Demon Lord Shapeshifting System



"Hold on a minute. So he made you fight a wrestler, you won, and he just gave you a card and a riddle? That doesn't sound like a very good deal to me." Artea pointed out. 

Harker scratched his head in annoyance. "At least it's better than nothing. You got something better, Ms. President?"

"No, I just thought you could have negotiated more…. Ms. President?" Artea frowned. 

Roland sighed. "He probably got info on you and learned that you're the president of the student council in Holmwood."

Artea blinked. "Oh."

She then narrowed her eyes. "So you stalked me? Are you that jealous?"

"What? Jealous of what? Nepotism?" Harker rolled his eyes. "Being the president of some school organization isn't that big of a deal. And I don't care about your big money either, I've seen a lot of rich folks in my life before you."

She just rubbed her forehead disapprovingly at this. "God… Why, Roland? I really don't get it…"

Roland just tried to change the topic. "This card, what did he say again? This riddle you mentioned?"

"It sounds more like a warning to me." Harker said. "He said 'there is someone more responsible for his demise than the shadows and the unknown. There is a reason why he was targeted out of everyone else. A vendetta lurks underneath the veil.' I remembered it word for word. That last line sounded more like a warning, though probably more to mock me than actual concern."

Roland pondered over it. "This isn't the usual representation of The Lovers card. At least not from the Rider-Waite deck. This looks similar to the Jean Noblet Tarot, the oldest deck from Marseilles."

Harker nodded. "Uh-huh. So what does that mean?"

Artea answered for him. "The Rider-Waite tarot usually depicts the angel above Adam and Eve. Between them, in the distance, is a mountain. On Eve's side is the Tree of Knowledge, on Adam's side is a burning plant symbolizing passion. It often means synchronicity, how relationships or events align in harmony."

Roland nodded. "It also meant making decisions and balance. It's associated with Gemini for a reason.'

Harker rubbed his chin. "I didn't know it had a deeper meaning like that. I just thought that once fortune tellers pulled it up, it meant they're client is gonna have a new lover."

Artea rubbed her forehead again. "The art of fortune telling is never that simple, Mr. Jones…."

"What, you a fortune teller yourself? I don't believe in those things, so I don't care to know more about them unless needed." Harker crossed his arms. "Besides, does the difference in symbolism truly matter in relation to what Ivan said?"

Roland defended his future fiancee on this. "It does because it's too vague. Every detail about the card would matter. What will we seek? What is this vendetta? Who has it for who? Are we meant to interpret upright or reversed?"

Harker shrugged. "I don't know. That's why I brought it to you. It's not like me, Mina or Joan will ever know."

"Oh, your girlfriends, right?" Artea asked. "Is that why you have those love bites?"

Harker hadn't even realized it since he had put his collar pretty high up. "Shit..."

That night, when he got home, he couldn't sleep well. So after the children got to school, he had Mina to come over since she had no classes that day. He was only really planning to talk….

But it got into something more. 

It was good because it at least allowed him to fall asleep for an hour or two. But Mina was pretty wild about him, since she was pretty mad that he didn't keep them up to date for a long time. 

Harker thought he was slowly developing a talent for making people worried about him. He was just not used to people caring so much about his welfare, that's all. He was a giver, he was the one who took all the burdens quietly.

It does feel kinda nice and troublesome at the same time. More nice than troublesome, if he was being honest. 

He tried to wipe the giddy smile coming to lips. "Uh, yeah. Not that it's any of your business. Lovers just happen to do that all the time….. Unless it's just an act or an arrangement, of course."

He gave Roland a confirming look, but his friend just looked away. He sighed. He still don't get what his best friend sees in this woman anyway.

She's not like his flings at all. She's way too serious, and was pretty bland. She was also very stubborn. 

That's something she and Roland have in common though. They have very similar personalities, so maybe that's why he chose to get lumped up with her. 

"Sex can also happen between people who don't love each other all the time." Artea countered. "But I guess it truly isn't any of our business. We still have a card to interpret. What do you think, Roland?"

"Well, in the Marseilles version, the winged figure floating above was actually Cupid. He loomed over three people. One man, two women. He aims his arrow to the man who was in the middle of these two women, a pretty straightforward imagery. " Roland explained. 

"The man seemed to be actively avoiding the woman on the left, who reached out to him. His hand is over the crotch of the woman on the right, who often had flowers in her hair and was meant to be seen as the 'more attractive' of the two."

Artea thought about this. "Seeing how this mirrors the Rider-Waite, I think the woman on the left could represent knowledge like the Tree in Eden, and the one on the right is man's passion. 

Roland hummed in agreement. 

Then, he added: "However, there's also a common version of this where the man just puts his arms crossed over himself, ignoring both women. Or perhaps stuck in the middle of them. Instead of pursuing either, it is meant that he chose to balance his 'love' for the two, knowledge and passion. Or that he was choosing the path of chastity, the path of God."

Roland looked at the purple flowers in the middle. He seemed to be lost in them…..

Like he was stuck remembering something.

Artea nudged him lightly. "Roland?"

He merely said while still in a trance from these flowers. "Doesn't this look like hyacinths to you? And look at the figure on the left, its holding a round shape. It looks like a discus. The one on the right has laurels in its hair."

Artea inspected the cluster and the round object more closely. "It does like that.... Oh. It reminds me of that story."

"What story?" Harker asked. 

Roland shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I think I get it now. The 'Seek it' on the back was written in a way that the card would be upside down, so it's meant to be interpreted in reverse. It now means conflict, bad choices, falling out of love….."

"Felix fell out of love with someone, and Ivan's words are implying that they were also responsible for his demise. The reason for that vendetta was jealousy."

Harker furrowed his brows. So someone worked with the shadows too? 

He saw how Ivan interacted with them, and it was possible that he may not be the only human who can do that. But who?

He took the card back, and beckoned Roland to stand up. 

"Let's go to Felix now…. We'll find out about this vendetta better by seeing it through his own experience."