Ball of Nothing

The cathedral didn't disappoint Zero's expectations. Everything in Heaven could be described as grand and this building was no exception. The building was carved from white marble stone and had many colourful stained glass windows to add vibrancy to the cold structure. The doors were full of intricate details and the beautiful stone slabs with words of wisdom and scriptures floored the teen.

The cathedral was very tall and Zero noticed something unique about it. At the top of the tallest tower, there was a large golden bell. Zero didn't know if it worked or why it was there but it sparkled under the light so wonderfully that Zero found himself staring at it for a long time.

"Come on, Zero. Let's go," Buddha urged.

Zero nodded. Then, a question came to mind. "Does it ever become night in Heaven?"

The Enlightened One smiled. "No. It doesn't become night in Nirvana either. Sleep is not required."

Zero's puzzled expression made the Wise One laugh. He gently led Zero into the cathedral and explained that the residences in Heaven learned to tell the time when the bell rings.

"The bell rings loud enough so the entire Heaven hears it. There are three bells every day. The first bell indicates the start of work, the second bell indicates the end of work and the third bell indicates the time for rest. Of course, not everyone follows the bells but it is a rather good indicator. Clocks don't exist in Heaven because of the complicated time flow. Sometimes it takes an entire year on Earth for one day in Heaven to pass and other times, ten days can pass in Heaven before one Earth day is complete."

Zero nodded and was led into the cathedral where he was greeted by two six-winged seraphs. They smiled serenely but Zero still felt as if something was off. He didn't feel any genuine joy or good feelings coming from the supervisory angels. It was the same as the cupid who guided them to the pavilion earlier. For some reason, Heaven felt very cold and Zero wasn't as fond of it when compared to the abyss. True, the scenes might be beautiful when compared to the gloomy skies in the abyss. However, Zero felt no true joy or comfort in Heaven. It simply made him uneasy.

The feast was wonderful and nobody bothered Zero much despite his unsightly manners. In fact, Zero didn't see many people eating. There were plenty of leftovers and people were more interested in mingling around to socialise. The teen had the opportunity to listen to some of the small talks while waiting for Truen and Hua Tuo to appear. He'd cleaned out an entire platter of appetisers and was now moving to the second platter when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Zero turned around and found himself falling for a childish trick when the person poked him on the cheek as he turned to look back.

"Truen!" Zero huffed and started to give his guardian a friendly punch in the shoulder. The wood elf didn't dodge and allowed it. His heartfelt laughter turned heads but neither of the boys cared. They were finally reunited after such a long time and had a lot to talk about.

"Shall we take this to a less crowded place?" Truen asked and Zero looked at all the food left.

Hua Tuo noticed it and waved at his disciple. "They will still be here when you return. Not many people in Heaven have appetites like you."

Zero grinned and stuck out his tongue before hopping up to Truen, waiting to be dragged away to somewhere more private. The wood elf offered an arm and Zero took hold of it readily like a maiden being escorted by her knight. Merlin was amused. Truen wasn't a gentleman by nature but when it concerned Zero, he had perfect knightly mannerisms. What confused the wizard more was how Zero didn't have any shame in acting spoiled around his friend and appeared full of weaknesses. He turned to Hua Tuo with confusion.

"Are they dating?"

Startled by the conclusion, the physician grabbed the wizard by his collar to pull him to an empty balcony. "Don't say that!" he chided the wizard.

Merlin scowled. He didn't particularly enjoy being dragged around. For Hua Tuo to have such an extreme reaction, maybe there was some sort of truth there.

"They're just very good friends. Think of it as a princess and her knight. In case you've forgotten, Truen is Zero's escort, guardian and protector sent by the Great Gods. There's no way for them to form any sort of romance. Zero's not into romance anyway."

Merlin wiggled his brows and nudged the doctor. "But you wouldn't know. They're already at that age and I know Zero can change his gender if he wants to."

Hua Tuo rolled his eyes. "This is why you're single."

"Hey!" Merlin took offence and smacked the doctor hard on the arm. "That's rich coming from someone like you."

Hua Tuo deadpanned. "I'm a cultivator like Buddha. Being single is a choice in our case. It's not the same for you."

Before Merlin could refute, Hua Tuo waved his hand. "Whichever the case, they are not dating. Zero's just naturally clingy with the people he likes, just like a child. There's no special meaning to it. You have no idea how hard it is for Ruth and me to convince Zero that it isn't appropriate for three grown men to share the same bed. Zero's love for cuddles didn't disappear along with his old vessel."

The wizard made a thoughtful expression. Hua Tuo advised him to watch out for Zero's childish tendencies. "Even if you reject him, he won't stop trying to ambush you for hugs. Also, if you treasure something, don't let Zero near it. That boy has a habit of destroying things out of curiosity. It isn't the first time he's done private experiments behind my back and made a huge mess. My hut has been demolished without my consent when Zero decided to test his cleaning magic on it."

For some reason, Merlin was thankful for the tip. He simply couldn't imagine having to deal with Zero's nonsense the way Hua Tuo did over the year of training. The magician would have been driven insane by the boy's constant destruction.

As the two Sage Gods exchanged stories and tips about how to deal with their student, Truen and Zero were sipping on stolen wine from the banquet below on the cathedral's roof. Zero couldn't help but admire the shininess of the bell. It was larger than he thought it would be. The golden bell was four times taller than he was and Zero was slightly worried about it ringing with them so close.

"I'm still curious about how it works," he admitted and Truen laughed.

"Someone will come up when it is time to ring the bell. Don't worry too much. Also, I brought you up here for the views of Heaven and not just to see the bell up close."

Zero blinked. He was so caught up with examining the golden bell that he didn't notice how far he could see from the roof.

"Whoa..." Zero breathed. From the roof, it was quite an amazing sight. He could see very far into the distance and to his surprise, there were actually many gardens surrounding houses.

Truen smiled at Zero's expression.

"What's that?" the teen asked at pointed to something far into the distance.

The wood elf smiled. "That's where the forbidden library is. Isis is in charge of that and we know it more commonly ad the Pharoah's Crypt."

Zero clapped in amazement. The pyramid and sphinx weren't very clear from this distance but the structure was magnificently huge that Zero could spot it immediately without much effort. Truen answered all of Zero's questions and gave his friend a crash course about Heaven's layout.

"There are several places you should avoid," he told the young doctor. "The House of Gods is the place where most Gods and Demigods hang out to work. They're not very pleasant people so you might want to avoid that area. The place where cupids and seraphs work is called the 7 Virtue Tower and you'd want to avoid that too."

Zero nodded as Truen pointed them out. Then, the wood elf explained how there were several significant places in Heaven that Zero needed permission to enter or visit.

"The House of Great Gods also known as the White House is strictly forbidden for anyone to enter unless permitted by the Great Gods. It's the same temple that we went to before they sent us off to Endow Hill."

Zero tried to recall it and remembered that there was a strange barrier thing that made the Great Gods and Goddesses transform into their natural appearance. "The House of Gods and House of Great Gods are different?"

Truen nodded. "Of course. However, unlike the other Gods and Demigods or Sage Gods, Great Gods don't do work there. They have different offices or planets to work from. Sedna is currently stationed at her test planet. Zeus is back at his temple on Mount Olympia. Freya is guarding Valhalla although she frequently travels out. Isis works at the Pharaoh's Crypt so you won't see her most times. Gaia is constantly travelling like Hades although she officially works from the Garden Eden. Hades' office is in the abyss called Tartarus where Kerberos was found. So there, you have it."

"There are some places you still shouldn't go to. The Titan Cliff is one of them. That's where Heaven and Hell broke apart and the leak is extremely strong there. People who went too close to the crack get swept into the void and never return."

Zero took down notes and asked Mii for help to add them into the map. "Where does Merlin work?"

The wood elf shook his head. "Merlin doesn't work in Heaven. Steve works in the House of Gods but not Merlin. It's not safe for him to do so. You'll be travelling out of Heaven to Merlin's specially created plane. He fashioned it after heaven's plane and it hangs off Heaven like Nirvana. However, unlike Nirvana where you can travel to from Heaven via Lotus Pier through the sea of clouds, Merlin's plane is only accessible through a magic circle hidden in one of the Babylon Gardens."

"Babylon Gardens?"

Truen pointed to the nearest garden. "See those hanging vines from the trees in the garden? Those are Babylon Gardens. It can exist anywhere in Heaven. In addition to creating beautiful scenery, they actually serve as travelling portals. Each district in Heaven has a Babylon Garden. Every residential district has a smaller version of a Babylon Garden but you can still travel through those."

Zero finally understood why Heaven seemed to be full of nothing but gardens. It was a disguise to cover up the ugly transportation system but the teen had to admit, the idea was very well thought out.

"We can take a look at some of those places after the feast before we head over to Nirvana," Truen offered and Zero froze.

"We're not staying in Heaven?"

The wood elf cringed involuntarily. "No. I don't really like this place and I think our teachers feel the same."

Zero frowned. He knew what Truen was talking about. There was nothing to hate about heaven but it didn't make the teenager feel welcomed.

"I wonder why I like it better back in Hell. Heaven is supposed to be a happy place, right? This is weird."

For a while, Truen mentally debated if he should let Zero know about the truth of Heaven. Eventually, he decided against it. Zero find out the truth after a while. Given the boy's curious nature, it wouldn't be too long.

"Zero, how about you tell me some stories about Hell? I might be heading there for a while after this. Also, as the head of Half Moon Village won't you give me a brief introduction of the people there?"

Hearing that, the teen grinned. Truen didn't mind listening to Zero give detailed descriptions about the places he travelled to and the people he met.

"If you go to Baal's domain you need to drop by his castle and help me check with Coux how he is doing. I heard that he's gone into hibernation already. Also, Beelzebub has only started developing his domain. If you can, please guide him along. Wiser is in the Academy, I need to arrange for a tea session for Wiser, Lovina, Merlina and Steve to meet up. They're currently working on a very important project to terraform the abyss. I will be helping Merlin find a way to repair Titan Cliff so that the plane is stable. As for Half Moon Village, Olaf is currently training Vrald and Gerlad to become adventurers. Bob's probably there now but I'm not too sure. Oh! You have to check on Ruth and baby Seff for me! I haven't been able to see them for a long time and I think Seff's grown quite big by now... then there is also Zoe to.."

The archer didn't interrupt Zero's rant and the teenager didn't stop until four seraphs came up to the bell tower to inform them to leave the place. It was the second bell of the day and Zero gasped. Had they been chatting for that long?

Truen helped Zero navigate his way back to the feast and as expected, the event had long ended. Thankfully, Hua Tuo and Merlin were still around.

"That was a rather long chat," Merlin mused and Zero blushed.

Hua Tuo urged his disciple to clean out all the food before they left for Lotus Pier. Zero had no complaints. With nobody around to chide him over manners, Zero simply absorbed everything with his hands after his stomach was filled. One good thing about the food in Heaven was its Holy Magic properties. Zero felt extra blessed that day after consuming so many good things.

Satisfied, the party left the cathedral. Merlin decided to take the scenic path on Truen's request to show Zero around a little before they visited Buddha. The wizard only obliged because today would be the only day Zero gets to see Truen in person before the archer left to establish the secret underground empire and connections with the members of Zero's Onion Union.