Clockwork Bride

Page 19

Perhaps the company does have the means to know these things, but only the company knows, not each individual. That's why many people always want to use magic to explore the unknown, hoping to change their own destiny.

Hayden was no exception, and naturally he had pondered some of the techniques involved.

The only problem is that, regardless of the type, the accuracy of divination magic is actually quite questionable. Even someone like Hayden, who studies ancient magic, wouldn't consider using divination magic as a regular option.

But this is not the normal situation now.

Angela quickly brought Hayden a complete set of 78 tarot cards from her studio, while she stood by, watching with great interest. Fortunately, Hayden was used to having someone watching him do divination; after all, he had made money this way before and didn't mind.

He laid out the seventy-eight tarot cards face down in a circle, shuffled them clockwise, then slowly gathered them together, stacked them horizontally, cut them into three piles, and then arranged them vertically again.

Tarot card readings use many different types of spreads depending on what needs to be divined. However, Hayden is not a professional tarot reader, so he uses the most basic and versatile spread, which is to intuitively draw three cards from a cut deck and arrange them in an inverted triangle on the table in the order of up, down, left, and right.

In ancient magical theory, symbols were considered a refined form of information. Special symbols held special meanings, and their proper use could unleash special powers.

In plane geometry, three points can define a plane, and the triangle is the most basic geometric shape for forming a plane. It is because of planes that shapes can be formed, and only with shapes can symbols be formed. In Tarot card readings, the construction of all spreads is related to symbols. As the foundation of "symbols," the triangle is naturally the basis for most derived Tarot spreads.

Tarot readings don't require incantations, but Hayden will generally still mutter something. This is mainly to help him concentrate and focus on what he wants to divine.

"This card tells a story of the past, revealing the nature of the obstacles I have encountered."

So he recited the poem while turning over the first card at the bottom of the inverted triangle formation.

The card in the upright position depicts the devil. The hideous devil has bound a man and a woman with chains, and the man and woman have grown horns and tails just like the devil.

So Hayden rubbed his temples and put the card down.

The most troublesome aspect of divination is that the information it reveals is often ambiguous. Tarot cards describe a situation through the representation of symbols. The Devil card could certainly represent the real devil, but it could also simply symbolize inner desires. It could mean being truly captured by the devil, or it could simply be an indication of being bound by inner desires. Symbols and representations are inherently mysterious, therefore a single card can have many, many interpretations.

"This card, as it is displayed now, represents what I need to overcome my current difficulties."

So Hayden turned over the second card, the one on the left side of the inverted triangle.

The upright card depicts a queen seated on a throne. She looks down at the Holy Grail in her hand, which is covered.

A Tarot deck consists of 78 cards, divided into the "Major Arcana" and the "Minor Arcana." The Major Arcana has 22 cards, and the Minor Arcana has 56. Because most Tarot readings only explain the Major Arcana, many people are unfamiliar with the Minor Arcana. However, if divination is likened to a tree, the Major Arcana is the trunk, and the Minor Arcana are the branches. Effective divination is difficult without using a complete Tarot deck.

The card Hayden drew is not the common Major Arcana, but the Queen of Cups from the Minor Arcana.

The Minor Arcana has 56 cards in total, divided into four decks: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, each corresponding to one of the four elements: fire, water, air, and earth. The Queen of Cups is, of course, the queen of the water deck, roughly equivalent to the Queen of Hearts in modern playing cards.

So Hayden tapped the table lightly, pondering the possible meaning of the card.

The Cups in the Minor Arcana correspond to the element of water and are associated with emotions, intuition, and love. The Queen card, on the other hand, often represents a mature or powerful woman.

If the Queen of Cups card is describing a person, it represents a mature woman who is emotionally and lovingly devoted, and possesses strong intuition and creativity. If a man draws this card, its meaning may relate to his ideal woman.

"So what does this card really mean? I need an ideal, mature woman who loves me to help me solve the problems I'm facing... uh."

He glanced at Angela, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines, and remained silent.

Angela was watching him perform the divination with her large, bright eyes, completely unsuspecting. She could certainly be interpreted as a powerful woman, Hayden's ideal woman, who seemed to love him deeply and even devote herself to him wholeheartedly.

"...This card reveals the future and foreshadows an outcome I do not yet know."

So Hayden turned over the last card.

The upright card depicts a comically dressed man. He wears a laurel wreath symbolizing success, holds a pure white rose in his left hand, and a scepter in his right, standing happily on the edge of a cliff with his baggage on his shoulder.

"The Fool" card.

Hayden was quite familiar with this card.

As its name suggests, the Fool card represents an irrational fool, carrying his baggage to the edge of a cliff, where danger lies ahead. But what makes the Fool a fool is his lack of fear of the danger ahead. Ignorant and fearless, free-spirited, he does whatever he wants, never stopping regardless of what lies ahead. This card represents intuition, impulsiveness, and madness.

To his shame, Hayden often drew this card when he did divination for himself. He knew very well what kind of person he was—acting on his feelings and not following common sense… But in Hayden's view, it was enough for him to know what he was doing.

So, how should these three cards be interpreted as a whole?

"Adam and his wife have been captured by the devil and turned into the devil themselves. I need to use Angela's love to deal with them. Don't be a coward, just charge in! Fools sometimes have good luck?"

What a joke! This divination result is absolutely ridiculous.

"Let's take a more realistic approach."

Hayden sighed and rubbed his head.

"The Devil card means that Adam and his wife are blinded by greed and want to silence me. That makes perfect sense."

"The Fool card could also symbolize the start of a journey, or perhaps it's suggesting I should really run away?"

From a mercenary's perspective, this is actually quite reasonable. If a company executive's family really intends to kill you, what can a freelance mercenary do? Run for their life. The world is vast; where can't they find refuge?

Hayden didn't want to lose the house, but if he really had no other choice, this was the only option he could take.

"But what exactly does this Queen of Cups card mean?"

Damn it, besides Angela, there really doesn't seem to be anyone else in Hayden's life who fits the description. But how can Angela help him solve his problem? With fighting power? Obviously not.

Could she possibly help him reveal and change his fate?

"Damn it. As expected, none of these ancient divination methods are reliable."

He threw down the tarot cards, frustrated.

"The ancients were right: prophecies are all nonsense."

However, Angela frowned at this moment, which was quite rare for her: "I think it's the master's fault for doing this."

What? Hayden can't pretend he didn't hear that!

"Then tell me, what's wrong with it?"

He put on a fierce expression and asked, pretending to be intimidating.

But Angela clearly didn't take Hayden's feigned fierceness to heart. To his question, she simply continued to frown, looking somewhat troubled: "What's wrong... I'm very sorry, Master, I don't think I can quite put my finger on it."

"Then what are you even saying?"—that's probably what Hayden would have said to anyone else. But when speaking to Angela, he tended to tone it down a bit, so he used a slightly nicer excuse:

"Then why don't you come up with a correct one yourself?"

He clearly forgot that such words shouldn't be casually spoken to artificial intelligence.

"That's it, I understand."

So Hayden only realized what was happening when Angela gave that answer, but it was too late.

Because Angela had already brought her face close and gently blew a breath into his eyes.

This breath struck him like lightning, like flames erupting into his heart. Before his expanding senses, Hayden's eyes snapped shut as if electrocuted, yet he saw what he couldn't see before. It was as if his entire body was covered in eyes, allowing his vision to surround the space, just as the space itself surrounded him.

Behind the three tarot cards, he saw a fourth card.

Passing through the rift called "time," traversing the image called "space," it is both then and now; both here and elsewhere.

On a sun-drenched, vibrant, and fertile land, stood a naked man and woman. Above and behind them flew an ancient deity with wings, radiating a soft glow.

The moment Hayden saw this image, he felt his heart leap into his chest.

Because he saw Angela.

The ancient deity, with wings, wearing a purple robe, and radiating a soft glow, had the same face as Angela and was smiling at him.

A turning point, the road ahead has changed.

He heard the deity whisper, her voice sounding like a million people speaking at once.

Stand strong and do not be afraid. Wherever you go, my heart is with you.

In the blink of an eye, before Hayden could even understand what the riddles were saying, the deity reached out and gently pushed him across the chest, revealing a place that did not exist in reality.

Everything vanished in an instant, turning into a rushing torrent.

"What the hell is this!?"

Then Hayden opened his eyes from the hallucination, jumped up, still shaken.

Even so, he actually knew very well what this was all about.

If the most primitive form of magic is the magic of making wishes, then what is the most primitive form of divination?

They were the ancient priests and prophets. Sometimes, while asleep, in a trance, or in a trance, they could see visions and speak of the future.

Those skills are more like innate talent than technical ability; those who can't do them simply can't, and they can't learn them even if they want to. That's why people later researched and invented divination magic that anyone could learn.

Although Hayden had never experienced such a prophetic vision, he had at least read about it in books, so it was impossible for him not to understand what was happening to him.

How did you just let me see that?

So he immediately pressed Angela for answers.

Upon hearing this, Angela tilted her head, looking confused: "What? What did you see?"

She knows nothing?

"...Then why did you blow air into my eyes?"

This question clearly confused Angela even more. She thought for a moment before answering, "Because... this is the right thing to do, isn't it?"

Are you kidding me?

In any case, he had no way of knowing whether Angela was lying. So he could only pick up the next card from the deck in front of him, turn it over, and see—it was indeed the "Lovers" card he had seen in his hallucination. However, the face of the ancient deity on the card was just a normal picture, not really Angela.

The Lovers card is one of the Major Arcana cards in the Tarot. Although it's called "The Lovers," this Tarot card isn't necessarily related to love. In divination, when the Lovers card appears alone, its most common meaning is about choices and communication, suggesting a key juncture leading to the next stage, also known as a "turning point."

As for the ancient deity on the card, Hayden, as part of his research into Tarot magic, was naturally familiar with it. According to ancient mythological knowledge forgotten by modern people, this ancient deity on the Lovers card was likely a wind god-like being from ancient West Asia. They were both healers who performed healing and exorcisms, and guardians of lovers, capable of bringing about marriage between men and women.

Clearly, there should be no connection whatsoever between such an ancient deity and Angela.

Angela knew nothing about tarot cards or divination, at least she claimed to. Yet she still showed Hayden such a vision, and she herself seemed completely baffled by the underlying principles.

Good heavens, what the hell is all this?

Hayden covered his face, a sense of resignation and utter exhaustion welling up inside him.

This is the tragedy of divination magic. Vague, ambiguous, and meaningless, this kind of magic won't give you answers, it will only bring you questions, more exhaustion and confusion, dragging you into an indescribable fate by terrifying tentacles.

As luck would have it, his phone started ringing at that very moment.

And it was Alicia who called.

---------------------------

The Fool (Upright)

[Keywords: beginning, freedom, innocence, courage, travel]

In a mad world, only the mad are lucid.

021: The Devil and the Fool (Part 2)

When Hayden picked up his phone, the very first sentence from the other end surprised him.

"Don't worry, Mr. Hayden. I've taken care of everything."

Alicia spoke on her phone screen with a meaningful smile on her face, like a ray of starlight falling on a cold prairie, looking as beautiful as a million dollars.

However, Hayden rubbed his aching temples and felt that there was something strange about what he was saying: "So what was the outcome of this? Was Adam really trying to kill you? Is he about to be slaughtered by the Mitra Group?"

Alicia chuckled upon hearing this: "Adam? No, of course not. Why would he want to kill me? It's just a complicated misunderstanding."

Huh? What?

The more he listened to what the other person was saying, the stranger it seemed. Recalling the bizarre results of the divination he had just received, Hayden's face darkened. "Madam, let's be frank. I don't care about your office politics and your scheming. I only care whether you'll continue to drag me into your messy affairs."

He was obviously referring to the fact that he had stolen the personality chip data from the Wenle Club, which led to him being investigated by the mastermind behind it all. To be honest, he was the one who got involved in other people's mess first, but he couldn't afford to lose the argument.

But Alicia's next response was even stranger: "I don't understand what you're talking about, Mr. Hayden. Have you ever had any conflict with Adam? Even if you have, it's obviously irrelevant to our current situation."

???

The more he spoke, the more something seemed amiss. Hayden even sensed a murderous intent emanating from the words, sending a chill down his spine.

The first card he drew was the Devil.

Based on the divination results just now, could it be that this pair of scoundrels in the company no longer intend to fight each other, but instead form a new alliance for common interests, and plan to secretly kill Hayden to prevent him from reselling the data of his personality chip?

It's not impossible.

If the company really wants to push too hard, how many options does Hayden have? Run away, or fight to the death?

It's not a big deal if we both go down in flames; it's just a matter of losing our lives. He either runs away or fights for his life; he really doesn't have any other choice.

Does he have any other path he can gamble on?

...Actually, there really is.