His dreams had been repced with nightmares. A loud crash woke Stu up, looking around it was Broth smashing up more of his crystals, and Chaos was still looking really bad. Stu asked, “Is there any news?”

  Broth looked up and had white all over his nose and mouth as he said, “Marrow went out a w-while ago, um, girls are upstairs, a-and um, you slept for, um I don’t know, a-a long time. Chaos is s-still stable, and I’m w-working on it!” He looked like he wanted to say more but instead he went back to his pile and notes.

  Stu said, “Alright then.” He sat there realizing this was all still happening and nothing was any better. He hoped, like we all do when we wake up the next day; that it had all been a nightmare. Like all of us he awoke to find that it hadn’t been a nightmare but reality. He couldn’t move from the chair while is heart broke watching Chaos y there struggling, pale and sweating. Broth was working hard to figure out the problem, and he looked like a mad scientist trying to recreate Frankenstein’s monster. He was furiously working on it, and Stu couldn’t help but think this may be the time he overdoses.

  Chaos cried out sharply in pain, and Stu jumped up from his seat before Broth said, “D-don’t worry, that has happened throughout t-the night, it can’t be helped. She’s as c-comfortable as possible..” Stu looked at him questioningly before slowly taking his seat again.

  Stu asked, “Is there anything I can do at all to help.. I can’t believe I’m this useless right now, Broth is there anything I can do to help her?” He looked at Broth pleadingly.

  Broth with his super pupils looked at him and said, “Ehhh…Uhhh… Errr…” He put his hand over his mouth like he was short circuiting. “Mmmm..”

  It hit Stu, Broth was holding something back. He sternly asked, “What Broth? What are you not telling me?”

  Broth got on his knees begging, and yelled, “Only if you p-promise not to kill me!”

  Stu jumped up grabbing him by the colr, holding him nose to nose he said, “We’ve been over this before, tell me or I will kill you!”

  Broth was about to pee himself as he rapidly spoke, “W-well, I h-had a theory about t-this but M-Marrow said a-absolutely not! S-so I t-tried to find a-another way, b-but I c-can’t find another way.. Y-you all expect t-too much.. There’s o-only one idea I-I have and M-Marrow s-said..”

  Marrow spoke, “I told him not to say anything because you would go jumping in headfirst like you always do. I wanted time to gather some opinions and review all our options.”

  Stu let go of a hyperventiting Broth saying, “I’m sorry. I never used to be like this. This is all very hard to handle sometimes.”

  Marrow walked into the living room saying, “As you know your god is sick and this is not tournament reted. Therefore, on the subject of Chaos’s ailment we may discuss the details, and even I may wish for her to get well. As a judge I am to make sure the participants have every opportunity to compete, therefore we will do all we can to get her back. Also, if I had an opinion on Stu’s attitude sometimes, which I don’t, it would probably be to just calm down a little.”

  Stu took a deep breath and felt slightly reassured by the garbled heap of words that Marrow had spit out. He asked, “So, what can we do?”

  Broth looked at Marrow and the cat nodded to him before Broth said, “A-all right, we’re doing this… S-see the w-way I figure it, you s-said you saw a d-door right?” Stu nodded and he continued, “She c-confirmed she lost control, s-so we help her..”

  Stu asked, “How do we help her?”

  Broth said, “Y-you go b-back to the d-door…”

  Cpping his hands, Stu yelled, “Let’s do it!”

  Broth yelled, “But! B-big but.. You may n-not find it, or m-may not g-get back.. Stu, s-she could already be d-dead when y-you find her, I-I r-really don’t understand god physiology..” He bit down on his hand to keep his jaw from chattering.

  Stu took a deep breath closing his eyes and asked, “Marrow, what do you think I should do?”

  Marrow said, “I wish I could record this moment, asking for my opinion is a big step. I think you should find Chaos, Shut the door, and come back so we can get on with the tournament. Does that sit well with you?”

  Stu smiled with relief saying, “Fuck yeah it does.”

  Marrow spoke sternly, “Stu, if you see something in the doorway or beyond, just let it be. Do not cross the threshold at any cost, understand?”

  He asked, “What’s beyond it? I have seen something, what was it?”

  Marrow shook his head, “It doesn’t concern us, neither of us. Just don’t go to it.”

  Chaos cried out in pain and Stu looked over saying, “Alright, let’s go before things get worse.” Broth handed him a pill and then gave Chaos a shot. Stu took the pill, sitting down on the chair. A couple of deep breaths and he closed his eyes waiting.. The pain crashed through his brain, he cried out. Opening his eyes as soon as it passed, he was in the office building again.

  Getting his bearings, he saw the stairwell. He made his way into it looking around, the pce was more static than he expected. He thought for sure it’d be crumbling or darker, maybe eerie sounds. “My god, maybe I am autistic..” A scream echoed in the distance below. “There it was.. Not reassuring for my insecurities though..”

  Ghost Marrow said, “Above is the.. Oh, it’s you.. What are you doing here?”

  Stu looked relieved saying, “Oh, good ghost Marrow it’s you. I thought a killer porcein doll, or something snuck up on me..”

  Ghost Marrow sighed saying, “I’m not a ghost.. It doesn’t matter.. Wait, a porcein doll? Why would you? It doesn’t make any.. Ow.. My brain.. Just ouch..”

  Stu looked at Marrow saying, “Look ghost Marrow, there’s no time to expin to you why you’re a ghost or why I have an irrational fear of Porcein dolls. What’s happening in the basement?”

  Marrow stared at him bnkly, “Did you hear yourself? Could you really be autistic after all?”

  Stu frantically said, “Get your shit together ghost cat! Theres no time to see if I’m a rain man, what’s going on in the basement?”

  Marrow blinked and said, “Right, I believe someone forgot to shut the door and something has wandered out of there. It is the location of all that the universe holds…”

  Stu stared bnkly at him before interrupting saying, “Right, got it. I broke the door and whatever bad guy it hides has gotten out. Beat up bad guy, save girl, probably learn something in the process, right?”

  Annoyed Marrow said, “Sure, just ruin all the work I do in making shit sound epic. He’s got one superpower and it has to be ruining everything..”

  Stu asked, “Is there any st second advice before I jump?”

  Marrow said, “Yeah, don’t cross the threshold. No matter what.”

  Stu grabbed the banister and jumped over it saying, “Thank you ghost Marrow..”

  Marrow shook his head, “I’m not a.. Err.. Freaking autism..” Stu fell down the stairwell into the darkness just as he did before.

  Landing at the bottom he found the door to the basement lobby area open, the sign next to it was defaced and unreadable. “This is more like what I was expecting..” Lights blinked in the distance inside giving the darkness the extra touch of creepy. He breathed, walking inside the door instantly smmed shut enveloping him in blinking darkness.

  Walking forward he felt off bance with the strobe light effect going on. It was easier to close his eyes while walking than to open them. He stopped every couple of steps to look around until he saw a solid light up ahead and he ran towards it. As he neared it he saw Chaos sitting on the floor looking exhausted.

  Chaos didn’t look at him as she asked, “What are you doing here?”

  Stu said, “You were in trouble, so I came to help.”

  She said, “You can go then, I don’t need your help.”

  He was surprised to hear her say that, especially so bluntly. Stu asked, “What happened, was it my fault?”

  She hugged her knees saying, “Yes.”

  He asked, “What can I do to fix it?”

  She said, “Leave and let me die.”

  He yelled, “Never!”

  Finally, she looked up at him and the tears were falling; Chaos broke his heart with her next words. She said, “I order you as your god, to leave and let me die.”

  He tried to yell no, but no words came out of his mouth as hard as he tried. Something that felt like a magnetic pull was forcing him to his feet, as hard as he tried to fight it. He gave everything to go against whatever was happening, but it slowly forced him to obey. He looked at his wrists, and he saw what looked like translucent chains pulling on him. Pulling as hard as he could, the chains began to increase the distance between him and Chaos. Thrashing silently like a wild animal caught in a snare he fought it with all his strength to no avail.

  He saw someone else approaching Chaos while she sat on the floor. He screamed silently, his own tears streaming down his face, she had given up. He saw it, she was done fighting.. for a moment he didn’t fight the chains. As they began to drag him away faster, he drove his feet both ankle deep into the concrete floor, finally words came out, “I’m not just a blind worshipper… I’m a goddamned Steward.. Of Chaos!” He pulled one more time on the chains shattering them into bright fragments. Pushing off like an athlete he rushed towards Chaos who looked up at him in shock.

  She yelled, “No, you have to obey!”

  He jumped over her and smmed into the person coming after Chaos, sending the figure flying across into the darkness. Stu turned around and grabbed Chaos pulling her up and sternly saying, “Now you listen to me, oh, that’s right you never do.. I’m not letting you die, if you won’t let me die. Obviously we are just going to have to learn to die together or not at all. So, quit your bitching and let me show that I’m head over heels in lo…” He stopped, realizing what he was about to say. Clearing his throat and more nonchantly saying, “Obviously, I have strong feelings for you.. Erm.. I want you to be with me.. For a long time.. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?” By this point he was blushing with a straight face.

  She softly said, “But I can’t control her when I’m around you. It’s already too much for me to handle..”

  Stu grabbed her hand saying, “I’m willing to go through it with you, this doesn’t have to be something you do by yourself. Honestly, I’m not giving you a choice here. You can either die with me, or try with me but either way Chaos, you’re stuck with me.”

  She threw her arms around him hugging him with what little strength she had left. She said, “Thanks for not listening to me.”

  A voice sounding like Chaos said, “Aww, what a precious moment. When we finish here maybe I’ll let you take the body for a joy ride. What do you think big boy?”

  Stu turned to face the voice, and he wasn’t surprised to see another Chaos. He said, “Oh I knew it! So, what are you like memory Chaos, Ghost Chaos, Evil Chaos, oh I know! I bet you aren’t even Chaos; this is just the only way you can show yourself physically! Come on, tell me I’m right, you know I nailed it right there..”

  Evil Chaos looked at Good Chaos asking, “How are you even interested in such an autistic human?”

  Stu threw his hands up in the air victoriously yelling, “Called it! Hey.. Autistic? Why does everyone keep saying that?”

  Evil Chaos smugly said, “Do you even know who I am or why I’m here?”

  Stu shrugged saying, “Nope.”

  Smiling Evil Chaos said, “Would you like to know?”

  Stu shrugged saying, “Nope.”

  Evil Chaos stopped looking like she was trying to figure out what he meant. She asked, “You are serious? You really don’t want to know what’s going on in your girlfriend’s head?”

  Stu looked at Good Chaos and sternly asked, “Is what she says true?”

  Chaos asked, “About what?”

  He asked, “Do you really think of yourself as my girlfriend?”

  She spped him on the shoulder. Evil Chaos sighed saying, “I should have known you wouldn’t take this seriously..”

  Stu looked concerned as he spoke to Evil Chaos saying, “Oh, I’m serious. You just don’t understand my kind of serious.. You see, I came to save the woman I l… Errm.. uh, I came to save my God, the most important thing in my life and the one thing you want to take from me. You know the st one that came this close to taking Chaos from me..” Stu’s eyes began to glow. “I ate her heart.”

  Evil chaos said, “Oh, sweet boy.. I know you did, I asked you to and you obeyed beautifully.”

  Stu said, “This time the chains are off and I’m going to force you back through the door.”

  Evil chaos raised an eyebrow saying, “If all you want is for me to go back in the door, all you had to do is ask. You have matured spectacurly and I wish to see what happens next.”

  Stu’s aggressive behavior stopped almost immediately as he asked, “Really?”

  Evil Chaos said, “Absolutely and if you say please I’ll even wait until I’m invited back, before crossing the threshold.”

  Stu asked, “Please go back to the door?”

  Evil Chaos ughed and said, “I can’t believe you actually asked.. That’s beautiful.. Alright then I guess we will see each other soon, and Chaos? Make sure you make the most of the extra time you have received.

  Confused Stu asked, “Really? Just like that?”

  Smiling Evil Chaos said, “When you want me to come for a visit, all you have to do is ask” She turned walking into the darkness

  Stu looked at Good Chaos asking, “What was that about?” He looked back at the darkness, but it had changed. It looked more like a chair.. He sat up rubbing his face.

  Marrow yelled, “He’s awake Broth!”

  Broth ran over to him asking, “H-how did it g-go?!? Did you find h-her?”

  Stu nodded holding his head. He asked, “How is she?”

  Broth said, “A-around five minutes a-ago she started s-showing improvement. Not j-just stable any longer! It l-looks good m-man! See cat! I-I told you!”

  Marrow nodded reluctantly, “That you did Broth, you may be the greatest and at the same time the worst scientist in the world..”

  Broth nudged Stu saying, “H-hear that man? Might be the g-greatest?” His powdered covered face grinned triumphantly.

  Stu asked, “Is Chaos awake?”

  Marrow said, “No not yet, that’s why we were surprised when you woke up suddenly. I thought maybe Chaos expelled you from her mind.”

  Stu slowly said, “She did expel me, but I stayed anyway. What was in there Marrow?”

  Marrow reluctantly spoke, “Something even the judges don’t understand. It’s not as simple as you think it is, this isn’t her internal darkness, or anything like that. This is something from before man ever even existed. There are no words in the human nguage that can describe it, there is one that may come close though..”

  Stu looked up asking, “What word?”

  Marrow sighed saying, “Nothing.”

  Confused Stu asked, “Like a bck hole?”

  Marrow shook his head saying, “Even a bck hole has something, I mean nothing. It’s a truly incomprehensible concept for a human. Not even darkness.”