Their first encounter with the natives of the unknown domain was unique, to put it into simple terms.
It was exhilarating when they thought about the difficulties of communicating with another race that didn’t know any of the Origin Tongues, learned more about their traditions, and how their appearance came to be – after all the three energy systems seemed to accelerate the mutation processes of all lifeforms –, and much more.
What they didn’t expect was to encounter rather ordinary-looking humanoids. The natives were taller than humans, and most of them were covered in mountains of muscles, but they didn’t look much different from Cyclops. Except maybe for the fact that they had two smaller eyes where their cheeks were. They had a massive eye with great vision, filled with the physical energy, whereas the two smaller eyes contained bits of the spiritual energy. That was interesting, but it didn’t attract their full attention.
However, what attracted their curiosity was the language they spoke.
"How mayeth we help you, straeunger?" One of the massive Cyclops, which Daniel called them in his mind, asked them as they arrived in front of their small village. A skinnier and slightly smaller young Cyclops walked to the entrance to the gate and checked on them. His eyes narrowed to tiny slits, but he nodded slowly.
"His energy system is full of the spiritual energies," Rebecca mumbled to Daniel, who nodded slowly. He sensed something washing over him when the young Cyclops looked at them. He’d used the spiritual energy to do…something.
"Our Shaman invites you to his chambre," the hulking Cyclops added without waiting for a response from them. He turned around and gestured to them to enter.
"I do not wish to be rude, but what language are you speaking?" Rebecca asked while following the Cyclops inside the tiny settlement. She, just like Danny, was much stronger than the Cyclops. There was no need to be scared of them. Even if all of them were to attack simultaneously, they wouldn’t be in danger.
Your journey continues on empire
"We speath Common. Everyone does," The Cyclops responded in confusion.
"Everyone of your kind, or…everyone on this planet?"
"All life understands Common in this realm. You speath and understandth Common as well, Sage," The Cyclops said as if it was commonly known by all beings.
Rebecca nodded slowly, ignoring the Cyclops comment about her being a ’Sage.’ Daniel had no idea what that meant, but he kept silent. He augmented his senses with Essence and checked everything and everyone thoroughly.
’There are only one hundred Cyclops in the settlement, and everyone has both the spiritual and physical energy system. However, only one of them has a more advanced spiritual system. His physical system lacks in comparison. That’s their shaman. He is the mind among the brawns,’
Daniel didn’t see more than two Cyclops with the power to rival High Awakened. Still, their physical prowess was likely to be much higher than the average High Awakened, given that they trained using physical energy only. It was more effective than origin energy in that regard.
"What do you call the energies in this…realm?" Daniel asked, interrupting Rebecca’s chat with the hulking Cyclops.
"The beings of this realm useth the earth and heaveth’s energies to pursue the pathes of Mana, Force, and Spirita." An unfamiliar voice rang out from the front. It was the Cyclops Shaman standing in the frame of his hut – the chambre – who spoke up.
"Mana, the magical energy. Force the physical energy, and Spirita for the spirutual energy," Daniel mumbled while Rebecca took some notes. The Cyclops stared at her holographic screen, their eyes widened in surprise. Given their settlement’s appearance, the Cyclops didn’t know much about technology. Daniel didn’t know if that was related to the unknown domain or if the lack of technology wasn’t as severe on other planets. It was probably the latter, as the unknown domain was much bigger than one mere planetary system.
Then again, the planetary system bordering the Origin Expanse was massive. It contained dozens of large, inhabitable, planets. There were probably hundreds of races spread across those inhabitable planets.
Still, it was important to note that the Cyclops looked ridiculous when shocked to the core. Their eyes bulged, and it looked like they were about to pop out at any moment.
"We are honored to welcometh two Sages to our humble abode," The Shaman made a weird gesture with his hands and bowed politely.
There was it again. The word. Sages
"Why do you call us ’Sages’? What do you mean by that?" Daniel asked.
"That is what you are, or am I mistaken, Your Excellency?" The Cyclops Shaman inquired, "You come from elsewhere, using foreign powers. Your power reserves arenth attunead to this placeth, creating ripples that can be sensedth all over the realm."
Daniel and Rebecca looked at each other for a moment. They understood something important at this point.
"Are there many ’Sages’? If so, are they all like us, or are they different?" Daniel asked even before Rebecca could say anything.
"I do not know abouth this, your excellency," The Cyclops Shaman said, and bowed deeply to apologize for his lack of knowledge, "Old Scripture speak of the foreign, the powerful. Howeveth, they speaketh of different powerful creatures over the courseth of the realm’s history. Many Sages cameth."
This was interesting, even if it didn’t make any sense. The unknown domain hadn’t been connected to the Origin Universe for long. There couldn’t have been any ’Sages’ from the Origin Universe. The Guardians would have known about the connection with the unknown domain.
That was how both Daniel and Rebecca concluded one thing.
Other universes were once connected to the unknown universes.
Or maybe…just maybe, they were still connected to other universes.
The unlike couple looked at each other again, a trace of worry filling their eyes.
At this point, they realized that their journey in the unknown domain had just begun.
This was just the beginning of something great.