The vein in Rebirth’s forehead throbbed with such violence it was a wonder it hadn’t torn through his skin. His magnificent white wings bristled behind him, feathers splaying in all directions as he leaned across his desk, face flushed the particular shade of red usually reserved for those who had choked on something. The god of reincarnation jabbed a finger at the young woman sitting in the chair opposite him, who was placidly eating his chocolate chip cookies, as if the scene of divine rage before her was nothing more interesting than watercolor paint running in the rain.
“You!” he barked, voice echoing in the dimensional space. “You, with the—“ He flapped his hand at her hair, at her eyes, at everything about her. “Do you have any idea who I am? What I do? What protocol is?”
The space around them was what Rebirth thought of as his office—though “office” was a generous term for the bureaucratic nightmare he’d conjured. Floating desks scattered at random heights, one of which the girl was currently using to prop up her feet. Walls made of cosmic nebulae swirled and spiraled, stars occasionally spitting free to bounce off a desk before returning to the wall. The gravity operated with the consistency of a stubborn toddler, sometimes holding the girl’s long pale blonde hair in a perfect waterfall down her back, and sometimes causing it to drift upward like she was submerged in invisible water. It was a personal hell of Rebirth’s own design—a tasteful, aesthetically pleasing hell, but a hell nonetheless.
The girl—Hespera Elodie Aris, according to the file that had materialized in his inbox five minutes ago—sat with the serene composure of someone waiting for a bus that was only a little bit late. Her sapphire eyes tracked Rebirth’s tirade with mild academic interest, as if he were a particularly vibrant species of insect. She raised a cookie to her lips and took a precise, neat bite.
Beside her, the Primordial Chaos slouched in a beanbag chair that shouldn’t exist in a dimension this sophisticated, but did anyway because Chaos was, well, Chaos. His black-and-white eyes gleamed with amusement as he surreptitiously nudged the plate of cookies closer to Hespera. When he noticed Rebirth watching, he wiggled his fingers in a cheeky wave.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” Chaos said, his voice lilting with mischief. “I’m just enjoying the show. And the fact that her sister works the night shift as a bartender at that club. Makes it all a bit more interesting, don’t you think?”
The air crackled with Rebirth’s rage. “Chaos!” he bellowed. “How many times must I tell you to stop listening to my thoughts?!” He slammed his fist on the desk, which promptly flipped over, sending papers scattering into the air. “And her being at the club is beside the point. She killed everyone in the bar except her sister. All because it was too loud!” The god jabbed an accusing finger at Chaos. “Clubs are supposed to be loud!”
Rebirth’s forehead vein made its grand return, pulsing beneath his skin like it was trying to stage an escape. Steam began to curl from his ears, rising in thin wisps that dissipated into the chaotic air. From somewhere deep in his throat came a grinding sound—the particular noise of divinity pushed to its breaking point—which somehow reverberated through the entire dimensional space, causing several of the floating desks to shudder.
“And you!” he continued, rounding on Hespera. “You expect me to hand over the black box set—a reward reserved for reincarnates with over 100,000 karma points, meaning saints and heroes—to you? A mass murderer?”
Chaos, who had manifested a beanbag chair large enough to engulf him entirely, was munching on a cookie with all the concern of someone watching paint dry. “You really should take a chill pill, Rebirth,” he said, mouth full. “Maybe one of those herbal ones from that god with the—“ He mimicked leaves growing out of his head.
To Rebirth’s horror, Hespera nodded in agreement. She was now cradling a cup of hot cocoa between her palms, which neither god could account for the origin of—though Rebirth had a pretty good idea which of them had caused it to materialize. Steam rose from the mug, carrying with it the rich scent of chocolate and something else, something that made the air feel just a little bit thicker.
“You two are fun,” she said, her voice smooth, dark, and faintly sweet, with an undertone that made the air feel slightly dangerous, like the calm before lightning strikes. “Are you always like this?”
She took a sip, tilting her head as if considering a particularly interesting problem. Then, with perfect calm, she pivoted the conversation.
“How did I die?”
Rebirth sputtered. “You—what?”
“I died, correct? That’s why I’m here?” Hespera looked at the cookie in her hand, then at the cocoa, then back to Rebirth. “I remember reading in the club, and then...” She pressed a finger to her lips. “Well, I remember the aftermath, but not the actual moment. How vexing. The fact that my eidetic memory is drawing a blank is very concerning.”
“The aftermath,” Rebirth repeated, voice flat.
Hespera nodded. “My sister was surveying the club floor with the expression she makes when our father makes her clean up a spill. There was rather a lot of blood.” She took another sip of her cocoa. “And the man who thought it was a good idea to hit on me while I was mid-chapter—he made such an interesting sound when he fell. Though I do regret not finishing the chapter. The protagonist was about to discover who the real villain was.”
She pressed a hand to her cheek, her brow furrowed in genuine confusion. “The last thing I remember is crouching over him, wondering if the blood pattern would make an interesting visual for my art class. And then... nothing.” She looked up at Rebirth, eyes clear and inquisitive. “So, how did I die?”
Before Rebirth could answer, Chaos dissolved into full-body laughter, his form rippling with it. “Hahahaha~ What a delight! Truly a wonderful creature! Haha!”
Rebirth looked like he was actively fantasizing about stabbing something through Chaos’s forehead. Possibly the floating quill from his desk, which was currently orbiting Chaos’s head like a particularly unhelpful halo.
“You,” Rebirth said, dragging his hands down his face with enough force to leave red marks, “were stabbed through the heart by one of your victims. Who then, naturally, bled out himself.”
Hespera nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. Anti-climactic, though.”
“Anti-cli—“ Rebirth bit back whatever he was going to say. “Normally, you would simply enter the River of Reincarnation based on your karma points—“
“How many do I have?” Hespera asked.
“One thousand,” Rebirth said. “Exactly balanced between good and bad. It’s... unusual.”
“It’s perfect,” Chaos chimed in, finally getting control of his laughter. “Like a blank slate.”
Rebirth shot him a glare that could have frozen the sun. “But thanks to this pain in my back wings,” he continued, with another pointed look at Chaos, “I must personally transfer your soul. Which means I have to deal with you.” He straightened, smoothing his rumpled robes with as much dignity as he could muster. “Personally.”
He did not sound pleased about it. Not at all.
With the cause of her death settled—if “settled” was the word for a conclusion that left Rebirth with a headache the size of a small galaxy—Hespera leaned forward, stirring her cocoa with a finger that should have been burnt but wasn’t. The drink swirled, dark and rich, before she lifted her gaze to Rebirth’s face, a question in her sapphire eyes.
“So,” she said, her voice carrying that same dangerous undertone, “about this black box set.”
Before Rebirth could formulate a response that wouldn’t involve divine smiting—which was strictly against protocol, even if Chaos deserved it—the Primordial leapt in with the enthusiasm of a child who’d just been handed the keys to a candy store.
“Oh! That’s actually my department, darling!” Chaos clapped his hands together, black and white swirling around his fingers like ink in water. “You see, the karma system is beautifully simple. Good deeds, good karma. Bad deeds, bad karma.” He counted off on his fingers. “The more good karma you earn, the better the world you reincarnate into. The more bad karma...” He mimed an explosion with his hands. “Not so fun.”
Rebirth pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s an oversimplification of—“
“And the black box set,” Chaos continued, talking over him, “is reserved for the real heroes. The saints. The ones who’ve racked up 100,000 karma points or more. People who’ve spent their lives saving others or doing acts of incredible selflessness.” He beamed at Hespera. “Which, no offense, darling, you clearly are not.”
“I’m not offended,” Hespera said, taking another sip of her cocoa. “It seems logical.”
Rebirth grumbled under his breath, “Damn sociopath, that’s what she is,” but both Chaos and Hespera ignored him completely, as if he’d said nothing at all.
Hespera tapped a finger against her cheek, her eyes narrowing slightly in thought. “So, to summarize: I clearly didn’t earn 100,000 points. I probably earned very few, given the circumstances of my death. And you,” she said, looking directly at Chaos, “clearly want something from me.” Her lips curved into a smile that was equal parts curiosity and calculation. “So, what happens now?”
Chaos grinned, a flash of white teeth against his constantly shifting features. “I love a girl who gets straight to the point.” With a dramatic wave of his hand, he produced a sheet of parchment that seemed to hover in the air between them. It was black and white, the edges crackling with what looked like frost and shadow, its surface covered in swirling ink that shifted and moved as if alive.
“I’m offering you a choice,” Chaos said, his voice taking on a formal edge that Rebirth had never heard before. “Sign this, and become my Blessed. Or,” he gestured to the parchment, “go back into the River of Rebirth on your 1,000 accumulated karma points. A balance so precise between good and bad that even the Powers themselves noted it as a feat.”
Hespera leaned forward to examine the parchment. Rebirth could see it from where he sat—a single page, the text stripped down to the bare essentials. A contract agreeing to take on the responsibilities and benefits of being the Blessed of Primordial Chaos. No fine print, no hidden clauses. Just a simple agreement.
“What exactly does being a Blessed entail?” Hespera asked, her eyes scanning the parchment. “And what are these responsibilities?” She visibly shuddered. “I’m not signing up for paperwork or babysitting duty. I’ve had quite enough of that in my previous life.”
Chaos, clearly reading her mind again—something Rebirth was going to have to discuss with Order at the next Council meeting—laughed, the sound bouncing off the nebulae walls. “The responsibility is simply to spread chaos by existing in whatever world Rebirth places you in. That’s it.”
Rebirth could feel his blood pressure rising again. “That’s not—“
“But what is a Blessed?” Hespera interrupted, looking between them. “You keep using the term, but you haven’t explained what it means.”
Chaos’s face softened into an expression Rebirth had never seen on the Primordial before—something almost tender. “A Blessed is family,” he said simply. “Not by blood or DNA, but by essence. A small piece of a Primordial’s own nature bonded to a chosen person.” He reached out, his finger not quite touching Hespera’s cheek. “You would carry a piece of me inside you. Forever.”
“And what does that get me?” Hespera asked, her voice level.
“Power,” Chaos said. “Freedom. The ability to move between worlds, if you wish. And,” he added, his eyes gleaming, “my protection. Always.”
Rebirth felt a chill run down his spine. A Blessed. Chaos had never created a Blessed before. It was one of the few rules the Primordial had always followed—the one century per Blessed rule that kept the balance of power from tipping too far in any one direction. And now he was breaking it, for this girl. This murderer.
Chaos started clapping, bouncing in his seat with excitement. “And you’d be my very first! Isn’t that wonderful? My very first Blessed in all of existence!”
“This is highly irregular,” Rebirth cut in, his voice tight. “Creating a Blessed requires implanting an Essence Seed. And surviving the awakening of a Primordial’s essence is nearly impossible.” He fixed Hespera with a hard look. “Only twelve beings in all of existence have ever managed it, including you.”
“Twelve?” Hespera raised an eyebrow. “That seems...”
“Chaos planted one hundred thousand Chaos Seeds a decade ago,” Rebirth continued, ignoring the way Chaos was trying to shush him. “You were the only survivor.”
The room went very, very still.
“What happened to the others?” Hespera asked, her voice perfectly calm.
Rebirth’s voice climbed as he recounted the fallout, gesturing wildly. “Their souls were corroded by the unassimilated seed! They were stranded in the void, unable to enter the River of Reincarnation without contaminating it!” He was practically shouting now, his wings flaring behind him. “Not that bad?! Thanks to you, the souls I had to deliver to the reincarnation river that day were 1,000 times more! The river had to be expanded on account of overflowing! Order was unbalanced for a whole century! She’s still traumatized. As for Death, that’s her fucking job!”
Chaos rolled his black-and-white eyes. “Dramatic, as always.”
Hespera and Chaos stared at Rebirth with identical blank expressions as he heaved for breath, his face flushed with anger and exertion. The resemblance between them in that moment was uncanny—the same slight tilt of the head, the same calculating look in their eyes. It made Rebirth’s stomach turn.
Without ceremony, Hespera reached for the quill that had appeared beside the parchment—another of Chaos’s little touches—and signed her name on the dotted line. Her handwriting was elegant, flowing, with a hint of something darker running through the ink. The moment the final letter was complete, the parchment vanished from her hands, reappearing in Chaos’s grasp for a brief moment before dissolving into the air entirely.
“Being the daughter of the Primordial of Chaos sounds fun,” Hespera said, as if she’d just agreed to a mildly interesting weekend plan rather than a cosmic binding contract.
“Daughter?” Rebirth repeated, aghast. “She’s not your—“
“In all the ways that matter,” Chaos said, his voice soft. Then, louder: “There’s one more thing.” He turned to Hespera, his expression serious. “On top of your 1,000 personal karma points, you inherit the forfeited karma points of all 99,999 failed Chaos Seed hosts.” He grinned. “They’ve been sitting in my treasury, unclaimed. Waiting for you.”
Rebirth, who had finally managed to cool down enough to listen, wanted to object—wanted to shout, to rage, to call for Order or Balance or anyone who might put a stop to this madness—but he couldn’t. As her Father, it was Chaos’s right to bestow whatever gifts he wished upon his Blessed. It was written into the very fabric of existence.
He stepped forward, his wings folding neatly behind him, trying to regain some semblance of control over the situation. “Well,” he said, his voice strained. “Now that that’s settled, we should begin the reincarnation preparation process. You can use your points to choose your world, your appearance, and more—“
He stopped dead mid-sentence. His face cycled through confused, surprised, horrified, and finally landed on absolute dread, all while staring directly at Hespera. She watched his expression with genuine fascination, her head tilting to one side as she noted that she was not, in fact, the cause of it.
“What,” Rebirth whispered, his voice barely audible, “do you mean she’ll have the ability to travel different worlds?”
The scream that followed tore through the dimensional space, rattling the floating desks and sending several stars careening from the nebulae walls. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE’LL HAVE THE ABILITY TO TRAVEL DIFFERENT WORLDS?!”
Chaos erupted into cackling laughter, his form rippling and shifting with the force of it. “Isn’t it wonderful? My little chaos bringer, free to roam wherever she pleases!”
Hespera, meanwhile, took another sip of her cocoa, her eyes bright with interest. “Different worlds,” she said, testing the words. “How fascinating.”
Rebirth collapsed into his chair, his head in his hands, as Chaos’s laughter echoed around them. This, he thought with absolute certainty, was going to be a disaster of cosmic proportions.