The Jester of Chaos...

Silence...

The only sound in the prairie was the breeze flowing through it.

It carried with it the whispers of the forest and the smell of blood.

In that same prairie, under the guidance of the sunlight, two, deep-blue eyes slowly opened.

If one payed close attention to them, they would see galaxies spinning, and stars being born and exploding inside them.

The mysteries of the universe seemed to be nothing but a joke in front of these eyes.

Their owner, woke up feeling groggy.

For the first few seconds, he had no answer to the questions "who, where, when, what".

He slowly stood up and sat on the thick grass for a moment.

He lowered his gaze to check on his body, and saw blood covering almost half of it.

His eyes went wide as he woke up from his stupor, and remembered what had taken place.

He checked his body for the injuries he should possess, only to find it in perfect health.

The shattered bones were healed, the arteries sewed up, and even his necrosed toe was back to normal.

Unable to believe in what he was seeing, he remembered the last thing he saw before passing out.

"The Jester!", he yelled inwardly.

He manically looked around him, searching for the Demon God of Darkness and Trickery.

He found him, bend in half, levitating over a white-furred creature.

He was scratching his chin with his finger, seemingly in thought.

He was wearing a long purple robe that covered his whole body.

His skin was purple and macabre, but exuding arrogance.

Two, black, twisting horns protruded out of his cranium, and two black lines run from the horns, though his face, all the way to the bottom of his neck.

A harlequin hat decorated his head.

The small, white-furred creature was staring at the jester in fear. It wanted to run but was frozen in place.

The glaring of the Jester got all the more intense and predatory.

Suddenly-

"Why don't you stop bullying innocent creatures of the forest, oh God of impishness and misfortune!?"

The owner of the mystic eyes said out loud.

The white-furred creature turned its small head towards the voice, and saw a green-skinned adolescent boy.

It had seen that boy before.

The Jester without even turning his head, answered,

"Well, you see, this small rabbit here is rather interesting. There is something wrong with it, but I can't really tell what.

Just so you know, if it wasn't for my interest in this furrball, your head would be decorating one of the million stakes I got surrounding my dungeon.", he said, calmly and casually.

"All because of your stupid, little, remarks."

He made sure to enunciate every letter of those last three words.

"Oh, come on, be a good sport, I'm just messing with you. So, what's going on with the rabbit?"

"I have no idea...", he said, staring at the rabbit even more intently.

The rabbit's expression changed to a myriad of colours before the pressure of the Jester became too much for it to handle, and it fell unconscious.

"Nevermind the rabbit though-", the Jester said, as he turned his head to look towards Iono.

"What the hell happened to you? I opened a rift, only to see you almost beaten to death."

Iono's eyes lost their luster recalling the events that transpired.

"I found a barrier deep in the forest.

Dumb, fairy bullsh*t.

Anyway, I entered a cave. There, I found a creature that was way, way out of my league. It almost killed me with one punch. But, given that I'm still alive, I'm guessing it did not want to kill me."

"Why that sounds awful you poor lad. Do you want a hug? Make you feel better?", The jester joked as he opened his arms wide, signaling a hug, and pursing his lips, signaling a kiss.

"Get your filthy hands of me, you succubus!", Iono said hugging himself. He got goosebumps just from the thought of it.

"Hey, don't call me a succubus, you green-skinned abomination! I'll skin you alive and make myself some new shoes!", the Jester retorted with a shrieky voice.

"Ha-

Hahahaha! I kind of missed you, you know!", Iono said, laughing out loud.

"Why are you here anyway?", he asked.

"Well, I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done, with that-...

What was his name again? Anyway it doesn't matter, the moron with the whiskers. Furthermore, I wanted to see how that Prana is coming along. I invested in you, and I want to see it paying off.", he honestly replied with a smile.

"Ah! Thank you for reminding me, you purpled excuse for a god!

Did you really sent me to kill someone, just for peeing on one of your Tombs? Are you insa-

Ah, nevermind, look who I'm asking.", he said half-jokingly, half-angry.

"Juuuusttt?JUUUUUSTTTTT?! That's my Tomb of worship! A symbol of my authority! One would say it's my manifestation in this realm! And that skivvy pig dared to lay his bodily fluids on it! I shall not tolerated such heresy! SUCH HUBRIS! I-"

"Alright, Alright, now shut up! My head it's killing me!", Iono interjected.

"Okay then, now that that's settled, and you're back to health, I expect you to keep growing stronger. AND ALSO! Can you please start using my ether? I need it to be refined as well.

This whole time, I was revising a new clocking rune, that will allow you to use it without revealing any hints of my aura.

Instead it will be similar to yours. Therefore, noone will be able to tell the god you're affiliated it with.

Ain't I the sweetest f*cking guy?", the jester joked.

"I expected no less from the Jester of Chaos. Sure I'll start using it but don't expect much. I'm gonna have fun with my Prana, your Ether is too weak compared to it.

Maybe I'll use it as a cloaking mechanism.You know, hiding my fangs and such.", Iono replied.

"All I ask is that you pay your dues."

The Jester approached Iono, and tangled his fingers up in a complex way.

The fingers represented runes, energy diagrams, that coalesced to become one large rune.

The rune that was created hovered for a moment mid-air, before flowing in Iono's chest.

It flowed through his energy channels and entered his core.

It then imprinted itself on the part of the core that held the Ether of Randell. Suddenly the colour of the purple ether became pitch black, and changed in disposition.

You could no longer tell it was Randell's Ether. You could barely call it energy. It was like a dark ethereal mist.

"Wow, it feels like a completely different source. How did you even come up with this thing?", Iono asked.

"All it takes is hard work, determination, and a couple of blood sacrifices and you're golden. No harm, no foul.", He said with a creepy grin that made every hair on Iono's body stand to no end.

"Well then, I shall be on my merry way. Unless there's anything else..."

Iono pondered for a moment, and decided it would be beneficial for him to question the Jester. After all, he was a godly being, someone with eons of knowledge.

"Yes, actually I do have a couple of questions.

Do you know someone that goes by Ophiuchus of the Thirteen?", he asked full of hope. The truth is he had never heard of the old man's name before, and he was rather curious about him.

"Oh, you mean the lost Zodiac? Yeah, I've heard some things about it. By chance, of course, he is a rather secretive man. He goes by many names, The Wyrm of Eternity, The Cyanide Dragon, The Overlooker of the Cosmos, and many more. He is part of the 12 Zodiacs, you've heard about them right?"

"Yeah, not many things though, since they're way too powerful for me to get involved with.

But, he calls himself Ophiuchus of the Thirteen, not 12. What's that about?"

"It's because, he actually belongs outside of the 12 Zodiacs. He represents imbalance, and therefore is not considered a part of the Zodiacs. Still he's supposed to be the most powerful of all of them, although ostracized.

It makes you wonder how the universe is run...", the jester said with a sigh.

"Anyway, why do you ask? Don't tell me you met him? Hahahaha!", he said joking around.

"Pffff, me? Meet the Wyrm of Eternity? What are you? Stupid? Hahaha, no way!", Iono said waving his hand left and right.

The Jester stopped laughing and gave Iono a weird look to which Iono replied with a snide grin.

"Well, let me do both of us a favour and let this conversation rest here and return to my dungeon, Well, then-"

"Wait!", Iono exclaim.

"Have you ever heard of the name... Sacrilegious God Art?"

Saying the name gave Iono goosebumps.

Weirdly, the Jester that heard the name felt his hair stand up as well.

Suddenly Jester's glare darkened and he stared at Iono intently.

Pressure seeped out of his body, pressing down on the young goblin.

"Where. Did. You. Hear. That. Name?", he asked, his face clearly indicating he wouldn't take his leave without answers.

Iono felt the pressure getting heavier by the second.

"What...do... you... know... about... it...?", he asked through a clenched jaw.

The pressure suddenly disappeared without a trace.

"Not a single thing! Just messing with ya, ya filthy scallywag!", he said laughing like a pirate.

This time it was Iono whose gaze darkened.

"YOU F*CKING PURPLE EXCUSE FO-", but before long, he realized he was swearing at thin air, since the Jester had disappeared.