THE NEXT STEP

A boy who mysteriously found himself in another world and without his memories. He was rescued from an unknown creature by a girl named Isabel Gold, who took him to her house to attend to his wounds. Now with his memories gone he is trying to think what to do next.

The boy seems to be trapped in a thick cloud of mist, and a voice seems to be whispering inaudibly from the distance. The boy shouts but in a manner of great caution," Hello, hello?". The mysterious whisper continues to speak,".... ". The boy continues to call out to the mysterious figure. The voice of the mysterious figure becomes slightly clearer but still inaudible," Save them.... only hope... save them... ". The boy shouts," Who are you? ". He's woken by a beam of light that peeps through the curtains. He sits up straight and thinks," What.... was that? " He gets out of bed to grab a glass of water to calm himself down. He notices the cards and looks at them," I almost forgot about these."

He fumbles with the cards a little and stares at them. He talks to himself," I wonder, how these actually work? It seemed simple enough so let me give it a try." He closes his eyes and breathes," I.. feel a strange sensation but I can't seem to pinpoint it exactly." He focuses some more and as he tries to perform something with the cards he freezes and goes into some kind of trance. 

His eyes start glowing and he levitates a little bit off the ground, his arms trembling and his hair shooting upwards. 

He collapses and tries to catch his breathe. He coughs," What was that just now? ", he coughs a bit more. "I'll ask Isabel, maybe she'll know". 

He goes outside and shouts," Hey, Isabel...? How do these cards actually wor..?" he stops as he finds Isabel punching a sack filled with sand hanging on a tree. He approaches her in wonder," What are you doing?". She replies," I'm training, anyway what's wrong?", he asks her how the tarot cards actually work, and she replies," Well they're bit complicated...?" A bird carrying a message arrives, she takes it and reads it. She writes on the message and sends the bird away. She thinks for a second and continues," Hmm... you said you want to know how tarot cards work right? What if I showed you instead?". 

Isabel and the boy both head into town. The boy asks," Is it normal for someone to feel like their body's burning up when their using the cards?". Isabel looks at him with a puzzled expression as she raises her eyebrow," No it's not. Why do you ask?". He answers unsurely," Well, it's hard to explain but back at the cottage while you were training, I tried to use the cards and something weird happened. My body felt weird for moment like a burning sensation, but it's hard to pinpoint what it was."

 Isabel thinks for a moment," Hmmm... it must have been your magic or perhaps the cards were absorbing too much magic at once and your body tried to produce as much as possible but I'm not sure. We've arrived." He stops as he sees a huge tower in front of him. He asks," What is this place?"

"Hello there Isabel, it has been a while, has it not?", an old man at the front of the tower appeared, " I've been expecting you". She talks back with a slightly sarcastic tone," Of course you have... Mystery boy, meet the mage knight, Sir Luminor Septimus, he's in charge of Veritas Tower. " Sir Luminor introduces himself," A pleasure to meet you, young lad, I'm in charge of this towering library behind me and its centuries of knowledge."" I sent him a message last night to examine you and your cards." says Isabel. Sir Luminor looks at the boy," Hmm... examining you might require special attention, let us head inside." They enter the sky-reaching tower.

" Welcome to Veritas Tower young lad." The boy looks at it in awe," I've never seen anything like it." Sir Luminor points them towards a room at the end of the hall," This is my Analysis Room where I study all forms and types of magic, and anything related to the vast subject."

" Now let us head over to that platform over there to examine you". He points out to a large flat circular crystal on the floor with a huge leafless tree with its branches spreading outwards. He muttered, " Let us get started, shall we? If you could kindly hand over your cards", he hands over his cards to Sir Luminor whose eyes widened in surprise, Isabel asks," What is it Sir Luminor?" 

" In all my days, I've never seen such a wonderful color in such a long time, you would expect to see something like this in the royal family or nobles".

 The boy frowns in worry.

Sir Luminor exclaimed in wonder and looks at them closely as he traces the patterns on them," Do not worry, nothing's wrong. In fact, quite the contrary, my boy. Your magic type is unique in a way that I have never seen before, and I know a lot of things". He pauses for a moment and continues, " Hmmm...  I read about it somewhere but can't quite remember where." 

He steps on a platform near one of the towering shelves which started lifting him upwards," Now let me see...", he murmured as he started digging through the dust covered shelves.

 Isabel suggests," Let's help him out, it'll go much faster."

 He nods in agreement," Sir Luminor what's name of the book that you're looking for? Maybe we could be of some help" She called up. 

He answered," The Great Wonders of Magic ", he replied with his eyes still laser pointed on the shelves." But no need to trouble yourselves; I'll keep looking ". 

Isabel eye rolls," He can be prideful sometimes - let's just look for it ". They step on a nearby platform of their own and began scanning through the shelves of each leather-spined book. 

" Found it ", the boy exclaimed as he pulled it from the shelves and blew the dust off it, which swirled through the air.

" Marvelous. Now let me take a look. ", he starts flipping through the pages," Ah! Here it is. Chapter 25: The Color Theory of Tarot Cards ".

His eyes darted across the ancient text of the pages," Here it is. It states that the color of tarot cards determines one's magical ability. There are several colors within the observable spectrum that are quite common and a few that are shrouded in mystery... ", he slowed and frowned a little.

 Isabel and the boy trade a glance," Is that all Sir Luminor? ".

" I'm afraid so. The pages covering the rest of the rare colors... ", he snaps the book shut and continues," are gone!!! "

To be continued