Now introducing all about the main antagonist! Enjoy…

Chapter 3

"Hmhmhm…well it worked. It seems my sprinkle of chaos magic worked on that dark-hearted warrior."

In the shadows hides another dimension, one full of insane calamities constantly occurring everywhere. Rocks and buildings only floated along its distorted atmosphere full of nothingness. In that realm anything could happen like many clones of all kinds of creatures fighting and killing each other, changing background, and anything that could pop up out of nowhere. This world was the Chaos Vortex.

In the center of the chaos-filled realm is where a giant castle was located. Many twisted towers with sinister-looking statues that look like they could come alive and attack at any moment were among multiple sections of the ancient rock castle that settled into its rocky foundation floating in nothingness. In the largest room in the top floor lies the throne room of the evil goddess who inhabits it. She sits in her throne room constantly looking into her reflecting pool in front of her. She bears the appearance of someone that would strike chaos on the world. Her long tangled black hair with a couple ponytails in between reaches down along her dark dress covered in different colored designs and accessories with giant gold bracelets in each arm and tattered thick blue cloth across her waist. She looks into the pool with a wicked smile on her pale face and looks at the horror she made with her light-shadow eyes. She is the Goddess of Discord, Eris.

"It's such a pleasure to see things not go as planned to other people. Hmph, serves that Palutena right. Killing all I loved with her two little wretches was not in my plan for chaos. However, biding my time will come to fruition. Soon, very soon…I shall have that chance."

Eris was the older sister of the Goddess of Calamity, Pandora, cousin to the God of Death, Thanatos, and childhood friend with Hades. She was once before a mischievous goddess who liked to play a joke or two on the other gods which made her the most irritable goddess in the group, although Hades considered otherwise since he found her as very amusing. However, starting to spread her antics on the world was not what the gods had in mind, so they imprisoned her forever within the Chaos Vortex, for it was a world fitting for someone who liked the constant feel of discord in the blood. At first, she was pleased and even discovered the secrets to the messed-up world as well, but she quickly drew into boredom with all she was creating. Using what she has learned Eris was causing the suffering in the world even from within her realm with just the palm of her hand. She even learned the ability to control minds which was used to wreak even more havoc and devastation in the world. She found what she loved most, but she had no means to stop. To spice things up, she decided to cause more destruction by sending her beloved pet, the Chaos Kin, into the world. Though her creature was captured and imprisoned within the Lunar Sanctum, a large lunar prison, by the Goddess of Nature for some time, it still brought her pleasure when the Chaos Kin became free thanks to Pit, and captured and possessed the mind of Palutena with Pit in the state of a ring. Her way was met for three years when Palutena was attacking all mankind. However, when the conflict was solved and with her fun, pet, and relatives dead she now went from playful humor for herself to dark intentions. Her plans will be soon, but she must dispose of some "obstacles" first before the plans may start.

"Now I must see what I must do with this strong warrior. Surely I can't let him go to waste. He'll be a perfect test subject for my experiment!"

However, for her "experiment" to work, she needs one resource in order for it to work properly: his soul. The only problem was that resurrecting people was not easy and not her job. She must consult with the only god capable to do so, but his body was destroyed those five months ago. That won't be hard though; he was still doing his job managing the souls in the Underworld. The hard part was talking to him; though they were long-time friends he was quite annoying in her eyes, for the god thought his skills of chaos was equal to hers; that was not the case. She holds a grudge on him for that, but she needs that soul, so she has to play nice….for now. With her strong power of telepathy, she tried contacting the Lord of the Underworld.

"Hades, you still alive? If you are, say something."

Nothing yet.

"Hades, considering you are the Lord of the Underworld you shouldn't die that easily. Say something; I know you are still managing."

At last, she got something.

"Ring, ring; who is it?"

"Do you remember your dear friend Eris?"

"Oh, my! Well, hello Eris! I was wondering when you as beautiful and clever as always would talk to me again!"

"Well, here I am. I was thinking about making more amusement. Care to do me a favor?"

"Well, well, you need some assistance from another master of mischief? Need me to 'spice' things up a little for your big plan?"

"Don't push it, Hades. No wonder I hesitated to talk to him; he's still annoying as ever. I need a soul for my little test, but not just any soul. There was a Skyworld competitor who died just now. I'm sure you can't miss him."

"Tampering with life, I see; just how I like it! However, messing with life will 'throw off the natural life cycle' as said by Professor Palutena and to top it off I can't just give away good souls 'cause they're mine. Why should I give it to you? What will be in it for me?"

"Greedy as ever. Fine, if you give me the soul…well, I can wreak more havoc with it and give you at least some credit."

"Flattering, but uninteresting. I did that job enough and still got all of the credit."

"Okay, I will exchange that one soul for millions of souls when I'm done with the world."

"It's hard to do anything if I can't do much to begin with them…"

"Grr…I got one that will certainly get your attention. If you give me that soldier's soul…I will assist you to find a way to reunite with your destroyed body once again. You will be just as powerful as you were before. Deal?"

"My, my. I am certainly drawn into that agreement, but do you even know how to restore what was lost?"

"How hard could it be? All those hard questions to answer. Still annoying. Anyway, give me some time to carry on with my plans and I shall get started with my side of our deal afterward. Will you accept it?"

"I am reluctant about this whole thing, but what have I got to lose? You will have no one to blame, but yourself if you fail. The soul is on its way, no shipping and handling fees necessary! Because of your order we also can throw in a free handbag for your purchase; what do you say?"

"Um…that won't be necessary, thank you."

"Suit yourself. Ta-ta for now my dear friend. I must continue to do my boring and dull job. Ciao!"

At the end of the conversation the soul appeared in front of Eris in a small container just so it would not escape that easily. She eagerly snatched the bottle and needed one more resource before the "experiment" could begin. She began making a creature with her powers like molding clay in her hands. There was one feared enemy she had in mind, one that would strike fear in the eyes of many and could kill with the slightest touch. She was done; a skull stared ominously at her while floating in the air with an evil purple flame enveloped around its entire body. She had made a replica of an Underworld monster known as an Orne. At last, she was ready. She opened the bottle and watched the soul float around the room. With keen senses the Orne attempted to eat the soul with its mouth full of other skulls of lost souls, but Eris stopped the hungry monster with her psychic hold. With her powers she took control of both the soul and the Orne and shattered both into their true life essences in the form of tiny particles. They both were not hurt, but she had to be extremely careful, for even a slight mistake could damage both or one of the test subjects resulting in a scrapped experiment. She began linking the small particles together and slow, but sure the form was slowly taking shape. The experiment was complete. The fused soul now floated with the same ominous flame as the Orne but had a partial look to its human appearance too. She had created the process known as Life Fusion which two souls from different beings fuse together to make a different stronger being.

"There; that should do it. I can't wait to see what this baby will do when I put it back into his body! He shall make a fine servant."

Tearing a rift between the Overworld and the Chaos Vortex she controlled and sent the soul to where the lifeless body of Seth was located. Now the hard part will begin. Eris must properly insert the soul back inside the body or else the results will not be as expected since his soul was fused with an Orne.

"Easy now. An Orne has the ability to shatter minds, and if I mess up…"

Eris slowly began to move the soul into the body. A bright light was emitting from Seth's chest where the soul was being inserted and his eyes were open and shining some light as well. The soul was partially inside. So far, so good, until…

"No!"

A lack of focus caused the soul to hit somewhere else other than the designated position in the body and with the soul partially inside Seth was technically alive. His mind shattered within and in a panicked state Eris removed the soul completely from the body. This was not good, for he probably would never wake up or be himself if lucky.

"Grrr… this is frustrating; I wanted that boy in his normal condition to trick and betray Palutena, but apparently that won't be the case anymore. Well…let's see what will happen now."

Again, she began to slip the soul into the body. With her full attention she made sure no more screw-ups interrupted the process. As the soul slipped back in the same bright light emitted from the chest and eyes along with a strange aura around him. Finally, the soul was reunited. However, nothing happened. Eris decided to wait for a few minutes more for it might have taken time, but still nothing. Eris was now angry. The experiment was a bust.

"Well this sucks. I was doing so well, but now this happens! Rrr…!"

However, before she would leave the body to whatever could get their hands on it a bright light blue flame started emerging all around his body. The armor was now changing from his usual look to a more tattered and slightly decaying look with different designs. His Crusader Blade was engulfed in the sinister flames also, and was soon taking another form. As the flames let up on it the blade was no longer his usual weapon; an inscription along with blue and purple flames around it covered the sharp-edged dark grey sword. The soldier's body under the armor was now completely covered in a light blue flame, and his face was no longer visible due to it; only intense white pupil-less eyes were seen. The revived soldier tried standing up after the transformation was complete, but feeling unsteady he put his hands which were now menacing claws fused with his gloves to a tree for support. Eris looked from her reflection pool, and was quite pleased with herself. She had made a new monster.

"I did it. This soldier, my loyal minion, shall be the one to terrorize the earth! He's perfect! Now I must give him a little nudge."

Using her telepathic powers she tried contacting Seth.

"Oh monstrous warrior, hear me out! Your new destiny is to serve your new master Eris now. Now to see if he obeys... Kneel before my voice."

However, he kept holding on to the tree speaking not to the voice talking to him. He curiously continued to gaze around the forest.

"Hey, can you even hear me? Kneel down!"

Still nothing. Eris, now irritated, began to use her mind control on Seth, but even with her powers she still could not move the soldier. She wondered why her servant would not do as she commanded, but then she realized something important. You can't control minds if they don't have a brain. Remembering her huge mistake she let out a scream of anger knowing the soldier will never be in her control now.

"Great. Just wonderful. I've created another dumb monster. He will not be my loyal minion in that condition! Grr…he can just die off for all I care now; he's totally useless! So much for that deal. I must put my side of the deal with Hades on hold for now. I must go into plan B, and that is a strategy of taking over Skyworld. Without their sky they're as good as flightless birds!"

Eris left the newly-created warrior by himself now in the downpour and silence of the forest. The now mindless Seth only continued to gaze around the forest like he's never seen it before. He let go of the tree he was holding and tried walking like a toddler, but was still feeling woozy and unsteady and fell flat on his face. Seth moaned in a low nonhuman voice and attempted to stand again, and luckily he was able to. He took a few steps around getting the feel of walking, but when he did he always made his staggering limping movement that made him seem slow. Suddenly, he heard a growling noise which startled him and caused him to prepare his sword, but figured out it was his stomach all along. He had to eat something. He noticed something on the ground and limped over to see what it was. It was a pinecone. Thinking it was food and not having any brains he picked up the pinecone and bit into the sharp edges. The monster quickly spat the seed out and yelled a loud horrifying cry in pain which echoed in the forest. It was still silent, but the forest still had a sense of fear in it because of "him". The monster must scavenge for food and finding no sustenance there and now relying on instinct he started limping toward the path. The only problem was that he went from that direction when he was "normal"; he was now walking toward the city…