"The man who is offered is no longer a man. He is a silence that still breathes."
- Court Canticle for Sacrificed Souls
The air stank of iron, incense, and fear.
The inner courtyard of the Valemyr estate was full.
Nobles, monks, soldiers, and the members of House Valemyr stood in a circle around a black altar inlaid with red stones.
The ground was painted with ancient symbols, drawn in the blood of animals sacrificed at dawn.
At the center, Ashen knelt, shirtless, in chains.
His arms were stretched out in a cross, bound by rough ropes that tore at his shoulders and wrists.
He had been bathed, perfumed... like a lamb before slaughter.
His empty eyes stared at the horizon.
His heart still beat, but nothing tied him to this flesh anymore.
Around him, four masked priests chanted the verses of the Blood Ritual:
"Let he who has no name, no land, no family, begiven to the sacred fire..."
"...Let his existence beerased, and his body offered to royal will."
Duke Veyron Valemyr, his father, stepped forward.
He wore a black cloak stitched with red thread and a ceremonial smile.
- People of blood and honor, he declared solemnly, today I, Veyron of House Valemyr, present to His Majesty Maelrath an offering...
He turned to Ashen.
- ...This thing. This mistake. This reject.
- We raised him, fed him, tolerated him. But today, we wash our hands of him.
- He shall become "The Fool," toy of the Court. He shall bear our name no longer.
Duchess Elaira, his mother, approached, holding a scroll sealed in black wax.
- This is the Act of Renunciation, she said coldly. Signed by every member of House Valemyr.
We renounce Ashen and confirm his transfer as royal property.
She read each line aloud.
Each word landed like a slap.
Ashen felt each syllable slicing through him, turning him to living ash.
Then came Kael, his half-brother.
- You know, Ashen, he whispered by his ear, I was the one who came up with your new name.
Ashen didn't respond. His teeth clenched.
His eyes stared into the void, but inside, a silent scream swelled.
- You thought we loved you, didn't you? That if you endured the pain, we'd accept you?
You're nothing. And you're going to die laughing.
Lira, his half-sister, stepped forward next.
- Want to know why I never helped you? she asked with a cruel smile.
Because your suffering pleased me. It made me feel powerful.
She spat at his feet.
A cold, contemptuous spit.
The crowd laughed.
Then, like a living shadow, King Maelrath entered.
Draped in purple, his face veiled in black silk, he walked slowly, like a blade gliding toward a throat.
He circled Ashen, studying him.
- He's not a man, he said at last. Perfect.
He touched Ashen's cheek with his gloved fingers.
- I accept him. He shall be the Fool. He shall wear the mask, sleep on the floor.
And if he ever fails to amuse me... I'll kill him live, before the Court.
A snap of his fingers.
They brought forth a cage.
Black iron, etched with runes of erasure.
They forced Ashen inside. He did not resist. He looked to the sky.
The door closed. Sealed. Welded with molten lead.
The cage shuddered.
It left the Valemyr estate, pulled by two black horses.
Ashen was alone. The world around him blurred.
He felt every jolt as a punch to the chest.
He closed his eyes.
And he thought.
They stole my name. And I let it go.
They took my voice. And I did not scream.
But they forgot one thing...
When you tear out a man's heart, sometimes... it grows back-twisted.
I am their offering. Their shame. Their living trash.
But in this cage, I change.
Blood still drips from my wrists. Each drop is a laugh they will one day hear.
They think they've broken me. But all they've done is dig deeper.
You wanted a fool?
You'll get a nightmare.
Yes, I'll laugh.
But not for your amusement.
I'll laugh as your palaces burn.
I'll laugh when your children scream.
I'll laugh with the crows.
I am the end of your forgetting.
The whisper in your walls.
The laughter you'll hear in the dark.
And when you beg me to stop-
I'll laugh louder.
A laugh rose-weak, strangled.
- Ah... ha... haha...
Then stronger.
- AHAHAHA... AHAHAHAHAH!
The guards riding beside the carriage turned, pale.
Ashen laughed. Laughed like a madman.
- I AM THE FOOL! he screamed in the cage. I AM FREE! FREE! AHAAH!
He slammed his head against the bars. Again. And again.
- NO MORE PAIN! ONLY LAUGHTER! LAUGHTER! LAUGHTER!
His eyes were wild. Shattered mirrors of a ruined soul.
- I will love you all... to death.
The cage rolled forward.
The Fool laughed.