"Hello there."
"General Kenobi."
Ember sat up with a start, her brain responding automatically to the strange greeting even as she frantically pat down her body.
A deep, guttural laugh resounded through the space she now found herself in, startling her from her post death pat down. With all the grace of a headless chicken, she scrambled to her feet and spun to face the voice.
Only, no one was there.
In fact nothing was there, not the walls, floor, ceiling, or even the air. But at the same time everything was there. The space she now found herself in twisting as though even it was unsure what it was meant to be.
"...Beautiful."
It was perfect in a way nothing she ever did could be. This. This was perfect chaos, not the off brand kind she spread, but actual chaos.
"Right you are kiddo."
Her brain shorted out as a voice spoke over her shoulder, the chill of their breath brushing against her ear. The voice was strange, sounding like everything and nothing at the same time but still remaining legible.
She spun so fast, that if she was still alive the g-forces alone would have ripped her to atoms, and her gaze landed on the figure standing less than a centimetre away from her.
Startled, she leapt back, her landing perfectly graceful, despite the way her face contorted in confusion.
The man before her was tall, their black hair swishing rythmically as they approached her, a smile on their face.
Ember looked down at the strange woman, her face contorting in pain as she looked at the tree's evershifting mop of electrical wires that sat atop its head in place of hair.
A short groan left her mouth as she clamped her eyes shut, refusing to look any longer at the ever shifting being before her.
"Whatcha looking at punk?"
The thing's voice was angelic now even though their tone sounded like a crappy gangster. Each time they spoke, their voice twisted, male, female, real, synthetic, gravel, ocean waves. There was no end to the sounds that echoed from the being.
"Stop! Please..."
Her desperate yell was met with silence as whatever that being was, gave her a moment to recollect her thoughts.
For someone who prided herself on her chaotic nature, it was sobering to encounter a being of such pure chaos. Nothing about it followed any semblance of order, an evershifting, never stagnant mass of something.
Slowly, she cracked her eyes open, her head still throbbing with pain. Stood before her, looking moderately like a human, was a abnormally tall man, his features ever shifting as he looked at her, occasionally sprouting a few extra limbs or organs that vanished just as quickly. He waited in silence, his gaze never wavering from her, a lopsided smile in roughly the place it should be.
"What... what are you?"
"Silly girl, I thought you would recognise me."
Licking her dry lips, she tentatively tried the name bouncing around in her head.
"Chaos?"
"The one, the only!"
His voice shifted so it sounded like a sports announcer, the sound booming throughout the chaos as his form ballooned and he flexed his comically oversized muscles.
"Okay... um... what am I doing here Mr Chaos Sir?"
Before this living concept she felt like a child, her once confident voice faltering slightly.
"Why you're dead little chaos spawn."
"Dead?!"
"Dead, deceased, splat, your body painted the sidewalk of at least three different blocks. They'll be cleaning you up for weeks, but your work, that they'll never erase. So well done, you sparked anarchy across the world and died a martyr's death, a very chaotic martyr."
"Oh... so what now?"
Chaos grinned and suddenly she found herself overlooking an infinite collection of marbles, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as he was suddenly her height. Flicking his wrist a single marble flew out of the collection and landed in his hand.
"Now, we have some fun. I found this little gem floating about outside its own multiverse and decided to preserve it for something amazing.
You are that thing. I'm going to drop you into this universe and send it on its way back home. Your job is simple: Cause Chaos."
Now it was Ember's turn to grin. Not only had she met the personification of Chaos, but it wanted her to continue to spread chaos. This was everything she'd ever wanted, all wrapped up in a neat little bundle.
"I'll do it!"
"I knew you would, that's why I chose you. Now, before I send you off there's a few things you should know. Firstly, you are chaos in much the same way I am, your very essence goes against order and rules, so I'll be giving you a body that reflects that. Don't worry, you'll love it, trust me.
Secondly, while your core is that of chaos, your time on that weak, ordered planet has eroded your soul so you won't be able to fully manifest your power. To fix this I'm going to give you what the mortals like to call a system. It'll be connected to my vast collection of universes and will allow you to manifest abilities from any one of them once you've caused enough chaos.
Thirdly... You - No that wasn't it..."
The thing before her made a silent look of confusion, what she assumed to be its brow furrowing in thought before it simply shrugged.
"I forget what I was meant to say here? I suppose it couldn't have been that important then."
With a gesture of their knee that vaguely resembled someone snapping their fingers, space stretched around them, shooting Ember across the cosmos onto a silky stone couch made to resemble a snowflake.
Tamping down her urge to vomit from the sudden motion, Ember let herself clip further into the unorthodox chair.
"Now, I know I've been brief, but any questions?"
Chaos's voice echoed not from anywhere in front of her as she slipped through the chair, her body twisting awkwardly end over end until she was looking at the being that was previously floating above her head.
"Where are you sending me? Will there be anyone like the M.O.O soldiers of my old world to hinder me, because that'd really put a dampener on my mood."
"Not at all gremlin, the world you'll soon call home is one of perfect balance. Titanic forces war against each other in endless battles, good against evil, the individual against the whole, heroes against villians.
While yes there may be some there who seek to stop or control you, there will be equally many who wish to gain your favour or aid you, it's up to you how you interact with the denizens of your new world, and if you wish to be someone's minion or slaughter them all, I won't hold it against you. I've ensured no outside force can alter your will, so any action you make will be solely your own."
Their voice was low and gentle, carrying with it a paternal warmth that brought to mind memories of her late parents. At the same tike though, Ember felt a wave of anxiety wash over her, her aching mind already conjuring every worst case scenario imaginable. Suddenly she no longer felt as confident.
"Thanks Chaos..."
"I sense a but in that sentence, spit it out already."
Their tone turned harsh and grating despite the serene look they wore, their calm visage totally at odds against the volume and aggressiveness of their words.
For a moment Ember froze, unsure if the enigmatic being before her was truly angry or if it was just another small part of their ever shifting persona.
Hesitantly she opened her mouth, wetting her lips with her tongue as she glanced down at the upside down brass frog statue.
"But... why me? You just showed me infinite universes, surely there was someone else out there better suited for a second chance than me? I'm only human afterall, there's a limit to the chaos my mind can conceive. I know it's a stupid question, but I just can't seem to shake that pessimistic human part of me..."
Subconsciously lowering her head, she clenched her hands in her lap as she waited for their mocking laughter, or their silent judgement, maybe even for them to suddenly grow violent just like so many had before when she showed the barest hint of weakness.
Instead she was greeted with warmth, the temperature less sculpture she was sat on distorting, the material multiplying until she found herself cradled in the lap of a gigantic woman, the woman's arms draped across her shoulders as they hugged Ember to her chest, the warmth of her body bleeding into the comparatively tiny flame like a day under the early spring sun.
"You're over thinking it little one, sure infinity exists, and sure there's an infinite number of things more suited for causing chaos or disrupting order then you, but I don't care.
I chose you, not because you're somehow unique, but because you are you, there's a million others identical to you in every way except for the fact they aren't you. Your chaos is so similar to my own because you were born of the chaos, it shaped you as you did it and I like that. Looking at you is like finding a rare or exotic flower stashed away in some backwater thrift shop, slowly withering away due to neglect, but only needing a tiny spark to bounce right back.
Your nature as a human doesn't effect that. Whether the flower was red, blue, or white matters little, it is by its very existence that the flower is a flower, the flavour or colour of it makes no impact on that because it will always be a flower.
You are chaos, maybe slightly wilted from neglect and being crammed into a universe that actively suppressed you, but chaos nonetheless."
Chaos fell silent, her warm embrace lulling Ember slowly to sleep even as her words continued to echo through her thoughts.
In a way it felt better to know she wasn't unique, that she was chosen simply because Chaos felt like it. There was no grand design behind it, just the whim of a being so far beyond her comprehension that she struggled to even look at them.
"... Thank you Chaos..."
Slowly Ember's eyes began to droop as she settled further into the godly being's embrace, the stress of years spent running slowly bleeding from her soul.
"Sleep little one, when you wake I'll still be here and we can continue our conversation."
Their voice was like a warm breeze blowing through a field of golden wheat, carrying away the last hint of restraint Ember desperately clung to. Without which, she quickly succumbed to the sandman as she drifted to sleep.
*** POV: Chaos ***
Staring down at the small thing curled up comfortably in its lap, Chaos felt a warmth unlike any they'd ever experienced.
It was a pleasant feeling, to look upon another being and feel so content, and they wished to hold onto it for as long as possible.
When they'd first glimpsed the tiny ember of chaos fading into the aether, they'd almost overlooked it. Everything was born of the aether and eventually everything would return to it, themselves included. It was the natural order, chaos birthed order, order resisted chaos, and eventually that order would itself descend into chaos as its own rules ripped it to pieces.
So they had turned away, content to let the ember reunite with the aether until a pang of loss shot through them.
In that instant they understood that letting the tiny, almost non-existent spark fade would be worse then dooming themselves, and they'd fished it from the the end.
The tiny soul was fragile beyond belief, the force of their very existence pressing against itself like a pressure cooker waiting to explode as it tried to escape the order imposed on it.
For a being such as it, removing the rules was as simple as breathing, and without them... the ember shone.
This tiny thing, that moments before had been on the verge of self combusting as it faded into the aether now roared like a bonfire.
They were so alike, that for a moment Chaos had to wonder if this soul was somehow a fragment of itself. But it wasnt, it- she was her own being.
After that Chaos had simply followed along with the feeling that had led it to saving the soul.
Alone she would have burned out rapidly, consumed by her very nature now that it was freed from order.
So Chaos created new order to shield her, not trap or cage her, but to act like an eggshell as the soul within grew into their power, and then it woke her up.
The tiny thing was confused at first, their mind unused to viewing the chaos that birthed it, so Chaos reined it in, shielding this fickle flame from existence as they talked.
It wasn't sure what this feeling it felt now was, but it was certain it wasn't what the mortals it occasionally watched would call 'Romantic Love'. Maybe some other kind of love then?
Whatever this was, was new to it and with all its heart Chaos wished to watch its small gremlin grow into its nature.