Chaos Unleashed
Being a creature that feeds on and thrives in creating chaos was a lot of work, but she couldn’t say that she was ever bored. Human beings were so fun to play with, with their fluid emotions and brief infatuations. They didn’t need to be pushed too much into something; with one little nudge, she’d started wars. Incited riots, kicked off celebrations.
She’d had to keep herself fed, or she was in danger of losing herself. It helped her retain what little humanity she had left after all these years. And she tried to have some fun doing it. She’d been consuming more than usual, though she tried to steady her intake. There was only so much energy she could contain. Any excess spread and if a few humans got caught up in the rush, so be it.
Chaos did not rule totally anymore, but it was a natural force, born before even the darkness and the light. To expect it to vanish was but stubborn, foolhardy denial. The mother of her people was Chaos herself, a being of sheer force and energy, and each of her children required to feed.
And besides, unlike many of her brothers and sisters, Mara preferred to play with her food.
Tonight, the moon’s bright, round eye was obscured by thick, woolly clouds. The better for her to slip into town unseen. She made a point to brush people as she walked, sparks flying in her wake: A couple began to squabble, and the quarrel ended in one of the patrons being soaked in ale. The conflict tasted like victory on Mara’s lips, and she smiled. It was a fitting appetizer, but not nearly enough to sate her. Two men drinking split apart as she brushed her fingers across an arm, throwing punches.
Soon the whole of the street was completely undone, and Mara stood in the middle of it all, feasting, lapping up the discord like a cat with a bowl of cream.
**
In the early hours of the morning, Mara changed into a young woman with golden brown skin, tattoos, a filmy tulle skirt, and combat boots. It was easy to blend in like this, even though it wasn’t her most flattering form. Eventually, she fell in with a group of college students, who had their own diluted form of chaos and bickering. Mara bit the inside of her cheek. When she went to the human world, it was almost too easy to engorge herself.
After all, constant chaos was easy to come by here, and it was easy to flaunt the rules.
Even with the dawn creeping closer, Mara didn’t want to return home. Home didn’t feel like that, to her. As powerful as she was, it was hard not to get bored. To want more from her life, even as it was barred from her. Try as she might, she could not stifle her longing, her sheer, obvious want. Her kind overjoyed in frivolity, but there came a time that it felt empty, vapid. Unsatisfying.
It wasn’t unusual, in and of itself, for a chaos being to be afflicted with ennui. But it was considered a phase, an aberration, that faded with time. But Mara’s unruliness, her stubbornness, had not softened over the years. The seed of discontent and desire that had been planted in her heart grew with each illicit trip to the human world, growing vines and spreading roots.
Eventually, it led her to the library, to the sacred, hidden texts that only the Elders had access to. But Mara was one of the best, and she used her powers to her full advantage, determined to find a way that she could live amongst humankind.
And for five centuries, she hid within the people she preyed upon, moving when she was able, even while her powers began to fade.
**
