Callie stared at Telos with a finely arched brow. Her pale, porcelain skin was stained with the blood and fragments of what had once been the Transcendent Being called Khaos. Pete on the other hand simply glowed a little and cleaned the mess up. All the gore vanished from himself and Callie, while he waited for Telos to explain herself.

“The being you’ve known as Khaos is an empty husk being piloted by another entity. You can come out, now, or I’ll drag you out. Both of you.”

The darkness quivered and two very different entities appeared in the true throne room of Dreamland. With their appearance, the masquerade of darkness fell away to reveal an opulent, almost baroque chamber. One half of which had been decorated in ivory and gold, and the other half in obsidian and ruby. The room wasn’t divided down the middle, but formed a yin yang that forced the lights and darks to flow into one another.

The woman on the left seemed human enough, other than the vibrancy of her golden eyes and the rigid perfect posture she maintained. She wore a white dress and lifted her skirt to bow to Telos. The woman’s hair was the exact shade of brown which Telos had been graced with in her life as Aesca, and everything about the woman in white seemed to be based upon her human life but accentuated with divinity and power to absurd levels. If imitation were flattery, Sophia, the woman in white, had a thought process that Telos couldn’t quite follow. If anything, it seemed insulting to see her old form so drastically altered and worn by someone else.

The cosmic song around Sophia made Telos wince. It reminded her of Adagio for Strings, and it was a kidney punch of emotion. It fit the Aeon of Wisdom, she who had created Ialdabaoth, extremely well. The Cosmic Song was imbued with such profound tragedy, regret, and sorrow that even Telos needed to fortify her emotions to keep herself from tearing up. Kallos struggled with the heavy emotions too, and two or three tears escaped her golden eyes to track down her cheeks. Empathy for Sophia? Here I thought I was the soft touch.

If Sophia were a tragic figure, her companion radiated a euphoric song that danced from orgiastic, to angry, and through the whole gamut of emotions. Telos couldn’t imagine listening to this song for long, because the notes were discordant and haphazardly pushed together, genius in parts, but devoid of harmony. In short, the Cosmic Song of Chaos lived up to the name.

Chaos himself looked similar to Telos. Take Telos, make her completely androgynous, or just slightly masculine, throw her into a set of black pants and tank top, a pair of ass kicking boots, and add black hair with just the faintest hints of red and aqua, and much paler skin, and you would end up with Chaos. Chaos had two red eyes that burned with manic hatred for everything, but when the red orbs regarded Telos they might as well have turned into hearts, and a smile crossed his apathetic features.

“Father!”

“Mother!”

Telos cringed, Kallos pinched the bridge of her nose, and Nyx and Aetherius seemed to struggle with the revelation of these two beings. The only bright side Telos could see was that neither of the two entities leaped at her, although each seemed to want to.

“Everyone, meet Sophia, the Aeon of Wisdom, Creator of Ialdabaoth, and puppet master of the Archons. This, meanwhile, is Chaos, a fragment and reflection of Ayin, who was created in the transition from Nothing to the Light of Ein Sof, progenitor of the gods. The two entities who orchestrated my existence in this reality.”

“We prefer to think of ourselves as your children,” Sophia tried to prevent the title of puppeteer from sticking.

“Hey, we did the right thing. You’re the one who created a Universe, looked upon it, and decided you wanted nothing to do with it at all. How fair is that, that we labor and build, make reality after reality down the dimensional axis, then you take one look at it and decide you’d rather be an incomprehensible ball of light for eternity. Rude!” Chaos harumphed angrily at Telos.

“How many realities did you destroy trying to bring me back?”

Telos’ question made Sophia visibly uncomfortable, while Chaos laughed it off.

“Oh, so many. We got close so many times, too, but every time your powers started to show up you found a way to shrug them off and flee your responsibilities. Do you know how many times we’ve had to watch you run away, like a dad who’s just going out for a pack of cigarettes and never comes back?” Chaos took no blame for his actions, or if he did, he felt her actions in abandoning them were the graver sin.

“A lot, then. Why? Why were you so damned desperate for me?”

“You created us,” Sophia said simply.

“No, I didn’t. Bythos and Sige created you, Sophia, and happenstance created you, Chaos. Did I create Bythos? I don’t have any memories of that. So, I didn’t directly create either of you, yet you both created me. Hundreds and thousands of me, until one of us woke up to become the Creator.”

“Wait, so all of our attempts to break the cycle of the Towers…” Pete trailed off, realization dawning across the face of the Primordial of Aether.

“The jokes on me,” Callie laughed bitterly.

“Look on the positive side, you two. Thanks to Chaos and Sophia I’m not just an angry Cycle ending biological weapon and super soldier you created with Chronos and Khaos.” Telos showed her teeth, a tiny bit.

“So, who was Khaos?” Callie asked while eying the few stains still on the floor that Aetherius had missed cleaning.

“A shell I used. Reality struggles to contain the power Fifi or I possess. The lower down the dimensional axis you go, the less of our presence it takes to destabilize existence. Even Dreamland suffers the occasional paradox from our true manifestations, but we’re nothing compared to the Judge, or Telos here if she took on her full power.” Chaos gave the mess that was Khaos no more than a second glance. If he or Sophia wanted, they could have resurrected Khaos, but neither expended the effort to create conflict with Telos.

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“I have some questions,” Telos spoke softly, yet cold and pressure descended upon Chaos and Sophia, such that the stone underneath them showed branching cracks from Telos’ displeasure.

“First of all, why do you look like me?” Telos demanded to know.

“Me?” Chaos asked, almost exploding at the possibility of attention.

“No, Fifi.” Sophia wilted under Telos’ gaze, and under the use of the deplorable nickname by the very person she definitely never wanted to use that name. Telos intentionally leaned into creating displeasure for the fallen Aeon.

“I don’t want to be all, actually, but this is the human form I’ve used since we created humans. We based your human form on me, since I’m kind of your daughter?” Sophia tried to maintain what little dignity she had left, after being called Fifi by Telos.

“I follow your logic. Then why do you look like a gothic knock-off of me, Chaos?” Telos’ breath steamed the cold air, but Arkaziel squirmed and made some whining noises, which reminded Telos to control herself enough to exempt her group members from the cold.

“Oh, I totally copied you! I change appearance all the time, but this is one of my favorites. You’re awesome. The streaked aqua hair, the heterochromia, the long coat, the ass kicking boots, the mesh gloves, who in their right mind wouldn’t want to look like you?” Chaos brashly laughed it off, unaware of the threat that loomed over his head.

“Flatterer. I personally agree, but it’s still creepy as all get out. This brings me back to why? Why do you two care so much that Ein Sof regard you? Unlike the denizens of Dreamland you two can move freely between existences.” Telos stared at both Sophia and Chaos with all three eyes, and Kallos fixed them with a glare as well. Telos had felt Kallos’ anger spike each time one of them called Telos their creator or parent.

Both broke eye contact to look at the floor, and neither presented an answer with any haste. Sophia spoke first, after a long awkward silence had come to dominate the room.

“Err. Well. It is through being seen that meaning is derived. I wished for you to see me, to look at my actions, and give me feedback. Have I done the right thing? What should I do now? What is my meaning? Do you forgive me for creating Ialdabaoth? How do I redeem myself? Are these not questions for the father?”

Chaos rolled his eyes.

“Not me. I know my meaning. I thought you should suffer the same way we have. Be created without any input on it and left to fend for yourself. You’re the one who abandons every reality, every dimension, and turns your back on existence. What’s in the Higher Realm you and that bossy witch the Judge deny us?” Chaos practically spat the last, and glared at Kallos and her witch hat.

“Are you both morons? I am not Ein Sof.” Telos bit back the swear words she’d almost started throwing out, and then took a deep, calming breath.

“You’re its incarnation, as close to Ein Sof as something in this realm can get. You’re directly connected to the River of Light now, so anything could happen. Maybe you’ll even open the door to the White Room at its center?” Sophia put a positive spin. Just what I always wanted to hear. If you aren’t full out an Omniscient and Omnipotent god yet, we’re sure you’ll get there!

“Oh please, the moment you get responsibility you turn your back and run away. If that isn’t the Creator, what is? Look at me, I’m the bright and shiny all-powerful light that used to be the all-consuming darkness, you can’t touch me, or talk to me, all you can do is stare and cry out, but I’ll just ignore you.” Chaos practically dribbled venom with his words, and his mockery of Ein Sof saw spittle flying in the air with his over-the-top words.

“So, what is it you want? Meaning? Connection? Who is the Judge?”

“”Yes,”” Chaos and Sophia answered simultaneously, although Chaos had the sulky whine of a teenager in his voice, while Sophia had such an earnest desire it made Telos feel some empathy for the Aeon. Some.

“The Judge?” Telos asked again. Sophia and Chaos stared at one another.

“The Judge comes from the White Room. Supposedly it is called Canaan, but that could have been misdirection. She gave us the majority of your essence. We collected hundreds of your incarnations across the Multiverses in the River, but the Judge had millions of your fragments. Our previous experiments never had a chance of working until she helped us.”

“What end game did the Judge have?” Kallos asked.

“The Judge created both of you,” Sophia admitted. “Belial never realized he had been manipulated by the Judge to create you, Soul Witch. We do not know what essence she used on you. It is similar, but different, from Telos. Beyond the creation of you both, she mumbled constantly about Recurrence.”

“Call them here.” Telos demanded.

“Can’t,” Chaos answered with a shrug. “The Judge shows up when they want, not the other way around.”

“Fine. Maybe you’ll get your wishes.” Dreamland heaved in a way it never had before, as power exploded around Telos.

“What did you do?” Sophia cried out.

“This.. is bad, right?” Chaos quailed, yet the reality around them remained stable.

“No gods, no Dreamland. I’m not leaving this place for anyone to retreat back to and draw out the purge. Pete, Callie, did you want to live a mortal life in a new reality, or expire with the rest of the gods and Primordials?” Telos asked them kindly, even as Sophia and Chaos seemed to be frozen in time. After a few drawn out seconds they slowly transformed into pillars of salt, starting from the tip of their heads all the way to the ground. Salt spilled across the floor in a wave.

“A mortal life?” Callie asked surprised at the question, and the casual flex of omnipotence Telos made with the lives of Chaos and Sophia.

“You’re not going to strike us down?” Pete seemed surprised, and relieved. Maybe Telos had been a little too glib about smiting gods or hadn’t really told the two how much they’d meant to her in her mortal life, or even with their support in this one.

“I’m reweaving Heaven into a new layer of reality. Nice and high up on the dimensional axis, new worlds to explore, new laws, a whole lot of new everything. It won’t be like Eldest Fantasy Wars Online, but I’m sure it’ll be an epic adventure. What do you say?”

“Do we get turned into piles of salt if we say no?” Callie asked, unable to look away from the macabre sight of piles of rock salt that Chaos and Sophia had become.

“No, no. I would never hurt you two, you’ve been too important to me over the years, and its clear you cared about me beyond just me being a weapon. But if you want to take your chances in this reality, I guess I’ll wake up Arkaziel and Bobbi, though.” Telos smiled brightly, and her incisors showed as more fanglike for a moment.

“A real adventure, with real consequences?” Aetherius laughed, then slapped his thigh. “I’m in.”

Callie sighed. She looked down at her sleek dress, her flawless skin, and seemed to take in the perfection that she had cultivated into the persona of Nyx.

“Fine, but I hope you aren’t giving us a bad start in a new world.”

“You’ll be able to thrive, Callie, and we’ll meet again. Well, I guess I’ll meet your reincarnations again, and you’ll meet me for the first time. That should be fun.” Telos smiled the more Callie and Pete squirmed.

“That’s enough teasing, darling. Why is Dreamland falling apart?” Kallos interrupted the teasing with an important question.

“Oh. I connected five gates for Pleroma and the Void, and stole the power source for Dreamland and shifted it to my nascent reality. Plus, I thought the city was tacky.” Telos, still holding a sleeping Arkaziel, gave first Pete then Callie a one-armed hug.

“I love you two. Live a good life.” What power could a blessing from Telos with such genuine emotion and power behind it provide the two Primordials for their new life? Telos hoped it was a lot.

““Thank you.””

A moonbeam fell through the ceiling, illuminating both of the Primordials until their figures couldn’t be seen inside the pillar of light, then it vanished.

“Not a bad day’s work. Let’s go say good-bye to Werylin,” Telos generated the last portal into, or out of, Dreamland. In its silvery light the far side showed off the Lost City of Atlanta.