Chaos Ascendant

Chapter 12

They were, after all, the instruments of the Four World’s destruction.

The figure standing on the Sea of Chaos was not the Lord of Nightmares. Instead, it was one very powerful, very dangerous and very pissed off Lina Inverse. She was the Chaos Knight, and the Chaos Knight was she. It was circular, redundant, and unprecedented.

Chaos had Ascended, and She was extremely annoyed.

The Balance, of course, was imperfect. That in itself was part of the problem. It would have to be fixed, and the manner in which She intended to correct the issue was not going to be a manner that would be unanimously applauded.

Like She cared.

With a flicker of a thought, she commanded Shabranigdo and Cepheid to attend. She was, after all their beginning, and if necessary, their end. She was not at all surprised to see who attended. First Sylphiel arrived, and then Luna and Gourry. They were followed by Aqua and Milgazia.

The Knight of Shabranigdo burst into fiery being, along with Xellos and Elena, glaring at the Chaos Knight. “What do you intend to do, Chaos Knight? Restore the Balance by destroying us all?”

Cold golden eyes settled on the figure in red. “Destruction. Is that your answer to everything? Destroy it all? What happens when it’s all gone? What will you do then? Look at the Balance, Knight of Shabranigdo. It takes those five to try and counterbalance you alone.”

The Knight of Shabranigdo looked smug. “That isn’t my fault. If I recall, that stage was set a very long time ago.”

Sylphiel remained silent, watching the exchange. Something wasn’t entirely right… and she knew that she had to do something to aid Kira… but what could she possibly do with the Seal in place…? She bowed her head and submitted to the Protector of Cepheid. Please… think of something…!

Amelia sat up and stared. She and Zelgadis were quite suddenly by themselves on the ground before the Great Tree Flagoon. The princess looked around for the Mazoku and the Dragons, but saw nothing except empty sky and grassy land. It was disturbingly peaceful.

“Amelia…? What… happened?” The chimera asked as he sat up and looked around.

She turned to Zelgadis. “I don’t know… I blacked out for a moment, and when I woke up… we were alone.”

A shadow flickered near the princess, and a whispery voice spoke. “Not alone. We are in a safe place. Chaos has Ascended. Lina’s broken the barrier and she’s trying to protect us.”

Zelgadis looked to the shadow. “Anya. No… Kira. What happened?”

The shadow wavered, seeming to almost dissipate, but regained its shape quickly. “You deserve to know, so I will tell you. I only hope we have enough time.”

The days had gone quietly for the sorceress who had become Shabranigdo’s right hand. She’d noticed only a slight difference in things, a token bit of darker magic added to her own. Her fireballs did a little more damage than they used to, and her curses stuck a little too well at times. But overall, nothing new had come of the new role she played.

When she traveled, her shadow remained behind, giving the illusion that she was at home. It worked well, considering all that she had to do was ensure that the proper balance was held.

Until someone came knocking on her door with an odd relic they had found in the back room of an older temple that was being renovated.

It was an odd thing, a silver ring with a red stone. It was filthy, too, so Kira took it to her sink to clean it off so that she could look at it and identify it. She slipped it over the tip of her finger as the water hit it to keep it from falling into the drain when the living fragment of Shabranigdo within the ring awoke and caught her unprepared. The red stone lit from within, and a fire burst into life within Kira’s mind, feeding on the link to Shabranidgo.

She tried to rally against the fragment, but as she was now allied with Shabranigdo, she knew that to fight it too strongly would set the Balance spiraling into disaster, so she did what she could to protect herself – she linked with the shadow she’d created long before.

And then she sent the shadow out to find Lina and warn her of the impending danger.

Stunned silence fell on the two listening to the story. A fragment of Shabranigdo caught inside a ring overpowered Kira? It was too unreal. Amelia shook her head slowly. “But what can we do now? We’re stuck here… somewhere…”

“The ring must come off. If there is to be any hope of fixing things…” Kira began, but Zelgadis held up his hand.

“And how would you have that happen, Kira? We’re cut off from everyone and everything.” The chimera’s voice betrayed his irritation. “We don’t even know if we’ll survive this. What happens to us, to this pocket of reality, if something happens to Lina?”

Silence fell as the sapphire gaze of the chimera focused on the shadow. “We can’t do anything. But you said that you could fight the fragment of Shabranigdo within.”

Amelia looked at Zelgadis nervously. “But Kira said that to fight would unsettle the Balance…”

Zelgadis refrained from snarling at the Princess, but even so, his voice held a level of irritation that Amelia had never heard before. “The Balance is thrown, Amelia! I don’t think we have a chance of restoring it the way it was. But if we continue to let this unknown fragment run wild with Kira’s power at its disposal, who says that we’ll even have the Four Worlds to Balance again!?”

Amelia hadn’t thought of it that way. She didn’t want to think of it that way. But, as usual, Zelgadis had seen the far deeper issue at hand. “Miss Kira… you have to go. You have to go regain control. Maybe the Balance can be found again…”

The shadow that was Kira faltered for a moment, and then the whispery voice issued what could only have been a sigh. “I will try. But the words from so long ago… words that the Lord of Nightmares Herself gave me… Keep them in mind.”

Amelia tilted her head. “What did she say, Miss Kira?”

“There will come a time when I will be needed to act in a capacity that cannot be done without the sacrifice of a human soul.” The shadow whispered. “And she told me that I was not the one who would be the sacrifice.”

The golden sphere rose within Zelgadis’ mind again, the sphere of power that had wrapped itself around Lina Inverse just a short time ago. Once again, it shattered within his mind’s eye, and he was suddenly afraid of what those words might have meant.