“D-Drauko?! STEP BACK!”

With another step, Tabitha flicked the knife out from within its handle.

Onei tackled Drauko as they turned and stepped back, but too late.

With one last step, she thrust forward.

A soft yet piercing sound reverberated through the room as the knife plunged into Onei’s back.

The next instant, Onei shrieked in pain and was dragged backward as Drauko stepped back in fear, looping their arms under hers.

Wordlessly, Tabitha stepped forward again, an unnervingly cold and aware expression on her face. Again, she swiped Luuko’s knife with unfaltering precision, no magic surging through her body.

While Drauko readied to duck, Onei roared as she pulled herself from their grasp and outstretched her arms. This time, the knife plunged into the left side of her neck.

Before anyone could say a word or recover or even make some sentimental final gesture, Tabitha threw Onei to the side and lunged toward Drauko.

They barely managed to avoid her blade by sidestepping left, but she caught their arm, her eyes gleaming with concentration.

She empowered her arm with magic, but Drauko couldn’t do anything as their arm was suddenly torn from its socket, throwing them toward the next swipe of her blade, aimed at their head.

They ducked under the attack, then when they saw the mana of her leg swiping upward, they were forced to lean backward to avoid being hit. As they did, however, she pushed her open hand toward them. They leaned even further back to stop her from grabbing their neck.

Then, she pulled their arm even further away, and they tripped.

As they fell, completely defenseless, her leg smashed back down.

Crack.

Drauko’s eyes bulged as ‘Tabitha’s foot smashed their ribcage in. But she didn’t gloat or mince words, even as they had no hope of escape. She immediately stabbed down toward their neck.

Then, her arm was suddenly torn asunder as someone swiped an arm down at her. The knife clattered on the ground, along with the arm, with its ‘flesh’ revealed to be planty fibers.

“That’s enough!”

Drauko’s quivering and Kai’Vra’s still eyes slowly turned toward the newcomer

Blue eyes shined through wraps of dry bandages, glaring dangerously and confidently at the plant monster. Therin tried to kick her away, but she leaped from him before he could.

“I don’t think I released the chimeras yet, so...” He stepped in front of Drade. “You must be either someone disregarding orders or...someone unaffiliated,” he said like it was grounds for death.

“No matter. I’ve already won.” She sent a confident, knowing smirk toward Drauko. “Treasure what life you have left, children.”

She leaped away before anyone could retort, leaving Therin and Drauko alone.

Drauko coughed blood and continued hoarsely trying to breathe. Therin looked down at them and clicked his tongue. “Whoever that was can wait. You need medical attention...” He looked at Onei, whose eyes he could still see moving, hopelessly looking at him through her scattered blonde hair, which had begun to stain with her pooling blood. “Unfortunately, nothing can be done about her unless your healer is soon to be here...”

He put a hand on his headphones. “Drade was reported traveling with a girl who could heal wounds. Did she get captured, or...What do you mean you passed her by?! Grab her, now!”

About two minutes later, a soldier leaped into the room with Livia in his arm, her arms crossed and expression unbothered.

“Let her down,” Therin said. He had paced back and forth for the past few minutes. In that time, Drauko had seemingly fallen asleep despite or because of their injuries, and Onei had died. The Dark Scientist had wrapped her wounds in bandages, as he seemed to keep a roll on him, but it was too little too late. He had then moved her body out of her blood, leaning her against a wall while he tried to think of what to do next.

As she stumbled out of the soldier’s grip, Livia looked around the room. “What the fuck did you do to that girl!?” she asked, her expression fading into anger.

“Nothing,” Therin responded. “I did what I could to save her.”

Her gritted teeth turned into a sad frown. “I...see...then it was that girl.”

He nodded.

Drauko suddenly stood up despite their closed eyes, then shook their head and quickly awoke. “Don’t worry about her...” they said, their eyes downcast. They took in a deep breath. “She’s...” They averted their eyes. “She’s fine...”

“Is that so?” Therin said, glancing at her corpse. “Then what of that person who attacked you? Who were they?”

“I don’t...really know. Just a man-eating plant girl?” they shrugged and smirked like it was a joke.

“I noticed.” Therin glanced at the arm still laying on the ground. “Then I suppose that’s pleasantries out of the way. You’re now my prisoner.”

Drauko frowned. “Just give us a second...”

“Us?” They bent down and picked something up. Therin’s eyes widened as he saw it. “Is that my-”

“Mphone one,” they responded, holding it out.

“Hiiiii, Therin. Been a while~” a cheery voice said from the phone’s speaker. “Oh, but before we talk buisness...I was really worried about you for a moment there, Drade! I heard you get attacked, and I thought you might die on me. Don’t give your old man a jumpscare like that!”

“Uhh...sorry for nearly dying, I guess.”

Therin stepped back. “G-Gou...h-hello. There. We were just, umm...talking-”

“Right, right, about you doing a bit of an oopsie-whoopsie and betraying me.”

“Y-yeah...” Therin practically mouthed, his voice strained. “...that.”

“It’s all water under the bridge, don’t worry about it, sport.”

An awkward silence swept over the room.

“By the way, I have your son captive,” Therin said.

“Oh noooooo, whatever will I do! I’m in shambles right now, really! Hey, Gyse, could you hand me those chips? Thanks. Anyway, I know you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder..hehe, but really? What’s this whole rebellion thing about?”

Therin stood straight. “I-I’m here to bring in a new era of magic. You can’t stop me, and even if you do, I’ll...I’ll have succeeded anyway. The world will know about magic!”

The sound of a chip crunching echoed through the receiver. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Drauko shrugged. Therin scratched his head. “You...did hear me, right? You’ve censored magic from the masses, done everything you could do keep it a secret from the world...I’m about to end all of that. No, I have done all of that. Changeton is nothing but rubble, and everyone inside it has witnessed its destruction at the hands of magic. Soon, everyone will know about the power of magic. There is no more running away from the secrets and truths of our world or from its progress. No matter what you do

“Cool. Good for you,” Gau said. “Hey, Drade, what do you think about that?”

“Mmm...Me? I mean, I don’t mind either way.”

“Welp. Aaaanyway, we’re about to get to the good part, so I’ll call you back when the movie’s over.”

Gau hung up.

...

Therin looked down in disbelief. “I...I don’t understand. I’m not even that surprised...but I want to smack him in the face so badly.”

Drauko shrugged and pocketed their phone. “Yeah, Dad’s weird. Or...Drade’s dad...or...whatever.”

“Whatever, I planned this for twenty years; I’m not letting a good thing take the wind out of my sails.” He grabbed Drauko’s arm. “I’m taking you to the presentation room. And you...” He pointed to the soldier who had brought in Livia. “Take that girl to Hilda. She’ll know what to do with her ability.”

Therin flew Drauko far into the sky, where an enormous roller door opened out of what appeared to be thin air, and he took them through it and into what appeared to be a hangar, where a heavily damaged jet was undergoing repairs.

“This is our base of operations,” Therin explained as he led them through the hangar and up a flight of scaffolding. “An enormous, invisible airship upon which I will build a fortress from the rubble of Changeton City.”

“I can tell,” Drauko muttered. “I mean, I can see its mana through its invisibility-.”

“Precisely why we didn’t move it in until the first phase had begun...” Therin frowned as they stepped through a door and into a hallway. “I’m sorry, I can’t help but feel as though you meant something when you said ‘we’ back there.”

Drauko put a finger to their mouth. “Mmm...Well, it’s a bit of a long story, but we’re not really ‘Drade’. We kinda fused together a bit ago, so you can just call us Drauko.”

Therin suddenly let go of their hand and held his arms to his chest, his eyes widening in disgust. “O-oh...erm...I didn’t realize you were...that kind of person.”

They blinked. “Uhh...do you, like, have something wrong with fusing?”

“N-not...exactly.” He stepped back. “I’m just going to...let’s just agree to...to make like Chaos and pretend you never said that.”

Drauko coughed.

“Erm, sorry about that.” He picked up the pace, walking forward as he said, “And what age were you again?”

“We’re both seventeen?”

“What the fuck is with that man’s children...”

“What are you going on about?” Drauko asked, frustrated at not understanding what was wrong. “Did we do something wrong?”

Therin shook his head. “Ask your father about it. I am not explaining this to you.”

“O...kay?”

He led them through a few hallways and, after about two minutes of walking, brought them through a door and into a large, stark-white room with a padded floor. “This is the presentation room. Sit wherever you’d like, and I’ll begin my presentation.”

They looked about the room with curiosity, noting the magic coating the walls. “What’s it about?”

Therin shrugged. “It’s a presentation about how the world would be a lot better if everyone knew about magic.”

“I mean...hey,” they shrugged. “Sounds like I don’t have to do much, so I sure don’t mind!” They fell to the pillow-like floor and relaxed into it.

“Asna! Begin presentation: A World With Magic.”

Drauko suddenly had their vision darken as Therin closed the door. Then, the blackness was lit by small stars that began to shine on Drauko and Therin, dimly illuminating the ground.

He cleared his throat. “In our world, humans know many things to be universal.”

Suddenly, the world seemed to shift.

Drauko stood next to Therin in what appeared to be slums. Before them was a frozen scene of people running for their lives as bullets flew through the air, shot from the guns of a few armed soldiers. Many civilians were dying or dead on the ground, and more would fall.

“Sometimes, people are killed.”

It shifted to another scene of a robber grabbing a woman’s purse.

“Or they are stolen from.”

The next scene, the robber was kneeling beside a dismal grave.

“Or they must steal.”

Then, it shifted to a hospital, a young child dead in their bed, with family crying over them.

“Or illness strikes the young.”

Therin shook his head as they then stood high above earth.

“Humans understand that pain and suffering are inherent parts of living. But they are only excusing their weakness. What so many fail to understand is that these things are not inherent. If not for the chaotic nature of humanity and most other living beings, such things would no longer be so integral.

But this cannot be fixed. Billions of these soulful beings cannot work in tandem nor create an order strong or just enough to fix such problems.”

Therin raised a finger to his temple. “Or can they? Perhaps, there is something they don’t know, something boiling beneath their feet, yet so imperceptible that it has remained unseen for countless generations.” He shook his head. “But you already know what I’m speaking of...”

Far below, Earth suddenly seemed to disappear and was replaced by a dazzling blue aura, a representation of all the magic in the world.

“Magic. It is a power that is all around us, which nearly each person has the capacity to use, should they understand the arcane. While even I understand so little about its true nature...” He glanced at Drauko with a knowing look. “...I do know that it has the capacity to change the world.”

The scene shifted back to the civilians running from their attackers, except a wall of earth had been conjured by a child to protect them from the bullets.

“It can give power to individuals with none...”

Next, the robber instead stood over an elaborate grave with the same name engraved on it. As the rain fell into his cupped hands, it turned into gold.

“Can create wealth and resources from nothing.”

The scene shifted back to the child in the hospital. Instead, the lady who had been stolen from was in a doctor’s coat, and magic emanated from her hands and into the child.

“And can even cure the uncurable.”

They shifted back to the picture of Earth. “If the world learns of magic, if it becomes a part of society, everything will change. Resources will become a thing of the past. Science will grow to understand the nature of the universe better. People who would have died will be healed. Food, water, transportation, land...everything that people fight, bleed, and die for will become easily accessible to everyone.”

The scene faded away, and they once more appeared to stand(and lay) in the room.

“So what do you think?” Therin asked. “Would you be willing to work with me?”

Drauko frowned, propping themselves up on their elbows. “I mean...I don’t mind, and I even kinda think you have a point. What’s even the problem, though? Why do you think my dad would care about any of this?”

Therin looked up. “I don’t necessarily...‘mind’ Gau. However, he has worked to keep magic a secret on any and all occasions and has made it clear that his policies of secrecy won’t ever change.”

“Mmm...Dad does that?”

He nodded. “He remains in hiding not because he fears other organizations, but because he...thinks it’s funny, I guess.”

“Have you asked him why he does it?”

“Yes, but he always gives me excuses such as, ‘oh, that’s just no fun’ or, ‘I don’t have time for this’...as he watches a television show...or ‘you know that’s just how we do things in my organization’ or ‘everyone else is doing it’ and so on and so forth.”

Drauko clicked their tongue. “So you’ve never wondered if he just...couldn’t tell you?”

He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? What could he possibly have been unable to explain to me at any point in our hundreds of years of working together?”

“I dunno. Last time I mentioned this to someone was when I told that plant girl about it. I have a feeling I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

“You’re being...quite vague.”

“Sorry~” They fell flat on the cushions. “I just had a thought: what if I’m not supposed to tell you about it either?”

Therin crossed his arms, annoyed. “Seriously?”

“Look, think about it. Isn’t it weird that you’re the only person who has ever tried to do this? If magic is really so powerful, how does nobody know it exists? I feel like you’re suuuper being dumb here.”

Therin shook his head forcefully. “That- that is because powerful people have always tried to keep it secret so that they could remain powerful.”

Drauko’s eyes widened. Just as they had finished speaking, a small flicker of mana appeared around Therin for only a split second, then vanished.

“Fate...” they muttered in awe.

“What? Fate?”

They blinked, then stood up. “Therin...Beings of law, like me and you...”

“What...about us?”

“We don’t undergo denial unless what we are learning doesn’t immediately conflict with what we already know. Listen to yourself.”

Therin shook his head. “That’s...yes, there is a chance that I’m misunderstanding things, but you want me to think that the state of the world is due to something as vague as ‘fate’ is...it’s just preposterous!”

Small sparks of magic lit in his soul, nearly imperceptible without Drauko paying attention to it. “I don’t think you’d think that way if you saw the world the way I did, Therin.” They shook their head. “Umm...but why don’t we just put that aside for now. There’s something that I think is more important that I think we should talk about. Look, your attack on the city is going to hurt a lot of people. You’ve already destroyed millions of people’s homes, and the damage to the country and everyone who will become a refugee after this is going to be cataclysmic, even if we assume that you’re right about everything. Why don’t you just stop this and approach this in a less hurtful way?”

Therin sighed as he looked away. “If it were so easy, I would have done so. Your father is the issue. He censors all forms of magic from media. His power over the information in this country is immense, and even with what I’ve done until now, he could easily undo what I have caused. He could erase the memories of those who witnessed the event, restore the city, and have time to drink with his friends. If what you said was true, then it proves my point even further. If I wanted to defeat something subtle and omniscient, then only something cataclysmic, as you put it, would break through and bring magic to the forefront.”

Drauko sighed. “I don’t like what you’re doing, one way or another. I get that you have a point, but...” their eyes met Therin’s, growing deadly and sharp. “I cannot allow you to hurt anyone. I would be going against my code to turn a blind eye to what you’re doing and what you will cause.”

Therin crossed his arms, seemingly unperturbed. “That figures. With a lawful soul that powerful, it would be strange if you didn’t have an unfaltering code to follow. Unfortunately, it’s that code that keeps people like you in check. Your actions are limited by a narrow view of good and evil, and your ambitions are only as large as the obstacles you face.”

Drauko didn’t bother questioning why Therin, a similarly powerful eldritch entity of law, seemed to disregard his own code and instead responded, “You’re only half right. But you’re forgetting something important about me.”

“Hmm?” Therin tilted his head with curiosity. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not just an eldritch being. Right now, I’m also a human.”

...

Therin groaned as he massaged his temples. “Please, for the love of Cha...Please stop reminding me of that!”

They shrugged. “I’m also only one-fourth eldritch anyway, so I’m probably a bit human in there, too.” What is so wrong with it, anyway? “So how about I ask you something,” they said. “What would it take to make you stop doing this?”

“To stop my attack? Which I planned for twenty years?” He scoffed. “Please. If you could solve the issue for me and make everyone know about magic, here and now, I would gladly accept that. Unfortunately, you cannot.”

“Okay, I can try.”

Therin rolled his eyes. “And how will you go about that?”

“First, though, what would make you stop, at least for a moment?”

“Psh...I don’t know. Maybe if you could assure me that your father won’t interfere with what I’m doing? We could call it a ceasefire for the time being if I could get his word on that.”

“Kay’, let’s get this over with...” Drauko yawned as they unpocketed their phone. “I’m getting tired, and I...”

...

“You...what?” Therin narrowed his eyes.

Drauko looked down with uncertainty. “I think I made a very, very big mistake. Don’t worry about it.” They then called Gau again.

Gau’s voice once more run through the speaker. “Draaaade! I was about to call you. What’s poppin', young man?”

“Hey, Dad. I was just chatting with Therin. He said that you censor stuff about magic so that people don’t learn it exists.”

...

“Yep. I do,” Gau said after a strangely long pause.

“Why?”

“I think you already know.”

...

After another strangely long pause, he continued, “It’s obviously because if the masses got their hands on magic, I’d be so redundant, I’d just faaaade out of existence. Poof~!”

“Err...is that how chaotic beings work? Do you just fucking die if you become redundant?” Drauko asked.

“It totes is!” he responded. Therin frowned at what he said. “So what’s the question about? I hope you haven’t been saying anything that’d get you into trouble?”

“Erm...tr...trouble?”

“So what was the question about?” Gau repeated.

“Wait, what does ‘trouble’ mean?”

“So what. Was. The. Question. About?”

“Uhh...” Drauko, or more accurately, Drade, felt unsettled for the first time in quite a long time by how his father was speaking. “W-well, I was going to ask if you could not censor Therin.”

“Not possible, chief. I gotta do what I gotta do to ‘stay alive’, if you catch my drift.”

“Okay...is there any way that I could convince you not to?”

“Nooot much. Not that I can think of, at least. That said, you’re the crazy go-getter of the family. Maybe you can think of something I’d care about.”

Drauko ‘hmm’ed in thought. After a few seconds, they said, “Hey...Dad. Do you remember what you said the last time we met?”

“Err...umm...nah, my memory is a bit faded. What’d I say?”

“Well, you told me that when you had a kid with Mom, you thought that I’d be your successor.”

“Sounds familiar.”

“Then, when I was basically just a human, you, you know, decided to just have another kid with your aunt?”

“Ahh, yeah. I still don’t get why your mom’s all up on her high horse with that one.”

“Leave it to the immortal chaotic entity to be clueless after over a decade...Look, what I’m trying to say is that after you realized that I was actually a capable leader, and after Uffield chose to do her own thing, you gave me an offer.”

“Ohhhhh, now I remember this! Sorry, I must be getting too old to remember small stuff like that.”

“You’re not even four hundred...Anyway, what I was getting at is that I’m going to take you up on that offer right now.”

...

“HUH!?” Gau yelled at the top of his nonexistent lungs, blaring through the phone speaker. “WHAT’D YOU JUST SAY!?”

“I said that I’d take over as The Dark President.”

“W-what!? Seriously?! Why!?”

“Because I have to. And if you let me, I’ll just make the order myself.”

...

“Drade...you...you do understand what you’re saying, right? The danger that will put you in?”

“Kinda, but...”

Far, far below, Onei’s corpse laid on the ground, and above it, stars shined down upon her untouched body. A vine slowly crept out of the concrete beside her, then wrapped her in vines.

Then, the concrete below her crumbled, and she fell into three arms.

A red eye glowered over her.

“Oh...yes...” The Great Mother muttered, stroking back the blonde’s blood-soaked hair to see her hollow eyes below. “A perfect vessel for me...the power of a Fatebreaker...” The creature suddenly turned into a whirlpool of spiritual energy and enveloped Onei’s body. As it did, the aura that lit the sky with starlight faded away.

Before her body could touch the ground, Onei smiled, then her back burst into black tentacles, which stopped her fall and stood her up.

She marveled over her left arm, which briefly unfurled into a mass of various plants, like a bouquet, then to her right, flexing her hand.

She then looked up at the sun and smiled as she closed her left eye. When it next opened, a metallic eye shone red in place of what had once been inside of it.

Lastly, she traced a hand through her blood, which now began to shine with stars like a blackened sky.

“Hmhmhmhm...Hahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I’ve DONE it!” The Great Mother roared, her voice just like Onei’s. “Something feels strange...but I’ve gained the power to defeat fate itself!” She leaped out of the hole and into the puddle of blood, which rippled like water reflecting the night sky. “No more lies! No more deceit! No more false power! No. More. Fate! I control my fate, now, and now...hmhmhm...” She smiled at the sky with an ecstatic, dangerous smile. “I show that Fatebearer what a true god looks like!”

“Kinda, but-”

An enormous black thing suddenly skewered through the building three feet in front of Drauko, and the sheer speed and enormity of it caused a sonicboom that send Drauko speeding away. Their head violently cracked against the metal wall.

With Drade’s immunity to anything, physical or mental, that might quake or blind his mind and his embodied soul’s sublime control over its body, Drauko managed to stand despite the concussion and pain. Warm blood pooled onto their jacket hood from even the indirect blow.

As they watched the circular black object, which must have been as wide as a small house, it quickly shrunk into an impossibly small tentacle, which wound into the back of the person whom it belonged to.

Onei smiled back at Drauko, and their mind immediately raced, grasping for any explanation of what had happened. In place of the ship’s floor and walls, which had been carved out by the tentacle, sunlight now shined through to the bottommost part of it’s deck, where Therin and Drauko now stood.

Their eyes locked in on Drauko’s eye, which now glowed a familiar red.

“Hello, Fatebringer. It’s been a hot second, now, hasn’t it,” she said through the alarm bells and yells that rung through the facility.

Drauko’s eyes widened with terror.

We forgot all about that monster the moment I left the sewers, but...if she’s grabbed Onei’s body...then she probably revived. The Great Mother...shit.

“Therin stepped back. M-mother? What...what is this?”

Onei’s mechanical eye moved to Therin. “Whatever could you mean, young one?”

“First off, why the fuck did you just need to impale my airship! Second off, how are you alive?”

She tilted her head. “What, you aren’t happy to see your mother alive and well?”

He glanced between her eye and tentacles, then back to Drauko. “N-no, not...erm, I mean...I don’t...mind. W-what do you want?” he said, fear obviously lacing his voice.

“Simple.” She pointed at Drauko, who was frozen in fear. “I want them. Feel free not to mind me, Therin.”

He glanced between the two again, wide-eyed, then stepped back. “I don’t mind. Nope. Not at all. Do as you wish. J-just please don’t destroy my ship.”

“I wouldn’t dream of hurting my precious son’s ship.”

Drauko suddenly dashed toward the door, but the next instant, their ears were irreparably blown by a crack of air as The Great Mother crashed into it, denting the metal door. Had they not known better, they would have thought she’d just teleported.

She fell to the ground after her jump, which could have easily killed Drauko had she so pleased. She mouthed something they couldn’t hear.

They stumbled backward, hands on their now bleeding ears as terror swept over them.

She stepped lazily toward Drauko, then raised their hunched back and gently placed her hands on their ears. An almost motherly smile rose on her face as Drauko’s ears were healed.

They could, in fact, see her magic. Unlike Lumia, whose mana was so bright to Drade that she appeared almost as bright as the star from which she was borne, The Great Mother didn’t emanate mana when she didn’t need to. When she did, however...the mana her soul poured was almost blinding.

“Can you hear me now?” she asked softly.

They slowly nodded, their chest pounding in abject terror.

“Good. Now, listen to what I have to say...”

The Great Mother licked her lips, then leaned forward and opened her mouth beside their ear.

She then whispered, with all the sweetness of any gentle being: “I am not going to kill you. I am going to break you. I will show you what it feels like to die, over and over, and over and over, and when I’m done with you, any wish you may have made, any hope you may have held, any chance you saw, any past, present, or future life you’ve lived will seem more like a dream than a reality. Sleep, now, child.”

Her blood suddenly wrapped Drauko up as she leaned back, encapsulating them in what looked like a cocoon of starry liquid.

“And why, do you think, do I plan on doing that, Therin?” she asked absently.

“Uhh...” his eyes flicked back and forth nervously, his jaw half-open in fear. “Because...he...w-wronged you?”

“ERRRRT~ Wrong. Try again.”

“Uhh...” His jaw twitched. “Because he’s...got something to do with fate?”

“ERRRRT~ Wrong again.”

“Because....” He looked down. “He’s...”

His mother rolled her eyes. “Oh, stop skirting around it, doofus. You know exactly why.”

He averted his eyes as he gritted his teeth. “Because he carries the power of Chaos within him.”

She nodded, watching with a devilish smile as her blood swirled away and back into Onei’s stab wounds, revealing a completely still Drauko. Well, not completely still; they involuntarily coughed at the sound of the word ‘Chaos’, then limply fell to the ground in a heap, apparently completely checked out of their body. “Yes, how astute of you. I knew a smart boy like you would know about it.”

“B-but why? Do you really need the power of Chaos? Mother, you should understand better than anyone what becoming the True God does to a person!”

“Because this form won’t last for long,” she explained.

His eyebrows narrowed. “I don’t understand. How?”

“At midnight. At midnight, all that has happened today will be replaced with an unknown future. Moreover, after looking into the memories of my current host, I’ve learned that everything I do within this vessel between now and the time of midnight will become undone due to a very particular, involuntary power that afflicts my host, most likely associated with her ability to break fate.”

“But how do you plan on using Chaos to change that?”

She shrugged. “When the ability tries to bring my present self into The Gates of Law, I’ll open the Gates of Chaos from the other side and redo what it undid through doing so.”

He raised an eyebrow, glancing between Drauko and her. “Good for you, I guess. What does any of that and torturing Drade have to do with each other, though?”

Her smile slipped away into a confused frown. “You followed everything I was saying until this point without even knowing that? You’re either too dumb or too smart.” Her smile returned. “It’s nothing too complex: I must wither their soul and mind so far that nothing but their body is left, and from there...” She licked her lips. “It’s just a matter of ‘absorbing’ what’s left.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Therin said with pity as he looked at Drauko.

She smiled and kicked the teen onto their back, then kneeled down. “Quickly. Very quickly. They are in a dream, right now. Soon enough, they will wake up as a husk.”

“What...sort of dream?”

“HAHAHAHA!” She suddenly yelled. “One where eons pass each second. One where, only when they see the end of all things, will they awaken. A horrible nightmare from which waking up becomes a wish as futile as the last dying star’s attempts to shine, an event they will witness long after their mind has been crushed by the Truth of Law.” Her wide, insane eyes briefly softened into genuine sympathy, or something akin to it. “It is not a nightmare. It is the nightmare.”

Therin swished his mouth as he put a hand to his headphones. “Nobody enter the Presentation Room. Anyone who does can kiss their life goodbye.”

...

Five minutes passed.

“Uhh...” The Great Mother’s expression grew sullen with annoyance. “It shouldn’t take this long.”

Therin had taken a cup of Coffee from his dimensional storage, as well as his tablet, and had begun playing minesweeper as he occasionally took the coffee from its magically flying coaster to take a sip.

“Is that so?” he said uncaringly before taking a sip. “How do you know that?”

She clicked her tongue. “I’ve used it on one or two other poor souls in my time. It lasted something like three minutes.”

He shrugged. “Maybe it’s just taking a bit longer than usual.”

She pushed her head even closer to Drauko, her metallic eye moving with blinding speed as though she were thinking very hard and very much on guard. She then leaned back. “Ehh, probably,” she said with resignation.

...

A few more minutes passed.

She pulled their eyelids more open with two fingers and stared at their slightly twitching eye.

“How do you know that they haven’t died already?” Therin asked.

“I dunno. Usually, there’s a sudden jolt in their limbs, then I know they’re dead.”

“Not very scientific.”

“Hey, it isn’t like there’s any good way to tell if a soul has decayed yet. I just have to eye it.”

“Unless you had manasense and could see souls,” Therin said as he looked at his tablet. Minimized in the corner as he played was the real-time video of the tablet’s manasense, where Drauko’s soul remained still.

She nodded. “Which neither of us have.” She tapped her mouth. “Think he’s good to eat yet?”

“Oh! Mom, I just remembered!” he said, quickly moving to her as he maximized the camera function and gave her the tablet. “See? His soul is still in there.”

“Ohhhhh~ What a good son you are~” she doted. “You learned how to create artificial Manasense. So smart~” she patted his head from below, then watched his soul through its lens.

...

“Something is up, I’m sure at this point. He should be long dead.”

He sipped his coffee, resigned. “Wow, you think?” he said sarcastically.

“Yes. Maybe my power failed? No, he’s still incapacitated...”

She began muttering different possibilities as to why Drauko may not have been affected by her power. Meanwhile, Therin gaped at his oblivious mother.

Apparently being a god doesn’t make you any brighter...heh. Brighter.

“Or maybe...” She grabbed Drauko’s throat, then raised them up with a dangerous expression. “They’re faking it!” she yelled with vitriol.

It took you that long to figure it out?

“Maybe,” he admitted. “Maybe you don’t understand this dream power of yours, though?”

She shook her head. “No...I can tell they are! Those small movements of their eyes...they’re awake!” she yelled in triumph.

Therin blinked. “Mom...you...you do realize that people’s eyes move while they’re sleeping, right?”

“That’s dumb. They’re unconscious! How it that possible?”

“It’s called REM sleep. It’s the deepest form of sleep and is an acronym for ‘Rapid Eye Movement’.”

“Oh.” She let them down. “Well, something must be wrong.”

“I-” Therin paused as someone suddenly burst up from the open hole in the floor, a pitch black, round object hovering above them.

The Great Mother squinted as she raised herself to her feet. “What are you?” she asked the small girl who intruded in on them.

Lumia scowled. “I’m the person who’ll protect Drade from you!”

A massive laser of light exploded from her singularity, narrowly avoiding Drauko and creating an enormous horizontal hole where it combusted, sending the insane god flying dozens of miles away.

She rubbed her nose. “I just need to keep her busy until midnight?” she asked.

Therin nodded. “Midnight.”

The kid grimaced. “I can’t fight that long. I can fight for eight, at best.”

Therin looked at the phone still on the ground, yet still locked in a call with Gau. “Just stall. A friend of mine will cover for you soon enough. And I will...protect Drade as best I can.”

She nodded, then blasted off. A moment later, a blast of light collided with a mass of tentacles far away, and a cataclysmic battle between gods began.