It was dawn as the festivities and the common occurrences of the night met their ends - a slender black man wearing an all-black lightweight jacket and cargo pants entered a cafe. TK wore a black durag on his head and there was a dollar sign in the pupil of his right eye - a contact lens? He pulled open the glass see-through door and let out a deep yawn. Inspecting the room he found his companion, John Family, waiting for him while seated against the shop's front window. They both made eye contact with each other. John wore an oversized trench coat and dress pants.
John with a big smile on his face gestured for TK to come sit with him. TK had a little annoyed look upon seeing his cheery compatriot but he went along and walked over to the booth. They both clasped hands with one another and TK took his seat across from John.
"Okay... how did you know I was gonna be here?" said TK tiredly.
"Hmm. Oh, I didn't. I was looking for some grub to fuel me for the day," happily responded John.
"Cap."
"Cap?"
"Yeah. Do you think I'm stupid? This entire cafe is empty and you just so happen to sit facing the direction of the entrance - almost as if you were waiting for someone. I can read it all over your face."
"Oh, that doesn't mean anything! You're jumping to conclusions. Keep this up and you won't be able to tell the difference between discernment and suspicion."
"What's the difference?"
"See!"
At that moment, a middle-aged woman, a waitress, stopped by the table placing two plates of pancakes with a few syrup cups on the side accompanied with some utensils. "Here you go: Two plates of pancakes with some syrup. If you need anything else just call for me and I'll be right with ya," said the welcoming waitress.
"Thanks, I will!" said John as he turned his head and looked up at the nice waitress. Before he could turn back to gorge on some pancakes he felt the cold stare of his companion.
"See," bluntly said TK. "Guess I can tell the difference after all."
****************************************************
John was hanging upside down, unconscious, wrapped in a large tree branch of a giant sequoia tree. The night sky was filled with dark clouds. Encircling him were a bunch of hooded figures with strange and arcane symbols etched into the fabric of their cloaks. The embers of the torches illuminating the scene had an eerie glow to them.
The hooded figures parted to form a straight line to make way for a special hooded figure whose cloak was ordained with more archaic and blasphemous symbols. Its figure was large and imposing - it was almost as if the "priest" was floating as the cloak covered the legs. It lifted its hood back to reveal the face of a chubby white man with pink lips.
"Let us begin the ritual," said the cult leader.
****************************************************
"Hehehe," nervously laughed John. "Okay fine, you got me."
TK sighed with relief that his suspicions had merit. "How'dya do figure where I'll be? John, I swear if you put a tracker on me-"
"I would never do that!" huffed John with a mouth full of pancakes.
"Yeah, that would put us in harm's way," said TK, convinced that was the implied reason behind the denial.
"H-harm's way?! My good man, we do that every other week at this point! To think that you would think of me to stoop so low as to put a tracker on you. Please, such methods are infantile to my standards. You should know that by now!"
"Oh sorry please forgive me O' great detective. How would you ever forgive me for spouting such heresy," mockingly said TK, as he clapped both his hands in prayer.
"You can start by passing me some of your pancakes. I'm feeling awfully peckish after last night's escapade."
"Yeah..."
"Anyways, I want to try something," said John, trying to change the subject. He pulled out some cards that looked to be of ancient European descent. Check these out."
"Ain't no poker cards I've ever seen."
"That's because they aren't. These are tarot cards - they can tell your future!"
TK's eyes opened and audibly chuckled. "Seriously?! You. Detective John Family. Have taken to woo-woo cards! Hahaha!"
"Yes, it is quite ironic for a man such as myself to delve into the arcane."
"Ironic? It's hysterical! Hahaha. Aw man, that woke me up just right from that all-nighter," said TK, with his head tilted back from the laughter.
"TK I'm serious."
"Yeah, and I'm serious too. I don't feel drowsy anymore. Thanks," said TK as he continued to giggle.
"You're welcome..." said John, as his smile faded away. "TK. I know you're lying."
TK suddenly stopped laughing with his mouth frozen wide open from his last chuckle. TK slowly moved his face down to give John a cold blank stare."
"C'mon with your powers-"
****************************************************
TK was flying through the air across the top of the skyscrapers using the velvet-colored energy strings extending from his body. These strings acted as hooks attaching to buildings and TK swung from building to building. He had a skull mask covering his mouth and nose and green-lens goggles covering his eyes.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon. I told you not to go on your own. You're not built for that John!"
In TK's field of vision, he saw a web of faint black strings all over the place however these strings were thick and smokey - forming a depressing miasma over Bronx Park - the location where TK was headed and where John was.
TK soared through the gigantic skyscraper buildings and descended into the forest of Bronx Park. He latched his velvet strings onto the tree branches and swung and glided and flowed around the trees and leaves.
TK was running and speeding to the center of the thick black miasma of death in Bronx Park - The Great General's tree. It was a giant sequoia tree located in the middle of the park and served as a popular tourist attraction.
TK could see the tree at a distance however no matter how fast he approached the destination it seemed as if he was getting farther and farther away. Could his eyes be playing tricks on him?
"No!" TK determined. This is the work of a reality warper. He had also noticed the types of trees he was passing by were not native to Bronx Park. The park was changing - becoming a larger forest. "This is bad," TK thought.
TK unleashed his aura - it was as if someone had drawn a golden outline around him. With this new energy flowing around him, TK jumped and soared with a new burst of speed, managing to close the distance between him and The General's Tree.
Focusing on the tree, TK blinked, and the pupil of his right eye transformed from a dollar sign into a target shape. TK held up his arms mid-air and formed a sniper's rifle out of thin air. The sniper rifle had materialized from the same velvet energy that his hook strings were made of. TK pulled the trigger.
The cult leader was singing some guttural hums and made inhuman sounds as he faced John dangling upside down. John began to vibrate by some supernatural force and he woke up. John quickly sensed TK's presence and tried to tell TK to stop but his mouth was covered by the thick vines and branches. Nothing but muffles could come out of his mouth. He moved and shook his head back to point at something however TK did not catch onto John's hint.
The leader turned around to face his followers as he raised both his arms when a bullet hit the tree branch used to tie up John. Snap! The branch broke and John fell to the floor with a thud. The leader looked to where the source of the attack was and in mere seconds TK pounced on an unsuspecting cultist right in front of him!
****************************************************
Slam!
TK punched the table with his fist and the cutlery and plates shook, his eyes still locked on John.
"Everything okay in there?" asked the waitress as she opened the door to the kitchen.
John turned his head to the side with a smile on his face. "Oh, it was nothing! I accidentally hit my knee on the underside of the desk but I'm okay. These pancakes are just too good my body just reflexively jumped in excitement!"
"Aw shucks. Thank you, dear. If you need anything just let me know," responded the waitress as she re-entered the kitchen to continue making her morning batch of foods.
John turned his head and leaned in to whisper to TK. "Dude chill."
"I told you not to talk about our talents in public."
"But there's no one in here."
"You never know."
"Fine. My apologies, you're right. We don't know if there are other people with talents such as ourselves lurking about."
"Besides, you said you weren't going to use your talents on me," said TK looking to the side with agitation.
"Ahh... so that's the reason why you got so upset. TK I didn't use it on you. I just thought you would be more willing to try the cards out given our history... and given that you mistook me for using my talents to spot the lie that means..." said John, with a grin slowly forming on his lips, "you really are interested in these cards!"
TK clenched his teeth and looked to the side with annoyance realizing the logic behind the detective was flawless and accurately assessed the situation. TK closed his eyes and opened them. It was annoying having a companion with the power to spot lies.
"Okay pull out the damn cards."
"Yes!" exclaimed John, quickly pulling out the tarot cards. "I told you that these cards can predict the future. Well, that's a bit of an understatement. Apparently, these cards deal with the past, present, and future!"
"Wait. Past and present too? How? I mean how can you predict something that's already happened or currently happening?"
"Think of it less as a prediction and more of an understanding or reframing of the past and present."
"Oh alrighty."
John shuffled the decks of cards. "I'll give you a simplified explanation. There are 78 cards in total and of these cards, there are two types: the major arcana and the minor arcana. The major arcana consists of 22 cards and they reveal messages about the big picture of your life or the long-term. The remaining 56 cards are the minor arcana that deal with the occurrences of daily life or the short-term. Using these cards we can do what is called a "reading" to assess a person's life. Each card could be about the past, present, or future of the individual at hand."
"Uh huh," responded TK, slouched in his seat with his arms crossed. Although he did not lie that he was interested in these cards, he was still skeptical of their ability to do anything substantial or even supernatural for that matter.
"There are many different kinds of readings so we will focus on the most simple and common reading: the three-card spread," continued John. "You must pick three cards from my hands. The first card will be your past, the second your present, and the third your future. Come on, try it!"
John extended his hands holding the shuffled tarot cards faced down for TK to choose.
****************************************************
TK materialized a machine gun with energized bullets. Each bullet had a velvet-colored aura and a light trail behind them. It was as if TK was using a laser gun from a science fiction movie. The cultist leader raised his hand and the rest of the cultists darted around the attack moving like shadows. The leader remained unmoved by the spectacle.
"I knew you were trouble from the beginning Lacy. The police always suspected that you were conducting rituals and we've finally caught you in the act," said TK.
"Did you though?" questioned Lacy.
Lacy with a wave of his hand created more land between him and TK. So the change in the park was from Lacy. At the same time, the cultists began to attack TK, pulling out their black blades. Thankfully, TK was fast and was able to dodge their strikes.
Lacy turned and grabbed the unconscious John from the ground and began to recite his mysterious tongues. "Chthulu nyar asllohn faja soms asul ishen fatagen shomuba den tope shob."
Upon the recitation of these ancient hymns, John's eyes opened and began to glow and he started to chant with Lacy.
TK fought hard, slashing the cultists by materializing guns, blades, and other weapons to help him. The intensity of the fight increased. TK attached his velvet strings to the tree branches swinging and slashing the cultists in the air and making his way back to Lacy and John.
"Scum scum scum," repeated TK as he slashed and defeated cultist after cultist. "Scum scum scum."
The cultists also began to chant along with Lacy and John. The sounds of the chanting echoed and reverberated throughout the forest. TK grabbed one more branch and heaved a mighty swing to John and Lacy for one big strike of his energized blade.
TK slashed his blade at Lacy, who was still unfazed by the attack as he continued to chant. Lacy extended his hand to stop the attack. TK screamed as a golden and velvet aura expelled from the blade and into an energy-slash attack at Lacy. The world shook and everything started to vibrate and atomize and then... time froze still.
****************************************************
"Aight," said TK. TK picked the first card and was about to reveal the image on the other side.
"Wait! Don't flip it over. That's my job! Place the card on the table to your left. This will be your past card."
"You are taking this way too seriously."
"Now pick your second card for the present and place it to the right of the first card."
TK did as instructed.
"Finally, the third!"
TK randomly picked the third card and placed it to the right of the second.
"Okay, now what?"
"Now I flip it over!" said John, excitedly turning over each card from TK's left-hand side to right.
The past card had the image of a man rowing a boat with a woman in it. Piercing the boat are 6 swords. The present card had the image of the devil and the future card had the image of a skeleton with a crown holding two scythes.
"Let's see here hmm. The past card is called a Six of Swords and is upside down. The Six of Swords is a card of the minor arcana - so we are dealing with a specific situation or short-term event from your past. It represents moving on and leaving things behind however since it's upside down for you it means the reverse - you have unresolved issues or are resisting transition."
****************************************************
The black sky parted and the starry night was upon TK, John, and the rest of the cultists. Ancient cosmic forces were upon them. They were being energized by them. Before Lacy could finish his ritual, TK, who still had awareness, charged up and magnified his aura around him and the blade. The attack began to penetrate Lacy.
"You scum!!!!!!!!" screamed TK at the top of his lungs.
Lacy was prepared to continue until he received a message from an unknown man psychically. Lacy quickly dropped John and phased through the ground.
The sky returned to normal and was covered by black clouds and John began to regain consciousness.
"John! You okay man?!" asked TK, as he shook John awake.
"T. T? TK? TK! No! What are you doing? I was trying to tell you I'm the decoy!"
****************************************************
"Wow this is so much fun..." sarcastically said TK, with an eye-roll. "I just so happen to also pull the devil card and the reaper card as well. Just my luck..."
"Hold on a minute. Although the imagery does look a bit scary, like yourself, these cards are upright and carry positive meanings."
"Hmm- wait, what'd you just say-"
"Anyways, the devil card is your present card. It is a major arcana card and it means presently you love materialism and are having fun. So much high and pleasure that you can't stop!"
****************************************************
"The victim is the girl! She's at the other side of the sequoia tree in the same fashion I was in. You must hurry!"
TK nodded his head. "Climb onto my back. There's no way I can guarantee your safety if I leave you here."
"Urgh. Fine, hurry!"
TK held John on his back with ease and dashed around the sequoia tree to re-engage with his battle with Lacy.
Lacy stood before an unconscious little girl dangling from the tree. He realized TK was coming back to fight again and with a wave of his hand he cast a spell. Upon the spell, the cultists including the defeated cultists on the ground started to twitch and levitate off the ground. They all unnaturally flew through the air, pulled by an ominous force, and their bodies clashed with one another to form a giant cloaked monster with a mask. The mask had ancient symbols carved onto its face and it had hundreds of human arms sprouting from its sides like a centipede. It dashed at the surprised TK and John.
TK jumped in time as the giant monster tore through the ground with a swipe of its appendages. TK recharged his aura and materialized a rocket launcher. He started firing the rocket launcher at the monster again and again. He didn't stop and only accelerated the loading speed of the weapon - a feat any regular rocket launcher would find impossible. TK had a wicked smile on his face - his teeth turned into golden shotgun bullets.
****************************************************
"Sounds like an addiction."
"Well, yeah, it kind of means that..." said John quietly, "but, hey, check out this death card for your future! This card is upright which means the end of a cycle or it means that you are about to enter a new phase of your life."
"Mhm," nodded TK.
There was a pause.
"What comes next?" asked TK.
"Next?"
"That's it?"
"Well, yeah. Pretty cool stuff huh?"
"Want to know what I think?" said TK in a sly voice as he leaned in. "I think this stupid game preys on the delusions and fantasies of gullible naive people. All that these cards do along with all the other woo-woo stuff is say a bunch of general stuff and leave the details up to the participants to make sense of. I mean Six of Swords talks about baggage and past grievances. Yeah, most people do. The devil card talking about pleasure. Who doesn't like to have fun in the moment and that absurd death card? "A new cycle?" Ha! People change all the time, especially in the long term! It's all bogus."
"It's no fun playing games with cynics and I'm the detective here," sighed John.
"Well, I'd like to think of myself as a realist," said TK as he relaxed a bit and put his two arms behind his head, crossed his right leg over his left, and leaned back in his seat. "Okay, tell me the real reason why you wanted to play this game."
The atmosphere got quieter and the room felt a little more claustrophobic upon TK's inquiries.
John turned his head to check the cafe one more time before leaning in to speak. "Don't you feel it TK? Something feels off about the city. It feels wrong."
****************************************************
Lacy continued to chant and the girl's eyes opened and glowed as she began to chant too. Meanwhile, TK maniacally started to laugh as he decimated the monster with his rocket launcher - John looking on with horror. The little girl's body began to open up from the stomach as a purple portal emerged with its dark purple swirls. Weird and strange symbols were tatted on her skin and curved into the portal. Lacy was about to enter the portal when TK jumped into the air and fired multiple energized rocket blasts at him after defeating the monster.
Lacy calmly negated these explosive attacks and that is when he touched TK's forehead.
John and TK awoke from a drunken stupor in a bar.
"C'mon, gi-give up so soon," said TK. "One more bottle," slurred TK.
"Okay fine. Bu-but it's on you," slurred John.
****************************************************
"I didn't expect this from you man. The job's getting to you. Maybe you should take a vacation somewhere?" TK placed his hands on the table and was about to leave until John fiercely grabbed TK's wrists.
"Stop this nonchalant act of yours. We both know inconceivable things are happening in this city - bad things. With our talents who knows what could be out there? Are there more people like us? What's causing this? I have a feeling that what we've been experiencing are more than just dreams."
"So that's what this is about. You're scared. That's why you resorted to doing "readings" with this tarot game of yours. To find some control."
"What? No! I'm investigating the supernatural. If we simply ignore everything and go on our merry way pretending these talents of ours don't exist I fear we would pay a heavy price. I thought you-"
"I know enough. We should stay in our lane and do our jobs. The higher the fantasy, the greater the fall to reality."
"If we just explore the arcane more who knows what we'll find. We could help so many people. Discover new things thought impossible and change the world for the better!"
"You're such an optimist."
"You're such a cynic."
The was brief silence as they sat in self-contemplation.
"Maybe that's why I always find myself getting into trouble with you. We are like magnets. Positive and negative. Opposites attract and all that," said John as he silently collected the three tarot cards on the table and placed them on the deck.
"Look. I'm sorry for being an ass but you got to admit this is too much."
"Yeah I know," groaned John. He got the deck in his hand and was about to place it in his coat pocket when TK noticed a photo in there.
"Hey. Who's that?"
"Hmm. Oh, this?" John pulled out a photograph of a black muscular man wearing a white tank top and grey sweatpants. In the photograph, he was seen being handcuffed and yelling at the police officer behind him in front of the driveway of a house.
"New case you're working on? Let me guess domestic violence?"
"Seems like it. The place was trashed," said John as he stared at the photograph.
"I don't know why a man of your talents is working on that. Looks like an open-and-shut case to me. That man looks like he has anger issues. Beat up his girl?"
"Nah we don't know. The police couldn't find her. She left the house without a trace. No blood or nothing."
"Hmm. You think he's innocent?"
"I know he's innocent."
"How? Don't tell me-"
"By using my talents... you should be glad, you finally got what you always wanted - me out of your way. No need to save me anymore. The new case is down south at a place called Broward," said John. He stood up from the table and was going to leave the cafe before deciding to leave a parting comment.
"My compliments to the chef!" yelled John to the waitress in the kitchen. She smiled and gave a nod in return.
"Come back anytime," said the waitress.
"It's time for me to use my talents to save someone just as you saved me," said John, with his back turned to TK sitting in his booth.
"Wait! You didn't tell me how you did it. How did you know I would be here?"
John turned his back. "Huh? You told me last night after our drinking contest hehe," said John as he opened the front door. "Till we meet again."