Don't gods have more important things to do?" Hela said, clearly disappointed.
"Yeah we do. But someone decided that spying on you was a better use of our time." The Fool stared at Amanises.
"And I'm not sorry." Amanises bluntly replied.
"Anyway, let's move on. So what did you two want to talk about?" The Fool turned to Klein and Hela.
The two nervously looked at each other attempting to form a sentence.
"Umm, uhh, so umm. Why does your face look like that?" Hela asked.
"I'll be back in a minute." Amanises got up and left clearly giggling.
The Fool was clearly annoyed however "he" focused on the conversation at hand.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, your face is similar to Klein's but also looks like a mix of Klein before he transmigrated."
"Well I suppose it's time you found out."
The Fool then explained all the alternate universe shenanigans as well as the identities "he" used in this world.
"I don't know how to feel." Klein said.
"I mean I guess being angry for me not saving Tingen is a good start."
"I mean I guess but that's not really productive and it's not like it was your fault. Honestly I just feel kinda bad that you had to live through that again."
"Eh, I don't have enough humanity to feel properly sad." The Fool replied absent-mindedly.
"That is a depressing reality isn't it?"
"Well you won't have to suffer through it as I already stole the uniqueness and Sefirot." The Fool smiled brightly.
"Can you feel any emotions?" Klein asked.
"My humanity is still strong enough to feel emotions due to alternate universe shenanigans, however it feels weird like experiencing something from your childhood that you haven't in a long time."
"How long has it been like this?"
"I reached sequence 0 about 6 years ago, however I fell in to a slumber to fight the will of the Celestial Worthy. Eventually I fused with "him"."
"So… is there really no way home?" Hela asked.
"Even with my power I can't return. Perhaps if I accommodate more uniquenesses and Sefirot I could, but to return to the point before the awakening of the original creator I would need much more power to the point where it's probably not even possible unless I consume non neighbouring pathways. And well you know what would happen then."
"By the way, which pathway are you?" Klein asked.
He had his guesses but wanted to check.
"Seer, Apprentice and Marauder."
"Three pathways?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Not something you should know yet. So what are you guys going to do now?"
"We're becoming bounty hunters."
***
Amanises returned with a grim expression.
"What did you hear?" The Fool asked.
"Everything. So is your humanity already that far gone?"
"Yes."
Eternal Darkness Amanises stared at The Fool with an expression that gave no clues to her emotions.
***
The door to the bar was slammed open as two people walked in. The first was a young gentleman wearing gold-rimmed glasses and had a cold, ruthless aura. The other was a woman who had a ghostly pale complexion wearing a hooded cloak covering most of her body, her presence was gloomy as if a corpse were walking. They quickly eyed a group of pirates. With a chilling smile they attacked.
Hela fired death knell, taking out two. Klein followed up, taking out another. The remaining pirate attempted to flee when the corpses of his friends grabbed him and began chewing through his body.
"How much was the bounty for them?" Hela asked.
"Not much, only a few pounds. Hardly worth claiming, we should go fry some bigger fish." Klein replied.
"I heard Murloc was good."
The two of them left the bar onwards to their next adventure.
***
"Why are you guys joining?" The Fool asked.
"How about why not?" Amanises replied.Why are you not doing your job of mending the world barrier and instead joining a meeting full of low to mid sequence beyonders?" The Fool said semi-jokingly.
"Well I don't want to make the god of combat aware I accommodated the River of Eternal Darkness and because I want to join." Amanises replied.
"And you?" The Fool asked Adam.
"Well since we're allies it would be nice to help your little club." Adam replied.
"Lumian?" The Fool asked.
"My big brother wanted me to join." Kid Lumian replied.
"Alright. So take your cards I guess." The Fool said.
"I'll take the star." Amanises decided.
"That's already reserved." The Fool responded.
"For who?"
"Some probably gay poet."
Amanises blinked trying to see if "he" was joking.
"I guess… I'll take the high priestess then." Amanises said.
"Alright, Adam it's your turn." The Fool said a bit interested in what "he" would pick.
"The hierophant."
"Interesting." The Fool raised his eyebrow.
"Lumian you pick now."
***
"I am not letting you make him the empress." Aurore stared at Cheek.
"I mean he will go down the demoness pathway eventually." Cheek replied.
"And? Lumian was a demoness and he still picked the Chariot."
"So why not switch it up a little?"
"Are we ignoring that this is kid me so if he doesn't already have one he wants then I should be picking." Lumian interjected.
"Yes." Cheek replied.
***
"Good afternoon Mr Fool~." Audrey bowed to the head of the table
"Good afternoon Miss Justice."
Audrey greeted the other members and saw the 3 new members.
"This is Miss High Priestess, Mr Hierophant and Mr… Empress." The Fool introduced the new members.
'Is Mr Empress a child?' Audrey thought.
***
"How did you do it?" Lumian asked.
"Kids are easy to convince. Just give them some snacks." Cheek replied.
"How did you do that?" Jenna asked.
"My little secret." Cheek winked at the others.
"This still doesn't change the fact that you're a bad parent." Aurore said.
***
Hela looked at the High Priestess who sat next to her.
'Why is Amanises here?' Hela thought.
"Anyway, if you need any help with high sequence stuff ask Miss High Priestess." The Fool said.
"Wait, why are you telling them to ask me? He's a King of Angels!" Amanises pointed at Adam.
"Because you threw me at a table and also made me pay for it." The Fool reminded her.
'Isn't that blasphemy? Since she hadn't been smited yet she is clearly a similar rank to Mr Fool. Is she a true god? Does that mean Mr Fool is above a true god?" Alger thought.
'Is Mr Fool poor? No Audrey you can't think that.' Audrey attempted to maintain a straight face.
'Mr Fool, you really don't care about your reputation do you? Well I guess you can get away with it since you are a god. Luckily Amanises made him pay as I don't have the money. Praise the lady.' Klein Lampooned.
"Ahem, yes, so you may be wondering about Miss High Priestess's identity. All I will say is she is a true god and a friend from my hometown." The Fool said.
'Is "she" the ancestor? No "she" wouldn't waste time on a meeting like this as I am here." Emlyn thought.
'A god from the outside world that's very interesting is "she" one of the ones the others told me about or another hidden existence like Mr Fool?' Derrick wondered.
'"She" doesn't seem to match the description of any evil gods, "her" appearance also doesn't fit with the Earth Mother. Is "she" the Evernight goddess?" Alger theorised.
"Umm, my big sister wanted me to ask if I could get the formula for the assassin so does anyone have it?" Lumian asked innocently.
***
In Lumian's view he watched as Cheek was being chased around by the others.
"Burn the witch!" Aurore yelled.
Notes:
The Fool watched the world from above Sefirah castle.
"Ugh, being a god is the worst, there is nothing to do." "He" complained.
The others had gone to do important things so The Fool was left alone waiting for the next Tarot club meeting; this had been "his" routine for the past few months. "He" summoned a PC from the historical void and started playing some games "he" hadn't finished.
'Having full access to the historical void is nice at least.'
The Fool checked the red stars to see what the Tarot club members were up to. After exploring the Blue Avenger the Magician had spent her time recovering from her shock and the Hanged Man was checking out what he had obtained. "He" then remembered that "he" actually had followers in the Western and Eastern continents as well as the Temperance faction. "He" had just been leaving worms to deal with the prayers; however perhaps "he" could find something interesting from them.
The Fool searched through the various prayers until "he" found one that piqued "his" interest.
***
An ordinary looking man wearing a magician outfit walked through the City of Silver. "He" received several stares as "he" made "his" way to a large open area.
"Hello people of the City of Silver! You may call me Merlin Hermes. I am a wandering magician serving The Fool." Merlin declared.
A small crowd had gathered around "him" in curiosity. Merlin had a small smile on "his" face.
"The Fool has heard several prayers wishing to see the Sun, however the time has not yet come. But the lord has sent me to grant you a small glimpse to reinvigorate your hopes and dreams." Merlin explained to the crowd.
More people gathered as Merlin began "his" performance. "He" grafted a small star far above the city using various authorities to make sure it wouldn't harm anyone. "He" then tossed a bouquet of flowers in to the air which burst, covering the cityscape in an array of bright colours. The surroundings suddenly shifted as the dull city was painted in various pastel colours.
Merlin smiled at the crowd who had just experienced the miracle. "He" took a bow before disappearing in an explosion of fireworks which shone in the sky. Shortly after the star had faded however the city was covered by the colourful flowers and paint reminding them of the performance as well as their hope to escape this land.
***
The Fool looked through the various prayers again to find some more entertainment. "He" then heard a familiar voice.
"Oh, right it should be around that time."
"He" pulled the new Tarot club member in to Sefirah castle. A woman wearing classical robes and glasses appeared.
"Hello," The Fool paused as Cattleya, who was in the middle of losing control. "Ah, you seem to be in a slight predicament. Let me fix that."
Sefirah castle acted suppressing the corruption.
"Now since I did something for you you must do something for me. After all, I am a fool who likes an equivalent exchange. So what do you think your life is worth?" The Fool playfully said.
Cattleya carefully analysed The Fool trying to figure out what kind of entity "he" was. From what she could tell from her brief interaction. "He" was someone who was carefree and obviously powerful.
"Mr Fool. I am willing to perform any tasks you believe I could handle for you." Cattleya replied, passing the initiative to The Fool.
The Fool would have quite liked a mid sequence beyonder performing tasks for "him" if "he" were still human, however "he" was a pillar who even transcended the gods. Not only that "he" was practically omnipresent with avatars at the level of Angels who could perform tasks for "him". Not that "he" even really cared about repayment as "he" only planned on recruiting Cattleya. "He" summoned a deck of Tarot cards.
"I have a few people who you may be able to assist. Meetings are 3pm Backlund time. Now select your code name."
"I choose the Hermit."
'As expected.'
***
Cattleya waited for the first meeting. Given how The Fool said she could be of help to these people she expected other mid sequence beyonders and perhaps a few high sequence ones being seniors in the group. Grey fog shrouded her vision as she was suddenly sitting at a long table with several others. A young woman who was most likely a noble bowed to the head of the table.
"Good afternoon Mr Fool~."
"Good afternoon Miss Justice."
Justice began greeting the other members and Cattleya memorised everyone's codenames.
"Ah, Mr Fool, who's the new member?"
"This is the Hermit." The Fool introduced her simply.
"Well good afternoon Miss Hermit." Justice said gleefully.
"Nice to meet you Miss Justice." Cattleya returned the greeting.
The Fool turned to the Hanged man.
"How did you find the exploration of the Blue Avenger?"
"It was extremely useful and perfectly executed due to your help." The Hanged man responded.
"What about you Miss Magician?" The Fool asked.
"Hell. I have never wanted to die more in my life… but I guess what I got out of it was good." The Magician said while staring off in to space.
"Good to hear. Now does anyone have any of Roselle's diary or should we just move on to the exchange?"
'Roselle's diary?' She turned to the High Priestess who sat next to her.
She seemed to understand Cattleya's confusion and explained.
"It's just as they say it's a diary. Mr Fool usually shares some interesting information with us. Also he will reward us for bringing them in." The High Priestess explained.
Cattleya nodded. 'Hmm, I should inform the Queen about this after all she has been trying to translate those pages for ages.'
The Fool read through the pages then suddenly burst out laughing.
"Sorry. This time I almost thought the emperor would change his ways." The Fool flicked his hand as the translated diary page appeared in front of everyone.
Cattleya couldn't believe what she had seen. 'Should I even report this?'
They moved on to the exchange segment.
"I have found traces of mind dragons and was wondering if someone can help me with it." Justice said then she explained the content of her adventure.
Cattleya was about to respond when the Hierophant spoke first.
"I could check for you. I have been wanting to finish off hunting all the mind dragons. Just give me the location and I'll bring back the beyonder characteristics for you." The Hierophant calmly said.
"Thank you Mr Hierophant. Though don't you need any payment for this?" Justice asked.
"No, it's perfectly fine. Though perhaps when I become a deity you can become an angel under my wing." The Hierophant said.
'He plans on becoming a deity!' Cattleya was shaken.
"Hey, stop trying to poach my club members. Also what's with you and collecting angels?" The Fool said.
"It's the same as you collecting low sequence beyonders. It's just that I decided to collect actually useful subordinates." The Hierophant replied.
"At least my subordinates won't eat my corpse. Isn't that right Miss Magician?" The Fool defensively said.
"Umm, you know after that trip in the Blue Avenger… I'm not saying I will, I'm just saying I'll consider it." The Magician answered.
The Fool looked dejected.
"What about you Mr World?"
"I mean can I really avoid convergence if you couldn't?" The world responded.
"I did fine."
"You're using past tense." The World pointed out.
The Fool leaned back in defeat.
"Back to the important part. Don't try stealing my subordinates."
Cattleya was in disbelief of the conversation that just happened.
"Hey, Mr Empress. Once you become a witch will you go by Miss Empress?" The High priestess asked.
"I think I'll let the others vote. But they're kind of freaking out because of how I will digest the sequence 6 potion. Also big sis Cheek is being burned at the stake as well so they have more important things to worry about." The Empress answered.
"Alright so let's solve the sequence 6 problem as I don't want to let the poor kid suffer for the actions of someone else." The High priestess said.
Everyone immediately nodded.
"OK, maybe if I use some psychological cues I can trick the potion in to digesting as it's only sequence 6 so if I just trigger pleasure responses in the brain it could work." The Hierophant suggested.
"Won't work he has to bring pleasure to others as well." The Fool said. "I could probably use some errors and loopholes however the best I could probably do is speed up the process so that's not an option."
"Yeah, I don't have anything." The High priestess said disappointed.
"Wait, isn't his soul tied to Jenna and Cheek? They already digested the pleasure potion so it should be like the others and be auto digested." The Fool pointed out.
Everyone sighed in relief.
"Let's just move on to the fun part as I feel like there aren't going to be many exchanges after that." The Fool said.
"Oh, where are we going this time?" The Sun asked.
"I heard from Miss Death that the amusement park was quite enjoyable." The Temperance said.
"I don't feel like throwing up today." The World responded.
"Yeah, we were just on a really rocky boat which also got attacked." Death added.
"Hmm, sometimes relaxing then?" The Devil suggested.
"We could go to the beach. It would be a good introduction for the newcomer." The Fool said.
"Can't do water." Death replied.We should come up with a tradition for newcomers." The Hierophant suggested.
"Oh, that's a good idea. Something really shocking." The High priestess jumped out of her seat.
Cattleya was gradually getting more nervous as suggestions were thrown around. She didn't even understand half of them.
"Alright so we all agree on karaoke right?" The Fool said.
Everyone nodded. The surroundings shifted as they were in a room with bright lights of various colours with a large screen displaying a list of songs. Various drinks and snacks were on the table as everyone took a seat on the soft seats. The Fool pulled out some historical void projections one resembled the High priestess and another looked like an older Empress the others however were unrecognisable.
"It sucks how we can only maintain these for a short time." Amanises complained.
"I mean an hour is pretty good for your status."
Cattleya was surprised at the new people however seeing the others relaxed made her realise this was a normal occurrence.
"Alright, the newcomer sings first." The Fool declared.
Cattleya was handed a strange object as the others were talking about what she guessed to be songs that they were going to make her sing. The Hanged man sat in a corner as it seemed he was banned from going near the music equipment.
"Alright we decided the song… by the way what's your name?" Audrey asked.
Cattleya was surprised at the sudden question.
"Oh right. The code names are only for the business related parts during this time we use our real names." Audrey explained.
"I'm Cattleya."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Audrey. Oh, we forgot to remove the fog."
The Fool removed the fog allowing everyone to clearly see each other. "He" sat and watched the others enjoying themselves with a smile on "his" face.
***
The others descended from Sefirah castle leaving only The Fool as well as the historical projections. "He" changed the place to a large city.
"Alright you can go have fun, you have about an hour left on the projections." The Fool said.
Most of them went off however Amanises and Lumian remained.
"You seem happy." Amanises pointed out.
"Well, was it that obvious?" The Fool joked wearing a bright smile on "his" face.
"It wasn't, we only barely noticed the difference." Lumian said.
"What do you mean?" The Fool asked.
"Well for one you're always smiling." Lumian said.
"Secondly you're abilities make it hard to tell whether something is genuine." Amanises said.
"Is there a problem with it?" The Fool once more asked.
"No, it's quite good you're happy. That means you still have some humanity left." Lumian answered.
"Well that's good." The Fool cheered.
"Though you have been acting a bit erratically so watch out for that." Amanises said leading to anywhere long pause. "But anyway I'm glad you're happy my friend. It makes me happier as well."
"Well that's good because you're happiness makes me happy." The Fool replied.
Lumian put his arms around the two's shoulders.
"Well let's go have a drink to celebrate everyone's happiness." Lumian then dragged the two to a bar.
***
The projections disappeared and The Fool returned Sefirah castle to its usual state. "He" smiled still thinking about how much fun "he" was having. "His" emotions dissipated, drowned out by divinity. A realisation dawned on "him" all of a sudden. "His" days where "he" could feel such emotions were counting down. The moment "he" returned to "his" world there would be no remnant humanity. Thr Fool leaned back in "his" seat.
There was no feeling of dread after all emotions were for humans.
Notes: