Guardian: The Broken World

Looking For Answers

Edited chapter by llamawhowrites, my deepest thanks for her hard work.

-Yunlan-

It was morning already and the soft rays of the sun came seeping into the building from the large office windows, making the room bright. However, Chief Zhao was not in the mood to welcome the warm light and was much more interested in the cold darkness that he was going to enjoy in a while. Zhao had come to the office early today and arrived before anyone else, as he now had an important task to carry out. The first thing that came to his mind when waking up was Da Qing's words from the day before, to look for answers in the records archived in the library.

The Ghost Slayer, although recently found, was still a big mystery lost in time, but whatever clue Zhao could find to solve this mystery would be worth his time. He descended the long narrow stone stairs that lead to the underground library and on reaching the bottom he stood in front of the door for a few seconds, feeling the strong energy of the seal protecting the place from none members of the Order, then proceeded to open the heavy old door to make his way inside. Because of the darkness, the library was the perfect place for those who avoid the sunlight during the day, meaning it was the place in which his two friendly ghosts worked during daylight.

It was the purity of the sunlight which keep most inhabitants of the underworld where they belong, inside their perpetual darkness, because from harmless ghost to hungry demons, they all fear and avoid the sun, as it could set them in flames by the mare touch on the skin and during the cold nights the hundreds of wards placed all over the city, protect them from those wicked creatures who manage to escape the border of the two realms. Thank the gods for both the sun and the wards, because they're the only reason why humans still have control over their own realm. Some tricky ghosts could still break through weaker wards, but this was where the Order came to be in existence, to protect the people and the realm from the vicious creatures during the nights.

Looking through the endless rows of shelves, Yunlan tried to find all the documents, reports, files, or anything at all that had information on the Ghost Slayer. Among the numerous boring reports, he found an old history book of ancient China, a book he recognized from when he used to read it as a young child.

Long ago, almost at the beginning of time, Kanghui or better known as GongGong, the wicked fallen water god who defy the heavens, stole the great mountain god's flame and create a realm of his own below the human's one, connecting the two in some points. There, he gave rise to the ghost tribe, first with his two most perfect identical creations, then to those he care not how they looked. Once this new realm, was discovered by the main gods, it was sealed by Nuwa, and GongGong was entrapped along with his own creations, after being stripped of his godly powers. This much was basic knowledge achieved in any history lesson.

However, the many events that occurred during the first war between gods and demons were still missing pieces with multiple versions that sometimes contradicted one another. What really happened back then was something no one was sure about, not even the old cat, Da Qing, could remember what really took place. The only thing he could agree on, was that his original master was involved along with the Ghost Slayer and the King of Hell.

"Chief Zhao, welcome..." A male voice called out from a corner and Zhao turned to look at the semi- transparent figure of Sang Zan.

"Sang, my brother, you have been keeping this place so tidy." Zhao began and Sang right away knew he was looking for a favor.

"Of course, it's my duty." The ghost said with a hint of pride.

"Yes, Yes... Well, you have kept the old records in here, right?" Zhao asked, while walking between more rows of bookshelves.