Fixing the problems before tomorrow

sseRexcarius being calmed finally went and got is house in order. He understood now that Spade was not at fault and the one at fault will not be able to do anything any longer. Despite this, Spade still refused to go back until a public apology is released along with the knights that beat him personally bow before him to show sincerity and because this was not yet the time to do so, Rexcarius allowed Spade to run free for now while rescinding all the orders for his capture for he needed to keep the order in preparation for the day after, Bluemoon Festival the busiest day of the year and also the day that Lacquer will attack with his remaining men who now is only a quarter of his original army.

The Cebunilla Freedom Fighters refused to be part of this anymore because of the runaway of their new leader and the indolence of their old one. The Tidelodians however are now sharpening their blades and preparing their spells to put the true leader Lacquer finally to the top which was neither the plan nor a desire of Lacquer who is not in the best condition due to recent setbacks.

Back in the palace, although there is still quite a lot of chaos, things were starting to settle down and all the innocent were released in addition, Blade and Crystal were forgiven for their attempted betrayal and although now Rexcarius keeps a close eye on both of them he still allowed them back to the castle but Blade being the loyal knight he was chose to follow his master.

No much else has occurred that day and everyone became busy with the preparation for the next day both the soldiers and citizens who became busy in placing the decorations and booths for the coming festival. Alfron felt queasy knowing what he will have to do next but he was immediately calmed down as his lover Sarah held his hand and told him everything would be okay.

Back when Alfron became trapped in his own magic, he had felt the most alone he had ever been however he did not dislike that feeling. All his life he had always looked for the support of others, he had made his existence one of constant yearning for attention. Alfron by today's standards had everything, he had a wealthy home, won the genetic lottery, and would never ever need to know hard work because he has more wealth than one can know to use however in Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" he stated that one cannot simply be fulfilled by having your physical needs alone. When given all the needs to survive, one then seeks security and Alfron yearned for the security given to him by others, he wanted badly to be recognized and commended, he only ever felt safe under everyone's watchful eye. That is why like his sister he continued to toil away until he reached his limits, he kept on practicing his magic, studying his academics, Alfron felt unsafe and that if he became ordinary then everyone would leave him.

All of Alfron's life he just wanted to please his father and Lacquer and that has ruined his relationships with his friends and siblings and even his lover Sarah who all came to see Alfron's insecurities and saw that he would willingly abandon them for him to get his desires. However all went south in the declaration of rebellion of Lacquer and everything he held dear started to fall apart, first was the talent he so cherished and saw Crystal destroy that confidence, then he started losing the relationships he had cherished for only that remained, and the biggest problem of them all is the fact that he will have to choose between his blood father and the man who always treated him like a son.

Upon the betrayal of his bestfriend, his final anchor something inside Alfron broke out, all his insecurities and darkness now ran rampant with his will to fight gone and we all know what happened next. In the few days that Alfron was stuck inside that, he reflected in his life, he imagined everything he could have done differently and the more he did so, the more he was devoured by his fears and the more he fell into despair. That was until he stopped and faced his darkness, he looked at the truths that he had ran from for so long, he looked at his inner demons and oddly it did not destroy him. He always hated his darkness, he always avoided his dark magic for it reflected a part of him that he always hated but now that his darkness was all he had left, he came to appreciate it. Our thoughts no matter how dark, are simply thoughts and nothing more, when a guitar plays a bad tune, it does not mean the guitar is bad, it means that the strings are capable of sounding off beat and in the same way when one is faced with bad thoughts, sorrow, hatred, and despair, it does not mean that the person is bad just that he is capable of feeling bad, and that is beautiful because it means we are human, not some inanimate being or one incapable of feelings.

When the sky looks dark it is because there are clouds in it and the clouds are not part of the sky and in the same way although he could seem like an insecure person, it was just his actions and thoughts that made him seem like so and he never became an insecure person just one capable of feeling so and like how the clouds all pass eventually, Alfron felt relief in knowing that the darkness in him shall pass one day as well. After accepting himself both his good and bad, the noise that deafened him finally stopped and finally he could listen to what is truly happening and it was not everyone rejoicing in his defeat nor Lacquer telling his disappointment but he heard the cries of his sisters whom he never showed compassion for before, he heard the regret of his bestfriend Perseus, and after a few days he heard the woman he loves calling out is name.

Alfron feared his power but not anymore, sure it can be ugly and unsightly but that does not mean his magic is bad but only that people are too blinded by the clouds to see his clear blue skies and he accepted his Luna. Alfron always relied on his Terra but his affinity is both of these and as such it is his even when he chose to ran away from it and in the time where Sarah needed him, he emerged as his true form, one that no longer yearned for security from others because he felt that in himself, he felt the safety granted by his darkness as well as the blindness caused by chasing the light too much and searched for the balance in it.

Like a lost lamb he stopped chasing the light because he understood that the more he did, the more he will be lost for his home is not in the light, somewhere in the darkness is the shepherd who desperately sought him and once he is found although he will back in the darkness, he would be home.

Now he could kill Lacquer and tell his father of his love for a humble maid and Alfron was alright because his light is not found in anyone else but only inside him, for he is his own shepherd and no matter how badly things turn out, he will still be home.

Alfron for the first time kissed Sarah in public with all the people in the palace to see and he left to prepare for the next big thing he will do which is to defeat his teacher, all for the sake of the kingdom and his peace of mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hardest thing about leading is the constant challenge in one's authority. I thought it would be great to start a cult to get followers but then I was blindsided by the prize that I forgot the risk, like every gambler ever.

Here is a little riddle, what is both false and true at the same time? Well the answer to that is what I am hoping will solve my little problem of my false prophecy coming to life. There is this phenomena called placebo effect where people become tricked by their own thoughts that they start to feel what they should not be feeling and see things that are not actually there and for my false prophecy I will have to rely in this cognitive flaw.

Now how does one make a placebo? First step is to raise expectations, as for my test group it will be my gullible followers who feel scared upon seeing the blue light. I used my remaining free time to gather every believer and even that early in our experiment people are already starting to feel some effects of the ailment which I will remind once again is fake.

"To all who saw The Beast's wings, follow me and I shall cure your illness" The trick in being the head of this experiment is to speak both with certainty and confidence while at the same time making the test group feel you are trustworthy which exponentially helps you in using the power of suggestion to control your test subjects to some extent.

I bring them to Casa Esroc which is now done being a makeshift factory and is now an assembly point for the "Antibeastianists" which is what I named my cult, I would have named it something like Fakeology inspired by my favorite cult Scientology which became quite popular scam with its beliefs that mixed spirituality and 'science' but hey who am I to say it is a cult, its not like I'm wikipedia, oh wait it was called that by those guys too. Anyway I had to name it after something that is familiar for the crowd and for this one something superficial like Beast should work.

Now what I did was use our natural inclination of conformity which is basically the desire of being normal and confuse my victims, back in Casa Escroc I had already gathered quite a number of people making sure that the actors greatly outnumber the subjects and made my actors pretend to feel sick and if they want become possessed, the people I hired were mostly the runaway mercenaries who still wanted to get paid but I also hired some shady figures who I can trust will not blab about my lies as long as I pay them. The funds came from the winner's winnings in my lottery though so I will have to deal with that problem soon as well.

I told the followers to drink my 'potion' which was really just colored water but I had to give a false cure to my false illness now wouldn't I? Now everyone including the actors drank said potion and I told everyone that they might start to feel some side effects like scratchiness of throat, hallucinations, or even possession but this was all part of the cure and is 'just the bad spirits leaving your body'. Keeping a straight face while spewing those bullshit was really hard I tell you but it was all for the greater cause and a few minutes into my experiment, my actors finally started doing their jobs and coughed vigorously or act possessed, while some started saying they were seeing things now these people really wanted the money so they did a pretty good job and I had intentionally set the followers apart to make sure they would not discuss with one another and at the beginning the followers wondered why they were not feeling anything.

Some even voiced out their troubles of not feeling it or showed their want to get the bad spirits out and I had placed them in Casa Escroc for these reason exactly, the sound of the waterfalls could be heard and other than that it was mostly quiet and far from familiar sounds that could put the followers at ease and therefore not worried that they are different. After a few minutes however more and more followers start to show the 'effects' and what was amazing was it did not seem like they were faking it anymore and after a while or so everybody did it and then when I gave the signal for the actors to stop they did so and the crowd followed.

Conclusions from my social experiment: make someone uncomfortable and they will turn to others for comfort, make someone superficial and they will become easy to fool, and lastly do not hire mercenaries for simple tasks because they are expensive and are not too good at acting.