Chapter 360: Chaos
Ava stared at Jayden for a moment, looking amused. Then she shook her head. "No, Brunhilde is my grandmother," she chuckled. Then she raised a brow. "Have you been researching Valkyrie lineage?"
"I’m just been trying to uncover the real myth of our realm," Jayden admitted.
Ava studied his face, her sharp eyes picking apart his calm facade. She knew he was holding back, but she didn’t press. "Well, you’re not going to find the true history on the internet. The myths you see online—Zeus, Poseidon, the Olympians—those are the fragmented, corrupted memories of the gods before the Schism. If you want the real, unedited history of our realm, you’d have to ask someone who was actually present on Day One."
"Day One?" Jayden raised a brow. "What’s Day One?"
Ava crossed her arms firmly. "Alright, that’s enough. I’m not answering any more of your history questions."
"Why not?" Jayden argued.
"Because information like this is highly classified," Ava scolded him lightly. "It’s only supposed to be known by a very specific, selected set of bloodlines in the universe. Quite frankly, who the hell even told you about the Schism anyway?"
Jayden hesitated at first. But then he concluded that there was no harm in telling her. "A woman named Corey." he said.
Ava’s eyes widened to comical proportions. "Corey?!" she repeated, her jaw dropping. "As in Coraline?"
"Yeah," Jayden replied.
Ava rasped a disbelieving, excited laugh. "No bloody way!"
Jayden raised a brow at her sudden outburst. "You know her?"
Ava practically grabbed his shoulders, her composure entirely gone. "Does she happen to dress in an elegant European fashion and radiate a terrifying amount of energy that makes you feel like an ant?"
"Yeah, that’s her," Jayden muttered. "How did you know?"
Ava squealed, actually jumping in place like a massive fangirl. "Because I’ve heard every story about her!" she said. "Jayden, you absolute idiot, that wasn’t just some ordinary woman! That was Circe! The Sorceress Supreme!"
Jayden’s eyes widened. "Circe? Like... from the Odyssey?"
"Yes!" Ava nodded frantically. "She is literally one of the most powerful beings in the entire multiverse! And aside from the God of Speed, she is the only entity in existence who possesses the raw power to travel freely across the Realms!"
Jayden took a step back, processing the sheer magnitude of the revelation. Wasn’t Circe supposed to be a villain who turned men into pigs? Why was Ava talking about her like she was a superhero?
Then he remembered the concept of the reset. After the Schism, the myths changed. The people changed. Whoever Circe was in the old world, it was gone. She was a legend here.
"I cannot believe you actually met her," Ava groaned, pacing the sand in sheer jealousy. "I have never had the opportunity! She only visits our realm once every thousand years! Oh, if she’s still around, I absolutely have to meet her."
Jayden chuckled, amused by the sudden shift in the fierce Valkyrie’s demeanor. "Sounds like you’re a fan."
"I am a super fan," Ava corrected fiercely. "The documented exploits and adventures of Circe traveling the multiverse were the stories I read every single night as a child. She’s the entire reason I wanted to become an explorer in the first place!"
"That’s amazing," Jayden smiled. "She did seem pretty cool. Intimidating, but cool."
Ava checked a non-existent watch on her wrist. "Right, well, this has been lovely, but I really must get going—"
"Wait, wait," Jayden interrupted, holding up a hand. "Just a few more questions. Please."
Ava let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "Fine. But only a few, and then I am logging off."
Jayden nodded, getting straight to the core of his anxiety. "What happened to Artemis and Apollo? Who killed them?"
Ava’s expression darkened. "I don’t know, Jayden. Honestly. I know it seems like I hold all the secrets to our world’s history, but I really don’t. My mum strictly limited my knowledge of the endgame. She always said it was for my own good—that if I knew too much about what happened to the Twin Gods, Chaos might get angry."
Jayden frowned. "Who exactly is this ’Chaos’ anyway?"
Ava looked at him with a mix of disbelief and sheer amusement. "How can you not know who Chaos is? She is practically mentioned in the opening sentence of every old myth."
Jayden paused. He had read about Khaos—it was the primordial void, the beginning of everything. It was the creator, and the very living representation of the universe itself. So it actually makes sense that it was able to restart the world.
But his mind snagged on a particular pronoun. "She?" Jayden asked. "The universe is a woman?"
Ava rolled her eyes. "Yes, Jayden. According to the oldest stories, whenever the Universe manifested a physical avatar, she always appeared in the form of a woman. So, yes. She."
Jayden blew out a breath. "Wow. Okay. So... there are other realms out there. Other solar systems and Earths that are just like this one?"
"Pretty much," Ava nodded. "And it’s practically impossible to cross the borders between them. Only Circe was given the luxury of free travel. Though, there are rumors of other ways of traveling across realms. Take the God of Speed, for example. It was said that he could use his speed to tear rifts in the fabric of reality and jump from one realm to another."
Jayden absorbed the information, his mind buzzing. He proceeded to his final question. "Do you know who Kyberia is?"
Ava nodded immediately. "Yeah, I’ve heard of her. The Goddess of Technology. She’s actually my favorite of the Realm One gods, right after Athena."
Jayden raised a brow. Corey had mentioned that exact phrase. "Realm One. That’s a part of the multiverse, right?"
"Yes," Ava explained patiently. "Realm One is basically like the capital. It was home to the five most powerful gods across all the realms, including Kyberia, Athena, and Hermes, the God of Speed. Our universe is Realm Two—home to Artemis, Apollo, Eos, and the others."
Jayden hummed. "So the realms are numbered."
"Exactly. The God of Speed actually charted them. He documented his visits to know exactly how many parallel worlds existed. Before he died, it was recorded that he had visited 118 realms. Circe has likely visited far more than that, but she never bothered to count, so no one truly knows the exact number."
Jayden nodded slowly. Then his eyes widened. "Wait... the God of Speed is dead too?"
"Yeah," Ava said softly. "Along with the rest of the Realm One gods. My mum wouldn’t tell me how they died, but I know this much: whatever killed them... it was the exact same thing that caused the demise of Artemis and Apollo too."
A heavy, oppressive silence fell over the digital beach. The implications were terrifying. Whatever was out there hadn’t just killed two gods; it had systematically wiped out the most powerful deities across multiple dimensions.
Before Jayden could voice his next thought, Ava clapped her hands together. "Right! That is absolutely all I am answering for today. No more questions."
Jayden chuckled, the tension breaking. "I was just going to say thanks. You’ve given me a lot more information today than I had yesterday. It’s enough to process for now."
"Happy to help," Ava smirked. "But the next time you summon me for a history lecture, I’m charging you a consultation fee."
"No problem," Jayden smiled.
Ava turned to leave, but paused, looking back over her shoulder with a teasing glint in her eye. "By the way... how did things go with that girl? Did you take my advice and sort it out?"
Jayden’s smile softened into something genuine. "Yeah, I did. It wasn’t exactly easy, but we worked it out."
"Brilliant," Ava beamed. "Make sure you send me an invite to the wedding. Or the baby shower. Whichever happens first."
Jayden barked a laugh, shaking his head.
Ava offered a final, parting smile. "Don’t stress too much over the hidden history and the myths of the past, Jayden," she said. "Focus on living in the present, to build a new history for the future."
Jayden raised an eyebrow. "Huh?Where you get that from? Shakespeare?" he said in amusement
Ava chuckled, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "No, I think it was Socrates. Or maybe Machiavelli? One of those dead philosophers," she joked. "The point is, you understand what I mean."
"I do," Jayden nodded. "Thanks, Ava."
"You’re welcome," Ava waved with a smile. "Cheers, Jayden."
Then her avatar dissolved into a flurry of white pixels, vanishing from the beach. A second later, Jayden was pulled from the arena environment and deposited back into his personal lobby.
He stretched his digital arms, preparing to hit the ’Log Out’ command and get back to reality. But then...
Ping.
A notification window suddenly slashed across his interface, accompanied by an aggressive, heavy alarm tone he had never heard before.
[You have received a Battle Request]
Jayden frowned. As usual, he reached to instantly decline it. But as his eyes swept over the challenger’s data, his hand froze in mid-air.
*Player: Nebula
*Level: 990
*Global Rank: 2
Jayden stared at the glowing red text, his heart hammering against his ribs. Rank Number 2. The second top player across all five human-colonized planets. This person was even more higher in the hierarchy than Ava, who sat comfortably at 5th.
Curiosity, combined with a sudden, feral spike of battle-lust, washed away any thought of logging out. He wanted to know exactly who this person was, and why they were challenging him.
A slow, dangerous grin spread across Jayden’s face.
Then he accepted.
[Request Accepted. Preparing Arena....]
