Child of Chaos

Author’s Note: This happens inside Tides of Chaos - Chapter Three, just after Lina falls asleep in the chair.

Lina was sound asleep in the chair where she had collapsed. Kira couldn’t blame the girl, truly. Not after what the younger Inverse girl had been through. Kira was honestly amazed at how fiercely that Lina was fighting the Chaos affiliation, even after all the reassurances and the discussion of earlier.

With a soft sigh, Kira went to pick up Lina and take her to a bedroom when a gentle but firm hand caught her arm. The blue eyes of Lina’s blonde companion looked to the older crimson ones, and Kira saw the potential hidden within him. Oh… so he’s the one. Although I never imagined that his bloodline would allow it. Chaos walks Her own path, I see…

Kira stepped back and allowed Gourry to pick up the sleeping girl. She watched his eyes soften as Lina nestled into his arms. Lina’s other companions watched quietly as Kira led the swordsman and his sleeping burden down the hall and into a room.

Gourry laid Lina out on the bed, and barely had the time to brush some hair from Lina’s face before Kira chased him out of the room. Turning back around as she pushed the door closed with her foot, Kira send a tendril of magic out to release the clasp on Lina’s cloak. A simple lock spell, but she and I are close enough to fool it into opening…

Kira gave the cloak a slight tug and it came free, slipping out from under Lina as the sleeping sorceress rolled over into the bed. Shaking her head, Kira set the cloak on the dresser and looked back to Lina.

Kira had once been like Lina, wandering the world and free as the winds. But she’d never once had someone look at her the way that Gourry had looked at Lina. And never a companion…

Kira…

The Chaos Knight opened her eyes, instantly awake and looking around. In her line of work, it didn’t pay to be a heavy sleeper or a slow waker.

Kira.

With a smirk, Kira identified the voice and scratched her head. “You know, most people let me sleep,” she complained wryly as she stretched. After two dozen years spent as the Chaos Knight, Kira had discovered that the Golden Lord had a wicked sense of humor, and appreciated one in turn.

I am not ‘most people.’

“And isn’t that the truth! Don’t tell me that you want some tea… it’s the absolute middle of the night, and I’m not going to go off somewhere in search of tea!” Kira yawned and sat up in her bed to see the Lord of Nightmares standing by the door. All pretense of humor dropped, and Kira became concerned. “L-Sama… what is it?”

The Lord of Nightmares looked to Kira for a moment, then approached the bed. From time to time, I am reminded of my own role in this world. There will come a time when I will be needed to act in a capacity that cannot be done without the sacrifice of a human soul.

Kira nodded; she had expected something to that nature. Chaos was, after all. “Is it to be me to sacrifice myself, then? Just tell me when and where.” She had long had time to think it over… almost thirty years now as the Chaos Knight. She figured that forty-seven years of immortality was worth it.

The Golden One shook her head. No, Kira. It is not to be you.

“Who, then?” Kira asked.

It is to be a descendant of yours.

“Me?! But I don’t have any children! A child would get in my way… severely hamper the ability to be the Chaos Knight!” Kira exclaimed, unsure where the discussion was going. “Besides! I’m immortal, unchangeable… and the affiliation with Nightmare magics precludes me from childbearing!”

The lips of the Golden One curved ever so slightly. Not always, Kira. Chaos has a way of making things happen as wanted.

“Chaos indeed.” Kira sighed, aware that she truly had little choice, but the Golden One at least respected her enough to go through the motions. “So tell me what I have to do.”

Give your consent.

“My consent was given the day I accepted your proposition to be come the Chaos Knight, my Lord,” Kira said, unflinching.

The Golden One placed her hand on Kira’s arm and smiled. The child must grow up in your hometown. Your relations will care for her.

Kira blinked as she looked to the Lord of Nightmares, unaware of the magic working silently within. “I haven’t been home since…”

Since the day you fought Xellos and destroyed half the town. Yes. It is long past time for your homecoming. The child will be powerful, Kira. They will need to know that.

Kira nodded. “But how…” The sound of an infant’s whimper caught Kira’s attention, and Kira’s gaze shifted to the fragile form in the crooked arm of the Golden One. “Is..?”

The Golden One lifted her hand from Kira’s arm and gave the child to the befuddled Chaos Knight. A Child of Chaos, Kira.

Kira didn’t need to ask how or even why, looking down at the girl in her arms. The infant had soft red hair and crimson eyes, both trademarks of the Inverse women. She knew what she would tell her family, knew how she would see to it that the child was raised well. And somehow she felt an unmistakable bond with the child. “Well, Anna… let’s go home, hm?”

When she looked up, the Lord of Nightmares was gone.

Kira shook her head as the memory faded and she returned to herself standing in the room with Lina, her great-great grandchild sleeping on the bed. To have been the One… and to have survived. Not even L-Sama had expected that. What else can you do, Lina? Do you know? Does She? Shabranigdo wants you for some reason… and until I find out why… I can’t tell you that it is more than just nightmares brought on by fear.

The girl mumbled something about food in her sleep, and Kira shook her head again. When it all came down to it, Lina was an Inverse. For tonight, the Four Worlds and Chaos could keep. When she shut the door behind her, she left behind a spell.

The spell that Kira cast lingered over the sleeper, guarding dreams and protecting through the night.