Intro. From the stranger's last memories

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He was braver

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He was braver. Always has been braver than me. We've been together for hundreds of years, and he still gave it all up. Just like that... Suppose it gets boring when you live over a thousand. I was only three hundred and something.

I didn't know at first, thought he was joking. To give up your own card is sheer suicide. And then I thought that we needed some time apart, we did so in the past after all.

But he was serious. My Magician.

A pity I can't recall his face anymore. I don't even remember his name. This new Magician is different. Perhaps, Lars Jansen is the most prepared of us to have ever wielded a card. If not for his age, that is. Lars looks like a kid, but he trained him well. My previous Magician.

When I came to see him after some time, my Magician told me he's picked up an heir. That he would give him his card when the time's right. I laughed and agreed to give up mine as well. Still thought he was pulling my leg. My Magician showed me the mirror, it reflected a pale chubby ghost of a boy.

I laughed.

I... left.

I did love him.

And then one day I woke up to no memories of him. Maybe I cling to this last one because it includes the new Magician. The not my Magician...

Wish I've seen him one last time.

I've never been that brave, went to a fading parallel instead. Thought it would do the trick for me, I can't give up the card myself.

That's still suicide, alright? You stay behind in a fading parallel, and you disintegrate with it. Then the card randomly floats into any other parallel. Someone will pick up mine...

Kiddo's changed my mind. The last survivor. They remind me of myself.

So I am saving them.

"Ciao," I tell them and wink. "Won't see you around."

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