Lina Inverse entered her room, taking off her cape and flinging it onto the chair in the corner. She yawned and stretched, glad to have a place to rest and relax. Lina walked over to the window and opened the shutters, letting the moonlight wash over her. The breeze whispered through her fiery tresses, blowing them back from her face.
"Ne, Lina-chan," a voice purred from directly behind her. Her heart leapt into her throat and she reacted without thinking. After a second she realized it was just Xelloss, and so stopped beating him into the ground.
"What are you doing here?!" she demanded to know. Xelloss peeled his face off the floor.
"I came to say goodnight," he explained in an almost apologetic tone. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"Yeah right, then why sneak up on me?"
"Sore wa - " Lina punched him in the face before he could complete the thought.
"Don't even say it," she warned through clenched teeth. "Goodnight, Xelloss."
Xelloss smiled, his eyes twinkling. "You really don't trust me, do you, Lina-chan?"
"Nope."
This response did not really seem to upset him. "Truthfully I did have another motive for coming up here," he confided.
Lina eyed him warily. "What?"
From somewhere within his cloak he produced a black velvet bag. Smiling mysteriously he pulled the drawstring and shook out a deck of tarot cards with ornate black designs on the backs. He shuffled them rapidly, his hands seeming to blur as he did so. He then held them out to Lina. "Go on," he urged. "Take twelve."
Lina did so, still looking at the Mazoku priest with watchful eyes. He just continued to smile. Lina laid the cards she had chosen down on her rented bed, and sat on one end. Xelloss had perched himself on the other, and now took up the cards and laid them out in an ancient spread.
"I may tell you things you do not want to hear," he cautioned, but his eyes were laughing. "This is a journey through the heart and soul." He closed his eyes again, and spoke through a smile. "I invoke thee, spirits of wisdom and truth. Lay thy hand upon these consecrated cards of art that we may obtain true knowledge." Lina watched quietly. Typical Xelloss dramatics.
The trickster began to flip the cards over, one by one. "This is you in the past, Lina-chan," he told her. "The Fool. The unexpected, doing things on impulse." The second card he turned over was depicted a dignified woman smiling softly, her bangs obscuring her eyes. Lina started a little. The card reminded her of her sister.
"The Queen of Wands," Xelloss said. "A person who has influenced you. She is charismatic and of fiery temperament. You are scared of her." Lina started to protest, but Xelloss just smirked at her. He turned another card. "A recent change in your life. The Ace of Swords; an invoked, unnatural force. Unstoppable. Chaos cannot be controlled."
Lina thought back to her possession by the Lord of Nightmares, who was Chaos incarnate.
"The Princess of Wands. Brilliant, yet impulsive. Violent." He grinned again. "This is you, Lina-chan." He continued to turn over the cards. "These are influencing forces. First, the Devil." A half-human creature, unmistakably Mazoku, sat perched upon a half cube. One hand was open, the sign of Saturn on the palm, while the other held a torch upside down. Two humans, one male and one female, were chained to the block before the creature with batwings. This card seemed to amuse Xelloss to no end.
"A charismatic and unscrupulous person. Our most destructive forces unleashed. Lust and unbreakable bonds. Secret plans, Lina-chan." His eyes glinted like amethysts in the moonlight. He turned another card to reveal a young man with hard eyes. "Secondly, the Prince of Cups. He covets power and wisdom, and is ruthless in its pursuit."
Xelloss smiled at her, lazy and suggestive. "These next three cards are your natural future. First, the most likely outcome. The Sun. Glory, prosperity and riches. Next, the forces likely to affect you and the near future. The Hanged Man. Personal redemption through sacrifice. Punishment." Lina knew it wasn't just her imagination that the trickster seemed to relish the word. "Lastly, the far future. The Empress. Abundance. A woman of beauty and happiness."
"The last three cards are the alternate future. The path of shadows, some might say. Remember that every choice leads down a different path, Lina-chan." He almost seemed to be mocking her. "First, the outcome. Lust. Passion, strength, desire and the use of magic. A love affair. Next, possible influences and forces. The Magi. Wisdom, cunning and deceit. Finally, the consequences of choosing this path. The Chariot, inverted. Violence and a love of destruction."
The ensuing silence seemed very loud. "So, what does it mean?" Lina asked at last.
Xelloss swept up his cards and returned them to their hiding place in his cloak. "Ne, Lina-chan," he replied. "That is a secret." He winked at her. "Goodnight." The trickster faded from view, leaving Lina alone to contemplate the meaning of his little visit.
A short chapter, I know. It's mainly a foreshadowing thing, and each of the following chapters will correlate to Lina's cards. I read the tarot myself, so the meanings of the cards SHOULD be fairly accurate... If you beg to differ, feel free to e-mail me and tell me so.