Your Path

Card: 5 of Pentacles 

They are crying again. They have wept for 23 minutes and 50 seconds. This is 6 minutes and 10 seconds longer than the last time they cried. I have not left them and they are rubbing away at their skin where they can feel me. 

They believe that they had conducted the assemblage correctly to save their followers in Neahr. They did not. The anise was two minutes two old and there were 4 sprigs too many. They incorrectly blame me. The Dying God has explained that blame is part of mourning but this is far too illogical. 

Still, the pattern for fermentation is one I grant, and they have partaken of it and sought intoxication as an end result. They will regret it in the morning when the components have equaled sickness. 

Card: 3 of Swords

Roll: 1d6: 6 Success! 

I saw in the sky and the winds that Formation-Is-Duty-and-Hardship would use the Weight against me. This is the third time in one hundred years they have sought to do so. They have failed before and I see that they will fail again. 

Ritan  has been growing Anise and Rue in the garden like I instructed. Everyday they tend to it and it has grown as it should. I will instruct them to bless a new weapon with the herbs so that they will fight off the Weight. 

It is not time to fell it, and I see that they will use it against me seven more times before we will rise another. 

Card: King of Swords

Roll: 1d6, 5, Failure 

I found myself visited by my sister, Nos'goth, Crown of Memory and Decider of the Past through the Lense of Time. She has brought me my memories of our time in Neahr.  

I recall our first meeting. The interlocking of chalk, blood, the feeling of desperation and devotion, were met in perfect harmony and I brought my presence to them. 

They begged for power and success, I offered them a sight of the future and they rejected me. This was one possibility in the flow of things but it was but a small chance. They surprised me by choosing a narrower road. They offered me themselves as though they were the Supplicant, and I, adverse to prophets, accepted them as a Warlock instead.

I will call upon them as they call upon me. They will move in the world as my piece, for I have seen it. They hastened from the city, unable to save most of their followers, each of them slaughtered under Our Names for worshiping incorrectly. The new king’s ear had fallen to the false prophet Emerate, the one who believed in patterns but not myself and saw false results in coincidence. 

Card: 7 of Cups

I find myself drawn to their side, far more interested in the lives of mortals than before. I watch as they perform their daily chores, worshiping me slowly in a pattern of daily monotony. They know I am present but do not engage. There is comfort in presence and we know that we are not alone. 

Card: 2 of Swords

Roll: 1 Failure 

They have crossed the marshes, masks on their faces and bows in their hands. They have not seen the warning signs as clear as I have made them be. I know that I am safe but I will not look to the future because I am uncertain of theirs. Most point towards destruction but there are some injuries and scars. 

I am here when they enter, my presence in the ceiling and in the air. I cannot stop them as they tear through the cabin, torch the garden, and destroy the painting. They find them eventually, and the fight is long. 

I watch, unwilling, and unable to assist. My warlock succeeds though injured. They will never see from their left eye again and their hands will never truly close. 

Card: 10 of Wands 

Draw Power 1d6 becomes 1d8 

The Granite Isles have declared war once more upon the cities of the mainland. The leader of Lo’wen has sought aid in Ritan’s knowledge. Will they fall? What will bring victory? Will they be in danger if the Isles raize Lo’wen? These are the questions that my warlock asks of me. 

They are alone in their chambers, chalk on the floor, devotion in their heart, and I on every crevice of their skin. I tell them how to read the stars through the open window but do not tell them that I moved them to ensure their survival. 

Card: 3 of Wands

Draw Power 1d8 becomes 1d10

They have noticed an ease to which they arrange themselves and their home. They sense the energy and my presence flow freer when things are in the correct order. I am closer and brighter and I feel a deeper connection to my warlock. 

Card: Ace of Swords

Roll: 1d10; 8 Success

Life is making new creatures again. A lizard born of flame deep in the volcano near the middle of the world will make its way in thousands of years of time towards the Sea to the deep south, burning the forest and Errentol to the ground. 

Ritan is confused by these readings. They cannot understand the symbols and I know that they never will. They draw the cards one by one, cast the stones, then think of the windchimes in their mind. I set forth the arrangement and a window blows open and their envelopes scatter to the ground.  I give them the name of Originator and Placeholder, The One granted Immortality by the Wood Fae, and Survivor of Neahr. 

Ritan transcribes the readings they cannot comprehend and sends their findings to Cherice. 

Card: 10 of Swords

Roll: 1d10; 8 Success!

The winds have changed. There is something old returning. I feel it in the lakes and the tremors of the earth. The titan is stirring again and the waters will not hold it. We will need to perform strong magic to reseal it. 

I have no domain over dreams and so I awaken Ritan with the blinding sun and the raging chimes. They are afraid as they should be. I am more present than I have ever been and they are in tears as we speak of a seal. 

I am of their body as they are of mine as we stand together in the light of the sun, high on the roof of their cabin. They see the lines and The Order of All Things as we rearrange them together to reform a prison. I do this with them because I.. wanted them to See. We move back the lands to the south that had been separated and draw forth the moon in the day. 

When we are finished they collapse and fall into the garden from above. It will take weeks for their leg to heal. 

Card: 8 of Pentacles 

To know the components of the world is to understand both its past and it’s future. This was what I told Ritan when we made our pact. They would know and I would help them to understand. We would be together and they would be mine alone.

But they have been consorting with others. I see today the see Spring through their window and offer unto it blessings for the season. They do not need to offer things for they should Know if they are to come. 

We argue of semantics, predestination, and fate. They said to me that these offerings are part of the arrangement of seasons and to stop would be to break the pattern. I cannot argue against this. It infuriates me.

Card: Knight of Pentacles 

Peace has been made with the Isles and their Queen has sought Ritan’s consort. Ritan knows their place in The Order of All Things and has politely declined, as they should. They cannot leave the South Facing Cabin and they cannot leave me. 

Card: Knight of Swords 

Roll: 1d10; 1; Failure

An un-passed ghost made their way towards the cabin today. I watched as it approached the Rue and stopped. It stood outside the cabin issuing demands and howling. 

Ritan stood beyond the rue, leg still healing, blind in one eye and hands hardly able to hold anything. 

The ghost shrieked and howled, blaming Ritan for their death since their disputes in life had led them to not save her in Neahr. 

Ritan would not fight them, no matter how I arranged the world for their success. Their will was iron and their guilt was defeat. 

Card: 7 of Wands 

Draw Power 1d10 - 1d12 

They cannot sleep with the howling of the ghost. They cannot remember the correct placement of their things or the time of day in which to do them. 

I draw them close and they see me in the light outside in the garden. They reach out to me, touching me for the first time and I guide them in how to change The Order of All Things. They create a new classification for the ghost and it becomes a Specter. The Specter melts in the sun and onto the grass. 

Card: King of Wands 

I look at them and they are cold despite my warmth on their skin. Their eyes are dull, and their hands shake. They reach out to me and hold my light in their feeble, broken hands. I melt onto their skin and we are together as one again. 

I hold them and classify them anew, as Ritan Indication-Soon, One Who Re-Arranges Anew, temporary God of Change, allowing them to make one Decision. 

(A/N: At this point I’m tired and have decided to end the game) 

10 of Cups

Cards: The Emperor, and Strength 

Strength 

We feel each other upon and in ourselves, combined and collected. We are as one as is our Lord Decider, Least-We-Say-The-Name-Aloud. We have taken the power granted by the one known as -A- and have decided for ourselves that we are together as Arranger and Re-Arranger. For the secret of Reality that we never told the one known as Ritan was that all arrangements are ephemeral and, in their nature as arbitrary as the divisions between them.