Chapter 244 - I Am Not Going To Die Here
The small grey could within the green cage floated quietly, almost in a perpetual stasis. No sound could be heard, only a faint light in which a few images played out slowly.. Images of a kid fishing with his father, a family dinner.. Pictures of a mother which straightened the skirt of her daughter, while the father looked proudly from the side. Images of a girl with platinum hair which brushed a lock of black hair away from the scene.. Images of a man in armor, joining a group of similarly dressed men, that would never return again.
These images were the memories which had never left Daniel's mind. They were some of the most important memories he had, the ones that, if forgotten, would cause an endless sense of regret to befall upon his life.. And the reason why they kept playing out over and over again.
"..ake u…"
Said a disembodied voice while trying to reach a pair of ears that wasn't there, disturbing the repeating circle of images, and making the small grey-colored cloud flinch slightly.
"Wa.. up.."
Once again, the voice tried to reach this formless grey cloud, and stop the constant repeating of the images.. But this time, a faint throb could be seen in its borderless shapes. The images became fuzzy, and the vapor-like substance of which it was composed, started to vibrate in place.
"WAKE UP!!" Shouted the voice as two massive green eyes appeared on one of the four walls of the green cage. They were looking down at the grey cloud, and calling for it to wake up.
The moment the shout resounded within the green cage, the cloud started to shift in space. It quickly became denser, darker in color, and slowly took the shape of a human being.
"Wha.. where am I?" Said Daniel with an ethereal voice. His surroundings were unlike anything he had ever seen, and he wasn't able to use his power. He felt confused, and didn't know what was going on. All he knew was that he was within a green cage, and his body wasn't physical.
"On the brink of death.." Muttered the voice that came from the two green eyes suspended in on the wall that was directly behind him. His tone was grim, and it was clear that he wasn't saying it for no reason.
"You.. you are the prisoner?.." Asked Daniel with confusion, before shouting angrily "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?" He knew nothing of what was going on, nor could he remember the very last thing that had happened to him before he had ended up in that state. All he knew, was that he was alone, and trapped in a green cage. His mind was clouded, and he couldn't reason too well.. To think that the prisoner was the one that had pulled some trick on him, was more than reasonable.
"I've saved your life.." Responded the prisoner while narrowing his eyes. He wasn't a patient man, and he knew he didn't have enough time to waste, so, he decided to get to the point "Listen.. You were dealt a bad card when you ended up in the old man's hands.. Iewah is not your friend.. Nor was the personality of your gift.. You've raised it, turned it stronger.. And now it devoured you. That's how the children of Iewah are born.. The chosen ones, are just sacrifices."
Daniel was shocked by the words he had just heard, but unfortunately, it didn't show in the basic smoke human-like shape he was currently in. "What?.. That's absurd.. Iewah's gifts are for the good-willed people. If what you say is right, why wouldn't he hand out these sorts of gifts to everyone?!" Asked Daniel with doubt.
"Oh.. Yes.. an opportunity to do good, a gracious being which hands out overpowered blessing to the first good kid that comes around.." muttered the prisoner with irony. "It's his method. Do good.. People will follow.. Gain power, gain followers.. Make the gift evolve.. And die. It's always like that.."
Daniel couldn't believe it. He had spent the past years thinking that there was nothing that he couldn't do, because he had a good morale, and that to back up that morale, there was a benevolent being which had chosen him as his champion.
Without needing to hear it directly from Daniel's mouth, the prisoner said "There isn't such a thing as a benevolent leader. Iewah, the blood god, the sovereign of corruption, the spiritual cultivator.. You name it. They want power, they want the destruction of the others, and they have their ways."
These informations were too much for Daniel to handle, so, he took a step back in the conversation, and said "How am I alive?"
"I've protected a portion of your mind." Responded the prisoner with a matter-of-fact tone. "You've been digested into your current state.."
Daniel tried to process this response, but he was about to lose his mind. The grey fog was becoming darker, and yet dissipating in intensity. His feet were the first thing to disappear.. "What is happening to me?" Asked Daniel with anxiousness. He could feel himself drift away..
"Try to stay calm.. It is impossible for you to become any weaker without dying.." Responded the prisoner in an attempt to calm Daniel down.
In order to prevent the personality of Daniel's gift from noticing, the prisoner was forced to use his power to cast the weakest possible mind protection on Daniel's mind.. He was now inside the mind of Sewah, and if the green barrier wasn't there, he would quickly be digested into nothingness.
Almost as if trying to take a deep breath, Daniel quickly calmed himself down. He was used to critical situations, and to cause him to go into panic, was only the surprise caused by how sudden and unexpected all of this was. One moment he was thinking of which benefits Sewah's second evolution would bring him, and the next, he was smoke in Sewah's stomach.
"Is Sewah controlling my body now?" Asked Daniel with clear anger.
The two big green eyes blinked once, then said "He is.."
"I have to go back then.. I have to take back control over my body! You don't know Sewah.. He is a troublemaker.. I have to go back before he does something bad.." Said Daniel with urgency. He had seen Sewah be born the very moment he had received the system, and while he had helped him a few times, in the end, he had done it all to devour Daniel.
Once again, the two big green eyes blinked, before the prisoner said "It's already been two years.."
-----
In the vast and endless space, was a small planet. Its size didn't reach fifty thousand kilometers in circumference, and yet it was still a perfect world. Blue seas, green forests, white mountaintops, and yellow deserts.
For as big as this planet was, only one city could be seen on its surface.
This city wasn't really a city per se.. It was more of a castle filled with monuments to the glory of a singular individual. Small and identical houses were put in anonymous rows, and in between these houses, a massive castle stood impressively.
There were at least two hundred statues in this planet, and each of them, depicted the same person.. That person was, of course, Daniel. The statues recounted of glorious events, and depicted Daniel in poses which reminded the people of all of the battles he had gone through for the past two years.
The entire city gave the feel of a military camp, and everyone who lived there, would move around quietly and trying to make as little noise as possible. If that wasn't enough, whenever someone walked in front of one of Daniel's statues, they would have to bow politely to it in sign of respect.
Sitting in a throne made out of pure gold, was Sewah, that for the past two years, had used Daniel's body to grow in power, and fulfill the purpose for which he was born for.. Doing everything he wanted..
The first thing which Sewah had done after devouring Daniel's mind, was to cultivate for six long months. In six months, he had maxed out the system's passive ability 'Time is Precious', and had used all of Daniel's karma points to cultivate to the early eighth stage of immortal cultivation.
When the merchants had arrived to Daniel's planet of origin, he had made clear that the planet belonged to him, and whoever would have tried to take a pebble from it, would have died by his hands.
The most greedy and courageous of the merchants had tried to kill Sewah, but unfortunately, none of them was able to oppose him until he had the ability of the karmic system to abuse.
For the following year and a half, Sewah had waged war against one group after the other for Iewah.. Meeting with low level elites of the other factions during the wars for claiming new planet and solar systems, and battling to death.
In an attempt to amuse himself, he had even managed to find Noah, the adept of the third spiritual envoy, and had killed him in order to 'honor' Daniel's sacrifice.
After conquering hundreds of planets for Iewah's faction, his fame grew, along with the numbers of the people that had decided to follow him.
Unfortunately, Sewah wasn't as picky as Daniel, and accepted anybody that was willing to bend to him. That, had lead to Daniel's friends and group members to not wanting to have anything to do with the group anymore.. One by one, they lost faith in him.. And left the group.
The only people which were still by Daniel's side, were Jerigh, his uncle Thien, and his sister Reila, while the rest of Daniel's friends, thinking that he would never manage to recover from what had happened to him, had decided to leave along with the pocket dimension.
Sewah could have easily taken back control over the pocket dimension, but to him, these people meant nothing, so, he had let them go.
It was instinctive for a children of Iewah to compete with the others, and yet, Sewah was aware that he was still too weak to compete with his siblings. Not even a thousand of him would be able to defeat one of the strongest amongst the minions of his brothers' or sisters' armies.
His intention was to gain power just like they had done, and then, prove himself to be worth the title.
-----
"Two years.." muttered Daniel in his foggy form. To him, it felt like he had just gone to sleep, and had woken up a few moments later.. And instead, two years had gone by in the outside world. He wanted to explode in rage, but at the moment, he didn't even have the eyes to cry. "Is there a way to take back control over my body?"
The two big green eyes looked at Daniel up and down "There is.. But.. I don't know if you'll be able to handle it." He then said with a grim tone, almost as if thinking about the suffering which Daniel would have to go through, and that he knew so well.
"What do you mean?" Asked Daniel in confusion.
"The mind path is not easy.. Your life will change.. Your world will change.." responded the prisoner with a saddened tone. He was a mental warrior.. A chosen of his faction.. His domain was the mind, and with it, every form of corruption and suffering that a person's mind would reflect.
There wasn't an easier way to understand a person's pain, than feeling it yourself.. And that, was the path of a mental warrior. Grief, regret, hate, envy.. Joy, pride and love of every person around.. There wasn't a power that was more effective in making its wielder lose his mind than mental power, and he knew that.
"It can't be worse than being stuck here.." Said Daniel with unwillingness.
For a moment, the man's eyes showed deep sadness, as he said "There is comfort in death.." He then quickly snapped out of it, and while looking at Daniel attentively, he added "Are you sure?"
"I am not going to die here.. The list of people I have to punish just became longer."