Eris stood on the balcony of her home and looked down on the desolate landscape below. She wore a light, black robe with her long hair down
The Destruction realm was permanently dark. The sky was pitch black...and the only thing illuminating the realm was the glowing red moon in the sky.
That moon hung much lower than a normal heavenly body. This is because it was actually a spherical castle. A dwelling place for the worthy.
Those who accepted Eris as their goddess. Those who accepted her code of conduct as well.
To allow this realm to remain in desolation. Never building anything ever again...lest they invoke the wrath of Eris. They worshipped annihilation and desolation.
To put it bluntly, Eris believed that Abbadon was weak. Undeserving of his title as god of Destruction. She wanted him dead.
And all who held the same belief in the Destruction realm worshipped Eris as a superior being.
Even her mother and aunt, the Queen and High Priestess of the realm, worshipped her. Eris knew no equal. None other than Kestel could stand against her, after all...
It was dreadfully boring.
Eris crossed her arms under her chest and signed heavily.
"I hope Triglavikk arrives soon... I'm so bored, it's killing me..." She said in a low tone.
Suddenly, the door to her room opened and a man stepped in.
He walked up behind her and bowed to his knees.
Eris turned to him and frowned.
"You really must learn to knock, Castra. If I had been naked, I would have torn you limb from limb before ending your miserable life," Eris said.
"My apologies, Lady Eris...hahaha...s-sorry..." Castra said.
"Are you laughing at me?"
"N-no... I was laughing because being torn limb from limb is hilarious... Not at you, specifically..." Castra said as he looked up at her.
His hair was long, brown and messy.
His right eye was the color of hazel and his left blazed orange with the Eye of Chaos.
Currently, he wore a white tank top covered by a black jacket and denim pants with a pair of very nice shoes.
He was quite handsome. A rougish sort of fellow.
"What do you want with me, you inferior lifeform?" Eris said bluntly.
"Ehe...as per your instruction, I kept an eye...hahaha...get it? I kept an eye on Trigla-"
Eris kicked Castra across the face.
After his head slammed into the floor, Eris stepped on it.
"No jokes. I don't want to hear it. Now report!"
Eris stepped back and Castra sat up with a fearful expression.
"Y-you contacted us through the gateway pools... I used mine to watch Triglavikk as well... He fought the Destroyer."
Suddenly...Eris allowed a slight smile to cross her lips.
"Then tell me. How did it go?"
"You will be pleasantly surprised, my Lady... Although he seemed to struggle a bit, the Destroyer defeated Triglavikk with relative ease. Actually, it seemed as though he had power to spare... Triglavikk has decided to follow him on account of his silly obligations of honor."
"I see. Triglavikk is a traitor. And it looks like you'll be useless against the Destroyer won't you?"
"Considering that u-umm...hahaha...Nirani, Ranis, Aldaril, and Triglavikk are on his side... And also that Aldaril is still in possession of the Eye of Order... Yes. I will be quite useless... B-but...does the Destroyer like balloon animals? I can definitely-"
Eris kicked Castra across the face again.
His neck snapped and his head slammed into the floor.
"Your suggestion is entirely pointless. But still...thank you for that delightful information. Now get out of my realm before I get angry."
"You aren't angry!? You kicked me! That was really mean! Meanie!"
She simply glared at him and the Eye of Destruction flared to life.
"EEP!!! I'M LEAVING!!!"
Castra stood up and ran straight past Eris. He jumped out of the window of he balcony and plunged down to the surface.
Immediately, Eris closed her door and allowed her robe to fall to the floor.
As she began getting dressed, a wide smile crossed her face.
"Soon...I can finally have a worthy opponent to challenge me. I'm getting excited just thinking about it! And then...I'll finally be free from Tanavol."
Eventually, Eris stood in front of her mirror and placed her cap on her head.
"I look positively diabolical... Like a military general... Haaaah...I'm going to enjoy every moment beating the life out of him. I wonder how many people will die in our battle..."
Eris stopped for a moment.
She knew that the Destroyer also had a crew of extremely powerful individuals aiding him.
Would he be impressed if Eris killed them all?
She couldn't help but allow a smile to cross her lips...
Finally, she leaped from her balcony and plunged straight down into the black desert. She slammed into the ground with an explosion and approached the ruined gateway.
It only appeared to be destroyed. The truth was that it worked perfectly fine.
Eris approached it and held out her hand.
"Command gateway."
It roared to life and was suddenly surrounded by gigantic chains, blocking her entry.
Several words appeared before her eyes written in red letters.
[ACCESS DENIED! DUE TO SAFETY PROTOCOLS, 'ERIS, AVATAR OF DESTRUCTION', IS NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE DESTRUCTION REALM.]
"Hm. I'm bored of playing nice. How about you just go away?" She said.
The chains didn't budge an inch.
Then...Eris grabbed one of them. She clenched her hand and it shattered...causing the others to do the same.
"Much better. Now then...ah, I forgot something..."
She had forgotten to ask Castra where the Destroyer would be...
"Hm...oh? What's this?" She suddenly said.
Eris leaned close to the gateway as she saw a note attached to the side of it. She read it and smiled.
'My lady, since you forgot to ask, the Destroyer is currently in the Order Realm. Have fun!!! -Ranis, Avatar of Chaos'
"Well, that mangy freak is good for something, at least."
Eris stared at the gateway and watched it change to the Order realm.
"Perhaps I'll delay my entrance? I want to see what he's capable of before I meet him in battle... Ooooh! I'm so excited! I can't wait!"
And with that...Eris stepped through the gateway.
* * *
As the Cursebreaker entered the new realm, the first thing I noticed was the lack of any sentient life.
The once-beautiful city seemed like something out of a painting...
Dead trees and collapsed buildings could be seen far into the distance. In fact, their architecture resembled the buildings in Leiso's home town.
Everywhere, I could see nature reclaiming the city.
The sky was gray and overcast.
"So this is..."
"The Order realm. What's left of it, anyway..." Aldaril said sadly.
"What happened here?" I asked.
"A conspiracy of some kind, I believe. Castra and Triglavikk attacked it and imprisoned Hikari. I was captured by someone working for Castra after being forced to accept this accursed Eye. The city you see before you is a result of mine and Hikari's escape as well as the attack by itself."
"And the conspiracy?"
"I used to believe it really was...but now, I'm not so sure. I had some time to talk to Ranis and he said he didn't know anything about it... He claimed that none of the light Avatars would dare to harm Hikari. Saying that it would take nothing short of Kestel's interference to end her life. Hikari could manipulate time, by the way..."
"Then if the light Avatars didn't kill her, who the hell could have accomplished that!?" I said.
"For a while, we believed Aldaril had somehow done the deed," Ranis said suddenly as he approached.
"Aldaril. What, exactly, did you see when Hikari died?" I asked.
Aldaril clutched his head in response.
"If it's too much, don't worry about it. I was only curious..." I said.
I silently wondered to myself if Aldaril had even seen it happen. When I thought about it, he never explained exactly how Hikari died...just that the deed had been preformed by the other Avatars.
But if Ranis and Nirani were both saying that neither of them had anything to do with it, something strange was going on...
Regardless, we moved the ship away from the gateway and prepared to descend.
I only wish I had known about the terrible things about to occur...