Jacob stepped quickly away from Rama and took a deep breath. His heart was racing, and he felt that same risk of collapse he had faced in the alley during his second encounter with the Order of Aman’thea. Jacob quickly tried to center himself, breathing deeply.
“It’s ok,” Rama spoke softly, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. “You’re back, you made it.”
Jacob shrugged off her hand and looked up at her. Her usual teasing expression was replaced with one of re-assurance, attempting to reduce his anxiety. He saw no malice or trickery in her eyes; the re-assurance felt sincere. Still breathing heavily Jacob looked around at the space he was in, his body shaking slightly.
The two of them stood in a strange representation of a classic “American” backyard, like those found in the situational comedy series that had been popular before the cards had appeared. Fake grass covered the ground beneath his feet in the bright space, and he saw a small playground complete with slide, swing set, and tunnel 20 feet to his right. A barbecue setup was to his left, closed up and unused. Jacob’s heartrate slowed as he took in the normalcy of the scene. It was unsettling with the context of its existence within the card factory, but after his experience it was grounding.
“See?” Rama continued to adopt the re-assuring tone, smiling gently “You’re back in the factory. You found a way out.”
“Where’s everyone else?” Jacob cleared his throat, attempting to banish the shakiness from his voice. He felt slightly weak, though he was glad the barbecue was closed. His stomach felt nauseous, and altogether he felt unsettled.
“Still making their way through.” Rama sat on a lawn sofa in the middle of the backyard, and gestured to a wicker armchair next to it. “Their journeys are all different.”
“So that did just happen.” Jacob walked over and sank into the chair Rama had indicated. It was oddly comfortable, if a little cold. “It was real.”
“Yes and no.” Rama lounged on her sofa, getting comfortable as she stretched herself out. “It was real. Once upon a time. In another place.”
“In what place.”
“A place that never forgot the Gods.” Rama looked at Jacob ominously “Or the cards that bound them.”
Jacob frowned and looked around the backyard.
“Why.” He finally said, looking directly at Rama.
“Why what?” Rama raised an eyebrow
“All of it.” Jacob felt his temper rise a bit, and he took a breath to keep it in check. “The strange rooms. The tests. What happened to the others. The riddles, and mystical nonsense, and riddles. Why?”
“To give perspective.” Rama lay down on her back, and closed her eyes as if to rest. Jacob stared at her for a moment in disbelief.
“Perspective on what?”
“Life.” Rama folded her hands on her stomach as she settled in “The universe. Everything.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will at the end. That I promise.”
“The end of the tour?” Jacob exhaled in frustration. “Or the end of whatever grisly demise you have planned for me.”
“You have earned the card’s faith.” Rama refused to look over at Jacob, continuing to rest peacefully “You’ll make it to the end of the tour.”
Jacob stared at Rama critically for a second as she rested on the sofa, before he exhaled sharply. Rama refused to move, her breathing slowing as she lay there. She wasn’t going to give him any answers, no matter how much he pressed the matter. Jacob sank further into his armchair, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. The vision he walked through still fluttered through his memory; dancing across his sight every time he closed his eyes. He could still feel the cool of the cavern and the icy chill of the waters.
He could still feel the fear of hearing the monstrous roar, alongside the understanding that it was meant for him. It was the same roar he had heard earlier in the sandstorm, in the vision that felt like an eternity ago - despite having only happened days before. So much had happened in the factory, yet it had been less than a day since they had disembarked from the Ceasarion.
Jacob opened his eyes and looked upwards, then frowned. The ceiling above him was painted a light blue, with cartoonish clouds sprinkled throughout. Light pastel flowers were painted between the clouds, and a large bulbous sun was painted directly above the back entrance to the house. The sun had a lopsided smiley face on it, making the entire ceiling appear as if it had been made by a child with fingerpaints. Jacob stared at the sun for a moment, before the face on it turned to look at him. The painted sun winked at him, then moved over to another part of the painting. Jacob shuddered a bit, and looked back towards the house.
“Mr. Sun likes you.” Rama said sarcastically.
“I don’t think I ever want to hear that sentence again.” Jacob grumbled.
The back door to the house opened suddenly, and Stan and his wife strolled out. They were both smiling and laughing a bit as they entered the backyard, Stan holding a very small plastic trophy in his right hand. His left arm was around his wife’s shoulders, and he had a wide grin on his face.
“I won my first match!” Stan spotted Jacob and Rama, and waved them down “Granted, it was pretty obvious they were going easy on me, but they gave me a little trophy that’s pretty cute.”
Jacob glanced over at Rama, who had sat up on the sofa. He raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged. Rama stood up and moved to one of the other wicker armchairs, leaving the couch open for Stan and his wife.
“Congratulations.” Rama said “Seems you made it through with a little extra confidence as well.”
“It was all thanks to this guy.” Stan abruptly clapped a hand on Jacob’s shoulder as he gave the little trophy to his wife. “Who I’m sure won his match.”
“I didn’t have a match.” Jacob cleared his throat akwardly at the attention “We all went someplace different.”
“Where did you go?” Stan dropped his smile and looked over at Jacob seriously for a moment “Somewhere bad?”
“Somewhen different.” Jacob looked at Rama, who met his gaze with a light smile “I was somewhere in the ancient past, walking through ruins.”
“What kind of ruins?” Stan dropped his hand from Jacob’s shoulder “Egyptian? Roman? Greek”
“Assyrian, I think.” Jacob sighed “Been a while since I studied things quite that ancient though. What about you though, where did this match take place?”
“Oh it was spectacular.” Stan leaned back, putting his arm around his wife again “One minute, spooky ghost hallway. I blink, and I’m in a massive arena. It was amazing. the audience was all around us, arranged in a spiral, all cheering as loud as they could.”
“You went to the Seventh International.” Jacob raised an eyebrow.
“How do you know?” Stan frowned at the interruption, getting torn from his reverie.
“The spiral seating. That’s from the Seventh International. Hong Kong hosted.” Jacob saw the puzzled look on Stan’s face, and adopted a re-assuring one on his own “We learned about the Internationals in the Card Academy. Had a bit of a phase my softmore year after joining a Card Fraternity. Please continue.”
“Didn’t know card Fraternities were a thing.” Stan noticed the ceiling for the first time, his voice fading out as he looked up “When I went to school I was in the science Frat. Is the sun supposed to be looking at us like that.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Mr. Sun likes Jacob.” Rama smirked.
“You were in an arena?” Jacob ignored Rama’s remark, getting Stan’s attention. The actor nodded.
“I’m standing in the middle of it, and suddenly two official looking guys shove me into one of those platforms you were in on the submarine.” Stan looked away from the ceiling, and back towards Jacob “And before I know it, I’m in the middle of a match. Granted not against Cleopatra, but it was still surprisingly tough.”
“And you won?” Jacob smiled at Stan, who nodded back eagerly. Stan was about to respond when the back door to the house they had been in suddenly slammed open. A very disheveled Veronica stumbled into the backyard, followed by the dazed form of her father.
“Where did you two just come from?” Stan looked at the pair in surprise.
“Monkeys.” Veronica sputtered out “So. Many. Monkeys.”
Veronica stumbled across the backyard towards the small playground. She sat on one of the swings and stared off into the middle distance. Her father followed close behind. Both of them looked incredibly disheveled; their clothes had multiple small rips, their hair was knotted and in a mess, and both looked as though they had been on a journey that had shaken them.
“They did not do so well on their journey.” Rama frowned “They made it out, but barely.”
“Where did you send them?” Jacob frowned as he looked over at Veronica
“Exactly where she said.” Rama sighed, and turned back to the group. “To a place with a lot of monkeys.”
Jacob sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand.
“So you won?” Jacob looked over at Stan, trying to return to the original topic.
“Barely.” Stan sighed “I only had 2-3 cards left in the deck. I got lucky more than anything else. But I trusted my gut, just like you said, and ended up catching him with a Snare at the last minute.”
“Machiavelli can be a bit tricky sometimes.” Rama interjected, glancing over at Stan “Level 1 user difficulty level, but he has a few surprises up his sleeve. You should be pleased about winning.”
“The system gave me this for winning. Called it a ‘Prize Card’.” Stan tapped his deck box, and it spat out a card. He held it out to Jacob “I wanted to know if it was any good.”
Jacob took it, and focused as he read the card. It was a Wonder Corp. Card, and appeared to be from an earlier production line given the condition of the card and how it felt in his hand. It was an equip card, with a slightly convoluted effect:
Conquests of a Prince - Equip - This card raises the Strength of what it is equipped to by 500 points. Every time the equipped card destroys a creature or another card, that card is resummoned to the caster who controls the card this is equipped to’s field; it’s strength and are defense are reduced by half. When this card or what it is equipped to is destroyed, all cards currently under control of the caster controlling this card are destroyed.
“I haven’t seen this card before, but it looks fairly powerful.” Jacob handed the card back to Stan, who beamed “It requires careful strategy though, I wouldn’t equip it to just anything. But on the right creature you could seriously stack your side of the field.”
“So long as the creature isn’t destroyed.” Stan looked over the card he had won, reading through the text “If it is, I lose everything.”
“Hence the caution.'“ Jacob nodded. Stan had been learning, and Jacob couldn’t help but be a little proud of him “It’s a high risk, high reward card. It has to be a part of a larger strategy, and used with great care.”
“I’ll do my best.” Stan nodded, and place the card back in his deck box. The box whirred as it randomized the cards.
“I think he did a great job.” Stan’s wife beamed, and looked over at Stan lovingly “I’m proud of you.”
Jacob felt a soft nuzzling at his legs, and looked down to spot a token identical to the ones summoned by his wall of Token at his legs. He looked over at Rama and raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t respond. She watched the interaction with bemusement, saying nothing as the Token continued to rub against Jacob’s leg. Cautiously, Jacob reached down and placed a hand on the creature. It made an almost purring sound, and Jacob pet its soft fur. He heard a light trilling, and looked over to see another Token being held by Stan’s wife. Jacob looked around the space as he heard more trilling, seeing more Tokens emerging throughout the backyard. They seemed to be coming from the Tunnel in the playground, bouncing around and playing amongst themselves.
The backyard soon filled with dozens of the creatures, which bounced and floated around the space happily. They came in a variety of sizes and differently colored furs, but were otherwise identical to the ones that had appeared when he had cast Wall of Token against Cleopatra: roughly house cat sized floating balls of poof, with large inquisitive eyes that chirped and squeaked as the bounced around the space.
“Get away from me!” The group glanced over as Veronica called out at the creatures, several of which were curiously surrounding her. She swatted several away, before getting up and walking over to the group. She moved fast to avoid the tokens, before standing behind the sofa.
“They aren’t trying to harm you, you know.” Rama raised an eyebrow “The tokens are just curious about you.”
“Well curiousity killed the cat.” Veronica grumbled.
“And satisfaction brought it back.” Rama grabbed a nearby token and stood up. She walked over and thrust it into Veronica’s arms, who cradled it uncomfortably. “These little ones are the entire purpose of this space. It’s all to test them out.”
The Token in Veronica’s hand began trilling calmly, and she begrudgingly started petting it.
“You built an entire backyard, to test tokens?” Jacob looked at Rama incredulously.
“Honestly with all the rooms you’ve seen, you shouldn’t be surprised.” Rama gave Jacob a look of mock reproach “This is far from the most dramatic or unusual thing you’ve seen today.”
Jacob shook his head, and leaned back into his chair. Several tokens quickly settled on his lap, trilling gently. He petted one of the absentmindedly.
“We wanted to test them in a home.” Rama continued, petting a Token that appeared on her lap. “Tokens don’t eat. They need minimal sleep. They don’t need to be walked and they don’t need to be cleaned up after. All of which makes them perfect substitutes for pets, for the many people who couldn’t otherwise afford one.”
“Until the card runs out.” Jacob raised an eyebrow “And suddenly Fido vanishes into nothingness.”
“That’s what the backyard is testing.” Rama smiled with pride “Perma-casting. Cast a card once - like this token -and it’s summoned for good. No need to constantly replace it in the caster, and no beloved family pet suddenly being sent to a farm upstate because the card ran into a time limit.”
“That seems like a system wildly easy to abuse.” Jacob frowned “What if someone casts something dangerous? A permanently cast army of Mysterious Figures could be potent in the wrong hands.”
“We’re working on a safety system.” Rama replied nonchalantly “These are meant for residential use, the perma-caster rejects any card with a strength stat over 250.”
The back door of the house opened a bit, and Jacob’s grandfather stuck his head out to peek at the space beyond. He saw Jacob and relaxed slightly, before stepping fully into the backyard. The moment he did several Tokens floated to him curiously.
“I think I missed something.” Jacob’s grandfather raised an eye at the dozens of Tokens bouncing around.
“You’re late.” Jacob replied dryly “What took you so long.”
“I was in an Ethics lesson in Hell.” Jacob’s grandfather walked over to the group, and Jacob stood up to offer the old man his seat. The old man accepted it gratefully, and immediately was swarmed by half a dozen tokens that settled into his lap. “Trolley problem. Ran simulations of it at least a dozen times.”
“How did you finally get out of it?” Jacob asked
“Derailed the train.” Jacob’s grandfather smirked slightly “Professor had to give me an A, though he didn’t seem to like it.”
“That’s certainly a novel approach.” Rama looked over at Jacob’s Grandfather with amusement “What would Phillipa Foot think?”
“Nothing, she’s dead.” Jacob’s grandfather looked over to him, and gestured at the pile of tokens in his lap, which was slowly growing in number “What’s with the furballs.”
“Rama’s re-inventing pets.”
“Re-inventing the wheel already taken?” Jacob’s grandfather teased lightly, looking at Rama.
“To close to a DefTech project.” Rama smiled lightly “This seemed more original.”
“I want one.” Veronica suddenly spoke up, and the group suddenly looked over at her. Two more tokens had perched on her shoulder, as she looked at the Token in her arms.
“A few more tests, and they’ll be ready for initial release.” Rama replied, brushing a few tokens off of her lap. Jacob smiled a bit as several joined the growing pile in his Grandfather’s lap, who appeared to be uncomfortable at the slowly growing mass of fur in his lap.
“I want this one.” Veronica didn’t look away from the token, her voice growing more insistant “Not some general release. This one.”
“That one is not ready for the outside world.” Rama exhaled sharply, a warning note in her voice “It’s not safe yet.”
“Nothing in this factory is safe.” Veronica’s voice developed a sharp edge “We’ve been through gunfights, creatures, people turned to stone, haunted houses, monkeys. You haven’t cared about safety before. And I want this one.”
“No.” Rama locked eyes with Veronica, her voice growing cold.
“What I want, I get.” Veronica gripped the Token tightly, a strangely fierce look gleaming in her eyes. “I’ve gone through too much, you owe me this. Give me this one, or I don’t continue.”
“I would watch your tone.” Rama rose to her feet “This is not your factory. You are a guest. And under contract.”
“I couldn’t give a damn about the contract.” Veronica stared back “I want this one.”
The two stared each other down unflinchingly, and Jacob noticed the trilling of the tokens had stopped. The hair stood up on the back of his neck, and Jacob glanced around the room to see that all the Tokens had stopped bouncing around. Every single one had frozen in place, slowly surrounding the group. He rose to his feet slightly as he saw them slowly growing closer, silently approaching the confrontation.
“Veronica-” Jacob was cut off by a sudden flood of movement, as every token in the room rushed towards Veronica. The woman screamed as they grabbed her, small tentacle-like arms wrapping around her arms in multiple places. The one she had been holding wrapped its arms around her chest as she was dragged away, holding itself just above her heart. The woman was quickly dragged by the creatures towards the tunnel, her screams echoing off of it as they pulled her inside. Veronica and the tokens suddenly moved downward, disappearing into the floor of the tunnel before anyone could react. The rest of the tokens flooded after them, Veronica’s screams fading quckly as she was dragged out of hearing range.
The backyard fell into silence, nobody moving a muscle. Neither Veronica nor the tokens re-appeared.
The tokens had taken Veronica.
big in the climax of book 1. That’s a bit of a ways away, but I’m hoping to add a bit more casting and card work before then. After all, folks read deckbuilding stories for the deck building. Still, the next few chapters are important, and build up in important ways to the biggest arcs at the end of the novel.
slightly different. Every character has a story, every story has a purpose.
trust in the cards…
Would you want a Token pet?
