Dark Omega

CHAPTER 24 - EYE OF THE DRAGON

Marcus woke early, as he had done every day since he was a Collegium acolyte. He was rested if a little stiff after all those hours spent with the Maiden. Some limbering exercises and martial arts katas chased away the stiffness, leaving Marcus warm and supple.

After a trip to the bathroom—legates had a great deal of control over their minds and bodies but were not exempted from bodily needs—he sat down at the room's only table. It looked like real teak but probably wasn't. Marcus ran his fingers along the surface. Synthetic. Without a native biosphere, anything made of natural wood had to be imported to Nuovo Venezia. Interstellar transportation wasn't all that expensive, but the cost of real wood would be at least ten times higher than a replica made from recycled materials.

A tall, narrow window provided a view of the consulate's back yard two stories below. The sun was shining—it always did in a city floating above the clouds—but the yard lay in shadow. Between mouthfuls of cereal—the grain was locally grown, in the orbital greenhouses high above—eaten right out of the box, Marcus pulled out his tarot. I'll grab something else on my way to the Pentacle. No reason to starve like I did yesterday.

The well-worn leather-covered adamantine case was a familiar weight in his hand. It had been with Marcus for many years, ever since Xerza gave it to him as a welcoming gift upon his acceptance into the Arcanum. The case itself was nigh indestructible, and the lock would respond only to Marcus's unique psychic imprint. Inside were seventy-eight cards, made of the same psychoactive materials the Maiden's archives were constructed from.

The Order called the deck of cards the Oculus Draconis, literally 'the Dragon's Eye' if translated into Common, but the real meaning was more along the line of 'the Dragon's all-seeing gaze.' More commonly, it was referred to as the Dragon's Tarot—or just the Tarot. Marcus had also met people, Conclave officials, for the most part, who had insisted it be called the Oracular Tarot since it was, in fact, oracular in nature. Conveniently, it also left the Dragon out of the equation--the priests didn't much like the idea of a cosmic power greater than their petty gods.

With a full deck at his disposal, a skilled reader could foretell the future, see into the distant past, and reveal secrets great and small. A less talented user could maybe get some vague glimpses of what was to come—or not. It was often said that the Tarot was an old man's tool, requiring a lifetime of experience to use correctly. I've never been a great reader. Never had had the time—or patience. Maybe I'll get more skilled with age. Probably not. I'll leave fortune-telling to wizened old legates that have outlived their usefulness.

Marcus called upon the power he kept locked away in the deep recesses of his mind. Psychics. Born of Khaos. Harnessed by the will of the legate. The most powerful and versatile tool of all.

It was the ability to control the protean energies of creation and change that set legates apart for the bulk of humanity. It was not merely a difference in genes. Yes, there were genetic differences, the so-called Nexus genes, that were the most common in scions—the children of the gods. But beyond these markers, there were differences that even the scientists of the fallen Dominion hadn't been able to fully explain. Not so strange. The ability to change the laws of physics cannot, by its very nature, be quantified or cataloged within a scientific framework.

Marcus willed there to be fire, and there was. It burned bright and warm but consumed neither fuel nor air. The flame was the psychic manifestation of his desires, and it was his will alone that sustained it. He let the fire engulf the tarot case. The lid swung open. Marcus dismissed the flames and slid the cards out of the case and into his hand. They were cool to the touch. And heavy. They were always heavier in his hand than in the case. That's how it is for me. Legates didn't experience handling the tarot in the same way, just like they didn't experience the use of their powers in the same way.