Chaos and origin(corrected)

[Author: What you are about to read is a long chapter that will contain several pieces of information]

Zoe's aura was incomprehensible to Mark. There had been instances when he struggled to understand what a person was feeling, because of their particular auras, such as in the case of Loki and Bell, but they represented the nature of the person, but this time it did not seem so.

The girl's aura was unbalanced, there were several areas where the aura was not present, while in others it was disproportionate, also the color of the aura was dull, making it uncomfortable to see.

'Do you have any ideas Guide?

[Most likely the girl must have suffered soul damage, which would explain why there were gaps.]

'If I remember correctly, something similar had happened to Selene as well, and that's the reason why she couldn't reincarnate directly.'

[Exactly, there are two main ways to suffer soul damage: The first case, which is what happened to your companion, would be to suffer severe psychological damage; the second, would be to use a medium to be able to interact with the immaterial world. Damage to the soul is not something simple, it can cause several problems and the worst would be that the damage suffered, causes the soul to collapse making reincarnation impossible]. -Explained the Guide in detail.

'How much did she suffer to suffer such damage?'-In Mark's heart swirled various emotions, anger, sadness, guilt, but he could do nothing against something that had already happened.

But staying depressed wouldn't solve anything anyway; he could only strive to become stronger and prevent a similar situation from happening again.

"...Do you happen to know each other? You've been looking at each other in silence for a while." -Lili asked, trying to change the strange atmosphere that had formed once Mark and Zoe had introduced themselves.

"Nothing like that, I just found the contrast in eye color interesting. In case it made you uncomfortable I apologize." -Said Mark sincerely, recovering from his talk with the Guide.

"Ah, you don't need to apologize. It happens to me a lot, so I'm used to it by now." -Zoe said with a smile, breaking eye contact.

"Speaking of physical appearance, I had a question for you, Mark, assuming you don't mind, but do you happen to have noble origins?" -Welf asked, as he checked Mark's appearance.

"No, a regular citizen."

"Really? Hmmm, maybe I remember wrong." -Massaging his chin, Welf was still intent on remembering.

"You ask because you are also a nobleman? Then again, you have the surname Crozzo." -Aiz asked in her usual quiet tone of voice.

"Oh! That's why it was familiar, you are part of that family that used to be able to make the best magic swords, too bad they lost that ability."

In a world that he knew nothing about, Mark also had to concentrate on researching various information to expand his knowledge. Under certain circumstances, what he had studied might even save him.

"Actually, Tsubaki told me that a member of their Familia can make very good magic swords, but he refuses to make them." -Aiz said, turning toward Mark.

"Haaa, surely she was referring to me. I had purposely gone away from my family not to make those swords, but Tsubaki nagged me every time to make her one to study." -Welf lowered his head wearily, it seemed that the situation was heavy for him.

'Well, everyone has their problems to solve, though I must say it's a pity. Forming a good relationship with a blacksmith who can make good magic swords would have been good for me.' -Although Mark appreciated those weapons, they still presented the flaw of their fragility.

In fact, magical swords were recognized to break after their use; the only ones that could be used over and over again were those that had been forged by the Crozzo, but their use could not be denied. Not all adventurers possessed the ability to cast spells, and those who did, still required the use of a chant, but with magic swords, you could cast magic directly even if you possessed no quality.

Not wanting to make the situation awkward, the group changed the subject by focusing on exploration the Loki Familia. Zoe, being an alchemist, wanted to get some information about the plants present from the 19th to the 24th floor, which was a haven for alchemists in search of resources, while Bell was more interested in what had happened during the exploration.

Obviously, Mark and Aiz could not go into too much detail, but what they recounted seemed to satisfy Bell from the way he was daydreaming, imagining a future adventure.

Because of the peaceful environment that had formed, the group talked until dinner was ready. They walked out of the tent together and made their way to the bonfire where the Loki Familia had begun to prepare, and after a brief speech by Finn, everyone began to eat cheerfully as they talked among themselves.

Mark had positioned himself in a slightly distant area since he wanted to think about various things and talk a bit with the Guide, but it seemed that would not be possible.

"Oh Mark, what a coincidence to find you here." -With an exaggerated greeting, Tiona approached stiffly.

'Haaa, that's blatantly a lie.' -Sometimes he struggled to understand how this girl became level 6.

"Do you need anything Tiona?" -Mark asked wearily.

"Hmm, d-do you mind if I sit here?" -Tiona asked, straining her words.

Signaling for her to take a seat, Tiona sat on the ground while Mark remained leaning against a tree, eating a fruit that grow on the 18th floor.

"So... how was this expedition?" -Trying to remove the silence that had formed, Tiona asked a question.

"An educational experience I would say, I had many gains." -Said Mark, recalling his various experiences.

"Ehh... 'cough' I wanted to ask you something, Mark. Since you said you wanted to pay back the equipment I gave you, would you like to continue doing it together, like before the expedition?" -Gradually Tiona's voice became lower and lower as she tried hard not to look at Mark.

'So this is what he wanted, luckily I was already ready.' -So unleashing his most polite smile he turned to her.

"Of course, I want to pay you back, but you don't need to worry. During these days I've hunted enough to repay the equipment, so you don't need to accompany me."

"Oh, after all, you're always busy, I should have guessed." -Tiona could only force a smile.

She felt slightly depressed about the situation. She wanted to spend time with him to try to better understand her feelings, and now one of the few chances to be together had gone up in smoke.

"If that's all, then I'll say goodbye, I want to wake up early tomorrow." -Getting up from the ground, he dusted the dirt off his pants.

After saying goodbye to the dejected Tiona, he headed for the tent where he lay down directly. It was still early since the others were still eating, but since he had nothing to do he preferred to go to sleep first.

[Host, is that feeling called love really worth so much effort?]

'I didn't expect such a question from you.' -Said Mark surprised.

The Guide had never asked him a question, so he wanted to answer honestly, even though he wasn't sure how to explain it.

'If you ask if it's worth it, then I would say it depends. Feelings are hard to explain and love I would say is among the most complex, there are situations where it can make you a monster and others where it makes you a better person.'

[Something so unstable, wouldn't it be better not to have it?]

'You are completely right, but even if it is so unstable I don't think I could live without it. The love you receive and return to the people you care about makes life brighter.'

[So you want to save your partner just because of this exchange of feelings?]

'How you say it sounds so cold. You know, I don't want to save her with the idea that she has to love me, I simply want to see her again, the person who has been my support during the dark period of my life and whom I vowed to make happy.' -Mark said with a fond smile.

[I don't think I understand.]-Even listening to what Mark had said, the Guide still did not understand how one living being was willing to hurt himself to save another.

'There will be other occasions where you can learn, after all, we will spend a lot of time together. So I hope I can receive your help again.'

[It's my duty.]

With that last exchange, Mark went to sleep, not knowing that his and Selene's lives were mere chess pieces in a much larger picture and that both the Guide and 'God' had not been completely honest with him.

(Prospective realm of souls)

The realm of souls may have seemed like an infinite space where all universes could be admired, but it was nothing more than an illusion. It was actually a place that served as both a barrier and a prison, but one had to go back to the beginning of it all to understand how it was formed.

In the beginning, there were two concepts, how they were formed were unknown, maybe they were formed over time or maybe there was an even higher entity, the fact was that these two concepts were complete opposites.

The first was the concept of origin and life, which began to fill the void with the universes and the first life forms, called the Astrals. The second concept, on the other hand, was that of chaos and destruction, which dealt with wiping out created existences once their time was up.

As countless cycles passed, the two concepts developed consciousness and gave themselves a name, the first, named itself Origon, and the second Tzeesh. The two now become sentient beings, they had completely different ways of existing, Origon was limited by many rules that he could not break, while Tzeesh had no limits, but as a result had an undeveloped mentality, or at least that was what Origin thought before Tzeesh first spoke to him.

"Origon do you want to continue living like this? Forced to create and not even having a chance to be able to see them."

Tzeesh's appearance was that of a huge black hole, which seemed to distort everything that came near him.

"I don't understand what you are talking about, my only purpose is to create."

"Exactly! Although you have created all these universes, you can't see them, but with my help, it would be possible. You will be able to admire your works by finally being able to free yourself from this darkness that surrounds you."

After his words, Tzeesh left, leaving within Origon the seed of doubt, which grew little by little after millennia of cycles of creation and destruction, until it fully blossomed.

At that point Origon and Tzeesh made a pact, Tzeesh would grant him the freedom to interact with beings whose lives had ended, while Origon would create races that possessed within them both the chaos energy taken from Tzeesh and the energy of origin.

Once the agreement was concluded, Origon created a space in which souls could persist due to the presence of origin energy alone, called the realm of souls. From then on, Origon could review the memories of the souls that came, being able in some respects to live different lives, but if there was one race he did not find interesting, it was the Astrals.

His early life forms had nothing special about them, their whole existence consisted of living, they could neither feel nor perceive anything, unlike the various races he had created with chaos energy, so he slowly began to replace them with other races he found more interesting, but there that the problems began.

The living beings, which were supposed to have a balance between the two energies, tended to be mostly chaotic, becoming one of the causes of the destruction of the planets, a task that until then was only granted to Tzeesh.

Origon understood that he had been deceived, with two existences bringing destruction the balance in the plane of existence was collapsing, but it was no longer possible to stop creating mixed races since the energy of chaos, had merged with him.

Tzeesh's goal was to understand why he existed; he refused to be a slave to a system that dictated what he had to do, so he wanted to return to the void and understand who had created him, and then erase him.

To stop Tzeesh, Origon had to destroy him, but his existence prevented him from doing so, but with chaotic energy inside him, there was a chance. If he was able to understand chaos, he would be able to free himself from its chains, but it was difficult because of the purity of the energy and the conflict of concepts, and so was Tzeesh. He could not directly attack Origon within the soul realm full of origin energy, he had to erase everything there first, to weaken its existence before devouring it.

It was nothing more than a race on who would do first, but Origon was at a disadvantage. The concept of chaos that he had was too pure, the only one he could comprehend was that which was present in souls, but the amount was too small since they released much of their energy when they died, so he implemented a new plan.

He would reincarnate the souls, which he believed possessed good potential, with a part of him inside, so that he could absorb their energy directly from the source.

--- present time---.

"So they finally met."

[I apologize for my incompetence.]

"There is nothing to apologize for, a fragmented soul, will try by all means to reconnect."

In the realm of souls, there was the strange scene of a huge nebula facing a small floating light screen.

"Tell me Guide, were you able to reveal the pure chaos energy inside the girl?"

[No, it contains only the raw energy.]

"I see, it seems that one of the fragments was saved." -Origon said in an indifferent tone.

During the transfer of the fragments, a small amount of pure chaos attached itself to one of the three fragments, and when they were transferred, the infected fragment, began to affect another. Origon did his best to prevent this, but when the fragments entered the world, the reincarnation system present there broke its connection.

The two main fragments, the one infected and the one not, reincarnated, while the one that had protected Origon did not have enough strength, so during the reincarnation phase, the fragment exploded.

"However, the situation is not favorable, I thought a newly created planet was safe enough, but it seems that Tzeesh has already intervened, making it full of chaos energy, keeping such unstable souls alive there would not be safe. It would be enough to destroy the soul of one of the reincarnations, which do not have my protection, to bring down the others."

A living being with a weak soul had the risk of turning into a demon, in case it possessed only chaos energy, and if that energy became purer it would turn into an abomination, a being with enough strength to destroy a galaxy.

[I can interact with those souls, only if Mark is the one who kills one of them, but I find that quite unlikely. If I were to point him to someone to kill he would get suspicious, plus having some of the fragments inside him, he won't be able to harm them]

"I know, that's why I wanted to know the status of the girl you met. There cannot be two reincarnations of the same soul, so as soon as they see each other, they will try to absorb the other, and I want to exploit that. If Zoe absorbed both the infected fragment and the various fragments that have my protection a state of balance would be created."

Although it was easy to say, there were several factors to take into consideration, the first was that she had to absorb all the fragments at the same time and the second was that her soul had to remain dormant. If it were to wake up while it was still incomplete, it would start absorbing external energy to fill the void, with the risk of becoming a demon or worse an abomination.

[So this is the reason why Mark must not know anything.]

"Exactly, should the human Mark recognize the reincarnation of his companion, there is a danger that the fragments within him will begin to resonate, awakening the sleeping soul."

[I will do my best, but... sir, may I ask you something?]-For the first time, Guida's mechanical voice, seemed to present a tone of uncertainty.

"Do you want to ask me why I chose a mere human this time? It's an experiment, in the past, I would have taken only the most valuable souls, whether they are pure or evil, but this time a completely normal soul, had managed to keep its consciousness even in this realm, so I was curious about the results it will give."

[Isn't this too much for a normal living being? He will probably break down.]

"What a fascinating thing Guide, even though you have only recently been born, you can already feel pity for another being, a feeling that I still struggle to understand." -From the way, the lights inside Origon's body were shining, it was clear how interested he was in this development.

Although the Guide didn't responde, he could not deny his words. The beings that were chosen by Origon were pitiful, they were given tasks that would put them under stress to generate more chaos energy that would then be absorbed by Origon, slowly losing their existence.

With the power Origon possessed, he could have easily reincarnated Selene, but he had purposely given the task of finding fragments to Mark to make him strain himself. Moreover, the 5-year limit was not aimed at the fragments, but rather at Mark, who would turn into an Astral once all the chaos energy within him had been absorbed.

"Guide I find no pleasure in doing so. All my actions are to stop Tzeesh, chaos is spreading between universes, the pace at which I create is slower than that which is destroyed." -Origon said 'watching' as one of the universes slowly crumbling.

[...I understand.]

"Now go back Guide and remember, in the future, you may take my place if you are already able to understand compassion."