Chapter One: The New Fool

4/19/2013
"We will be arriving to Inaba in 30 minutes," the intercom repeated until it fell silent. Looking out the window of the train sat a young man about 5'10" in height wearing a simple hoodie, T-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. Simple black, short hair and a fairly light complexion, simple build with no real muscles to be seen. The only true interesting thing about him was his eyes. He had two different colored eyes, one being a light blue and another being strangely grayish. He broke his gaze from the window, and took out a locket and looked into it. Inside was a picture of a man and woman holding a child, heartwarming for most, but the young man looked almost pained just starting at it. This young man went by the name of Jack Motou, a Japanese-American coming to stay at his grandparents' place.

A cheerful attendant came along. "May I help you sir?" she asked, surprising the boy. He quickly put the locket away and turned to face the attendant. Upon seeing his eyes, the attendant was almost stunned. The boy noticed her expression, but finding it neither new nor amusing, he said nothing. He just wanted the attendant gone but knew it was her job to annoy him with things such as drinks or food. She felt as if she offended him, but she wasn't sure how. The attendant mustered up the courage to ask again.

"Um…May I help you sir?" asking cautiously.

"Water." He replied without a moment's notice. She almost jumped at the response, it was so quick, no hesitation at all. Nodding quickly, the attendant ran off. Jack chuckled slightly under his breath. He couldn't help it. He was never fond of people, and he couldn't help but feel isolated from everyone. Looking out the window, he saw what appeared to be a wide, open field with a small town of the distance. 'It must be Inaba,' he thought, 'that's where my grandparents live.' He felt rather dazed and bored as he stared, but in his surprise something flew by the window. It was a white butterfly with a ghostly aura. Suddenly, everything fell silent to Jack; as if the world stopped save for him and this strange butterfly as it slowly passed. The moment the butterfly was out of sight, the world seemed to spring back to life as random babble occurred and some footsteps came closer. Something felt wrong to Jack, however. He felt himself getting tired, his eyes heavy and his mind calming.

"Sir, what's wrong? SIR!" the attendant cried out, dropping the water bottle as Jack fell right into unconsciousness.

The sound of an engine hummed through Jack's ears as his surrounds came into vision, a large limo interior of navy blue velvet. There was a round table in the middle which stood out, but not as much as the two people in front of Jack. Across from him at the table sat an elderly looking man dressed like a butler, one with a ridiculously elongated nose, stressed filled eyes and a disturbingly large grin. Seated at the side was a young woman, wearing a blue uniform similar to that of a bellhop. She had silky, wavy blonde hair down to the back of her neck held by a small headband; she easily taller than the elderly gentleman, and a quick look to her eyes made Jack tense up. They were a cool piercing yellow unlike anything he had seen before. The elderly man's grin slowly faded as if something happened that shouldn't have. He stared straight into Jack's eyes, freezing the young man in his place. Seven navy blue tarot cards appeared on the table with two already flipped, revealing the Tower and the Moon in the upright position.

"Oh my, another guest so soon!" The elderly man spoke, "This is a rather strange turn of events. However I am sworn to my duty to help you once you've obtained the contract. Welcome to the Velvet room my guest. She is my assistant Margaret and my name is Igor…I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

'I'm not sure if I should be delighted to be your acquaintance…' Jack thought to himself to prevent being rude to the mysterious man known as Igor.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…" He continued, "It is a room that only those bound by a "contract" may enter. For you to appear here means that such a fate awaits in your near future. Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?"
Jack looked surprised; it was such a simple request yet one that felt of great importance. He wasn't sure if this was a dream or anything, but it felt comfortable however to speak to this man.

"My name is….Jack Motou." Jack said calmly.

"Ah, such a unique name for one to have." Igor chuckled as if he was proud of this moment. "Normally, I'd reveal your fortune. However, it appears that our previous guest has left his fortune here," he said, gesturing to the tarot cards already displayed. As Jack looked at the set, the center card flipped over and revealed a whole new card to the equation: the Fool tarot in the upright position. Almost instantaneously each tarot was enveloped in a bright white light turning blank, all except for the Fool.

"Oh my…this has never happened before," Igor said, looking at the sole tarot. "I wonder what kind of destiny you will lead," a small smile appeared on his face. "For now however I must bid you adieu, farewell."

Within seconds a fog enveloped Jack waking him from the encounter with Igor and his assistant Margaret.