The Lord of Chaos | A Thora Silentblade tale

Thora looked around the room they found themselves in. Aside from the garish decorations on the wall, it was otherwise fairly normal. They had decided to take a bit of a rest here, since there seemed to be no immediate danger, and the dwarf was taking the time to examine their surroundings. The exits were plainly marked with two obvious doors to choose from. Unfortunately, no real indication as to which one might be the correct one for them to proceed forward. Even on close inspection, the doors seemed to be identical in almost every aspect.

“Something is off here” stated Thora, returning to the others who had settled down to snack on some rations. The dwarven soldier sat down, joining them, and slid a backpack over to use as a headrest. “This whole place has been constructed with nonsense and yet the way out seems as normal as can be.”

“You think it’s a trick?” asked Zearach, turning his elven eyes towards the exits and narrowing his gaze, as if trying to see something that was hidden. “It wouldn’t be the first.”

“What do you think, Duanne?” Thora inquired casually of their wizard. The tortle had so far proven to be able to think much more like this chaos realm needed. “What would be a more illogical way to get out of here?”

“Down!” shouted the tortle, patting his claw against the ground. Thora still wasn’t sure about reading the tortle’s emotions, but it seemed like Duanne was smiling. He really did enjoy this place too much.

Thora looked at the wizard quizzically before turning attention to the rough ground they were sitting on. The soldier hadn’t noticed it before, but the flooring of this room was different than the others. Instead of stone, the room seemed to built on top of sand! It was hard-packed, providing a solid surface, but with enough force Thora was able to dig in a little and make a small hole. What was beneath them?

With their rest over, the hard work began. Duanne was happily digging downwards, his tortle claws making easy work of parting the sand as the others worked to pile it out of the way and help widen the hole. Sure enough, after working for quite some time Duanne’s claws scratched up against something metallic. Clearing away the space, they found a hatch door, made of steel, with a ring handle for pulling open.

For once, Duanne gave Thora the moment to check the hatch out before attempting to open it. The dwarf poked at the edges, examining the door closely. It seemed easy enough to open, but it was locked and Thora found evidence of some sort of spring-loaded mechanism embedded in it. Thora was just about to start working on the mechanism when a crackling sound filled the air near the dwarf’s head. Thora leaped backwards, certain there was a trap, only to realize it was simply Duanne being his usual self.

The wizard had decided to grab the metal door with a claw full of electricity. As his claw came in contact with the steel hatch there was a loud zapping sound and the hatch suddenly popped open, a cloud of confetti shooting up into the air.

“THIS IS MY FAVOURITE PLACE IN THE WORLD!” shouted Duanne, ecstatic at the joyful trap.

Before anyone could advise better, the tortle began climbing down into the hatch, disappearing from view. Thora cautiously slipped over the edge, but couldn’t see Duanne at all. As the dwarf’s leg passed into the portal, it seemed to go into an infinite darkness and disappear. Well, this was certainly unnerving! Piece by piece, the dwarf disappeared from view, climbing down into an abyss of nothing.

The Clock

The disorienting landscapes continued at the bottom of the ladder, this time featuring a massive system of clockwork pieces. From where they stood, they could see a massive chamber, nearly the size of a major town square, with roads and stair cases leading in all directions. Some of them seemed to unnaturally connect or pass under each other in ways that defied the laws of nature. The massive glowing clockface was easily larger than a building, and seemed to emit a haunting bluish-green glow. The clockface showed that it was only a few minutes to midnight, but that couldn’t be possible, could it? It was morning when they left and… How long had they been here?

A snarl took Thora’s attention away from the clock for a moment as it became obvious they were not alone. The room was filled with demons and imps, their snarling maws hungry for flesh. Clearly, the creatures had sensed the arrival of Thora and the others. The paths around them were long and twisting, so Thora knew they had a moment before they all arrived, but it wouldn’t be long. The demons were moving to close in from all directions, some flying, others rushing with tentacled limbs flailing about in the air.

As Thora scanned the room, looking for a way out, Zearach pointed towards a staircase on the far side of the expanse with a large sign reading “Exit”. In front of it was a hulking creature of mammoth size, something that looked to Thora like a cross between a giant octopus and an elephant. If that was the way out, it was going to a be a long and hard road.

“I hope one of you has some good ideas” growled Thora, getting both blades up and ready. “I’ll try to buy some time!”

Charging forward, the soldier slashed left and right, trying to grab as much attention as possible while the others prepared for the onslaught. Thora’s blades found purchase, but these demons had tougher hides than most and weren’t going down as quickly as the dwarf had hoped. Numbers were starting to not be in their favour as the battle raged on. Snarling teeth lunged for their throats as tentacles tried to restrain them.

The room around Thora suddenly pulsed, as if the entirety of reality was warping around itself for a split second, and then a massive wall of force slammed into the dwarf. Demons and soldier alike were thrown off their feet, pushed backwards and away from the exit. How were they going to get across a room like this?

Glancing over at Zearach, Thora found that the elf had similarly been thrown backwards, and apparently so had the others. The demons were already recovering and charging forward again, pinning them in. Duanne, though, had managed to escape, leaping off the side and flying through the air using his arcane tricks. Hopefully he could figure out how to stop this thing!

A loud ticking sound filled the air and the minute hand on the giant clock seemed to be teetering forward. Was it a countdown?

“Hurry, Duanne! We don’t have much time to get out!”

That was all Thora could squeeze out before the demons were upon them again. The dance began anew and all Thora could focus on was survival. Nearby, Zearach and Al were battling for position, trying to corner in the demons as they arrived, but it seemed that as soon as they got an upper hand another demon would appear.

As the clock ticked forward, now only three minutes to twelve, the room seemed to pulse yet again. The air around them warped and sent them all flying backwards in the air. Thora caught a glimpse of an endless dark abyss stretching away into nothingness below their feet as the dwarf’s feet left the street and went over the edge. The dwarf dropped one blade to the ground, the sword making a clattering sound as it struck the roadway nearby, and grabbed onto the edge of the stone street with the now-free hand. Thora hung on so tightly that the soldier was certain that several tendons were going to snap. Thora could feel that their grip was loosening, the depths below inviting the soldier to give in. Thora watched as Alandal’s body fell into the unending darkness below, the dragonborn’s scream drowned out by the massive clockwork. Fear drove Thora to pull with everything left and get another arm on the edge, hoping not to fall. Unfortunately, this left the dwarf vulnerable and the demons took full advantage.

A snaking tentacle wrapped itself around one wrist, while another tentacle picked the dwarf up by the waist with a firm squeeze. Thora struggled against the grip of the creature, but its many tentacles were pulling the soldier out at an uncomfortable angle. Thora could feel back muscles spasming as both arms were stretched out as far as they would go, the soldier’s body being pulled to its limit. Would this be how it ended? In this horrible place of chaos surrounded by demons? Over the creature’s shoulder, Thora saw Alandal suddenly appear out of thin air, seemingly unscathed and looking about in astonishment. How could it be?

A thought crept into Thora’s mind as the soldier’s face grimaced with the pain. It would work. It had to work. Using what little leverage the dwarf had, Thora grappled onto the creature’s tentacles, refusing to let go and making sure the demon held on. A strange look entered the demon’s eyes as it realized what the dwarf was doing.

“Time for a ride, fella” spat out Thora, kicking the creature in the chest with both legs and vaulting backwards over the edge, into the abyss. The demon screeched directly in Thora’s face as the two of them tumbled into the nothingness, the soldier holding on as it tried to squirm out of Thora’s grasp.

It had to work. It had to work. It had to work…

The dark abyss and the demon’s grasp were suddenly gone, replaced by the same street that Thora had just been standing on. The only difference was a brief twinge of pain as a tattoo seared itself onto the soldier’s left arm. Thora couldn’t see it, what with the arm being completely covered in layers of cloth and armour, but Thora could feel it. It almost burned with a fire, like something was still working to brand the arm. There was no mistaking it: the dwarf had been marked. For what, exactly, was anybody’s guess!

Looking about, things were much as they were before. The three of them were still surrounded, albeit one or two fewer demons present. The clock still continued its slow ticking forward, doom undoubtedly approaching. Alandal was pinned to the ground and Zearach was doing his best to get the creatures off of the bard. Where was that flying tortle?

As if on cue, a massive chunking noise began emanating from somewhere below them. Thora couldn’t see what was happening, but the clock seemed to be halting its progress forward, however briefly. In that direction was a glowing orb and a floating wizard who seemed to be waving his arms about in random directions as if trying to will the entire world to spin on its axis.

There was a sudden pulsing of the room again and for a moment Thora wondered if perhaps the tortle had been successful, but no. The wizard was still chanting and floating about, waving a peg leg in one direction and a staff in the other. Duanne’s manic actions seemed to be amplifying, the intensity of his chanting turning to shouts as he wrestled with the chaotic nature of this world. For a moment, Duanne began cackling maniacally, channeling some sort of wild magic sorcery.

A giant wave suddenly appeared from nowhere, smashing into the glowing ball and sending it rolling off its pedestal, the enormous sphere crushing everything in its path as it bounded down the stairs. A demon, soaked in water and trying to keep its feet, suddenly looked up to find a giant glowing metal sphere right on top of it. The creature’s eyes seemed to expand in surprise before being crushed and carried over the edge. Just as Duanne’s giant bowling ball went flying towards the clockwork below, another pulse went off in the room. This time, however, the pulse pulled the sphere even more rapidly, flying with great force towards the gears below. The sound of metal bending, tearing, grinding, and breaking filled the room as the spinning clockwork ground to a halt.

Through all of this, Thora had kept swinging, trying to survive, but suddenly the demons stopped moving. Everything around them began to dissolve and shatter, their surroundings warping as reality shifted and the room was ripped out of existence.

Thora really hated this place.

Adavak

They floated in a void, seemingly standing upon nothing, as an enormous head loomed over them. It was a shifting puzzle of shapes and colours, filling the space all around them, but there was most definitely a pair of eyes and a mouth. The continuous movement and re-arranging of the visage made it difficult to focus and unsettled the dwarf’s stomach. It’s eyes went wide as the laughing mouth settled into a massive smile.

“Well-puzzled, well-figured, well-done” cackled the voice, in a tone that reminded Thora of the riddling imps they had encountered earlier. “I knew you were the chosen ones. I knew you would be the champions of chaos that can save reality.”

“Wait, what’s wrong with reality?” piped up Thora, not yet sure that this… thing… could be trusted.

“Nothing wrong now, but soon, and then, and then, and then!” exclaimed the mouth, its lips twisting and turning upside down for a moment before continuing. “I am Adavak, Lord of Chaos! I have been tasked with the most important job in all of creation!”

Their entire field of view seemed to shift as a sea of stars and galaxies and planets filled the space between them.

“There’s an unknown force working AGAINST how the universe should operate. You see, the way the universe works is that everything starts with chaos and ends with CHAOS! The universe began with a bang and slowly, over time, entropy takes hold. Something, someone, is reversing the flow of entropy! Instead of things dissolving into entropy, everything in the past is dissolving and the energy from the past is travelling to the future. That’s not the way it is supposed to work! I need you to find out why chaos is turning topsy-turvy. I need you to discover whose machinations are trying to steal the energy of the past!”

Thora started to say something in reply, then closed up. This had definitely not been in any of the books in Beka’s library.

“Does anybody have any idea what he’s talking about?” asked the puzzled soldier, turning to the others for an explanation.

“Things are being dissolved in the past, used as fuel for the future” continued Adavak, it’s giggling tone turning serious for a moment. “Creatures and entire people are being erased. Eventually there will be nothing left in the present, only one reality will remain, this present moment.”

This made even less sense to Thora, but somehow also was starting to help piece things together. The dwarf had been spending too much time in this place if lords of chaos were starting to seem reasonable.

“Someone in the here and now has figured out how to affect things through time” the chaos lord explained calmly, as if leading a lecture. “Energy is flowing into the Enkari Empire and to the future. Reverse or stop them, but I need you to get things back to the way they should be. The universe is MY plaything and I don’t like anything PLAYING WITH MY TOYS!”

The booming voice seemed to be very agitated. The puzzle pieces of Adavak’s face seemed to be melting into each other and rapidly swirling. Thora had to look away for a moment.

“Got it. Go to the Enkari Empire, stop the baddies, reverse the flow of energy.”

“Exactly! Now, there is a matter of payment…”

Thora was about to ask what the chaos lord meant when suddenly the soldier’s left arm erupted in a fiery pain. From the way Zearach was grabbing his forearm and Alandal was baring his fangs, Thora knew they felt it as well. Memories flooded through Thora’s mind, several repetitions of this place, scenes where they tried to destroy Adavak but were ripped apart every time. Something suddenly pushed its way into the dwarf’s mind, filling the dwarf’s thoughts with feelings of pain and confusion.

As Thora focused, the soldier realized he was hearing the others around him, as if he was in their minds watching a show. It was noisy and jumbled, but the dwarf began fighting for control, turning the focus towards the enormous creature before them. What was it actually thinking? Thora reached out…

Have a safe trip!

The regular shuffling sound of hooves on a dirt trail was the first thing that Thora took in, followed by the bright light of the sun and the smell of fresh air and pine trees. In the dwarf’s hands were the reins to their cart, but how had they gotten here? They had just been…

Thora’s mind suddenly filled in the holes, a month’s worth of memories suddenly unfolding in vivid details before becoming hazy and half-forgotten, as they often do. Thora remembered doing small jobs in Embassy, working for the professor, getting to know the town and even making some friends. More recently, the dwarf remembered passing some sort of checkpoint and needing to show their wristbands that the Professor had given them. It was strange, though… the memories were there but Thora also could feel as if they had all just been in front of Adavak a moment okay.

“This is all I can do, this is as close as I can get you” came a familiar voice in their heads. Thora looked around and saw the same confused look on all of them. “You’re on your way, I’ve moved you forward a bit. As close to where the energy is sucking that I can. You are on the road, you’ll soon be at the Empire.”

Thora’s mind was fighting to make sense of the month’s worth of memories and the immediate impression of their conversation with the chaos lord about the energy-stealing timey-wimey thing. With the initial disorientation over, Thora remembered to concentrate on the reins and guiding the horses. Zearach put a hand on the soldier’s arm and pointed ahead of them, apparently coming to his senses faster than the dwarf. Ahead of them were other travellers, some on horse back, some riding in wagons like they were. Several wagon-lengths ahead of them, Thora recognized the back of the Professor’s head as well as a few others that they had met at the Embassy institute. Somehow, the soldier knew they were travelling with a large collection of artifacts from the institute in Embassy, headed for the Empire. Another memory came to the forefront — a conversation with the professor only a few hours ago. He had said that they still had another week, give or take, before they got to their final destination.

Was the Professor behind all this? He seemed harmless, just doing his job. However, after Adavak’s description of what had been happening something wasn’t sitting right about the type of science that the Embassy folks had been doing. Thora thought back to the information they had discovered about the alignment of the celestial bodies and the possible impact it might have.

Something was off here, and Thora wanted to get to the bottom of it.