As she looked at HER egg, Cely was flabbergasted. She was just distracted for a short moment, and she had let that instinct inside of her create an egg using the ability she had gotten from devouring the Oakland Spider Matriarch.
Most of all, though, she felt guilty. This egg, it was her child. But it was not Nicholas's. Cely felt like she had betrayed him. But at the same time, she could not get herself to destroy it.
She could feel it. It was alive. Growing.
This guilt, combined with the returning realisation of how far she was from the ones she loved. This loneliness. It kind of broke her in this moment.
Cely curled up on the meditation mat, hugging her egg, as tears started to fall from her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Nicholas. My first child won't be yours. I-... I want you by my side again! Please... forgive me."
Before her death, Cely wasn't this emotional. But it seemed, through devouring others, she absorbed more than just their cultivation and abilities.
------------------------------
In an unassuming galaxy called "Milky Way". Near an unassuming star called "Helios", two lawn chairs and a small table floated in space.
On the chairs, two beautiful women lay.
To the left was Gaia. The smaller of the two, at 175cm, her long, braided, green hair sprawled across the chair like roots as she enjoyed some kind of cocktail from a straw.
To the right was Chaos. Standing at an intimidating 190cm, Chaos was reading some kind of book. For the normal observer, though, they would not be able to decipher anything, as she had a concealment technique on the contents.
The special thing about her was not her beautiful, smooth purple hair, but rather her animalistic features. Her ears were canine in nature, with fluffy white tufts poofing out from within. A single white-and-purple horn, akin to a narwhal's, poked out of her forehead.
From her back, mighty, meter-long wings adorned her, though, currently, they were wrapped around her like a robe. Nine tails swayed behind her, each one akin to a different animal. A bovine one, a lizard tail, a dog's tail, a cat's tail, a whale tail, a bird tail, a crocodile's tail, a shark tail, and a horse tail.
Though this was merely a momentary snapshot of her. As the very next second, all these animalistic features were replaced by others. Though, besides the kind of feature, the locations never changed.
The humanoid part of her, too, was static. Giving off a surreal vibe of everlasting change, in equilibrium. Chaos.
"How long do you think it will take little Cely to get back to her previous strength, K?" Gaia's sweet, slightly immature-seeming voice echoed. She had put down her drink and propped up her sunglasses to lean over to Chaos.
"Hmm... It's been hard to deduce. But I would guess, since she got a system and can freeload off of Lucifer a bit, maybe a million years? I wonder why her fate has become so nebulous, though. Reincarnation and her deal with Wheel alone wouldn't do that. I feel worried," Chaos replied, her voice contrasting Gaia's as it was very deep for a female.
"One makes sense, but I would say two is more likely. She has been thwarted by those bullies from Nimmer Forest after all, so her progress will slow down a lot now. Kinda good though, since she hasn't been stabilising herself enough these days." Gaia, who had at some point climbed onto Chaos's chair, replied.
Gaia's face closed in on Chaos's. Her right hand pulled down the book that was now between the two, pushing it onto Chaos's well-endowed bosom. All the while, her left hand reached for the side of Chaos's face in affection.
"Either way, she's going to be fine. She's our child. She's strong, and her will is beyond anything else I know. And now, with that devouring ability, she is also finally becoming emotional again. Maybe we can see the day when our child is genuinely happy again, without hiding it." Gaia comforted Chaos, as their eyes intertwined intimately in the light of Helios.
"I know. But I'm just worried. You know that, darling." Chaos's face leaned into Gaia's hand as she stretched out her own left hand to stroke the back of Gaia's head, bringing it even closer to hers.
Their lips met in the light of the star behind them. Their deep love was felt through the entire universe, as all life was being filled with a deep, pleasurable satisfaction from the ripples the two Priomordial Gods caused in the laws.
This kiss, though, did not last long, as the eyes of the loving pair ripped open in shock soon enough. In that moment, the universe seemed to still as the pair looked into another universe where Neal was located.
Here, in the confines of her room, Cely had just vomited out the egg.
"Impossible!" Chaos exclaimed, breaking the silence.
Although it might seem like the two should be happy about the prospect of offspring, this situation was wrong. Not only did neither Gaia nor Chaos see this coming, but the situation itself felt wrong.
Both of them were Primordial Gods. It might seem like the difference between Primordial and Transcendent was but one Tier, but this is by far the third biggest jump in cultivation among all Tiers. Only being topped by Saint Gods and Reality Transcendence in terms of significance.
They could tell the trajectory of time by merely existing as they processed an ungodly amount of information at each moment. Nothing should escape their notice, but this had.
Cely had no reason to, on her own, create this egg, as she was waiting to have kids with Nicholas once she returned to Earth. And now, seemingly out of nowhere, just because she seemed "overwhelmed by emotion," her ability just happened to activate?
That wasn't a coincidence. This was orchestrated. Some being had messed with their daughter!
Although Chaos was confused and oanicked, she was still relatively calm. Gaia, though, was beyond furious.
The universe seemed to buckle under the pressure of her rage as a seemingly infinite, illusory forest manifested behind her. Endless wails of misery echoed inside of it, creating a cacophony of suffering that frightened all in the universe.
"Who! Touched! MY! CHILD!"
Gaia and Chaos tended not to involve themselves with their daughter. They loved her, yes, but, knowing all that was happening at all times, there was no need for them to worry on any normal occasion.
The moment something at this level interfered, though, they would not just sit by.
At that moment, another figure materialised next to the two. Though "figure" is not a way to describe them. Rather than someone, it was a lack of existence. No space, no time, no light. Just Void.
"Calm down, Gaia. You are endangering this entire dimension. Go to the Primordial Battlefield if you really want to let loose." Void's voice seemed to come from nowhere in particular. It just seemed to materialize in their minds like a thought.
Gaia's head snapped toward Void, her anger literally tangible. "Keep out of this! I do what I want, and you won't be able to stop me. Don't worry, though. I won't destroy this universe, much less this dimension, just because of a little bit of anger." Gaia, although angry and annoyed, had lost much of the venom her voice had contained in her previous scream.
The pressure on the whole dimension also lessened, as time seemed to resume for the living beings contained within. No one but the Primordials had noticed Gaia's outburst.
When Gaia looked at Void again, they had already disappeared.
"Don't worry, darling. We're both here. Nothing bad will happen to her. No matter the enemy we face. No matter the struggles we go through, we are going through them together. We have come this far; what could we possibly fail to stop? We just need to be more careful since we got complacent. Either way, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, it is sad for our son-in-law, since this child won't be his, but we still get a grandchild out of this." Chaos's soothing, deep voice echoed from behind Gaia as Chaos hugged the latter from behind.
Gaia's rage seemed to melt away completely at this, as she pushed into Chaos's embrace. "I know. I... I just couldn't-"
"Shhh. I know. Come on. Let's have some fun to calm the nerves. And once we're done, we'll be ready to watch over our little Cely again." Chaos seductively whispered into Gaia's elf-like ears. Gaia blushed as her hair coiled seductively around Chaos's thigh.
"Yes... let's do that"