The Jester of Apocalypse

The smell of freshly cut wood permeated the newly built Falken sect premises. The ‘council chamber,’ one that wasn’t guaranteed to ever have an actual council take place, was currently populated by the only members of the sect, bar one.

They all sat silently, shuffling, squirming, groaning, and contemplating.

Marven stared at the neatly arranged monster cores on the ground. It hadn’t been long since Neave handed them over, and so far, nobody had decided to take a single one.

They didn’t hold bad powers—not necessarily.

Yet… They were far too random.

If they all picked their fill and chose a dozen cores each, they would undoubtedly attain immense power, regardless of the cores’ quality.

This, however, left a bitter taste in Marven’s mouth. He knew he didn’t deserve anything more than this, but… He looked around the room.

Gabrias eyed the pile of cores with reluctant awe. For him, it only seemed to be a matter of temporary indecisiveness.

Hunter looked somewhat distracted and hesitant.

Harel looked like she simply didn’t care. She held a small core in her palm and stared at it. She had been observing that core for a while already, and Marven had no idea what power it held.

He glanced back at the pile of cores. Marven sighed. These cores felt like little more than an afterthought. They felt like something Neave threw at them just to get them off his back. Did this mean that he cared little or none about them?

Marven wanted to kick himself in the head for thinking that, but he couldn’t help it. Neave was gone, and heavens knew how long it would be before he returned. Yet, Marven chose to wait and see.

Rather than thinking about it from a perspective of greed for power, Marven chose to think of Neave. Was it really all right to allow him to utterly disregard them like this?

It was almost impossible for Marven to not feel like he was lying to himself when he thought like this. A big part of him felt he was full of shit and only wanted better powers from Neave rather than the best for his son.

However, with great effort, he pushed these thoughts aside and decided to wait anyway. If he could bring Neave to honestly care about his allies, even a little bit, that would be a tremendous step forward in the right direction.

From almost anyone’s point of view, these cores would seem like a gift worthy of the gods, yet, from Marven’s perspective, the statement behind these cores was clear.

Here you go, convenient acquaintances. Go play with these cores while I leave and deal with my business alone.

Marven had to concede it wasn’t the worst it could be. Neave could have just completely ignored them and gone on his merry way. This gave him hope. If he cared at least this much, Marven thought, then perhaps….

At this moment, his thoughts were interrupted by a booming voice that seemed to be coming from every direction.

***

The crowds cheered, and many people screamed in joy. Among the masses, there were many displeased with this development, those that had never believed in the lost child in the first place.

Yet, what evidence of his deeds could be more significant than a messenger from the heavens appearing before them and stating the truth?

Plenty, Dukean knew. The messenger that was effectively here to kidnap Neave had arrived.

What… What do I do?

He had to rush to the library and find Neave immediately. There was a good chance Neave would run away alone, which perhaps wasn’t a bad option.

For Neave, at least. For Dukean, however… All of his plans would completely collapse.

Just as he turned and sprinted into the masses, rushing to the library, someone from the crowds ran at him, picked him up, and took him away.

Dukean could barely resist the mighty grip of his assailant, and it was almost twenty seconds of extremely fast running later that he finally got a look at his kidnapper's face.

It was a plain-looking man, one he’d pass on the street without batting an eye. Dukean knew who this must be… It must be an agent of the Gods! Perhaps Astrador had seen Dukean in the nightmare realm and told his people to kidnap him, to use him as a pawn to threaten Neave!?

Dukean squirmed and tried his best to release the man’s mighty grip but to no avail.

Once they were away from prying eyes, hidden in a dark corner of some unknown sect’s courtyard, the man dropped him to the ground. Dukean immediately turned to the man and was about to yell…

Until the man transformed into Neave.

Dukean closed his gaping mouth and changed his tone.

“You must drop the habit of picking me up and carrying me like a loot sack.” Dukean slumped against the wall and sighed, tension visibly leaving his body, “Now, tell me why you’re here.”

“I… I don’t fucking know, honestly.” Neave shrugged, “I wagered it’s fifty-fifty whether they’d torture you, and I found the idea unpleasant, so I picked you up.”

“That’s… Honest, I suppose. So… What now? Do you have any plans in place?”

Neave gripped his hair and sucked air through his teeth, “I have a few ideas, but they’re all iffy at best.”

“What about the nightmare realm? You could use the extra time to…”

“I can’t get back inside.”

Dukean paused, “What? What did you do?”

Neave looked away awkwardly, “I… Look, I’m somewhat confident that this wasn’t my fault. But, yeah… I don’t really know.”

Dukean felt this situation couldn’t be that hopeless. However, the look in Neave’s eye gave away that even he believed he was cornered.

Dukean gritted his teeth and spoke sternly, faking confidence and hoping some of that may transfer to Neave, “Snap out of it.” He spat, “They haven’t captured you yet. Have you consulted your father?”

Neave almost seemed offended, “What could that geezer say to improve this situation?”

“You idiot!” Dukean’s brow furrowed, “You may not have much appreciation for their power, but the wisdom of someone who has reached the platinum path is not to be underestimated.” He straightened his back and stared Neave in the eye, slightly surprised at how meek Neave seemed, “Come on, let’s go to your sect.”

Neave nodded nervously, and Dukean truly began feeling awkward at how frail he seemed. Was he actually scared? Dukean had trouble believing that. He couldn’t really maintain pity toward Neave for long, especially not when he picked him up again and ran off toward his sect.

***

Marven stood outside, mouth agape at the man in the sky, “What the hell is happening…?”

Any father in this realm would nearly die of joy if their child had been selected to become the ‘Great God’s disciple.’ Marven was likely the only exception to this. Knowing Neave and his circumstances, this whole thing reeked of bullshit.

Marven yet again cursed himself for letting Neave do as he pleased since Neave had obviously done something he really shouldn’t have, even if Marven couldn’t fathom what could possibly result in something like this happening.

Just as he was about to turn and at least attempt to look for Neave, his son appeared before him, holding a sweaty, green-haired boy.

A single moment of eye contact with Neave confirmed Marven’s suspicion. Something about this situation was horribly wrong.

***

Neave sat in a small room of the sect, surrounded by the only people he could even tentatively call his allies. He had explained the entire situation to them, starting from the nightmare realm and going over his interactions with Astrador.

The reactions of his allies were wildly varied. Dukean merely nodded, as he was aware of the situation already.

Marven looked as if some horrid disease had struck him, he was pale, and his brows were furrowed. He wasn’t a coward, well, at least not when it came to outside threats, but he knew how serious having a god chasing you was.

Hunter looked even worse than Marven, as he had spent some time in the realm. He failed to wrap his head around everything Neave had told him, but he felt extreme fear was justified.

Harel looked… Detached.

And finally, Gabrias looked vaguely distressed yet awestruck by Neave’s story.

After a few short, awkward moments of silence, Marven spoke up, “I will give it to you straight, although I am certain you’re already aware of this.” He tensed, “You can likely escape if you go underground…”

Neave understood perfectly, even without hearing the end of the statement. If he ran away, the five of them would be captured.

So he should do it. He was only with them for convenience in the first place. Why should he prioritize their lives and safety over his ultimate goal? He was already risking so much with his reckless behavior, so why did the idea of abandoning them feel so…

Disgusting.

ҾҾҾҾҾҾ… ҾҾҾҾҾҾ… ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ…

Neave jolted.

Everyone around him tensed up.

Neave began sweating. He thought the influence had reappeared for a few moments, but no… This was different. For the first time since this phenomenon had appeared, Neave could feel it.

He could enter the nightmare realm again.

However… It felt… Strange. There was something off about this connection. It felt unusual. Artificial.

Marven spoke up, “Neave, what’s happening?”

“I… I can enter the nightmare realm again.”

Yet another round of varied reactions. Marven looked thoughtful for a second, but doubt took over almost immediately, “That… It could potentially be a valuable opportunity for you. Would it be enough to give you a fighting chance?”

Neave thought about it for a bit, “I don’t know… This isn’t normal. I’m unsure whether this means I can enter as much as I please or… No, I’m confident.” Neave looked grim, “I can only enter the nightmare realm once.”

“Would that be enough?”

Neave contemplated it.

Dukean looked hesitant, he clearly wanted to say something, but the words simply wouldn’t come out.

To everyone’s surprise, Hunter spoke next, “Take us with you!”

Everyone looked at him.

Marven yelled, “What are you talking about!? If that were possible…”

Dukean interrupted Marven, “It is possible.”

He didn’t have to continue that statement. A massive ‘but’ was seared into his face, and he looked overwhelmingly hesitant.

Neave immediately understood, “As he said, I can take you all with me. And well, here comes the ‘but.’ You will all have to die eventually. And not just like, in general, you will die inside the realm.”

That was a bitter pill to swallow. The experience of death, even if inconsequential, wasn’t something just anyone could take at face value. Rather, almost nobody could. It was hard to say that was a superior option to being taken hostage, especially after hearing Neave’s description of the nightmare realm. It was even called ‘the nightmare realm’! That didn’t sound particularly inviting.

Despite the evident distress of everyone else, Hunter looked confused, “Wait… So when you pulled me in there.”

“I made it quick and painless.”

Surprisingly, Hunter seemed a little relieved to hear that.

There was no time to pick this dumb kid's brain, Neave thought and turned to the others, “Look, I would love to debate this with you all, but we are running out of time. I’m sorry, okay, I got you all into deep shit, and I apologize. Now hurry the fuck up. You all have to choose. If you join me in the nightmare realm, I can promise you that you will leave as different people. Ones that may or may not stand a chance of escaping this situation. Now, raise your hands. Who wants to join me?”

Marven objected, “Neave, this isn’t…”

“Look, old man. It is the way it is. You have to choose because time is running out.”

Neave pulled a small, purple monster core out of his dimension ring, rounded it up, and placed it into a cup he filled with his blood, “I’m going to take another spirit power before I enter the realm. You all have until I’m done to choose.”

“That isn’t going to take more than ten seconds!”

“Precisely.” Neave swallowed the liquid, and his gaze lost focus.

Marven looked distressed. He felt urgency building up and thought he should hurry to convince the others to enter the realm. However, he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to join the realm himself. As he wasted precious seconds pondering the dilemma, to his immense surprise, everyone had already raised their hands.

Only Dukean looked a little pale.

Marven scoffed and chuckled, “Well, aren’t you eager…?” He felt they were taking the situation too lightly. They were inexperienced and didn’t fully grasp the implications of what they were getting themselves into.

That was what he wanted to think.

Yet, both Dukean and Hunter had already been inside the realm and dared lift their arms again.

I can’t believe I’m still being a coward…

Marven smiled.

Neave opened his eyes.

“So, who is going?”

The body language varied from person to person. All of them had their reasons, some better, some worse, however...

Everyone had already raised their hands.