Screams tore through the forest, raw and constant, swallowed almost as fast as they rose by the crackle of fire and the thick, coppery smell of blood. Bodies lay scattered across the churned earth — too many to count, too many to look at for long. Through the smoke, a girl ran. Animal skin wrapped loosely around her thin frame, her dry, sun-cracked skin slicked with sweat and streaked with blood that wasn't entirely her own. Her eyes had gone red — not from crying, though there had been plenty of that too, but from something closer to survival instinct burning itself raw.
"Little wild girl! Come back — you can't run forever!" a bulky man bellowed from somewhere behind her, closing fast.
"Be our breeder!" another voice jeered.
"Catch her already! That whole village was sitting on resources — and women, plenty of them!"
"You even know why the master wants her so badly?"
"She a fox or something?"
"Does it matter? That entire village belonged to the fox race."
"No — she's a *tailed* fox. Rarer stock."
"Can't cultivate. No mana. No qi to speak of, either."
"Pure white form on her, though."
"It's the fur. That's what they're after."
"You remember those ruins popping up across every continent lately?"
"She can activate them. Just barely — but she can."
"...No wonder the church wants her that badly. Cultivators too."
She stumbled — hard — right into the lip of a massive crater she hadn't seen coming, and didn't hesitate. Fur rippled across her skin as she shifted mid-fall, fox-shaped and desperate, and threw herself down into the smoking pit below.
She collided with something solid, something *humming* — a blue Metroid, half-buried in scorched earth. The instant she touched it, it flared bright and dissolved entirely, spilling eleven floating bodies out of a shimmering blue sphere. Light pulsed through the crater, and a man stepped out of it like he'd simply been waiting inside all along.
"Little fox," he said, crouching, tilting his head at her. "Can you talk?"
"...Kyu."
"*Oh!* She's adorable. Husband, can I keep her?"
"Keep her? Just like that?"
"Kyu... kyu... kyu..."
"No. I don't like cute things." Novaah waved a dismissive hand, though his eyes lingered on the trembling fox a moment longer than his words suggested.
"Big sis, why does that sound so familiar," one of the women muttered under her breath.
"Girls — let's make sure this land's actually safe before anything else."
"Husband," another voice cut in, quieter, uncertain, "why does it feel like something's stopping me from remembering where we came from?"
"...Same here."
"...."
"I think it's tied to how we landed. The impact, maybe."
"We'll get our memories back. Eventually."
"Husband — mana, qi, origin energy, all of it feels *thin* here. What kind of world is this? What species even live here?"
"Why don't we just crack open that white rabbit's skull and see what we can learn?" someone suggested, entirely too casually.
"Big-mouthed parrot," Loita groaned, "could you *possibly* shut up for five minutes?"
"Milk cow, why do you even need a rabbit for that?"
"I'm not a rabbit," a new, feminine voice snapped, sharp with irritation. "I'm a *fox.*"
The whole group went still.
"So the rabbit talks," someone finally said.
"Girls — I think we've made him mad," someone murmured, watching the fox's ears flatten.
"Rabbit — you have a name? Care to fill us in on this world?"
"*First* — not a rabbit. *Second* — if you save my village, I'll be your pet, your servant, whatever you'd like to call it. *Third*—" the fox's tone sharpened further, "—shouldn't introductions come first, before demands?"
"Fair," Lona said, stepping forward. "I'm Lona Chaos. White's Mae Chaos. Red is Frare. Blue, Mira. Silver, Chronos. Gold, Loita. Green, Alitalia. Black, Aurora. Rainbow, Lafila. And the starry one there — Luna Chaos. Our husband is Novaah Chaos."
The fox studied them all, wary. "I'm Nora. A commoner. Are you all... gods?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Your clothes just *changed* out of nowhere. Your hair looks like it's made of an actual galaxy." Nora's eyes narrowed slightly, taking in more details. "You're clearly not mortal. And *he* has those small horns — five of them."
"Those aren't horns," Loita corrected, gesturing toward the small, starry golden-purple crystalline points crowning Novaah's head, each barely three centimeters tall. "Those are Chaos Crowns."
"Husband, we should get started on our cultivation journey properly," Mae said, already restless.
"Can you take that crown off, at least?" Nora asked, eyeing it warily. Then she froze. "...Wait. None of you have a cultivation base at *all?*"
"We're recultivating," Loita explained. "He can't remove the crown — but he can hide it, when he wants to."
"He's got a unique physique," Frare added. "The horns are part of it, permanently. Husband — why does Luna's hair look exactly the same color as yours?"
"Mira, are you even looking? Luna's hair is *moonshine*, not galaxy-dark like his."
"...Is she an elf, then? She's more beautiful than any elf queen I've ever heard described."
"No," Loita said, something gentler creeping into her voice. "She's their *ancestor.* Only the Fay remain in this world now, as far as I can tell."
"No," another voice disagreed. "I can still feel traces of the Fay here. Faint, but present."
"Are you certain, big sister?"
"I am. But whatever's left of them is barely breathing."
"Nora," Loita asked, turning back to the fox, "do you know where the elves went?"
"I don't — not exactly. I've heard humans, beastkin, even monsters turned on them once, all together. They tried to save what they could, but the whole Elfin Wood Forest just... vanished. Left nothing behind but a crater. It filled with water eventually — became Elfin Wood Lake. There are floating islands scattered across it now, but no one's ever managed to land on them."
"Frare — go save her village first. She'll lead us to that lake afterward."
"Why *me*? None of us even have a cultivation base right now."
"Try your physique anyway. The seal's holding back primordial-rank strength — it's still in there."
"...Fine."
"Sis Aurora," Lona murmured, watching Nora carefully, "do you feel that? There's origin energy running through her. Faint traces of it."
"I do." Aurora's expression darkened. "But her fate isn't a kind one."
"What do you mean, Lona?" Frare asked, glancing between Nora and the horizon as Frare and Nora vanished into the distance together, already moving toward the burning village.
"She was meant to be captured. Raped. Enslaved. Passed around between races and false gods who'd call themselves divine while treating her like property."
"...*Why?*"
"There are ruins out there that need origin energy to function. She carries traces of it inside her. Her dantian hasn't been devoured, exactly — something's *living* in there, feeding slowly off whatever origin energy lingers. Origin energy matters to every living thing. It helps beasts evolve. Sharpens talent, deepens foundations, for cultivators and warriors and mages alike. It can even push a being toward godhood, given enough of it."
"So that's the shape of it. What exactly is living inside her?"
"Her ancestor," Aurora said quietly. "From the Ancestor God Era. A nine-tailed fox."
"...."
"They're back," someone announced, as Frare and Nora reappeared through the trees.
"Girls — I can cast magic without a foundation now," Frare said, breathless with something between excitement and disbelief. "Blood magic. Flame magic."
---
Novaah rose to his feet. "Can you lead us to that lake?"
Every eye turned toward him.
"Husband? What is it?"
"The system's finished scanning this world. Two locations stand out — both dense with natural energy." He paused. "That lake is the stronger of the two. But it's not empty. There's a crystal giant lizard guarding it, and something else — a dying Fay."
"System. Scan whatever's living in her dantian."
*Ding!*
**Name:** Anastasia Bron
**Status:** Nascent Soul Fragment
**Species:** Primordial Nine-Tails Fox
**Cultivation:** Broken
*(Nora's mother — formed from her own soul essence and blood essence, given at the very end.)*
"Hey," Novaah said, addressing the fragment directly. "Can you come out now? There are things we need to know."
"*No... no... mother will disappear if I do.*" Nora's voice trembled violently.
"So you already know she's only surviving in your broken dantian because it's saving your life."
"*She has nowhere else safe to stay. That's the only reason she's still here.*"
"So you gave up your own soul to keep your daughter alive." Novaah's voice softened, just slightly. "That's touching, honestly. But how much longer can you keep forcing down unrefined origin energy like this before it breaks you completely?"
A faint soul fragment shimmered into visibility before them, translucent, barely holding shape.
"Senior," Nora's mother whispered, kneeling the moment she had enough form to do so. "Please — save my daughter. I know you can."
"Why should I bother helping her at all?"
"Husband, she's my pet," Mira said quickly. "And Frare's servant."
"...Mira. When exactly did I agree to that? And why does she already have our family crest?"
"...."
"Big sis Frare, you *snitch.* I'm just expanding our family a little. Besides — they can't ever betray us."
"What do you mean by 'they'? And why *can't* they betray us, exactly?"
"Frare, are your ears actually functioning? The system already explained all of this."
"????"
"What system? What explanation? When did any of this happen?"
"It wasn't spoken aloud. The system imprinted the information directly."
"Why *them*, specifically?"
"Because they carry the family crest now."
"So, to be clear — the family crest is the Chaos Lotus. A servant's crest is a Petal of the Chaos Lotus. A slave's crest is a single teardrop, marked between the eyebrows. And the crest itself doubles as a key to our home realm."
"Big sis Loita," Luna asked quietly, "can we go home now?"
"Not yet." Loita's voice gentled. "I still can't remember *why* we left home in the first place, or even what world it was — but I know we'll get those memories back once we reach primordial rank. Until then, the crest handles communication between us, can teleport us to one another in an emergency, works as a lifesaver, lets us trace each other if we're ever separated, and functions as personal storage space that grows over time."
"System," Novaah cut in, "why does the crest have storage space built into it at all?"
*"Master. Mistress Loita informed us you were too lazy to craft individual spatial rings for everyone. Instead, you built a growth-type tree realm and fused the Chaos Lotus crest into its structure. Every crest functions as a root of that storage realm."*
"Can that realm ever collapse?"
*"Only if every memory of the Chaos family is lost entirely, and every member and direct descendant has died. Even then, new descendants are automatically born carrying the crest — though it must still be activated during an ancestral talent awakening or bloodline awakening ceremony."*
"Husband," Loita said suddenly, urgency sharpening her voice, "her soul's disintegrating. It's happening right now."
"Loita. You know what needs to be done."
"...Let's go, then."
---
*System Status:*
**Name:** Novaah Chaos
**Status:** Sleepy and Hungry
**Species:** Chaotic Absolute Being
**Physique:** Chaotic Prime Primordial Absolute Genesis Body
**Cultivation:** Zero
**Technique:** Chaotic Prime Primordial Supreme Origin Sutra, Chaotic Prime Absolute Yang-Yin ☯️ Sutra
**Spouses:** Loita, Aurora, Lafila, Chronos, Mae, Lona, Mira, Frare, Luna, Alitalia, Nora, Anastasia
"*AAHH?!*"
"Hey — how in the world did they all become my *spouses?*"
"Master," the system chimed helpfully, "anyone you grant a family crest to automatically becomes your spouse. Servants and slaves are excluded. This applies to any male recipient as well."
"...*What?* What kind of setup is this? Why not just call it a harem system and be done with it? I never built anything like this to actually *use* on myself!"
"Master, you did build it. It simply wasn't originally intended for your own use."
"Then who was it *for*, and why am I the one stuck with it now?"
*Error! Error! Error! Unauthorized command detected.*
"Ha ha ha," Loita said, entirely too satisfied. "Yeah, we get that response a lot too."
---
Together, the group pressed on through the last stretch of forest, until at last the trees broke open before them, revealing the still, glimmering edge of a vast green lake stretching out beneath a sky none of them could yet remember calling home.