欧洲无人区天空码头IV

"An unwelcomed guest, at most."

"You\'re always so quick with words," replied Jax in-between a fake laugh.

Mori rolled his eyes.

"So, you\'ve finally come for the girl," said Jax.

"What? How did you know?"

Have I talked out loud about Aura out loud while he eavesdropped?

"She\'s been waiting a long time, well, for her it\'s been a long time. She\'s not getting used to this place, she\'s quite the typical human really... And weak, she won\'t last more than another couple of decades."

Mori frowned. The light was still brightly shining, he was slightly closing his eyes, too lazy to keep his hand above his eyebrows to block it.

Exhausted, he started slowly walking again, Jax floating next to him matching his speed.

"Whatever human that\'s been here, I don\'t know her."

"Oh, no, you do."

Chuckles filled the air, as the amusement just didn\'t seem to stop for Jax.

He turned on himself, now floating on his back with both hands under his head.

"Honestly, she\'ll go hollow soon."

"Ah, is that what they\'re called?" voiced Mori.

Jax shrugged.

"Meh, who knows. I\'m sure some old language has an exact name for the hollows. Most people who would know it probably went hollow themselves. You wouldn\'t believe how long this place has been around. It\'s basically a time prison-"

"Maël told me."

"So if you\'re not here for her, what are you here for?" asked Jax.

Stopping in his tracks, he realized he forgot for a moment the whole reason he started ascending the mountain.

He turned, looking directly at Jax.

"For you."

Jax opened his eyes, raising an eyebrow while looking Mori up and down.

"Ehhhh. Listen, if you want to fight someone there\'s a lot of other people who would be glad to. Tenet is kind of a neutral place really, Maël should teach you about our politics—"

"There\'s no politics here," cut Maël through Mori. "He needs to get back to the main realm, but to a different location than the one which he came from. We need you to show him how to do it."

Jax flipped around, doing a horizontal 360 while chuckling.

"And so you came to me, begging for my help," he said.

"She\'s trying to punch you," said Mori.

Jax stopped chuckling, barely holding himself back. "Alright, alright. Such a temper."

"And? Can you help? You were a cursed sovereign too, weren\'t you?"

"How much did Maëlstrom tell you?" asked Jax, amused.

"Almost nothing, actually."

Thoughts of insults and sarcastic comments flowed into Mori\'s mind, coming from Maël who had a lot to say.

Exhaustion and a growing lack of patience made him keep those inside, however much she tried to make him say those things.

"I\'m not the Cursed Sovereign, that\'s you. I was, however, a Sovereign too. Just a different title, really."

"The... Trickster Sovereign?" slowly said Mori, listening to Maël who was also talking to him at the same time.

"Yes, yes. Trickster, deceiver, joker, prankster, illusionist, cheater... People had a lot of ways to call me, back in my days."

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Loser, idiot, con-man, worthless trash, piece of shit, human dreg, garba—

Maël thoughts would\'ve bothered him, but pretending he couldn\'t hear her was the only thing he had energy for.

"Can you help?" asked Mori again.

"Ah, yes. It\'s actually quite easy, depending on where it is you wish to go. It would probably take me minutes to get you to do it."

Mori\'s eyebrows shot up.

"Minutes?"

"Oh yes," said Jax, turning on himself again.

Mori stopped walking.

"Then let\'s do it now. I\'d rather get it over with."

Jax expression\'s was still stuck on amusement.

"...Well...."

"What do you want?" asked Mori in a deep sigh.

He knew nothing would come easily. It was a popular trope in games. If you want an artifact, you\'d better work for it. If you wanted a way through city gates, you\'d better be ready for a 5 steps quest. Nothing was as simple as asking and getting.

"Oh, nothing," replied Jax.

"Nothing?" both said Maël and Mori at the same time.

Jax\'s head moved slightly back, his expression going from amusement to surprise.

"I don\'t see why I wouldn\'t help. I\'m here forever. Anything new happening is an opportunity I\'ll take. Wait. No. Now that you mention it, there is something you could do for me."

There it is, thought Mori, internally.

"I want you to take me with you, once you leave."

"No way, Maël is already too much, I\'ll go insane if I have both of you sharing my head."

"Oh I wouldn\'t take more space, I\'d just share Maël\'s."

"Yeah, so if you could hear her right now, you\'d probably change your mind."

"Oh, is she being feisty in there?"

Jax\'s face was doing yet another creepy smile, his tone arrogantly enjoyable.

"Yeah, and like I said one is already too much," said Mori.

"Oh, then how about I let you in on a little secret?"

"Honestl-"

"Hell! I would\'ve told you just for the sake of troubling the water," said Jax. "She\'s been going around, meeting her friends while you were locked away somewhere in that mind of yours."

Jax extended his arm and tapped Mori head with his finger as he said that, his smile still amused but his gaze serious.

"Friends?"

"Her little band of friends. A funny bunch that likes getting together, a tight-knit group! VERY exclusive, wouldn\'t let me in, no matter how much I begged. Apparently we\'re not part of the \'cool kids\', people like you and me..."

"Enough, just who are they?"

"She truly didn\'t say anything huh... Well, I thought she had learned since last time, apparently not. Don\'t worry, she did the same thing to me."

Jax floated closer to Mori, getting down to his level. He then opened his arm, and tightly hugged him, his tone pretending to be extremely friendly.

"You poor thing. That\'s why people like you and I need to stick together. We can\'t trust anyone around here. Truly a low bunch..."

Jax brought himself closer to Mori\'s ears, whispering the next words for some sort of dramatic effect.

"The seven deadly sins."