Cards of Yesterday

A Figure in the Shadows

Sakura rested Ayumi's back on the boundary wall and tucked her coat with care. She took out her phone and tried calling Syaoran but the network seemed to have cut off. Her heart was racing with fear, but she tried her best to keep calm.

https://youtu.be/vlnxMZwxIlI

She closed her eyes trying to sense the faintest direction of magic but it seemed to be all around her, rather than a specific source. Fear slowly creeped into her mind that she was too late, that she was already trapped inside someone's magic. She tried to shake off her thoughts and focused on her perception.

Suddenly in the distance she could see a figure moving away. She clenched her fist, braced herself and went running behind the figure.

Sakura kept chasing the person but oddly enough, no matter how far she went, the narrow alley kept extending. She distinctly remembered that the road wasn't this long originally.

The shadowed figure stood under the conical glow of a streetlight. She stopped at a distance from the figure, unsure of what it would do.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked in hesitation.

The figure did not move.

"Do you want something?"

The figure stood still in silence.

Sakura tightened her grip on her bag. If this really was the person who was after her cards, she had to be very cautious.

The figure slowly raised its hand towards her and pointed at her. Dark ribbons dissolved from the air and shot towards her. Sakura called for a card that grew small wings on her shoes. She jumped in a flurry, dodging the ribbons as they tried to attack her.

"Shield!" she called.

A glowing half globe encircled her as she paused for a moment trying to catch her breath. She felt a little overwhelmed realizing that she wasn't as athletic as before. The ribbon like magic leashes returned back to their owner.

"You want my cards. Don't you?" Sakura shouted.

She waited for an answer, but she got none in return. Silence enveloped them as she grew more impatient. Her mind was already calculating the possible moves the magician could pull and what cards she would use to defend herself.

"Why did you attack me?"

Sakura waited in silence. She clenched her teeth in fear.

"You leave me no choice. Arrow!" She chanted.

A magic circle morphed under her feet which spun and sent flickering shadows into the void. A glowing lilac bow appeared before her. She held the bow firmly and pulled back the string. A glowing arrow appeared in the space between her aimed hands. She took a conscious breath and released the string. With a spark, the arrow shot past the distance, but to Sakura's surprise, it tore straight through the figure. The shadowed magician stood unaffected.

Sakura tightened her grip on the bow and pulled back the string calling for more energy. This time when she released the aerow, it split into many and attacked the figure, but yet again nothing happened.

"An illusion?" Sakura gasped in shock.

The figure stood in silence and like sea foam it dissolved into the darkness.

One by one, all the buildings began to appear and the alley was filled by distant sounds of celebration and cats mewing at the crescent moon.

"Sakura? What happened?" Ayumi spoke as she rubbed her eyes with her fingers.

She quickly kept her cards inside her bag, turned her staff into a key and hid it.

"Ayumi... We were talking and you fell asleep suddenly..." she turned back to face Ayumi.

"I don't remember..." Ayumi slowly got up from the ground dusting her skirt.

"I think you're exhausted from all the work. I'll call you a cab back home." Sakura took out her phone.

"Call me a cab? You're going somewhere?"

"I'll have to meet a friend." She typed a message quickly and sent it.

-

Syaoran sat on his seat with his shoulders slumped and his face resting on his hand. His desk was filled with disarranged papers and loads of pending work. He took off his oval reading glasses, kept them on the desk and stretched back on his chair like a sleepy cat. His auburn hair was disheveled and so was his mind. He had a big list of things he was procrastinating and on the top of that list was a call to his mother.

The sleek phone before him lit up as a notification popped. He looked at his screen to check if it was worth his remaining mental space. It was a text from Sakura.

Sakura: Will be there in 10.