Click!
I turned off the radio and got out of the car, taking a glance around at the street damp with rain from the day before.
"Red brick street, they say, but not a single building is red," I said, and started to walk down the pavement. Some people took a glance at me. I smiled back, and so did they. I crossed to the other side of the street, as there was a dead cat with its insides spilled out, and reached the entrance of the House of Sybils.
The entrance was set deep into the stone, shaped as a tall pointed arch layered with carved bands. The stone was beige-colored and held figures and patterns softened by age. Two dark wooden doors stood at its center, with a box collecting entry fees beside it. Above them, carved saints watched in silence. Higher up, there were the figures of the twelve Luminaries crafted on glass.
I climbed the short staircase, the tiles were slippery with small cracks, and read the notice under the entry fee collection box.
Ninety-nine Lumens, huh? Why not round it to one Lume?
I looked into my wallet and took a one-Lume coin and dropped it into the slit, then I got a tiny card with a code on it with instructions on how to enter with the balance amount.
I followed the instructions and pressed the card against the door handles, and it opened with a loud exhale of air, as I entered, the door shut behind me, taking me to a whole new world I never knew.
I looked around the large covered corridor with a high concrete ceiling that stretched out far in front of me. Gray beams ran along the top, and lamp fixtures hung from the ceiling, casting uneven light that left areas of darkness between the patches of illumination. Stalls lined up in rows on either side, close enough that the conversations and activity merged into a steady murmur.
I walked into the corridor, and each stall was the business of a seer, prophet, or fortune teller, and many more. Wooden signs stood at the front of each one, listing what was offered and how much it would cost. Some of the signs read "Dream Reading," "Fate Alignment," "Palm Judgment," or "God Affiliation." The prices were marked in large numbers, mentioning it was fixed.
To my right, a man sat cross-legged on the floor with his back to a low table, where tarot cards were arranged in intricate designs. A sign next to him listed the length of readings. I took a glance at him before moving on and saw the "Fool" card on the table in front of him.
Further down, another fortune teller had charms, bones, and carved markings, each labeled with a price. Some used bowls of water, strings, or flat charts arranged on the table.
People moved steadily down the aisle. Some hurried, heads bent forward. Others slowed to read signs, count coins, and ask brief questions. A few stopped to purchase small lucky trinkets: charms for good fortune, threads for protection, and rolled-up messages of blessing sold by young boys or old men.
The floor was polished smooth by foot traffic. The scent of oil lamps, incense, and moisture filled the air, which made me nauseous.
Now whom should I choose in this bunch? I am having strange dreams. Should I interpret them? Or ask them my purpose in life as a seer or a prophet.
Maybe a hierophant would do the trick, they would be able to interpret and find my life path.
I walked around trying to find a hierophant that matched my budget.
Two hundred and one Lumes, five hundred and one Lumes, seven hundred and one Lumes
Damn, I can't afford these seven hundred Lumes?! That's almost equal to my weekly earnings as Saveliy Andreyevich, and why is it all in odd numbers and ends with one?
I looked at my wallet and counted the cash in it. I had a total of two hundred and eighty-four Lumes and sixty Lumens.
I need to fill twelve liters of fuel for the car; that would be one hundred eighty lumes, and three meals would be thirty Lumes, so I would have a balance of seventy-four Lumes. If I drive all day, I could get three hundred Lumes, and after subtracting all the expenses for tomorrow, I would have ninety, no, seventy Lumes to spend if I pay today's car installment of twenty Lumes. I should come at night; then I would have one forty Lumes to spend, and I could bargain.
"Tch, who cares? I can half-fill the car," I said, walking through the aisle to find someone with the cheapest price.
"Sir! Over here, sir, over here! Get my service!" I heard the voice of someone calling me and turned toward him. He sat to the left, legs crossed, with a sackcloth spread in front of him with pamphlets and sheets.
"You look more like a vendor rather than a hierophant," I said, standing in front of him.
"Oh no, no, these pamphlets, they will help unfold your sacred mysteries and see your life path!" he exclaimed, bobbing his hot pink colored hair.
Why is this guy exclaiming every sentence?
"I want my dreams to be interpreted and my life path to be predicted."
"You came to the right place, sir! It's my abilities' specialty."
"So you are not going to use tarot cards or a crystal ball?" I said, settling down in front of him.
"Then shall we get started, sir!?"
"How much?"
"Since you are my first customer of the day, it's two fifty-one Lumes for you!"
"Two fifty-one? What's that extra one for? Can't you round it to two fifty?"
"Oh, sir! Even numbers are a sign of bad luck in divinity, hence, we use odd numbers!"
"Two hundred and forty-nine is right there, you know."
"But it's lower."
One fifty"
"That's way too low, sir, two thirty-one!"
"One eighty"
"Two hundred and eleven"
"One ninety"
"I can't go any lower!"
"Oh, come on, two hundred one is just close, and hey, I could recommend you to my customers."
"You are a cabby, aren't you, sir!"
What? How did he find out? Is it his ability? Or did he find out from my attire?
"It's my ability, sir! Impressed by my skills? Hmm? So two hundred and eleven?"
"Fine, begin the divination."
"Cash upfront!"
Tch, what a hassle.
I gave him the cash, holding it a bit tighter as he yanked it.
"Now shall we begin, sir! dreams or your life path?"
I remember the dreams vaguely, and I need the life path desperately. If he is just a fake, I could get my cashback for not interpreting my dreams, so life path it is.
"Life path"
"Very well, sir! Don't worry, I am not a fraud. You can get the dream interpretation after you trust me, though you will soon!"
He passed a pamphlet to me and asked me to follow the instructions.
Come on, Alyss, you can do it. Brace yourself, you can do it, Alyss.
I did as the pamphlet said: I took a deep breath for nine seconds and exhaled for fifteen, then held my breath for twenty-one. The next step was to relax my body from top to bottom while holding my breath.
"You are doing amazing, sir. Now go to the final step so I can find your life path," he said, placing his palms on my head, and his navel started to glow with twenty-one swirls.
I closed my eyes and counted the remaining seconds to let go of my breath.
Exhale!
"Now in that same state, breathe normally, sir. Don't let your pace go. Imagine something, an object, a person, or something else, and focus on it. I will now find your life path."
I imagined the car Saveliy Andreyevich owned, focusing on it, and the image of the yellow boxy vehicle started to distort.
I fell into deep slumber, and the dreams were of my previous life.