Order Of Illumination - Laying the Field

"Come in, come in my child, make yourself at home. You wish for a reading yes? A laying of the field? The future is not for those faint of heart, but I see you are anything but faint...now, have you a token, a payment? Ah the Deck of Blessings. You've returned my children, how kind. Now, you say your name is Quillion?.

Ah, forgive my smile. That is a name certainly, but not your own, oh no. No matter, I shall lay the field for you. These first cards tell where you come from, echoes of your past.
First, the Tower. Hmm, ill-omened, shadowed and bedecked in crimson. Priests pontificate from its windows in safety. Followed by the Heirophant, the most holy of men, the righteous. You see the smile on his face? Patriachal pride. And now... Judgement - ah the scales. What you offer to others while chasing your own.

I see you shift uneasily. Heh, the cards know all my child. Now we lay the journey, your future to come.

The World - ice-cloaked, bitter and white. Look there, at the bottom of the globe. The tip of our lands. North you will go, a long journey ahead. Ten of Swords - you know this one well, I see it in you eyes. The battlefield, the clash of arms. But be warned, the blades shown here are shattered and echo with screams. Now, this next card is most interesting. The Chariot - inverted, you see? Something rides your soul, pushes you on. You know of what I speak. See your visage on the card? Shadowed by some fell emotion. I shall speak no more of it.

Now we lay your journeys end. Are you sure you wish to see? What we get is not always what we want....

Happy to play on? Very well my friend

Ach, so fast they come now. Ace of Pentacles, inverted - a dark champion indeed, death rides his heels...wait, see the face? This champion is of the fairer sex - ah I see in your eyes, recognition yes?
Next, the Lovers - now. What to make of that. The Ace again, entwined with a corpse. Ice lays all around. You know what this means, do you not? The girl, she is...familiar..not a lover no? No, more than that....ah. Your eyes betray you. Family.

Heh, cut deep that last card did it not? Play on you say? So eager are you? Very well.

Knight of Swords. Crusader. Witness him, alone on the battlefield. This I think is yours. Keep it, with my blessing. Ah you are leaving? Very well.......



....impetous child. You did not see did you? The Knight of Swords was pierced. Blood ran from his heart. A trickle to begin, but soon it will be a flood. And there is one final card to lay.....now, here, alone.....

Ach, you see? Your last card, the Hanged Man, again inverted. See his face? And the hangman there in the shadows? The same. The Knight will be betrayed, by himself. Our Crusader lies sacrificed. But you did not see child, you did not see."