Lord of Mysteries:Fire of Destruction

Sitting on the toilet, Klein tapped his chin curiously as he went over the information.

'The previous owner and his receptionist... Possible gang involvement, money to pay off a debt...' As he reviewed the data, the man looked at the pens and small notebook that came with the letter.

The notebook turned out to be an old notepad containing miscellaneous information about jobs and deals that went nowhere or failed, as well as the names of the people they visited, the dates they visited, and the times they stayed.

The pens showed signs of use and were almost out of ink. Each handle bore a long S.

These were the personal belongings of his targets, items that had been in contact with them for a long time and had left their mark on them.

'Mr. Chariot is very familiar with my path...' Everything he could possibly need to conduct a thorough and straightforward investigation was handed to him on a silver platter.

Klein wasn't surprised, to be honest.

It made sense.

After all, the God behind Chariot seemed to know a lot about the Seer Pathway.

Shaking his head, Klein placed the things Mr Chariot had delivered to him on top of the sink, opened a drawer, and took out the materials needed to perform the sacrificial ritual.

The materials he used to make the altars were similar to those some people use to add 'ambiance' to their showers and private moments: oils, candles, and special powders.

Even if they found something, no one would think anything of it. They would think that the detective has a certain charm.

With the Fool symbol in place, Klein closed his eyes and clasped his hands together in front of it.

"The Fool who does not belong to this era..."

With the prayer given and the murmur reaching his ears, Klein wasted no time in taking the four steps counterclockwise.

Opening his eyes in this mysterious room and sitting in his chair of honor, the clown focused on the pulsating crimson star and extended his hand towards it, his spirituality flowing and quickly discharging.

As he formed the mysterious and almost illusory doorway that revealed his bathroom, the clown did not waste a moment in picking up the objects on the altar. With them in front of him, Klein immediately closed the door.

He massaged his head a little, and then, with a sigh, he looked at the objects in front of him. First, he put the money Chariot paid him in the corner with the rest of his savings.

With that done, he grabbed one of the pens as he rose from his place of honor.

A few steps later, he was standing next to the seat where Chariot sat.

Looking up and down, the clown saw no difference from the other 21, but that did not depress him.

Recalling the Emperor's experience with the mirror, Klein knew that just because an object was unchanged did not mean that it had not been 'corrupted.'

'The change may be in the essence and not the appearance...'

Badum! Badum!

Feeling his heart pounding, the clown closed his eyes for a moment and entered cogitation to calm himself.

'Even if something goes wrong and I suffer some backlash, I should be fine... This place could withstand the attack of the Eternal Blazing Sun!'

Whatever method Chariot uses, it can't compare to the power of a True God!

If even a True God couldn't 'kill' him in this place, then he would be able to deal with whatever Chariot has!

'Besides, if there's a backlash, I might learn some new formulas to sell. He may not be a god, but Chariot is a demigod; I should be able to acquire at least one or two new formulas...' Klein muttered a little.

Maybe he can finally find out which pathway Chariot is!

Accepting the consequences and ready to take whatever might happen, his hand reached up and touched the seat's armrest.

As soon as his finger made contact, Klein felt it. His body shivered and turned pale, a white cloud rising from his suddenly agitated breathing.

'So cold!'

Klein gritted his teeth and flicked his suddenly numb tongue.

It was as if he'd fallen into a frozen lake!

Gritting his teeth as hard as he could and guided by his thoughts, the clown endured the icy bone gnawing and sat down, legs and arms trembling.

An airless sigh left his body, and for a moment, all sensation died. Then, a great exhaustion washed over him.

The clown's clouded eyes flashed with alarm as he struggled to keep his head up.

'This...' Fighting the almost irresistible urge to close his eyes and fall asleep, Klein quickly summoned some of the power of the mysterious space.

The grey mist that seemed to be everywhere moved, a small part of it covering the man's head.

Letting out a long breath, Klein leaned forward and put his hand to his chest. His heart beat exceptionally slowly, in contrast to the fear he felt.

"Death pathway?" The man murmured in disbelief, trying to recover from the episode.

What he had just felt was identical to what he had felt when he had faced that ghost in the ruined castle!

'But the sensation was much greater...' Klein swallowed saliva and clenched his shaking fists, trying to regain his senses.

His body was numb, and he could barely feel anything, but it was bearable, if barely. Not feeling anything and still being able to move his body gave him a highly uncomfortable disembodied feeling, but that wasn't bothering him now.

What bothered Klein now was not the lack of sensation in his body but the possible revelation of Chariot's pathway.

'Is impossible for him to be part of the Death Pathway! All the abilities he has shown do not match those of that path! And not only that! The personalities don't match at all!'

His sweet and kind teacher stood next to the mischievous and malicious Chariot. The fact that these two subjects, so different from each other, were on the same path sent a chill through his body.

Klein shook his head vigorously and laughed ungracefully and loudly. "Yes... That's right! They have nothing in common! If Chariot was indeed from the same pathway, then Mr Azik would have some characteristics, someone who is undoubtedly a higher sequence than him! Haha! Haha...

"Ha...

"But...

"Just because they don't have any similarities or similar personalities doesn't mean they aren't from the same path... Maybe it's the same case with Captain Dunn and Leonard? They both are from the Sleepless Pathway, but their personalities were quite different..." After a few seconds of silence, the clown scoffed with a confused look before shaking his head.

"No. That's not it. I'm sure Chariot isn't part of the Death Pathway. It must be another one...

"Maybe what I'm sensing is the result of an artefact made from the high sequence characteristics of the Death Pathway?

That made the most sense, of course, it could be the other way around...

Of course, he had also noticed that it could be the Sleepless Pathway, but that made even less sense.

'Well... Leonard was a bit flirtatious, too. But never as much as Chariot. There is a similarity...'

Of course, he couldn't forget the biggest one.

Both men were very attractive…

Putting that aside, Klein patted his chest and, after confirming that his heart was still beating - albeit incredibly slowly - he let out a long sigh.

'If this is just the residue of the artifact, what would the real one be like?'

The actual artifact would undoubtedly be much more powerful.

'Without the protection of this mysterious space, I would undoubtedly have fallen asleep, and who knows what would have happened there. Not to mention the fact that I can barely feel my body...'

How can Chariot bear this? This... nothing?

'A demigod loses part of his humanity when he ascends...' Klein thought, then sighed.

As long as he didn't lose too much of himself, he was willing to tolerate it as long as he returned home.

Thinking of his goal, the man opened his left hand, and a pendulum hung from his wrist. Klein then shaped a piece of goatskin and a red fountain pen.

Dream divination was the most effective method he had tried so far to find someone. Not only did it give a general area, but if the level difference between the target of his divination and himself was not too significant, nor did they have a powerful seal artifact, Klein could even see a good approximation of where they are!

With a slightly shaking hand, he wrote: "It is safe to divine with dream divination on this c-"

The clown's mind formed a scene so quickly that the man almost screamed.

Unlike the usual myriad of colored lights that joined together to form a scene, Klein watched as dozens of multiple pieces of glass manifested from the void itself, quickly joining together to form something resembling a window.

In that window, Klein saw himself, sitting in Chariot's seat, wearing a calm, relaxed expression, his eyes closed. Sleeping peacefully.

But that peace was soon shattered as a black liquid began to drip from the tears in his eyes, followed by his nose and ears. In a few seconds, his body became illusory, as if it were about to disappear.

Just as his body was about to disappear, the grey mist around him boiled over, and in the next second, his body exploded in a crimson and black rain.

After an unknown amount of time, blood began to pool on the seat again. But in the midst of all that crimson, there were black shadows without light. The blood finally condensed and took human form, and after he stopped writhing, his body repaired itself, his eyes closed, and he seemed to be asleep.

When this 'Klein' opened his eyes, they were no longer the dark brown he had expected; they were now a deep black that swallowed everything white.

And with those black eyes etched in marble in his mind, the image shattered, and all Klein could see was the half-finished sentence.

Crack!

The pendulum in his hand, which he hadn't even used yet, shattered into several pieces, each of which splashed a strange black liquid. Without a second's delay, as soon as the black liquid appeared, the cleaning system of this place began to act. It quickly wiped away every trace of it.

"..." Klein looked at this with tight lips.

"Dream divination is out of the question..." Muttering a little, the clown nodded slightly to himself.

This was a conclusion based on what he had seen in the vision and a reminder of his spirituality!

Even now, he could hear their murmurs so faint that they could easily go unnoticed, but they were there nonetheless...

Don't fall asleep... Don't fall asleep... Don't fall asleep... Don't fall asleep...

Since the day he lost everything, Klein had not thought of ignoring such a clear reminder. Now, he was confused, but after some thought, the simple explanation presented itself.

Lightly patting Chariot's seat, the man could only whistle in appreciation.

"This chair greatly enhances my spirituality and intuition. It also seems to increase mysticism exponentially!"

The pendulum divination from earlier was proof!

"A simple divination was raised to this level. I didn't even finish the preparations... Just with the intention and what I needed to know, I got such a clear revelation. And not only did I get an answer, but I even saw what would happen!"

It was a tremendous increase! Day and night!

"If I could siphon off some of this augmentation and keep it here, not only would my work as a detective be a hell of a lot easier, but many dangers that would otherwise remain hidden due to my low level would be revealed to me..." The clown muttered with a hint of excitement before closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"Sigh. But it won't be possible; the remains in this chair aren't as strong anymore..." Klein groaned a little.

The feeling in his body had returned considerably and it was no longer so difficult for him to move or stay awake.

"Each use takes a portion of the residue in the chair. The change most likely activates the purification of this mysterious space and cleanses what comes out of the used leak..."

In other words, the more he used the chair, the less energy would be left until it was completely purified. Klein wasn't too worried about that; with Chariot's weekly visits, it would only be a matter of time before the chair had a full battery.

His hand reached up, and he squeezed and opened it a few times. Feeling his palm, the force against it, and the fingers stretching as he opened it.

"From the feeling I got back, I'd say I used about 20 percent of the chair's power?"

It was more of a guess than a reliable measurement.

Empirical method aside, Klein simply held out his hand. The grey fog trembled slightly, and behind its mirage, he pulled out a simple bathroom mirror, which floated in front of him.

If dream divination was out, there would always be mirror divination. If the backlash of divination was unavoidable, he would use the mirror as a substitute.

Taking one of the many pens, Klein began to trace various symbols around the mirror's edges, writing one sentence after another.

.

The divination he knew the least about was undoubtedly mirror divination, but he wasn't worried that it would affect him too much. The bounce of the chair would make up for any shortcomings on his part.

So the clown, barely completing one lap around the mirror's surface, finished the sentence by drawing a pupilless eye with twisted lines. The ink melted and concentrated in the mirror's center, creating a sizeable black swirl. The swirl quickly disintegrated, and the dispersing black took on various colors.

The wave of color eventually condensed into abstract shapes, but these soon took on a clear form...

Massive, dark-trunked, slightly mouldy trees filled the canvas. Large puddles filled with mud, fallen leaves, and twigs covered the ground.

But what stood out most was a freshly dug mound of earth, from which a pale, dirty hand reached out slightly, the earth slowly swallowing it.

Uniformed men, wearing dark blue vests with insignia on their chests, walked the scene. Yellow tape surrounded the scene nearby.

Another group of men arrived with more prepared equipment and clothing and, wearing gloves, slowly began to remove the dirt around the arm.

The scene quickened, and now two bodies lay on two white blankets. Dirt covered their bodies except for their faces, which had been wiped with a towel. With now clean faces, bruises were now visible, along with a small hole in the center of their foreheads. Meat and signs of decay already adorning the bodies.

The faces were the same as those on the envelope from the job Chariot had ordered.

One of the uniformed men took a small notebook from a pocket and began to write with a pencil.

Saturday, 8 September. Two bodies found in Lumea Forest at 10.34 am.

As the date showed, the scene quickly changed from the forest's depths to the outskirts. Rows and rows of houses could be seen, illuminated by rays of sunlight breaking through the storm clouds.

Suddenly, the scene zoomed rapidly into a city street, showing the slightly fragmented streets and then focusing on a particular house.

This house was painted light blue, with a sizeable cross-shaped window above the dark wooden door and an orange fireplace. Another zoomed through, this time into the house, showing a bit of its interior. It then went up the stairs to the second floor and into the last door on the right.

A bedroom, the bed and its headboard lying there torn, with their filling scattered across the shattered floor. The wooden floor itself was shredded in several places.

The scene then changed to an aerial view showing the blue house. The image then moved slightly to the side, towards a simple yellow house in the distance.

Another zoomed through its doorway, up the stairs, and across the roof. In the corner, a large reddish-brown sack was hidden, with some weebs adorning its old leather.

The scenery changed again, this time showing a large sign. The town with the large forest in the distance was named Auchiieb on this sign.

Crack!

As he watched the crystal fragments stained with the same black liquid being cleaned, Klein sighed, slightly disappointed, and clenched his fists.

"The feeling has completely returned... The chair has used all its power." He had somehow expected this but couldn't help but be annoyed.

Unlike the other divinations he had tried here, mirror divination never became stronger. Sometimes, it was even worse because it wasted too much spirituality, and the results were incredibly lacking.

It was almost useless!

The results had never been as clean and precise as this try, so he rarely used it.

"I hope it doesn't take too long to recharge..." Murmuring a little, Klein just let it go and got up from the chariot.

As he walked to his place of honor at the top, his eyes wandered a little to where he had been a moment ago. He noticed again how far away it was from the others.

'Won't he feel left out, being so far away? It's almost the last seat... Well... Chariot hasn't said anything yet, and maybe it's for the best. If he were near Sun, Hanged Man, and Justice, he would have 'spoiled' them by now.'

Chariot being away from the others was the best for everyone.

'Besides, I can use it as an excuse... The blessed sit in the back. The less fortunate at my side. Like children who must be watched to keep them from getting into mischief, while the more mature have more freedom… Yea.'

Patting himself on the back for such a brilliant idea, Klein took his place at the end of the table, his cheek quickly resting on his right knuckle as his free hand began to tap the table in a slow rhythm.

Projecting the half-buried hand into the mud he had seen, the detective nodded quietly to himself.

"My targets are dead... Mmm." Even though people had died, Klein couldn't help but feel relieved.

The job Chariot had given him was to see what had become of the previous owner and his assistant, nothing more.

Although, not because he had discovered what had happened to them, his job was done...

The image projected in front of him changed to the bag of a moment ago. Licking his parched lips, Klein held out his hand where a coin had appeared and flicked it into the air.

The coin made a high arc before descending and landing in the center of his palm.

Clink!

Smiling at the result, Klein could have sworn he heard the sound of money.

The money from the sale of the company was in the bag!

Rubbing his hands together, the man let out a soft sigh to calm his desire to collect such a juicy reward.

"A gang was after them; I have to be careful... No matter how juicy the reward is, it won't matter if I die trying to get it."

"Since it hasn't been found yet. Those two didn't tell anyone where they hid it. Whether that killed them or not, I don't know, but it doesn't matter now..."

The divination date was Saturday, 8th September, so it was in the future. If the money had not been found in the remaining days, and with the police now investigating, those who killed the previous owner and his assistant would have to go into hiding for the time being.

'Of course, this doesn't mean they will stop looking for the money. They'll just be more careful... If I didn't know where the bag was, it would be dangerous, but that's not the case...'.

He still had a few days before the meeting, so he had time to prepare. First, he had to find out where the town was. The name didn't ring a bell, so he'd have to ask.

Tap tap tap...

"Looks like I won't be sleeping well for a few days..." Klein mumbled with an amused smile as he shook his head.

While a part of him was disappointed to lose a little sleep, that part was completely drowned out, crushed, smashed, and devoured by a much bigger giant.

And that was the promise of money!

"It is not greed. It is mere acquisition." Like a monk from the highest mountains, Klein's face was calm and full of wisdom.

Ignoring the sound of the piggy bank that threatened to break his head, Klein laughed merrily.

The man closed his eyes and let himself fall with nothing more to say. Leaving the mysterious space.