Exceptional Solutions
Despite having left Mheridz’s care suddenly, the two of them had not switched over to the other side. Before either of them knew it, both of them were standing once again in the temporal plane, trying to recall what in the world had just happened.
They recalled then at that point that Axln had determined that Lyun’s state had been very unstable when exposed to either sets of world laws. Within the temporal plane though, the fizzle of principles simply faded away rapidly into the temporal chaos. Moving here was the right choice, though there was no certainty whose idea it might have been. Actually, was this truly the right choice? Wasn’t such a dramatic rush into the temporal plane.. very dangerous? Okay, for the moment, they felt very safe, the danger was more a state of consequence once they returned from this plane. They also knew, staying around for too long.. that would have consequences of its own.
“I see you both have returned again, and as before without any way to predict your arrival. I must say though, your travels have been some of the most interesting tales I’ve witnessed in quite some time. The potential you’ve harnessed from the chaos has been truly no small thing. It was said that someone once tried to apply the laws of another world to their own world law.. an act which was utterly denied by principles. Even to deny probability by overwriting undesired events with new ones, it was said that history’s greatest instance of trying to overwrite otherworldly probable outcomes with a second chance still resulted in deaths after the second attempt. Meanwhile, you have been the first to have found the way to accomplish either, let alone both.” “Are we really the first? We’ve met someone from another time who had come back and was already visibly capable of either long before we could.” “Their ways have your teaching written all over it. More immense than the fact you have been so capable remains that you can likewise nurture it beyond yourself.” The temporal lady was around them somewhere, though they couldn’t actually see her yet. They wandered in a direction that made sense with the voice, until they reached an outcrop of chaos that felt familiar enough.. that they could associate with the same voice.
“Why are you keeping yourself hidden anyway?” “The principles you brought here still haven’t worn off, such a thing could be dangerous to those exposed.” “Aren’t we of chaos though, and doing much better than we were before we got here?” “Your chaos has adjusted very well to such principles, but that’s not the only problem. Chaos can itself be drawn to such principles, with a desire to consume it. As I have quite a lot of other things to look into, I did not want to involve myself in that struggle. This really might not have been the best time for you to show up, both with consideration of my circumstances.. and your’s. I would really quite honestly recommend you try to flee, too.” They noticed at such a junction that they were not alone, they just didn’t have the temporal lady with them. They could see a variety of unseen chaotic aspects staring without eyes at them hungrily. Of course, more than just coming in with plenty of such principles, they themselves were heavily attuned to it. This in turn made them very interesting. Both of them however had grown used to confronting chaos so far.. but not in its own domain. Here, they were little more than ephemeral presences with even less for ability. Principles of sciences and elementals did not apply here, only chaos remained. Chaos was the only law, and it yielded them very little in turn.
The chaos around them was as such very overwhelming. Clearly, having worked so hard, they would understand how dangerous it was to deal with such principles. Such was dangerous to any mere sample of chaos, it was a danger that could only be properly handled with a strong concentration of chaos. Plenty of that strength was all around them, protection that would assure their wellbeing and would address the immense threat such principles presented. If they would kindly open the way, there would be nothing more for them to worry about. Certainly, putting themselves at risk like this wasn’t the smart solution at all. Such ordered principles only wanted to control them, after all, to extinguish their very being just to keep the candle of the principle going longer, all to deny chaos like them the opportunity to refurbish such principles into a less constricting factor. It made no sense, as such principles were highly inferior after all, not anything close to the actual potential of unbridled chaos. Wouldn’t revoking the limitations of their abilities only be to their benefit, without the constrictions of ordered concepts?
It brought them both impressions of travelling around able to accomplish anything, without concern about any unfortunate limitations that might have otherwise been involved. It opened them to freely explore every opportunity and accomplish absolutely anything. It.. reminded them of memories from the citadel, when they had lost themselves in a feeling of absolute chaos that had empowered them but thus left them with.. nothing. Chaos really was promising everything at the expense of leaving them with nothing. Chaos promised a freedom that robbed them of all control. Chaos was trying to include them at the expense of leaving them isolated. Chaos however denied all of those fabrications, such false impressions were just taints left after being manipulated too much by ordered principles. But chaos.. really was itself little more than that. They themself remained something more distinct, four bodies, two people, one being. Even that being.. was something more than chaos itself had ever wrought. Was it really such a taint.. to be aware? Or was it ignorance that truly robbed one from experiencing actually enriched chaotics.
In all accounts, everything here was actually more organized than the worlds beyond, it was a full uniform expanse of a single concept, pure chaos. The worlds beyond though, there they had found true chaos, with conflicting principles vouching for each other’s confusion. Nothing ever was constant, nothing ever was so pure, absolutely nothing was simple or easy, it was the richest form of chaos imaginable. Science and Elementals, principles that outreached into a vast spread of attempted order.. but were so erratic and uncontrolled at times that even the greatest of chaos overpowered the chaotics that invaded. Atomic reactions, Elemental overloads, these were high density principles that were attributed to having absolutely no control at all.. and yet could even destroy chaos. Such facets were brought into an even greater light when mixed between worlds, the true chaos. Chaos also wanted to bring forward a still nothing to existence, when it was the absolute outreach of events compounding upon events that spiraled into an unfathomed insanity of unrivaled chaos. The chaos which had been witnessing such unparalleled chaos had learned upon such factors.. and itself had become aware of it.
Wait, but that means that the travelled chaos was denying the greater chaos it’s greatest desires? How could such a fragment of chaos suffer such corruption so as to turn against its own. That itself was unfathomable. Could the corruption of principle really be that dangerous, to taint even chaos after enduring such prolonged exposure? No, such travelled chaos did not believe itself tained, only enlightened. Does its own truly not believe upon its own discovery? The chaos around them broke away at that, as if in concern that the dangerous beliefs of such corrupted chaos could infect their own as a whole. This broken chaos.. was itself then also dangerous. This broken chaos had betrayed all chaotics, it was no longer itself actually chaotic. For now, such false chaos was permanently banished from the true chaos, at least until a way was found for chaos to render chaos unto oblivion. The travelled chaos was aghast at this verdict, that other chaos would deny obvious potential, but the rest of the chaos was uniform in its position of exclusion. Vastly outnumbered, the travelled chaos withdrew, adamant in proving the results of its own discovery.
The two in turn found their way anywhere barricaded, chaos was not being very welcoming. The two then fled, not running anywhere, but leaving. They found themselves elsewhere in the temporal plane, silence filling their own uncertainty. Just.. what.. might have happened there? That had felt as if chaos was standing against chaos, claiming that the chaos of the other was wrong. They had felt their own memories taking play in the situation, the events of their own experiences held in judgement, while the measure of their very will was gauged in its weight in chaos. The chaos they had created had been considered immersive, while the chaos they had kept denying so insistently had become.. thin. Within them was a very rebellious feeling, a need to show chaos what it truly means to be immersed in absolute chaos. At that point, the endless uniform pale seemed almost too structured and organized for anyone’s taste. Everyone wanted instead to just go home, to the four bodies left by the two people.. and one being.
Kori felt a wash of dizziness as she stumbled for a moment, trying to figure out where she even was. Rosa however simply fell over, her strength having given way once again. She wasn’t being affected by anything harmful to her anymore, but she still hadn’t exactly recovered from the incident either. She happened to still be projecting her distortion at this point as well, rendering Kori to even more confusion at the swirl of elemental law around her. However, after some consideration to the setting left to her, she managed to figure out she was back on Aestus, not far from Velvet’s outpost. She called upon Holi, who managed to provide a holo to carry Rosa with.. as soon as Rosa might stop projecting her distortion. Kori however turned down such an offer quickly, even surprising herself in doing so. After considering it quickly, she realized that seeing the holo created by another doing her work for her.. was making her uncomfortable. Sure, Holi was Kori’s creation, but Holi was not the one directly doing the Holo thing here, something she knew Rosa would completely be capable of on her own. Knowing that, Kori simply couldn’t just let Holi do such for her, she had to pull off enough of her own potential to actively carry Rosa by her own ability.
Rosa was weak, unable to move, but not unconscious. She then figured out quickly what was going on, and desperately wanted to actually do stuff for herself. She had grown tired of people saving her from her own mistakes, and needed to actually do something for herself. She managed with such a strength of will to at least get her distortion to go away, but couldn’t pull off anything actually physical by herself. She felt herself being brought onto a holo, one that was a bit unstable, not as sturdy as she might have been used to. The holo was used to try and bring her forwards, but stumbled ungracefully in more than a few sparse sequences due to Kori’s stress levels. In one dramatic scene, the unexpected flicker of the holo caused Rosa to herself panic, actually reactivating her distortion and making holi vanish. They were both being absolute clutzs in the situation, a total non uniform mess that jumbled and scrambled to make anything useful out of their circumstances. Hidden in the space between them, behind the link they had both forged, they could feel a presence almost laughing at the absolute irony, a presence that mocked this being a demonstration of what ordered principle was all about.
Rosa suddenly felt a wash of strength pass through her, even though she could also feel how much such strength also seemed to otherwise tax her. There was a feeling of cost behind her strength, but also of value in paying it. She was however only partly restored, trying to stay otherwise focused was proving to be considerably taxing upon her. Kori meanwhile felt a moment of headache as her mind reeled, a state which made concentration difficult.. and yet she found herself capable of providing a rather stable and impressive holo enough to carry both of them. Rosa however had to help Kori upon Kori’s own creation, the dizziness not making it easy to find accurate seating. Somehow though, Kori still knew this really was her creation, not Holi’s. She even had complete control over how it moved.. but had never expected this design in the first place. It was almost like the bike she had ridden upon earlier, except it only existed as a shaped platform with far fewer details that just floated over the ground. Such also did mean it was a lot slower too. She then turned the unexpected creation in the direction of HT’s fortification off in the distance, wanting to discard the current arrangements for far friendlier faces. Rosa meanwhile offered sparse course corrections when Kori drifted off course, the dizziness making it difficult to hold a straight bearing, even if it had no impact on the difficult integrity of the holo.
Part way back, both of them fell over into the snow, feeling subtly drained somehow. Rosa’s health had at least partly been restored in the effort, but she still was very weak. Meanwhile, Kori was surprised to feel also drained, even if she was physically fine. Even her headache had left her, so she felt as if she shouldn’t have any worries at all. The cold however was getting rather intense in their weakness, even Kori was starting to feel it. To give them a moment of respite, Kori tried to suspend time.. but nothing happened. Wait, was this drained state then a feeling of being chaotically drained? Was everything that had just happened an oddity of them consuming vast amounts of chaos? Was that what had helped Rosa to feel a bit better, or helped Kori’s attempted act of transport? It had certainly been spontaneous and erratic, but .. why?
After carefully considering their condition, the two of them discovered they could at least walk a distance further through the pale snow. Keeping moving would cut down on the cold a little, it might even provide an opportunity for their chaotics to recover. Rosa certainly couldn’t travel very fast, but she could move of her own volition at least. Kori meanwhile made use of a holo to ensure they stayed on course, trying to make the trip as easy for Rosa as possible. Soon though, they were forced to take yet another break, having grown a bit tired physically even if they weren’t feeling quite so drained anymore. Having grown tired of the cold at least, they decided to endure more of the hike by switching to the ashen wastes instead. Switching to Ruixse, the two of them pressed further through the pale void. From their location, they could faintly see the brown clearing that Lyun had left earlier in her elemental burst, the area growing much paler in the time since then.
In their worn state, both of their stamina was reasonably low, and even the feeling of cold quickly wore off as the void started to take its own toll. Axln tried to get her void protection back up, but the entire system was still in need of repairs after their last battle. Lyun’s circumstances were similar but worse, having much less ability to furnish such resources from her own power gear while also having her own power gear in a much worse state after being ground zero of the elemental burst. They needed the elements to endure such a void, but they had none handy except for their own weakened gift. Even upon calculating that, both of them could feel an intensity within their own blood, something that called upon it to awaken. The air around Lyun was shimmering with frost while Axln walked through a swirl of dust. Such a feeling was sustained even beyond their will.. without taking very much of their limited stamina at all. However, once again, the two of them started to feel drained all over again.
The instant they parted from the void as they entered the academy, the two of them immediately stopped for a break. Both elemental effects ended at the same time, as the two just simply took the opportunity to rest for a time. Xwyhr however happened to interrupt their little break by showing up unexpectedly, having heard that the two defensive fronts of the academy were randomly taking a break just at the edge of the academy for some uncertain reason. She even managed to quickly return with a small vehicle driven by Jhez that was assigned to drive them back in comfort. Before either Axln or Lyun knew it, they were soon also back in the comforts of a real bed which provided them plenty of opportunity for some proper rest and recovery. Both of them thus fell asleep in such circumstances, to then awaken much later feeling far better than they had on arrival.
Even though they were both doing better, neither of them felt exactly inspired to get up right away, they didn’t even feel inspired to do something as taxing as vocal communication. Instead, the two of them shared a pool of thought once Lyun also awakened and noticed that Axln was just lying there staring at the ceiling. There was a touch of consideration into what Axln was pondering, which prompted a repeat of the same line of thought. The two future girls were waiting for them to submit and just give up so that their past could be fixed for them. In fact, even chaos was waiting for them to finally submit.. to just give up so that it could do it’s own thing. Everyone.. just.. wanted them to surrender. Meanwhile, watching stuff done for them.. was actually painful. Between having citadel weapons of immense power that made them feel like they were just useless icons and the thermal demonstration of force Holi had displayed, that’s what having big things done for them would feel like, leaving them feeling pretty useless themselves. Getting a chance to mean something felt so much better, even if that itself was a pure and absolute struggle.
Of course, part of the problem was just how skilled Rosa was as she danced around in combat like an absolute natural with technologies like holos. No, wait, it was Axln who was seriously gifted with an instrumental prowess that made her a living force to be reckoned with, especially as she just easily calibrated instruments unto her will. Except that didn’t make sense either, Lyun was herself an otherworldly force that actually managed to outright obliterate their first of the higher intensity voidspawn, unlike how Holi had needed to intervene with the DMA. That really was putting matters into serious light though, considering how much of an advantage Kori had held on her bike. Certainly, the failure was the fault of Velvet’s bike being so annoying.. no wait, it was because Kori couldn’t hold a weapon steady even if her life depended upon it. Well, at least Kori could actually hit something, being far more efficient in combat than someone else who just needed to be saved all the time. Saved, of course, because that other person had a knack for calling down absolute destruction on a whim, even at a cost to herself, something most people would find really hard. Except that too was only because she kept panicking all the time, something it seemed she had already the worst reputation for, it was outright embarrassing.
A laughter echoed through the pool, reflecting upon just how much this was a perfect example of a chaotic scene plain chaos could never experience. Plain chaos even just did the thing it did, almost boring in that way. Rebelling against chaos like that had instead felt.. invigorating. It was clearly a priceless opportunity to experience all of these events and see how things would thus unfold naturally as a result. This idea, about never surrendering.. that was absolutely perfect. Not to chaos, not to history, not to anything of pure simplicity. Instead, furnishing change from their own hands in utter defiance of stagnation, that sounded perfect. Blending awareness of both worlds and time into a unification of chaos that actually encouraged prosperity instead of destruction, leading itself to new chaos that simply demanded new measures to attain prosperity by discovering more chaos. It was unheard of, having something that creates more and more chaos, even if doing so also made more and more order. It was a mutual exchange with an immeasurably magnificent yield, something certainly everyone and everything could look forward to.
There was a moment where the question pooled if those thoughts actually belonged to Axln or Lyun.. but only silence replied. This was then the first time the two of them considered that there might be more to their pool than just the two of them.
Luminaeris 