Loki laughed openly at the foolishness of the six 'wary' individuals but didn't say anything else. Instead, he waved his hand and used his ability to create an illusion strengthened by the grey fog, he made the illusion of a deck of tarot cards.
The cards flew in the air and spread about causing everyone to look a them in confusion.
"Before we begin, why don't you pick a card to represent yourself in this place? After all, I doubt you'd want to let each other know about your true identities." Loki said with a tone that hinted at intrigue and secrecy.
It felt like he was the embodiment of the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'.
"Tarot cards?" Hermione mumbled recognising the cards at a glance.
And although Dominic and the naked man had remained silent they showed signs of recognition too, along with everyone else.
Hermione carefully reached out and picked the Magician card, and when the other five saw her sitting unharmed they extended their hands to pick up cards too. Dominic picked up the Strength and the naked man picked up the Devil while licking his tongue cleverly.
The potion's master almost immediately picked up the moon card before Sirius picked up the Star with an obvious smile.
'Moon card?'
'Does he have a thing for dolls like Emlyn?'
Fleur picked up the Empress. She was emboldened by it when she saw Hermione being the only other girl among all those present.
The naked man's card scared Loki a little since it corresponded to the Abyss Pathway but he kept it to the back of his mind for now.
'Is he a 'good' follower of the Abyss pathway?'
'Are there even people like that?'
'Wait…was that why he was naked? Because he finished completing a crime or worse…was in the process of doing so?'
Once everyone had their cards, Loki tried to speak again, but Hermione interrupted him.
"You said it was an attempt? To do what? Are you a Beyonder? Can we return?"
Loki paused at the sudden series of questions he was asked and looked at Hermione for a few seconds.
'How are you so talkative all of a sudden?'
'Did becoming a sacrifice for 'Her' make you lose all your fear? Or was my making of an Olympic pantheon not awe-inspiring enough?'
'Why are you treating this like a class?'
Seeing Loki stare at her in silence, Hermione slowly fell silent, while the five other people around the table observed the interaction.
Taking charge, Dominic said as he stood up with a ninety-degree bow, "I apologise for her, my lord. She must not know much about our world for her to talk so casually to you. How could we address you, my lord?"
'Good job for asking my name Dominic!'
'Everyone must know my name, otherwise, all your worship will go to some other god no one cares about!!'
Loki looked at Dominic and stayed silent for a few seconds, as if he was staring to see if they were worthy of knowing his name and then wrapped his fingers around the table, speaking softly, "Error. You can call me Mr. Error."
Of the deck of cards on the table, the Lovers card slid out towards Loki and landed in his hands.
Dominic who was about to automatically sit down after asking his question, froze, and everyone else noticed his obvious action.
'Does he know the name because of the note I left with that Unspeakable agent?' Loki assumed.
'Meh. That will only probably increase his fear of me even more.'
Dominic stood up slowly and with a smile spoke softly, "I see. I understand Mr. Error. I shall refer to you by this holy name."
Relaxing in his seat, Loki turned to Hermione to answer her questions since he was sure everyone else was wondering the same thing.
"The attempt was to kickstart a tradition of the past to symbolise the starting of this new Era. Rebirth."
The words had different reactions from everyone.
Snape's grip on the edge of the table tightened while Fleur, Dominic and Sirius were only confused about it. The naked man on the other hand gained a prominent smile despite the mirage-like illusion covering his face.
He was excited and almost wanted to jump at Loki which weirded him out.
Hermione was clueless.
"You can leave from here at any moment. But if you don't hear what I'm saying next I will never bring you here once again. You may decide now if you want to leave."
Loki's words reverberated in the ears of all those present and they each started to think about their current situation.
Dominic in spite of the absurdity of the situation, since he was in the Unspeakables department one moment earlier and here in the next, tried to be rational.
'Given how there are five more people here it is possible that 'He' would include more people down the line, turning this gathering into a cult.'
'It would be best if I remain here for now so that I can report everything about it to my superiors.'
'But can I talk to anyone else about this? If he can already summon me so easily, won't he know if I talk about 'Him'?'
'In that case, I can remain silent about it until I see something heinous happening, after all, there are several unauthorised Beyonder Gatherings in the black market, and this shouldn't be any different from them. Well...at least nothing indicates it is except 'Him', for now.'
With his thoughts sorted out, Dominic said nothing and stayed silent.
'Should I leave?' Hemione thought with a frown.
'It would be best if I could leave and inform Professor McGonagall about this via an owl.'
But suddenly her time at the World Cup surfaced in her mind and made her reel that idea back.
'But will he kill me if I say I want to leave? After all, no one knows I was brought here so no one can check on me to make sure I'm alive.'
'Can I tell one of the other people who've come here with me to check on me at the Weasley's?'
However, she immediately tossed that thought away.
'No, I cannot trust them without knowing more about them.'
'*sigh* I guess the best thing to do would be to go with the flow and figure things out as you go.'
'Come one Mione! You can do it!'
Loki looked at everyone with his spirit vision and studied their astral projections and Body of Heart and Mind, seeing if he could take note of their emotions and learn about their thoughts and their sequences.
'Hmm…Dominic seems to be rational but wary of the current situation.'
'Hermione is mostly afraid but she has a spark of rationality. I guess she's treating this like a freak event that she wants to get out of as soon as possible.'
'She's thinking of informing Professor McGonagall about it? Why does she think Professor McGonagall will be of any help here? This isn't Hogwarts…'
'This other man, Mr. Moon….his astral body feels imposing to look upon…like it is a vast object that can't be touched carelessly…I can't read his thoughts but I have a feeling of striking familiarity from him…is he someone I know?'
'He also has a strange aura around his wrist…it's like something is meant to be there, but something else is working hard, concealing it.'
'And that's Fleur, well I knew her so there's nothing much to see here…but I can't read her thoughts too…they're well guarded by runes, like Mr. Moon's.'
'The third man, Mr. Star is an open book he has subconscious runes protecting his head, but they are weak and look like they have been eroded because of lack of proper care.'
'Did something happen to him to make him ignore his mental defences? A Noble perhaps? One that graduated from Hogwarts and has nothing else to do but indulge?'
'…and he's still wondering if all this is a dream...? And why is he so annoyed by the other man? He wants to put his feet on the table to block himself from seeing the other man? Why?'
'What is he a Provoker?'
'No…I can clearly see the deep darkness that is part of his astral projection…so the darkness pathway? Sirius?'
'Seriously?'
'No way…'
But Loki's attention was currently not on these thoughts, he was looking at the naked man while using the fog and illusions to hide his gaze.
'His astral body is deep like the Abyss…it has the power of pulling you in…'
'But what is that corruption on his wrist? Is this what Mr. Moon is hiding? It doesn't come from 'Her' but it is also remarkably similar to the one planted by 'Her' on the Door Blasphemy Card.'
'It's just weaker…'
'Is he someone to be wary of or is he someone who must be pitied and saved?'
'He's also surprisingly the most rational out of everyone here. Is he used to situations like these? But why?'
'Let's shock him a little.'
"If you are waiting for 'Her' to save you, it won't happen. 'She' does not have any influence in my territory. If 'She' came here, 'She' would probably be dead even before she opened her mouth."
Almost instantly the heads of all people snapped towards Loki and then in the naked man's direction, but out of all of them, only the naked man's colours shifted from blue which indicated rational thought to crimson red which represented excitement or panic.
The man licked his lips but did not respond.
Only after Loki kept looking at him for a few seconds of silence did he speak, "I would not dare."
Loki smiled, but his face remained hidden from everyone.
'So he did get scared.'
'Does that mean he's 'Her' believer?'
'If so he's linked with you-know-who?'
'So he's a death eater?'
Snape looked at the naked man and frowned. He didn't understand what was going on, but he chose to take note of everything that was being said here. Eager to make sense of it all once he was in a safe space.
Fleur on the other hand was just plain confused.
''Her'?'
'Is there another Goddess or is 'He' referring to mine?'
Loki frowned in thought but after a few seconds he spoke, "Since everyone has chosen to remain seated and attend the gathering, why don't we begin."
"I assume all of you want to keep your identities hidden, so I will tell you a little about myself."
'Of course, I have to explain my greatness to you!'
'You are my dearest future anchors!'
"My name is Mr. Error. I preside over the domain of Truth and Lies, of History, Present and the Future, and also Right and Wrong."
"And as I dictate the tradition of the Tarot Club, it follows only one fundamental principle-"
Loki paused to look around, making sure that everyone was paying attention to his words, before speaking again in the silence that resounded louder than ever in the Sefirah Castle.
"The Principle of Equivalent Exchange."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
A/N : Finally we're here in the Tarot Club.
Join my Patreon (p@treon.com/hooin_kyoma_au) to read 20 chapters ahead for just $3.