Chapter 104 - 104: Watcher
For a few moments, the air between the two lay silent.
'Ah, why did I even tell her all of this?'
It was something Ixion meant to keep to himself until the grave.
Ixion brought his hand to his cheek and felt the wet trail.
'But I guess I've needed to tell someone.'
The burden of his plight was great. Too great for any one man to bear alone. Yet Ixion had to bear it. He had to, lest they all die pitifully, consumed by the Scourge.
A subdued laugh escaped his throat as he looked over his assassin, whose face was fluctuating in and out of expression.
"I'm sorry, Zabaniyah. I don't think anything you or others say will turn me from my path."
Zabaniyah slowly opened her mouth.
"Origin. Why didn't you try to Ascend?"
Ixion turned and set the book down, then looked away.
"I discovered the truth in one of my many lives… When one becomes a god, they lose their memory and will."
Turning back to Zabaniyah, he continued:
"It's the people who worship one who decide their will and actions. If one believes a god to be a god of trickery, then they are. If one believes a god is a goat, they're a goat. All gods are follies. Puppets of prayers."
Ixion sighed.
"Not to mention, gods are confined to a higher realm."
Zabaniyah was looking for any kernel of doubt. Something she could use to change his decision.
"How do you know for sure?"
"Zayn Gatlin. I, he, learned it all. Almost every secret in the world… he pried it open. Through his eyes I watched it…"
Ixion clicked his tongue.
"I watched it all collapse. I watched it all fade. I watched it all return to dust."
Zabaniyah slid her hand to her back.
"What if I force you?"
"You know you can't. Even if you could best me, or outmaneuver me, Despair and Sloth would never allow it."
Zabaniyah began to shiver, her shoulders rising and falling in an uneven rhythm.
"Ixion, come on. There has to be a better way."
"I wish there was."
The King of Catatran grew a downtrodden expression as he walked past Zabaniyah, pulled back the canopy, slid into bed, and crossed his legs.
Zabaniyah followed, standing on the other side of the veil as it swooped down, letting the two only see the outline of one another.
"What if I foil your plans?"
Ixion breathed in deeply.
"I know you won't."
She searched.
She searched for a rebuttal. Anything. But nothing came.
The assassin, who knew not how to lie, only hide, fell into the shadows, leaving Ixion alone in his chambers once again, when a sudden jingle sounded.
"My, my…"
The jester chuckled as she hung upside-down from the top of the bed's canopy.
The shadows wobbled. Zabaniyah was trying to reform, but suddenly the shadows within the room simply vanished.
Through the veil, Ixion spotted the jester with his autobiography in hand.
"How noble you are, Ixion! To know you have a way out, yet still deign to sacrifice yourself!"
The jester flipped and landed on the ground with a thud.
"Truly! You are the path of a true king! Though… a king whose subject is only himself."
Ixion sat up and stared at the outline of her alluring figure as she sauntered around his bed.
"Ah! My jester, where have you come from? Where did you go?"
The jester stopped, the bells on her outfit chiming, then quieting down.
"Me? Hmmm. Well, here and there, but neither there nor here."
Ixion clapped.
'A long day…'
"I see, I see. How sensible you are!"
'It's been a long day.'
"Are you going to ask me what I did? Are you? Are you?!"
Ixion sighed.
"What did you do, dear jester?"
"My! How wondrous of you to ask!"
The jester clapped, then split the veil and dove onto the bed, showing off her cleavage as her breasts mushed against the soft quilt.
As she lay on her stomach, she began kicking her legs and swaying her head.
"I was simply reminding old Despair to behave."
'She knows Despair?'
Well, at this point, that was to be expected. With how mysterious she was, the second most mysterious woman, it only made sense for her to be well acquainted with the second most mysterious man in all of Kaldora.
"I see, I see!"
'But I didn't see her…'
Ixion had been shadowing Despair — well, been in Despair's world — yet he saw no sign of her.
So, was it a lie or the truth?
But perhaps she was there and just hidden. She had showcased the ability to cloak her presence near perfectly.
And…
Did such a thing even matter?
As if the jester was who Ixion thought her to be, she'd never harm him. At least, not yet.
'But…'
Her hat slipped off her head, letting her red hair cascade and slip, falling across the crest of her back.
'She is quite beautiful.'
Ixion clapped.
"Well, what have you come to see me for so late at night, my jester?"
"Oh, why, oh my? I'm horny!"
Ixion palmed his forehead.
"Ah, I see. Get out."
The jester pouted, puffing up her cheeks.
"What?! Hmph!"
"I'm not particularly in the mood, dear jester."
"Did you not see that lewd list you wrote?! How can someone who thinks like that deny me?"
The jester flopped around on the bed and feigned crying while puffing up her chest for Ixion to see.
"Oh, how tyrannical you are! Your treachery knows no bounds! At least whip me!"
A chilling presence burst through the chamber doors. A mass of shadows was seeping through the thin cracks, then forming.
The jester looked back.
"Aw shucks. I guess I can wait until tomorrow… Tee hee!"
Before Zabaniyah could even finish forming, the jester had slipped off the bed and was parkouring up the walls until she seemingly disappeared into the ceiling.
'Is there anyone normal in my life?'