Will of chaos

I was in a very large meeting room inside the Star Palace, with me were the Twins, Samara, Xerxes, Urd, Ronan, and Niryna.

I gathered everyone who might know what was happening; I couldn’t believe that Guerra had surrendered here.

As much anger as I feel for having been used in his plans, their strength was superior, and he had a great advantage in terms of combat experience. I’m not sure I would be able to defeat him for possession of this universe. If I know this, then he should have a certain degree of confidence to defeat me.

“I don’t know if everyone received the notifications, but Guerra has given up this universe.” (me)

“Not only him, the Merchant and Pride also gave up.” (me)

“That was to be expected.” (Lena)

“Guerra doesn’t consider us enemies; he won’t waste time with us when a real enemy is lurking.” (Cortana)

“I heard about it from the messages too, my lady must have made the decision as soon as Guerra gave up.” (Ronan)

“From the beginning, Pride’s true target was Paradox, which has already been achieved.” (Ronan)

“Callidora says that the Merchant wasn’t really participating in this competition, his surrender was only a matter of time.” (Niryna)

“Could those really be the only reasons?” (me)

I couldn’t believe that Guerra would just surrender like that, without even trying a final confrontation or attempting to reach an agreement; he simply let it go as if he were discarding a piece of meat he no longer wanted.

“I understand your distrust, but you’re using mortal standards to judge a Transcendental being.” (Lena)

“He’s already achieved so much in this universe, the Disciple of Ayden being his greatest gain; he doesn’t need a pointless battle for this universe when he must have already conquered one of the universes connected to this one.” (Lena)

“He also won’t keep his champion and main Avatar here with real enemies to face.” (Cortana)

“…” (me)

“You should also prepare yourself, they will try to find you once again.” (Xerxes)

“Why would they do that now that they’ve given up on this Universe?” (me)

“Exactly for that reason, they are no longer under the restrictions they accepted before and can exercise more of their powers freely.” (Xerxes)

“Not to mention that you are one of the confirmed targets of the enemies, Guerra won’t let you escape so easily.” (Xerxes)

“You also have business with the Merchant, with the end of this fight for the universe, he should come to you to finalize the business.” (Urd)

Urd was right, even leaving Guerra aside, the arrival of Igor or any other associate of the Merchant could happen here since I have several items to recover from them.

“What should I do when they come?” (me)

“Listen to what they have to say, that way we can at least get some more information.” (Lena)

“It would be better not to be too hostile towards them, they are not enemies we can handle.” (Urd)

“Urd was right.” (Xerxes)

———————–

Hours later.

I was outside the Temple of Urd meditating. Now that there were no more intruders within this Universe, the Flow of the Laws of Urd was unifying the entire universe again before beginning to spread to the other adjacent universes to initiate the true multi-universal unification we planned to save these decaying universes due to the selfishness of the Ascended.

“They are here.” (Urd)

“…” (me)

Urd came to my side, his eyes fixed in a certain direction, and as I lifted myself, the space seemed to reconstruct itself into a doorway from which two individuals emerged.

“(I didn’t expect this…)” (me)

I felt apprehensive not for the individuals themselves, but for those inhabiting their bodies.

War and the Merchant had incarnated in the bodies of their Avatars, emerging from the portal with a truly overwhelming presence. War’s presence was especially cold, even though he was clearly trying to suppress it.

The Merchant stood near the portal and, with his hand, it was as if space were pushed away while a new space took its place. A finely decorated room with war paintings and displays of weapons of all kinds formed around us, a table without chairs placed between me and Guerra.

I quickly raised my hand and from my shadows emerged Xerxes, the Twins, and Freya, all entities just like Urd.

“Why are you here?” (me)

“Straight to the point, I like that.” (Guerra)

“I gave you time to cool your head and think, now you need to make a decision about what you’re going to do next.” (Guerra)

“Are you talking about the Firstborn of Creation?” (me)

“Yes, they will look for you, whether you like it or not.” (Guerra)

“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet, but I won’t act on your side.” (Me)

His body covered in armor and the helmet on his head prevent me from seeing his expression; I can’t tell what he’s thinking.

“Do you intend to hide?” (War)

“If possible, yes, but if it’s necessary to fight, I can find others who haven’t tried to kill me before to stand by my side.” (Me)

“If I wanted you dead, you would be dead.” (War)

“Don’t confuse my Avatar’s desire to fight with a dispute against me.” (War)

“Are you going to tell me that the last competition was planned by Ayden!?” (Me)

“Are you also going to tell me that it was Ayden’s desire to ally with the Ascended for so many years and even invade my universe, leading to a genocide of innocents, just to blackmail me!?” (Me)

“My alliance with the Ascended came before your birth and has no relation to you.” (War)

“What happened in your universe was planned and executed by the Ascended, where only my Avatar directly opposed you.” (War)

“What I did to force my brothers to reveal themselves was necessary; are these exceptions sufficient?” (War)

He speaks as if he’s reading a simplified report with only the facts. He wants a direct answer from me and doesn’t seem to care if I fight alongside him or not. He probably thinks it’s impossible for me to flee the combat, and so we’ll end up fighting the same enemy anyway.

I know this; I’ve considered those possibilities too, but I can’t trust War.

“Since you want an answer, let me answer with a question.” (me)

“Would you go into a dangerous battle with an ally you don’t trust by your side?” (me)

“I understand your point, I’ve never done anything in your eyes to show myself worthy of trust.” (War)

“Exactly, having the Merchant on your side while you both used me as bait, regardless of the reasons, shows that you don’t consider me an ally but a useful tool.” (me)

“Am I wrong?” (me)

“I acted with this intention, so I can’t argue now.” (War)

“Battle will be inevitable, whether I’m fighting with you by my side or not, but I know we’ll meet on the battlefield against the same enemy.” (War)

“That just means I need to watch my back.” (me)

“This conversation isn’t going anywhere.” (War)

War takes something that seems to come from under his cloak and places it on the table. I sense the power of Chaos in the object, which looks like a fragmented sword trapped in a crystal.

“I’ve already given up on this universe, but that was to avoid dividing my attention; it wasn’t a way of showing goodwill.” (War)

“This is a gift for my sister’s return; it was the first sword I forged with her.” (War)

“Malakyel, I hope you’re alright.” (Xerxes)

“I’m always alright as long as I have something to fight for.” (War)

“Now I take my leave. I hope you change your minds, and I’ll be waiting if you decide to maintain an alliance.” (War)

“…” (me)

I see War turning and leaving through the same portal he arrived through. Soon after, the Merchant, who had remained distant near the portal, finally steps forward. The entire space ripples once more, with War’s paintings giving way to works of art and the weapons being displayed giving way to bookshelves.

Throughout my conversation with War, the Merchant remained distant with a simple smile on his face, but as soon as War left, he stepped forward.

“Now that your meeting with War is over, I believe we have business to finalize.” (Merchant)

“…” (me)

He won’t interrupt beforehand to make a clear distinction as to why the two Entities are here.

“I’m here to finalize some open business.” (Merchant)

The merchant picks up a book the size of my head with thousands of pages, then waves his hand to the side, making a wall disappear and revealing a room where thousands of boxes of all shapes and sizes were stored, many resembling treasure chests or jewelry boxes.

“What is all this?” (me)

“The accounting book for the bets, with your agreed-upon share described.” (Merchant)

“In that other room is your payment due, as promised.” (Merchant)

“Before we discuss other matters, as a Merchant, I need to finalize our business as it was done.” (Merchant)

“I understand…” (me)

He wants to end all this before discussing the broken alliance, as well as other matters.