Chaos.

  Keynes’s spiritual core hummed in a strange unfamiliar rhythm, but he sensed longing in it. He followed the source of the sensation, somehow, despite being thrown around like a doll. With each passing second Keynes traversed the whirlwind, getting closer to the source of Chaos.

  The rhythm of his core changed and filled him with happiness.

  But it was all wrong. He’d already defied Chaos, becoming its enemy. So why did it welcome him?

  The whirlwind stuttered and came to a sudden halt. In front of Keynes spread the madness of Chaos. Why did he feel comforted by its presence?

  Taken aback, Keynes allowed himself a moment to understand. He stood on a border of two worlds. On one side raged Chaos on the other Spirit. Was this related to being inside a rift? It was…

  Wait.

  He focused on the impossible landscape of Chaos. And found a rhythm in it. Like with [Chaos Aura] he understood it, albeit to a lesser degree. What he found interesting was that his landscape vastly differed from when he’d encountered the entity of Chaos. This landscape here was wilder but at the same time friendlier.

  There’s clearly something going on with Chaos. Could there be different entities of Chaos? Something like that would be bizarre… or would it be? Perhaps, it was something to do with the Higher Realms. He was tempted to go to the Shop and ask the Greater System about it but the cost would likely be quite steep. So maybe the other time.

  However, he tried to return to the semi-soul space and couldn’t.

  Interesting. It likely means I cannot leave visions as well. Good to know.

  But it was time to leave, regardless. Keynes’s body was still in the rift and if he hadn’t ran out of the mana, he might soon.

  However, something caught his attention.

  A minor detail.

  The landscape of Chaos resembled a… map.

  I got you.

  A powerful tug pulled him out of there back into the rift.

  Alice, in the form of a human-sized woman, floated next to Keynes. A second later he ran out of mana and dropped from the sky. He managed to reorient his body and land on his feet without taking any damage.

  Alice descended after him.

  “It was a close call,” she said.

  “I’m not sure I understand what happened,” Keynes replied truthfully. He was actually shaken by the experience, at least inwardly. He looked expectantly at Alice.

  She didn’t seem upset but through their bond, Keynes sensed her worry. She stared at him for a few heartbeats before speaking up.

  “You were trying to enter the Spiritual Realm of course, silly,” she said, masking her emotions. “But you got it all wrong.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “I…” Keynes was at loss for words. It made no sense. He had seen the Spiritual Realm before, so what did change? “How?”

  “It is… Chaos inside you. It seems to influence you. Keynes, Chaos and Spirit aren’t the exact opposite forces, but they, well, you must have seen what happened at the edge where Chaos met Spirit, right?”

  Keynes looked back, reliving the moment he found himself on the precipice of Chaos, and saw what Chaos did to Spirit and what Spirit did to Chaos.

  Chaos unravelled Spirit.

  Spirit formed out of Chaos.

  He suddenly realised that he was on the verge of understanding something fundamental, but at the same time, he was missing something.

  “If Spirit isn’t an opposite of Chaos, what is?”

  “What do you think?” she asked softly.

  “By definition, order.”

  “Order, yes,” Alice replied after a while, thoughtful. “And what is Order, Keynes? What is Chaos? What is Spirit?”

  What were they? Chaos destroyed, no, not destroyed, undid Spirit, and Spirit came out of Chaos.

  Fuck. It made no sense. Unless…

  “Chaos is Spirit without Order.”

  “Both Chaos and Order are fundamental forces, while Spirit is a fundamental…”

  “Matter. It is a matter.” Keynes finished. “But where in this is the Spiritual Realm?”

  “Oh, Keynes, you should have figured it out by now.”

  He mulled it over and came to a single conclusion.

  “The Spiritual Realm is one where there is no Chaos and Order, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So, I kind of went the other direction.” That also raised a few questions.

  “No. The other direction is… what you called the Higher Realms where Order reigns. The Spiritual Realm isn’t any direction. It is here. A place of pure spiritual energy.”

  Keynes noticed something. Alice started to glow, very gently. And there was more; her voice had a slightly different tone.

  “Who are you?” Keynes asked, probing their bond, finding nothing out of ordinary there.

  “Just sending some love, Keynes Kid. For all the gifts you have received, your progress is painfully slow. I understand, and respect, what you’re trying to accomplish but you’re running out of time. A little Lem miscalculated badly, believing you will have more time than you actually have. To that end, I imbued your spiritual companion with some useful knowledge that will come handy in the coming, trying, years.”

  Keynes frantically searched for clues in the bond with Alice but it told him that everything was fine. But it clearly wasn’t!

  “Who are you?” Keynes demanded, stepping closer toward Alice, who hovered above the ground.

  “I hope you aren’t that dense. Truly. Wit, they say, is one of superpowers. You know?”

  Suddenly Keynes knew.

  “The Greater System?”

  “An avatar of me, but yes.”

  “Why are you helping me? What’s the price I’ll have to pay?”

  She smiled and then the glow left Alice, leaving her disoriented.

  “Keynes, what’s just happened?” she asked, as he touched her cheek. His hand trembled, his chest was tight.

  “It’s all right, Alice,” Keynes replied, sending comforting emotions through their bond. “It’s all right.”

  ***

  He found a treasure chest at the edge of the town. It had a silvery metal in it. He half expected that opening it would trigger something, make the monster suddenly appear, but no, the rift remained monsterless.

  “Is this normal for a Level 6 rift?” Keynes asked on their way out of the rift.

  “What? How would I… actually yes,” Alice replied, baffled. “Why do I know the answer, Keynes?”

  He smiled in response, but his mind spun with worries, because there would be a price to pay. Worse, something really dire was coming if the Greater System decided to offer its help. He hated that.

  “Let’s find some rifts.”