Could you imagine if chaos on the other hand was some sort of weary overworked accountant? Someone who gets no appreciation, no matter how hard they work, and how much they do to keep the universe spinning? And it’s all so routine, too! It would probably bore chaos out of its mind. Like, all the samey samey random stuff that has to happen everywhere, all at once, all the time.

  So what you’re saying is, you think you’re the highlight of Chaos’s day? What? No. I’m not that full of myself. I just think it’d be nice to be appreciated, when you do so much, for so many. I may be a crimson smurf-ass ass, chaos gremlin goblin, according to Illy, but I’m grateful for every little random thing that’s ever helped guide my journey so far. Really? Yes really! Why are you even qu—wait. Am I talking to me, or am I talking to… someone else? Who wants t’know?

  My heart stops momentarily as I falter midair, and barely catch myself with my telekinetic grips to keep from falling into the sea of clouds below me, more acid clouds than I care to deal with in my current state. My eyes wide, I glance side to side, reach up, and notice my psy-blocking aegis circlet is in place still. Coughing, I meep quietly. I can’t tell if I was psyching myself out just now, with a callback to my teasing Terrorzin in the vault, or not.

  I mean, I suppose chaos itself wouldn’t be blocked from speaking to me psychically, by any equipment I had, period. Not sure if it actually did though. I also double-check, and thankfully, my goggles are in a pouch. So at least I know they’re not broadcasting this massive secretly hollowed-out Worldstorm to everyone who’s either back at Solace, or wearing a pair of goggles. That coulda been a disaster. No one can know.

  Kinzul created this storm, with so many sacrifices, so long ago, and it’s taken even more sacrifices over the years to maintain it. It keeps all of dragonkind more-or-less trapped up here in the Spine of the World. It keeps them from rampaging. It keeps Terrorzin from being able to deploy his troops anywhere in the world. Because to his belief, and for most of Rayileklia’s history, anyone trying to fly through the Worldstorm to get above it, or to land from above it via an aerie, would die. It was true, for all that time.

  Now? Now it’s way less fatal. Kinzul having to siphon back her dragonforce, for the upcoming showdown with Terrorzin, in order to resist his aura, is turning it into just a painful inconvenience. A hazard, still, sure. But Acids could fly up through the clouds no problem now. There’s not enough lightning to take them out in a quick bursty flight. Similarly, Lightnings could fly up through the clouds now. There’s not enough density and length of acid cover, to take them out.

  Huff. It’s so hard to think about the global scales of what Kinzul’s accomplished through her sacrifices throughout her lifetime. She’s seen through a sea of time in her own foresight in ways, and made the grandest sacrifices on the grandest scales. Changes the general gravity of Rayileklia, and slash or specific gravity of dragons themselves, over the entire world? Creating a sustainable plant that replaces the sunlight that she deprived the rest of the world of? Locking away dragonforce healing, so that Terrorzin’s forces don’t just take stupid risks and heal it off, gaining more ground by the day?

  Anyway. Kinzul’s maybe off-grid for this entire week, until October fifth, the date of the showdown. Spending a week siphoning back what should take years, maybe centuries to safely reclaim, she’s out there, somewhere, alone. For a whole week, she’s without the love of those she’s cared for for so long. She’s out there, doing this for them, and can receive no comfort from me or anyone else.

  Wiping tears, I hang my head in shame. I’m married to the Administrator of the Onyx Dawn, and I might not see her until what could be her possibly final moments. If two prophecies come to pass simultaneously. Terrorzin’s end, and hers. Coughing, and hacking up snot I don’t want to swallow, I blow snotrockets to keep from sniffling as I rub my wet eyes.

  Nothing for it Reggie. Just gotta keep pressing forward, and make sure Solace is still here for her when she gets back. Give her something to push forward for, to fight for, to look forward to. Keep holding the line, in every way possible. Even if that means striking weird mobster inviolate bargains with yourself in void realms, or talking to the personification of chaos itself, or becoming the personification of chaos itself. I’m super overemotional right now though. Could be from all the pain and weariness. Maybe.

  Do you think this is a side effect of maybe some leftover existential dread from accidentally imbibing flavor passengers through cosmic horror? Not sure. No idea. I’m you, remember. I know you’re me, but I was asking… for… feedback. I facepalm, realizing how stupid I sound in my own head. Rattling my skull, I try to reorient, hoping to forget my own inanity. Yeah, sure, good luck with that pal.

  Snarky jerk, shut up… me. Ugh. Anyway, can we just take a moment to look at how stupidly insane and silly you are, and sound? Gee, sure, thanks, why not? No, I mean it, seriously. Floating casually over Terrorzin’s horde, who’ve been ordered to the front as he flees through them, that was you, right? Yeah, sure, go on? Then you make your offer, which boils down to, and correct me if I’m wrong, but, “Come eat for free, or freely be eaten,” yeah? Pft, snrk. Yeah that’s one way to put it. And you lied your butt off!

  That part is definitely true. You didn’t even leave your zombies with any orders. Nope, not a single order. I have no idea if they’ll even react at all, or if they’ll just stand around or wander off. I know they won’t follow anyone else’s orders though. They’ll probably also defend themselves if attacked. Can you imagine, one of Terrorzin’s soldiers, just kinda side-eyeing a zombie, wondering why it isn’t reacting, and then like, poking it? Pft, yeah, then suddenly it jump-scares the entire horde by leaping on that soldier and going feral.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Hahah, oh you have so lost it pal. Yeah, yeah I have. Hey, that’s weird. What’s weird? I think I’m hungry again. How can you possibly think about eating after the gustatory nightmares you’ve been through recently? I’unno, a body’s gotta eat though, don’t it? Probably most, but you’re Can’Z’aasian, do you ever even really need to eat? Well I haven’t tested starving to death in this timeline, and I’m not about to start now. I mean seriously. What kind of question is that? And how the hell would I know?

  Ugh, the muscles about my T4 and T5 are still all pinchy. Being uber-dehydrated by plasma-hot flames did not help matters. We really need to get through the major things we need done, and get some sleep. Y’know, Illy’s gonna kick the crap out of you when you get home to Solace. Ughhh, I know. I know.

  She probably saw at least one of the times I was facing Terrorzin today, if not both, through the scrying feeds. Let’s just hurry home and hope she pities us enough for our injuries to not exacerbate them. Heh, good luck with that pal. Yeah, same to you buddy, snark off will ya?

  Pft. Anyway, brain off for a bit while leaping through this pocket of hollow Worldstorm, safely nestled between acid clouds and rivers of lightning both above and below. Northeastward ho. Who you callin’ a ho? Pft, shut up doofus.

  I can’t help snorting a laugh and shaking a head at myself. A head? Just one Reggie? Mrgrgr. Shut up. Now you’re creepin’ me out. My head, obviously. I’m pretty sure it’s the only one I’ve got… pretty sure. Grimacing, I check my pack, and thankfully my spare left arm, the severed one, is still… behaving. Eugh.

  Closing in on Solace, I do sadly have to rise through a layer of Worldstorm to make it to the aerie. Well, that, or burst through the Worldstorm that lays up against Solace, and hope my calculations on exactly where the aerie is, are exact, or I’m stuck lost in a sea of acid and lightning. Brrr.

  Yeah, not gonna push my luck right now. Way too tired and injured. Here goes, well, pain. Bracing myself, I perform a superheated superspeed LBBTKSL to leap through the top layer of Worldstorm. Ow, my knees. Ow, my face. Just ow everything.

  That… is Induul. Okay my circlet is on, so he didn’t hear me thinking about being in a hollow Worldstorm, so that’s good. But he’s gazing at me suspiciously. That’s not so good. I mean, at least he’s, y’know, seemingly on duty again, sorta, hanging out around the aerie. Patrolling. Maybe. Raising an eyebrow, I surf towards him in the sky.

  Unfortunately, he asks, “How exactly is it you just came up through the storm? Last time you went through it, it sounded like you needed to use your defense magics, and the body of a Damnation, to survive the fall. And even if it was something you’d be able to ascend, wouldn’t you have done it back in Vieriss, so you didn’t have to travel hundreds of miles through it?”

  Uhh, how much do I want to lie? Induul’s been flaky, and I haven’t trusted anyone else with this secret. Well, except for Teuila and Nyssa’Lina accidentally. Had no choice there. I do have a choice here. But which is the right choice? Offering him trust on a level that I haven’t given ninety-nine percent of the people I know and love? Or hurting my own heart, and lying to him? It’s really not my secret to tell. It’s Kinzul’s. Guess I’ll go with heartache for now.

  Rubbing the back of my head, and shrugging, I answer, “Blew through some defensive and evasive magic to get home quicker. I guess I was a bit lazy. As you can see I’m plenty acid-burned, and crisped to hell. It wasn’t my smartest move. I’m just so tired Indy. Err, Induul, sorry. I’ve got a couple magic projects to finish, a dinner to eat, and a nap calling my name. Hope y’understand. Seeya on the battlefield.”

  The scrutiny Induul gazes at me with is intense. I kinda don’t like it. He did apologize to me for blowing me off the other day, but, for some reason, something still seems off about him. Deciding to throw him off the scent a bit, I pull out my spare left arm, the severed one. This is insane. An identical copy of my left arm, that I hold in my left, with its own left hand at the end of it.

  This is so stupid, but, waving it, I offer, “Just lemme know if ya need an extra hand with anything Induul.”

  Snrk, that is not a facial expression I ever imagined on a dragon. I’m such a jerk. I hope he’s pulling through his withdrawal alright. Ugh, poor guy. Flashing him a weak, sympathetic smile, I float towards Solace, and thankfully he returns his attention to patrolling.

  As I’m landing I slip my goggles out of the pouch and back onto my head, tucking them up… between horns I keep forgetting I have. Rattling my skull, I roll with it. Of course, just as my boots make the scritchy noise of shuffling across sand on stone, my goggles pipe up, someone trying to talk to me.

  While I probably should expect it when Shiz claims, “Schism, got a bit of a situation here,” I don’t. So I grimace, worried what he might mean.

  When Shiz claims, “Got about a hundred live horde soldiers here, ‘ wanted mercy,” I’m almost ecstatic, til he adds, “and about fifty dead ones.”

  My heart hurts as I respond, “I’m, I’m really sorry to hear you couldn’t save all the ones that—“

  Interrupting me, Shiz states, “Nothin’ like that Schism. These dead ones are walking around. Not quite sure what to make of it, or what to do with ‘em. My necromancers never quite made ‘em like this.”

  Pft. Snorting with laughter, I have no idea what to tell Shiz. Are those my zombies? They’re just kinda hanging out with their live ex-comrades? Hahaha. Oh Reggie, you are one effed up person. Just leavin’ a small horde of zeds, with no idea what they’ll do. Heh. Huh. I wonder. If they do somehow maintain their cohesion or corporeality or whatever you wanna call their animated corpsiness, for an extended period… Could I do for them, what I tried to do for the broodmothers?

  Reggie, that’s pure insanity. You are no god. The dead are dead. I know I know. I just mean… there’s some physical vessels, and I know how to get to a realm of spirits, and… Dude! Seriously! Think about the consequences on like, I don’t know, a cosmic karmic scale or something! Well… what would they be? I—I dunno. Something! I’m sure. Probably. Maybe. Look. Do not go fishing around in the Astral Sea, for spirit copies of ex-horde flesh… vessels. Cripes I’m flabbergasted I even need to tell myself that.

  Well, we are going back to the Astral sea for six seconds pretty soon anyway. I guess we can see what we see there. Reggie. Stop. What? I’m just saying, we can see in the sea what we see. Ugh. You’re horrible. Meh. Probably true. I shrug at myself, still having no idea what the hell to tell Shiz.