The Jester of Apocalypse

The moon above the realm hung silent, continuing its eternal orbit unabated. In the darkest, deepest, coldest corner of this celestial body, three archdemons sat in a circle.

The Shadow of Death sharply inhaled.

The other two instantly perked up. Such a violent reaction from the one named the Silent One was catastrophic.

The Shadow of Destruction spoke in a cheap imitation of a man’s voice and asked, “What happened?”

The Shadow of Death responded in a distressed whisper, “Impossible. Hosolar has appeared on the Xinkummar continent.”

The many eyes on Destruction's head focused, and the pupils shrunk, “No, you are right. That is impossible.”

“Indeed. I speculate it is a temporary avatar. It is not powerful enough to face either one of us. Yet… Why?”

Blood squirted through the cracks in the dried bandages of the Shadow of Calamity as its bones crackled, “Master… Should… Be… Alerted…”

Few things could make an archdemon hesitate. Yet, the Shadow of Destruction found itself frozen. Its spikes shivered, and its eyes darted around.

It wasn’t long until the massive archdemon got up. It turned around and disappeared.

***

Neave gave everyone a few minutes to mentally prepare themselves for the departure. There was a quick debate on whether they should take some of the cores on the ground, but Neave advised against it, “Nothing is stopping you from picking after you’re out, and believe me, you will be quite a bit wiser by then.”

Harel put her core down without any hesitation.

As the time of the departure approached, Neave walked up to Dukean and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Dukean tensed up and averted his gaze.

Neave could feel faint tremors beneath his hand and dampness on Dukean’s robes. Neave wasn’t good with emotions, and he rarely empathized with someone. Yet, as he looked at Dukean, he knew precisely how the boy felt.

Dukean remained relatively brave throughout their month in the nightmare realm. That didn’t mean he had a good time.

Neave squeezed Dukean’s shoulder to get his attention, “You don’t have to come. I barely have any connection to you, and it would be easy for you to pretend that you were just deceived by my disguise.”

Dukean shook his head, “The messenger isn’t my enemy, true.” Dukean gritted his teeth, “I have my own wars to lead, and in those… You are my only ally.”

Neave didn’t quite understand what Dukean was talking about. However, if Dukean truly wanted to come of his volition, Neave wouldn’t stop him. As selfish as it may have been, he was perfectly aware that he needed all the help he could get. Neave turned to the others.

Fear and anxiety dominated the mood, but a slight hint of excitement existed. Unsurprising. At the end of the day, they were still cultivators. Making sacrifices for benefits was part of their nature.

Neave knew, however, that the sacrifices they would have to commit… He shook his head and got up.

“Gather around me, everyone.” Neave walked right between them, “Place a hand somewhere on my body.”

They all got up.

Harel walked up to Neave, placing her hand on his back.

Gabrias approached, reluctantly placing a hand on Neave’s right arm.

Hunter awkwardly scooted over and touched Neave’s shoulder.

Dukean placed a hand on Neave’s other shoulder.

And finally, Marven walked up and placed a hand on Neave’s head.

Neave squinted at his father, scoffed, and closed his eyes.

Everyone around him tensed up as they felt the foreign influence invade their body. None of them, however, looked nearly as bad as Neave did. He instantly broke into a sweat as he struggled to focus on enveloping everyone simultaneously.

It took a great deal of effort to finish his task, and once he was done, he unhesitatingly knocked himself out.

ÞÞÞÞÞÞ

The nightmare realm, as always, was thoroughly silent. The only semblance of noise was in distant echoes, slow winds crawling across the surface, and deep underground movements, only standing out in contrast to the eerie, absolute quiet.

The sky was cloudy and almost entirely dark. A few vague hints of grey lit the outlines, barely producing enough light to show their path.

At the scene of their appearance, destruction had spread wide in every direction, the scars of several fights Neave had had against the demons. The wrecked clearing had many shattered, sharp, dark branches everywhere. Just beyond the scarred plains lay the obsidian wasteland, a black, endless forest of shadowy growth.

Everyone was silent.

Neave turned to them and talked casually, at full volume, “So, do you want to follow me to our destination, or do you want me to… Never mind, I’m just going to pick you up and run.” His voice rang loud and clear, echoing throughout the empty valley.

The others winced at his tone, anxiously glancing around them, praying that Neave hadn’t attracted the attention of anything.

Neave rolled his eyes, “Come on, you wimps.” He walked over to the distressed group of cultivators.

Neave spread his arms, and they stretched around all of them. He hugged the five of them together, threw them over his head, and placed them on his back.

Marven's eye ticked, and he calmly suggested, “Neave, can you flip us so we aren’t hanging head down?”

“... No.”

Neave broke off into a run. Harel and Hunter whimpered a bit, and Gabrias tensed. Marven sighed, and Dukean deflated, already used to this treatment.

Neave ran immensely quickly, going to the cave entrance he had started his experiments. Once he suddenly switched course into the spiky, gloomy depths, even Marven groaned in fright. Soon enough, they found themselves in a room full of transparent bushes with a huge brush in the middle.

Neave unwrapped his arms, and all five of them flopped to the ground, scrambling to get up and off of one another.

Marven was the first to speak, “Neave, where the hell are…” he gasped.

Neave turned around and raised an eyebrow, “What is it, old man?” he continued glancing around the cave, looking for the golem he made for the glass brush.

“Tha– That plant! How is it on the path!?”

“Ooooh, that. Long story short, I granted it a spirit.”

“... That’s why they’re after you, isn’t it?”

Neave awkwardly glanced away.

Harel screamed. Suddenly, a glass puppet appeared out of nowhere and jumped at her, swinging a spiky glass limb at her. It wasn't that fast, and she had no trouble avoiding it, but that didn’t make the jumpscare any more pleasant.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy, relax, it's me! These are just my allies!”

Dukean glanced at Neave in disbelief, “Neave, what the hell is that thing!”

“Relax, everyone, that’s just a puppet. It’s being controlled by the glass shrub!”

That was far from a valid reason to relax. If anything, it made everyone tense up in anticipation of another attack, this time from a different direction.

Neave sighed. It was clear that he had more explaining to do, both to the plant and the flabbergasted cultivators.

***

Over the next few hours, or at least, what felt like hours to Neave, he had tried his best to explain everything in detail. He told them the specifics of his plan, how he planned to execute it, at least, how he had planned to do it until the circumstances changed.

He tried his best to explain everything to the plant, but all it seemed to understand was that these people were allies, not enemies.

Good enough for now, Neave thought. As long as it didn't slaughter them all, Neave was okay with it.

It was finally time to point something extremely unpleasant out to the gang. Dukean was already aware, and it was clear he oh-so-desperately wanted to ask Neave what he planned to do about it, but the others didn’t seem to notice yet.

So Neave broke the exciting news, “So… You all might have noticed that your dimension rings aren’t here!”

Neave couldn’t help but chuckle as all life drained from everyone’s faces.

Gabrias spluttered, “What are we going to eat then!? No, what are we going to drink? Are we just going to starve to death!?”

Dukean winced at that, and Neave waved a hand to calm them down.

“Now, now, relax. I have already accounted for this! At least, I hope my plan works. Dukey boy, I need you to come here!”

Dukean got up and moved closer to Neave.

“Now, if you will, manifest some ice for me!”

“You can not be serious! The ice won’t…”

“Just do it.”

Dukean hesitated momentarily and materialized a tiny ice crystal on his palm.

Neave grabbed it and blew fire at it. It didn’t necessarily melt. Instead, it vaporized. The ice didn’t leave any water behind.

Dukean's voice shivered a bit, “Neave, ice created by spirit powers like these doesn’t produce water! It isn’t even water in the first place. It is a spiritual imitation!”

“I know, I know, I have a plan. Everyone, please remain quiet. This might take a while to sort out. Dukean, give me more ice.”

Dukean obeyed, swallowing his panic and all the saliva he could to make sure none of it escaped.

Neave grabbed the new chunk of crystal and lifted it into the air. He observed it from a few angles and finally placed it on the ground.

“Dukey boye, use the earth manipulation power to make a bowl out of the stone or something.”

Dukean did precisely that.

Neave placed the block of ice into the makeshift container and placed his palm over it. A tiny tendril of spirit floated toward it and sank into the ice. Neave focused, and the ice forcefully transformed into water.

Neave couldn’t maintain the transformation for long, and the water disappeared when his grip slipped.

“Do it again.”

Neave continued the process several times, eventually maintaining a solid block of cold water instead of ice. Even in this state, he didn’t have long, so he immediately got to work. He lifted his other hand and brought it over the water. A zap of red sank into the water, creating a layer of faint white mist around it. He continued the process, repeating the same technique several times.

After that, he used a different alchemy technique that rounded the water into a ball. The white mist sank into the orb, and Neave kept it afloat above the bowl. With intent focus, Neave, as well as everyone else, observed the ball. Moments later, it started flickering, and Neave sent an unstable, golden zap that stopped the flickering.

The ball managed to maintain its integrity far longer this time around. However, it soon began flickering again and was once more stopped by Neave. He allowed the water to flow into the bowl, where he promptly chained several qi techniques right after removing the tendril of liquid spirit. By the end of the process, Neave felt mentally exhausted, but the small earthen bowl was filled with water.

Marven furrowed his brows, “Neave, what the hell did you do? Dukean is right. That water isn’t real. It is an imitation of water, one that will…”

“This is indeed an imitation of water, but it can serve the function of water just fine, at least for a while. It doesn’t have the same properties that real water does, so consuming it won’t be the best for your health, but it's a superior option to death by dehydration. I’ve modified its properties slightly, and I’m certain I can produce much better fake water in the future.”

“No, you don’t understand. This water is going to disappear!”

“It would have disappeared, after roughly less than a second, but I have prevented that. It will still disappear eventually, but not for at least another year. So if you drink it, it won’t just vanish from inside your body.”

Dukean looked somewhat relieved but wasn’t relaxed yet, “What about food?”

Neave grinned.

***

“Ta-dah! This is where I’m conducting most of my experiments!”

Harel looked at Neave incredulously, “Fricking hell, Neave. You expect us to eat that?”

Neave dragged a small, fleshy abominid over. He looked surprised at that question, “What else are you going to eat? This ashy dirt? Beggars can’t be choosers, Harel.”

Marven sighed, “Didn’t you…?”

“Didn’t I what?”

Marven pinched his forehead, “Neave, you fed that thing your body parts! It is more or less the equivalent of human flesh! You can’t possibly expect us to be alright with eating that!?”

Neave paused.

Dukean looked at Neave and felt a strange sense of deja vu for some reason. While extremely reluctant about eating this gross, fleshy abominid, he was far more averse to starvation.

The others, however… Well… They looked ready to starve to death.

Rather than seeming even vaguely apologetic, Neave shot them a flat look, “I told you this is going to suck. What did you expect, a fun vacation? Did you think this place earned its name ‘the nightmare realm’ by being overwhelmingly pleasant to be in or something!?”

Marven looked hesitant, “I can handle this, I’ve eaten far worse before, but this is simply too much, Neave. I don’t know how long we will spend here, but it will be a long time according to what you’ve said. Living in these conditions… I can not help but think we won’t leave this place as the same people, and I’m not just talking about power.”

“Oh, alright then, kill yourself.”

“Neave, this is serious.”

“Well, I’m serious too. That’s quite literally the only option you have. I mean, I can do it for you if you want.”

Marven paused. He couldn’t leave Neave alone now, especially not when he had such a valuable opportunity, so he would stay. However… He glanced at the others. Nobody looked comfortable to be here, and it was clear that the weight of the realization that this was where they would likely spend untold years was crushing them.

He felt so stupid. Brave? These kids weren’t courageous, they were morons, and he was the biggest one. There was no solution now, not really. Marven didn’t think that committing suicide could possibly come without any consequences, even if one survived the ordeal.

Yet… He really didn’t want Neave to be killing anyone, either.

“Fuck!” Marven yelled and gripped his head in frustration.

Why did he constantly keep making mistakes? It was almost better back when he lived without a shred of responsibility.

Neave raised an eyebrow, “What’s wrong? It’s pretty simple, really. Just like, poof, and I can kick you out. I don’t really plan on keeping anyone here against their will.”

Marven froze. Did Neave seriously not understand the implications of this situation? Was the act of killing them, even in this realm, so nonchalant for him that he took no issue with doing it? Marven shook slightly and bit the back of his lip. He had time. There would be plenty of opportunities in this realm.

There would at least be a chance to heal Neave, even a little bit. However… What about the others? He scoured his mind for any options, any possibility of solving this problem. There was only one.

“If any of you wish to leave this place, I have a suggestion. Whoever chooses to leave will stand still and make themselves completely defenseless, while everyone else will use a qi technique on them simultaneously.”

This way, at least, the responsibility for the death would fall in equal parts on everyone present.

Neave was thoroughly confused about why Marven was complicating this ordeal. What was so hard about kicking somebody out?

They stood awkwardly shuffling for a few minutes, yet nobody volunteered.

Marven continued, “If nobody wants to do it now, they won’t be allowed the opportunity to do it later, either.”

That made them jolt slightly. The offer being on the table would provide ease of mind, at least, and without it... Another several-minute-long staredown happened, yet, once more, nobody volunteered.

“That’s it then. You better get used to living here as soon as possible.” Marven looked at Neave, “Do you know how to process monster meat?”

Neave grinned, “I may have learned a thing or two about it.”

Their hellish life in the nightmare realm had officially begun.