Spectrum of Chaos
written for Flash Fiction Friday Prompt #368, event hosted by @flashfictionfridayofficial
Story: Original Work (Ao3 Link)
Rating: Teen and up
Word count: 1,008
Spectrum of Chaos
The air was clean and refreshing, despite the building being underground.
Cela had to tilt her head back to look up at the vast, tall shelves that lined the vault.
The ceiling itself was so high up that its intricacies were lost in the darkness of the shadows above.
This was the place where they kept the relics of monsters killed by members of the Order, a treasure hoard of natural and unnatural mysteries, a mythic storehouse for study and for record-keeping.
She could sense her father walking up behind her, the sound of his boots as he crossed the stone floor to stand by her side, dressed in his long, dark military coat, with the moon sigil of their house emblazoned on his left breast in silver thread.
“Chaos exists on a spectrum,” he said, echoing the speech he had given recently to a room full of their brethren, which included some of her own friends from her squad.
“That is true,” he reaffirmed, his eyes gliding over the oddities above and around them, among the rare horns, gleaming claws of varying sizes, bottled organs and flesh samples—most of them carefully labeled and organized into categories.
“But it is not our duty to rule the masses in between. Our duty is concerned with the extremities of this spectrum.”
He touched his hand to his chin, in deep contemplation.
“And indeed, it’s true that not all who reside on one end of the spectrum are evil in nature. Our mission is concerned with those who have particularly destructive tendencies, and who are the enemy of man.”
Cela listened with quiet interest, offering no interruptions, as she always did when her father was in this mode of thought.
“Magic-wielders in human form who are not a part of our Order are subject to the common laws of the kingdom. We have always made a clear distinction between man and beast. It is only the later that concerned us.”
He paused in his musing to make a sweeping gesture indicating the items in the shelves.
“Look around you,” he said. “Do you see any human remains anywhere?”
“I’m not sure,” said Cela, honestly, as she could not know every object that was there in that room.
“No, of course. I have worked in this field for much longer, seen many things, and in my lifetime, I have never had to question it.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Good and evil can exist in both man and beast. This, I know. But common people have always believed they are not one and the same, in form, in nature, in origin. But the truth is… that this too may exist on a spectrum.”
“In what way?” she asked, seeking clarity.
“It is a deep subject. I feel you are at an age now to explore it on your own. I will provide you with the materials to get started on that journey…”
_*_
Asa pushed his way through the thick underbrush of the pathless way he had chosen to tread, not pausing to shake off the loose tendrils or other dead bits of plants that clung to his clothes.
He’d been told by his commander never to try to fight a creature on his own. He felt a bit unsettled at having disobeyed his orders so impulsively. But if any feeling of guilt surfaced in his mind, he put it to rest by reminding himself that he was merely scouting the area for signs, not to start a fight. It would do them all good to have someone come back with a report.
He was too far gone for anyone to find him now, so he had stopped looking over his shoulder for followers.
As he clumsily moved through the dense forest, he could feel the dew drops dampening his clothes and hair. It was quite rainy here, he noted, but not unlike his corner of the world, so it was nothing unusual.
He trudged along unrelentingly until his patience was rewarded at last with a break in the brush and the trees. Instinctively, he crouched behind some bushes so that he would remain hidden.
He had stumbled upon a kind of clearing, with a large pond at the center and a stone cave at the opposite end. The pond’s waters were dark, hinting at a depth he couldn’t guess at.
He could have ventured to have a drink, but he didn’t stop to notice much else, as his eye was caught by another, rather commanding, sight.
Directly across from him, right in front of the cave, there lay a large creature. Even in that position, with its head reclining on its front limbs, he could recognize it as one of those they were hunting, which he had, coincidentally, seen a portrait of before striking out in his lone trek.
It looked like a scorpion, with spikes all along its limbs and tail. It was mostly black, with some spots of blue, like freckles, covering its shell.
Even as he watched, the creature appeared to come to life. It got up and walked over to the pond, and waded in, before submerging itself in the center, until its head disappeared below the darkly rippling surface.
Asa was tempted to run, but he was frozen to the spot. There was a movement in the water, then up rose a young man, bare-chested and dark-haired, from the same spot the creature had disappeared.
A scorpion tail came up from behind him, and he had a kind of “helmet” shell around his head, adorned with multiple little horns of varying lengths. There was also a partial shell wrapping around his ribcage and arms, like armor plates.
The beams of light filtering in through the canopy illuminated the water that slid down his olive-skinned body, as the man scooped up some water in his hand and drank it.
There was a feeling as he had never felt before, a kindling that came from within, and all Asa could do was stare, wordless and enchanted.
