Lord Of The Mysteries: A Slug of Time

Shrouded in the thick greyish white fog, within the ancient majestic palace was the Fool—Klein, who fully reclined in his high chair all while crossing a leg over the other and gazing at the mottled table before him.

His eyes wandered to the Twenty-Oneth high back chairs that rested empty before him. A sigh escaped him, as he momentarily closed his eyes before opening them again. He slowly extended his hand, causing the fog around him to rumble and gather in his palm.

Immediately, crimson rays diverged outwardly, causing the fog to slightly ripple before parting from Klein's hand. Floating at his fingertips was a bright miniature Crimson Moon; its illumination dyed the entire place red.

This was the Moon Uniqueness. Klein, who now possessed it, deeply examined it; various thoughts forming in his mind. Indeed… If it wasn't for Sefirah Castle, the deep influence radiating from the Uniqueness could potentially have an effect on me! 

Klein narrowed his eyes, and tapped the armrest of his chair. No wonder Lilith was like that. This Uniqueness is beyond corrupted… accommodation is equivalent to committing Sucide! Klein's lips twitched indescribably, as he shook the Uniqueness in his hand.

How did the Evernight Goddess even possess this without going completely insane? Actually, now that I think about it, "She" wasn't particularly sane either… He slightly lampooned and giggled, before emitting a light cough and resuming his train of thought.

On a serious note, it was probably due to Grisha's help. He reflected as countless mysterious symbols suddenly took form in his eyes, while his gaze remained on the Uniqueness. As a sealed artifact, the Uniqueness passively radiates a Crimson glow around itself which affects the Spirituality of all those who bathe in it. It can be either used to amplify or deplete once spirituality entirely.

In addition to that, the Uniqueness can be used to temporarily bring about a Blood Moon which can have severe effects on a designated land, including but not limited to: amplifying all negativity and evil in the particular land allowing it to rampage the lands. The Spirit world, Astral world, and the Real world will all deeply interact and fuse, bringing terrifying results.. 

Klein sighed as he continued his analysis. At its current state, merely holding it, or being influenced by it could prove extremely dangerous even for a True God. The influence of Mother Goddess of Depravity is far too strong, causing the Uniqueness to be deeply corrupted by it. 

I and Grisha can resist its deep influence with our respective Sefirot, but the same cannot be said for anyone else. No wonder Lilith had to "perish". "She" was a veritable ticking time bomb… the sturdy world barrier prevented this former pillar from completely taking over Lilith. Makes me wonder why Mother Uniqueness clearly didn't seem to have such a problem.

If it wasn't for this still extremely stable barrier, Klein would not have dared even bringing this Uniqueness close to Sefirah Castle out of caution. 

He silently tapped his chin, deep in contemplation.. Then, his lips curled, as the Moon Uniqueness suddenly began to ascend in the air. 

The fog around it churned, while the whole of Sefirah Castle began to shake. The Moon Uniqueness shined ever so brightly, but then suddenly it's illumination dampened as the fog around it stabbed the Uniqueness from all direction, deeply ingraining itself on to it. In resistance, the Uniqueness tried to stir the spirituality of all creation around itself but in the face of Sefirot that held the utmost authority over Seals, its attempts were futile. 

Eventually, the Castle returned to normalcy. The greyish white fog gently swayed, covering the vast inches of endlessness. 

Now, floating at Klein's fingertips, the Moon Uniqueness was completely sealed. Engraved on its surface was the sacred emblem formed by pupil-less eyes and contorted lines; representing secrecy and change. 

That's better. While it is still not so safe to carry around in the real world. With time, the Uniqueness would be bathed in the aura and deeply corrupted by Sefirah Castle, which would make it relatively safer for Amanises to carry around… of course, I'll need to periodically supply this seal. 

Klein let out a deep sigh, before breaking into a soft chuckle. Dealing with corruption by inducing even more corruption. 

He shook his hand in front of his head, before settling back in his chair. Klein inspected the Uniqueness for one more second, before taking a firm hold of the sphere and flinging his hand, throwing the miniature moon in his junk pile. 

The Moon Uniqueness crash landed on to a pile of Beyonder Characteristics belonging to Darkness and Fool pathway, spilling the mountain of characteristic everywhere causing the surrounding pile of characteristics to suffer the same. The Moon Uniqueness simply rolled out, crashing onto Lie, and then at Guardian Hammer, before finally settling beside the Darkness Uniqueness. 

Klein did not pay any mind to this, and instead shifted his focus to other matters. Now that I have settled this mess, we can resume our travels. Klein's smile unknowingly widened. He closed his eyes and proceeded with his thoughts. 

The main question is, where? There is nothing particularly interesting in the Northern Continent… Klein pondered for some moments, tracking his knowledge of events within the Dual Era. 

The Eastern Continent will be the most active part of the world currently… Not only will Grisha rise in power and status, the Giants, Devils, Phoenixes, Elves and Dragons all will remain in a constant turmoil. This is also the point when humanity would begin to prosper…

Klein slightly leaned to his sides. I have long deduced and confirmed that connecting with humanity can help us strengthen it. To bear witness to the struggles and to help them overcome it. Facing the joyous moments of life, and to remain close to the mundane while being even more infinitely close to the Divine… 

Klein deeply sighed, shaking his head. Ironic. When I was a mortal, I was acting like a God. Now that I am a God, I am trying to act like a Human. He chuckled inwardly, rubbing his temples. 

Considering all of this, the Eastern continent seems like the best location. With the fall of the Sanguines, Mutants, and Demonic Wolves, a major power vacuum has appeared, and the enslaved humans have started rising. 

This is the best opportunity for me and Amanises. We can both go around and explore the newly setup settlements, which will gradually transition into something grander. It's also perfect for her to act. 

Thinking for a second more, Klein had come to a decision. 

I am sure Amanises would roll with whatever I have in mind… He repeatedly nodded his head.

As he began to formulate a plan, Klein quickly realized a problem—Tingen. Last time, we were without worries and responsibilities… that's not the case anymore. We have an entire town to manage, leaving to explore like previously is not feasible since the people need us. Not only that, but Amanises needs more anchors for her eventual accession to Sequence 0 is nigh within this Epoch. We need to expand our territory…

One by one more worries and problems popped up in Klein's head. He reclined his initial train of thoughts and began to ponder over a solution. After thinking over it for a long time, Klein couldn't help but grumble to himself. If only Amanises could make avatars of hersel— then an idea popped in his head. 

"Wait, this could work…" He mumbled under his breath, putting a hand over his mouth. After thinking for a while, his lips curled up into a smile while his head turned towards the ceremonious chair of his Knight of Misfortune. 

"Let's experiment hehe…"

…

Bored!

Amanises thought while lazily rolling around on the large couch. It's so silent too! Where is Klein!? She let her gaze wander around within the house, and to the entire Tingen city beyond. Finding no trace of her dear friend, Amanises felt even more bored and hindered. It's been over an hour since I have seen him. I am feeling lonely now…

You don't leave a lady all alone without warning! Does he have no manners?! Amanises slightly pouted her cheeks and buried her face in her pillow. A chuckle sounded in the living room, as Amanises broke into soft giggles. Jokes aside, I am incredibly bored!

Amanises shook her head around, and used her hand to prop her blanket upwards, blanketing her whole body. She had, of course, brought her bedroom's blanket to the living room. Might as well go to sleep if there is nothing to do. The thought reverberated in her head, and she turned her body sideways curling her legs together, putting her arms around them before pressing them against her chest. 

But just as she was about to fall asleep, her vision was engulfed by a familiar crimson hue. The very next moment, she found herself sitting in front of an ancient long copper mottled table, her surroundings shrouded in greyish white fog. 

What the! Habitually Amanises turned her head towards the long end of the table, her eyes meeting with that of the Fool Klein. "Forgive me if I startled you." Klein said with a smile, his tone laid with mischievousness. Amanises shook her head and replied, "It's not a problem.

"What's the matter?" For Klein to directly summon her within Sefirah Castle could only mean it was either something urgent or peculiar. Amanises knew this and hence she began to ponder over the reason, feeling slightly nerved by Klein's tone and smile. I have a feeling this might not be good… She thought and made an awkward expression crept on her face. 

"No need to be so wary, I just want to experiment." Amanises tilted her head as her suspiciously narrowing eyes remained on Klein. The latter sighed and elaborated, "Let me start from the beginning, then. I propose we should travel to the Eastern continent due to the flourishing and rising of humans, following the formation of the massive power vacuum.."

Amanises's eyes moved slightly, as she gave a nod of approval. 

"But just as I began to plan things out further, I quickly ran into a problem that is Tingen. We can't just leave it like that, it is our responsibility after all. The people need us and we need the people." Pausing for a moment, Klein recalled back to the days when the New City of Silver and Moon city were in the process of establishing the Church of the Fool. 

He unknowingly closed his eyes and smiled, an action which didn't go unnoticed by Amanises. She tried to gauge his current emotions but his expression returned to its usual mischief. "There is also the need to expand our territory for the eventual day when you become Darkness."

Amanises expression twisted into a weary one. Sequence 0… She bent her head down, gazing at the long copper mottled table. Klein, noticing this shift, deeply sighed and said. "But, that's a long time from now. We have much more to do and much more to explore in this new world…" He paused for a moment, smiling deeply. 

"Besides, I will always be there with you." Amanises looked back up, entwining her gaze with his. Neither of them spoke for a while, looking at the reflected figure in each other's eyes. Finally, Klein broke the silence, "As I was saying, we have the responsibility of Tingen which means we need some sort of substitute to handle this town.

"This is not a problem for me since I can just leave an Avatar here. You on the other hand can't." Klein clasped his hand together, and leaned towards her. "But I have an idea. All you need to do is comply with my requests." Amanises had a bad premonition. 

"Is it dangerous?" She asked in a hesitant tone. "Not at all. It's just a bit tedious." Klein replied in a bright auspicious tone that only made him appear more suspicious in Amanises eyes. Nonetheless she gave a nod of approval. Already trust him with my life. There is no backing down now…

She grumbled in her mind and watched as Klein leaned back, stood up from his chair and walked towards her. Stopping just by her side, he leaned himself on the copper mottled long table and extended his hand outwards in the greyish white fog. Klein waited for a moment before pulling his hand back, taking out a feminine figure from the Historical Void. 

It was a beautiful tall woman, with a slender figure, cloaked in a dark black plain dress. Her silky black hair flowed out nicely, while her gorgeous sharp featured face held an emotionless expression. It was Amanises herself. 

Amanises looked at her historical projection, before moving her gaze to Klein. She tilted her head displaying confusion, to which the Fool simply shook his head and spoke. "Can you split a portion of your consciousness?"

"You mean split my psyche into parts?" Amanises curiously questioned before nodding in affirmation and answering. "Yeah I can do that, at least I am sure I can…" Amanises naturally had never tried to split portions of her consciousness for the thought itself never even crossed her mind. 

"Excellent! Try it then, split a portion of your consciousness from your main self and then conceal your main consciousness and descend into this projection." 

What? Amanises was momentarily stunned but then complied. She closed her eyes, and focused on her mind compiling her psyche before splitting a small portion of it. She then left the small portion of the consciousness within her main body, while concealing the main psyche allowing her to descend into her Historical Projection summoned by Klein. 

Opening her eyes, Amanises now felt herself primarily in the body of her Historical Projection that was also a King of Angels, a Knight of Misfortune, but at the same time within her main body, giving her phantom sensation. "It worked." Amanises commented, amused, and turned her head towards Klein.

"Indeed." He said, raising his hand upwards, snapping his fingers. The greyish white fog suddenly churned while the innumerable stars in the sky of Sefirah Castle brightened. Amanises suddenly felt a change occur to her historical projection, causing her to run a deep inspection. But she was interrupted by Klein's chuckle, as her historical projection and her astral projection turned to him. 

"Indeed it worked." He commented, maintaining his smile. Noticing the confused gazes from the two, Klein completely leaned back into his chair. "I am currently not maintaining that projection." He said, causing Amanises to let out a surprised sound. "You aren't but then how is this projection able to exist?" 

As far as Amanises knew, a Scholar of Yore had to actively maintain a Historical Projection with the cost of their spirituality. 

Klein smiled at this, as he had begun to love explaining to her various matters. After clearing his throat, he went on, "A historical projection is just that: 'a you from the past'. It isn't real, and of course needs to be maintained. But, what happens if the real body's consciousness descends into the projection?"

Of course, this Knight of Misfortune knew of this, and thus she recognised the fact that her friend still needed to get to the point. Thus, she replied, "The Scholar of Yore won't need to control their actions, nor would the spiritual cost be as steep."

Klein crossed a leg as he nodded and continued. "Indeed. The main consciousness now controls the projection; essentially embodying their past self. This correlation can be exploited."

His smile grew as he observed the raised brow on both the historical projection and astral projection, prompting him to elaborate. "The sequence 0 of the Marauder pathway can create and exploit existing loopholes, and in this case the fact that the real body now possesses the historical projection.

"The similarity is enough for this, and hence, a 'bug' can formed, making the projection become the real body as well. Of course, your actual body will still exist. Though with this, you can comfortably be at different locations."

The Astral and 'historical' projections of Amanises both had their mouths hung open in shock. Was the Marauder pathway, the one controlled by the Giants, always this crazy!?

Though, he said the sequence 0 of the Marauder pathway; so not even the Giant King can do that… or maybe "He" has the corresponding Uniqueness, and thus can? Apart from this, the abilities of True Deities are truly terrifying. Amanises let out a sigh as she turned to her astral projection which stared back at her. 

While she was embroiled in her thoughts, Klein also pondered. This is quite the runabout method, but it'll do. Though, to be honest, I had other options. For example, giving her a high level blink charm, or grafing certain abilities? Stealing abilities like avatar creation from Sefirah Castle and then gifting them should also be an option, but I assume it'll cause issues. After all, these abilities are all essentially part of me; hence, someone taking them into themselves would be a recipe for a quick death. Unless, of course they have the corresponding level, or abilities that can negate this.

Sometimes, his many abilities and their possible applications gave him the feeling of his brain being overloaded. Of course, his many worms won't have an issue processing them, especially as a senior Cryptologist. 

Makes me wonder about the White Tower pathway. With the knowledge of the ritual for Wisdom angel in the second Blasphemy Slate back at the Corpse Cathedral, and a Cryptologist's powers, I could deduce some of its abilities. For example, "They" will always make the wisest and correct decision. Hmm… this is actually a good counter to Blind Stupidity, at least for the actual White Tower…

The ritual for a Wisdom angel was: Prophecise a highly unlikely future/possibility and choose all the right options to make said future happen. The further into the future and the more complex and high level the prophecy is, the better the ritual.

Through this information and the abilities of a Cryptologist at the near True deity level, Klein could deduce most of the abilities of all sequences. 

As for the rest, I would have to at least look at the corresponding Uniquenesses, or the Mythical creature form of the corresponding True God. Klein silently lampooned.

It was then another idea popped into his mind, causing his smile to widen further. Amanises quickly took notice of this, as she once more had a bad premonition. "Klein?" She wearily called out his name, causing the man to turn towards her and spoke out in a mischievous tone.

"You know Amanises, at times we should let go of seriousness and give into a bit of mischief and tomfoolery." Hearing this statement from The Fool himself, even if a false one, felt quite ironic to Amanises. I feel like I already act stupid enough around you… She lampooned in her head but then narrowed her gaze and awkwardly spoke.

"I might not be catching what you are trying to say." Klein chuckled extensively before tilting his head and replying simply. "I mean…

"It seems your wandering magician might be in need of an apprentice."

…

It was a foggy day. Dark clouds channelled in the sky, dampened any and all illumination radiating from the sun, the far stretching lands bathed in shadows and an illusory darkness that seemed to creak into the void itself. Strolling outside the small town of Henschen, one of the stationed guards deeply scrutinised the area as ordered by the town's council.

After the catastrophic events that led to the fall of Sanguine Ancestor, Mutant King, and Annihilation Demonic Wolf, only the Giants remained within the Eastern Continent, leaving the entire territory to their sole rule. Yet, they too had been caught up by repeated Elven assaults, making expansion a hassle. This allowed the previously many oppressed small towns and villages to flourish, and gain a sentiment of control over their territories.

As the guard roamed by, exercising caution, he came to notice the sudden appearance of a greyish white fog that had blanketed the land for as far as his gaze could wander. 

"Weird. What's with the fog?" Just as he muttered in curiosity, his ears picked up a distant echo. Silently, he clenched his rough bronze spear and turned his body around, his gaze peering through to observe two silhouettes slowly making their way towards him. 

The sound of their footsteps echoed, yet with the exception of this particular guard, not a single soul had their attention attracted by the two seemingly ordinary silhouettes. As they grew closer, the guard gritted, squinted his eyes, and assumed a defensive position, all while trying to better discern the strangers. 

One was a young man wearing strange clothes, nothing like the ones the guard was familiar with. The particular thing he could roughly recognise was the checkered pants, the white glove, the hat adorned with red feathers, the red scarf around his neck and the beautiful patterned cloak draped over him. While his clothing appeared expensive, his looks were nothing notable, appearing ordinary in every sense.

The guard's gaze then wandered to the figure walking besides him. It was a feminine figure, a little taller than the man, with deep dark silky hair that gently flowed about up to her knees, gently swaying with every step she took. Her attire was hard to discern, appearing foreign just like that of the man besides her, yet the guard could make out the white coloured pants, with streaks of black running about its sides, the black hooded robe with mysterious symbols draped over her figure, her face was covered by a translucent veil, and her hands rested within the pockets of her robe. 

The two individuals seemed to have noticed the guard's gaze as they continued to approach him, soon some distance from him. The guard, having unconsciously taken several steps back, gulped as his hands' grip on his spear further tightened and he kept the bronze tip pointed at them. "Who are you?! State your identity!" He shouted, his tone trying to sound as rough and domineering as possible. 

"Hehe, no need for such hostility." The man, smiling, took off his hat, causing the guard to unconsciously relax. He witnessed the man pressing his hat against his chest, and bowing down followed by the women besides him. "We are just ordinary wandering magicians that go from town to town, and fulfil people's wishes or…"

"Read their Misfortune." The woman beside him finished his sentence. 

After straightening his back, the male magician rested his hat back on his head and upon noticing the guard's still somewhat weary demeanour, smiled brightly and spoke. "Myself, Merlin Hermes, and she is…"

Turning his head towards the woman, Merlin chuckled and said, 

"My apprentice magician, Morgane Nyx[1]"

[All sources taken from Wikipedia]

[1] - Morgane, in the Arthurian Mythology, is the supernatural elder sister of King Arthur established by the Romance Authors in the 12th Century. But in the later works in the 13th Century, she was described as the youngest daughter of Arthur mother Igraine and her first husband Gorlois. Arthur, son of Igraine and Uther Pendragon, is thus Morgane Half Brother. 

She, later in her life, became an apprentice of Merlin . 

Nyx, in Ancient Greek mythology, is the Goddess and personification of Night.