"Since you want the good stuff so bad, I won’t be shy anymore." The clown hopped on its tiptoes, reaching for the curtain that led to the interior of the stall.
It pulled, flashing the same eerie toothy grin at Seth. "Why don’t you follow me in?"
Seth stared at the void mass of darkness that lay beyond the curtains. He hesitated briefly before walking into it regardless.
The trade master stared him down as he walked into the stall. Rubbing his hands together, he followed, closing the curtains behind him.
The inside of the stall was pitch dark until a lantern was lit in the distance by the trade master. He dropped the lantern on a table sitting in the center of the small interior.
He sat at the opposing end, gesturing for Seth to sit before him as he shuffled some cards.
Seth glanced back at the exit. His heart skipped a beat as he saw nothing there — just a mass of emptiness in its place, as if it had vanished. The curtain-covered doorway was gone, only darkness existing beyond the small area lit by the lantern.
Grey foggy mist clouded the ground to his knees. He turned back to the trade master, who just flashed Seth the same unsettling smile and gestured for him to sit.
’It’s a legendary class. Of course I was foolish to hope this would be easy.’ His eyes flashed, alert, as he sat.
"Now you said you wanted something more..." The scratching voice spoke the strange dialect, but Will bent it into comprehensible words for the ear.
He rolled the stacks of cards, performing various tricks as his smile grew stranger. "But you know with great power comes brutal costs."
He seemed to have finished messing with the cards and now began to lay them piece by piece face down on the deck, the backs holding sigils depicting a face of a smiling joker wearing a four pointed jester’s hat.
He stared up at Seth, his obsidian holes for eyes seemingly growing a shade darker. "The power you seek will have hurdles to scale, ones that might cost you your life."
A glint flashed on his row of sparkling savage teeth. "After All even jokes can get deadly!"
His head swung back, bursting into a gut-sinking cackle that echoed against the atmosphere, as he offered, "Pick one card Boy, and choose your fate."
Seth swallowed. At this point, it seemed obviously too late to turn back. He couldn’t imagine himself picking a clown-like class; it just wasn’t something he’d do.
But could he even refuse at this point? His hands moved, going for a random pick, but he suddenly halted, his hands hovering inches above a card.
In his vision, a card flashed from another location, flaring up with a golden glint. Seth quickly understood — the quest tracker was guiding him.
Meaning the class he was here for was linked to that card. But like the trade master had mentioned, he was sure the path to claiming this quest would be as difficult as hell.
He hesitated for barely a second before he picked the flashing card regardless, his eyes flashing with lively light.
He just hoped this would be worth the hype, and the class would truly be one that suited him.
The card flashed a brilliant light as he flipped it over. The trade master glanced over. "Oh my, what an interesting pick," it mused as it lifted the card to face.
"What is it?" Seth asked, curious but still wary.
The trade master’s head slanted as the card remained held upright in its grasp, the lightless depths of its eyes trained on Seth, its smile twisting wider.
It offered no response as it suddenly erupted into motion, slapping the card into Seth’s chest before he could even react.
Seth’s eyes widened as he felt as though he had been rammed by a train, his chest sinking backward, his ribs squeezing against his lungs, causing them to lose all hold on air.
The chair crumbled as he fell backward, but just before his back met the ground, the card smothered to his chest erupted into a mass of billowing shadow mist, swallowing his figure whole.
Immediately his figure faded out of sight... As though he was never there.
All while the trade master began to take back his cards, arranging them into a stack.
"Oh my, oh my, I feel giddy just thinking about it. To think he picked a Card Master’s factor... if he survives, I might have just met the next bearer of ’that’ class..."
At the same time Seth vanished, outside the dilapidated surroundings of the stall, a shadow landed in the street. His eyes were a sea of black sclera surrounding emerald-green pupils.
His skin pulsed with green flowering glyphs, dark skin, silver hair.
The Treant frowned as his Will scanned the entire area and still picked up nothing.
His eyes flashed bright green. ’Even though I hurried over as soon as I could, I still wasn’t fast enough.’
His eyes narrowed as his hands clasped into fists. This was their sure path of ascending the noble class; there was no way they would ever give up.
"No matter where you go, we will find you!" The Treant hissed before his figure blurred into the distance riding against the streaming unsettling gale of wind.
His prey couldn’t have gone far...
...
Seth’s vision spun as he struggled to regain control over his body.
The abrupt switch from short fall to a sudden streaking descent was quite disorienting.
His Will bled into the atmosphere, digging a grip into reality; he stagnated his fall so abruptly his bones creaked.
His blood welled from the sudden pull in G-force, but with Seth’s current physique, the recoil on momentum barely did much damage.
He couldn’t initiate flight, but he could lower his fall intensity into something he could manage.
He finally took a good look at his surroundings as he slowly landed onto a stony surface.
Seth’s eyes flashed as he took in the mysteries of the foreign construct. It was like a mesh between a shrine and a cave.
Grand towering stone statues held the images of figures, each bearing ancient foreign characters entrenched into their foreheads.
These silhouettes were so elusive. Aside from their humanoid appearance, the rest of their features were hidden beneath sculpted fabric.
Seth’s eyes ran through the characters, his Will pulsing as he got the exact meaning...
King.
Queen.
Jack.
Ace.
His gaze narrowed as it rested on the last character, unable to stop himself from feeling something not quite right.
"Joker."
His gaze narrowed. These titles bore too many similarities with playing cards of Earth.
His eyes flashed as he recalled the trade master’s first words: "House of Cards..."
Could these be names associated with their leaders? He found it uncanny that an organization out here in the origin realm was using the same titles as playing cards from his home planet.
A screen Suddenly flickered brilliantly as the class quest unraveled like a brilliant announcement scroll.
[Congratulations! You have entered The Joker’s Sanctuary!]
[Clear first phase trial to gain the primary Special Class "Jack Of All Trades!"]
[You have entered the circle of the House of Cards! You bear heritage for the role Wildcard!]
[Once identity is designated, ascent to the role of Card Master may begin!]
....
{A/N: Sorry for not releasing Chapter yesterday guys and for the late release today, I wasn’t well and was barely coherent as at yesterday, due to that there will be a delay in the bonus Chapter, as I will upload them tomorrow, once I’m all alright!
So Till then keep the Votes and gifts coming, they really help me as an author a lot.}