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

-[]-[]-[]-

The Horrible News

-[]-[]-[]-

The crystal has been blank for a while. Isis and I are sitting in front of it, each passing second putting us more and more on edge. Phelphor could have done any number of things during the past month. Did he already open the Doors? We'd know by now if he had, right?

"We need to make Sarah remember on her own," I mutter. "I don't think she'll believe us otherwise."

Isis nods silently.

The crystal's glow flickers, and suddenly Sarah's face appears in it. "Yes, hello? Oh! Isis and Osiris! Hello!"

I wonder how fake my smile looks. "Hi Sarah... Is-is Phelphor around?"

Sarah shakes her head. "He's escorting the relieving guard to the Doors of the Deepmines. Did you want to talk to him too?"

I feel my chest tighten. "How long ago did he leave?"

"Yesterday morning," Sarah says brightly, as if she wasn't delivering the worst possible news to us. "He's been incredibly helpful with cleaning up after the mess Elco created, taking a lot of the workload off my shoulders." She blushes and mutters, "And a thousand years worth of blue balls makes him quite... enthusiastic in bed..."

I grit my teeth. "Sarah, I hate to be the one to-"

Sarah covers her eyes with one hand. "I can't believe I said that out loud."

"Sarah," Isis says, "we need to-"

"But, this is the longest relationship I've ever had!" Sarah says with a faraway look in her eyes. "At first, yeah, I just liked his body, but I've been helping him deal with being the last of his kind, and..."

The poor woman is just going on and on about Phelphor, it's like she's obsessed with him. This is going to hurt her so bad.

"Sarah!" I practically shout.

Sarah covers her mouth. "Was I babbling?"

I take a deep breath. "Do you know why all four tribes have a guard at the Doors of the Deepmines?"

Sarah shrugs. "How should I know?"

I'm so, so sorry, Sarah. "Well, tell me what the central conflict in the second season of Chaotic was."

"That's easy," Sarah says, "it was..." She chokes mid-sentence. "I-it was..."

Isis covers her mouth and looks away. I don't blame her. The look of shock and horror slowly spreading across Sarah's face is unbearable. She seems to be staring at the wall, her eyes going wide. Her hands slowly rise and cover her mouth. "No," she whispers, shaking her head. "No, that's not... How did I... How did I forget?"

"I'm sorry..." I mutter.

"I felt sorry for him!" Sarah cries out, her hands pulling at her hair. "I was comforting him about losing everything! But he didn't, did he?! He was just waiting for the perfect time to open the Doors!" Then she suddenly looks sick, and she covers her mouth and heaves. "I-I had sex with him! I swallowed his-!"

Sarah's face disappears from the crystal, and I hear her vomiting, retching and liquid splashing hard on the ground. "Sarah?" I call out. "You need to tell me where Phelphor should be. I know this is very hard, but-"

Sarah's face reappears in the crystal. There's fire in her eyes. "He's mine, you understand? I want to carve his heart out myself!"

"Not if I get to him first," I say.

"Did you not hear me?" Sarah fumes. "I'm going to have the pleasure of dragging his death out. I think I'll start with castration..."

"I did hear you." I stand up and press my palms on the table. "But this isn't just about you. We're talking about the entire M'arrillian tribe being behind the Doors, and Phelphor is on his way to set them free."

Sarah's expression hardens a little. "You don't understand-!"

I slam the table with my fists. "This isn't just your fight!" I shout.

The crystal wobbles from the force of my blow to the table, but it stays upright. I seem to have startled Sarah into silence.

I sit back down. "I know you feel wronged, but there's too much at stake here. If he was a common criminal who fled to Al Mipedim, I would have gladly let you hunt him down yourself, but this is Phelphor, and he's going to open the Doors if he's not dealt with as quickly as possible."

Sarah seems to be staring at the floor. "...Jade Pillar. If they're following the planned route, they'll be camping at Jade Pillar until next morning." She turns and calls out to someone out of view, "I need ten soldiers ready to head to the Doors with me immediately!"

The crystal's glow dies. I stand up. "They won't be able to catch up with them in time. Isis, tell your father what's going on. I'm going to gather a troop of my own and have a muge send us directly to Phelphor."

Isis stands up and grabs my shoulders. "I'm coming with-"

"No," I cut her off, putting a finger to her lips. "No, you can't come with me. Phelphor's too dangerous. You're going to stay here and take care of Hera." I lower my hand to her stomach. "Hera and our little one on the way."

Isis rests her forehead against my shoulder. "...You're right..." She wraps her arms around me. "Why do you have to go?"

"I'm not going to leave it up to chance," I say. "I won't believe the danger has passed until I watch Phelphor die... or kill him myself..."

"Please be safe," Isis whimpers.

I pat Isis's back. "I will."

-[]-[]-[]-

"You're not bringing my soldiers to the Doors of the Deepmines!" Mudeenu roars. "First off, the Doors are neutral territory, and secondly, I did say my soldiers!"

I walk right past Mudeenu into the arsenal and start untying my robe. "I'm not trying to take the Doors, I'm trying to defend them. Besides, we're going to Jade Pillar, not the Doors. Zaka, my armor."

The Mipedian Zaka nods and heads for the appropriate part of the arsenal. Mudeenu snarls, "What deluded logic tells you the Doors are in danger?"

"Phelphor's headed there right now," I retort while I slide my robe off and start undoing my sandals. "He plans on opening them."

Mudeenu laughs. "This Phelphor is either huge, in which case he won't fit through the caves to the Doors anyways, or incredibly dim-witted. Nobody can open the Doors!"

I kick my sandals away just as Zaka brings my armor. "He can," I say. "He did it in the show."

"Again with this show!" Mudeenu cries out. "You speak of it as if it tells the future! Has it occurred to you that in your world it was a work of fiction?"

"It had," I reply as Zaka begins the difficult process of putting my armor on correctly. Field-plate armor, similar to full-plate but more flexible. "However, if the show is correct on this note, like everything else before, then we need to treat Phelphor's attempt to go there as if it was a Perim-threatening emergency. Because it is."

"You're not taking my soldiers!" Mudeenu repeats.

I glare at Mudeenu with all the fire I can muster. "They are the Mipedian military. Not your soldiers, everyone's soldiers, and right now I need them to save Perim."

Malvadine pokes his head into the arsenal. "Sobtjek is ready with the mugic, Prince Osiris."

"Is everyone equipped?" I ask. Zaka taps my foot, and I lift it so he can strap my greaves on.

Malvadine nods. "We're only waiting for you."

I lift my other foot. "Maps? Provisions?"

"Everything," Malvadine replies before withdrawing.

Mudeenu roars, "Running off again like a month ago! Have you even consulted with my father?!"

"Isis should be there right now," I snap. I spread my arms so Zaka can buckle my cuirass to my torso.

"And yet you prepare without waiting for his approval!" Mudeenu accuses. "I should arrest you for insubordination right now!"

My armor is on. Zaka hands me my helmet, and I slide it over my head as I walk past Mudeenu. "Try it," I growl. "When all of Perim is flooded, the remnants of the once great tribes of Perim, struggling to survive against the M'arrillians, will sing songs of lament over how everything could have been avoided if the great Prince Mudeenu had just shut up and listened for once." I grab a long package containing my battlegear as I leave.

"You dare-!" Mudeenu roars before I slam the door behind me.

Sobtjek, Malvadine, and everyone else is here waiting for me, standing in a circle. "Let's get started," I say as I grab the last remaining bag and take my place the circle, "before Mudeenu blows a fuse."

Nobody asks what a fuse is. Instead, Sobtjek holds up a mugic and says, "Remember, everyone needs to enter the circle at the same time. I do not have another of this mugic one lying around."

"Understood," we all say.

Sobtjek holds up the mugic, which floats into the air. The Mipedian muge shivers and sighs as a yellow ghostly image rises from his body and spirals around the stone-like ring. "Song of Translocation!" Sobtjek announces. "Craft us a path to Jade Pillar!"

Seven notes resound through the air, twanging as if played on a harpsichord. On the last note, what looks like a bolt of lightning hits the ground in the center of our circle. Instead of immediately vanishing, it lingers, and a circle of light expands from where it struck the ground.

"On three," I say. "One..."

The door behind me slams open. "Oh no you don't, Michael."

I turn around to see Mudeenu storm from the arsenal at me. "What are-?"

Mudeenu points at me as he marches forward. "You aren't going anywhere until we've both spoken to the king, and I'm going to throw your a** in prison if it turns out you didn't bother asking-" At that moment he presses his finger sharply into my chest, clanging loudly against my armor.

My center of balance is thrown off, and I take a step backwards in reaction. My stomach flies up to my throat as I feel myself suddenly drop. It feels like I'm tumbling backwards down a pit, with yellow bolts of lightning flying by me through a pitch-black sky. My body feels as if it's on fire, burning heat washing across my skin.

Two seconds later, my feet hit solid ground. I see an enormous green pillar in front of me, covered in abandoned scaffolding. What just happened?

It hits me. I just got sent to Jade Pillar. Completely alone.

-[]-[]-[]-

Up next: The Path to Oblivion

-[]-[]-[]-

Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

If you like the story, please follow and leave a review!