The Jeweller

What did you say? Looking for a good jeweller's store to buy a present for your mother?

There is one you might be interested in. It is said to be one of the best in the whole Universe, with its rings, necklaces and bracelets so perfect one could barely believe they were made by an ordinary being.

You asked lots of people for directions and found out that it is located on the outskirts of a city of Valletta. You changed many trains and visited several planets on your way and at last you're almost on the spot.

A lonely building sits there, surrounded by emerald fields resting under the amethyst skies. It looks like nothing but a jeweller's store, with a label saying "House of Cards". However, it is not so lonely as you come to its foot.

Congratulations. You have arrived just for the carnival's wake.

You are very welcome. He hopes you will enjoy this show.

That is the only day that occurs every 23 turns. Or 456 years if you are more comfortable with the Earth time circuits. In other words, you are lucky.

The only day all the liars of the world can join the party and tell any lies they want is in its heat.

No real faces and not a single word which is truth. Today, everyone is allowed to join the show, wear the most beautiful masks, steal any jewellery from the showcases and pretend anybody else but them. Everyone is allowed to have fun.

You can enter. This House of Cards will never fall as long as he is the host of this show.

The carnival's air gets you obsessed and thousands of jeweled butterflies are twisting around your head. You are coming upstairs, following the lady with silk flowers in her head as she is showing you the way to the Courtroom, the largest room in the House of Cards.

You pull the curtains and come into the little paradise, offered to wear something nice.

Do it. When else will you have a chance to change your clothes, your face and the way you speak?

You are talking to the people in the Courtroom. You have never met before, but does it matter if you have masks on? Like butterflies, you fly and show off.

Somebody asks you about yourself. You are acting recklessly and free and even find courage to say things which are completely fake.

You talk about success you never achieved, books you never read, people you never loved. Happy moments you never witnessed. Memories you never had. You can crown it with a name you never bore.

But the host of this show is omnisciously watching you and hears every lie leaving your lips.

"Said something?"

His fiendish black silhouette appears when you least expect it. His cape will fly past you like a sudden blow of wind, a cloud of black butterflies.

Turn your head and you will see his golden mask, butterfly-shaped with its antennae posing as his eyebrows. He towers above you, which makes you shiver a little.

"No, nothing," you reply on the spot, hoping he did not hear.

He gives you a gentle touch on your shoulder, his hand pale and hung with rings.

"Good for you.'

Right the next moment, he claps his hands and then he is gone. He is eager to see everyone close enough to know who showed up for his party.

He knows that you are just a liar. But he has no desire to pin you like a swallowtail or a peacock's eye. You are safe today.

Today, everyone is kindly accepted in the Courtroom. No one will be harmed or tortured, they won't be even touched.