A Tarot's Fate

C h a p t e r O n e

Game rules

1. A player must not show their card to another player

2. In order to survive one must retain at least one card

3. Trading cards is permitted although one must not see the opposing player's card before trading (must be a trade of chance)

4. Each card has a meaning, an outcome per se, one must not use other resources to decipher these meanings other than the mind

5. Alliances are allowed, but each alliance must only consist of up to 5 players

6. One must not exit the game under any circumstance

7. Murder is permitted, players can gain other cards by killing another player if they are unwilling to trade

8. One can not steal, the only way to receive cards is through trading or killing then taking

9. After each round certain cards will be taken away, some will be added

10. For each round, players must complete challenges they are faced with

11. A player can only get rid of a card by trading with another player or trading it for a randomized card from the central station

12. One must not destroy the thin metal cards, although they do remain unbreakable.

Failure to comply with these regulations will result in the said player losing the game furthermore leading to the player's termination.

Blood. Blood, the deep red liquid stains my clothes, the metallic bitter taste and scent filling my senses. Glancing down, the thin red substance drips off my fingers, like the drops of water repeatedly dripping from a broken tap. Despite each inch of my body feeling infected and overwhelmed with the feeling of blood, it isn't my blood, rather the blood of another.

Looking down at his cold, dead eyes, his tanned skin complex now deathly pale, I slowly reach for his hand. As I open his hand, his icy skin sends an unwanted shiver through my nerves. Inside his hand was the emperor card, this single piece of sheet metal was the cause of my action.

THE EMPEROR: Upright | authority, fatherhood, control, structure /// Reversed | coldness, tyranny, rigidity

It's ironic, I suppose. In order to claim the card regarding authority and structure, all control and structure were disregarded. I would assume the game does that. It changes one's morals, one's values, oneself. The so-called game promotes selfish attributes accompanied by unthinkable sins and actions.

I speak as though I am catholic, with the talk about sins and morals. Laughable is what that assumption about me is. My father was a strict catholic man, always made me appear acceptable and dressed in my Sunday best for the two-hour-long church session each week. Despite being raised in what I used to call a "prison of Catholicism' I have never held any faith in the religion. I wouldn't say I was an atheist, but I didn't necessarily believe in a god or a religion. I believe there could be a higher power I guess, something along the lines of Karma. Maybe that's why I ended up here, in the game. Maybe it was under the basis of karma.

The sound of the metal card hitting the tiled floor brings me out of my thoughts. My attention is immediately back on the corpse in front of me. Oliver, I think his name was, he couldn't have been over the age of 23. Near the start of the game, I saw him with a few others, they were most likely in an alliance of some sort. I vaguely remember one of the others in his group calling him Oliver or maybe it was Ollie, I wish I could remember his name as I suppose I might be the only person to remember his last moments. Even when his last moments were stolen by my selfish actions