The World

“The world,” Allyndra read.

Again, Liv found herself staring down at the image of a gorgeous nude woman on the card in front of her. Laurel wreaths made a border around the card’s edge as though marking victory, but whoever the woman was, Liv didn’t recognise her. An obscure Goddess? Some historical figure from Elven culture? She had no idea.

Long dark hair and pale skin suggested she was eastern, though her ample bust probably meant she wasn’t Nahani. Imperial, then? An old empress or a famous general?

Unlike with Judgement, this topless figure was the card’s centerpoint and sole focus. She stood there on one foot, balancing, with nothing more than a white see through shawl wrapped around her body. It draped around her shoulders, then wrapped over wide hips to cover her sex. Though the intricately painted card was so precisely crafted that Liv could still make out the cleft of her lower lips through the shawl, as well as the small line of dark hair above it.

Fair skin and high features contrasted with a pure blue, cloudless sky behind her. Or perhaps an ocean? It was difficult to tell with the deep shade of blue, and the swirls of silver embellishment that ran through the background might have been air currents just as easily as turbulent waves. After the previous card, it was almost simple.

“A wanderer. Without home or purpose,” Allyndra’s voice struck through, clear. “Here, the World, she is the…” she paused, searching for a word. “...dissolution of the inner self and getting lost in the self around you. A loss of the self that is in favor of the self that does.”

This time she knew what she was looking for, and Liv quickly spotted the sheen of moonlight over Emmaline’s vision. The elf was showing her something, Liv was certain of that. The question was what. She turned her gaze back to Allyndra just in time to see her speak the next words.

“You abandoned your family, and now you are alone.” Emmaline stirred at that, and Allyndra hurried to continue, lulling her back into a vacant, hypnotic stare. “Not alone in spirit, but alone in family and… alone in meaning.”

Liv could see the faint trail of her spell now. With each word she spoke, a misty silver smoke spilled from Allyndra’s deep purple lips. It swirled out and dissipated so faint into the air that Liv might have lost it’s trail if she didn’t already know it’s destination. There, at the corner of Emmaline’s eyes, the silver mist coalesced, feeding into those platinum lenses.

“Do you know who you are, Emmaline Beumanoire?” Allyndra said. Her voice was slow now. Low, peaceful, and entrancing. “As The World, you are a wanderer and a journey, but you are not a you. It is fine to travel, but there must be a destination. Running cannot give you that.”

A frown was starting to creep onto Emmaline’s lips.

Liv snorted. Was she really buying into all this? Illusion spells and pretty talk? “What a bunch of--”

“Liv, please!” Cassio’s voice was an urgent whisper and, combined with the tug of his hand on her bare shoulder, he drew Liv’s focus right toward him. His hand had appeared instantly, the moment she started talking!

Liv whirled on him, eyes narrowed and she started to say something, but apparently just looking at him was enough to send his hand jerking back from her. Cassio scurried back a few steps like a spooked mouse and Liv turned her attention back to Emmaline and Allyndra.

“You run, Emmaline. You tease and flirt and flee,” Allyndra was saying. “But is that enough? Is that a Self or is it simply the role you play? Are you the woman I see before me, or simply caught up in a complex performance--a fool playing and dancing in a life that was never truly her own? What are you, Emmaline? A woman or an echo?”

She let the question hang in the air for long moments until the last of the silver mist had faded into nothing and those silver lenses had begun to dissipate from before Emmaline’s eyes. Then she snapped and Emmaline blinked awake once more.

The elf must have been showing Emmaline something. The lenses made that much obvious, but with the personal nature of the illusion, Liv couldn’t be sure what it was. Playbacks from her life, maybe?

“Next card,” Emmaline said, barely above a whisper. Allyndra looked down on her still, but this time Emmaline didn’t bother to challenge her. Though she also didn’t wait for her permission before reaching out and flipping the third and final card.