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

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The Last Free Mind on Perim

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I can feel my heart pounding.

I open my eyes. The clouds above me are red.

A deep, malicious voice shouts, "My brother and sister M'arrillians! Perim is ours!"

I sit up and stare. Aa'une floats above Lake Blakeer, glowing red and violet. Around the lake are thousands of creatures, all with blank faces.

"Return to me, my tribe, and see what has been accomplished!" Aa'une spreads his arms. "Witness the former masters of this world, their minds' bent to my will!"

Brainwashed? Everyone?

Chieftains, fluidmorphers, kha'rall, they all approach. They look around in awe.

"Every one of our foes now answers to me," Aa'une sneers. "And not just here, but everywhere." Then he turns and faces me. "Everyone, that is, except for him."

I struggle to my feet as the M'arrillians turn to look at me. Some drop to the ground and bow.

Aa'une laughs. "Oh, he did not resist my powers, foolish creatures. No godlike powers there. I merely left him untouched. Mostly."

Where's my sword? There! I snatch it from the ground and straighten up.

{You seriously think you can fight me?} a voice in my head chuckles. {You may be the dreamer, but I am like a god now!}

I don't answer. How... how am I going to get to him?

Aa'une brushes his fingers against the helmet he wears. {Recognize it?}

Don't answer, don't answer...

Aa'une lifts the helmet off his head. {If you weren't so pivotal to the continuation of reality, I would crush you.} The helmet crumbles in his hand and starts to fall to the lake. {Just like that.}

Maybe I can find a cyclance or a pyroblaster.

Aa'une's face twists with rage. "Stop ignoring me!"

There's a pain in my gut. I look down. There's a spike of rock jutting out of my stomach.

"Do I have your attention now?" Aa'une laughs. He turns and speaks loudly, "You all have heard of Prince Osiris, correct? I've heard rumors that I fear him, even from my own tribe."

The M'arrillians murmur nervously. Aa'une turns back to me. "But I don't fear him," he grins and he lifts a hand towards me.

It feels like something has wrapped around my heart and is pulling up. My feet lift off the ground, and I slowly float forward.

"What do I have to fear from such a pathetic creature?" Aa'une crows. "Why should I fear when I can disarm him with just a thought?"

My sword explodes in my hand, and sharp metal embeds itself in my skin. My aqua shield detonates as well. It hurts... so much... My arms and my sides feel torn to shreds...

"Why should I worry," Aa'une snickers, "when his armor peels away with a wave of my hand?"

My helmet turns inside-out as it flies off my head, crumbling into a ball as it falls down towards the water.

Aa'une raises a hand, and I feel a large rock collide with my back. "No, my fellow M'arrillians. I do not fear this Human." He points at me, and-

"Gyah!" There's no way I can avoid screaming. Two sharp spikes of rock erupt from the stone behind me and pierce through my wrists. I feel the force lifting me release, and suddenly those same spikes are all that are keeping me from falling. I can feel my flesh tearing as gravity drags me down.

Aa'une turns away from me and spreads his arms. "Let's have this fool watch, yes? Go among his soldiers, those creatures that fought alongside him, and every tenth creature you pass... tear its heart out."

"No, stop!" I struggle to breathe. "Don't touch them!"

Aa'une turns to me and laughs before appearing directly in front of my face. "You're right. You shouldn't watch. You should be blind to it all, wondering who will live and who will die."

I hear distant cries of pain. People are dying, right now, and I can't do anything about it!

Aa'une leans close and whispers, "As for you, Michael, I have something special in mind. You won't die. Ever."

My heart seizes up.

Aa'une laughs at the expression on my face. "Yes, living forever, subject to my whims." He slowly drags a finger down my chest. "The world lives while you lives, and I'd rather my rule last longer than your natural lifespan."

"Don't... touch me..." I gasp. Breathing is excruciating now.

Aa'une presses his forehead to mine and hisses, "Of course, that means you'll never wake up. I wonder... after hundreds of thousands of solans here, what will you be like outside your dream? Would you like to see?"

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I'm floating in a white room. There's a mattress on a metal frame in the room, and a curtain surrounds the bed. A withered husk of a man lies in the bed, with bags of fluids hooked up to him, delivering their contents through tubes.

A machine near the bed beeps periodically. A screen draws out little lines, and a number on the screen counts up and down.

There's a clipboard hanging from the edge of the bed. On it is a single word. A name.

Michael.

I hear a voice. "Eighty years. All the signs of being brain-dead, except for the fact that he has constant brain activity. It's the longest coma on record."

Another voice speaks from above me. Aa'une's voice. {Oh, look over there. Is that you? You look like a piece of meat left out in the sun too long. Ha ha!}

The withered man's throat moves, as if attempting to swallow. Then a cough erupts from his lungs.

The voice outside says, "We've tried waking him up, of course. Nothing works, though. Unplugging him isn't an option as long as his brain continues to function-"

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"You're... wrong..." I wheeze.

Aa'une pulls away from me. He bares his teeth. "Wrong?"

"One way... or... another... I'll... wake up..."

Aa'une sneers, then taps my forehead. "So you'll survive the landing," he grins before grabbing my throat and pulling me forward.

I'm falling. Falling down to the large floating rock below us. I hit it, and it hurts so much. The world is spinning like a top around me.

Aa'une's voice bellows again. "Tonight we celebrate! No more do we live in the Deepmines! The world is ours to do with as we see fit!"

I raise my head and focus my eyes. Lying in front of me is a fluidmorpher. A light blue, almost bone-like weapon is sticking out of its chest. The baton of Aa'une, basically a sacrificial knife.

Aa'une is still speaking, but I'm not listening. I place my palms on the ground and try to push myself up.

Aa'une... Will... Not... Win!

The pain is gone. The wounds are gone. I can feel a raging energy inside my body.

This is my dream. This is my mind.

I stand up. It's easy. I grab the end of the baton with my left hand and yank it out.

This is my world. You are my creation.

I look up. Aa'une is still speaking to the M'arrillians.

And now I'll destroy you.

I don't jump. I simply let the ground move away from me. I soar upwards, and I come to a stop in front of Aa'une.

Aa'une reels back and gawks at me. "Wh-what is this?!"

I look at my right hand. Cracks in my skin reveal a white light inside it.

Aa'une snarls and points a hand at me. A rain of needles made of ice fly from his fingers, but they shatter against my body.

I speak, and it sounds like the entire world is speaking. "You? Rule Perim?"

Aa'une's eyes widen, and he floats backwards a little.

I raise my left hand and point the baton at Aa'une. "Maybe in your dreams, but not in mine!"

I dart forward and stab the leader of the M'arrillians in the top of the chest. Then I pull the baton down, tearing through muscle and cartilage. Aa'une's chest and stomach split open, and glowing translucent blood spills out.

A pair of violet lungs. Coiled blue intestines. And surprisingly, a transparent heart.

Aa'une bellows in shock and pain as he staggers backwards. I pull the baton out and let it fall, and then I reach inside his chest. I wrap my hands around his still-beating heart, and I yank.

Aa'une's body spasms. He slowly falls, facing the sky, an expression of shock etched on his face. He lands on the floating rock below us, and glowing blood starts to stain the rock's surface.

I hold up the heart as its beating slows, and I turn to the M'arrillians. "I am Osiris," I say. "I have slain Aa'une."

The M'arrillians look up at me in terror. Many are bowing.

I speak again. "Surrender, or share his fate."

I hear weapons start to clatter to the ground, and the M'arrilians turn and start to flee. Not even a minute passes, and they all vanish.

I drift slowly downwards. I'm completely spent. I feel dizzy, light-headed. That was the most I could do, the most I could break the rules of the world of my dream.

I land on the rock that Aa'une's dead body lays on. His real body, this time. I feel the world spin around me.

The people around the lake are starting to wake up from unconsciousness, while the world goes dark around me...

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Up next: The Heavy Price of Victory

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Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

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