A few minutes before Razznik and Kashi’s final clash, Queen Alia appeared next to Larsial, who remained pressed against the ground due to Razznik’s godly pressure. The daeben queen examined the former spy’s bitter smile and was surprised to see reluctant envy. “You appear to envy the Maggots, or should I call them Wolves now? Are you taken by them?”
Larsial’s heartbeat quickened. She could not believe Queen Alia of all people was speaking to her. The Queen had always been an existence beyond her reach and comprehension. Fortunately, daeben women were extremely logical, so she quickly shelved her awe, and instead ran several hypotheses on why the queen would approach her. Despite her insecurities, Larsial honestly replied, “I suppose I do envy them. They are close, like a family. From what I’ve seen, every member of their guild is treated with utmost respect and fairness from the very top to the bottom.”
Alia’s brow slightly rose. “Are you saying we do not treat our warriors fairly?”
Larsial released a bitter laugh at Alia’s question. The daeben queen’s ridiculous question caused several memories to flash through Larsial’s mind. Memories of being spat at, pushed down and scornful sneers thrown her way by older daeben women. Larsial forcefully swallowed years of rage, opting instead for a bleak laugh as she said, “Our very hierarchical matriarchal structure does not permit that.”
“Mm.” Alia surprisingly did not deny the accusation. “Indeed, our people’s culture has caused plenty of grief for young daeben. However, the Chaos Order is different. We promote, not based on matriarchal gender, but merit.” A dangerous glint festered in the daeben queen’s eyes as she looked at Larsial. “Do you claim otherwise? Do you know someone who abused their positions to prevent promotions?”
Larsial shivered under Alia’s glare. She did not doubt that Alia would go on a bloodbath within the Chaos Order if anyone was proven of abusing their position that way .
Luckily, that was not Larsial’s intent. Larsial shook her head. “The Chaos Order might promote based on merit, but the majority of its leaders are still daeben women.”
“Is that a problem? We are capable, and so we lead. This is no surprise.”
Larsial nodded. “We are indeed capable. But our culture is, as the Summoned would say, shitty .”
Larsial’s insult caused Alia’s brows to furrow even deeper. No one would appreciate someone insulting their culture, let alone the leader of said culture. Fortunately, Alia was not the kind of queen that ruled with an overly-inflated ego. Her deceased mother was the prime example of what happens to an egotistical leader who snubs the counsel of their people. “Care to elaborate?”
“I should not have to.” Larsial rebuffed with a snort. Perhaps because she had been in Kashi and Shadow’s presence for so long; she found her in-born awe of the daeben queen slowly fading with time. “Just ask any low-ranking Acolyte. Sure, we promote based on merit, but those at the top rule those below with an iron fist. Acolytes dare not speak back to Priests for fear of punishment or death, let alone a Primate.”
“That is only natural,” Alia stated with staunch conviction. There was no trace of doubt in her mind. “Those above must rule those below. By jointly achieving every member’s goal in life, we propagate untold Chaos upon the world and ourselves. Only through strict Order can you mitigate Chaos.”
“Perhaps.” Larsial had heard that reasoning so many times in her life she could not bring herself to doubt it. “But, are we incapable of finding a better way? We promote perfection or death. How many people do we sentence to death for failing a mission every year? Ten? Hundred? Many more? We use fear to keep ourselves and the world in line.”
Listening to Larsial’s rebuke that almost sounded like a plea, Alia sighed. “Your dilemma is one that countless philosophers have pondered on for millennia. You have been to society during your missions. Let us leave aside the thieves and murders. Tell me, do you believe good citizens are good citizens because they are good people, or because they fear the law?”
“I—” Larsial started, but then paused. She was not naïve. During her jobs, she had met countless people who wanted to commit a crime, but then stopped for fear of getting caught. It was not their conscience, but rather the fear of punishment that kept them in line.
Alia saw Larsial’s pause. She was not smug at getting one over Larsial but rather sympathized with the young woman. In Alia’s eyes, a bite from the sweet fruit that was the Maggots had blinded Larsial to the fact that dirty fertilizer was needed to nurture the tree that bore that fruit. “You might consider us tyrannical, but that is only because there are still many who refuse to obey our laws. Once the world is in alignment, there will be peace and no more needless death.”
“Perhaps. But will the people be happy?”
Alia’s brow rose. Her reaction was like one who had heard the most ludicrous question. “Happy? Of what consequence is that? There are millions of humes in Destia, with millions of things that will make them happy? It is impossible to cater to everyone’s happiness. After all, there are those who derive pleasure from murder, arson, and more. Do we placate their happiness too or only those you’ve deemed worthy of being happy ?” Venomous sarcasm dripped from the final word.
Larsial’s heart trembled. The young woman was a spy. She was not good at speechcraft, unlike Alia who had battled Cathek in verbal sparring for many moons. However, she refused to give in as she watched the Maggots take on Razznik. “That is where your problem is. You are so focused on Order, that you have forgotten Chaos.”
“Chaos?” Alia looked at Larsial with eyes filled with incredulity. “I forgot Chaos?”
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“Chaos in Order. Order in Chaos.” Larsial softly chanted the Order’s mantra. “A society with only Order is dead.” Larsial placed her hand on her chest, a warmth effusing from her eyes. “I am proof of this. I have lived by the Order’s Order all my life, and never realized I was unhappy. It was not until I experienced the chaotic bonds within the Maggots that I realized I could be happy.” Larsial raised her eyes to look at Alia. “We must accept that there will always be Chaos in the world. It’s ironic. We were so focused on sowing Chaos that we didn’t notice ourselves turning into Order.”
Alia listened to Larsial’s words with a stoic gaze. Larsial’s platitudes were not enough to shake this queen’s heart, but she acknowledged the woman’s point of view. “I understand. The Chaos Order and the Twilight Wolves approach the problem from differing angles. We seek to eliminate the Chaos and pain in the world by imposing our Order. In our Order, everyone may not be happy, but there will be no pain or suffering. The Twilight Wolves differ from us. They introduce Chaos, upending the rules of the continent with their inventions and policies. Unlike us, they seek to maximize the joys of those who will be happy and hope to pull up as many others along. However, their world will inevitably have pain and suffering. When humes are free to dream, greed follows shortly.”
Indeed, it was hard to tell whose approach was correct. In Alia’s eyes, this was similar to the question countless priests and commoners asked. Why do gods allow suffering and pain? Surely they could end all thieves and murderers? What these people failed to realize is that to achieve a world without pain, you can never have true joy, because a world without pain means there can never be victors or losers in life. There are those who would say that such a world is worth it if it eliminates the terrible suffering in the world. But there also exist those who revel in the challenge of overcoming the world’s challenges.
Alia took a deep breath and felt her emotions slowly spiral out of control. She fixed Larsial with a severe gaze as she stated, “Everyone blames the daeben for the Great War that ended just over a decade ago. What all these hypocrites forget to bring up are the countless mini-wars and battles that wreaked the continent several centuries prior. All the daeben did was choose to finally end the war. Rather than many small battles, we chose a grand one. One grand war to end them all. Destia would have flourished under our rule. We ultimately fell short, and that is fine. Failure is sometimes the price of ambition. But what did the continent do with their new freedom from the daeben’s tyrannical rule?” Alia’s eyes turned red with anger as she huffed, “War! They took a few years to lick their wounds before once again fighting amongst themselves for territory and greed. No. Destia had proven numerous times it is incapable of governing itself. It requires a ruler that will squash any and all dissidents. Only then can suffering be eliminated.”
Larsial shivered under the force of Alia’s will. She could tell that the daeben queen had thought long and hard before coming to this conclusion. It was nothing like her, who had stepped out of Order for the first time in her life. It was funny. For someone who had inflicted so much chaos in other people’s lives, she had never experienced Chaos until Kashi and Shadow shattered her world.
“Perhaps you are right,” admitted Larsial. “No, you are most likely right. I know it too. This world needs Order to function.” Larsial looked up as Kashi and Razznik began to square up for the final bout. “The Twilight Wolves are no different. They instill order through the kingdom’s rules and laws. To be perfectly honest, the Twilight Wolves and the Chaos Order are almost identical. But seek to bring order to this world by first introducing chaos. But, if I were to choose, I would still choose the Twilight Wolves.”
“Why?”
“Love.” A small smile spread on Larsial’s as she struggled to stand. “I know how stupid it sounds. I feel like throwing up just hearing that word. But, I have seen the cities the Wolves conquer. Without fail, the people love the Wolves in every one of them. A child can run up to play with the guildmaster, and a peddler can joke with the warriors. There is no fear or aversion.” Larsial’s gaze hardened as she forcefully stood straight. “If I had to choose, I would rather be loved than feared. That is all.”
Queen Alia’s gaze narrowed. “So, you succumbed to the forbidden fruit. You are aware that this can be construed as treason? By guild law, I should execute you where you stand.”
Larsial let out a bitter chuckle. “I would not expect anything el—" The assassin’s words caught in her throat as she stumbled forward under the pressure. Larsial looked at the fast-approaching ground with a wry smile. ‘ Serves me righ’—BAM! Larsial’s eyes widened as a strong hand caught her before she hit the ground.
“Well said,” a familiar voice softly praised.
Larsial turned and was stunned to see Shadow’s emotionless gaze. “You?”
“Trial’s over,” Shadow coldly stated. “I’m invoking my right to add you as a Twilight Wolf. Do you accept?”
Larsial’s heart raced as she looked into Shadow’s silver eyes. They were cold, like diamonds, but she felt a strange kind of warmth. “You—Are you serious?”
Those silver eyes narrowed. Shadow looked pissed off, like he did not enjoy wasting a single word. “I will drop you.”
“What? No! I mean—yes! I accept!” Flustered, Larsial did not doubt Shadow would do as he said.
Shadow nodded after he glanced at an invincible prompt. He helped Larsial to her feet and then said as he coldly walked towards the crater where Kashi faced off against Razznik. “Welcome to the Twilight Wolves. As long as you wish, you will never again hunt alone.”
Larsial’s eyes widened as a white effervescent sigil formed on the right side of her neck. The howling wolf emblem glowed brightly in the night as she looked on in disbelief.
“You’re not paying attention. It’s not what I’ve got. It’s what we’ve got.”
Larsial broadly smiled as she was inundated with varied connections from the new sigil. She had never felt this kind of warmth in her life. It was all-encompassing, loving, yet wrathful to any who would harm.
The latest Twilight Wolf turned to look at her former Queen. She proclaimed with a joyful grin. “Sorry, my guildmaster is calling. We can talk about this later.” With those words, she fearlessly turned her back to the Queen. Somehow, she wasn’t scared that Alia would attack her. Why should she be afraid? There were countless wolves who would protect her just as she would protect them.
“Twilight Wolves.” Queen Alia rolled the words on her tongue as if familiarizing herself with a new taste. “Perhaps it’s not just Kashi we need to be wary of. The guild might be worth some attention.”