Aurora's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Aurora, goddess of chaos, had never made a single mess of her own. Her rainbow hair sparkled as she chased after Liora again, a step behind, laughing at trouble that was never hers. Liora's chaos slid right off Aurora like water. Fires, floods, angry crowds — none of it touched her. That was the problem. Aurora wanted her own chaos. She just had no idea what it looked like. She found Liora barefoot on the roof of the round wooden house, the one that rolled on giant wheels. Liora was dangling a jar of glitter over the edge, grinning at the townspeople below. "Watch this," Liora said. "They'll be picking sparkles out of their soup for a week." Aurora climbed up beside her. "No. I don't want to watch your chaos. I want mine." Liora tipped her head. "Then make some." "How?" Aurora asked. "Everything I do turns into helping you. I'm the girl who hands you the matches." Liora shrugged and dropped the jar. Glitter burst across the crowd. People shrieked and swatted at the air. Aurora watched, and felt nothing. Not even a spark. It wasn't hers. Something below the house moved. A strange creature crawled out from under the great wheels. It had a duck's flat bill, a snail's spiral shell, and octopus arms that gripped the wooden spokes. It blinked up at Aurora. "Don't," Liora warned. "That thing lives under the roundhouse. It only listens to whoever wakes it." Aurora looked at the wheels. She looked at the sleeping creature. An idea took shape, and this one was hers alone. "What if the house rolled?" Aurora said. Liora's grin faltered. "It's parked. It's been parked for years." Aurora climbed down the ladder. She knelt by the creature and touched one cool tentacle. "Push," she whispered. "As hard as you can." The creature curled its arms around the nearest spoke and heaved. The giant wheel groaned. Then it turned. The round house rocked, tipped, and began to roll down the slope. Liora scrambled for a handhold on the roof. "Aurora! Stop it!" "I can't!" Aurora shouted, running alongside. "I don't want to!" The house picked up speed. It bounced over a fence and crushed a market stall. Fruit flew. Townspeople scattered, screaming Aurora's name for the first time. Not Liora's. Hers. Joy exploded in Aurora's chest, bright and dizzy and real. This was chaos she had built with her own hands. The creature clung to the wheel, riding along, delighted. The house rolled straight toward the town square, where the Mayor stood frozen in its path. Liora hung from the roof, glaring down. "You wanted your own chaos," she yelled. "Well, congratulations. Now you can't stop it either." Aurora slowed to a walk, breathing hard, smiling. She had her own chaos now. And a runaway house full of it, aimed at the one person in Glitterville who punished people for exactly this.