What does a fool do when she is in love? Does she cower? Does she bring the world down? No, no, definitely not. This fool will tell you what she is willing to do. She has a name, a story, and an oh-so spine chilling past. This must have a beginning, so it shall.
On the crowded streets of Regno dei Morti, or more commonly known as Death’s card realm, posters inked in traitor’s blood are scattered. As I pass by the plentiful number of posters, I see my name on one of the posters. I don’t dare make a face; I am in the heart of the Regno. I take note of what it says:
Most wanted in all 9 realms
Thana Mayguard
Pronounced: Th-ana May-guard
Description: tall, dressed like a noble, long brown hair with streaks of blue
Wanted for: treason, unsanctioned arcanic magic, murder and arson which was committed against the realms
REWARD: HAND IN MARRIAGE TO THE QUEEN OF WANDS.
How sad, they have no understanding of what actually happened. They can’t even get my description right. I have mid-length brown hair with a green and silver fade at the ends, not streaks of blue. I keep walking with my tattered red cloak and soiled dark clothing. Not one person noticed me. I am nothing, at least to them I’m not. My stella, my un vita, my distruzione, the only person who sees me has betrayed me. I remember that night quite clearly. I have my way out, and it is only past the agora. I keep walking until I see it.
The portal into the Magician’s realm appears. The portal is a large archway made of solid gold, and in the center, a liquidly ink flows like a whirlpool. It shimmers with an unnatural golden hue, and the crest of the magician is stamped at the top of the arch.
Two Death Row soldiers are stationed on either side, while a line is formed in the middle. The soldiers check our wrists for any magical signatures that manifest with arcanic power, but if you were smart enough, you could shield them with a tarot card. As I step up the stairs onto the archway platform, I start to sweat. Not only are the men scary, but they are also making you pull down your hood. What about my hair, it looks arcanistic. They are looking for me. What if they check me and find my marks? Will they take me back to the hole father had put me in to keep me “safe”? I am a traitor to my own realm.
The soldiers become clearer in view. One is about as tall as me and skinny but athletic. His face reminds me of a jaguar, but he has a scar across his temple that is red and puffy. The other I recognize, it’s the general of my father’s army. Osborne stands on the right of the portal’s archway. His shiny, long, silver ends and red roots are tied half up with a ruby French pin. His eyes shine blood red with a ring of silver, and his skin gives off a sun-kissed radiance. His stature stands out. He is shorter than me but more muscular, trust me when I say he has given me the biggest beating of my life. A lot of people really underestimate him, especially his opponents and most of the time when that happens they end up on the floor, very much dead. Gruesome, I know but he really never has had a choice in his life. When his father had finally taken the immortal rest, Osborne became my father’s right-hand man. Oz never wanted that, he wanted to be an arcane master and teach young kids. He didn’t have the Judgement’s gifts but he loved the cards and the cards loved him back.
Cards, what am I to do? Of course my father would put my best friend at the gate. Oz knows all my tricks. He knows I wield. I am so close to the gate, to freedom. I am so close to being free of a cage, free of my father. See in all nine realms, it is a death sentence if you are born with Judgment’s gifts. I keep walking, and then it’s my turn.
“Ciao Belladonna, please remove your hood and pull up your sleeves,” the scarred guard’s voice rolls with a dark song-like tone. I do as he says. Osborne looks at me with indifference. He takes my wrist and stamps it with my father’s symbol. A scythe and skull with flowers growing out of the eye sockets. The ink is a dark blood-red color and stings.
Then Osborne states, “You have twenty-four hours to return while the ink is still red; once it turns gray, the portal magic has run out. I suggest you keep your time well, or you will be stuck in the third realm.”
With that, I step into the portal. I feel like I’m on a merry-go-round but it is going way too fast. Then the thing I hate most starts. The cost to enter the Magicians’ realm is reliving a memory in which you had acted with self confidence. You can not choose which one you relive, the portal’s magic does it for you. All around me changes into the chosen memory and I stand there watching it unfold.
It was the eve of our shared birthday, the same day the lovers card came into play. We had been sitting in the oracle’s room to hear our nineteenth birthday prophecy like every other kid had gotten if they were noble. It is a tradition in the realm of the world card. The king of Regno dei Morti, or my father, had sent me to the realm of the world to go to school with other future rulers.
Cielo sits on one of the white silk pillows around the sun-shaped table. I am on the right side of them. The room is quite spacious with the table as its main centerpiece. Astrology charts are thrown about on the table with multiple quills and inking pots. The walls are sky blue with a gold mix. The ceiling was filled with every star in all the realms. The room had plenty of ancient texts sitting on mahogany shelves.
I looked over at Cielo, “Elo, what if the prophet confirms my fears about these spells I keep having?”
“You are always so worried, I promise you are ok,” Elo reassures me and rubs my shoulder. I can’t help but worry. I have a life to live, and it is keeping me from that.
“Um…so before we find out how our lives are going to be, I wanted you to know that you have always been my everything. I have always loved you and will always care for you.” I spoke softly. Cielo’s head turned, and all you could see was pink. Cielo looked absolutely speechless. I had no clue what that meant.
Cielo started to speak, “I… have no words.” I look away. What does that mean? Did I go too far? I am staring out the window, hoping that the prophet arrives sooner. It is about another hour before we look at each other.
Finally, I hear footsteps heading our way. Then the prophet steps inside. He is covered head to toe in finery. His button up is expensive cotton dyed a shade of mustard yellow and trimmed with golden buttons and sleeves. His dress pants have globes and suns embroidered down his legs. His hair is literally colored gold and his eyes look like the sun.
“Hello Thana and Cielo. My name is Avenir and I have quite the fate to read for both of you,” he announced as he walked to the table.
The memory fades to black, and I am thrown out the portal. I land on the side of the road, straight into a mud pile. I turn off my back and wretch the contents of my stomach. Cards, the portal spit me out where I am not supposed to be. I was supposed to be in the capital, not in the middle of nowhere. I get up and start walking. The sky does not look very friendly. While the grass and trees are a shade of a lollipop,the road is cobblestone with plenty of cracks. A couple steps from where I got up, I became dizzy.
“What the.. oh no..” I curse. I hate portal travel because it messes with my disorder. The world spins and I hit the road. Everything is dark. I can’t feel my body. What is happening? Where am I? Then I passed out.
Somehow I woke up in the back of a wagon with my hands and legs bound. Cards, what a fool I am.
To be continued.
