The queen stared down at lily with a scornful gaze that left no room negotiations.
lily gave a slight nod of acknowledgment as she summoned crystal who after a mental command to copy the form of one of the nearby ruined wheeled vehicles allowing for terra, sky and grey to rest onboard.
the queen and her angel watched as the group left in their dirt vehicle.
''you're not going to join them, Quinn? I thought the whole rebellion you started was to gain freedom in the physical world?'' the queen asked with a furrowed brow
Quinn turned to queen calmly now that I'm here, I can feel this new world I can tell without this core I stole from your vault I wouldn't be able to maintain this form since these bodies can't maintain.''
''But... in the end I was born here, died here and was reborn so I feel like I can't leave this place in total chaos when I released those prisoners it was only to distract you guys but unlike my digital world outside factors jumped in wrecking everything.''
Queen furrum smirked while absorbing the negativity radiating off queen to heal her exhausted body.
''The thing is Quinn while you may be an artificial intelligence, you are technically alive but closer to a spirit born in the digital world. and like spirts you were born with a purpose but can also choose to deny your purpose if you have the drive.''
Quinn stared at the queen seemingly astonished before asking ''may I ask what is your porose you see I want to explore and understand your world but unlike that spirt rabbit I have no grand drive.''
the angel tried to correct Quinn but queen furrum waved her hand to stop him ''That rabbit may have once been a spirit from the spirit world but the amount of chaos it has and the stolen flesh it absorbed I wouldn't be surprised if he evolved into a rune beast.''
Quinn looked confused so she elaborated ''A rune beast is a beast born with a primal connection to an aspect of nature and become the guardian beast of that force allowing them to cross realms at will. the thing is there has never been a rune beast for chaos since all those with that power are killed by it. But my purpose is no different than that beast to protect the family I made here and those who trust which now includes an ignorant brat who would rather escape instead of talk.''
Quinn just awkwardly watched as grey and his friends left with their stowaway I promise to help until everything's back to before and then ill explore the world.''
the angel looked flabbergasted while the queen felt like she just aged a few more years out of shock.
as the group left the kingdom they passed by the injured and deceased that were gathered outside the kingdom's walls.
cortex poked his head out of the vehicles window and glanced at the once solid light walls that now seemed like thin glass flickering in and out of reality.
'Glad I made it out of there in one piece finally, hope I never have to see this kingdom again.' cortex thought to himself before turning to grey who was just emptily staring at the clouds above them through the open window.
''What are you thinking of grey?'' cortex questioned which raised some brows as everyone else noticed the stowaway who seemed to know grey well.
grey answered without looking away from the clouds ''just how stubborn I am... I have been learning so many different ways to use my sound attacks without hurting my body at the cost of more energy but after today I realized that the moment that stopped working I was basically useless and just got beat countered and then beat again.''
cortex nodded ''well yes, your use of all of your abilities is atrocious it's as if you're moving on instinct with no self-regard and all your abilities are also destructive.''
''how so?'' grey asked with some light slowly returning to his eyes.
''well while your selective about your poison mists you just release it and not control it, while your sound does seem to hurt you unless you use that flow reversal to generate sounds from your energy directly but why do you not use the sound all around you instead of the ones you make personally?''
''Well that's because... huh? that's just how every beast I know does it and I just instinctively knew how to use it with my body as the base I guess.'' grey answered unsure why he never second guessed it.
''well spirits are naturally connected to an element so naturally they have a resistance to that element, but everything has a limit, like you can't use the water element in the dessert sound is chaotic and uncaring for friend or foe. so just copy what the elves do and use the power in nature instead of the one in your body since your chimera from takes care of that.''
grey listened to cortexes words with great intensity ''then what about that chaos aura everyone was talking about?''
''hmm that one is new to me since I don't know much about this aura or chaos but tell me what you know about it unless your fancy book can explain it.'' cortex probed while staring at lily who was still reading the soul book.
she turned to the two before shaking her head ''unfortunately this book only has information on what its creators knew and our current status but doesn't go intel specific details about our abilities aside from what we already know.''
everyone turned to grey for an explanation ''well I don't honestly know all that much about it? When I feel an extreme surge of emotion it just comes and I go berserk out but when it has in canceled out powers and regeneration of other allowed me to recharge by feeding on their energy and ... it formed crystals in my body that repelled healing I think, I was unconscious for that last bit.''
a light came from cortexes shell as a holographic computer appeared before him and he started typing away at things ''do you know what chaos itself is.'' grey opened up his mouth to reply but was cut off by cortex which pissed him off slightly.
''Of course you don't otherwise you'd be better at this, a random idiot would say its disorder and confusion but that's wrong. In all actuality it's just change and disruption which is the opposite of orders consistency and calm which is why no one like chaos, except what if someone can change the world around them and disrupt the powers of others at will.'' cortex asked excitedly.
"Pair that with a summoner you can get whatever you want or invade other worlds.'' he muttered to himself while going over all the possibilities in his head.
"AHEM" that drew everyone's attention to the tired looking terra ''except berserk states are unreliable and use up the users lifeforce itself.''
''valid point, except he can drain others lifeforce to gain it back and with the power of change itself in him he can change the flow of aura to be more controllable and nonlethal.''
grey thought about it and it seemed plausible in theory when lily turned to cortex ''we will figure that out after everyone recovers for now, we must go to our next mission.''
''oh yes, this mission to warn powerful beings they are in danger, forgetting about for a moment let's talk about how ever since you touched that book your looks and demeanor seemed to have changed, why is that fate stealer.''
lily grimaced at the name but answered his question ''well when the abyssal energy in the book mixed with the chaos energy grey shared with me it sent my soul to some place where I met lord apo's sister who showed me two different fates.''
sky and terra tensed at the name of lord Apo but grey didn't really react, and cortex was just indifferent to the news.
''The future the abyssal claw makes is an ugly one while the one I make while odd seems bright, unfortunately when I stole the fate of that clone, I saw what the future it would have made had I not done anything, and let me tell you that clone would have led armies of clones like it and slaughtered millions while freeing the titan.''
everyone looked shocked while cortex started thinking ''so a fate-stealer sees the possibly future of those she stole from for better or worse allowing them to alter fate itself while permanently removing a major piece off the board of life. in it just so happen that the one who has that power is someone with the affinity to summon... fascinating, do you guys mind if I joined your journey.''
''it's a little to ask that now!'' terra mocked but cortex just shamelessly nodded his head
''so where is our next destination cortex asked leading everyone to look at lily ''The next target is the blood orc who lives deep in the mountains behind the world rune academy. A very powerful warrior that led over thirty rebellions fought in almost every major war and has yet to lose a single fight. he's so powerful that despite the governments knowing where he lives the leave him alone as to not re awaken his old bloodthirst habits.''
while everyone else was thinking about the next big mission cortex was the only one who truly understood the words of lily 'so she saw two main possible futures which is enough to make anyone start acting serious since it affect the world as a whole but her serious demeanor seems to be more than that?''
that's when a look of shock struck his face as he turned to lily ''when you said you saw that clone's possible future do you mean like from his point of view which is basically living his life until the end! That's basically a lifetime of slaughter and bloodshed out of your hands as you just watch.''
everyone turned to lily as even crystal stopped moving in shock waiting for lilies answer.
lily refused to answer at first but after a few minutes of silent waiting she gave ''Yes, I did live that clone's life in a future where I didn't awaken my new bloodline. and lets just say most anomalies joined them to destroy fate and the ones that weren't were cloned by any means necessary and I watched every dirty tactic they used at first it was heartbreaking but after living in his body for forty years I started studying everything i can to stop it.''
her serious tone was so different from her old one that her two protectors didn't know what to say when greys voice rung out ''that's well and all but you should contact your father later... you told me yourself family is a important part of yourself that you need to keep yourself stable... or was it to heal your soul.''
lily stared at him confused before the true memories popped in her head and burst out laughing ''for someone who's fist element was sound you are a terrible listener!'' she blurted out whilst laughing.
grey turned bright red with shame ''n- no I listen just fine I just have a hard time remembering some things that's all.''
the mood became lighter as they continued on their journey seemingly on a lighter note.
a pale lady covered darkness with bright red eyes laid in a pool of boiling blood as she watched in amusement through a blood mirror in front of her showing three different creatures as a flying red eyeball asked her. ''My lady which child do you plan to add to your domain.''
''hmm this is very hard choice as I only have a single clot open but that bloodsucker creature is interesting but extremely uncontrollable and disloyal.''
the blood screen displayed a human looking lady wit red hair and eyes drinking the blood of fellow humans.''
she then turned to the duo grey and lily just talking ''Now these two are a great choice a two for one deal were i gain a fate stealer and a chaos beast. best of all that fate stealer girl has the potential to summon more anomalies which basically makes here more valuable than most by a long shot.''
she turned to the final display that showed a red skinned muscular man surrounded by corpses that was eating a few raw corpses. ''then there is this creature that calls itself Para plasma like the duo its potential is limitless but it's all alone yet it just defeated an entire army triple its power level.''
the eyeball flew closer to his mistress ''So my lady your options are a power gamble, quantity or quality? Seems like a tough choice why not ask your for his opinion on these three since he is more experienced in their kind.''
the lady sat in her warm bath of blood thinking about it ''hmm I wish I could have them all but unfortunately, I am under strict watch by my sister since father's death.''
she got up and was ready to walk away when an idea came to her ''keep your eyes on all of them I have a feeling that duo will be at the center of some scandalous thins.'' she said in a sultry voice before disappearing behind a door.
later that night lily laid in bed thinking about the mission her father was going on the more unstable folks on the list two creatures of boundless power fight for the past five years nonstop and the hidden powerhouse she knew nothing about.
and grey was just staring at his own paw muttering to himself ''change and disruption?"