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Lyria navigated the everchanging scenery, her feet jumping over various obstacles. Ever since the apocalypse the spirit world itself had seemed to go through a change. No one could quite pinpoint whether the spirit world became more dangerous or safer.
She jumped over writhing tentacles. She avoided the many spiritual creatures. She ducked under a mass of . . . something, her shoulders scarping the flesh and blood, staining her jackets. Just as she noticed the grave mistake her body moved on its own, some kind of instinct of safety built into her very bone, she quickly discarded the blood stained jacket.
After gaining some distance she finally gained enough peace of mind to sigh.
"heh, on one hand the spirit world is much less disorienting, but on the other hand there are many remnants of dead evil gods" but it's not like she could complain much. She was after all, just a newly ascended door pathway demigod. She is not a god, she is not an angel, in fact she kept herself pretty much out of the whole conflict the entire way through. Only becoming one of the many transportation" volunteers" door beyonders became, seriously transporting ordinary people to other demigods they all had been pretty much working nonstop. If she is using it right, as the weirdos say she had been "working 007".
Even on the inhospitable yet familiar spirit world, she frolicked laughing along the way. Even when she came across many remnants she did not care for she was a newly freed woman. She was on vacation! Finally, after 3 years the church let her have her well deserved rest. She was gonna make a little nest in Backlund and live vivaciously. Read books all day, drink some expensive coffee, and maybe even attend a play or two.
But then she froze as she realized, she was going a little too fast for her liking. Wait it was too much! Was this the ever so called beyonder convergence law? She desperately used doors, teleportation to escape the pull, but like a juicy tender meat on a snare she could not resist the law.
She let out a big gasp of breath, readying herself to chant the name of the Fool, in hopes of salvation when she suddenly felt like she passed through a weird transparent film. It passed her harmlessly falling behind her. And she suddenly found herself in a room. Well it's quite hard to be called a room.
A room has to have 4 walls, a ceiling and a floor. But the place she found herself in was just endless tidy checkered tile floors and pillars in the 8 cardinal directions forming a hint of a wall. Her eyes moved from corner to corner attempting to gather as much information as she could before she is ultimately struck down until she sees a weird mass of . . . something on the floor.
It had no end and no beginning, but it was not like the mythical creatures of the Fate pathway, instead it just seemed like whoever created this creature had no concept of a living organism. It was a mass of tentacles. She tried not to look too hard at it, she knew better, after all even if she was a scatter brain on the best of days, for her to reach this far she knew her stuff. She tried not to notice the mystical writing on it, she tried not to look too deep into it, only keeping it's vague shadows in her peripheries.
She moved, not daring to take her eyes off the thing but not daring to look at it directly. Her hands reached for something, anything. Even the pillar would be enough, if she could reach one, maybe she could hide-
"Ah, it's been so long" it can talk?!!?!
"Little girl, you know that this won't help you in anyway right? Come and sit with me for tea" Out of her periphery she saw it taking form. A head, a torso, arm and a leg. She dared not to delay, if it can be talked with, if it can be reasoned with at least she could delay some time for herself to be saved by someone, anyone.
She kept her eyes on the floor, counting the tiles as she turned to it, performing the most formal of the greetings she knows of while keeping her mouth shut. She felt it staring at her, she felt it's smile. It was not a malicious thing, not even a benevolent feeling, all she could feel was curiosity and it was digging into her brain.
"Oh, come on you can talk little one. When you have a conversation with someone, it's expected to at least talk. . . and look each other in the face isn't it?" Lyria grimaced inwardly, she was keeping her mouth shut because she did not trust in her mouth.
"Sorry. . . sir, I am quite unused to talking formally so-" her mouth moved, trying to imitate how rookies would attempt to communicate with her for the first time before they learned of her personality.
"Oh, dear. Just cut out the crap. A disgraced god like me does not need such flowery words" she blinked at how the being cut her off so quickly, then cold sweats started flowing down her back as she realized she was talking face to face with a god. Her mind quickly moved to chant the name of the Fool before she stopped herself. Chanting the name of an another god in front of 'him' wasn't that an insult.
"I- I see, sir. Please if it isn't much trouble, may I go home?" the god simple smiled, 'he' raised 'his' hands and a beautiful table and an exquisite tea set materialized out of the surrounding air.
"I understand, a young person like you should have many things to worry about. A single cup of tea and a promise, and I'll promise not to hurt you in anyway and even send you straight to you destination, how's that" her smile became increasingly strained, how can she fulfill a promise to a god? But unfortunately it's not like she has any choice in the matter. She quickly took a seat at the table not daring to touch the food yet.
"I'm quite sorry, it's just that I don't have anyone to speak to since i've been banished here." 'his' hand moved to 'his' face, and she almost had a thought that 'he' looked like one of the aunties she used to help move furniture.
"I see, but a god such as yourself have many options?" her blurted out a question before she could think to stop herself. Thankfully 'he' didn't see any offence to her simple question, instead opting to continue speaking.
"You would think so, but oh how horrible. My own children betrayed me! They all betrayed me!" Lyria froze, her mouth moving faster than her own brain "Children? You have children?"
"Yes, many. in fact I have thirteen" 'he' smiled, it was a weird smile.
"I see, it must be hard to manage thirteen children" she smiled in turn, her internal thoughts though thought 'wow, you must have been busy'
"Ah, no they are all adults. Well, and i didn't birth them, Miss Lyria. They were poor little sequence 9s, some were higher and some were even ordinary mortals. I raised them all to be angels. And look where it got me Miss Lyria" her thoughts froze. How did 'he'-
"It's not that hard for me to take a few thoughts out to look Miss Lyria. Anyway, what was I on about? Ah yes, my children. Look at what they've done to me. They took my body parts for weapons and sealed artifacts, my authorities for exchange between themselves and sealed what remnants of my consciousness deep within the spirit world. I can do nothing but look." this made Lyria finally look up. Up at the god in front of her.
And what a magnificent scene it was, 'his' body was mangled. She could not quite describe it, she had to once again borrow vocabulary from the so called 'transmigrators'. It was like Kintsugi, at least from what she understood anyway. As if some twisted person wanted to do so with a human body. Yes he was in the shape of a person, but when so much of you is lost that the filler brought to fix you occupies more than your original body, can you still call it fixing?
'He' sat in front of her, like a gentleman. A soft arm holding a teacup, can you even call it an arm? Two fingers, that was all that was left of 'him'. Disfigured, mangled pieces of flesh, real flesh suspended in darkness that vaguely held the shape of a human being, she could vaguely see stars flashing in it. The little part that was left of 'him' was tied together with dark dark lines, she just couldn't pinpoint it exactly but all she knew was that it gave her a sense of wrongness. From what she could see, 'his' head was the most complete part of 'his' body, but whoever put 'him' there did not seem satisfied with this horrible state, pure white appeared from an unknowable height, reaching down to 'him' to be bolted straight to his neck, like some sort a twisted collar.
It was disgusting to think someone did this, it was horrible to think anyone would have to suffer through this, she shuddered at the thought of what it must feel like. But it was beautiful, the kind of beautiful you quite can't look away from. The beauty of a wildfire, of how a disaster turns. She froze, her thoughts stuttering
"Thank you for the compliment miss. For your information it doesn't quite hurt like it used to. You get used to this kind of things. Why don't you take a drink? The tea is going cold" she took her tea, and drank it slowly while she listened him go on. "I did so much, I didn't even desire the seat of god, you know? If things really did go my way, I would have been dead many many millennia ago. I fought so hard, to save, to protect. Pathetic for me to end up this way" he sighed, a weary one sounding a million years older than his fragmented face would suggest.
She herself couldn't help but sighing with him. She was being stupid, she knows. But she couldn't help but be feel empathy for such a person no- for such a story. She still doesn't know if it's real or not.
"Sir, if it is not too rude. May I ask your name?" She did not expect anything, after all in the prescence of a god, who was she to ask? He simply smiled in turn, his mangled face forming into a surprisingly kind smile.
"Call me the Fool" and her blood froze.
If this was the Fool,
If he was banished into this small corner of the spiritual realm
If he really did have no powers
Then who was answering the prayers?
The angels? Wait he mentioned his children were- did-
'He' smiled
"You know, I haven intervened with my church in many years." small droplets of cold sweat started to pool in her seat.
Then does that mean the real 'Fool' was already k- turned into this state? That his angels betrayed him and locked him away, even not allowing him to have his final rest? The angel of hope wouldn't allow this! He- he was so kind! He even allowed her to call 'him' him when she coincidentally met him. Even if her rational mind knew that there was a chance it could all be an illusion, she thought to herself.
'Why her?'
She was just one useless demigod, if they really wanted to plant the seed of doubt it should have been one of the angels, or even a demigod more involved than her! There was no need for her to be the one here. Almost like a brief chance encounter caused by beyonder convergence. After all if she knew her lore correctly, the Fool sat on her pathway too. Of course she would be attracted.
Her teary eyes looked at The Fool again. The Fool was so kind, so benevolent. He fought so much in the war, he held the vanguard and the rear guard simultaneously. He held back and killed so many evil gods. His benevolent gaze reached even the lowest of beggars to the highest of angels. She herself would have been dead a long time ago if it weren't for the church of the fool. She almost fell down at his 'knees' to hug him like a lost child. If it weren't for the last traces of her shame, she would have.
"It's okay, I kind of expected this anyway. Ah, I should send you home soon. Will you fulfill my promise?" He smiled. How could anyone do this to a person like Mr.Fool?
She almost stood up ready to agree to whatever he said.
"Go and tell the angels- your superiors at work to come visit me more often" she froze, wasn't he held here by them?
"Ah, with your status that would be quite hard wouldn't it? Here I'll give you their messenger-" a sudden shout cut him off
"DAD, Stop giving my contact details to everyone! I visit you everyday" Her head turned to see the angel of Hope, holding a basket of what seemed to be biscuits. He had a scholarly air, bright brown eyes and dark hair. He seemed quite polite and approachable. Lyria was quite confused and had no idea what to do, so she naturally moved out of the big guys.
The fool reached out, his 'hands' reaching out to hold the angel of hope by the cheeks pulling them. "Klein, You don't visit your dear old father nearly enough" A stray tentacle started to slowly hit the floor behind him, almost like the tail of a lazy cat. The newly named Klein grumbled freeing his face from the ministrations and took up a chair on the table.
"We do, the tarot club visits once a week and the rest of us visits nearly every day!" Klein mumbled. Lyria blasphemously thought that the two of them looked like two cats.
"Besides us, uncle Roselle, uncle Grisha, and auntie Amanesis visits you weekly to check up on your recovery progress and aside from that they always visit you for gossip" Klein's hands both hit the table making it shake, also making Lyria shuffle a little backwards. She was still confused but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see this sort of stuff. So she purposely made herself as quiet and meek as possible in the corner, her previous respect and fear for gods completely forgotten. What a horrible habit she had gotten from her transmigrator friends.
He suddenly whipped his hear around to look at her directly.
"Are you really guilt tripping random visitors into pestering us to visit you more?" Klein asked unimpressed, thankfully he didn't kick her out.
"Dad, look. Please stop influencing random beyonders to pass you by. You might think otherwide, but you are injured and not exactly in your right mind." Klein pleaded, something in the Fool's eyes glimmered and he sighed.
"Okay, okay. I know my limits. It's just not the nicest of feeling to be stuck in a small room day in and day out. Come on, I'll send her out" Klein moved before the fool, gently stopping him from sit up.
"Dad, your physical body was completely destroyed, your spirit body was barely salvaged by 3 powerful gods. Please, be a little more careful." Klein said before moving to one 'wall' and opening up a doorway. She quickly moved out, not exactly wanting to bother these gods more than she already did. He smiled, and softly touched her forehead while she left. And she felt a warm energy flow around her body. She instinctually knew that this mark would protect her from anything in the spirit world and would disappear once she left for the material plane. What an adventure that was.
Just as she left and the door closed behind her, she heard the Fool say
"So, Klein. Can I dress you up? I never really got to do it while you were young."
She froze part of her wanted to remain to see it, but a better smarter her realized that she should really start booking it back home before she overhears any more godly secrets.