“That was…” I didn’t quite know the words to describe what I just experienced.

  “Disappointing.” Madison filled in the blank for me. I think disappointed would be the perfect way to describe what we just witnessed. Like, why does this world have to keep letting me down? Did I somehow misremember all the anime I watched and all the main characters were disappointed constantly by their new world? Because this…. is disappointing. Like, that dude was not what I thought he would be.

  “He was an ass.” Madison said, seemingly finishing my thought. I nod, not saying a word. She is part of my inner monologue at this point. No point in responding I suppose since she is seemingly going through the rounds as well.

  Dardania stares at the two of us, blinking.

  “Who is an ass?”

  Madison and I both slowly turn toward each other, matching our gaze to one another. Telling her is probably not the best thing. Lucias is basically her hero, the man she looks up to. He is what allows her to dream of a better tomorrow and I’d rather not shatter that glass for her. So I’ll just keep my mouth shut and let Madison figure out how to deal with this. The floor is yours High Priestess.

  “Herc.” She says. Really? He’s the ass?

  “Herc?”

  “Herc. The Magician. The first Magician. The one who first held that title. That’s who, that was the ass.”

  “Really? Herc?” I turn towards her, hand on my hip. I’m ready to shake my head back and forth at this point. Like, why is my guy the bad guy. In truth it was the Demon. Maybe he was in fact the Demon.

  “Yep Herc. Shall we get back to the city. I’m sure everyone is waiting patiently for us. Let us get moving. There is a hike before us and the sun is going down. Let’s do it.” Madison gently pushes past Dardania and starts walking away.

  “What aren’t the two of you telling me?” Dardania asks after her. Madison slowly turns around, her mouth snapped shut. A grimace on her face. She takes a deep breath.

  “It’s not enough to know.” I interject. “It was merely a prologue. An introduction to our main character in the Tabathia myth. Not enough to truly see anything, so we don’t have the best opinion of him yet cause well… we haven’t had the chance to really meet him. Start of story. Lots to still learn. Still confused.”

  Silence.

  Awkward silence. See, I ramble and now it’s awkward. Also, where is Prisha, she has disappeared.

  “Makes sense. I didn’t imagine that you’d learn the whole story that quickly. I get it. It just felt like there was something you weren’t telling me. Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

  “Where’s Prisha?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

  “Went back to the city, don’t change the subject.” Dardania puts her hands on her hips, and now she is suspicious. Way to go genius, you’ve done it this time.

  “He’s right, we haven’t seen enough. The man we were just introduced to isn’t the same Lucias in the myth. He’s someone much much younger, and people change. Remember it’s a pilgrimage and what we saw, it hadn’t started yet.” Madison gave a much better explanation. It was the truth, not just a cover up. She should do the talking from now on, not me. I’m no good at this.

  Dardania chewed on that one for a while before finally speaking.

  “I get it. I wouldn’t be disappointed if he wasn’t exactly as I imagined. I think—” she pauses, carefully choosing her words. “I don’t think Tabathia was some utopia. That much is clear, otherwise it would still be standing. So if he isn’t what I expect, that’s okay. The myth, to me, is more important that who he truly was. The hope that he becomes, that matters more to me.” Dardania smiles gently before meeting our gaze, a tear in her eye.

  “Prisha’s back in the city. We should head back.”

  “You’re a better person than me.” I say as we begin walking back towards the city. “I don’t have the same level of hope that you do. I, on the other hand, assume that it can always get worse and probably will. So, I’ll let you do the hoping for me.”

  “Will do.”

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  ****

  What the fuck is going on here?As soon as we reach the city, it’s total chaos. The citizens are running around frantically in every direction. They are packing up their stalls and carts and quickly making their way inside.

  Bells echo throughout the city incessantly. The sound bounces off the buildings making it sound as though it’s coming from every direction. Prisha comes running up, grabbing ahold of Dardania.

  “We have to get out of here now, the Touched are here.” Prisha tries to pull at Dardania, but she doesn’t budge.

  “Where is my brother?”

  “I don’t know. As soon as I got back the bells started ringing. We need to get inside now.”

  “Where is my brother?”

  “We can’t worry about that right now, we have to run or they will find you too.

  The bell stops ringing and the entire city goes silent. You could hear someone walking across the city it was so quiet. In that moment, a voice booms through the city.

  “By the Order of the Saint, The Light Touched and The Death Touched hereby order the execution of Madison the High Priestess and Avis of Maia. All who stand in our way will be put to death.”

  Madison clasps her hands together and they begin to glow. As she pulls them apart her staff begins to appear in her hands. Slowly a warm light envelops her and her clothes turn into leather armor. She begins sprinting towards the town center.

  “Where is Avis?” Dardania shakes Prisha, her voice frantic. “Where is he?”

  “I— I don’t know.” Prisha stutters. Dardania pushes past Prisha and runs towards the city center after Madison.

  I don’t know what to do. How am I supposed to help? There isn’t anything I can do. I’m useless. Unlike Herc I’m pathetic. I’m no better than the Fool.

  “Stop!” I hear Dardania’s voice scream through the city. Before I knew what to do I was sprinting after her voice. My legs were propelling me forward of their own volition. I don’t know why I was running towards the danger, but I couldn’t help it. My body seemingly had a mind of it’s own.

  I come to screeching halt when I arrive at the city center. Madison and Avis stood face to face with two hooded figures. One cloaked in solid white standing in front of Avis, and the other in solid black before Madison.

  “Stop. It’s not him you want, it’s me. I was the one who did it. He is innocent.” Dardania pleaded, her voice cracking over every other word.

  “Dee shut your mouth.” Avis spat at her. His knife was drawn and he was in a defensive stance.

  “What?” the words just fall out of my mouth. “What is going on?”

  “The Death Touched in Black and The Light Touched in White.” Prisha said as she stepped up next to me.

  The Death Touch lowered his hood to reveal his face. He had solid white hair, white eyes, and white skin all on top of a very angular face. Contrasted to his white features he wore solid black armor. He slowly raised his hands, shackles appearing around his wrist. The chain falls towards the ground and through a small portal that appears. After a moment they stop descending and start moving in reverse. Slowly Apate from our encounter in Electra appears from the portal.

  “Apate.” Madison spits.

  “We meet again High Priestess.” Apate smirks as she licks her lips. “I’ve been waiting for this rematch.

  “How?” I ask, completely lost on to what is happening right now.

  “There.” Prisha points and motions towards something in the belt of the Death Touched, it was the Death Arcana card. So it appears one of the Arcana held by the Order is now here, this isn’t going to go well.

  The Light Touched removed her hood as well and throws her cloak to the side. Her long red hair was pulled back into a tight braid. Her eyes matched the color of her bright red hair. She was just as pale as the Death Touched, and just as creepy to look at. Something was very unsettling about the two of them. It was obvious they were human, but something about them just felt off. They didn’t quite feel human. They felt like something much more sinister.

  Slowly she reaches behind her back and pulls out a giant axe. It was double sided and stood just as tall as her. There was no logic on how she was carrying that on her back because it wasn’t visible until she grabbed it. She didn’t miss a beat and immediately dashed towards Avis at full speed.

  She raises the axe and swings it at Avis, he bends over backwards barely missing her swing by a few inches. He immediately snaps back up and swings his knife overhead going for her head. She uses the hilt of the axe and parries the attack, using that moment to flip the axe back around.

  Avis jumps back and resumes a defensive stance again. Meanwhile Madison and Apate are in an intense fight, neither of them taking the lead. The Death Touched just stands back and watches as he has Apate do his dirty work for him. Madison for some reason has chosen hand to hand combat rather than magic, which doesn’t make sense to me. She is the High Priestess, wouldn’t it make more sense to fight with magic? Perhaps she is saving her energy for the Touched rather than his human shield.

  I was too busy focusing on Madison that I didn’t even notice that Avis was mere inches away from having an axe in his forehead. She was pushing down with all her might overhead as he used his knife to block it from pressing into his head. After struggling for a few seconds, he raises his leg and kicks her in the knee causing her to stumble backwards. She raises the axe again over her head to swing.

  “Heavy.”

  The axe falls into the ground, cracking it open and getting stuck into the stone. She tries to pull at it frantically but is unable to lift it. After trying for a few seconds she gives up and pulls out a knife and stands up straight. Just as she begins to move,

  “Gust.”

  The wind blows the Light Touched backwards and onto her own axe, straight through her head.

  I try not to empty the contents of my stomach as I watch her slowly bleed out onto her own axe.

  Just as the life is about to flicker out of her eyes, the blood slowly starts to move backwards and back into her body. I blink several times, unsure if I’m seeing this correctly.

  “What is happening?”

  As soon as all the blood has made its way back into her, her body moves backwards as though in reverse until she is standing again. The Light Touched now stood before us like nothing happened moments ago.

  “She holds the Wheel of Fortune card.” Dardania mutters. “As long as she’s at the top of the wheel, we can’t stop her.”