Aces and Eights

[Taste of Treason]

“Take it.” Leona’s eyes gave away her excitement. The longsword she handed me weighed more than I’d expected. The cool metal seemed to send a shockwave through my skin as I held it awkwardly with two hands. I ran my fingers across the smooth surface before letting the full weight rest in my right palm.

“It’s just two of them right?” I kept my voice as even as I could. I couldn’t afford to show fear. There may have been a small tremor on the final word.

“For now.” Her words were far from reassuring.

I hoped she would enjoy the show from atop her ivory tower. I also hoped the resident monk who stood silently to the side eyeing my small frame was as good a healer as the residents of the House of Cards claimed.

I suppose it is my own fault if I’m honest. I have again and again begged for equality. I have screamed from the top of my lungs that I am not afraid, I am not a child, I am not fragile.

Yet, standing in front of the large doorway that will lead to a battle against Leona’s troupe, I find myself feeling much less sure.

The monk seemed to find the humor in moment as well, I had never before seen him smile. He opened the door for me and stepped aside. I cannot say for sure, but I’m almost certain I saw him wink at our glorious leader as I stepped past.

The room was larger than I’d expected. Even as I stepped inside, the utterly blank space began to transform. The marble floor sprouted stone walls that were more rubble than substance. Soon a circular structure surrounded me. The ground beneath my feet was soon covered in a thick grass and the ceiling disappeared wholly revealing a sunny day with the sort of clouds you just want to lay back and search for shapes in.

I considered just abandoning this mission and doing just that until I noticed what began to take shape just outside the walls.

Stone seats spread out as far as I could see. For the first time it truly hit me that I was no longer reading stories of men and women fighting to the death inside an arena.

I was living it. And honestly, I was scared. I fought back the urge to vomit or urinate in my trousers as I stood stupidly holding a weapon I wasn’t sure I could use.

It was far too late to back out now. I needed to prove something here. I swallowed the lump that filled my throat and forced my voice to sound brave. “Bring it on Leona.”

[Ioder]

“Glad to see you made it.” Leona said bringing her hand to her face chuckling slightly. Ioder hated when she smiled. The seraphim walked casually up to the large doors of The House of Cards newly renovated arena. He rotated his shoulder checking the range of motion his armor allowed him one last time. She exchanged a glance and a smile with the monk standing just off to her side.

“You know I hate when you make me feel like you can see terrible things happening to me.” Ioder said as he paused for a second at Leona’s side. “You know I can envision your demise as well.” He said taking a long pause. Leaning into his illustrious leader he whispered into her ear. “It’s never pretty.”

“You would never,” She quickly snapped at Ioder. “You could never.” She said firmly pointing at the door. With a flick of her wrist she dismissed Ioder to her challenge. Beyond these doors were two other major arcana, both ready to fight to the death in a twisted trial set in place by Leona. Ioder grunted and gave a devilish glare to the monk still casually leaning against the wall.

Ioder continued past the two and pushed firmly against the door. As the doors swung open Ioder was pleasantly surprised to see that the arena was rather plain. The seraphim gave of a sigh of relief seeing the open sky above. He would at least the air to his advantage.

It appeared that there was already a young girl was already standing inside the arena. A pale young thing holding a sword waited patiently for the others to arrive. She turned; eyeballing Ioder as he entered the grassy center of the arena.

“Ive seen you around here haven’t I?” Ioder said assuming that he had fed her once or twice while feeding the ranks in the mornings.

[Cards of Fate]

The scholar had been deep in thought when Leona walked into his lair. The lights had long been extinguished, candles melted to nothing as the scholar poured over his notes. “You start with carbonated water…then you add the sodium benzoate…” the words escaped his lips in a quiet murmur. He had spent hours tinkering with the small beaker filled with neon green liquid, cursing every time it seemed to fail. His hands flicked over the flask delicately as he snatched it from its pedestal. He timidly rose the beaker to his lips and took a careful sip. A sweet citrus flavor washed over his tongue as he smacked his lips. Almost perfect, a little more sugar and it would be just right.

“Seriously Vincent?” Leona chided. “Don’t you have better things to do than make mountain dew in this world?” the seer expertly traversed the pitch black room. He blue eyes peered at his disheveled blonde hair and bloodshot eyes.

“It’s a research aid Leona.” Vincent grunted gulping more of the bright lime liquid down. “Besides its not like I’m going anywhere soon…” the scholar leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Suddenly he tensed up, eyes snapping open as he sat up. “Or am I?”

“You’re catching on quickly Vince.” She ruffled his hair. “Danger room Vince, I have a task for you.” She chuckled.

“I haven’t slept in three days Leona…” Vince whined leaning back in his chair as he tossed back half the liquid in his flask, not even tasting it. “Let me make another fucking flask of mountain dew…”
…

The third basement floor of the House of Cards was in almost complete disrepair. Only two wings were fully functioning. The east wing bore the forge and the hot springs, whilst the west wing hosted the remote citadel room. Alyssa Snow and Vincent had found it months ago, cluttered under the rubble. Sitting before the front door a monk made of stone who had simply referred to himself as “The First Ai’Brone” and explained the room’s purpose. The scholar gritted his teeth and let out a fake chuckle, this was going to be fun.

Throwing the door open he let out a loud cry. “Danger zone!” he staggered into the arena, an ancient looking coliseum surrounded by crumbling stands. He chugged his flask and downed the entire thing of mountain dew, tossing the flask aside as it smashed onto the ground. “Er…Danger Room!” he yawned. “Let’s fucking do this.” he adjusted his purple robe as he stretched, seeing the very familiar face of his best freind and...a little girl? What the fuck Leona.

[Taste of Treason]

The man was not familiar. I had just opened my mouth to tell the half machine so when an obnoxious voice filled the air.

“Danger zone!”

The echo bounced against the ruins and reached my ears time and time again, each once more shrill than the last until finally it faded.

“What it the actual…” I caught my tongue. Now was not a time for questions. I stared at each of my opponents, hoping to quickly surmise at least some basic understanding of what lie ahead.

The sun seemed to be rising higher with each passing moment. It was as if time itself were short and the arena wanted to tell us so. The heat was rising and I could feel the tiniest bit of sweat building at my hairline. I needed to get this over with before the stress got to me before my opponents could.

I wasn’t sure what to say or do. Is it customary in battle to introduce yourself? Does affiliation with a secret organization made up of fate-obsessed warriors change the socially acceptable prerequisites to attempting to run someone through with a sword?

I didn’t suppose so.

The newest entrant wore lavender dress robes, something I had seldom seen outside of the magically gifted. I wasn’t quite ready for magic tricks. And so, my attention turned to the first competitor.

“Forgive me for the informality.” Yes, that was my battle cry as I did the only thing I knew how. I ran straight at the man with the sword awkwardly before me as I used both hands to sustain its weight.

Was it a smart move? Definitely not. Would it work? All I could do was hope.

[Ioder]

“Vincent Cain!” Ioder yelled over to his longtime partner in crime. It seemed that Leona had a sense of humor pinning these two together like this. It wasn’t ever far outside the realm of possibility that Leona would force Ioder to kill his friend. “Fancy meeting you here in a place like this!” He yelled waving over to his comrade.

Just as Ioder began to feel more comfortable with who he was facing the young girl whom he had let slip his mind began to charge him. She ran like she was afraid, like she was honestly like a fish out of water. Her stance was atrocious and the way she ran with her blade could easily lead to self-inflicted injuries. Ioder turned full focus on to the young girl and lifted his hand in her direction.

Assuming Ioder fully understood the rules of their new citadel style arena he aimed his palm at the girl. He was allowed to use deadly force to win this contest and intended to. In the center of his hand manifested a blinding orb of shite light. In a faction of a second he clutched the orb and from it shot out a ray of glaring light. The light traveled with great speed towards the girl. The seraphim took his eyes off of the girl for only a second to keep tabs on Vincent who he was sure had already started his counter attack.

[Cards of Fate]

“Ioder er…the Angel!” Vincent roared raucously as he thumped his chest. “I had no idea you were in the business of getting your ass handed to you by little girls and scholars!” The young man watched his friend, and then the young girl’s charge, and then Ioder’s response rather unenthused. This was not his sort of fight, his best friend and a little girl, hardly a challenge. He sighed and dug through his robe for a moment, pulling a mahogany cane seemingly out of nowhere. “Aha! The beating stick!” he grinned ear to ear as he twirled it easily in his fingers, letting out a soft yawn. The sun had already peaked past high noon and it was time for a showdown. There was only room for one sheriff, err, Arcana in this arena.

“Take this! Super special rock attack!” he breathed scooping up a small rock from the ground and tossing it into the air. He swung his cane and in one swipe sent it rocketing towards the two. The projectile sped past Ioder’s ear and smashed into the floor in front of Cellar in a cloud of dust and debris. The scholar let out a light chuckle before scooping a few more rocks and repeating the process. Toss, swing, toss, swing, the rocks rained down upon the two like a hellish barrage of sedimentary artillery. Each one growing more and more precise.

[Taste of Treason]

And of course the one with the metal arm is the mage. I cursed myself for my rash judgment as I dove off course. The sword fell to the ground with a solid thump and my arm screamed with pain as the strange spell hit just below my shoulder.

I rolled quickly to my left side, hoping to stop the intense burning. “Holy shit that hurt.” I whispered.

Screw it. I was done. Why the hell would anyone do this for fun? Fun was curling up in a corner with a good book. This was just stupid.

Was it too late to stand up, say ‘just kidding’ and walk out of here with a good chuckle? I could spend the rest of the day hanging out with the monk as he stopped the damned pain. We could eat bread and jam and have a couple drinks. Good times could be had by all.

Leona would give me that knowing glance and I would tell her to shut up. Things would go back to normal. I would be her ‘question girl’ and all these stupid fighters could kill each other as much as they wanted deep underground. Yes, that was the plan.

Then, the rocks started to fall. The first hit mere inches from my face. The second very nearly grazed my already injured arm. It was time to move. And fast.

I pushed myself back up and scrambled to my sword. For the first time I noticed just where the projectiles were coming from. The robed man stood on the edge of the arena with a large stick in his hands. He picked up pieces of the rubble and used the stick to send them flying. I watched in amazement as one hit the wall behind me with an echoing boom.

I considered my options. I could try to use the sword again. That didn’t go so well last time. I could also run. That was tempting.

Or, I could ignore this guy completely and just try to get as many licks in on the guy who burned my freaking arm as I could before a stone took my head off.

What the hell. I left the sword where it was and threw myself with all my might toward the man closest to me. Hopefully he would be distracted enough that I could land a punch or two before I took my last breath. If not, Leona couldn’t say I didn’t try.

[Ioder]

“Get off you little worm!” Ioder yelled just as the young girl threw all of herself on him. She was small, couldn't have weighed more than a large dog. Ioder caught most of her with his metal shoulder before she managed him to his knees.

There was a scared expression on her face as she clung to him with all that she was. Ioder wondered why she would have agreed to a battle like this. It was clear she had no place here. Ioder reared back his head before slamming it hard atop her head she burrowed into her arm.

Then he felt it, like being shot in the arm Ioder was pelted with one of Vincent’s stone shots. His hardened aura armor began to break like glass on the back of his bare arm. Ioder turned his head to face Vincent and his annoying raining stones. He raised his free hand and sent forth a portion of his aura to fallow and trap his left arm and leg to stop him.

Ioder started to shake the young girl off of him. It was tasking to both fallow Vincent with his aura and try to pry the little leach from his shoulder.

“I said get off of me!”

[Cards of Fate]

Vincent watched the aura start to head his way. “Well fuck me…” he tucked a couple stones as he began to dash forward around the coliseum seats. The terrain was uneven, and in some places the marble benches were outright collapsed. The scholar occasionally launched a stone or two at the struggling fighters all the while running from the twinkly aura behind him.

“Goodness Ioder, could you have picked a more flamboyant aura to freaking send my way?” he roared angrily. “Fuck this.” He dug his heals into the ground in front of them and stopped himself completely. Taking a deep breath he urged the energy within him well up around him. Blue sparks began to flicker over his skin as his eyes glowed a light cyan.

He felt it surround him, and in a flash he disappeared from his position and reappeared in a flash of blue above the struggling two. “I think it’s about time to end this fight!” he growled raising his cane over his head to strike.

[Leona Stevvains]

She sat on the Seat of Judgement high above the combatants, her fingers laced together as she focused intently on the struggles before her. Ioder and Vincent proved to be a bit much for the green Cellar Door, something Leona Stevvains anticipated perfectly. By the time Cellar attempted her desperate dive, the Judgement Card's seat was left vacant. Luckily, the three warriors were too engrossed in their ongoing struggle to notice the disappearance of the Berevar Witch.

Just before Vincent's cane delivered divine retribution on the divine Ioder, a long pool cue inserted itself between the two. The impact of the blow sent the stick downwards, but the makeshift weapon forced Vincent's attack back. At the thick end of the pool cue stood Leona Stevvains holding the item as though it were a rapier, one hand in the air and the other gripped tightly upon cue. Vincent and Ioder's eyes widened at Cellar's savior, though the latter was distracted by the cleats of the Tarot leader as they slammed into his ribs.

Leona looked down to Cellar as she reached into her pocket. Out of the witch's coat and in the free hand of the prophet was a small dirk. Steel glimmered off of the lighting as Leona handed the weapon towards the girl, handle first. "Now remember Cellar," Leona spoke with the same monotone voice she had become known for, "The pointy end is the part you point at them."

She reached into her pocket again and quickly withdrew a white vlince sash with two damascus balls at either end of the cloth. She tossed it on the floor towards Ioder, who seemed very unphased by the witch's mule kick. Her eyes shifted over towards Vincent, who gave pause and raised an eyebrow at her. She returned the vacant stare of her companion for a ment before her posture changed and she gave a shrug. "That's the breaks, kid."

Before Vincent could reply, the tip of the pool cue was sent rocketing towards the gut of the Hierophant.