Major Arcana

The Hierophant - Chapter 5

Arcana started to stir in her sleep. Sheepishly opening her eyes, she rubbed her eyes, feeling the dried tears around her eyelashes. Picking them off with her right hand, she reaches for her cell phone with her left hand, still lying down on her comfy couch on the balcony. Cell phone in hand, she brings it close to her face to check the time. 6:15AM Sunday. From the horizon, she could see the sun had already started to rise. She groans 'I gotta stop sleeping on this chair' she says, outloud to herself. As comfy as the chair was, it just wasn't meant for a full night's sleep. 'You're welcome to sleep on my lap, baby.' She froze, "I know this voice", she said quietly to herself. "You should, I've been trying to talk to you for some time now". This voice feels strangely familiar. She slowly sits up, looks up from her phone, and sees a man sitting with his left leg crossed over his right leg, forming a perfect triangle, across from her. "My love, you're awake now" giving her a smile so dashing, it made her heart skip a beat.

The man slowly stands up, walking towards her, and she notices his eyes. They are a beautiful pastel purple and seem to glow. Rubbing her eyes, unsure if it was just a glare of the rising sun, she squints and focuses on his eyes. To her surprise, it wasn't a trick of the light or her imagination. His eyes really were glowing! How... Familiar. Aside from the slight difference in color and shade, he had the same eyes as her. "Your eyes -" she says, making him stop in his tracks. "Your eyes are like mine.. How?" He frowns "Arcana, My love, we're finally together again, and the first thing you want to talk about is our eyes? You already know why our eyes are the same. Let's talk about why you were crying. Have you become that impatient for my return?" A smirk unfolded on his lips. Arcana stands up and tosses the blanket that was wrapped around her on the chair as if she was trying to teach the blanket a lesson. "Am I supposed to know who you are? Why do you have the same eyes as me? Why were you trying to talk to me? Why do you keep calling me your love? Last time I checked, I wasn't seeing anyone."

The man still standing in his position ignored her questions "Do you still have that small heart-shaped rock I gave you? Go grab it, I want to show you something." Arcana took a step closer to him, "ANSWER ME! HOW DO I KNOW YOU?!" A few silent moments passed between the two of them. Tension arises in the air. The tension is so thick you could cut a knife through it. The man standing in front of Aracana looked like his heart was just torn to pieces. "Do you know who I am?" Arcana raised her eyebrows "..No? I mean.. You're familiar, I guess, but I don't remember where I've seen you before? Did we go to school together or something?" The man scoffs. "Or something. Tell me, what is your earliest memory? Just humor me."

Arcana is being held by her mom, Janis, and her father, Hector. They are both smiling at her. "Did you know she would have eyes like these?" Janis says to Hector. "No, honey, I thought she got these from your side of the family" said Hector, kissing Arcanas' forehead. "Oh well, I think they are precious, just like you" Janis says tapping Arcanas nose while Arcana cooed in their arms.

"That's the earliest memory I have. Did I get my eyes from my dad's side of the family?" Arcana says to him, hoping that she might be able to find out more about her eyes. "Go grab the heart-shaped stone and I'll answer your questions." By now, Arcana is feeling frustrated and angry. None of her answers are being answered and she's even more confused than when she tried to find out about her eyes when she was a kid. No one knew anything! To top it all off, she can't figure out whether to jump into this man's arms or kick him out of her loft! She turns from him, walking out of the balcony and into the loft, and goes straight to her bedroom. There, she makes a B line to her bedside table and opens the top drawer. There's a small heart shaped rock. Feeling a sense of relief at the sight of it, she picks it up and contemplates on whether or not she should give it to him. She figured this would be the best way to get the answers she wanted and walked back out onto the balcony.

Standing in the doorway of the balcony, she sees the man standing with his back turned towards the edge of the balcony railing facing the open sky, as if he were having a conversation with it. "Why her memories? Is this a test?". His short wavy hair flowing with the cool breeze. 'Wow' she thought, 'even his hair is pastel lavender'. She stands in the doorway to the balcony and admires his physique. Tall, Mocha colored skin, broad shoulders, short wavy hair, he really was quite handsome. Ignoring those thoughts, she cleared her throat to alert him that she was back. He turned around and, facing her, walked towards Arcanna, with a solemn expression planted on his face.

She holds out her left hand and opens her palm. Inside is a heart-shaped stone. The man walks over to her with both hands, places them over her left hand as an exaggerated way of retrieving the heart-shaped rock. As both his hands touch her hand, a silver glow appears from their touch. Arcana catches her breath and the man smiles. "It's Phantasmos" Arcana looks up at him confused. "My name, it's Phantasmos" letting go of her hands and pulling her closer to him and embracing her. He grabs her face and leans in for a kiss. A rush of adrenaline courses through her entire body and she closes her eyes. She can see only stars. Stars.. and a Comet falling to Earth.