Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 19 Part 2

Chaos POV

There was a hissing noise, and Kuryo’s body began to disintegrate into a fine dust. The god-slayer opened her mouth, gawking and choking. “How-” she seemed to try and collect herself. “See- you’re a god-slayer.”

“Kuryo wasn’t a god,” I bit back. “He was my friend!” And lover. But close person first and foremost. Sex was just none of her business.

She took another deep breath. Then her eyes zeroed in on me. “Work with me. I will help you get what you want.”

“I want to fix things by stopping you!” I snapped. “Not making things worse-”

“You slayed an entire pantheon! We are no different-”

“That was an accident!” I shrieked. “I’m here to fix that!”

She laughed. “You think you can just bring the gods back to life? Like this?” and she turned, slashing her sword upon one of the hanging bodies. It sliced right through the midriff as I choked on my breath. The body writhed limply, but didn’t move. Again, there was no bleeding. The god-slayer turned to me. “See? They’re no better than snakes, or worms. You can cut them into so many pieces and yet they don’t quite die, unless-” she pointed her sword at me. “You kill them. You’re the god slayer here.”

“Me?” I was baffled! “How-”

“You’re Chaos,” she said sharply. “Aren’t you? Child of the Grim Reaper and Life?”

Oh. Ohhh. Oh. Hereditary powers and stuff. I wanted to smack my forehead, I felt so stupid. Right. Me, killing things. Because grim reaper powers. And yet – could I bring things back to life?

“You’re going to help me,” she said, marching over to another body. With a swing she began hacking at it, sending bits flying in all directions.

“Stop!” I yelled.

She turned to face me, arms extended. “I will! If you agree to help me!”

“NO-”

She hacked at another body. I screamed.

“Tell me what you want!” she shouted, slashing at yet another unfortunate body. I ran to her – and was jerked back.

“GO!” shouted a voice in my head as invisible hands wrestled me around and shoved me towards the door.

Kuryo? That was – okay, I can take a hint. I ran for the door, yanking at the thing.

“It won’t let you out,” called over the god slayer. “You’re stuck.”

I spun, plastering my back to the door. She was slowly advancing on me. “Even if you kill me, you can’t get out.”

Fuck this, I thought. I flicked out my swords, ready to chop her to little itty bitty bits- when the door burst open behind me.

RUN! A voice shouted in my head.

I caught a glimpse of pure horror and anger on the godslayers’ face (which was priceless, by the way) before running and bolting for it.

I could almost see a blue crow flying ahead of me as I ran down the halls. I got halfway through there before I realized I wasn’t running in there anymore. I was in a haze of darkness, being pulled away and through the world.

Oh hey, I knew this feeling. Kuryo?

Hey, a voice answered in my head. Just stay still.

Things slipped by, and it felt like I fell unconscious because, in a blip!, I was suddenly awake in a way I hadn’t been for some time. I felt super awake. Aware. Alert. All that, and more.

We were before what looked like the strangest building I’d ever seen. It was part cathedral, part castle, and part modern mansion. It had spired juttign out and crystal-esque windows and a large gate that we were standing before. And yet there were patches missing in the stones, showing through to wooden foundations. Was that even how houses were built? I wasn’t sure – And took a minute to look around.

We were on a bit of lawn, and that was it. The lawn literally dropped off into space. Well that – that was a unique way to set yourself aside from the neighbors?

I looked around. This building, us, we were just suspended in space. I saw, far away, satellites and planets and stars and even a galaxy. Super cool but-

“Welcome to the Academy,” said Kuryo from my side.

I yelled, jumping back. Then I lunged and tried to hug him. I slipped straight through and fell flat on my face in the grass. I tasted plastic. The lawn wasn’t real? Huh.

Scrambling up, I faced Kuryo. “You’re alive! I mean-” I took another look. He was semi transparent, wearing his usual blue sweatshirt and jeans, but he looked far more miserable than usual. “You’re here?” I said hopefully.

“I am here,” he said grimly. “But here is not where I’d want to be.”

I looked to the building. “What is this?”

“The Academy,” he nodded at the shabby building. “This is it.”

“It’s a building?” I was confused, okay? “I thought it was – a person?”

He gave me a look. “It’s an institution. It is both people and a location.”

Pow, that was the sound of part of my brain struggling to keep up with this. Kuryo put a hand on my shoulder. Then another on my other. He looked me squarely in the eyes. “We need to get Charr back. She is still alive, and the other Charrs- they are going to give birth to the Trinity.”

“The Trinity?”

“Yes. So we have to-” He took a deep breath and glanced at the building. “Negotiate.”

“Negotiate?”

He gave me a look that probably said ‘stop just repeating everything I say’. “Yes.”

“I could have taken her. The godslayer. I’m the child of the grim reaper- I can kill things!”

He frowned, as if he’d already known that. “You can’t kill her,” he said slowly. “She’s just like the academy. An institution. If you cut down one limb, another will regrow.”

I blanked. “She was a person. I saw her.”

“But she was part of an institution. I know this. So-”

Something moved. We both turned and watched as an impressive door swung open – and Charr walked out. The un-pregnant Charr. Our Charr, dressed in her usual plain black shirt and black jeans and thick boots.

Kuryo gawked, squeezing my shoulder with one hand. The other slid to hang by his side. “We need to-” and he seemed lost for words.

I drew myself up. “I’ve got this.” I did. I was a god-slayer! I was the Grim Reaper’s child! I-

The gate swung open sideways, sliding out of the way. Charr smirked haughtily in a way that just wasn’t ‘her’. “Welcome, world weaver,” she said nastily. Then, with a tilt of the head at me she added “and god slayer.”

We looked at each other. I guess everyone’s getting the fancy titles, then?

Charr gestured in a wide sweep of the arm. “Come, enter,” she said, and it sounded almost sensual, in a not right kind of way.

I looked to Kuryo, but he was glaring at Charr. Squaring his shoulders, he marched on towards her. I followed, and Charr smirked as we drew to her side. The gate shut with a clang, without me having even seen it shut.

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 19 Part 1

Chaos POV

It was a stupid idea. Just – only I would think of something like it.

“Just walk out there and say you want to meet her,” the other me had suggested. Stupid idea.

Stupider yet, I tried it.

“Hey!” I stood in the middle of a street full of medieval peasants. On one side of the street, before tall buildings that looked straight out of the modern era, there were several knights in shining armor. “Shit-faces!” I called out, marching towards the knights.

The knights lifted their visors. Peasants rushed just out of the way – then turned around and stared. It was like a good old-fashioned showdown. Me on one side of the street, the knights on the other. I began crossing the open space. People gasped and pointed.

“Demon!” More than one cried out. Why? Must be the eyeliner or something.

I marched straight up to the guards, flicking my swords out into my hands. That made them jump and recoil. Ten steps away from them I stopped. “I want to meet the god-slayer!” I declared.

The guards took a good look at each other. Then, as one, they charged at me. Crap.

I took them head on, magic coursing over my swords. Metal clashed on metal, and I began making short work of them. These were certainly not as well trained as those who had been attacking the nuns. I needed no fancy tricks to knock them to the ground and skewer them mercilessly.

The last three, as seemed usual, began to run away. I chased after them, wholly expecting to be led into a trap. They would round a corner and bam! There would be a hundred of them and I would be screwed.

But still, I chased after them. Maybe because I trusted the Sephira to be watching out for me? Maybe, more likely, I just knew that I had to. I had to do this.

We rounded a corner and the three soldiers disappeared into a building. I chased – and was stopped by a very solid door that refused to open.

“Augh!” I shouted, kicking at the solid glassy thing that was most definitely not fragile. Stepping back, I was thinking of which spell to cast when a voice said “Hey, demon.”

I spun. There, in the middle of the empty street was a young woman, probably in her twenties. She was all in black, a scarf wrapped around her head, wearing a long shirt and jeans with a sword in her hand. “You were looking for me?” she asked, striding forward.

“Are you the god slayer?” I asked sharply. I was busy!

“That is me,” she said crisply, drawing to a stop beside me. The door opened for her, and she waved at me to enter. “Come.”

Uhh. I looked from her to the door, and back. “Why?” I asked.

“Because it’s polite,” she said flatly. “Or do you want to speak in the street?”

I just looked at her. Was this a trap? I really didn’t know what to do.

“Are you a friend of Kuryo?” she asked. “He’s inside.”

“Kuryo?” my eyes flew wide. “I’m looking for him!”

She nodded into the door. Okay. I walked in, senses on high alert.

We were met by the most polite-looking reception desk. The god slayer marched past it, and we went into an elevator. Or at least, it was like an elevator. It sort of lifted us up in a ray of light and vwoosh- we were up on another floor.

“You must tell me what you are here for,” she said as we began walking down a starchy corridor, all white and steel.

“I am here from the Sephira,” I said flatly. “I’m to stop you from killing any more gods.”

“Hmm.” she looked at me from the corner of her eyes. Then, with another ‘hmm’, she smiled. She gestured to a door on the right, the only one there. “Your friend is in here.”

I let her open the door. Our eyes crossed, and she ushered me in with a neutral face. Or was there a smirk?

Cold air struck my face. A smell, a smell of – battlefield? Spices? Somehow, I knew it was Kuryo, and a very unhappy Kuryo at that. Without thinking, I launched into the room.

It was like a giant meat freezer, complete with corpses and all. There, on giant hooks, dangled beings with halos, crowns, and mystical animals wrapped around them. But there, closest to the door-

“Kuryo?” I yelled, running towards him. I skidded on a patch of ice and almost collided with him.

Kuryo spasmed. He was hanging from a hook that was protruding from his collarbone, his eyes rolled back in his head. He wasn’t breathing- but I could tell he wasn’t dead either.

“He hasn’t died. None of them have,” she said calmly, stepping to my side. She crossed her arms, looking Kuryo up and down. “It’s strangely hard to kill them.”

“What?” I looked from her to Kuryo.

She nodded at the room. “These are the ones who wouldn’t die.” Then, tilting her head to the side, she added. “Help me kill them.”

“What?” I fairly yelled. I patted Kuryo’s face, felt his arms. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. Searching for some sign of life? There was none, but – I swore he moved, his arms twitching.

“You want to negotiate? Hear me out. You will have your friend back, if and only if you help me kill the last of the gods.”

“What?” I repeated, panic flooding my mind. Kill the last of the gods?

“The gods are a pest on these worlds, and they are cruel and fickle. I will give you back your friend, sans powers, if you help me with the last of the gods.”

“I can’t do that!” Morally, I meant. Killing one god was enough-

“I know who you are,” she said sweetly. “You’re a god slayer too.”

“I am no such thing!” I stepped between her and Kuryo. “I-”

“Chaos,” she said sweetly. “Don’t you want your friend back?” Yet she drew her sword.

Behind me, a tortured sound escaped Kuryo. From the corner of my eye, I saw him spasm, head flinging back. I stepped to him, and his hand gripped at my arm. It was a death-grip, vice like and too strong for Kuryo. His eyes suddenly focused on me, and they were desperate.

She stepped to us, sword scraping over the floor. “Or should I kill him before you? Just to make a point?”

I flicked out my swords – and my arm was yanked. With a sickening thud, I felt the sword slam into flesh. Into Kuryo, dead in the heart.

“NO!” screamed the woman. In a flash her sword swung – I ducked – and Kuryo’s head went rolling. I staggered back, my sword dripping cold blood. The body, headless, didn’t dance or anything. It didn’t even spout blood. It was cold.

But she wasn’t. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing like she’d run a marathon. Wild, her eyes fixated on me. “Where is she? Where- do you have the powers?”

“What powers?” I asked stupidly.

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 18 part 2

Chaos POV

I sprawled on the floor, whining pitiably. It was cold, painful, and would have been humiliating if I didn’t know it was driving everyone else nuts.

All the nuns were lined up for prayer, their head nun reading out passages, and I was just laying there near my alter ego, being loudly miserable.

Finally, when I began to wail, the bible (or whatever book they were reading from) was snapped shut. “Demon! Enough!” barked the head mistress.

I sat up. “Are you going to free me?”

“No!”

I flopped back down, banging my head onto the floor accidentally. But I didn’t care, letting out a pitiable wail. Hey, I might as well express myself.

My nun glared down at me. “Silence yourself!”

I wailed, rolling so my back was presented to her. “I’m just here to see the Sephira! You don’t need to mistreat me like this!”

“Maybe you would hear the Sephira speaking if you would shut up!” barked the headmistress, whipping a wooden ruler stick out from her skirts. She pointed it dramatically at me. “You-”

Bang! Somewhere, a door was flung open. The nuns gasped. I sat up, spider senses tingling and common sense telling me that something was happening.

Indeed, trouble had just arrived in the shape of a dozen or so guards. They were dressed full medieval style with capes and helmets and swords unsheathed. One guard who hung behind the others (in a red cape instead of the pale orange the others wore) called out. “Fiends! Worshippers of the gods! We have found you at long last! DIE!”

Well, if there was ever a ‘bad guy’ speech, that was it. But this was no coincidence! I lunged to my feet and jumped over the pews. I was damned if I was failing this test. It felt as obvious as if a videogame banner had appeared in the corner of my screen labeled ‘save the nuns’.

“Hey, idiots!” I shouted out, bursting up a glittering green magic shield around myself. Hello? Glowing green target? I couldn’t possibly make myself more obvious. With a flick of the wrists, my swords appeared in my wrists. “I’m here!”

The knights all drew to a halt. I darted around the pews, placing myself effectively between the two parties. Yeah, go me. Hero mode or what?

The red cloaked knight in the back marched forward. “What are you waiting for? Get the women! I’ll take care of this one.”

Uh, huh. Yeah, well, how about no? Jumping forward, I slashed down, setting a spell into the ground. It scattered out at my sides, a dark wave of magic that built up like walls on either side of me.

Bitch, they’d HAVE to get through me.

“Magic!” whispered one very daft soldier, as if he’d just cued in then.

I straightened, rolling my shoulders into place and taking my best fighting stance. “Come at me,” I sneered.

The red-cloaked knight stepped before me. “Who are you? How dare you-”

I took a running jump and slammed a foot in his face. There, that settled it! I landed, and swords erupted around me. I spun, slashing and kicking.

With a terrible war cry, a particular nun came barging through the wall I had created. “Demon!” she called out. “Take this!”

What? I spun and was very nearly whacked in the forehead with a thick glass bottle. I caught it, but barely.

“Holy oil!” she called out as I ducked a sword slice and rolled over the floor.

Holy oil? What the – ohhh. Oil!

Back on my feet, I uncorked the bottle with my teeth and, jumping back, tipped the contents back into my mouth.

Ohh, it burnt. But that was beside the point. As the knights rushed at me, I spat it out at them, lighting my swords on fire at the same time.

Fi-yah! Fwoosh! One slice of my blades, and knights were now erupting in screaming flames. It was ridiculously effective. Swish! Slice! I made short work of them, running around stabbing and cutting throats.

With yells and lots of scampering, the last few knights turned and ran straight back out the way they had come in.

Taking a deep breath, I let my magic wall fall down. Turning, I looked over the nuns. All safe. Heyyyy – guess who just won some Sephira points? Yeah?

I looked hopefully at the statue. No magical glimmering or anything. I looked to the head mistress. She was pale, shocked, but was starting to walk towards me.

“You did it!” yelled my alter ego, running up to me. “You saved us!”

I grinned and nodded, but the head mistress was grim. “They will return with more strength now that they know where we are. We must flee.”

“But to where?” cried out another nun. “They have spies everywhere!”

“Hey,” I said. Eyes turned to me. The head mistress nodded to my alter ego.

“Release the demon. It has redeemed itself.”

With a grim nod, my alter ego reached forward and pulled the rosary off my head. I grinned, but felt no different.

“K, thanks,” I said. “But what’s going on around here? Why-” I glanced back at the Sephira statue. “Why are you all being hunted?”

The head mistress drew herself up stiffly. “We are the last god-worshippers. They have been trying to wipe us all out ever since that god-slayer began her campaign three years ago. Since then, there has never been a moment’s respite!”

“Oh,” I said, feeling the next mission being unlocked and popping up in the back of my mind. “There’s a god-killer?”

“Yes!” “Oh yes!” the nuns chorused, nodding in tandem.

I bit my bottom lip. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do,” I said. Then, on second thought. “Where can I find this god-killer?”

There was a pause. “They travel amongst the realms,” said the head mistress. “They do not stay in one place.”\

Uh huh. I looked to the statue of Mary, Queen of Demons. “Alright,” I said. “I’ve got an idea.”

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 18 part 1

Kuryo’s POV

I stepped outside of the room and faced the god-killer. She was resting against the wall beside the door, arms crossed and standing on one foot. She looked me up and down, then nodded approvingly. “You look good,” she said.

Uh, what?

“You suit yourself,” she explained. “Your body and soul are in relative harmony.”

Sure. I looked her up and down. So she had some powers then.

Standing off the wall, she nodded towards the room. “Don’t worry about the body you left. Chimera doesn’t need it now. They tend to switch bodies rather often.”

Hm.

She looked me up and down again, stepping to before me. “So,” she inclined her head in a greeting. “Nice to meet you, world weaver.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I muttered under my breath. Now what did she want?

“I want to apologize for Chimera’s actions towards you.” she said calmly. “They shouldn’t have tried to eat you, in a sort of way.”

I nodded. She hesitated. “You don’t talk much, do you?” she asked playfully.

“I’d like to leave now,” I said, bitterness tinging my words. “With my friends.”

“Of course you may. Once the child is born, you may leave with the mother as well.”

I hesitated. “You are keeping the baby?”

The god-killed nodded. “Of course.”

“What for?” I asked slowly, dreading the answer. This could go either well or badly…

“To kill it,” she said without even a hint of shame. “It is a god, the trinity, trying to be born. It must be destroyed.”

Oh, goddammit. WHY?

“The death of the Trinity across various worlds is what allowed us to begin crossing the dimensions. It would radically strengthen the gods to have the Trinity re-created. I will not allow them to retrieve their stranglehold on the worlds once more.”

I almost whined. “Come on,” I pleaded. “Why do you have to kill a baby? It’s just a baby!”

“It’s a god!” she said icily. “I will not allow them to return!”

I took a deep breath. “I,” I felt myself on the brink of a decision. Couldn’t I just go home? Just leave all this behind?

You know what? Why not? I held up my hands and ducked my head. “Whatever. I’m not involved.”

“Good,” she said, obviously amused. “I am glad for that.”

Yeah, I suppose. I was none too pleased, though. Something tickled the back of my mind, but I wasn’t sure what. Something just was – off.

She gestured before us. “Are you hungry?”

“Why were you searching for me?” I asked sourly. “You had me hunted down. And now you want to let me go home?”

“Things have changed,” she said. Again, she gestured forward. “Come, let’s go.”

Irritated, I turned. Big mistake. I knew it the moment my back was to her. Just a tingling in the back of my mind, a knowledge that I had left myself vulnerable.

The nasty thing was that I knew it, that I didn’t feel it. There was no murderous vibe, just the sudden stab of pain through my back.

Now so close, she whispered in my ear, one arm holding me up. “Surely you knew that whoever killed you gained your powers. I’m sorry, world weaver.” And then the knife twisted, pain shooting through me.

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 17 part 2

Kuryo’s POV

Charr was in a lower level of this ridiculously large building. I made my way down, trying to look like I knew what I was doing. From the looks I was receiving and the brain-waves I was pickign up on, I wasn’t doing too good a job.

“What’s ‘the thing’ doing down here?” thought the guards along the final corridor.

“Now what? Come to gloat some more?” thought the next guard.

I glared straight ahead as much as I could through this stupid headdress and marched on.

Then, I felt the ripple through the air. Something, in a capital ‘s’, had arrived. It moved air, it took up space, and it was now in the building.

Shit. Fuck. The reinforcements were here. Whoever it was that the goon had gone to fetch, that must have been it. They’d portaled in or something.

I rushed through the building, not caring whether I blew my cover or not. I had to find Charr.

I was in the final corridor. There was steel all over, guards spattered here and there, and important-looking doors. But at the end, at the very end, was a door that led to somewhere else. And there, beyond, I sensed Charr.

I was within twenty feet of the door. Fifteen. A door swung open behind me.

“There you are,” called out a female voice with a peculiar accent. I recognized the meaning of the words despite the sounds being in another language.

I spun, and my heart stopped.

She was tall, dressed in black jeans and a black tunic-esque top, and bore a black scarf draped around her head and shoulders. Her eyes were brown, her skin a dark hue on the blacker scale, and there was gold glinting on her eyelids. There was a katana-esque sword in her hands. There was nothing presumptuous about her, really. She wasn’t wearing skulls and scalps, after all. She oughtn’t to have made my heart stop, but she did. There was a power emanating from her that made me realize that this, this, was the god-slayer.

“Weaver of worlds,” she called out. “Don’t run from me.”

I hesitated. Should I bolt for it? Did I have a chance of, really, making it anywhere without my wings?

So I stood my ground. She dismissed the guards with a flick of a gloved wrist. They scattered like marbles, many choosing to run past me instead of her.

Once they were all gone, disappeared into doors and staircases, she began to stride forward.

“I ordered everyone to bring you to me once you were found,” she said. “But it seems that the idiot tried to contain you. How foolish.”

She drew to a stop before me. “I apologize for that,” she said. Then she bowed her head respectfully.

I hesitated. What the fuck? What fuckery was this?

“Hi,” I tried to say, but this throat wouldn’t let me.

She drew up and frowned as I touched my throat. Dropping my hands, I let out a breath. On a whim, I decided not to speak in her mind. Let her think that I couldn’t.

“We will have to find you a new body,” she said tartly. “Come.”

She turned on her heels and marched away. I did a double take. She just turned her back on me? Was that a sort of ‘fuck you’? Or was she just trusting? Somehow, I doubted it was the second one. But she was being weirdly nice?

I trotted after her.

In silence, we stepped into the elevator-esque thing at the end of the corridor. Within seconds, we reapparated several flights up, with a ding. Had to have the ding effect in there.

With a slight smile at me, she led the way. This corridor led to a set of double doors that opened into a dark room. She clapped her hands and lights went on.

Whoah. There were bodies everywhere in here, filling tubes that were stacked everywhere, reminescent of the ship that had kidnapped me.

“You could pick one,” she said as if she did this every day. “Or, if you want something exactly like you had,” and she waved me over to a station full of buttons and screens. “Your bodies’ data might have been entered into the database once you were captured.”

She tapped around the screen. I pointed when the photograph of my unfortunate copy came up. The one that had had the spike through his head.

“That one?” she asked with a strange smile.

I nodded, and she tapped buttons. I drew back, not sure where the body was going to come from.

“Over there,” she pointed to a bubbling tube.

Hesitantly, I stepped over to it. There, indeed, a body was being… made? Modified? It was weird. It was as if a zillion robots got together to build the largest building ever, as fast as possible.

Within seconds, I was staring at a replica of my body. It was me alright… pre-surgery. My heart plummeted. Shit. Should have gone with a pre-made body maybe.

The god-killer stepped up behind me, a pile of clothing in her arms. “Here. I’ll give you a moment,” she said before handing the clothes to me and leaving the room.

Requisite moment of privacy letter, I was finally back in a body that was sort of mine. I was still cursing myself about the gender problem, but hey. I rubbed some of that strange liquid out of my hair with the towel. Alright. Time to go and actually say hi.

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 17 Part 1

Chaos POV

“We don’t have to do this,” I moaned, trying to exploit any crevice I could.

Unfortunately, nun me was made of iron. Her bones were steel and her soul forged in the dark fires of her own making. She was kneeling before the statue, deep in prayer.

I, on the other hand, was standing around beside her, bound to her. I couldn’t touch her, couldn’t leave more than five meters away from her, and was, basically, stuck to her like by flexible glue.

I kicked at a pew, furious. “Come on!” I shouted. “I’ve got things to do! Places to be!”

Nun me mouthed at her prayers, ignoring me like sin itself.

Wailing, I flopped down onto the floor. I squeezed my eyes shut and took deep breaths. It didn’t help. Popping my eyes open, I saw the mother Mary statue leering down at me. Above, the ceiling was dark and tall. Very nondescript.

I sat up. “How much longer are you going to do that for? I’ve got stuff to do!”

Nun me was unmoved. I got up and paced. If I walked too far, it was like a bungee cord on my soul, ready to pop me straight out of my body.

Argl! I stomped my boots on the floor and made as much noise as I could. When I reached her side again, I stooped to yell in her ear. “HEY!”

She flinched, but that was it. With a huff I sat down beside her. Glaring up at the statue, I decided to try and think.

It wasn’t very easy. My mind was an angry buzz. I’d been tricked and trapped again. The Sephira had definitely called me here – just to chain me to my devout other form. Gah!

I eyeballed the statue. Mother Mary wasn’t supposed to be the Sephira, from my shoddy understanding of that pantheon. So why was she now, here, the Sephira? Maybe because she had simply been the last one alive?

I plunked my chin into my palm. Bluh. What was I supposed to do now?

////

Kuryo POV

It was difficult to find the way out of this soul. It’s even harder to describe. It was all a swathe of emotions, of shifting from one strangely bleak landscape to another. It was like riding through layers of consciousness, each one more graphicly decorated with gruesome memories than the last. Finally, I felt the reaching of skin.

Dropping the stork, I threw myself forward, stretching out my powers to seize the body. Pop! Just like that, I was in control. I was aware, awake, and seeing and sensing through the body. Great.

In the back of my mind, someone was throwing a screaming tantrum. I ignored them, taking stock of where I was.

First things first, I brushed this ridiculous hairdo out of my eyes and took a solid look around. I was in a scantily decorated bedroom. There was a spartan bed, dresser chest, the works, all in a space-futuristic style. Nothing medieval to it. Okay.

Testing the body, I stood up. It worked. Now I was on my feet. Patting myself down, I looked myself over. Dressed in black robe with pants under. Okay, this could work. I could do this.

In the back of my mind, the person was trying their very best to shake me out of my spot. “How dare you? How dare you?” they screamed.

I just ignored them, swallowing a sarcastic comment. No need to fuel the flames.

“You will regret this!” they wailed.

Then, with a jump and leap – they left the body.

The relief of it nearly knocked me to my knees. It was like huge weight lifting from me, everywhere. Straightening, I felt so ridiculously lighter. For a moment, I thought that this was good! Great even!

Then, I doubled down on that thought. Where were they going? As they had left, the soul had been vengeful, focused on revenge. They certainly hadn’t gone for the sake of getting a picnic. They were going to get help.

Okay, so I had to get out of here and home as fast as possible. Okay, okay. I took another look around. I had to get my body, get home. Okay.

I focused for a minute, willing my senses to track down my body. It was in this same building, layers down and – ew. Decomposing?

Fuck. I snapped my eyes open and looked around, trying not to be too upset. That was my body. The one I’d transitioned in and worked so hard to belong in. Nevermind that now I was stuck in this one. Fuck, fuck. No body. Okay.

Closing my eyes once more, I tried to think of a way out. I couldn’t fly, my spiritual wings were still cut. Maybe I could get onto one of those ships, but that might take too long. How would I-

Charr. A version of Charr was here, right? That’s what Kuryo had been looking for. I had to find her.

With a deep breath, I set my senses to work. Where was Charr?

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 16 part 2

Kuryo POV

I woke up in a dingy, marsh-like feeling. The world around me was dirt brown and squishy. I was in human form, tied very tightly to a chair.

Okay, no panic. I tried to pull myself together. For the first time in what felt like ever, I was truly alone. No Suzy hovering somewhere within me. It was strangely liberating and frightening at the same time.

Except- was I really alone? I took another look around, throwing out my senses. Where was I? Still within that strange weirdo, or was I somewhere else?

I couldn’t feel anything. There was no energy here. Even these ropes, they were… nothing.

I jumped my chair, looking around and around. Nothing but brown nothingness.

“Help?” I called out. “Anyone? Someone?”

Far away, a bird cawed in answer. I squinted and looked around again. “Help!” I called out. “Over here!”

I felt it with my tingly senses before my sight. It was a giant stork, flying over.

I watched it, feeling it and exploring it mentally before it landed before me. In the back of my mind, I was hoping it hadn’t come to peck my eyes out. There was something icky about this bird, a dark and vengeful ick.

As it landed, it transformed into the weirdo who had trapped me in the first place. “Hello,” they sneered, orange eyes glinting beyond the weird headdress they wore.

Oh, now it talks, I thought snarkily.

It didn’t seem to be able to read into my mind, cocking its head to the side. “Nothing to say? Just a minute ago you were yelling your fool head off-”

“What do you want?” I asked, interrupting them. I didn’t feel like listening to some villain’s gloating monologue. “Why am I here? And where am I?”

“You’re still within me,” they sneered.

So that’s why this place looks like crap.

“And I thought you were paying attention last time. Did you miss the part where we nearly had the worlds undone?”

Did they miss the part where that wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t been kidnappers?

“Also, you should know what I want.”

Oh, good grief. Who had time for these kind of games? “And what’s that?” I asked, feeling tired from all this already.

“I want your powers,” they hissed excitedly. “I want to be able to weave the worlds.”

“It’s not as fun as it sounds, trust me,” I said lamely.

They tilted their head and glared at me, their lips set in a definite unhappy spot.

“Look,” I said. “Untie me. I can’t go far from your body or I’ll die. That would undo the worlds and we don’t want that, right? So just let me go, and I won’t go far. How’s that for starters?”

They frowned. They glared. I could feel their mind churning, but knew that a sparkle of curiosity and excitement would win out. I was their latest toy and they wanted to play with me.

“Fine,” they said eventually. “Be free.”

The ropes vanished -and so did the chair. I landed butt first in squishy mud. They laughed like it was the best of jokes. Asshole.

I stood up gingerly, shaking mud from my hands. “Alright, asshole,” oops! I said that out loud?

They sneered, crossing their arms. “Asshole? You’re my guest. You’d be dead now if it wasn’t for me-”

Yeah, yeah, shut up. Wiping my hands on my jeans, I looked around. “How do we get out of here?” I asked.

“You don’t,” they said smugly. “One must fly out of here. Which you can’t do.” And they laughed, again.

I suddenly wished I had Chaos’ butt kicking powers. If I punched them as I was, I’d probably hurt myself more than them.

“Show me your powers!” they gloated. “Do something.”

I scowled and looked around again. I sensed a great, vast, nothing. How could I get out of here?

“Show me your bird form, and I’ll show you a trick,” I said with an exasperated sigh.

Without thinking twice, they did. A giant stork stood before me, tall as I was. Great. Excellent.

“Here’s the trick,” I said, stretching out my powers and seizing control of said stork.

The stork squawked and fought back, but I was stronger. Great! Like a second, er, third arm, I stretched out their wings and jumped on its back.

It was a good thing I knew how to fly, for they were struggling so much that I couldn’t tap into their motor skills. I just slid myself over their body and moved it the way I knew how to for myself. Clumsily, awkwardly, we hopped up and took off. Yeah!

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 16 Part 1

Chaos POV

I was standing against the pews, my entire body tingling from the after-effects of the holy water. The evil me version ‘nun’ was still standing before me with that metal cross. Several nuns had now amassed behind her, terrified and clutching their rosaries. Then the mother superior arrived.

She was portly, short, and out of breath. “Goodness!” she exclaimed at the sight of me. “Goodness, goodness!”

Ah, I thought smugly. A genteel and kind ol’ lady. Good.

“I-” I said, just as she drew out a small bottle from her sleeve, dabbed her fingers against it, and flicked at me.

I got holy water in my mouth. IN ME. That burns, okay? Frickin’ nuns. I choked and gagged, the stuff burning me from the inside out.

“Oh! Oh my!” the mother superior trembled, then steeled herself. She lifted her chin and looked to the nun version of me, who was looking downright evil with that cross. “This is your demon!” the superior exclaimed.

All other nuns nodded, murmuring. Evil religious me nodded, lips pressed together. “It certainly has taken on my countenance.”

“And you found it,” said the mother superior, looking at me up and down.

I, finally able to breathe, straightened on the pew and tried to speak again. “Sephira-”

“Hush, demon!” said the mother superior, flicking blessed water at me again.

AH! AH! I tried to shield myself with my arms. My rosary glinted in my grasp. On a gut feeling, I waved my rosary at them. “Look!” I exclaimed. “I’m not evil!”

They stared. I gulped. “I’m just – allergic – to – water!”

The mother superior’s eyes narrowed. She held out her hand. “Give me your beads, child.”

Child, that was a good sign, right? She was getting all matronly with me. I held out my beads, but kept them in my grasp. She fingered a bead and the moment she did a black cloud oozed out. Because why the fuck not?

“The touch of the devil!” she gasped, drawing back with a jump. Evil me lifted that cross and I cowered.

“Don’t!” I yelped.

They paused.

“I’m- I’m here for the Sephira,” I said. “I’m looking to meet her.” I glanced around. “I’m trying to redeem myself.” Because why not? It was close enough to the truth, actually.

The nuns gasped. Mother superior frowned. “You want to join our order?”

“No!” I yelped. Who’d want that? “I’m looking for the Sephira!”

The mother superior sniffed and drew herself up. “We are the order of the Sephira. Our aim is to commune with her.”

Oh. I looked around at the nuns. “Does it work?” I asked stupidly.

“Mother superior!” squeaked a tall nun with a shrill voice. “You cannot be thinking-” and she seemed to suffocate on the thought, making her sentence somewhat questionable.

Mother superior drew herself up. “I am.” She looked solemnly to evil me. “This is your demon. I have long since felt you were ready for a new challenge. Your indomitable spirit rivals the best.” She extended a hand to me. “Care for this demon. It is your new charge.”

Evil me squinted their eyes at me. I just fish guppied. “No, no. I-”

“Silence, demon!” the mother superior intoned. For good measure, she flicked holy water at me.

AHH!

She thrust out a hand to evil me. “Hand over your rosary!”

The beads were handed over without a question. Fingering them, the mother superior glared me down. “Demon, step forward!”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” I said, squishing back against the pews. “In fact, maybe I’ll go-” and I slipped backwards in the space between the pews, reaching for the black box.

The mother superior threw the rosary at me. I ducked, falling backwards as I tripped over the kneeling thingie and caught myself on the back of a pew, mid-sprawl.

Well, you wouldn’t fucking believe it. It shouldn’t have worked. But somehow, the rosary flew like a lasso (get it? A trap!) I snatched at it as the thing soared straight for my head (that nun had a good future as a cowboy in her next life).

Fwoomp. I felt the rosary land around my shoulders like a weight. Felt the crucifix land in my hand with a burning hiss.

I shrieked like, well, whatever. I shrieked. My hand was on fire and I just knew that something very, very, bad had happened.

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 15 Part 2

Chaos POV

I needed to find the Sephira. So I set my intention to do just that when I pressed my palms to the travel-thingie and, well, traveled.

I reappeared inside somewhere dark. Real descriptive, right? But it took me a minute for my eyes to adjust. So I just stood there, in this hazy darkness with light spewing down from some (tiny!) grimy windows, illuminating emptiness around me. A floor, definitely. Cobble-stoned floor, to be exact. But what else?

My eyes adjusted slowly, allowing me to see in bits and glimmers here and there. Then, in a snap, I sort of realized where I was. I was in a church! There, behind me, was the entrance doors and a sort of holy water receptacle. There were some flimsy wooden pews and kneeling boards, and up front – a giant statue of Mother Mary, front and center.

Huh, I thought. Me thinks that’s a bit odd for a church, no?

Turning on myself, I made a final check-around to make sure there was no one about to jump out and attack me. But there was no one- and so I made my way to the altar and statues.

I stopped right before the giant Mother Mary. Cleared my throat. “Hi,” I said, awkwardly. “I’m looking for the Sephira. Do you know where I could find them?”

To my disappointment, there was no immediate answer. I cleared my throat and tried again. “So, it’s kind of important so, if you could help me out it’d be great.”

Still, no answer. I inhaled deeply to calm myself. It didn’t work.

“You fuckhead!” I yelled. “Where’s the Sephira?”

“Goodness!” someone squeaked from not far enough away.

I yelped most bravely and spun, glaring at a nun in humble black robes. Nun who – happened to look exactly like me.

She gasped, lifting a rosary to before her. “Demon! Demon!”

“Wait, I-”

“VADE RETRO!” she yelled, pushing the rosary before herself and doing the sign of the cross with it.

It was like a punch to the gut. I doubled over as energy slammed into me, winding me completely. Tottering, I reached out a hand to the base of the statue to regain balance.

Sizzle! My hand burned as I touched the statue’s foot.

Yelling, I jumped back and bumped into a pew. Thankfully that didn’t burn me. “Listen!” I yelped, trying to make sense of this whole mess.

The nun, now shrieking Latin verses at me, kept on waving her rosary and rushing at me. It was like energetic punches coming from nowhere, invisible, and completely painful. I deflected one, got whacked by two others, and fell over onto my back. It was completely unfair.

I blinked, and the statue of Mary seemed to be laughing at me as it and the world spun above me. The terrified nun’s head appeared above me, then vanished.

Oh good, I thought. She’s running away. Smart woman. Wouldn’t want to cross me in an actual fight –

There was a scraping sound. Some tingly sense of doom told me to get up. I did, grabbing hold of the pews to get up onto my legs.

Oh shit.

“VADE RETRO!” the nun screamed, carrying the holy water bowl and chucking it at me. Splash!

Oh, sweet Jesus on a stick. It burnt like disinfectant on a cut. But all over. All. Over.

I screamed, collapsing and sizzling like, well, someone who’d gotten on the ‘bad side’ and who’d been doused with holy water. Imagine that.

“Oh god! OH GOD!” was all I could manage, in between wordless screams as I sizzled and stung and writhed on the floor.

The nun, however, ran behind the statue and picked up a metal cross and came running back with it.

“STOP!” I shrieked, not wanting to know how much that would hurt. “It’s good! We’re done! I’m pure! I-I-” I drew out my own rosary and brandished it at her. “You’ve cleansed me! Okay?”

The nun hesitated. I wiped at my face with a drenched sleeve. Big mistake. I got holy water in my eyes, and apparently they weren’t pure enough. Ouch, ouch.

Trying not to curse, I managed to get up off the floor and stand (still holding my rosary out before me like a shield). “Listen,” I gasped and looked around for someone sane. There was three nuns who had appeared at the back entrance of the church, mouths agape. My evil nun look-alike glanced quickly from me to them.

“Fetch the mother superior!” she shouted. “There is a demon here!”

Oh god, I thought, sweet baby Jesus help me, they’re going to burn me alive!

/////////

Kuryo’s POV

There was a stark silence after evil me had spoken. The people (who were not human) just stood there and gaped. Evil me stood and waited. I looked to Aaliyah. “We can’t let him do that!”

But then again, had I spoken too fast? An idea clicked in my head.

“Think we can let him rewind us just a bit?” I asked. “Like,” I looked her over. “Until before you died?”

Aaliyah looked from me to the scene. A small smirk curled her lips. “Maybe,” she said slowly.

Then the being who was standing before the throne shuddered and spoke. “You will not be returned the baby. It is ours-”

“I’m going to count to five for you to change your mind,” snapped evil me, cocking his guns at the versions of us on the floor. “Five.”

The councellors exchanged panicked glances.

“Four,” he said.

Oh shit, he was counting fast! Uh-

“Three,”

The councelor who was being the unwilling spokesperson was tossed out of the way. The weirdo with the hair of doom stood up angrily.

Evil me didn’t even say ‘two’. He just fired as the weirdo brandished the scepter.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! I flinched for every shot. You could feel it in the air, rippling out and shaking the world, stronger and harder with every shot-

I was seized and yanked forward, jerked towards the weirdo with the hair.

Bang! The final shot and I heard evil me collapsed to the floor just before I was yanked into the weirdo.

Into? Yes, into.

I was suddenly in this person’s mind, just as Suzy had once been in mine. It was uncomfortable and icky, squishy and dirty feeling.

“Kuryo? Kuryo? Where are you?” I could hear Aaliyah as if through a tunnel, through ears that weren’t my own.

Crushed up tight, I tried to throw around my senses, trying to reach out of this body in some way. In a distant way, I saw the bodies on the floor, saw the spirits stepping out of them and wondering what to do with themselves. Suzy was among them, looking around like a lost child. Poor Suzy.

With a kick and a shove that made my host double over, I took control of the body. If people were going to die, at least they deserved a good afterlife, I figured.

So I reached out for them, stretching my arms out and welcoming them.

With a groan the spirits gave up and gave in, slipping into me and vanishing into another world. All except two. One was Suzy, in tears.

“Am I dying?” she cried out.

“Bastard!” cried out the other, very angry, spirit. We can all take a wild guess as to who it was, right? “Why aren’t you dead?”

“Just come-” but my host wrenched, fighting for power back. I struggled, reaching out one final time. “Come here-”

“Fuck you!” and evil me grabbed a hold of Suzy. And then I blacked out, losing control of the body and shunted away.

 

Chaos & Kuryo (novel 3) Chapter 15 part 1

Kuryo POV

I had lost the alternate evil version of myself. I was now in the back end of some slum or other, and had crawled and scratched my way up the side of a house and was now perched on the roof in crow form. Several friendly crows had come to sit with me, offering silent solidarity. I just took the moment to breathe. Hey, I’d never been the most in-shape person. I was not Chaos.

“He’s coming for you,” said Aaliyah at my side.

I looked at her. She was in dragon form, majestic and reddish golden. I didn’t want to acknowledge what her presence meant for me. For our little nest.

“He’s only a few streets away,” she said, her head swiveling. “He’s tracking you.”

Of course mister evil-guts also knew how to track and hunt. Why were villains always overpowered? I groaned and put my head under my wing and rubbed at my head. Then, popping my head out, I peered at Aaliyah. She gave me a solemn look.

“If you can’t fly, he’s going to catch up to you,” she said flatly. “I can’t stop him.”

“Unless I kill him,” I suggested. Honestly, it was an option. The guy was a creeper and had killed Aaliyah and Jade. I could just end him. Send him into another galaxy.

Aaliyah tilted her head meaningfully, dark eyes peering into me. “Are you ready for that?”

I shrugged. “I can.” The truth was, I never quite stopped and thought endlessly about the people I’d killed. I just let it be. I refused to make a big hoopla about it. The less I thought of it, the less of a moral dilemma it was.

Aaliyah made a deep snorting noise. I took that as a sign of consent to the killing, and closed my eyes. Drawing on my powers I scoped out the field of energy that lay before me. Aaliyah had been right. He was just at the end of the street now, and approaching quickly.

Well, if he thought I was going to be be all honorable and get down into the street and give him a speech first, fuck that. I just reached out straight aways and plucked at him.

For a split moment, I had his body and soul in my grasp. With a flick his spirit was sliding out of his body and propelling towards me.

Then, fast like a snap, my power flickered. Something, or rather someone, was interfering.

“Suzy?” I shrieked, confused as I felt another mind blot into my headspace. Suddenly my thoughts were all filled with ‘how does that work?’ and ‘how do you do that?’.

I fumbled the ball, so to speak. A ball which got straight back up on its feet and aimed a gun at me.

Oh shi-

Bang!

Hey, I tried. But I blame Suzy, I really do.

I didn’t even have time to see black. It was just lights out.

//////

Chaos’ POV

I wanted to stay in Lucifer’s arms for ever. I was warm, snuggled, and safe. Sleep was on the tip of my mind and I didn’t want to move. But, finally, Lucifer shifted.

“You have to go,” he said gently.

I scowled into his sleeve, but I got up. I wanted another kiss but I stopped myself from asking. I wasn’t about to start asking for kisses. That just – I wasn’t there yet.

So I stood and glared at him as he rose before me. There was a smirk on his lips. He caressed my hair. “You’re going to do great,” he said softly.

My stomach churned. I didn’t believe him for one bit. I was a screw-up. But hey, I didn’t say that. He probably knew it already. But I did say something else.

“So, do I get that collar?” I asked cockily, crossing my arms and lifting my chin.

He chuckled, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “No.”

My jaw fell.

“When you come back,” he said playfully, tickling my cheek. “Now off you go, kitten.”

I scowled, for real. He was trying to make me come back, wasn’t he? Well, we’d see.

So I took up the black box, pressed my palms to it, and thought of where I had to go.

First stop: the Sephira.

////

Kuryo POV

“Kuryo! Kuryo!” Suzy shook me awake, from the inside. I tried to wake up, I really did, but something was barring me. So she threw me outside of my body.

Whoah! That woke me up. It was like falling out of bed. No cozy body all snuggle snuggle. Nope, I was freezing out here – where was here?

I looked around. We were in a box of sorts. A big box. I took a look at my body, and saw myself all curled up and tied tight with my knees up to my head and my arms behind my back. It looked so so painful. How come I wasn’t waking up? Peering closer, I poked around at the edges of my body. I was wrapped in a net, a weird substance that was electric and – strange? I didn’t know what it was, but blamed it for me being asleep.

Suzy was wailing, something about us being trapped (Gee, thanks, didn’t notice that there) but I ignored her. Instead I took a step back and stepped out of the box.

Whoah! I zoomed out, falling out of the box which was suddenly super tiny and the rest of the world so big. It was like falling out of a kaleidoscope – and then everything zoomed back into focus.

I was in a room, evil me standing there with several small brown boxes hanging around his neck. Presumably, those were what I had been in? Why was there so many of them? What was in the others?

Beside him stood Aaliyah with a nasty look on her face. And across the room from them, sat the weirdo.

Said weirdo still had their weird head-gear on and was still robed in skulls and black. Their lips were curved in the slightest of smiles.

“Hey!” Aaliyah waved me over. I stepped to her side, crossing before my evil self, who didn’t notice me at all. I was tempted to punch him in the gut.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to Aaliyah.

“It’s a good thing you woke up,” she hissed. “I’ve been trying to get that weird spirit piggy-backing on you to wake you up for hours!”

I looked around. Guards were posted by the door and several members of the council stood around the walls, whispering and ogling evil me. “What’s going on?” I hissed.

The weirdo sneered.

“We just got in here,” hissed Aaliyah. “There was this whole – he broke into a bunch of places and,” she shook her head. “It’s a mess.”

The weirdo on the throne moved their scepter from before them to the side, as if opening the conversation.

Evil me took a deep breath. He drew one necklace from around his neck and tossed it onto the floor. I felt my body bang around within. Ouch!

“I’m bringing you the world weaver,” he snapped. “Now give me back my wife.”

There was a cold moment where no one moved. Then, as if they’d silently been told they could move, the council embers jumped forward all at once. They crowded around the tiny box, and, with a pop, somehow got the thing open. Gasps and small cries were heard. They scuttled back, dispersing while staring at my body, lying there all tied up like a very unfortunate gift.

The weirdo tilted their head so very slightly in a nod.

“Now give me back my wife,” he snapped angrily.

The council members put their heads together, whispering. Out of nowhere, one of them half collapsed, eyes rolling back in their head. Body wobbling as if they hardly knew how to walk (looking a bit like a zombie), that member tottered forward to stand before the throne. They turned to face evil me.

“Your wife will be returned to you once the child is born. Until then, you will have to wait.” the person droned, eyes half closed and head tilted strangely back.

Evil me pressed his lips together angrily. His shoulders heaved in a deep breath. “I want my wife,” he demanded, eyes flashing. “You promised – and you will give her back with the baby!”

“You’re not the father, you have no rights to it,” drawled the bizarre council person who was standing before the throne.

Evil me took another angry breath. He just looked so mad. “I’m the parent,” he snapped. “And you will give them back to me.”

He drew the other necklaces from around his neck and tossed them to the floor. Then he drew a pair of handguns from his sides. He pointed them both at the boxes on the floor.

“Go ahead,” he hissed to the council members (who looked like a flock of terrified chickens). “Look at who I’ve got.”

They scuttled forward. Pop! Pop! Pop! The other boxes snapped open. The councillors yelped and squealed in dismay. Then, as if shoved aside by an invisible force, they were pushed away from the boxes and crushed up on the walls.

There, all bound up like my own body, was the other version of me who had kidnapped me, a version of me with a large spike through his head (seemingly still alive?!) and another who I didn’t recognize.

The councilors whispered, terrified.

“You know what happens if I kill us all, I hope?” he snapped. “It undoes the fate they’ve woven. That means that you, your stupid people, everything gets undone to when we were born. That means your stupid civilization will go back to pre-discovering how to travel dimensions – and before you fought the gods. Think you can win against them on a second round? Think your people will still come out as the powerhouse of the worlds on a second try?”

Oh, crap.