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  Chapter Four: Hot on the Trail

  Redemption and her group step from the gate to see a couple of crying O.E.L. agents along with their direct officer, who is scared stiff.

  “What’s going on here?” Librarian Caefern, the agent escorting the knights, asks without compassion.

  “W-….”

  “Out with it.”

  “The overlord! Th-the stories are true: he’s real!”

  “Of course he’s real! Now where did they go?”

  The officer points the same way the knights are looking. Practicing magic for so long, one simply becomes “attuned” to certain phenomena—the presence of overwhelming magic, for instance. Order knows Chaos’ magical signature better than anyone. She could be sleeping miles away, and feel his movement by inches in her tormented dreams. There's that—and the notable group of heavy, sharp tracks leading that way.

  “That way, sir.”

  Caefern nods lightly. “Yeah, definitely seems that way. As you were,” Caefern admits. “Anything else to report?”

  “A question, actually, sir.”

  “Yes, they’re witch knights; the rest is classified.”

  The officer flinches in awe, his full helmet mask hiding the shock on his face. “Wo- uh, roger, sir.”

  “As you were,” Caefern reiterates as he steps off with the knights, allowing them to take the lead after that small formality. “So he is here, then,” he asks as they weave into the treeline and away from the camp.

  Redemption nods. “He’s here, that’s for sure.”

  “Can you give me the metric?”

  Daniel nods in the direction, cluelessly assuming the meaning of the word 'metric'. “That way.”

  Caefern sighs. “Great. So if we keep walking, how long until we reac-” He’s cut off by Glory’s sharp scoff.

  “Walking?”

  “Well I just assumed we-”

  “We’ve wasted enough time,” Order says, “We need to maintain a close enough distance to engage, but far enough not to have him turn around and deal with us first. One kilometer should do it,” she affirms picking up pace to a sprint beyond Caefern’s wildest reckoning.

  “That’s the Chaos Slayer I know!” Glory shouts stepping it up along with her, the other two following suit; when it comes to Chaos, after all, everyone knows Order has whatever degree it is that’s past PhD.

  Caefern runs the best he can, but technology at this age isn’t comparable to magic from the most mystically-talented dimension of all The Omniverse.

  “I… *huff* we’re not supposed to use our adrenaline shots for this… *puff* Could we maybe *phew* slow down a little?”

  Order slows down— only to pick up the librarian and sling him, a fully-geared, armed, muscular soldier of a man, wholly around her shoulders like an apron with a pastry for the picnic. “If you slow us down we’re leaving you, you understand,” Order says calmly.

  “W- Well Ywn wouldn’t appreciate that gesture.”

  “Right,” Glory says with a smirk as they dash at the speed falcons dive, “which we would care more about if he didn’t already let us through the gate.”

  “But… but what about getting back?”

  “Recall magic will work just fine,” Nias says, adjusting his glasses to keep them on his face. “We’ll construct a one-way, two mark translocator instance and translate us one by one until we get to Order, who can do the process by herself… or at least I heard she can.”

  “She can,” Redemption says, his tone betraying how obviously impressive that is to him that she can practically leave anywhere at any time so long as she has the mana prepared and the time to put together her side of the translocator spell.

  Caefern sighs in embarrassment, “Ma’am, couldn’t you just like… enchant me or something, to run at your speed?”

  Order shakes her head. “I wouldn’t dare take a magic instrument with me for this one.”

  Glory looks over to Order with a squinted eye. “Wait, n’ why’s th-”

  “Meeo,” she answers bluntly.

  Clarn takes a moment to mull it over, but he quickly draws back in realization. “Ahh, right, right, of course.”

  “Well,” Caefern looks over to Nias, “what about him?”

  “His wand is different,” Order answers as she swerves perfectly between a pair of trees with him in tow, “all you need to know about it is that one of Chaos’… minions, can basically use other peoples' instruments… from a distance.”

  “Wait… what?” Caefern mutters in disbelief.

  “It’s as I said, librarian.”

  “So… so theoretically this minion can spew fire from another mage’s wand, with the magic attuned to it?”

  “That’s right. Nias’ wand class is too low to push out any magic that would be a legitimate threat to the mission.”

  “As in mission, I assume you mean a threat to you three knights.”

  Order doesn’t answer this one, so Caefern continues with a new line of questioning.

  “So how about Chaos, then? What do I need to know?” He asks.

  “Nothing,” Order says with perfect blankness. “We’ll be doing all the fighting and talking. That rifle of yours would only be helpful on necromancers.”

  Caefern laughs at the thought. “Ma’am, please. This is a Ywnron mk.one. It’s the most advanced weapon ever created. These babies could cut through a building if I’m using the right rail-power setting. I’m also equipped with anti-magic rounds to boot, so if it could shoot down a dragon, it could shoot down Chaos.”

  Glory hums pretentiously. “Anti-magic rounds?”

  “Correct. Blows a hole in any magic-based target.”

  “So just bullets treated with ethnite?” Nias asks.

  Caefern suddenly feels like he’s the one that doesn’t know what the word “metric” means. “Uh… yeah, sure.”

  Nias glances over to Glory, who shakes his head. “Librarian, eh, Caefern, was it?”

  “Yes?”

  “That’s bullshit. Your ammunition wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “But they split through anything,” Caefern argues.

  “Right, but it’s not actually enchanted,” Nias notes. “Unless it’s enchanted with suraint or something in that wing of ballistics, Chaos can redirect the shot.”

  Caefern drops it the second Nias brings up two or three terms that are completely and abashedly beyond him. “Right, my bad. Rondi at the highest,” he says, quickly backing out of the now-awkward topic.

  “This place is teeming with necromancers,” Redemption says plainly.

  “W-where?!” Caefern exclaims, looking around quickly.

  Order nods. “It seems like they’re waiting for something.”

  “Us to relax,” Glory says with a spooky, almost humorous tone.

  “Speaking of,” Order adds. “We’re going to have to match their pace until they get into a large fight, probably not until Oa.”

  Glory sighs. “Ranalie,” he starts, “Let’s just agree to disagree and hit the bastards when it’s the right time.”

  “Problem there, Clarn,” Redemption says, “is we have some people in the group that would have problems agreeing on just when the right time would be.”

  Glory scoffs as they near the end of the wood. “We’re throwing ourselves away, I’m tellin’ you. The longer we wait the less surprised he’ll be.”

  “He already knows we’re here,” Redemption says.

  “H-he does?!” Caefern almost squeals out the words.

  “Of course he does!” Glory snaps, “I’m sayin’ we should hit him earlier than he’d expect because he wants us to wait. He’ll be planning on dealing with Oa, and us, at the same time. It’s obvious reverse psychology.”

  Redemption fumbles with his words for a moment before responding. “Well… I would say you’re over estimating Chaos’… erm… practical intelligence, but I really don’t know for sure.” He glances over to Ranalie. “We have someone that’s an expert in it, though.”r />
  “Uh, depends,” she mutters.

  “And how’s that, dear?” Redemption asks.

  “He’s not always together.”

  “We all know that, thanks,” Glory says crassly.

  “So much so that he sometimes forgets things like his motivations.”

  Glory’s brows raise in surprise. “W-…well damn, so he could suddenly just decide not to hate us?”

  “That’s right… it’s really pathetic to see.”

  “Fitting for a monstrous cretin like him,” Redemption states firmly. “If we were lucky he could forget where he lived and go make a home in Trench.”

  “…Right,” Order says with a softness that’s almost sad. “…There are buildings up here,” she observes when the necromancer town comes into view.

  Redemption places his hand upon his blade’s hilt. “Be on your guard, everyone. Our first battle begins n-” he stops himself the second the massive, massive pile of burning necromancers come into view. “By Reinen’s own walls….”

  “Chaos,” Order says.

  Caefern, rather infamous among his fellow librarians for always having something to cut back with, is strangely quiet as he surveys the field of corpses.

  “He… he certainly beat us to the punch,” Redemption says, lifting his visor to look over the thousands of bodies.

  Nias shudders. “I read of his devastation from my histories… but seeing it firsthand like this… it’s like looking upon the legends themselves.”

  “That said,” Order notes, “unless you want to go against that, Clarn, we should take our time and wait.”

  Glory sighs. “Any of us could have done this. Nothin’ that impressive.”

  Redemption laughs. “Sure.” Daniel’s sarcastic smirk wipes itself clean the second the group hears footsteps. In front of them, a burning figure limps out from the square. It’s a necromancer, caught in fire and missing an arm, but still alive, its metallic skeleton granting it the strength to walk. It lumbers to the side of one of the houses, and without ceremony or warning begins writing on the wall using its burning, ashed arm as a pencil.

  “STOP THE OVERLORD TONIGHT. WE WILL ATTACK AT THE MOON’S HIGHEST POINT. DO THIS AND WE WILL LEAVE YOUR REALM FOREVER.”

  The writing completed, it falls over, the fire finally overtaking its spine and dropping its body into a heap.

  Everyone is silent, all at once disregarding the message outwardly amidst the group, but each beginning to think the words over carefully in their minds; what if they attempted to kill Oa as well?

  Nias inhales to speak, but thinks better of it; this dilemma is best left for the knights — they are the moral paragons of The Western Kingdoms, after all.

  “Let’s go,” Order says plainly, turning from the message and regaining her sprint with Caefern over her shoulder.

  The group follows along closely without a word, as Glory doesn’t care to argue when his mind is made up, and the others trust her judgment entirely.

  They’re all tempted by the idea. If they have not thrown their true force at Chaos yet, perhaps they could work with the necromancers in the night to finish the job — Glory especially likes the idea; he hates waiting, even if such waiting would hold his life from the brink of certain doom, like right now.

  Chapter Five: One Last Breath

  Chaos is back to his original task with a knife point focus, bolting with his fellows down deep glade and breezy hilltop. The group dynamic works just as well as he imagined, and for the most part everyone is quiet and concentrated. Aoline has mysteriously stopped asking questions every other minute, he’s noticed, but he assumes she’s simply overwhelmed with all that’s happening — a bit deep in thought, perhaps.

  They arrive at a ruined field-land— green with the life of vegetation, but again eerily absent of all fauna or human activity. No birds sing in this world anymore. Draped against the awe-striking verdancy stands a great ruin, deep gray with age and lichen, its lonely cobbles ensnared in gnarled vines.

  “Hmm,” Love hums as Chaos slows down to peer at it. Aoline quickly recognizes this one to be the “avoidance” hum for when something happens she’d rather not deal with. “Well, as wonderful and nice as it is. We certainly do have a-”

  “Let’s check it out, Poppi!” Scout Minion exclaims over Love’s soft murmur.

  Chaos hums also, which Aoline understands to always be purely analytical to a point of almost being innocent—an aspect that she feels rather clashes with the fact the person humming is the High Overlord: a being who beheads dragons for fun, according to the tales.

  “I am curious.”

  “There could be magic relics, inside, my master,” Dark Arts Minion notes with a wide, scary smile.

  Chaos, ever the antiquarian, slowly moves into a methodical nod. “It would be worth our time, and Oa certainly will not be going anywhere fast… What’s more, it seems there’s a notable opponent within!”

  Love was hoping he wouldn’t notice it, but there’s a blatantly-obvious mana signature emanating from the ruins- obviously of the lesser overlord class, at a minimum, if not higher.

  “W-well,” Love starts again just as Aoline butts in.

  “But sir!” The young knight starts. “Oa could be planning a counter attack as we speak!”

  Chaos grins. “What would be more crushing to our opponent than for us to fall into a trap and climb out unscathed?”

  Ranger Minion nods. “Psychological warfare,” he says, “very sound, sir.”

  “Precisely. Aside, we should enter the ruins, at least to enjoy the scenery of an ancient culture. For all their numerous drawbacks, humans tend to have admirable architectural taste.”

  Love stifles a sigh, and smiles sweetly instead. “As you say it, my lord. I wonder if there’s anything worth bringing along.”

  “Maybe there’s ancient videogames!” Scout Minion questions with a look of awe about her.

  Aoline slips up a moment. “Videogames?” She asks, supposing it’s not so bad to ask questions while everyone is standing about like this.

  Scout Minion gasps in surprise, but the other minions look just as confused as Aoline. Love and Chaos, both versed to realmancy to some extent, have at least gotten their hands on a personal computer by this point; Love really likes her virtual pets, and Chaos is pretty big into real time strategy.

  “Wait, none of you know?” Scout Minion asks.

  The other minions and Aoline shake their heads.

  Scout Minion surprises Aoline by pulling something out of her mouth, just like Chaos. It’s a small handheld tablet thing that lights up with an image on one end.

  “Huh, alright,” she says. One must understand that glowy light-up things are fairly common-place for Aoline considering her culture and upbringing, but once Scout Minion taps the screen to harvest her apple tree, it all becomes clear.

  “What the helllll,” she breathes out softly.

  “Yeah, it’s super rad. I’m growing a buttload of pumpkins this season and my ROI’s gonna be insane-good.”

  “Can I try it?” Aoline asks, if a bit nervously.

  “No,” Scout Minion says aptly placing the game device back into her mouth. “We have a mission.”

  Aoline scoffs. “Cool, whatever.”

  “Cool indeed,” Chaos says, admiring the ruins from afar before stepping forward at a shockingly human, strolling pace. “Let us go forward and say hello.”

  Love hums, and Aoline realizes this one is a little more subdued than her usual in an evil place like this, as if she’s calming down. Were Aoline a bit more perceptive, this would actually be Love’s “time for that ace in the hole” hum; she hasn’t given up.

  “So, my lord,” Love asks with a smile.

  Chaos smiles back. He seems to always have time for that small courtesy, no matter who he’s speaking with. “Yes?”

  “What do you know about Order?”

  Chaos’ expression perplexes at the question. “A few things… I know she likes green tea over-
steeped so the bitterness permeates, and she does not wear underwear on lymusdays as she does not leave her house for anything; I know she has a charming dog named Parvo, and she hates the sun, but does her best to not show it when she’s out and about.”

  Love raises a brow. “And why does she feel like she should act as though she enjoys the sun?”

  “It is simple human nature to culturally gravitate towards what they see as bringing life, or liveliness, at least. Also— her sword, Monument, is titled the ‘Sword of the Sun’, you understand; it would be a bit peculiar if she should dislike sun-related things when wielding something so… well, so sun-related.”

  “A wonderful theory, my lord,” Dark Arts Minion says with a smile.

  “Right,” Love says with a nod, “and how do you feel about her? What is she to you?”

  Chaos, not the sort to assume a veiled intent while speaking, takes the question without pretension and at face value. “Well… I do suppose she’s an important… thing?”

  The minions exchange dark glances and Aoline flinches; there’s no way he’s actually this… she can’t quite find the words, but “stupid” definitely comes to mind.

  Love nods again. “Well, yes, she is important, but what would you do to her if you had the chance?”

  Chaos squints, not in pleasure, but in focused thought. “I would… kill… wait, no… ahh! I would invite her over to my place for tea.” Amidst the groans and scoffs of his company, Chaos finishes his thoughts. “After all, for the only other person I know who’s been around so long, she does have good taste in beverages.”

  “She actually drinks coffee, sir,” Love says.

  Now Chaos is the one that looks over in disbelief. “Impossible….”

  “Yes, sir, and alcohol when she’s feeling poorly, which is about every day,” Love says, the admonition nearly causing Aoline to stumble; she never expected to get a direct line to the personal lives of the greatest hero and villain in all the realms, after all.

  Chaos’ squint deepens, his smile still persistent. “…Oh my. Then perhaps she is not my friend after all.”