Chaosbound: Elarith Chronicles

Aurel now found himself in a refugee camp, a temporary settlement for those displaced by the Luminaries' purge of chaos beings. The war had created strange alliances; some sought shelter out of genuine faith, while others saw the Luminaries as a new source of power to cling to—wolves in sheep's clothing.

As Aurel wandered, he watched the people, observing the full spectrum of human emotion. What truly caught his attention was the subtle, erratic presence of malice, or chaos energy. To him, it wasn't just a feeling; it was a faint, shimmering corruption clinging to the weary faces and desperate smiles. The dark chaos beings he could visibly see fed on such emotions and had been acting strangely, vibrating with an agitated energy that he hadn't felt before.

"Huh. Must have been nice to be a normal guy," he muttered, observing the faint, corrupting energy. "Fighting the Luminaries? I'll leave that to the Abyssals."

He performed a familiar sequence of warrior exercises, each punch and kick snapping through the air with a whip-like crack. "That felt good," he said. "The Luminaries' influence has spread fast, even here in the southern territory. It's thinning out the Abyssal and Eclipseborne influence. I guess that's a good thing."

Suddenly, a discordant spike of defiant chaos energy pierced the air, jolting him from his exercises. He looked up just as a commotion erupted. A group of people, their faces half-covered by cloths, stormed into the camp. They shouted, "The Luminaries have no right to spread their influence here! This is the southern territory, and it belongs to the southerners!"

They tore down Luminary flags and threw crude Molotov cocktails, chanting, "Thyranthe will save us!" Black banners, emblazoned with a crowned skull, flapped in the wind. Luminary soldiers quickly responded, apprehending some and killing others on the spot.

"Fools," one of the soldiers sneered. "The only savior you need is the Luminaries."

Aurel watched, a wave of shock and confusion washing over him. He heard his own name, Thyranthe, spoken with reverence and desperation. The sound of his name as a battle cry felt surreal, like a bizarre echo of a life he never wanted. He also noticed the crowned skull icon everywhere—scrawled on walls, carved into trees, and painted on the ground. The symbol was vaguely familiar, a strange sigil he felt he should remember but couldn't place. Someone was instigating this in plain sight.

Aurel moved on, putting distance between himself and the escalating conflict. He traveled for days through the desolate, rocky landscape of the southern territory, its jagged cliffs and sun-baked earth reflecting the harshness of its people. The south had always been chaotic, but this was different. The region was a powder keg, divided between those who embraced the Luminaries and those who defied them.

Days later, he noticed a strange phenomenon. His sensitivity to chaos energy was tingling; the energy was no longer erratic but gathering in one specific direction. He followed it like a moth to a flame. The trail led him to a secluded area where several Malifuge had also appeared. They were milling about silently, their usual violent tendencies replaced by a listless, drawn-out curiosity. He was about to summon his sword when a group of unknown people suddenly emerged from the shadows.

"There are a lot of them this time," one of them observed to the others, noting the lack of any powerful Malus.

The group of strangers immediately noticed him. "Is this another chaos being?" one of them asked, cautiously approaching. Aurel stood his ground, and one of the men got close, inspecting him.

"A Malus? Wait... you're not..."

Before the stranger could finish his sentence, Aurel's sword flashed, cleaving the man's head from his shoulders and splitting his body in two. Aurel then crushed the man's core in his fist.

"I noticed your energy," Aurel said, his voice flat. "The same corrupted energy I sensed from the being who killed the Swordking."

The remaining strangers were stunned. "What?! You dare kill one of our own? You'll die for this!"

The fight began. Aurel was in no mood for it, but the thought of this specific corrupted energy irritated him. He now realized who they were: the Menis, the abominations that his allies, Nephra and Luci, had warned him about.

"So you're the ones causing this chaos corruption," Aurel said, his eyes scanning the group. "Why are you spreading it?"

He didn't wait for an answer, instead slicing another Menis into pieces. "Oops, sorry, you can't answer now either."

Aurel turned to the four remaining Menis. "What's going on here? Why are you gathering these chaos beings with this energy? You're up to no good, aren't you?"

One of them, clearly afraid, spoke up defiantly. "You are so dead! Do you even know who we are?"

"Oh, two of your kind are dead, but I'm not," Aurel replied calmly. "Maybe you'll be next."

He opened a dimensional rift, summoning Rindel and Eryn. "You two up for some combat exercise?"

Eryn's face lit up. "Ah, Master! I was getting bored in your pocket dimension." Rindel, ever stoic, entered a combat stance.

"I need one alive," Aurel instructed.

Eryn conjured a unique chaos field while Rindel formed weapon constructs and began to attack. The two worked in perfect coordination. Aurel sat on a nearby boulder, watching.

"I'll leave it to you guys," he said, occasionally blasting chaos spheres from his seated position to further complicate the Menis's situation. Trapped by Eryn's chaos field, they couldn't escape.

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"Who are these people?" one of the Menis shouted. "Why are they so powerful? Abyssals?"

Aurel focused on one of the Menis, and from beneath him, a tentacle-like construct of coiling chaos erupted, grappling the Menis and holding him fast.

"It seems I'll let you live," Aurel said, his voice cold.

The captive Menis struggled as he watched his comrades pulverized by Rindel and Eryn.

"Good job," Aurel said.

"Master, let me stay with you for a while," Eryn pleaded. "I got bored in your pocket dimension."

Rindel, however, brushed past Eryn, signaling he was done, and opened a rift back into Aurel's dimensional space. Eryn quickly explained, "He just wanted to train in there, Master. But I'll stay right beside you for now."

Aurel nodded in approval. He floated toward the entrapped Menis. "Well, well. So what do we have here?"

Eryn floated around the Menis, inspecting its energy signature. "Ah," he said, "this is the same corrupted divinity from the fake Ron and that strange one who killed the Swordking."

"I thought the same thing," Aurel replied, holding up a small, strange object he'd found nearby. "I found this thing. It seems to be spreading corrupted chaos."

Aurel felt the wild, chaotic energy of the object. He began to gather all the corrupted chaos energy in the area, concentrating it into a pulsing sphere in his right hand. He could feel the raw power, but also a hint of something malevolent and corrosive that even his essence resisted. "I'll try to refine it. Can you do the same, Eryn?"

"Sorry, Master," Eryn said, shaking his head. "Not yet."

"It's fine," Aurel responded. In his left hand, he held the chaos seed that Nephra had mentioned. In his right, the compressed chaos energy. He felt an instinctual urge to absorb the energy, and without a second thought, he did.

"Ahh, that felt good," he said with a sigh of satisfaction.

Eryn watched in awe. "Master, you can absorb those?"

"It just felt like I could," Aurel explained. "I can refine the core energy, but this leftover residue... it's a weird, worm-like energy that just withers into dust."

Both Aurel and Eryn stared at the small pile of dust, puzzled. Eryn broke the silence. "This chaos seed has no more chaos energy, but it's what's causing the corrupted disturbance. Master, do you think this guy will talk if we interrogate him?"

Aurel approached the struggling Menis. "Alright," he said, releasing the chaos construct from his mouth. "Talk."

"You have no idea what trouble you've caused," the Menis sneered. "You are so dead! Lumiel will kill you!"

"So you work for him?" Aurel said. "I don't care what he plans, but it seems he's up to no good."

"Just let me go," the Menis pleaded. "I'll pretend none of this happened."

Aurel simply laughed. "Ding ding! Lie!" Eryn smiled, knowing his master could detect lies. "Okay, try again. What are you trying to accomplish here? Lying won't work on me."

Fear flickered in the Menis's eyes. "No, no, you don't understand! Lumiel, our creator, is not someone you should offend! He ordered the slaughter of the Abyssals!"

"Ah, so he's responsible for that," Aurel said, his expression hardening. "You haven't answered my questions. What are you trying to accomplish? Why are you spreading chaos? Do you need some motivation?"

Aurel signaled to Eryn, who immediately placed a hand on the Menis's head.

"Wait, no!" the Menis cried. "What are you doing? Are you going to kill me?"

"Maybe," Aurel replied, "but only after we get some information."

Eryn began a mind link, a torrent of brutal, fragmented memories rushing into his consciousness. He narrated them as he saw them. "His name is Brando... a warrior, a hybrid, tortured and experimented on in a lab... He was tasked to spread chaos, hunt Malus, and feed on them. Then they would blame it all on the Abyssals and other chaos beings, allowing the Luminaries to take the glory by 'purging' the corruption."

A final, terrifying memory surged through the link—a dark figure with glowing eyes, a cold, cruel voice echoing in the depths of Brando's mind. "I'll be a God soon. Bwahahahaha!"

The memory link was abruptly cut off. Eryn stumbled back, startled.

"You good?" Aurel asked.

"I'm okay, Master," Eryn replied. "It's the person he was referring to... Lumiel. There are many more of them, the Menis, and they're tasked to spread chaos corruption everywhere."

Aurel lifted the now-unconscious body of Brando and tossed it to Eryn. "Get rid of it. Or maybe try doing something with it?"

A grim, excited look crossed Eryn's face. He began to experiment, mimicking Aurel's earlier actions. He sensed the chaos energy being eaten at the Menis's core, traced it, and tried to refine it. His eyes glowed with chaotic force.

"I did it, Master!" he exclaimed.

"Nice," Aurel said. "Can you absorb it?"

Eryn carefully absorbed the energy. Aurel watched, a proud, fatherly feeling swelling in his chest. Eryn is becoming stronger, like a real Abyssal. He's learning so fast. He thought of Eryn as a truly reliable ally.

After absorbing the energy, Eryn tossed the Menis's body to the ground. "Right, Master. What do we do now? Are we fighting them?"

"Negative," Aurel said immediately. "I don't want to be involved."

Eryn looked disappointed, and Aurel felt the familiar frustration. "It's not our battle. Don't give me that look."

"You know I'm a part of you, Master," Eryn said, pouting his lips playfully. "I can sense your emotions too."

Aurel sighed, lying back on the grass. He felt the weight of prophecy and a world full of people with plans for him. "I don't know. Sybris said I need to do this. The Abyssals think I'm their salvation. I don't want any part of that, but it seems everywhere we go, we encounter these beings. I don't think we can run away from this."

Eryn sat beside him. "No matter what decision you make, Master," Eryn said, his voice low and sincere, "we will always fight with you. As your creation, my loyalty is absolute." "Even if you wish to rule this world, I will make it happen."

Aurel laughed. "No, I don't want that." But then a serious thought struck him. "Ruling... We have an army at our disposal. Why don't we make our own kingdom?"

Eryn's eyes glowed. "We start conquering, Master? Just give me the signal, and I'll summon our army!"

"No, not like that," Aurel corrected. "We make our own place, where we don't have to care about the world. A place where only the people we allow can enter. I don't want to be involved in anyone's war, so why don't we establish our own territory? No Abyssals, no Luminaries, no warriors, no Eclipseborne. We do what we want."

The idea sparked a fire in him, and Eryn was so approving of it that he immediately started making plans to help his master's wish come true.

Aurel stood and sprinted to the highest point of a nearby cliff, the wind whipping at his clothes. He let out a laugh, a deep, resonant sound. "That's it!" he thought to himself. If the Swordking can rule a territory, maybe I can do the same. I'm stronger than him now. It seems trouble will follow me anywhere, and chaos will be everywhere.

He raised his hands to the sky, a surge of power coursing through him. "I declare, I will establish my own domain! Those who dare to offend me will be dealt with! To hell with your prophecy, to hell with your politics, to hell with the Luminaries! You can all go drown or something! Hahaha!"

Eryn, watching his master, rose to stand beside him. "And I will make sure we make it happen," he declared. "No matter what."

A dimensional rift opened, and Rindel emerged, his calm and powerful presence a silent anchor. He raised his sword, a solid, unwavering vow to join their cause. He didn't speak, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes about his ancient, unbreakable loyalty. Aurel looked at Rindel, a sense of deep understanding passing between them.

"That's right, Rindel," Aurel said, a small smile on his face. "We have you too."

The trio had made their decision. With Aurel's declaration and the unwavering support of his two most powerful allies, they would establish their own territory.