He found her in one of the cages, her expression frozen in the same likeness as the others, displaying anger, pain, terror and so much more, all at once.
He wondered just what she’d felt before her death, it must have been horrible.
Instinctively, he clenched his fist, his breath quickening while his eyes watered.
He thought it unfair, that she would suffer such a fate, but alas, it was the fate of the Nester family.
If only they’d met at least once... if only.
Ulysses closed his eyes and raised his head upward, allowing tears to stream down his cheeks.
He could dwell on questions like why she was in the Jester’s kingdom but knew it was pointless.
He could blame their ancestor for not doing anything, for allowing her to suffer such a fate, but again... he knew it would be pointless.
If only there were something he could do that wouldn’t be pointless.
Alas, he couldn’t think of anything.
And so, he dropped to his knees and silently wept, mourning his mother in his heart.
The urge to break her out of the cage and take her back to Eventide for a proper burial welled up within but he knew that it was impossible.
There was no way he could break through the obsidian, so unless he somehow managed to travel back with an industrial drill, there was no way he could break her out.
And that feeling of weakness, helplessness... it grew more, weighing heavily in Ulysses’ heart until it crushed him completely.
So, from kneeling, he proceeded to lie on the cold, hard ground and sleep.
Perhaps if he slept and woke up later, he wouldn’t feel so heavy.
It was unclear how long he’d slept for considering time moved differently between dimensions.
There was also the fact that there was no clear way to tell the time in the Unending Carnival.
Regardless, Ulysses awoke from his slumber, his eyes red and his body aching.
He then glanced at his mother’s corpse and, with a sigh, tried to stand, only for a sharp prickling sensation to cause him to pause.
It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but it was hardly one he could ignore.
It was like something was calling out to him or rather, the divine essence of the Traveler within him, but Ulysses could tell that it wasn’t one of the others he’d come with.
It was something different, something powerful, something ancient... something divine.
Curiosity got the better of him or perhaps it was better to say the calling was too strong for him to ignore, forcing him to rise to his feet.
A part of Ulysses wondered if answering this calling was a wise choice but ultimately, he decided to check it out.
Whatever it was, the attraction to it was too much to leave alone.
And so, closing his eyes, he instinctively traveled, following the urging within him.
Upon his arrival, he opened his eyes and was immediately stunned by the shocking sight ahead.
It was like he was standing before two distinct mountains, both of which towered over him by several hundred meters.
But of course, neither of the mountains was actually a mountain.
Instead, they were the corpses of the deceased Jester along with the Hexad, deities whose death was responsible for the Baptism and the animation of knowledge.
In that moment, Ulysses felt incredibly small, so small that he wondered if he was worth anything, if he mattered in a world where such beings existed.
The existential crisis that followed caused him to nearly lose it, only snapping out of the encroaching madness due to the urging within him.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he dared not ponder again his position in the grand scheme of things and instead decided to focus on the reason he was drawn here in the first place.
The surrounding area was filled with the divine essence of both corpses, which meant that any mortal who dared to come close risked either being struck by foolishness or wisdom or perhaps both.
That’s if they weren’t driven mad by the sheer presence of the corpses.
As for Ulysses, his... experience with the Lord of Flesh and Blood, had given him a certain level of mental fortitude that could not be reached through ordinary means.
Also, he already had the divine essence of the Traveler along with the corruption of the Lord of Flesh and Blood within him, which allowed him to resist the divine essence flowing freely in the air.
Anyways, he made his way forward to find what had called him over while making sure not to look up.
After almost an hour of walking, he soon arrived at a passage that existed between the two mountainous corpses and it was in this passage that he found the source of the attraction.
Unlike the surrounding area, the divine essence flowing in this passage held the greatest pressure and seemed to have mixed to the extent that they were indistinguishable from one another.
Foolishness was wisdom and wisdom was foolishness.
Due to this unique mixture of opposing concepts, something had formed.
It was an Artifact, a dual type that held the Authorities of both the Jester and the Hexad.
It appeared as a brown leather-bound tome with a clown mask on the front cover.
Ulysses thought it to be the first of its kind, though he wasn’t completely sure.
Regardless, the phenomenon was nothing short of unique and in need of study.
To think he had not known of its existence on his first time in the Carnival.
But then again, he hadn’t been here for very long.
Regardless, this item could prove to provide a unique insight into the realm of the divine, an area that humanity had not bothered to delve into too deeply for fear of drawing the ire of the denizens of that realm.
With that in mind, he wondered if he should take it and leave or he should inform Kallias first so they would know what to do next.
One couldn’t be sure of what would happen should he take it.
What if it was the reason the Unending Carnival was still in existence, and his taking it resulted in the dimension falling apart?... What then?
Ulysses wasn’t arrogant enough to think that he would be able to deal with such a situation should it happen, so perhaps it was best he went with the second option.