Sovereign of the Karmic System

Daniel was now standing inside the empty cabin in which his family had been living for the past two and a half years.

He could feel the familiar smell of the flowers which his sister liked the most, as there was a bouquet of them in a vase right in the middle of the table, along with four clean bowls. A small black pot was hanging from a wooden branch right above a recently extinct fireplace, and in it, was a vegetable soup which Daniel was way more than used eating.

Without thinking too much about it, Daniel picked one of the four bowls, walked towards the black pot, and scooped a portion of it. He then used his comprehension of fire to warm the bowl of soup.. A minute alter, right as he was about to form a spoon with metal essence, the bowl chipped, and broke.. Making the warm soup drip all over his legs.

"Damn it.." Said Daniel with disappointment before taking one of the tissues from the table, and cleaning his clothes off of the spilled soup.

Once Daniel got to his shoes, he saw something pop out of the head of one of the only single bed in the house. He then approached it, and picked this object from in between the sheets.. Just to realize that it was just a stuffed doll. It was made of the skin of some sort of short-haired animal, and filled with feathers.. Making it extremely soft.

Seeing this doll was a huge hit for Daniel’s mind.. The reason for that, was that the stuffed toy looked exactly like him. Provided that it had buttons as eyes, and had no hands of feet, it was clear from the haircut, the clothes, and the color of the eyes that it was him. If he were to make a guess, he would say that this was a handmade toy which Reila had made for her son Than.

Daniel stood for a few moments in the house, while looking at the doll in some sort of trance.

This trance was quickly interrupted by a familiar voice which came from behind him "You did the right thing.." It said.

Daniel turned to look at the cabin’s house, and there, he found the prisoner standing quietly. "I wish I could have simply forced the idea of leaving into their minds.. Like you do." Responded Daniel with a saddened tone.

"To each his gift.. Outcast of Iewah." Said the prisoner through his mask. He then added after looking into Daniel’s thoughts "Your burden is not theirs to bear.. You’ve decided not to die, and this is the consequence."

Of course, Daniel was aware of the fact that he had made the right decision. He had billions of karmic debt, and with that amount, his luck was down to hell.. And even if this luck wasn’t as effective as ’Karmic Retribution’, he couldn’t allow his system to randomly target the people he cared about only to enforce bad luck.

Daniel quietly put the small doll in his pocket, and put the matter to the back of his head. He then turned towards the prisoner, and said "Why are you here? I thought you would have already left."

"I have still a few hundred years before the end of my bounty’s term.. I might as well spend them along with another outcast." Responded the prisoner with his usual indifferent tone.

The prisoner didn’t care where he was. He wasn’t really escaping from the faction that was chasing him, and in fact, he had even waited for them to find him.. The reason for that wasn’t because he wouldn’t have been able to escape, but because he didn’t want to.

A couple of hundred years back, the prisoner had been part of a war to conquer a vast new galaxy. The war was massive and bloody, and each and every group had taken part to it, sending thousands of their elite members. He, was one of the elite members sent by the Psionic Dimension.

The war had lasted for over a hundred years, and the multiple daily battles had led to many deaths.. Only ending after each inhabitable planet was conquered.

One of the planets given to the Psionic Dimension, was part of a solar system which only had two inhabitable planets. The other one of these two planets, was owned by Iewah’s faction.

The two factions lived close to each other for the following century.. Until one day, a new order was put out by the psionic dimension to evaluate the planet which belonged to Iewah’s faction, as the two factions were currently in the middle of a negotiation.

A similar scenario had taken part in a different solar system, and the two faction had decided to exchange one planet for another, so that they could have a solar system all to themselves. The person which had picked up this task, was none other than the Prisoner..

Once he had arrived to the planet, he had met the keeper of the key.

At first, the keeper of the key had behaved naturally. He was polite, as the prisoner was stronger, and of a higher rank. He was wearing a protection for his mind, which was something that people that had meetings with the members of the psionic tribes would usually use.. But despite that, he appeared as a genuine person..

While they were having a conversation.. A person had appeared in the orbit of the planet. This person was a middle aged man, and was holding a tied up young girl, with a gag in her mouth, and a tissue which covered her eyes.

The prisoner asked for an explanation to the keeper of key, which told him that this young girl was a criminal, and that he was going to teleport her out of the planet, and into a prison of his faction.

The prisoner was unable to confirm if these words were true or not.. So, he did the only other thing he could do. He pried into the mind of the man which was holding the ties with which the young girl was tied up.

What he saw, were memories of this man knocking and banging on doors.. Parents crying desperately at the sheer sight of him.. He saw them hugging their daughters.. Then say goodbye in tears as the man took them away.

He would take them to his house.. Bathe them.. Dress them.. And take them to the keeper of key.

This exact same scenario had repeated over and over again in the memories of this man.. The only thing that changed, was the house, the despaired parents, and the girl which was always taken.

After a short confrontation with the keeper of Iewah’s faction, the prisoner had decided to break the man’s mind barriers, and explore his mind directly. The images he had seen that day, would remain in his mind as the most horrifying images he had ever seen.

The keeper of key would torture these girls physically and mentally.. But never sexually. The reason he did it was for his own enjoyment.. He could feel the feelings of joy that the keeper had felt by hearing the screams of the girls as he twisted their fingers until they broke.. Gave them chunks of their own flesh to eat.. And gauged their eyes out for a quick laugh.

The prisoner had hated the man deeply.. For making him experience these feelings of pleasure and happiness, while looking at those events from the eyes of the keeper.. Without thinking about it twice, he had allowed his avatar to come out, grab the man’s body with its two massive green hands, and after saying, ".. your mind is not worth saving.." he slowly pulled him until his body ripped in two pieces.

He had made the conscious decision to kill a member of Iewah’s faction.. And the reason why he refused to escape, was a matter of state of mind.

The members of the Psionic Dimension were taught that they should always maintain a clear mind.. That a chaotic mind was what turned people’s lives into an endless cycle of destruction.. And that if they abandoned their beliefs, they would become no better than any random cultivator.

Unfortunately, Iewah’s faction did not care for the prisoner’s state of mind.. So, after they had demanded for the prisoner’s life, as well as many of their planets as compensation, the Psionic dimension had decided to cast the prisoner away. The only way in which they had supported him, was by not going after him directly.

Despite having been abandoned, the prisoner had decided not to run away, as running away, to him, would mean admitting that he had done something wrong. He had decided to live with the consequence of his actions.

Soon enough, an individual of Iewah’s faction had been sent to imprison him.. But after seeing that he had no intention of escaping or fighting, the agent of Iewah’s faction had decided to simply bind him with power-suppressing chains, and let a few weaker guards take care of him.

As he was being transported to one of Wuvia’s moons.. during the last crossing between planets, he had met Daniel.

"Thank you for helping me.." Said Daniel for the first time since his consciousness had been saved by the prisoner’s power. While he couldn’t show it due to the saddened state caused by the most recent events, he really was grateful.

".. What are you going to do now?" Asked the prisoner after ignoring Daniel’s words. He did not care for gratitude.. He acted as he felt was right, and would not accept complains nor gratitude from anybody.

"I have to find a place where I can earn a lot of karma.." muttered Daniel, uncaring whether the prisoner could hear him or not. It was clear to Daniel that his mind had no secrets for him. If he thought of something, the man would heart it.. Just like he could go through his memories, and share the feelings that the person who was been spied on felt.

That was the main purpose of the mask.

At some point in time, it had become evident what the power of the Psionic Warriors was..

Anger, love, hate.. Envy.. they felt it all.. So, in order to prevent others from seeing how badly other people’s emotions affected them by noticing their expressions turn from happiness to rage, madness, and sadness.. They had vowed to always wear a mask.

Without even waiting for Daniel’s to speak, the prisoner asked ".. Are they still going to want you? It’s been two and a half years.."

"A company like that.. They will take me to the risk of offending Iewah’s faction." Responded Daniel while looking at two small pills which he was holding in his hand. These two pills, were the only two Partial Poison Immunity Pills he had left.

Daniel had given one of the pills to each of his friends, and kept about five with him. Three of those five pills, had been used by Sewah, which had given them to Iewah’s faction along with the formula of the pill. He had witnessed to these events when devouring Sewah’s memories.

He did not care to have lost the formula, as there were already dozens more that would teach people how to create a product with similar effects. The only reason why his formula had some value, was because it was cost efficient.

After noticing the confidence in Daniel’s tone, the prisoner said "Fine.. but you better ditch that medallion.. They will use it to track you, and capture you."

While the medallion given to the chosens of Iewah had been deactivated, and wouldn’t allow him to teleport through the universe, it also had a secondary function. It would work as a beacon for the messengers of the faction, which would often need to find him in order to deliver the new orders.

Right as Daniel was about to grab the medallion and throw it into space, a voice that from above them. It said "I am afraid that it is too late for that.."

Daniel looked high up in the sky, and saw two individuals. Both of them were wearing tight fitting leather armor, Their skin was of an even red color, and on their heads, they had a pair of grey horns.

The eyes of the prisoner opened wide from behind his mask, as he muttered "Apostles of Damnation.. This is bad luck.." He then turned towards Daniel, and said "Don’t let them touch you."