The Many Misfortunes of Lady Luck - Chapter Four

The Many Misfortunes of Lady Luck - Chapter Four

The Many Misfortunes of Lady Luck
Cerulean Lee // Vaughn Britton
Chapter Four

Returning to her concept was a peculiar sensation at first, like being flattened and smoothed into a boundless sheet of paper, her senses reeling away. Then, everything in the universe came alive.

Luck was one of the fortunate concepts to have influence in almost every single part of the universe. Free from its physical, mental, and spiritual forms, beyond simple consciousness, Luck normally had power beyond imagination, but now it could only have what Evil allowed, which was a glimpse into time. Abstracts could be everywhere in time and once and see any part of time they chose, from the beginning to the end. They even had the power to change it, but in exchange for this incredible ability, they had no free will. They did nothing that wasn't fabricated by their creator beforehand, even if they didn't realize it.

Time had its own current, a significant flow that rushed around the two concepts as they became immersed in it. The timeline was blank at a critical point, and Luck knew its avatar in reality would not take that well. She should have known what Sainlevie couldn't tell her would also be blocked from her view. Instead, Luck worked its way around that portion of time, catching glimpses of Rowena's future. She is stable, a little more withdrawn from the universe, but nothing changes except what she looks like, and there are no clues to be found.

In time, the beginning and end were illusions. The universes Abstracts frequented ran in circles, the same souls, stars, and stories playing over and over again. If there had to be a beginning and end, most considered it to be at the creation of the Nexus, the person or object at the center of a universe, of all dimensions of that universe - the absolute average. Whoever or whatever it was decided the universe's basic structure.

Luck found the Nexus of Earth's universe, a stark, solemn man in a long coat. He held a sword, blood gleaming bright on its ancient surface, and a younger Sainlevie stood nearby, his expression unlike Luck saw from him in any other time. It was a frightening mix of horror and rapidly building rage, and for one strange moment, Luck noted tears in his eyes. The Nexus did not notice Sainlevie until Malumnian energy swallowed both of them whole, leaving only the Nexus' sword as he vanished into dust.

Sainlevie was directly and knowingly responsible for the death of the Accilean Nexus, which broke one of the most important Laws of Interference. For it he would lose everything - his power, his immortality, and ultimately, the life he would be left with. He was made an ordinary man just as the Nexus was, left only with a legacy of corruption and brutality, and a million citizens of Malumnia looking for revenge against him. For Rowena's crime, however, Luck had only been temporarily made human. This was a punishment that could be applied to the defiance of several more laws, and there were little clues as of where to start.

Evil gave Luck a nudge, and she felt herself starting to return to Rowena. Time was limited, and Luck suspected her glimpse into the Nexus scene made Sainlevie grow impatient. She backtracked, reaching blindly into the present and immediate future. It only yielded one bit of raw information - someone at Sain-Celes had her answer. There were no experiences to accompany that information, no sights or sounds. Evil was waiting for her to see it, and brought her right back to reality after she figured it out.

She reconnected with Malumnia and stumbled, trying to memorize as much as she could while stabilizing herself. Every little sensation was magnified, her heart thumping and the warm flow of blood, cold, sterile air rushing in and out of her lungs, the irritating dryness in her eyes and her sore feet, arched unnaturally over high heels.

Sainlevie leaned back in his chair with a cool stare. "Settled?"

Rowena nodded. She had not planned on making an extended stay at Sain-Celes - in fact, now that she could feel emotions again, she was dreading it - but a place was offered to her, and it would work out for both of them. Still, she wondered what her creator had in mind, placing her here.

The door opened, revealing the blue-eyed guard. "Good. Your contract is here," Sainlevie said.

Rowena was about to speak when Sainlevie's voice filled her mind, almost as clearly as real sound, knocking her thoughts away. [Can you hear me?]

She singled out words in her mind, concentrating on Sainlevie, hoping that they would reach him intact. [Yes, I can.]

[Rule Number One.] Sainlevie's mental voice was stern. [Most of Sain-Celes does not know of Abstracts, and will not know, understood? I can hear your thoughts. Contact me that way if you have anything to say related to that subject.]

[I guess it's easier that way] Rowena thought at him.

The guard reached them, handing Sainlevie a small screenplate. "Before we get into the paperwork, let me introduce you two to our newest executive operative. This is -"

He paused, his smile fading slightly as he looked at Rowena. [Er - your human name, Luck?]

"Rowena Avana."

She offered her hand to the guard before she remembered a handshake wasn't Nialda's formal greeting gesture. She had forgotten what it was. Nevertheless, the guard knew her intentions, and shook her hand. The sensation was familiar. She projected her impressions freely to Sainlevie. [Let's see if I can remember your crew's specialties.]

[Go on. This should be interesting] he replied. He continued aloud. "This is Dominique Hopestone, our Manager of Security. He'll set you up with your ID plate and your living space."

"And the rest of our procedures," Dominique added. He still seemed a bit suspicious of her, but much more relaxed. "No more spy games, got it?"

[The extortionist.] Rowena was surprised her memories of Dominique were as vague as they were. She thought she would remember such a consistently annoying tone of voice much more easily.

[Only on special occasions] Sainlevie replied, smirking. "And you've already met my wife, Osprey. She's our Chief Executive Operative, and she'll be your supervisor once you're properly trained."

"Wife?" Rowena exclaimed. "Sainlevie, you're married?"

He burst into laughter. Rowena could only stare, shocked into silence. "Yes, for a little over two years now," he said. "You really have been gone awhile. It had all the others in a fury."

The others meant the Abstracts, Rowena could tell, but Dominique must have been one of the employees that did not know of their kind. She had no idea why the other Abstracts would be angry, though, they were allowed to marry inhabitants of reality. It might have been Osprey that angered them, but she didn't ask. Rowena noticed that while technically Osprey was wearing all the appropriate pieces of Nialdan business formal - for human women, a small open vest, a long-sleeved shirt, a neckpiece, and dress pants - the neckline of her shirt and the rim of her pants were cut so low, it was a wonder they stayed in place, especially with Osprey's generous proportions. [She's way too young for you] Rowena teased as she shook Osprey's hand.

[Oh, the irony] Sainlevie shot back. [Specialty?]

Rowena wasn't sure what he meant. She was a little hesitant to place labels now that Osprey was fully identified, but Osprey's former and future acts invoked revulsion, and Rowena projected at Sainlevie again. [The rapist.]

[True] Sainlevie acknowledged. [But if you were going for a "criminal" pattern, you're out of luck. There are no laws against rape here.]

"It's good to have you here. I love your dress," Osprey squealed, her face lit up, as if she had never seen it before. "Is that custom-made?"

Rowena smiled weakly. Osprey's sudden energy was strangely tiring. "Yeah, you could say that."

"I wonder if I could get one in red with fire here instead." She traced her hand up Rowena's thigh, where a clover and line design were. Startled, Rowena shrank back. Osprey didn't seem to notice. "You think that would look good on me, Marlin?"

"There isn't a thing that wouldn't look good on you, my dear," Sainlevie said smoothly.

Osprey giggled and leaned against him with an affectionate nuzzle. Sainlevie put his arm around her, but upon seeing Rowena's expression, he led Osprey back to the sofa she had occupied previously. He moved onto the subject of the ID plate as quickly as possible, and Rowena had no objections.

The plate itself was clear, about half the size of a credit card, with a color grid on the surface. The insertion was painless. The plate melted into the back of her hand without any assisting device. "It's much more difficult to get out," Sainlevie told her.

Her application was next, and Rowena found herself with no answers for most of the fields. Age, origin, family, these were things she had to create or gloss over. The real Rowena was no help, she had no living family left, and was unsure of her age and origin. Should've brought my college transcript, she thought.

She was intent on reading the entire employment contract, but the Nialdan language was difficult enough to read, and all she could get from its contents was an overwhelming amount of doublespeak and long words that were painful to decipher when used together. Still, she stuck with it, comparing it to a logic class she took as Rowena. When she reached the bottom, she pressed her palm to the plate. Her veins glowed.

ID SIGNATURE - Rowena Alita Avana

"I guess that means this thing works." Rowena rubbed the back of her hand.

"So it does," Sainlevie said. "It's getting late, so we'll get you to your room. Welcome to Sain-Celes, Rowena." He gave a dramatic gesture and an sinister smile that was so over-the-top, Rowena knew he was making fun of her again. "You'll serve us well."

He left with Osprey, through a door at the back of the office. "Sleep tight," Osprey cooed with a wink.

Rowena gave a fake smile. Pleasantries had a limit and Osprey was dancing all over it. Rowena could hardly believe this woman was going to be her superior.

Dominique guided her out the front way and to a set of stairs that took them to the floor below. They walked out into a long, narrow hallway, lined with glossy, opaque doors, numbered in that neon engraving Rowena had seen outside the building. The place was soft, pearly white and pale gray with a carpet floor. Their surroundings muted their voices.

"You left a lot of blank spaces on your application," Dominique said. "Where did you work before this?"

"I was a student," Rowena replied, "A Mathematics major."

Dominique eyed her silently. Rowena remembered they had no universities on Nialda. "Do you have any -- guides or something like that on this city?" she asked. "I haven't been here in a long time."

"You've been here before?" Dominique gave a short, gruff laugh. "That's a surprise."

"I said it's been a while," Rowena snapped.

"Strange. ID plates have been around for at least a century, and you're only thirty-three years old, according to your application. Yet, you had no idea what an ID plate was. You must have been very young on your last visit."

"What's the Celes part of Sain-Celes stand for?" Rowena asked abruptly, pretending to be distracted by a sign on the wall.

Rowena thought of asking him about the length of years here. They seemed to be the equivalent of Earth's, which was not surprising, considering Sainlevie's involvement in the very foundation of this galaxy. She was not certain how to convey the question to Dominique, so she went with a different one. He seemed offended at the change of subject. "Troyame Celes," he said briskly.

"Care to elaborate?" Rowena said.

He gave a low growl, then after a short deliberation, continued. "Sain-Celes had two founders. Obviously, you met Marlin. The other was Troyame Celes."

Dominique seemed almost as unwilling to go into the subject as Rowena had been to go into her past and her motives, which inspired a spiteful urge to press on. "When do I meet him?" she asked.

Dominique's expression grew dark, but the rest of his demeanor softened. "Troy was killed," he said quietly. "Right here in this building, just about five years ago."

The spite drained from Rowena. She lowered her eyes to the floor. "Sorry."

"Not as sorry as the rest of Nialda. I'd say a good three-quarters of the city took the day off for his memorial. I was just a guard back then." He slowed, bending down to look at a door number, then leaned against the wall. "We never did figure out who did it."

He stared off down the hall. Rowena felt hesitant to interrupt his train of thought. "Aren't there cameras here?"

Dominique seemed to know where she was going with the question. "Almost all of Nialda is set up with the Vision-3 system, all except District 1000. Anywhere this system is, any moment can be replayed from any angle. And yes, it was in place when Troy was killed. Whoever killed him knew the system well enough to take the video plate out of our monitoring offices at the time of the murder, and erase all its backup files."

Rowena raised an eyebrow. "That probably made you one of the prime suspects."

"I would have looked at the entire security department first as well. But the major question at the time wasn't who. It was why. There are some callous, deranged people in this city. I've met quite a few of them - but I didn't think there's a being in this universe that could bring themselves to kill that man. Yet, here we are without him. Someone out there did this."

"What about Sainlevie?"

Dominique shot her a narrowed eye. "Don't call him that."

Rowena shrugged. "He doesn't care. And I know him better than you think. If this Celes wasn't acting in Sainlevie's best interest -"

"Obviously you don't know Marlin as well as you think," Dominique cut in, his voice still quiet, but very sharp. "What made Sain-Celes the force it is today was our innovation in medicinal development, and that innovation was all Celes' work. Marlin, as well of the rest of us, could only lose from Troy's death. And we lost a lot when we lost him."

He grabbed Rowena's hand, almost as roughly as he did when they first met in the lobby, and she struggled against him. But he simply pressed her hand to the side of the door. The ID glowed, and it slid open. "Marlin must see something great in you," he said, "if he places you at such a high position right off and puts up with your attitude like he does."

"Marlin" didn't have a choice, Rowena thought fiercely. Now that she thought about it, he didn't seem unhappy at all accepting her into the company, despite the fact that he knew she might try to sabotage all his efforts. There was something in the future beneficial to him - he must have seen it in the timeline - and the thought made her shudder.