Chapter 3:

Deep in the chambers of his castle, King Antillus, Lord of Antoire, trembled.  His eyelids popped open in surprise.

“What an intense disturbance of magic,” he thought in bewilderment.  He climbed out of his bed quietly, as not to disturb his wife, and threw on a robe.  He immediately headed to the door.

Right as he opened it, he found a familiar face waiting on the other side.

“Did you feel that, your majesty?” the man asked the king.

“Yes,” the king nodded with a grave face, “I haven’t felt a magical fluctuation like that in a long time.  Have you pinpointed its origin?”

“Yes sire,” the man replied, “The magic seems to have come from Dwindlewood Forest.”

“Send a group of men to investigate immediately.  Have them use the utmost caution.  I don’t recognize the magical signature,” the king ordered.

“Should I go too?  I fear that the strength of that magic may even surpass my own,” the man said worriedly.

The king frowned in thought.

“Yes, go too.  Discover their goal.  Hopefully this isn’t a declaration of war from another kingdom,” the king said, rubbing his temples.

Mages of such power were held in tight control by the authorities of their respective kingdoms.  The fact that such a large release of power occurred within Antoire’s territory worried the king.

Meanwhile, near a mansion located in the middle of the forest, Emily was taking care of the bandit’s corpses.

Luckily, few traces of the bandits remained.  The lightning had disintegrated the majority of them, turning them into ash.

Emily shook her head, “If only I had this kind of power in my old world.”

After sinking into thought for a few minutes, she headed back to the mansion.  She wanted to experiment with the wand further, but decided not to in the end.

After lounging around all day long, night came, and with it, her wand disappeared.

Emily held the deck of cards in her hands, eager to have another taste of the power it could bring.

She felt the air vibrate as she drew the card, causing her to shiver in anticipation.  This time the card held the image of a man holding an ankh scepter in one hand, and a golden globe in the other.  He sat upon a throne adorned with rams.

Underneath the image in big black letters, spelled:  THE EMPEROR.

The card disappeared, returning into the deck.  However, it left Emily trembling uncontrollably.  Her entire being was wrapped in power. 

It was a different kind of power from the Strength card.  She didn’t know how to explain it.  She went back outside, under the cover of darkness.  She swung her fist, noticing that it didn’t have any increase in power.

“I feel so powerful!  But what abilities did the card grant me?” she wondered in amazement.

It was at this moment that the air trembled, and a large hole tore open empty space.

From the portal stepped a legion of men, carrying swords and shields.  The shields were marked with sigils of a lion.

At the front of the group stood a man with a goatee.  He held a wand in one hand.  Emily immediately recognized the wand as one similar to her old one.

“Where are all these people coming from?” Emily asked herself.  First bandits, now an army?  Would they ever give her a break?

“Good evening,” the man with the goatee said amiably, “My name is Yurat, aide of King Antillus of the Kingdom of Antoire.”

Emily’s mind turned.  King Antillus?  Antoire?  All the names were unfamiliar to her, further enforcing her theory that she was in a different world.

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She smiled inwardly.  This would be a good time to retrieve some information.

“May I have the honor of knowing your name?” Yurat asked her.

“Emily,” she said without hesitation, “The Witch of Tarot.”

Emily had said the last bit without thinking.  For some reason it felt right.

Yurat stared at her in confusion, “Where is Tarot?”  He had never heard of such a place.

However, he now deepened his guard.  The figure in front of him admitted to being a witch.  She was obviously the cause of the magic disturbance.

“For what reason did you violate the pact?” Yurat asked her curiously.

“What pact?” Emily asked in confusion, having no clue as to what he was talking about.

“You don’t know about the pact?” Yurat blinked.  All high class wizards and witches knew about the pact.

“It’s an agreement that forbids mages from using magic above the tenth rank.  The only purpose such powerful magic serves is war,” Yurat knit his eyebrows.  Could she really not know this?

Emily frowned, “I wasn’t aware.”

Yurat hesitated, “Well, because you violated the pact, you’ll have to come with us for further questioning.”

“No,” Emily replied, her frown deepening.  There were still too many things she didn’t know.  She couldn’t allow herself to be taken advantage of.

It was Yurat’s turn to frown.  He didn’t want to make things difficult, but it was required by law to apprehend her.  He waved his hand forward, signaling for his men to surround her.

“Stop!” Emily yelled.  She wasn’t in a good situation.  The Emperor card was powerful, but she didn’t know how to use it.

However, the moment the command exited her lips, the men stopped moving.  They completely froze on the spot, their eyes wide with panic.

Yurat was bewildered, “Surround her!”

“We can’t move Lord Yurat!” one of the men said with a panicked expression, still frozen in place.

Emily burst out laughing.  She understood how the Emperor card worked now.

“Kneel!” she ordered. 

With a thud, all of the men, including Yurat, crashed to the ground.

Yurat’s eyes went wide with horror, “What’s happening?!”

Emily smiled widely. 

“What’s the name of this world?” she ordered Yurat.

Although confused, Yurat had no choice but to answer.

“Uwd,” he replied.

“Where are we geographically?”

“On the continent of Fara in the Antoire kingdom.

“How many continents are there?”

“Ten so far.  Explorers discover a new one every century.”

Emily nodded in confirmation.  She was definitely in a new world.

“Do you know anything about this?” she asked, holding out the tarot deck.

“It’s a deck of cards,” Yurat answered without hesitation.

Emily rolled her eyes, “Anything else?”

“No,” Yurat shook his head.

Emily twirled her hair in thought.  There was a lot of new information to process. 

She turned towards the rest of the men.

“Everyone except for Yurat, dig a hole and bury yourself.”

The mens’ eyes went wide in horror; shouts of protest rang out.  However, they had no choice but to obey.  They mechanically started digging.

“What are you doing?!” Yurat yelled.

“Taking care of future problems,” Emily answered with a raised brow.

“Now come with me, I still have more questions to ask.”

Yurat followed her into the mansion.

The muffled screams of men rang out through the night.