Mirrors

Forewarned is four-armed.

Mirrors

Later that night, we visited the cemetery. Gironde, as if anticipating our arrival, opened the cemetery's eerily creaking iron gates for us as soon as we arrived. We entered, and he welcomed us into his living room.

"You were in control of my destiny again, weren't you?", I asked him.

"Come on," he smiled, "your fate was preordained, I was just helping you along."

Alex, meanwhile, took a bite of a cookie and, taking advantage of the Necromancer's inattention, grimaced and put it back on the tray.

"Tea?" smiled Gironde.

Only if I can drown you in it... "No, thanks."

"So, have you found any clues yet?" the Necromancer tilted his head to the side questioningly.

"Actually, I don't think we'll be able to find him," I declared.

The man frowned a little, but his eyes were still twinkling with amusement.

"Instead, we should let him find us," Rolo turned pale as a ghost at what I said, "and then we'll end him with one fatal blow."

The Necromancer had a satisfied smile on his lips. "What is the exact plan?"

"We'll lure him out, you don't have to worry about that," I explained, "But once we have him, our job is done. You have to stop him and kill him."

I was fully aware that this time we had, to put it mildly, gone overboard. This time, we would surely die. From what I've heard from Rolo, his brother could be much stronger than we are, even if we team up against him. I simply had to admit to myself, no matter how much it hurt my honor, that we could not win. However, I must pay my debt. Yes, I must pay it, but exactly that much, not a cent more. We can, without a doubt, draw the lion out of his den.

The Necromancer's grin curved into a small, calculating curve. " If I may say so, my dear Shaytan, you are very clever."

I looked back at him with a similar smile. "We agreed that I would find him for you. No more, no less."

Gironde grunted. "Of course, of course. I remember exactly what we agreed upon."

"Once we have the target, you must come immediately," I stated, with ill-concealed tension in my voice, "I'm not sure we can hold him back without losing our lives. Could you manage that with some kind of hocus-pocus?"

The Necromancer hummed a few times, then raised his hand, a card appearing between his fingers, which he placed on the glass table and slid in front of me. On the card, a human skeleton armed with a huge scythe strode across a barren field. He was not harvesting wheat, but human bodies, scattered pieces of which lay at his feet.

"Death," I hissed, "Very humorous."

The Necromancer rewarded my comment with an endearing smile.

"Always keep it at hand, my dear Shaytan," said Gironde, "When you have your 'target' tear it in half and I'll be there."

I grinned. "What is this, a summoning? Summoning death?"

"You could say that," he replied with a glazed smile.

I picked up the card and stood up, my friends imitating me almost immediately. Even the Necromancer jumped up.

"One more thing..." he said, but his words were now directed at Rolo, "You want to know why you escaped that day."

The kid was surprised but finally nodded.

"We cannot change fate for our own self-interest. That is, we cannot kill a man who has not yet fulfilled his destiny," the necromancer declared, "You are alive because you have a job to do in this world."

Alex growled. He usually acted first and didn't even think afterward — he always preferred to leave that to me.

"Tell me, why do creatures like you exist?" he spat and I thought I was going to faint.

We depend on the kindness and help of the Necromancer, and he tells him this?! Is he insane? Didn't he think that the kid's brother would hunt us down, find us sooner or later, and from what I've heard about him, he'd probably kill us all?!

Gironde Mehisto merely smiled at the wolf's vehemence — but he always smiled, so there was no way of knowing what that meant.

"Dear Alex, the answer is simple: the reason for our existence is to keep the endless stream of Fate in its course and to ensure a balance between this world and the transcendent," he replied.

 "Why is this good for you?" the wolf questioned, "You're not even bringing back the loved ones! This is terrible!"

"Do you really think so?" smiled the man and the wolf opened his mouth to speak again.

"Alex!" I condensed all the obscene words I wanted to say to the wolf into that single word.

I didn't wait for the wolf to anger the necromancer even more, I said hello and started to drag him along before I could my best friend could have joined the ghosts. I heard Gironde Mehisto wish us a terrible night, and then I left the crypt and headed home.

When we got home, Rolo got the room next to mine, and we agreed to leave the door open for the night, just in case.

"Don't worry, if anything happened, I could hear your heartbeat even through the closed door. If anything happens, I'll be right there," I assured him.

"How can you hear heartbeats so accurately?" he asked, "I mean, I've heard of people with good hearing being able to deduce the state of mind of others from their heartbeats, but I don't really understand it."

The kid was sitting at the kitchen table while I was busy making two mugs of cocoa.

I smiled. "It's an old story and not at all interesting."

"I'm interested," he remarked, and I gave him a deep sigh and handed him his steaming cocoa.

"I must have been eleven," I mused, "I was in charge of taking out a group of vampires living in a tunnel. A few had tried before me, but they never got out alive. It was pitch black inside, so for almost three days as I wandered, I could rely on nothing but my sense of touch and hearing — mostly hearing to gauge danger. The vampires were betrayed by their incredibly quiet and slow heartbeats, although they must have spotted me before I heard them because they surrounded me. Eventually, I managed to complete my mission, and after that, I found my way out of the maze relatively quickly," I shrugged. "After that, it was a given that I could hear the heartbeats, it was somehow natural. And from then on, it's not hard to pick out the melodies of the beats."

Rolo listened attentively. It was as if he was taking note of every word I said in the back of his skull, just in case he forgot.

"You know, for a long time I thought I was the only one the world betrayed so treacherously," he said quietly, "But since I've known you... I think it's the same with you. You and the wolf have had a hard life."

"Well, I'm getting used to it," I grinned.

"Time for bed, I'm sleepy," I added and then stifled a yawn.

I reached into my pocket and to my surprise I pulled out two cards instead of one. I was the Death the Necromancer had given me, and another: a six-spoked wooden wheel suspended from a two-post frame. A strange shape hovered above the wheel, probably an ugly, sickly blue dragon wearing a crown and holding a raised sword. On the right-hand side of the wheel, an equally strange creature clung as the wheel pulled upwards. On the left side, moving downward, another creature hung suspended. I could not identify the latter two, but I nevertheless realized that it was the Wheel of Fortune, the tenth card.

"What the hell?", I turned the card before my eyes.

Rolo also reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a card.

The card was of a young man, dressed in linen and wearing a pointed hat, with a symbol of infinity hovering above him and mysterious smoke billowing from his arms. In front of him on a table was a chalice, a sword, a shield, and various devices. The Magus, the first card.

Alex burst into the room.

"Look what I found!" he boomed, pointing to his card, "Maybe it's cursed!"

The wolf was waving the Tarot's only unnumbered card — or the zero — vehemently, which depicted a man dressed as a court jester. His clothes were torn and he was being bitten on the leg by a dog as he walked along. He carried a bag on a cane slung over his shoulder, and in his other hand, he held a stick.

Rolo snickered. "The Necromancer has indeed found the card that best suited you."

"You know the tarot?", I said, surprised, and he merely nodded.

"The fool shows the naivety in us. A playful self, with no obligations and no responsibilities. It can also mean frivolity and stupidity. A fool doesn't think, has no fear, but only listens to his heart," the kid explained.

I laughed. "Like a perfect CV!"

"Shut up!" snarled Alex.

"The wheel of fate can show us many things. It can also mean that your luck is running out, and things are not working out around you. The other meaning is the opposite. It definitely refers to your fate in some way."

"What does yours mean?", I asked.

"It means a self-aware, wise man. The challenges of life are not a problem, because with awareness and wit, anything can be achieved," he answered.

I shrugged. "Who knows what the Necromancer was trying to achieve with this. I don't care."

To back up my words, I tore my own card into pieces and left Death to Rolo.

"And you should have this! If anything happens, you know what to do, right?"

He nodded.

"Now everyone get some sleep," I yawned. Then I added to Alex, "And I'm still not talking to you."

I finally went to sleep but woke up a few hours later. Lightning was striking wildly through the clouds, loud booms shook the world as the heavens fought furiously non-stop. The storm raged, its fury relentless, tearing into the leaves of the trees and taking everything it could, only to smash it to the ground a few meters away. The huge raindrops poured down incessantly, deafeningly pounding on the glass of my window, hoping to chase the sleep from my eyes. It was as if nature was rampaging with unbridled venom while sobbing bitterly.

(...)

In the morning — which wasn't really a morning, considering I got up at three in the afternoon — Alex brought me a mug of cocoa, looking at me apologetically with his puppy dog eyes. Then he bit his lip and opened it to speak, but I raised my hand almost immediately to stop him.

"I'll take the cocoa, but you can't talk to me," I said, for the sheer sake of clarity, and he sighed and walked out of my room, disappointed.

I struggled out of bed and decided to brush my teeth, so I entered the bathroom in complete peace of mind. I squeezed some toothpaste on my toothbrush and then started to take care of my teeth. Something was wrong. I could feel it. As I watched my reflection, I got the feeling that it was watching me with a wary eye. Oh, my God, I've gone crazy.

Wraiths have invaded every mirror in the house, I heard Berry's voice in my head.

What?!

I shook my head. It's okay Shaytan, calm down, you were imagining it. No, your reflection is not staring at you. No, you didn't hear the fucking bogey's voice in your head. No, Shaytan, you don't have to go to the nuthouse... I was trying to convince myself of my own sanity when Berry spoke again.

I wasn't joking. I was serious.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he snapped at me angrily.

No! They mustn't know we're talking!

I closed my mouth and continued brushing my teeth as if nothing had happened.

Okay, good job, Sunshine.

Since when have you been able to do something like this? I asked thoughtfully.

I don't know. I guess I've always been able to.

That's fucking awesome, I shared my opinion without any enthusiasm

He giggled, then got serious again. Don't cover the mirrors, it's suspicious. Anyway, be careful.

Are you worried? I asked sarcastically.

I'm not.

Really? I asked back.

Really, he replied.

Well, goodbye then — and I left the bathroom, having finished my business. I could still hear Berry growling clearly offended.