The towering hunter’s brow furrowed into a crease as the trickster in front of him presented him with the frivolous cards. He turned to his companion, who seemed to be in awe about the sudden opportunity to be read their fortune.
“Hm…” His response started as he weighed his care for whatever answer the thief could give. Worst case, he would be amused by his antics.
“Tell me how we must continue the hunt.” His request came off nearly as a command, demanding that the answer be sufficient.
“Ah, straight to the point. You seem the type!” Demetri gave a wink and motioned for the group to follow.
Fennec narrowed her eyes as she watched the cultist eagerly follow behind the tall one, distrustful of this whole thing. She had seen what he was capable of doing, and given that he seemed the least damaged, he may have just been feigning his compliance earlier and leading them to a trap.
“Darling, the least you can do to thank me for speaking some last words to stop your execution is give me an audience~” the thief teased, waving his arm and rolling his shoulder before immediately regretting it, feeling it pinch his nerves as a pained yelp escaped his lips.
Fennec could only roll her eyes before walking over to him, and giving him an odd hug.
“If you want to thank me like that then at least let me grab the con-”
SNAP
The thief’s mouth formed a visible ‘O’ as he felt his shoulder get relocated to where it was supposed to be, a long grunt of pain sitting in the air as Gascione simply gave a wide smirk.
“No need. Was gonna warn you but you wouldn’t stop talking.”
Demetri only nodded as he took a deep breath in. “Thanks…”
“Just return the favor while you read cards, or whatever you want to do.”
The thief nodded as he rubbed his shoulder, walking along with them to a spot to rest for a moment. He cracked his knuckles before reaching out by a crook in the mountainside with a few scraggy rocks. He flourished, with less wincing this time, as he stepped forward, spinning and looking back at them as he reached back behind himself and pulled a chair out from seemingly nowhere, revealing his cards again and shuffling them in a hammering fashion, each tap of the deck shoving forth a new piece of furniture. In the dim night, a sudden fireplace sparked and hummed to life, dancing flames illuminating each of the group’s faces.
Sigmund seemed to pay close attention to the duplication, having recognized the abilities similar to the spells he was familiar with. It was clear as they stepped into the bounds of the creation that they were encased in a bubble that dampened their senses.
“Should we be really exposing ourselves like this?” Fennec raised a brow as she poked at a chair and seemed surprised to see it shift in response.
“Given the darkness of night and the fact that this fire doesn’t really exist, I would consider ourselves relatively safe. Do actually keep yourself warm though, the fire really is not there.”
He tapped his fingers on the cards and with a sweeping motion, dulled the area around them a bit to focus on his illusion, and pulled off his cloak. The thief took a seat on a chair, motioning to the large sofa on the other side of the table in front of him and to the duo.
“Well, come on, don’t let good magic go to waste! Should feel a bit numb too, the end goal of a lonely night of drinking without all the in between. Will help with all the, you know, smushed bits.” He shifted his ribs uncomfortably. “Welcome to Demetri’s Card Parlor~”
Sigmund gave a nod and sat at the edge of the seat, while Gascione seemed to almost be content simply standing. Demetri panned over to Fennec and patted the seat next to him, to which she cautiously obliged.
The distinct sound of shredding fabric cut through the air as Demetri tore his cloak, tossing one half of it to Gascione. “Not for you.”
“Hmm..” The hunter understood and leaned over to Sigmund, reaching down to pick up his foot. His methodical motions from all the practice in the mirror showed with his firm, yet careful bandaging.
Demetri hunched forward and scooted closer to Fennec, taking her arm, which true to his word, did not give her much pain as he began to create a makeshift cloth sling for her. His movements altered between maintaining the illusion and the wound dressing.
“Still not into the cards?” He ventured to ask her.
“Not my style.”
“It’s better beside an illusory fire, I promise.”
She paused for a moment and gave him a rather stoic look before humoring the man. “One card.”
The thief gave a wink and reached into his sleeve and pulled out a single card, giving it a shake and blowing off imaginary dust as a heroic figure stood firm and straight, with small puffs of clouds whirling around the vicinity as they held a sword to the sky.
“Paige of Swords. Reversed.”
The bounty hunter seemed ‘almost’ impressed. “And what does that mean?”
He shrugged before letting the figure walk for a few steps, “Can be a few things, but in any case, you are holding back. You could be standing tall but you aren’t fully taking advantage of your potential.”
Fennec gave a half-assed chuckle. “Yeah? That’s what they got for me?”
The thief reached forward and plucked a card from behind her ear. She seemed somehow even less amused.
“Little bonus to help you out, Two of Pentacles.”
“Uh-huh.”
Out popped two pentacle globes, Demetri juggled them and swirled them on his shoulders. “You have good balance, but you are dancing the line~” He gave another wink. “The kind of risk I like.”
“I think you have two other readings to do. Thanks for the patch up though.”
The thief hung his head in mock disappointment at the rejection. If the bounty hunter had any thoughts about the reading, she sure didn’t feel like sharing them.
“Could I at least trouble you for the pleasure of a name then.”
“Fennec.”
Demetri nodded, “Not so bad, is it?” before moving on to the other two. Gascione had finished with bandaging Sigmund by this point and had just managed to sit down.
“Ah, tall guy. You next.”
“Father Gascione. Yes, the hunt. Spare no details if you have them.” Though doubtful of the outcome, the hunter had heard his share of useful information from madder men.
“Here we go then, let’s see what you got…” He flipped over his hand and tossed three cards to the wind, letting them flutter in an arc to land perfectly on the table, side by side. The first roared to life, a large tower sprouting out and erecting in the middle of the table. Dark clouds obscured the tower and struck at it with lightning as hungering fires broke out across all levels.
“The Tower. You’ve come from chaos and faced the fires, which I would argue is pretty straightforward with what we just experienced.” He waved the tower away and dispelled it, just as a bed rose up with swords beside it.
“Four of Swords. It is currently time for rest and recuperation. Reflect on how you have gotten here. Probably a lot of bloodshed, so take that as you will.”
The hunter seemed to only be in thought, ignoring the babbling between the card readings.
“And uh, finally…”
A figure rose through the previous illusion to block incoming sticks with one of its own, defending from some unknown force.
“Seven of Wands. There will be those who will envy what you have and attempt to take it from you. Not me, I know the whole look and, just- ehem, you will need to persevere.”
“There is no doubt that we will. We must.”
Demetri gave a nervous nod and swooped up the cards, barely noticing one pop out of his sleeve.
“Ah, would you look at that? Ace of Pentacles. Unforeseen opportunity. Quite literally.” A cloud appears between Demetri and the card as he reaches for and picks it up, before tucking it back into his sleeve.
“And now…”
“My turn!” Sigmund stood up in his excitement, eager to both experience the magic of whatever Demetri was doing, along with having a fortune read. So much so that he forgot about his foot and winced before sitting back down.
Demetri straightened himself out. “And you are?”
“Ah, Sigmund. Sigmund Vrell.”
The thief nodded. “Got a feeling about this one. Alright.” Sweat formed on his brow, it was becoming clear that he was starting to strain himself, especially with the impressive stunt he had pulled off earlier.
Sigmund drooped his head down, as if trying to peer under the cards as Demetri pulled the deck out and shuffled them against his chest, making the cards look as they were crawling into each other.
He tossed forward the three cards, and began the reading like the other three. He slapped the table and eight coins flipped in the air, with one being caught by a miniature being and hammering it, attempting to perfect it.
“Eight of Pentacles, Reversed. Seems you have your own ruleset that you have become accustomed to following, and given the culty vibe you have got, probably accurate. Though, that can be to a fault.” He snatched the coins and tossed them in a pocket before shooing away the illusory figure. As they walked away, five stars appeared in the air above them.
“Five of Pentacles. Speaking of that fault, you feel like you are not worthy enough of whatever you are doing. Whatever that may be…” he scratched his head a bit, unsure of who exactly Sigmund might worship, but he wasn’t sure he was wanting to ask.
“In light of that,” he continued, slapping the stars and lonely figure away. A majestic horse appeared and besides its rider were six golden rods. A signal of some sort of celebration.
“Well well, if that is not the best card to see in these times. Victory is in your sights. Let me know if you ever want to trade fates, I would take those other two with a win any day.”
Sigmund took it all in and pondered in thought, before pointing to the last card.
“There’s another one.”
Demetri stared down, and by the gods of madness the lad was right.
“Hm. Must be getting too sweaty, I will turn down the fire…” he leaned across the table and flipped the card over before fanning away some of the illusory flames.
A man snuck away from the rising castle with seven swords that were summoned along with them. He peeked back and tiptoed across the table before vanishing.
“Seven of Swords I guess?” Sigmund spoke up, having counted them before they disappeared.
“Ah, good eye…” Demetri fell oddly silent for a moment.
“So, what does that mean?”
“Well... there's a lot of different meanings to that one and…” he gave a nervous smile. “Well, none of them are good, but there is a shared theme.”
“Such as?”
“Betrayal.”
Silence hung in the air for a moment, the fire slowing its burn before vanishing entirely, leaving them in darkness. Each chair suddenly snapped back into the simple knee high rocks that now left their rears sore.
“Good talk, nice reading, yeah?” The uncharacteristically awkward rogue attempted.
Their respective collar devices broke the tension, if for a moment. “A busy day! And I’m proud to say that you all live… “
They listened to the messages and waited until their announcer had finished their words.
“We are next to a volcano. Demetri, you have the statuette, right?” Sigmund spoke up.
The thief looked up at the rest of the mountaintop, a bit daunted at the idea of climbing it after all the spectacle of the day. “Do you all not sleep?”
Eyes stared back at him, all with different expressions.
“I see... Volcano it is then.”
The treacherous path up the scorched hole of Cevanti was unpleasant and hot, even in the dead of night. It took them a majority of the dark hours to climb, and finally reach the large vent at the top.
Demetri glanced back at his companions, who all shrugged.
“It is in your possession.” Gascione plainly stated.
Demetri gave a solemn nod and peeked over the edge. “Yup, hot as fuck. Not in the good way.”
The thief took a deep breath and peered over before gathering his will.
Then he jumped.
Well, an illusion of him did. The real him seemed to step from nowhere to casually toss the figurine into the pit of magma. At least the cameras would get it framed right.
“What, have you never been curious to see how you would look jumping into a volcano?”
***
“Kevin, edit that so it’s Mirage jumping instead. I want at least three of our video specialists working on this, so that by the time I wake up, I have something to drink my coffee to. Have them add some screams or something, make it believable.”
