36 Chapter 36 - Changes Have Begun (1/2)

The Garden on the side of the house was far more than just a garden as it was a masterpiece of formations, wards, and spatial folding that I had no hope of ever understanding, even if I lived as long as Alice. But that masterpiece turned what should have been a small field into hundreds of plantable acres that had soil bursting with vitality. It was a tranquil place, but I always felt out of place when inside and now, I was strong enough to understand why.

While everything was brimming with vitality, the Chains of Order were shaping everything. I didn't have a concept of this before, but as I shifted my vision to the new, enhanced form, I could see these golden chains and the name appeared in my mind as well as a distaste and discomfort. They were woven throughout the fields, around every plant, and even through the river and on the far cliffs. Although this place was thriving with life energy, I could never use it due to my Chaotic nature as these chains would put defenses against my aura.

Unable to suppress my curiosity, I knelt down by one of the rows of herbs and tried to touch one of the chains, but my fingers went straight through it. The golden chain shimmered brightly at first as I neared, but it dimmed after my touch and grew increasingly darker as my hand remained 'within' it.

”Hey! What are you doing?” Yue called out as she jogged over.

I retracted my hand with a sheepish grin and apologized as I stood up, ”Sorry, Yue, I was curious.”

”It's fine, the lines are repairing themselves now... Just what 'did' you do?” Yue asked as she checked the silver tablet in her hand that acted as the focus for the formations and wards in the Garden.

”I don't really know... I just saw the Chains of Order and wondered what would happen if I touched them.”

”Chains of Order? You can see the laws of the formations?!?” Yue exclaimed.

I shrugged, ”All I see are golden chains woven throughout this entire place. The name came to my head like the basic understanding of my powers.”

”You couldn't do this before, right? Did you make some gains after...” her voice died away as she gave me a sad look.

”Actually, I did. Although I can't use the new true form, I have a new element which has greatly enhanced my senses even without being able to use it like my Chaos Lightning.”

”What is it?”

I made a complicated face and replied, ”Death... Corruption... I'm not quite sure of its full power, but if I unleash it without being able to control it, I could become something that kills all things just because they were within a certain range. Koken said I would become the embodiment of Death and, while I don't understand that exactly, I do know I would have a kind of 'aura' that will drain the life of anything near me, plant, animal, and human alike. ”

”Death, you mean...?”

”That I died? Yeah and without Katye constantly channeling her Chaos magic, I would have stayed that way,” I sighed.

”I'm sorry, Rebecca... If I had planned a little more...” Yue said softly.

I pulled her by the shoulder into a hug and said, ”It's not your fault, Yue. We've had some tough scraps before in the 'Rift', but nothing like that. We were lucky to have made it out at all and minimize the damage as much as we did.”

She rested her head against my shoulder for a minute before she sighed and pulled away. ”So, why did you come here? You hate the Garden.”

”For you, my friend. What all has been going on while I was unconscious and why are Alice's 'old' friends starting to appear now?” I asked.

”Come on, I can show you a video that will help explain a little,” Yue said as she turned and headed further into the garden.

Yue took me to the platform that straddled the river which was now covered by a gazebo with swaths of sky blue fabric hanging down form the top. I sat down in a chair while Yue pulled out a tablet and brought up Youtube. I heard the news clip start before she handed it to me and sat down in the chair across from me.

Although the government was trying to hide the truth and claimed the attack was done Islamic terrorists, the joy of the modern age was that everyone had a camera these days. Numerous cell phone clips had been strung together in this particular video, allowing the truth to be seen from countless angles. Five men, dressed in black with sickly-green, full- masquerade masks, entered a large mall or some kind of shopping center in France and burned it down, killing hundreds, but there was no mistaking the vile green flames as anything but magic in our trained eyes. The most haunting part of the video was the sound of inhuman wailing that made my hair stand on end as I felt a deeper connection to it.