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

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The Ninth Time

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"It's a game called Chaotic," I explain to the completely befuddled Odu-Bathax. "Many things from Perim, such as creatures, battlegear, locations, mugic, attacks, they're all represented by cards in this game."

Odu-Bathax blinks once, twice, three times. Then he presses the sword he's pointing at me harder against my chest. "So you're saying you 'humans' created Perim?"

Whoa, let's go far away from that line of thought. "It would be arrogant and foolish for me to the that ink on paper created this whole world."

Odu-Bathax stares at my face for a moment. Then he hands the sword off to a mandiblore. "Make sure they stay here," he orders as he marches down the hall.

My three fellow humans are still staying silent. I sigh and turn to them. "I'm guessing none of you ever played the game."

"No," says one of the young women. Her voice is shaking. "Y-you said we're in Mount Pillar?"

I nod. "It's a large underground hive, stretching from near the surface of Perim to the bottom of the Underworld." I shudder as I imagine the height. That would be a much longer fall than last time's at Kiru City.

Some of the mandiblores are looking at each other and whispering. Well, I guess you're bound to make and impression when you reveal that you know just about everything about a world that you shouldn't have any clue of.

I feel a tap on my shoulder, and I turn to see a mandiblore's spear hovering over it. "Um," begins the mandiblore holding the weapon, "when you were naming members of our tribe, you included Raznus."

I nod. "And?"

The mandiblore tilts his head. "Well, Raznus is at Mount Pillar, but he's an Overworlder."

I blink in surprise. "Wait," I blurt, "you didn't assimilate him yet?"

The mandiblore's eyes widen. "Yet?" He rears back a little on his hind pair of legs. "How did you know about that?"

I have a general place in time now! I'm somewhere before the Silent Sands expansion's place in time! Ranzus was turned into a Danian between that one and the previous one, Zenith of the Hive! I wonder if all the other places have been at this time.

Oh. If it's the exact same time each time, then there's nobody with that woman at Kiru City to save her...

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"It's bizarre, Lore," I hear Odu-Bathax's voice coming from the tunnel ahead of us. "You'd almost think he could only learn all of what he says from spying on us."

Another voice, ragged and tired, says, "You believe not, though?"

I see Odu-Bathax come into view, along with a much smaller Danian. This one is thin and only slightly taller than a human, and he's wearing a brown robe, almost like that one brown wizard from The Hobbit, minus the hat and all the bird crap. Like Odu-Bathax, he walks on two legs and has four arms. Lore, the high muge of the Danians.

Odu-Bathax has his arms held out in front of his, and it looks like he's about to grab something floating in front of his chest. "When he was describing Perim, his eyes were drifting as if he was reading from a scroll or a book. He pinched the fingers of his left hand together as he described the card game. He even knows the princess's name!"

Lore tilts his head. "Her naming ceremony hasn't been completed," he notes. "So far only Queen Illexia knows where the child's name will be."

"I spoke to the Queen Illexia before I came to you," Odu-Bathax says. "The 'human' was correct."

Wait, Aszil's still a child?

Lore's eyes widen. "First a traitor to the hive, and now mysterious creatures that know more than should be possible. What else has this day in store for us?"

Wow, Lore, that sounded a lot like a "what else can go wrong today" kind of statement.

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I'm near the top of Mount Pillar. Humans who already knew about Chaotic are gathered here. The others, I don't know where they are. The Danian populace is in an uproar.

I'm sitting by myself. I don't like to socialize when I'm this stressed. I shouldn't be stressed, I know, but I am anyway.

Lore is very curious about humans. He's been walking through here periodically, rubbing all four of his hands together and muttering to himself. Occasionally he stands up one of us and takes a closer look. Last time he examined a woman's left eye. It's kind of freaky.

Lore walks in again, muttering even faster than last time, and his gaze falls on me. He strides over, bends down in front of me, and wrenches open my mouth without any warning. I try to stay calm.

"Rearmost molars on top jaw have a smoother inner surface than on lower jaw. Different from previous subjects. Dental work?" Shesh, this guy's probably speaking as fast as a certain salarian scientist.

Lore leaves soon afterwords. I stand and look out the window. The view's nice, at least. A lot more exciting that you'd expect from an underground city. Some parts of the stone ceiling glow, and-

I feel a sharp pain in my back. I turn around. There's a Danian wearing a ragged black cloak.

My back is beginning to ache. I stare at the Danian. He's just standing there, watching me, as if he's waiting for something to happen.

...Oh no. No, he just infected me with a parasite, didn't he. He's going to turn me into a little loyal mandiblore. No, I'd rather die!

I look at the window. It's narrow. Can I fit through it? I feel my back spasm. I'd better fit.

I rush to the window and fit my shoulder through the gap. The Danian who infected me gawks in surprise. I let all the air out of my lungs and try to squeeze through.

"What are you doing?" somebody screams. The other humans think I've gone nuts. They probably didn't see what had happened. One person grabs my arm. I slug him in the face, and he goes sprawling.

My upper body is almost all the way through. My hips are still inside, though, and the spasms are spreading. I hear a tearing sound, and several people shriek. I look back towards the sound to see that spikes are sprouting from my back.

Why am I jumping? I want to serve the hive.

No! Michael, don't think that!

But the hive will protect me, and I can stay here forever and ever.

Gah! No! My mind belongs to me! Jump, Michael, jump!

Aren't you scared of heights, Michael? Go back inside and tell the humans how wonderful being a Danian is.

No! Fall! Fall! FAAALLLLLL!

I somehow squirm my hips through the gap, and I begin to plummet. I have so far to fall.

There's a shooting pain on my forehead. Antennae! I feel them vibrate. No! No hive calls! I reach up and grab one with both hands. It takes a bit of effort to painfully break it off.

It's too late. I see two winged Danians fly out of windows below me.

Save me, my brothers! Take me back to the hive!

Gah! No! Let me fall!

One of the winged Danians starts flying downwards until he's going a bit slower down that I am. He reaches out his arms to catch me. I punch him in the eye. That Danian spirals away, dazed. The other Danian, this one above me, is flying down faster than I'm falling to catch me.

I'm sorry, I promise not to hurt a brother again.

Let me fall!

Save me, I'll be forever grateful.

I want to die!

Catch me! Catch me!

NO!

I launch both my feet at the Danian's face, and he crumbles in midair. He drifts away, his wings catching currents as he hangs unconscious in the air.

The ground is getting close now. Someone save me! No! Let me die! I don't know what I'm saying, of course I want to live! Let me hit the ground! I want to serve you forever! I want to die! I'll always love you, fellow Dania-

I hit the ground headfirst.

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Up next: The Birthday in Perim

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Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to sit in that corner for a while.

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