[Authoress's Notes:
[This is going to earn itself an "R" rating really fast, I can tell… Sex, violence, language, general scariness… oh, well…Not yet, though. This chapter's… well, only suggestive, which keeps it in the PG-13 category.
[Other notes… Nature's supposed to have a Scottish accent. I'm very bad at typing Scottish accents. My apologies.]
Chapter Two Item: She Hath Many Nameless Virtues
Death was grinning. Well, not so much grinning as smiling very slightly, but it was such an odd expression that Life noticed it immediately. "I know that look. There is no way in any of the planes that can be construed as a good look."
"Chaos has a new toy."
"Is that all? Chaos always has a new toy."
"This one's different. She's… well, put simply, amazing."
"She impressed you?"
"I can't believe Chaos had it in her to concentrate on a project for so long. But…" Here Death really smiled, a creeping turn of the mouth that could freeze steam. "We know what happens when our dear sister really puts her mind to something… she's even more dangerous in high concentrations."
Life shivered. Chaos's greatest weakness was her very temperament – the fact that her mind rarely remained on one task for any appreciable amount of time. When the easily-distracted factor was removed… Life shuddered again, hoping this wouldn't get out of hand.
At this point, Death launched into a grand description of Cassandra, of her seeming virtues and her talents, her strength and quick mind. Life grew steadily more pallid as Death delineated all of the new creation's attributes. When the Dark One stopped, Life swallowed hard and said, "What's Chaos planning to do with her?"
"I don't rightly know. But I'd keep a close eye on my villagers if I were you." With that and another sly grin, Death slid out of Life's presence.
Life sat, blinking, for a moment. "Nature!"
~~*~~
"It's a nightmare! An absolute nightmare!"
Nature looked up from her reading. "What now?"
"They've… they've… they've created a monster!"
"Are they not always? Chaos especially…"
Life flounced down amid a haze of white skirts. "It's different this time."
"What do
you mean?"
"Well, Death said so."
Nature blinked a few times. "Have you even seen this new creation? I mean, Chaos is always makin' summat dreadful. I wouldnae worry about it."
"But… Death said… this one's got a brain!"
"Well, technically, all of her creatures have brains, they just dinnae know how t' use 'em."
"This one's intelligent. Truly. She can think and reason and plan strategies. And she's awful and lethal."
Nature set her book down on her desk, then stood up, shaking out her apron. "Le's go see this creature, then. I'm sure it cannae be so bad as all that."
When the two Light Goddesses found Chaos's latest creation, the Fire Goddess was not about. Cassandra, however, was perched atop her pedestal, sitting perfectly still.
"Is this…"
"She must be."
Nature tilted her head to one side. "She does nae look so bad. O' course, it's a little hard to be scared o' a Human."
"Do you see the flames on her head?! This is no mere mortal Human!"
"Well, I c'n see them…"
When they had entered, Cassandra's head had been bowed, eyes shut, as though deep in meditation. As Life and Nature walked forward, she raised her head and opened flashing yellow eyes at them. Life eeped and jumped behind Nature, who was regarding Cassandra cautiously.
"Hello."
"H-Hello."
Cassandra blinked. The red stone at her throat was glowing oddly, and Life decided right off that that was a bad sign. "Greetings. You are My Lady's Sisters, are you not?"
Life nodded. "Aye," said Nature. "That we are. We're wonderin' what you might be."
Cassandra looked down at herself, then back up to the Goddesses. "Isn't it fairly obvious?"
"Well, y're Human, that much is obvious. But…"
"But what are you for?"
"I exist for the pleasure and bidding of the Lady Chaos, Mistress of All that is Great."
Life stood up on her tiptoes and whispered to Nature, "I don't think I like her."
"I don't think she likes us," Nature whispered back. Indeed, Cassandra was fixing them with what would later be dubbed the Evil Glare of Evil ™. Being Goddesses, they were unaffected by the look's dark powers, but they still didn't like it. Nature opened her mouth to say something else, but at that moment the Mistress of Flame herself burst dramatically into the room.
"What are you doing here?!" she demanded.
"Just… looking…"
Chaos paused for a moment, deciding whether to be infuriated or not. After a short deliberation, she smirked, saying, "Come to marvel at my creation? I warrant neither 'a you've ever made somethin' like this."
"Well, that's certainly true," Life whispered to herself.
"I'm calling her Cassandra."
"Why is her necklace glowing?" Nature ventured.
"Oh, that. Gives her a mind link to me."
Life swallowed. "Mind link?"
"Mind link."
"Mercy heavens…"
Chaos leaned against the red stone wall, wearing a pleased smile. "Life, dear Sister, you've gone even paler than usual. And Nature, you don't need to give me that look. I know perfectly well you're not pleased. In fact, I was counting on it." Nature made her expression even more admonishing. Chaos grinned, baring fang-like teeth. "Now, if y'all don't mind, we've got some training to do." Two pairs of yellow eyes, fearsomely alike, bored straight into Life's blue pair. "Unless you'd care to watch. I was thinkin' of practicing on some unicorns my troops captured th' last time they were in Auraeria."
Life's eyes doubled in diameter. "What? NO! You can't! They're holy!" she screeched.
Nature stared at Chaos quite calmly. "Come on, Life. Let's leave our Sister to her work." Life allowed herself to be led from the room, glancing over her shoulder at the two flame-haired beings behind her.
Cassandra turned to Chaos and blinked. "Unicorns, Lady?"
Chaos waved a hand impatiently. "Don't actually have any. I was just screwing with Life."
"Your sadism is exquisite, My Lady."
"Of course it is! Now, then, I do have some training for you. Let's see what you can handle."
Her lips turned up into a cruel smile. "Anything you can throw at me, My Lady."
~~*~~
Chaos watched from a distance as the tiger-bloodeagle hybrid crept through the garden, if the tangled mass of choking vines and weeds could be called that. Cassandra stood in the middle of a small clearing, where the vegetation had been cut away by the machete clenched in her left hand. That blade won't help you against a hybrid, fine one, Chaos thought bemusedly. She had only just begun forcing Cassandra to use tactics and not merely power in her training, and wondered how the girl would handle this.
Wings folded close to its back, the hybrid slunk close to the ground, hugging the earth to avoid the dangling viper vines. Cassandra did not move; she was listening, straining to hear the faint shuffling of dirt under the hybrid's paws. The creature seemed to realize it was making noise, and so took to the air. It moved faster than the vines could, and so was able to escape to a higher level of flora where it would not be set upon by bloodthirsty botanicals. Cassandra turned, having heard the rustling of the creature's wings when it first took off, but the hybrid was a silent flier; once it was in the air, it was nearly undetectable. Cassandra knew this, yet did not look concerned. She waited. Chaos watched as the hybrid flew a circle in the air, judging its prey.
Without warning, the predator attacked, swooping down through the leaves, elegantly dodging the leaves of the trailing plants, moving in a blur towards Cassandra. Claws extended, wings beating furiously, the hybrid dove for Cassandra's chest. For a moment Chaos wondered if Cassandra even realized it was happening.
Then, in movements too quick to see, Cassandra had dropped her machete and used the free hand to grab an arrow from the quiver at her back. She notched the arrow, drew back the string, and loosed the weapon all in one fluid movement. The arrow found its mark squarely in the beast's chest, and the creature fell to the ground unceremoniously. The hybrid screeched horrendously as it writhed in the dirt, until it lost the strength to fight. When she was sure it had no power left to attack her, she picked up the machete, approached the unfortunate beast, and hacked off its head.
"Excellent," Chaos said, coming forward. "Most excellent. I gotta say, I was worried for a minute there."
Cassandra grabbed a length of her skirt and used it to wipe the blood off of her machete. "Have you no faith in your own creation?"
Chaos frowned. "C'mon."
"Where are we going?"
"You're getting too serious, and I don't like it. I gave you other talents, too, y'know. Let's test those out." She flashed Cassandra a wicked grin. "We're going to a party!"
Chaos, Mistress of all that is Wild, is the original party girl. Every teenager who has gotten completely inebriated and lost her virginity at a frat bash owes the experience to the Lady of Flame. When the Raeglythans weren't decimating enemy cities or plotting to take over another plane of existence, they were most likely drinking and fornicating. Chaos was extremely proud of her people's attitude in this respect. It was to one such celebration that Chaos elected to take Cassandra, a rowdy bash of Raeglythans and their fellow mischief-makers, including even a few Humans they'd picked up somewhere.
"C'mon, we'd better go in disguise, or else they'll be too busy bowing and being terrified of me – as well they should be – to have fun. Pick a look," Chaos ordered. Cassandra's image instantly shifted into that of a tall, well-endowed blonde. "Nice," Chaos approved, herself shifting into a wildly red-headed entity. "Let's go."
Raeglythans were typically half-crazed, either with wine or with bloodlust, and most were already intoxicated by the time Chaos and Cassandra arrived. No one paused to welcome the new arrivals; they simply jumped into the fray. Chaos entertained herself by entering a drinking contest (unfair, to be sure, as immortals tend to hold their liquor quite well). Cassandra, in the meantime, had started dancing with some of the other scantily-clad beings there. It didn't take the few Human men present much time to gravitate towards her, and even less time after that for Cassandra to find one she liked and disappear off to a dark corner with him.
Chaos, of course, knew exactly what was going on. Nice choice, she thought. Little scrawny for my tastes, but whatever… She then returned to knocking back her seventh consecutive Widow Maker. Have your fun now, Cassandra… soon… very soon… we'll have work to do… Auraeria!
[A/N: ::intense, dark, foreshadowing music plays:: Hehe. What will happen on Auraeria? Will Life be able to stop the Daughter of Flame from ravaging her land? Will Nature make blueberry muffins? Tune in next time to find out…
[And in the meantime, reviews! I love reviews!]
* "Item: She hath many nameless virtues." The Two Gentlemen of Verona, III.i, spoken by Speed. When spoken, this line should always be accompanied by the "huge tracts of land" gesture from Monty Python.
