NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: Chaos
The next day, a strange silence hung in the air.
Kael stood in a vast, empty expanse of pale silver light, his hands folded behind his back. Space itself seemed to ripple faintly around them. Samantha walked beside him, her green hair flowing gently in the windless void.
She looked around, her eyes wide with wonder. "So… you have the space element too. You're just full of secrets, aren't you?"
Kael's expression tightened, though his lips curved into the faintest smirk. "You're getting bolder every day."
Samantha tilted her head playfully and leaned against him, pressing herself against his arm. "Do you prefer the timid me?"
Caught off guard, Kael cleared his throat and quickly moved a step away, his ears tinged faintly red. "Cough… cough… we're here for something else."
She chuckled softly, clearly amused. "Then tell me, why are we here?"
Kael's eyes turned sharp, his voice dropping an octave. "Samantha… do you want to become an elemental?"
The words hit her like a shockwave. For a moment, her lips parted but no sound came. Months ago, she would have rejected the thought instantly, but now—standing here with Kael, knowing how far he'd gone to protect her—her resolve hardened.
"…Yes."
Then she arched a brow. "Aren't I supposed to ask if you're sure?"
Samantha pouted, folding her arms. "Hmph. Fine. Go on."
"Huh… alright then. Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"…Good. Sit."
Obeying, Samantha dropped into a meditative posture, her breathing steady despite the nervous flutter in her chest.
Kael moved behind her, lowering himself to the ground. His hands pressed gently against her back, warm and steady. "What I'm about to do will make you feel… very uncomfortable. If it's too much, say the word."
"Got it." Her voice wavered only slightly.
Kael exhaled slowly. "Augustus… let's begin."
[Acknowledged.]
A calm, metallic voice rang in Kael's mind as Augustus initiated the process.
[Opening meridians… Cleansing internal pathways… Establishing energy flow routes…]
Kael's heart, the voidstream heart, thudded harder, its eerie rhythm echoing through the dimension. Within it, a pool of chaos energy stirred violently—dark, primal, alive. His veins pulsed faintly with streaks of black and gold lightning.
"Start the transfer," Kael commanded quietly.
[Understood. Beginning regulated release.]
His palms glowed faintly, threads of shimmering dark energy seeping from his skin and into Samantha's back. Only 0.1% of the chaotic flow escaped his control, yet even that was monstrous.
Samantha's body jolted violently. Her eyes widened as an indescribable pain tore through her veins, as though fire and ice were both devouring her from the inside.
Her fingers dug into the void ground beneath her. "K-Kael—!"
"Hold on," Kael said firmly, his voice calm yet commanding. "Breathe. Don't resist it—guide it."
[Stabilizing output. Aligning energy nodes… repairing fractures…] Augustus' voice pulsed in Kael's head as the AI adjusted the torrent of chaos energy.
Inside Samantha, her meridians lit up like glowing rivers. Some burst under the pressure, only to be reforged stronger as Augustus patched them with calculated precision. Her very blood seemed to boil, her cells screaming in pain as chaos threaded itself into her essence.
Kael's brow furrowed, sweat beading across his forehead. He poured more of his own will into the flow, guiding the feral energy like a raging beast. "Augustus—how's she holding up?"
[Seventy percent synchronization achieved. Heart strain detected but manageable. Continue infusion.]
Kael's eyes flickered with golden arcs of lightning as he forced more energy into her. "Samantha, stay with me!"
Her scream ripped through the dimension, but she clenched her teeth and refused to collapse. Her emerald eyes glowed faintly, chaotic sparks dancing across her skin. Her aura swelled, unstable yet ferociously alive.
Finally, after what felt like hours compressed into minutes—
BOOOOM!!!
A wave of energy burst outward, shaking the secondary dimension itself. Samantha's hair whipped around her face, her body glowing faintly with a dark-green aura laced with streaks of black lightning.
She collapsed forward, gasping for breath.
Kael pulled his hands back, his own chest heaving. His gaze softened for just a moment as he looked at her trembling form. "…It's done."
[Chaos infusion complete. Subject compatibility—successful. Samantha has awakened as an elemental.]
Samantha slowly lifted her head, sweat dripping down her cheeks, her breathing ragged. "…That… hurt like hell."
But in her eyes now danced a faint glow—chaotic, powerful, alive.
Kael smirked, leaning back slightly. "Welcome to a whole new world."
---
"So try to perceive your inner self."
Samantha was confused. "How do I do that?"
How can I explain this in Earth terms? Kael thought.
"Okay, so you see, now that you are an elemental, many things have been awakened in you. You are now able to spread a portion of your consciousness to see your innards. Try to see it." Kael instructed.
Samantha tried to look into her inner body and to her surprise, her vision showed her whole body system. She willed her sight to her abdomen and nothing his there. She was perplexed.
"I thought if you awaken an element, your Qi will be stored in the dantian below the abdomen." She questioned Kael.
"Heh. That's for those who cultivate elements. What I cultivate and transfer to you is energy. Check your heart, your core is there."
"Core?"
She checked her heart, and to her surprise, she wasn't scared by the bloodstream. She found that her heart beats stronger. Stronger not faster. Something suddenly said she should check inside. As she checked inside her her heart, she appeared in another space. In this space, there's an orb demarcated into 8. Two of the 8 places where lit up already why the remaining parts was still grayed out. Out of the two lit parts, one was fiery and the other was kinda having the feeling of heaviness. She related what she saw to Kael.
"That orb in your heart is the chaos orb."
Samantha shouted. "Chaos?"
"Yep, you've awakened chaos." Or to say I gave you. He said the last part in his mind.
"Chaos, so I have chaos element?"
"Any how you take it. Inside that orb is an entire new dimension. Only the awakened can enter, buh I can also enter. In that space, it's just like a normal world, sun during the day and moon at night." He explained in Earth's terms. "In that place is pure nature cycle. But what you will meet there is chaos. Animals will fight each other, even plants, and the waters. All of them are at war. So per ener- no element you awaken, the chaos will come to order. That's why parts of the elements that can counter this so strongest element are time, creation and order."
"How did you know all this things?" Samantha couldn't help but ask.
"Let me continue my explanation. So you see, you said 2 parts were lit, so that means you've awakened 2 elements. You said one is fiery so that's supposed too be fire element. For the other one, try to control energy from your heart and separate the fiery energy from the heavy one."
Samantha did as he said but failed. She tried again but failed again. This went on for about 10 minutes until a green fire appeared on her left arm and rock-like substance appeared on her right.
"Good. You've awakened fire and earth. But this green fire?"
"What's wrong?" Samantha asked.
Augustus suddenly spoke to Kael. [Flame of mezerius.]
"Wow. You awakened venom fire." He said to Samantha. "So that means your fire cannot only burn but corrode. And another thing, the more you understand the power of your elements, the more order will restore in the chaos world. With this two elements, once you can get better realisation, you should be able to form venomous magma, the mezerius gravitus."
"I did not understand what you are saying." Samantha was clearly confused.
"Let's enter the chaos world. Hold my hand and think about entering the chaos world." He quickly told the process before she asked. "A friend of mine had chaos energy too, so that's how I knew what I knew."
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