F.I.S.H. (its a placeholder name)

Chapter 3

A dream; The void encroached all, nothingness. Everywhere he looked, there wasn't even a single light. Absolute darkness, but it was strange. Filo was sitting down, he knew it- Looking down, there seemed to be a table with a deck of cards placed down, 'Am I playing cards..?', he thought to himself, and he heard a voice, he couldn't make it out, but...

"Blackjack, My boy." A figure spoke, looking across the table, it was faint, but, there was someone. An old man?.. It was hard to tell, the only thing he could see was that the man wore black gloves, an old suit of sorts of a foreign country perhaps? And his face, his face had a moustache, a bit of facial hair all round, but there was something el-

"Are you not going to play?" The man spoke with his sharp tone, he didn't seem to be in the mood for playing, yet his movements suggested otherwise as he shuffled about on his seat, visibly restless. Yet all this bewildered Filo as he looked to his hands, and there he was holding some cards. Two cards, a King with no symbol, and a One of Spades. 'That makes Eleven..' Filo thought, looking up to the thing, leaning over the table to pick a card, turning it around to himself, hiding it from the figure's eyes, and a smug smirk grew on his face. He got a Queen of Spades, he's got 21 now. There's no way he could lose. So, he couldn't help but giggle childishly.

Filo slammed his cards on the table, showing it to the figure, who seemed to show no reaction, before he'd laugh, the laugh of the man sounded like a creaking plank-- 'That's not, that's probably not how he's supposed to sound..' Filo thought, looking at him with bewildermint. He got 21, so he won, and the man with his pitch-black glove pointed his finger to Filo's placed cards; And taking a look at them, the One of Spades was a Two of..? That's all of the symbols. That's not right. That's--

And then the man placed his cards down, crossing his arms and legs after he did so, slapping his knee, the sound reverberating throughout the empty clouds. He placed down an Ace of Spades, and.. A Jack of Spades. He wins automatically, a 21 and a Black Jack, how could Filo win against that? Especially considering he got a 22... Filo sighed, for there was nothing he could do, he lost and that's that, but he felt the need to ask, what was the name of the man? He made no response, but he held up the Jack of Spades briefly, before putting it gently down. What is that supposed to mean?

Filo couldn't think of anything, squinting his eyes, furrowing his eyebrows, before slamming his fists on the table as he stood up, staring at him. 'Why won't you tell me?!' Filo wanted to speak, but his voice made no sound, and yet the man sat properly as he leaned over slightly, moving from his perfect posture, and he'd hold up a card, showing it to Filo, a Black Joker; Taking a glance told him everything he needed to know, that man was smiling, that smile inhumane. That was no normal man.

Taking a closer look, he could see- Nothing, but he felt the warm embrace suffocating him. Asphyxiation; the man slammed his hand into Filo's face, and he could feel the hand squeeze around his head- then he woke up. Choking by sleeping on his pillow, and he got up with a groan, looking around his well-lit room. It was a calm, blue morning... Morning? Morning... MORNING!!! Filo panicked, he remembered that as soon as the sun rose, he had to leave for his enrollment in the Taijitsu Academy. Rushing, he quickly put on his clothes, a buttoned shirt, black sailor pants with a long cloak to follow his monochrome look. Plus, for some good measure, he put on a sweet lil bow-tie under his shirts' collar, and he put on a sailors' cap, embroided with golden text saying ARoS.

It was neat that it had a little sub-text underneath saying 'Arcane Research of Sigils', it piqued the interest of the boy, after all he had a lesson in ARoS according to the timetable. Pulling up his timetable, he believed that his lessons are as followed for the day; Biology, ARoS, Break, Maths, Lunch, Religion and ST..? What did ST mean again? He certainly couldn't remember, but it seems important, especially considering it was the last lesson of his day.