The Jester of Apocalypse

Neave had no doubt.

This man wasn’t an illusion, even if his appearance was deceitful.

Neave felt his mental state revert to normal as everything anchored to this stranger's existence. His incredulity overflowed and returned to normality, as the absurdity of the appearance of a god was so immense he knew not even insanity could make this shit up—which left him incredibly confused.

Why was this man here?

How was he here?

Neave thoughts were interrupted as the man spoke up again.

“Now, you may not believe this kid, but I’m a…”

“You’re a god.”

He stared blankly at Neave with an appraising look in his eye. Then he continued.

“That’s exactly right!” He clapped.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m just stuck here, the same as you are.”

Neave’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t believe you.”

“What do you mean you don’t believe me? Don’t you have eyes? I’m standing in front of you inside this creepy place. What other proof do you need?”

“You’re neither here nor are you stuck.”

The man scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Ouch, I guess this will be trickier than I thought.”

“Answer my question. Why are you here?”

“Let me answer with a counter-question. Why are you here?”

Neave simply stared at the man in silence. The man sighed and continued.

“You’ve come here to go underground to that place, right?”

Neave perked up but stayed quiet, letting the man speak.

“Well, I’m here to let you know that you won’t be doing that.”

Neave snorted. He got into a stance and used a movement technique to slip past the man, deep into the cave, and…

He woke up.

Neave found himself back in reality, flabbergasted as to what had happened. Did he die? There was no way the man could kill him that quickly, right? No, he was a god. Perhaps he somehow forced Neave out? Neave knocked himself out again.

He appeared in the nightmare realm again and immediately ran back. The man sat in a chair outside the cave entrance, shuffling strange cards and completely ignoring Neave. Neave once again went past him.

Only to wake up again.

Change of plans.

Neave knocked himself out again and went underground, completely circumventing the traditional cave entrance. He reached a wall he estimated would lead to a cave connecting to the underground chamber.

He took one step forward, then another, jumped, and…

Woke up again.

“What the fuck!?”

Neave once again knocked himself out and went to the cave entrance. The man was still shuffling the strange cards.

“How are you doing that?”

The man simply ignored him and kept shuffling the cards. He placed some in the middle of the air, and they remained floating there. Without turning to face Neave, he spoke.

“You want me to teach you how to play this game?”

“I want you to answer my question.”

“You see, every card has a shape that dictates the selection pattern, so then you…”

Neave once again ignored him and went through.

Once he woke up again, he reentered the realm. The man simply smiled and continued when Neave arrived.

“The cards also have a number, which dictates how many times the selection needs to be made, and depending on the selected cards, you have to multiply…”

Neave once again rushed past the man. He woke up again and went right back to the cave entrance.

“So, depending on how you arrange the starting cards, which should be randomized, by the way, you can select your starting point. Then you have to calculate the number of times you have to multiply…”

“Why don’t you want me to go in there?”

The man paused.

Then he continued his explanation of the card game.

This time, Neave triggered ignite, thunder nerves and imbued his entire body with life force. Before he even began moving, he woke up again.

Once more, he found himself standing in front of the man.

“...So, to summarize, card shape dictates the selection pattern, the number of cards dictates the number of selections, and the shape of the selected cards dictates which subsequent cards will be excluded from the selection process. So you must start with a card and calculate the number of turns needed to select every card only once. The exclusion of cards decreases the number of selections. So, what do you say!? How about trying it out?”

“Stop fucking with me, you asshole.”

“No, they may seem complicated, but these are honestly the game's rules.”

“Why won’t you let me through?”

The man collected the cards of the air and threw the pack toward Neave. Neave completely ignored the package as it hit his head and bounced off onto the ground.

“Give it a go, will you?”

Neave grabbed the cards, activated every boost he could, and threw them away.

“That’s rude, you know.”

“I will keep coming here, over and over again, and I won’t stop until you either let me through or explain yourself.”

“And why would you want to go down there? I know exactly what’s waiting for you, and believe me, you won’t like what you see.”

“But I have to go.”

“Oh really? Why?”

“Something is manipulating my mind, and it's hiding down there.”

“Your mind isn’t being manipulated. Well, it’s not… Not actually. It’s not manipulation. Ah, whatever, it’s too complicated to explain. Either way, it is irrelevant when you’re aware of it now. Just isolate the influence and build a barrier against it. I’ll even teach you how to do it.”

Neave hesitated. There was something he disliked about this man. The fact that he was a god. No part of Neave would allow him to agree to what this man wanted him to do. He would push through and reach that damn chamber one way or another.

The god saw the look in Neave’s eye and sighed.

“Look, kid, I’ll cut you a deal. You agree never to enter this place, and I will teach you a hundred qi techniques. Believe me when I say every single one of these could change your life. I’m aware of your peculiar situation. You’re abusing a combination of spirit powers and likely some precious natural treasure to boost your power beyond what should be possible for your advancement at the price of being stuck in the foundation realm. Not a good place to be, and you will eventually reach a hard limit in power. I’d wager you have the potential to transcend this realm, but this will never happen if you don’t ditch this path you’re walking down and embrace cultivation. I will teach you a qi technique that fully purges your spirit of foreign corruption. And once you learn the hundred qi techniques I teach you, you will be able to become a powerhouse like no other. What do you say?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? I’m not joking around, you know. I will even forge a soul oath with you. Soul oaths are serious business, kid. Spirit oaths have consequences once broken. Soul oaths can’t be broken. Not even by a god.”

“I said no.”

“You’re one stubborn kid, you know that?” The man scratched behind his ear and contemplated.

“How about this instead? You promise you won’t ever enter this realm again, and with a soul oath, you will be entirely free from having to, and I will tell you something fun about your mother.”

Neave’s eyes shot open.

“She’s alive…”

“What? I never said that. I just said I’d say something fun.”

“No, if you said it like that, then she is alive.” Neave grabbed his head, pacing around a bit, but then he stopped and shrugged, “Huh… I don’t care, though.”

The man raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

“Wow, you’re a tough nut to crack, aren’t you? How about this instead, make the fucking oath, or I will execute everyone you know and love.”

Neave grinned.

“Now that’s more like it. I thought something felt off. Makes sense. No way a god like you could be up to anything benevolent.”

The man clicked his tongue.

“Suit yourself. I will simply kill you every time you come in here. There is no way you could get past me, not in a billion years.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure…” Neave grinned maniacally as he put his hands together. White light shone…

And then vanished instantly. Neave felt as if a million mountains weighed on his spirit. He couldn’t breathe or move. Everything felt utterly cut off from reality. There was only one thing he could perceive.

The god stood above him with a hand gripping his head, a bewildered expression on his face.

“What the fuck did you just do, kid? Show me again!”

Neave grinned.

“No.”

It felt like every cell in Neave’s body was being destroyed hundreds of times every second, the agony worse than anything he had ever experienced.

“Show me what you just did, or you will regret it.”

Neave simply smiled again, staring straight at the god’s eyes.

“Do you worst.”

Neave could hear a faint whistle. The sound grew increasingly resonant until reality snapped away.

***

She was tied to a chair. Her toes had been cut off so long ago that they had already scabbed over. The man she had once called her husband boiled water and poured it into her eyes.

“That’s what you get, you fucking wench!”

The weight of the false accusation made every drop burn hotter than the hottest corner of hell. She wept boiling tears as her children stared in horror, witnessing their mother’s life leaving her eyes.

***

He was tied to a tree. His once glorious crown had been replaced with feces, smeared all over his body. His enemy had tied him to a tree planted over his father’s grave. His father’s corpse had been dug out and played with, becoming a mockery of the once Grand King.

The empire of the Grand King was being razed before his eyes as his very eyelids had been cut off to ensure he couldn’t look away. As the king witnessed the masses of his people being mindlessly slaughtered, the agony of failure and the weight of his despair crushed his heart, and he passed, never to regain peace in a million lives.

***

He was hanged, but his neck didn’t snap, and he wasn’t even suffocating. He kept trying to free himself, despair flowing through his veins instead of his once red blood as he watched his entire family be violated before his eyes.

In the days of watching them suffering endless agony, he was the one to pass first, the thirst finally taking his pain away. Leaving behind the uncertainty of how long his loved ones would suffer…

***

Millions and millions of agonizing deaths, unfairness so extreme, the anger alone, enough to end many lives. He watched as they spun in front of him, slowly, agonizingly crawling by. And so did he. And so did she.

***

It finally ended. Neave woke again, staring at the god gripping his face.

“Either tell me exactly what you did there, or you will face round two. There is plenty more where that came from.”

“Of course there is.” Neave grinned ear to ear, “It’s only natural there would be more.”

The god’s eyes shot open.

“What did you do? Did you find a loophole somewhere?”

“I didn’t do anything. Thank you, honestly. Thank you for showing me your failures, Astrador. I would gladly see them again so I never forget why you must die. So I will never forget that your rule is nothing but a selfish dictatorship. Show me again, and then again once more. I will watch it, eyes wide open. And you will be forced to sit and wait until I crawl up your throne and devour you alive.”

The man stared at Neave with a complicated expression for a few moments.

Then Neave woke up, back in reality.

He got up, stretched, and sighed in satisfaction.

“Well, then. It is time for a gameplan.“