Page 62 of Chaos Demons

Harmonia nodded.

Eva took Anubis, carrying him easily, and the two of them began to creep back the way we’d come.

I looked back at Nari, who was still peering to the southwest. Then he sighed and resumed his dance again.

Melinoe returned not long after that. “The Lord of Strife has been distracted once again,” she said.

Ah. So it had been Ramsey making those noises.

If he was lost to his chaos, he’d be close to mindless and simply creating chaos wherever he wandered. Melinoe must have urged him in a different direction, probably using her nightmares to sneak into his mind and redirect him.

Curious, I began to move in that direction.

If I could subdue Ramsey, then that would be another ally back in the fight. I’d never pitted my void against his chaos before, not when he was truly lost to himself. This… would be an interesting challenge indeed.

RAMSEY

I’d seenFen lose control and watched that horrid beast emerge. And when it had, the chaos around me had spiked. Even though I’d known it was coming, I’d been unprepared when it had hit me like a god-powered punch to the gut.

I’d doubled over for an instant from the impact, trying desperately to keep control of myself, but the sheer amount of conflict and chaos radiating off Fen had overwhelmed me, and my chaos had surged.

I’d slapped my chest, feeling the sting of the new piercing. That had granted me a moment of clarity and control, but I’d known it wouldn’t be enough. There’d been too much discord around me.

“Fuck,” I’d grunted.

I’d desperately tried to remember the stinging slaps of that leather paddle against me, recall the surprising pain of that needle sliding through my flesh and readying me for my new piercings. That had helped, but only for a moment. With every second that Fenris was free, I lost more and more control.

Fuck it.

With a bellow of barely controlled wrath, I’d gathered all my chaos and conflict, all my strife and discord, and compressed it within me. I’d given myself over to the chaos, taking my true form: The Lord of Strife, and had just one splinter of a moment, before I lost control, to use this chaos and attack.

I’d blasted my power at Nari, but Melinoe must have sensed my impending attack and pulled him out of the way.

And that was it, my one chance before I lost my mind and any hope of logical thinking. I’d had one shot and I’d blown it.

After that, I’d been too lost to discord to control my actions. I’d reaped chaos around me, tearing up the city.

The Lord of Strife was alive and striding through the streets of Queens.

Only a few times before in history had I lost control like this. I’d walked in power down the streets of Rome during the Visigoth invasion of 410. I’d swallow the strife of Pompei as it had been engulfed in ash. I’d wept bitter tears when the Assyrians had sacked the temples of Thebes during their invasion of what had once been a great empire under my control. The Mongol hordes and the world wars had almost brought out the Lord of Strife, but I’d been much older then and able to restrain my powers.

Now the city I called home was suffering under my chaos. I raged along the border of Queens and Brooklyn taking out streets and houses, industry, and nature.

Every time I managed to wrangle just a hint of control and try to push myself back toward the cemetery, I was rebuffed by Melinoe. Madness and nightmares disoriented me and pushed me away. Even in my purest form, on this day, I was no match for her it seemed.

So, I wept again for the loss of life I caused. Unlike Fen, who would simply devour everything in his path, I tore it up and tossed it around, like a category five hurricane, because true chaos didn’t really care if it destroyed or not, it was random and ruthless.

Then something pulledat me.

It was the strangest sensation. I wasn’t being dragged or moved, but my chaos was being siphoned off from around me, weakening it.

I pinpointed the source.

There, ahead of me, Grey used his void to drain my chaos away.

Except I was either too powerful or he was greatly weakened because he didn’t seem able to take all of it.

More strife and discord bloomed around me as he drew it into him, and the overall effect was a lessening of my impact on the city, but he couldn’t stop me.

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