The two girls looked around with alarm, having felt the entire process as yet another shift. However, this time there was nothing that resolved, a white fulfilled in its own perpetuity.

Each girl noticed that even their own form was hazy and nondescript, like a questionable existence that questioned its own existence. The two of them tried to look around for anything else, but there was nothing beyond nothing. After a bit more wandering, the two were surprised by a tap on their shoulders, spinning to face a woman of pure white. Notably, it should have been impossible to see anything pure white on a backdrop of equally pure white, but that did not seem to stop them in this case. The woman guided them properly to the nothing they should be at, before they had gotten lost in other nothing. Even conceptually, this was making both of their heads spin.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware there were any visitors. I’ve not actually had visitors before either, I must apologize for that as well. Well, visitors, what brings you so far from home?” “I.. we’re trying to figure out what has happened to us both. We have been taken from our own world, thrown into shared circumstances as we shift together to each world in turn. We had found a book that was supposed to reveal something about everything for us, only to instead find ourselves here.” “Oh my, fortune has done quite a deal upon you. Maybe I should apologize for that as well. I wasn’t aware that things would have involved entreating such important guests so directly. Sorry, I’m still rather new to all this, in all accounts. I know mother had worked with quite a few of you in the past, but that was all while the rules were ones of fate instead of ones of chance. More so, never had such a meeting been so.. personal. Mother had reached out to those who had drawn close enough to speak with, even walked within the dreams of several in important cases. I know in some of my first days, mother had been graced with the essence of an important case too, a responsibility I was then assigned to. But to have someone actually enter the temporal plane, someone that commanded the temporal frost itself, I would have never even thought it possible before this meeting. To have two at once.. although maybe a pair is what becomes required in the process.” The white lady seemed very fascinated with the two of them. The temporal plane, this would mean they were within the veil then, in the places between worlds. Very obviously, this might be the worst possible place they could ever get lost in.

“Anyway, yes, I guess then you have come to the right place by chance. I’m the one you would probably have to blame for being stuck in this mess, after all. You see, I had been forced to reach out beyond the veil and try to forge a connection that might change the misfortune the world is beset to. Both worlds, if I may be honest. When I had reached this world, witnessed the terms of its existence, I knew it was only slated for destruction. Being so bound.. even I could no longer escape it. This place held life, but misfortune would rob it of that very quickly. In the past, I might have been able to change its fate, but my family had long lost that potential. Fate does not shape events anymore, only chance can determine what actually happens. Everything was beyond my control. However, left with nothing but chance, I wove chance into design. If the worlds would draw so close together that they would connect, I would let a connection slip through, I would use that state of parallel to bridge probability, to create luck. It seems, in seeking out such a parallel, I had found the two of you. That was very fortunate, any luck with such chaos had been quite fleeting.” The white lady then had personally been the one who had designed their link, who had made this whole thing happen. However, she had no control over it, it had only just happened. They both recalled the friend they had each lost in the process, realizing that such then was a failure of the chaos.

“Why though, why do we have to suffer this?” “To save worlds, like I said, the worlds of both parallels. I was able to reach through because a link existed, and matters of chaos had driven them even closer. The more the parallel of chaos pulls on both worlds, the more it invites chaos into each. If too much chaos is released on either world, destruction will be unleashed upon it. If this tears the veil too wide, chaos will consume it whole. I have found signs that there has already been a nearby star lost in that way. I’m also certain that the same catastrophe is what had rendered the world a husk in the first place. However, it seems this misfortune was not visited upon the other side, something that would have shifted it completely out of parallel had the one remained dead. With the parallel restored, both are at risk once again. The parallel itself is so strong that the death of one would exclusively cause the death of the other.” The two girls were stunned to hear that the white lady was claiming that she was trying to resolve something so serious. Everything though remained well beyond them in the scope of things.

“Now, however, I have learned that the parallel itself is not a problem. Just as how destruction would be a chain reaction, so would preservation. What mattered was removing the chaos consuming the parallel. However, look around you, the temporal plane is nothing but chaos, waiting to feast on anything else. You two have not fallen to such chaos yourself only because you carry chaos with you, you have been marked by it. It was the price of passage. I’m sorry, I do not know of a way to remove the mark, but I still entreat you, please find a way to at least prevent chaos from scourging its misfortune. Find a way to stop the ravages of chaos with such a potential, the secret lies within the parallel of worlds. Being marked by chaos protects you from it, there is none else who can travel as freely as you two. Just, at the same time, your mark makes you agents of chaos as well, if you are not careful you could just as easily succumb to chaos instead, becoming a part of it.” This really was a big goal, but the white lady’s mention about being so chaos infused was especially concerning. They knew that it was related to their arm, and most likely represented its power, the same power they had unleashed a few times already to devastating effect. This was making such a power sound even more dangerous than they had first assumed.

“So, that means that it’s important to never use our arm’s powers, right?” “You think that is the only vestige you have? Especially having visited here, you’re practically infused by the Temporal Frost. You will find your experience has granted you access to new temporal abilities that remain fully your own instead of being agents of chaos. What is the problem is either opening vents to the chaos itself, or unmaking the veil. You’ve vented chaos before, you know what that is like. Slipping into the Temporal itself though isn’t as harmful as a general concept, but some things there can unmake segments of the veil. When I had found you two, you were both heading straight for the fabric of the veil all too innocently. Your exposure to chaos has shaped your own actions without your own awareness, it is such unawareness which could trigger further problems.” The news they might have such unexplained oddity to their being, more than just an arm, the white lady’s words were especially concerning. Even so, this idea that they lacked awareness.. it was very difficult for them to grasp. The white lady could see they would need an example to relieve some confusion, and knew of a very good one.

“Alright, if you want a fine example of how your own awareness is being shaped, realize that your self-awareness of your own body is itself chaotic. Try to answer this question, one which your people usually find to be as easy as second nature; what is your name?” “I’m.. uh…” “You have taken to calling yourself frequently as Kori and Lyun, Axln and Rosa. Your confusion right now though stems from how all of that has flown so easily. While in one world, you each readily think of each other as Axln and Lyun, but instantly just shift into thinking of everything in the perspectives of Kori and Rosa when you leave. You are in a completely different body, but you aren’t even considering yourself as the same person. In this world between, you are then something between each, which is why you can’t even figure out your own name right now. More so, you might realize you don’t even know which of you is which. The Kori here knows she is Kori, and is considering everything as Kori, just as Lyun.. and Axln.. and Rosa. Between you, there are two people, four bodies, one entity. It is in that unison of entity that lies the chaos within you, and immersed this much in the temporal, it is the chaos that stands out far more than anything else.” The white lady pointed out that, even now, the two girls.. weren’t even aware which was who. There was simply no way they could tell right now.

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“The most imperative thing is to remain aware of this, two people, four bodies, one entity. You are linked and travel as one because you have become a single entity. You are however two very distinct people at any time, but you have four bodies total. While you are walking around as a pair, it will be difficult to keep aware that you are actually four, not two. One person is both Kori and Axln, the other is both Lyun and Rosa, but those are all four distincts. When you pass through the temporal as your one entity, you awaken into your other bodies, and disassociate the previous. Remain aware, Kori is not Axln, Lyun is not Rosa, but you both and you all are a single entity of chaos. You can not reject the chaos, just as you can not reject yourself. But you can be the chaos that defies chaos, there is no other chaos that has found the unity you have, and chaos is not a thing of unity. Your link is your strength, it is how you can avoid succumbing to temporal chaos. Deny all other chaos, your own is too unique, too distinct, and too defined.” The white lady was making it clear that they were to know they were perfectly allowed to fight chaos with chaos, as long as it was only their own. They needed to resist making any more vents then, while figuring out what being an entity of chaos actually implied. However, talking to someone who actually remained in the temporal plane, one of the girls wondered who such a being might actually be.

“You had us try to name ourselves, but what exactly should we be calling you, anyway?” “Names are a thing of people, important to how they are. As I am not a person, I do not bother with my own name. However, I am well aware that people come up with names for everything anyway. In that light, exactly as your kind has always done, you are welcome to come up with whatever name you wish, it won’t matter to me at all. I suspect your kind may have even already named me as well, I just would not have bothered keeping track.” The one of the girls who came up with such a question decided that it might be best to not bother figuring out the name of the white lady, given such circumstances. It might matter another time, but it did not now. The white lady was obviously just some kind of caretaker or guardian, an entity that remained temporal within the chaos, chained to her responsibilities. If anything, it was even a question if she was actually as white as they thought, or if that was just their perspective within the colorless temporal. After all, they really didn’t belong here, this was a place of temporal chaos and the occasional temporal being, they were not so purely temporal themselves, they had a real form or two.. or four. It was something they would need to return to.

“As you’ve already found the key to visit, I expect I might see you around, although it might only be a matter of chance. Such visits won’t be easy to predict in such measures. Just realize that I watch as you pass through every time you switch to the other side, that short period you spend within the temporal before reaching the other side. I wish you luck saving worlds from the rampages of chaos.. which is why I should warn you about what you’re bound to find on your return. Your entry to the temporal plane here was dramatic, dealing quite the blow to the veil in the process even before you had reached its proper. In your arrival, you have provided the chaos with new exits and new opportunities. Just as you will find yourself with grown abilities forged in chaos, you will also find other chaos has become strong enough to reach out as well. There is a price in making demands of chaos, and that price is typically more chaos.” The temporal lady turned away at that, her attention returning to her own eternal responsibilities. The girls turned away too, the book turning with them.

Axln closed the book with a gasp, Lyun herself collapsing slowly in a cold sweat. That.. that had really happened, hadn’t it? Of course it had, they couldn’t have imagined the same thing. But how did they just know they knew the same thing? They hadn’t even talked about it yet. The two of them however traded glances, fully aware of what was going on. Somehow, they were expressing things to each other through their link, they were having this conversation as a single entity. Axln rubbed her forehead vigorously as Lyun simply face planted the table. This melding of their chaos while they spent too long in the temporal plane was going to spawn quite a lot of confusion. As is, they realized they needed to account for four, not even just two, unlike what they’ve been doing. Focusing on the four instead of the one, the girls ran through the details in their mind and started to salvage the framework of their own identity. It took a while, but as a result they were capable of keeping their sense of self to just themselves.

One entity, two people, four bodies. Being of two people, two minds, two cores.. it was how their sense of self was founded. Even in the temporal, they were two people, not one, not four. That implied that the temporal may have affected them in two different ways, even if their link provided one unified change by itself. After their initial experience, it might be better to search for answers rather than to be surprised. Such was what Axln believed at least. Lyun however was more of the belief that her head hurt too much right now, all this information was giving her a headache, and that she might find room in there to figure out more if she took a break first. As Lyun left to go take a break, Axln realized though that she had to be aware they were four lives, four identities. Axln had a twin sister, Kori did not. Kori lived for nanites, Axln did not. Axln had to worry about the responsibilities of an orbital superweapon, Kori was just a conduit. They were four, two, and one. Things that were a part of them affected everything in different levels of their being. Figuring things out was not going to be easy.

Mheridz was still annoyed at how that last desperation had gone so totally wrong. Of course, the fortress was going to deny them.. but that really was going to be their last chance. Checking over her instruments, she found a very important one blinking in alarm, an instrument no one here could reproduce. Positive readings, the ones she had been dreading for so long. There was no longer any reason to worry about the book, things had already happened. This was no longer a time to be on the offense, she had to ensure their defenses were improved. No matter what, she had to ensure as many lives as possible were saved.

Velvet jumped at the sudden alarm, especially considering the nature of that alarm. Wasn’t.. the book secured? Not trusting the light in her dark domain, she brought the device outside to get a better look, finding four footprints in the snow walking from the building. It seems she had been outplayed, and now it was too late. There was no longer any reason to stick around here, she needed to find somewhere much safer. There was quite a lot to be done now, quite a number of changes. Luckily, she had a number of things ready to start, plans that would dramatically amplify their defenses all while making her work finally much easier.. and actually a lot more dangerous. Overall, the whole situation sucked, but she had to do what she could to keep things safe.

Both worlds were dramatically changed at that point, even if few people knew it was of such a specific time. The rest of society would still learn quickly enough in the time that resulted from it.