Havik, Cleric of Chaos

"Is that him?" Cassie asked.

"The direction of the voice came from this way. It has to be. Look!" Chan points to the Kamidogu of Chaos resting on Havik's hip. Havik turns to the two of them.

"Am I the one you seek?" Havik asked. Cassie nudged Chan forward. He glanced at her with a surprised look before moving closer to the man.

"I believe you called for me," Chan responded. "You told me to find the woman we chased here." Havik relaxed his body and walked past Chan. He walks around Cassie, inspecting her physique. Cassie stared in disgust until he finished his observation.

"Earthrealmers?" Havik commented to himself. "ChaosRealm's safeguard should have sent the two of you into despair. Eris should have killed you as well."

"We're pretty hard to kill," Cassie responded with a grin.

"Why did you chase her here?" Havik asked. The two remained silent. "The voice who called you was not I. Why did they want you to find Eris?"

"They said she could save them," Chan answered.

"That's not why you're here. Otherwise, you would've told me that the first time. You're here for another reason." Chan remained silent once more. Havik shook his head. "Tell me, Earthrealmers," he said, "what is the state of the realms beyond my own?"

"I—" Chan chose to remain silent. Cassie closed her eyes, seemingly conflicted in thought.

"Is there something wrong?" Havik asked.

"Did she mention a woman named Anomaly?" he asked. Havik remained silent.

"She called her Aisa—whatever that means," Cassie added.

"We know her as Anomaly as well," Havik responded. "Forgive me for having to...pause. I just did not know the woman was still alive."

"Apparently, she never died," Chan said. "The details would be too long to explain, but she did mention being able to move those who die to a sort of...parallel universe. And those who die in that universe would return here at an unspecified point in time." Havik laughed until he coughed up a storm.

"And you would believe a tale like that?" Havik asked.

"I've experienced it myself," Chan responded. "As did a few others. We tried to play with time and jump ourselves forward by fifteen years to prevent Armageddon. Something when wrong. Shelia and I went to a different universe than Kitana, Eva, and Knightwolf. She returned around ten years earlier than me. Kitana and I decided to name those universes the other side, because no one was to know the truth about Armageddon nor our journey to stopping it."

"The other side?" Cassie muttered to herself. Havik laughed again.

"So the woman was right," he said. Cassie looked up to the man. "I lied. She did mention the woman."

"Why lie?" Cassie questioned firmly.

"Eris does not know what goes on outside of the ChaosRealm. I did not even know she escaped. When she returned wanting to take her test, that was when I realized she must have went to Seido. She also mentioned Anomaly's return from the dead. You've helped me learn how she was able to bring all of them back. She's projecting the existence of others from the other side into this universe."

"As crazy as that sounds, it's completely plausible at this point," Chan said. Eris pops up from behind the Shaolin and walks next to Havik.

"What the—where did you come from?" Cassie questioned as she whipped out her pistol.

"How many times are you going to point that useless weapon at me?" Eris asks before snapping her fingers. Immediately, a purple glow surrounds the gun before it falls apart in the girl's hand. Cassie stared in awe. "Don't ask. I put a hex on it after the last fight. I knew you'd pull it against me again so I set it to explode if you pulled the trigger. Be glad I chose to use the hex to dismantle it just now." Cassie pulls on her hair.

"What the hell is this realm?!" she shouted.

"I meant to kill you before," Eris stated, "but like I said, you're my friend now."

"I thought you snapped out of that?" Chan commented.

"Nope. The Euphoria is gone, but my feelings remain the same," she says. The girl yawns and sits on the ground.

"Eris might be the most important part of your journey," Havik says. "That is why she must complete her trial.

"What is this...trial?" Cassie asked.

"Take a seat while we wait for the Trial to be set," Havik said. "I have a very interesting story for you both."

"And just when I thought I missed Dad, I'm dragged into hearing another story," Cassie groaned. Havik simply laughed.

"This realm was always peaceful. Whether that be peace of mind, or peace through seclusion. However, the Lord of the Realm caused a disturbance to that peace. He began to ask a question. A question we never needed to know. He asked why do we live? He always knew death was a guarantee for mortals. For one who could not die, however, life would be meaningless in the end as there is none. Over the span of many years, this thought began to spread across the realm. This led to an unnecessary war, causing nothing but chaos for an otherwise orderly realm. This war waged on until a new question was asked: Why does water always change? Our greatest scholars spent an eternity trying to learn this answer, but it has yet to be answered. This information led to the idea of traveling to other realms to find the answers. Overtime, this was the only thing the residents knew and, eventually, the memories of all the residents vanished. All except my own. I remember everything that happened. Through this, the religion of chaos was formed and many sought to truly experience everything our existence has to offer. However, that could not happen without first embracing true chaos. Zaggot, the Lord of this Realm, failed to maintain this chaos when he took away everyone's memories. And so, I proceeded to take his life, permanently. I took it upon myself to be the one to rule this realm; not as the Lord of Chaos, but rather a Cleric."

"I thought Lords couldn't die?" Chan corrected. "When they draw their last breath, they're energies are usually reformed elsewhere."

"This is true. However, there are powers greater than that of the Lords—even the Elder Lords. And that power is contained in these Kamidogu," Havik confirmed as he hands the relic to Eris. "Those who know how to truly unlock its power can kill any immortal being."

"Don't reveal everything," Eris says as she grabs his hand before accepting the relic.

"Right," he agrees. "As I brought the ideology of chaos back among the people, a lone Edenian woman stepped onto our realm. Eris reached out to me as an ally, but she was still an invader. She suffered everything imaginable, yet still stood. Even with everything she's experience and the changes we've caused to her, she stood her ground. Not even the pool of aging could take her spirit away. I was enamored by such a creature and have since kept her as my heir for the day she takes my place."

"How does this make her important to us?" Chan asked.

"If I told you, you'd expect a certain outcome and be disappointed if something different happened. I can only hope that you can reach a conclusion where Anomaly's plan for complete order is thwarted."

End of Chapter 23

(Upcoming—Distance)