Chapter 13: The Test of Plato

Standing on Plato, the place where it all began and the only place where he felt safe from the eyes of Gad, Uriel watched Vade as the boy gasped for air and tried to speak between desperate gasps.

"Poi…. Poi…. Poison," he let out as he fell to the ground and curled up in a fetal position.

Yes. Plato's air is poisonous to all earthly creatures and it lacks oxygen. As an eternal being, I am not affected."

"Hel…" Vade tried to say as he gasped desperately, unable to complete the word.

"What's that?' Uriel said crouching down to Vade. 'Help?"

Vade nodded desperately as veins appeared on his head and his neck strained from lack of oxygen.

"I can't help you Vade. This is a test. It won't be a test if I help you. You must help yourself. Now the air here is poisonous. The air on earth is clean. What do you…"

Uriel's speech was interrupted as Vade pushed his body off the ground and opened a portal right on the ground where his body was lying. He fell into the portal and was immediately transported to his room where Uriel was already waiting. Gasping and wheezing like a man who was suddenly saved from suffocation, Vade got to his feet and staggered to his chair.

After many long seconds of labored breathing, he spoke.

"You crazy bastard. You tried to kill me."

"If I wanted you dead, you won't have survived. That was a test, and while you didn't fail, you didn't pass either."

"I almost died. Your stupid test almost killed me."

"But you didn't die. That's why I said you didn't fail the test. It would have been a crying shame if you failed and died you know."

"Really? Listening to you know one will think you do not wish me harm or demise."

"I don't."

"Then what was that about, Godammit. You promised to get me back here safely if I failed."

"If you can't survive something as simple as that then your pointless death is inevitable. I had preferred if you die now and save me all future investments that will be futile if you fail further down the line. Now, we are going back to Plato."

"What?"

"And we are going to stay there?"

"No."

"It's not a suggestion Vade. It is a notification."

"I would die."

"No. You will survive."

"How?"

"Figure it out," Uriel said and with that, he transported them back to Plato without even opening a portal.

This time, Vade was prepared, he held his breath, hoping that his body will preserve the oxygen better if he didn't breathe out. He wished he had taken a deep breath before Uriel teleported them. Vade didn't even get a chance to prepare himself. Uriel didn't open a portal. He just plucked them from one space and dropped them in another.

Vade only had a second, he had to think fast. His mind ran through ideas, picking them up and discarding them until he came upon one that just might work. He opened a tiny portal to earth and forced air to flow through the portal and straight into his nose.

He took in a deep breath and let out a sigh as relief washed over him. After taking a few more breaths and proving the concept, Vade forged the portal into the shape of an oxygen mask and placed the portal on his nose.

'Happy?' Vade said, looking up to Uriel angrily.

'Satisfied,' Uriel replied. 'Not impressed or disappointed, satisfied.'

'Not impressed'? Vade said. 'What I just did right now can change space travel for ages to come. I just broke the fucking limitations created by oxygen tanks and oxygen reserves during air travel. The leaders in the field of space science haven't even considered this option and you say you aren't impressed.'

'Necessity is the mother of invention, Vade. You thought of it because you were forced to, not on your whim. But that's beside the point. Your solution is crude. It works, but it lacks sophistication.'

'What?'

'I expect more from you Vade.'

Vade snickered. 'How would you have solved the problem?' Vade asked.

'By not having it in the first place,' Uriel replied. And in those words did he hint at the truth by being honest although vague. For Vade in fact had the potential to change the laws governing Plato in all its entirety. But rather than changing the world, the boy had settled for changing his fate. Relying on the dictates of the laws of the universe rather than bending them to his will.

Uriel wasn't impressed. But he was satisfied, satisfied enough to give him Metatron.