Chapter 10: Hello, Chaos / Guttentag, Chaos
It was a normal day, with nice and warm weather, for early autumn at least. Spell Pact was unable to enjoy it, however, as he was stuck in his apartment grading several stacks of class work from his students.
Most of it was good, honest attempts and well thought out essays. Others, more disappointing ones, were obvious plagiarisms and of poor quality. Even worlds apart, students acted the same.
As Spell Pact worked, he heard a loud boom of thunder. Confused, he looked out the window to see what was going on. One good thing about absolute weather control was never wondering about the weather. And he knew there were no storms scheduled for the week. Outside, the sky had turned dark grey, with odd, pink looking clouds drifting about.
“Why is supernatural phenomena always pink?” Spell groused.
“What, you don’t like pink? I honestly prefer plaid to any other, but pink is a good second. So very delightfully misleading.”
“GAH!” Spell shouted, jumping out of his chair and spinning around to see…
A God-damned mismatched abomination. Part dragon, with lion paw, eagle claw, a horse and lizard leg, stubby bat and bird wing, a snake tail, antlers and twisted goat horn, a hideous horse-like face, and a great big snaggle tooth.
Spell Pact glared at the mismatched Chimera before him, his earlier shock and surprise replaced with distain and annoyance.
“Speak your piece, and then be gone, beast. I am too busy to deal with you now.” The thing pouted at Spell Pact before chuckling.
“Yes, you humans always were the dour ones.” Spell Pact gaped, mouth open in shock, which caused a new burst of laughter from the monster.
“Oh yes, I know all about your world. Earth, is it? So boring with the names of your cities and places. Expect for China. ‘Forbidden City’ has a nice ring to it, don’t you agree?”
“Who are you, and how can you tell? My disguise can fool the princesses themselves!”
The Chimera laughed again before snapping its fingers, or talons, or whatever, and summoning hundreds of pictures of itself.
“I am Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. And to be perfectly honest, the princesses are a bunch of dullards. They can’t see beyond their own muzzle, most of the time. I, however, am a being born of such actions like guile and trickery. I know them all, as I am them all.”
“And how do you know of my world?” Spell Pact demanded again.
“Have you ever heard of the Multiverse Theory? No? Well, it was a bit after your time, Mr. Nazi.” Once more Spell was stunned by the depth of knowledge this beast had.
“You see, there are a million realities and universes out there, each with their own laws, rules, deities, and so forth,” Discord continued speaking, and Spell focused his attentions on him a second time. “Simply put, every world has a Discord in it, or some form thereof. All are linked to each other, yet all hail from a singular origin. Chaos. On your particular Earth, I was known by several names. Loki by the Vikings, Coyote by the ‘Native Americans,’ Quetzalcoatl by the rather creepy Aztecs, and my favorite was Lucifer by the bothersome Christians.”
“You are the devil?” Spell Pact inquired, but the monster shook its head.
“Were you not listening? That was one of my old names by your people. Though I am not your devil, Kind von Mephistopheles.”
Spell Pact tensed as Discord vanished, only to reappear at his back, patting his shoulder.
“Old Grogar is your patron, as by the time Johan the First came around, I was already dead on your Earth.” Another snap of the claws, and Discord was now floating upside down while Spell’s furniture began to dance about.
“You were killed? You, a god?”
“As god-like I may be, anything call fall prey to Entropy and Death. Nothing is eternal, though my Origin, Chaos, will be around a long time. Besides, when you humans wants something done, it gets done. My slayer used a very powerful artifact to destroy me, along with pure force of human will. An artifact you possess right now, in fact.” Another snap of the claws, and a cube appeared in his paw, one that Spell Pact recognized intimately.
“That…!”
“Yes, this. A fragment of the Spear of Longinus. Bathed in the blood of an equally god-like being, it, combined with old George’s willpower, slew my Earth version.” Discord peered at the box, scrutinizing it. A cube of metal without a keyhole, it was crafted from a solid block of Orihalcum with the blood-stained shard imbedded in it through magic.
“Saint George the dragon slayer… was your killer?”
“Indeed he was,” Discord said, opening the block of metal like a box, and pulling out the sliver of metal. Made from iron, the shattered spear head was a dull brown, having been stained by blood millennia ago.
“Such a shame Old J went and died like that. Personally, I thought he should have stayed around, but, his choice.”
“You knew Jesus?” Spell Pact breathed in awe. He’d never been much for religion, but being in the presence of one who knew the founder of Christianity was certainly awe inspiring.
“Not me personally, but one of me did, yes.” Discord said, now using the Spear of Longinus to pick his teeth.
“Stop that! And explain to me what you mean. Are you one being, or multiple ones that share memories?”
Discord sighed and put the shard back into the cube, than snapped his finger’s causing it to vanish.
“Yes, and no. I, myself, am my own being, with my own thoughts, dreams, and opinions. But, no, in that I am a mere part of a far greater whole. Every Discord in every plane of existence is their own ‘person,’ and they are all linked to each other through Quantum Entanglement and Chaos Theory that, if understood, causes universes to explode. There is however an “original” Discord, or Chaos, who is the Prime. He is the Alpha and Omega, and all other Discords, even me, are his, well, ‘clone’ isn’t the right term for that, but nor is ‘children.’ We exist because he exists, and when he dies, so too will all of us. Though, his death will only occur at the End of All Times, along with all matter, reality, etc.”
Spell Pact was silent, his mind racing at the revelations. Discord just grinned down at the displaced human with a smirk.
“I see I’ve given you some things to think about, so I’ll be going now. If I do manage to conquer this world, we’ll chat later. If not, well, you’ll at least be able to study the residue of my Chaos Magic.”
“Why tell me this?” Spell Pact demanded as an odd looking car appeared in the middle of his room.
“Because I love craziness, and what is crazier than Madness?” Discord explained ominously as he opened the driver’s side door and slid inside.
“I’m off to Ponyville to mess with some annoying little Elements. Ta-ta for now, Johan Faust the 13th! And if you want to understand Celestia and Luna, look beyond the stars.” With that final cryptic message, he slammed the door closed, and a portal ripped open in front of the machine. With a roar from the engines, he shot the car into the vortex which proceeded to close behind it.
A second later, and all that was left of the chimera-like spirit was some pink and green tire tracks on the hardwood floor, and his furniture which was still dancing. Spell Pact sighed heavily, and began to round up his wayward décor.
“You’ve given me a lot to ponder, Discord,” Spell muttered to himself as he tied down a lamp to a desk, both trying to wiggle out from the rope. “A lot to ponder, indeed…”