The Fool was falling.
He was falling through space. He passed planets, suns, and stars. He saw galaxies and giant colorful clouds of gas. He wasn’t breathing, but after some panic, he found that it didn’t matter. He gave up and decided to just take in the beauty around him. The vacuum of space was bigger than his conscious mind could emotionally fathom.
He fell for several geological eons – or maybe a few heartbeats – before he started hurtling towards a planet. It was Earth, but the Fool didn’t know that. As he came through the atmosphere his clothes started smoking. His skin started burning and bubbling up. Skin ripped off his body.
He was then suspended in the air, in a blue sky framed by white fluffy clouds. Before him floated a giant wheel. A crank jutted out from one side. All along the outer rim, creatures that looked kind of like a cat, a rabbit, and a monkey were struggling to get to the top of the wheel. This was the Wheel of Fortune.
From out of the clouds, a giant hand casually descended and, using just a finger, activated the crank a half turn. The monkey flew off and fell into the clouds below. The monkey wore a priest collar and had been holding a cross, but lost his grip on it when he was flung from the lurching wheel. The cat-like creature, who had on a crown, was curled up on top, while the rabbit hung on with dear life on the other side.
The Fool watched as the priest-monkey struggled back up to the top of the wheel. When he almost got there, the hand came out of the clouds again, and with nothing but the pointer finger, turned the wheel another half crank. This time, the cat and the monkey fell into the clouds while the rabbit made it to the top.
I am the worker, the rabbit said to the Fool. I have been at the top the least amount of times. My time here is short, but I am always grateful to be here. The monkey is religion and the cat is government, and they will fight furiously to be at the top. For a long, long time, they shared the top while I hung on to the bottom. A giggle was heard from the clouds around them and the hand returned, flicking the cat from climbing back up the wheel. The monkey laughed as the cat flew past him into the clouds. The Fool stayed suspended in air, watching this madness unfold.
You must be here to see where your luck will take you next, the monkey said. We are forever here struggling to keep our fortune. The rabbit sighed as he tried to pull himself up to the top, but just as he’d almost gotten there, the giant finger came out of the cloud again and cranked the wheel. The rabbit flew off and into the clouds.
You see that there are markings on the wheel, the monkey said as he climbed out of the clouds and back onto the wheel. They represent the four ingredients in everything: earth, fire, air, and water. If you can mix them right, you master alchemy.
The rabbit, too, climbed out of the clouds and laughed, The word ROTA that is written on it just means wheel. It is a cruel contraption that randomly alters a person’s course in life. Another giggle from the clouds and the wheel was suddenly spinning again; this time, all three animals dropped into the clouds below.
Why are you so cruel? the Fool asked the giant hand, but the only reply was the giggle of a baby from the clouds above him. He realized that their fates were in the hands of a giant baby in the sky, a baby playing with a wheel, while religion, government, and industry all vied for power.
This reminded the Fool of the Hierophant and the pentacle – except, where he could feel some empathy for the Hierophant’s servitude, and the pentacle only represented wealth, this was just cruelty. There were no heroes in this story. The Fool felt no compassion for any of this. He would be the master of his own destiny. He didn’t want the cruel baby god to play him like a puppet. If he failed, he wanted it to be on his terms, and if he succeeded, that also would be on his terms. These animals were just in an eons-long struggle – or maybe it took place over the course of an afternoon – to be the chosen one, while the rest of us became the consequence of those changes. The Fool wanted no more masters.
He felt himself slowly lower into the clouds. The clouds were cool and moist on his raw skin. Somewhere in the distance he could see lightning. When he came out below the clouds he was over an ocean. He saw two giant baby legs standing in the deep sea. He saw a coastline, and tried to aim for the sandy beach. He was going to figure out how to change his fortune.