VASt.i.tUDE OF TRUTHS

Ella and Amadeel sat side by side on a cliff overlooking the black and white horizon stapled in a dome in front of them. The latter had a worried expression on his face, his eyes veering between the distant fight and Ella sitting next to him who had a faint frown on her face the whole time. The hazy wind occasionally blew by, ruffling dust and ash beneath them, though otherwise the world remained eerily quiet.

From the get-go she let her intentions be known – at least to him – that was to let Lino fight the strange creature alone but under the pretense of his own choice. Right after they departed, the two of them came here and sat down, observing in silence until she suddenly broke it, glancing at him with a faint smile.

"Do you think I've gone overboard?" she asked.

"… a bit, yeah." he nodded. "Why, though? Is it really that instrumental that he fights it?"

"… yes," she nodded, sighing faintly. "She is someone he will eventually have to defeat."

"… eventually? And wait, she?"

"—she's at best humoring him right now," Ella explained. "Testing his limits. Playing with him. It's good, as it means she has taken an interest in him, but also bad because… well, she has taken an interest in him."

"… she?" Amadeel mumbled, his brows scrunching up into a frown as he tried to remember something. "Wait—are you saying she's the fabled Mother of Chaos?"

"… hmm, somewhat, perhaps," Ella replied mysteriously. "But she's also not…"

"…" realizing he wasn't going to get anything more from it, Amadeel stopped asking questions, turning his eyes back over onto Lino.

The battle itself was indeed a spectacle, even from his point of view. Almost all battles of the Empyreans throughout history, especially later in their lives, were a spectacle to behold; there was something raw, primal about them, something intangible, un.o.btainable by anyone else.

Usually, the world itself would bend differently when the Empyreans were involved, the scarring would be slightly odd, the penultimate change of reality seemingly fabricated to suit the Empyrean over anyone else – that, however, wasn't the case right now. Though it wasn't the first time he'd witnessed two beings of Chaos fighting, it was no less breathtaking than it was before; reality, Laws, Qi itself was raptured between two absolutes – the very same absolutes engaged in a contradictory confrontation. There was no side for the world to bend toward, and it found itself stretched between the two extremes – the seepage of all colors save for black and white, for instance, was a distinctly Chaotic thing. It happens when a specific point in s.p.a.ce is overburdened by Chaotic Qi to the point it loses all its other properties save for the core ones necessary for existence. This is only compounded further if both partic.i.p.ants are the apprentices of Chaos.

Another hallmark of two Chaotic beings engaging in a battle was that it was impossible to follow them in real-time. He was certain that even the ever-mysterious woman sitting by his side was unable to do it, and this also included him, someone who otherwise reigned over the concept of Time. The Chaos, however, warps it, distorts it, disfigures it; within the confines of Chaos, only those of Chaos can exist and peer. Ella and he were watching the aftermaths of the battle at best, and at worst occasional flashes that hardly painted a whole picture.

Chaos has always been enigmatic and fragmented; a polarizing concept that had confused every revolutionary scholar since the Dawn of Time. Amadeel himself had a long time ago tried to tackle it, understand it, process it and express it, but, like all others before and after him, he failed. The key property of Chaos was that outsiders were unable to understand it, and the Chaotic beings themselves were unable to express it and explain it. As with all other Empyreans, Primes, and even occasional, self-taught figures, Chaos was merely natural. The very sensation that permeated them felt as though it always belonged there, as though it filled all the gaps and missing pieces. It was as natural to them as breathing was.

"—it's about to end." Ella said, suddenly getting up, surprising Amadeel.

"You can see them?!" he asked, startled.

"No," she shook her head, chuckling lightly. "But, it's never all too difficult to predict when the battle will end." she suddenly extended her left arm and wrapped it in gentle Qi; a mere moment later, a figure blast through the closed-off reality and landed against the blanket she created. Though Lino appeared slightly beat up, there seemed to be no severe wounds as with the last time, mostly exhaustion. "You had fun?" she asked as he stood up on his own, shaking away the gathered dust on his tattered clothes.

"A bit, yeah," he replied, smiling lightly. "She's a good teacher, though unwilling one to be certain."

"Alright," she said, ruffling his scattered hair. "Go ahead with Amadeel. I'll calm her down for now."

"… I'd rather watch you calm her down."

"Nope."

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"Tsk. Cheapskate."

"Aye, aye, whatever you say, oh the marvelous giver," she said, rolling her eyes, "Off you go now."

Lino growled under his breath and turned around, soon after followed by Amadeel. Ella watched with a faint trace of amus.e.m.e.nt in her smile for a moment before turning around, wiping it off her face, waiting in place. A few moments later, a woman draped wholly in black stepped through the mist. She had sickly-pale, white skin, a pair of mesmerizing eyes – one white, one black – and a long, black hair. She stopped when she saw Ella, meeting the latter's gaze.

"—who are you?" the woman asked, frowning faintly.

"n.o.body in particular," Ella replied, smiling faintly. "Just insurance, I suppose. You've regained your human form. That is enough for today."

"… and if it's not?"

"It is."

"—you seem rather certain." the woman said, cracking a faint grin. "Should I test where your confidence comes from?"

"… you've already absorbed as much as you could of his Chaos Qi," Ella said instead of answering the jab. "If you tried pus.h.i.+ng any further and consuming Primal Qi, you would die. As in actually die – not what you like doing."

"… you seem rather knowledgeable," the woman said. "Yet also unfamiliar. Enigmatic. A genuine mystery. There are very few left in the world."

"…"

"—the Primal Qi truly surprised me," the woman said, sighing faintly and glancing beyond Ella's shoulder, toward where she still felt lingering traces of Lino's Qi. "It's… real. Really is. And it belongs entirely to the boy. What a strange tale…"

"—he's the one it answered to," Ella said. "Why wouldn't it belong to him?"

"… true," the woman nodded. "Why wouldn't it? I'll let him go… but not for too long."

"…"

"—I can't," the woman shrugged. "He's seen through me. It's too dangerous."

"… hardly," Ella shrugged. "I've seen through you too. Does that mean I'm too dangerous as well?"

"—but you are. Too dangerous, that is." the woman looked back at Ella once more, squarely meeting the pair of blue eyes. "There is no one… nothing… in this world that I shouldn't be able to understand. Yet, lo and behold."

"Perhaps you just aren't as perceptive as you thought."

"I am. Very much so. Whatever you are," the woman said. "Don't stir too much trouble. This isn't your home."

"… and neither is it yours," Ella replied. "Yet, we've all collectively stolen it. Is now truly the time to play the game of claims?"

"… you're strong, unequivocally. But, whatever you may be, you are not of Entropy. You are not Us."

"…" Ella smiled faintly as she turned around. "'You' has nothing to do with Entropy, Biyung. You are all just unfortunate children of terribly sad circ.u.mstances. You deserve redemption. And he will grant it to you, in time. Don't go chasing the empty vengeance instead."

The woman watched Ella slowly vanish into the horizon, former's expression still placid, though the look in her eyes s.h.i.+fted, speaking volumes. Surprise, most of all, dominated. She, once more, dug through the depths of her memories, clawing at reaches long-forgotten, but to no avail. That figure… was not there. Those eyes… she hasn't seen them ever before.

She briefly remembered the time she met the strangest human alive – a man who simply called himself 'One'. It was during her Fourteenth Redemption, the amount of time that didn't mean anything to her, yet everything to the world. Though the sensation was similar, One she could read – however much of a mystery he was. The strange woman… she couldn't. Not her strength. Not her afflictions. Affiliations. Not her nothing. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear the woman was a mortal. Just an ordinary person who inexplicably had the ability to fly innately, and could survive in the Corrupting Miasma with ease. Yet she was not.

Something more. Something different. Something that has slept through the eons of time, hidden away from the eyes of the beholders, awoken only recently. It wasn't a new, curious, emboldened child. She knew her name – Biyung… and the implications behind her words spoke volumes to her knowing everything there is to know. About her, Ataxia, Writs, Silver City, Gaia, Scripture… as to how she could possibly know it, Biyung was none the wiser. Those truths are only known to those who've lived through them. She doubted any Writ spoke of the Silver City, and she knew Ataxia didn't speak of her.

Who would have thought that, shortly after restoring her form, she would meet an inquiry that piqued her interest after eons of apathy? Her thin lips flared into an excited smile, her eyes s.h.i.+mmering.

"… what are you?" she mumbled, slowly vanis.h.i.+ng like smoke in the wind. "I will find out… sooner or later…"