Five Lessons Learned Elsewhere

V Lessons Learned Elsewhere

V Lessons Learned Elsewhere

The Court Jester: An Elsewhere Story

The year is 2023. It’s coming to an end. The winter has finally come, and only a day remains before Christmas Eve. A man sits in a cell, chained. He has been here for twenty years. His charge is to entertain the court. Those running the show don’t want too much information getting out. Important precedents are being set in these hearings, and they’ve deemed the public to be ‘not in the know’. So they took this man, a member of a family who committed a great crime, and made him the court jester. Day by day, he plays the fool, captivating the unwashed masses while legislation is done right under their noses. Little by little, the freedoms they once had are chipped away.

A man walks in to the cell, stepping over the starving prisoners. The only one who has food is The Court Jester. It’s only because he’s been following his orders. He’s been rewarded with scraps. The others sit and starve, awaiting their mock trials.

The man is one of the guards, “Steven Paddox.”

“Alan!” He says. “It’s time to get back to work.”

Steven is one of the very few men who calls the Court Jester by name. He’s developed a certain sympathy for him. Most others call simply call him, ‘Jester’ or ‘Sin.’

“That’s an interesting key you’ve got hanging from your belt today, Steven.” Alan grins.

The key glowed in the dark a strange hue of gold and green.

“Are you supposed to be carrying that?” He smiled wider.

“Look, Alan,” Steven said. “I haven’t broken your balls too much. Today’s my last day then I get transferred to the altar. Please don’t break my balls? Let’s make it an easy day.” Steven unhooks Alan’s chains.

“What’s on the docket today?” Alan asks, still glancing at that fancy key.

“More war crimes. You know the drill.”

When The Court Jester entered the courtroom, the judge banged his gavel. Immediately, the chaos began. It was all noise. Alan just began dancing. He had a unicycle. The only face that stuck out to him was the face of Liber, one of the five kings. Usually, Liber would sit and the stands and simply meditate. Today, he seemed angry, flustered really. He donned a cruel looking scowl on his face and seemed to be breathing heavy.

Everything else was the same. The audience always focused on Alan, and the cases went on. This one was about war crimes from the last war. 2004. It’s unbelievable. Nearly twenty years have passed, and yet the courts are still arguing about the losses from it. In all his years doing this, Alan had never noticed a case go against the state’s interest. Go figure.

The defendant in the case was a man named Fodi. He was a member of the Tremolo tribe. Their crime was ‘interfering with the war effort.’

Fodi was a DJ. His task within the tribe was to put together a Playlist for their party music as they traveled, and when need be, as they battled. He did so using his spirit energy, a form of ghost domain, to make his hands into a turn table. Since he had been captured, they hadn’t replaced him.

Alan danced and honked his horn and banged on his stupid little drum. He even ate a banana in a fashion similar to a monkey and then threw the peel on the ground. He then purposely slipped on it to make the audience laughed. Those in attendance were given rotten tomatoes to pelt the court Jester with. He would continue the act by riding his unicycle through the rows of people, allowing them to pelt him with tomatoes.