The table was the only thing lit, the circular beam of light coming from the head of a disembodied lamp that hung directly overhead. The surface of the table was a strange dark red velvet, the color of dried blood. In the center of the circular table lay three tarot cards; they were face down, lined up in a perfect row.
In a sudden flash of recognition, V gasped. She was dreaming. The same dream as the night before—the dream with the three cards and the void and the terror.
V immediately looked up, squinting to see into the void past the buzzing light overhead. She didn't see anything. Just darkness. She didn't... feel anything—at least, not right then.
"What's going on?" V called out. Her voice felt funny. Muffled, sort of—as if the void all around her was blocking out sound. V swallowed and looked down at the cards on the table. She felt some sort of strange draw to them, an internal need to reach out and flip the cards over. The white and blue plaid pattern on their backs seemed menacing somehow. Seemed... conscious.
"Not gonna do it," V said again, not sure who she was talking to. "Ain't gonna play your game! So might as well just switch over to some sort of actual dream, like runnin' through a field with rainbows and lollipops or somethin'."
Silence was V's answer. She stared out into the dark, fighting every fiber of her being to keep from reaching out and turning over the cards, much less looking at them. Swallowing hard, V kept her hands gripped tight on the arms of the chair she was sitting in. Perspiration began to dot her forehead.
"There a point to all of this?" she called. "Why am I here? Is this some sort of message or somethin'? Or... or am I so fucked up this is what my subconscious thinks makes a good dream?"
The call of the cards was almost irresistible now. It was unlike anything V had ever felt before. She was shaking in her chair so hard the thing was rattling, her teeth chattering. Her eyes hurt from the strain of keeping them on the void, neck muscles tight as high-tension clutch wires forcing her head turned away.
Flip me over, the cards almost seemed to whisper to her.
Flip me over.
Look at me.
See.
Look at me and see.
Look at me.
Look at me.
LOOK AT ME!
V couldn't resist any longer. As if possessed, she suddenly whipped toward the table and dashed out a hand for the card in the middle of the spread of three, quickly flipping it over. She didn't even have time to register what was depicted on the card's face when movement caused her chin to snap up to the void.
A smile.
Sharp teeth.
"There you are!"
YOU ARE READING
Cyberpunk 2077: V
FanfictionA Nomad abandoned by her own clan, V vows to forge her own path in life by leaving everything behind and seeking new beginnings in the glittering Night City. At first she thrives on the friendship and support of her friend and brother, Jackie; but a...
