Prophecy
Despite the several different places that the human race had somehow come to inhabit, they were all the same. By the universe's standard, they were physically and mentally average. There were, of course, exceptions to that rule. Some were able to match wits with those intellectually superior, some able to overpower those with immeasurable strength. There were few true constants between humans as each reveled in their individuality, but one of the biggest was that humans are incredibly social creatures.
Teenagers, no matter the place, were more so. This fact didn't change in the Tristain Magic Academy, much to Louise's chagrin. When it was found that she could not perform magic correctly, it had only taken a few hours to get around the school and earn her the moniker Zero. Same too did the assumption that she hired a commoner to pose as her familiar. There was, however, debate as to where he came from.
The young maid, Siesta, had heard countless thoughts as the nobility chattered on during her day. Some thought he was an actor of some sort, others a bodyguard hired by her parents. Though the free willed chase and argument from earlier in the day said otherwise to her. A minor thought from some of the higher nobility, due to his apparent claim as a ship captain, was that he was a Germainian pirate spared by Duchess de la Vallière, and she'd come to collect his life debt.
Whatever the case may be, she hoped to meet him at some point. She wondered what kind of person Miss Vallière had summoned, either magically or financially. A strange foreigner might have many different stories, and she had loved hearing them from her grandfather as a child. Perhaps he had more to share. She shook the fanciful tales from her head and got back to work. She needed to help with the preparations for the second year's afternoon with their familiars.
[Classroom with Louise and Kamvex]
He couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. The Solstice, he thought, was an odd choice to appear, but compared to what he had just gotten done explaining about her name, he could see it. Even in the other cards he could see small tidbits of what they could mean from their placements. As an example, though recent, The Cricket probably represented himself and the completion of his own journey.
But for The Great Dreamer to appear, in such a form and in that particular space. *Just what is going on?* He thought. A call of his name shook him out of his head. How long had he been out of it.
"Finally," Louise spoke exasperated. "I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now." She shook her head and looked at the cards again, "anyway, are you going to actually explain what I'm doing on one of these cards? Or are you going to continue to look like you've seen a ghost?"
"Uh, something like that," he started vaguely. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes sighing. "Apparently my original plan to cheer you up a bit and share something of mine has become something far bigger than anything I could possibly imagine."
She had a look of disbelief on her face. They were cards. That's all he made them out to be. Sure one transformed slightly, but surely it wasn't of too terrible importance. The only thing that concerned her this second was her face in a card, and how it got there. About to demand an explanation for a third time, he started speaking again.
"The Great Dreamer, like The Solstice, is one of the Lost Cards," he started. "That is where the similarities between it and the other Lost Cards end. The Great Dreamer was originally one of the most important in the Harrow Deck thousands of years ago. So important, some thought, that it needed to always be used in the center of the grid to determine accuracy in the readings."
She was confused. Where was he going with this? Fine, it was important and another of these Lost Cards. That was another thing, "you say these cards are lost, but two have shown up in this thing you're doing. How lost could they really be?" She questioned.
A smile, "good question. There are probably thousands of cards lost to history, some popping up in tombs and crypts of the Old World. However, sometimes the Will of the Harrow invites them back for specific readings. The Solstice is one of those that would appear from time to time, but if you were to truly look at the Harrow deck that it came from and appeared in then you would never find it." He spread the rest of the cards away from the grid before pulling The Paladin out, and no sign of The Solstice anywhere.
"However," his eyes hardened slightly as he pulled the deck together again, "The Great Dreamer is not like them. It did not just fade away or be replaced by a card with a fuller meaning. It was wiped away from every deck in existence by divine power." He turned his eyes to her. "The name of the card is that of a Title. One held by one of my pantheon, The Goddess of the Stars, Luck... and of Prophecy: Densa."
*What?* She was paralyzed. A god from a distant place had some say with her? "Impossible... The founder-"
"Gods and pantheons cross from time to time, and can have similar theologies," Kamvex explained. "Densa gave the power of vision and dreams to humans in exchange of our endless wanderlust, or so it goes. Her card was used in the center of the grid automatically so that Harrowers could guarantee accuracy. That, however angered the goddess, and so she took her likeness away, never to be seen again."
He looked over the card before pointing out the large blue butterfly on the card. "This here is Desna, or her symbol at least. That she appears on the card says she watches over you now." He wanted to say blessed her but figured as a devout, it seemed, follower of her own religion that would be a poor choice of words. He then moved to the smaller but closer magenta one. "This here, is the representation of the Empyreal Lord, Black Butterfly. She is Desna's Shadow and has dominion over the Void. Given that Void is one of your elements here, Black Butterfly might have some sway here as well."
She looked like she was struggling with all of this, so he came around the table and placed his right hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry this has become so complicated. But we need to see this Harrowing through. I'll do whatever I can to help you afterwards, alright?"
Down to her very bones she shook. Having been a follower of Brimir, and a fairly serious one at that, being told two other godlike beings were watching over her was... Unsettling. That the lesser of these two beings held power of the Void didn't help matters. Honestly she'd have laughed in his face had he not seemed so serious. But he was. And so she would see this through. Vallière never quit halfway through anything, so she nodded her acceptance.
He nodded back and smiled, both turning back to the cards. "Now, let's see what we've got here." He looked over the cards carefully, stroking his chin. "The middle row," he started, "speaks fully of prophecies and hidden knowledge. Without that knowledge, this prophecy is unclear other than being of some divine importance. The only other thing we know, as depicted by The Great Dreamer, is that you are at the center of it all."
He then looked above and below The Hidden Truth, "whatever the case may be, when you gain the truth, it will lead you to what you desire." He motioned to The Unicorn, and specifically, the small star in the upper right corner. "Here we have perfect alignment, and Good spanning the upper grid. See the charger here, and how he offers his apple?" She peered closer at the card and saw that the unicorn did in fact have an apple upon it's horn. "He offers generously what you seek, and shows that your path is true, if a bit muddled by certain things."
"Like what?" She was genuinely confused. If everything in the line was good, then what could possibly get in the way?
"Well to start, there's The Carnival," he began, speaking of the card in the lower left. "It's showing in the evil past shows that a falsehood was cast upon you at an early age. Of what I'm unsure, but I can only assume that it will rear it's ugly head at some point. Next to that though," he started sounding nervous. Perhaps she wouldn't like it? "The Rabbit Prince is a representation of younger members of nobility, and it's placement denotes a... Less than favorable outlook of things."
There was no need to expound on that subject. She knew too well what that meant. It still stung that even a deck of cards was telling her this. She looked to the bottom right card, wishing to change the subject. "And that one?" She asked.
He looked at said card and replied, "The Foreign Trader deals with those who collect information, so it's placement may mean that the information you seek is could be misleading." She looked again at the card, but she could not read the name. It shifted before her eyes, and as she went to speak, she felt a spectral finger to her lips. She saw that the figure in the card, now a light skinned elven woman clad in yellow robes, also had a finger to her lips, along with three cards in hand.
Her mind blanked.
[? ? ? ?]
The world was dark. She floated there in the infinite black unknowing of where she was. She tried to speak, to call out, but there was nothing. As she looked, she spotted a blue butterfly flutter past her. It glowed, and a card, impossibly large appeared and separated into three, surrounding her. She heard a voice as the large cards circled her. "You cannot speak these things to your champion. It is another burden you must bear. Alone."
The cards spinning around her finally began to slow. Then they began to turn. The first showed a man running from an army of skeletal nightmares. In the air, a blood red sky and a blocked out sun. "Three are the trials you must face..." The Eclipse.
The next showed a dark plain and a scared man. He was being grabbed and dragged down by undead hands, rising to end him. "To gain access to the future, you must defy these Dark Fates." The Beating.
Finally was a picture of a dark swamp. Within the bog was a hand, desperately trying to reach out for three lights dancing above him. "For if these Fates come to pass, you and your world, may cease to exist." The Demon's Lantern.
"Never falter Louise Françoise, and your faith shall be rewarded." She felt a touch to her shoulder, but as she turned to look, she felt herself on solid ground, and light filled her vision.
[Classroom]
She hadn't said anything yet, eyes still downcast. *She must be thinking on these things* he hoped. He gathered the cards and placed them back in the deck, The Great Dreamer disappearing before he had a chance to collect it. "Of course it did," he muttered. He noticed some movement from his pink haired partner then. "You okay?"
"I... I think so," she answered, "or at least I will be." Just what was that place? So bizarre. Whatever it was, she figured she may have just met a deity from another world. Or was that maybe the falsehood cast on her? Founder, this was so confusing. She sighed, "so what now? Is there anything else to this?"
"No, not really," he answered. "The Harrowing, for good or ill, is a tool for guidance. All you need now is to reflect, and act." He shrugged his shoulders. "It's all a person can do."
She looked down at the desk solemnly before pushing herself up. "I... Need time to think," she said finally. "Please go to my next class and let them know I will not be in." She then moved to the door and left without another word.
The captain sighed. This had gotten far too complicated. Of course things couldn't just be simple. Though he remembered his own Harrowing over two years ago, and the mindset he had then. They were both right, they needed time. Louise especially.
With that, he placed the cards in the box, pushed them back where they belonged, and left to find her next class.
[Louise's Room]
To say that this experience complicated matters was an understatement. As Louise removed her cloak and sat at her desk, her thoughts turned to the things she had been told, and its alleged importance. It had only been two days now that she'd had her familiar, less than 24 hours really. How did things get from bad to worse like this.
Deep breaths. She needed to think things through. From everything Kamvex had told her, only the past was set in stone. Everything else was in flux, the future moreso. If there was in fact some other divine being that blessed her Harrowing...
"Founder, help me," she let out a large breath and put her head down on folded arms. It was all too much without even saying anything at all. If anyone found out that such a thing had happened, that some other god had possible influence on her, she'd be tried for heresy for sure. The way the church delt with such people was , unnerving to say the least. The Protestants could attest to that.
She didn't know how long she sat there, contemplating, over thinking and giving up, only to restart the cycle, before she was interrupted by a frantic knocking. From the position of shadows and the sun, it must've been mid afternoon. The knocking grew more desperate and there Yas now a young voice calling out. "Miss Vallière! Miss Vallière! You must come at once!"
The girl quickly grabbed her cloak before striding to the door. She opened it to reveal a busty dark haired maid a few inches taller than her. "What is so important, maid?"
She was hunched over, panted heavily before looking up at the petite noble, "Please, Miss Vallière! You must get to the Vestri Court and stop Mr Kamvex!"
She blinked and sighed heavily, beginning to shake. It had only been a few hours, what kind of trouble could her troublesome familiar gotten into?! She looked at the pile of laundry in the corner and pointed at it. "Grab the large coat, then follow me back to the court," she ordered.
[Vestri Court]
The two young women rushed down as quickly as possible to stop the slaughter they thought was about to start. To their horror however, it seemed like the duel had already started, and with it a crowd had formed. The two pushed through to a site neither wanted.
Kamvex, facing off against a Brass Valkyrie, shirt torn up an bleeding from several places, including the face. He was without a weapon and panting heavily. All the while, no one truly noticed...
But he was grinning madly.
AN: Hi. We're back again, once again. I do hope you all find this chapter intriguing. See you all next time!