PILLARS OF CHAOS

The tip of a tall, cloud-piercing mountain lay flattened, a ma.s.sive opening seemingly smoothed over carefully, reflecting the world above it. Black and crimson shadows folded gently over Lino's body, forming strange, parallel trails of smoke behind him that looped back toward the center, forming a house-sized halo of silver. It spun and s.h.i.+mmered, humming lowly like a gear, casting the faintest of lights over at him.

Though his outline remained humanoid, his features changed; the pair of black eyes grew angled and slightly slanted, their irises turning wholly blood-red, while his hair turned wild and disheveled, incorporating three colors of silver, crimson and the original black. His shoulders grew broader, yet more rounded, turning his arms a layer slenderer, while his entire body elongated ever-so-slightly, causing him to finally break two meters in height.

His fingers appeared restless, jittery, as he stared at Ella who had a terribly complex expression on her face. The corners of her eyes were watery as the light began surging around her, toppling over into a brilliant armor, into s.h.i.+ning wings, and into a resplendent halo spinning behind her back, bleeding light at its edges.

"... why?" she asked in a cracking voice.

"... I had to know." Lino replied.

"You could have avoided my life, Lino," she said. "And as someone who's lived it... you should have avoided it."

"... I just had to know, El'," he said, sighing lowly. "Just what could cause a mother to turn her back on her family."

"I haven't turned my back on anyone."

"... all of this," he mumbled, lifting his right arm and curling it up into a fist over and over again. Chaotic lightning bounced around his thin and long fingers, rapping off the sounds of thunder into the sky. "Feels... ah, I can't even find a f.u.c.king word, to be honest. Breathtaking? Overwhelming? Something along those lines, I suppose."

"--was it worth it?" she asked somberly. "You've now thrust yourself into a war that will never end, Lino. Edifices are relentless; to reign the Chaos entirely, they will do anything. Anything."

"I know," he replied simply, smiling. "But, unlike yours, mine hasn't asked me to kill you."

"Yet."

"Not just yet," Lino shook his head, sighing. "It knows I can't kill you. Him, however..." he added, glancing down at Dan who seemed out of sorts, still processing everything that has transpired.

"You truly intend to build the Edifice of Destruction here, Lino?" Ella asked somewhat angrily, her brows tightening into a deep frown. "You'll have upset the balance of everything."

"From what little I understand of the Edifices," Lino mused aloud. "I'll be restoring the balance, El'."

"By destroying. Didn't you say you were a smith, Lino? That you will craft a different world? I certainly didn't think this is what you had in mind."

"... why? Because it isn't your kind of a world?" he asked back.

"No--because it is the wrong kind of a world." she replied quickly. "Creation versus Destruction -- you can excuse it with maintaining the balance, but the truth is staring you in the eyes."

"... ah, if only the things were so black and white," Lino shrugged, glancing around. "Weren't you sent here to kill me?" he asked, tilting his head. "Tell me, is that creating or destroying, El'?"

"--you could have lived a happy life," she ignored his question. "But, instead, you chose this. You'll be dragging everyone you care for into a conflict that they will never understand. Hannah, Aaria, Lucky, Val, Amadeel, t.i.tus, Val... everyone."

"... it'd be quite miraculous, wouldn't it?" he chuckled bitterly. "If I actually could drag the dead back from the beyond and into this conflict, no? I'm afraid, however, that I wasn't bestowed with such prowess."

"Dead? Who?" Ella asked quickly.

"... you should leave, El'," Lino added, staring deeply into her eyes. "Go back to the Creator and ask of it some time. Eggor and Cae shouldn't suffer the reality of who we are. Ask it to let you live out their lives before fading silently and resuming whatever this is. If it really is the 'pure' side of Chaos, it will allow you. If not, well... I suppose we'll be seeing each other similarly to now soon enough."

"... you won't tell them?" Ella asked, frowning.

"Tell them what?" Lino looked at her. "How do I even explain this? No. They deserve the simpler lives, Ella."

"And who are you to decide what they deserve?" she asked. "Weren't you all about personal choices?"

"I am." he smiled faintly. "I suppose I really am a hypocrite. But, oh well, I could be plenty other far worse things."

"You will be."

"... absolutes... are for fools," Lino said, glancing toward the sky, beyond the Noterra's membrane, and into the void. "There is nothing absolute, El'. No absolute truths, lies, lives, realities... everything, in a way, is a freak of nature."

"I'm surprised it took you less than five minutes to insult your literal Overlord now." Ella grinned faintly.

"Overlord?" Lino tilted his head, facing her once more.

"What? Do you think the Edifice is like Ataxia? That it will tolerate your antics and ignore your insults? It's a Destroyer, Lino. Always keep that in mind."

"... then why I am not destroyed?" Lino smiled, spreading his arms wide as lightning once more began dancing around the edges of his body, the smoke trails intensifying. "Any creature vain enough to kill another over a single insult... bah, I truly hope n.o.body like that actually exists."

"--don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't try to agitate me." she said.

"... it ain't my fault I'm hitting sore spots," he shrugged. "You should go, El'. Ask it. Beg it, if need be. Don't leave them stranded."

"How can I know you simply won't give in and kill me once I'm back?" she asked.

"... because you know me." he looked deeply into her eyes, smiling. "Whether it's Ataxia, whether it's the Edifice, my Will is my own, El'. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can command it over me. And, should the day truly come when that's no longer the case, feel free to point it out."

"--I'm taking him." she pointed at Dan as Lino sighed.

"... fine," he shrugged. "Take him. I'll tell the others that you've discovered another world or something. Don't take too long to return."

"..." Ella looked at him deeply for a moment before ripping open a tunnel in s.p.a.cetime and vanis.h.i.+ng through it alongside Dan.

Lino was left alone, floating, here and yet not. He had a complex expression as something inside of him jolted, a projection bending over in an arc through the air and forming a mirror image of himself on the other side that quickly remolded into a stalwart, ma.s.sive figure of a man nearly twice Lino's size.

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"... so that's what you look like, huh?" Lino chuckled.

"--I should be rather furious with you," Ataxia said. "Your position should have gone to me."

"... I still don't understand many things," Lino said. "But... perhaps most of all, I don't understand your motivation, Ataxia. What was the purpose of all of this? Why waste time here? You could have done what One had done, made yourself into a direct Bearer, and roamed the cosmos. Why settle here?"

"... for the same reason you will, Lyonel," Ataxia said with a sigh. "Because of my heart."

"Hm?" Lino hummed, arching his brow.

"Will you kill me?" he asked.

"Why would I kill you?"

"Didn't the Destroyer order you?" Ataxia asked again, clearly confused.

"No," Lino shook his head. "He just told me to champion over you and officially take your place."

"... so it has."

"Where did you hear the word 'kill' in there?"

"Do you really think semantics matter here?" Ataxia growled.

"... we are here now, alone," Lino said. "And I'm deliberating. Truth be told, before today, I had thought our battle was virtually inevitable. Simply how it was supposed to be."

"..."

"But, well, as you know well enough, I am very much merciful, understanding and kind, and beyond forgiving of a soul; how can I simply fight someone to death so easily? Ah, what would become of my heart?"

"... ugh."

"So, instead," the flamboyance retreated in lieu of a somber tone. "Tell me your story, Ataxia. From start to finish. I want to know you. The real you. Share with me your Archaic Record."

"And if I do you won't kill me?"

"I won't kill you either way," Lino said. "All things said and done, I am here because of you. You'd enabled me to achieve all that I had. Whatever your intentions were, you were my guide, light when I thought there was no out. I will never betray that."

"..."

"So tell me," Lino added, smiling warmly. "Your story. From start to finish... Eldon."