01) Chaos - Sacris: The return of Chaos (Patreon)

«Nervous?», the technological Lu asked her bowler hat partner.

«A little… I just hope I won’t freeze in front of everybody.»

Violet looked quite nervous and worried at the prospect of what she was supposed to do that day. It was her special day, the day when she would have ended the chaos which had been devastating Techvan for years.

«You earned this reward. Just remember, smile and don’t fall from the stage!»

Five years had gone by ever since Violet had taken young Lu away from the streets. She gave her everything: a job, a house, a new family and the protection of the city. Five years during which, despite her childish instincts, she grew up both physically and mentally alongside her friend. With time she also became taller, but not as much as her partner. Her breasts grew and she was proud of her appearance. Her hair was more or less of that same old style, but her armor had evolved and every part of her body was now a lethal weapon. Ever since their first meeting, she had been jealous of Violet’s looks. She couldn’t stand her cute face and her curvaceous silhouette. However, five years later, Lu’s body had outclassed Violet’s. Little to nothing had changed in Techvan's detective appearance, except for her hair, now much longer, and her face, not of a child anymore but of a woman. The most famous woman of the town: the one who succeeded in putting Salenzer behind bars, the one who erased the word “crime” from her beloved city’s vocabulary, the one who had saved Lu from a thieving future and that managed to become Techvan’s lead police officer at the age of twenty.

«Do I really have to do it? Isn’t what I did for this city enough?», she said, biting her full lips and looking for a way out of that ordeal.

«The mayor honors you and you want to run away? Do you remember when we stopped the weapon trade at the harbor two weeks ago?», asked the young one, amused by her friend’s worries.

«Yeah...»

«We were three against fifty outlaws… You did not flee in a situation where you could have died, but now you’re scared?»

«Yes!»

Lu laughed out loud. She had known her for years and she saw her as a sister. Nothing could stop her, except for her embarrassment.

«It’s like I always tell you… There are only two things in this world that can stop you: an audience, and love.», said the girl as she winked at her friend, who blushed instantly. She buried her nice face in her hands to avoid being made fun of by her friend.

«Do you think he’ll come?», she asked, lowering her gaze towards the floor of her room.

«I sure hope for him! Otherwise, I’ll punch him so hard I will crush that cute face he carries around!»

The two girls burst in laughter and shortly after they went out of the house, headed to Techvan’s main square.

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The place was packed. Not one citizen wanted to miss the event. All happy and celebrating, waiting for their heroine, the beautiful woman who got rid of evil on the streets of Techvan: police chief Violet Headgear. The square was decorated for a party, filled with banners and purple colored lights, in honor of the girl.

«So many...»

The young woman’s supporters were too many to keep count. They were all standing and waiting on the enormous oval square in front of the treasury. The space was quite simple, but majestic nonetheless. A huge space encircled by arches resting on doric columns as tall as ten meters, with the Moonbank in its middle. This was an impressive building, created with Techvan’s finest technologies. It was some twenty meters tall and inside it, there were a myriad of rooms. Too many to keep count. The entire structure had been built to let the world know of the advanced technology of the city. Hundreds of gears decorated the exterior, whereas some balloons made the interior more festive looking. The gears on the outside worked both as an embellishment and as a defense mechanism, seeing the importance of the Moonbank. One of the few buildings in the entire continent which acted as a treasury on the top floors, and as a prison on the lower ones. In front of it, a big stage had been set up to host the most renowned guests of the event: Techvan’s police department. Behind the scenes, the three protectors of the city were waiting for the mayor to end his speech to the citizens.

«I can’t do this!», screamed Violet, almost panicking, unable to breathe at the sight o the people in the square. Her milk-white complexion made her look like a ghost every now and then, but this time she seemed anemic.

«Of course you can! And if you need support, you have us. Aaron and I!», replied Lu, placing a finger on her chest. While Violet did trust her friend completely, the same she couldn’t say of her colleague Aaron, who was anxious to go out and show himself off to the girls of Techvan. He had been looking at his reflection for almost an hour, trying to fix his rebellious lock of hair on his forehead.

«Dammit! Can’t you just stay put like the others!», he yelled at himself in the mirror. Aaron was one of the city’s heroes. He earned the title after having saved Techvan from the evil Kiborg and having brought clean energy thanks to his inventions and his past as a scientist.

His hair was pulled to the back, all black except for a couple of white locks. With him, he always carried his Tech suit and his favorite weapon: Thor, a huge hammer capable of generating thunder, with which he shattered the “arcane crystal”. He was very tall, taller than Violet by a few centimeters, and he was extremely vain.

«Ok… Forget about him. Don’t forget I am here for anything you need!», Lu corrected herself, laughing about Aaron. As soon as the former scientist realized the two were laughing about him, he approached them to save his honor.

«Laugh all you want, kid… I understand that your wish to look feminine is basically non-existent, but someone here does care about looks!»

Those words ignited a spark of violence in the eyes of Lu, whose wish was to hit that gracious heroic face with a flaming punch.

«Don’t call me kid! Old fool… Aren’t you a little too old to even think you could seduce the girls of Techvan?»

«I, an old fool? Just cause I have some white locks? I’m only thirty you know! Don’t treat me like an old man!»

There had always been some bad blood between Aaron and Lu. Before becoming part of the police, Lu had defeated the so-called “Protector” of Techvan multiple times, escaping his attempts of capturing her. The title had been given to him by his admirers right after his fight with Kiborg and the shattering of the arcane crystal, which had happened eight years before.

«You ARE old!»

Violet couldn’t avoid laughing at hearing Lu’s challenging tones. In the past five years of cooperation, Lu confessed to her that she used to admire Aaron when she was a kid, despite the occasions when they were enemies. Her crush for Techvan’s hero however, faded after she had made his acquaintance.

«Don’t you think you’ve argued enough? At least try not to lose your face in front of the whole city…»

Violet’s heart stopped suddenly. She could recognize that voice among a thousand others. The voice of the man she had been in love with ever since she was a kid. The voice of a fearless boy who had run away from his city walls, his destiny, his family and, most importantly, from her. The voice of someone who would come back to Techvan only when in times of need. Someone who had always used his skills to protect the weak, the honor of those who couldn’t fight for themselves, including Violet. The voice of the one who watched over the heart of the police chief without being aware of it. The voice of the hero of those kids’ fairy tales. The voice of Techvan’s “Brave Explorer”.

«Dustan!»

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Blonde messy hair, held in place by a pair of glasses on his head. Deep light blue eyes and a small scar on his left cheek. A short ocher leather jacket and a pair of black pants, which matched with the white shirt he wore under the jacket. A double looped belt on his pants and some comfortable traveling boots. A white silky scarf on his neck and a pair of dark yellow gloves, so as to differentiate them from the jacket. And lastly, a huge amulet with a diamond and a golden necklace attached to the left glove, giving off a weak white light. This was Dustan. A true adventurer, gifted with an outstanding intelligence and known throughout the continent. The man, only twenty-four years old, wasn’t part of the Techvan’s police like Lu or Aaron. Being part of it meant being stuck in one place, and ever since he was a kid, he had wished to travel far away, far from everything. A solitary man, but brave like few others. Thanks to him, many monsters on Sacris’s continent had been wiped out from the face of the Earth, and, unlike Aaron, Dustan didn’t have a speck of vanity.

«You thought I wasn’t going to come?» he asked, smiling, while Violet hugged him energetically. They had been adventure partners for so many years, and they had known each other ever since they were kids.

«I missed you!»

Dustan blushed, not so much for what her friend’s said, but for the warm embrace she had given him. Even though he was older than Violet, she was taller than him and this embarrassed him a little.

«You missed me? Despite all your obligations, you had the time to miss me?», asked the boy, alluding to the terrific aim of the woman with her father’s rifle.

«Oh so funny!»

After the long hug, Dustan greeted Lu and Aaron. He had been missing from home for a couple of months. If it weren’t for them, Dustan would have never felt nostalgic when thinking of Techvan.

«How’s the traveler's life going?»

Aaron was always joking about his friend’s wanderings from one city to the other, without one fixed place. An explorer such as him could not allow himself to stay in the same place for too long. He risked getting bored, or worse, rusty.

«Better than you think. I just came back from Klein Holz.»

Aaron was surprised at how far from Techvan’s border his friend had traveled.

«Wow… It’s on the other side of Sacris! It must have been an extremely tiring journey… I bet you’re dying of sleep.»

«Nah… I’m never tired. And I sure can’t sleep now! Not before I witness the ceremony of Techvan’s police chief!», he said, as he grabbed Violet with his right arm. Now it was her turn to blush with embarrassment.

«You finally freed Techvan! With Salenzer exiled, and Kiborg behind bars, there won’t be any other danger for the city! Mafia and terrorism utterly defeated! It's too good to be true…»

Dustan stopped for a few seconds, thinking of another misfit who could have interrupted that peace.

«He is still locked up in the treasury’s basement, right?»

In the man’s eyes a hint of worry could be seen. Violet already knew who he was referring to: an old enemy locked up in the cells for almost two years. Captured by Dustan beyond the city’s borders and brought to Techvan to be constantly kept in check.

«Of course… That madman is still in prison. And he will never get out of his cell.»

A slight smile appeared on the blonde explorer’s face, which reassured the young sheriff too.

«So? What’s stopping the mayor from calling you on stage? I can’t wait to see the show he has in store for you!»

…........................................................................................................................................................................

The event everyone had been waiting for had come. The mayor Terst had just called the three paladins of Techvan’s order on stage. The police chief Violet Headgear, Techvan’s “Law” Lucinda Fury, and the “Protector”, Aaron Doom. All three of them got on the stage, while Dustan stayed behind to observe the scene. The mayor, a very short man, bald, with a big gray mustache and a pair of glasses that covered almost all of his face, was in the middle of the stage, giving each one of them a medal of honor. His size made him look like a “pibu” and he was wearing total black ceremony clothes. After having granted the reward on behalf of the city, he asked Violet to give a speech to the citizens.

«Thank you so much for the honor, mayor. Thanks to all of you!», she said, looking at the crowd. She was so nervous her legs were trembling, and she was afraid she might stutter. Luckily, a look at Dustan was all she needed to calm her down.

«Citizen of Techvan, I am grateful for the honor received. I believe I also speak for my partners when I say that our lives will always be dedicated to the safekeeping of this incredible city. Salenzer and his mafia have been defeated! Techvan is our home! Our treasure! And nobody will be able to destroy it!»

The crowd started clapping. The noise produced by the claps almost completely covered the voice amplified by the mic.

«Techvan! Nobody will threaten you anymore! The chaos in this city is over!»

Her last sentence however had been completely drowned. Not by the clapping noises, but by the screams of some citizens looking at the sky, terrified. Out of nowhere, in Techvan’s sky, a huge black zeppelin had appeared, with an eerie electric-blue skull in the middle. The zeppelin dropped a big object on the square’s stage, destroying it completely.

…........................................................................................................................................................................

Chaos had come back to ruin the peace of the city. Violet woke up suddenly, as if she just had a nightmare. She had a small wound on her head, and a weird warmth enveloped her body. After a few seconds she saw Dustan, who was holding her in his arms.

«Dustan... What happened?»

The blonde man didn’t say a word and he let her friend see for herself what was going on. Something had fallen from the sky and destroyed the stage. Not far from them there were Lu and Aaron, who were looking for the senseless body of the mayor among the rubbles. As soon as she managed to stand up on her legs, a strong light engulfed Violet. The fallen object was a mega-screen, so big it was taller than the first floor of the treasury. The light engulfing her was coming from the screen. Suddenly, an image was visible: a girl. A girl sitting on a chair, lit up by a source of light coming from above, in an otherwise pitch dark room.

«Test 1! Test 2! Can you hear me? Well, I hope so… I sure hope I haven’t made any mistake with the cables!

The girl had a long white braid, so long in fact, that it reached her waist. She was almost entirely naked: a black top covered her small breasts, while purple torn shorts were tied by a small skull-shaped belt. Next to the belt, she carried a weird Tech technology, some sort of reddish gun. At her feet she wore enormous boots and dark blue stockings which covered her legs. On her left hip she had some tattoos, and many small dark blue “S” letters were on the right side of her body. Her red eyes and blue lips filled Violet with a feeling of folly which she had not felt in anybody for a long time.

«Greetings to all of Techvan’s citizens! Sorry for the noise, but I’m a sucker for surprise entrances. I heard that your city had been nominated “the safest in all of Sacris”... So boring! How can you be happy about this? Peace, serenity, tranquility… It must be quite the lame city. Well, now you won’t have to worry about this! I came here to bring fun and excitement to this funereal place! And, as my first act, I will make this mega-screen blow up. So I suggest you don’t get too close when the movie's over. But this is not everything! I will give you a hint on where my next “performance” will be. This is a goodbye! I sure hope we’ll have fun together, and I look forward to playing with the police of this city and its colleagues! See you soon!»

The movie ended suddenly, leaving everyone panicking and running to avoid getting caught in the explosion. After a couple of seconds however, the screen turned back on.

«Just kidding! Did you fall for it?»

The citizens froze. Violet was shocked at what was going on. Lu was raging and Aaron was trying to keep her from going to the screen and destroy it. Dustan on the other hand, calm as ice, placed his hand on Violet’s shoulder, who couldn’t help but look at the snow haired girl.

«If I made everything explode now, it wouldn’t be fun… And plus, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Silk! Don’t forget about me. Because from today onwards my name will mean “chaos”. That’s right folks! Chaos is back!

Suddenly, the screen shut down and never came on again.