Lucian stood there proud and strong looking exactly like Jin. But he bears a sweet smile with the aura of wailing souls chained and surrounding him.

“*ROAR* LET’S GET STARTED!” Lucian let loose a draconic roar in Jin’s mind.