"Oh, boss! Are you finally waking up?" came the chipper voice, Feather's eyes blinking open with a groan and a wince, his body battered and bruised and in immense pain while he glared at the first thing he could lock his eyes onto. Ah, the full moon, so high and mighty above them. It sat there in its place atop the great blue sky, so elegant and beautiful, so powerful and influential. He wished he could fly up and touch the moon. He'd tried before, just out of curiosity, but had ended up not being able to breathe up there and fell to his death, waking up on the ground someplace he was unfamiliar with. So, all in all, he and the moon didn't have a very good relationship with each other. And yes, that was a completely normal thing to say.
"Tch. Stupid moon," Feather clicked his tongue, not willing to move his aching limbs underneath the weight of his pain while Leocadies and Kya hovered at his side, having lifted him onto a blanket after digging him up from under all the rocks and debris his explosion had buried him under.
And Kya grimaced at his complaint, her pale skin and blood red eyes illuminated under the moonlight as she flipped through her deck of cards. "The moon's not what's stupid here, you are. What were you thinking? It took us hours to find your body under all that rubble," the sensible woman scolded, Feather's eyes shutting tight while he pursed his lips, trying his best to listen respectfully. "I bet it was pretty painful for you, too, and yet I doubt you've learned your lesson even now. You really need to learn to hold back. Would it kill you to not go crazy after you resurrect each time?"
"Ah! But if I don't use all of my power in a fight, it doesn't feel good!" he whined, sore arms going to rub at his eyes while Kya glared at him.
"And dying feels any better?!"
"It does!" he insisted, Leocadies openly laughing at him as his tail perked up. It looked like he'd used another one of his concepts to dig him out from under all the rock, and that he still hadn't fully transformed back. Leo had three concepts under his control, after all, and along with his telepathy, he could also turn himself into a lion. He still had pale round ears sticking out of his fluffy ginger hair, with a tail that kept flicking back and forth as his claws kneaded at the ground.
"Hahah, it's okay, Kya. It's our job to get him out of trouble, so let's not get too worked up," he smiled toothily, and the woman's gaze softened when she saw Feather rubbing so aggressively at his eyes, clearly overwhelmed. Although he had to stop with that bad habit when Leocadies placed soft, furry hands over his, the man peeling them away from his face with a bright grin. "Boss, you'll hurt yourself if you keep doing that! If you're stressed, feel free to punch a tree!"
"Huh? But what if I knock it down? Wouldn't that be bad?"
"Like you ever think of those sorts of consequences before you do things. Just go ahead, it'll be fine," Kya spoke pointedly, giving her deck a quick shuffle as she mixed up her cards, sitting cross-legged on the blanket with bare feet as her toes kept stretching back and forth. "You blew up the dragon's lair and sent a shockwave of intense mana that traveled over hundreds of miles. You're lucky you have that face-blurring magic activated on the three of us, otherwise we definitely would've been noticed."
"Oh. Haha, right. Aren't I the best?"
"You're a handful," Kya spat, but Feather laughed freely as he finally pushed himself up despite his aching limbs trying to keep him down, all side-affects of his intense concept.
Taboo magic was taboo for a reason. In the case of concepts, there were things that someone simply wasn't supposed to do. Some of those things were taboo because they were seen as immoral, with prime examples of those being the concepts of necromancy, death itself, and the ancient concept of evil. Though all of those concepts were insanely hard to master, most notably the concept of death, where harnessing such a thing would essentially give you control over the lives and deaths of others. But other kinds of magic were forbidden simply because they were deadly to the user, and the Central Domain Alliance wanted to protect the people. That was where the concept of anything fell under.
Once someone used it even once, they would almost certainly die within the next decade. The more they used it, the sooner their death approached. If they used it as their main concept, they could die within weeks. Feather was aware that the concept was sometimes used as a last resort by many different militaries, where if they were truly facing an impossible foe and there was no other way to win, someone would act as a martyr and develop the concept of anything, inevitably dying on the battlefield while overpowering all of their opponents, hopefully earning their side the win in the process. One person's sacrifice to win it all... that was the goal of those tragic circumstances.
Feather understood he was an anomaly. He'd overcome the concept's drawbacks by simply embodying the fact that the concept of anything… truly let him do anything. And that included revival. No one before him had ever been able to envision something like that, making it impossible for them, and he knew they'd tried. Most people just couldn't fathom coming back from the dead, especially in the face of it. They couldn't imagine the possibility. And why was that? Well, it would be because most people saw dying as the end of things, and were incapable of that point of view. But for Feather, when he was younger, had thought of death as his only option to live. If he wanted to live his life as he wished, if he wanted to live his life as the person he was, he had no choice but to die. And to have that freedom, he was willing to do so. That was why it became possible for him, because he had a mindset no one else did. Now he could revive himself limitless times, no matter how much it killed him. And his lifespan would reset each time. To him, death no longer had a meaning. It was just a tool to help him live, that was all.
"So hey, Kya," he called out with a grin, lifting himself to sit closer, putting himself right in front of her on the blanket while eyeing her deck of tarot cards. "You've been messing with those ever since I got up. Are we gonna do a reading? It's been a while!"
"Oh, yeah, Kya said something weird happened earlier," Leocadies spoke up from where he sat in his squat like he really was some giant cat, tail flicking back and forth as his orange eyes gleamed underneath the moon's rays. "When we were pulling you from the rubble, she used her concept of divination to pull a card out to help us, only for all of the major arcana cards to come popping out all at once like something had given them a big push."
"That only happens when the cards want me to use them," Kya explained further, Leocadies smiling warmly with his tail flickering around himself, Feather giving the two a blank stare as he got settled down.
"Okay. Then do a reading. What are you waiting for?"
And despite his tone, he merely grinned when Kya turned to give him a rough glare, her blood red eyes seeming to threaten him as Feather smiled at her. "I was waiting for you to wake up. Because you acted like a fool and got yourself killed by falling rocks."
"That is a rather lame way to die, boss," Leocadies agreed as Feather blinked at the comments, clearly offended and a little taken aback, his face scrunching up in his irritation.
"Shut up about that! I'm sorry, okay?! Don't make fun of me, I could solo both of you!! As your leader, I command you to do this tarot reading right now!" he ordered childishly, Kya's glare only moving into a look of defeat.
She ended up giving another sigh, shuffling her deck one last time before she evened them out against the ground. "Alright, boss, I'll get on it," she agreed obediently, Feather seeming to immediately glow with satisfaction before bursting into a triumphant smile, which led Kya to smile in turn when she pushed the deck in front of him. "Then, as usual, please knock three times while envisioning in your mind the question of your future… please ask the cards where your life is going. They need you to communicate with them first so that they can communicate back," she explained comfortably, and Feather smiled at the instruction with a vibrant nod.
"Right! I'll do that, I love communicating," he giggled, easily moving forward to give three slow knocks against the top of the cards, while internally asking them… what did his future hold? He stared at the black backing to the card that held a simple, singular white eye imprinted on the back, silently asking for its guidance on what was to come… though, he wasn't worried. Whatever it was, he could take it.
"Alright, have you properly envisioned your question?" Kya asked him as she reached back for the cards, Feather giving a bright nod before she picked them up with both hands, already splitting the deck apart to shuffle them. "Good. Then let's see which cards want to speak. Tell me when to stop."
Feather was never sure how she did it, but Kya took a small chunk of the cards and lifted them up before mixing them back in with the others, one hand over the top of the other as she kept moving them between her hands. He was sure he could learn if he tried, because after all, he could do anything! But card shuffling wasn't the most interesting thing in the world, so unless Kya was doing it, he didn't have much of an interest in learning how to do it himself.
He waited very patiently as a couple of the cards popped out, eyes pinned on every movement the cards and Kya's hands made, and he waited for a certain spot in time that sounded like he could ask her to stop in her shuffling, too curious to look at what had already displayed itself before them. And when the fourth card came tumbling forward, he raised his hand towards his friend, who promptly ceased in her shuffling and set the rest of the cards down.
"Alright, let's see…" she trailed, reaching towards the first card that had popped out from the deck right-side-up. "Hm. You got Death."
"Ack! Is he gonna die for real?!" Leocadies screeched, only for Feather to openly laugh at him while Kya fondly shook her head with a smile.
"No, that's not what this card means," she explained softly, carefully placing the card in front of Feather on the blanket. "The Death card usually refers to transformation or the ending of something, which can be linked to bad habits or phases of life. But let's see what the other cards are before I tell you what I think it means…" Kya trailed, carefully bringing the other three upright cards in front of Feather, who observed them curiously. "Ah, let's see... We have Death, Six of Cups, Wheel of Fortune, and Ten of Wands. That is… certainly an interesting combination…" she frowned, Feather and Leo both tilting their heads at the woman before Feather tapped the ground.
"Go on, go on! Kya, don't be shy! What's it mean?"
"Uh, I'm trying to think," she responded, Feather humming very happily to himself as Leocadies watched her face. "Well, the Wheel of Fortune and Ten of Wands is kind of a concerning combination, honestly. It doesn't necessarily mean anything bad for most people, but I don't think you'll like it specifically, Feather," she sighed, the man's twinkling blue eyes blinking at her as he leaned forward on his hands.
"Ohh? Why not, why not?"
"Because it basically says that some unexpected burden or responsibility is about to be put on your shoulders, and that it's very much beyond your control. You can compare it to destiny."
And she watched the way Feather's smile slipped off his features and into a petty scowl, his thin blond brows furrowing together as his lips pursed tight. It looked like he was itching to say something, and he most definitely was. He wanted to stand up and stomp on the cards, but that would only make Kya kill him, and his body already hurt enough from having died in such a painful way… he was still sore, so he didn't want to die again so soon, which meant he shouldn't be rash and stomp all over Kya's cards. Instead, he found that the best thing he could do was whine. "But… but I don't like responsibility," he frowned, almost like a child pouting over having to do their chores, and Kya and Leocadies both gave him a sympathetic look before the woman continued.
"Yes, well… I know you don't, but there are just some things we can't avoid. Six of Cups also implies that it'll be something from your past coming to meet you again," Kya explained dutifully, before Feather grimaced so hard he suddenly didn't care how much his body hurt, and stood up from his spot on the ground to drive his fist into the nearest tree.
His fist felt so good against the crunch of bark, and the tree bent in half at the force of his power, falling backwards against the ground with a loud thunder and crash, light exploding throughout the area as his companions watched, unaffected. After all, what should they have done? He was an overpowered force of nature that couldn't be stopped, as he liked to call himself. And it was inevitable for him to get mad about meeting those from his past, as he hardly had any good memories of any of those people. In fact, Kya had very much expected an outburst. Because, like, come on! His past sucked! He'd been aimlessly wandering for the past four hundred years, and he'd been evading his past and all figures from it for so long! He'd been doing such a good job at avoiding them! Why now?!
"Ah, I knew you looked stressed. Did punching that tree make you feel better?" Leo smiled pleasantly, not surprised or taken aback by this behavior at all as Feather continued to kick the ground, stomping angrily on the blanket while he twisted it up with his heel.
"If I have to talk to my father, I'm going to kill myself!"
"Haha, well, you already did that twice yesterday, so that's not much of a threat coming from you, boss," Leocadies gave an awkward laugh, but Kya shook her head as she stared at the cards displayed by Feather's feet.
"No, it shouldn't be your father," she interrupted his brooding,picking up the Six of Cups before she flipped it upside down, and Feather continued to frown as he listened to what he knew would be sensible words. "If it was Six of Cups reversed, I think things would be different, but you got the upright version of this card, which typically has a positive meaning. It represents nostalgia and past innocence, so… possibly someone from your past that you miss, or someone you didn't necessarily hate, at the very least," Kya clarified, Feather's eyes widening a bit as he let his muscles relax.
"Ahh, I see," he smiled in a way that looked like he was trying to pretend his tantrum had never happened, rubbing his sore fist and aching knuckles despite being overall unharmed. "That's good, then. That sounds much better to me."
"Ooh, maybe we'll see Kallan!" Leo chirped excitedly, and Feather turned to give him a bright smile as Kya began cleaning up her cards.
"Haha, I don't know what he'd be doing here, but maybe! If it's Kal, then I guess I can be a little excited," Feather grinned, finally sitting back down again as he leaned back on his hands to stretch his aching muscles, giggling as he let out a long, clear sigh. "Well, I dunno about nostalgia. I don't think I'm a very nostalgic person. So I don't have a clue who this person'll be."
"That's okay. We can make do as we go, as always," Kya proclaimed, Leo smiling brightly as he rocked back on his heels, the words only made Feather's eyes glow.
"Yeah, that's right! We don't need to know, and we don't need a plan, either!"
"You make us sound unprepared, and yet somehow we've been doing this for centuries and ave been getting by just fine," Kya sighed in her defeat, Feather and Leo both giggling to themselves while they chattered to each other.
"Ooh, Leo, where should we go next? Did you pick up any juicy rumors while I was out?"
"'Course I did, boss! There's a town a few leagues over that's been caught with a plague! A whole bunch of towns, actually!"
"Perfect, let's go there next! I'll cure them all with a flick of my wrist!"
"That sounds awesome, boss! Can I watch this time?"
"Heheh, sure, I don't mind," Feather grinned, giving Leocadies a playful thumbs up as the men both giggled, Kya smiling at them while she thought about the reading's deeper meanings that she couldn't quite say out loud.
Yeah, Feather wouldn't like it. He wasn't necessarily nonconfrontational, and he could be very aggressive with people if he wanted to be, but he tended to run away from things he thought might be too painful. He hated thinking about special duties or responsibilities, and even though he didn't necessarily hate nobility and had once been a part of their ranks, he evaded them because he didn't want to be trapped inside a role he couldn't leave. Feather was undeniably strong, that was certain, but he always ran away from his problems. Of course, she'd already sworn to serve him, so that didn't matter much when it came to her loyalty, but… the four cards she'd drawn when put together… tended to mean that the burden of responsibility was near, and she wasn't entirely sure how he'd handle that.