Madison quickly grabs a hold of my bicep and begins squeezing intensely. I look over to see her staring at the Saint, unblinking. I choose to not say anything.

  “Why are you in a place like this?” Avis questions, his voice trembling and his hand shaking.

  “A place like this? How condescending of you. Every place under the protection of the Order is holy and magnificent. To think a man who believes himself so righteous could say such a think. Tsk Tsk.” Anthony slowly moves around Avis, who stands frozen unable to move, his body still trembling.

  As he makes his way around Avis, his eyes fall onto the book tightly clasped against Dardania’s chest.

  “You can keep it, it will probably better serve you.” He smiles and finally makes his way face to face with Madison. He towers over her, making her feel like a small child in comparison.

  His icy blue eyes lock with hers, neither of them blinking. He smirks, before finally raising his hands and slowly starts clapping.

  “Brava. You had done quite the job at hiding from us. You’ve been wanted for the destruction of Camp Sirius and The Devil almost captures you every time, and yet you continue to just slip past his shackles, quite a job well done.”

  His gaze shifts to me for a split second, and it feels as though he was looking right into my soul. Now that I have locked eyes with him, I can finally see what he looks like. The blue of his eyes doesn’t feel real. The blonde of his hair, too light. His essence, it was sinister. This man was classified as a Saint, but it was obvious standing in his presence that he was no saint. He looks back to Madison, she again tightens her grip on my arm.

  “The High Priestess. You think yourself a god, but you are nothing but a sinner. A sinner who shall be cleansed just like the rest.” Anthony takes a step back, never once breaking eye contact with Madison.

  “We will be seeing you.” Just like that, he’s gone. He disappears into thin air almost as if he had never been there in the first place.

  Madison lets out an exhale and immediately falls to her knees, tears flowing like twin rivers down her face. I shift my gaze over to Avis and Dardania. She is face to face with him and whispering something, but I couldn’t hear what was being said.

  That man was terrifying, there was no other way to put it. He was just straight up terrifying. I’ve been bullied my entire life and met some real characters, but I have never experienced anything like him before. If I felt like this, I could only imagine what Madison felt like. She had spent months at one of their camps, and he is the physical embodiment of the religion that ran it; so it must be hard.

  Madison may be hard on the outside but I imagine an experience like that has to be traumatizing and absolutely changes you down to your core. Avis had a similar reaction. Dardania seemed just as scared as me, but her reaction wasn’t as visceral as Avis. He completely froze up, I’ve never seen him do that before.

  Every time I’ve seen Avis in action, he has moved quickly and never seemed to make second guesses, but just now, he froze. He managed to speak, but even once the Saint passed him he didn’t move. He stayed frozen in the exact same pose, holding his knife up. That goes beyond fear.

  “We will meet you at the inn.” Dardania says gently while she grabs a hold of Avis’s hand and guides him towards the inn further in town.

  Madison and I sat on the stone steps at the front of the church, neither of us says a word. I merely sit and wait for her to be ready to leave.

  “There’s a mountain that ‘touches the sky’ named Atlas here. A little on the nose if you ask me.” Madison finally says. I look to her confused. That is entirely random.

  “There are names that are Babylonian, Egyptian, Sumerian, Greek and so much more. I can’t even count the number of similarities I have found, but all from the ancient world.” Madison continues.

  “Maia, Electra, and Taygete are all from the Pleiades constellation. Sirius is also a star and from mythology as well.” I add.

  “When I started noticing the similarities I thought maybe this entire world was just a figment of my imagination. Maybe I somehow just made it up and was dreaming, but I don’t think I could fathom the camp. I can’t even imagine what people faced during the Holocaust so to create something like that in my mind, I couldn’t even dream of it. That period of my life, no matter how much I didn’t want to believe it, proved that it was all real. I tried to find an answer as to why, but I never did. It felt like the more I found, the further I got from the reason for it.” Madison pauses and takes a deep breath. “They have the Death card.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  I whip around to look at her when she says that.

  “What?” I couldn’t believe it.

  “I think that was one of the reasons he came here. He wanted to say he knew who we were and that he was watching us. Secondly, he wanted us to know they had at least one card, which means they could have others.”

  “I…”

  The words get stuck in my throat. I didn’t know what to say, what do you mean they had a card? That they could have others? Don’t they think it’s a sin? So why would they just have a card like that? It doesn’t make any sense.

  “I…”

  “We should get to the inn. It’s starting to get late.” Madison gently taps me on the leg, stands up, and begins walking towards the inn.

  What does this mean if they have more of the Arcana? If that’s the case, what are the Arcana?

  ****

  “We have a destination!” Dardania throws up her hands excitedly. Madison grinning from ear to ear.

  “I’m sorry what?” Avis asks. He and I stand opposite of them. This is weird news to be slapped with first thing in the morning. Especially since the night before ended in a much more somber note.

  “I second that.” I mirror Avis.

  “Well, last night we started to read the book after the two of you went to bed. We haven’t gotten far, but it’s already a fascinating read.” Madison begins.

  “So, Lucias famously known as the Demon, didn’t found Tabathia alone. He journeyed all over the world in search of some truth and he met the Major Arcana along the way. With their help he founded Tabathia. So, if we follow his path, perhaps it will give us some answers.” Dardania explains, not once looking up from the book. Unsure if she was reading at the same time, if so, that’s impressive.

  “The first stop was in Enkidu, at least on this specific pilgrimage. Coincidentally, Dardania and I both have a similar acquaintance there. Which, I don’t know, feels a little bit like fate.” Madison sips her coffee as she practically glows.

  It feels a bit like whiplash to be honest. Last night everyone was reeling from coming face to face with the Saint and now these two look like they are on cloud nine.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t bite my tongue anymore. What the hell is going on?” Avis finally says as he begins drinking his morning coffee. He’s staring at the women intently, his eyes suspicious.

  “What are you talking about?” With that Dardania closes the book, places it in front of her and glares at her brother.

  “The Saint, this place, all of it. How can you two be in such a good mood?”

  “Several days ago I rescued two men from Maia who were about to be executed. In doing so I had to commit several atrocities. Atrocities that I would rather forget, but I can’t. When I look down at my coffee I can see their faces staring back at me. Is this the first time it’s happened? No, it happened before. We both know what I’m talking about Avis. As for our current journey, it’s kind of been chaos, so excuse me if I’m excited to learn something new about one of my greatest passions which also coincides with us having an actual direction moving forward. I didn’t realize that was such a crime.” Dardania crosses her hands over the book and stares down her brother.

  Madison and I both exchange a look, but know that’s probably wise to not say anything. Avis looks down for a moment and then back at Dardania.

  “That’s not what I mean Dee. I just—” Avis pauses, takes a deep breath. “I just don’t get it. That’s all.”

  Dardania stares at him, her gaze begins to soften. It shifts from frustration to sympathy.

  “The church burned down. The Order abandoned them, and yet… and yet they still choose to worship the Saint. I get there is nothing we can do, but I just don’t get it.” Avis sips his coffee, drawing into himself. He looks small.

  “Faith is complex. It’s not so simple as just believing in a passing fad. People latch onto it for a far deeper reason. Usually because they are looking for some kind of answers, direction, or understanding. Similar to how your sister looks to these mythologies to help her have a greater grasp of the world around her.” Madison takes over before Dardania even has a chance to answer.

  “I know. I know that, I just—” Avis starts but decides not to finish. Usually he looks much rougher, but right now, he just looks lost and broken. I think the history of this town coupled with the Saint just hit him in the exact wrong spot.

  “I wish we could help them. I wish we could help them see differently, but we can’t. I think religion often goes far beyond just what the religion does, but the mythology that people build up in their own minds about it. So, like this town, they don’t see it as being abandoned. They just see the attack on them by the Minor Arcana.”

  Avis just nods, he doesn’t respond. He continues to stare into his coffee, not saying a word. Dardania just watches him, obvious that she doesn’t know what to say to him either.

  “Let’s just start with Enkidu, one step in front of the other. It’s all we can do.” Dardania reaches out to Avis, takes his hand in hers. She cups his hand and rubs it lovingly. He smiles slightly.

  “You’ve been quiet this whole time.” Avis throws a sarcastic comment at me, almost knocking me out of my chair. Rude.

  “I’d rather not add to the existential crisis right now.” I mutter. Which is true.

  I’m still not over the fact that the Order has the Death card.

  It throws into question what the entire Major Arcana is.

  I’m not sure how to deal with that. So, just like Avis I’m a bit lost as well.

  “Sorry.” Avis says as he stands up and pushes his chair in and begins making his way towards the exit. Dardania and Madison down the rest of their coffee and quickly follow suit.

  “Did he just apologize to me?” I ask, completely shocked. This sarcastic brute of a man just apologized to me. Both the women look at me and say nothing and begin walking towards the exit. I quickly spin around in my chair and yell after them.

  “Did he just apologize to me?”