52*
Red Skys and Royal Cards
I couldn’t even begin to fathom what I was seeing in front of me. I didn’t think the four eldest would have come up to the roof. I was trying to find a quite place to get away form the boys and think a few things over myself. But what I found when I came up here was nothing like what I was expecting.
I wanted to get away from the boys and think about what I was going to do about the competition in two weeks. I still didn’t know what I was going to do now that I wouldn't be able to participate in the Dual Combat potion of it. And I thought that was my main problem now.
Boy was I wrong.
I didn’t mean to walk in on them. I knew the four boys wanted their privacy and I now know why. I was going to give them their privacy – that was my original intention – but as soon as Kris pulled that Card out, there was no way I could just not tell them I was there and I have seen it as well.
I may not have had the best view of it from where I was in the door, but there was one thing I was certain about. That Card was damaged, the extent I do not know, but it was close to falling apart. But that wasn’t the only thing I knew about this Card from the brief glance I was able to get from it. No, it got much worse.
Even just seeing the Card it was like what happened with Xiumin again. I was drawn to that Card. Something about it screamed for me to Claim it, but how do I Claim a Card that is in such bad shape with no way of repairing it. What was more, I knew that Card was just like the eleven Cards I have already Claimed.
It’s no wonder Kris wouldn’t give me the Card or tell me anything about it. I was right in believing something happened, not to him but someone else to make him the way he is now. What happened to the Card to make Kris like this? What history was behind that Card? What made it like that? Why did it make Kris into the boy he is today?
They still hadn’t seen me in the doorway to the roof entrance and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing yet. I don’t feel right about leaving and not telling them that I had seen something that I probably wasn’t supposed to see. Neither did it feel right to make my presence known to them about the same fact.
But I really wanted to know more about that Card Kris had. I had a connection to it already and I had only just seen a glimpse of it. The feeling was even stronger than when I found Xiumin in the forest. The pull to Claim the damaged Card was far more than I had ever felt before.
I could feel the bond I had with the eleven boys that were here already pulsing as I watched the glass case that the Card Kris possessed was held in. I could feel the strength behind each of our connections as I stood in the doorway. I shut my eyes and let myself go into the mess of webs and ties that were the bonds with my Warriors. I let myself feel the strength behind each of them. Not one was stronger than the others; only Kris’ bond was weaker.
And beyond all the bonds I already had in place, was the last bond that wanted to make itself known. The bond that wanted to exist and snake through the already existing bonds around me. The bond that wasn’t there but wanted so badly to be part of what was happening around me, around us.
I was feeling a pull so strong towards a Card that was so damaged. From what I know, a Card that has been damaged is hard to repair. A rip can be fixed with tape and missing piece is gone forever. But a burnt Card? Is it even possible to fix something that has been burned? It can’t be possible can it? A burn is something irreversible, unchangeable. So why was my gut telling me that I could fix it?
I don’t have the ability to heal. None on my Warriors have the ability to heal. So then why did I know instinctively that I could fix this Card? I am not anybody special. I come from a human family and was pulled into this world, I’m not a Dealer descended from other Dealers. I’m as human as a Dealer can get. I can’t fix a Card that has become like this. It just isn’t possible.
But I can’t deny the pull I have to the Card. Be it because it is one of the Cards that goes with the eleven I already have, or because I feel terrible that a Warrior had to suffer like this. What ever it is, that Card is making me feel so many mixed feelings. That Card has made an impression on me and I hadn’t even seen it fully yet. And no matter how far I get from it now, I will always have this feeling towards it. Walking in on the four boys was turning out to be one very big problem and one terrible mistake.
I gave in to the pull a little. My eyes still closed, I took a small step toward where I felt the pull coming from. The first step onto the roof, the door closing behind me, the pull getting stronger the closer I got. The second step made the pull stronger than the first. It felt like I was being pulled by an invisible cord attached to that Card, I left my eyes closed as I took the fourth step and stopped.
I could feel the eyes of the four boys now on me. Each on piercing my skin as they watched me. Their bonds becoming tense and calculating as they watched me stand there. I don’t know what I am doing, all I know is that the feeling I get from that unclaimed Card is intoxicating and I want to feel more of it.
That thought stopped
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