He puffed on the roll of wangi in hand, the thick smoke that had a sweet tinge to its grey plumes clouded about Ishar's head. "Ovek," He said.

"Yeah?" The God, Ovek, answered. Man and God sat upon a field of black sand, overlooking a dark sky. Ishar passed him the wangi roll and Ovek took a drag before blowing a plume of his own. The God sat with his knees drawn up, he rested an arm on his knees and with the other he brought the roll of wangi to his lips. He had copper skin now, a head of sand peppered hair and eyes of brown. He looked like a Remu. The scar on his forehead and the silver tooth were the only distinction to the God of many faces.

"This is like your domain, right? This place that you bring me every night." Ishar who mimicked the God's posture said.

"Yeap." Ovek answered.

"So you can change it, like change how it looks and everything. You can add things and take them away?"

"Yeah."

"Why then don't you make it more comfortable? The whole sitting on black sand thing isn't exactly comfortable, is it?"

"I can create seats, comfortable seats made of plump cushions of deep amber." Ovek said.

"Yeah, and, and, hear me out." Ishar stood up. "We can have food that float around and you can grab them out of the air and eat them."

"Fascinating." Ovek agreed. "Why stop there? We can add flowing rivers of wine."

Ishar placed both hands on his head. "That would be amazing! And... I'm so excited... And we can have a bard, no... No.. Three bards, each of them singing different songs that just combine to make one great song."

"I don't think music works that way." Ovek said. Passing the wangi roll back to Ishar. "But that sounds like a fantastic idea." He watched as the young Kolotian sucked on the wangi roll.

"So, are you going to do it?" Ishar asked with a smoky cough.

"No." Ovek answered.

"But why?"

"This is the domain of Chaos. Those who wander in here lose everything, they lose their minds, their ambitions and passions. They are stripped of all that they see as fair, all that they see as deserving of them. The black sand represents quantity, each grain of sand is a plunge into that which fights back, that innate urge to abandon everything and give yourself to that which isn't aligned." Ovek raised his hand to the black sky. "And up there, where no sun shines, no star sparkles. Well, with a gaze you understand hopelessness."

"But we smoke wangi in here. Surely we can do more." Ishar argued.

"The drug has its purpose, you shall one day understand."

"Ovek, take my gift." A female voice suddenly sounded amidst the darkness.

Suddenly, the space before Ishar tore, revealing a bright light, he tensed and backtracked. A woman fell through the gap in space and darkness encroached, smothering the light. The woman wore a white dress, she lay on the ground, puzzled, then she sprang to her feet and curled her hands into fists before her. The woman looked very familiar with her blonde hair and grey eyes engraved in a heart shaped face.

Ovek and Ishar stared at her.

She lowered her fists but held them curled by her side, she bowed low and spoke with her head facing the ground. "Ovek, God of Chaos. I stand here before you with a request, that you may grant me leave to speak to Ishar. I wish you no harm and I apologize for intruding in your domain."

Ovek stared at her. "Meena's champion?" He asked.

She raised her head and nodded. "I am at your mercy." She added.

"Ovek I'm going to be frank with you, I do not know this woman." Ishar said.

"I am Queen Dahli of Binoria." Dahli said. "When I knew you I was a Princess."

"Oh! Oh yes!" Ishar said while pointing at her. "Oh yes!" Ishar turned to Ovek. "Remember that woman I told you I saw while at Binoria? The beautiful, really hot one? The Princess?"

"This is her?" Ovek asked.

"In the flesh." Ishar said and took a drag of the wangi roll. "Gods she's gorgeous."

Dahli stared at him. "Ishar, I have something important to share with you—"

Ovek held up a hand, the wangi plant and its smoke vanished, the sand upon the ground stirred, as if coming alive. "You're in my domain, daughter of Order. You stain my essence with your very being. What will you give in exchange for mercy?" His voice transformed. Becoming hoarse, riddled with malice, rage and loathing. The voice stripped her of order, made her thoughts a jumbled mess. She felt distraught, as if a piece of her was missing.

Dahli's limbs shook, she moved to answer but Ovek shook his head.

"This is the first time you have come into my domain, I will not ask anything of you but I shall give that honor to my champion." Ovek said while motioning to Ishar. "The second time you shall enter, I will demand of you something you will deem too precious to give, and it is then that you might meet your end by my hand. Daughter of Order."

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"Can you stop speaking like that? You're scaring her." Ishar said.

"I have to put on a good show so she'd take me seriously, Ishar, we talked about this." Ovek said.

"Can you look at the poor woman, there's no breeze here yet she's trembling like a twig in a hurricane. Have some mercy on her."

"Mercy is a price that she will pay for depending on what you choose to ask of her." Ovek said and got off the ground, he turned and started walking away. "I will leave you two to talk, oh and Ishar." Ovek tilted his neck at Ishar, he waved a copper hued hand and something like a chair appeared, it was long but wasn't made of wood or padded with cotton or leather. It was black, and shaped like a pool of floating black water uplifted on four legs that also seemed forged of flowing black water . The surface of the chair reflected their features and right before Ovek left, Ishar saw the God's smile.

Ishar rushed and dropped himself on the chair. Watched the seat stretch to encompass his length, it forged as a pillow beneath his neck and he leaned back, stretching like a cat. "You have to try this. It's so comfy."

Dahli was hesitant. As if sensing a trap.

Ishar sat up. "Come, don't be afraid, I'm not going to rape you."

Dahli's brows creased. Her eyes reminded Ishar of a lion, he had never seen one but the intensity behind her glare spoke of something feral. "Even if you tried, you will not succeed." She turned her attention to the chair. "I'm wary of this contraption for I do not know its purpose, it might serve to incarcerate me."

"Incarcerate. Wow!" Ishar started clapping. "Big words! Big Girl, what other big words do you know?"

"You're like a child." Dahli said, a sneer drawing the corner of her lip. "Incarcerate means imprison."

"I also know a big word," Ishar said. "Serendipity."

Dahli smiled. "What does it mean?"

"Honesty, I have no idea. Ovek talked about something mundane like how to revive a nation and he used the word serendipity. I wanted to ask him what it means but then I thought it would be way cooler if he thought I knew what it meant before hand, so I didn't ask." He leaned back down on the chair, "But this chair! Gods! It is so comfy, it feels serendipitous. I think I'll name this chair that, serendipity."

Dahli moved a step closer, hesitated then made up her mind with a nod and placed herself on the chair. Ishar, leaning back, watched as the shape of the chair morphed to accommodate her, not forcing itself upon her limbs but positioning itself in a way that beckoned her to ease her limbs into it with a promise of comfort. In moments, she lay with her back, facing the abyss above.

They reclined in silence. Neither willing the moment to end, and Ishar's eyes were on her. Taking her in, the way her breath was even, as if every inhale and exhale was practiced.

"You smoke wangi with your God?" Dahli asked.

"Yeah. So you're a queen now, what's it like?"

Dahli paused, as if not expecting the shift in the conversation. Ishar knew order, he'd been in the realm of the Goddess Meena. Ovek had taught him how to dance counter to the flow of order, to rage against it with the aim of subduing it, something Ovek said was impossible for Order and Chaos exist in balance. "It's hard. So many people depend on me. Binoria is at its weakest, there's so much that's going on, so much that requires action, the right action and the right words and the right thoughts. Without the power of Meena, I would be swamped."

"I killed some Binorians in the desert recently." Ishar said. "I'm sorry, they wanted to cut off my hands."

"It would be unwise to tell me of your location." Dahli said.

"I'm also sorry about killing your father, I thought he'd killed the woman I loved but he hadn't, he also was trying to kill me, and the Talisi."

"That man was not my father."

Ishar nodded. "Yes, he was Selarch, reincarnated in the flesh of his descendants."

Dahli turned to face Ishar. "You knew?"

Ishar cocked a brow. "It might surprise you, Queen, but I know a lot of things." He stood up, getting out of Serendipity, the chair beckoned for him as it parted his body. "I know a lot, I know so much. Sometimes I am burdened with the knowledge bestowed upon me by experience. I stay up, raked with foreboding born of the seeds that sprout in my mind unbidden. I also know why you're here."

Dahli gasped. "So your God has told you?"

"Partly, yes, but majority of the knowledge I now posses I have gleamed through my own discernment."

"Then you know the danger that faces us all."

"Yes I do." Ishar said. He turned to face her, his face a mask of deep contemplation. "I know that you love me, that you are infatuated by me. That you cannot rest or eat or sleep without me plaguing your mind."

"What—" Dahli started but Ishar moved to her and silenced her with an index finger to her lips.

"Hush my sweet. It cannot be, that which you desire and long for, it cannot be. I am aware of the effect I have on women, but my heart is spoken for."

Dahli pushed his finger roughly away. "You imbecile." She started, "The reason I am here is to warn you of my brother, Leba Vigon."

Ishar turned his back to her, crossed his arms behind his back, he stared off into the dark horizon within the Domain of Chaos. He seemed pained by the words he had to speak, as if breaking a heart wasn't part of his agenda.

"Dahli," he started. "I understand. Leba, your brother, desires you too."

"Did someone drop you as a child?"

"You are Queen and he wants to be King. In this game of thrones, it isn't uncommon for a brother to copulate with his sister. And besides, you're irresistible."

Dahli pinched the bridge of her nose and furrowed her brow. "Ishar." She started, as if speaking to a child. "Leba Vigon is the chosen Champion of a God."

Ishar nodded. "So he sees this as a valid reason to mount you?"

Dahli sighed, seemed to be thinking about a sharp retort, and then decided against it. She continued with a soothing voice, like pouring honey. "No, Ishar. The God Leba serves is the enemy of life, he does not conform to race nor Kingdom. His dominion is the void and I fear Leba will deal this potent hatred of his God upon the realm."

Ishar turned to her. "What is the name of this God?"

"Locha, the bringer of the endless night." Dahli said.

Ishar turned to her, feeling something well within him. Is that dread? He wondered. No, it sits deeper than that, it must be brought about by an overwhelming fear. But why am I afraid? "I know nothing of this God. Nor of Leba."

"What do you know of the Gods?" Dahli asked. "What has your God told you of them?"

Ishar waved a hand. "I know Meena, Order. And of course my God, Chaos. Then there's Mairek's God, he has something to do with time or colds, something like that. Mairek tried explaining it to me but all I got from him is how terrified he'd look whenever someone coughed. There's Rehny's, something about a Goddess who loves pink because she made his hair pink. And... Uhmm.. That's about it."

Dahli looked to be visibly fighting an urge to groan. She collected herself, and with a soft sigh she delved into detail. "The Gods united once, at a time called Tunega when they walked the realm. They united the realm to face the Bringer of the Endless Night, Locha. They fought and a Goddess died to ensure their victory. The Gods forged a prison for Locha to ensure he never returned but this rendered them incapable of walking the realm freely so as not to hinder the prison's parameters. But now that the Gods have chosen champions, so too as Locha returned with a champion of his own. My brother, Leba."

"Where is he?" Ishar asked.

"I do not know." Dahli answered. "I fear the Remu and Talisi will attack Binoria, we barely have a standing army. They think the old rules still stand, that war and barbarity is the only answer to a life of subjugation. I fear they are blinded with their need for revenge, blind to the fact that there exists one who does not care for either, one who only wants to feed the void."

"Is that why you're here, to warn me of Leba?"

"Yes, I need you to help me unite them. The champions of the Gods and the realm, to gather all who can fight in preparation for Leba's first attack." Dahli said. She lowered her gaze and raised her eyes to meet Ishar's gaze. "Your God has asked you to ask one thing of me for this privilege afforded me to speak to you, I will hear your request, Ishar, and I shall strive to meet it."

"I don't trust you." Ishar said.

"Why?"

"When you put me in an arena to face a Telinete Rhino, I asked upon victory for a kiss from you." He spread his arms. "Where is the kiss Dahli?"

"Gods—"

"No, don't Gods me. I wanted that kiss, wanted it badly. It would have been my first kiss but nooooo, instead I was hunted down like some handsome, charming beast."

"You want a kiss?"

"I already have enough kisses. No thanks to you. I get good kisses, long ones, sometimes short. Sometimes moderated. Sometimes with tongue and sometimes just the lips. And sometimes the kisses go down south—"

"I'm not interested in hearing about your kisses." Dahli said with a stern tone. "I want to know what coming here has cost me."

Ishar took a moment to ponder. "I want free passage through your lands for me and everyone who would be with me when I leave the desert. I do not want to be harassed, attacked or hunted as I cross your lands."

"Done." Dahli said. "Will you then speak to the others? Will you help unite them?"

"I will."

Silence ensued. A silence that was spent with the two Champions of opposite Gods staring at each other. One battled with the weight of the crown upon her head, wondering whether her desire to rule was something she still thought of as fitting. The other wondered whether he could ask her for ten carts of cabbages for his Telinete rhino on top of the demand he'd already made.

"Return to me." A female voice commanded, the darkness parted about Dahli. Light engulfed her and the last thing Ishar saw as the darkness rushed to smother the light was Dahli's grey eyes as she departed the domain of Chaos. Dahli's eyes, so weary, so laden with the weight of rule. Yet there, undeniably engraved in her pupils, was something Ishar didn't quite understand. Something so separate from all that she appeared to be, something that had been hidden carefully while she was in his presence. Only allowed to be viewed right before she was carried away from him.

Ishar went to Serendipity, placed himself and lounged. "Women are so complicated." He said. And the darkness all around him seemed to agree. "I sure hope you allow me to remember this conversation with Dahli, Ovek, it seems important."

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