The sky around the grandmother`s cottage was a dark overcast. The wind came cold. Darius wished he had a coat as he ran up to the front porch of his grandmother`s.

　　"Brock! Nova!"

　　From the high vantage point on the porch, he looked around the farm yard. No sign of them. It was definitely getting colder. He opened the door behind him, went inside, and there was his jacket hanging on the hook.

　　This wasn`t here before&,

　　He pulled it on. The house was cool inside. Nothing had been moved from the last time he had been in here. He reached for the doorknob, and a voice spoke behind him.

　　"You won`t find them." He spun to see Badrik sitting behind him, dwarfing his grandmother`s kitchen table. Darius thumped against the door.

　　"How do I know you`re not him?" He said fear coursed through him.

　　"Because I`m the one that whispered to you to get the drone into the limousine at the pool. When Master Juro released the timeline right before the explosion enveloped us, I told you to pay attention to me. I told you to get the drone into Master Hiruko`s limousine that crashed into the pool. Does that help you believe that this is me?" Badrik raised one of his grandmother`s tea cups to his lips and took a sip.

　　"Ah. Maybe? I`ve seen some pretty crazy crap lately. I really don`t know."

　　"Well, how bout you sit and join me? Have some tea. Ask me any questions from the ball game we played up against the water tower. You should find out quickly enough if I`m actually Chaos or not."

　　Darius felt relief at those words. His shoulders drooped with the sudden relaxed feeling. "No, it`s you." He slid into the chair opposite.

　　"Water is a powerful thing. Very powerful. It grounds us." He took another sip of his tea and tipped his head towards the cup that looked so tiny in his hand. "Grounds everything. Protects. The protection magic I wield has nothing on water. It is life, spirits, healing fluid, and always grounded. It always knows its source. Anything magical, anything chaotic, always has a very difficult time dealing with it. Water always seeks the natural level, the un-chaos."

　　"But I was looking for Brock and Nova. Where are they? Did they make it out of the diner, ok? Why can`t I find them?"

　　"They have moved on to the next stage. They wait for you. You need to join them."

　　"Where are they?"

　　"You won`t understand until you tell me where we are right now."

　　"My coat appeared on the hook behind the door. I think I did that. This room was empty. Dusty even. The grandmother hasn`t been here. Then suddenly, you`re here, with her tea all laid out. I think you did that. This is my mind. A safe place in my imagination. You can travel here just like you can travel into the minds of others. Like you went to help Master Juro at the pool when Bucky& when Chaos was trying to disrupt his concentration."This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

　　"You have understood that part. But where are you really?" The big man leaned back and put his teacup down. "I have just given you a hint." He said, looking at the teapot.

　　"Some spirit world. I don`t know."

　　Badrik laughed. "No. We are not that powerful. Ever since the explosion, you have had to physically be somewhere. Where is that?"

　　"Something to do with water?"

　　"Yes. That is better. It had something to do with water."

　　"The drone went into the car. The car went into the pool&,"

　　The door shook, rattled in its frame. Darius looked out the window. The clouds had grown darker.

　　"Can he get in here? Can he come in here, even if the bridge is gone, and still find me?"

　　"What do you think?"

　　Darius got up and walked around. He looked at Grandmother`s things, looked out the window as the storm darkened further and grew in intensity. He thought of the people that Grandmother had healed over the years as he had been a child growing up with her taking care of him.

　　"I think Chaos can move into someone`s mind, but it takes time. If it wouldn`t be a sudden blow or injury, it would take time for him to get in, like you would have to get slowly sick or something. He hasn`t gone into any of our minds. He always comes at us from outside. Or he wouldn`t care about the footbridge you made into my mind, and he could just come in here and get me anyways."

　　"Well done. Progress."

　　The door rattled in the frame again.

　　"But we don`t have much time. Or I don`t have much time. I think you can leave here in a blink, just like you come in. So Chaos will try to come in at me from the outside. This is why you are trying to get me to realize where I actually am right now." Darius was pacing back and forth. Badrik leaned back and took another sip of his tea.

　　The cottage groaned and creaked from the wind. A piece of the roof above them flapped loose and banged back down again.

　　"You have always said the crystal, the chip you had, was able to store memories. Able to store the entire essence of a person&, and Nova and Brock had these chip implants too. It was just that I was the first one to be linked to a drone."

　　A crack of white lit up the dark sky and flashed silver through the windows.

　　"That`s strange," Darius said, looking out the window. "No thunder&, and come to think of it, no rain either."

　　"You were telling me about the&,"

　　"Yes." He turned to Badrik. "My memories, my essence, has been stored inside the chip, somewhere from the night at the pool. Everything was in the pool, in the water. It was probably saved from the blast. You luck gods have protected us just like Chaos protected his own people that night. This place," He turned and took in the room around him, "This place is a safe place in my mind. You, the only god of luck, the one that practices voodoo, can visit me here, in my mind. Nova and Brock were here, too, because they were also stored, somehow. We are like ghosts, or something more than ghosts, preserved by the memory crystals.

　　You found me here. You were looking for me at first, trying to find where I went in my mind, and this is where you found me. The other luck gods had to meet us across the footbridge, in the astral plain or whatever people call it. Valhalla. But Chaos found us there. He`s destroyed that place where we were. And I think Chaos is still trying to get at me. Right now. Wherever it is, I am. Somewhere."

　　"Water. Water grounds everything. Water finds its equilibrium, even through chaos. The water tower is the only place."

　　"You saved us in the pool."

　　"No. You saved yourself when you agreed to the operation. After the operation, you were able to bring the others with you. I had you move the drone into the limo. It was luck that nudged the limo into the pool."