by Kell Inkston
“Well now, this is a surprise; though quite the welcome one, I would say,” Chaos says with a direct, commanding gaze, “I would like to thank you for your help in delaying Order to the tea,” he adds, looking over Love with a stare a bit different than his usual. Love smiles, and bows her head as Aoline looses a confused, abrupt “huh?”.
“It was my pleasure, my lord,” Love says, petting one of the stray sheep, who in turn rolls its fluff onto the grass in comfort. Chaos nods his head gently as he enters Love’s personal space. Aoline’s eyes grow ever wider now that The Overlord is not even a foot from her.
“As you may have guessed, I successfully took the seat at the High Tea and I asked for Oa’s true location; its phylactery,” Chaos says, his chilled breath frosting against Love’s warmth. Meeo smiles.
“Oh?” she coos.
“ ‘Oh,’ indeed! It turns out I will be going to destroy it soon, and I would love for you to come with me, my dear Friendion. That is, if it would please you,” Chaos says before stroking his hand, the very same that stole the lives of uncounted legions, gently against Meeo’s cheek. Love bends a bit into his hand, and Aoline’s eyes widen even more. The sparks of jealousy mark the young girl’s eyes.
“Well, I’d love to,” Meeo says. Love beholds a smile on Chaos that is richer, kinder and lovelier than any other time she had laid eyes on him; somehow she feels more safe and at home on this strange island with a tower than she does in the center of The Knights’ headquarters.
“Very good, let us discuss this further elsewhere, I do believe Cooking Minion will be preparing something for us all quite soon, but not you, Operator Prime Minion you already ate; and you have a tournament to prepare for, I believe,” Chaos says with a knowing squint before leading the ladies and minion out of the pasture.
Love’s smile is broad and calm; everything is going exactly according to plan.
Chapter Thirty Two: The Requested Secret
A short while earlier, Chaos has just entered the room of the High Tea. The glowing doors shut behind him, and at his front is a petite, childish figure, clothed in luminescent white.
“Oh, well hello at last, Mr. Overlord Chaos! You’re Roem, right?” the androgynous child asks, hopping on top of his or her own chair.
“... I am?”
The kid nods. “You are indeed.”
“... I believe you are mistaken. I am known as Chaos, High Overlord of the Omniverse, let alone my own realm. That is what I have been named since I have existed!” Chaos says with an untouched grin.
The child curtly swings a foot over the other. “Then who named you that?”
“... Well, the people that I have oppressed named me, I would presume.”
“Oh? Well what were you called before you were oppressing people?”
“... Ahh, a fair point,” Chaos says, his grin lessening to just a smile.
“You can be honest with me, Mr. Chaos. I know you’re quite forgetful,” the bright-eyed child says, waving a finger and causing the floating teapot to begin pouring a sparkling, steaming liquid from its spout. Chaos looks to the side a moment as he strokes his chin, and then he nods.
“Very well. So my name was Roem, you say?” the Dark King asks as he steps up to his own seat. He lands on it with the grace of a dark monarch butterfly, not making a single sound but proclaiming complete superiority over the defenseless chair.
“Yes, and I’m afraid you’ll forget that too.” Chaos scoffs lightly at the boy.
“Oh, I am really that forgetful?”
“You certainly are. Aside that, it really is a pleasure to meet a creature of the pools, Mr. Chaos,” the child says, waving a finger again to deliver the teacup to the Overlord Gentleman. Chaos takes the small, intricately-marked cup, and pours some into his jaws. It is the best tea he has tasted, ever, and he’s had billions of varieties.
“Pardon me, a creature of the pool?” Chaos questions, squinting a wide, round eye at the pleasure of the tea’s immaculate taste.
“Oh, well I’m not allowed to explain it to you unless you ask it for your one thing that you really want to know,” the kid says, raising a snide brow. Chaos hums, takes another sip of tea and then responds.
“So, I can ask you about anything.”
He nods. “Yes, absolutely anything!”
“And you will be honest about it?”
He nods again. “Absolutely!”
“But only one question?”
And he nods once more. “That’s right!”
“So I could, theoretically, ask you for the knowledge in how to cause you to tell me anything else I would like to kn-”
“No, that’s cheating.”
“Hmm, so just one piece of knowledge, then?”
“That’s right!”
“Very well- give me a moment to think on this,” the powerful black spirit Chaos says before tapping his forehead a bit in thought. Just what would he like to know more than anything?
Chaos taps his face a bit at different places, then he strokes his blacker-than-pitch chin as if he had a beard, then he taps his foot as he comes near his conclusion.
At that, he snaps his fingers and turns to the child at the other end of the table.
“So, what if I were to ask you where Oa’s real self is? I could track it down and end that fool once and for all! It would be quite the achievement! I could invite it for tea, and then say something, and then kill it! Yes ... Yes! ... Yeeeeeeee-”
“W-wait, that’s what you want? You want to find out how to kill someone?” Chaos looks strangely at the boy, whose face is marked with a cross of confusion and disappointment.
“Well, they are evil.”
“So are you!”
“Only in the finest sense of the word,” he says with a pleased grin.
“I’d think the people you ki- ‘ehem’ that aside, Mr. Chaos, you could ask about anything.”
“Yes, I am well aware.”
“Like how to regain your memories?”
“Yes?”
“Or you could inquire about the truth of the Omniverse?”
“I suppose I could.”
“Ask about how to achieve ultimate power?”
“I certainly could.”
“You could ask me about the creator of the Omniverse! The Wizard! The very same that opened the skies and breathed out the stars! You could meet the first mover!”
“I am quite aware,” Chaos says with a nod.
“So, understanding that why would you, pardon, waste your only question on something’s location?” the child asks, not all that surprised, but still trying to talk The Overlord out of it. Chaos takes another sip, and then laughs.
“Well, naturally being the best would not be nearly as fun if it were not challenging. Certainly, I could ask for ultimate power, really, I could just ask about how to reverse my forgetfulness which I am, for the record, certain is not quite as bad as you make it out to be, and that would be more than enough for me to formulate a military strategy that would easily topple every capital of the Western Kingdoms in a matter of days; I’m quite certain of it. Of course, then it would be boring.”
The kid leans in. “Boring?”
“Well, of course. I would be so busy managing resources and ensuring that each society was running in a fashion that would completely abolish crime, hunger and sickness. I have quite a bit of essence I could use to infest the populations, but not enough for all the millions of people of the Western Kingdoms. So that said, if I were to wish for the ability to take over the kingdoms, I wouldn’t do it, simply because I would have to deal with the human equation on an even larger scale, and I think I’d rather just be away with it all.”
“... You really dislike humans, don’t you?”
“Most of them, yes. There are always diamonds in the rough with any sentient race, but very rarely are they worth the effort to spend any significant amount of time with them.”
“So, right now, you feel as though the most desirable thing for you
to do would be to kill Oa, show everyone how amazing you are, and loot its home for treasures, I’m guessing?”
Chaos takes a long sip as he squints an eye in pleasure. “Yes.”
“You could simply ask for the knowledge of how to deal with the ‘human equation’ instead.”
“Hmm… no, I think not. As I said, dealing with humans has a tendency to create stupid outcomes. Tell me, could you truly name one instance in which humans have brought more good than evil into our world?”
“Yes; actually, if I were to name every instance, it would take centuries. But how about one: Not an hour ago, a force of your precious humans banded together to ward off a horrible evil. Even though they were accused by the fairies of being traitors, your humans pushed on and saved their lives. If it were not for them, every fairy in Liefland would be dead; no more than two hundred lost their lives,” the child says, his gaze direct as he takes another sip of glowing tea.
“Hrm, well that is all good and well, but this is an exception. The Knights have more good than bad in their ranks, unlike most every other institution of mankind. I still battle the knights because while they may be well-intentioned, they are foolish, like all the other evil, stupid humans.”
“You’re wrong, Mr. Chaos, there is a latent good in humanity that-”
“Pardon, youngling, I would love to discuss your opinions on pest-races, but at the moment I believe you were about to tell me about Oa’s whereabouts?” Chaos says, placing the tea cup down and imposing himself into the table. The boy sighs.
“... Your mind is made up?” he asks.
“It is. I will kill Oa, and rid the Omniverse of the necromancers. Their kind never should have existed in our world, much like humans, but humans seep even more deeply into the molding cracks of our many realms.”
The luminescent child stares into the well of his teacup, sighs again and then looks up.
“I’ll give you this one for free, Chaos: You’re a human,” the kid says, sharping his gaze.
Chaos laughs. “Hmm, perhaps you are not as honest as you say.”
“It’s the truth, Chaos. You were infested by an overlord even greater than yourself. It programmed the black and white essence, condensed mana, around your body, to increase your strength, durability, intelligence, everything but your memory, which is programmed to lose itself.”
“And why would this higher overlord do a thing like that?” Chaos says as though he were talking to someone who is an intellectual child as well as a physical one.
“To make sure you don’t try to prevent its resurrection through some means. It’s a deep conspiracy, thousands of years in the making. You’re only a pawn on the chess board and you will one day realize just how insignificant you are.”
Chaos shrugs it off. “Hmm, preventing its resurrection? And why would I even dream of doing something like that?”
“Because at your core you are prideful, and have trouble tolerating something stronger than yourself existing. You’d strike blades at anything that isn’t overtly and obviously your superior.” There is a short silence before Chaos retakes his cup and sips.
“Interesting. I suppose I should write that down,” he says, expression mixed with thought.
“The sad part about all of this, Chaos, is that you will forget that you’ve forgotten. I have seen many souls in your so-called “Omniverse”, and you are among those I pity the most. Your memory has been forced out of your head by the body that wraps around you precisely three hundred sixty two thousand five hundred sixty five times, and it will happen again in about twenty-eight minutes, and then again at random intervals. Of course, you won’t forget everything, you’ll just forget shards, pieces, enough so that you’ll barely ever realize that you’ve forgotten something, and there will come about a day when you will be so mentally pointless that you will simply live out your days without any purpose or goal. The only thing that undoes your memory loss is your sword, Kingdom Slayer, which possesses magic beyond even your reckoning. One day you will lose this blade, and you will degenerate to the very lowest mental form of anything of your caliber. Do you understand this?”
Chaos squints in annoyance. “At least I won’t be a human.”
The child’s gaze sharpens, causing Chaos to wave his free hand dismissively.
“... I understand, youngling,” Chaos says. “I suppose that is my lot in life, but to be quite honest I am quite alright with that.”
“Even worse is that you will also forget your tastes in things, and thus change your opinions on matters rapidly. Everything you held dear will change day by day– you will be comprehensively insane. Actually, you’ve admitted a human into your ranks just hours ago; Knight Love.”
Chaos draws back animatedly, as if appalled. “I ... I have? Oh yes! I have! I suppose I better go and kill her the moment I get back.”
“But by the time you get to her, you’ll recall how good she’s been to you, and you’ll change your mind, yet again, only to forget bits and pieces of it later.”
Finally, the point seems to hit home, as Chaos’ usual grin sobers to a somber, thoughtful expression. “... My ... that is fairly bitter I suppose. Thank you for telling me, young one.”
“Chaos, by your measurement of time I’m more than four times as old as you. I know much more than you, believe it or not, and this is my lot in life, telling lesser creatures the truth of whatever they desire. Usually the people I talk with only have thoughts of wisdom on their mind. A matter of fact some of the most meaningful questions were asked by those humans you dislike so much, but here you are, asking not for the way to bring peace to nations, but how to kill something.”
“If Oa dies, many problems will be solved.”
“You are not wrong, but there are better ways to fix things, Mr. Chaos.” The two are at a standstill, staring closely into each other’s eyes.
“That may be, but there are few ways as easy,” Chaos says, breaking the silence.
“... You’re right there, Mr. Chaos… more tea?” the child asks, lightening up a bit when he notices that Chaos’ cup has become empty.
“Oh, yes, thank you,” Chaos says, his admission causing the pot to hover over and deliver more tea to his cup.
“Of course, Mr. Chaos. So, you really want to ask for that?”
There’s a pause as Chaos looks aside to reconsider, and he turns back just a moment after.
“Yes, that is my decision,” he says plainly.
“... Very well. Your motivations, even if selfish, will bring good to the Omniverse, as Oa is more of a menace than you are. It is weaker, but its mind is sharper, and as such it can bring more evil into the world. Oa’s spirit resides in a device you know of called a phylactery, it’s prime phylactery, buried in the heart of a mountain.”
“Hmm, I suppose that’s a good place to put something that you do not want anyone to find.”
“Indeed, it had his servants bury it for years until it decided it was deep enough, but that mountain is no longer a simple mountain.”
“Fair enough. So, youn—pardon, oldling, what dimension is this in?” Chaos asks, enjoying the aroma of the tea. The child waves a hand, and then a piece of paper appears in front of Chaos.
“This is the dimensional designation code for the place, along with directions after you get there.”
“Oh, lovely,” Chaos says, his tone of voice charmed by the convenience the child provides.
“The matter with it is that the O.E.L.’s using their technology to block dimensional travel to this realm from any gate other than a single one in their staging area .”
“... They do not want anyone going to it?”
“That’s correct. They know Oa’s there and want to be the first to experiment on it among other reasons, so they sealed off the dimension.”
“Interesting. Those O.E.L. humans really are not the most understanding of people when it comes to my plans.”
“Indeed. That said you’ll have to use that exact gate to get there, unl
ess of course you wanted to take down their entire power grid somehow.”
“I see, and then what?”
“It’s all written there,” the child says, motioning to the note. Chaos looks down at the notes and reads.
“Hmm, heading East?” Chaos mutters as he looks over the note with directions.
“That’s right. You will pass a great wood, ruins and dark villages, even a stronghold of men before you reach the city of the necromancers where the mountain presides.”
Chaos hums. “They have a city, do they?”
“That’s what it’s called, but in truth it’s more of a laboratory where they continue to research ways to reverse death.”
Chaos scoffs, his eyes still looking over the note. “How petty.”
“It’s quite the motivation for Oa. It’s been ages beyond your own, and it is still committed to reviving its love.”
“Even after all this time ... most mysterious.”
The child smirks, as if Chaos said something ironic. “Yes, humans are a most emotional sort. That’s both a beauty and ugliness about them, I guess,” the child says, scratching his or her soft, pinkish cheek.
“I suppose so. My foe in The Knights, Order, I have been surprised consistently with her. She has held together mentally for all this time, I would have figured she would have killed herself by now.”
“She is only able to do it by ignoring what makes her hurt, Chaos. You will see her break one day, and if she doesn’t kill herself first, you will rue it.”
“Truly, so I will have won?”
“When she does break, you will not celebrate, but lament. Seven thousand years is not kind on one’s heart, and the time will come in which she will have to face the very things she looks away from. You forget your past, however twisted it may be, but she remembers every step as well as any human can.”
“I see, how long will it be until this… ‘break’ you speak of?”
