Chaos Reigns - Chapter 1
Hey, I need a few days to sort out the final chapters of Curse Breaker Jousts.
The characters introduced a new element that I didn’t expect to happen in that book. I had been trying to come up with a way to make it happen for the last 12 books, but it never fit.
I guess the Rangers got tired of waiting because they made it happen and I need to figure out how to work that in because I think we’ll need it in the next book.
So while I figure that out, I bring you the first chapter of Chaos Reigns, the sequel to Chaos Rises.
We’ll get Misriah’s reasons for bring Argeaneal to Mount Eredren in this one when the story catches up to where the Mount Erederen crew are. The Curse Breaker books are ahead in the master timeline so this book needs to catch Sovvan, Fay, Misriah and anyone else who shows up in it up to the main timeline, show you what they were doing and pick up all the loose ends they left hanging in the last 5 Curse Breaker books and they also need to find and defeat another rider of the apocalypse.
So strap in because this is going to be a wild ride, and I’m going to try not to repeat much from the Curse Breaker books, so this can be all new stuff. Hopefully, the characters are on board with that.
So without further ado, I bring you, chapter 1 of Chaos Reigns. It will be followed by the final chapters of Curse Breaker Jousts next week and then chapter 2.
Thank you so much for coming on this adventure!
Not Her Favorite Place
As the thick fog of the Gray Between enveloped them, Sovvan fought the sigh of frustration rising from her core and failed. So she gave in and she kicked the dusty ground under the fog for good measure. “I really hate this place.”
The Gray Between was so named because it was gray from the fog covered ground to the cloudy sky above. The only color in this cheerless place came from their glowing violet eyes and their golden halos. So a lot of the Gray Between remained gray and dreary probably by design. Sovvan didn’t understand why the Creator chose gray for the waiting room of the afterlife and no angel could explain it either. They just accepted it was so and got on with things and so should she.
“I know. It’s not my favorite place either.” Misriah touched down on the ground hidden by the fog but she didn’t let go even though Sovvan couldn’t go anywhere without her unless she wanted to swim in the Drops of Eternity. She’d have to find one first but there were easier ways to return to the Mortal World.
Unfortunately Sovvan couldn’t do that until she did what they came here for. I promised Misriah I’d deal with the Riders of the Apocalypse and that’s what I’ll do. I wish I knew where the other three are right now. That would help a lot. But she didn’t have any way to find them so she’d just have to improvise or hope they ran into an angel who could give them a clue.
“Where’s that temple that housed the seals before they broke?” Sovvan scanned the fog bank that came up to her shoulders for any sign of it but she just saw the same gray nothingness for miles around them.
“We’ll go there next. Let’s deliver the demon in your pocket to Hell first.” Misriah set off in a direction and kept going like there was somewhere she could reach if she walked for long enough. But there wasn’t anything unless it hid under the fog. Since she still had an arm slung around her waist, Misriah dragged Sovvan along with her.
“Where is the door to Hell?” Sovvan glanced around for it as the demon bounced around inside her skirt pocket. Was he trying to escape? As if I’d let him.
Sovvan rested a hand on top of the bulge to hold her pocket closed. She went to a lot of trouble to trap that demon so she didn’t want to lose it. Besides Misriah would probably make her chase him down if the demon got free somehow. And she’d be right to do that because it’s my responsibility to deliver him to Hell not hers. Sovvan squared her shoulders and squeezed her pocket closed.
“It’s around here somewhere.” Misriah shrugged like she didn’t mind wandering around.
“Shouldn’t we fly to it? I thought we were under time pressure to stop the apocalypse.” Sovvan wished stopping Death would have stopped the clock on that but she didn’t think it did. Things didn’t feel normal or settled.
“I would but the guardians of this place don’t like anyone going to Hell. So it’s better to approach on foot. They’re more likely to leave us alone.” Misriah froze as shadowy figures surrounded them, and they weren’t the grumpy elephantine guardians of this place.
A giant eye-shaped black thing appeared behind the shadows, and it looked entirely too much like the gateway she and Fay took down. But it couldn’t come back. Gateways couldn’t spontaneously generate themselves. They needed someone to cast them. Who cast this one?
Malachiah can’t do it. He went to Hell. Didn’t he? Sovvan slipped from Misriah’s grasp as doubts seized her. Could he cast another gateway from Hell?
It took a lot of power to create a gateway since it essentially bored through everything between the realm one stood in and the realm one wanted to reach. There was no way he found that kind of power in Hell or someone else would have created a gateway long before now. Since they didn’t then there wasn’t that kind of power in Hell. Or was there?
Besides, the Gateway she and Fay took down was white, not black. Why was this one different?
Sovvan padded closer but the shadowy humanoid figures never clarified. The watery light from above did nothing to light them. It was like they were shadows cast from somewhere else.
They dissolved and blew away like ashes on the wind and she wrinkled her nose at the acrid scent of sulfur. The door to Hell must be close by even if she couldn’t see it. Distance was deceptive here.
“What is the shape of time? Is it a line or a circle?” asked the Watcher of the Moon but he didn’t appear. Where was that weird angel? And why was he spouting riddles?
“I don’t know, but I hope it’s a line because I don’t want to take down another gateway. The first one was hard enough.” Sovvan returned to Misriah’s side. “Hey, are you okay?” She grasped Misriah’s arm and shook the warrior angel.
A lightning bolt struck the ground on her other side and Sovvan yelped in surprise. Where did that thing come from?
“Did you sicc the council of angels on me?” Giraya demanded from above as she conjured another lightning bolt. The blond woman was the last angel Sovvan wanted to deal with right now but the Gray Between was Giraya’s domain so she couldn’t exactly avoid her.
“Hi Giraya. I’d say it’s nice to see you but it’s not really.” Sovvan stepped closer to Misriah since Giraya wouldn’t dare strike Misriah with a lightning bolt.
“I could say the same thing about you.” Giraya landed, but she didn’t banish the lightning bolt from her hand, and it crackled as she approached. The blond angel was pricklier than Periel.
“What’s got your wings in a tangle?” Sovvan fought the urge to duck behind Misriah. Instead, she stood her ground.
“A lot of things. The seals broke and the things inside them went to the Mortal World where I can’t go. So I can’t track them down and lock them up in the temple. And if that’s not bad enough, weird shadowy figures and giant eye-shaped things keep appearing and disappearing. An angel I thought was my friend went to Hell and I keep catching glimpses of the Agents of Chaos out of the corner of my eye but when I turn around, they aren’t there. I’d think I was losing my mind but that’s not possible since I’m an angel.” Giraya let go of the lightning bolt and it disappeared in a shower of sparks so she could press both hands to her head.
“When did you see the Agents of Chaos? Fay said they went back in time.” Sovvan hoped they returned because their mission failed.
“I don’t know. Time doesn’t mean anything to me. So I can’t even begin to speculate about that when I don’t notice its passage.” Giraya let her hands fall to her sides. “Did you see those shadows and the eye-shaped thing?”
“Yes, I saw them. I don’t know what they are but they seem harmless so I think we can ignore them right now since they disappeared.” Sovvan glanced at Misriah but the warrior angel still didn’t move. Why was she frozen and Giraya wasn’t?
Giraya was an angel of place and the Gray Between was her place to guard. So she wasn’t tied to the Mortal World. But Misriah is tied to it because she’s my brother’s guardian angel. Aren’t I tied to the Mortal World too since I have a magical bond with my twin brother?
Maybe she wasn’t as tied to that place as Misriah was. It could have something to do with the whole Angel of Death thing. Sovvan could drive herself crazy trying to figure that out or she could put it aside and concentrate on the bigger threat, the Agents of Chaos.
“What did the Agents of Chaos do?” Sovvan spun to make sure mentioning them didn’t summon them.
“They talked to this guy in garish robes. He looked like he fell into a rich man’s closet and threw on the first things he grabbed. Oh and he had long white hair. I think he was one of those ex-gods. The time ones are still around. I think he’s one of them.” Giraya shrugged and smoothed her white robes like they would dare wrinkle on her.
“Okay what else happened?” Sovvan didn’t need a description of this guy since she didn’t have time to track him down. But maybe Fay could. If he was a time god then he might be related to her.
“I don’t know. I saw them talking out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. It sounded like gibberish but they were probably just speaking a language I don’t understand. If I look directly at them, they disappear. I’d think I imagined it but I don’t have an imagination, and if I did, I wouldn’t imagine the Agents of Chaos. I hate them.” Giraya summoned another lightning bolt and she twisted it into glowing knots.
“I know. I’m not a fan of them either. Do you see them now?” Sovvan didn’t see them but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
“No. I lost them when they went toward the door to Hell.” Giraya kicked the fog curling around her skirt.
“That’s where we’re going. It can’t be a coincidence.” Sovvan wished it was. She had enough on her plate right now with this stalled apocalypse business.
“Why are you standing there ignoring me? I didn’t hit your little friend.” Giraya touched Misriah’s arm.
“Who are you calling little? I stand a head taller than both of you.” And she didn’t need to stand on tiptoe to do it. Sovvan glared at Giraya.
“Why isn’t she moving or talking?” Giraya clasped Misriah’s arm and shook it.
“I don’t know. This happens every time something weird happens. But she usually unfreezes when the weird things go away.” But not this time and that worried Sovvan. I can’t stop the apocalypse without her. She’s got to unfreeze. I need her muscles and her friendship.
“How long does it usually take for her to unfreeze?” Giraya circled Misriah as she studied her.
“A few minutes maybe?” Sovvan wrung her hands. “There’s got to be something we can do to speed it up.”
“Maybe she needs to return to the Mortal World.”
“Maybe but we came here to do several things so I can’t go with her until I do that.” But there weren’t any other angels besides Giraya anywhere she could see and she could see for miles in every direction. Would Giraya take Misriah back to the Mortal World?
“I’d take her back but I can’t leave this place unless the council appoints another guardian.” Giraya gestured to the featureless gray fog surrounding them.
The council probably wouldn’t appoint another angel to guard this cheerless place. But they ordered Thaniel to investigate the shadows and the eye-shaped things that could be gateways. Unfortunately Sovvan didn’t see the cavalier warrior angel anywhere. “You said an angel you thought was your friend went to Hell. Which angel was it?”
“Oh that. I doubt you know her.” Giraya waved the question away.
But Sovvan had a feeling the answer was important. “Who was it?”
“A warrior angel named Thaniel.” Giraya folded her arms and glared at the fog in front of them like it did something to offend her.
That was another coincidence. What were the odds of so many coincidences happening in this place? Probably nil. The Gray Between just wasn’t that interesting.
“I need to find the door to Hell right now. Can you show me where it is?” Sovvan stared at the fog in front of her since that’s the direction Misriah headed before she froze. So the door must be somewhere ahead.
“Yes, but what about Misriah? I don’t think we should leave her alone here, not with all the weird things happening lately.” Giraya glanced at the warrior angel with worried eyes.
“Can we carry her?” Sovvan wondered if she could even lift her. Misriah was stronger than anyone she’d ever met.
“We’ll have to. I’m not leaving her here.” Giraya bent so her chest was parallel to the ground, then rammed her shoulder into Misriah’s stomach, and grasped her legs as she straightened with the frozen angel resting on her shoulder. It looked awkward but Giraya managed it. “Let’s go.”
