The winds swept through the lands outside the ruined cathedral, but within, four men sought refuge from the outside. A small fire burned brightly in the center of what had once been a church, and three men sat in a half-circle about it. The fourth sat on the other side of the fire, eyes closed, a small and worn deck of cards next to him, which he was laying out in an intricate, mysterious pattern.
"Using the tarot again, Riekin?" One of the men across the fire spoke coolly. Clad in black, with the white band of an ancient priesthood at his throat, his piercing green eyes were filled with disapproval.
"..." The man sitting alone made no response. His white hair fell about his youthful, handsome face, now that his dark gray hood was thrown back. Hands clad in gray gauntlets accented with brilliant blue laid the cards out one by one.
"You know better than to try talking to him now, Thomas," a golden-haired, violet-eyed man sighed. He too wore the band of the same ancient priesthood, but carried himself in a much more relaxed manner.
"Lazarion, come off it. There's no point in talking any sense into Corem." The fourth was somewhat scruffy, a rugged man with red hair and orange eyes.
"Damn the two of you to - "
"Silence, all of you."
They gazed to the one lying out the cards, Riekin as his name was, who'd just opened his eerie, solid blue eyes and was gazing down at the cards before him.
"...What do they say?" the scruffy-looking one inquired.
"He's reading them, Pluth," Lazarion chided gently. "Which is why Thomas and I are being patient."
"Yeah, I know, but he's usually fast when he reads 'em!"
"I said silence."
The white-haired man never rose his thickly-accented voice above a calm, soft level, but it carried incredible power nonetheless. Several long minutes passed before he nodded to himself, and laid out one, final card.
"...The page of swords..." he murmured. "Capricorn, is he? How interesting."
"...?" The other three gazed at one another silently.
"The cards speak of a boy, whose future intersects our own in seven years time." Riekin spoke calmly. "The Devil is beneath him; and the Ten of Swords to his right. He stands in the center of that, the Eye of the World, the Magician, and the Lovers, inverted.
"This boy is a part of two worlds, the living and the dead, but he is no half-breed." Riekin's eyes narrowed slightly. "He traffics with the spirits of the dead, unwillingly, yet is a lover of life.
"He has had, and will continue to have a great deal of misfortune in his life, but the Eye of the World indicates that he is a great visionary, a great innovator." Riekin laid those cards aside carefully, and gazed at the others. "He comes to join us."
"I wish Murasa and Shirou where here for this!" Thomas muttered angrily.
"They've got business in the east, and don't interrupt!" Lazarion hissed.
"I see his face in my dreams, and he sees mine. That's why I did this reading tonight." Riekin laid out another series of cards calmly. "He lives in strife, inner turmoil, and desires to be set free. Hmm... free from what, I do not know.
"But in seven years, our paths will cross, and this young man may join our ranks in the end... or exist as a solitary entity until his death."
"...Eerie..."
"But fitting." Riekin shook his head, and laid out another card. "So, who wants a reading?"
