Gravetower

by Kell Inkston

  To her, it’s like looking into a box full of dead people she used to know.

  The greatest of the Royal Knights reaches into the personal compartment, where chat stones are placed when the owner doesn’t want an operator to deliver the message or use them. They tell the owner it's ringing, and that’s all.

  She takes up the one little blue stone, with a small piece of tape applied to the rim of the chain and the word “him/it” neatly written upon it. She holds the gently vibrating stone in her hand as she steps into one of the confidential rooms, enchanted heavily to prevent any sort of snooping magics.

  Order locks the door, sits down into the plush leather chair of the private room, and raises the stone up. There’s a part of her that doesn’t want to pick up, but she knows that she has to. She can’t be held accountable for what he might do if she doesn't. She must remain a part of this; it’s her duty— he is her duty.

  She sends a jolt of mana into the stone to finish the line, and a powerful, intelligent voice spills out from the stone.

  “Well,” Chaos addresses, speaking at the other end. “I suppose you’re happy with yourself.”

  “I’m never happy with myself,” Order says, standing up on reflex upon hearing his voice.

  “Oh? Now just how could that be? You move with such desperation when cutting off arms and leaving your friends to d-”

  “She’s not my friend. Friends don’t hurt each other.”

  “And you don’t think that she was doing all of this simply because she knows how much of a fool you are?”

  Order squints. “I have a duty to perform.”

  “And if you did not perform it, perhaps everything would have been better. Was it your treachery that took me from Oa’s palace of the dead at that very last moment?”

  “… What? You were summoned?”

  “Quite forcefully… I could not save my friends in time— but it seems I was more than capable of saving yours.”

  Order is quiet a moment as she thinks back. “Somehow, I knew it would have been you.”

  “Does it disgust you that I’ve done more to help your despicable little world in a day than you have in a thousand years?”

  She’s quiet as she leans against the wall.

  “Or, perhaps, that despite your very best efforts to stop me, I did complete my goal?”

  “…Why did you call?”

  Chaos scoffs. “To taunt you, knave!”

  “Really.”

  “No, I’m afraid to admit I have simply forgotten why I called— but that will not stop me this time, you miserable pale fiend! Pray t-”

  “Not right now, please,” Order interjects, massaging her forehead with her free hand.

  “O-Ahah! Too weak even to cross words, are you? Very well, I shall be the most amiable of speaking partners.”

  “Good luck.”

  “I do believe I called because I… one moment.”

  Order can hear a voice with Chaos’ on the other end of the stone for a moment.

  “Yes! I want my arm back!”

  “Well too bad. There’s a nice cell I have for it. I don’t want it crawling away, after all.” She smirks.

  “Hrm… but what else would I trade for all your dear friends?”

  Order’s smirk dies out. “What?”

  “Do not act as though you did not know.”

  “…There were still people, in Towerne?”

  “Indeed, and now they are mine, unless you’re interested in a trade.”

  “I don’t do trades.”

  “I may not remember precisely why I called.”

  “Your arm.”

  “O-…Yes, well, I may now remember why I called— however I also remember that you were quite keen to trade other times!”

  Order scoffs gently as the sunrays fade dreamily into the confidential quarters. This is her preferred private room because it's nice and shaded by the tree right outside. “Yeah? Like when?” she asks.

  “Do you recall that snowy night when you lost your ledger?”

  Order says nothing.

  “Or perhaps that time Parvo ran away? Have I not been a righteous and helpful ruler?”

  She sighs. “Chaos, you’re a good… whatever you are, but there’s no getting around that you’re misguided. You’re insane, quite literally, and I don’t think you appreciate just how bad it is for you.”

  “I feel on the contrary, dear lady. It is I that brings about the greatest change to our good world— and regardless of what you say I am, we can both concede clearly that I am also the one that accomplishes.”

  Order takes a moment to mull that one over. He can be weirdly adroit in his own way every now and again.

  “I’ll admit that. I wouldn’t dare not say it, but you do just as much damage as good. You’re unstable.”

  “You are the unstable one, dear masteress. Does it lighten your heart that none but your very closest ‘friend’ has even the slightest clue about your secret?”

  Order pauses again. “How did you find out?”

  “As I said, my eyes are good.”

  “… I don’t hate you, Chaos, as much as others may think it— you know. I don’t actually hate you.”

  Chaos laughs at the other end of the line. “Oh?”

  “Despite what you’ve done to… me, and others in the past, I know your intentions are good— but you must be stopped.”

  The laugh devolves into a slight hiss. “You would rather have me gone than Oa?”

  “… Did you really kill it?”

  “Oa is no more. Its unholy crusade of ages has come to an end.”

  “… Rayda bless. Chaos, I-… thanks.”

  “That does not sound quite official enough to one’s rightful master.”

  She sighs. “… On behalf of humanity, I thank you… And… you took out the O.E.L. vessel too, I bet?”

  Chaos scoffs with a tone of disgust in his voice. “I have given them what they deserve for their treachery. Ywn will have a pretty time rebuilding all he lost.”

  “What happened?”

  “I returned a lost item back to their realm– one of their quaint little nuclear arms.”

  “… The killer light?”

  “Yes.”

  There’s a silence as a real smile crosses the petite lady’s lips. “I’m sure he’ll have a great time with that… but I’m not giving you your arm back.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I can’t have you moving about at full strength— rather, far from it, I bet I could come in there and kill you right now if I wanted to.”

  “Ahh, well as the superior being, I will simply send your people back then.”

  “You’re just going to let them go?”

  “Using leverage is for cowards.”

  “You were just using them as le-”

  “That said, I would be delighted for a visit. I’ll have Tea Minion get your favorite ready… you prefer greens, don’t you?”

  She arches her brow as she begins pacing about the room. “I do, but I won’t come for tea.”

  “And why not? Do you truly mean to imply that you are below the opinion of your peers? Your subordinates?”

  “No, on principle, I don’t share tea with those I intend on defeating.”

  Chaos coos with a deflated tone. “What a shame, perhaps some other time.”

  “…Yeah.”

  “…You should have trusted me.”

  Order draws back with a scoff. “For what?”

  “To strike down the O.E.L.— to protect people. You may see me as a killer, as a demon— but I see your citizens and your people as my own.”

  “…Chaos. We’ve talked about this before.”

  “We have?”

  “You just don’t remember it.”

  “Ahh… well I much would have preferred you to save Meeo and the others.”

  “… I made the best decision I could have at the time.”

  “And so did I, but still you demand on stealing what I love�
� so no arm, I assume?”

  Order leans against the wall and begins brushing her own arms, a small spark of humanity welling up in her ancient core. “No arm, but I’ll trade you for the humans,” she relents.

  Chaos chuckles darkly. “How very ambitious of you. If you demand on trading instead, then what do you have that I could want?”

  “Over two hundred of your minions. The assigned squads took back as many as we could for leverage… Cooking Minion was crying as much as you’d imagine.”

  She flinches as she hears a long, overlordly laugh from the Night Ruler himself.

  “So then, a nice thing to know about these closed-enchantment private rooms of yours is that they block out all sound from the outside,” he says in a leading tone.

  Order raises a brow. “Well, obviously. Private conversations should remain private, after all.”

  “Indeed, and undesirable elements must be removed from equations that would compromise plans.”

  She squints a greenish eye. “What are you going on about?”

  “…Especially when that plan involves a jailbreak.”

  She pauses in bewilderment as her ash-white fists tighten. “You… you knew.”

  “I don’t need an arm to reach out to the evil and crush them, Ranalie of Reane— Sunray-Bearing Hypocrite. I will regain Meeo, the very same that you don’t seem to hold a single care for— and I will follow the trail upwards, up into the highest echelons of Oa’s demonic lineage. I will crush the very teeth of the dark god you draw power from, and have it squirm at my feet before I weigh into its empty carcass with my one single arm. You can take all of my limbs, but you will still fail, as you will never break the spirit of the righteous,” he says with a positively holy tone just as Order hears a frantic knock upon the door.

  “Ahh, but you have a visitor! Have fun, you snowy little parasite~” Chaos notes in regards to the knocking, just before the chat stone’s connection is severed— causing its brilliant light to die back into a cold dullness.

  Order wastes no time in opening the door; the aid from before has a maddened gaze on her features as she looks down to address the Lord Knight General.

  “Ma’am! The holding cells have been smashed open! The minions are getting away!”

  Order sighs deeply as she reaches for Monument. “Rally the guard.”

  The aid salutes and backs out with Order; just as they turn, the masteress flexes for movement.

  In a flash, all of the chat stones in the communications center are thrown into disarray alongside the operators as Order soars through the room with a magic sprint. At a rate incomprehensible to most eyes, she dives across the headquarters and down into the holding cells. From a closing portal, one heroic minion is helping the last prisoner through. Just before the process can be completed, however, Order tackles down the final being, trapping her here with the Royal Knightess and the approaching swarm of guards.

  “Bah! Again?!” Scout Minion snaps almost facetiously as the two tumble across the stone brick floor in the split second before a vicious exchange of jabs.

  A blinding display of lights blast through the hall as the two have at one another, but Order’s fists hold with them the authority of the free human race— and also seven tons of magic. All it takes is one good stroke from Order’s arm to comprehensively crush the little minion’s body, smearing her across the floor as her frame tosses over the ground, quite unconscious.

  “As many times as it takes,” Order says, her eyes shining an enthused, unstoppable gold.

  Chapter Seventeen: Behold and be silent, for I am considering my next decision

  The High King of Infinite Power is resting with a red-faced Aoline in one of his thousands of tea rooms. He has a tea room for every occasion, truly, as one never knows what sort of guest one might have to entertain.

  Among the cutesy semi-rococo-draped atmosphere, Chaos looks over to the young knightess, who finally seems to be at the verge of speech.

  Chaos spins Order’s chat stone about by its chain for a moment as he mulls over the situation with a plain, serious gaze— an expression rare for him, even amidst life or death circumstances. After a few more seconds, he swings the little stone and chain into his palm and takes a sip of his Earl Grey. “Take as long as you need. I would not blame you if you never spoke to anyone ever again.”

  Aoline, her eyes dull in shock as she slouches along the table, turns into herself gently. “Is that what death feels like?” she finally asks, her voice lofty from crying.

  Chaos releases a calming, paternal *ahh*. “No, fortunately— only a few natural deaths will meet you with that sort of agony. The Royal Knights use pain-dulling magic to stay sharp— but now you know as well as any mortal that hurting is part of what makes things valuable… take that minion of Oa from earlier.”

  “The deer?” Aoline asks.

  “Yes, the deer-man-monstrosity. It was clear it appreciated the value inherent in progress. Unlike its fellow wayward souls, it didn’t want to remove the human experience. It knew there was value in pain. Pain creates sympathy.”

  Aoline slowly arches up to sit in her chair properly, and she draws her gaze over the cute teacup that Chaos himself prepared specially for her. She has no clue what the scent is, but it’s wonderful.

  “I like the tea.”

  Chaos smiles. “You haven’t even taken a sip, young lady.”

  She smiles back wearily. “I don’t need to in order to know it’ll be good… thank you.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “I wasn’t ready to die.”

  “Not many are.”

  “…So what are you going to do?”

  Chaos squints an eye as he takes another sip. “What am I going to do?”

  “Yes.”

  “About what?”

  “…Meeo, my lord.”

  Chaos stares at Aoline as if she’s lost her mind a moment, but just as quickly he flinches in his seat. “A-ah, yes. Well we all are a tad forgetful, aren’t we?”

  “That couldn’t have been more than half an hour ago,” Aoline says with a concerned tone.

  “Well…” Chaos looks about perplexedly. “Are you quite cert-” he stops, spotting the gap where his arm used to be. “… How could I be so daft?” At once, he puts down his dainty tea cup and waves his hand gently through the air.

  “Seek me thy presence, little spark. I call upon thee and thy stout legs.”

  In a zip and a flash, a small blue spirit with stubby little legs and arms manifests alongside its magic garments and wide-brimmed hat, right into Chaos’ palm.

  “Bzz bziizzizz bzz!” It greets in front of a wide-eyed Aoline.

  Chaos grins. “Spirit Minion, you must bring me information.”

  “Bzzt!” The hand-sized magician confirms with a jaunty squat before taking off with a shockingly cartoonish sound as it soars through the air into its mystic library.

  “Wh-what was that?”

  The Overlord waves off as if it were a trifle. “Another one of my loyal subjects. I had to capture it off of the spiritual plane; that was quite the adventure.”

  “And what did it say?”

  His antennae flick up as if receiving information from somewhere. “We had a little chat about finding out what precisely happened with our dear Friendion… she knew of this the whole time, I fear, and yet she saw this path as the best one….”

  “What do you mean, sir?” Aoline asks, taking a quick sip. As expected, the tea tastes as good as it smells.

  Chaos’ features sharpen. “Realmancy. I’ve dabbled in it myself for a fair time, but even I would admit her my superior to the craft. It takes a specifically… loose head to work the non-ether well, and while I am proficient at forgetfulness, she is an unprecedented mental calamity— constantly between the asylum and the ranks.”

  Aoline draws back. “Asylum?”

  Chaos hums. “If I recall correctly. As I’m sure you’ve seen by now, my memories are not all quite… notched up together like they s
hould be, but at this moment I do recall she has had a difficult life.”

  For a moment, however brief, Aoline wonders just what Meeo had been planning— and how such a seemingly perfect person could have such severe problems.

  “What all happened to her?”

  Chaos squints as he rings the rest of his tea about in his cup. “I… There comes a time in life once one gets old enough, Aoline, where one looks back and realizes all the damage he has caused.”

  “…Yeah, I suppose that’s true. Retrospection, right?”

  “Correct. It is simply that… I am often not together mentally, but physically I…” he glances back to the spot where his other arm should be with a scoff. “I usually am second to none. The matter arises when I am not together; unlike most who aren’t that just flail around and waste time, I achieve things… often very horrible things. There are some parts to me that I always have with me, but a love for life is not one of those things. I have forgotten my superior values often, sometimes for honor, or pride, or even avarice. I have done painful things to many people who deserved much better… at times I feel my forgetfulness is more of a blessing than a curse, but of course, I would not have… have….” He just stares out into the distance of the room, watching a little bird flutter about and sing on a branch outside.

  Aoline draws in. “Have…?”

  His antennae perk up. “Oh! Ah… I am terribly sorry, young lady, I do not quite recall.”

  “Meeo, sir.”

  Chaos looks at Aoline strangely again. “…Me…Oh?”

  “The realmancer.”

  Chaos scoffs. “Ahh, but of course! That dastardly animal that continues to taunt me with her evil designs. She thinks she can best me at even one school of magic? Ha! I will be the one to show her just how insignificant her human effort is!”

  Aoline draws back as Chaos waves his cup around in dramatic poise. “Yes! I will show her!” He starts again. “I will go to Overlord Pales, cut her little vampire neck to bits, and steal Meeo away to become the latest among my minion horde! How honored she will be to be a part of my undying cadre of be-essenced defenders! She’s best friends with that little… parasite! That Order, Ranalie! She will weep at my feet as I dangle her infested friend right before her. Meeo will be helpless but to play chess with me, and sing songs, and go on picnics, and we'll read stories to each other all day! Yes! Yes! Yes! HAHAHA—”