Endless Drive

Putting it all on the line.

I can't think of anything that excites me more—the rush, the elation, hell, even the pain and regret. It all makes me feel alive, the heat of the moment only amplifying these emotions.

It didn't hurt to also be auspiciously favored by Lady Luck. Ever since I can remember, I've always been unconventionally lucky, from small things such as always being the one kid thief to never be caught, to things as big as finding a pearl necklace thrown on the sidewalk. Some would consider having these thoughts while entering a casino to be a fatal sin, but I beg to differ. This was it, the final finishing touches to my dream—betting a generational sum of coins in roulette on green, a one in forty chance of me hitting it so big the casino would need a century-long loan to pay me out. The thought of my lifelong streak of fortune ending never even crossed my mind. That is until it soon did. Fucking red.

It was meant to be a simple job.

Sure, it was posted on a less-than-legal site, and the pay of ten gold crowns seemed a bit excessive considering the rather lackluster description of "an easy, face-to-face survey". But what can I say? I couldn't help but bet all I had. Even considering my rather peculiar knack for stakes, I knew I was in over my head. Being extremely under the influence wasn't helping either.

That brings me to the present. Here I was, standing opposite what can only be described as a decrepit, abandoned, and gloomy cathedral, smack dab in the edges of Lorella, the fourth biggest city under the Craw Empire. Not a single human soul in sight.

Letting out quite possibly the most genuine sigh of my life, I belatedly swing open the cathedral's rustic wooden doors. Ignoring the undoubtedly hazardous amount of dust flying about, I slowly tread my way through. The cathedral, while dusty, remained largely pristine, with marble pillars and a gorgeous stained glass dome that were, quite honestly, breathtaking. But what really caught my attention was the lithe, female-like figure wearing an extremely tall-ended white hooded dress that cascaded down the speech podium stairs.

With gloved hands cupped in a typical church prayer stance, the hood covered their features, with the only discernible feature being their snow-white skin. Slowly, they turned to me, lowering their hands and straightening up. Nervous, scared, weirded out, I tried to cover all those emotions by letting out a playful chuckle. "Playing dress-up, are we? Kinky, not my style though. This is quite different from the description of the job YOU hopefully posted. It was you, right?" My emotions faintly revealed at the end of my words. The figure, at a moment's notice, was mere hairs away from my face, which it held both sides of, with its very cold hands. 'Fuck,' I never nearly regretted my motto of living with it all on the line quite as much as I have in this moment.

Up close, to what I assume was a woman, I can only say one thing, fictional. Crystal blue eyes, dainty nose, all adorned on a perfect face. Granted, that same face was locked in an extremely indifferent expression. Her mouth starts to move, followed closely by her chime-like voice. "He, the one favored by life itself, hear thy heart into the ever-pressing fight. May the darkness never take you astray." As soon as those words were uttered, she vanished into thin air, leaving only a leather pouch, which I opened to find the exact amount of ten gold crowns.

My walk back home was somewhat of a blur to me; I was only aware when I reached the door of said house. A two-room apartment in one of the city's multitude of residential complexes, not exactly illustrious but does its job. Quickly opening the door after swiping my ID card on its scanner, I head inside, jumping into my bed's mattress headfirst. As I recover from the effects of my, dare I say, whimsical actions, I hear the click sound of the door automatically closing. That being the signal I was waiting for before I let myself be drifted asleep.

Grumbling, moaning, and groaning, I stir myself awake, no doubt partially thanks to my late morning alarm. Heading into the open bathroom at the corner of the room, I approach the sink. 'Let's see, gorgeous heterochromatic eyes? Check. Messy, eye-length white-tipped black hair? Check. Perfectly marble-sculpted face? Yep, still there. Alright, maybe the pretty crazy lady was just all inside my head. I am still single in my early twenties after all…' Pulling out of the depressive chain of thought, I quickly shower and change my clothes. Picking a simple white tee complimented with a black leather jacket and jeans with white sneakers, plain as hell I know, but what works works. 

To be continued.