The one who speaks

I am not a king.

I am but one who speaks.

I am one who knows but no one listens.

I speak what is known, but no one while speak.

I speak only truth of what is, and what could be.

The kings laugh, but in there heart they are moved.

Moved to anger, to tears, to realization, but all to often moved yet ignored.

My words are held like water in the palm. Slipping through the cracks until but a palm sized word is left.

I am but a jester speaking in jokes and jibes, hiding the truth within stories.

Everyone heres my stories, but only the wise truly listen.

For when a jester speaks, they speak truth.

Dangerous and sharp, hidden in the veneer of a story.

Today the king is not wise.

Today I will tell a story.

They will laugh and mock only hearing a silly tale.

Today I will speak.

They will ridicule my words, never hearing the warnings I bring.

Today I will speak.

The king must hear my words, but he will not listen.

So I will speak.

For the tomorrow that is to come.

James

I stepped back from reading the plaque that greeted us at the entrance to the new room. The plaque was carved directly into the base of a statue or should I say statues in some semblance of a story. Depicted in this strange scene were 5 larger then life characters. Sitting upon his throne the king sat as the jester entertained him and his courtiers. His mage on his right and his healer on his left, with his trust hunter watching from the side. This was all conjecture as there faces were all smooth stone with no features, yet the rest of the statues where highly detailed and fully colorized. There apparel told who they where. The healer in whites, the mage with their staff, the king with his crown, the hunter with his bow, and the fool in his bells. The entire scene took up almost the entirety of the room. With only a few feet between the statue and the wall. It felt a little claustrophobic with how little room there was to move on the ground.

I was still looking over the scene when I heard Violet shout from the other side of the room "It's a puzzle you guys."

"Whats the puzzle?" I asked intrigued.

"The plaque was a riddle. I don't want to explain it just come over here and read the mission screen." Violet yelled back.

Violet was the only one in any real shape to be moving. She had patched us up as best she could but we were still no were near 100%. She even fixed a tumor I had growing in me. Apparently thats what the guardian was doing when I felt something growing inside. When I asked how it did that here response was

"It's not that hard, just reach in and duplicate the cells." Which was neither comforting or reassuring. She just shrugged and kept fixing us up. After a short while she let us know that there was nothing else she could do without us eating to replace the missing biomass.

I was feeling...sore and exhausted as I made my way over to Violet and the egg.

Violet looked at me pityingly as she saw me trudging over to the wall. 'Wow, I must really look like shit.'

I didn't comment on the look she gave, instead focusing on the mission screen.

Mission Rank: ?? Type: Set the Scene

Time Elapsed: ?? Time Remaining: ??

Details:

Set the scene using both word and action.

Watch.

"More like a riddle." I looked over to Violet. "You think this is literal like we order them around or..." I trailed off as Violet moved pointing tiredly, revealing a wall with 10 plaques on them. "Oh."

"Yeah." Violet was looking over the little plaques.

I walked over to join Violet in examining them.

They were lined up 2 rows 5 one each containing a different word.

Truth, Story, Watch, Confused, Understand, Silent, Listen, Judge, Belief, Sacrifice,

"Which are which?" I asked.

Violet was silent for a few minutes before she answered. "I think both."

"Both?" How could it be both

"Yeah. Words are words, each of these words can be used as both a verb and a noun so we can probably choose any word for either." Violet Explained

"That just makes it confusing." Bae commented appearing behind us. I fully agreed with her, but seeing her slowly trudging over to us reminded me of our other party member.

"How's Rowan doing?" I took a few steps back to look over and see Rowan passed out on the other side of the statue. His body was looking alright but his clothes was torn and had a big whole in the middle where a spike had shot through. No one else's clothing was doing much better. Each room, each encounter took a little bit more out of our clothing. With every new tare more and more was being stripped away from us. I just want to lay down and sleep right now.

"Healing. Like you should be." Bae said Irritably.

"What about this room?" I made a big gesture toward the plaque then to the statue.

Bae sighed pleading. "This might be our only chance to rest. So sit down and lets all just think on the issue. We will discuss it after resting."

"But...you know what your right." Violet and Bae both turned to look at me disbelieving. "What? I can be reasonable."

Violet narrowed her eyes. "You can barely stand can't you?"

'I guess I wasn't hiding it very well.' I didn't say anything I just fell to the floor passing out from exhaustion. Right before everything went black I heard Violet. "Called it. Now lets figure this out, and take a nap."

I was way ahead of them.

I was out for a while before I felt a foot wake me.

"We've figured it out." It was Violet

For however long I was allowed to sleep, I knew it wasn't long enough. Groggily, I asked. "Did you guys take that nap."

"No...Somethings changed." Bae said uncertainly.

I looked around trying to figure out what she was talking about. Before she added. "The statues color are starting to fade."

I finally noticed the colors on the statue had faded from their original vibrant colors. It was like the statues had been in the sun for months. "Are we ever gonna get to rest?"

"Not until we are out of this rotted place." Violet said annoyed.

*Sigh* I was so tired, and looking over at Bae and Violet I could see they weren't much better. "I really hope we're almost done."

"We won't find out till we are." Bae said matter of factly.

"I'm going to wake Rowan." Violet added walking over to him.

Rowan was in the worst shape of us all. "Why not let him rest?" I asked.

Violet didn't even turn around. "We don't know whats next we all may need to be here." I agreed with what she was saying but I was wondering if she would even be able to wake him.

My fears where completely unfounded as Violet approached Rowan spoke. "Do I look that bad?"

Without missing a beat Violet answered. "As always, but you also look like you've been composted."

Rowan laboriously took his time to get up and join us looking miserable. "So whats the answer?"

Violet looked like she wanted to say something else but seeing his miserable state answered. "Notice each statue has their hands open?" Looking over the statues once more they did indeed have them open. "The right hand should be the action and the left should be the word."

"How did you figure that out?" I asked.

"Spoke with a bard once. They said The right hand is strong, but the left hand is clever. So without any other ideas we are going on that." Bae said gathering the plaques.

"And how did that come up?"

"He was cute. And when I saw him play I asked how he could move his left hand like that...and that was his answer."

Violet had a playful smile. "Is that all he answered?"

Bae flushed, answering adamantly and glaring at Violet. "Yes."

Violet snorted "Anyway, it goes like this. Based off the inscription the King sits in Judgment, and speaks his Truth. The Jester is Sacrificing himself by telling his Story. The Mage Understands what is being said but is Confused at what to do. The Healer Listens and Believes in the story. The Hunter Watches everything and is Silent."

I don't know if I fully agree with what they had decided on but I was to tired to think. "Good as anything."

"I don;t think that was proper English." Rowan commented.

"You know what I mean." I said tiredly.

"Everyone grab a plaque, and lets get this over with." Bae said handing out sets of 2 to everyone.

Bae handed me the plaques for the Jester and the King. I made my way over to the Jester first. His hands where lower and I didn't need to climb anything to hand it the items. I placed the story plaque into his left hand, as soon as it touched his hand it closed noiselessly around the plaque, gaining back some of its color. "I guess that means it's right." I quickly moved to the other hand. The same thing happened with the Jester coming back to full color.

Looking at the others I could see their statues were doing the same thing, color was returning. I climbed up the throne of the king placing his to words in his hands brining it back to color. "Everyone done?" I yelled still standing in the Kings lap.

Everyone confirmed that had finished there tasks.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Get off the statues?" Bae questioned.

I shrugged and jumped down off the statue, making my way to the ground. My foot hit the ground, and I froze. Actually, It was more I was no longer allowed to move. I tried to look around but couldn't move anything. I would have started to panic if I could have, I felt nothing, and only the statues existed now and I had become an observer.

Scene

The King sat upon his throne sitting in front of this Jester. He spoke with the sound of a single deep voice. His voice drew you to him, giving him an even greater presence. "You stand before me with a story. Do you?"

The Jester smiled wide. A slightly disturbing sight on something with no true face. "Yes, I am here to tell you a story."

"Why are we listening to this...fool?" The Healer asked annoyed.

"Even a fool may spout wisdom from time to time." The Mage answered.

"But that does not mean what he says will mean anything. We are in the middle of a war. We don't have time for this." The Healer argued.

"It is that we are in at war that I have come to bring you this story." The jester spoke never losing his smile.

This brought all the faces to hone in on the Jester. The hunter so far as to bring his bow out waiting for the King.

"Is that a threat?" King asked

The jester laughed. "No. No. It is only a story I bring. Words to be heard. Lessons to be heard or ignored." The King signaled the Hunter, who put his weapon away.

"And what Lessons do you bring us." The Healer asked shortly.

"Just a story." All but the King appeared to get annoyed by the answer.

"Tell Your story. I will judge your so called lessons" The King leaned forward fingers interlaced, as the jester smiled even wider.

"It is a short story. It all begins with a line in the sand."

---

The world faded to black were another scene appeared. A blank wooden puppet appeared on an endless beach.

The little puppet reached down into the sand drawing a line. "A line in the sand an apt metaphor."

The puppet stood up looking down at his line when another puppet appeared stepping all over the line. "When one man draws a line in the sand another steps over." The little puppet stood above the line head leaning to the side, confusion radiating from it. "A line in the sand is such a fragile thing." The second puppet continued walking all over the line until it was gone. "Once it is there, then suddenly it's not."

The second puppet was gone with one little puppet standing alone on an endless beach. Now alone the puppet looked around before once more, drawing his line in the sand. The puppet was happy it began to dance all the way up to the line. Tiptoeing right up to its edge. Dancing upon the line, yet never crossing it. "When you start drawing lines in the sand you find yourself dancing right on that line, swearing you'll never cross it." It wasn't long until the little puppets playing caused the line to fade to near nothing. The little puppet stopped looking down at his little line, wondering. The puppet stared until it decided to draw the line once more.

"One man can draw there own line in the sand everyday, but it will never truly be in the same place." Taking a look at the new line it was now obvious the line had been moved, or rotated a little. The puppet didn't care as it began to play right up to the line again. "Every-time you dance upon that line it becomes stamped down and needs to be redrawn." Repeatedly, the puppet would dance an play until the line was gone, and every-time he would redraw this little line, every-time the line is different. "Slowly, the line changes and moves." The entire scene sped up faster and faster as days and days passed. The puppet still playing, but somewhere completely different. "Until one day the line is no where near where it once was." The puppet finally stopped playing standing around, looking at its surroundings lost. "Once that line has been moved, what happens next?"

The scene disappeared fading back to the statues holding there audience.

The King sat forward unseen eyebrow raised. "Is this a warning or a critique."

The Jester did not falter or show any new emotion. He only smiled when he spoke. "It is a story."

"Stories tend to have an end." The King said.

I did not think it possible as the Jesters smiled wider. "That is true, but not all stories have an expected ending."

"That was not a very good story." The Mage said almost as a question.

"It was a story." The Jester said calmly, ignoring the question.

"What did you hope to get out of this audience?" The King leaned back in his chair.

"Just to tell a story." The Jester being unchanging in his answer.

"Was this to further yourself? To be able to say you told stories to the King?" The Mage asked, appearing to reach for something.

"No. I am only here to tell a story that needs to be heard."

"Why would that nonsense need to be heard?" The King asked.

Before the fool could speak he was interrupted by the Mage. "Are you criticizing the King? A lowly fool."

"No. I only am telling a story. One may make of it as they will." The Jester stood calm only his smile shrinking slowly as this conversation continued.

"You have wasted our time with this nonsense of a story. I sit here and listen, you have risked so much just to speak with me. I have set the terms of speaking with the King, if it is deemed unworthy of my time you will be executed we cannot have just anyone during this time of war. Do you have anything that would be worthy of my time?" The King spoke with the authority of his station, but his final question belied his kindness, attempting to save the little Jester.

"I only came to tell a story." The Jester's answer did not change as a frown appeared on the King.

"And you believe this story was worth your life?" The King asked.

"A story is always worth ones life." The Jester said solemnly.

The Healer finally spoke, breaking into the conversation. "I think I understand what you have said but it is not enough to save your life."

The fool smiled kindly to the healer. "I only came to tell a story. I hope one day it will be truly headed."

The magician shook her head looking up toward the King. "I don't think he words were wasteful, there might be something in them."

The King let out a sigh. "Your words might mean more or they might mean less, but with your obstinacy I must pass judgment."

I understand.

Any final words little Jester?

The Hunter stood behind with his bow ready and trained on the Jesters chest. "It's just a line in the sand."

The King nodded toward the Hunter who released his bow the scene ended with the arrow through the Jester. Releasing us all from our paralysis.

James

I was flabbergasted by the whole display. None of this was making even a bit of sense and expressed it in the only way I could. "The fuck was the point of that?"

"Don't know." Bae answered

Moving on to my next point. "Why did they kill him?" My eyes were still locked onto the fool with the arrow piercing his heart.

Bae took a little longer to answer."Waisting there time? That doesn't really seem like a good reason." She was just as confused as me.

"Sounded like they had a war going on." Rowan added

"Still." I answered.

"Yes the entire thing was odd. I mean why would a story be worth someones life?" Violet questioned.

"..."

Silence filled the room. None of us knew why or what to say until something occured to me. "I guess we were right." I said.

"Who knows?" Violet said dismissively.

"The scene played. So we can be pretty sure we were right." I answered. I mean why else would that whole thing play out unless we were right.

"I think it would have played no matter what." Bae commented as she examinded the statues.

"Then what is the point of this room?" I asked

Bae was walking around each statue examining each of them before she answered. "To make you think...and give us a chance to rest."

"...wasn't much of a rest." I grumbled.

Bae stood and glared at me. "Just check the egg."

With out any better idea I looked over to the egg window.

Mission Rank: ?? Type: Set the Scene

Mission Status: Completed Time Remaining: ??

Details:

Set the scene using both word and action.

Watch.

Completion Details:

Scene Watched

"Well...it's definitely done." I said excitedly.

"Any details?" Violet asked. She was now up on the statue with Bae looking over them.

"Literally, only says Scene Watched for completion." Bae and Violet looked at each other at my answer beore going back to the scene.

Rowan had come up next to me when he asked. "Now what?"

The low grinding of stone against stone could be heard. Turning my head I could see the door finally opening. 'Why was there such a delay between finishing and the door opening?'

Looking through the door, again there was nothing. This time though it opened up to pure darkness.

"That's not ominous." I said sardonically.

"What?" Bae asked looking up from their examination.

"The door." I point over to the dark void, that no light escaped into or out of.

"First light, now dark. Got an obvious symbolism thing going on doesn't it?" Bae commented

"That lesson was really obvious too." Violet added.

I felt quite embarrassed by her comment. There really was a lesson in that whole mess? "Yeah...And that was?" I asked.

"Don't be to rigid in your thinking...I think." I heard Bae say from upon the statue.

Bae commented. "Honestly, the whole thing was all over the place."

"So what do you think theses...Tests? Yeah, tests are?" Violet asked.

Tests? Actually that would explain a lot, but... "What makes you say tests?" I asked.

"Each room pushed us all to the limits of our abilities. We are only barely making it through, by the skin of our teethe. Almost as if it was designed exactly for us." Violet counted each point on her fingers.

"That's...that's a good point." I had nothing else to say.

Violet let out a big sigh. She looks exhausted... we all do. "If this isn't a test of some-sort then I don't know whats going on."

"I hope your right. Otherwise this is just some twisted shit." I said exasperated.

"Hmmm..." I looked back at the sound.

"What is it Rowan?" I asked.

"Did you notice the statues?" Rowan pointed toward the King and his aides.

"Yeeeesss?" Where is he going with this?

"I think these statues represent us." He said thoughtfully.

I wasn't quite there yet, but the pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming together. Except one thing. "A little on the nose don't you think? And besides there are five of them."

"And there where 5 lions." Rowan commented.

"True." I said nodding my head.

"And there where 5 people needed for that first door." He added.

"..." I looked at him dubiously.

Rowan paused for a minute before thoughtfully adding. "And I bet if we were to have looked closer in those cells there would have been a 5th set of chains."

"What are you getting at?" I asked.

"How many people are in our group?" Rowan turned back to me.

"Four." I raised an eyebrow at Rowan.

Rowan looked annoyed at my answer and more sternly said. "No. How many are in our party James?"

"..." I looked around realization dawning "Fuck!"

"Yup."

"Told you we should have waited" Bae shouted smugly from atop the statue.

"But it would have been 2 weeks." I grumbled. I knew I was wrong but I wish she would just let it go at this point.

"Who knows how long this will take." Rowan said to me.

Now realizing the depth of the problem I asked. "Can we even finish just the 4 of us?"

"We've made it through this far." Rowan said optimistically.

I was Incredulous at his attitude. "Barely."

"Yes. But we have made it through. There's not really anything we can do about it. We have to keep moving forward and hope we're good enough on our own."

Rowan was right. We had made it this far, I don't see why we would need Aster to finish.

Bae

I stopped my examination of the statue. I knew there wasn't really anything else for me to find. I just needed something to do. I turned toward Violet asking what had been on my mind. "What do you really think happened to Aster?"

"He got training." Violet didn't even look up from examining the statue.

I gave Violet a hard stare. I know she didn't like him but she could at least pretend.

Violet must have felt my glare, as she let out a long defeated sigh. "I don't know Bae..." She stood straight turning toward me. "I honestly really hope he's fine."

"You? Really?" That was surprising

She looked a little uncomfortable at the admission. "Look he's a decent guy but he's not very reliable. I'm not sure we would be better off with him here."

She was making a good point but..."I'm not to sure about that?"

That did make Violet stop. "What makes you say that? You got a thing for him?"

Aster, we both knew that wouldn't have worked? The thought brought a small chuckle. "Nah, but I think he had a thing for you."

"Wait, really?" There was no disgust or excitement just genuine surprise.

I thought it would pull a bigger reaction. So I decided to prod a bit. "Yeah, you interested?"

"No." She looked at me with annoyance.

*snort* "I'm just fucking with you. No. Something is going on with him." Everything has just been weird since we got back.

"Explain."

So I did. "It started with that whole training stuff last year."

"Yeah, he sucked." Violet cut in.

"Thats the thing. He didn't." I took a minute to gather my thoughts. "Not at first"

"Wait what?"

"Yeah. He was just average, but then the tests started. I saw his first test. He should have passed." He really should have. I mean he wasn't great but he was definitely comparable to first batch of people to pass.

Violet lifted her eyebrow in confusion. "Wait, if he was just average how would he have been one of the first?"

"Don't know. He was just in the zone or something, but I saw it. Yeah he was slightly uncoordinated and moving a little fast but he still should have passed."

"So he failed lost all confidence and got in his own head then." Violet shrugged.

"That's what I thought...at first. Then he told me about his training." If he was telling the truth the entire thing was weird.

"Why, was it that bad?"

"They had him move at a snails pace to spare."

"So?"

How can I explain this to her? "Have you every tried doing even the katas slowly? It is not an easy feat, and him especially probably was barley keeping balance."

"Why especially?" I don't think she's getting it.

"He's..." I was struggling to find the right words. "When he's moving he does things that are shockingly coordinated, almost on a supernatural level. But slow him down...he couldn't even walk a straight line." I've had him do it before it's funny. He really wasn't able to walk a straight line, it was kinda odd.

Violet was quiet for a few minutes thinking. "So they trained him wrong?"

"I don't know. It could be just gross incompetence, but I think Something is up. Not just with that, but this whole thing." Everything was just speculation at this point and that is assuming everything Aster told me was true. That was a big if, I mean he could have been exaggerating.

"What? You think it's all connected?"

"I don't know but I know we aren't being told something. Something important. I sound crazy don't I?" I looked at her exhausted.

"No. No you don't. Did you know we weren't allowed to leave the town itself till after graduation?"

Wait. What? "How'd you find that out?"

"I tried to leave?"

Violet said this with such indifference The only response I could think of was. "Why?"

She shrugged. "I was young and wanted to see the city. So I packed a bag and started walking."

No way thats the whole story, but I didn't feel it was my place to push. "So they stopped you?" I will ask more about that later though.

"No a ran into an invisible wall a little outside the town."

There was that kind of thing? "How do you know it's not always there?"

"I explored it for a while, until I hit a road. You know what I saw?"

"What?"

"Adults going in and out like it was nothing. Thinking it was just me I brought a few others over to see if they could get through, and the same thing happened." I feel like she is leaving out a lot from this story.

"How do you know it would have parted when we turned 18?"

"I asked."

"Oh...What did they say?"

Violet made her voice deep trying to sound older. "It's for your safety. It's to dangerous for kids to wander to far. When your an adult you'll be able to pass through if it wasn't even there."

"Why did no one tell us before? Why didn't you tell us this before?" I asked frustrated.

"I forgot."

"You forgot?"

"I was ten, I thought it was normal. It wasn't until recently I realized how weird it was."

"This doesn't make sense."

"Nothing has made sense since we graduated."

"..." I didn't know what to say. She was right. Everything happened so fast, I don't think any of us had time to stop and breath yet. As we were starting to slow down I spoke the question I didn't know if I wanted an answer to. "Do you think we can do this?"

Violet stopped examining the statue and looked toward the door. "I don't know, but we have to try."

I heard James yell to us. "OK everyone. Creeping darkness aside, I think its time to move on."

No one said anything. We all were tired, hurt, confused, and worried. None of us knew what was coming, only that our future was shrouded in the quite literal darkness in-front of us. One foot in-front of the other we made our way through the door.