Gathering

November 16, 1349.

Above the spirit world, there stood a magnificent palace enveloped in the eternal grey fog.

Klein Moretti sat at the head of the bronze table, contemplating the werewolf characteristic he had acquired through the sale of The Hanged Man for over a thousand pounds using his puppet Mr. World. His heart ached as he thought of his now empty pocket, which only worsened as he considered the unique state of it being cursed.

But he soothed his heart, remembering that the Hanged Man had made contact with an Artisan from the Church of Steam.

'Let's hope the deal will be closed this week…I will really like to have another artefact other than Azik's copper whistle…' Klein lampooned. 'But there is still no clue for the Wind-blessed formula that Mr. Hanged Man wants...'

The Wind-blessed potion formula was a sequence 6-potion formula, so it wasn't an easy one to encounter. Alger, the Hanged Man, had been waiting for good news for more than two weeks.

Miss Justice Audrey, on the other hand, wasn't faring any better. She was undergoing extensive observation and testing by the Psychology Alchemists, but she seemed confident that she would pass with flying colours because she personally reported to him that she would be officially joining the secret organisation soon and hoped to be blessed ahead of time to avoid any accidents. For this, she was prepared to plunder at least ten pages of Roselle's diary entries from the Psychology Alchemists for him without any compensation.

The Magician Fors, meanwhile, finally obtained the blood of a deep-sea marlin, the main element for the Trick-Master potion, with the help of the Hanged Man. She was both happy and worried about her coming promotion.

All the while, The Sun Derrick, who was acting normally as suggested by The Hanged Man, continued his daily patrols, amassed merit points, and didn't attempt any rituals. For the last two Tarot gatherings, he would skilfully pretend to be asleep, and he didn't reveal any problems to the elder council for the time being.

Klein shifted in his seat unnoticeably, staring ahead at them, who appeared to be wrapping up the information sharing portion, leading to the end of their gathering. 'Once again, I gained nothing significant....' He thought with little disappointment: even the Roselle's diary pages he received in the past two gatherings were just his early entries, allowing him to witness how Roselle went from a weakling, who only knew how to dream without taking actual action, to becoming a playboy who actively hunted.

As their exchange came to a close, Klein was about to end the gathering until the Hanged Man spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.

"A Great Existence has arisen on the Southern Continent."

Alger unexpectedly found the ancient palace fall into a reckoning silence as soon as he revealed the news, which would have been an appropriate reaction if the news had not already been made public and broad. "You don't know?" He asked, reflecting their surprise—even the World turned still for a moment.

'We should know?!' Klein, Audrey, and Fors thought in sync, then their thoughts were divulged as they contemplated the shocking news.

'A Great Existence? Are "They" similar to Mr. Fool?' Audrey paused, then chastised herself immediately. 'No, Audrey, no! That's blasphemy, but-but...'

'Another Great Existence, huh?' Fors sulked. 'But what should I do with this information? I'm just a sequence 9...'

'Southern Continent?' Klein pondered quickly. 'Is it related to the Numinous Episcopate, which is attempting to resurrect Death? Have they succeeded?…'

"Mr. Hanged Man, can you tell us more about this Great Existence?" Audrey inquired, succumbing to her pique.

'Well done, Miss Justice!' Klein praised as he brought the World into a listening position, displaying his interest subtly.

Fors, too, pushed forward in her armchair, her normal languidness gone; as for Derrick, he merely reclined in silence.

"Do you need—" Audrey continued, attempting to put a price on the news, but Alger waved his hand dismissively. "No need; this information is already public."

'Public?' Klein analysed. 'However, it appears that not only me but Miss Justice and Miss Magician haven't heard anything about it; why—' His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the Hanged Man, rather than speaking, turn and look directly at him for permission, and he nodded quietly, catching curiosity and apprehension in the gaze. 'Does Mr. Hanged Man want me to comment on this? So that's why he brought this up...'

The Hanged Man began solemnly. "Since the end of October, the news of the return of the descendent of Death has begun to spread throughout the southern continent."

"They call "Him" the Reaper."

"At first, it drew little attention from the official forces until "His" honorific name was revealed." Alger paused for rising tension. "It is the three-sentence honorific name reserved for Gods!"

Audrey swallowed, sneaking a glimpse at Mr. Fool, who seemed as immovable as an ancient mountain even in the face of terrifying news. 'Well, obviously, he is, after all, also a God.'

Mr. Fool, on the other hand, was taken aback. 'Is it truly a god? But, given my honorific name, there could be other possibilities; nonetheless, whoever it may be, they should definitely not be a vase like me...' he lampooned, before manipulating the World to express his guess to Hanged Man in a raspy voice.

"The Reaper is related to the Numinous Episcopate?"

Klein purposefully phased it more of a statement than a question.

"Yes." Alger nodded, slightly surprised because he had assumed that the World, based on his reaction, had no awareness of the Great Existence, nevertheless, he answered. "They suspect that "He" now leads the Numinous Episcopate, influencing the world through it."

"I am sorry." Audrey interjected, perplexed. "Numinous Episcopate?"

Klein brooded on it for a split second, then controlled the World to answer before the Hanged Man.

"In the fourth epoch, the Eggers family, an Angel family, ruled the southern continent under the leadership of the Underworld Emperor, also known as Death. However, with the fall of Death and the collapse of the Balam Empire, the Eggers family founded the Numinous Episcopate with the goal of resurrecting the Underworld Emperor."

"Could they have succeeded?" Fors felt immersed, and it was also a question Audrey was concerned about, given the information that was revealed in previous meetings: all the Emperors who participated in the War of Four Emperors were Gods.

"No." Alger shook his head and spoke objectively. "If they had succeeded, the situation would have been far worse than it is now."

Nobody could deny that, after all, a resurrection of God was bound to not only attract Gods but even push "Them" to personally act.

"Some actually considered the resurrection of Death," Alger said, "but it was quickly shot down when the religion of Death began to remodel itself away from the teachings of the Underworld Emperor and towards the Reaper. Even the sacred emblem of the religion had been completely changed."

Audrey took a moment to digest the information, briefly glad that they didn't have a resurrected god on their heads, but it quickly faded as she remembered something important that they had yet to address. "Mr. Hanged Man, you said the news of the Reaper's existence was public, but why haven't any of us heard about it yet?"

"They suppressed it." The World guessed grimly, and he was sure of it.

"That's it!" Alger slumped back in his seat, a look of comprehension on his face. Then he nodded gratefully to the World.

"Mr. Hanged Man?" Audrey pressed, looking in-between the Hanged Man and the World.

Alger finally responded to her inquiry quietly. "They—the churches and governments—should have kept the news from spreading into the Northern Continent in order to avoid mass panic."

'Mass panic?!' Audrey and Fors were both concerned.

"But why?" Audrey inquired tentatively, a horrible sensation building in the pit of her stomach.

Fors straightened in her seat in grim anticipation; even Derrick felt the building tension in the grey fog.

"Miss Justice." Alger sighed tiredly. "Loen and Intis only managed to colonise the southern continent by exploiting their internal divisions and conflicts, but now every southerner has found one they can pin their dreams and hopes on, one they can trust, one they can unite behind."

"Ultimately, what do you think will happen?"

"A revolution," Audrey said dazedly.

"Not just a revolution." Klein said heavily through the World. "A war."

Klein hoped he was mistaken, but as the Hanged Man implied, what was going to happen seemed all but unavoidable. And, given that news from the southern continent was actively suppressed, he could already guess how bad things were down there.

Fors couldn't help but sigh and stroke her temples.

'A-a war?' Audrey thought. 'But Albert is on the Southern Continent...'

Alger seemed to sense her concern. "Miss Justice." He said that reassuringly. "The upcoming war is unlikely to spread beyond the southern continent and seas."

His counsel did Audrey absolutely no good, and she was already preparing to subtly question her father about the circumstances on the southern continent as soon as the gathering was over.

At this moment, The Fool, who sat at the edge of the bronze table, tapped on its edge. And everyone turned to face the deity, filled with an array of feelings.

Klein polled them. "The change of times has begun." He said with a mixture of laughter and sighs.

The ancient palace above the grey fog once again fell into reckoning silence, as everyone sat still in their seats, holding their breath subconsciously.

"Let's end today's gathering here." Klein continued in a gentle tone, shattering the heaviness of the fog.

"By your will." Audrey, Alger, and others all stood up and bowed to him at the same moment.

The crimson rays of light dissipated, and the ancient place above the grey fog returned to its former tranquilly. Only Klein remained alone on the Fool's high-back chair, brooding in conflict and doubt. 'Should I write a letter to Mr. Azik about the situation on the southern continent? But he has no idea I am still alive...'

———————

Later that day.

East Balam, Kolain.

Away from his duties and responsibilities, Lucien took a brief respite at his favourite restaurant in the jewel of the Southern Continent. He was savouring every bite of the food he had ordered. Merlin was there as well, boasting ardently of his travels in the spirit world.

And all around them was the distilled chaos of the restaurant: laughter and chuckles, footsteps and tracks, tings and clings.

But suddenly all sounds melted away, and Merlin froze in place, his extended eyes looking forward with humane alarm.

Lucien sighed wearily, putting down the fork and knife and rubbing his mouth with a napkin.

'Perhaps I should stop travelling so publicly, but the food here is so good....'

A young man emerged and sat in front of Lucien. He had black eyes, curling black hair, a board forehead, and a thin face. A crystal monocle was draped above his right eye.

"That's an interesting bird you have."