Chapter 10

It was her, they all realized now. The being they had been looking out for had been right next to them.

They all concentrated their stares at the strange young woman they had found out there in the mist. Only that she wasn´t young, in fact this `woman´ wasn´t human at all.

Even their two prisoners Delilah and Eve seemed to be shocked by what they had just seen. How her body had seemingly dissolved into nothingness and recreated itself from black smoke moments later, and the way in which she had just brought the entire group of monstrous creatures to retreat, with her mere presence….

This was the being that was controlling the realm beyond the mist they were now in, the one the cult of Innhiata was worshipping, the one who was said to be residing out there, in the void between the realities.

In some way they should have suspected it, Xena1 thought.

The soft mannered and obviously somewhat crazy young woman they had found was not longer there. This here was a goddess, in every sense of the word.

xxx

One of the creatures however refused to retreat along with the others. It was at the far outer side of the group and was still moving towards them.

This was the moment Ares got active. He suddenly attacked it, after making a great leap forward, jumping right into the fight. Even for the God of War this seemed to be a unexpected and reckless move. But it was successful.

He cut right into the flesh of the beast and drew thick, black colored, blood. The monster let out an angry roar, but the last being was finally withdrawing as well, following the others.

A few moments later the last of the creatures were gone.

This meant that at least one of their problems was solved now. But it was actually one of their smallest.

xxx

What was left however was the woman who was standing before them and who was now turning her attention back to them.

"Now," she said as she once again turned around towards their group, "where were we?"

"You are Chaos," Xena1 stated coldly.

While her voice sounded confident and sure of herself, it was clear that she was anything but for anybody who knew her. She was nervous, and even more, shocked and terrified. But she wouldn´t let it show.

xxx

The creatures they had just faced were a line of abominations beyond a normal human's understanding, interdimensional beings who existed in the cracks between the planes of reality. They were powerful enough to travel between worlds, to place nightmares into the minds of mortal beings, dimensions or light-years away and drive them insane.

There was only one reason for them to retreat like this, because `the woman´ was even more dangerous than them.

Callisto, the other Xena, Sarah and the Gabrielles were pretty much in the same state as she was. This was no wonder given what they were facing here.

Out of all of them only Discord and Ares didn´t seem to truly react in any way to this revelation. It was nearly as if they were not as surprised as the others. The truth was Discord had already figured out who their `guest´ was a few minutes before and had informed Ares. Their shock had already passed.

"And what now?" Sarah asked Callisto, a bit insecure.

"I don´t know," she admitted.

xxx

The being known as Chaos was now looking directly at Xena1, a friendly and at the same time nearly insane looking smile on her face.

"Yes," the newly found out deity said then, "that is one of the things they sometimes call me."

"You have deceived us," Gabrielle1 accused her.

"Have I?" she responded. "Maybe..." She held a finger to her chin, appearing to be thinking hard. "No, I don´t remember that happening," she stated then. "Or do I? Well, I guess that is open to interpretation." She grinned. "You could also say I have simply been eluding your expectations."

"We asked you for your name," Gabrielle pointed out.

"Oh yes and I gave you an answer, didn´t I? It is just that I don´t have a name." she shrugged. "After all, the term `Chaos´ is hardly a name by any sort of interpretation, isn´t it?

I am normally called however I like to. So you see, I didn´t lie. I just didn't answer your question in the way you have expected."

"That is not the point," Gabrielle now broke out angrily. A few moments later however, she nearly regretted it. She remembered that the being before her could probably erase her from existence in the blink of an eye. In opposite of the other gods, her powers were not cut off here. Certainly not, since it was her home-ground after all.

"You have been playing with us the entire time," the Bard accused her.

"Yes, I guess I did. Maybe you shouldn´t have made it so easy." She grinned now at her. "It is just so much fun playing with you."

Gabrielle grimaced. She didn´t quite know what to respond to that.

"Of course it´s time to deal with other things now. " `Chaos´ stated. "Your plans for example. Like you said, you'd like to return to your own worlds, right? I actually think that is a good idea. This means, I will come with you of course." The smile on her face turned now even 'friendlier' than before.

"What?" Gabrielle1 exclaimed now.

"So that is it," Xena1 said. "This is what you wanted all along."

"She wants us to take her back with us to our worlds," Callisto realized. "That was the reason she took a human shape and `allowed´ us to find her out here."

"I see you understand," Chaos answered.

"We will never do that! Never! " Sarah called out. She remembered all too well what they had all seen in this town since they arrived here. Should she be returning to the normal world, the same things would happen everywhere.

"You won´t? These are great words to say. Who said you had a choice? I have already noticed your presence when you first arrived at this plane, shortly after my self proclaimed `servants´ took possession of the book."

"Self proclaimed? You mean you are not the one controlling the cult?" Callisto asked her.

"Control?" The goddess actually started to break out into loud laughter now. "What a strange concept that is. I only had to reach out, call, plant a few ideas into some heads, changed a few things and watched how it would turn out.

I also knew about their plans to open a way for me back into what you call the `normal´ world. And since I haven't visited this realm for a long time, why not?

In fact, most of the things the cult did were their own idea. I just gave them a small push and they started moving all by themselves. That is the great thing about it. I know you have been in the town. Did you like my work?"

"No, not the slightest bit," Gabrielle1 replied.

The goddess actually managed to look slightly hurt now.

"Well, I guess it is all just a question of taste," she said.

"Maybe she just didn´t like the fact that you turned the people of this town into monsters," Ares remarked.

"Monsters, really?" Chaos now turned towards him. A part of him already wished that he just kept his mouth shut. "And what do we have here?" she asked. "You seem to be one of the line of Uranos, that little brat. No, two actually," she said, looking to Discord.

Ares nearly snorted as he heard his great-grandfather, the sire of the Titans, being referred to like that. Discord looked slightly shocked as well.

"Degenerated descendants of the ones you call the Primeordials," Chaos stated, "born through inbreeding, dependant on their `realms´ and the so called `faith´ of mortal worshippers to actually maintain their own power. Many would rather call you monsters than them."

It was the turn of the two Xena to snort now. It was a long time since they last heard someone telling off the gods like that.

"But on the other side," Chaos stated, "this one here has one a bit similar nature as myself," she said staring at Discord. "I think I like her. But you should really continue your work now, don´t you think? After all you don´t want us to stay in this `dangerous´ place, for too long, right?"

"And what now?" Callisto asked, mirroring Sarah´s words from only a few minutes before.

"If we stay here," Xena1 answered, "it is only a question of time till we all die. If the creatures don´t get us, we will simply starve."

"We can not bring her back with us," Gabrielle1 replied. "You've seen what happened here. If she returns, the natural order of our world would break down."

"And why not? These `natural laws´ are so boring," Chaos told them. "But anyway, you should really decide what to do now."

"We will do it," Discord spoke up. "We have no other choice here," she admitted.

"I will explain later," she said quieter to the others as she saw their looks pointed to her. She knew it was a vain hope that Chaos wouldn't hear her saying this, but the ancient goddess was only smiling at them.

xxxxxxx

They were waiting now, for Ares and Discord to find the answer inside the book.

But given the current situation, they were anything but sure that this was even a good idea, because if they did find a way back, Chaos would as well.

But all this was in fact, not the only worry that they had.

xxx

Right now, two of their mixed group were dealing with another one.

This was the Destroyer known under the name Delilah. She was the only one of her kind, out of three who were known so far, who had through natural coincidence or maybe luck, a human appearance. She looked like a beautiful, young woman.

She had been standing aside from the others, even in some distance to Eve, all by herself, until now.

At this moment Perdicas and one of the Gabrielle´s came closer to her.

xxx

The other, slightly younger, Bard was standing a bit further to them. The second Gabrielle would have liked to help them, but to be honest, she didn´t knew how. Or maybe it was more that she didn´t have enough of her will left.

It was only one day ago that she had lost Xena, her Xena. She didn´t have time to deal with the loss yet, at some level she suspected she had not even fully registered it. She had been taken prisoner and now she was here, surrounded by these doubles.

xxx

"Delilah," Perdicas addressed her.

"Perdicas, what do you want from me?" she asked.

"You look bored. " he stated. " Standing aside like that, doing nothing….waiting for something maybe?"

Delilah only returned his gaze silently. It wasn´t until a few seconds later that she answered.

"Yes, maybe." she just responded.

"I know we have never really talked to each other, despite the fact that we saw each other on a regular base, but I admit I am curious. I have always wanted to ask you, what are you thinking about when you stand around like that?"

"There was never a reason for us to talk," Delilah responded. "As for the reason why I am standing here, that's quite simple, actually my task for the moment is done. Eve has no further need for me right now. So I am waiting for new orders…"

"And that is all you do?" Gabrielle asked her. She has already seen that Eve was now sitting aside from the others, who were trying to find a way out of there, probably plotting something. What really surprised her however was that she didn´t seem to be paying much attention to her ally either.

"What do you mean grandmother?" she said. "What more is there to do?"

"Has Hope never let you spend time by yourself? Allowing you do things on your own?" Gabrielle wanted to know.

"Yes," she replied, somewhat surprised, "mother actually did that, I think. But one of the other Queens or father had always some other task for me then."

"I see," Perdicas stated. "The two of us have something in common," he told her, "but for different reasons."

"What are you talking about?" she asked him.

"We both are in the place we are in order to be used by others. The only difference is that you were born into it, while I was brought back to life."

For the next few moments Delilah said nothing. She didn´t quite know how to answer to what he had just said.

xxx

Delilah thought back. What came to her mind was for example a day nearly a year back. It was during the first month of her life, one of her first greater fights.

She and her older `brother´ had just rooted out a small but growing group of resisters. Together they had slaughtered dozens of them.

Beside that, they had also taken an important prisoner. It was a woman who had been playing a key role in the planned rebellion. She was one of the amazons who were still resisting her grandmother's claim to power over their tribes.

Now this woman was about to be executed in public for the glory of the new rulers and as a symbol to tighten their rule over the country, along with many other of such executions.

That was at least what she had been told. It was just that, despite that she and her brother had practically defeated the rebel-cell singlehandly, her own name was never actually mentioned by anyone about the victory.

Officially, it had all been due to a strategy from Eve, carried out by Hope and Gabrielle. So the Queens were the ones being praised.

In truth however, Delilah had never even seen either Xena or Eve during the entire campaign, only her mother and even Hope´s role basically consisted of just telling her the location of the rebels and sending her and her brother in to kill them all. Strategy? there had been no strategy. She and her fellow Destroyer had done it all by themselves.

But if the Queens wanted to take credit for her work in front of the population, who was she to say otherwise? They were the Queens after all. Still, a single word of acknowledgement would have been nice.

It wasn´t until much later that she finally understood, she and her brother were the strategy. Destroyers like them were being bred as living weapons.

The Queens were being praised for their roles in creating them in the first place. It was Eve who had come up with the idea to use them to put down the resistence. So Hope´s role in the victory consisted of banging Ares, a small sarcastic part of her thought.

She however had never said it out loud. Should she ever been heard talking like that, she would probably be killed and replaced.

At least she was allowed to actually be at the court during the executions. That was more than could be said about her brother. Of course, she knew the main reason for this was that he, in opposite to her, didn´t look human. He was a over two meters tall, grey skinned being, quite similar to the first Destroyer who, as she was told, had been killed by Xena decades ago.

In opposite to this first Destroyer who, as her mother had once told her, had possessed intelligence not unlike a human child, he had the mind of an wild animal, driven almost completely by instinct. So it was probably a good idea not to have him there, she admitted.

The executions were proceeding just like someone would have expected. In the beginning both Ares and Xena said a few words about how their rule would unite the country and bring `order´ to it. She wasn´t quite sure, even at her young age, if they themselves believed even a single word they were saying. But it seemed to be the proper thing for this event.

Then the killing began. One by one, the prisoners were being brought out of the dungeons, before Ares, the four Queens and the assembled crowd and decimated. The Amazon came last. In the most cases the victims were simply beheaded, for her however they wanted to put on a show.

The woman named Varia was bound between two stakes and first thoroughly flogged, before Xena herself came down from her throne and personally drove a lance through her chest.

During all this however, the Amazon was not spare with insults towards the War-God and the Queens. She called them about everything, from Ares' whores to traitorous scum and tyrants, until she was silenced forever.

But towards the end, something actually managed to surprised her. Hope stood up and began to speak as well.

"It was a great victory for our cause," she said. "Besides all our achievements however I think there is another person who deserves a large part of the credit, mine and Ares' daughter, Delilah. She is after all one of our best warriors and I am sure we couldn't have executed the plan so well without her."

There it was, the credit she had wanted, she thought. She realized however that both Xena and Eve were now looking at Hope with an expression of annoyance, while Ares mostly looked completely disinterested.

This was when she slowly started to realize what she now knew deep down. While her mother Hope was actually treating her with `some´ measure of respect, Xena and Eve were seeing her as a simple tool. Her grandmother Gabrielle mostly treated her with indifference and even her father Ares only showed interest in her when he needed her for one of his campaigns.

xxxxxxx

Present time, somewhere in the mist

"Sarah, I am sorry," Callisto told her once again. "What I said to you…I don´t know what to say. All this here is somehow getting to me."

"You are not the only one," she replied. "I don´t hold it against you. Well, not really at least. I admit I was somewhat angry about what you said to me. Do you really think that Gabrielle and I are too unquestioningly…or maybe rather unthinking, loyal, dumb you can also call it?"

"That is a good question. I must admit that both of you, at least have the tendency to this. But that isn´t necessarily a bad thing. You two are, well committed. You could barely find someone better to support you. You and Gabrielle, you would never let one down, unless you really think that what someone is doing is wrong. At least as long as you don´t truly become blind at someone's faults. The problem is only..."

"You don´t think you deserve this kind of support," Sarah said in her place.

"That's right." she replied.