Usurpation of the Dark
Chapter 4: At World's Edge

Seam, having learned of the King's usurpation of the throne, the imprisonment of his… friend…? Would Seam call Jevil his friend…? Regardless, these things together have torn from Seam all sense of direction. He sits in his little cave. It's a bit more repaired since after the fountain's quake, but it's still a bit messy. Before long however, someone is at the lip of the cave.

"Hmm? Who goes there?" Seam asks, looking down to see none other than Prince Lancer.
"Hia, Seam!" He lets out. Seam smiles politely but asks a question.
"Why are you out this far, young prince?"
"Because I'm taking the army and patrolling the fields!" He says. Seam, raising an eyebrow, leaves the cave to see that the fields are indeed now filled to the brim with Darkners from the Hearts and Diamonds clans.

"I… see. So the tales of the Spade King's usurpation is true."
"That's a big word, but yeah, Dad is the one king now, and we're on the lookout for Lightners!" Lancer says with a goofy face. Seam however looks over towards the west, remembering the great door and the strange man… with the dark words.

"So, the Lightners are our enemies now, is it?"
"Yup! Dad said they abandoned us and are tricky, pretending to be our friends just to hurt us when our guard is down! So we're gonna build a thriving kingdom next to the second fountain and trap any Lightners who come to take it down!" He says, honking his bike, flying out of vision. Seam however furrows his brow.

He remembers Jevil's words, and how he claimed that nothing they did truly mattered. Embracing the Lightners, or rejecting them, it meant little in the grand scheme, and Seam wondered about that. Yes, they had been abandoned for a long time, long enough for his body to start falling apart at the seams… the irony is not lost on him… but he still, deep down, believes in the prophesy, and the good intentions of the Lightners. He finds himself driven to walking west. Having lost his way, there's only one question still left on his mind.

Where will the Lightners appear…?

He stands before the great door. It's as closed as ever, shrouded in obscurity by myth, legend, and a thick wall of trees flanking it at both ends. He pushes against it, but it doesn't budge. He doesn't know what he's doing here, he just feels like he has to do SOMETHING.

However, to his shock, underneath the door is a similar fog of energy he saw beneath the strange doors after Jevil's insanity. Seam takes a deep breath and pushes again. To his absolute surprise, the door opens with minimal effort, sliding open and leaving a person-sized gap in between the two great halves. He takes a single step before a familiar horn is heard behind him.

"Woah, Seam, you got the door open! Nice! Now we can look for Lightners in there too!"
"No wait I didn't-" He tries to say before he boosts inside, forcing Seam to sidestep his fast bike. Seam sighs and continues inside, who knows what's inside the door, he'd feel terrible if something happened to Lancer.

When he steps inside, he wasn't at all prepared for what he saw, felt, and smelled.

It smells… moldy, the air is blowing but it's so stale, filled with dust. Every step echoes endlessly down into an abyss that even his cat eye can't see the bottom of. The ground is cracked and broken, and what appears to be fractions of a world are floating off in the distance. What… is this? There is no way this is the Delta Rune Kingdom, the kingdom of endless prosperity, legends of great chancellors in the dark upholding the balance with power and wisdom…

This is just… an endless hellscape of decay and ruin. He continues forward, following the dusty tire tracks of Lancer's bike. He hears what sounds like laughing and he turns his head, seeing a strange dancing ball on a cliff nearby, seemingly reacting to his presence. As he moves forward more laughing occurs, the balls reacting more and more to his existence. Before long he catches up to Lancer staring down a nearby cliff. Contrary to his normally carefree tone, he seems somewhat rattled.

"What is this place, Seam?" He simply asks, his bike parked next to him.
"I… don't want to admit this is what I think it is… but it has to be the ruins of the old Dark Kingdom. How long it's been this way, I'm unsure…" He says. Lancer looks over with a sad, squashed head.

"Is this because of us."
"Huh…?"
"Is this because of the second fountain?" Lancer asks. It makes some sense, the balance being upset… the prophesy said something like this would happen, but so quickly? Certainly it can't be possible.

"I am unsure. But if a Lightner were to appear… this place-" He says, looking off into the endless black wastes.
"-certainly fits the description of world's edge."
"Then… I guess I should wait."
"What?" Seam asks. Lancer looks back, his enthusiasm restored.
"If they're gonna appear here, then I'm gonna wait for them! I'll make my dad proud!" He says with such childish confidence. Seam can't help but pat his head. Giving the land one last view, he turns around.

"I wish you the best of luck, young prince." Is all he says before he continues back towards the great door. It's quite a ways away, he cannot even see it. As he walks however, a figure catches his eye at the base of the mountain. He's unsure how he missed this path downward, but he slides down to take a closer look. It appears to be someone in a green hat.

"Hello?" Seam asks, getting no response. He gets closer to realize it's just a dummy. He paws at it, having it bounce slightly to his touch. A path to the west heads deeper, and even from here he can tell there's a building of sorts. Maybe a few buildings.

He walks forward to see not just a few buildings, but an entire town! In relatively good condition no less. Filled with scientific curiosity, he knocks on a door, but gets no response. He does so three more times, before realizing the echoes from before are still present. This town…

Is completely empty… was the entire kingdom evacuated? Or destroyed? Seam walks forward before something brilliant catches his eye!

"The dark fountain! The ORIGINAL dark fountain!" He says to himself, running over with curiosity and giddiness, only to be met with a hooded figure standing in a plaza. The figure's back is turned to him and behind a cloak to hide their features.

"Hm? A visitor? … Ah, you smell of dark. You're a Darkner… like me." The gentle voice lets out. Seam is surprised to actually meet someone here.

"Yes, I am from the card kingdom. Is this… the Delta Rune kingdom?"
"It was, and is… and I am its prince." The voice lets out.
"Th-The Prince? The prince from the dark… you must be waiting for the Lightners."
"Indeed I am. Even from here I have seen, or rather… felt… the emergence of another dark fountain. The Lightners are sure to appear."

"…" Seam is unsure what to make of this. This is all happening so fast.
"I am sorry, fellow Darkner, but there is little love to be found here. If you are from another kingdom, I recommend returning there. There is no food, and no hospitality to be had in this place. I may be a prince, but I lack subjects… there is no one here to make your pleasantries."

"What about you?" Seam asks.
"Hah, I've been waiting here for a long time. I can wait a little longer. The human… the monster… and the prince from the dark. We will seal the fountains, and banish the Angel's Heaven. Just a little longer…" The prince says to himself, his hood turning up to look closer at the fountain pouring into this cold, dead land. Seam frowns but nods.

"Very well… I will return from whence I came. Be careful, prince."
"Thank you. Don't forget… I'm with you in the dark." He says in farewell as Seam turns around and soon finds himself back at the opened door. He walks back through it, leaving Lancer and the prince.

Seam finds himself back at his cave, setting up his knickknacks. Soon he lights a lantern and hangs it over the cave. Before long, a few soldiers from the kingdom catch sight and see what's up. Seeing each other, the soldiers and Seam smile. He gives them a few pieces of dark food he's scavenged from the nearby field, and to his surprise, they compensate him. The idea of opening a shop occurs to him, and he finds an old deck of playing cards.

Inside are all the suits… diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades… at the end of the deck is a single joker card. He frowns, but then begins to smile. He encapsulates the cards with his magic, in remembrance of his acquaintance Jevil, and sells them to anyone who requires defense. The coming days will likely be… intense. But Seam has seen everything he has wished to see. The words from Jevil make more sense the more he thinks about it, and it makes the world seem… darker… and less meaningful.

Seam gives off a gentle, but strange smile, having all but thrown away his old beliefs about the prophesy or the future, and instead is content to live his days comfortably within this small shop, just close enough to watch the door to the edge of the world… maybe one day the heroes will come. Maybe one day soon, sooner than he even expects. It's… exciting.

The prince from the dark tends to the nearby area, cleaning and dusting what he can before a realization dawns on him.

"Wait… how did that guy even get here?"

Author's Note: And that's it for this small story. I hope you all enjoyed my personally interpreted breakdown of the power shift in the card kingdom. A couple small things might lack detail, but I think I did a good job of encapsulating most of the lore in chronological order as it was stated in the game. I hope to see you all in the future.