It wasn't long before I found I found myself waking up to a 'soothing' alarm clock…. "Wake up, Wright!" accompanied with an ache that quickly enveloped my upper body, beginning in the back of neck. My eyes snapped open as I took in the changes in my surroundings. Everyone had left, and I still sat here, gazing upon a hulking mass of a teacher, who also happened to be holding a ruler.
"Is that even legal?!" I yell.
"Anything is legal when there are no cops around!" he says as he, once again, hits me over the head with the ruler. "Now get out of the school go on get!" He then began to repeatedly hit me with his ruler. "Go on, ya varmint!"
"This doesn't even make sense!" I scream as I run from the school. It's a blur from there, or at least until I reach a telephone line. I lean over to catch my breath, supporting myself by placing hand on the telephone pole.
I looked up, to see where I was at. The intersection. The same one from yesterday. And it was the same way…..
I jump in shock as I look upward, and witness the fact that the sky had become an inky black. "No….no…..no…." I shake my head while pouting, "I thought this day couldn't get any worse!"...Well. I spoke too soon.
I feel something long, wide and cold run it's way along my back. I fell to the ground, grossed out. I look on my back and see that it's coated in what appeared to be saliva. "Wha-What the hell is going on?" I scream in vain hope that someone will help me. I look up, and three creatures floated there. white orbs with zebra stripes with gigantic mouths slot in front of me, their tongues hanging out.
"You again?!" I hear a voice call from the right. I turn to see David standing in shock. "Hey, pay attention!"
"What?" I scream as I come face to face with the monster tongue. It wraps the pink mass around me.
In a whoosh, I'm flying through the air. At that moment, my life flashed before my eyes. Eye could see the ground below me, getting farther away. In a few seconds it be getting a LOT closer. Eyes closed my eyes to brace myself. Than it all stopped. All at once.
But, there was a feeling in my gut that wouldn't go away. I was still airborne, yet somehow I sat still. I slowly opened my eyes.
My eyes were immediately assaulted by a bright light. It I turned away from the brightness and came face to face with an oval shaped window. The inky blackness that existed outside startled me. I jumped up and looked to where I'd been sitting. A couch. A leather couch. I looked from side to side. More inky black oval windows, amidst white walls. From the my couch, on the left, there was a small half cabinet filled with many different types of drinks. On the right, sinks. I turned around, to see that the room was square. My couch took up about three-fourths of the wall, and a door took up the last part. I then turned around to see the most important part.
A table with a blue tablecloth stood unmoving. Behind it, also unmoving another couch, this one taking up the entire wall behind it. Atop the table, unmoving, a set of blue cards. Most disturbingly, two other things unmoving. An old, old, old man, staring straight at me, though his eyes here so cloudy, I couldn't tell. This man was, like, at least forever.
Next to him, a girl no more than ten, her eyes a bright yellow, hey hair stark white. She wore a blue dress, and aimlessly stared out the window. She held a clipboard with both hands.
"Why don't you have a seat on the couch…?" The suddenly broken silence terrified me. More so the voice. The same voice you imagine to be slow, and confused out of sheer loss of memory, was cheery and upbeat, with a thick layer of mystery underneath it all.
I nodded and sat on the leather couch. "So, this is your...limo right? Are you rich or, something?" I awkwardly ask.
"I think you'd better take a closer look out the window…" The man gestured to the nearest glass pane.
I wordlessly got up, and with shaky steps, approached the black oval. I knelt down and looked out, trying to spot anything weird. Then, I look to the side, and see the sheer size of the "limo", and the white protrusion from it's side.
I stand up, "So this is a pane?"
"You're quite right, my boy. Now sit down, we have much to discuss…" I nod and plop myself down on the leather surface.
"Now, for introductions. I am Igor. This is my assistant, Mabella. Mabella, say hello," He motioned to the child.
She quickly turned to me with wide eyes and a massive smile. Her voice was surprisingly hoarse and raspy. "Hello, human," she says.
"Now tell me, do you believe in fortune telling? Specifically, that of the tarot?". He brings his hand above the table and moved his hands around the table as if looking for a specific card. He stopped at one. He flipped it over. The other side of the card featured a picture of a tower being broken in two by lightning, as two humans fell to the ground below. "The Tower for the past. Something bad happened to you a while back, yes?"
He goes back to the cards. He flips over another one. A picture of a man in a blue robe, holding a ball of flame. "Your near future is represented by the Magician. This symbolises the beginning of a journey. This proves my theory. You do indeed have the potential,".
Once more. A picture of a jester, walking casually off a cliff. "Most importantly, the present is represented by the Fool. You are malleable. It seems you've discarded most of yourself along with your parents.".
He flipped the cards back over and sat back upright in his chair. "So, I understand that there's something you need right now. I can lend it to you, as long as you promise to bring it back. Mabella?"
The girl dropped herself from the other couch, and carried her clipboard to me. She held it out.
It was a contract. A lot of words I was too lazy to read. "Simply sign on the dotted line. All you're agreeing to do is to give back our give when the time comes…". She handed me a pen.
I held the pen in one hand. I wearily scanned the paper. I had no idea what it is that I 'needed'. "If you don't accept it, you'll die," Mabella says.
I sharply inhale and begin to scribble my name onto the paper. She took both from my hand. "Thank you," she nods. Mabella turns and goes back to her spot on the couch.
"Now, we give you our gift. Just remember, unlike your future teammates, you'll have to either give it back or pay us….in full,". He picked up the card for the fool, and held it face up in the palm of his hand. It began to float towards the ceiling. Then, in a snap, it turned, tha blue back facing me.
The card flew towards me, until it stopped, right in front of my heart. It floated there for what seemed like forever. It began to glow with a blue light. It flashed so brightly, that even when I closed my eyes to shield myself, it was just like looking at an open, cloudless sky.
The view of perfect weather faded, and I opened my eyes. The card still sat there, glowing, and I floated, back exactly where I was. Above the street, flying through the sky. I began screaming as the ground came flying at me at a rapid pace.
Then, it all stopped. The ground slowed down. It took a second for me to realise that in a blink of an eye, I went from cannonball to feather. I managed to reorganize myself, as if swimming, so that I may land on my feet.
The card still floated there, inches away from my heart. I panted heavily as I looked up, taking in the image of my attackers. I looked over to the side, to see David, now with a look of utter shock. "B-but, there-there wasn't a human shadow! I thought-". My eyes went wide as I heard a voice in my head.
"I art thou. Thou art I. When thou is in danger of falling to the shadows call upon me,", a deep. Masculine voice rang through my mind.
It was almost as if time had slowed down. The card made the last few inches in a millisecond. The area in front of my heart emitted the same tone of blue light. But, I couldn't pay attention to it. I had no urge to run, fight, scream, or do anything except utter the word that managed to wedge its way deep into my mind.
"Per…" The light over my heart grew brighter, "...so…" The light surrounded me, "...na…", the light warped itself into a mass of blue flames that gave off no heat. I felt a sudden surge of power burst threw me, and then leave, as if literally exiting my body. But I felt something tugging at my heart, urging it upwards. I looked up and gazed upon another giant. A man with blue skin floated above me. He wore gladiator like armor that was adorned in gold. He looked down at me, and I my eyes locked with two glowing purple lights. It's helmet made a Y-shape so think that I couldn't see it's face.
"What? I don't...Dude….A-attack!" David pointed at the creatures.
"Yea-yeah!... Um... , go! That's awful name isn't it?" The man held out it's right hand, and in a flash of light a sword appeared. flew forward and grabbed one of the creatures. He threw it to the ground and raised his the sword above his head. "Finish it off, um, Gold Armor Requiem?" I awkwardly asked as he brought down his sword, causing the monster to dissipate into black smoke.
"Now do that one, Captain Rome….?". My persona thrusted his sword directly through the mouth of another creature. It swung its sword towards the final creature, and the second beast slid off the blade and collided with its compatriot. The second beast faded away. "Yeah, you do it….Colliseum clasher!".
The final mouth orb shook itself from side to side, and began to fly towards my partner. "That's it. Simple elegant...Yeah….Blast him to high heavens...Hercules!"
Hercules stretched his right-sword hand to his left side, then just when the creature was right in front of him, he let loose. The creature seemingly lost control, and feel to the ground before disappearing to the void. The voice echoed in my head again, "Call upon me again when you face further danger,". Hercules faded into blue light.
A wave of exhaustion swept over me, and I feel to my hand and knees. David, who's been spectating on the whole fight ran up to me. He bent over and offered me his hand. "Hey, you okay?".
"Yeah," I say as I allow him to help me up. He immediately turns and starts walking down the road.
"Come on, follow me. We're going to my place,", he gestures for me to follow.
"Where exactly is your place?" I ask as I run to catch up.
"Just the biggest building on the edge of town, why?"
"Wha-? You don't mean-! What kind of idiot live in an abandoned warehouse full of ruined machines?"
He reached into his black button up and pulls out the gun from yesterday. He spins the chamber once. "Call me an idiot again, and you lose a toe, now FOLLOW. ME,".
"Okay, okay!" I timidly follow.