The Rising Dawn, # 37— "Slumber and Premonition"

It was with lengthy precaution that five Tier Three-or-higher Gifted were put into slumber by the power of Voodoo’s crafted relic, which incidentally, was a genuine lotus trimmed with gold and jewels, held in place by a silver pentacle. Most of her power went into the lotus, the legendary flower that enticed the sailors of Ulysses. Combined with her arts and the value of the precious materials, it was ready to amplify Beacon’s power.

Serenade (Voodoo) needed to finish the lotus before the slumber began— the slumber was the cost of activating the magic lotus, as voodoo always came with a price. Five of their most powerful Citizens of the Rising Dawn would be unable to contribute in any way to the ongoing war with The Shop, ‘Danny Boy’ McGrills, or The Magister and his Polis.

Needle, Nightshift, Pointer, Philosopher, and Brawler would be out of commission. No one was willing to go without Gallant again. Mech was only a Tier Three because of her cybernetics; otherwise, talking to haunted machines was not an especially powerful Gift.

Citizen Snow could now proficiently manipulate water, but only when Rat (Ratcatcher) was singing. Grego was formidable with his dogs, but with so many adversaries hopped up on Outlier blood, Grego was reluctant to endanger them. Usually.

Gamer’s illusions had considerable utility, but Parse was support, not a combatant. Ladybug, Gimmick, and the Study were by no means factored in, they had only just met Dreamwalker, and Beacon was useful as a lure but not for fighting. Notably, they intended to amplify Beacon’s power after the Five awakened.

That left Carny, Wraith, Mech, and Gallant himself, and it was dubious if Carny could be counted at all. He swore he could throw knives, clubs, and also utilize grenades, but as of now he was hired as a mercenary, and he gave the constant impression he was a liability.

Yet Wraith, Mech, and Gallant counted for much, and no forays were made to stop criminals in the weeks that followed, even though The Sentinels were the only semblance of a functioning police force. Security was doubled and placed on high alert, and Gamer offered assistance (under cover) by enhancing what could be detected with his semi-independent life-like illusions.

Meanwhile, within three days, The Magister’s plant in Freedom Tower, which was not vulnerable to detection by Trainer (Grego)’s dogs, relayed the information that The Dawn Society had reduced manpower.

“Why don’t you tell me about the Plant?” said The Ice.

“The truth may surprise you,” said Zane Frederick.

“...You don’t trust your hellcat?” she said, barely pouting.

The Magister was shuffling a deck of custom-made Tarot Cards, which didn’t have the same faces as the ‘traditional’ Arcana, which in itself was obscure. There was, however, some overlap.

“...I believe I’ve been dishonest with myself,” said The Magister.

Leesha Stellar, The Ice, regarded him silently.

“...When the Drive entered my veins, I realized I was an Outlier, all… well, all along.”

“So was I,” said Leesha.

He kept shuffling.

Then he said, “Madhouse, you, and the plant. If you weren’t so useful, I’d discard you all,” and he shuffled again.

“Discard me?” said The Ice.

“That’s what I told myself,” he said, then became sullen, “And I should’ve changed my mind after Porter. We knew he had light in his eyes, but we couldn’t accept he was different.”

The Ice knew Porter Sarintidis was Zane’s nephew, who was an Outlier called The Study. It was something that was rarely mentioned, let alone discussed.

“What about your plant?” said Leesha.

The Magister shuffled the cards again.

“Strategy, that’s what I told myself. Make use of the entire Polis. But now it’s different.”

After a pause, he said, “Hanging Man,” and Zane drew a custom Tarot card. Though the depictions were different and the deck contained foreign Arcana, he in fact drew a ‘canon’ Tarot card, The Hanging Man. A moment of clarity.

“Magic tricks?”

“I would have assumed as much. But no… The Plant lives in this very building. She’s a young lady who can Astral Project and enter a CPU.”

“That’s—” said Stellar, but she was awe-struck at what kind of world she lived in.

Which was saying a lot, with her.

“The world we live in, I know,” said the Magister.

There was something different about him, recently.

“There’s something else the cards told me,” said Zane.

Leesha raised an eyebrow.

“My Abnormality is somehow focused into Astrology,” to which he referred to his Tarot cards, “and they told me I would lose a war.”

“...Against McGrills? The Dawns?...The General?”

“It didn’t say.”

“What will you do?”

The Magister shuffled again, setting the Hanging Man aside.

“Tower,” he said, and drew the Tower.

“And that means?”

“Disaster,” he said, as though at peace, “If I’m not careful.”

“That’s what losing a war is.”

He gathered himself and said, “First, we save face. Luck." He drew a foreign Tarot card, called Luck. It depicted the four suits of ordinary playing cards: spades, diamonds, clubs, and hearts.

“Right,” she said, not liking the sound of this, “then what?”

He drew the fourth card. Temperance, and he didn’t announce it. He held it up.

“Then we surrender.”