Medium Apollo of the Cosmos
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Runes is an ancient art, a game that to most seems to have always existed. There are a select few who remember its birth, but they keep this story to themselves as to not taint what the game has become.
Medium Apollo of the Cosmos is not one of these ancient wizards, but he knows the most important thing about Runes: it binds. The bonds created through shared experiences are some of the most powerful spells in the Runiverse. People sit down to play a game, but little do they know they are performing magic. They enchant the other, they enchant themselves.
An invitation to play and the acceptance. Sealed with a nod, handshake, a smile...
Presenting yourself to another, coexisting in the same space. Vulnerable...
The flipping through the cards as you find your hand to play with...
The positioning of the board, in between the two players. A bridge...
Placing the cards on the board, allowing a story to unfold. A story within a story...
The resolution of the game, the acknowledgment of the victor. A celebration...
And the departure. Separate but now tethered by magic.
Apollo knows this magic all too well. Growing up, he played Runes with some of his best friends in various basements, kitchen tables, and local card shops. They spent countless hours sparring, laughing, bonding. As Apollo grew up, naturally him & his friends played less as responsibilities blossomed. But this didn’t sit right with him. What Runes gave him & his friends growing up was lacking in the world around him. People walked past each other without recognizing anyone. They occupied the same space without really coexisting. They interacted but those interactions were shallow, without meaning. And when they parted ways, nothing persisted to bind them.
Feeling the weight of a world without magic, he walked to a park him and his friends would frequently play cards in during the hot summers. He sat down & with his head in hands, found himself lost and asking himself a question he didn't know the answer to. As he lifted his head, hoping to see the answer in the Cosmos above him he was greeted by a little girl standing next to the table.
Girl: Up for a game?
She reached out to him, and in her hand was a small pile of Runes cards. He accepted.
She gleefully sat down and placed the board in between them. The two played dozens of games. He flipped through the cards that he knew all too well but felt like he hadn’t seen in an eternity. They laughed and cheered each other on. He felt that feeling. The magic that he was missing.
Girl: Apollo, the world needs people to bring it together. You don’t have to live in a world without magic.
Apollo: But how?
The little girl smirked. She took a card out of a chest pocket and placed it face down on the table.
Girl: You know what to do!
A light breeze started to blow just hard enough to push the card off of the table. Apollo bent down to pick up it up & when he finally rose she was gone.
He looked at the card & on it he found an image of himself.
She was right, Apollo knew what he had to do. He traveled back to his childhood home & gathered all of the Runes cards that him and his friends used to play with.
Now, whenever someone is looking for respite, craving a connection, or needing a touch of fun, Apollo is there with cards in hand.
Apollo: Up for a game?
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Credit to @_giveahoot & ozzzmabro
Entered by: 0x5534…Bd9a and preserved on chain (see transaction)
