Irium 98 Bargain

I, Irium Glice, have been given a mission by Dues ex machina, a self-proclaimed G.o.d, to visit all the corners of Science and Magic Realities. I am not needed to do anything special but just visit those places and see the things that Dues claims to have seen.

My friend, Danny, has now succeeded my father, Kaylith Glice, as the new ruler of the Asteroid Realm known as Glice. Currently, he is accompanying me as we are going to where Dues is. However, he is NOT to come with me. There isn't a rule or a condition stopping him but his duties as the emperor are what make him far too busy to go on an adventure with me.

My guardians and my father's only remaining friends, Grey and Jessica, who also own about 10 gem shops in the city I live in, have promised to take care of my house but they can't accompany me either because of all the work they have.

As for the Angel, Roswaisa, the woman who had accidentally become my future wife, she is somewhere in Dues' custody. We aren't allowed to meet her, for whatever reason, but we have a guarantee from Dues that she is safe. As far as my relationship with her goes, to be completely frank, I don't think it matters anymore. That rule of Heaven that made us into future spouses, who is gonna care if we don't follow it and marry later on? No one would care. Because the ones supposed to care are all dead.

And we are about to meet the ones who conspired and succeeded in killing them all.

"Do you have any idea where that b.i.t.c.h is going to send me?" I ask as I am getting bored of seeing the desert we are walking on. Yeah, for whatever reason, Dues-san decided to build her palace (which took just one week to build) in the middle of a desert. To top it all off, this desert doesn't even exist on Earth. It exists on an Asteroid Realm previously called 'Tuna' which has been renamed by Dues to 'Machina'. To get here, we had to follow a set of instructions Dues had given Danny. But anyway, back to my question,

"She hasn't told me anything." Danny answers, "Though, I think it will be a really cold place."

"Why is that?"

"She opened a teleportation portal in front of me saying that she was testing to make sure it's safe since she hadn't gone there for a while. I felt a cold breeze coming from that place."

"Hmm … I see. A cold place, huh?" I actually really love winter, for whatever reason. So, this might be a good first choice in regards to me.

*****

"This is the worst first choice in regards to me!" I yell to the b.i.t.c.h sitting on her throne.

"Of course it is." She says with a smug att.i.tude, "If you wanna back down, I won't stop you."

"Tsk!"

The place that she wants me to go is not some 'cold place', it's a freaking freezer.

"I-I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad." Danny asks while turning to Dues, "I'm mean, what's the lowest temperature this place can reach?"

"Minus 100-degree Celsius."

"…" What the heck!

"Oh, uh, alright!" Danny asks with some nervousness clear on his face, "What's the highest temperature?"

"10-degree Celsius." Dues answers, just like before, leaving both of us stunned. "So anyway, you gonna get in?"

"Get in?" I say in a sardonic tone, "I can survive in that place for no more than a day at max."

"Oh, well, it wouldn't be that bad." Dues says, "After all, you did get a helping hand from someone pretty d.a.m.n amazing, didn't you?"

"Uh … you knew?"

"Of course I knew. I wouldn't be G.o.d if I didn't even know about something like that happening." She says with an indifferent att.i.tude. "I don't know what he gave you to help you but … being who he is, I doubt his gift wouldn't be capable enough to save you from this adverse climate."

Fair point! After all, he is real G.o.d. He may even have already known that this was gonna happen and the ability that he played me for a fool into choosing might save my hide. But still, can I take the risk?

"Here's a bit of a bargain to increase your motivation." Dues then says, "If you are able to travel to Telmakim, a city in that world half the world across where you'll enter, then you'll be brought back as your mission would have been fulfilled."

"That's a bargain?" Doesn't sound like one to me.

"No, that's just your mission. The bargain is that if you complete this mission, I'll leave Glice alone."

"Huh!?"

"Huh!?" Both of us give the same reaction.

"What?" She asks as if it is obvious what she meant. "I'm G.o.d, you know. I am supposed to control all there is to control in the universe. If I don't do that, the history will repeat itself."

This b.i.t.c.h!

"Therefore, I will have to take control of that realm that Danny has been named the ruler of. However, if you complete this mission, I'll leave that realm, its people and its ruler alone."

That's more of a threat than it is a bargain. Glice, right now, is the only realm where all the people know about what really happened. Literally everywhere else, the ma.s.ses are ignorant about the truth and are panicking about the destruction of Angels and Demons. In other words, Glice is the only place where people know about the reality of the situation and perhaps the only place that would never consider Dues a G.o.d because of that fact. If Dues takes control of Glice, who knows what she'll do to the people.

"So, do you accept?" Dues asks, with a smug smile.

"What choice do I have?" I say and start heading towards the portal.

"You sure?" Danny asks, but he knows as well as I do,

"There's no other way."

"Oh, and I am just gonna mention this little thing." Dues says, "I can pull you back from that realm if you call out to me. So you can give up if you ever think things are getting too tough for you. But once you have given up, you won't be given a second chance."

"…"

I don't want to answer to that. There's no way I am giving up. You just wait and watch, Dues, I am gonna survive all this on my own and someday spit in your face for all that you have done. But, for now, all I can do is step in the portal – and so I do.

*****