At the Crossroads. Book 1

Chapter 2

"How can you tell who's a reversed card?"

by Burst from Pexels

You walk around the Untouchables part of the city. It's mostly concrete, and metal, and glass, and more metal– Those moving platforms are out this world. Well, out of your homeworld, for use. But since that one doesn't exist anymore...

You glance back, and Lars still trots after you. He won't look up from his buckle shoes, though.

"I... d-don't know," he, finally, mumbles. "The Magician said–"

You stop and watch a person in white step on a platform and rise all the way up. "The Mage or the Magician?"

"The card's the Magician, a-ah–"

Fuck. You dash in between two people and into a side-street.

"Huf... S-sorry!" Lars catches up with you. He pants, and you lean back against the cold wall.

"Never mind."

Blue neon lights. White panels. White uniforms.

Your heart thuds in your ears.

"But he wouldn't call me by my name," mumbles Lars, "called me little Mage instead. I g-guess it stuck."

You shrug. More people in white. You can't see the end of those skyscrapers no matter how far you tilt your head. Your neck hurts now. Weird, Lars asks nothing about your sprint.

"Which cards are reversed then?"

White. Metal. Glass. Neon blue and white again. You go on and grin at every uniform coming your way. They all have short hair. The stitches have healed long ago, but you can trace the scars. Yikes. Better not let your toothy grin falter.

"Any."

"Hm?"

Lars shoves his hands into his pockets and glances up. "Any card can be a reversed card. You get one intact. Then if you suffer too severe damage and they won't take the card away, it gets reversed. Injured, blackened. They say the pain turns those maniacally mad. Corrupted."

A-alright. Is that what happened to the Black Emperor that he destroys parallels now? You hug yourself and shut your eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. No panicking. That's not Maze. And that's not Maze either. Your eyes linger on every face.

"My arm healed in a day," you point out. Please, sound casual.

"Uh-huh." Lars nods. "The Magician said... like... cut your head off? Or stab right through. You still heal."

Oh, great, your head will grow back on... You grimace and huff a laugh. "That's, erm, cool. Right." You step– no running. Stop yourself the last second because that's not Maze either.

You wave to get Lars's attention and point round the corner: this street goes straight up the hill.

He follows you without a word. Lars is so much better than Maze. He answers your questions, he keeps a step behind, knows a lot, and doesn't plan to kill you.

Yes, there's always Maze... You keep seeing him in every passer-by. If push comes to shove, you push Lars and shove him in Maze's way. Yeah, that's the plan. Of course, you don't tell Lars that.

"So... how about moving on?" You feel... kinda bad. About the whole thing. And Lars saved you before, perhaps the two of you can escape Maze together.

"Uh-huh."

"Not that much to see, right?" You whirl your head around. White. Neon blue. Glass. White. Concrete. Hurts your eyes already, and no food stall or anything fun in sight. Still, no way you're going into the thugs' part again, even if that's where the portal is. "So... how are we getting out?"

"You're the World," says Lars as a matter of fact.

You stop, and he looks up at you. You blink. He blinks too.

"I usually go back through the same portal," you start slowly. Run? How does he know? Sure!? Are you!? You gulp and won't move.

"You opened that portal at the Crossroads," whispers Lars and looks down at his shoes. He tightens his lips and fiddles with his fingers again. Hey, is he frightened? Why is he frightened?

"You, erm, sure? We popped up right by the lighthouse, there're thousands of those there. One more could just open under our very feet, couldn't it?"

Lars hesitates. But shakes his head.

Oka-ay. "Then I'm the World, huh?"

Lars nods.

Fuck. Wait–

You grab Lars by the shoulder and drag him behind a neon billboard. That wasn't Maze! It wasn't!

Lars glances up at you but bumps into your eyes and quickly looks down.

"How do I do that? Open a portal, I mean."

"How did you open one before?"

You still watch every passer-by, and yet they don't care much for you two. Why are you so suddenly paranoid?

"Not sure. I... kinda, erm... got surprised and started waving my arms around? Like... like this?"

"Oi, hey again, losers–" The Tower swoops in. Her hoodie and jacket are hard to miss. She skates on the side of the sign and leaps–

"A-ah!" You wave your arms faster. Really, bet you'd take off any moment.

And the ground darkens under your feet. It ripples from your sneakers, but you don't fall. The glassy portal grows, the black spot quickly swallows the road under Lars as well.

"Huh?" The Tower swirls on one wheel. Dark shimmers rise around her–

Out. Now. Lars stares at Trixx. You jump, stomp– crack.

"A-a-ah!" And with that, you fall through.

via darktarot.com