Ominous Reading

As soon as Rachel gave her answer, Miss Myster proceeded to fan out her tarot cards on top of the table, giving both her and SK a clear view of the design printed on the back of the cards.

'Huh...now that's a peculiar design,' SK thought to himself the moment he saw these cards.

SK had seen tarot cards before, and a majority of them usually had suns or moons printed on them in order to make them feel mystical but not offending.

Printed on the back of these particular tarot cards were several intricate circles and sigils that gave SK an iffy feeling in his stomach.

Rachel, on the other hand, didn't share these same icky feelings.

"Oooh! These cards are so interesting!"

"Thank you. One of my teachers in Europe bestowed on me these cards after I had finished my tutelage with them," Miss Myter explained. "Now then, would you kindly choose five cards from the deck without looking and hand me all but one?"

"Of course!"

Following Miss Myster's directions, Rachel selected five cards that were nowhere near next to each other, shuffled them in her hand without looking, and handed all but one to the fortune-teller.

Once the cards were in her hand, Miss Myster proceeded to place the four cards in such a way that an obvious empty space was located between them.

"Now place the card in your hand in the center, face-up."

"Okay...oh wow!"

The card Rachel had placed in the center was titled "The Sun" and depicted a woman curled into a ball in the center of a sun that was shining down on a dark green forest filled with various animals that were looking upward. In a strange way, it was as if the animals were worshipping the sun.

"This card represents you, Rey-Rey," Miss Myster informed the influence. "The Sun represents joy, optimism, and truth. An appropriate card, wouldn't you say?"

"OMG! Its so me," Rachel proclaimed with joy as she shook SK's arm with excitement, much to the latter's chagrin.

'Okay, that's probably a coincidence,' SK told himself as he stared at the card and noticed that something about the animals seemed off. 'Why are they a different artstyle from the woman on the sun?'

"Now with that out of the way, let's look into your past to see what led to the current you," Madam Myster said as she placed a delicate hand on the card to the left of "The Sun", and flipped it over for all to see.

On this card was text that indicated it to be the "Page of Cups," and accompanying this was a drawing of a young woman who appeared to be dressed in a poofy outfit and carrying a cup in one hand. Oddly enough, this woman looked remarkably similar to the woman drawn in the "Sun" card.

"This card represents the dreamer... Is it safe to say that before your current lot in life, you were someone who imagined living a thousand different lifetimes?"

"Yes!" Rachel answered excitedly. "I always dreamt of being a news reporter as a child, but I realized later that it was much more fulfilling to be a content creator instead. I don't have to answer to any executive or studio as an independent creator."

"Ah, then that would certainly explain this next card," Miss Myster said with a knowing tone as she flipped over the card directly beneath the center card. "This card represents your reason as to why you are where you currently are."

This time the card was upside down, but it depicted the image of an old man dressed in elaborate robes and seated on a throne with the accompanying text reading "The Hierophant." Once again, this old man strangely resembled the young women in the other two cards.

And once again, there were some weird features to it that made the whole thing appear strange in SK's eyes.

"That card…why…he looks like my old man," Rachel quietly said in alarm.

'And there's a strange-looking snake thing writhing around at his feet,' SK mentally commented.

"The Hierophant usually represents tradition and conformity, but the reverse position represents rebellion and subversion," Miss Myster explained. "Is it safe to say that part of the reason for you being a livestreaming journalist is due to wanting to rebel against something or someone? Perhaps…your father?"

"Y-yes," Rachel admitted in a quiet voice. "Dad always said that content creation was for idiots and fools. I wanted to prove him wrong."

"I see," Miss Myster nodded sagely. "A noble goal if ever there was one, with the potential to lead to magnificent rewards."

Shortly after making this claim, Miss Myster flipped the top card and revealed it to be "The Chariott." Once again, the woman drawn on the card was strangely similar to the other cards, but this time she was depicted riding a chariot... being pulled by some very weird-looking dragonic beasts that looked very out of place.

'Okay, there's definitely something wrong with these cards,' SK eventually realized when he noticed that this last card definitely looked like his friend, Rachel. 'I don't need the System to know that this bitch is a hundred and ten percent suspicious.'

"This card represents victory and triumph," Miss Myster said with an assuring tone. "Your path has the potential for greatness.To reach heights unimaginable by your father and to receive rewards greater than what either of you had ever thought of achieving."

"That's...that's amazing!" Rachel honestly cried. "If that's the case, then that means my future is bright! Right?"

"..."

"Right...?"

The tone of the reading suddenly took on a more sinister tone as Miss Myster went silent and paused before hovering her hand over the final card to the right of the center one.

She didn't even say a single fucking word as she flipped over the card and revealed the card titled "The Tower."

Just like before, there was an image of a woman that resembled the previous cards (and Rachel), but she wasn't the focus this time.

Instead, the card's focus was the massive tower being struck by lightning and the woman plummeting to her demise.

In most versions of this card, the tower is depicted looming over a cliff. But in this version, the tower was shown looming over a pit of monsters.

'"Why am I... falling?" Rachel asked in a tone of voice that sounded distant and strange.

"The Tower card represents disaster and sudden change. In your near future, I see a possible tragedy that will irreversibly change your life and knock you away from your potential," Miss Myster said, her voice now sounding oddly magnified.

"But there is a way to avoid this fate."

"Really? How?"

As soon as Rachel asked this question, Miss Myster's expression became even more serious.

"Delete your channel."

"W-what?"

"I see that in the near future, that your channel will lead you into controversy, tragedy and a near brush with death," Miss Myster elaborated. "However, if you don't upload anything and delete your channel in the next twenty-four hours, you'll be able to avoid it. You will, unfortunately, have to start from zero again."

"B-but I just hit three hundred thousand subscribers and I have worked on this channel for three years now! I can't just delete all of that hard work for nothing," Rachel cried. "Isn't there any other way?"

At this question Miss Myster released a dark laugh.

"Do you know how many times this question has been asked before? No, there is no other way to change your fate unless I show you the way," Miss Myster answered in a strangely condescending tone. "So unless you want to end up getting injured, you should heed my advice and-"

BAM!

"That's...enough."

Finally getting tired of what he was hearing, SK slammed his hand on the table and interrupted Miss Myster before she could continue.

At the same time, Rachel looked as if she had just broken out of a trance.

"What the? What just happened?"

Unnoticed by her and SK at this moment though, the cards on the table had changed.

They were no longer showing people with specific features, by faceless figures instead.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Rey-Rey," SK answered with a measured voice. "But I think we're done here."

...One angry pay and stom-off later...

"Hmmm."

As soon as the young man and woman left, Miss Myster summoned the System UI and navigated to her Familiar screen.

Once there, she flicked through the menus before settling on a familiar that was named, "Gremlin".

With the same delicacy she read her tarot cards, Miss Myster pulled out the gremlin's familiar card and activated it.

"Oh Gamble, my dear, please make sure our lovely little lady there gets some... high quality footage for her channel."

Moments after activating the card, a small electric blue demon appeared to replace it.

"Kekeke! Whatever you wish, Mistress!" Gamble the Gremlin snickered before turning into electricity and jumping into the wires.

"And now we wait for the quest to be fulfilled..."