KING OF SPADES CHAPTER 3

“Let me get this straight,” August stared seriously at the two “Card-Elves” over his laced hands, elbows resting on his knees. They had moved off to the side to a bench, which had seat belts to hold anyone who wanted to sit from floating away. “There are hundreds of dimensions, and Earth was the original, an element of it influencing each of them, new significant inventions that take off or brilliant ideas that weren’t quite achieved creating new ones. But it’s one of the few who don’t know this, because humans were deemed too dangerous to be aware of the others after a huge interdimensional war, so they did a mass memory wipe about a thousand years ago?” Seeing them nod, he buried his face in his hands, nursing a pounding migraine, “Sounds straight out of a sci-fi film… but if this were a dream, it probably wouldn’t feel this real.” Octavia nodded again, propelling herself onto the bench, clasping the belt over her lap, “As much as I don’t like it, you’re here, and all this is actually happening.” Ace joined them on the bench, but chose to hang on to the straps from an upside-down orientation instead, “So, now that all that’s out of the way, we should get going. Time’s a-ticking, and ol’ Princy-S ain’t gonna be exposing himself to the public without a little nudge in the right direction!”

“Isn’t he the king now?” Octavia pointed out, correcting the outdated nickname.

“Yes, yes, but he doesn’t deserve the title, does he?” the prince shrugged, letting go of the seat belts and letting himself float away, far too carefree for the topic of their conversation. Silently, August wondered if he ever took anything seriously. It certainly seemed like the answer was an obvious, flashing neon red ‘no.’ “Okay, about that…” he looked up, “You said that the new King of Spades killed his father, or at least, you think… how do you know this, exactly, and what reason do I have to help?”

“I… just do,” Ace fidgeted uncomfortably, kicking over to the other two, the confident demeanour disappearing as if it was never there, “But trust me though, I have enough evidence to know for certain-”

“Then why is this whole operation so hush-hush? If you have evidence, why are you convinced no one will believe you? And you still haven’t answered my second question.”

“You didn’t give me time to answer!” he huffed with slight impatience, but took a calming breath, regaining his composure, “As for the other questions, first, it’s because even though there may be people who believe the same as me, Card-Elves, just like all other species, are cowards and wouldn’t dare go against the monarch of the most powerful faction of the Suite Factions. Second, I have an infamous reputation for causing havoc for no particular reason apart from boredom, so it’s extremely unlikely anyone will believe my word.”

“So you're basically the royal, glorified boy who cried wolf,” August looked unimpressed, crossing his arms, “I still don’t see why I should help you though.” Octavia snorted with mild amusement covering the grin on her face with her hand. At this point, the heart shaped mark that showed the Prince of Hearts’s Suite Faction was glowing like London in the middle of the night, as were his pointed ears. “I’m not-” his facial muscles twitched as he stuttered slightly, clearly irritated. Leaving the infuriating point aside for the time being, he moved onto the long unaddressed question instead, “That little comment aside, let’s give you your motive.” Ace, out of nowhere, pulled out another knife and held it to the brunette’s forehead, “We’ll turn you in if you don’t. We’ll get in trouble, sure, and arrested too, but I have enough influence to get both me and Via out. You, on the other hand, as mentioned before, will face a non bargainable death penalty. If you betray us, leave us, or blow the plan in any way at any point, I’ll just kill you myself.” The alarming shift of personality was present once more, causing the other boy’s skin to prickle with little imaginary electric shocks down each of his vertebrae, not unlike the sensation of a hairy spider clambering down his back.

Wide-eyed, the previously cold and unwelcoming girl next to him shot up, pushing the knife point away, “Ace, no. We aren’t going to do that. This idiot just followed us into the terminal and it’s not fair to pressure him into helping us, people he barely knows, to save a world he just found out about.” Her voice was firm, in an almost reprimanding tone, not unlike a parent scolding a small child. The prince looked furious, and the heart on his face glowed, sending off waves of blinding bright red light in about a five metre radius. People began to stare in their direction, muttering amongst themselves and pointing at the three. The two sudden sensory additions shocked August; it caused him to tremble slightly, clenching the fabric of his trousers into a fist, letting go, then repeating the process. 

Shakily, he unbuckled his seatbelt, letting himself levitate away absentmindedly, recoiling when Octavia tried to reach out to bring him back. When Ace tried to do the same, he panicked, lashing out. Kicking Ace in the arm, he made swimming motions as fast as he could away, zig-zagging between people, propelling himself off the lips of the various openings in the wall, the bench, anything he could grab. “August!” both Card-Elves called, setting off after him, but he didn’t stop. Everything seemed so loud, there were too many people, and he was floating, for goodness’ sake. It felt like his limbs and head would separate from his torso and go spinning in opposite directions. The world was beginning to blur into nothing but a glaring lightshow, assaulting his vision like little pins stabbing at his optic nerves.

Do you know what it feels like, to feel everything at once yet nothing at all at the same time?