Four was never the type to have dreams. The best he had was a black void, making sleeping somehow more boring than being awake. Boredom was his main driving force. It was a sin that boredom was even an emotion that could be felt, in his eyes. A punishment for winning seemed stupid. He'd terrorized people, towns, and cities in the name of scraping the decay of boredom off of his skin, and finally the universe had thrown him a bone. A single dream, over and over again.
He was there again, in that damp room. Glyphs and runes were carved into the stone floors and walls. Two torches burned with green fire, flanking a stairway down into the abyss. In front of all of it, that man sat. A giant brute of a man, clearly a Rheinlander, seemed to have never missed a gym day in his life. Nikolaus Strauss. The Devil in real life. Their still-in-progress card game remained on the table, one played with ghostly tarot cards. "Hello, bastard." Four's voice seemed to be smothered in the room. Strauss's, however, echoed in ways that seemed to amplify it. "Back again, Shi?" "I never left", Four said as he took the seat across from Strauss. There were two other chairs, but he'd never seen the players. In front of him, Strauss had seven cards in hand, and four played on the table: The Magician, the Two of Wands, and the Eight and Knight of Cups. The one to his left had fourteen cards in hand, left face down on the table, none of them in play. He'd tried to look at those cards previously, but there was something that stopped him. It also gave him a massive headache when he woke up. The one to his right had played three cards, and held nine in hand: The Hermit, Temperance, and Death. Between all of them, the Sun, the Moon, the Star, and the World rested.
Finally, Four. He had played the Five of Swords and the Knight of Wands. He'd figured out some of the rules to this game. The cards had meanings, and what he did in reality changed what he had to play in the dream. He was certain that the objective was to win the World. He was certain that he was losing. And damned if he was going to lose. Four had two cards in hand. A third one materialized as he walked up. He had two strange cards, ones that he'd never seen in any of the tarot card decks he'd looked up, and another Five of Swords appeared in his hand. He had had six of them, before. Discouragement seemed to vaporize them.
"So, why doesn't Lefty play?", Four asked, cocking his head to the player with no cards on the table. "Butterflies flit about, working towards a distant objective, but never choosing one path." "What the hell does that mean?" "She doesn't like commitment." "And how is commitment supposed to help in this game?" "It's what keeps your cards alive."
Would have been nice to know that sooner. So, why would you not commit? To keep your hand hidden, maybe. And risk your cards dying. Very well, let's change the game a bit. Four looked up to Strauss, a smile crossing his face as his heartbeat picked up. Strauss met his smile in kind, and a soft rattle picked up. "You think you know everything, you son of a bitch?" "Oh, on the contrary. I know that I know nothing." Strauss's smile seemed to grow wider. Four was used to that. Strauss never seemed to stop smiling.
So Four played one of the cards he'd been holding on to. It had the image of a demon holding up crossed swords on it, screaming out a war cry while covered in wounds. At the bottom, the card gave it's name: "Blades". Not swords, but blades. He had no idea what it meant. He had no clue how he'd got it. Or, "earned" it. And while Strauss's smile didn't flinch, that nasty rattle stopped instantly. Silence came over the both of them, and today Four was the one to break it. Laughing. "Ha ha! Didn't see that coming, did ya?"
The rattle picked up again, so faint you could almost swear it wasn't there. More importantly, Strauss began speaking with other people's voices. "Impressive.YouplayameangameofFate,ohCartomancermine."
Four leaned over the table with a nasty snarl. "You scared, prick?" "Hardly.I'mimpressedthatyou'recapableofopeningyourmindinsuchaway.Or,shouldIsay"closing"it?" "When I win, I'm taking the whole pot, understand? I'm killing you. Hell I might kill these other two as well." "Isthatso?EvenwhenDeathissoclearlyonthetable,justoutofreach?Whatwouldyoudoiftheyweren'tscared?Whatiftheydidn'trun?Whatiftheywantyoutokillthem?Whatiftheywantyoutotry?"
Four wiggled the card he hadn't played yet in front of Strauss's face, showing him that he still had a trick up his sleeve, despite not knowing how to use it. "Then they'll die heroes."
Another Five of Swords materialized in his hands, and Four played it without hesitation. Then, he turned his back on the game, and stepped out into the black void. A little bit of rest before he went hunting people again.
The Gardener smiled. A new Arcana met the playing field, by sheer human tenacity. However to play this game of Life and Death, of Fate and Destiny. Of What is and What is Not?
Tonight, it was Four's turn to wait. He finally had a moment to take a good look at the room he was in. The carvings on the walls and floors consisted of geometry and strange runes, exclusively. Pentagrams in circles, interlaced circles forming other shapes, various stars made from tessellations of other shapes. All covered in runes from some language that's never been seen.
Then there was the stairway behind the table. The darkness in it seemed to froth, like an angry black fog trying to crawl up the stairs to him. A deep darkness that yearned to sit at the table and play the game with them. Four squinted at it. He was beginning to believe that just as he stared into the abyss, trying to see what it was, the abyss stared into him, trying to see who he was.
His thoughts were interrupted when Strauss poked his head out of the dark, walking up the stairs. He had some scratches on his body, and the baggy joggers he wore had some small tears in them. Four wondered who the devil could be getting in a scrap with, but now that he was here, they had a game to play. "Hope that hurts."
Strauss didn't even try to hide behind a single voice this time. "Anygoodartistiswillingtobleedforhiswork,ohantagonistmine." "I thought you were a gardener." "Isagardennotart?Areflowersnotmasterpiecesofnature?Areseedsnotmypaints?Trowelsmybrushes?Shearsmyerasers?" "It's a tragedy that you have a brain." "It'sablessingthatyoudon't."
Strauss looked at the table before them. In his absence, Four had played five more Five of Swords, bringing his count to seven. They flanked his mysterious Major Arcana, the Blades. Four still had little idea what it all meant, but he was certain he was issuing a challenge. One that Strauss would have to meet, eventually. Strauss sat down, and played a card. The King of Coins. Four met Strauss's eyes the same way he'd stared into the darkness he'd risen from: with defiance. "GoingtoshowmeanewArcana...Kendrick?"
He was right. In their joint absence, Four had two cards in hand. He was hesitant to play the newest of them, but the other one was one he'd intended to play since he first got it. "My name is Four", he stated as he played a new card. It's title was "Ascent", and on it was the ornate image of a phoenix flying upwards towards a castle in the clouds, flames from it's wings laying waste to a castle on the ground.
Strauss studied it for a moment. He seemed to be having fun, but he always seemed to be having fun. He was usually lying. He was always lying. Four was certain that if he cornered him he'd be able to kill him. Not even the devil is really immortal. Another Five of Swords appeared in his hands. "Incredible.Trulyincredible.HaveIevertoldyouwhatittakestobecomeagod?" The Gardener smiled. Perhaps this chaotic, unruly miscreant could stumble his way into a state of being many Nomads try to gain, but few succeed. "I don't need to know", Four fired back. He was certain he'd caused some kind of problem for Strauss. He remembered a line from that song from Houston. "He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind, and he was willing to make a deal." He'd reached the point where the devil was going to make him a deal. He was winning, he was certain of it. The Gardener didn't concern himself with the sniping remark. This young man's distrust was just as useful a tool as anyone else's trust. "Asexpected.That'swhatthatBladescardofyoursis,afterall.Anassertionthat"mightmakesright",yes,butsomethingmoreaswell.Aclaimthatyourstrengthwilltrumpmine.Athesisthat,attheveryendofitall,onlythestrongestsurvives.Arecognitionthatironsharpensiron.Andhence,allthoseFiveofSwords.You'vebeenfighting.Winning.Losing.Killing.Allintheefforttostrengthenyourselfenoughtochallengeme.Isthatso?" "If you get that, then why don't you just turn around and die right now?" "Becausepersistenceisn'tenoughtowin.Yourendgoalmaybetokillme,butifyouwinthisgame,youbecomethegodofthenewreality.You'llbecomethetemplateonwhichtheuniverseisrebuilt.Andtokillme,youneedtowinthegame." "If what you say is actually true, then I've already won. Natural selection is the law of life. I win by default." "Nowthere'sthephilosophywe'vebeenwaitingfor.Andnowyoucantrulystartplayingthegame,ohchampionmine."
Four played his newest Five of Swords, and looked at the last card in his hands. It was unnerving. He'd already decided to leave it for later, but hearing Strauss speak convinced him to wait even more. He needed to understand it. Perhaps it was too dangerous to play it. He hadn't even figured out what the Blades meant until Strauss explained it. Knowledge was a form of power, that was why his duty in Group 58 was cleanup. To control information, to stop and slaughter escapees. Four took one last look at the card, then set it face down on the table and stood up to leave.
Strauss watched him leave. The face of that card was burned into Four's brain. It was named The Aspirant, and on it was an image of himself, a sword pointed up in one hand, and a sword pointed down in the other. On his forehead, a large number four was carved, still bleeding. Four had never been shaken before. He'd waited for death sentences in multiple houses. But this? Something was horribly wrong with this. Strauss's mocking voice chased him out of the room, and into the land of the waking. "Seeyousoon,Shi." How very interesting. A claim to godhood through purity, purity through strength, and strength through persistence. It was even more interesting that he brought it to this table. Very few played at this table. Very few saw the biggest picture. Very few played to win the endgame of eternity, the final future. And this man stumbled his way here, not through desire to control the future, but merely out of spite for those who did. The Gardener glanced down to the table. Eight Five of Swords stared back. Perhaps this man's persistence had some merit, after all
Another day, another night at the god-forsaken table. The two usual suspects were at the table, and the two that were normally missing were still gone. No one was willing to play anything new, which meant no progress was being made. Four was guessing that the Five of Swords meant something like persistence, or ambition maybe, and at this point he had eight of them. The Blades could very well be exactly as Strauss had said, but Four was certain that Strauss was either lying, or lying through telling the truth.
Last time, Four had acknowledged that knowledge was power, and went looking for some information. Anything he could find to change who was applying the pressure. He hadn't found anything particularly strong, but he had found something, at least. "The Utilitarian Fantasy of the Sirian Man. Ring a bell? "Ringabell?Iwroteit.Neverpublishedit,though." "Published post-mortem by a second cousin." "Ah,itmusthavebeenHeldebald.Wedidwritetoeachotheraftermydearwifepassed.Isupposehedidhaveafondnessforthoseshoddyworks." "I didn't take you for an author." "Oh,Ididn'teither.NikolausStrauss,DoctorofPsychologyandPhilosophy,pleasedtomakeyouracquaintance.Borntoalonglineofbravesoldiers,servedintheRheinlandMilitaryduringthecolonywars." Strauss leaned across the table with a vicious grin. "Diedbysuicide,eitherstarvationordehydrationindeepspace.Gotinashipwithnosupplies,andflewoffinastraightline.Neverseenagain."
Four laughed. "Hah! And those bastards told me that dead men tell no tales."
Strauss laughed with him. "Whoeversaidthathasneverwitnessedanautopsy." "Well, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing mankind he wasn't there." "Soitwouldseem,yes?Soitwouldseem."
Silence overcame the two. Four was at a dead end with his game of information. Learning that Strauss was already dead somehow didn't make his threat any less real. Four glared at the King of Coins that Strauss had played yesterday. Wealth, obviously. Coins were wealth, and the King of Coins had to be some impressive wealth. But he couldn't risk telegraphing that he had no idea what he was doing. So, instead, he took a roundabout way. "So, who are these other two? Why are they playing this game?" "ToyourrightisDeath.MercifulDeath,wholostherplaceintheuniverseatthehandsofthenaturalselectionyou'vecometorepresent.Sheplaysatthistabletomaketheuniverseonefitforpeacefulseamstresses,artists,researchers,andothersuch...quietprofessions."
Four hit a roadblock trying to process that information. Death was a very important step in natural selection. How could Death lose her place in the universe due to natural selection? Was he lying again? Four didn't have time to question further. "Toyourleftisafairy.ShelostherplaceatanothertableduetoDeath.Sheplaysthegametomaketheuniversefitforherandherpeople.TobeatDeath." "So Death is here to win. The fairy is here to beat death. I'm here to kill you. And you're here...?" "Towin."
Four wasn't much further from where he started. The Magician card on the table seemed to be laughing at him. Upon closer inspection, the figure depicted on The Magician seemed to be Strauss, but when Four tried to get a closer look, it shifted into some kind of armored demon. Angular armor that looked almost like crystal, spiked, with sharp, thin claws. Nothing usable there, either. Reaching a dead end, Four supposed it was time to take the devil's deal. "So?" "Youtrulyareashrewdman.Well,I'llthrowyouabone.Deathisoneofapantheon.Deathstandsatthehead,andbehindherisWar,Defense,Knowledge,Creation,Experimentation,andInfiltration."Shi"maystandforDeath,butasFour,youareapariah.Anoutcast,attheveryfringesofyourpeople.AndthatiswhatsanctedMinerva,ourgoddessofWar,isaswell.Respectedamongusasapeerlesstacticianandtheproliferatorofskill-- "
Four cut him off. "My people avoid me because Four is an unlucky number. Sounds like your people avoid that war goddess because she's a right bitch. How are we supposed to be the same?" "Becauseyoubothserveintegralpurposes.And,intheend,youbothhaveadmirers.So,thedealyou'vebeenwaitingfor.Wouldyouliketohearit?" "Yeah. Let's get it over with." "TagalongwithTwenty-FiveandTwelve.GatherofferingsworthyofWar,andsacrificetheminsupplicationintothePohnpeiEdgeNebula.StartinsectorF1.You'llfeelwhereyouneedtogofromthere."
Four squinted at the devil sat across from him. Strauss simply smiled back, the flickering light from the green torches behind him casting eerie shadows on his face. Having something tangible to do felt right, but doing it at his behest didn't. It could be a trap. There could be missing details. And most of the squadron didn't like working with Four. He was a sign of bad luck, and a reminder of underhanded betrayals. On the other side of the coin, he could get necessary information on Strauss if he payed close attention to the job. A ghostly Wheel of Fortune card appeared in his hands, and a card appeared in Strauss's hands as well. "What's in it for me?" "Succeed,andyoumakeastrideintoanother'sfavor.Agoodwomanwithatumultuoushistory.Apariahherself,inmanyways.Succeed,andyoumakeastrideintoMinerva'sfavor.Youmaynotproveyourselfworthy,butyouwillproveyourselftobeonthepathtoworth,andhavingWarherselfonyoursidewillcertainlybeusefulforkillingme.Succeed,andyouannounceyourselftoDeath.Youmayverywellalignyourselfwithheratthisverytable.Twoagainstoneagainstoneiscertainlyfavorabletooneagainstoneagainstoneagainstone,isn'tit?"
Four took a moment to consider the offer. Winning the favor of gods and devils, of angels and demons. It didn't seem like the best of deals, but his options were running dry. He was dealt into this game well behind, and he was playing catchup with beings that were difficult, if not impossible, to truly comprehend. Any option forward was an option he needed to take. The Wheel of Fortune was clearly representing this gamble. The moment he resolved himself to play it, another Five of Swords appeared in his hand. He played them both, and that said all that needed to be said.
Strauss chuckled, then laughed, then veritably roared. The green fire in the torches behind him shifted to a deep red which somehow made the room darker despite them flaring up, and faint orange glows started to seep from the symbols in the wall. Four had the feeling that he'd screwed up somehow, but it didn't matter. Roll with the punches, and hit back twice as hard. "Keep that smile on when I put a bullet in your head, Strauss." "Ofcourse.I'llseeyousoon,Shi."
