Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt: Reading Four – Welcome to the Sphere

Liss's eyes darted from the strangely-garbed woman to where her sword had landed during her fight with the vampire, a good hundred yards apart. Thena tightened her grip on her own weapons but stayed perfectly still, betraying nothing.

"You think you can take me? You obviously weren't watching just now when I wasted that vampire," Liss said, trying to get some kind of reaction she could gauge from her new opponent. Her arms were feeling heavy already from the last fight, and any advantage she could get was something. But Thena was as still as a statue, her eyes locked on Liss. At least, she assumed they were. What kind of idiot kept their eyes covered in a fight?

Then Liss broke and ran for her sword. Thena jumped, somersaulted in the air and landed in front of the fallen weapon. A ribbon of white light crossed Liss's vision and then sparks erupted from her chestplate. Liss was still processing that she'd just been slashed when another streak of light came and that time sparks flew from the lens over her left eye. Had to move faster or the next one was going to go straight through her head!

Liss feinted hard to her left and as soon as Thena made a move that way Liss jumped the other. She sailed through the air toward the wall of the school, right toward a window on the second floor, and crashed through it. A few screams went up, and she wasn't surprised to see the students who'd been in there huddled against the wall. Probably had been as soon as the vampire started drumming the wall with her head.

She ran at the door to the classroom and jump-kicked right through it. There was another collective scream behind her, no doubt Thena wasn't wasting any time coming after her. Liss shouldered the door to the room across the hall aside and dove over the heads of the students hiding in there, through another window. As soon as she'd cleared the edge, she turned and dug her fingers into the bricks as hard as she could to arrest her fall. The second she saw Thena come through the window frame after her, Liss thought of the electric whip she'd used before and it sizzled into being from the blade on her wrist. Liss snapped it as hard as she could at Thena.

The whip bit into Thena's shoulder and she clenched her teeth, but made no sound and didn't flinch from the attack. She arced over Liss's head but held out one sword and dragged the tip down the back of Liss's armor as she fell. Liss screamed and let go, freefalling for a terrible second before she felt the ground come up and slam into her, knocking the breath from her lungs.

As fast as she could, Liss rolled onto her stomach and got her legs underneath her. But having her blood sucked coupled with all the bashing around was quickly taking its toll on her. She was just getting up when Thena cried, "Grasp of Justice!" and Liss was yanked off her feet by a giant transparent shape in the form of a hand and toward Thena. Before Liss could even think of defending herself Thena slashed her across the chest again, cutting deep into her scarred armor.

But hell if Liss was going down without a fight. With all her flagging strength she swung her fist with the bladed bracelet at the side of Thena's head. There was a clang and Thena's head jerked to one side, and the hand holding Liss faded away. Desperately she pressed her attack with a desperate upward slash with the blade up Thena's chest. That time sparks flew from her body, and Liss grabbed for her opponent's wrists and slammed them together, trying to force Thena to drop those damned swords. Once, and her fingers loosened. Twice, and her right hand opened and actually let the weapon go. Third, and…

Thena's foot swung up and smashed into Liss's face. For a second everything turned red, and by the time Liss could see again Thena held her remaining sword high. "White Blade of Fury!" Thena cried, and as she did her weapon erupted with white flame. She slashed it with all her might down Liss's chest, and Liss screamed with pain as the blow sent her flying.

"You aren't the slightest bit worthy of the power you carry, outsider!" Thena shouted.

With the last bit of her energy, ignoring the sparks fountaining off every piece of her armor and the bolts of jagged energy shooting from the buckle, Liss managed to drag herself to her feet. "Strato…Kick…" she gasped out, then took a faltering run and jump-kicked at Thena.

With much greater grace and force, Thena ran toward Liss and launched a jump kick of her own. "Libra Kick!" she yelled, her scream almost shaping into a smile. They collided, and there was an explosion that ripped chunks from the school wall fifteen feet away.

Thena waved away the smoke from the blast, scanning in all directions for her nemesis. She just missed Liss, armor gone, clothing torn and bleeding in eight places, crawling behind the corner of the school building and clutching the buckle to her chest. She didn't stop after getting out of sight, and especially didn't stop as Thena gave a frustrated cry.

Back and forth Thena looked, trying to find the buckle and card. She peered into shattered classroom windows, eliciting choruses of panicked screams as she looked for the items. But she could detect no trace of their power, even dormant. She screamed with frustration again, knocked a hole in the wall of the school with one punch, and the air around her blurred before she vanished from sight.

It was a long time before Liss stumbled out of the shed where she'd been hiding once she managed to get away from campus. She limped two blocks to the Sandy Burger on the corner. She was feeling faint after everything that had happened to her, and the thought of food, even something as greasy as a fast food burger, was the only thing on Liss's mind.

When she got inside the door the flatscreen in the back was playing the news, with a picture of a one-story house. "Claude Sanchez was found dead in his home by a friend this afternoon. Sanchez was a vice principal at Samuel Archer High School. Neighbors who knew him say he was a hard-working man and on the neighborhood watch. At present, police have declined to release any details concerning the cause of Sanchez's death."

Yeah, Liss thought, they're not saying anything because a vampire sucked him dry. "Hey," she called out to the girl behind the counter, who looked back at her nervously. "Could I get a Double Sandy Burger, a medium drink and some Sandy Nuggets?"

"Sure," the girl said, eyes still darting around, only relaxing a little after Liss handed over her money. The girl slid the receipt and a red and white cup across the counter to her. "Order number thirty-four."

"Thanks," Liss said, and stepped into the restaurant's tiny bathroom. She'd never been one to care much about makeup or flawless hair, but she took a few minutes to wash the blood and grime from her fight off and try to straighten her hair as much as she could.

For a minute she inspected the girl with the unkempt black hair, torn jacket and jeans looking back at her in the mirror. She wondered what it might be like if she was the kind of girl who cared so much about making her reflection as good as it could be. If things different, if she and her family hadn't started fighting. She wouldn't be picking fights at school, that was for sure. Or starting things with the faculty, and hanging around people like Ben Corland.

Would she have a normal boyfriend, think about her looks and have a shelf full of pink teddy bears in her room? If so, she probably would've run screaming when a knight and a giant spider appeared out of thin air in front of her. No, she probably would've been daydreaming in the back of class instead of skipping that day completely…

Not that it mattered now, she thought as she pulled the buckle out and sat it down on the counter next to her. The crystal ball seated in it was cracked down the middle, and the front of the sword card was singed black. They'd made her so powerful, but now they were just pieces of junk.

Barely aware of what she was doing, Liss fished her phone out of her back pocket. The screen was cracked all to hell, but still responded enough for her to dial her home phone number. Nobody answered, even though her mom was usually home by then. As the voice mail recorder started, she heard herself say, "Mom, dad, it's Liss. I know we never talk to each other anymore, we never listen to each other anymore. But I have to tell you about something that happened to me today…you've probably heard about some kind of terrorist attack or something at the school. I'm not kidding, they were after me. I'm not making it up, I'm not freaking out and imagining things. They might come after you too. Please, go somewhere safe. I don't know who it is and I don't know how long they'll keep looking for me or if they'll come after you, but I'll figure something out for myself." She hung up.

A scream came from outside, and Liss hurriedly grabbed the buckle and card before looking around for another way out of the bathroom, but there was no window and only a tiny air vent. Slowly she pulled open the door…

…and looked up and froze, only faintly aware of the cold feeling on her arm. The girl behind the counter was ALL THE WAY behind the counter now, cowering on the floor by one of the fryers in the back. Liss didn't entirely blame her, because standing in the middle of the restaurant was a man who looked like he was on the way to a Renaissance Festival. He had on a green Robin Hood hat (what were those really called?) atop his blond pageboy haircut. His outfit consisted of a green and black checked tunic, white pants and yellow leather shoes what curled out slightly at the toes. Over one shoulder he had a hobo stick with a blue bundle dangling from the end. He had a subdued little smile on his face and maintained a respectful distance.

"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" Liss asked.

"I'm known by many names, but the one I've been called the most often is Jack. I come on behalf of a friend who can't come himself," he replied, calm and confident.

Liss eyed him speculatively. "Yeah well, no offense but I haven't run into hardly anybody in the last day who didn't want to kill me."

Jack fished into his bundle and palmed something. "Perhaps a token of my goodwill…?" he said, holding up a thin rectangular object. It was a card, like her ruined sword one, but dark green and with a gold circle with a five-pointed star on the inside. Jack held it out for her to take, which she did.

"I don't think this is gonna do me any good," Liss said.

"I'm aware," Jack replied. "But the friend I represent can help with that, if you'd like to continue the adventure…" He offered his hand to her.

"What about my food?" At that the girl behind the counter scrambled for a spatula and flipped two patties still on the grill. With trembling hands she pulled out a pair of buns and finished Liss's double burger and put all the greasy delights into a bag. Then as fast as she could she skittered to the back of the food prep area again.

"I believe we're making the young lady nervous," Jack said with a hint of a smirk. "Shall we be off Miss…Liss, wasn't it?"

Liss looked at him, still uncertain, but then grabbed her food and Jack's outstretched hand.

And then they were gone.

As soon as she saw where she was, Liss sucked in a panicked breath and held it. She looked over at Jack, who looked back with a smile and made a show of sucking in a breath and letting it go again.

They were drifting through a black void with stars or something looking very like them drifting past, but in just a second there was a flash of light in front of them Liss saw a giant transparent ball. Inside were a series of disc-shaped layers one above the next, and on them Liss could make out desert plains, fields of yellow grass, mountains, towns and even oceans and lakes that for some reason didn't drip down to the levels below. Piercing through the layers were long spikes of blue and white crystal at sharp angles, but weirdest of all was how the layer in the center had a circular hole in the middle where a large blue orb with patches of green hovered, and two balls of shining light and a white crescent-shaped object drifted around slowly.

"Welcome to the Sphere!" Jack laughed. "A strange place, but a world of adventure, as you outsider-folk say!"

"Where are we going?" Liss asked.

"As I said, to meet a friend! Hold tight now, Miss!" They flew toward the outer edge of the Sphere near the middle layer and Liss gasped and held her free arm up in front of her face, but only felt a rippling that started at her head and pass down her body before stopping at her feet. As it did the feeling of flying started to die away and the ground came closer. They were over a range of dusty hills, and coming to a low spot between a few of them with a few dead trees the only thing breaking up the view. Liss and Jack landed in the middle of them, Liss with a couple rough staggering steps.

"Come on, we're almost there," Jack said and walked over to the side of one of the hills, but instead of going up it he walked straight through the side and disappeared. Taking a deep breath, Liss followed and found herself in a small cave with a rock formation in the middle that was flat on top like a table. A weird green light came from the roof of the cave, Liss feeling cold on her arm again as it did. "I've brought her, Shardak, as you asked," Jack called out.

"As if I need you to tell me!" replied a wizened voice. The green light from the roof suddenly seeped down and collected over the table, forming itself into the face of an old man with a long, thick beard and wearing a hood. "Hello, young lady," he said, and it took Liss a second before she recognized his voice as the one that had told her the names of her powers during her fights. "I'm sure you have many questions."

Liss pulled out the buckle and sword card, and set them on the table. "Why don't we start with the obvious ones? What are these, and who are you?"

Shardak smiled faintly at such a response. "A good place to start, I suppose. Jack and what's left of me are two of a race of creatures who call ourselves the Arcana. Long ago we came into being, to guide and guard the people of the Sphere, I would think."

"You think?" Liss asked, and Jack chuckled before taking a seat on the edge of the stone table.

Jack smiled. "The truth is, Miss, even we're not sure where it is the Arcana came from, and why," he explained. "One day we were just here, not knowing why, and eventually we found out about the rest of our kind. For the most part we've done our best to guide and guard, as Shardak said, the people of the Sphere. That being where we are now, of course."

That sounded like the start to a big explanation to Liss, who sank to the floor and bit into her hamburger. Finally a little strength started to return to her aching body. Shardak watched her for a second, then cleared his throat and continued. "Quite. For some time the people needed little protection, though, the Sphere having few creatures that could endanger them, and the people being hearty warriors themselves. We were mainly tasked with gathering knowledge, helping the peoples develop new settlements and exploring the world beyond ours…well some of us did. A few outsiders even made it to the Sphere, and claimed they were able to see visions of the future through some kind of divination medium we inspired. Jack, what did they call it?" Beneath his beard Liss thought she saw one side of his mouth curl up in a smirk.

"Tarot, I believe," Jack said, quickly and sourly. He pulled a book with a blank blue cover out of his bundle and flipped it open.

"Not fond of the name they gave him," Shardak whispered with a wink, then looked down at the buckle and a smoky green hand formed out of the light comprising him. The index finger pointed and a beam lanced from the tip that traced along the crack in the dome, closing the crack as it went.

Liss regarded them silently for a second, wondering at the craziness she was hearing before pointing to the buckle. "And what about that? Where'd it come from?"

"I'm getting to that," Shardak said placatingly. "As I said, some of the Arcana visited your world but mostly we kept to our own. The four tribes flourished, and there was hardly a corner of the Sphere they hadn't settled-"

"But then," Jack interrupted, smirking, "THEY came…"

"That is NO laughing matter, Jack," Shardak rebuffed him. "But he's correct, after some centuries a group of strange, powerful beings that echoed the creatures from legends in your world appeared. Their abilities equaled ours, and for all our immortality the Arcana could be hurt, even killed by them. Most of us retreated to our cities to have our backs against the wall with our allies as fought them. We called them the Mythos, and the Fate Driver was my attempt to let the members of the four tribes aid us in standing against them."

Jack snapped his book closed and stood up. "Ah, but that cost you among the rest of us, eh Shardak? You have to understand, Miss, the Mythos appearing was a great shock to the Arcana, and different groups of thought sprang up as the fight with the Mythos worsened. There were quite a few of us who weren't in favor of creating more beings with the power to equal ours.

"But I get ahead of myself. The rulers of each tribe had an object that was a symbol of their right to lead, you see. Shardak here was one of the strongest of us, and knew a few tricks when it came to things with supernatural powers…he turned them into cards like the ones you used to fight those Mythos before, and my little enticement to come back here. The hope was for each of the four tribes to be able to appoint a champion to help fight back the Mythos. That was, until the strongest of them came along before more than one Fate Driver could be finished. Shardak hasn't exactly been the same since…"

"That's even LESS of a laughing matter!" Shardak snapped, then sighed. "However, as you've seen, Miss-"

"Liss," she said.

"Liss, as you've seen, the Mythos have returned recently. If you're willing, you could be a great help to us as a new Tarock," Shardak said. As he did he waved his hand to indicate the crack in the buckle, the Fate Driver, had finished mending.

"Oh yeah?" Liss replied. "Not that I don't think I couldn't handle those monsters, but don't you guys have people for that? That psycho bitch with the swords…"

Jack smiled strangely. "That's more or less the point. The last time the Mythos attacked, most of the Sphere's people retreated into the primary territory of the two empires we have here, Mazones and Avalon. They've just begun to have the courage to settle outside again, and we're afraid that after spending so long inside city walls having the Arcana responsible for their protection, the Mythos's reappearance will only make that dependence worse. If a new Tarock were to have success driving back the Mythos, though, it's our hope that the four tribes could be reinvigorated. Take up arms themselves again. We tried that with someone from here, but, well…you know what happened to him even better than we do."

Liss them with disbelieving eyes. "Wait, you guys have been watching me since yesterday, right? That's how you told me what to do in the fights…and you think I'm the big hero you've been waiting for?"

"Why not?" Shardak answered as if it were a stupid question. "You're strong and confident. Clearly you aren't content to let anyone shape your destiny but yourself. The temper leaves something to be desired, but…" He trailed off, probably not sure how to finish that sentence in a way that wouldn't make Liss mad. His spectral hand lifted the scorched sword card, and he frowned. "It's going to be a bit longer before the Swords Card is usable again…"

Liss couldn't help feeling a little reassured to hear Shardak saying it could be fixed. "So you said there's four tribes, and there's a card for all of them? Where's the other two?"

With a sigh, Shardak set the card down again and held up his ghostly hands to tell her to wait. "Consider what you've heard before agreeing. There others among the Arcana who will distrust you and even try to kill you, as you've already seen. If you accept, there will be further conflicts, and we beg you not to enter into this lightly."

With that, Jack stood up and handed Liss the Fate Driver. "Think on it, Liss. That's all we ask." After Liss tucked the driver back into her jacket he led the way back outside before offering Liss his hand, which she took. Then they were flying off again toward the black void beyond the wall of the Sphere. There was only a single point of light that grew closer and until everything went white, and they were standing in a tiny park Liss recognized as being not too far away from her school.

"Think on it, Liss," Jack reminded her, and turned to depart.

"Wait! How'm I supposed to get back if I say yes?" she asked.

"The Fate Driver will show the way," he replied, and smirked. "Although you might find it more…stylish to find something to channel it through. Oh, I nearly forgot. Close your eyes."

She did. "Try anything and I'll break your arm," she warned, though.

"Perish the thought," Jack answered before she felt him place his palm on her forehead and a sudden wave of warmth passed through her body, lingering for a few seconds on her closed eyes before Jack released her.

"What did you do?" Liss asked when she opened her eyes and everything looked the same.

He smirked and turned on his heel before walking away, hobo stick slung over his shoulder. "You'll see when you inspect your new prize, Liss," he said. Then he walked off, his form getting blurrier with every step, until he was gone.

Curious, Liss did as he said and pulled out the new card he'd given her. On the front it was the same as she'd seen with no new surprises, but she flipped it over and there on the back were lines of weird, alien symbols.

And she could understand them…

Peace. Thena knew what was coming, but she was at peace as she sat on the floor of her chamber in the palace of Mazones.

Dearly she loved her empress and the empire itself, but that cabinet session with the other Arcana had just reinforced her certainty that often a consensus couldn't be reached on even something as dire as the bane of their kind resurfacing. No, if anything was going to be resolved, it almost always took a single person willing to take that ever-so daring first step and make the problem their personal responsibility. Fools as well as cowards, did they want to be facing danger that could threaten even the likes of them on two different fronts?

She could hear the sound of quick, apprehensive footsteps approaching and put her helmet back on before her privacy was disturbed. In another moment the door creaked open. "Dame Thena," a servant whispered, "the empress is ready to receive you."

"I'm coming," she said, and followed him out of her chamber. He hurried along, clearly not eager to be caught between two of the most powerful Arcana with what was obviously coming. When they were outside the empress's private rooms, he opened the door for her and as soon as Thena was inside shut it and bolted down the hall.

Maeve's chambers were richly decorated with pictures and ornate statuary, but the only light in the room to see anything by came from the fireplace in the sitting room outside her bedroom. She was sitting in her high-backed chair, watching the front door as Thena arrived. "Do you realize what you cost me, today?" she said coldly.

Thena bowed deeply. "I acted only in the interests of the empire, my lady. It was clear the others were capable only of bickering amongst themselves, while the danger facing Mazones was only doubling. I tried to show them decisive action is our best hope."

The empress clutched the arm of her chair and the wood cracked. "You made a fool of me in front of the few Arcana who are willing to offer their aid to us in any form by running off like that. We may have lost them completely. Have you anything to show for your display?"

"I may not have killed Tarock, but I have crippled the Fate Driver."

"Hrrrmm. You underestimate Shardak," Maeve said dubiously.

"Shardak is dead," Thena replied. "It's time his legacy joined him."

Dust fell from the ceiling and the stones shook, but all at once Maeve feel back into her chair and sighed. "Thena, you're like my own daughter. If anyone's going to turn against me, don't let it be you."

Slowly, Thena rose and approached Maeve, and gently put her hand on her ruler's shoulder. She whispered, "Never. Your disappointment scares me so much more than your power, I only did what I did for the sake of the empire."

"I know…," the empress whispered.

The knock was quick and just soft enough for the apartment's occupants to hear. For a minute there was no answer, and Liss hoped she hadn't timed things so Paige was in the shower. But then the door slid open just a crack, the chain lock jangling. "Liss?" a woman asked.

"Hi, Kelly," Liss said with a weary smile. "Is Paige home yet?"

The chain came off and Liss slipped inside the apartment. It was nothing fancy, with mostly secondhand furniture and electronics. "Not yet, but she called and said she was on her way a little while ago," said Kelly, who was a skinny young woman with dazzling blue eyes and pale red hair. "Liss, I heard there was a bombing or something at a high school today…was it the one you go to?" Although Liss's disheveled appearance was a telling answer by itself.

"Yeah, it was, and that's why I need to talk to Paige ASAP. She knows why it really happened," Liss said.

Kelly fidgeted. "Look, Liss, I don't want Paige getting mixed up in terrorist stuff…"

"I'm not the one who did it, they were after me! Because of this!" Liss produced the Fate Driver and held it up for Kelly to see.

"What's all the yelling about? Is my punkass kid sister in there?" someone from outside called, and then Paige walked in. "What's wrong, Liss? More of those monsters come after you?"

Kelly gaped. "You KNOW about this?"

"Only since yesterday," Paige said defensively, but the edge to her voice trailed off at the end, Paige clearly not blaming Kelly for the withering look she was getting. "What is it, Liss?"

"It is sort of about the monsters, yeah. But there's these other guys who made the stuff I use to change…they want me to go save the world. Their world. Because they're from a different one," Liss explained.

Paige arched her eyebrow and look down at Liss. "And what does that have to do with me?" she asked.

"We need to finish fixing that bike after all. To save the world," Liss grinned.

Once again the light of Shardak's hidden sanctuary came together to form his face as he sensed he wasn't alone. The familiar outline of a wiry man carrying a hobo stick over one shoulder approached, and the old wizard relaxed. "Do you think she'll accept, Jack?" he asked.

The wanderer set down his stick and leaned against the wall before looking up at Shardak uncertainly. "Likely, but let me ask you, do you really think she's the one we want?"

"I don't see that there's time to hope otherwise," Shardak sighed. "We need to turn things around and we need to start now. The Mythos are multiplying dangerously, and after Owan's desperate little ploy I'm worried they might well be interested in the world outside as well."

"You really think so?"

Again Shardak sighed. "See for yourself," he said, and then the image of his bearded face swirled and was replaced by a scene of the yard behind Samuel Archer High School, where an inhuman shape was already starting to coalesce…

Next time on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…

Paige: Is this really what you want out of life, Liss?

(Paige and Liss toil on the motorcycle)

Liss: I get the feeling it's too late to back out.

(A shadowed Mythos with a long tail curved over its head stares out from a rainy alley)

Female Voice: Come to the Sphere, outsider. Become the emblem of Shardak's folly…

(Tarock assumes a new green-armored form, carrying a huge warhammer)

Narrator: Your fate is in your hands.

Hey everybody, thanks for sticking it out this long. I know Tarock's a departure from a great many standards of Kamen Rider, the most obvious of which being a female protagonist. Personally, I'd like to see this more often, maybe not as the headliner but not as the least prominent/least powerful character in the show as they tend to be when one shows up at all. Gaim's a step in the right direction.

Second, Liss isn't of the straight-up hero variety, and has an adversarial relationship with a lot of people in her life. The reason for that is I'm attempting a more drastic character arc than you usually see with the main characters of these shows. This isn't a story with a villain protagonist, promise, but it is one where I'm attempting a bigger change from start to finish, and maybe some more shades of gray than usual.

Third, there's, well, a prevalent third party to the story in the Arcana besides the rider and the Mythos themselves. Immortal, powerful, but far from infallible, which can make them even more dangerous. Based on the Major Arcana from a tarot deck, there are quite a few of them, but I promise to make an effort not to overwhelm readers. There'll be reminders of who's who and they won't show up a lot at a time. Bonus points if you can tell which cards the ones we've seen so far were based on.

Fourth, I'm getting the story's info page at Spectrum of Madness reorganized for the new version. Check it out sometime to see the current artwork for the series, and if you need any help keeping everything straight.

Fifth, when the Fate Driver makes its announcement of "Swords Suit," that isn't talking about the suit she's wearing, but the suit in the Minor Arcana of a tarot deck that it represents. But you knew that.

Also, Tarock's special attacks are codified: "Woe" is a weak special move, "Calamity" is a strong one, and "Dire Fate" are the strongest type consisting of finishing moves (including her Rider Kicks).

Thank you very much for giving an offbeat KR fic a look! Hope you'll stick around for more!

Finally, anybody catch the anime reference in this chapter?