The tunnel he was in ended in a blank rock wall behind the gem. It was only thirty feet across. In front of the gem were the piled bodies of goblins and slaves. Some were old and rotting while others couldn’t have died more than a day ago. They had fallen in a perfect row, ten feet away from the jewel. He looked closer and saw that any part of the bodies that might have gotten closer than ten feet to the gem had just disappeared. Pieces of heads, arms, legs or even whole torsos were missing as if they had been teleported away. The ground was a mix of dried red and black blood on his side of the invisible barrier, but not even those fluids had made it past whatever was protecting the gem.
Richter looked closer at the pedestal, willing his identification Talent to trigger, but nothing happened. The same occurred when he examined the jewel again. It was clear that something powerful was protecting it. The goblin commander must have forced his own men and slaves to approach the gem over and over. Everyone attempting to retrieve it had been killed, and the bodies had been left where they fell. Richter saw the bloody logic of having a clearly delineated line that showed where the danger started.
Despite recognizing the danger, Richter could not take his eyes off of the gem. Even when Sion shouted for him to come back, he ignored his friend’s cries. He knew this light was meant for him. The jewel was his birthright! The jewel was his destiny!
Steeling himself for death, Richter raised one hand and stepped forward. His fingertips passed the line of dead bodies and a noise he had never heard before, like the single peal of a gigantic bell in a forgotten church, echoed in his mind. Notifications followed right behind the sound.
GLOOMMM!
Greetings, Chaos Seed. You have journeyed through blood and pain to arrive at this Place of Chaos. Your luck and determination have led you to a Chaotic Shard. Take this gem if you wish, but be warned, the knowledge of today can be a collar upon your future self. Choice is the essence of Chaos. You may leave the shard unclaimed, but the protection of the pedestal will no longer ward it. Make your choice, Chaos Seed, and never forget the consequences of change.
Nothing else happened. There was no burning pain, and he did not suffer a horrifying death. There was only the message, which swiftly disappeared. When Richter looked at the shard again, though, a prompt filled his vision. The background was the same grey as the Chaotic Shard.
You have found:
Chaotic Shard
Durability: Absolute
Item Class: ???
Quality: All
Weight: 0.01-3,302 kg
Traits: This gem contains raw Chaos
The luminance of the shard faded to a faint glow and it remained hovering in the air. The effect on Sion disappeared. The sprite blinked confusedly, but then remembered that Richter had gone ahead while he had just stood there. He rushed around the corner, and was just in time to see Richter reach out and grab the jewel, the only witness to his friend ushering in a new age.
Prompts appeared in the vision of every creature in The Land.
STAND AND WITNESS! An ending has come! A beginning is upon you! New powers are awake in The Land! Chaos has been let loose. Surely the forces of Order will not be far behind. Free yourself from the shackles of old definitions. This is a new Age!
THE EPOCH OF BANISHED GODS HAS ENDED!
THE AGE of CHAOS HAS BEGUN!
A Truth has been revealed to the all denizens of The Land. Goodness and Evil are not the only determinants of one’s character. No longer will you be bound to a binary alignment. The consequences for societies and The Land itself will only be known in time!
Those prompts had the same fancy script and grandiose windows as when the Quickening had grown. This time, the notifications were even more ornate. Richter reeled, not even being able to absorb the cascade of information. The next prompts were his normal notifications and for him alone.
Know This! By revealing a Truth to others, you have learned more about yourself! No longer are you or other chaos seeds bound to an alignment of “0.” Your new alignment is Chaotic (2) Neutral. Know thyself to find thy power!
Congratulations! You have won +20,000 Fame points! Your actions have ushered in a new AGE! Total Fame Points: 31,582
CHIME!
Congratulations! You have advanced to Reputation Level 5! “You are a man worth following.” New quests and opportunities will now become available to you!
As soon as Richter clasped the jewel, The Land itself took notice and Richter reeled under the gravity of what had just happened. The Light and Dark courts were thrown into upheaval. Gods and demons stared hungrily from exile and attempted to reenter The Land, only to find that the old wards still held. Forgotten demigods and monsters of wonder stirred in their barrows, and not all went back to sleep. The Land was changed, and dreams and nightmares evolved into miracles and cataclysms.
The sound that accompanied the notifications was overwhelming. Every being in The Land paused just for a moment as they were altered in a small but fundamental way. Richter only lost focus for a moment, but it was enough for chaos to escape. Beams of chaotic power shot in all directions. Many sank into the surrounding tunnels. One hit Richter and another struck the Bloodstone. The Deep Magic of the relic was overwhelmed for the first time in over fifteen thousand years when confronted with the Higher Energy of Chaos. Three bolts of raw chaos phased past the stone of the cave and made their way to the surface: one struck the adder and the last streaked high into the sky, disappearing into the heavens.
Richter came back to himself and something deep inside of him cried out at losing the valuable energy. Not even sure how he did it, the chaos seed tightened his grasp on the jewel and drew the chaos into himself. He was burning. His soul was burning! He was alive! He had died a millennium ago and had yet to be reborn. His soul was reborn countless times in an instant. His mind and spirit swam in oceans of truth, horror, beauty and inevitability. He was power. He was Power! He was POWER!
Sion watched while the streamers of grey energy stopped flowing in every direction and instead focused into a wide beam of light that flowed into his friend’s chest. Richter screamed, or laughed, or moaned. The sprite couldn’t be sure, because the chaos seed’s body seemed to phase in and out of existence. Sion tried to make his way closer, but gravity in the tunnel increased by a factor of seven, and the sprite was forced to his knees. Even breathing became difficult, the pressure in his chest too low to exhale. Try as he might, the best Sion could manage was to stay on all fours and not be flattened by the massive pressure bearing down on him.
Then it was over. Gravity returned to normal and Sion drew in a much-needed breath of air. His diaphragm spasmed and coughs racked his body. When he looked up, the sprite saw his best friend walking towards to him. A smile was on Richter’s face, and a grey light shone behind his eyes. A moment later, the light faded and all he could see was his best friend.
“Banished gods! Are you alright?” Sion asked. Richter helped him to his feet. The sprite quickly looked his friend over, but except for a large bruise on the chaos seed’s right cheek, he looked fine.