I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.

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The Seventh Time

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I am going to strangle Mudeenu when I get my hands on him! No, I can't, somewhat because the next time I see him he won't be the one who killed me. Not to mention I don't think I'm physically capable of strangling Mudeenu.

The Underworld. Oh, joy, I'm headed there next. How would you like your human, Chaor? Very well done, apparently. Oh great, now I'm imagining Chaor eating- ugh, no, stop thinking that.

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I open my eyes. No time to lose. I don't even turn around to look at Chaor, I just bolt.

Cover! I need cover! A pillar! I dive behind it, and moments after that I see a wave of flame pass me. The air heats as the napalm-like fire sticks to stone, but I'm untouched.

"Chaor, stop!" a panicked voice screeches. "You'll burn the palace down!"

I glance out from behind the pillar. Chaor's hands are alight with flames, and the blue lizard-man Agitos is frantically pulling Chaor's tail. Chaor's face is twisted with rage, and it looks like he's about to throw more fire anyway. I quickly hide behind the pillar again.

"Agitos is right, Lord Chaor," a female voice says. "Let me deal with... whatever that thing is."

I hear a deep growl. Chaor speaks, and his deep rough voice sends chills down my spine. "Hm... Very well, Takinom."

Good news, Chaor's no longer trying to roast me alive. Bad news, now Takinom is.

There's napalm all over the floor, except for strips of ground that were protected by pillars. I have no room to maneuver, while Takinom has wings. Running isn't an option, so...

I put my hands up when Takinom lands in front of me. "I give up!"

Well, that made her pause. Takinom raises an eyebrow as she looks at me up and down. "Lord Chaor, I'm certain this creature is not a warrior of any kind. Nor a spy, he doesn't look that intelligent."

Wow, that stung a little.

"Bring him here," Chaor growls. "I'll be the judge of that."

Takinom spreads her wings and lifts into the air. Oh crap. She swoops down and grabs me by the shoulder before rising into the air.

The three seconds it takes for Takinom to deposit me in front of Chaor's throne are terrifying. I keep silently begging her not to drop me.

Chaor's sitting on his throne again. He glares down at me, the left side of his lips raised in a sneer. I can see sharp white teeth.

My legs can't take it, they buckle. I feel my knees hit the ground.

Chaor leans forward until his muzzle is maybe a foot away from my face. His voice rumbles, "Do you know who I am?"

Do I feign ignorance? Do I reveal what I know? Either way, I think something's going to go wrong.

Screw it. "Yes. You're Chaor." Wow, I kept my voice from shaking.

Chaor narrows his eyes and huffs. His breath feels hot. "So why aren't you bowing?"

Crap, how do I get out of this? How do you recover from disrespecting the king of the Underworld? "I-I..." Now I'm stammering.

Chaor bares his teeth and snorts. "Speak up before I decide to kill you, maggot."

Suddenly I know the answer. "F-forgive me. I-I'd always been taught that the gods were insulted when mortals bowed to them."

The switch from anger to confusion on Chaor's face happens a lot slower that I would have liked it to be. "Gods?" he mutters quietly. Then he furrows his brow. "Why would a god not want to be bowed to?"

Right, I just need to feed his ego a bit more. "I-I don't know," I stammer. "I-it never made sense to me. And now I'm more confused. Is this some kind of test? To see if I would bow to you?"

Chaor leans back on his throne with a thoughtful look in his eyes. He drums his fingers on the armrest of his throne.

Agitos speaks up. "Lord Chaor?"

Chaor raises a finger and shakes his head, and Agitos falls silent.

Chaor lifts a leg and drapes it over the armrest while his body leans in the other direction. He looks almost like the stereotypical lazy monarch now, except for his expression showing how deep in thought he is. Suddenly he speaks, "Tell me, mortal, as a test of your knowledge and faith, what do I govern? All of it. You fail my test if you miss anything."

He's pretending to test me so that he can learn what kind of god I think he is. Excellent. "Y-you're the god of the Underworld, the place souls travel to after death. Y-you are also the god of war, death and conquest, grooming the strongest of the souls that come to you into soldiers. Th-the weak wander through your realm, serving you whenever called upon, or are put to final rest."

A grin slowly creeps across Chaor's face. "Are you certain you aren't forgetting anything? Maybe there's an old text you read that tells of the lesser things I govern."

Now he's just fishing for compliments. I'm at a loss for a second until I think of something else to stroke his ego. "Um, it is rumored that you are also the god of life and fertility, sending your strongest soldiers back to the mortal coil to be reborn. Th-the priests refused to answer questions about that, though..."

"Very good," Chaor grins. "One last question in your test. How do I reincarnate my strongest?"

...Oh. I hadn't thought of that. I need to think of something that will make sense to Chaor while not being insulting. Oh, crap, I don't like what I've just thought of, but I can't look like I'm making this up. "You, er, you throw a celebration for the soldier, during which you sw-swallow him. Then you come to the mortal world and..." Oh come on, don't choke now, Michael! "...and you find someone worthy of bearing the new king and mate with her."

I feel incredibly dirty. Maybe I should just die and get it over with.

Chaor widens his eyes eyes a little, and his grin grows wider. "Excellent work, mortal," he says. "You've passed my test."

Takinom looks agitated. "Lord Chaor, I need to talk to you."

Chaor glances at her and lowers his head. "What is it?" he mutters.

Takinom drops her voice to a whisper, but not low enough for me to not hear her. "I don't think you should pose as some other creature's god."

Chaor snorts and whispers back, "Didn't you hear him call me the god of the dead? He thinks he's one of those dead souls, he's not going to question any inconsistencies."

Wow, Underworlders are bad at whispering.

Takinom bites her lower lip. "What when he sees that you don't have the same powers as his Chaor? Nor his army?"

Chaor holds back a laugh. Badly. "I can easily fake it. I can even say that dead souls change form after a while so he doesn't wonder why Underworlders don't look like him. As for reincarnating soldiers, hmm, I'll think of something." He grins again as he says that last part. "Something fun." Oh my god, he's getting an erection, and that loincloth isn't hiding it well.

Forget this, I'm not going to try to live in an Underworld where I told Chaor I thought he was a god.

Before I can say anything, the doors to the throne room burst open, and a group of creatures wearing spiky red plate armor rush into the room. "Lord Chaor!" one of them cried out. "Strange creatures have appeared all over the city!"

Agitos's jaws drops. Takinom's body jerks in surprise. Chaor's eyes widen for a moment, then he smirks. "Do they happen to look like our guest here?"

The lead spiky warrior stares at me. "Yes, they do."

Chaor laughs and stands up. "We're in luck. I look exactly like those creatures' god of death, war, and fertility. Gather them together and tell them that their god will arrive to address them shortly."

The warriors hesitantly bow and leave, and the doors slam shut behind them. Chaor stands. "Agitos, find me something to wear that looks like a deity would wear it." He undoes the belt holding his loincloth up and lets it drop. "Maybe black leather to represent death, with metal spikes for war."

"A-as you wish, Lord Chaor," Agitos stammers in confusion as he heads for the door.

Chaor removes his spiked arm-guards. "No gold, no gems. If they expect me to wear jewelry, I'll simply say that I've never had so many arrive in the same place and was not prepared." He takes off his boots and taps the ground with his hooves, then pauses as he looks at his naked form. "Ah, right, fertility god. On second thought, maybe a codpiece made of gold."

Takinom glances at me. "Chaor, you've forgotten about somebody."

I'm pretty certain I've gone into shock at some point. Chaor looks at me, then groans. "Gah, I can't have him telling everyone the truth. Fetch me a mugic, Takinom."

Takinom quickly flies to the door along with Agitos, and the door closes again, leaving me alone with Chaor.

Chaor grins at me. "I wonder if I really can swallow one of you creatures whole."

My heart stops.

Chaor continues, "It may be difficult if you struggle, though. I'll test it with your corpse first."

Takinom flies back into the throne room with a seven-sided ring. She hands the mugisphere to Chaor, who accepts it. Well, looks like it's time to die.

Chaor turns to me and lets go of the mugisphere, which begins to float towards the ceiling. "Maybe I'll even test 'reincarnating' you afterwords," he snickers. Then he spreads his legs, tightens the muscles in his body and roars.

A ghostly image rises from Chaor, glowing red. A mugician. It rises to the floating mugisphere and spirals into the gap at its center.

"Canon of Casualty!" Chaor roars. "Kill the creature before me!"

The mugisphere explodes into a display of fiery yellow light, and an orchestra of sound flows out, deepening in tone as the mugic's light shoots towards me. I brace myself as...

The world suddenly turns into pain, and then vanishes...

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Up next: The Trials of Leadership

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Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

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