The crystal ball cracked, and Fors felt like she was falling apart too.
She couldn't fathom how, in the blink of an eye, she'd ended up in a place clearly not meant for mortals. Shock and panic gripped her as she instinctively scanned her surroundings. Her gaze landed on the Fool at the head of the bronze table, and she jolted in fear.
"Y-You, I mean, Your Excellency, who are you? Where is this?" Her survival instincts kicked in, prompting her to use a respectful title, while her writer's imagination ran wild with possibilities.
"You may call me the Fool." Klein said with a faint smile. Well-versed in playing the divine, he regarded Fors calmly, sidestepping her question about the location.
After all, Klein himself didn't fully know where the gray fog was... only that it was tied to the Celestial Worthy.
"The Fool? You're the Mr. Fool, the mysterious master above the gray fog?" Fors' face lit up with astonishment. She suddenly recalled the divination Jack had done for her, which pointed to the Fool.
She'd been obsessed with learning about the Fool ever since, but as a low-sequence wild Beyonder, her inquiries across various circles yielded little. The few scraps she'd gathered... including the Fool's honorific name... came from Jack. When the full moon ravings vanished inexplicably, she'd thought the divination was wrong. Now, it seemed uncannily accurate.
"Mr. Fool, were you the one who helped me?" Fors asked almost instinctively.
Helped?
The Fool, Klein, processed her words, piecing together what he knew about Fors from Alaric's earlier comments. He smiled, shaking his head. "If you mean the ravings you endured on full moon nights, that wasn't my doing."
Not you? How could… Fors' expression turned to shock, but then something clicked. After hesitating for a few seconds, she ventured, "Mr. Fool, forgive my boldness, but do you know what those full moon ravings were about?"
She knew it was risky to question such a mysterious entity, but Fors desperately wanted to understand the ravings that had plagued her for so long. Her boldness stemmed partly from the Fool's approachable demeanor.
"The full moon ravings you experienced came from an entity infinitely close to divinity. You may call Him Mr. Door." Klein said, unbothered by her curiosity.
"An entity infinitely close to divinity?" Fors felt faint. In disbelief, she stammered, "B-But I don't even know Him…"
"Mr. Door is an ancestor of the Abraham family." Klein said, his gaze steady. "I believe you now understand how you became entangled with Him."
Fors fell silent, piecing it together. Knowing Mr. Door was an Abraham ancestor explained her connection, but it only deepened her confusion.
"Mr. Door is the Abraham family's ancestor and the source of the curse on its members, but why?" Fors couldn't wrap her head around it. Driven by her confusion, she asked, "Mr. Fool, I don't understand. Why would Mr. Door treat the Abraham family this way? Isn't He their ancestor?"
The Fool, Klein, sighed softly. "He had no choice."
Klein didn't fully grasp why Mr. Door created the full moon ravings, but based on his attitude and recent insights, he could guess it was a necessity... perhaps to prevent the Abraham family from freeing him, or maybe he simply couldn't control it.
Fors went quiet, not fully understanding but catching the undertone of helplessness and sorrow in the Fool's words.
So, there's some hidden reason behind it?
Her writer's instincts conjured melodramatic possibilities, but she didn't dare press further.
The Fool, Klein, smiled faintly. "I can't share the specifics now. Perhaps when you ascend to angelhood, you can seek the truth yourself."
Fors' curiosity was snuffed out instantly. Angelhood? She barely believed she'd reach mid-sequence, let alone angel status.
Deciding to drop the matter, Fors hesitated, then asked carefully, "Mr. Fool, may I ask why you summoned me?" Her tone was deeply respectful.
The Fool, Klein, smiled again. "I heard your prayer to me."
Prayer? When? I didn't!
Fors' eyes widened. As a low-sequence Beyonder, she knew better than to pray to unknown deities.
After learning the Fool's honorific name, she'd been cautious, using Loen's language instead of the mystically potent Hermes to even mention him. When had she prayed to the Fool?
Wait, could it be… Fors' mind raced, and she forced a smile. "Mr. Fool, the crystal ball... it's connected to you, isn't it?"
She hadn't forgotten how the crystal ball cracked. And just before that, she had made a prayer.
But it was meant for the God of Steam and Machinery, with the honorific name omitted! Fors inwardly wailed.
"It is indeed connected to me." The Fool, Klein, confirmed with a nod and a smile.
In that moment, Fors learned the hard truth that cheap deals come with hidden costs. Cursing the shady vendor in her mind, she struggled to speak. "Mr. Fool, I…"
She wanted to say she hadn't meant to pray to him, but the words stuck in her throat.
She'd already prayed to him. Denying it now would be like dismissing a deity's presence... practically begging for trouble. Yet, she was even more reluctant to ask the Fool for the potion formula outright. Tales of souls sacrificed to evil gods loomed large, and though this deity seemed kind, who knew if it was a facade?
Unlike the original story, where being saved had boosted her trust, Fors in this timeline was far more wary.
***
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