The Serpent's revelation under a sky of mirrors

Sounds of an ongoing argument traveled toward Jalen, originating from deeper in the shop. The counter was left unattended, and the door behind was left open. Other times, he would have let things be. Nevertheless, he couldn't ignore the call of something, compelling him to walk through the door behind the counter.

Backed against the wall stood a woman. A bald man dressed in nothing but slacks and an oil-stained singlet pressed a gun up her chin. Another man sat at the only desk in the small room, rummaging through its contents.

"Last chance, girl," the man said, flipping through a stack of documents. "Where is my fuckin' money?"

Tears welled in the girl's eyes. "How many times have I told you people? The money is complete. That's 10% of everything. Business has been slow."

The girl looked familiar to Jalen, with her jet-black hair spotting blue-dyed streaks and dark eyeshadows matching her dark lips.

"Dawn?" he asked.

Both men started like a ghost revealed itself to them. The one with the gun pointed his weapon at him. The other man at the table spoke. "You fucking moron. Now ya seen something you shouldn't see. Do you know what we're gonna do to ya?"

He sighed and offered his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Look, that's my friend over there. How much does she owe you? I'll pay it."

The men exchanged glances. "A grand. That's what she owes us." The seated one said.

"What?" Dawn screamed. "I owe $400 at most."

"Ah, so ya admit you do owe us now, huh?" He turned toward Jalen. "Let's say it's $400. Add an extra $400 for our interest and $200 for the hassle of dealing with her."

He searched his pockets and retrieved the money, which he handed to the one with a gun. The man passed the money to his boss, it seemed, who counted it.

"Look at that." The man said, stashing the money into his pocket. "Someone that knows how to pay my money in full. Dawn, take notes from ya friend."

With that, the two men exited after wishing Jalen farewell.

"Thanks," Dawn mumbled. She couldn't look him in the eye. "I'll pay you back your money."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Dawn," he said. "What did you get yourself into?"

"Well, uh…" She forced a smile. "Don't worry about it." After expelling a deep breath, she gazed up at him. "Lemme make you some coffee. Then you can tell me where you disappeared. I never once believed you died, you know?"

She left the backroom while he remained, still trying to discern what drew him into this shop.

"It's her, Jalen." Yun patted him on the head. "Your human vessel dulls your senses. We should eliminate her."

"Absolutely not," he said. "Not until we know what is going on, at least."

Coffee was never his preferred beverage, as he found its taste too strong and bitter no matter how much sugar had been used to disguise it. Regardless, he sipped from his cup as they talked, a bit about his disappearance, before she opened up about what she had been up to.

"I never took you for one to open a shop," he said.

"Really? It's an antique shop, Jalen," she said. "It's right up my alley. If only I didn't lay in bed with the goddamn mafia, of all things."

"How did it happen?"

Her lips opened, then quivered, a sigh escaping her lips. "Never mind, it doesn't really matter, anyway. Besides…" She pulled out a deck of cards. "Do you remember the cards I showed you back in high school? Well, they never once changed after all these years. Except one."

Yun, who lay leisurely on the table, sprang up and growled, startling Dawn.

"We should kill her while she is still weak, Jalen." The black cat hissed, her back arched, and pupils narrowed into slits.

He scuffed. "You are overreacting, Yun. Stand down."

Dawn recoiled in fear, backing up. "What's going on Jalen?"

"It's okay, Dawn," he said. "Nothing is gonna happen to you." 

He moved in between them since Yun still stalked towards Dawn, with her razor-sharp teeth bared, and cosmic energies spilling. However, this drew him closer to the deck of cards.

"Jalen, stop!" Yun screamed. 

Regrettably, it was already too late. The cards burst into the air and twirled around them as if they were caught in the eye of a tornado. Yun exerted her will, freezing the cards in the air.

"Jalen!" Dawn shouted. Some cards had used the diversion of the spinning cards to inflict many cuts on him. Cuts that now leaked his golden life force rather than blood. He fell down, his body weak and shriveled. 

"What's going on?" Dawn asked, attempting to help Jalen. But Yun stood in her way and commanded her to stay put.

"We must destroy the cards," Yun said, turning to him. "Forgive me. I did not know the cards were the true culprit. They played tricks with the girl."

"You can't," he said, his voice weak and barely audible. "If you destroy them, she dies. They are bonded. I see now what it wanted. And it has succeeded. Worry not, I will be back shortly."

The cards absorbed the cosmic swirling cloud of dense life force that escaped from his many wounds, their surfaces glowing golden. The process produced a grating sound resembling the striking of a thousand tuning forks together. Afterward, the scene went quiet as the cards shot towards Dawn and slipped into her.

Deep in Jalen's conscience, the gates locking in his Cosmonar life force were cracked, allowing a steady stream of his volatile cosmic energy to be stolen. It was a wonder how the being controlling those cards reached here. He intended to find out. Alas, he opened those gates properly, releasing more life force than he had ever done at a time. His human vessel swelled and burst into the towering form of Erebus, the god of might. As an effect of his explosive transformation, the counter and all the nearby furniture and products erupted outward, ripped to shreds and smithereens. Dawn owed her survival to Yun, who shielded her with a force field. Still, he knew whatever hid within her would have protected her as well.

The color drained from Dawn's face as she gazed upon his god form. "So it came true. You met the star. That's why that one card faded."

"That, I did," he said. "Now I'd like to speak to the cards, or rather, what controls them."

She willed her shaking hands to search her pockets for the deck of cards. When she couldn't find them, she looked helplessly up at him. "Many times, over the years, I couldn't find my cards no matter where I searched. It turned out that they live within me."

"Not they, Dawn," he said, kneeling down near the frightened woman. "It's all one singular being. Now stay still. If it will not come out, we shall go in. Yun, please guard our bodies."

He gently placed his hand on Dawn. It took all his concentration to not hurt her as he searched for the signature of his stolen life force. 

"There it is." His eyes burned hot.

In an instant, they went from an antique shop in New York to a mysterious, dark place. The floor beneath them was so black that their shadows blended together. Scattered around them were towering tarot cards partially submerged in the ground, each depicting vivid scenes that were unfamiliar to him. Perhaps they were scenes set to happen in the future, or tricks played on them by the unknown being. As he floated just above the ground, accompanied by a nervous Dawn, one card caught his attention. It portrayed him surrounded by kneeling angels, their immense black wings stretching out. Among them was a woman—who boasted the largest wingspan of them all—donning a silver suit of armor with her head faced down, and offering in her hands a silver sword that shed black embers to him. Perched on her head was a crown made of black onyx, adorned with elongated spires.

"Jalen, you turned back," Dawn said.

He inspected himself, finding that, as she said, he was human again with his feet grounded.

"I see," he said. "But it was not of my own volition."

He wanted to ask if the place was familiar to her. However, she appeared to be on high alert, pointing upwards before he could say a word. Following her gaze, he spotted hundreds of floating mirrors that filled the gloomy sky. The mirror just above bounced their visage back at them. Well, Dawn's, to be exact.

"You don't have a reflection," she noted.

"I can see that," he said.

"Now, why is that?"

"That is a question I can answer, my gracious host." A reverberating voice echoed across the enigmatic landscape.

A gigantic snake emerged from one of the floating mirrors, winding across the sky to descend to their level. Its scales took on a myriad of different colors, all four of its golden eyes focused on him.

"You?" Dawn screamed. Rather than the fear he expected her to be feeling, she exuded anger. She turned to him. "Her name is Reallie. She used to appear in my dreams when I was young. And we used to go on the best adventures. Only, that time she was much smaller than this."

"I have our benefactor to thank here," Reallie said. Her tone was deep, with a resonance no human could manage. "His life force has revitalized my dying woes. Gaze upon my brilliant form, my host. I am more powerful and bigger than I have ever been."

"Let me remind you," he said. "It is the life force that you stole. The only reason you are alive is because of Dawn's dependence on you."

"That is true." The snake coiled around Jalen and Dawn, its massive body blocking off the sky. "That is why I have planned the unfolding of events as such. All for this fateful day to grace my presence."

"You mean you have been orchestrating my life all this time?" Dawn asked. "All my problems in school. My dad. This fucking death grip I'm locked into with the mob. Just so you could meet Jalen."

Reallie appeared sympathetic. "Not all of it, my host. Plus, you needed him just as much as I did. We are bound like kindling. If I burn, you burn."

"That settles a matter I wanted to discuss," he said. "Though since I'm here, I'll say it, anyway. If anything happens to Dawn, I will come for you. Even the matter of your bondage won't stop me. There are many ways to separate kindling, after all."

The snake glared at him but remained silent, while he glanced at the card with the painting of him and the angels, unbothered.

"Since you have expertise in predicting the future," he added, "do you mind telling me what happens here?"

"That is something I cannot do," Reallie replied. "Divulging one's fate is almost certain to affect that very fate. And believe me, I know what happens if you know too much too soon." The snake locked eyes with him. "It will be the beginning of your fall."

He held the eye contact. "Who are you?"

"I am Reallie, a childhood friend of Dawn." Then the snake inched closer, its hot breath showering him. In a whisper, not meant for Dawn's ears, it said. "Since you have given me the greatest of gifts, in the spirit of karma, I will peek into the web of destinies, somewhat. I have been known as many things throughout the unfolding of time. One such name most are familiar with is Anakulos, the once powerful primordial deity of fate and destiny, a sister to Erebus, who was the personification of darkness, and whose name you now wield. This is my warning; whosoever descends from the sky does so with ill intentions."

As his eyes froze wide open, grasping the gravity of the information spilled to him, Reallie rose, her head coiling up and eyes still locked on him. If what Reallie said rang true, then she was among the first beings in Greek mythology to exist; the first generation of gods and goddesses that gave birth to the Titans, who in turn, birthed the generation of gods and goddess he was familiar with today. He once thought that the diverse richness of mythologies were just stories, but they appeared to be real. That knowledge also reared a question; Did Nidhogg give him the name Erebus, knowing that the original had perished? He filed those thoughts away for now.

"Do you know Asasamumu?" he asked.

"Yes," Reallie replied. 

"Where can I find the person?"

Reallie gazed up at a passing mirror. As before, only his reflection was missing. "I do not know. He was everywhere, once. Now, he is nowhere. That is all I know."

He sensed that she knew more, but he dropped the matter. The information he already learned was more than enough for now.

They returned to the antique shop, where Yun lounged nonchalantly.

"What happened?" Yun asked.

He told her he would fill her in at The Carlyle.

Dawn remained on her knees, dejected. "What am I going to do about all this?"

Strewn around was the debris of what was her whole life.

He dusted his clothes after returning to his human form. "I wouldn't worry about that mundane stuff now if I were you. Something tells me the snake has grand plans for you. So chin up."

They exchanged contacts before he left the shop into the nightlife of New York. Lit signs all vied for his attention as he navigated pedestrian walkways, occasionally docking under some scaffolding. 

He made it to the historic hotel on 76th Street. Unlike how The Carlyle was depicted in the movies with its grand art déco entrance in pristine condition, enhanced by bright lights, this time, significant scaffolding covered the north side of the building. However, the lobby entrance stood up to its grandiose decor with its hexagonal shape, and walls adorned with intricate engravings. And that was the entrance alone. Double doors opened into the proper lobby—a spacious rectangular room with spotless white walls occasionally broken up by scraggly murals and decorative finials. The floor, black as it was, greatly contrasted the rest of the room and gleamed with the light from the grand frosted chandelier.

It would be cool to own something like this, he thought.

The receptionist received him with dignified courtesy and asked him if he had a reservation or if he wanted to book a room. When he provided the appropriate information, the receptionist handed him a key.

"If you need anything during your stay, don't hesitate to ask," she said.

His room was the entry-level option in the hotel. Even at that, it was still luxurious, with a king bed, polished wooden furniture, and plenty of space to breathe. An assortment of alcohol and drinks sat on a dresser. Checking his phone, he spotted messages from his sister. The latest one asked him to come to her room when he got back.

So before he headed out, he relayed all the information he learned from Reallie to Yun, who listened attentively, occasionally stopping him to clarify some details. In the end, he asked her to keep the information between them.