"Where am I?" Orpheus opened his eyes and found himself in a white space and stared around in confusion "Costas? Aella? Tana? Andrian? Aster?"
He called out their names many times but still received no response, no matter how hard he yelled. The last thing he remembered was seeing a blurry figure of Bray evading the four beasts and swiping his claws at his (Orpheus) neck. Just then, time suddenly slowed down to a stop with Bray's claws just a few inches way from his neck after that, he fell unconscious and found himself in this space that contained nothing but air and was as white as far as the eyes could see.
"Someone? Anyone? Am I already dead? No. I can't die yet" Orpheus began to panic as his breaths became faster "Be calm, take deep breaths. *inhale*exhale*"
He began to stabilize his breathing to calm his panicking heart but suddenly heard a strange voice above him, throwing his heart into chaos once more
"Don't be afraid, blessed one" the voice said
"Who is that?" Orpheus looked up in shock and saw a middle-aged man floating with a warm smile on his face "Who are you?"
Seeing the panicked Orpheus, the mysterious man sighed dejectedly before his expression lit up again "Well, no need to be sad, he's still young and has a lot of room to grow"
"What do you mean by that? Who are you?" Orpheus calmed himself this time before speaking
"Mmmm? I see that you are fatally injured" the man completely ignored Orpheus' questions and shot a beam of light at him
"Wh-" Orpheus tried to dodge but the beam was too fast and had already hit his forehead. The light gave him a warm and refreshing feeling, like someone who had just finished soaking himself in a medicinal bath.
"You still haven't answered me" the suspicion Orpheus had against the man had died down after seeing that the man had no ill intentions for him "Who are you?"
"Not yet" the man smiled "I can't tell you yet"
"Why?"
"You're still too weak" the man turned around and began to float away "Anyways, they're itching to meet you"
"Wait! At least tell me your name!" Orpheus called out
"Get stronger, and we'll meet again" the man disappeared but his voice remained "Perhaps, you may be able to ascend into that realm"
"Wait! What do you mean? What realm are you speaking of?" Orpheus yelled but to no avail
All of a sudden, Orpheus surroundings changed along with his vision. Instead of the pure white, everywhere had turned dark to the point that Orpheus could not see his own hands.
"What's going on? Have I returned to reality?" Orpheus muttered
"Masterrr~" Orpheus heard a faint voice from afar
"Who's that?" Orpheus turned towards the sound but still couldn't see anything due to the thick darkness surrounding him
"Master…" The voice called out again "…help me…"
"I'm coming! Orpheus began to run forward, having no idea of the direction he was heading for.
After a while of running, using the sound of the voice as a map guide, he finally saw a white light amidst the darkness and it appeared as if the darkness was trying to swallow the light
"Master!" Once Orpheus got there, the volume of the voice increased and became more stable
He quickly ran towards the light and saw a white-haired girl, who looked to be ten years of age, desperately trying to repel the darkness that was about to swallow her. As if sensing Orpheus' presence, she turned her face towards him and her eyes lit up with hope
"Master! Help me!" She yelled out
"Yeesh! Are those the only three words you know how to speak?" Orpheus muttered and began to walk into the white space where the young girl was.
Just after his hand got to the boundary between the light and the darkness, a strong force repelled him, throwing him backwards.
"What was that?" Orpheus stared at the white space in shock and tried to get into it again but still got repelled. "What's going on?"
"You can't get into it" A voice said
"Who's that?" Orpheus turned around but still saw no one
"It's still surprising. How you don't remember us, I mean" The voice said again
This time, Orpheus peered deeply in the direction of the voice and saw a faint figure of a body, about same age as the girl in the white space staring at him with anger evident in his eyes.
"Wait..." Orpheus tried to get a clear look at the boy and found out that he looked exactly like the girl apart from the contrasting black hair and eyes "Are you Kháos?"
"Master! Quick!" Seirá, the white-haired girl said. The darkness had already begun to swallow her, throwing her into panic
"Quick! How do I save her?" Orpheus hurriedly asked Kháos. After finding out their identities, his urge save Seirá increased drastically
"No. I don't think you're ready" Kháos shook his head and began to walk away
"What do you mean by 'I'm not ready'?" Orpheus gritted his teeth in anger
"Kháos stopped in his steps and said without turning back "Do you think you're ready to wield this power? To wield us?"
"Of course, I am…" Orpheus was interrupted halfway through his speech
"No, You're not!!" Kháos yelled in anger "Since you acquired this power, you've been using it wrongly!"
"How… what do you mean?" Orpheus was confused and totally forgot about the disappearing Seirá
"Chaos and Order are always supposed to be in perfect sync with each other. Once one is greater than the other, it disrupts the balance and causes chaos" Kháos said "But you never depended on both of us. You always depended on me and left my sister behind! Because of that, she grew weak while I grew stronger. Now, my powers… my powers… is the one that is going to kill her!!"
"How was I supposed to know…" Orpheus muttered
"You didn't want to know!!!" Kháos interrupted him
"But…" Orpheus began to feel guilty. He knew that his blades had their own consciousness, thereby having their own feelings, but didn't try to communicate with them "Please, I'm begging you. Just help me and tell me what to do. I can't lose you guys"
"Kháos! I know you don't want me to disappear! Tell him what to…" Seirá's voice was cut short as the darkness had already completely swallowed her
"Seirá? Seirá!!!! Kháos please!" Orpheus began to speak frantically
"No no no no no no! Not again!!" Kháos yelled and bit his lips "Explode the excess chaos energy! Now!"
…
"Die for me!" Bray swiped his claws at Orpheus' neck
Suddenly, black lightning began to flicker around his blades, and gradually expanded to his body
"Wha-" Bray's claws were just a millimeter away from Orpheus' neck before his body emitted and energy burst, and released a large pillar of chaos energy into the sky, blasting Bray away
…
In Orpheus' consciousness, the dense darkness gradually lessened, revealing a knocked out Seirá. As time passed by, the space that was once full of darkness was soon divided into to equal parts; one white and the other, dark.
"Thank you" Orpheus said to Kháos
Kháos stared at Seirá and turned to Orpheus "I have a way for you to beat that human outside, but it requires for you to be in perfect sync with us. Are you sure you can do it?"
"I'll make sure to communicate with you guys at all times. This won't happen again" Orpheus bobbed his head up and down happily
"I didn't ask about that. *Sigh*" Kháos sighed as a smile formed on his face "Anyway, get ready. Seirá?"
"What?" Seirá woke up and rubbed her eyes
"It's time" Kháos rubbed her head intimately
"What? Right now?" Seirá asked "Okay"
The two of them turned into a streak of white and black light each and merged into his body
"Thank you" Orpheus said as his vision began to change once more
…
"What happened?" Bray stood up from the ground
[Orpheus? What happened?!] Costas yelled in his head
Orpheus stood to his feet and his aura suddenly spiked up and increased to the point that it became visible to the human eyes and had begun to turn liquid. His body began to overflow with excess energy from his blades, making them to pour out from his body
"Blade Possession," Orpheus muttered with his eyes closed while holding the two katanas in his hands. This time, one of the katanas was white while the other was black
The ground on his left hand began to crack open due to the excess chaos energy, while the one on his right hand began to revert back to its normal form due to the excess order energy. It even started to grow green grass and flowers
[Impossible. A Chaos-Order Domain? How high is his understanding of the two elements?!] Costas yelled in Orpheus' head
"Awakening!" he suddenly opened his eyes, revealing a white iris in his right eye and a black iris in the left
"What the… it looks like I can't hold back anymore" Bray released his space domain and grew a pair of dragon wings from his back. Even his legs had transformed "Show me what you got!"
Orpheus, hearing Bray's taunt, gripped his blades tightly and ran forward, leaving a white and black trail behind him
"There it is!" Bray laughed and flapped his wings, instantly disappearing from where he stood
Before even half of a second had passed, he appeared before Orpheus and swung his claws at him, simultaneously creating a spatial disturbance
"Wuh?" Bray widened his eyes in shock. Just before his claws could reach Orpheus' face, he (Orpheus) turned into a blur and suddenly disappeared "My domain is working perfectly. How did he…"
Bray's space domain was the type that could erase every form of space energy, leaving the only the ones he can control. This domain was the bane of all magi as space was needed to teleport. But there was a way to sidestep this negative effect. That is to have a high amount of speed; one that is akin to teleporting
"No way! His speed has definitely not reached that level. How did he… argh!" Bray grunted and stared at his forearms. They had been cut off and began to wither due to the chaos energy surrounding it.
Half a second later, Orpheus blurred back into existence
"Let's make things easier. Tell me where Raya is, you die. Don't tell me where she is, you also die. Choose wisely"