Shenanigans

Follow a ragtag group of gods as they try to run a company and protect the world.

[chaoscorp]

Update 25/08/2024

Oh...

O-oh...

Oh dear.

It sure has been a while hasn't it. Almost 6 years. What's the deal? Well. A lot. But to put it simply, I was working on myself. It's been a long journey. But I think I'm happy now?

I stopped using Tumblr and Twitter for one reason. They were becoming unbearable, and changing too much for the worse.

But it turns out, that it had a much more impactful effect on my mental health? Who could've guessed? So why am I back now? Well that's because I've been working on Chaos Corp again, and this was the place where it made the most growth so far.

So if any of y'all are still out there, and you're interested in following the next step of this queer writer's journey, I felt the need to communicate that you can.

I'm still figuring out how I want to manage communicating updates and where the social media home of Chaos Corp will now be.

But I can say I am planning to submit Chaos Corp to RoyalRoad to be published on their website. The story and format has undergone many revisions over the years, at one point I was planning to make it a podcast novelization. And I may yet pursue that.

But for now, I've fallen back in love with writing, and I think it's finally time to make the big push to get my stories out there. I would be honoured if you would stay tuned.

The next update here might be the last one, or it might be a new beginning for this blog. But a new update will come. Along with a special reveal of the cover art of Volume 1 of Chaos Corp, 'Shenanigans of the Gods'.

~Luce

[chaoscorp]

Update 13/12/2018

Hello everyone! I haven’t posted a new part for a while now which is pretty much 100% on my mental illness issues getting in the way of my motivation. But I just wanted to update y’all.

Big F that i didn’t finish original fic fest but oof.

I’m currently working on something that I guess still technically the next part but it’s still very much Chaos Corp related. Thank you for bearing with me. You’ll hear more hopefully in the new year if Tumblr hasn’t been murdered by then. If something happens to this blog or you just stop using Tumblr in general, you can find me on twitter @ lucethesinner and I may make a discord soon? Not sure if anyone will join but it’ll happen at some point regardless.

~Luce

[chaoscorp]

Day 5: Music Day

Okay I’m a lil behind right now oops. But here I am to catch up. Day 5 of the fabulous @originalficfest is music day! I have compiled a playlist (link to the youtube playlist here) of songs that make me thing about Chaos Corp or specific characters in Chaos Corp. I’ll leave you to guess who ;)

BTW this playlist is like all over the place with genres. From metal and hard rock, to musicals, to Halsey, to NSP, to Eminem. It’s all over there, so yeah.

1) Choke - I Don’t Know How But They Found Me 2) Duality - Slipknot 3) Dinosaur Laser Fight - NSP 4) Woman - Kesha 5) How To Be A Heartbreaker - Marina and the Diamonds 6) Your Obedient Servent - Lin-Manuel Miranda & Leslie Odom Jr. 7) Gasoline - Halsey 8) Bite It Like A Bulldog - Lordi 9) The Pretender - Foo Fighters 10) This Is Home - Cavetown 11) Tick Tick Boom - The Hives 12) Slim Shady - Eminem

[chaoscorp]

Day 4: Quote Day

Okay this is a cool day, I love quotes. So thanks @originalficfest for adding this one in! I’m gonna do both actual quotes from/about characters and quotes that remind me of characters.

Favourite Character Quotes:

- Danae: “None, you follow and listen to my monologue.” - Zade: “I leave you alone for what three hours and you play a card game rather than sorting out the situation at hand?” - Farjack: The reality of the situation was that Farjack was so deep in contemplation of how awesome he was that from the strain he briefly forgot how to talk, move, and listen. - Action: “It seems you are tense Miss Killjoy-McStuckUp, I will play some calming music now.” A tune of smooth jazz and casual bongos began to play. - Higgins: Higgins was looking up at her with puppy dog eyes. - Extrava-Gent: His smile radiated. Or maybe that was just the sheer amount of highlighter. - Ash: She looked shocked, a normal reaction to a... wait, no, she’s just brushing some dandruff off her red leather jacket that was annoying her. - Cerva: “Persistent, I like that in a woman.” - Ech: Munch.  - Jenniri: “The diplomatic one,” she said quietly as she walked around Zade. She looked at Danae, “the rash one,” then to Farjack, “the loyal one,” then to Abby, “the fish out of water,” to which she received back a scowl. And finally she looked to Sera herself, “and the lonely one.”

Quotes that remind me of characters: 

- Danae: “Violence solves everything! Don’t you read books?!” - Not sure if it’s from anywhere in particular but a friend of mine said this ages ago. - Zade: The “I’m at soup” video, where Danae is Suzaku and Zade is Lelouche - Code Ment,  - Farjack: “Guacamole, Gua-Guacamole.” - Avocado (The Guacamole Song), Dr Jean - Sera:  “My scars remind me that I’m a survivor,” - The Rhyme, Scratch 21 - Action: “You know pi? Yeah, the thing is, I solved it. Like, calculated it so much, I got to the end. You wish it was bullshit. The last number is 4. Read it and fucking weep.” - Lil’ Hal, Homestuck - Higgins: “fucking superb you funky little cowboy” - Someone. Who really knows where memes originate from. - Ash: “fucking superb you funky little [gay]” - see above. - Ech: “You can see Ech, but can you see why it loves the taste of Heinz baked beans?” - Me just now. - Jenniri: “All magic comes with a price.” - Rumpelstiltskin, Once Upon A Time

Quotes that remind me of Chaos Corp as a whole:

- “I’m a genius,” - Me just now. - “What the fuck is this shit,” - @astressedpotato, probably.

[chaoscorp]

Day 3: Non-Romantic Relationship Day

Buckle up because we have quite a bit to talk about for Day 3 of @originalficfest . Yesterday we had romantic relationships and today with have other relationships!

So let’s start with deities. Relationships between gods and other immortal beings are finicky, complex, and unpredictable at best in both fictional and real-world mythology. Chaos Corp is no exception.

So let’s start with our main four: Danae, Zade, Farjack, and Sera. Their relationship is quite special, being an important factor in their adventures during the past, or traditional fantasy, setting. They have known each other for a long long time and have developed some interesting friendships and rivalries with each other. It’s only logical to compare them to siblings.

Danae is the troublemaker sibling, always doing things they really shouldn’t be and picking on the others, but you can trust him to have your back. Zade is the logical sibling, great at solving problems, but kind of a stuck-up and a little mischievous. Farjack is the pure sibling, the one who’s passionate and tries his best and is beloved by all but is also overly confident. And Sera is the responsible sibling, making sure they stay on task and trying to keep them all out of trouble as much as possible.

This hopefully gives you an idea of how they interact and how their personalities connect. Zade and Sera get on great but are constantly having to keep up with Danae and Farjack’s not thought out escapades. Zade and Danae have an “anything you can do I can do better” competitive relationship, whilst Farjack and Sera are quick to work together combining their strengths and supplementing eachothers weaknesses. Zade and Farjack are like the relationship between the oldest sibling and the youngest sibling, they just love hanging out and having fun. Farjack is great at loosening Zade up and Zade is great at keeping Farjack grounded. Which leaves Danae and Sera who probably have the most conflicting relationship, Danae is an act first, think later kinda guy, he has good intentions but doesn’t consider the consequences. Whilst Sera always tries to find the path that will result in the least conflict and collateral, believing that violence is almost never the answer.

They truly are one crazy family.

So that brings us to everyone else, to keep this of a relatively controlled length I’ll talk about the most notable relationships that come to mind.

Jaegan and Danae have quite a messy acquaintanceship where Danae is kind of like his mentor but Jaegan thinks he’s an asshole.

Zade and Krish have a very strong blossoming friendship much to the surprise of everyone else in the company. They have very similar logical thought processes and neither of them care for gossip. Zade will sit down with Krish to give a second eye to problems Krish is having and Krish will help Zade way out the pros and cons of a decision.

Sera has a cool relationship with a mermaid called Abyss. Sera rescued her from the brink of death and Abyss decided to travel with her for a while and get to see more of the surface world. Sera is more than willing to help her figure out where she fits in the world but if anything bad were to happen to her she would feel 100% responsible and try to fix things as soon as possible.

Finally I’m going to talk about one of my favourite relationships, between Sera and a character who you haven’t met yet called Cerva. Their relationship spans multiple civilisations and is one of unrequited concern from Sera. Their relationship is very important so stayed tuned to find out more.

So there we have it! Day 3! If you’d like to read Chaos Corp then check out here or here and if you’d like to support me as a creature make sure to follow this blog and keep an eye out because I’m working on a Patreon right now. Tomorrow is Quote Day which is sure to be a fun one so I’ll see you then!

[chaoscorp]

Day 2: Romantic Relationship Day

Gosh romantic relationship day. Romance is surprisingly infrequent for my series considering I usually love that stuff. The only romantic relationship I can really talk about right now is Extrava-Gent, God of Candy, and his husband Mah-Lady, God of Ails. There have this really cool healthy rivalry-based marriage.

Oh no I know what I can talk about! Let’s talk about mermaids.

I have a problem with stopping being creative so I’m always working new legends and mythical creatures and fantasy races into my work. But mermaids have actually been planned from the beginning.

In Chaos Corp mermaids are this fearsome race of woman that come in all different shapes and sizes. To give you an idea of their defining features let me give you the introduction of one of my main gals, River.

She had cyan skin that bordered on being called grey and a lower torso reminiscent of a sharks, covered in small transparent scales that caught the light from the sun and gave them a rainbow-like sheen. Her flat chest and stomach were covered by a slim hide vest, offering both protection and maximum manoeuvrability. Her hands were webbed and her fingernails were long and sharp. She had gills around her collarbone and her face was a thin heart shape with a wide forehead and thin chin with a defined jawline. Her long unsaturated light-green hair was curly and had the appearance of thin seaweed. She gasped for oxygen revealing a maw of razor-sharp fangs.

They’re awesome, badass, and beautiful in the same way that one might consider a tiger.

So why am I talking about merfolk on romantic relationship day?

Well that’s simple. In my world mermaids can be compared to something like gems from the Steven Universe series. They’re a race of all female (though with no true concept of gender) badasses whose relationships and reproductive methods are unconventional to us as observers of the animal kingdom.

To mermaids romance is this dance of polyamorous courtship, an underwater tango of magic and elegance, constantly jumping back and forth between leading and following. These wondrous events often consist of entire schools of mermaids who are usually all romantically involved in some way. They’re just this big family of love and happiness, connected by what is referred to as a Love Bond. An emphathic link connecting their thoughts and emotions into one. 

Now that I think about it this is very similar to gem fusion except A) without the fusion part, and B) I think I came up with this race before the pilot even aired so a cool coincidence.

Anyway, when Love Bonds are incredibly strong during these ocean waltzes the sheer emotion interweaves and forms a merchild. These children are raised by their army of moms and aunts and eventually grow forming their own bonds and dances.

So yeah! That’s Day 2 of @originalficfest! I think this is a really cool event that allows me to talk about all these things I love and I look forward to future days. Been a less meta and more rambly one today. Tomorrow is non-romantic relationship day and that gives me plenty to talk about, so I’ll see you then.

If you want to read Chaos Corp then visit here or here! Feel free to hassle up my inbox with feedback and thoughts!

[chaoscorp]

Day 1: Character Day

Been looking forward to this all week! Day 1 of the @originalficfest so excited to share some stuff and find some new things to read! (sorry it’s a little late I spent a lot of time on it!)

Let us go then you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table - T.S. Eliot

The microphone buzzed to life with the screech of feedback followed by a light tapping.

With a click of the fingers a spotlight flashed on illuminating a figure standing on a pedestal. A pink 3D holographic panda.

“Greetings and salutations,” it said with a smooth deep voice with a faint static underlay. It waves at you beyond the fourth wall.

“Sorry I know we haven’t met yet but a little bug told me today was a very special day in the writeblr community. And what better way to celebrate character day than to have a brand new character talk to you.”

“Where are my manners I’m sorry, I am The Company,” with a flicker its image shifted to a bowing pose instantly before flickering back. “I should clarify, not company as in commercial business but as in an individual accompanying you. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.”

A strange garbled sound came from behind it and with a flicker it looked over its shoulder.

“Ah sorry, I seem to be rambling a bit, the writer says I should get on with the show.”

It clicked its... paws? And another light came on to its left, illuminating a skeletally thin black man in a dapper suit. He looked to have just paused in the middle of speaking, narrowing his eyes and taking in the surroundings.

“I’m assuming you’re new to Chaos Corp dear reader, if you’re not though then great! Chaos Corp is a lovely fantasy/urban fantasy story written by one m̵͓̖̯̍͝͠v̵͖̺͚͖̱̉̽̄̎d̸̪̞̃̀̈́f̴̛̝̖̟͛́̑͛͋̌͜͜- oh that appears to be too meta, my apologies. Well either way you can read it here or here. Not saying that you have to but it’s great. It switches between an urban setting and a traditional fantasy setting following the adventures of our main protagonists in both scenarios.”

The man tried to walk out of his spotlight but was stopped short by an invisible wall.

He looked a little inconvinienced. “Hey what the *bleep* is going on?” He grasped at his mouth a little shocked. “Why the *bleep* can’t I say *bleep*?”

The Company sighed. “Sorry but we need to keep this post safe for all ages,” it looked back to the fourth wall, “That said Chaos Corp does contain infrequent strong language, so reader discretion is advised, sorry about that. Anyway more under the read more, sorry but this is gonna be a long one.”

The man examined the invisible wall cautiously before lighting it up with hellfire, which only succeeded in filling the whole cylindrical tube he was in and burning his outfit.

“This,” The Company continued, “Is Dante Aleistar Solomon Familiares PHD, founder of Chaos Corp a company that hires gods, although that’s a bit of a simplification. He is also-”

Another click and the mans form changed into that of a grim reaper looking figure.

“-the human guise of Danae, God of Death.”

Danae looked down at himself, an aura of perturbed uneasiness about him.

“What’s going on here? Who are you? I have so many questions?”

The Company waved its paw at him and his teeth zipped up in a comical fashion. He once again lit up his tube with hellfire.

“We need to get on with this okay? I’m gravely sorry but i’ll make it up to you when you actually meet me. I’m sure I have an artifact around here somewhere. Although i’m not sure where, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Another eldritch garble called from the back.

“Right right... sorry.” It clicked again and this time another three lights came on, illuminating a black and white ethereal being split vertically down the middle, a gigantic muscular suit of gold-lined silver armour, and a beautiful forest-green-skinned woman with a bob haircut of a thin root-like material clad in plated chain mail.

“Zade, Goddess of Duality and Truth!” it announced and the ethereal being reacted.

“What the bleep?” said Zade.

“Farjack, God of Warriors!” It announced and the suit of armour reacted.

“Did you just say bleep?” said Farjack.

“And Sera, Guardian of Hope!” it announced and the last woman reacted.

She glanced around in awe. “This is new.”

“That rounds up our main intrepid group, the Legathis, or Origin Gods. Is intrepid a complement? I think so? So much knowledge, not so much organisation.”

Danae unzipped his own lips. “Was that a pun?”

The Company zipped them again.

“Let’s continue then, sorry for so many digressions. Creating a meta representation of these characters in your mind is a little complicated.”

Another click and the fours lights dropped, another and they reappeared two feet back. A final click revealed few new lights, greyed out silhouettes frozen mid-action stood in them.

“You’ll have plenty of time to get to know those four in the first few episodes so get to reading!” It smiled. “These four a some interesting characters who you’ve only met briefly so far!”

“Jaegan, God of Organisation,” it chuckled. 

The first silhouette coloured in, there stood a short man with a lean frame and wide hips accentuated by his form-fitting red waistcoat, white shirt, and black slim-fit dress trousers. His sharp jawline and observing red eyes framed by short well-kept black hair.

A muffled scream emitted from Danae.

He bowed. “I keep Dr. Familiares on time, he won’t admit it but he knows and appreciates that without me his company would have never gotten this far. Krisha and Zade have also been a great help.”

"He is a latino transgender man raised on ‘Forever Valley’, the story-focused island continent inspired by Earth Europe, by his supportive parents after they immigrated from Joyamor, a country inspired by Earth Mexico."

The man turned to Danae. “Was there an appointment made for this that you forgot to tell me about?”

Danae shook his head.

“Krish, Deity of Management,” said The Company.

The second silhouette coloured in. Revealed was an individual wearing casual black clothes. They stood up from an invisible chair, dirty blonde short hair disturbed by the motion, their eyes were shut and relaxed.

“What now...” They sighed, pinching the bridge of their nose.

“It’s some sort of introductory sequence,” said Zade.

They raised their eyebrows. “Alright. I’m the vaultkeeper of Chaos Corp, I manage the companies financial side, events, and parties, as well as use its successes to make sure all necessities for living are provided to the world for free. They/them pronouns.”

“Necessities include food, water, medical services, housing, and rights if you were curious. They are from Surris, a country inspired by Earth India.” said The Company.

They stepped out of their spotlight and into its. “Where is Earth India?”

The Company looked at them perplexed and clicked them back to their space. “Um. Sorry but it’s probably more time efficient not to tell you since these events are not going to be integrated into your memories.”

Farjack was trying to find a way over to The Company. “Can I hug it?”

“Maybe if it lets you,” said Sera.

“Ash,” it announced.

The third silhouette coloured in and as it did singing filled the room. Stood dancing and singing in the spotlight was an androgynous individual with a black undercut wearing ripped navy jeans, and a red leather jacket over a black plaid shirt. They were singing an upbeat song about letters and friendship.

The Company cleared its throat.

He stopped instantly, eyes flicking open, pink irises glistening in the light.

“Oh finally. Been waiting to get in on this meta *bleep*-fest.”

“Welcome to Tumblr.”

“Thanks, I hate it.”

“Ash is genderfluid and shifts his eye colour to match his pronouns at any given moment.”

Ash makes eye contact with the reader.

“Sorry, must hurry this along as we don’t have much time left. Finally, special guest who you haven’t met yet, Jenniri.”

The fourth silhouette coloured in. A punk woman with slicked back black hair with light blue highlights finished applying her matte black lipstick. Her ensemble featuring a black tank top with her name printed on in a stylised font and denim shorts.

“Now she is a truly interesting individual, an immortal from a culture inspired by Earth ancient arabia-”

“Oh but darling isn’t it a bit early for my reveal?” she said, glancing over her shoulder at the darkness behind them.

There was a garbled noise and all the lights went out.

[chaoscorp]

CC in Original Fic Fest

I recently found out that soon a pair of lovely individuals are running a week-long @originalficfest that starts soon. And I can’t wait to participate!

About Me

Hoi! My name is Luce and I’m an independent writer and games designer from England. I’ve pretty much been interested in both those things for as long as I can remember. My true passion for novels and writing however began in 2009 when I received a my first copy of my favourite series of all time Skulduggery Pleasant. Skulduggery has been a central part of my life for many years and inspired me to start writing original fiction.

My personal blog is @luce-the-sinner which is also where I’ll be reblogging a bunch of originalficfest stuff. But this blog is where I will post my content for it.

Chaos Corp

My WIP that I will be posting about for the fic fest is called Chaos Corp - incidentally the story that is posted on this blog!

Chaos Corp is a fantasy series that follows a group of gods and the shenanigans that they cause and experience. It switches between traditional fantasy and a modern urban fantasy, telling two stories with the same characters spanning multiple centuries.

Welcome to Chaos Corp, a company ran by gods to hire specialised, resourceful, or otherwise naive individuals with extraordinary abilities. Founded by Danae, God of Death, in order to combat a dangerous corruption, the group maintains it's front as a civilian protection agency to ensure prosperity.

Enter Zade, Goddess of Duality, arriving from a traumatic battle in the distant past she must adapt to the new world and the changes her old friend has inspired. All the while, recovering from the events of her recent history.

It’s lighthearted and comedic whilst still featuring important and serious topics. One of the best compliments I have ever received is that it is of similar style to Terry Pratchet’s Discworld series. I also actively work to make sure it features as much representation as I can cram in, with characters of all genders, sexualities, and races. Characters with disabilities, complex personalities, and just overall independent and strong individuals.

The story is uploaded to multiple places. The first being this very blog. I’m also in the process of reuploading it to a wesite called Tapas which is a place to upload comics and novels. I’ll be uploading episodes a few days earlier to that site so if you read and follow me on there it’s one of the best ways to support me as a creator!

I’m also in the process of creating a Patreon which you can pledge to to support me further. Be sure to follow me to know when I’m done with that as that will be the earliest place I put my work.

I saw on originalficfest that people were possibly interested in doing fanart of stuff they enjoy and to that end I want to say that all fancontent of my stuff will be welcomed and will probably make me cry with happiness. Be sure to tag my personal blog so I see it!

This is starting to get pretty long so if you’re interested, check under the read more for cool character information, or click this link to start reading!

~Luce

Characters

- Danae: The God of Death. This dapper grim reaper is the founder of Chaos Corp living under the human guise of Dante Aleistar Solomon Familiares PHD. A chaotic neutral and somewhat narcissistic individual who just wants to preserve life and have fun whilst doing it. After all, without life, there can’t be death. - Zade: The Goddess of Duality. This queen is the first of the Zenari, a race of nomadic ethereal beings. She is lawful neutral and serves the balance of existence, only ever doing what she believes is right. But she’s not afraid to mess around and be mischievous every now and then. She would put it up to Danae and Farjack’s poor influence. - Farjack: The God of Warriors. A magnificent being of awe and splendour, bearing a giant muscular suit of armour. His awesomeness is betrayed only by his ego and impish attitude. Though his jolly innocence is more than enough to forgive him. He is neutral good and seeks only to have fun with his friends. - Sera: Guardian of Hope. Knowing only that she comes from a place not of this universe, she is the last of the Ocurasha, a race of humanoids with a close connection to nature. She searches for her new place in the universe, seeing herself as lesser to the deities she travels with - despite their constant reassurement  - but as someone with potential to protect all life.

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episode 4 (Pt. 1) - Chaotic Applicants

[Read from the beginning?]  (1368 words)

“-yes well, what was your point John?” Danae finished saying.

“Miss Kirei the Asuun ambassador has arrived and awaits your audience, sir.” He dragged out sir in an almost spiteful way. “And my name is Jaegan, sir.”

“Yes, yes whatever. Inform her I will be there momentarily.”

“Very well, sir.” Jaegan bowed and abruptly left.

What a nice lad. Thought Danae.

He looked back to Zade, she’d be fine with Higgins he was sure.

Danae made his way down to the meeting floor. Most of the time he didn’t bother with this floor. It was where bored meetings were held as he was told. He had far too much to do to be bored. But he made an exception for the ambassadors.

“You’re late.”

Danae entered Meeting Room A to a calm but visibly fed-up woman with a purple bob cut and matching sunglasses.

“I’m never late,” Danae countered.

“You’re late literally every meeting.”

“Or are you just early?”

She stifled a sigh.

“Dante, with how perfunctory you run this company I’m surprised it still exists.”

“Lovely to see you again too Kirei.”

She dropped a thick binder onto the central table, which for some reason was shaped like a hexagon.

“Plenty of new applicants who we will be able to fly over at your request, just like last month. I’m getting worried that you don’t even read through these-”

Danae shrugged.

“-and as for your special request there has been no discoveries thus far. As expected it would be pretty obvious if a large suit of armour was spotted around the continent.”

“I did say he might be in disguise.”

He picked up the binder and placed it into his suit jacket where it just seemingly disappeared.

“So are we done here?” he asked.

Oh she was definitely about to hit him. But then she’d lose, and she knew it.

“No.”

“Oh...”

“We still have to discuss the concerns I brought up last time and you so simply brushed aside.”

“Can’t I just brush them aside again?”

She raised her hand. But instead of slapping him she just carefully removed her sunglasses and hung them from her black blouse. Her irises were iridescent gold.

“We both know that you can kill me without a second thought,” she said, her voice remaining calm despite her defensive posture. “I’ve seen in that book of yours. So what’s to stop you from breaking my country? What’s to stop you from having a thought and suddenly we don’t exist? God of Death.”

Danae sat down and looked her in the eyes.

“To answer your second question, I don’t have omnipotence, not that it would be much fun if I did.”

“But you created an entire realm.”

“Using the excess energy from the birth of the universe, yes. That energy is gone now. And as for your first question if I wanted your country broken,” in the blink of an eye he flashed his true form and power to her. “It already would be.”

She jumped back. Not in fear, but in anticipation.

“I’m not the bad guy Kirei. I’m working with you to make sure that there won’t be one.” 

She put her sunglasses back on. “If you betray my trust. I will personally bring you down.”

“That’s fair.”

Danae began to return to the elevator, he pulled out the binder again and skimmed through it. The criteria for application was pretty straightforward. The individuals had to show some form of supernatural ability as well as signs of what Danae dubbed the omnimeta. He wasn’t exactly sure how it worked, how it developed, or even what it did. It seemed to just be a form of sixth sense that all gods had in some form. One fraction of its power allowed them to sense the pronouns of individuals. If Danae had actually put effort into studying this phenomenon he was sure it would make a good follow-up book to Legath: Religion and where to find it.

Of course actually identifying these individuals was stupidly hard. A majority of their applicants were people who just needed a job. Unfortunately if they didn’t meet the criteria they had to be sent away. Not before receiving a large sum of money and a free one bedroom apartment in one of Chaos Corp’s ‘Housing for Everyone’ apartment buildings nearby of course. He really couldn’t understand how with so many rich people there still seemed to be a poverty issue in Eterna.

He flipped back to a page featuring the application of one Jaquel Mira, Asuuni woman, 24 years of age, single mother running a home business selling handmade sweaters. Displayed signs of extrasensory memory and the ability to see exactly what someone was picturing in their mind with minimal description. Interesting. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Kirei informing her to send the woman over for an interview.

Perfect. That’s his duties done for the day. Now to mess with some interviewees.

We’ve already seen this scene. Where Zade arrives and meets Danae in his office. Part 3 of the last episode. Though if you’re reading this and you haven’t seen that scene then you aren’t reading this in chronological order and must be some literal force of chaos. Please stop.

The young woman entered Danae’s office and took a seat opposite him, seemingly unfazed by Zade’s presence or appearance.

She removed the small buds from her ears, unsettling her short black undercut hair. Her calm blue eyes locked directly with his.

“Greetings mortal, my name is Dante Aleistar Solomon Familiares PHD and welcome to The Chaos Corporation,” recited Danae with feigned excitement.

She grunted.

“Uh...” Danae continued, “Welcome to the interview, this is my secretary Zade.” He gestured to her.

She looked shocked, a normal reaction to a- wait, no, she’s just brushing some dandruff off her red leather jacket that was annoying her.

“So... what makes you think you have what it takes to work at our company?”

A truly difficult question, there is no way she will be able to answer this one-

“I don’t,” she said.

“Wh-what?”

She rolled her eyes.

Danae checked the piece of paper in front of him.

“It says here you want to be the deity of ‘I don’t care what you put just put something on there’...”

“Ah,” said Zade, “I think we just gave away our last vacancy to that position.”

The woman laughed.

Danae held back from elbowing Zade. He became aware of a fly buzzing above his head and batted it away.

“Okay look miss... Spaghetti- gods dammit.”

She suddenly burst into a fit of cackling.

Danae cleared his throat in impatience.

“So. Why is it that you’re here then Miss?”

He swatted at the fly again. Blasted creatures.

“To prevent you from doing something stupid.”

“Stupid? I never do anything stupid. I’m the CEO of a successful international-”

“Let me just stop you right there,” she interrupted.

Danae sat speechlessly, mouth hanging open.

The woman stood, watching the fly as it continued to buzz around him. She walked over to the window, opened it, and carefully shooed the creature out of it.

“Much better,” she smiled.

Zade poked Danae cautiously.

“I know you’re confused,” the woman said, “But trust me, if I hadn’t intervened you would have killed that creature. Now events have been set in motion as they should be, and I can leave.”

“Who the fuck are you?” said Danae.

She put the buds back into her ears and ruffled her hair.

“Name’s Ash, and I can read your mind.” She held her index fingers to her temples and intensely stared at Danae.

He was unnerved.

“You’re thinking, god she’s handsome.”

He was both shaken and relieved. 

“I like you,” Zade chuckled. “Would you like to properly apply for a position anyway?”

“Nah, I’m good thanks.” She stepped towards the exit. “I don’t like the idea of being contractually bound to a corporate entity with questionable intentions.”

Zade nodded.

Ash’s eyes shifted colour to a soft green.

“Have fun reading about this meeting in your book, Danae,” they said.

“Wait what-” he started.

They closed the door behind them.

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episodical Trivia 3 - Happy Land

On the English-speaking continents of Gaia a popular phrase directed at daydreaming individuals is “They’re on a trip to Happy Land.”

Happy Land, also known as Happishire, is the kingdom of the Happs from the planet Fabulousi. The Happs were made up of over 90% glucose and were commonly hunted by the sugar-devouring Lovel before finally winning the war and retiring to spend the rest of their days in a non-stop party in honour to the God of Candy, Extrava-Gent. Unfortunately “the rest of their days” was but a few short weeks as the kingdom was subsequently destroyed by a starved reptile species made from rock candy. But the place lives on in spirit and metaphor.

How the phrase gained popularity is unknown, though the common theory is it was spread by Extrava-Gent’s husband as a prank.

Read the series

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episode 3 (Pt. 3) - Qualifications Please

[Read from the beginning?]  (1472 words)

The elevator to the CEO’s floor opened. Floor 364. It exited into a small lobby with blindingly gold walls and furniture. A theme very unlike Danae but befitting of him none-the-less.

Higgins remained in the elevator. “Gotta get back to work now! Have fun!” he said as the doors closed behind her.

There were a few doors along the walls but most noticeably the room opened into a hallway straight across from the elevator. Zade could vaguely make out double doors at the end. There were also couches stationed back to back along the middle of the room. Sat on one was a young woman, her eyes were closed and there appeared to be small plastic buds in her ears. Zade decided to leave her be.

Down the corridor were equally blinding gold statues of Danae’s true form. Flaunting it off for all to see, whether they knew him as him or Dante. Between each was also a framed painting, Zade recognized each as different areas they had visited in their journey across Forever Valley, down to the detail. Danae must have painted these all himself for them to be so accurate.

The Earth Tribe. The Seaside Village. The Choice mountain range. The Warlock camp. Everything.

Approaching the door Zade noticed a desk indented into the left wall of the corridor. A nice spacious area albeit no windows, cut off from the main corridor by a thin piece of mahogany wood.

Pop.

Behind the desk sat a young man wearing a pastel pink polo shirt that clashed with his obnoxiously orange-tinted skin. She realized she was staring, and he was staring back.

“I have never seen a human with quite your skin tone before,” she said, trying to divert her gaze, not that he could tell. “Do many of you come like that now?”

The man was chewing something. He pursed his lips and from between them a blue bubble inflated until it grew to the size of his head and then popped, flopping down as he just chewed it back into his mouth. The air now smelled strongly of fruit and mint. An unsettling combination.

“Tanning accident,” he replied.

“My apologies,” said Zade, without exactly understanding what he meant.

“Can I help you sir?”

“I’m not a sir.”

Pop.

“Ma’am.”

She didn’t exactly know what to make of this situation.

“I was sent up here to see Danae?”

Pop.

“Who?”

Oh right.

“Dante?”

“Qualifications please,” he said, tapping away at the machine in front of him.

“Pardon?”

Pop.

He stared at her with exhausted eyes.

“Qualifications please.”

“What do you need qualifications for? What type of qualifications? Does one need qualifications now to-”

The doors to her right suddenly opened and Danae stepped through.

“Rio, I’ll deal with this one, good work though,” he said, ushering her into the room.

Pop.

She quickly entered.

Danae closed the doors behind her. “Sorry about that, Rio is one of our interns, training the youth of tomorrow and all that.”

Inside was just as grandiose as the hallway, though with less statues and more self-portraits. The one behind his pulpit-shaped desk stood out most. A picture of a large metal door, stood in front of which Danae himself. To each side of the picture were tall windows overlooking the courtyard.

He sat down and gestured for Zade to do the same.

She didn’t.

Behind the desks raised edge she could see some neatly-stacked papers.

“Well?” Danae asked.

“Well what?”

“Well what do you think of the place?”

Zade thought about it for a whole half-second.

“Compensatory,” she said under her breath.

“Pardon?” Danae raised an eyebrow. She’d have to get used to him having flesh and all that. Normally all his facial expressions were implied via magical energy.

“I said you have made quite a name for yourself have you not?”

“Oh, yes I suppose so,” he replied. Effortlessly writing something down on the pieces of paper as he talked. “So what would you say is your biggest fault?”

“What?”

“Not listening, got it,” he kept writing. “Do you have a criminal record in Eterna City or any other continent?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Okay possibly, I’ll have to look into it.”

“I would be surprised right now if it was anyone but you,” she rolled her eyes.

“Noted,” he stopped writing and locked eyes with her. “And what is your favourite colour?”

Zade said nothing.

“No seriously tell me, I need it for the records. Equal treatment and all that.”

“Danae you know that it is purple and yellow...”

“Light blue, gotcha.”

She sighed.

He held a piece of paper and a pen towards her.

“Sign this. Usual stuff, normal contract, regular founder words, just write down a fake name that you’ll have to use to humans from now on.”

Zade wrote her name down and handed it back.

Danae went to stand up but hesitated.

“I said a fake name, you just wrote down Zade.”

“Well that is my name.”

“Fine fine.”

“Do you really want me to be a co-founder of your company?”

Danae looked very confused.

“Co-founder? What? Oh, oh gods no, you’re my secretary.”

“Wait what.”

Without another word he stood up and pressed his finger against the painting, directly on his nose. A whirring sound came from behind it as the painting slowly moved up just barely reaching the ceiling before uncovering what was beneath. A metal door, with a wheel on the front, identical to the one on the painting. He turned the wheel counter-clockwise six times and then clockwise twice and the door swung outwards.

Inside was a white metal room, lit only by the offices lighting and a single piece of technology atop a small desk. Sat behind which was a person.

“Hi,” they said, not looking away from their screen. Their fingers danced around the bottom half of the L-shaped machine with astonishing speed.

“Hello?” Zade replied.

They stopped tapping and their head turned slightly towards her. They quickly swept the fringe of their blonde bob-cut hair behind their ear revealing their face, eyes shut. They resumed tapping away. The room was also filled with stacks of gold paper.

“Krish, this is Zade, my new secretary, Zade this is Krish, my vaultkeeper,” said Danae.

Zade bowed. “A pleasure.”

“I know.” Krish spoke with hard syllables in a flowing, almost melodic accent. “Stay out of my room, only come near if you’re doing it for work and Danae-”

He hummed an acknowledgment.

“I’m not your anything. I’m the vualtkeeper of Chaos Corp.”

Zade smirked.

“Wait,” she said. “Why are they in a small metal room behind your painting?”

Krish raised an eyebrow. “You got my pronouns right?” they whispered, completely ignoring the actual question.

Now Danae smirked.

“Well of course,” said Zade. “After my experience with the Peace Village I started analyzing the subconscious of everyone I met in order to determine their pronouns without mistake.”

Krish seemed impressed, taking the paper Zade had signed from Danae. “On second thought, feel free to drop round for a chat some time.” They smiled.

Danae’s eyes went wide.

The safe door closed again, all by itself, apparently their meeting was finished.

“You...” Danae stuttered. “You befriended Krish?”

“Yes? Is that a problem?”

“No far from it. You’re just the first to ever succeed.”

“You failed to answer my question,” she reminded.

He walked to the window without answering.

Zade followed and noticed there was no room behind this one, nowhere the vault could possibly be. And then she understood.

“Each of the paintings on this floor is actually a window to a pocket universe. Well except that one. That one leads to another room on this floor with no other entrance. Safe keeping and all.”

“I see. What exactly does a vaultkeeper do?”

“Keep the vault.”

Zade sighed.

“They handle all of Chaos Corps finances, investments, and money laundering.”

“Money what?”

“Nothing.” He said quickly. “We have one more order of business.”

“Being?”

Danae stepped over to his desk in one big stride and pushed down a button on a box. “Rio, send her in please.”

“Yes sir,” Rio said, his voice coming from within the box and also faintly from just outside the door.

[Next: Episode 4 (Pt. 1)]

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episode 3 (Pt. 2) - Floor Tour Lore

[Read from the beginning?]  (1157 words)

The Chaos Corporation was founded by Dr. Dante Aleistar Solomon Familiares on Nephrise Sundae 6th of Morns Moon E181, who began work on creating the company just three weeks prior, only spending Sundae of each working on it. Dr. Familiares decided to put his PHDs in Psychology, Biology, Physics, Business, and History to practical use in creating a company that works to protect the citizens of Eterna City and shepherd the next generation to a brighter future. - The History of Chaos Corp, Chaos Corp Pamphlet.

Zade glanced over the leaflet at Danae as the hum of the elevator took them down to the 115th floor. It had been a quiet morning leading into a quiet afternoon until Danae insisted Zade be taken on a tour of the building. She closed the leaflet and looked at the back. There was contact information as well as directions to the building, and at the bottom of the page was small red print only vaguely visible on the similar background.

For security and confidentiality purposes, as well as preventing any form of public panic, your memory will be wiped if you decide to leave Chaos Corp.

Was this blackmail?

Ding.

The office floors were more like a maze of bland corridors and empty rooms. Zade wondered how the company functioned with seemingly so little staff. The walls of each room were floor-to-ceiling windows, mostly with their blinds drawn.

Danae led Zade through the corridors. Straight from the elevator. First right, first left, second left, first left, second right, first left, first left, straight past the elevator, first right.

The eventual correct turn lead into an open area filled with a few cubicles, some tables, and a large couch with some various other pieces of ‘modern furniture’, as Danae put it.

There were also people.

Danae gestured for Zade to go on. The second she stepped forward there was a high-pitched screech. A child in a fancy checkered shirt, black pants, and rainbow suspenders bolted towards her and she almost drew her weapon on instinct.

“You must be Zade!” they almost screamed, circling her and stopping just behind her. “My name is Higgins!” He grabbed her hand and shook it before she could even turn to face him.

Danae chuckled.

“Now now Higs, remember what we agreed on,” said another voice, belonging to a tall and muscular man who wore an awful lot of makeup and way too tight psychedelic print pants. He also had a sparkling silver vest on, open to show off his abs.

Higgins darted back in front of Zade and stopped abruptly taking a deep breath.

“Sorry,” he laughed, his hands fidgeting by his sides. “I can get hyperactive about my job.”

“Good boy,” the man ruffled his hair. “Hello darling, it’s such a pleasure to meet you.” He grabbed her hand gently in both of his and shook it. His voice was smooth and falsetto.

“Geeeeents,” Higgins whined. “You know it’s my job to do touring and introductions.”

The man let out a soft chuckle. “Oh hush now, I’m just introducing myself. My name is Extrava-Gent, God of Candy, Sugar, and Fun. Welcome to the company.”

His smile radiated. Or maybe that was just the sheer amount of highlighter.

Zade collected herself, and then was thrown off again.

“Wait. You are doing the tour? I thought Danae…”

She turned and Danae was having a hushed conversation with another man. He had an almost sharp hourglass body, accentuated by his form-fitting red waistcoat and white shirt.

“-yes well, what was your point John?” Danae finished saying.

“”Miss Kirei the Asuun ambassador has arrived and awaits your audience, sir.” He dragged out the last word in an almost spiteful way. “And my name is Jaegan, sir.”

“Yes, yes whatever. Inform her I will be there momentarily.”

“Very well, sir.” Jaegan bowed and abruptly left.

A hand grabbed Zade’s and she flinched again.

Higgins was looking up at her with puppy dog eyes.

“You don’t want a tour from me?” he said sadly. “But, I’m Higgins, God of Tourism and Navigation. It’s my job.”

Zade glanced back but Danae had already left.

Extrava-Gent patted her shoulder. “It can’t hurt to know your way around darling,” he chuckled, and then pirouetted flowing the movement into a skip as he exited the room.

There were only three other people left in the room now. A tanned muscular woman with ginger hair, asleep on the couch. And two other people engaged in some sort of recreative activity involving interlocked fingers and trying to keep ones thumb on top of the others.

Higgins was still staring at her hopefully.

“Okay then,” she conceded with exaggerated happiness.

Higgins let out another screech of delight, grabbed her by both hands and pulled her out of the room.

The Chaos Corporation building has 365.25 floors, averaging around one kilometer in height alone. The floors are split into sections, quaintly shown on a glass plaque outside each elevator in the building.

When questioned about what the ‘.25′ meant, Higgins had only to say that the 366th floor only existed a couple times a year.

“Floors 110 to 115 are offices reserved for gods, the best at what they do,” Higgins explained, slightly muffled by the lollipop he had popped into his mouth.

“I’ve read the leaflet, but what exactly does this company do?”

Higgins looked surprised, as if she should have been told already. Or figured it out.

“We hire gods of course.”

“Hire gods?” She realised the redundancy of repeating his words after they came out her mouth.

“Everyone in the company knows everything about it, everyone, even the janitors. When they join, they sign a paper and move into the building with some family or friends who also have to sign. And if anyone wants to leave, they are made to forget everything. They also get a lot of money.”

A curious thing this money, Zade thought, she’d have to do more research.

The living quarters were like a small town in enough their own, each having shops, and a park, and various types of housing.

Each training floor was dedicated to a different type of training. Combat, fitness, swimming, reading, writing, management, and even self-care. They had a floor for anything an employee or resident could ever need.

The facade floor was above the reception. A fake work area used whenever someone who couldn’t have their memory wiped visited. They used moving walls, hologram windows, various employees, and an elevator trick that made it feel as though you were going higher, even if you weren’t. Seemed way too much effort to put into it really, they could just use illusion magic.

Finally, they made their way up to floor 364, a floor dedicated to the CEO and founders office. Narcissism by any other name, is probably Danae.

[Next: Episode 3 (Pt. 3)]

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episode 3 (Pt. 1) - Nightmare

[Read from the beginning?] (664 words)

(No art this episode because my art skills are way too subpar for what I had in mind. If you would like to contribute art for Chaos Corp in the future, contact me either here or on my personal blog @luce-the-sinner )

Zade burst through the door of the mansion and leapt out floating into the empty space. The crack in reality was now massive, very obviously visible from Farjack’s realm. She turned and saw Danae staring at her, his back to a waterfall, his human form with white paint covering his face in the shape of a skull.

Around her were a mixture of sounds, sounds of battle, deafening silence, and the chirping of birds from the northern plains of Forever Valley. A twig snapped and Danae walked towards her, his once stoic face melting into a sickening glare.

“It’s your fault!” Danae yelled, his voice boomed, bouncing off non-existent walls as they drifted through outer space. Zade backed away, this was not the Danae she knew. Something was very wrong here.

She fell. She wiped the dirt off her face and took in the beauty of Sera’s garden. A large clearing in the middle of a luscious jungle. The radiant flowers that lined the path to the large tree seemed to wilt away as she looked at them. Dropping their dead, dry petals to the ground as the wind carried them behind her. She turned to see the darkened form of Sera, all wind, all sound, all light converging on her location as if she was the center of creation.

“It’s your fault... isn’t it?” Sera asked. 

A strong pain shot through Zade’s body upon hearing Sera’s voice, even in a more withered, husky form. It seemed to drain all the hope it had once gave. The pain tightened to her stomach, almost piercing now. And what in her name was Danae doing opening a portal to a world?

The crack in reality had changed from it’s pure black form to a sea of blue and green shapes. Danae stood in front of it, apparently trying to stabilize it and causing this anomaly. The pain grew sharper and deeper.

Oh right, she thought. She had forgotten the monster that she had to deal with. She looked down and realised she had been stabbed through the stomach by three long spikes.

“Well that is just not fair,” she said. Staring at the creature whose featureless face stared back. She felt a drop of cold liquid hit her skin, then another, and another. She blinked and the creature changed into a familiar shadowy dark form that bore a white mask. The kind of smiling glare that only a madman could make. The three spikes in her stomach had melded into a singular black mass, like an impossibly still solid shadow unaffected by the light around it.

A flash of light and a crack of thunder and she was flying through the air, landing in a puddle of mud. Her head rang in pain. The large purple hammer landed next to her with a thud, it’s wielder, a muscly brute of a man, picked back up and brought it down to her head.

She flinched but no pain came, the rain stopped and the mud on her dried, cracking away against the heat. She saw the shadowy mass again, but this time it sported her own face. A face that filled her with rage.

“It is your fault!” she screamed, charging the creature when she suddenly landed with a thump.

Her head swam and her battle instincts kicked in, leaping to her feet and punching the closest thing she could see. A smash was followed by broken glass falling to the floor. The framed portrait that Danae had hung in her room once depicted his likeness, now the crumpled canvas fell over her arm.

Zade glanced around. Yep this was definitely her room, no odd things about it. Still a cool blue filled with various books, knick-knacks, and another black flat glass object on top of a desk.

What the hell was Danae thinking telling her to try this ‘sleep’ that was horrible. She made a mental note to never do that again.

[Next: Episode 3 (Pt. 2)]

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episodical Trivia 2 - Legathis

The Legathis were a mythical trio of gods that are featured in the creation myth of the Legath religion. Danae, the skeletal God of Death. Zade, the ethereal Goddess of Duality and Truth. And Farjack, the glorius God of Warriors.

Shortly after the creation of the universe they were also joined by the Last Guardian, Sera, who represented hope.

The word Legathis comes from a pre-temporal language and is made up of the words Legat and Hiiz meaning Origin and Gods respectively.

Read the series

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episode 2 (Pt. 3) - Modern Hospitality

[Read from the beginning?] (1419 words)

The lobby was full of people, a few of them turned to look at her as she entered, she was about to brace for another getaway but they just went about their business as if this was everyday routine.

“This is Chaos Corp,” said Danae from behind her. 

A handsome tanned woman in casual clothes greeted her with a smile, handing her a leaflet marked with the same emblem and name from on the side of the building. In an odd, sharp cursive it read:

Protecting the people of today, to train the people of tomorrow.

The rest of the front was taken up by two pictures, one of Danae’s human form, and one of the headquarters building itself. Danae escorted her through the crowd of people. The room had long, worn leather benches in rows for people to sit on. Surprisingly alive potted plants were placed intermittently along the walls and between them a bit higher up hung psychedelic paintings that were only slightly pleasing to the eye.

They walked up to a wide, vacant reception desk of grey objects. As Danae approached the gate separating it from the rest of the room it immediately opened for him. A robotic voice came from the gate.

“Welcome back, my lord.”

Danae stopped just short of two large metal doors on the other side and looked to her.

“You’re already programmed into the system, just walk up to it.”

Zade looked to the gate, and back at him. He was expecting her arrival? Well, the wanted posters had already told her that. But this was equally confusing and impressive. She walked up to the get, which opened to let her through.

“Welcome, Dick van Killjoy-McStuckUp.”

Zade stopped. The gate attempted to close, stopped an inch from touching her, opened again, and then repeated.

“Did I just get insulted by a robot gate?” she tilted her head at the machine, which was still attempting to close.

“Yes, now get the hell out of my way,” the gate replied.

Zade stood speechless.

“That’s Action,” said Danae. “You should probably do as they say.”

“It’s a gate?”

As soon as these words left Zade’s mouth the gate administered a strong shock to her thighs. She fell forward onto her face and the gate finally full shut above her. She thought she heard it sigh.

Danae pressed a silver button on the wall next to the metal doors. The ring around it lit up blue for a second, and this time Action’s voice came from inside.

“Doors opening.”

Sure enough, they opened, revealing a small room with reflective metal walls. Danae stepped inside. Was it some sort of empty closet? She slowly got up as the feeling returned to her legs.

She cautiously hurried through the doors lest the same thing happen again.

“Doors closing.”

“Don’t mind them,” said Danae as the doors closed behind her. “They’re just cranky cause they don’t have a physical form.”

Zade was honestly used to curious and unique entities by now,  after all meeting Mother Nature was a life-changing experience, but this still had her speechless.

Inside the room was three rows of more buttons. Danae pressed the one labeled 362. The ring around it glowed blue and the room started shaking.

“What in the...” she said, backing against the wall and preparing to fight her way out.

“Oh right,” Danae said, surprised. “This is an elevator. It goes up, and down. A quick way to different floors of a building.” He dragged out each word in a patronizing manner.

“Oh...” she sighed, somewhat in relief that the room wasn’t about to digest them. She still didn’t like it.

“I notice you are tense Miss Killjoy-McStuckUp, I will play some calming music now,” said Action from some holes in the wall above the buttons.

Soothing jazz with an overlay of bongos began to play. It wasn’t very calming. Wait...

“Why does it keep calling me that?” she asked, offended that Danae hadn’t told them her real name.

“’They’ Zade, why do ‘they’ keep calling you that. Please, Action is a person to. A cranky person with no physical form, but a person none-the-less.”

Zade waited for him to continue and answer her. He didn’t.

He said it was a quick way to go up or down, but it sure took them a while before the red letters above the door read 362. The room slowly stopped shaking with a ding noise. 

“Doors opening.”

They exited into a long hallway that stretched to either side. In front of her were two wooden doors standing a few feet apart, a mirror image of each other.

“Welcome to your new home. The Chaos Penthouse,” said Danae, moving in front of the door on the right.

She raised her brow in confusion. “New home?”

He opened the door and waited for her to enter.

The sight was like heaven to her eyes. The ‘elevator’ was truly some kind of slow portal. The room was wide and spacious, full of natural light from the setting sun that flowed into the two walls to the front and right of her that were full windows. The walls to the left and behind her were sky blue and the furniture was themed black and white. It was as if someone had decorated this room to match her mind.

At the far end was an L-shaped couch next to the window with its back against some stairs that led up to another door. In front of the couch was a low white table and in front of that was a desk with a large black glass object on it.

The side closer to her was a more practical looking area, a large, smooth stomach height table with drawers placed all along the sides. There were also six cupboards along the wall next to her. It was surprisingly homely.

She walked forward towards the window and froze.

Zade turned to her, “How about you?”

“How about me what?” Sera asked back.

“How about you, do you want a realm of your own?” She clarified.

“I can do that?”

She arched her brow. “Of course you can! You have the power to!”

Sera’s face lit up in excitement.

“Danae...” Zade said sternly, fists suddenly clenched. She could tell the change threw him off. “Why are there only two rooms?” She turned her head. Danae had forgone his mortal guise, adopting the dark skeletal form she was used to. Much harder to read the expressions and thoughts of.

“I told you,” he replied coldly, turning away. “The tome brought everything within a small radius. Itself, me, and you.”

Zade’s form shimmered and she was suddenly standing in front of him, catching his eyeless gaze. She held a dagger of pure black energy against his chest. He made no attempt to retaliate.

“Where are they?!” she tried to remain calm, but her eyes quivered.

Danae remained silent.

“Where are Farjack and Sera?!” she was shouting now. It was so rare that she got angry but now she had twice in one day. Both at Danae.

He turned around and as he did his cloak evaporated like smoke that parted to reveal his human form. He walked towards the door.

“Don’t make a fool out of yourself. There’s nothing either of us can do now. Get some rest. Try this neat thing the humans call ‘sleep’.”

And then he was gone, the door shut behind him. She heard the faint voice of Action from the hall and knew he wasn’t going to his room. She didn’t know her way around this infernal building so there was no chance of confronting him again for today.

He was right though, and she knew that. There was nothing she could do to help them now. To her she was just with them, but Danae had spent a year without any of them. If he couldn’t find a way to fix it then no one could. She had to find out what happened to them though, with or without his help.

Curse this amnesia, she thought. Why were magical side effects always amnesia?

She glanced down at the Chaos Corp leaflet in her hand, and then back out of the window, looking down upon the massive city that surrounded a forest.

A forest that had once been Sera’s realm.

[Next: Episode 3]

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episode 2 (Pt. 2) - Hope

[Read from the beginning?] (1182 words)

The screams grew louder as Danae and Zade traveled in their general direction, they had left Farjack behind in his odd frozen state. 

In the distance was a small black crack in space, like a lightning bolt scarring the universe itself. As Zade stared into it she could feel it slowly reaching out to her before trying to yank her soul away like a vacuum. For a god it was easy to resist with the right amount of caution. But any mortal would have their consciousness ripped from them leaving behind an empty husk.

Danae had stopped a little closer, analyzing the situation. The screams were definitely coming from there, fueled by an unending pain.

“It appears that this is the center of creation,” Danae stated, with a metaphorical glint in his eye socket.

“You mean the place you blew up?” Zade snickered.

He returned an undecipherable glance.

“Something is very wrong here...” he said.

She nodded. Besides the soul sucking emptiness and the screaming, the crack was also mangling her senses, a mishmash of emotions and thoughts flooding her mind and attempting to distract her focus. Whatever it was it was very powerful.

“Maybe we should get Farjack, and try and find a way to stabilize it- and what are you doing?”

Danae had begun to poor his magic into the crack, feeding it, sating it. There was a very slight difference in it’s pull on her soul, not much... but something. You didn’t need godly senses to know this was a reckless plan.

Why not join him? She thought, Nothing to lose right...? She was questioning the amount of thought put into this but loosened her guard.

There was a strange combination of pain and euphoria as her very soul was being drained of energy. The crack began to grow slowly, accepting their offering, it was showing no signs of stopping even when it reached thrice her size. Zade was just about to back out of this plan when suddenly a silhouette somehow appeared on the darkness. The screams had stopped, as if the source now had enough hope to hold onto life.

She strained through the torrent of energy now surrounding them and forced herself carefully through the crack. For some reason trusting Danae to keep it contained. As soon as she made it through everything dulled, the energy sounded like it was far away and a sudden surge propelled her through the emptiness. There was a flash of white, and in her panic she crashed into a solid surface.

Zade found herself in a strange room. She struggled to her feet, leaning on a wooden table for support. The walls were made of a similar kind of wood, but uneven and rounded like the inside of a hollow tree. A layer of monochrome grey hid the colours from her view, even her own white side seemed a dirty grey. Almost like colour itself was being drained from the area.

Behind her was a thick black crack that must have been her way out. An ominous silhouette faded into view on the other side of the room as other objects started to lose their detail. Whatever this place was, it was being effected by the crack in reality and wouldn’t be here for long.

“Hello?” she whispered, but no sound came out. The room was filled with only deafening silence.

Zade put cautiously placed her hand on the persons shoulder and felt a mental connection form, a flair of relief sparked from both minds and the connection cut short. They were still alive, and Zade had to get them out of here.

Glancing back she noticed the crack shimmering, she didn’t have long until they were both doomed. She grabbed both their shoulders and tried to shake them but there was no response and barely any movement. They were stuck in place. If only she could pull them through the crack, but her magic couldn’t help her move bodies.

Zade moved to the other side and began to push, she couldn’t just do nothing. But they were almost immovable and she wasn’t an unstoppable force. They slowly moved across the fading floor inches at a time.

Almost there...

The silhouette touched the exit and the next second went by in a flash, the body suddenly weighed next to nothing, flung into the crack with Zade thrown off by the inertia. Her head slammed into their body and with an echo of metal her senses faded.

“Hello?” a comforting but worried voice called out, grasping the attention of Zade’s unconscious mind. “Are you okay?”

The pain in her head slowly dimmed and her vision returned.

“She will be fine,” shook the numbing voice of death, a snap back to reality.

A beautiful woman floated in the space in front of Zade, watching her closely. She wore a set of chain mail armor reinforced with silver plates and trimmed in a dark blue-gray. She withdrew instantly as she noticed she had come to, seemingly embarrassed.

The woman’s physique was agile and she moved with elegance, but her stature gave her an aura of strength and leadership. She was radiating positive energy that raised Zade’s spirit as though she could do anything.

“Are you okay?” she said with genuine concern. “You took quite a hit.” She tapped the armor on her shoulder and offered her other hand to help Zade get her balance that after a moment of hesitation she took. Their eyes caught and her energy that had been so eagerly sucked away earlier all but returned, their fluorescent dark blue invigorating her.

Judging by her intact body and vibrant green skin she was definitely a lot more living than the others. Perhaps she was related to the humans that Zade retained a distant memory of.

“I am fine,” she said after realizing she was staring. “My name is Zade. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Zade thought she heard Danae sigh.

“Sera,” she happily returned the greeting. “I’m Sera, and the pleasure is mine.”

Sera turned to Danae who was now stood away from them, pretending to assess the situation with the, now massive, crack in space.

“Is he your friend?” she asked with a smile. “He’s rather... unpleasant,” she giggled.

Zade noticed him blatantly glare their way. “Really? I did not notice,” she said with heavy sarcasm.

Danae laughed, confirming his eavesdropping.

“Do not mind him,” she continued, “I think he has never conversed with a stranger before, and besides he got blown up recently and that is enough to make anyone cranky.”

Sera raised an eyebrow quizzically and turned to Danae who had suddenly approached. The momentum of the movement carried through in her knee-length wavy hair that scattered onto Zade’s face via zero gravity. Though she didn’t seem to notice, Zade could tell Danae was holding back a chortle.

“We should probably introduce you to the other member of our eccentric group,” he said, “He’s far worse than the two of us combined.”

[Next: Episode 2 (pt.3)]

[chaoscorp]

[CC] Episode 2 (Pt. 1) - Welcome to Eterna

[Read from the beginning?] (521 words)

The crowd quickly cleared after the man clarified the issue. Dr. D.A.S. Familiares as the tag on his suit read.

“No seriously Danae,” Zade continued as she walked up to him, “What the fuck?”

Danae tilted his head, “What?”

“You put a wanted poster out for me?!” she yelled, fists clenched.

“Out of all the questions you could ask right now I am surprised you picked that one,” he replied flatly and began to walk towards the building in the center of the clearing.

Zade was very confused and angry, a combination of emotions that had become oh too familiar to her around Danae. “Where are you going?”

“Again, poor choice of question,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder.

Zade ran to catch up and followed by his side. The citizens of the city seemed to treat Danae with respect, and under a different name. The former being the most bewildering of those facts.

“What question do I ask then?” she asked, followed by an audible sigh of frustration.

“None,” he replied, “You follow and listen to my monologue.”

Dear gods this was definitely Danae...

“Turns out, absorbing a metric butt-ton of magical energy - oh that you created by the way, thanks for that - into a temporal omnipotent artifact is not the best idea.”

Exactly what she was thinking at the time he did it.

“It made the book itself and everything in a very specific two meter radius go into the future by an average of 363 years. Well, I say average because I arrived 362 years into the future, and you’ve just arrived now. Your hand must have just been inside the radius or something and the book refused to just take your hand. I assumed you would arrive at some time, but part of me thought it might’ve been better if you’d just fallen out of time.”

“Hey!”

Danae coughed. “I mean because of the shit this world has become!”

They walked past a bush of green thorn-lacking roses, and coming up on their right was a leafless tree that bore some kind of purple fruit. What an odd garden. Zade realized there was a catch to what Danae had said.

“We are in the future? And you arrived two years ago?!”

Now Danae faltered slightly, tilting his head. “You’re very slow aren’t you.”

Zade would have rolled her eyes if she had any. Oh right, that’s another detail she skipped out on.

“Why are you a human?” she asked.

Danae turned his back to the building they were walking towards, facing her. “Finally!” he said as if it was obvious. “An important question, however you will now have to wait to find an answer.”

They arrived in front of two large glass doors that lead inside the Chaos Corporation building.  Wait... Chaos Corporation? The tome that Danae had received was called the Book of Chaos. This building could not belong to Danae...

The doors slid open for them and Danae stepped to the side extending his hand towards them. “Welcome to my company.”

[Next: Episode 2 (pt.2)]