“Montgomery. Juneau. Phoenix. Little Rock. Sacramento. Denver. Hartford. Dover. Tallahassee.

  Tallahassee. Tallahassee. What comes after Tallahassee?”

  I repeat to myself, over and over again. Incessantly.

  I shift trying to get comfortable, but sleeping on top of dirt and rocks will never be comfortable.

  “What’s after Tallahassee?”

  I freeze. What comes after Tallahassee?

  Before I could stop it, tears began to run down my face. I try to wipe them away, but the mud caked on my hands just burns my eyes which causes me to cry even harder.

  “I’m from Georgia, I should know this. What is the capital? I have to remember. I have to remember.”

  No matter how hard I try, I can’t figure it out. I should know this! Am I losing my mind? Before that thought could sink it, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach as someone quickly kicks me.

  “Shut your mouth or we’re all dead!” A voice calls out from the shadows.

  I want to scream out in pain, but it’s useless. No one is there to hear my pleas, and if I make more noise someone will just kick me again.

  It wasn’t unique. People were far more concerned with their own survival than that of the others around them.

  I take a deep breath to dull the pain, and I slowly roll over to face the stars. I don’t know how, but I recognize at least two of them. It doesn’t make any sense, but at least it was something similar. Something from home. Something to hold on to, but it didn’t erase all the bad that had occurred since landing here.

  “Six months and seventeen days since I fell from the sky. Before that I lived in Augusta, Georgia. I was studying to be a Graphic Designer. I enjoyed singing, and dancing, and going shopping with my friends. My parents names were Jean and Trevor. I had two brothers, their names were Derrick and- and-“

  I go to gasp, but quickly shove my hand over my mouth. It is shaking uncontrollably.

  What was his name?

  He is my brother.

  I have known him my entire life.

  He’s my brother.

  My blood, how could I just forget—

  “Repeat your life’s story to yourself, everyday.” Whispered an old woman on my first week in this world. “If you repeat to yourself, you’ll never forget who you are. They will never make you forget. So, repeat it. Everyday.”

  And I have, I do. Every single day. I repeat it all. I can’t forget, I won’t.

  Except I have. As everyday goes by, there is a little less that I remember. Something small, some small detail. I try to hold onto all of it, but something always slips through the cracks.

  “After landing in this world, I was kidnapped. Taken to the Camp of the Unholy. Here, they cleanse the sinful so that we may return to the Light of the Creators. Six months and seventeen days.”

  As the sun climbed over the horizon, sunlight slowly began to fill the sky. It was time for another day to start. As the Clerics began to make their morning rounds, I slowly drag myself to my feet. I wanted to be at attention before they arrived for their morning sermon.

  “The Creator has abandoned the peoples. He took one look at our sinful ways and flew to the heavens to leave us mortals to suffer for our misdeeds. You have been brought here to be cleansed. To have your sin washed from you so that we may all return to the Creators and once again live in their embrace. Now, confess your sins!”

  The two clerics, clad in white robes drifted through the camp, one by one having each of the prisoners confess their sins. If they refused to confess, they would be sent to be cleansed.

  Though, when someone was cleansed they would never return. No one knew entirely what it meant, they just assumed it wasn’t good.

  Back home, the camps that I knew of, I had an idea what being cleansed meant. I never wanted to utter those words out loud though, because if I did, I don’t think I could come back from that.

  Men, women, and children lined the camp, waiting for the Clerics to come to them. Each of them nothing more than skin and bone, barely able to support the weight of their own body.

  The Clerics didn’t feed the prisoners very much, lest they become gluttonous.

  “Confess your sin.” The Cleric demanded as he approached me.

  I didn’t respond, I just stared at him.

  “Confess your sin.” He demanded again, this time more stern. I recoil slightly.

  He looked down at me, his face dripping with disgust.

  “Atlanta, the capital is Atlanta and his name is Aaron. Aaron.” I manage to choke out, pushing it past the lump in my throat. I remembered, I remembered his name. A slight smile begins to form, I can’t help it.

  “Six months and eighteen days.” I mutter.

  “You were warned.” The Cleric said, tapping his staff onto the ground and I instantly fall to my knees.

  I don’t know what he was doing but ever nerve in my body was on fire. It felt as though something was slithering just beneath my skin rapidly running from my head to my feet and back again. I held my breath hoping it would ease the pain, but nothing did. I started to feel myself losing consciousness when it finally stopped.

  “Confess your sin.” He demanded again. The pain stopped for a brief second before resuming. As the breeze began to blow, it felt like lightning against my skin. I wanted to scream out but I couldn’t move. Whatever he was doing to me has caused my entire body to seize up.

  “I- I- I had a relic of the sinful city. I am a heretic.” As soon as the words escaped my lips, the pain ceased.

  I knew he had stopped, but part of me felt like he was still doing the spell. It felt like it lingered just underneath my skin, but it’s probably just in my head. I think that’s the point.

  “Confess your sin.” One by one, he walked down the line having each person confess their sin. Only one person refused to confess and they were taken away to be cleansed.

  As the Clerics left, Acolytes came out carrying food. Well, it would be more accurate to call it slop. To call it food would be to call a corpse a living being.

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  The people rushed the slop, trampling over each other for the chance to get even the tiniest bit.

  I watched on as if I was watching lion massacring a single zebra.

  The Clerics and Acolytes will inevitably laugh later and state that this proves that the prisoners are gluttonous. The reality was they weren’t even receiving the bare minimum and were starving. So any chance at food made them act like animals. Animals hunting their prey on the prairie and not even food to feed the entire pride of lions. They were the farthest thing from gluttonous.

  During my time in the camp, I have been able to deduce a bit about this world. For several thousand years, the Order of the Saint had a strangle hold on the world at large. A Church so powerful that even the mightiest of rulers would bow to them. It was a story that sounded eerily familiar; similar to that of the Church of England and the Catholic Church, but I imagine there is more to the story than just a simple religion.

  Several of the prisoners had told me various myths about the founding of the Order, each one referencing some city called Tabathia and this man who was dubbed, ‘The Saint’. I didn’t have any idea whether it was history or just simply myth. Chances are it was a mixture of both. But, I’m almost positive that it all has something to do with the High Priestess card I found back in Augusta.

  Prior to coming to this world, I had been lost for sometime. After high school, I had no idea what direction my life was heading. I was studying to be Graphic Designer, but wasn’t sure if it was something that I truly wanted to do. Something just felt off. Not quite right with my life. Like any normal person suffering an existential crisis, I sought out religion and spirituality. The problem with that though, I was a skeptic. I didn’t believe in religion and it would take scientific proof for me to belief in anything even remotely outside of the ordinary.

  I figured I would ignore the big religion and just focus on the metaphysical, and all things dubbed ‘New Age’. Which in the end, usually just meant Wiccan or Pagan. Somehow a religion based in the old ways was deemed new, which didn’t make any sense. Either way, this was what lead me to a new book store on Broad St in downtown Augusta. Pretty much like ever other New Age bookstore, it looked mostly like a scam. The iconography couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be Greco-Roman or Eastern. Whether it followed the mindset of the Celtics or Hinduism. Whoever owned the store didn’t seem to have any actual concept in the difference between these belief systems and religions. The plus side though was that their books generally tended to be extremely broad.

  After stumbling through the beaded front entrance, I immediately noticed a card sitting on the floor in front of me, the High Priestess card. I immediately picked it up and tried to alert an employee.

  “Hello, one of your tarot cards is on the floor up here.” I yelled out as I waved the card over my head trying to get someone’s attention. Except, no one came. It only took a few seconds before it felt like the ground had opened up and swallowed me whole. The next think I knew I awoke in a crater just outside the Church of Sirius, which looked more akin to a city than an actual church. Surrounding the crater were a group of Acolytes and Clerics. The rest, they say, is history.

  Six months and seventeen days since that day. Each day was exactly the same. Wake up, confess sins, watch slaves fight over food, work, sleep, and repeat the next day. The ones who were lucky actually got sold off to a wealthy land owner, or ruler. The slightly less lucky ones got to work in the church, and the ones who suffered the most were the ones who continued working in the camps.

  The camps didn’t serve any function but to punish the sinful and ‘cleanse’ them; the ones they deemed too sinful to function in society properly.

  Six months and seventeen days, and I felt as though I was about to break.

  “Learn the laws of the world, and then learn to break them.” An old woman muttered to me one morning six months ago. I stared at the woman confused, as we cleaned a rock that would just have mud thrown back on it the following day.

  “To know the laws of the world are to connect with the world.” She muttered the next morning as they yet again cleaned the rock covered in mud. I still had no idea who this woman was or what she was even saying. But over the next six months, this old woman continued telling me these strange things. Eventually I realized this woman was teaching me the philosophy behind magic. This philosophy led to theoretical practice of magic.

  “We’ve been waiting for your arrival for a long time. When the moment comes, don’t

  miss it.” These were the last words the woman uttered to me before she would be cleansed the next day. I never got her name, or her story, or who she was, but this woman changed my life forever. If what she was saying was true, I should be able to use magic.

  “She claimed she was from a secret organization called the Minor Arcana. Apparently their purpose was to rid the world of the Order of the Saint, and ready the world for the return of the Arcana and Tabathia. But it’s all just myth.” Another prisoner told me the day following the older woman’s cleansing.

  “Minor Arcana.” I mumbled to myself. I didn’t know much about tarot, but

  I knew that the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana were the face cards and numbered cards. That had to have meant something.

  “The High Priestess card.” That was thing that brought me to this world, so it had to be the key to getting out. The High Priestess is the head of a coven, so maybe it will give me power. All I can do is try.

  One of the clerics who was there the day I crashed carried the card in his belt. If I could just get it back from him, I know I can escape. The next day, during confession, that’s when I’ll do it.

  The entire night, I couldn’t sleep. I just replayed her plan over and over again in my head. Normally at night I would recite my life, but not this night. I was too anxious and thinking back on my life was just a distraction. Just a way to forget what was happening right in front of my eyes. But tonight, I didn’t want to forget, I didn’t want a distraction. I wanted to remember all of it, because that suffering is what I’m going to use to make my way out of here.

  As the sun began to rise and the Clerics came around, I began to visibly tremble.

  Other people nearby started to notice and became paranoid. If the Clerics saw me acting this way, they would think an escape was about to be attempted. I tried to steady my breath, but was struggling to do so. As I inhaled, the cold air burned my lungs.

  “Calm down.” Now was not the time to be scared. Now was the time to strong. Now as the time to be sure of myself. I wasn’t sure if Graphic Design was the path for me, but that didn’t matter anymore. In fact, all the stress of it seemed silly compared to my current circumstances. Any past confusion was lost. In this moment, I had to be one hundred percent sure of what I was about to do. Doubt wasn’t an option. That old women spent that last moments of her life making sure I could make it out of here, and I couldn’t let her down. I couldn’t let her death be in vain.

  “Confess your sins.” The Cleric said as he approached me. In that moment I was steady as stone, Slowly raised my gaze until it landed on the card in his belt. It was just a few feet from me, and with one swift move I could grab it. I know I can do this. No confusion. Only this moment. I can do it.

  I raised her gaze to meet the eyes of the Cleric, my face stern.

  I took a deep breath and uttered the words.

  “I confess to my sin of destroying the Church of Sirius.” With a swift move, I raised my hand and grasped the card in his belt. The Cleric and Acolytes moved to stop me but the moment my fingers touched the card a shockwave ripped through the camp. The moment my fingers landed on it, I could feel the power rushing through my veins. In that moment, it felt like I was connected to the entire universe and I could do anything if I just willed it. It was like discovering a new way to view the world and express it. Physics was language centered in math that described how the universe functions. Magic, felt much like that, just another way to describe the world, and manipulate it to your will.

  As the Cleric slammed to the ground, I stood over him, card in hand.

  The High Priestess had finally emerged.

  As more Clerics and Acolytes rushed towards me, it’s as if they ran into an invisible barrier and were thrown through the air. As they slammed to the ground, I could help but to smile.

  “You’re all free!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I walked towards the entrance of the camp, destroying everything I passed until nothing was left standing except for my fellow prisoners.

  As I passed through the gates, leaving the Church of Sirius and into freedom I immediately collapsed and fell to my knees. Just as quickly as the power came rushing in, it felt as though it was leaving me. My body immediately felt weak to the point that I could even hold myself up.

  Two people stepped up on each side of me and raised me to my feet.

  “You’ve exhausted yourself. You need to take a break.” One of the men said as he tried to help me. I tried to fight him off of me, but I didn’t have the strength to do so.

  “No, not until his fucking church is burned to the ground.” I screamed, tears burning my eyes. All the emotions came falling down upon me at once. Every bit of pain and suffering that I had faced over the last six months all hit at one time. I writhed, trying to break away from the men holding me.

  “I have to stop them. I have to kill them all. They deserve to pay.” I screamed through the tears, my voice horse. My body hanging limp.

  “They will pay, just not now. You need to get your strength back.” The other man said.

  After a few moments, I finally was able to compose myself.

  The man was right, I couldn’t do this right now, and I couldn’t do it alone. I needed to find the rest of the Arcana, and take down this church. Destroy every single inch of it until nothing was left.

  “Who are you?” One of them asked.

  “I’m the High Priestess, and I will bring the Order of the Saint to their knees.”