Bab 62: Jasper's Sardonic Love
The room was quiet in Dr. Leblanc's office. Ru noticed that the picture on the card that came out of the envelope changed. The character was transforming into Claude. The Claude on the card was described as a priest named Killian with long hair and a jeweled cap, a silk neckerchief, a ruffled shirt, and a dressing frock coat decorated with sakura flowers.
"Do you see what I see, Doctor?" Ru asked, his voice filled with excitement.
"Oh yes, it's a nice design. Maybe I should think about letting my hair grow longer," Claude said with a sincere smile.
"Something similar happened to us. The rider on Vaelan's card became Vaelan. And the jester in mine became me," Ru said, looking at Claude's face.
"It's an invitation to a game, Lirui. Perhaps there's a chip hidden in the cards," Claude said, flipping over the envelope.
One of the other two cards fell to the floor and the other one to the coffee table. "Should we tear the cards?" Ru asked and picked them up.
"You could go to the police and file a complaint against Ms. Amunet instead," Claude said. Continuing to examine the card in his hand.
"Complain about what? It's a juggling act for people like you. Wouldn't they say, You're making fun of us? The envelope generates the card of whoever is with me, and so on," Ru said, carefully placing the cards in the envelope.
"That's right, I've been receiving treatment support since the day Vaelan changed his eye color to red and spoke with his little daughter's voice," Claude replied sadly.
Ru emerged onto the dream stage as an entertainer, his confidence radiating through the room. "Oh, come on! You're not sick or anything. I'm right there with you. We're on the verge of a cosmic event. It's a small event for the universe, but a very big one for our planet. Doomsday!"
"I don't even know Ms. Amunet, and the card seems harmless," Claude said, handing the marionette of fortune card. "Here, keep it."
"If you ask me, you should have the card, Mr. Determinist. Maybe you can be transported from the eighteenth century to our post-truth age," Ru said and put the other cards in the envelope.
Claude took off his glasses and gave the lenses a quick wipe. He seemed worried. "Okay, the cards are real, and it seems like I've been chosen as Killian's player, but there's still the matter of..."
"I think we've wrapped up our therapy session for today, and that's the whole point," Ru said, changing the subject and smiling, "Would you like to buy me a beer?"
"Not, Lirui. Remember, I'm your doctor," Claude replied, his tone firm.
"But you kidnapped me from the hospital before and bought me a drink. Besides, I was underage at that time," Ru retorted, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"It was a mistake," Claude said, his voice filled with regret.
"Let's not dwell on the mistakes right now. If we go out together, we can give this envelope to someone and ask them to look inside. In this manner, we can obtain a realistic assessment," Ru proposed, gesturing with his fingers.
"Why don't we have my secretary do it?" Claude said, getting up and walking to the door.
"Good idea," Ru said, following Claude out of the therapy room.
A man wearing a red hood occupied a sofa in the waiting room, positioned beside an aquarium illuminated with purple lights, home to six jellyfish. He was occupied with a drawing tablet. The secretary was not at her desk. Based on the shoes protruding from beneath the desk, it was evident that she was on the floor.
"Oh, my secretary," Claude said, sounding panicked, and rushed to the desk.
Ru looked at the man in the red hood. He was wearing a pink cat mask that covered his entire face. And he was sketching a picture—a woman was lying on the ground!
"You!" Ru said, his voice filled with anger. "You're that psycho painter!"
The man didn't seem to care as he continued drawing, his focus unwavering.
Claude checked the heart rate of his secretary. Despite two significant bite scars on her neck, she was fortunate to have lived. Calling the cops was Claude's original plan. The phone was snatched from him when he was engaged in that very activity.
The enigmatic woman in black leather said in a deep voice, "Tsk, tsk, there is no need for the police while I'm here."
"Who are you?" Dr. Claude asked with restrained anger.
"I am Amunet. Let's talk," she said, offering the doctor her hand.
"Well, talking is good," Claude said as he hesitantly took her hand and stood up.
The man in the pink cat mask stood up suddenly. He came to the table with superhuman speed. Then he bowed almost to the floor and greeted the doctor.
"I am Jasper. At your service."
"For what?" Claude asked, taking a step back.
"Amunet? Jasper?" Ru said suspiciously, his eyes searching for any object he could use as a weapon. At the same time, he was looking for a way to escape.
"For whatever you want," Jasper said, straightening up.
"Why?" Claude asked.
"I've always admired skeptical perfection," Jasper said.
"That's an odd way to compliment me," Dr. Claude said with a forced smile.
Meanwhile, Ru moved towards the door with stealthy steps. Amunet raised her hand to him and whispered her spell: "Xarkhun halka!"
A wall of shifting, large and small shadows encircled Ru in the room. The eerie figure resembled the monsters that may reside beneath the beds. It was a mass of autonomously moving mouths, teeth, and eyeballs.
Ru's body became stiff. His legs could not move forward or backward. He turned his head with great difficulty. He asked Claude with a grin, "Do you see that monster?"
Dr. Claude crossed his arms over his chest and nodded calmly. "This must be a completely different kind of reality."
"Are you kidding?" Ru was in shock. "How could you not be surprised?"
"It could be a drug we've been taking... maybe there's a hallucinogen in our water," Dr. Claude explained, looking more like he was autosuggestive. "Hmmm hmmm, that's for sure."
"What if I'm not?" Jasper asked. "What if I am real? What are you going to do to me, Doctor?"
"Probably nothing," Claude began, using his hands to emphasize his point. "Any action I take against you, I can take against Santa Claus. I could demonize you, for example, but that would be a rather useless action."
"Are you equating me with Santa Claus because of my red clothes? Please let this be a mere association," Jasper said, his voice a bit sour.
"Stay away from Claude! You psycho," Ru shouted. When he stepped towards Claude, he realized that he could move. "So, I've been released from the spell."
"I made you look like someone, but to whom?" Jasper asked, almost playfully.
"Cut the show," Amunet stated with a distant vocal tone. "We need to talk now."
"Sure," Dr. Claude said, pointing to the seating group, "Let's go over here. Let me get you something to drink. Tea, coffee, what do you want?"
"I just drank blood, thanks mozzarella," Jasper said and sat on the couch.
"The secretary's?" Ru was about to ask when Dr. Claude's attention was drawn to his secretary lying on the floor.
"I hope you didn't give her the virus," Claude said worriedly.
"I'm not a zombie," Jasper said in an offended tone. "I'm an artist."
"Let's sit down and talk, or the demons will come," Ru said, sitting near Jasper.
Amunet sat where she could see them and said, "Stop acting crazy, Ru. We know you want to join the show. By the way, I can't see the rider. Where is he?"
"It doesn't concern you," Ru said, looking confident.
"We don't have a god role for you, jester. Don't get cocky," Amunet retorted, looking pleased as she looked down at him with narrowed eyes.
"Remember, I am the marionette of dream. How do you know I can't take away your dreams or your shadow toys?" Ru said, seemingly into the role.
"Look at the little fella! He threatens us," Jasper said, looking at Dr. Claude again and seeming to speak only to him. "We came to tell Ru we will protect him from demons if he wants."
"Did you just take away his freedom to protect him? Or am I misunderstanding you?" Dr. Claude asked.
Ru smiled, "Thank you, Claude."
"You know you're invited to the Phantasmagoria Live Show, Ru," Amunet said.
"I know, this live big event and the game, blah! What soothing words," Ru grumbled.
Jasper seized the chance to cross his legs and make a point while Amunet remained silent. "This is a great event that occurs once every seven million years in the time of your planet. We travel between dimensions to put on this show. We came to Earth just for you, Ru. One of our guests would like to meet you."
"Ahem!" Amunet coughed, interrupting Jasper.
"Who wants me?" Ru asked.
"Should I deceive the boy now?" Jasper asked and continued by changing his sitting position: "Look, this boy is already crazy; he came to the doctor. Isn't it a pity?"
"Let's not call him crazy, please," Claude said.
"Whatever you say," Jasper said, closing his open legs.
Ru was ready to play detective: "Okay, first question: Who is the guest that's interested in me?"
"Turn off the camera first," Jasper said.
"Hey dude, which camera are you talking about?" Ru asked laxly.
Suddenly, one of the shadows transformed into a hand and grabbed Ru's phone and broke it.
"I don't want to deal with this bratty teenager," Amunet said, looking at Jasper. Then she stood up and took out a booklet and a phone from the inside pocket of her leather coat. "Take these, and then you can find us or not; it's up to you," she said.
Ru's eyes lit up at the sight of the newest phone. "Is this mine now?"
Amunet nodded and said, "Let's go, Jasper."
"Ice woman, let's go," Jasper said. He then turned to face Claude and said, "Goodbye, I'll miss you." His voice was filled with sardonic love.
"Me? Why?" Claude asked.
Ru grabbed Claude's arm and stated, "He's mocking you. Don't fall for him."
"I'm not done with you, Ru. You killed my Donatella," Jasper said in a tearful tone.
"It was you who turned her into a vampire, and it was the genie who killed her," Ru replied defiantly.
"You're smarter than he thinks, Snow White." With a snap of his fingers, Jasper teleported next to Amunet, who dispersed the shadows.
"He? Who is he?" Ru asked, but he got no answer.
As the two approached, the doorway glowed with a purple light for a moment. The light engulfed them both and then faded. Ru ran after them. But he found a boring normality when he got there.
Ru walked over to Claude. "See? It's all real." Immediately afterwards, he went to the secretary and looked at her neck. There were two teeth marks. "They really are vampires," he said in a low voice.
"Amunet is a sorceress," Claude said, who hadn't lost his composure for a moment. And he put his hand on Ru's shoulder. "Believe me, Lirui. I don't know how I know this, but I know her."
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