# THE VIRTUES OF CHAOS
## Week III — Rising
### It Is Glorious. It Is Bliss.
Mara recognised him from the laugh.
Not the armour.
Not the scars.
Not what he had become.
The laugh.
**Mara**
Elias?
The Chaos Champion turned.
And smiled.
**Elias**
Little Mara.
—
She stared at him.
Stronger than before.
Alive when he should have died.
Knowing things he had once been forbidden to know.
His broken body rebuilt into something almost impossible.
**Mara**
What happened to you?
Elias looked genuinely proud.
**Elias**
I stopped being afraid of becoming more.
—
**Mara**
Khorne?
**Elias**
I gave myself to the fight.
I became stronger.
And I won.
—
**Mara**
Tzeentch?
**Elias**
I opened the books they forbade.
They contained answers.
Real ones.
Why would I stop reading?
—
**Mara**
Nurgle?
**Elias**
They told me I was dying.
They told me to accept it.
I refused.
And I lived.
—
**Mara**
Slaanesh?
Elias looked down at the body he had remade.
**Elias**
They told me to accept my limitations.
I discovered they were wrong.
—
Mara’s eyes filled with tears.
**Mara**
But look at what you’ve become.
Elias smiled.
**Elias**
I do.
Every day.
I’m stronger.
I know more.
I survived death.
I became more than I ever believed possible.
**Mara**
Then why didn’t you stop?
Elias frowned.
Not angrily.
Confused.
**Elias**
Stop?
Why should I stop?
Every boundary I crossed…
made me stronger.
Every taboo I broke…
showed me something they said I could never have.
Strength.
Truth.
Life.
Perfection.
He smiled.
Happily.
**Elias**
It is glorious.
A pause.
**Elias**
It is bliss.
—
Mara looked at Chibi.
**Mara**
He really believes it.
**Chibi**
Yeah.
**Mara**
Can’t he see what’s happened to him?
Chibi looked at Elias.
Then Mara.
Then…
at you.
**Chibi**
Can you?
—
A pause.
**Chibi**
It’s easy when it’s him.
You can see the end of his road.
The armour.
The gifts.
The corruption.
You know where every step led.
But he didn’t.
He only saw the next line.
And something he wanted…
waiting beyond it.
A stronger body.
A forbidden answer.
Another life.
Another step towards perfection.
And every time he crossed…
it worked.
—
Chibi tilted his head.
**Chibi**
That’s all you get too.
The next line.
Not the end of the road.
And if crossing it made you stronger…
freer…
better…
if it brought your dream closer…
if it felt less like falling…
and more like finally becoming everything you were meant to be…
if it felt…
**glorious…**
if it felt like…
**bliss…**
Chibi looked directly at you.
**Chibi**
And what do you think?
**Why should you stop?**
—
Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 30,000 and Warhammer 40,000 make the Path to Glory visible.
A Chaos Champion looks monstrous because we can see his whole road.
He could only see the next step.
Perhaps that’s what makes the parable uncomfortable.
**From the outside, everyone sees the fall.**
**From the inside, it can feel like ascension.**
**Game:** Warhammer Fantasy / Warhammer 30,000 / Warhammer 40,000
**System:** Wrath & Glory / Imperium Maledictum
**Campaign:** Mythveil Chronicles
**Theme:** The Virtues of Chaos · Week III — Rising
**PLAY EPIC. FEEL THE STORY.**
Campaigns and games:
https://startplaying.games/gm/dunchan
Research, philosophy and the living worlds of Mythveil Chronicles:
https://www.patreon.com/c/mythveilchronicles_bydunchanhuntergames