Richard did nothing but stare. He was confused by Chaos. The man was in long black clothes, and he wasn’t sure what he was expecting from someone who was the pure personification of Chaos. Regal, maybe? Instead, there was an embroidered symbol of a dog on the shirt, and with the strange brush in Chaos’s hand, he realized this man was dressed like he was preparing to give a puppy a haircut after this.

  “I… I…”

  Chaos met his gaze, and Richard immediately looked away.

  “Smart man,” Chaos said. “Just checking you got the memo.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you,” Richard said.

  “Yes, you do. Because you have questions Order can’t answer.”

  “Why? Why can’t she answer them?”

  “Any world where we are recognized, Order demands a contract. There are certain details we cannot share with the residents, or the people we’re allowed to bring into the world.” Chaos flipped the brush in the air again, then caught it.

  “I can’t trust you,” Richard said.

  “Oh, you definitely cannot.” Chaos flipped the brush again. The brush seemed to fade out of existence before it came back as nail clippers. Richard took a few stumbling steps back as Chaos caught it. “But at least you can take comfort in that knowledge, right?”

  “Comfort?” Richard asked, staring at the man’s shoes. “Comfort knowing you can lie? Steal? Cheat?”

  Chaos clicked his tongue a few times. “Come now, Richard. There’s no need to paint me as a villain. I mean, I understand why. Dmitri is your leader. He’s from Shudesh.” Chaos chuckled, and Richard wanted to never hear that sound again. “You want to know the scariest apocalypse out there? It’s in Shudesh because they actually like how their hellish system is set up. Those idiots are embracing Order with their entire souls. She has too much power over there. If I could, I’d kill you off here and send you over there, but alas, Order found out my loophole here and demanded a no outworlder clause on Shudesh. Pity. I need someone like you to topple their way of life. Put a little Chaos into their Order. I wish I had Lucy there just a touch longer. She’s the spunk all of them needed. Too bad they had her murdered before she could even begin a revolution.” Chaos cocked his head to the side. “You know what? Never mind. A revolution always needs a martyr. Give me one second.”

  Chaos disappeared literally for one second before he reappeared again. This time he was dressed as a lifeguard, for whatever reason. He wore red shorts, a white tank top, and was hanging on to one of those life preservers. Chaos once again chuckled. “Tell Lucy I very much appreciate her sacrifice.”

  Richard’s mouth went dry. His knees were weakening, and he was moments away from sinking to the ground. He knew fully that right outside the tent were every member of base two, many of whom had a deep mistrust of Chaos. Richard shouldn’t be talking to this man. Though technically Richard hardly talked. Chaos was rambling.

  “I mean, are you surprised I ramble?” Chaos asked.

  Richard closed his eyes, realizing Chaos could read his mind, just like Order hinted she could.

  “Of course we can. The longer we stay among the mortals, the more likely you’re unable to talk.”

  Richard shook his head, trying to focus. “I can’t stay here. I’ve already been in this tent for too long. The others will suspect something.”

  “Of course they will. Unless I’ve stopped time while I’m here so no one notices.” Chaos moved to Order’s perfectly folded shirts.

  Richard glanced at the door of the tent, his brows furrowed. He then shook his head again. “How do I know you’re not lying to me?”

  “You don’t. I never always tell a lie, but I also sometimes always tell the truth.”

  Richard’s brain was hurting already, and he felt himself sinking to the ground. He landed on his hands and knees, trying to breathe easier.

  “Oh, don’t worry, Richard. One day you’ll be able to look me in the eye. Of course, you can look me in the eye right now, you’ll just lose your mind.” Chaos grabbed a shirt, and Richard watched, horrified, as Chaos made the tears in the material return before he tossed the shirt over his shoulder. It landed crumpled on the ground.

  “S-stop,” Richard stammered. “They’ll know you’re here.”

  “Then ask questions. I’m bored,” Chaos said.

  Richard let out a breath. “What do you know of the time anomalies I’ve been experiencing?”

  “Mmm,” Chaos said with a smile. “Fun little dash of me, isn’t it?”

  Another shirt was tossed over his shoulder. Richard’s brows furrowed. “That’s not an answer.”

  Chaos smelled the shirt, wincing. The shirt then turned into a multitude of hair ribbons all tumbling to the ground.

  “Stop it,” Richard said.

  Chaos chuckled as he picked up the hair ribbon, then tossed it to Richard. By the time it reached Richard’s hand, it had changed into a children’s book.

  “Listen, Richard. I will be perfectly honest with you.” Richard wasn’t sure he could trust that phrase one bit. “I’m getting so bored here. And you just got me interested in messing around in Shudesh of all places. I didn’t think I’d get there in another five or six decades. I see Order has given you a gift and a class, but according to her own rules, you could potentially get a fourth skill tree.”

  Richard’s breathing was heavy as he realized what Chaos was implying. “I will not worship you.”

  Chaos chuckled, somehow spinning the life preserver with a finger. “Please don’t. That would be so weird. Besides, the people who have worshiped me in the past would all agree it’s a bad idea. Giving me permission to become your God is detrimental to all aspects of your health.” Chaos picked up another shirt, unraveling it at parts before throwing it. “Just trust me on that one.”

  It was then that Richard realized he was on his hands and knees. The pose he didn’t want to be in front of Order.

  “Why the hell would you give me a fourth skill tree?” Richard asked.

  “Have you not been listening to my rambles? I’m bored with this place. You’re the perfect person to end this apocalypse, as long as I gift you the ability to manipulate time and space.”

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  Richard’s breathing stilled. He didn’t know what to think about this. On the one hand, Order warned him that if Richard took anything from Chaos, she would kill him. On the other, Chaos was tempting him with a ridiculously overpowered gift. Could he even trust Chaos?

  “You’re the one who started this apocalypse. Why don’t you end it yourself?” Richard asked, feeling sweat pool on his forehead.

  Chaos unraveled another shirt. “Oh? And who told you I started it? Was it Dmitri who would throw away everything to worship Order? To bring that hellish dystopia of Shudesh here on Kaelune?”

  Richard continued to stare at the ground, a bead of sweat dropping from his nose. “Well? Did you?” It was all the energy he had left to speak.

  Chaos grew silent for a moment. “I mean, who can tell with this sort of thing. I might have placed a certain something here. Order didn’t like it, we fought back and forth, who’s to say who started it?”

  Richard clenched his jaw.

  “Admit it to yourself, Richard. Sure, you’re interested in a cook. But that’s not you. If you take Order’s gift, I will pull away from you. You won’t sense my time anomalies anymore. You’ll spend the rest of your days here behind a stove cooking for other people. The apocalypse will rage on, and I doubt your little community will last another year.”

  Richard hated how much all of that made sense to him. Chaos held up a finger. “But if you walk outside that tent right now and tell everyone that you’ve chosen the scavenger class, I will give you your fourth skill tree, where you can manipulate time.”

  Richard’s brows furrowed. “But… I won’t have the scavenger class.”

  “Who says I have to follow Order’s silly little nine-ability rule? No, this fourth skill tree will be larger. It will have a few basic scavenger abilities, but some of them will also be touched with your chronomancy.”

  He didn’t know what to say. What Chaos was suggesting would make him beyond powerful. To have essentially two classes? And two gifts? One from Order and Chaos?

  “Sometimes you need a sprinkle of OP in order to end something that’s been going on for thirty years,” Chaos said.

  “Order will… kill me…” He was having a hard time focusing.

  “Think about it, Richard. Eventually, that is the end goal of all humans. But you think like me. You are a Chaos Human. I find you so fascinating.”

  Richard didn’t know how he felt about all this. He didn’t think Chaos would protect him that much against Order.

  “Again, Richard. You paint me as such a villain. Stop looking at things with such a good and evil mentality. This is simply who you are.”

  Chaos snapped his fingers, and Richard was hanging in the middle of the air. It was like he was floating, but he was still deeply aware of gravity pulling around him.

  “See this moment?” Chaos said, only his voice being heard. The exhaustion of Richard’s body was gone, and he saw himself as he was before coming to this planet. Thin, bald, sitting on the edge of a bed. “This was the moment I took a great interest in you.”

  “Seriously?” Sick Richard shouted to a woman. At least he was trying to shout. The sickness was taking hold, and he could barely move. “This is your answer? That there’s some higher being up there that’s concerned about me?” Richard winced at Sick Richard’s words. “There’s no one up there. The whole reason we’re here is because of random moments that exploded us into existence. A crazy, random improbability that shouldn’t have happened, but did. There’s no one up there, and if you’re seriously suggesting there is, why would I bother worshiping them, when they’ve made my life a living hell?”

  The scene blinked out of existence as Richard stumbled and rolled onto his back.

  “Mmm, fascinating, isn’t it? You hit the nail right on the head without even realizing it. My sister and I were responsible for swirling together several crazy, random improbabilities that never should have worked to make all these universes. We watch, though, with great interest what happens to these people, who all have a piece of us in them. Some more than others,” Chaos’s voice said. His body had not reappeared.

  “I will not worship you.”

  “Always back to that,” Chaos’s voice echoed. “You have now found yourself in an afterlife no religion had even dreamed of. Don’t worry, Richard. I’d never attempt to convert you to a religion. There is too much Order in those organizations, isn’t there? No. What I’m trying to do is help you understand you are a part of me. You have a tendency toward the chaotic.”

  “I’m nothing like you,” Richard said.

  Once again, Richard heard a snap. Richard hovered over a scene that he remembered in vivid detail. Dmitri, standing before Dennison and Ike, who were bound. The scene was playing out by the gates, if mute.

  “Dmitri has filled your head with thoughts that I am evil.” Chaos’s voice was right next to Richard’s ear, and he didn’t dare turn around. “But if I’m so evil, you never would have been able to do this.”

  “Wait!” Richard didn’t realize how desperate he sounded when he said that to Dmitri. All attention was on him, and Richard from the past stepped forward. “Wait, please. We can’t do this.”

  “We can, and we have,” Dmitri said.

  “Not when our numbers are this low. Please. There has to be another way. Not like this.”

  The scene continued to play out with no sound. “See?” Chaos said. “Dmitri needed to keep Order. He was ready to give them what they deserved. What was fair. But what did you do? Suggested mercy. You were willing to throw a piece of me into Order’s strict rules. You were deeply uncomfortable about what happened to those two. This is who you are, Richard. Uncomfortable with organization, uncomfortable with rules. You were even uncomfortable with the system itself when you heard about it. As soon as you embrace your true self, your more chaotic side, you will end this apocalypse.”

  Chaos thrived in secrets. He remembered Dmitri saying something like that. If he chose scavenger, he would have to lie about his other gift and ability.

  “Order gave them to you because she’s scared,” Chaos said.

  “She wants to fight against the apocalypse,” Richard said.

  “In her way. Following the rules, hoping for the best. But to end things that have been going on for so long, you have to do something a little chaotic. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Richard closed his eyes.

  “So this is what’s going to happen, Richard Walker,” Chaos said.

  Richard opened his eyes and found himself back in the tent as Chaos grabbed another shirt. “If you walk out of this tent right now and tell everyone that you’ve chosen the scavenger class, I will grant you the ability of chronomancy. I will give you a larger skill tree that gives scavenger abilities and also abilities to control time. I will also remind Order that randomly killing you for no reason is something I’m more likely to do, and that will keep her off your back.” Chaos tapped a finger to his chin. “That should be everything.”

  “That’s not everything,” another Chaos said from behind him.

  Richard gasped, turning around. Chaos had reappeared behind him, holding weights and doing squats like he was in a gym. Richard forced his head around to see that the Chaos in front of him had disappeared.

  “Hi, Richard of the past. Here to make sure you know to keep one ability point open for me to do whatever I want with.”

  “What?” Richard could barely talk; he was so exhausted.

  “You heard me. You’re just confused.” Chaos lifted the weights as he lunged. “It’s kind of a surprise, but now I’m spoiling it for you. If you keep an ability point in your stash, I can randomly place it into an ability when you need it most. So, I strongly encourage you to do that so you don’t die. Thanks.” The man disappeared.

  Was that the Chaos from the future? He wasn’t sure. Either way, another Chaos did not show up in the tent again. Richard stared at the ground, his body trembling. That had to be a trick of some sort to make Richard think he had already chosen the scavenger class in the future.

  Richard closed his eyes as he tried to think. All that talk, and it was still up to him to decide. One he still wasn’t sure if he wanted. Order’s suggestion was good. Safe, even. Something he could see himself doing for a while.

  But Chaos? Richard realized why he had such a hard time deciding on what class to take. He couldn’t deny that the scavenger class tempted him. But could he trust Chaos? His gut told him no, but his heart ached. So much of what Chaos said resonated with him.

  Richard got to his feet, his clothes damp with his sweat. He had to decide now, because he had already spent too much time in here. Richard pulled back the tent door and walked outside. The night breeze picked up, and he blamed the cold for his knees buckling.

  The other survivors of base camp two grew silent as they turned toward Richard expectantly. He stared at them all, feeling like he was at the edge of a cliff where one powerful being was telling him to remain at the edge while the other promised he’d survive if he jumped.

  Richard closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Scavenger.”

  A skill tree burned to life next to his other three, and the three bottom abilities all looked like scavenger ones.

  Richard opened his eyes, faced the survivors, and hoped that he hadn’t just doomed them all. But there was one thing he couldn’t deny. He felt an assurance deep in his bones that this was the class for him.

  End of Volume One

  feel like there's going to be four volumes in this story. Four seems like a good number, but don't quote me on that. All you need to know is I have an ending in mind that I'm working towards.