Dean backed away from the crystal and looked under his bed. He grabbed what looked to be a gun case from underneath the bed. Dean popped open the case revealing a handgun chambered in .45 ACP. Dean made this gun with his gloves as a backup in case something like this happened. Dean grabbed the grip of the gun and slid a magazine inside it. Dean stood up and started to walk downstairs. Due to the evidence, he was given, Dean assumed that the crystal in his closet somehow blocked his magic.

Dean crept down the stairs as quietly as he could. When Dean made it down to the bottom of the staircase, he ran into the kitchen and hid behind the counter. Two voices were heard from the other side of the house. Dean couldn’t make out what they were saying but noticed something peculiar, a strange tattoo resting on their neck. It looked like a snake, slithering around a spear.

Dean observed what the two people were doing and noticed they had guns, mana guns. Dean didn’t know anything about mana guns, so he couldn’t compare what his firepower was to them. Dean looked back at the two men and noticed that they were coming. Dean stood up from behind the counter, surprising the two men.

“Hello, what are you doing in my house?”

Instead of responding, the two men raise their guns and fire at Dean. Dean ducked behind the counter to try and dodge the bullets. After the two men stopped shooting, Dean stood back up and fired back at the two men. Two shots in the chest and one in the head. Six casings fell to the ground with a “ding” while the bodies of the two fell to the ground as well.

“Hey!!” Dean turned his head and heard a crowd of people outside his house. ‘What the hell is going in?” Dean reloaded his gun and ran towards the back of his house. He opened the back door and crept outside. To his surprise, Dean saw a crowd of people standing outside of his house. They were blocking all of the exits and pointed their guns at Dean. In the split-second Dean had, he tried to come up with a way to avoid this predicament. He looked around and saw no cover. He sure as hell couldn’t shoot at them, he didn’t have the ammo. He couldn’t even use his magic due to the crystal that was in his closet.

Unfortunately, Dean was thinking for too long. One of the men in the middle screamed “Kill him!” and all of the men fired their guns at Dean. The lasers from the mana rifles proceeded to blow through Dean making holes the size of quarters in his body. Eventually, the men stopped firing, and Dean fell to the ground, creating a pool of blood below him.

Dean’s vision began to blur as he saw one of the men walking towards him. ‘Is this is?’ Dean thought, ‘Is this how I go out?’ The man was wearing a mask and stood over Dean. He took off his mask and revealed who he was, Richard Sardegna. “He thought he could get away with it.” Richard then spat on Dean’s corpse just before he blacked out.

-----

Dean’s vision was still black when a spotlight turned on just above him, revealing him and only him. Dean was sitting in what looked like a fold-out chair. He tried to stand up but he couldn’t. Just across from him, Dean saw another spotlight turn on and reveal a man with white hair down to his shoulders and red eyes. He was wearing a type of tuxedo while he sat on a fold-out chair. Dean tried to speak but couldn’t. He was about to start panicking when the man in the tuxedo spoke. “Don’t worry, you are not in any type of trouble.” The man’s voice was soothing, almost like it was in perfect tune. “You probably know who I am right?”

“I don't,” Dean said, surprised at the fact he just spoke.

“Well, you know my sister right? You’re Pride if I am correct?”

Dean recalled the picture he saw in the trial and began to grow increasingly suspicious. “How did you know and who are you?”

“You can call me Adam, although my sister isn’t my sister, we were created by the same person.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Adam? As in the first man?” Dean asked, “But who is your sister?”

“You know her, it’s Lucifer!” Adam said.

“I don’t believe you. She technically isn’t your sister.”

“I know, she just likes to think we are siblings. Maybe that’s why she made me Pride”

“I don’t believe you.” Dean grabbed his throat. He tried to say “I believe you” but some sort of energy tried to force him to tell the truth.

“Ah, it seems you realized you can’t lie!” Adam threw his hands in the air and began to clap loudly.

“How do I know that it doesn’t only affect me?”

“Hmmm,” Adam brought his hand to his chin, “I don’t have a way to prove it, how unfortunate.”

Dean didn’t believe a single word from the man he just met, but once again, some sort of power was making him believe Adam. Dean shook his head to dismiss the thought.

“I thought I died, where am I?” Dean asked.

“Oh, you are dead, at least for now, Adam said, “As for where you are, you are in The House of Cards.”

Dean put his hands on his head. “I’m so confused.”

“That’s understandable, every Joker is like that for the first time.”

“Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“I mean, I was gonna do that anyway. You are in a place called The House of Cards. You and I are very special.”

“How special?” Dean asked.

“Since I was to be created as the first man, I could use any ability, a Wildcard if you will. Eve, Cain, and Able were the aces.”

“Aren’t there 4 aces though?”

“Yes, there are.” Adam stayed silent, so Dean didn’t pursue any further.

“So it’s like the 52 card deck?” Dean asked.

“Indeed, can you guess what we are?”

“Jacks?”

“You may confuse our class with Jack. We are called Jacks but only in our abilities, The Jack of all Trades.”

“Then what are we?”

“Jokers, the card that has no suit nor a number. We can be interchangeable with any type of card. Wildcard, Joker, Jack of all Trades, whatever the name, we are always the same. Master of none but stronger than a master of one.”

“Yeah, but I can’t do anything when I’m dead.”

“That's the thing, with me being the first Joker, I created an ability to never die, two of them in fact, Life After Death”

“What’s that?” Dean asked.

“It’s pretty self-explanatory, you get revived. Although, no Joker has the same life after death ability. There is a reason there are two.” Adam reached into his pocket and pulled out a blank card. He reached out his hand and handed it to Dean. Dean grabbed the blank card, and it started to glow. The card began to light up blue as it revealed a black imprint of a joker.

“Ahh, the black joker. Your ability is very useful,” Adam said.

“What is it?”

“When you die, you go back in time!” Adam clapped his hands in applause.

“That doesn’t sound like an original concept.”

Adam dropped his hands and stared at Dean. “It doesn’t matter if it’s original or not. The fact of the matter is that you can do it.”

“Why am I the embodiment of Pride and a Joker?”

“That is every Joker’s role, at least the black one.” Adam clapped his hands and a door appeared behind him.

“Wait, I still have some questions!”

“Go ahead.”

“Who are the other cards, and are there number cards?” Dean asked.

“I can only tell you one card. As for your other question, yes, there are number cards but it doesn’t work how you think it does. There are four aces, The Ace of Hearts, The Ace of Spades, The Ace of Diamonds, and The Ace of Clubs. They are the leaders of their armies or factions if you will. They are the ones that choose the other cards for their suits. There are 4 kings per suit, 8 queens, and so on. It moves by multiples of fours.”

“Ok, who is the Ace of Spades?”

Adam laughed, “It’s a certain type of empress named Cinderella.”

Dean’s eyes widened. ‘What? Why her?” Adam snapped his fingers and the door behind him opened. The door revealed a bright light shining at Dean, blinding him.

The next moment Dean opened his eyes, he was sitting in a chair.

“Hey Dean, are you okay?” Dean looked up and saw that he was talking to Angelo.