(A/N):
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The fire in Jojo's eyes dimmed to a steady ember.
Not judgment now.
Inquiry.
"WHO WERE YOU,"
He asked, voice still layered with restrained flame.
The woman stood straighter.
Her robes no longer flickered violently.
The shadow around her had thinned.
"My name," she said quietly, "was Ilona Váradi."
The air shifted faintly.
"I served in the court of Count Miklós Báthory of Székelyhold."
The name carried old iron weight.
Ilona's amber eyes drifted past Jojo—past the mansion walls—past time itself.
"I was not a charlatan," she continued.
"I studied celestial charts from Constantinople. I translated Arabic star manuscripts. I tracked eclipses by hand."
Her chin lifted faintly.
"The Count's court respected me. Feared me."
Jojo did not interrupt.
"...."
"The harvests prospered when I warned them of frost. Armies avoided ambush when I read Mars in opposition."
Her fingers curled slightly, remembering.
"I had reputation."
Then her expression hardened.
"One winter, the Count summoned me privately."
The tarot cards hovering nearby trembled faintly.
"His wife was with child," Ilona said. "But she was weak. Fevered. Her pulse unstable."
Jojo's voice rumbled softly.
"AND HE ASKED FOR DESTINY."
"Yes."
She closed her eyes briefly.
"He demanded I read the future of both mother and unborn child."
She shook her head slowly.
"I refused."
The room grew quieter.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"It is forbidden to divine fate before first breath," she explained. "The stars are not yet aligned. The soul not yet anchored."
Her jaw tightened.
"But Count Báthory did not accept refusal."
The tarot box creaked.
-Creak
"He reminded me of my position," she said bitterly.
"That I served at his pleasure. That exile—or worse—waited for disobedience."
Jojo's gaze sharpened slightly.
"So helplessly," Ilona continued, "I prepared the deck."
Her hands trembled slightly at the memory.
"I drew three cards."
The Hanged Man.
Death.
The Tower.
She inhaled sharply.
"The reading was clear."
Her voice lowered.
"The child would not survive its first cry."
The room's temperature dipped faintly.
"And the Countess," she whispered, "would follow before the next full moon."
Silence thickened.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Jojo's eyes burned brighter.
"DID YOU LIE."
"No!!!"
Her voice cracked.
"I told him the truth."
She swallowed.
-Gulp
"The Count's face… changed."
Her form flickered slightly.
"He accused me of cursing his bloodline."
She laughed hollowly.
"I, who had preserved his victories."
Her amber eyes grew distant.
As she tells how the count humiliated her
Ilona's amber eyes dimmed further as memory pressed in like winter wind.
"I obeyed him," she said softly.
"When he first cast me out, I did not argue."
Her voice carried no pride now. Only fatigue.
"The Count forbade me from entering his lands again. My house was seized. My name struck from record."
She inhaled slowly.
-Sigh
"I took my daughter."
Her fingers trembled faintly.
"She was eleven."
Jojo's crimson gaze sharpened slightly.
"...."
Ilona continued.
"We left before dawn. No escort. No provisions beyond what I could carry."
Her voice softened briefly.
"She did not cry. She held my hand and asked if the stars would follow us."
The tarot cards flickered faintly, responding to the memory.
"We traveled north, toward villages beyond Székelyhold's borders."
She swallowed.
-Gulp
"And for a week… there was silence."
"...."
"...."
"...."
The air thickened.
"Then the news came."
Her jaw tightened.
"The Countess went into labor early."
The glass bench creaked faintly under pressure.
-Creak! -Creak!
"The child drew one breath."
She closed her eyes.
"And died."
Silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"The Countess followed before the next moon rose."
The words settled like ash.
Jojo's voice, still edged in flame, asked quietly,
"AND HE BLAMED YOU. RIGHT?"
Ilona nodded once.
-Nod
"He could not accept the stars had spoken truth."
Her form darkened slightly.
"He proclaimed before court and clergy that I had cursed his bloodline."
The tarot deck pulsed darker.
-GLEaMMM!!!
"He declared my reading had shaped the outcome."
She laughed once—hollow.
-hAhA!!!
"As if knowledge creates death."
Her amber eyes sharpened bitterly.
"He sent riders."
Her hands clenched.
"Not to question. To execute me."
The temperature in the room dipped again.
The shadow of Ilona trembled. Not from rage. From memory.
"I was not there," she said quietly.
Her voice had lost its bitterness. What remained was grief carved into bone.
"The riders arrived at dusk."
The air thickened.
"...."
"I had gone into the woods to gather what little I could. Mushrooms. Wild roots. Anything to stretch what coin we had left."
Her fingers twitched as if remembering the cold forest floor.
"My daughter remained behind."
The tarot deck beside Jojo shifted slightly.
"She was playing."
Ilona's voice broke faintly.
"With the cards."
Silence settled like frost.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"She liked the illustrations," Ilona whispered. "The Empress. The Star. She believed the heavens lived inside them."
Jojo's jaw tightened.
"...."
"THEY FOUND HER."
Ilona nodded once.
-Nod
"They forced the door open."
The mansion lights flickered slightly.
"She must have been frightened."
Her eyes shimmered—not with tears, but with something older.
"Eleven."
The word lingered like a wound.
"They did not question her."
Her voice flattened.
"They did not wait."
The tarot box trembled harder.
"They saw the cards. The charts. The inked constellations."
Her tone turned hollow.
"That was enough."
Jojo's hands curled slightly.
"They struck her down."
The room's temperature dropped further.
"She did not understand why."
A faint distortion passed through Ilona's form.
"They burned the house."
Her voice hollowed further.
"Wood catches quickly when fear feeds flame."
Silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"In the forest," she continued, "I saw smoke rising beyond the trees."
Her breath hitched faintly.
"My instincts…" Her eyes darkened. "…were screaming."
The tarot cards rattled violently in midair now.
"I dropped everything."
Her fingers trembled.
"I ran."
The image seemed to echo around the room.
Bare feet on frozen earth. Branches tearing at skin. Smoke thickening the sky.
"When I reached the clearing—"
She stopped.
For a moment, even her shadow seemed unable to speak.
"The house was already collapsing."
The tarot deck fell silent.
"There was no scream left."
Her amber eyes hardened beyond sorrow.
"There was only fire."
The air inside the mansion felt suffocating.
"She had been burned inside."
Ilona's voice turned to steel.
"They did not even grant her burial."
A long silence followed.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"The riders were gone."
Her gaze turned distant.
"They left only ash."
Jojo's eyes glowed faintly brighter.
"WHAT DID YOU DO."
Ilona did not blink.
"I walked into the fire."
The words were calm.
"I pulled her from it."
Her voice did not tremble.
"There was little left to pull."
The tarot box cracked faintly along one edge.
"I buried what I could."
She lifted her chin slightly.
"With my hands."
The silence that followed was heavy enough to bend air.
Ilona did not speak for several seconds.
The tarot cards hovered between her and Jojo like suspended verdicts.
"After I buried her," she said at last, voice emptied of softness,
"I walked into the forest."
The shadow behind her lengthened.
"I did not return to any village."
Her amber eyes dimmed.
"The Count sent riders again."
A faint, humorless curve touched her lips.
"They searched for weeks."
The forest outside the mansion seemed to listen.
"They burned shrines. They questioned peasants. They cut down trees."
Her gaze sharpened.
"...."
"But they could not find me."
She lifted her chin slightly.
"I had studied the woods long before I studied courts."
The tarot deck trembled faintly.
"I vanished."
Silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"Three months later," she continued, "on a night I had charted years before…"
Her eyes flickered upward as if seeing constellations through the ceiling.
"A rare convergence."
The air cooled.
"The veil between mortal and astral was thin."
Jojo's voice rumbled low.
"YOU PLANNED IT."
"Yes."
Her voice was steady.
"I returned to the clearing where my daughter burned."
The room seemed to darken.
"The ground still held her ash."
Her fingers flexed faintly.
"I had prepared."
Symbols carved into soil.
Blood circles aligned with Polaris.
Candles positioned according to planetary ascension.
"I foresaw that night long ago," she said. "I did not know it would be for myself."
The tarot box vibrated slowly.
"I did not seek resurrection."
Her eyes hardened.
"I sought permanence."
Jojo's red gaze narrowed.
"YOU SACRIFICED YOURSELF."
Ilona nodded once.
"At midnight, when Saturn crossed the threshold of shadow, I cut my own flesh."
The temperature dropped sharply.
"I offered my body."
The cards began to spin slowly in midair.
"And I bound my soul."
Her voice deepened slightly.
"To the very instrument they feared."
The tarot deck glowed faintly dark.
"I sealed myself inside the cards."
Silence pressed in.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"Not as wandering spirit."
Her eyes burned brighter now. "As curse."
The air thickened.
"From that moment," she said, "any who dared draw destiny lightly…"
The cards snapped into a circle around her.
"…would not escape it."
Jojo's voice thundered softly.
"YOU HUNTED THEM."
"I fulfilled the reading."
Her tone was cold but not wild.
"If they drew The Tower, it would fall."
"If they drew Death, it would come."
"If they drew The Devil…"
The room vibrated faintly.
"…they would meet it."
A pause.
"But before sealing fully…"
Her eyes darkened.
"I visited Székelyhold one final time."
The tarot deck stilled.
"The Count believed I had fled like coward."
A faint ember flickered in Jojo's gaze.
"He was wrong."
The room seemed to grow colder.
"I entered his chamber unseen."
Her shadow flickered violently.
"He begged."
Her voice held no triumph.
"He blamed grief. Blamed madness."
The cards trembled faintly.
"I let him draw."
Jojo's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You forced him to pull a card."
"Yes."
A single card floated forward in the air. The Tower.
"He drew his own ruin."
Her gaze remained unwavering.
"I did not touch him."
The air hummed.
"The walls cracked."
A faint rumble echoed through the mansion.
"The chandeliers fell."
She inhaled slowly.
"And as he lay crushed beneath stone…"
Her voice lowered.
"I showed him the sky."
Silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"He died staring at the stars he mocked."
The tarot card dissolved into shadow.
"I returned to the clearing."
Her form began to flicker faintly.
"And completed the binding."
The cards snapped back into the box.
"From then on," she said quietly, "I have done only what was drawn."
The room grew still.
"I do not choose the card."
Her amber eyes met Jojo's burning gaze.
"They do."
A heavy silence followed. Centuries of fulfilled prophecy.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Centuries of deaths claimed not by malice alone—But by fatalism sharpened into vengeance.
Ilona's voice softened slightly.
"They opened the deck knowing nothing."
Her gaze lowered briefly.
"They laughed."
The air held the weight of the present now.
Hayley. Her friends. Modern hands. Ancient curse.
"I did not seek them," Ilona said quietly.
"They invited destiny."
The room remained silent.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Jojo stood half-transformed, flame restrained but alive.
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):
[New Fan fic: Star Entertainment: Building An Empire. Check it out.
There will be two chapters a week(Monday and Tuesday)
If delayed I would post it on Wednesday or Thursday.]
Thanks for reading the chapter!
Please give a review and power stone!!!