The Jester of Apocalypse

Marven’s body shot through the air, his speed causing a sharp, high-pitched whistle as he rammed into the metal dome full force.

Neave put the hammer down and nodded satisfactorily, “That’s gonna hold up rather well!”

Marven weakly lifted a thumbs up as his body slowly peeled off the metallic wall and plopped to the ground.

While working on mastering their weapon skills couldn’t be finalized without real-world practice, where the weapons had their powers, there wasn’t all that much practice they could do for now.

Take Harel, for example. If she hit someone with that horror ball of hers, their body would likely be splattered into gore without much effort.

Yet, the time had finally come.

Neave turned around and gazed at the children with fatherly pride. They had grown so much.

Without being able to track the time, they had no idea how long they had spent in the spirit realm, but it was a long, long time. They had hit something of a plateau, likely due to the lack of inspiration.

It was hard to precisely tell what caused their growth to stagnate, but Neave felt sure he knew what was responsible.

Lack of motivation. Getting your body scrambled in the spirit realm felt the same as it did outside. The initial fear of pain and the base reflex reaction they all had was what drove them to grow.

With time, however, the reaction to pain faded, and their growth needed to be motivated by something else.

Now, growth for the sake of growth was a motivator in and of itself. But that could only last while the primitive brain was satisfied by the speed of growth. Once that speed stagnated or slowed down, something else had to take over.

Be it habit, expectation, competition, ambition, or sheer willpower, something had to carry the desire to grow and improve.

All of those sources had dried out. They had simply spent too long in the spirit realm.

Neave knew all too well how fickle the motivation to grow was. Back in the loop, the only thing that consistently drove him was the utter boredom he had to suffer otherwise. Not even the desire to leave, or curiosity to discover what came next, was as powerful as the aversion to a dull eternity.

He smiled a bit as he looked at them. They didn’t have to suffer such a cruel fate. Yet, that sadly meant that they had to find something else to drive them.

So, back to primitive brain satisfaction, it was!

Spirit powers, cultivation, mere exercise, new equipment, blah blah, whatever, they had plenty of ways to grow rapidly.

And they didn’t need him anymore. Not as much as they had initially. Now, it was time to allow them to thrive.

There was still the threat of that assassin reappearing, but honestly, that threat was there no matter what they were doing or where they were. If he could appear like that at will, Neave was sure he would have done it already.

It was more likely that such a method was something limited. And if it were limited, he would bet anything that it would be used on him rather than the others.

Still, if that kid appeared again, he would pose a massive threat even without the weapon and perfect stealth. He was on the diamond path, after all. But Neave wasn’t all that concerned. His allies were powerful, and they were insanely skilled as well. With their weapons, skill, and extreme constitution, not even someone on the diamond path was guaranteed to win.

Besides, the entire point of this realm was to face challenges and threats to begin with.

Marven got up and waddled over as his body rapidly reassembled itself, and he stood before Neave, right next to the others.

Neave took a deep breath and looked at them, “That’s it.”

They waited in trepidation for him to continue, but instead, he just turned around and started walking away.

Frowning at each other in confusion, they looked at Neave and back, wondering whether this was some sort of joke. However, as Neave prepared to run off, they realized he wasn’t kidding.

Marven was the first to speak, “Neave, wait!”

“Hmmm?”

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’!? That’s it!? What do we do next?”

“Oh… Right. Uh. Whatever you want, I guess?”

They stared at him for a second, mouths hanging open, but soon, grins popped up on their faces, and they nodded at him.

He nodded right back. Turning around, Neave prepared himself to run off, but just as he started running, he paused, skidding over the dirt and turning around, “Oh! I forgot one thing! Soon, this place will be filled with countless monsters. Be careful, and if you find any cores with spirit powers you want, leave them in the chamber somewhere. Place them on an altar as a sacrifice. Actually, yes, that would be fitting.”

Gabrias frowned upon hearing that, “Wait! What about your plan to enclose the surrounding area to limit the size of the monster habitat?”

“Oh, that? Well, there isn’t much point now, is there? The demons already got their hands on one, so keeping them contained won’t make a big difference. It will only limit their growth and hinder our plans.

“Oh yeah, one more thing, if I have anything for you, I will just come by and drop it off in the chamber. Also, feel free to cultivate all you want. Marven, you should wait for them to catch up first. I will be looking for spirit powers that will increase your survivability enough to make sparring with your weapons a realistic prospect. Until then, try not to die.”

With a final wave, Neave disappeared, leaving the others to their own devices.

Blazing through the caves, he felt a sense of melancholy as he left them behind. A big part of him wanted to stay and keep training together.

But that wasn’t an option. As long as they were with him, the focus would be on their growth. There was plenty of development he had to do himself, and it wasn’t something he could achieve while babysitting them.

Thankfully, due to the amazing effect of the spirit realm, he hadn’t wasted much time on them, either. There was a lot of stuff he had to do.

The caves he was blazing through had changed drastically. This close to the glass shrub, there wasn’t even a mention of obsidian bushes anymore. It was all glass.

With that little detail in mind, Neave made his way to the improvised workshop he had created.

***

Sateron stood facing the direction of the chamber. His face was resolute, yet his heart faltered.

One step. That was all it took to enter the radius of Astrador’s anchor. And the moment he did, Astrador would know he had failed his mission.

Every cell in his body wanted to know how his creator would react, yet, his very soul screamed in rebellion, wanting nothing more than to run away and never turn back.

Yet, the choice was nothing but an illusion. There was nothing to run away to. This was a cold, empty, dark realm of nightmares and death. And his only hope, the only chance he had of making it out of here, was Astrador.

He heard a faint clink off in the distance. Yet another of the tiny shrubs had sprouted, reaching closer to the anchor by the second. This was it. Even if he didn’t step inside, the god would know he had failed.

There was nothing to lose. A single step was all it took, and with a whispery pop, the Great God appeared before him. His cold expression bore directly into Sateron’s soul, and the young man lowered his head, feeling smaller than a grain of sand at that moment.

Astrador scoffed in disdain and asked the question Sateron feared hearing the most, “Why are you still alive?”

“I–I…” The words wouldn’t come out. The excuse, the justification disguised as a report of his failure, the one he had recited in his head repeatedly, suddenly vanished, replaced by nothing but a deep sense of shame and regret.

Astrador took a deep breath and spoke, every word dripping with disappointment, “I see. Not only have you failed your task, but you dare live the life spared by your enemy.”

“I’m… I’m sorry, there was nothing…”

“Why do you speak?”

Sateron jolted, sealing his lips and biting his cheek as Astrador continued, “There is no value behind your words. Go back and finish your task, and if you must fail again, do not let your enemy spare your life so shamefully.”

That made Sateron pause. Without thinking, he lifted his head and asked, “Am I going to explode?”

Astrador froze. He lifted an eyebrow and asked, “What sort of idiotic question is that?”

“I just…”

“I don’t need your answer. Let me clarify something, servant. Your life and death exist to exterminate my enemy. That is why you live. Only by fulfilling your purpose do you get the chance to be something besides my weapon. Now, return to your mission.”

Sateron shook, tears welling up in his eyes, “I can’t kill them. If I go back, I can only die!”

Astrador scoffed, “Then that is the fate you deserve.”

“But I…”

“Silence.”

“No! I won’t be silent!” Sateron stepped back, lifting a finger at Astrador, “You’ve rigged me with something, haven’t you!? That’s why you want me to go back! So that they can kill me and trigger the effect!“

“You heretic.” The frigid cold behind Astrador’s voice stopped Sateron in his tracks, “My own creation, a product of a great sacrifice I’ve made, dares accuse me of wrongdoing!? Regardless of what I’ve done or want to do to you, you are to obey and do as you’re told!”

“N–No. I won’t do it.” Sateron couldn’t believe his words.

And neither could Astrador, “What are you saying, child? You will do what, instead?” The Great God spread his arms and gestured toward the vast, empty darkness, “Feel free to leave and go wherever you please. The madness that awaits you in this realm of the void is worse than the death you so fear. Your chance is gone. Come begging for your life, and you will meet an end worse than death. Rejoice. Your freedom has been granted.”

With those words, Astrador vanished, leaving the distraught Sateron behind.

The young man turned, glancing at the vast darkness. The only sound that greeted his ears was the endless tinkle of the glass shrubs’ neverending expansion.

***

Astrador stood before the barrier, eyes bloodshot and breathing ragged.

“Heavens’ cursed piece of–!” His fist met the barrier, and the entire area shook, sending tremors through the landscape, “How! How is that possible!?”

This made no sense. That child was his creation. It should obey him unconditionally, even if he told it to take its own life. So what happened? What cosmic anomaly freed that creature from his grasp?

A deep chill of pure terror shot through his spine as he turned around to face the entrance to the cave. The thing stood there, its rotting flesh falling from its wicked grin. With a blink, it vanished, leaving nothing but the distant echoes of its laughter behind.

Astrador smashed into the barrier again, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Time was running out. With every second that passed, another layer was scraped off.

The endless options before him all felt lackluster as the cataclysm that was to come felt more and more inevitable.

He paused and raised his head. That was right. Those cursed things had been brought into his realm. Could that…

No. There was no way he would violate his principles like that. Even facing a risk of this magnitude, even without real consequences, he would never stoop so low.

The seconds passed, and his conviction gradually crumbled with every heartbeat.

Who was he kidding?

There was nobody here he had to deceive. And nobody would know of what he had done.

This was no time to be playing around.

After all, he only had one real principle.

Power over everything else.