Chapter 16 - The Hermit, The Empress and The Emperor

As I rushed to a different side of the city, I finally found the source of the sound. In front of me stood a light-purple haired woman, singing while sitting in front of a booth. She seemed to be about 25, and her eyes were completely empty. Void of any sight. It was as if her right to observe had been stripped away.

Kaya eventually caught up, out of breath. Sy looked at the woman with confusion. I didn’t blame him.

The woman stopped singing and smiled softly. She stared at me, and yet I felt nothing. Her outfit was a similar color to her hair and relatively flowy. Her bangs were quite long on one side, almost covering her eye and the back of her hair went all the way down to her back.

Kaya’s eyes widened as her jaw dropped.

“Your eyes are so pretty! Are you blind?!”

I didn’t know if her words were rude or kind. I didn’t think the lady could tell either.

She giggled and stood up.

Her voice was incredibly soothing and soft.

“Thank you, girl. You’re very kind. And yes, I cannot see. My vision has been sealed for quite some time.”

Sy looked around awkwardly as the lady motioned for us to enter the booth. Kaya rushed in as I followed behind her.

The atmosphere inside was rather dark. She sat behind a table with a stack of cards on it, while Kaya, Sy and I sat on a pillow with our knees facing towards the table. The seating position hurt, but if I tried hard enough I could ignore it.

The lady softly grabbed a candle from behind her and lit it.

She put her elbow on the table and rested her face on her palm.

“Hello, you three. Welcome to my booth. I haven’t had a customer in a long, long time~!”

She smiled again and began to speak.

“My name is Dess. I don’t have a last name, just like Sy over here.”

Sy’s eyes widened as he yelled at her.

“HOW DO YOU KN-”

She put her finger up to his mouth.

“Shhh… I know much more than you’d think. I was close with many gods before. I was even called an honorary 9th god. ‘Dess, the Gnostic’ they would call me. But, my vision had been stripped away, just for looking at a single Cittaglian king. So sad, isn’t it?”

She laughed softly. She was obviously joking, judging by her demeanor. Sy sighed and plopped back down onto the pillow.

“You’re insane… I’m ready to leave whenever Kaya is.”

Dess giggled.

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll stop joking around~. As compensation, I’ll give you readings for free. What do you say?”

I perked my head up.

“...Reading?”

She smiled.

“Yes, Nell. I’ll tell your future. I just need a bit of money.”

… She just said they were free.

Despite having every reason to be skeptical, neither Kaya or I waited a single moment before handing her a third of the money she had given us to use.

“Oh my. I’ll do my best, haha…”

She walked to the back and came back with three cups of tea.

“Please, drink this. I can’t see anymore, so this is the only way I can view you all. Every sip of this tea is another piece of your identity that falls within my ‘vision’.”

I tilted my head.

“How would you know anything about us if you’re blind?”

She grinned again.

“There are other ways to see. Despite being blind, ‘things’ can still be seen. Just not in this reality. Just as you can see your friends, I can see them if they drink my tea. Just not the same things you see. I can see behind the adjectives, at their true being. I can grasp the essence and see all there is to know.”

I was a bit confused.

“That’s imposs-”

Kaya tapped my shoulder and whispered to me.

“She’s just being nice. I checked this tea for magic, and there was nothing. Just normal tea. She’s trying to sound magical for the atmosphere.”

I see. If that was the case, then asking anymore would be pushing too much. I felt as if I had made a mistake.

But it was another thing I had learned about humans.

“I see. I’ll drink it.”

She smiled.

“Thank you.”

I drank the tea, and Kaya and I finished it. It took Sy a bit more convincing to drink it, but he did eventually. After everybody was done, she put her hands on her deck of cards.

“I’ll start off with the youngest here, Nell. Answer this question first. What do you wish to see the most?”

I thought for a moment. About why I needed to answer this, and the answer itself. I came to the conclusion that I would answer to not be rude, and that the thing I wanted to see the most was myself.

“I want to see me. When I’m completed, I want to see what I became.”

She nodded and drew a card, placing it upright in front of me.

“Your card is ‘The Hermit’. Your future entails… a search. A never ending search, and a search for something that can never exist. Your guidance will either come from somebody you don’t want it to come from, or somebody that the gods don’t deem fit to guide you.”

I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. Everything I was searching for was already within my grasp. The ‘can never exist’ made me even more confused. Maybe she meant this more literally. Maybe soon I would look for an item I lost, but it had already been destroyed. Maybe that was what she meant. I didn’t know.

She saw my confusion and giggled, only to turn to Sy.

“You’re up next. Please, answer this question. It’s actually less of a question, and more of a task. Please describe yourself using 3 adjectives.”

Sy stared at her and froze. He simply sat there for an entire minute. There was not a single word coming out of his mouth.

Dess giggled again, before pulling out a card and placing it upside down in front of Sy.

“No answer is just as much of an answer as anything else. Here is your card, Sy. It’s called ‘The High Priestess’. Your future is one of a lost child. You’ll look around for anything solid within yourself, and yet the only thing you’ll find is a mirror. Your feelings are locked behind a cage, and your inner voice is being strangled.”

This one felt similar to mine. I was glad Sy got one that was close to mine. It made me feel as if I was a bit closer to humanity than before.

Sy grit his teeth, before putting his hand on the table and speaking.

“Can I get some more tea?”

Dess smiled and brought him another cup. She turned over to Kaya and put her hand on hers.

“Now, Kaya Koinu. Please answer this question. How do you believe morality was created?”

She tilted her head, seemingly not understanding the question.

“Let me rephrase this. Imagine you had a dog you cared about very much. One day, it died. The dog had never sinned its entire life. Therefore, it was innocent. An innocent death is wrong in a world without heaven. So, what makes it wrong?”

Kaya’s head was still tilted. But, she had an answer.

“It’s something like… a god… maybe. Arg! I don’t know! Stop making me answer things that I don’t know!”

Dess giggled and pulled out a card and placed it upside down.

“Your card is ‘Justice’. Since it was reversed, your future is one of a worm. You cannot judge anything without taking a step. And yet, your legs do not exist. Your judgement is unfair and dishonest. You need to be valued to find your legs. ‘Esse est percipi’, as they would say where I'm from.”

We all looked at her in confusion, before she closed her eyes.

“Anything else you kids need? I can do readings for people who aren’t here, yknow~?”

I shot up out of my seat at the same time as Kaya

I needed her to draw a card for Ame.

“Please draw one for Ame-”

“Please draw one for Dominic!”

Me and Kaya both spoke at the same time.

I blushed a bit and told Dess that she could draw for Dominic first.

She tilted her head after I told her this.

“I’m afraid I know nothing about him. Describe him a bit, and I’ll find his heart.”

I turned to Kaya, motioning for her to speak.

“Um… He is about 29, he’s really kind, he wears olive colored casual clothing a lot and puts hygiene above too much stuff. He never seems to not know the area we’re in, as if he had been a guide there before.”

Dess smiled at this explanation and snapped her fingers.

“His card is… ‘The Chariot’. But it isn’t upside down or upright. It’s sideways. It’s in the middle ground of lost and found, in the middle of control and chaos. All he needs for an upright card is to be found, just as he finds everybody else.”

Kaya nodded, happy about something.

It was my turn now.

She looked at me as if she wanted me to describe him, so I did.

“He has blue hair, really cool eyes, a really pretty golden earring, a white outfit that looks a bit expensive, his arms are slightly thin but well built, his leg-”

“That’s enough. I can find him.”

I sat back down as she held her hand out towards the door. About 10 seconds later, she snapped her fingers.

“Got him! He was incredibly distant, so it was hard to find his essence of eternity. I’ll draw something for him now.”

She held her hand on the deck, and pulled out a card, placing it upside down.

“Ame Nishimura. A man who walked so far away from the mortal world that he practically became an audience member. A man with ghosts of past, present and future, surrounding him in the form of observed effects. His card is… death.”

…

Huh?

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Nell, Kaya and Sy soon left the booth. They, of course, paid for it using over half of their funds.

As this happened, Ame sprinted through an empty building. He was completely alone. He was desperately rummaging through boxes, panicking about something.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.”

The object that he was looking for was a computer. It stored all the information about enemies of the military, and was the only thing encrypted enough to provide communication between Justin Beckwith and any kings. The kings and queens were the strongest beings in the entire world, besides the gods. Ame wasn’t worried about Justin Beckwith getting help, because he didn’t need any. He was more worried about Justin Beckwith discouraging any kings from helping Eternal Flame.

He flipped over a box, and stared at the dusty computer before kicking it and blasting water at it.

Ame smiled. Unfortunately, his joy would not be long lasting.

He began to violently cough as blood gushed out onto his hand.

“I guess I really don’t have much time left.”

He shook the blood off his hand and walked back. He exited the building and walked out into the commercial district of the city. As far as he could observe, there was nothing but lights. Every single light represented an effect. Somebody made those lights, and somebody saw them.

He walked through the city, hiding his condition from the hundreds of passerbys. He eventually reached the center of the city and stared up at the preeminent clock tower, hovering over him like a mountain.

He climbed up the wall on a side that would draw the least attention. Soon after the climb had started, he had made it to the top.

He sat down on the roof, staring down at the hundreds of people walking through the center. He swung his feet, thinking.

He then looked up at the moon.

“If I jumped off right now, what reason would there be? If I didn’t jump, what reason would there be?”

He laughed to himself.

“This fucking architect. You don’t have to force me to stay, y’know? I know I’m a stranger. You can let me rebel on my own.”

He laughed again, and then coughed into his arm. He looked back down as a singular drop of his blood began to plummet down, off of the clock tower.

At the same time this happened, Nell, Kaya and Sy began to walk under the clock tower. They were on their way to a gear shop, when a drop of blood hit Nell in the cheek.

He looked up, and saw nobody on the top of the clock tower.

Nell thought to himself.

‘This feels like rain. But it isn’t. This isn’t comforting. There’s no substance to it.’

He looked away from the clock tower, and looked back at Kaya and Sy.

He thought to himself again.

‘This rain… doesn’t exist.’

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