A/N: 7 more power stones for a bonus chapter! Also since I've said before, I won't be uploading normal chapters on Sunday and Monday. Only bonus chapters will be uploaded.
Regards, bearateme-
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'How does this man know my dreams? What the fuck is happening?!' Panic clawed at my chest as I stared at the figure standing before me. His eerie smile stretched wider, feeding off my confusion.
"You can call me Jester," the man said, his voice a sickly blend of amusement and mockery.
Before I could even react, he snapped his fingers. In an instant, the world around me shifted. The suffocating air of the blood sea was gone, replaced by something unsettlingly familiar. I blinked, trying to process it all. I was inside a room—old, worn out, like it had been abandoned for years. Wooden walls, covered in cobwebs. An old desk sat in the middle, scarred with years of abuse, and a high-backed black chair loomed behind it.
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me. I knew this place, didn't I? But from where?
The bed behind me caught my eye—king-sized, draped in purple velvet sheets that were tossed carelessly across the mattress. The air in the room was cool, brushing against my skin, but it did nothing to ease the growing discomfort gnawing at my mind.
What the hell am I doing here?
Jester just stood there in the corner, watching me with that smug smile, not saying a word. He didn't need to. His silence was enough to send chills down my spine. I turned my back to him, trying to ignore his presence, focusing on the desk. There was something about it that nagged at me. It was old, scratched up—like someone had spent years carving into it.
A photo frame sat on top, facing away from me. My fingers itched to turn it over. I wanted to see what was in that frame, but the second I touched it, pain tore through my head like someone was splitting my skull in two.
I dropped to my knees, clutching my head, gasping for breath. My vision blurred, and the room spun around me. The pain was unbearable. It felt like my brain was being ripped apart. I couldn't think..I couldn't breathe.
My body shook violently, my hands pressing hard against my skull, desperate to make it stop. Words tumbled from my mouth, "It was meant to happen," I murmured.
The words spilling from my mouth without me even realizing it. Nonsensical words. I wasn't in control anymore. Nonsense, things I didn't even understand. And before I knew it, my hands were at my eyes, ready to tear them out just to stop the agony.
But Jester... he did nothing. He just watched, revelling in my suffering. It wasn't until I was moments away from losing myself completely that he finally intervened.
When I woke up again, I was back in the wooden room, lying in that king-sized bed. The purple quilt was draped over me, its softness mocking the turmoil inside my head. For a moment, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to piece together what had happened. But all I felt was rage. Pure, unfiltered rage.
"JESTER!" I screamed, bolting upright. "YOU FUCKER! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
I was shaking, my hands clenched into fists. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I was done playing whatever twisted game he had planned.
"Oi, stop shouting." His voice came from the corner of the room, casual and cold. He stood there, leaning against the wall like he had all the time in the world.
"What have you done to me?!" I shouted, my voice cracking with fury. I lunged at him, my hands wrapping around his neck. I didn't care about anything else—I just wanted him to feel a fraction of the pain I'd been through.
But Jester didn't flinch. He looked at me with those same mocking eyes. "Now, now—little Keiren. Your sister wouldn't like you being rude."
Keiren. That name. Why was he calling me that? I froze, loosening my grip on his neck as confusion flooded in. What sister?
Jester chuckled darkly, leaning in closer as if savoring my torment. "The body you're in... it's not yours, is it? You've only just realized, haven't you? And these memories flooding your mind—this isn't your life. This body you're trapped in... it's mine."
My head spun. "What... what are you saying?"
His grin widened, eyes gleaming with a cruel delight. "I've already lived the life you're living now. I know what's going to happen, how it's going to end. How you are going to end."
I shook my head, backing away from him. "No, this can't be real. This can't—"
Jester interrupted with a laugh, stepping forward. "Oh, but it is. Unfortunately, you're not ready yet to know the truth. So, you'll have to forget this little chat." His hand shot out, gripping my head.
A fresh wave of pain tore through me, and everything went black. My memories—everything I'd just seen, everything I had learned—began slipping away. I tried to hold on, but it was like grasping at smoke. In mere seconds, it was all gone, replaced by a dull emptiness.
When my vision cleared, I found myself standing there, staring at Jester again. But this time... I couldn't remember why. What had happened? Why did I feel like I'd forgotten something important?
I blinked, trying to focus. "Is it true?" I asked, my voice unsteady, unsure what I was even asking about anymore.
Jester's smile softened into something almost sympathetic. "Don't you know the answer already?"
His words hit me harder than I expected. If my parents loved me—if they truly cared about me—then why weren't they there? Where had they been when I needed them? When I was beaten, mocked, and scorned by the world?
"Are you really that naïve, Caedes?" Jester's tone cut through me like a knife. The smile remained on his face, but his eyes... they were dead. Cold.
"No..." I whispered, trembling. "But... how?"
When all of the nobility looked down at me? When even the commoners beat me with rods and sticks?
'Where were they?'
When all I needed was someone to look up to? Someone to just hold me tight...Hold me tight and tell me that it'll all be fine! Why were they not there!
How could they abandon me? If they loved me, why weren't they there when I needed them most? When I was being torn apart, all alone in a world that hated me?
As the questions spun in my head, memories flickered—painful, haunting images I couldn't quite place but felt all too real. And with each passing moment, my world crumbled further into pieces.
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