The Summoner Series - Book One - DUALITY

Chapter 1: Jack

It was never supposed to be like this. I was never supposed to lose this badly. Yet, here I am, getting my ass handed to me after an excruciating night. My hands were shaking, a cold sweat broke out on my forehead, and the twitch under my left eye came back. Damn it, I thought, I know I had a bad chance at winning this, but this is just humiliating. I looked at my hand, pushing my silver white hair out of my face. It just started to mat against my forehead. I didn't know what to do, I was running purely off of instinct at this point. I just stared at my hand, unsure of how to move forward.

I heard a voice. "Jack," someone said. It felt so far away. My heart started beating faster, I could hear it in my ears. "Jack!" The voice started to get louder, but I could feel my eyes start to glaze over.

"JACK!" I snapped back to reality. "It's your turn. Fold, call, or raise."

I looked around and took in what I saw and tried to remember where I was. Then I realized that I was back at my favorite casino, The Crooked Crow. It was a run down casino, no windows, made completely out of wood, with some rain water dripping from the ceiling. It's only two stories tall, with the first floor as the casino and the second floor was for those who wanted to spend their winning on something more, scintillating. The Crooked Crow was one of the most run down places in String City, and it was wedged in between two other casinos that didn't look much better. But the most appealing part of downtown was that you could be whoever you wanted for a night and be someone else tomorrow. You could do anything you wanted here, but I especially liked the thrill of a good hand. Sadly, tonight was not one of those nights. 

The Crooked Crow wasn't the best place to lose a couple hundred credits, but this felt like home to me. This was the first casino I ever went to when I turned fifteen. No one around String City cared how old you were, as long as you were willing to lose more than you won without complaining. I played my first round of blackjack here and didn't expect what happened next. I won my first round ever, and I kept playing all night. I lost all the money I brought with me, but that rush of my first win never left me. I had no family to speak of, nor any friends, so since that night I adopted the name Jack. I kept chasing that first high I experienced, to no avail.

I was seventeen now, and I had ups and downs at the tables, but this was one of his lowest points in my life. I went up to Velvet Isle to find some rich bloke walking around who wouldn't mind misplacing their wallet. Velvet Isle was always ripe for the picking for those who were willing to take the risk. The place was teaming with Blind Watch, waiting and watching for some kid with sticky fingers to come along and take the wrong person's cash. They were called Blind Officers because supposedly they had the blind, indiscriminate eye of justice, but you would never see them around String City or arresting anyone on Velvet Isle for stealing the life from the ones who break their back in String City to put gold plated ham on their plate every night for dinner. I never knew what they really ate or actually did up there, but I liked to have my way with their lives in my head.

"Uh," I said. I looked around the table at all the faces staring at me. I was always good under pressure, so I wiped the sweat off my forehead and forced the twitch to stop. I steadied my voice and replied, "I'll call." I put in another twenty credits. Why did I do that? I knew I had no chance at winning this hand, and I already lost most of what I picked from the fat bloke walking on Velvet Isle with the clear outline of a fat wallet in his pocket. I could have just walked back to my hole back in the residential part of String City, but the voice of the Crooked Crow called to me. I wasn't the sharpest sword on the block, but I knew I should get help with this addiction, I knew that much. But so did everyone in String City. That's why they call this city String City anyway. Everyone was hanging on by a thread.