Age of The Card- The Ace of Hearts

The young girl picked up the dusty card lying in front of her feet. The card looked very old, and was very dull. It was a shade of red close to white, probably because it had been in the sun for so long. The card had a very bright gold trimming around the edges. As the girl picked up the card between her delicate porcelain-like fingers, she saw the other side of the card for the first time. "You have officially reached the age of the card. You shall take the test now. Go to the edge of the Willowtrail Creek at moonrise on the 13th. Don't be late." The black letters went well with the sea foam green background. The letters were written in calligraphy, and the pitch black ink had not dried yet. The girl's mother had told her not to go out at night, but something about the card drew in her curiosity, like she was a fish biting the bait on a fisherman's hook. "Noel!" a voice sounded behind the little girl. She stood up from where she was crouching on the floor, and started dusting off her pants. A couple of seconds later she darted out of the room. At last she stopped running, in what seemed to be a field of wheat. The girl looked around frantically her head stopping when she saw a woman picking apples in a corner of the field, where there was a little hill with trees on top, near the cottage where the girl had been in just a second ago. She rushed to where the woman was standing, and started helping her. The woman was wearing a white buttoned up shirt, and some light brown overalls. Placed on top of her silky brown hair, was a straw hat like you see in movies. The woman looked at the girl and smiled. She had two dark brown eyes, that seemed like the definition of sparkling. She was holding a woven basket in her left hand, and was picking apples with her right hand. "Can you get your brother and go down to the market?" the woman asked. "Yes, mother", the young girl replied. After she reached the small rundown cottage, she opened the wooden door from its rusting handle, and stepped inside once more. The girl looked around all the rooms, until at last she spotted a golden haired boy sitting on a small wooden bed in one of the small rooms reading a maroon book that seemed to have been a hundred years old, "The Clock-Keeper" read the title. It was in golden curvy letters, and on the front cover was a picture of a small brown haired boy with blue eyes standing in front of a giant clock, like one you would see at a train station. "Leon, mother asked us to go to the market, get up." the girl's cheery voice echoed throughout the creaking building. "Yes, I'm almost done, Noel." the small boy, Leon, replied. After what seemed like forever to Noel, who was just standing there, Leon put the book down and wearily stood up. Noel and Leon walked out of the room and went to the front door. After putting on her shoes, Noel stood up and went out the door with a list of things to buy that her mom had given her. "Wait for me!" Leon shouted as he raced out the door with books in his hands. "What are you holding?" his sister, who was now several meters away, asked. "Books, I'm going to sell them to get some new ones!" Leon replied with excitement in his voice. "Well then, hurry up!" Noel said rushing towards the village.

The village was made up of little cottages standing next to each other in ten neat rows. It wasn't a small village, but you could certainly not call it big either. Altogether, there were about eighty little houses in the village. Eighty-one if you also counted the lonely house on the field, that had stood there for over a century. It wasn't really part of the village, but any traveler passing through the village would think so. The cottage used to be abandoned, but after one of the villagers was exiled from the village, she had gone to live in the house half a mile away. If the citizens living in Dew-cloud Community hadn't been so stubborn on being self-governed, then they would have been part of Silver Laverne, the largest country to exist in millennia, but right now it was one of the few places without a leader. The village was once part of Silver Laverne, but that was long before Noel and Leon were born. Dew-cloud Community had changed since the incident that caused it to leave Silver Laverne, the citizens now did not let anyone tell them what to do, and they most certainly hated outsiders but thankfully that did not include the family in the run down cottage, half a mile away. Leon and Noel would often go down to the village and the villagers seemed to like their company, and today was no exception. As Leon and Noel walked through the gate to the Dew-cloud Community, tons of people said hello. It sounded like a well-planned performance, the peoples voices rang through the warm air, one after another. All the villagers knew each other so it was no surprise that so many people had come to greet them. The last time the twins had been to the village, was a couple of weeks ago, because Noel had caught the flu and Leon's pollen allergies were acting up. As they walked through the town, they could smell the freshly baked breads from the bakery up the street from were Noel and Leon were. "Good morning Mrs. Rainwisper!" Leon shouted while walking towards the bakery, "Good morning Leon! I haven't seen you in a while, where have you been?" she replied back to his greeting. "I had allergies and Noel caught the flu!" he is said. "Aw, anyways, what can I get for you today?" she asked, "Could I have some coffee cake, and don't tell my mom, but could I also get two Rose Apple Tarts?" Leon replied. "Coming right up!" Mrs. Rainwisper half-shouted while walking to the ovens at the back of the shop. "Your lucky, I just made some new Rose Apple Tarts, you should eat them while they're hot!" she yelled from across the room. After Mrs. Rainwisper got the baked goods Leon ordered and Leon paid, he got out of the store and went back to the stone street. "Can I have a tart?!" Noel squealed, as Leon jumped two feet in the air. "I forgot you were here!" Leon said, going red in the face. Just as Noel was about to say something, she was hit on the back of her head with a rock. Noel looked around, and saw two little kids staring at her while holding some white pebbles, just as they started running Noel shouted "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRATS!!!" and started racing after them. "Noel! Come back!" Leon shouted, while sprinting after her. The chase never appeared to end, it was like a never ending hunt for revenge to Noel. She was usually kind and calm person, but if you got on her nerves you HAD to be a good runner, or you would never run again, unfortunately, it wasn't that hard to make Noel mad.

After about half an hour later, Leon finally caught Noel, and dragged her back to the center of Dew-cloud Community to finish shopping. After Leon and Noel went to almost all the shops in the village, Leon went to a little bookshop, with Noel trailing behind him. The bookshop was a small black little shop, with a glass showcase filled with colorful, dull, new, and old books. Next to the showcase, was a black door with a little window on the top, what stood out the most, was the brass doorknob that had been there from when the first houses were built. As Leon opened the crackling door, the scent of freshly opened books. When you looked around the old bookstore, you could see stacks of unusual books, and shelves full of all the books you could imagine. If you liked books, like Leon did, this would be heaven. This was Noel's first time at the bookstore, and she could not believe that a single person could have all these books in one shop, it felt unreal to Noel. Although Noel didn't love reading as much as Leon, she was used to always having an open book somewhere in her room. The twins mother had raised them to love books, and to be able to think for themselves. She wanted Leon and Noel to live a beautiful life with literature, art, music, and even acting, she loved all the arts and Noel and Leon's mom wanted them to grow up without taking everything for granted. In their whole life, this was definitely the most books they had seen. As Noel looked around, she could see the slightly yellow tinted sunlight coming through little gaps in the books that had been placed on the windowsill. It was a sight to be seen, yet the twins had to finish up their shopping and go back home. " Mr. Peterson, can I have some more books? I brought the other ones back." Leon shouted looking for the person he was talking to. "Yes, you can have more books, just leave the books you brought on the table." Mr. Peterson replied. It was the first time Noel noticed the table, it was a dark green color, and there were books laid out on top of it, every inch was covered with the old yellowing pages of the numerous books on it. Noel looked through some of the books, and then read the summaries on the back cover. "Once upon a time there was a peaceful town on the edge of a forest. It had everything a person could need, except the people. There was not a single soul in the town. It was like everyone just disappeared into thin air. When young Yuri moves to the town, only then will its secrets reveal themselves." Noel read aloud one of them. "Come on, we're leaving" Leon said behind her scaring Noel half to death. "Fine" Noel replied and the two twins walked off into the sunset, back to their home.