The bright light was blinding. I blinked my eyes and then shaded them with my right hand. Ah, much better! I took a moment to shake loose the haziness from my mind. Suddenly, I remembered! I dropped my hand and looked at my surroundings. I discovered that I was standing in another white room. This time, though, there were noticeable differences. First, the window panel overlooking Planet Earth was gone. Second, there seemed to be more instruments along the walls. Otherwise, the room was white as before, circular, and relatively small. I looked up at the ceiling and noted that the nozzle was missing; my eyes dropped to the ground and yup, the bulging nub in the middle of the floor was missing, too.

Unbeknownst to me, my necklace started glowing under my tunic. The Truth Stone of Order and Chaos was bestowed upon me by Bishop Canterbury for avenging the death of Town Judge Wachtel. It was a blood red stone attached to a simple chain. The stone started absorbing the white light in the room and glowed until it was full of energy. And then it turned dark again. I did not notice this because of the overwhelming white light in the room.

"Where are we?" a female voice asked.

I turned around and saw that my companions, Kalistra and Jasla, had returned. They were not present for my initial inspection of this room. It was Jasla who asked the question.

"I think we're in the equivalent control room on Earth 2," I answered. In truth, I wasn't 100% certain, but I felt this was a reasonable assumption to make considering that there were only two versions of Earth remaining and we just departed from one version. I decided to ask a question of my own. "Why didn't you talk to Z? I'm sure you had questions for that alien robot, too."

The two girls traded glances and the succubus spoke first. "I can't speak for the cat girl, but for me, I felt comfortable with you doing all the talking. I had no idea what that machine was talking about but it seemed that you did understand. Also, the way you took control of the situation was so manly!" she complimented me. For emphasize, she folded her arms across her chest and framed her ample bosom.

I couldn't help but stare until Kalistra stomped on my right foot. Ow! "-2 Health." If I had any doubts that I had returned to the gaming world, then the pop-up notification erased those doubts. Feeling the sting in my foot, I looked at the jealous cat girl and started to open my mouth to complain. However, Kalistra's death stare made me keep my mouth shut.

"You're the party leader," my master answered succinctly. Her tail dangling happily behind her, the cat girl started inspecting every inch of the white room. Kalistra immediately discovered that the window panel was missing, to her great disappointment. Seeing a new world was a unique experience and one that the cat girl doubted she will ever experience again.

Her inquisitive nature led Kalistra to examine the panels on the wall, starting with the biggest one. However, to call this a "panel" was misleading. It was a beige-colored board and seemed to depict the continent of Britannia. She immediately recognized Tregome on the western end of this apparent map. She traced along the river eastward until it split. North of the split was the farmland and the small mountain where they were currently. A lit green dot was placed at the center of the mountain. Bristol, the destination of her party, was just a bit further northeast.

Kalistra looked at other parts of Britannia and noticed a big red dot on the southern part of the continent, where Southampton was located. Instinctively, she knew that this red dot was important and the cat girl spent more time scouring the map with her eyes for more dots, either red or green. Her examination bore fruit as she had discovered more red dots at Oxford and London, forming a rough looking diamond on the map. "Hey, Lawrence! Come look at this!" she yelled.

At the time, I was standing at the spot where the window panel would have been on Earth 1. I looked around the room to find my master; I saw that the cat girl was directly across from me, on the other side of the room. I saw that my master was peering closely at a board on the wall and quickly walked over. "What is it?" I asked her. I realized that the board was really a map of some sort but failed to understand its significance. I had to wait for her to explain it to me and thankfully, I didn't wait long.

"This is where we are now," Kalistra said while putting her left paw close to the green dot.

I nodded in appreciation. The cat girl just confirmed that this was a map of Britannia.

She then lifted her paw to a red dot. The spot was northeast of our current location. "This is Oxford and notice this red dot here."

I nodded.

Her paw moved east and then south until she reached another red dot. "This is London."

I nodded again.

She moved her paw west and then south to the southern part of the map. Her paw rested on a red dot. "This is Southampton," she said.

When the last location was identified, I received another pop-up. "Map ACQUIRED: Fh'laen ruins."

Kalistra and I looked at each other. "Another quest!" I said excitedly.

The cat girl grinned at the implication of this new quest that I had just received. As punishment for hurting me during my training for the tournament, the Grandmaster agreed to allow Kalistra to serve as my bodyguard for a week following the tournament. However, her service may be extended if I asked her to come along as I traveled to the location of each relic on this map. And the cat girl was curious to know what would happen when all four dots turned green. Altogether, this was a golden opportunity for Kalistra to avoid returning to the dojo and to taste freedom just a bit longer.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"What happened?" Jasla asked. She was standing behind us. She noticed the commotion but kept silent until the two of us finished our conversation.

I turned toward the last member of our party. "Apparently, my presence here at this relic turned the dot from red to green. And I need to travel to activate these three other sites," I explained while pointing my finger at the red dots. "I plan on going to these sites after the Melee Tournament is over. Do you want to come with us?" I invited her. Sure, the succubus could be a handful sometimes, and she did not get along well with Kalistra. But Jasla was a powerful NPC and her presence in our party will more than offset any disadvantages.

Tears started forming in her eyes as the demoness shook her head. "I can't stay on this mortal plane for long. Once we leave this mountain and return to the surface, my mission will be completed and I must return home," she said sadly.

"That's just too bad," cat girl said in a neutral tone of voice. However, her tail twitched happily and she had a wide grin on her face. Kalistra couldn't wait for this demoness to be gone! If the commoners saw me consorting with demons, it would ruin my reputation and take the dojo down with me! Thank Kallimon that we were alone in some ruins under the mountain!

Suddenly, Jasla stared deep into my eyes as she made a request. "Milord, may I mark you?"

Before I could think, my mouth answered, "Sure."

"Hey wait a minute," Kalistra started to protest but she was knocked back by a large wing of the succubus.

Jasla grabbed my right arm, pulled up my sleeve, and kissed my forearm.

The touch of her lips and her hot breath on my skin made my mind delirious with pleasure. My knees started to weaken under the mental assault. I received a pop-up which read, "Condition: Enthralled. Duration: 2 seconds." Ouch. I was under her spell for the moment with no way to break free.

Mercifully, Jasla ended the kiss and a trace of her lips formed on my forearm.

Another pop-up notification appeared and it read, "Status: Marked by Jasla. +100 XP. Divine skill ACQUIRED: Charm Opposite Sex."

My master scowled when she read the message. Her tail whiplashed dangerously and her paw was on the hilt of her sword.

I held out my arm in front of her. "Don't," I said. "Jasla is the daughter of Bane and much too powerful for you to fight," I reminded my master.

For emphasis, the demoness conjured a burning fireball the size of a watermelon and casually tossed it in the air.

Kalistra hissed at the size of the fireball and how quickly the spell was cast. The experienced fighter in her tried to assess the situation. She realized that if she tried to fight the succubus in this tiny room and her opponent tossed fireballs around, there was no cover for me to hide behind and I would be caught in the blasts. Furthermore, the fireballs could damage the room and lock the three of them inside forever. Thus, the more prudent course of action was to fight Jasla in another time and at another location. To fight Jasla now, as much as Kalistra wanted to, would put my life in jeopardy and it would be a Dishonorable act for the master to place her pupil in harm's way when such danger was avoidable. The cat girl turned her back on the irritating demoness and stomped her way to the other end of the small white room.

Once my master had withdrawn, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned my attention back to Jasla. "Did you really have to brand me?" I asked.

"It's the only way we can stay in contact when I return to the Plane of Fire," the demoness blushed and looked away.

I sighed again as I recalled what happened. Jasla apparently enthralled me to prevent me from saying "no" to her request to brand me. It was tantamount to another assault on my freedom of choice. A part of me was upset with her for doing this because I may have agreed voluntarily to receive Jasla's mark anyway. For her to induce my agreement via her charm magic showed a lack of trust and confidence in me. Furthermore, her action showed that Jasla was no better than her father, who had also branded me without my assent.

At the same time, I was growing concerned with this collection of permanent tattoos on my forearms because so far, I had been branded by Bane, Musa, Luck, Gaea, and now Jasla. To summarize, I was carrying the favor of two Lawful gods, one Neutral god, and two Chaotic gods. My concern was that if I acquired more brands from Chaotic gods, then the Church of Britannia may determine that I was no longer qualified to be a Champion of Law and Order as my apparent allegiance was toward Chaos.

"I'm sorry," Jasla lowered her head.

I stared at her for a long moment in puzzlement. Why was she apologizing? Suddenly, it clicked in my mind. Well, this was great. Apparently, the demoness could read my mind, too, or else she wouldn't have apologized for the trouble that her mark was causing me. Lord Bane was able to read my thoughts because of my connection to him via his mark. Why should the other divine marks act any differently?

"If you are truly sorry, then you're going to have to convince another Lawful god to brand me," I suggested. I hated the fact that I will need to acquire another divine brand, but at this point, I was desperate to protect my qualifications to challenge for the crown. Alternatively, I could drop the quest, stay low for six months, and then return to the starship to fly back to my home planet. The question, though, was whether I would still be alive in six months considering that the overlord of the gods would undoubtedly use every dirty trick in the book to flush me out of hiding for his personal entertainment. I sighed again.

During my discussion with Jasla, Kalistra occupied her time by inspecting the other panels along the wall. She was hoping to find another map with another quest but alas, her search proved fruitless. However, she came upon a big red button. There was nothing on the wall next to the button to indicate what it was for. The cat girl turned her head and saw that I was still talking to that demoness, and it upset her. A lot. "Well, since Lawrence is still preoccupied, it befalls upon me to figure out what this button does," Kalistra spoke to herself aloud. With her feeble excuse in hand, my master finally fell to the temptation . . . and pressed the red button.

The mountain started shaking and rumbling.

"Are we having an earthquake?" I wondered aloud. This was bad, really bad. We were under a mountain and an earthquake could collapse the tunnel leading us back to the surface, trapping us inside. Even worse, the loosened dust and rocks could block off ventilation vents, leaving us to slowly asphyxiate to death. I looked up, fearful that the ceiling will come down on us. However, the ceiling remained smooth and there were absolutely no cracks on the ceiling. Nor did any crack appear on the wall, either. But something did change: a hole in the ground next to Kalistra appeared and I immediately warned her of the danger. "Kalistra, there's a hole in the ground to your left!"

Heeding my warning, my master stood still as a statue. She turned her head toward the left and looked down. She saw stairs! "I see stairs! I think this is our exit!" she announced with excitement. Kalistra quickly decided not to mention the red button to me.

Jasla and I walked over to Kalistra's side of the room and we peered down at the dark staircase.

"I'm going to turn back to my human form. The passage way doesn't look wide enough to accommodate my demon wings," Jasla observed. In a flash, the succubus disappeared and in her place stood the diminutive monk, Alsaj. The monk opened her left palm, revealing the small fire orb in her hand. "I will take the lead," she offered with a small giggle and walked down the steps.