NOVEL WEB Chapter 32: Chapter 28: The Echo That Speaks Itself
Chapter 28: The Echo That Speaks Itself
Perspective: Velkaris → The World
"Okay... maybe I messed up a little."
I sat in the Mirror Shrine, surrounded by shifting reflections of myself — some masked, some laughing, some… accusing.
The lie I'd planted — tying the Fool to Antigonus — had spread too far, too fast.
It wasn't just believed now.
It was repeated.
And that was the danger.
A lie, once echoed long enough, becomes its own truth.
"System, I want to… modify the narrative," I said carefully.
"Not erase it, but… redirect it."
System:
Host wishes to overlay an existing lie with another distortion.
Confirming: Patchwork Corruption Protocol.
Begin input.
I reached into the well of the Mirror, drawing upon histories, myths, scraps of forgotten truths and hidden falsities.
And then I spoke the new seed:
"The Fool is not Antigonus…
He is something older.
Fool is a being who appears in all history
A relic of the Zaratul family, the whisper behind the first Emperor Roselle's rise.
The jester in the shadows. The one who gave Roselle the forbidden knowledge — the Sequences, the ruinous miracles, the revelations that ended in blood.
The Fool was never a man…
But a thought planted in history, wearing many faces."
I wrapped the lie in truth.
Everyone already knew the Zaratuls dabbled in horrors.
That Roselle rose too quickly.
That the Red Priest vanished mysteriously.
It fit.
Too well.
[DING: Narrative Thread Entwined]
Existing myth updated.
Contradictions layered.
Side Effect: Collective confusion increased.
Result: All versions of the Fool are now dark.
Current dominant interpretations:
The Fool is Antigonus reborn.
The Fool is a Zaratul construct.
The Fool was Roselle's patron and downfall.
Public Summary: No matter the version… the Fool is evil.
"...What have I done," I muttered.
I'd tried to dull the blade. Instead, I forged a hydra of rumors.
And they were spreading.
Across the World – The Echo Awakens
A traveling priest muttered drunkenly in a tavern:
"Y'know… they say the Fool taught Roselle. That's why he vanished. Betrayed by the very god that raised him."
A noblewoman whispered behind her fan:
"I heard Antigonus calls himself the Fool now. He was never sealed — only waiting."
A page torn from an old alchemical codex fluttered in the wind:
The Fool, Patron of Madness. The Smiling Catastrophe. The Echo Behind Every Lie.
The Church of Evernight – The Mirror of Shadow-Tombs
High Priestess Calvia stood before the Mirror of Shadow-Tombs, her fingers weaving sigils of Seeking and Clarification.
"Trace it," she ordered.
The mirror rippled. Symbols flickered — words, voices, threads of memory.
"Find me where this rumor began."
And the mirror answered.
For a split second, it showed her own reflection — her mouth moving, her lips whispering the very rumor.
She recoiled.
"What…?"
A second priest tried. Then a third.
Each time, the mirror showed them, saying the words.
Lies are like echoes.
They don't belong to anyone once they've been heard.
They repeat.
They bounce.
And eventually…
They come back.
Calvia trembled.
"It's not a lie. It's a curse. A thought wearing skin."
She turned to the gathered priests.
"From now on… say nothing of the Fool. Silence yourselves. If the Echo hears you, you'll become its next mouth."
Back in the Mirror Shrine – Velkaris's Thoughts
I sat quietly.
The rumor I tried to erase had mutated.
I no longer controlled it.
No one did.
Not even the Fool, who hadn't awakened yet, could stop what was coming.
[DING: Quest Progress — 89% COMPLETE]
Divine Awareness: Veiled but aware
Impact Zone: Global
Truth/Lie Ratio: Broken
World Status: The Fool is feared.
"Congratulations, Velkaris," I told my reflection,
"You tried to fix a lie… and accidentally wrote a myth."
And worse?
Even if I wanted to undo it…
I would have to lie again.
And this time…
The lie might not come back as an echo.
It might come back as a god.
End of Chapter 28: