“What do you mean, the people are revolting?! Are you saying that they are disgusting, because if so, you are correct! But, if not, then…”

One of the aides to the King who ruled the Trelawney Kingdom slammed his hands down on the round table at which sat the other aides.

“I mean exactly what I said. The nation is ablaze in the fires of rebellion and insurrection. No doubt caused by some devilry of some kind.”

Of the men seated at the table, only the one who had just spoken seemed unconcerned with the mass outbreak of insurrectionist activity. That man was Jaffe Arre, the right hand of the King and the one who had more control over the Kingdom than its own monarch.

“Why are you so collected?! Can you not see how bad this will be?!”

“Oh, I see how bad it will be. Only that it will be bad to those beneath the concern of the powerful. I see no reason to weep, the fires will burn themselves out in time. Those on the right side of history, the victorious side, will be the ones to emerge triumphant. The fall of that twisted and evil ideology is inevitable. The wicked that started all this nonsense will be swept aside and in their place the ones truly worthy will prosper.”

Leaning back in ‘his’ seat, ‘Jaffe Arre’ watched as the rest of the council debated what to do.

“The fools; all of them are fools!” The will that controlled Jaffe Arre’s soulless body thought to itself, “If they had even the slightest bit of the ‘divine power’ they claimed to have they would have seen that their comrade was but a puppet dancing on my infernal strings! Still, I must play the part just a while longer. Once this body has served its usefulness, I will return to my masters and let this husk feed the worms.”

The malevolent being, the Infernal within the body of Jaffe Arre, silently squealed in delight. It was too easy to tempt that fool of a man with promises of power and position. Those who have believe that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain made for the easiest targets for beings like its kind. As an Infernal, it technically had no gender or genitals, but due to its many, many dealings with the Races it had begun to adopt a more… useful form.

So often were men willing to bargain away their souls for a quick romp in the hay, and the easiest way to get one of those contracts was to appear as a female. Mind you, this particular Infernal, or Demon as the Races called it, was a rather odd one. It was a member of a very uncommon type of Infernal called a Hell Jester, a type that looked like anything from a court jester from one of the Races to an obese clown with more twisted features.

They were so rare that out of all Infernals there was a less than one in ten million chance that anyone would encounter one. That was not to say that they were not powerful. Not in the least.

“I wonder how my cousin who took up a permanent residence beneath the town of Daery is doing? Last I heard from them, they were having trouble with a bunch of sniveling brats. Well, even if they somehow manage to destroy their physical body, it is nigh impossible to kill our spiritual one. A specific ritual is needed, and I highly doubt they have what it takes to pull it off.”

As the entity in command of Jaffe Arre’s body was lost in thought, the host body was shaken.

“What?” the Hell Jester asked with tangible annoyance.

“We have decided that the best course of action would be to begin a mass purge of any and all dissidents. Are we correct in the assumption that such an action was what you were suggesting?”

A sinister smile curled itself across the face of the puppet.

“Indeed. A swift and brutal response that not only targets the rebels, but their families and friends will result in the best outcome for the right side. Their suffering will force their fellows to agree that they have to side with the correct and most divinely blessed side. The streets will run red with the blood of the guilty and innocent alike and from this pain and death will emerge people who know who their true enemy is and will flock to the Kingly banner of the truly noble.”

The Hell Jester mentally patted itself on the back. It was so much fun to lead these beings around with doublespeak and deception. If they had any kind of intellect, they might have spotted that it made no mention of the ‘Kingly Banner’ being that of the Trelawney Kingdom, nor did it mention that the right side was not the side that the rest of the council supported.

“I love it when a plan comes together.” The Hell Jester proclaimed inside its head as the servants of the false King began to inadvertently further fertilize the seeds of their own downfall. “I was right to enlist the aid of a few others. This rising never would have happened if I had not forced this puppet to allow other Infernals to possess the bodies of local leaders in so many places. That was a decade well spent.”

The Hell Jester’s puppet stroked the crystal at the top of its staff. So many souls roiled in agony within, so many of them taken by a puppet that was losing its usefulness.

“Now, comrades of my masters, let us see if you can take advantage of our assistance. Do put on a good show, if you would.”

…

The advance through the Trelawney Kingdom was beyond smooth. After splitting the 160,000 strong invasion force into 16 smaller armies, Red Mountain had the ability to outmaneuver the much larger force sent to deal with them. Much to everyone’s surprise, the whole of the nation seemed to be in open revolt against the King and his government. What made things even more bizarre was that these people had torn down the idols dedicated to the God of Humans and in their place had put up ones dedicated to Vaile.

Those who had seen Vaile firsthand remarked at how lifelike the idols looked. They looked like someone had taken Vaile himself, multiplied him, taken the copies and either shrunk or enlarged them and then proceeded to turn them into metal, stone or wood. They were so eerily lifelike that Vaile himself said that they were ‘just barely in the uncanny valley’, whatever that was. The statues and idols were seemingly painted by a master and the Red Mountain forces noted that the eyes of the idols and sculptures seemed to follow them.

As the Red Mountain Forces continued their march after stopping to gather supplies from the bizarrely helpful former genocidal maniacs of a native population, the signs that something was amiss only grew in intensity.

Nora tapped Vaile on his shoulder as they rode along the road, their forces following them closely.

“Have we passed that statue before?” she said, pointing at a statue that was far too similar to the one they had passed merely an hour ago.

“Let me check.” Vaile said as he spurred his horse over to the eerie idol.

A few moments later, Vaile returned.

“Yeah, it’s the same one. But we aren’t going in circles. We passed through three different towns and yet we passed this same statue at least sixteen times already.”

“How do you know?”

“Because,” Vaile stated, “I carved a mark into it every time I saw it. So, either someone had been moving the statue ahead of us, the statue teleports, or we have a Grieving Seraph on our hands. Don’t know which it is, but it doesn’t seem hostile. It just wants to watch, I guess.”

“Well if you aren’t concerned about it, then I shouldn’t be either.”

Nora and Vaile continued their march for a time before seeing smoke rising just behind a hill.

“There was supposed to be a town on the other side of the hill, right?”

“Yeah.” Vaile remarked, “And where there is smoke…”

“There is fire…”

Nora signaled to the rest of the forces with her and they began to assemble into a more combat-ready state.

“I knew things were too easy…” Nora and Vaile said simultaneously as they and their forces crested the hill and saw a town engulfed in flame and slaughter.