˙ ˖✶ just the beginning. ❜
You stand before a pleasant, friendly looking wizard in a navy cloak trimmed with gold. He could very well be a father or uncle figure – why, there’s even a chance he could pass for Santa Claus at the mall. “I see you have quite the situation on your hands,” he says. You glance over your shoulder to see a hero, brandishing a weapon that you’ve become well acquainted with tonight, still hot on your trail.
Before you can answer, the man responds with a cheerful laugh. He rubs his hands together, as though to warm them up. “Let me see if I can do something about that,” he says. “This old man still has a few tricks up his sleeve, mind you.”
All it takes is a flick of his wrists and a cheerful incantation akin to a nursery rhyme, and it seems as though time itself stops. Leaves that had been blown by the wind are stuck in mid-air, the hero on your trail is frozen in place, and even a stray kitten holds still as a statue. However, it only seems to affect this particular block. The intersection down the street is unaffected and traffic continues as usual, cars speeding along unaware of what’s happening up the road.
“This should give you about ten minutes to get somewhere safe,” says the man. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a wooden coin, and flicks it towards you with his thumb. You catch it and examine it. You weren’t sure what to expect, but there doesn’t appear to be anything magical about it. The only detail found on the coin is a white lotus flower painted on its face.
“Nobody deserves to be hunted like an animal and punished simply for existing. I’m part of a community that wants to protect people like you,” he says, speaking gently. “If you’re interested in joining us, you just drop that coin into some water. You see where the flower is now? There’ll be an address on it for you to visit. It’s a fancy place – a big, expensive mansion with plenty of food and a place to rest your head. We’d like for you to come visit and potentially, join our little community. You see, there’s something looming on the horizon and we’re worried we’ll be too late if we wait any longer. It might be a little sudden, but time is of the urgency. Speaking of time! Oh, would you look at me! Blathering on while you’re in quite the rush! I’ll be going so you have time to get away from that pesky hero. The beauty of rebirth is its relationship with death!”
In a plume of smoke, the man vanishes.
All you’re left with are his strange words, a wooden coin, and a street frozen in time until you can make your escape.
it wasn’t often nayeon felt this way— a deer caught in the headlight, stunned at the very notion someone might try to take her, adrenaline coursing through her veins the moment chase began. while she was strong, even she had had her own weaknesses ( close combat, hand-to-hand, had always been a bit of a weaker strength for her, but that’s what happens when you usually have others do your fighting for you ). this hero seemed advanced, one who knew how to read her movements easily, and she couldn’t help the silent curses running through her mind as she chose to run.
then he appeared, a block in her path she’d been more than ready to avoid, thinking him to be nothing but a simple old human man. however, his words throw her for a loop, voice coming to her as if he stood right in front of her, and as she got closer, the world stopped. or at least, the area around them did.
“This should give you about ten minutes to get somewhere safe.”
she barely registers his actions on time, almost dropping the coin, narrowly catching it within her fingers. it’s smooth, an object made with care, and she stares him down after a second. “who the hell…are you?” her words are guarded, eyes narrowing, but he pays her question no mind. her blood boils.
he goes on as if she’d never said a word, like he couldn’t sense the hard glare she was giving him, hands no crossed over her chest in hidden anticipation— anticipation over what? she didn’t know, but if he was here ( despite the annoyance ), there had to be a plausible reason…right? it’s then, before she can even get a word out once he finishes that he’s gone just as fast as he’d appeared, her eyes darting around for him, her guard returning in preparation for time to begin again.
wait, he said to minutes, she thinks, and she’s quick to run off to her safety, not wanting to test the time limit any longer than she needed to. he seemed off, strange, a sudden helping hand nayeon didn’t want to accept, but she couldn’t help but think— where his words of safety true? what did he have to gain by giving help? for all she knew, he could be just another nuisance bent on using the power of cards, no better than heros.
however, her reasonable doubts didn’t stop her from dropping the wooden coin in water that same night, pure curiosity and intrigue lingering from the encounter.
