𝐕𝐈. 𝐍𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐄 ➵ 𝐏𝐉𝐎 𝐱 𝐇𝐏

020.

When the figure finally emerged from the dark, Lilith felt her heart drop. It felt like all the breath in her lungs were taken away as she stared at the now visible figure with an expression of pure confusion, hurt, betrayal. "Leia?"

"No, darling." The woman said smoothly, "Chaos."

"You—"

"Leia was only half of me." Chaos murmured, "And once you died, she returned to her existence and we split, once again." She smiled softly.

". . . It was chaos magic?" Lilith breathed, "But nothing about my magic was chaotic—"

"No." Chaos agreed, "Leia was the calm, peaceful part of me. You see, darling. I am made not only out of disorder, but also order. Chaos is balance, and where there is chaos, there is order."

Lilith could feel her mind running through almost a thousand miles an hour as she processed all this newfound information. "So what I had was order magic." The girl realized, "But—"

Already knowing what the girl was going to ask, Chaos smiled and said, "Balance— it is the center of existence. I am only known as Chaos because my being was split into two. Chaos and Order." She hummed softly. "Order, or as you know— Leia, prefers to remain hidden, unknown to existence."

"But everything needs to be balanced." Lilith murmured in reply, "Where there is the unknown, there is also the known."

Chaos nodded pleasantly, "Very good, darling." she looked at the girl softly, "Do you understand now? Do you understand why Order was with you?"

Lilith sighed softly as she recalled all the lives she went through, "Because where there is Chaos, there is always Order." She mumbled, "And chaos follows me everywhere, every single time."

The primordial being nodded with a small smile. "In every life you've gone through, I've followed. Even when you had no magic, no powers, I followed. And so did Order."

"You," She pointed towards Lilith, "-are the balance. You are the piece we've been missing."

". . .What?"

"A long time ago— I, we, decided to split our existence." The woman started softly, "Balance, where there is life, there is death. Where there is light, there is dark, and where there is chaos, there is order. It is the start of all existence."

Lilith nodded slowly, the gears in her brain turning rapidly.

"When order and chaos split, so did balance." She continued, "Billions of years passed, existence after existence— the scale tipped, and my influence was greater than Order. The balance shattered, chaos surrounded all existence."

"And where there is no balance, it only leads to one thing— extinction."

Lilith held her breath at the revelation. "Oh gods."

"You, my darling Lilith, are the balance we've been missing." She crouched down in front of Lilith, caressing her face gently. "Everywhere we see, there is only Chaos, or only Order. None can exist without the other, and it all leads to extinction. Which is why we've been finding the piece we've been missing. That is you."

Lilith let her eyes flutter shut as she tried to process the newfound information. "Why am I here?"

"Order has tried." Chaos sighed, "She has tried her best to help you find yourself, but she failed. And it was my turn to help you."

"Do you know what you are?" Chaos hummed.

". . . Balance?" Lilith asked meekly.

"That was not the answer I was looking for." Chaos chuckled softly, "Before you are balance, what are you?"