Finale's Opener

*Erasure Complete*

*Please input command*

"Please." This echoes in my mind until fading into the void, like all else seems to have already done. Memory gone, I stare at the blinking cursor, but realize soon enough that I have no command to prompt, so I leave.

A whistle in the dark

An echo off unseen surfaces

A sudden sense that my pocket(a) contain(s) something

A deck of cards

I find the light and splay the cards on the felt. It all comes rushing back, not in detail, but in full, in summary, signified by each card's face. I have been here before, many times in fact. In this space between end and beginning, often the whistle is sufficient to bridge the gap, with me none the wiser, so why not this time?

I thumb through the cards and their meaning hits me like a sunbeam while first waking. Every card represents a run, and the deck is full. This could not have happened before, and it will not be happening again, not to me, at any rate. I slide my hand back, restacking the deck, and the summaries cascade as a kind of deja vu, in a flash training, imbuing me with every move I've ever needed, but did not have in concert until this pass. I pocket the deck, and make my way down the hall.