I can fly. Well, I can dream of flying. Well, I can dream of dreaming of flying. That’s to say, I hope that one day I will be able to fly.

  As it stands right now, I have been slightly increasing the gravity on myself as I walk. Not enough to cause me to crash out, but just enough to help weigh me down. If I constantly do this as I walk, it will become second nature to be able to control it. The first time I did it was just a fluke in a life or death situation. Also, if my logic is sound, this will actually make me physically stronger as well.

  “I can fly.” I say aloud, Avis looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

  “How is that?” He stops walking just outside the gate to Inanna and turns towards me.

  “Just watch.” I concentrate, reaching out with my mind and soul, feeling the energy that surrounds me. If I adjust the gravity surrounding me in the opposite direction, while still simultaneously adjusting the gravity pressing down on me at just the right moment, I can float in place.

  Slowly my feet lift off the ground, with the tips of my shoes dangling just several inches above it. I hold the spot for a few seconds, but my body starts to wobble until I come crashing back down to the ground, immediately falling to my knees. I look up, with the excitement of a child, and give him a massive grin.

  “That was actually kind of cool.” Avis reaches out and pulls me back to my feet.

  “You think so?”

  “Genuinely, yes.”

  I stand up proudly, puffing my chest out. Avis snorts and rolls his eyes but laughs nonetheless. The other three were also watching my little magic show. Prisha gives a little golf clap while the other two sing me praises. I guess I’m truly a Magician now. I can fly and everything! No one can tell my anything differently.

  “Well, shall we!?” I shout as I begin marching into the city with the energy that nothing could stop me now. I felt like I was on cloud nine. I was finally starting to get better at magic, the hot guy kissed me, and I was feeling great!

  As we were walking down the street, I couldn’t help but notice that it was eerily quiet. Inanna was a fairly large city, almost as big as Enkidu, and yet it was completely quiet. It reminded me of when the Touched arrived in Enkidu and the entire town fled into their homes. The difference here though, there were still people about.

  As we reached the town center, a crowd stared on at some spectacle in the center of the square. We slowly pushed through the masses of people to see what the fuss was about.

  “I—” Prisha froze, drops to her knees and lets out a blood curdling scream. In the center of the square Devon lay motionless in the center of a pentagram drawn with his own blood. Prisha slowly crawls towards him as she wept hysterically, her body trembling uncontrollably.

  “Prisha.” Dardania reaches for her but stops short, her hand shaking. She slowly pulls it back and covers her mouth as she starts to cry.

  “The Major is Next.” Madison says, pointing to a phrase carved in the stone just beneath Devon.

  I stare at Devon’s lifeless body. How could they do this? What did Devon ever do to anybody? Even turning us in was just to protect Prisha. This man was perfectly harmless.

  I blink and rather than Devon I see my father laying there in the center of the square. I gasp, and quickly reach for Avis’s hand. I keep closing my eyes and reopening them but the image doesn’t fade, he slowly rolls his head towards me and his eyes shoot open. I stumble backwards, knocking into the person behind me.

  “James?” Avis says, gripping my hand tighter and pulling me back to a stable pose. I look back at the square to only see Devon again.

  The silence in the square becomes deafening, the only sound heard is Prisha’s hysterical screams and sobbing. Dardania crawls up next to Prisha and pulls her into her arms and attempts to comfort her. Her screams continue to echo through the square.

  “I’m guessing you all knew him?” a familiar voice asks. I turn to see Trevor sitting next to me at the bar. Not too long after discovering Devon we came to the inn after the body was cleaned up so Prisha could get some rest. Dardania was in the room taking care of her while Madison and Avis settled the bill. I opted to drink, I need to try to wash away the memory of seeing my father there.

  “Yeah, he was Prisha’s… ex I guess you can call him.”

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  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s complicated.” I take a big chug of the drink, enjoying the sensation as the liquid slides down my throat. I can feel the warmth of the alcohol slowly starting to have an effect.

  “Well, sorry for the loss, I guess.” Trevor downs the rest of his drink and motions for the bartender to give him another one.

  “I’m surprised to see you here.” I say bluntly. With the alcohol I was feeling a bit bolder. “I figured you’d go straight to Sirius looking for the Saint.”

  “It’s a long trip, figured I’d make a few stops on the way. See the sights.”

  “Quite a sight huh?”

  “That it was. I’m sure you saw apparently we’re on the chopping block next.”

  I quickly down the rest of my drink and slam the mug down onto the counter. I think that is enough for me. Too much more and I don’t think I’d be able to keep my composure. I was never much of a drinker so my tolerance is quite low.“I guess so. Well, let em bring it. I stopped him once, I can do it again.”

  “If I do recall, I saved your ass.” Trevor chuckles.

  “Hey, I did things too. Besides, I’ve been training.” I say proudly. Though I’m just mostly joking, I don’t think I could actually take the killer on my own. For them to kill someone and lay their body out in broad daylight takes skill and guts.

  “Sure, I’m sure you can.” Trevor grabs his drink, spins around, and pushes off from the bar. He walks away and takes a seat at table on the opposite end of the room. By this time, Avis and Madison returned and the three of us grab a table.

  “How’s she doing?” I ask, unsure what else to say.

  “She’s calmed down, so that’s something.” Madison takes a seat at the table and lays her head down.

  “They’re after us next.” I say, the words just fall out of my mouth. It wasn’t what I was thinking about, but clearly it was still on my mind. Avis grabs my hand and pulls it into his.

  “You’ll be fine.” He smiles. I try to smile, but I can’t. I just keep thinking about Devon, and my father, and the attack on me in Anz?. Was I going to be next? What about Madison? I know Avis was just trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working. Neither was the alcohol, maybe I needed more of it.

  “What’s he doing here?” Madison asks as she raises her head from the table and motions towards Trevor. She looks exhausted. She hasn’t been crying or anything, but you can tell she is stressed. I can’t blame her.

  “Just said it was a layover on his way to Sirius.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I don’t know what I believe anymore when it comes to him.” I slowly turn to look at Trevor who is staring off into his own world as he drinks.

  “I felt like we were getting to know him, but after he attacked the Cleric, I just don’t know.” I turn back towards Madison who was still looking at him, her eyes bloodshot. I look to Avis, who was just looking at me, his face covered in worry lines.

  “Anyway. I asked around and the Order is going to arrange to send Devon’s body back to Enkidu after they investigate the murder.” Avis changes the subject, probably realizing that focusing on Trevor will get us nowhere.

  “Sometimes it’s easy to forget they’re the bad guys.” I mutter. The idea of faith was a tough one. They believe people like me shouldn’t exist and need to be cleansed, yet they are willing to ensure that Devon gets laid to rest back where he lived. It’s a true act of kindness that does nothing to benefit them.

  Then again, they could be doing is because it looks altruistic and it wins them favors by people believing their are doing a selfless task, but that line of thinking is cynical. I’d much rather believe that they are doing this because it’s the right thing to do. I know deep down that even though they follow this messed up religion that not all of them are evil.

  “Even the church back home helped house people and feed the hungry. For every priest that’s assaulting someone, there is another actually trying to do good.” Madison says, her eyes still locked on Trevor. She slowly shifts her gaze away from him and shifts her focus towards us.

  At this point the pub has emptied out and everyone had retired to their room except for us and Trevor. Dardania and Prisha finally decided to join us because Prisha said she needed a drink.

  “Make it a stiff one please.” Prisha says as she sits down at the table. Avis climbs up from the table and heads towards the bar. Prisha’s face was still wet and puffy. She raises her hand and wipes the tears that are still falling.

  “He was an ass but I didn’t want him dead.” Prisha says, her voice shaky. “He wasn’t even really part of the Arcana. He was just there because of me.”

  “It’s not your fault.” Dardania reassures her.

  “Oh I know, it’s that monsters fault. I swear, if I come face to face with him. I’ll—” Prisha pauses and contemplates her actions for a few moments. “I don’t know what I’ll do because I don’t really use a magic that is good for fighting. But I will still massacre them.”

  “Well, I very much can use magic that can fight. I’ll be happy to do it for you.” Dardania intertwines her arm with Prisha’s and rests her head against Prisha’s.

  “If they want us, they should just come after us. Why target the Minor Arcana?” Madison asks.

  “I don’t know. As far as we can tell, they’ve only killed members of the Minor Arcana. I haven’t heard anything about any Major Arcana sightings apart from the three of you. So they don’t appear to have killed any yet.”

  “It’s cause we’re just a symbol. Apart from Madison destroying a camp, we haven’t done shit. At least, not that anyone knows. The Minor Arcana are the ones doing the actual fighting. They just use us as inspiration.” I reply. At least, that’s how I see it. No one that we’ve come in contact thus far has met any other of the Major Arcana outside of the ones with the Order, and we don’t know who originally held those cards prior to being taken by them. So, truly the real revolutionaries are the Minor Arcana, not us.

  “I have returned.” Avis says, his voice chipper. I slowly turn to see him. It was obvious he was trying to be as positive as possible for Prisha’s sake.

  Before I could even react, the mugs start to slip from Avis’s hands and shatter upon the floor sending alcohol everywhere.

  The knife is pulled from it’s sheath on his leg at a speed not visible by the naked eye and it’s plunged into his chest. His eyes widen as he goes to scream out, but nothing comes out.

  On the other end of the blade was Trevor.

  “You’re next.”