Sora sat back against her chair as her aunt faced her. “This is the next lesson I wished to share with you in regards to the Nine Asgardian Virtues; the Asgardians are not weak or what you might call, goody-two-shoes. Is Eyia virtuous in a coy, smug or sentimental manner? No, she is cautious and ruthless, but also compassionate; this is the mediation between light and dark.”

Mary clicked her tongue before humming. “So, are you trying to enable us to do this?”

Inari’s lips pressed together with disdain. “I hate the word enable; Sora has been enabling you with her power—the energy that keeps you calm and in control.

“Enabling is a crutch that is addictive in a negative manner; it is the same for the Vulpes within this realm—they are being enabled by this surrounding power, but are weak in and of themselves. Sora unconsciously recognized this, which is why you are here … my niece wishes to make you powerful within yourselves rather than borrowing her enabling power.”

“I see,” Ashley nodded. “But aren’t you enabling us to do so?”

“I think it’s more complicated than that,” Nathan muttered. “She may have provided the training ground, just like the Military or Police Academy, but we have to perform.”

“Indeed,” Inari smiled. “I am encouraging you to make use of the tools that have been provided. If you are offered a gym, am I giving you power? No, but I am providing the means by which you can obtain it for yourself; I am not giving you strength, but providing opportunity—the outcome will be different for everyone.

“I can give you encouragement and give you a mental understanding of what you can accomplish by using that gym, but I am not giving you muscle or strength. You must lift the weights and run the track; I will not do it for you.”

“Got it,” Ashley sighed. “I guess there’s no easy path to becoming a god.”

“Of course there is,” Inari chuckled. “I could force your Cores open and advance you to gods with a snap of my finger; even Sora could enable you to a great extent, but that will not help you grow. You are to contend with the chaos that disrupts order.

“Remember back on the lecture—what I am doing is encouraging you to become the masters of the chaos that can disrupt order; rather than denizens of order that create tyrants or denizens of chaos that create nihilists and hopelessness. I encourage you and my niece to be masters of emergent chaos. That is the basis of the Asgardian Code—the Conduct of Heroes.

“The heroic story is to voluntarily confront the unknown when it manifests itself and to gather something of value as a consequence and to share that with the community; there’s tragedy and suffering in that that is inescapable. That doesn’t mean life is unbearable or not worth living, but it means you have to contend with it, prepare for it, adopt responsibility for yourself and your community to combat it; that’s a precondition. Then you accomplish that, bring back the treasure; you bring back a little happiness by the accomplishment of overcoming that suffering and tragedy, or preventing some of it—you’re thankful.”

Wendy folded her arms with a thoughtful expression. “What is chaos though?”

Mary shifted her weight to look at Wendy. “Chaos is future potential; the snow that piled atop your car and roads throughout the night that delays your path to work; chaos is what lies before you; chaos is what you don’t know; chaos is what’s outside the walls of your house or town or nation; obstacles, challenges, the future is all chaos and potential.”

Ashley leaned against her right armrest. “So, you can call on chaos when you need to be rescued from malfunctioning order? Then … aren’t we the snake in the garden, here in the Vulpes society?”

“Very observant,” Inari applauded. “Yes, you could consider that a representation of your circumstance. You are in the isolated walls of the Garden of Eden, and you are bringing the chaos, you are the snake, and that is what scares Mimi.”

“But,” Wendy paused for a moment. “You said chaos isn’t bad, we need chaos to grow and learn; so, isn’t that good for the Vulpes Realm?”

Nathan chuckled. “Well, I guess you could see it like that, but they definitely don’t see it that way.”

“Not yet,” Inari’s lips curved. “Change is terrifying; chaos is terrifying—however, the potential it brings can be elevating. Look at it from their point of view; chaos has risen up in their ranks, but no one was keeping a watchful eye. They’re petrified; Mimi may not be blind to the influence, but she lacks the resolve to make the hard choices.

“She will not send the information to the Council because she is frightened of what you might do and terrified of what abilities you might have. She doesn’t want to risk displeasing you, which is also a product of her upbringing; she is trained to respect power over her own thoughts and fears.

“Order is where something functions in the manner by which you intend; Mimi has lost order, the gate has lost its infallibility, doubt has crept in, chaos. This feeling is sweeping the town; you may not be able to detect it, but it is like a cancer. Why hasn’t the Council come? Shouldn’t they be aware of intruders?

“They know everything. Then why are they not here? They are all-powerful, but something has slipped their notice—are they not all-knowing? Doubt festers and corrodes their beliefs that, until now, were unquestioned, not unshakable—there is an important difference. Perhaps this is a test for them? If it is a test, then what’s the answer? These are the things running through Mimi’s heart. Chaos will always exist in one form or another, but how you confront it is what makes the difference.”

“How do you know what you’re doing works in proper order?” Ashley asked.

Mary grimaced. “That’s the thing—you don’t. Most people don’t know what they’re doing because we don’t know everything; everything we do is bounded by ignorance. However, we still need to operate in the world—so, we humans make finite plans, and if they work out then we regard that knowledge as sufficient … that’s our definition of truth. That’s the only definition we can use because we don’t have everything at hand, and when what we are doing is working … that’s order.”

“So,” Nathan sighed. “Inari’s telling us that we can’t stay in that comfortable place of order? Just how these Vulpes are freaking out once the smallest thing disrupts that order; we need to always be watchful and prepared for something to go wrong.”

“Right,” Inari made a square gesture. “If you are in a walled garden, and you stay there, chaos will enter because things are not static; the universe, different planes, and other universes continue to function around you.

“Just how these Vulpes bound themselves to a static and isolated structure, it is destined to fail because everything around them is in flux. Even if you had not entered, given several more generations, the Vulpes in this realm would not be able to produce offspring; they would die before birth because of the damage to their spiritual network. There are real problems with this realm; it has been in operation for a very long time, and it may have been good in the beginning, however, because of its static nature, it has become corrupt. The chaos or potential you bring is actually a saving grace.”

“Huh,” Mary glared into the darkness. “That makes me feel a little better about being here. There are real issues that we can help to fix, but naturally, it won’t be easy … will they even accept it?”

“There are steps,” Inari nodded, turning to Ashley. “First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Clean your own room before helping someone else clean theirs. You must be the master of your own chaos before hoping to fix the chaos of the world. You start with yourself, then your family, then your neighborhood, and keep branching out. If everyone did this, then there would be much more stability in the universe.”

Wendy took a deep breath. “Okay, I think I get it now. The Yin and the Yang, or order and chaos must be in balance. We each need to overcome our own issues before we can help someone else … what about Sora though?” She turned to her with an apologetic smile. “I’m not dissing you; I’m just wondering if you have things to work on too.”

Sora smiled. “I get it; I mean, a lot of this I’m learning right along with you. Umm … yeah, I think I have some things to work on.”

“Yes, you do.” Inari sighed. “You have let order constrict you to a greater extent, barring chaos.” Fen appeared before her. “This is one of the reasons why.”

“Fen?” Sora’s brow creased. “What does Fen have to do with me being too orderly?”

“Her behavior?” Mary muttered. “I could see that; Sora sees herself as a Vulpes and Fen is her primary representation of a Vulpes … she’s subconsciously repressing her chaotic Vulpes nature.”

“Am I?”

“You are,” Inari frowned. “Vulpes naturally curve toward the chaotic side; however, you have been repressing much of your urges. You haven’t completely rejected change; look at Kari as an example. The potential you’ve extracted by allowing her into your group, and to an extent forgiven her.

“On the other hand, this realm has rigidly refused chaos for a very long time, which has caused massive troubles that they are willfully blind to—not only this but the denial of their very nature as Vulpes. You need to access more of your shadow, the aggressive nature within you; that being said, it’s complicated, it’s not simple.

“When you have a brother, sister, wife, or husband, and you have an argument, what is your goal? Winning the argument is a bad strategy; you need to live with this person; peace is a good strategy, consensus. At the same time, there are times you cannot back down, and you must cultivate yourself to recognize these scenarios. When Fen doesn’t like something, what does she do?”

“She’s pretty vocal about it,” Sora grimaced.

“Exactly,” Inari chuckled. “When she does something you don’t like, you’re very conservative about it, even if she’s destroying order. You need to tap into your shadow, that potential, and express yourself. Some behaviors are not conducive to the potential you wish to bring about, Sora; it’s unbelievably complicated, and you must know how to navigate these situations. Think about this: The probability that your well-meaning intervention into someone’s life, be it individual or national, will have the positive outcome you intend, and no other—is what?”

Sora shook her head. “Umm, like the well-meaning hope I have to help Wendy and the others? I guess … no, I was hoping that it would be a lot easier than it looks like it’ll be. I guess it’s a lot more complicated…”

“Unbelievably more complicated,” Inari stated. “The answer—zero, none, it will never happen exactly like you predict at the start; so, imagine how it will go wrong, the worst. That being said, you must stand up and take charge in the potential future you wish to create, which you must identify, and soon—but you must be open to the chaotic change that will inevitably raise its head.

“You must also be cautious about trying to improve something that is already working, because raising that structure’s productivity a little bit is extremely difficult while decreasing it is done with the wave of a hand, and that can affect a lot of people, so be cautious and map out the possible consequences—are those possible consequences worth the risk of damaging the existent productive structure to that extent?” Her aunt’s head tilted to view Wendy. ““The same for you.”

“Me?”

“When my niece empowered you with her aura, you had the strength to stand up for yourself and speak with confidence; even with the empowering aura of the Vulpes Realm, you are handicapped. If you were to go back to the Human Realm, you’d fall flat on your face because your Core hasn’t been enhanced, but simply empowered.

“My niece’s solution was only temporary; it’s actually destructive and damning in the long run. Once that empowerment leaves, you will revert to your timid nature. Each one of you has much to work on. You cannot be stable and stagnant; they are not the same thing. Stability is a dynamic nature; you must have stability plus transformation—that brings the instinct of meaning.”

“Meaning as an instinct?” Mary whispered.

“The deepest instinct,” Inari stated. “It’s the instinct that tells you: where you are is sufficiently stable, but you’re transforming yourself at a sufficient rate to keep up with everything that is changing.

“You instinctively know this; you may be at your job and say, my job is very secure, but it’s not very challenging or fulfilling … why do you care about that? It’s very secure and provides your needs, but you’re unhappy. Why?

“Happiness isn’t the process or goal; it’s the byproduct; if it’s not challenging, it’s deadening, not worth anything, lifeless. You need to be challenged to feel the fulfillment necessary to keep going and produce happiness as a byproduct of achieving a goal; it must be comprehensible, enjoyable and self-maintaining or else you will leave … you’ll quit the game.”

“Okay,” Nathan leaned back in his chair. “So, we’ll be unlocking our Cores and rising through the dominance hierarchy, but before that, we must become the balance between chaos and order, not tyrants or nihilists, but between them. I’ve learned a lot about a lot of fundamental principles in life, and you’ve made me think a lot about ethics, but what is the meaning in it that will keep us facing our darker self?”

“It is important to realize that the dominance hierarchy isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it is Nature. As far as I can tell, it will always exist; it exists within your most basic biology. Just because it exists doesn’t mean it’s good or bad, but you must be aware of it. To round the subject off, Mary, why don’t you explain to the group about human sexual biology and the hierarchy therein.”

Mary sat a little straighter; Sora could feel her excitement at Inari’s prompt. “Is my hypothesis all true?”

Inari’s smile turned sly. “I will not answer that, but go ahead and voice it.”

Clearing her throat, Mary said, “Human beings separated themselves from chimpanzees structurally in many ways. One of those reasons is that human females are extremely selective; this is sexual selection, while chimps are not sexually selective.

“Female chimps will mate with any chimp—the dominant male chimps chase the subordinate chimps away, so they’re more likely to have offspring, but it’s not because of a female’s choice, they’ll mate with any male. Now, I don’t know about Vulpes, but we human females have done something entirely different.

“We have hidden fertility, and we are much more likely to go after males that have climbed up the hierarchy—to your point Inari, we could say heroes, to what individual females constitute as heroic.”

Inari nodded with a light laugh. “I applaud your intelligence as a species; by this token, you could say women are Nature. Fascinating how most of your legends paint Nature as feminine, isn’t it? Of course, the Founding Mothers play a role in that, but it doesn’t change the observable evidence. Human females select; therefore, natural selection is female selection; they are one and the same.”

“Right,” Mary chuckled. “I’d love to hear how your mother was born, but I suppose that’s just my curiosity at play. Anyways, even if we are using wealth or status as a marker; it is a marker of competence—the heroic characteristic we’ve been mapping out.

“The evidence for that is clear within the scientific study material. You might think that human female choice was what selected them, the males; well, that’s not random at all—that means female consciousness is making its choice as to what propagates, just as you so cleverly articulated, Inari.

“The heroic value of the hierarchy then becomes a marker of natural selection in conjunction with sexual selection that involves the social structure of a culture, underlying the entire species drive for survival. Then what you’re saying about the topic of chaos and order in conjunction...” She trailed off, deep in thought.

“Are you serious?” Nathan asked.

Mary nodded. “It’s even more complicated than that—here’s what happens between human men. The men all get together in their hierarchies and posit a valued goal, and all accept that as the collective goal; otherwise, they wouldn’t be cooperating, and the collective good would fall apart, society would collapse.

“Then they arrange themselves into a hierarchy, and they let the most competent males lead because they want to achieve that cooperative goal and the best way to accomplish that is by having a competent leader. It’s really fascinating—the men all get together and vote on the competent men, and the competent men are then chosen by the women, and those are the people that propagate; of course, the women have an even more stringent selection process added on top of the male selection process. It’s like men are voting on which men get to reproduce, and women go along with it while also being even more selective.”

“Indeed,” Inari folded her fingers. “Through the active expression of the consciousness in men and women; men select the lineup and women select the most competent among that selected group. From this, the potential of the world is transformed into actuality and also selects the direction of evolution. Now really think about this; Intelligence extracts the proper world of being from potential, or the chaos around you, by truth or the fundamental state of order that you have envisioned; in essence, faith.

“That is expressed in all heroes and is transpersonal; the admirable fundamental state of order that the hero was able to demonstrate through his faithful belief in a good collective state of order as he combats chaos and brings back its treasure. Faith is action; why plant a garden unless you had faith that it would produce?

“You would not, and the reason it produces is because of the faithful dedication you input into the chaos to produce the fruit. This heroic ethical consciousness is the driving force behind the process of evolution; it is the same with sexual selection and natural selection.”

“Wow,” Mary breathed. “That is powerful.”

“Living beings pull energy in, you do not wind down in any simple manner like a deterministic structure. We are a dissipative structure, not an interruptive structure; you are an active agent of choice confronting an infinite landscape of chaos, and casting that potential into reality for either good or evil.

“The way we treat each other is as logos; if you treat yourself this way, then you will have proper respect for yourself, and also a fear of yourself because you can make bad decisions and warp the structure of reality or warp order. The moment someone sees how they negatively twisted the structure of order, it wakes them up, if good is their pursuit.

“If you do not treat yourself as an active agent, imbued with logos, even in an evolutionary sense, then you will not flourish; even more, if you do not treat others this way then they will not want to associate with you, and you will be isolated outside the system of order.

“A society that is not built with this objective reality in mind is only doomed to fall apart; all societal structures that corrode this principle of heroic value dissolve or become totalitarian almost instantly; corrupted for a hero to set right—just like Seth and Horus.

“Any society that is built upon deterministic grounds will and has failed every test throughout my knowledge of history—an extremely long history. You must treat each other as individual centers of consciousness for a society to prosper and positive values to be set with free-thinking as a grounds to expansion … this principle, the Vulpes Realm has corroded. A council, but they are not voted in; the deadwood is not replaced. A hero must rise, and your entrance has marked the beginning of opening their eyes to potential.

“It has fascinated me for some time; a villain and a hero are determined by the individual and their choices, not the society by which they are born to, and that is what makes the appeal of heroes so eye-catching.”

Inari took a deep breath. “Wonderful,” she beamed. “Values must not only be understood but acted out. Each of you has hatred, loss, depression, and frustration twisting your Core; in short, you’re resentful. Resentment is actually a very useful emotion, but it can also be one of the most damaging if it is not dealt with properly.

“If you are resentful, it means one of two things,” she held up a finger, “one, it means you should grow up, quit whining, and get on with your life, or second, you’re being subject to tyrannical order, of one form or another—it could be a product of yourself or perhaps your environment, and you are not putting your own best interests in developing your character.

“In connection, first you must identify how much of your resentment is due to immaturity and knuckle down and take responsibility; then combined or separate for this as a secondary option is that you have something to say or do—in short, you are violating your own internal ethical standards, you’ve been pressured to say things or do things you believe to be wrong. Such as Ashley, feeling like she’s abandoned her family.” Sora swallowed at her aunt’s statement as Ashley’s emotions sank into a pit of despair; she looked down at the floor, rubbing her left shoulder.

“These emotions are natural,” Inari soothed. “Therefore, you must determine a means to rectify your ethical dilemma. You first must take note of that; you are unhappy, resentful of the situation you are in. Next, you must be willing to engage in a certain amount of conflict; in order to sort out what’s disturbing you, you’re going to have to express those emotions.

“You are going to have to be honest with yourself and those you must discuss it with; the danger is passive aggressiveness. It must be done in a way of ignorant humility; for example, you might say: Look, I’m frustrated, I’m hateful, I don’t know where to put my emotions, and I’ve been feeling this way about myself and these other people. Here’s where I think it went wrong, maybe this was on my part, maybe their or your part here … here’s what I envision as a possible solution.”

Inari pointed at each one of them. “Each of you, this is very important; if you are going to say what is eating at your Core, then you must express solutions. You can’t just complain without expressing actionable potential; you must think: What are my minimal conditions for satisfaction? You must offer that with the person you are negotiating with, and that includes yourself. There is a real phenomenon; Mary, how would you express it?”

Mary had her eyes lowered, nodding as she listened to Inari. Upon her name being called, she folded her fingers together, pursing her lips for a moment. “You’re exactly right, Inari. You’re not storing up a whole sequence of memories about how you were unjustly treated, and abused, and betrayed; instead, you’re trying to stay on top of all those negative emotions to note your unhappiness and dissatisfaction when it manifests itself.

“To accept that that’s the case, and to analyze it to see if it’s your problem, as you said, in regards to maturity, or if there was a real injustice in the manner the world and you are interacting, and then to work to set that right. I’ve counseled some past patients in a similar manner, even if only in small ways, it can help a person greatly. You’re talking about characterlogical development—that makes you stronger, over time.”

“Indeed,” Inari’s tone darkened slightly. “However, there is something much deeper at play with what you term characterological development. Most people will envision their potential future, putting faith, as we’ve described, into such a goal, and that’s good. However, you must also envision your worst possible hell; what you can imagine your worst outcome to be if you take that road. What’s the purpose of that?”

“Being chased,” Nathan muttered. “You’re chased from behind by that fearful, realistic path and encouraged by the hopeful goal you’re aiming for in the future and all that entails.”

“Yes,” Inari nodded at Nathan. “That fear and hope, working together, can help you stand up in the face of conflict; characterological development is very easy to avoid, most humans do avoid it because it is very easy to let slide because it’s stressful in the short term.

“They store up grievances across the span of their relationships and lives until it transforms into this hulking monster that devours everything around you; this is where you have divorces or yell at your boss and get fired or develop high blood pressure over fifteen years of bottled up monsters in your closet, and you drink yourself into oblivion because you can’t stand your life.”

“How do you avoid … fix that?” Wendy asked uncomfortably.

“Just as I said,” Inari smiled. “You must imagine the worst possible outcome within your given life; you must be terrified of not speaking your peace. This is emphatically important; it is the mark of someone that is wise: To have enough humility to think through how things could go terribly wrong, even if you have the best intentions at heart.

“That is why I was honestly shocked by the Intelligences that founded the United States. Their idea was: We’re more than likely going to be governed by idiots at some point or another, or halfwits that aren’t any smarter than we are.

“They never set out to make the perfect system; they set out to make a system that if someone that was the personifications of asinine ideology ended up leading, how would we not end up in hell? Hence, the balance of powers; they were quite sophisticated. They imagined the best and worst … most importantly, they imagined the worst and how to prevent it; it’s a great deal more likely that something will go wrong than go right.

“That terror can spark the motivation to counter the fear of having that conversation or to create precautions against that outcome. It is the same with your shadow; you must get in touch with the depths of your anger. Humans always have something to be resentful about—they’re resentful about women, resentful about men, the patriarchy, the monarchy, the left wing, and right wing, the rich, the poor, the cataclysmic forces of nature, their own inadequacies, bad parenting, the list is endless.

“This can make you very angry and cynical and bitter and dark and full of fantasies about destruction and anarchy and shaking your fist at God … you can become very dark. Jung said: The human shadow extends all the way down to hell. He really meant that; all the terrible things humans are motivated to do are associated with that shadow domain.”

Inari’s orange eyes leveled with each one of them. “None of you are saints, all of you have a terrible capacity for destructiveness. When you confront your shadow and consider your resentment, it can terrify you. Sometimes it can construct itself into very destructive fantasies, which you likely try to repress because they’re so brutal, aggressive, and dark that you can’t believe you’d generate them; the nice persona that’s you could never do such a thing.

“You don’t want to associate yourself with the satanic part of the human character; however, without that, you’d be ignorant, which is also represented by the Bible study of Adam and Eve with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—it opened the door to that darker understanding of humanity, which is also contrasted by the understanding of the good of humanity. That is extraordinarily useful.

“This is the combination of everything we’ve discussed, because having that darker self means you can incorporate that into your actions when needed, you’re a lot more immovable, courageous, a force to contend with; it can give you respect for yourself when you realize you’re a force of controlled destruction and creation, and you’re more likely to treat yourself with a lot more intelligent caution.

“All of the beings I really admire have a clearly dangerous side to them because they’re powerful; you don’t want to have them activate that any more than necessary, they are forces to be reckoned with, but it’s also what makes them respectable and strong.”

“That sounds … difficult…” Sora sighed.

Her aunt chuckled. “This is a very challenging undertaking; if it were easy, everyone would reflect this heroic balance between the light and darker sides of humanity—to pull in that dark side of your character, and that would be all the things you’ve repressed or failed to develop as a consequence of trying to be a harmless citizen, this persona that looks virtuous on the surface.

“Most people aren’t put in situations where they are encouraged to be bad which is why people feel dazed after participating in a riot; they thought they were good-natured people—no, they were never placed in a situation that allowed them to be bad; the persona that masks the shadow … Wendy has a memory of a game called Persona Five that illustrates this principle in a grand manner.”

“I remember hearing about it,” Wendy whispered. “I just don’t remember much about it.”

“In any case, it is possible to unlock your Core with these emotions evident, but they will only enhance and cause you a shift in personality. Therefore, we must go through a few events before unlocking that first layer. You do not understand what unlocking your Core implies; it is a very personal and emotional task that can twist your personality if not handled properly.

“How do you think trickster gods and evil deities in your myths were created? They were not born evil or twisted but became as such through unhealthy means of unlocking their Core before dealing with their darker emotions. As discussed, many of your legendary heroes are described going through character trials to overcome this; you are no different.”

“That makes sense,” Mary muttered. “For instance, the evidence is overwhelming in cases such as lottery winners. They obtain a vast amount of wealth or potential power overnight and unravel. A year later they are even more miserable than the year previous, or dead from overdose … suicide. The evidence that the pursuit of power without restraint is harmful is overwhelming. Thank you for taking that into consideration.” She smiled at Inari. “Wendy’s explanation was correct; your presence is without words to describe.”

“I understand what is meant by that,” Inari sighed. “Not as a compliment, but as reality. Founders that have learned even a moderate amount of control over their power release that kind of aura. It is natural. Sora will be the one to answer your prayers though.” Her aunt rested her cheek against the back of her hand.

“First, you will be astral projecting to the Human Realm to view what has become of your family, and by Sora’s powers, you may communicate with them; they will see you in a daydream-like state. What you tell them is up to you, and Sora can transport you anywhere. You may see many of your family members and project the same message so that they come together and correspond with the event. This, I have decided, is the first step.”

Sora felt the pressure hit her in the chest as Mary, Ashley, and Nathan’s emotions struck her. “Can—I really do that? I don’t know how to astral project or how to influence them when I am astral projecting—wait, could I find out what’s going on with my dad?”

Her aunt smiled at her. “Of course you can, my little niece; you are so much more powerful than you credit yourself. Take each of them separately; it is an impression of yourself, linked to your Core, birthed through your magic. How impossibly complicated it would be for a Vulpes like Fen; she couldn’t fathom the magic behind it. You will not comprehend it either, but it is natural for you. The moment you desire it, you will begin to understand what you must do, and every time you repeat it, it will become easier, such is your gift, which I am fostering. Are you ready to begin?”