The Needy seaps the seams of the planet. He is all around, ubiquitous in the present day, always looking for permission to move in and claim a victim who has given up on life. His inky, black form has expanded, and during the recent Ill Nights, he has only been bolstered; there was much despair during that period and many were happy to end that existence.
Since his first emergence, the Needy has occupied the mantle of the Earth as an amorphous blob that oozes over glowing rocks,and if inhabitants of the planet listen closely, they can hear him calling to them, reminding them of the fleeting nature of their lives, and entreating them to give their lives over to him. In the still moments of loneliness, he can be heard, echoing thoughts of destitution, and when a person gives into the feelings of hopelessness, part of the Needy’s black form seeps the crust to the surface and takes his prize.
This has been the existence of the Needy for millennia, until he met a woman who could cultivate feelings of destitution in others. When they met, a partnership was formed and the Needy had his first human avatar who did his bidding on the surface while he continued to intince beings to their end.
This woman was born in Mississippi, USA in 1919 and she lived there for most of her life. She was reared to be ruthless. Her parents were hustlers in Jackson, Mississippi who had learned to scam their way to prosperity in a time when black people were second class citizens. Because the white members of their community wouldn’t allow them to fully participate in society, and continually robbed them of their dignity, this family decided that it would exploit the weaknesses of their white neighbors to get the things they needed.
Her name was Mavis and when she was thirteen, she was the best poker player in the state, possibly the country, though she rarely got the chance to demonstrate her skills to anyone outside of Jackson. When she was twenty, her reputation spread and she was invited to exclusive games with rich old men who enjoyed the novelty of her presence at first, until she systematically took all of their money. There were times when players refused to accept their defeat, either because of her race or sex, and Mavis would calmly leave the table. She never forgot a face, and her cousins would help her exact revenge. They would kidnap the sore loser well after they forgot about Mavis, sometimes up to a year after the game, and Mavis would toture them in a barn until they begged for death.
Mavis was a millionaire by her twenty-fifth birthday, and she was the best card player of any game. By then, she relished the slow torture on the faces of her opponents who usually started the game with the confidence that they would be the one to beat her. And she especially loved the sore losers, though they were few and far between because rumors of her ruthlessness had spread by that point.
She wasn’t just a poker player, either. Mavis was an expert at any game that involved wagering money, and she was most well known in her community for her skills at spades and tunk. This only increased the number of people that she bled dry and caused them to feel real hopelessness and destitution.
She met the Needy in the backroom of the speakeasy where she ran her table. She had a regular poker game every night of the week, and in the afternoons she ran games of tunk. The first weekend of every month, she hosted a spades tournament at her table.
As she counted her money late one night, sitting at her table, she saw shadows moving from the corner of her eye.
“Who dat?” she asked as she turned toward the movement.
She gasped when she saw the shadows moving and collecting into the form of a body that sat in the chair next to her.
“What you do in this room is the work of the Omega,” the black form said in a gravelly voice that sent shivers down her spine.
Mavis was scared, but she tried to hide it.
“What dat supposed to mean?” she asked and put her elbows on the table.
“You rob your fellow man of the will to live,” the black form said. “The people who leave this room have become a reliable source for my nourishment. And you are the cause of their enlightenment. Because of you, they understand the pointlessness of their existence and they give themselves to me.”
“What is you?” Mavis asked.
“I am the Needy, and I would have you as my partner. Let me show you what I can offer you.”
Mavis was covered by the black form, but it did not consume her. The Needy convinced her that they were the same.
“I have imbued you with my powers,” the Needy said when he separated from her. “When you consume others, it will feed me, us, for you are part of me. Kill their will, take their fortunes, and convince them of their true purpose. Give to the Needy.”
Mavis smiled a dark smile. She picked up a deck of cards and shuffled it in the elaborate way that she had learned over the years, and a dark fog surrounded the deck. She imbued it with the magic of the Needy.
The enchanted deck of Mavis Turner consumes losers whole and feeds the insatiable hunger of the Needy.
She is an old woman today, but she still feeds her partner. She is not long for the world, and she has identified her grandson Zacchaeus as the heir to her enchanted deck.
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