Silver Stars, Ch 13: Chaos Star (Patreon)

Sam studied the fortresses in the Void as his avatars continued to work on them. 

Their cores were done.

The complete enchantments that would interlock with Silverguard’s defenses would take a little longer, but they could already serve as extensions of the main fortress.

The stone they were made from was slowly changing from the dull black of the Vos’Rekan to the silver-white of his own creation. 

Even among the ancients, you are an excellent crafter. The Will of the Path’s words echoed in his mind as it joined him in studying them. 

It had been accompanying him ever since he finished Evolving. It had liked him before, but it was easier for it to speak with him now. 

Before, it had needed to use some of its own energy to maintain the connection, but at the Fifth Star he could hold up his own side of things. 

It made for easy conversation.

There were many powerful enchanters and smiths, the Will added, and you already count among the skilled builders, but I have never seen one with such speed of construction. 

Your avatars give you a great advantage. Your law is also suited to designing artifacts. Not everyone’s was.

Its tone was approving.

The Will was an artifact spirit, so it naturally liked that he was making things related to it, even if they weren’t on the same level.

He spoke with it about the construction for a while, discussing the best way to construct the fortresses and link them together. 

The Will had a wealth of experience available and had seen millions of years of crafting. Its advice was invaluable in strengthening parts of the fortresses that he hadn’t considered.

The defenses of Aster Fall would benefit from its wisdom.

At the same time, the Will didn’t tell him what to do. It only advised him on what had been done in the past and how it had worked, both in the early years of the Titans’ reign and during the First War.

It let him pick up a great deal of information about what the Titans had done and how they’d built the Path and other great artifacts, including the World Core. It was useful, but it reaffirmed that he was still a ways away from being able to repair the World Core.  

He would have to be at the Sixth Star for that, or at least the Sixth Evolution. 

His domain was powerful enough that he could make minor repairs, but the core processes required redefining the nature of the artifact, sealing damage that had broken it apart on a fundamental level.

The damage to the core wasn’t purely physical. 

It was full of the Vos’Rekan’s devouring law, which was what continued to destabilize it and make it slow to heal. 

Repairing those scars required him to erase the energy that was contained in them, which was warping the nature of the core.

That needed a Truth, which was the more refined form of a Law.

It basically took the power of a Law and refined it into a chisel point, one that could be used to carve permanent changes into reality.

His domain had reached the beginning of that path, but he didn’t have the refined part of it yet to focus his effort.

His Law of Primal Runes needed to grow stronger first.

“What is the Sixth Star?” he asked as he searched for more information. “I can tell it’s different than the Sixth Evolution.”

Of course it is, the Will replied with a trace of pride. The Sixth Evolution can accomplish some of the same things, but only in a limited way. It is a pale shadow of it.

The Sixth Star is called the Chaos Star. 

It is a return to the origin of the Void, a connection between you and the First Moment, when all things were possible.

Your law becomes a conduit for that chaos. 

That energy allows you to bridge the gap and change the present by redefining what is in front of you. 

It is effectively returning the Void to chaos and then recreating it. Once it is done, natural laws will realign to support you, creating a new order. 

You will change reality. 

The Will paused for a moment before continuing.

The First Moment was long ago, however, and it takes a great deal of energy to make even small changes permanent. 

The Fragments of the Primal Void from the Vos’Rekan are a similar energy, which allows you to make Divine artifacts.

Your domain is the start of that path. It defines an area under your command, where laws bend to your will, but it is only the outer layer.

The Truth of Chaos in your Sixth Star is the power source.

When you are able to call on that energy yourself, the changes you can make with your domain will become more potent.

To reach it, you will need to find a way to make your Law of Primal Runes a true conduit of chaos. 

The closer you get to the required level of essence, the easier it will be to see the path, but it will still take insight.

“It’s an Evolution of my Law of Primal Runes then?” Sam asked. “Returning to chaos?”

His attention was fixed on the Will’s words. There was almost nothing about the Sixth Star in his Titan memories except that it existed. 

The Will had direct experience with it, however, since it had dealt with many Titans who had already reached it.

It is partly an Evolution, and partly not, the Will explained. The Sixth Star is about finding the root of your Law that is true chaos. 

Then you ignite it. 

You’re on the edge, especially with the two abilities you just created, but you’ll need to go further. 

Your domain is strong enough now that you can exert some influence on reality while you are nearby, but unless you secure it with an enchantment or imbue it into an artifact, it is temporary.

The Sixth Star would make it permanent.

The first Sixth Evolution Titan found the path by accident when trying to recreate chaos. The rest followed quickly after. 

Once you reach it, that connection will be able to take the place of essence and mana to some extent. That is why some of your abilities are beginning to have a low cost, including those on the Divine artifacts you just created.

That is also where the energy of your domain comes from, which is different from the domains of the Sixth Evolution, which are based on exerting the influence of their law in the area around them and assimilating other things to it.

Whether or not the energy of chaos is turning into essence and mana or redefining the object on a higher level is debatable. 

It is difficult to pin down how chaos operates.

It simply is.

One day, you will understand it better than me. 

Although I am powerful, I am a spirit of Order more than Chaos. I was created for a purpose, which I fulfill.

The Will paused there, apparently content to let Sam absorb the information.

“What was Caerlon’s law like at the Sixth Star?” he asked eventually. “Was it similar to mine?”

Everyone’s connection to chaos is different, the Will answered. Caerlon saw the runes of the Void, but his law was based on understanding their potential and ways to manipulating their force.

It was called the Law of Runic Insight.

He could use them to enchant and to fight, but his method was different than yours. He didn’t focus on returning them to their beginning or on controlling lesser runes, but on understanding how to change them.

Other Titans had laws that boosted their strength to incredible heights, like the Law of Stellar Beginnings and the Law of Stellar Flame, or to teleport across the Void, like the Law of Gathering Stars.

Others could create metals that were nearly impossible to break or foster new life on a world, like the Law of Sun’s Life.

And then there were laws of exploration, like the Law of Wandering Stars, and of insight, like the Law of Stellar Dreams.

Most Titans have a law that is related to the stars in some way, but everyone’s personality is different, which means your laws are as well.

Your law is broad, which gives you flexibility, and the nature of it should lend itself well to understanding chaos. 

Now that you understand the barrier to the Sixth Star is about connecting to the chaos that is your origin, you should be able to find the path for yourself.

He considered the Will’s words, and then he asked the question that was on his mind.

“You said that the Truth of the Sixth Evolution is weaker than the Truth of Chaos in the Sixth Star?” he asked. “What did you mean?”

The Sixth Evolution’s law is limited, the Will replied. It is not connected to chaos, only to the laws that exist in the present moment.

Chaos is a power that can redefine those laws. 

It is their origin.

When the two meet, the weaker will naturally give way.

The Will’s preference for the power of its creators was obvious, as was the pride in its voice when it spoke of them.

“So the Demon of Blood,” Sam concluded, “he’s able to turn other things to blood and to command the blood around him, including that of his enemies, but he has little influence over other things.”

He is not the best example, the Will replied. If you asked that question about the Sixth Evolution warriors of the younger races, then I would agree, but the Voidborn have a trace of the Primordial about them. 

We were never able to completely define their relationship to chaos, but they are able to touch it in a way that the younger races cannot.

He is a dangerous opponent.

Sam had felt the power of the Avatar of Blood. He had to agree.

“What about one of the heads of the Council of Nine Stars then?” he asked. “How do they compare?”

They are a better example, the Will agreed. A Sixth Star Titan would walk past them without concern.

If you hold up the concept of “Fire” against Chaos that is the root of all things, which is stronger?

Chaos can rewrite those laws at will.

If Fire attempts to burn Chaos, it will find that it can no longer burn. It will dissipate into energy that is absorbed by the force of the origin.

The Truth of the Sixth Star has a strength that the Sixth Evolution cannot reach.

With that said, you should not take a Sixth Evolution enemy lightly, especially before you reach that stage yourself.

Your domain is enough to guarantee that you could escape, but a limited blade is still a blade.

Sam studied the fortresses as he considered the Will’s words. 

He didn’t have any plans for the Council of Nine at the moment. Unless they came to Aster Fall, they were a distant concern. 

They would only be important if he traveled to the settled half of the galaxy.

He planned to do that eventually, once he got the teleportation gate working, but what mattered at the moment was how to fight the Avatar of Blood.

The real Demon of Blood was no doubt beyond him, but the avatar was weaker and was drawing on Asenya’s essence to sustain itself.

It had struggled to hold him while he was at the Fourth Star. 

With Silvas’s help, he should be able to rescue Asenya soon.

As he was checking over the enchantments on the fortresses, he could sense the Will examining them. After a bit, it spoke up again.

The first Divine artifacts were chaos given form.

That is why they were called Divine.

The Fragments of the Primal Void are a shortcut to that same energy. 

You have two of them left.

What will you do with them?

The question was one that he’d been considering himself. He’d been holding onto them until he saw how the fortresses went.

Two were enough to make another Divine artifact or to upgrade the capacity in his bracer and cloak.

Their abilities wouldn’t increase as much with the addition of a third, but they would go up some, and the amount of essence they could contain would improve too.

He’d considered using the last two for his parents, the World Core, the relic, to create another artifact, and more.

He would have given them to the World Core if it would help with the damage, but it wouldn’t. The core didn’t need more fragments. 

The same went for the Moonlight Relic. 

Adding any more would only increase the relic’s ability to hold energy by a small amount. Its dimensional anchor could hold 500,000,000 points of aura, which was a hundred times greater than his bracer.

Cerei must have used quite a few fragments building it.

His parents could possibly use better artifacts, but they would need to be stronger before it mattered, at least at the Fifth Evolution. There was time to make other ones for them.

It would be best to use these on something more immediate.

As he looked at the fortresses, another idea occurred to him.

With a flick of his hand, the two shards appeared in the air beside him. 

Then he disappeared in a flash of silver light.

A few minutes later, he was standing in the skies of Aster Fall, looking down at the Storm Plains and the city of Portal.

His hands wove a series of runes into the air and then his domain spread outward, surrounding the entire city.

The fragments crumbled to dust as a vortex of silver-black light descended.

They had been small in his hands, but the light seemed endless as it flowed along the streets of Portal, covered the buildings, and then gathered around the dimensional arches at the center, where the gate into the World Seal was located.

The enchantments he’d laid into the city glowed in response, brightening like silver flames as the light settled into them.

It also flowed into the stone arches, the foundation of the city, and the massive energy gathering enchantment that made up its outskirts.

A sense of timeless age rose up from the stones, until the city shimmered with power. 

It felt like it had become more real than the Storm Plains around it.

He looked down at it with a serious gaze as he took in the changes.

City of Portal (Divine Artifact)

A legendary city and dimensional node designed by the Lord of Silver Stars. It is made of astral stone that will never weather in the winds of time. This city exists in all dimensions at once, which allows it act as a dimensional hub for easy teleportation. Gates opened to Portal will be more stable than normal.

The city is also designed to act as an anchoring point for the World Seal, allowing quick entry to any layer, and as a stabilizing influence on Aster Fall. Its presence anchors the dimensional space around it, making it difficult to open dimensional rifts here. Those that are formed will close on their own. 

It is linked to the Moonlight Relic and acts as a secondary dimensional anchor for Aster Fall.

Primary Effects: Dimensional Node, World Anchor, Dimensional Guidance, Dimensional Stabilization, Traveler’s Blessing.

He’d considered what else to use the fragments on, but this was the most advantageous choice.

The city had become a true dimensional hub now. 

It existed in all dimensions at once, similar to his True Dimension Body. It would never suffer from the backlash of dimensional energy. 

Every gate summoned here would be stable.

In time, it would also develop an artifact spirit that could manage the teleportation gates.

The effects were all designed to protect the city and Aster Fall, as well as to help with accessing the World Seal. 

Before, he’d had to travel through the seal on his own, but now the city would be able to open a portal directly to any area that he was familiar with.

There were also many more protections on the teleportation gates, ensuring that his enemies wouldn’t be able to use them, as well as assistance for his allies.

Even an apprentice mage would be able to create a long-distance portal to this city if they had the proper authorization, no matter where they were inside the seal or on Aster Fall. The city would provide the energy for it.

As a dimensional node, that energy usage was also much less than before. 

It was also capable of channeling energy, acting as a node.

Sam looked up at the sky, where the moons were scattered across the horizon.

He would be able to sustain a link to Silvas through the portal better now, and when he needed to retrieve Asenya, he had a clear path out of the World Seal.

Those going into the World Seal to hunt and look for enemies would gain the Traveler’s Blessing, which would help them to move more easily and use less energy.

He looked at the northern half of the city, where the Army of Aster Fall was gathering under Uncle Snake’s command, along with some of the Legion of Ice.

The assassin-turned-general’s thin figure was visible at the head of the forces, and seeing him made Sam smile.

He would be back soon enough to help, once he settled the rewards for the emissaries at Silverguard. 

He gave Uncle Snake a silent nod and then he disappeared again, heading back to Silverguard.