Dawn of Chaos pt 9
#9 of For the love of Chaos
"Someone's here." Kazath's voice gently woke me.
I groggily lurched up from my sleeping place, rubbing sleep from my eyes.
"I thought it would be longer before anyone got up the courage to come in here."
Somehow I knew exactly where they were in the chapel, and even their mood.
"Are you doing that?" I questioned Kazath.
"Actually it's sort of indirectly me; you're in one of the foci of my power before my fall and a little bit of the power remains, including the part that feeds off emotional energy, probably the same reason the dead re-animated here, intense energy packed into an energy channel and then when I was killed the power had nowhere left to go and backlashed into the skeletons creating some pissed off undead. I guess now that I'm back some of my power will start returning." I felt him give a mental shrug.
"Thanks for the lesson Professor," I smirked at him and then winced as my smirk caused my raw skin to tighten, "now why don't we go meet our guest."
As I walked towards the chapel I mulled over what Kazath had told me, I was really going to have to have a talk with Kazath about how my powers worked. I didn't have much time to ponder my companion's words though because it didn't take long for me to reach the chapel and spot that my visitor was none other than Alice again. I twirled behind a pillar before she spotted me and tried desperately to think.
"This was not what I had in mind when I woke up." I hissed.
"Don't blame me, I was with you."
"Ha, Ha, you're a regular comedian." I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Time to get this over with."
"Hi," I said, walking out from behind the pillar I was hiding behind, "I imagine you're looking for me."
As I suddenly appeared Alice gave a little gasp and her hand went to her mouth in shock. It took me a moment to realize that most of her shock didn't come entirely from my sudden appearance but at the strips of skin missing from my face, I hurriedly passed a hand over my face and replaced the raw strips of missing skin with the illusion of healthy flesh.
"My apologies, I'm afraid I'm not at my best at the moment. So what brings you to my humble abode, on this bright and sunny morning?" I bent low in a sweeping bow.
"I'm sorry." I barely heard her words as I straightened up from my bow and tilted my head at her.
"I'm afraid I'm not terribly appreciative of your apology, I spent an entire night fighting of hordes of the undead thanks to your rather offhand attempt to get rid of me." The equine opened her mouth to protest but I cut her off with a wave. "I do not plan on any sort of retribution for you or your friends if that is what you fear, I believe that all our debts were squared last night when I nearly killed you."
Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she managed to voice her question.
"Why? Why here? Why do anything with us?"
"Who knows why I do what I do, I've gone through my life without ever probing who I am, I'm too brutal a judge and too sensitive a soul to inflict that upon myself. Perhaps I want to do something because of an overblown sense of what is wrong and right, maybe I'm simply tired being part of the majority of society, or maybe I do it for the same reason that most things happen, because of religion."
"Why would Lightbringer," she spat the name like an oath. "do anything for us."
"Who said I was part of his group of scum, no, my god is chaos, change, Kazath."
"Kazath is dead."
"Kazath was dead." I retorted. "Chaos never really dies, it's always there lurking, it can only ever be covered over with a veneer of order. Chaos is what drives civilization despite what others may say, necessity is the mother of all invention and a perfectly ordered society has no real necessity to change. And that sort of civilization will always wither and die, the only place order takes place is in the absence of life."
"You're going a bit deep for a slums girl like me." Alice waved her hands at my speech.
"And is that what you want?"
Alice glanced up at the solemn tone in my voice and I trapped her eyes with mine.
"What- what do you mean."
"Is what you have all you want from life? Is this all you can believe in any more? Don't you ever dream?" I stepped in closer to her. "Don't you want... a change?" I was close enough now to smell her scent, surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I had expected of someone living in slums, just the smell of dirt mixed with sweat, it reminded of a life I lived what seemed a lifetime ago somewhere a long ways away now.
I held my gaze in place, staring into the wide eyes of my audience of one.
"Because if you can't dream anymore, then the first thing I'll have to do is give you something to dream about." Then I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers, kissing her passionately. As my kiss began Alice's eyes widened in shock and she froze for a moment, then she melted into my kiss, I wrapped an arm around and drew her tightly against my chest. Her body pressed against mine, wonderfully soft in the right places, then without warning I broke of the kiss and danced away grinning like a fiend.
"And I'm afraid the rest you'll just have to dream." Then I burst into laughter as I looked at the bewildered and incredulous look she shot me. Kazath joined me in my merriment and suddenly I was laughing with two voices. I finally got a hold of myself again and grinned at the awed Alice standing there with her mouth hanging open.
"There will be a time for you and me but I'm afraid this isn't it. Alas, I don't even have a bed to rest upon and there's practically nothing left of the inside of the church of any use. I have duties to fulfill and I hope you will help me in them."
Alice nodded her agreement almost instantly.
"I want you to tell people that the church is open now, I want you to let people know that they have somewhere they can go. Bring those you can in three days time, I will be ready then."
"I'll do what I can." She looked up into my eyes adoringly then turned and walked out through the empty door.
"And tell them that the wood I blew out the doors is theirs if they attend." I called after her.
Then she was gone. I sank into one of the few pews that was still somehow in serviceable condition and began massaging my temples.
"And now we have our deadline, three days. I think it's about time we got a better idea of what we're dealing with around here."
"Why didn't you just ask Alice for information while she was here?"
"I'd prefer not to announce the fact that I'm not from this world to anyone at this point in my plan."
"You have a plan?"
"I've had a plan for a long time now, it was a bit of an obsession for me back where I lived, I had plans for just about everything, zombies, aliens, hostile armies, natural disasters to nuclear war. If it wasn't something that would kill me outright I was planning for it. It helped kill time waiting for someone to find something they considered paranormal and call me up."
"You didn't get laid much huh?"
"Don't make me come in there." I muttered glowering at my internal companion. As Kazath's chuckles of mirth subsided I walked to the empty hole of the doorway and looked out into the shabby houses and dirt streets and a little song came to mind.
"Oh it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood..."