Chapter 216 - A Journey Through Space
The two days after the exterminated of the Navi family, were long and heavy.
Right after coming back to his pocket dimension, Daniel had given the news to Alesia, which was as close to Serf as he was. With her help, they organized a funeral for Serf, and placed his body into a stone casket that was left in the catacombs situated in the depths of the castle.
There, he would rest forever.
Now, Daniel, along with Jerigh and Der were waiting for the ship to depart.
Only three people were allowed to board the ship with what Daniel had paid. Spatial rings and pocket dimensions were allowed, but regarding the latter, it was highly advised that nobody was let out of the pocket dimension during the crossing.
The reason for that was simple. The ships traveled at an incredible speed, and required the use of a spatial formation that would prevent it from crashing in thousands of pieces for each and every small asteroid they crashed against.
These formations worked similarly to the old method which Daniel used to prevent people from touching him. A field would form around the ship, and this field would either deflect the objects in the ship's trajectory, or if they were too big, the ship would bounce off of it without being destroyed.
That also meant that the space was completely locked by space, and if something that hadn't been incorporated by it at the moment of the activation appeared inside of it, like for example a person that teleported out of a pocket dimension.. That unlucky individual would be shot out of board, and would be left to die in space.
The crossing would last two months, and Daniel had chosen Jerigh and Der to accompany him.
Roley was occupied with handling the academy that had just been founded, while the rest were taking care of the company, as well as expanding its reach to the entire planet. Alesia was one of the most interested in space travel, but Daniel had persuaded her to stay in the pocket dimension, as he didn't know what could happen in so much time in space. She was simply too weak.
The three of them were waiting at what looked like a normal port, but instead of being built next to the seashore, it was built on the edge of a large fracture, which was so deep that it was impossible to see its bottom. Berthed on what looked like a big wooden platform suspended in air, was a massive ship.
This ship was just like any common ship that one would see sailing aa sea, but instead of having sails, it had two large propulsors on the stern. Daniel had inquired about these two propulsors, and the response that he had received, was that they were engines that used crystals as fuel. Five hundred perfect crystals were needed to leave the planet's orbit, and once out of it, five hundred more to set the course, and accelerate to optimal speed. Once the right speed was reached, the ship would never slow down no matter how much time passed, as there was no gravity, nor elements which could decrease its motion.
Daniel was observing the massive ship with Jerigh, while Der was standing in line to present their documents and their tickets.
"So, what did she say?" Asked Daniel to a seemingly distracted Jerigh.
Without turning to look back at him, Jerigh took a deep breath of exasperation, and said "She said that she wants to do best out of five.. I don't know what that means.." His tone was confused, and it was clear that he was looking for Daniel's opinion.
Daniel smiled after hearing Jerigh's words. "It means that next time you defeat her, you'll have to be nicer to her." Responded Daniel while turning to look in the distance. "So.. you haven't bothered me with our spar for a few days now. What is up with that?"
Jerigh became pensive for a few moments. Then, he said "Time to mourn.. I can't enjoy the fight unless you are at your best.."
It was clear to Daniel what Jerigh meant. To him, sparring against Daniel was like doing a fun activity with his brother, and since Daniel did not give him as many chances to do these sorts of things, he had decided to wait for him to feel better. Of course, in his mind, Jerigh was doing it for Daniel as well. He had lost many of his friends while growing up.. Many by his own hands. He knew perfectly well how important having some time to mourn was for a person.
Slightly moved by the meaning behind Jerigh's words, Daniel turned to look at the horizon, and said "Yeah.. plus you need time to get on par with my cultivation level.. Hehehe."
It was at this moment that Der approached the two, with three small medallions in his hands.
Each medallion was similar, and the only thing that differentiated them was the number embossed on their surface, and the letter that preceded them. Each of them indicated their number as passengers, as well as the location of their cabins.
Under the sun, Daniel, Der and Jerigh waited for two more hours for the ship to start boarding passengers, and finally, right after midday, a big catwalk was lowered on the platform in front of the area in which Daniel and the others were waiting.
As the end of the catwalk touched the platform, a short and rough-looking man appeared standing right inside of the ship. His hair were salt and pepper, and his beard had been left to grow uncontrolled for years at the very least. He was wearing scruffy clothes, discolored from being washed and used again probably thousands of times.
It did not take long for Daniel to guess who this man was. Considering the way that the other members of the crew behaved around him, Daniel had guessed this man to be the captain of the ship.
This man walked on the platform, and stopped right after his feet touched the floating platform. Then, he turned towards the road that connected this harbor to the closest city, and looked in the distance.
Daniel was expecting for this man to talk to the passengers, and present himself, but his guess was far from right, as he came to understand based on what happened next.
No longer than two minutes later, a large flying carriage approached the harbor from the distance, and landed on the large platform.
Daniel observed these events in silence.
From the carriage, two large and impressively built guards walked out of it first. To Daniel's surprise, they emanated a power similar to that of the middle aged couple sent by the poisonous rose, displaying the prowess of a practitioners at the seventh stage of immortal cultivation.
As the two came out of the carriage, instead of walking directly towards the captain like Daniel expected they would, they turned to look back at the door of the carriage. Something interesting that Daniel felt, was how ready to attack whatever was about to come out of that carriage these two guards were.. enough to keep their hands on the hilt of their swords.
Just as Daniel had expected, a man walked out from the carriage in chains.
This man seemed to be around thirty years old, and possessed a rather athletic build. His arms were bound together by two power-suppressing chains, connected with a similar chain which binded his feet by a third one, allowing him only short steps. A full mask was covering his face completely, leaving only his odd firery red eyes, and long pitch-black hair as observable details.
After him, twelve more guards walked out. Each as powerful and as prepared to attack as the former two. Four of which were holding four sticks that were locked on the metallic morse placed on the man's neck.
In a formation of two per side, and four that held the four sticks, the large group approached the catwalk, and walked into the ship without even greeting, or reporting to the captain.
Once this group had entered, the captain finally turned to look at the passengers, and said with a plain tone. "I am Vite Nura, the captain of the Nuragovia, the ship that will be your home for ne following two and a half months. You can call me Captain Nura."
He then took a small pause, and continued by saying "This travel is usually a direct between Mira, the planet where we are now, and our destination, Wuvia.. but since we have been asked to make two small detours, we will arrive to Wuvia fourteen days later. If you have a problem with that, feel free to ask for a refund for your tickets."
One of the detours which Captain Nura had mentioned, was reaching for Wuvia's twin planet, or the planet that Daniel commonly referred to as his 'world of origin'. The reason why the passengers had been allowed to ask for a refund, was because each ticket was covered by the government. The chance of an isolate planet being claimed by a faction, was something much more important than the traveling plans of a relatively small group of people.
Whenever there was a chance for a person to claim one of those planets for Iewah's faction, each and every inhabited planet that was under Iewah's domain had to give full support to Iewah's champion, which in this case, was Daniel.
About the second detour, there was no doubt in the passengers minds that it had something to do with the mysterious prisoner that had boarded a few minutes ago.
After warning the passengers about the unusual events that had changed the otherwise repetitive schedule of the ship, the captain added "The ship will set out in two hours." Then, he walked back into the ship in silence.
At this point, Daniel was starting to get a little emotional. If nothing went wrong with their travel, he would get to see his sister in a matter of a few months, and the sheer idea of that happening weighted heavily on his heart.
One last time, he entered the pocket dimension to tell his friends that the ship was about to set out, and after bidding farewell to Alesia with a warm kiss, he left once again, and with Jerigh and Der, he boarded the ship along with the rest of the passengers.
Daniel, Jerigh and Der, just like the rest of the other first timers, directly walked towards the deck to observe the departure of the ship from onboard.. The first thing they saw, was a massive semi invisible shield activate around the ship.
A few loud noise were heard from the depths of the ship, and finally, after just a few seconds, the large propulsors ignited with the full power of five hundred perfect crystals, forcing the ship to soar the skies.
The harbor quickly decreased in size as the ship gained altitude, and in no longer than a minute, they found themselves engulfed by the massive clouds which appeared extremely distant only seconds before.
Once out of the clouds, a large expanse of clear, light blue sky extended in front of their eyes. It was peaceful, as if nothing could ever disturb it.
The ship kept gaining altitude at an amazing speed, and the higher they went, the more the light blue sky darkened, and the clearer the starlight which would otherwise be invisible during the day became. Not long after that, they found themselves surrounded by darkness.
Daniel's journey through the immense space, had finally begun.
-----
Two months later.
In the depths of space, a large ship was traveling in silence. On its deck, where just two months ago thousands of people stood in excitement while observing how magical space traveling was, only dried blood stains remained..
With the course already set, and not a single noise coming from within.. The Nuragovia traveled through millions of kilometers. In its depth, inside one of the cabins.. Daniel, Der, and Jerigh hid in complete silence.
On their faces, was sheer terror.