"Where are we?.." Asked Daniel with confusion, as we looked at the desert-like scenery that extended in all directions.
Noah responded through a dirty grin by saying "If you ask me, one of the best planets within Iewah's domain. Hehehe"
Nia stood quietly to the side, as if uninterested by what the two of them were talkin about.
"This place doesn't seem to have any life in it.." Said Daniel through a grim expression.
While pretending a shocked expression, Noah said "What!? Is that what you wanted?? Why didn't you say so before.. Ohh.. Well, we can teleport you again. Of course, this still counts."
Daniel already expected this to happen. From the sudden change in the third emissary's behaviour, and the sudden appearance of the second emissary, he had understood one thing.
The punishment given by the judge was not something small. It was really no wonder that the members of a faction he had penalized would have it against him.
He could only imagine what the punishment the third emissary would have to endure for causing such a loss for his entire faction.
Now that he knew that the two of them had no intention in keeping their part of the deal with honestly, Daniel decided to use make use of one of his hidden tricks.
"Can you teleport me to a random planed amongst all the ones in Iewah's domain?"
After hearing Daniel's words, a smile of derision appeared on Noah's face. He was about to open a portal, but then, he heard a few more of Daniel's words reaching his ears.
"Not picked by you.. A random one."
"I have to decide where to teleport." Responded Noah with irritation.
Noah was in control of the teleportation, and by being asked to be teleported to a random world, meant that he had to choose a planet. Unfortunately, choosing a planet meant that Daniel's request wasn't granted, as technically, it wasn't truly random.
"You should have a list of the galaxies, solar systems and planets which belong to Iewah. I don't know them. I'll pick one at random, and you'll teleport me there." Said Daniel with a serious expression.
"You do know that we are talking about trillions of planets, right?" Asked Nia with a plain tone.
"I do." Responded Daniel with no hints of incertitude.
"Why would we accept to do that?" Asked Noah with curiosity.
He of course knew that this method only meant wasting attempts for Daniel. The number of planets which included his specific requirements were already millions.. If he were to pick one at random, he would have close to no chance of picking a good one.
Daniel smiled faintly at the two of them, and said "Because if we end up in a planet that lacks any of my requirements, you can kill me."
"HAHAHAHA!" Noah burst out laughing. He then turned to look at his great grandmother and said "I knew he would end up getting himself killed.. I was only off by a few days." Then, before Daniel could take back his words, he added "Very well."
The very next moment, Noah threw a small sphere in the sky, which after reaching about ten meters in the air, exploded.
Four intangible galaxies appeared in the sky, separated from one another by what looked like trillions of trillions of kilometers.
"Pick on-.. what?.. Again.. Pick one." Said Noah in confusion.
Picking a galaxy was the safest part of this bet, as all four of the galaxies would have numerous solar systems and planets in it.
"That one.." Responded Daniel while pointing at the second biggest, and only galaxy with an irregular shape.
The shape of this galaxy was oblong and thin, and of a white color. Around it, clear red smoke could be seen. It almost seemed as if somebody had stabbed a hole into space, from which blood spurted out in large amounts.
Once Daniel picked the galaxy, the scene around him changed.
The galaxy he had picked zoomed in, and a seemingly infinite number of bright lights appeared in his surroundings. These lights represented the billions of stars contained in the galaxy Daniel had chosen.
The stars were truly too many, and Daniel could only randomly pick one and hope for the best.
"That bright red one." Said Daniel with confidence.
The moment Daniel picked that specific solar system, Noah's face became hideous, while Nia's face became stern. Deep confusion could be seen in both of their eyes.
The scenery changed once again, and around him, a gargantuan red globe of fire appeared.
Around it, were at least twenty planets of various different sizes.
The majority of these planets appeared not habitable, And in only three of them Daniel could see oceans, vast lands, and what looked like a breathable atmosphere.
"The fourth largest planet." Said Daniel.
Noah and Nia quietened for a few moments. Then, Nia took a step forward and said "This is either the luckiest moment of your life, or you cheated us."
"What are you talking about? You've explained to me how space works.. How could I have cheated you?" Responded Daniel with a plain smile.
Of course, Nia was aware that Daniel wasn't lying. Knowledge of interplanetary travel was not only high level knowledge, but also something way beyond Daniel's level.
"Of the four galaxies, you've picked the right one.. Of the billions of systems, you've picked the right one.. This is the solar system that contains your world of origin, and yet, the planet you've picked is the only one with a full connection to the spiritual plain.." Said Nia with a deep surprise in her voice. "If you had actually picked your planet, I would have killed you on the spot. From our prospective, you couldn't have been any luckier."
"What can I say.. I'm a lucky guy." Responded Daniel with a faint smile on his face.
Internally, he sighed deeply in relief.
Nobody knew this, but that actually was the second attempt he had made.. On his first attempt, he had actually picked his planet of origin by chance.. But then, right after Nia had revealed to him which planet that was, she had killed him due to the fact that his planet of origin didn't contain a full connection to the spiritual plain, and didn't contain knowledge of interplanetary travel.
Time had rewinded back to the moment in which the galaxy had appeared, causing Noah's confusion when asking Daniel to pick a galaxy.
In his second attempt, instead of considering himself lucky for finding his world of origin, he thought that the biggest luck would lie in finding a planet close to his world of origin, and that fulfilled all the requirements he had mentioned before. Amongst which a full connection to the spiritual plain, and knowledge of interplanetary travel.
Nia tilted her head slightly to the side, and said "Or you are in possession of a blessing which plays with fortune.. Interesting."
As Noah heard Nia's words, he turned to look at her, and through a secret method of silent conversation, he asked "So, he cheated us?"
"Open the portal." Said Nia, ignoring her great grandson's words.
"The third emissary specifically told me to kill him if I was given a chance." Said Noah with irritation.
"The second emissary told me to stop you from killing him unless there is an actually good reason.. If the Judge were to be observing him, and we killed him.. That's more than enough for both emissaries to lose their lives as well, and our faction to lose enough to fall at the bottom.. Open. The. Portal."
"Fine.." Responded Noah after ultimately agreeing with her.
At the end of the day, the order he had obtained from the third emissary was just a whim. The reason why he wanted to follow it, was to leave a good impression on him.. But it definitely wasn't enough for the both of them to risk their lives over.
With a wave of his hand, he opened another milky white portal, then, along with Nia, he went directly through it.
Daniel followed suit and went through the portal, but when he appeared on the other side, he wasn't in a portal. Instead, he and the two acolytes were standing in a grey spatial room.
In front of them, was a simple desk.. And behind the desk, an elegantly dressed man was sitting.
This man appeared to be bored out of his mind, and on the desk, there were dozens of sheets of paper folded into odd-looking shapes and figures.
As the man felt the three of them, he looked up, and said "You know the procedure.. Names, occupation, and reason for your visit."
The two acolytes bowed politely at the man, and Nia said "Nia, and Noah Riama, first Spiritual Acolyte under the guidance of the second Spiritual Emissary, and thirteenth Spiritual Acolyte under the guidance of the third Spiritual Emissary. We are here to accompany a member of your faction back home."
"How gracious of you.. Still, access denied. Leave him here and piss off." Responded the man quite rudely.
Noah and Nia didn't dare to act arrogantly against this man. They were more than aware of what kind of power someone that regulated the entry to one of Iewah's planets would possess, and it wasn't anywhere lower than the power of the emissaries themselves. The only difference, was in their occupation.
One was a messenger of sorts, while the other, was a guardian.
Nia turned to look at Daniel, and said "This is as far as we can take you into the planet. Iewah's faction is at fault for obstructing us in completing our mission, so, according to the rules of misconduct on the part of the receiver of a service, we get to set a condition in return."
Daniel looked back at the girl with deep suspicion, and said "What condition?"
"As long as you'll be within a planet regulated by Iewah's faction, you won't be able to make use of the bracelet to call us." Responded Nia plainly. She then pointed at the white bracelet around Daniel's wrist.
Daniel immediately felt the change in the bracelet. Compared to earlier, he wasn't able to inject spiritual essence into it. It almost looked like it wasn't connected to the spiritual plain anymore.
After Daniel felt the changes in the bracelet, he rapidly looked at the two acolytes, and tried to say something. But before he could, the two had already disappeared.
What he wanted to ask, was for them to teleport him into his world of origin, since the bet had already been concluded, and he already knew what the exact position of his world of origin was. Unfortunately, the two of them had expected that, and had left before Daniel had a chance to ask.
Now alone in the spatial room, Daniel approached the desk where the man was sitting, and said "Can I enter the planet?"
The man turned to look at Daniel.
In his eyes, unbeknownst to Daniel, two red hexagrams had appeared.
After looking him up and down for a few seconds, the man said "You belong to the seventeenth planet of this solar system.. How did you end up out of it?"
"I've exterminated a group of spiritual cultivators that had opened a portal for another world. I was pulled into it, and at a later moment, I found out that that planet was inside the dominion of the Sovereign of Corruption.."
The man listened to Daniel's story with an amused expression. After thousands of years spent doing a job that even a dog could do, he had found a pleasure in listening to other people's stories.
"That's quite the tale." Said the man through a big smile. "I would gladly help you get back to your planet, but I am not allowed to. Plus, it would be a shame. You can gain the rights for interplanetary travel in this planet, so I suggest you try to do that."
Daniel didn't really expect that this man would help him. After all, he had no idea of how rights and powers worked in these large factions. Plus, he was fine with obtaining the rights to interplanetary travel, so he said "Very well. I would like to enter then."
"Good, go ahead" Said the man while moving his finger, and opening a human-sized portal in the air.
As Daniel entered the portal, the man muttered "Karma huh?.. How peculiar.."