The Card Dealer Teaser Trailer

“Raven ! Raven wake up ! come on !”

Elisa shouted as she stood next to my bed shaking me up…for a moment I wondered where she came from until I felt the light breeze of the wind coming from the window beside me…it was wide open and I knew that I had locked the door to my house and even my own room was locked the reason for that was because of the 15-year-old girl standing next to me…

I really need to find a good mechanic so he can install iron bars to my windows…no scratch that the neighbors would think I am weird instead I just get a good lock.

With that thought Raven raised his upper body while massaging his eyes for a second, he felt cold from the breeze coming from the window and was sleepy too he looked at the 15-year-old girl for a second his gaze held a slight complicated demeanor in it almost annoyed but at the same time confused he actually just wanted to go back to bed but then he remembered that today he was supposed to be a 11th grader in a private school called Hexal Academy, it was a popular school in this part of the city and many rich people or big shots go there to become huge characters in the future, it didn’t matter if you were smartass or a dumbass the school guaranteed 100% success and a job-offers in the future which would get you a very high salary for almost doing nothing…of course something like this would be like cheating such as the 100% success rate but remember only rich people and big shots go to this school…if you wonder who Raven is then its most likely a rich teenager.

Raven turned his body for a second into a sitting position his eyes were still blurry and he actually didn’t feel that good in the morning because he stayed up most of the night going through the streets doing his usual business.

“Did you stay up late again… I told you that it’s bad for your health…”

Elisa exclaimed with a bit annoyance and worry in her voice, Raven looked towards his window for a second and back towards Elisa.

“You’re saying something really odd for breaking into my house and didn’t I tell to quit coming over here I am sure your mother told you coming here isn’t a good thing”

When Raven mentioned her mother Elisa seemed a bit depressed as she tried to tell him.

“You know it isn’t all that bad you could always just come….”

She wasn’t able to finish speaking that sentence as Raven snapped for a second cutting in.

“Cut that crap Elisa, forget what I said just wait down stairs and make something to eat I come down in a few minutes alright ?”

Elisa still seemed a bit depressed but nodded anyways and started walking towards the door unlocking it and leaving walking down the corridor, seeing her leave Raven heaved a sigh for a second until Elisa bobbed her head from the door she smiled sweetly and asked.

“What do you want to eat ?”

Raven was a bit lost on words but he understood her meaning and wanted to refuse until he thought about her character and just gave up.

“I already told you to… nevermind… just eggs and orange juice please.”

She smiled sweetly and said.

“Right, up !”

Raven just nodded his head and saw Elisa finally leaving him alone he shook his head for a second a bit helpless.

He stood up and started preparing for school it was his first day he ever entered a school but he didn’t really care his goal wasn’t to gain any friends or get good grades in and out it was only because of his future he signed up into that school, his current money value and assets were enough for him to leave peacefully without doing anything for the rest of his life but at the same time he wanted to have some other options if his first one wouldn’t work out it would also be wise to just drop the first one because of how dangerous it could get sometimes and just live the easily life of a tax collector but Raven knew this wasn’t a choice either because he liked his job a lot because it was something he was good at…gambling.

After slight preparation Raven started to walk down the stairs into the large living room, he wore a red uniform with a hexagon drawn on his chest it was the official uniform of the Hexal Academy and in ravens opinion he looked like a complete phony in this get up but he wasn’t worried that his friends on the streets would see him like this.

“Its ready now come on eat up raven”

Elisa said while placing an omelet onto the plate next to it was a glass of orange juice too and some slices of bread but he flinched for a second seeing the other bowls and plates next to his own food…there were more side dishes such as salad macaroni with cheese and many more…

“Didn’t I tell you… ahh, nevermind !”

Raven knew on the back of his head that they had this conversation before and just obediently sat down and started wolfing down his food Elisa on the other hand just sat down and Raven eating the food alone she had a bright smile on her face while looking at him but he didn’t as to try to look up say a compliment for the food or give his thanks if you would think about it Raven seemed a bit rude but this kind of encounter was normal for these two half-siblings…yes half-siblings.

After finishing eating his food Raven looked at the clock and noticed he had a full hour before the school would begin he felt slightly annoyed for the lack of sleep he got because of her but he didn’t voice it out and just moved towards the couch and started looking through the channels on his plasma TV. Elisa also moved towards the couch sitting next to Raven looking at the TV.

Both of the half-sibling were quiet just listening to the TV and nothing particular it almost felt awkward to watch them but both of them seemed normal more than that it seemed like Raven tried to ignore her.

“You know mother said that she would be pick me up after school maybe you…”

“No, Elisa we talked about this before and I’m gonna tell you again I am not going to meet your mother and that’s the end of the story you shouldn’t and actually you should be home right now and not in some strangers house watching TV with him”

“Hey she is also your mother and its not like we don’t know each other…”

Raven snapped for a second looked at Elisa a bit hateful.

“I don’t have a mother so cut it out and didn’t I have a deal with your mother ?”

Elisa got sad again as Raven mentioned the so called “Deal” he had with her mother but biologically speaking she was also Ravens mother it’s just that Raven didn’t have any wish to meet up with her even thought they were next door neighbors he rarely met with her or stayed long enough to make eye contact with her in his thoughts Raven truly thought that they were just neighbors and strangers too.

Elisa steeled herself as she tried to persuade her half-brother and as she did so she accidentally grabbed onto his left arm making me groan for a second out of pain…

“What? Wait, your arm…”

Raven quickly pulled away from her grabbing onto his arm he started walking towards the bathroom you could see that the left arm part was soaking up something but because the color was red it wasn’t obvious what it was but from the smell itself Elisa was certain that it was…blood.

“Fuck me” Raven whispered quietly as he started to go into the bathroom but as he did so he was stopped by Elisa who looked very angry as she told him.

“You were out again weren’t you…that injury its from a fight..i thought you would stay by the deal that mother and you did…”

“And let me dry up to go into your arms don’t make me laugh this is my life Elisa and I do what I want with it !”

Raven retorted as he shoved her to the side, who was blocking the bathroom he entered and started searching bandages and other disinfection medicines he stored in the first aid kit.

The injury was light and didn’t hurt as much as it did yesterday he lived through worse than this and he knew it very well cleaning up something like this was like second nature to him so it didn’t take long for him to properly fix it up.

The injury came from yesterday’s game Raven had with some underworld mob boss, he didn’t seem to like the hand of cards I had over him which cost him almost 5 million dollars and with interest of course so he decided to at least get a piece of me no matter what which was to use a knife which he surprisingly hid well under his sleeve. The mob boss managed a slash by surprise but nothing further then that until his own fist collided with his skull knocking him out and kicking him into the streets by the security crew in the end I walked out with 5 million dollars and some extra assets which were supposed to arrive after 3 weeks Raven himself didn’t know what those assets were and honestly he didn’t care as long as it had its own value to it he would welcome it.

Raven always used to be like this even when he was small he would strive for success in the streets, he began his journey as a street walker when he was 9.

When Raven was just an infant at the time he was abandoned by his mother left in the orphanage alone in a basket there were no instructions when the caretaker found him nor a name so in the end he was given the name Raven Wayn because of his jet black hair and light brown eyes in the end Raven grew up in the orphanage where no one took him in.

At the end he ran away from the orphanage because he knew that staying there would bring him nothing but despair and negativity the rest of the kids reeked of sadness and despair when the adults would come and not pick them up at first Raven was also like that until he realized that nothing would ever change, that he would always stay in that rat hole until he grew up so he decided for himself at very moment that he choose what kind of rat hole he would grow instead and he didn’t choose cheaply either.

And like this at the age of 10 Raven was able to become a leader of a small group reigning over a small part of the city he started to climb up doing his own business involving pick-pocketing, lock-picking, stealing and over all “taking care” of some people, don’t misunderstand he never truly killed anyone even he was not that strong enough he only would beat them up half dead until they would understand and over all Raven was cunning like that even thought he was small at the time he would always study his opponents cleverly leading them into a trap or try to blackmail them but in the end all good things come to an end…he was defeated by an old Chinese fart while trying to steal from his house now you would wonder how he was defeat right ?

He was outsmarted…the old Chinese man knew from the very start that Raven was going to rob him but the important thing was that Raven wasn’t handed over to the police or the orphanage the Chinese man knew if he did that the boy would just get out and do the same thing over again so instead he decided to teach the boy properly in the art of crime…

It is quiet wondering how the old Chinese fart knew so much about crime itself he showed Raven every trick he had under his sleeve such as planning, swindling and more importantly Chinese martial arts which allowed him to control the “chi” in his body and circulate it through his body parts to make them stronger, faster and sturdier he never understood the name of the martial arts itself which was “Coiling Dragon Claws” but he was amazed by the use of the martial art itself which had other abilities such as healing faster or giving him smaller gravity for larger jumps and in the end he never really cared he was thankful towards the old Chinese fart who never revealed his name and in these 4 years he didn’t stay idly either and just continued doing small heists and swindles in the end he was never caught or revealed by the mass.

And after 4 years ravens training was complete and like so Raven was finally released from his training and left the house of the old Chinese man who was also satisfied with Raven both of them got closer to each other in these 4 years but never stepped over the line of master and discipline and since that day Raven also never met with that Chinese master ever again.

As Raven got out he finally started to do some real movement in the underworld he had already disbanded his original group and just made himself into a “hand on hire” a lot of people sought his services and many times Raven had successfully done those services but never once had he killed someone but yeah he have some hands in killing someone indirectly but he never killed anyone with his own hands and mostly avoid such requests.

1 year later when Raven turned 15 years old the police started to get onto his trail so Raven finally decided to close down his business and start another one he originally wanted to open up a store but then scratched that idea and instead started gambling in all sorts of casinos and group meet ups he noticed that he was really good at it and started doing more of that sort and because it was 100% legal it was perfect for him to do and safe…well yeah almost safe as you can see from his last injury over all his life was good and dandy until one day a little girl knocks on his door with a pie in her hand she had long blonde hair and big blue eyes as she smiled sweetly towards raven.

“Hello my name is Elisa and I am here to welcome you to the neighbor hood… Ehm I forgot what to say next..”

At the time Raven just laughed it off and accepted the pie if only he could have just been rude to that girl and left her hanging on the door this wouldn’t have ended up the way it was now.

You see Raven was new to the neighbor hood it and was a rich man street and I had only just bought the full house for a whooping 1 million dollars. The streets were actually safe and sound having a few police cars driving through to keep the peace it was nothing like the place he had gone through, the kids were smiling and playing around while the teenagers just did their own things, he was surprised when he met the first “Thugs” in this neighborhood who turned out to be pussies like.. just because you wear a black leather jacket and a headband doesn’t mean you’re a “Thug” so he lightly slapped their asses making them cry to their mommies…

In the end the little girl seemed somewhat pulled towards Raven and visited him 3 times a week her mother also turned out to be a nice woman until Raven was told that…she is her biological mother…

The news came suddenly after half a year living in the house at the time Raven had signed himself into a academy because he wanted a back-up plan and while that was happening it seemed like Elisa did a DNA test on him which was a whole lot of baffling and creepy and found out that…i am related to her mother meaning she is my biological mother to top it all off she announced the news when her mother and she were all in my house for dinner that night…i still had flash backs from it.

“I have a good new everyone ! Look at this ! Raven is actually your son, mom; meaning he is my big brother !”

His first reaction to that was just a laugh because he was thinking that she was just making that up because she was very fond of him her mother also just laughed it off but after that Elisa started to get grumpy and directly shoved the paper into my face and when he finally took it for a examine it was like…everything fell off…the paper was legit the sign and report was legit too linking his DNA with her mothers…which was also his mother but anyways after reading the report ravens face changed very darkly as he looked towards the woman.

Her name was Catelyn stark she was the mother of Elisa stark and was a single parent who lived next to me, her career was that of a CEO which was impressive, working for a gaming company that was developing the next VRMMO game which guaranteed 99.9 percent of reality people could even have sex in that game and orgasm too…well anyways she was 31 at the time we had met each other she looked quiet young when he had first met her and thought that she was Elisa’s elder sister until she introduced herself as her mother which threw him off for a second.

Catelyn had Elisa when she was quiet young 17 to be precise, her husband at the time couldn’t handle the matter that he was a father and just left her young wife and child he never once showed up and the woman talked about it with me more than once me ending up as her crying cushion to calm her down she after the incident with her husband started to motivate herself to become a sole parent while studying in the university to become a game developer she liked games and often talked about them with him getting him hooked into it too so they often talked and ended up talking about private things when that happened he always drew the line on where to stop or just answer vaguely Catelyn understood the Raven had things he never wanted to talk about and she respected that and instead by herself….now don’t misunderstand she and Raven never had any sexual relation to each other they were more like close friends talking to each other but the document was just enough for the ice berg to collapse at that day….

“Get out of my house”

Raven said while he looked at Catelyn coldly there was almost killing intent in the air but he already successfully isolated it and was just talking in a monotone voice making her confused and startled for a bit.

“What why what is it ?”

She asked a bit serious since Raven had a very cold expression she was a bit lost on what had happened and asked him a bit worried.

“Didn’t you understand me miss get out my house and take your child too please I need to be alone”

Catelyn was confused and didn’t know what to say because Raven was a bit hurtful she couldn’t help but get teary for a second as she wanted to know what was wrong or if she offended him somehow but Raven had none of it and just told her to leave and in the end she had no other choice but to leave the house almost crying but she held it in she believed that Raven was just temporarily mad and thought it would go away and then they could talk to each other like they did usually every day….but that wasn’t the case now….when the stark’s returned home it seemed like that Elisa told everything to her mother and at that moment she also understood why he was so mad….Elisa was 14 when she discovered this secret she didn’t think of it as much and adored Raven a lot because of his stories and over all fun atmosphere he had also taught her how to properly throw a punch so she wouldn’t get bullied in school anymore he understood her more the anyone there was so she tried to come to him daily which he didn’t seem to dislike more than that he seemed to be lonely and he had mentioned that he didn’t have any family or relatives making him wonder if he was her long lost brother along which she had totally made up on the spot as she stole his spoon that was on that table that day to analyze his DNA to see if she was right or not…and she was right it was pure luck that she was able to find out that he was her half-brother but it wasn’t surprising for Raven because luck was something that followed him through his journey and he liked it a lot but at that moment I despised the word luck as he sat on the couch that night and started thinking of what it could mean…in the end he decided to cut his ties with the stark’s completely but the next day Catelyn came to his house rushing banging the door screaming to open up for her but he never did…he didn’t want anything of that sort and over all he was scared not because he feared that she would not take him; no, no, no, he didn’t even want to get back in her warm arms he wanted his life to stay how it was and that’s why he started to gamble more and more every day since that day becoming completely addicted to it but never once did he lose a game of luck and it was truly a curse and a gift to him and like this people talked about him in the underworld as the “Lucky Raven”.

In one such days Raven walked down one dirty alley way…he was holding a suit case on his right hand and a whisky bottle on his left he walked down the alley way .

In his suit case was a total amount of 2 million dollars in it in cash that was, it was his usual reward nowadays and the whisky was just extra for today he wanted to know how alcohol felt like because he never drank it before people would often tell him it helped to relieve stress but it never worked to him because his “meridians” and body were already so clean from his chi that any poison that would enter would be forcefully dissolved into a positive fluid which was miraculous but dumb at the same time which were his thoughts at that day because it didn’t matter how much he tried he wasn’t able to get drunk…

At that day he decided to make a small stop and just sat onto a broken down smelly couch in the alleyway next to a metal barrel which was lit up giving him some warm and peace at the same time he also started to put the dollar bills of 100 dollars one at the time watching it burn in the fire…these bills of money were no use to him he already had a basement full of black or silver suit cases full of money in them…jewels gold and rare items you name he had it in his basement money was no longer a problem to him but he still collected it because it felt like he had a way of keeping himself sane with something like this…

“I can see you are having some fun…”

Raven was startled for a moment as he was surprised to hear that voice…it was Catelyn… his mother oh how he despised those words so he decided to just call her Catelyn after all.

Raven turned his head towards he in a annoyed and lazy manner behind her stood a limousine and another 4 buff guys with black suits and sun glasses… he never really saw those guys when she used to visit him… Hehe, this just goes to show that she is truly a CEO of one of the most largest gaming companies in the world…

“What do you want from me Catelyn…(Gulp)”

Raven said as he started drinking the whisky it didn’t make him drunk but gave him a nice hot sensation through his body which quickly turned cold through his chi.

Seeing me like this she frowned for a second but quickly recovered and started taking some steps forward, the buff bodyguards followed suit looking at me very hostile… Ohh so it’s her fan club huh… no wonder, she is very beautiful after all.

She sat down opposite of me onto another broken down couch her stylish clothing didn’t quiet match the couch looking very odd he bodyguards also advised her to stand up instead of sitting in something filthy as this. But her will was strong as she waved at her bodyguards for them to stay quiet…she took a glance towards the stacks of 100 dollar bills which I was letting sit open beside me one by one throwing it to the fire to let it burn…she had a slight expression of shock but quickly recovered and just enjoyed the warmth of the fire coming from the barrel…

“This is really nice isn’t its been a while since we just sat like this you remember when….”

“Nice my ass Catelyn just tell me what you want from me and fuck off”

Catelyn was shocked for a second as rude speech made the bodyguards shake for a second as the started walking towards me with outright hate in their gaze they even started to slowly reach for their waists… Hah,a this is more like it.

As he was about to draw his weapon I quickly grabbed the handle of of the suit case and threw it towards the guy in the process making the whole stacks of money fly in the air obstructing their view.. Hahah, this is the true meaning of “let it rain” !

Raven didn’t waste time and jumped up from his seat and got close to the one nearest to him, he channeled his chi for a second into his wrist and arm so there would be no recoil as he punched out with a vicious strike making his first opponent see stars as he fell down the rest also noticed one of their friend going down and started to charge at him but in the end as he started charging Raven was already next to him arriving in high speed his fist shot out like a bullet hitting his abdomen, making his blood flow out of his mouth profusely and like this it didn’t take long for him to take out the other 2 guys finishing the fight the moment the last 100 dollar bill flew to the ground…

“(Gulp) ehh what just..”

Catelyn was amazed by the fact that Raven was able to defeat her best bodyguards in a blink of an eye it only took like 10 seconds max for him to finish and his strikes were lethal too…she didn’t even have the chance shout “stop” to her bodyguards to the moment they were already out.

Raven turned around towards her keeping his gaze passive he told her almost threatening.

“If you don’t have anything on me then stop bothering me Catelyn and next time find some more usable goons than these”

Raven started to walk away but was stopped from Catelyn as she quickly grabbed onto his hand and at that very moment she noticed something odd…his hand..it was rough and hard as a rock..she had noticed in the past that he never wore t-shirts or any clothing that didn’t have any sleeves on them she had taken some glimpses at him for curiosities sake she more then once saw small scars under his neck but she didn’t try to ask him about it because she respected him a lot…but now this was getting even more frightening, the scars the fighting and the money…she had caused this…she knew she did the day she had abandoned her son was also the day she had started her life a new just to get another child after a year…not even her parents knew that she had another child because she hid it from them at the time when she was 16 she had a boyfriend who she loved a lot he had jet black hair and brown eyes like him he was decent and also very caring but one day he was involved in a car accident losing his life…she mourned for him and cried a lot and only after 2 weeks did she realize she had his child in him and was send into terror because of it…she was dumb and irresponsible at the time and just decided to abandon the child in a next to a orphanage…since then she had started a new life just to get another child and at that moment her parents already knew about Elisa she couldn’t just act like she did before and needed to properly raise her but at that time she didn’t have any thoughts about abandoning the child she more like felt that without it she would feel like dying because her boyfriend had left her so she raised her and the moment she felt warmth and love from raising her she also felt dread and despair remembering the event that had happened when she 16……she knew that it was a dumb thing to do which couldn’t be fixed but she could try at least and send a subordinate towards the orphanage to find that boy to only discover that…he was gone…no longer here just disappeared like that..the caretaker was also a bit troubled as she said that the boy ran away and had since not been seen anyone.

When she heard that she felt sad, really, really sad, and depressed but she couldn’t do anything and announcing something like this from a gaming company could potentially ruin everything her dream was about…so she stayed quiet just doing her work until one day when she tries to greet a neighbor she meets a boy a very clever and interesting one too he was mysterious but it seemed like he had his reasons so she never asked but she told him about herself a lot…about her husband but she never told him about her first child but she was sure she was one day going to do so but it was truly karma that the boy who was a good friend…turned out to be her son…

As she touched his cold hands she could tell what he had gone through over the years what kind of deeds were done through these very hands and what he had endured for so long…

Raven thou was furious as he shook his hand off from hers very rudely going back towards where his car was.

And as he started walking towards his car he could hear Catelyn falling down onto her knees as she started telling him

“Please…i won’t bother you anymore but please if you could just stop this then I swear I won’t ever start bother you anymore I will even give you as much money as you want but please…just stop”

Tears started to fall down her eyes but Raven was cold he had seen such scene dozens of times and he had a immunity towards it only giving a cold stare but this moment was something different…he calmed down seeing it like so he sighed deeply and took the short way out yelling at her.

“OKAY OKAY you won alright I stop gambling and in exchange you will never, never let your face come up to me !”

“Yes, thank you so much”

Catelyn nodded a small smile escaping her lips as she nodded her dozens of times with tears falling down her eyes ruining her makeup but Raven didn’t care as he continued walking down towards his car…he actually stopped for a few weeks but in the end he couldn’t go away from it…it had already turned into a heavy addiction.

Since then he didn’t see her again, he sometimes would meet with her in the entrance of their houses which were awfully close by but the ignored her as they were strangers which somewhat hurt the woman a lot she also didn’t try to do anything anymore because she assumed that he stopped gambling which wasn’t true and over all there was one thing that didn’t stop happening.

(DING DONG)

After few weeks the some rang his door bell, for a second he considered it to be Catelyn but scratched that and just opened the door to find…Elisa?

“Raven !”

When she saw him she immediately jumped at him into a embrace after a few second of struggling and adding some chi in his hands he was finally able to release himself from her frightful hug…her asked her why she was here and told her that he already had a deal with her mother but Elisa replied with.

“Huhh you are misunderstanding something you only said that to mother you didn’t make that deal with me so I am free to visit you anytime I want !”

She said while pridefully puffing her chest… Raven was a bit speechless but it was true but he still didn’t want to see her so he told her to go home which didn’t work he tried to be intimidating but for some reason it never worked against her…she explained that with it was because of their siblings bond which she total made up on the spot and since then she would come into my house daily…i even installed some heavy locks and blockades but she somehow always ends up inside…and like that I just gave up and let her…

==================================

Raven walked out of the bathroom he was finished with fixing his arm but he couldn’t remove the blood which wasn’t a problem because it blended in perfectly with his uniform the only problem here was Elisa who was standing hands crossed looking at me….

“You didn’t follow the deal mom and you had”

“Who cares about that shitty deal”

He said a bit annoyed and grumpy but at the same time he was a bit scared she would tell her mother about this because he couldn’t stand Catelyn he tried to think of something to keep her mouth shut but instead she jumped in front of him trying to make a cute pose as she gave him an offer.

“let’s make it like this I won’t tell mom about this and in exchange you really won’t start gambling again…”

He was wide eyed and delighted for a bit as he wanted to agree but she cut me off and added another condition with a sly smile on her face.

“But I want something more and because I want you to stop gambling and add another conditions…you have to play Phantasy Fables Online with me and go on a journey with me too !”

He froze for a second…Phantasy Fables Online….it was the game that Catelyn dreamed about and poured all of her hard work into it… Why does Elisa want him to play it ? It’s not like he can get the headset…no he can…he really forgot who he was talking to…

He sighed…and nodded his head in agreement…Elisa was happy jumping up and down like a little she was…on the other hand he wasn’t so much as excited…he had seen those dozens of commercials about the game how it was going change everything because of its 99.9 realism aspect many people wanted to play it and paid a lot of money in advance but to play it one had to get the VR helmet which was sold for a enormous amount of 200 thousand dollars a helmet and of course in the future it would get cheaper but because there were only a set amount of those helmets the prize obviously sky rocked it also gives a lot of players a head start if they buy it first making the chances of number 1 player in the world not just a dream so everyone wanted to buy one…

And here he was standing next to the daughter of the CEO of the gaming company… Now what ?