As I finished my sentence a spine-shivering voice cut through the air from behind us, it was deep and sinister.
"Yes, that would be a shame wouldn't it, Miss Amelia...?"
I thought I was losing it, I thought I was hearing things at first, but indeed I had heard an actual voice. It wasn't my mind playing tricks on me, then the voice spoke again. This time around, it was in a more higher pitch, almost sounding like that of a woman.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Miss Clementine, I didn't take you for the anxious type."
My heart started to beat at an extremely fast rate, I was getting overly anxious and didn't know why. I quickly turned around only to realize I wasn't with my friends anymore, but in what looked to be an abandoned Town. Everything was different, tons of stars the luminescent moon filled the sky even though it was daytime a few seconds ago. I felt like I was displaced, it felt as if I were in a different place altogether and I tried to shake it off as me "just daydreaming". Still anxious I formed a five-inch needle composed completely of ice and stabbed my lower abdomen and agonized in pain as I realized this wasn't a dream and the damage in this world was doubtlessly real. The ice eventually melted and, as per usual, my body subconscious healed itself.
"Where the Hell am I?"
Questioning where on Omnidea's great green Earth I was, I started to stroll around the town, I began to think out loud.
"There's...large cards. They're embedded into the side of these buildings as if someone threw them like a knife."
"You finally made it, this is gonna be fun now we can have a girls night out wee!"
I heard the Mysterious Lady's voice again, it was coming from atop a building, next to a window. It looked like she was there, patiently waiting and sitting on one of those cards as if were a normal chair. I looked up at her with a confused look as I tried to discern what she clearly looked like. She had some sort of maid's dress or skirt with bunny ears with some sort of heart-shaped necklace object around her neck. I decided I'd had enough of this and I was ready to leave since my mind still hadn't processed what was going on.
"Are you the same Mysterious Lady whoms voice I heard from earlier."
I gave her the most serious stare as with Mr. C, trying to invoke fear into her, but it seemed irrelevant altogether since she still sat there, smiling. It wasn't before long before she had finally decided to talk again.
"Most people call me crazy or insane or masochistic or- Oh I've rambled on too long just call me Wildcard. That's W, I, L, D, C, A, R, D, Wildcard!"
As she finished her sentence her face went from jolly to serious in a fraction of a second and she started to talk again, but with a more serious tone. I would even go so far as to claim she's bipolar, it's as if her attitude changed without her realizing it.
"This place is known as Urbs Tempus or The Town of Time."
"The Town of Time?"
I was rather confused as I'd always been since arriving here and she went back to her jolly attitude, smiling again.
"Urbs Tempus is a world different than the world you're used to, kinda like my pocket-sized playhouse! It's not as fun because it's really small, barely bigger than a normal town which is why I call it Urbs Tempus. I needed someone to play with so I set my eyes on you, Amelia Clementine. I flipped the script!"
She sounded delusional and what did she mean by "flip the script"
"What the hell are you going on about?"
Her face got serious again.
"Before the birth of everything in existence, there existed three great deities. These great deities were Omnidea, Omnideus, and Omnidium and with the combined power of all, they gave birth to the world and the many stars and galaxies within it. Each deity governed over certain parts of the world and these certain parts were theirs to control and do with as they please. Omnidea, the deity of Life and Death created all living things in the world along with the idea of death so that more of her children should have a chance at experiencing each of her two gifts. Omnideus, the deity of time and space made it so his children would always have a place to thrive in the unending world and he did so by creating space but made time for his children should not get greedy and go beyond what he had already given them, making them inescapable to time itself. Omnidium, the deity of fate and change planned out the lives of her children so that they would never have to worry about what they needed to do or where they needed to go, their stories had already been written."
I continued to listen so I could see where she went with this and her face lit up again, full of joy.
"Amelia we're both descendants of the great Omnidea and Omnidium!"
"I don't get it, what exactly is that supposed to mean? Are you saying we're just as powerful as them?'
"Don't be silly, of course, we're not as strong as them, but we have the potential to stop the consortium"
I thought about what Wildcard had said. the very fact that she even knew about the consortium didn't come to a surprise going off of how infamous the others describe them. Frankly, that really was the reason I had joined Olivia and the others in the first place so why wouldn't I agree with her. I had suspicions about her ideas and how she planned on achieving this goal, so I asked instead of just standing there.
"How do you plan to go about this exactly?"
"I must harness the power of all three great Deities, I alone do not have the power to take on the consortium, but with your assistance, I can."
"What do you mean by harness?"
"This world is already messed up thanks to them, thousands of people have died and lost their family due to the Consortium's actions. Once I seal the energy of the three great deities inside of myself I alone can rebirth the universe, I can start anew and create my perfect world. MY PERFECT LITTLE PLAYHOUSE! We must cut off the past and look into the future Amelia."
At this point there was no hiding it, she was definitely insane and any person with sense could see that clearly.
"So you plan on killing everyone just to start over and create your own world? I'm sorry Wildcard, but I won't help you, that's too many lives being lost."
"Ignorant little girl! I tried to ask nicely, but you've forced my hand!"
She began to stand up and all of the playing cards embedded into the buildings began coming towards her as she leaped from the one she was standing on, floating, suspended in the air and standing on it as if it were a pavement while multiple cards orbited.
[Mutare Insidias] insert, so clouds formed above Urbs Tempus, lashing out wicked bolts of lighting
-So clouds formed above Urbs Tempus, lashing out wicked bolts of lightning-
I heard it, three crackles that filled the entirety of the town with sounds so loud it was almost deafening. Then it happened, multiple bolts began to strike down one after the other and before I knew it was skating, my feet coated in permafrost. My body was subconsciously avoiding these shocking entities of death, I was positive I couldn't survive multiple strikes from lightning. Eventually, the lightning stopped and I wasted no time before she could blink that entire Town was frigid and cold, I froze the entirety of Urbs Tempus. It seemed that, unfortunately, she wasn't frozen in fact shed made a shield of Cards which broke apart before the pieces started reforming themselves.
"So, you're an ice hybrid?"
"I guess and I'm assuming you control the weather, am I wrong?"
Wildcard gave off an insane maniacal laugh and yelled to the top of her lungs
"You couldn't be further from the truth! Control the weather? I am the weather, I am the lightning, I AM THE BATTLE AND THE STORY IS MINE TO CHANGE!"
"You said you weren't stronger than me and what do you mean change the story?"
"Oh, I didn't lie, Amelia, you are superior to me, but in a different way. I thought I'd already made it clear that our lives are nothing but a page from a book and my power is but a weak pencil not even strong enough to write such a masterpiece, but a page is nothing to me. Everyone's hybrid abilities have a limit, as per mine. We're equal in strength, but your stamina variable or energy far exceeds mine, if I could change the story of the entire world I would've done it already, but as you can see that isn't the case. My power alone isn't enough."
"Tch, my ice travels through physical objects, you still should've been a popsicle."
"I always get my way, even when the story doesn't demand it. But you on the other hand.."
-Amelia's powers had suddenly vanished and the town had become unfrozen-
"My powers."
-This was the end and Amelia seemingly began to walk over towards wildcard, regardless of if she wanted to or not-
"I'll give you another chance Amelia and maybe I won't kill you "
-Amelia had stopped in front of Wildcard only centimeters in front of her-
I didn't know what to do, she was strong and I had never met an opponent who could change the very outcome of a fight.
"I won't give"
"Wha?"
"I won't...give in.'"
I noticed that I was able to forcibly move my body and it seemed as if I broke free of Wildcard's control, I fought against the story. Jumping back from her a few feet just to keep my distance, It was weird and my body felt cold again, but most of my powers were still gone from what I could tell. Wildcard shot a massive card at me in an attempt to cleave my body in two, the card accelerated so fast I'd go so far to say it was faster than the lightning, but given the distance, I had no time to dodge it. Given my situation, I decided to reflect the attack instead and it shot back before I had risen my hand to use my power. Unfortunately, the reflected attack didn't hit her since she'd just broken it to pieces with a single punch before glaring into my eyes.
"I feared this would happen if we fought Amelia, but I took the chance given my abilities"
"Feared what?'"
"Whenever the energy of the two deities clashes, regardless if it's their descendants or the actual gods themselves a new power would be awakened in one of the two combatants, I just took the chance of it being me. Simply put, backward causation. You shot my card back before activating your power, correct?"
If what she spoke about was true that would mean I could force my effect on her before I even attempted to cause it so I tested my theory. Before either of us could react, Wildcard's body was frozen as so the Town once again before I activated my powers, but she was still able to talk.
"Th-this is n-nothing, I'll change the story."
"Sorry wildcard, but this is a special kind of ice that forces your Stamina variable down to zero and fuses with your cells once it's made contact. Your powers won't work."
"So are y-you going to kill me now? Do it already, don't make me wait!
I looked at her as she began to break down in tears.
"Go ahead end my life, there's no point in living in this shitty reality anyways. We're all bound by the words of the author and I'm not strong enough to change that, do you hear me?! The author is stronger than those three gods I spoke of and has power beyond our comprehension, nobody has to die but the author makes it so everything goes the way they want. Do you think I don't know? Your parents didn't die because of an illness, they died because the author wanted to give you a sad background. You didn't get swatted by a team of army men because they wanted you dead, the author just wanted some action. It's you, Amelia, you're the protagonist which is why I truly need you, you'll be able to change everything someday and maybe even create a better world. So please."
How she knew of my past, I had no idea, but I felt the sincerity in the words leaving her lips. She spoke the truth, but I still couldn't agree with her goals and thus I refused her offer.
"Sorry, but I still can't."
"Then end my life, because you will forever be my enemy."
"I could...but, That's not who I am, honestly I hate fighting and wish I could avoid it, but you provoked me. All I want is for you to take me to where my friends are and ill let you go and remove the ice, I want you to change the story"
"I'll help you out this once, but yield my warning. My goal will not die and we shall meet again."
I unfroze her and removed the ice from her body as she kept her end of the bargain and changed the story
-Amelia appeared next to her friends before falling to the ground due to how much energy she had used up, she needed rest. Meanwhile, Wildcard disappeared, hoping one day to come back for Amelia as she already knew that she wasn't a match for her at the time.-
I was back where I needed to be and eventually, everyone saw the state I was in, but I didn't tell them what happened. Olivia performed a teleportation ritual and we went back to our "home" where I was to recover for a few days before we actually made a real plan to stop the consortium and I figured, maybe I'll keep Wildcard in mind.