It was a strange feeling, Lucian thought, flexing his fingers and glancing down at his hands as he stood in the sunlight. Today, the Traveller was just an inner voice, a distant but constant companion, while Lucian held the reins. For once, he could feel the sun's warmth on his skin, hear the market's liveliness with his own ears, and experience the scents and sounds without mediation.
"Well, Lucian, don't let it go to your head," came the Traveller's voice, amused and teasing. "After all, it's just one day."
Lucian rolled his eyes, a slight grin escaping him. "A day is more than enough for me to find some trouble, don't you worry."
Cassandra, Sally, and John greeted him at the gates, and the four of them set off together toward the carnival on the outskirts of Rivendale. The festival grounds were a vibrant contrast to the city's structured elegance, full of colorful tents, fire breathers, music, and scents of roasted meats and sweets. Children darted between booths, couples strolled arm in arm, and vendors called out their wares, hawking trinkets and treats.
They tried all kinds of foods Lucian had never heard of: flaky pastries filled with spiced fruits, savory meat skewers seasoned with exotic herbs, and drinks infused with magical nectar that made the air around them shimmer. John stood guard as always, vigilant even as he enjoyed a caramelized apple, while Cassandra teased Lucian for his attempts at dancing along with a troupe of acrobats.
Lucian had barely caught his breath from laughing when he noticed a small, dimly lit booth near the end of a quieter lane. A faded sign outside read, Madame Syra's Fortune Telling — Destiny Unveiled for One Silver. The entrance was draped with old, frayed fabric, giving it an eerie, enticing look.
Intrigued, Lucian slipped a silver coin from his pocket and entered, his friends following curiously.
Inside, an elderly woman sat at a small table covered with a patchwork cloth. Her sharp eyes appraised him, and she motioned for him to sit. "Come, young one," she said, her voice raspy but oddly comforting. "Let's see what the cards say."
Lucian hesitated, but under the Traveller's internal prodding—"Go on, let's see what your 'destiny' holds!"—he took a seat. Madame Syra's wrinkled hands shuffled a deck of cards, each painted with vibrant colors. She fanned them out and had him draw three cards, placing them in a line before him.
"For the past," she announced, flipping the first card, "we have The Star." The card showed a figure pouring water from two jars under a night sky full of stars. "This symbolizes hope and new beginnings. A guiding light in dark times." Her words resonated with Lucian, a faint smile gracing his face.
She moved to the second card, her expression growing grim as she turned it over. "For the present… The Falling Tower." The card depicted a tower struck by lightning, crumbling into ruin, with figures falling from it. "This card is a warning," she murmured, her voice low. "It signifies upheaval and danger, the collapse of stability. You are walking into something perilous, something you may not come back from."
Lucian tensed, feeling a chill. He glanced at Cassandra and Sally but Sally just gave her a roll of her eye as if saying this is just standard trick fortune tellers use.
Madame Syra hesitated before drawing the third card. Her hand trembled as she flipped it, and her face went pale as the color drained from her cheeks.
The final card was The King in Yellow, a lone figure cloaked in tattered robes, his face obscured by a golden mask, standing beneath a twisted, unnatural sky.
Madame Syra recoiled, gathering the remaining cards and shoving them back into her bag with shaking hands, leaving the King in Yellow card alone on the table before Lucian.
"What… what does it mean?" he stammered, feeling an ominous weight settle over him.
Without a word, the fortune teller rose from her seat and backed away, whispering hurried words, "impossible, it shouldn't be in there," under her breath before disappearing into the shadows of her tent, leaving them alone.
Lucian, clutching the card, turned to his friends, a deep unease gnawing at him. "What is this card?"
Cassandra and John exchanged a wary look, but it was Sally who spoke, her expression solemn. "In the diviner's deck, there's always one card that isn't meant to be drawn—the King in Yellow. It's a card of calamity and doom. A diviner never includes it unless they're using true magic because its presence symbolizes absolute misfortune."
Lucian frowned, glancing back at the empty booth. "Then… why did I pull it? If she didn't include it, how could it still be in the deck?"
Sally shook her head. "That's what's strange. The King in Yellow shouldn't have appeared unless… unless this somehow became a magical reading, something in the spirit realm influenced the reading."
Lucian felt a pulse of dread. The Traveller's voice in his mind had gone silent, as if even he didn't know what to make of this either.
Cassandra cleared her throat, her hand resting on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "It's just a reading. Cards can't dictate your future—they can only show possibilities. But we should keep our eyes open. Things might be… shifting."
The atmosphere, once lighthearted and carefree, now carried a tension that Lucian couldn't shake. They continued through the carnival, trying to brush off the unsettling encounter, but his mind kept drifting back to the King in Yellow. Its haunting presence lingered like a shadow, a dark omen over an otherwise bright day.
As the sun began to set, they made their way back to the city. In the dimming light, the carnival seemed different—darker, like a thin veil had lifted, revealing a world laced with hidden dangers.
For Lucian, this was supposed to be a day of freedom, but he couldn't ignore the chill that crawled over his skin, a whisper from the unknown that he could neither ignore nor understand.