-Smiles POV-

 

Hmm. Something odd was going on.

 

My select Chaos Realm, which contains 12 different worlds, was acting quite strangely. As it drifted through the space that all Chaos Realms were located in, it seemed to be getting closer and closer to that of another God of Chaos, the one known as Payto.

 

I sent him a message. His reply soon came.

 

Smiles: I think our realms are getting close to each other

Smiles: We should be ready

Payto: Thanks for the warning

Payto: I'll prepare

 

We concentrated our control of our realms to prevent anything crazy-bad from happening. I sighed.

 

This would take a bit.

 

---

-Lia-

 

I yawned, stretching. When I opened my eyes, I expected to find myself lying next to Violet in our sleeping bag.

 

After defeating the Nosk, we had spent a bit more time hunting before setting up a camp and going to bed.

 

And now I was in a blank white expanse.

 

As I was looking around, colors spilled in, forming an endless grassy plain and a bright blue sky. Then a voice behind me spoke.

 

"Where. . . am I?" It asked. "Is this a dream? It's not a Solar Convergence. . . Ama?"

 

I turned around to see a tall, pretty fox girl. She had silvery-white fur with cyan at the tips of her ears and tails, of which there were three. Her eyes had bright cyan irises and black sclera. Our eyes met.

 

"Who are you?" I asked.

 

"My name is Okami," The girl replied. "Who are you?"

 

"Name's Lia," I said. "What's a Solar Convergence?"

 

"You don't know?" Okami asked. "It's when both suns overlap, making it look like they are a single one."

 

"Suns?" I asked. "You have two?"

 

"You don't?" Okami asked. After a moment, she said, "Guess we're not from the same world."

 

"Guess not," I said. "I think I would have at least heard rumors about a beautiful foxkin like you if we were. I'm from a world called Aerylin."

 

". . . I don't know the name of my world," Okami said. "I’ve never really cared to learn it…if it even has one."

 

"Did yours have a system?" I asked.

 

"What do you mean?" Okami asked.

 

"Like levels and skills and stuff," I said. "It's a very important part of my world."

 

"That aside, your world has magic, right?" Okami asked. "Mine does. Most people there need to use chants and stuff, but I don’t."

 

"Yeah, my world has magic too. . . How come you don’t need to use chants if everyone has to?" I asked.

 

"I'm technically the Goddess of the Blue Sun and Death, with an aspiration to also become the Goddess of Runes," Okami answered.

 

"That's cool!" I said.

 

"Yeah, though it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for now," Okami continued. "While I’m working on it, I haven’t gotten my full Authority yet, in a way of speaking. When I do though, I’ll finally get to join my Fated One, who is the Goddess of the Orange Sun, Life, and Magic in the Divine Domain."

 

"What's a 'Fated One'?" I asked.

 

"Basically, we are fated to be together by a Fate beyond Fate…ummm…like Soul Mates," Okami explained.

 

"Ooooooohhhhhhh," I said. "My world has a similar thing. Although we have our own name for it, Soul Match. And, funnily enough, I'm in a situation similar to yours. My Soul Match is the daughter of one of my world's gods, though in actuality we, or I guess our souls, are from a different, different world."

 

"Oh? What’s the place you’re from called?" Okami asked.

 

"Earth," I answered, and Okami's eyes widened.

 

"I'm from there too!" She exclaimed.

 

"Really!?" I exclaimed. "Where from? I’m from the US!"

 

"That’s…hard to say," Okami said. "I don’t remember a lot, and what I do remember is either vague, or extremely clear when it comes to what I was interested in, mostly being anything related to ancient Norse mythology and culture. I fancied myself an aspiring archaeologist, though I think I was more a novice than an official one."

 

I drooped a little. it was kind of sad to not remember where you were from. At least she knew she was from Earth.

 

"Do you have magic?" Okami asked, bringing me out of my stupor.

 

"Not much, but I can do this," I said, creating three sharp, curved thorns along my arm. Then, after a second, I retracted them.

 

"What was that?" Okami exclaimed.

 

"My thorns," I said. "Though my appearance makes it seem like I am, I’m not human. I’m a Bloodthorn Spirit."

 

"What's a Bloodthorn?" Okami asked.

 

"It's a magical, highly poisonous venus-fly-trap," I explained, "meaning I have a lot of poison-related skills. Most of me is poisonous, even down to my saliva.

 

"That's neat," Okami said.

 

“I know, right?" I asked. "My thorns, for example, aren’t really created but are more like a part of my body that I can grow and retract at will. It was kind of hard to manage in the beginning, but it’s now to the point where it’s second nature.”

 

"Huh," Okami said. "Cool."

 

"What about you? Any magic?" I asked.

 

“Yep," Okami replied. "The magic I use most of the time is my Solar magic, which is the most potent fire magic in my world, and it shares the same color as my Sun.” She waved her hand and three blue fireballs appeared above her head.

 

“My body heat is also hotter than a normal person’s," She continued, "and I can control it at will, though when my emotions reach a certain point I kind of forget to control it and it increases in response to the intensity of said emotions.”

 

“Cool," I said. "Sounds perfect for winter."

 

"You have no idea," Okami said. "My best friend loves it in the cold too. Anyway, my other magic is Death magic, naturally."

 

". . . Sounds kinda. . . terrifying," I said.

 

"Meh," Okami said.

 

"What exactly does death magic do?" I asked. Okami's eyes lit up and began to glow a little bit.

 

“It mostly encompasses necromancy," She began. "Though in my case, and the case of the one other person with Death magic that I know, we can see and interact with Death Spirits, though that’s also probably because I’m the Goddess of Death, in my case at least. If I work in conjunction with someone with Life magic and a deep connection with my wife, mix it with my own Divinity, and a few other specific requirements, I can fully resurrect someone as well. Other than that, it’s mostly things to deal with my Authority over Death than Death magic itself.” As she was talking, her eyes got brighter and brighter.

 

"Amazing!" I said. 

 

“Hehe," Okami said. "Oh, and a correction from earlier, my race is kitsune, not foxkin, though, I’m also half dragon. It seems kitsune genes are dominant though, so my most draconic features are the slit pupils and the scales around my eyes. The three tails should also be a giveaway.”

 

“Ah," I said. "I thought that was just makeup around your eyes, but them being dragon scales is also super cool.”

 

Then, with a loud pop, a small slip of paper appeared next to us. I looked over and saw strange writing on it. I couldn't read it, but a system message popped up in front of me, showing me what it said.

 

[Translation]

[Sorry you two, our respective Seas of Chaos were passing close by each other and as a result you

two were caught in the waves of the event. Your physical bodies and souls are completely fine, you both

just seem to be sharing a dream. This shouldn’t take too much longer to resolve, so just sit tight, drink

some coffee or something, and all will be just a distant memory.

- Payto and Smiles; Gods of Chaos]

 

"Well. . ." Okami began after an awkward pause.

 

"At least we finally got an explanation of what’s going on," I said.

 

"Yeah," Okami agreed. "And seeing as this is about to be resolved, we should probably say our goodbyes, so, it’s been nice meeting you, Lia."

 

“Feelings mutual, Okami," I said. "I wish you luck getting to your Fated One."

 

"Same to you in becoming a god," Okami said.

 

Then the colors around us bled away and everything faded into a blank white expanse.

 

I woke up to find Violet awake next to me.

 

"Morning," She said. "Time to get going."

 

"Okay," I said. I got up and pecked her on the cheek before getting ready.

 

We had some monsters to hunt.