Chapter 660 The Trial Of Karma (Part 1)

The hand of the short, yet stout woman rose to her side, aimed at the large interdimensional portal in sign of invitation. "My lord awaits inside." She said, loudly and clearly. Words which she had repeated time and time again in preparation for this moment, sometimes in front of a mirror, sometimes within her own head. It was her part in the play, the part that she had been selected for from a group of thousands of her peers, and she was going to perform it perfectly.

As the last part of her line was spoken, she looked at the three expectantly. Unsure of which type of reaction she should have expected. Whether they would accept her invitation gracefully, and follow her inside for the next and last part of her act, or whether they would take revenge for the people they had killed right there and then, killing her in cold blood, she wasn't sure. Nor did she care. She was the first of Sacrifice's followers. To die while performing a duty for her lord was the ultimate sacrifice. The greatest honor the people of her clan could ever bring upon their name.

If she were to die now, she knew more people had been prepared to continue in her stead. They would pick up from where she had left, while she would become power for her lord. A thought that filled her mind with a sense of calmness in front of the unknown.

Her eyes shifted from one of the three guests to the other, unsure of which one was who. An aspect of existence and two cultivators, she had been told, but through her eyes, all she could see were a pair of warriors, one young and nicely built, the other middle-aged, with thousands of years of refined muscles built upon his large frame. The two cultivators, she had thought.

When her eyes met with Roley's, she felt that her previous assumption had been confirmed.

He was a young man as well, visibly shorter than both of his companions. However, several details about his appearance gave him a peculiar aura. The constant buzzing of natural essences that surrounded him, a large and loose robe only someone with little consideration for other people's opinions would ever wear, and more importantly, a pair of ominous of black and white eyes. His otherworldly appearance was unlike that of any other mortal she had ever met before, and more akin to the eerie, proud and casual presence of an aspect of existence. The fact that he stood in between his two companions, contributed to the misunderstanding.

Several seconds went by, after which, Daniel's party finally reacted to her invitation. Der and Roley turned to the figure of the young man in casual mortal clothes, and the latter asked, "This is the most obvious trap I have ever seen. What do you think?" 

The woman's watchful gaze immediately shifted to Daniel. A tinge of fear jolted down her spine. "Of course." She muttered in a low voice. "Stupid Novah." While she had not been given a precise description of each of the three individuals, she had heard her lord discuss the aspect of Karma with one of his peers. Born a mortal, survivor of the betrayal of his system's wielder, and now, a full fledged aspect of existence. An odd one at that.

Of course he could only be the one to look the least like any other aspect of existence.

Now that the misunderstanding had been cleared, the woman's attention shifted from Roley to Daniel, making him the main recipient of each future nod and prepared lines. The hair at the back of her neck stood on end when Daniel's voice played out in her ears.

Initially, Daniel had not paid any attention to the woman, her posse, or the banners she carried. His attention was directed at the corpses that surrounded him, as well as Der's trembling figure. Ready to stop any reckless charge before it was too late, Daniel had dug into his mind, just like his warrior companion had, in hope to find an answer to a specific question.

Were these the people he was meant to rescue? 

The answer, unfortunately, was yes. Tens of thousands former members of his group. Weak cultivators he had gotten used to bringing his ripped clothes to for mending after a particularly violent training session with one of the mannequins of the black castle, mortal men, women, elderly and children, no doubt descendants of the people that inhabited the city he had founded, as well as various beasts and elementals.. all dead.

While to Daniel these people were only creatures he had shared mere fleeting moments with, that was not the case for Der, who had recognized several individuals within the open graveyard. Warriors of his old mortal army who had followed him, and students he had taught the art of swordsmanship himself. 

Stopping himself from charging blindly into Sacrifice's domain, Daniel thought, was already a feat of self control for him.. but Daniel had other thoughts in mind.

He had failed. His existence had been one side of the bargain, while the other lay dead around him in the form of bloodied bodies. But none of them his former self would have cared about. No children, direct descendants, close friends, teachers, pets or true love. No one whose death he would have shed tears for. He thought, rationalizing through his failure, hypnotizing himself into thinking he had not technically failed yet.

"We came here expecting a trap, so we might as well play along for a bit." He said before finally acknowledging Novah's existence. The same woman who had noticed the expression of discontent that had marked his face during the few seconds he spent looking at the corpses, making note of it, for those were emotions that the average aspect of existence would not have felt. Her surprise was renewed when Daniel upper body bent in a theatrical bow, and he said, "After you, milady."

-----

As Daniel and the others crossed the portal, the first thing they noticed was the presence of gravity. Solid stone lay cold under their feet, while the hall was shroud in almost complete darkness if not for the light produced by a few torches, hung by finely carved pillars with holders of rusty iron. The ceiling stood too high for their eyes to see, or at least, for all but Roley, whose eyes allowed him to see through any degree of darkness, and this room was not an exception.

He could see a forest of gargantuan pillars that reached from the very floor they were standing on, all the way up to the ceiling, several hundred feet in the air. Each as big as the other, and all standing right by a skeleton or mummified corpse, but unique in the way they were sculpted. On their surfaces were depicted images of heroic battles and memorable events from different, perhaps extinct civilizations.

The path of lights led to an empty area, as large as an emperor's throne room but lacking its mesmerizing furniture and decorations. All this hall contained was a large magnet-shaped, polished table of cream-colored wood separated in sections that stood on top of platforms erected at relatively different heights, with the curved middle part standing two feet taller than the corners, and four feet taller than the edges. The tables formed a short flight of ascending and descending steps, reminding people of a podium more than the sort of table one would see at a nobleman's banquet.

Laying orderly by the external part of the table, were nine chairs of the same type of wood, with silky padding embroidered with the same symbol Daniel had seen on the banner the woman had carried. Four were placed by the lower parts of the table, the edges, while two were placed by the middle-height corners. The remaining three had been positioned by the highest part of the table, with the center one being of more refined manufacture than the rest.

Placed right in front of this peculiar piece of furniture was an additional table. Simple than the other, of cheap dirty wood, this table stood a step lower than the lowest part of the other table. A smooth layer of dust rested on top of it, broken only by the presence of several clear fingerprints which had been left behind by the people who had dragged it out of whichever dungeon it had been stored into.

By this table were three more chairs, also simpler than the nine comfortable ones, and placed in a more relaxed manner. Some crooked, some required to be moved closer to the table before one could sit.

"Please, take a seat." Novah said as her hand stretched forward, pointing at the cheaper table. "My lord and his other guests will be here shortly."

Daniel and Der headed quietly towards the table, unbothered by whichever offense the person who had set this event up had thought to inflict upon them. Roley, on the other hand, lagged a step behind. As Der reached for the right chair, and dragged it closer to the table, he approached the left one, saying with a voice full of indignation. "The skin on this one. It's hard to think a low tier could behave like this in the presence of his superiors."

His odd wording did not escape Der's attentive ears, causing him to slouch against the back of his chair in anger, fist tightened over his thighs. He was keeping himself from arguing with his scholarly companion by keeping focused on his surroundings, which he scouted with his senses far and wide.. much more so than he had expected.

"Is this a different dimension, like Melodia?" He asked Daniel, who sat casually in between the two, in the middle chair.

Daniel's head shook, but before he could talk, someone else answered.

"I am afraid not, human." Said a clear disembodied voice that came from far away to their right. "Only specific members of our race can afford such luxurious estate. Powers that possess a form of totality. The domain of High Lady Sound, for example. Or other domains your liege may have visited in the past, the Underworld of Lady Death, and the spiritual plain of Lady Spirit." The voice was moving closer, crossing from behind one pillar to another, shadows hiding its source.

Finally, after a short streak of silence, a man emerged from behind one of the pillars located by the edge of the emptied space.

This man was quite tall, with short black hair and fiery, yet striking facial features. His body was clad entirely in red armor, identical to the one Novah was wearing, but with gold rivets and embroidery wherever there was a bit of space to occupy. He moved regally, with a straight back and shoulders, and chin held high. 

From him Der felt the power of a common mortal, while Roley felt the odd familiarity champions of Destiny would feel towards other creatures of existential nature.

Daniel, on the other hand, had outright recognized him as the aspect of Sacrifice. The young-looking entity he had met at the small gathering, who had then behaved far less graciously. "Nice to meet you again, Sacrifice." Daniel said with a smile as his head stretched upwards, eyes peering at the table in front of him. "I wasn't expecting you to manage to recruit that many goons. You did not seem that popular last time."

His words did not seem able to hurt the aspect of Sacrifice, who nodded in agreement. "That is true. I have paid for it, more than I had planned to." He said as steady steps brought him closer to the table.

"Unfortunately, nine of you won't be enough to beat one of me." Daniel added. He had been thoroughly provoked since entering Sacrifice's domain, and now, his pride as an aspect of existence demanded that he returned the favor. But, alas, his taunts once again seemed to have the opposite effect. 

Sacrifice's lips curved into a gentle smile as an air of arrogance permeated from his eyes. "Then I should be glad I did not look down for help." He said just before reaching the table. The part he had reached, however, was not the highest seat of honor, but the lowest seat, by the right edge of the u-shaped table. Once there, Novah immediately reached for his chair. She pulled it from under the table, then held it steady at a small angle, allowing for her liege to sit comfortably, and in a dignified manner.

Daniel's features froze as several more presences made their appearance within the darkness, each approaching the table with heavy steps.

62c5b2942708fd12a9ad975e