Effect:
Subjective time may be slowed. Mental fatigue scales exponentially with use.
James blinked.
He dropped out of the Commander’s Space mid-thought and gasped in pain. Deep claw gouges raked his leg and his shoulder. It was instantly clear why. Wolves were everywhere. Shadows slid between the trees, eyes glinting pale. His Thorncat, bigger than before, was an imposing figure and evidently why he was not yet dead.
Pack hunters!
The alpha padded forward, scar-face framed in silvered fur. The others fanned out, circling. Green-bristled muscles and amber eyes kept them from a frontal assault, for now.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
Play Card – Garron, Highway Footpad (Common)
Effect: Garron, Highway Footpad summoned.
The card was common, and it showed.
Bronze embroidery threaded the frame, patterns more deliberate than the crude outlines of his earlier summons. The frame stretched as it spun, growing until it stood as tall as a doorway.
It did not stop there.
The card slid forward along the ground, upright, like a door being pushed through the world. As it passed, Garron was simply left behind.
James caught a glimpse through the frame as it moved past. A white room. A simple bed. No windows.
Then the surface clouded. The card went blank, shrank back to its usual size, and snapped onto James’s right arm.
“Protect me,” James said.
Garron rolled his shoulders once, already drawing the daggers from his belt.
“Yes, Commander,” he said, smirking. “Took you long enough.”
The pack struck.
The Thorncat met them head-on, leaping clean over the first wolf and crushing its spine on the landing.
The corpse shimmered with a soft glow.
James lunged forward, dodged a swipe, and then slapped a hand to the wolf’s body.
System Notice – Essence Stabilized
Loot, bind, or harvest options now available.
Bind.
The wolf dissolved into motes. It was enough to confuse the nearby pack for a few critical moments.
Card Obtained: Greyfang Wolf
- Category:
- Rarity:
- Type:
- Slots Required:
- Abilities:
- Traits:
- Size:
- Weight:
- Level Requirement:
- Uses Remaining:
- Rarity:
Trait Activated – Commander’s Time
Nominated Speed: 1/20th (max)
Effect: While in Commander’s Space time passes at 1/20th normal speed.
The world outside crawled at one-twentieth speed, the limit for now. The white noise was thicker now. Heavy. He felt like he was wading through the air.
He called the wolf’s card to hand, slapped on +2 Might, and set On-Proximity.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
A flare of heat, and a new wolf tattoo formed on his forearm.
The work at this speed sent a sharp, behind-the-eyes ache radiating through his skull.
He dropped back out.
Nothing happened.
The intended distraction and momentum swing didn’t happen, and he took a nasty gash to the back, the wolf leaping away before James could retaliate.
Meanwhile, another wolf clamped down hard on Garron’s arm, teeth punching through leather. Garron drove his dagger into its side, point-first and brutal. The beast fell.
System Notice – Greyfang Wolf Defeated. (6 Remaining)
Garron’s blade flashed, suddenly moving faster than before. He pivoted, caught another wolf mid-lunge, and buried his blade deep into its ribs.
System Notice – Greyfang Wolf Defeated. (5 Remaining)
But Garron’s left arm hung limp now, blood soaking his sleeve. His breath rasped. Guard still up. Barely.
Remorse gripped James like a vise. Garron didn’t deserve this. No one did.
He gave the mental command to return. Garron dissolved into motes, fading back into his card.
Horror gripped James. Desperate or not, this was wrong, slavery of the worst kind. No justification. His soul was stained by his actions, and he knew it.
Immediately after Garron dissolved, his wolf tattoo triggered in a mild wave of heat.
With Garron gone, the active slot cleared. The tattoo tore free from his skin and unfolded into the enhanced Greyfang wolf, already mid-summon.
The wolf appeared at his side, thicker through the shoulders, heavier with muscle, carrying the bulk of the Alpha itself. The pack froze for half a breath, eyes flicking between the two.
Then his newly minted “Alpha-strong” wolf lunged at its former packmate, jaws crushing down.
Confusion rippled through the formation like a wave.
In response, the alpha howled, deep and guttural. The sound rolled through James like thunder, snapping him out of his stupor.
The pack snapped back into formation, confusion gone.
The Thorncat had the alpha pinned, spikes punching deep. But two wolves kept darting in from the sides, forcing it to twist away from the killing blow. Every one of them bore the marks of those spines: bleeding cuts, torn hide, but they were still coming.
The surprise wolf had bought time, but the momentum was sliding back.
James found and claimed another wolf kill and yanked it into Commander’s Time again at full.
The Greyfang wolves had no traits worth doubling, but the Thorncat did: Thornhide
He stripped enhancements, slapping Double Thornhide onto the Thorncat and giving the wolf a +0.5 boost to all stats to keep it swinging. He applied On-Proximity to the wolf.
The moment he finished, the compounded strain broke something in his head. Pain lanced through his skull, worse than before.
Returning to the real world, he gasped the command:
And then he was on the ground, screaming, hands to his temples, the world dissolving into noise and pain.
James’s eyes stayed shut, hands clamped over his ears as every sound punched straight through his skull. Vertigo racked him. He vomited, then curled tight to shield himself as best he could.
Something impacted his back, but the shock landed in his head instead.
Gradually, the din faded.
He lost track of time. Could’ve been minutes. Could’ve been hours.
Eventually, the spinning slowed enough for him to uncurl.
He risked opening his eyes.
The light was low now, painting the forest in gray-blue shadows.
The Thorncat stood nearby, fur bristling, amber eyes sweeping the treeline.
Every so often it rumbled low, the kind of sound that told anything out there to try its luck elsewhere.
That, or the wolf corpses scattered around had done the trick.
The notifications told the rest: both wolf summons were gone. Dead.
The pouch had stayed still the whole time. No movement, no chirp.
Squire knew better than to poke her head out during a wolf attack. Smart girl.
He moved away from the foul pool of vomit before cleaning himself up with some water.
James wasn’t sure how long the Thorncat would stick around, so he didn’t waste time.
First, the Alpha was carded without hesitation. Then two of the remaining wolves.
Card Obtained: Greyfang Alpha-Wolf
- Category:
- Rarity:
- Type:
- Slots Required:
- Abilities:
- Traits:
- Crafter:
- Size:
- Weight:
- Level Requirement:
- Uses Remaining:
- Rarity:
The other four wolves he looted, hoping for something useful. He wasn’t disappointed.
Loot Obtained and added to Inventory
- 4x Greyfang Pelts
- 4x Wolf Tokens
- Greyfang Leather Armor(+light resistance vs. bite/slash)
Getting the armour on took longer than he liked, fingers still clumsy from the headache. Still, better to wear it than carry it, especially with night pressing in.
He and the Thorncat set off through the trees.
Three hours later, just as the village lights came into view between the branches, the beast dissolved into motes.
The experience taught James that Death-Marked creatures did not make for good travel partners. He hadn’t even been able to lean on the creature due to the multitude of spines.
The silence, apart from his shuffling of feet and slight groans of pain, pressed closer without it. Squire slept soundly, safe in her pouch, and that would have to do.
By the time he reached the gates, night had settled in.
They were already shut.
“Bloody hell.”
??? System Caution: Squire has claimed this time slot as “Squirrel Hour.”
All unauthorized card access will be subjected to tail-thwaps.