The first fry parade ended.
Jasper was slumped in the booth, empty plate, breathing like he’d run a marathon.
Leon facepalmed.
Hard.
“This boy is going to be a headache,” he muttered.
“I can feel the migraine coming already.”
Behind the counter—
_TwitcH._
Genevie’s fox ears twitched.
At the other table: two cubs.
One boy, one girl.
Wolf ears, wolf tails.
For two days they’d been silent.
Eyes down.
No smiles.
Right now?
They were wagging their tails and laughing.
Pointing at Jasper.
“He made them dance!”
Genevie’s eyes softened.
A small smile hit her face.
She didn’t ask.
She moved.
Into the kitchen, back out thirty seconds later with a fresh tray.
Hot fries.
Steaming.
She set it in front of Jasper.
“Here you go, cub. These are on the house.”
Leon’s head snapped up.
“Genevie. Please do not encourage him in this nonsense that he’s doing.”
Genevie didn’t flinch.
She tilted her head toward the two cubs.
“Sorry, Master Leon. But if you look over at that table you’ll see those two young cubs. They haven’t smiled in over two days. Their parents have been on patrol. They haven’t seen much of them lately.”
Her tail flicked once.
“And if you look around, you’ll see tensions are high on Asteria right now.”
Silence.
Leon’s shoulders dropped.
The Celestial Sage… deflated.
He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and just… sank into the booth.
Defeated.
“…Fine,” he said, voice flat.
“Do it. I’m done.”
Jasper heard it.
The two cubs.
Sad for days.
He looked at the new tray.
15 fries.
His eyes went dead serious.
He took 15 fries and made them hover.
_Click.
Click.
Click._ A shaky staircase built itself in the air.
Then he grabbed the other 15 fries.
Dipped all of them in ketchup.
_Plop.
Plop.
Plop._
Then he grabbed 5 more from the tray and ate them.
_Crunch.
Crunch._ “Gotta fuel the Asteria, right?”
The 15 ketchup fries lifted.
Wobbled up the staircase.
_Tap… tap… wobble…_ Then down the other side.
_Tap… tap… wobble…_
Jasper cleared his throat and started singing, loud enough for the whole restaurant:
“My ketchup brings all the fries to the yard! Damn right! It’s better than yours! Damn right! I can teach you! But I’ll eat the fries! Yum!”
One ketchup fry reached the bottom, did a little spin, and he popped it in his mouth.
_Crunch._
Then another.
_Crunch._
He kept going.
Fry after fry.
Walking down the stairs, straight into his mouth, while singing between bites.
The two cubs were losing it.
The girl was clutching her stomach.
The boy had fallen off the bench laughing.
Then it spread.
A dwarf at the bar snorted into his drink.
A cat-beastkin merchant dropped his coins laughing.
Even the guards by the door were covering their mouths.
The whole restaurant was laughing at how absurd the whole scene was.
Jasper, mouth full of ketchup fry, gave a greasy thumbs up to the room.
Leon was still face-down on the table.
“…I have fought the Demon King. I am losing to potatoes.”
Genevie just leaned on the counter, four tails swishing, smiling at the two cubs who finally wouldn’t stop laughing.
Jasper: 0 Asteria, 15 fries consumed, 1 entire restaurant emotionally damaged.
Leon: -100 dignity.
The 10 ketchup fries were gone.
Jasper was slumped, ketchup on his chin.
Leon face-down.
The two wolf cubs giggling.
In a booth by the window: a music band.
Four of them.
Lutes, drum case.
They’d been eating breakfast, watching the whole Ketchup Parade.
The girl in front set her spoon down.
She was watching the two wolf cubs.
They were smiling.
For the first time in days.
She stood up.
Walked to Genevie at the counter.
Genevie looked up.
“You want something, cub?”
The girl didn’t take anything.
She just said it.
“We’d like to perform.”
Genevie raised an eyebrow.
“You?”
The girl nodded.
“We are The Clairvoyance. Our music speaks of what was… and what will be.”
Genevie stared at her for a second.
Then pulled out her own comms bead.
She pressed it to her ear.
“Manager? Got a group here. Call themselves The Clairvoyance. They want the stage.”
Crackle.
_”…The Gods know we need people to be happy, Genevie.
Can they bring more smiles?”_
Genevie looked past the girl.
At the two wolf cubs, tails wagging.
At the dwarf hiding a grin.
At Jasper, greasy and exhausted.
“Yeah,” Genevie said.
“They can.”
She clicked off and gestured to the stage corner.
“You’re on. Kill the mood, you’re washing dishes.”
The Clairvoyance moved fast.
Lutes up.
Drum set.
Crystal amp plugged in.
The girl stepped to the center, bowed to the room.
“We are The Clairvoyance,” she said again, clear.
“And this is for you.”
She lifted her hand.
The music started.
*[Verse 1]*
_”Gather close and fill your cups,
Let the firelight rise,
I’ve a tale of shattered fate
And doom beneath the skies.”_
The room went quiet.
_”When stars were young and kingdoms proud,
The ancient Veil stood tall,
A barrier forged by gods of old
To shelter one and all.”_
Outside, people stopped.
A lying guy with two kids froze.
A cat-man merchant turned.
A bat-woman with a child on her back paused at the door.
They came in.
No questions.
Just pulled by the sound.
The tavern filled.
Cat-men.
Bat-women.
Cultivators.
Guards.
Kids on shoulders.
***_[Chorus]
__”The Broken Veil!
The worlds shall shake!
Hear the thunder, hear them wake!
Ten great worlds will burn and roar,
Nothing shall be as before!
Empires rise and empires fall!
When the Veil at last gives way,
Night shall challenge break of day!”__
The whole place sang.
The dwarf slammed his mug.
_BOOM._
The two wolf cubs stood on their bench shouting.
The lying guy’s kids were on his shoulders, screaming the words.
Genevie was singing.
Quiet.
Four tails still.
Jasper wasn’t.
He was staring.
*[Verse 2]*
_”Heroes marched with blades of flame,
Cultivators climbed the skies,
Dragons watched from mountain peaks,
With ancient knowing eyes.”_
_”Leon stood against the storm,
His courage forged in fire,
While Kaelen wielded shadow’s wrath
And never seemed to tire.”_
Jasper’s head turned.
Slow.
Leon lifted his head.
Looked at Jasper.
Nodded.
“…Yes,” he said over the crowd.
“That’s me.”
_”Elyra’s light cut through the dark,
A beacon in the fray,
Yet every victory they claimed
Came with a heavy pay.”_
_**_[Bridge]
_”Seventeen years the wheel turned on,
The war became a scar,
Yet destiny was not yet done,
It watched from afar.”_
17 years.
Jasper’s age.
“In case you are wandering yes they’re talking about you”
Leon said with his smirk.
The song continued.
_”An orphan boy beneath the stars,
A name the fates had spun,
Unaware the storms of worlds
Would one day make him run.”_
His hands shook.
_”The heavens trembled at his birth,
The demons spoke his name,
For hidden deep within his soul
Burned an ancient flame.”_
*[Final Chorus + Outro]*
__”The Broken Veil!
The worlds shall shake!
Hear the thunder, hear them wake!
Ten great worlds collide as one,
The final age has now begun!
Raise your mugs and sing it loud!
Let the prophecy be proud!
For when the Veil is torn apart,
Legends rise from humble starts!”__
_”So remember well this tavern song,
When dark clouds fill the sky,
For the child of fate still walks the earth,
And his hour draweth nigh.
The Veil is broken,
The drums awake,
And ten of the worlds…
Shall shake.”*
Silence.
Then the room roared.
The Clairvoyance bowed.
The girl looked at Jasper.
“We don’t choose the song, . The song chooses you.”
Jasper stared at his empty cup.
“…So it’s real.”
Leon picked up his tea.
Empty.
“Real enough to get you killed if you don’t train. 5AM.”
Nasty Fry agreed.