The God of Jesters
Chapter 549 - 8.14.1 Jester is back.

Chapter 549: 8.14.1 Jester is back.

There is always a bigger fish in this world.

It might be Jester’s arrogance that made his defenseless against the betrayal. But once he was hit, it was harder to save himself.

For the past couple of years, Vegal had long witnessed the tragedy firsthand. Although he had been kept in the dark about certain things, due to the important part he played in Yethel and his closeness with Jester, he had long been aware of the God hiding in this country and other figures that had sought refuge under that god.

And it was not only Blue Lotus but many more awakened ones far from Brihma that had also made their way to Yethel, making it more and more prosperous and dangerous as time went by.

Vegal can feel that things are not going the way Jester had planned for this country. But he couldn’t voice his opinions; he just watched over Jester, who was made a mockery of by his Lord Emotion.

But Vegal also understood that deep inside this bumbling body, Jester was wide awake, listening and hearing everything. He still continued his job of being the perfect surveillance system in the whole wide world.

Which, with time continued to grow supported by the wisdom of Daemons as well as totems that have recently arrived in this city. And to most of these greater existences, Jester was a unique toy to them.

Misery can only be said to be misery for Jester. ’This is what you get for fooling me.’ In his heart, even Vegal made fun of Jester. Although restricted by the contract, it was foolish for him to have such thoughts, but he couldn’t help himself, and it’s not like Jester could retaliate. At least for now, that is.

’Home my perfect creation is doing as it was intended of him.’ Vegal homed before going back to his work.

*****

Selene was having a hard time recently, the world around her has changed too much including her uncle who barely shows his normal expressions to her anymore.

’Things are moving too fast.’ She spoke looking out of her car that had seen massive upgrades since last time.

Gone were the old steam-powered cars, now the electric engines were all the craze. And mostly used by the wealthy or the military.

Though due to the production cost and limits on the industry itself, these cars were still out of range for commoners. However, it won’t take more than a decade or two for these cars to fill up the streets of Yethel in the coming future.

A future that scares Selene a lot. "Another report?"

"Yes, few of the old and young have gone missing, though the targets are never able-bodied adults. The perpetrator is only attacking the weak ones." Selene officially was a powerful mage from The Tower of Storm, though her job in the government was much different.

A homicide detective, or so she claimed herself to be. A job she only picked due to certain reasons she can’t say outright, and although her mother did find this job a bit unsightly for someone of Selene’s background. She couldn’t say a thing considering Selene had walked among the enemies as spies once.

Putting her life at risk just for some understanding and useless knowledge.

Orvillia on the other hand just considered it Selene gaining some experience, and nothing more. "What of the heavenly net? Is there any information from them?"

"Not yet, the opponent had found a way to hide themselves from the net." Spoke to her understudy, a young girl with specs that didn’t appear any special, though the truth was this girl, only Selene, and some higher-ups knew about it. And it would be foolish for anyone to look down on her due to her youthful grace.

"Still nothing... We will visit the family of the victims later for now, call for the update on Rudrain situation... has there been an update?" It’s been a few days since the incident in Rudrain that left half a million people dead.

And yes, the approximate dead at this very moment had reached half a million. The only reason it took over a month to tally the dead was because of the many bodies that were crushed under the rubble.

However, this is not the new Selene was looking for. As Yethel was currently in a self-imposed martial law, cutting off all contact with the world. They barely had a way to communicate outside, and the means they had at hand took much longer to arrive.

This meant the last news that Remira had been aware of was the first attack of the Flower Fiend in Rudrain, what happened after, she didn’t know much about it.

"Well there had been an update, but we didn’t receive a copy." The officer where such reports arrived had been hectic recently, even with the identity she had as the aide to Yethel’s sort of princess, she was still not allowed access to the newest reports for some odd reason.

Which would mean that the information on those reports was more severe than one might expect. ’Did he fall?’ She wondered, recalling the face of a young boy ignorant of the world. Before shaking her head. ’No, he is not so weak to die so early.’

She thought before ordering her assistant to keep visiting the office for an updated report as early as possible. ’I don’t know what uncle is planning, I just hope it succeeds.’ She thought, looking outside the city which was becoming odder by the day.

*****

The world was truly changing for the worst, Jester was a prisoner of his own mind.

Even when free to act as he wished, he was still influenced by certain "Emotions" imposed on him. Among them, the worst of it all was the emotion of Loyalty, which made it almost impossible for him to go against any order.

"Though I do wish to go against it. But it would be wrong." Jester spoke, hiding inside his own dream world, where he can attain a level of clarity. However, this place doesn’t free him from the restrictions placed on him.

"Wrong... No wrongs, it would be a betrayal. I will smite you here if you dare to have such thoughts."

"No, we can still act as we will, if we do it for him."

"Then it’s not used, it’s not."

"ME" There were countless individuals in this room, some big, some small, all interconnected with each other with a small string. And for some odd reason, in this place, all these figures showed differing feelings and emotions during their discussions.

Even though all of them once used to be part of Jester.

"The core is gone, turned into a fool, we have to be conscious of how we act. Bowing to the powerful in this situation won’t be shameful."

"You can do so if you wish, I will do as I see fit."

"What, you hold the body of a rat, incapable of doing a thing."

The discussion continued as if all these beings were different people. There was no sense of unity that existed in the past, no core belief that every part of Jester shared. Even the spiritual essence of these beings differed from what Jester once used to be.

That is, barring one of the souls that was the smallest of these new ones, remaining silent and looking at the situation without worry. "Things have gone from bad to worse." This was one of the true parts of Jester that hadn’t been affected as of yet. Though even it remained nothing more than a blob of consciousness, from the tone alone, it was easy to see that this part of Jester was not the least bit happy over what he had been seeing around him.

’At this rate, I will end up dying.’

Leaving this world, a small cricket opened its eyes in the north of Yethel on an island where there was barely any life. "My backup came useful, though it activated at a later date than I had assumed."

A backup in case of Jester’s end. That was what this small cricket was. Though its knowledge was only limited to things before the Yethel and Cynark war, what happened after or the existence of Rosso, this version of Jester didn’t know much about it.

"I need to leave, a body, a proper body that can carry my Idol." The cricket jumped around the island for a bit and soon found a place where countless seabirds were enjoying a feast, which was mostly made up of the cricket’s brethren. But Jester didn’t worry about this much.

Even though these insects had little intelligence, with time, the jester had been able to accumulate little bits of spiritual strength after a year of practice and was finally strong enough to possess a Seagull.

"Eat me." A year’s delay had made him desperate. His divided souls were forming individuality, and it wouldn’t be long before they splintered and turned into unique individuals themselves, while the one who was known as Jester disappeared. ’Time for me to go back to this world.’