《The King of Games》
Prologue: The Lord of Neutrality and the Old God
The King of Games
Prologue: The Lord of Neutrality and the Old God
The world was still, the sky and the earth both bleached and the white on bone, fields of ivory grass spreading out marked out by streaks of black, shivering and fading pulsating like lightning through the earth, stretching ever onwards and outwards, towards the horizon, a single black line over which a blue sun rose, clear and pure as saphire, emitting from itself and eerie light, casting the crowd and the creature before them in blue...
"Welcome one and all; I am your host - my name is Tarveil - I am a god." The creature spoke and its'' words were punctuated with the rattle of chains and the flutter of paper, two hands each ten metres across placed upon its chest just above its heart while the other two were pressed firmly against its gut. From its'' waist a pair of wings bloomed, folding downwards to cover its'' legs and it knelt before them, several eyes blasted hodgepodge upon its'' head swivelling around as it spoke its words defying common sense as it lacked a mouth to speak them. "I have called you here, a force numbering three-hundred-thousand-four-hundred-and-thirty-two; for a very important purpose. I ask you to save the world." The creature spoke swinging its'' arms forwards towards the crowd, its'' body creaking, skin like petrified wood cracking with each slight movement, rattling the chains embedded within its'' wrists and shaking the paper talismans strung along its limbs. And slowly a sense of understanding began to descend upon them all, alongside fear and dread and so many other emotions beside, and as one that living sea began to undulate, bodies pressed tight, pushing forwards and backwards, but for a few; a few individuals who stood calm before the self-proclaimed god, and soon enough its'' eyes latched upon them, one by one and then it spoke.
"Do not be alarmed, do not be frightened; I am sure many of you have at least some inkling of what is to follow, and I''m certain many more wonder why I have summoned you in particular: allow me to elaborate, from the beginning." The creature let out a deep sigh bringing its'' arms up above its'' head a pallid red light emitting from each, four points of light clear amid the void slowly spreading outwards, to form a box within the air above, drawing out images and pictures changing and shifting in fast succession. The beast began to narrate.
"Once long ago there was a war. Humans battled elves and dwarves and giants and dragons and the very gods themselves each to claim the magic residing deep beneath the earth. Old friendships were forgotten, ancient alliances were left to rot and past debts were abandoned as the world descended into a war which scorched history black; an age that none now living may remember. It was nine hundred years later that all of this changed, the races weakened and ruined from their many battles, and generations of suffering came to the field of Tarm the sight of the last well of magical power and according to some the birthplace of magic itself. They had battled their way through the ancient forests that surrounded the field, a stretch of land filled with creatures strange and wild and arrived at the field of golden grass only to find it strewn with remnants of stone scattered through the grass the great tower that had once stood at the fields centre having collapsed and the final well of magic having sunken deep into the soil of the earth. The war was over, but no one had won, many races had fallen and died in the long battles since its beginning, and all of it was for nought. The gods could no longer maintain their immortality and so descended to the earth to live out their remaining existence among their people, those ancient dragons could no longer find the magical power to bring more of their kind into the world and slowly they began to vanish from the face of the Alneir, and as for the other races; they secluded themselves within their kingdoms, raised their borders and set to rebuilding what they had lost, left lamenting the folly which had driven them to this end. So the Long War ended, so the final battle drew to a close without the shedding of a single drop of blood and the old magic that imbued the land did die." The creature hung its head a chill breeze blowing in the restless crowd remaining silent stunned by this creature who proclaimed itself a god, as the pictures faltered showing various creatures returning home to till the soil and raise new foundations amid the ashes of their world.
"But time passed as time must and the races once again emerged into the light, with new cities founded upon a new power. In the absence of the magic that had once allowed them to thrive, the people began to learn, they started to adapt and so gave birth to the rise, of technology, iron and steam and engines these became the driving forces in the continent of Laodemass until once more magic resurfaced within the land."
"A wizard came from a distant land, a small island hidden somewhere out amidst the sea where they were able to harness the meagre remaining magic inside their own bodies allowing them to transfer objects and animals into physical containers, into cards each embedded with a small crystal. Once again the world had changed and magic began to flourish through the land used in all ways and walks of life; and something strange began to happen, the magic which had built up beneath the earth unused and untapped began to rise, it formed vaults beneath the earth within which could be found new cards, inside of which were contained the monsters, weapons, spells and heroes of the ancient past those had had fallen during the nine-hundred years of war an eon ago. So these cards flooded the streets and markets and the courts of kings, and magic itself began to develop a new meaning. Now this is where you come in." The crowd shifted, and the uneasy silence which had followed the mass panic of their sudden realisation dissipated, leaving each and every one of them in rapt attention.
"Now the king of Orgile lies upon his death bed; a good man, a wise man who brought the many human nations together and began trade amongst the other races of the world; and now the question arises who shall take his place? The order of winged words, his ministers and magicians who helped him govern. The Iron fist nobles, who supported his endeavours with military might. The Crown head; the princess, the kings¡¯ illegitimate daughter behind whom the knights have pledged their cause. The Pillars of the temple, Orgile''s religious faction, who help the weak and down-trodden and whose aid first allowed King to expand into other nations without need for violence or upset. Or perhaps the red banner kin a band of refugees fleeing the ever-growing war to the north who settled in the slums at the edge of the kingdom and who, when the kingdom was in peril from those same northern invaders rose to defend their surrogate walls and by whatever grace fate allowed drove back the offending army when the nation would have otherwise fallen. Who should claim the throne? Does this sound familiar" The god opened its'' eyes at last slowly lowering its'' arms a quiet acceptance, and a silent outrage rising up to meetit as dropped its arms down to rest beside its'' knees and it continued its'' explanation; "I am the god of reincarnation, and I have brought you to this world to play a game. Each and every one of you played the card based RPG known as Kings Game, a game which I created and distributed out into your world. I am the last of the gods, only I refused to shirk my duty of protecting this world, and I am truly sorry for what I have had to do. You were selected; the best and the bravest to prevent the coming of another war, of a battle which will start in the heart of humans lands and spread outwards to encompass the world. I ask you to stop this war from ever taking place and as such I shall send you forth; each of you shall receive a new deck of cards to match the value of the ones you lost, I will grant you the last of my magical power and provide each of you a place to call home but first there is more matter I must attend to." The God spoke slowly pointing upwards towards the empty sky and the sapphire sun which had, in the brief time they had been waiting, moved to rest above them finally touching on its'' zenith: "I shall select your leaders, the strongest members of each faction within the game, not those who won most often, or who had the strongest deck but those whose resilience, patience and intelligence had earned them their place at the peak of gaming!" The God laughed as slowly the ground beneath them began to shake, violent tremors rising from the soil, five pillars each no more than one meter across rising upwards into the air; and a rattled voice rang out; "Behold your lords, Ozmar of the pillars of the temple, Ferdinand from the crown head, Usuck of the iron fist nobles, Le Morte from the winged words and Hon of the red banner kin. They are the strongest among you, now look down for their upon the palm of your hand now lies your name, rank and affiliation and mana capacity. Hereby you are constrained: only be able to use the cards of the class written their upon your palm. Now go, decide amongst yourselves through battle, or through trade, or alliance who shall become ruler of Orgile and keep this world safe from harm, go; become heroes!" Tarveil screamed the ancient god swinging out his arm, the pillars crumbling down to dust the so called lords standing at their tops vanishing and becoming dust, as slowly the crowd began to thin and one by one they popped out of existence, would be heroes and aspiring rulers alike.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
And as all this transpired, as this game of heroes and gods unfolded, only one thought crossed his mind, one question; what in the hell was going on?
"This is total bullshit, send me back home!" Rian flinched the burly man beside him letting out a vicious cry rushing forwards through the slowly diminishing crowd before collapsing, falling down into a pile of dust which let off a bright sparkling effect before vanishing forever. He really didn''t understand what was going on, he''d heard whatever that thing had said, he''d heard it loud and clear but that didn''t explain a thing. Were they supposed to understand what Tarveil was saying? The so called god had just been going on about some random nonsense, like out of some fantasy board game intro; he''d played plenty of those games as a child, he''d dreamed about appearing in such a fantasy world himself, but that was a long time ago; he was forty-five years old now. Just five more years and he was planning on retiring, he''d been working as archivist for the past thirty years, he was old and he was frail, so why was he being brought to another world? He reached up rubbing the sides his head, his skin cold and clammy beneath his touch as he swallowed those around him slowly vanishing one by one in a twinkle of light. Tarveil had mentioned something about his palm before hadn''t he? Rian brought his hand down in front of his face his eyes fixing on his palm, before abruptly turning it over and back again. Something was wrong.
He swallowed hard and checked his other hand; it wasn''t there either. He couldn''t find it; the god had claimed that everything was supposed to be written down on his hand hadn''t he? The old man grit his teeth slowly stumbling forwards before taking in a deep breath and raising his head. This was probably just a dream, he''d just end up blipping out of existence like everyone else and he''d wake up in his own bed. Rian nodded casting his gaze about the field, the grass and the sun and the earth itself slowly crumbling away into flakes of glowing light. They''d all gone, everyone else had vanished already, he was alone.
"That''s strange..." The old man muttered, a cold sweat slowly breaking out across his forehead, as he turned he turned looking through the empty expanse once more before a dull crash following by the rattle of iron chains turned his attention backwards.
"Strange indeed." A soft voice replied Rian turning to face Tarveil several eyes looking Rian up and down from high above, before giant turned slowly to look down at his arm, the great limb having tumbled down towards the ground, slowly breaking away into tiny pinpricks of light. "That is strange; you played the game didn''t you? Otherwise you shouldn''t be here." The god sighed turned his attention back Rian standing awestruck for a brief moment, his mouth moving all on its'' own.
"Y... Your arm, are you-"
"Its'' fine, I did say I was giving everyone the last of my power didn''t I?" The Old Godsighed, pale blue lights continuing to rise upwards from his body gathering near the sapphire sun above "this is just what happens when a god runs out of magic; it is nothing to worry about. Please answer my question."
"You mean about the game?" Rian murmured, biting down upon the side of his thumb, his thoughts slowly whirring back. "My nephew mentioned he was playing it, I visited him on his fifth birthday and he asked me to get the game on my phone so we could play together next time we met..."
"Indeed, Will Lion your'' sister¡¯s son he played the game as well."
Rian paused his arms dropping down to his side as he looked up towards the god.
"Does that mean he was here as well?" Rian questioned his voice somewhat steadier, his knuckles slowly creaking as he made his way in the direction of the thing that had summoned them.
"Meaningless..." The god wheezed eyes spinning inside its'' head as it slowly lowered itself down slumping onto the earth. "Another requirement for you to be summoned, you must be meaningless. Those who were brought here will soon be found dead on earth, as long as their deaths would have seriously impacted another they were not brought here. I cannot say for certain he was not summoned but, if someone cared for him or relied upon him then he will not be here." Rian paused letting out a momentary sigh of relief; Alicia, his sister, loved that kid, she doted on him since the moment he was born, and even more so far after her husband left her: William would be safe.
"Please answer my question now, my time is running out. Why is it you are still here, which faction did you join in the game, what happened?" Tarveil pushed placing his head down looking Rian eye to eye. He looked happy... No maybe content fit better. Seeming him up-close it was obvious, this god was old, over a thousand years old at least, he must have been through a lot.
"I didn''t choose a faction that''s all." Rian laughed rubbing the back of his head, "I was still working my way through the introduction, and I never really had time to actually start playing."
"Is that so?" Tarveil questioned, a soft laugh slowly escaping the old God its'' eyes closing as it pulled itself back, another arm coming free of its'' body as he slowly broke into a long laugh, his body creaking and cracking with each breath. "How entertaining, humans truly are the most interesting race; so unpredictable. Ah I''m sorry."
"Sorry?" Rian questioned
"Indeed, I''m sorry, it seems you are at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to the others, as it is surviving in Alneir may pose a challenge... I already sent the others to their faction head quarters and since you don''t possess a faction a doubt any of them would willingly take you in." The God sighed with a brief shake of the head sending another torrent of lights upwards into the air
"Then why can''t you just give me a faction?" Rian questioned; he wasn''t sure whether what he was experiencing was a dream, reality or the result of one of his co-workers slipping something into his coffee but he desperately wanted it to be over.
"I don''t have enough magical power to connect you to a single elemental faction. But I suppose I do have enough raw magical power... Then its'' decided, you shall become the fifth faction of this war, a one man army if you like!" The god laugh, Rian nodding along, his instincts telling him that things were slowly starting to spiral out of control. "You shall be the Lord of the neutral faction, which I hereby name Grey Land! Ah, and as for a working deck I suppose I ought to give you a little help oughtn''t I? Now let''s see, I''ll give you one card pack; that''s five cards, and I guarantee that at least one of them will be ranked legendary."
"Are you sure that''s alright?" Rian questioned the God pausing once more to look at the old man, "Isn''t it unfair to give me extra help?"
"Everyone else will have at least two legendary cards in their decks."
"Oh"
"And each of their decks has around fifty cards in it with the majority of them being ranked at least silver."
"Then please go ahead."
The God out another Round of Laughter, raising up a hand towards the sun. "Do not worry friend; having five combat cards will place you a cut above the common soldier; you shall have no trouble living a normal life. Though if you can I ask you help out where you see fit, keep the peace and protect the people. I had planned on sticking around a little longer to watch how things played out, but I suppose that just wasn''t in the cards for me: I''ll give you the very last of my power and as a thank you for entertaining me I''ll do something about your bald patch too. Good luck out there Rian Ecker, I wish you the best oh Lord of Neutrality." The God laughed bowing his head and rising upwards on shaking legs, his two remaining hands reaching upwards to plunge themselves deep into the core of the sapphire sun, a wave of bright blue light exploding outwards and bathing everything in light.
Chapter One: A Man from the Rain
Chapter One: A Man from the Rain
"Tell me lass are ye'' prepared for what comes next?" The question hung heavy in the air, the old man¡¯s words mingling with the crackling of fire within the grate, old hands working their way slowly over an ebony pipe from which a sweet smoke rose.
The small town lay in silence, sleeping sweetly in the heavy night, as the rain blew fierce beyond its'' doors and eaves. Shutters rattled and lanterns danced, but within their homes the people were safe and sound and sure that nothing could wake them. "Little Eana you know comes next, we will leave at dawn and we may not return are you sure you want to come with us?" Gadrin laughed running a hand through his beard bleary eyes staring down at the small round face which stared up towards him, a pair of bright blue eyes so full of wonder, long black hair falling back behind her head, and pert little lips pulled back into a wide grin. The old man failed to suppress a laugh rising from his chair by the fire place and grabbed the young girl under the arms lifting her up into the air. "Ah, my little darling! So do you want to come with me on an adventure; we''ll just being seeing the adventurer''s off but what do you say? Want to see the Vault with yer'' own two eyes?" Eana laughed giving him a nod the old man dropping back into his seat and lowering his granddaughter down onto his knee, grasping at his blanket and throwing it down over his knees. "It''s been near ten years since I last went into the vault, the last time being on your'' dear pops¡¯ wedding, well it took him long enough to ask dear Aceil to marry him and to mark the occasion and went down into the dungeon to get them each a deck of cards, it took me four days and four nights to complete my mission. I went down eighteen floors and that''s where I found these little beauties!" The old man laughed reaching up onto the fire place and grasping a pair of metal cards, holding them out towards Eana the young girl taking them firmly into her hands.
"This one''s mine right?" Eana questioned the little girl reaching out for one of the cards Gadrin yanking it away with a soft snicker before giving the girl a sad shake of the head.
"Not quite yet darlin'' this here was, and still is, your'' mothers god rest her soul. Estera of the Lesser Gate, cost; four mana, a combat class with three offence and three defence. She has the special ability to double her speed when there are more enemies in play than allies; in near forty years of diving into vaults all across Laodemass I have recorded one gold,five silvers and over one-hundred bronzes. Quite a record if I do say so myself. But these two, they were my first uniques, and I done give them away before I even knew what was in them!" He let out an achin¡¯ laugh rustling the girls¡¯ hair with a gnarled palm before leaning back in his chair setting it to rocking.
"But it will be mine right won''t it?" The young girl pushed Gadrin shooting her another smile.
"Of course it''ll be yours; your mam wanted you to have it so it''s out of our control. But You''ll have to wait, You''ll turn eleven soon enough and when you do, we''ll whisk you off to one of them fancy schools in the capital and you''ll be the talk of the town, why I bet you could give one of them new fangled Lords a good run for their money!" Gadrin smiled looking down at the pair of cards, each bright silver, one etched with the image of a woman it tattered armour; an emblem of a pair of wings printed on her helmet and the other that of a large man riding atop an even larger bear a long spear grasped within his left hand and a shield in his right. The old adventurer ran a time stained finger across the smooth metal before dropping them back atop the mantle with a clang before grasping the young girl by the shoulders pulling her in tight.
The fire continued to burn within the grate as they sat there in silence, the storm continuing the rage in the world beyond. Gadrin had no idea what his son was thinking, but now wasn''t the time for this, not that the fool had given him any choice. Eana let out a sigh resting her head down onto his chest, letting out a dull murmur sleep beginning to weight down upon her eyes. "Do you think if I go to the capital I''ll be able to see Ilina again?" The old man remained silent laying a hand down upon her shoulder and urging her deeper into sleep. How things would turn out only time would tell.
The light spun in an endless torrent, a soft tingle running along across his skin, his eyes slowly beginning to burn, a sensation not dissimilar to staring blindly into the sun. His body ached, a soft cold rushing up and down his limbs like an electric charge, as slowly the light before him began to change.
The single massive vortex within which he was enveloped slowly began to split in two; it divided again and again into thousands of individual spinning droplets of light, each taking on its¡¯ own colour expanding and growing, become darker and darker until at last he felt something cool land atop the crown of his head and a moment later, the spinning lights resolved into trees and bushes and the tiniest pinpricks of light, stars wheeling above in a black sky, as a sheet of rain fell down.
A sharp cry shot from his throat, the rain cutting through his shirt and sending a shiver down his spine, Rian tumbling backwards, losing his footing on the soft soil, falling down into the mud with splat, the sound drowned out by the rain. He froze as he hit the ground, his lips pressed tight eyes pointed upwards at the sky, an inky sheet, splattered with specks of starlight hidden behind the gloaming clouds. And then it hit him, he was still awake. So chances were this probably wasn¡¯t a dream huh. Although that also meant he was currently in another world... He felt sick. His arms dropped down to his sands, settling in the mud, he didn¡¯t understand what was happening here. He knew what was supposed to be happening, not that it made any sense. Not that it mattered; he doubted there would be anyone who would really miss him, well except maybe Leo. Ah, probably not; Tarveil had said only people who were meaningless were summoned which meant he probably didn¡¯t mean too much to that kid either. That was depressing.
He was starting to get really cold.
Rian rose slowly to his feet, his back creaking as he moved; he was too old to be summoned to another world. Usually when people were summoned to another world they were children, or very least good looking, or at the very least skilled in some way but he didn¡¯t tick a single one of those boxes. He was a forty-five year old man who worked in a library archive, and was currently covered in mud, in the middle of a strange forest, at night, and it was raining.
Speaking of which, would it have killed Tarveil to send him to a city or something? Well Tarveil did just die so couldn¡¯t really complain. Well that was morbid. Rian sighed rubbing the side of his face, where was he anyway? He squinted peering through the veil of rain, slowly turning about on the spot his hands shoved deep into his pockets. Everything that was happening felt so surreal; maybe it hadn¡¯t sunk in yet; that he was in another world, maybe it never would... Well he had more pressing concerns at the moment.
A cold wind blew in, rattling the branches of the trees, a low groan rising upwards from the woods the wind pushing at the dark clouds above, a sliver of moonlight peaking down from up above illuminating the great stone cliff face before him. It was grey within the light, a sheer stone rock face stretching for into the distance to either side, the silhouettes of trees painted atop the cliff, the wind occasionally knocking free a clump of earth or a scattering of stone. Rian stood in silence for a moment at the sight: he''d never had much experience with nature, he''d lived in a city most of his life, and what few memories he did have were hazy. His parents had used to take him and Alicia to a heritage site, the ruins of some old castle or cathedral and they''d have a picnic; but only ever in autumn, they went maybe two or three times a year. He''d enjoyed it... He was getting distracted again, he''d never really been able to kick that habit Rian shook his head approaching the cliff face, the cold from the rain and the wind beginning to work its way down deeper, worming into his bones and leaving a chill deep inside his soul. A heavy booming roared through the air, a tremor ran through his body his hair standing on end as he turned, a bright blue bolt streaking its'' way through the darkness and illuminating the night. He needed to get under cover, now were you or weren''t you meant to stand under a tree during a storm? Probably best not to just to be safe.
Rian sneezed shoving his hands into his armpits, another role of thunder shaking the air, and a second streak of lightning making landfall somewhere off in the woods painting the cliff face in an electric blue. Something caught in the light a dark shadow becoming visible distinct from the grey of the cliff face. Rian set off at a jog fighting as the wind grew, stronger and faster attempting to force him back and press him against the cliff face. He drew to a halt another crack of lightning illuminating the stone wall, a cave; a slender breach in the cliff face standing out against the glare of the lightning and the pallid glow of the moon, no more than a metre high and across, actually less of a cave and more of an alcove, an indent in the stone. Rian let out a dull groan slowly lowering himself down into recess, ah damn he was tired more so than he ought to be; maybe it was emotional stress - if being transported to another world didn''t stress you out nothing would.
A brief shiver shook his body, at this point he was probably in denial; half of him wanted to believe he was just dreaming - that this was nothing more than some half baked delusion and that he''d probably just fallen down in the middle of the street after a heart attack - actually probably less than half: there was no way he could have come up with all of this nonsense. Of course the rest of him believed that what was going on was real, and somewhere buried under the endless layers of anxiety fear and desperation currently swirling about in his oh so lamentable soul there was a touch of joy, of excitement, forty-five years of boredom and mediocrity blown away in an instant. Ah he had the right to be tired; not that he was going to get any sleep like this. Stowed away within his little nook he was kept away from the wind and the majority of the rain but that still didn''t change the fact he was soaked to the bone, or that he stone on which he was lying was as cold as ice. At this rate he''d probably catch hypothermia. Rian shuddered stuffing his hands up into his armpits slowly rubbing his hands along his body in a paltry attempt to warm himself up, his eyes falling onto his arms and legs, his brain seeming to pause. He had been wearing a suit; when he''d been summoned he was fairly sure that he''d been wearing a suit: an old brown suit which was stuffy and itchy and uncomfortable that he''d gotten for thirty pounds combine that with the glasses, receding hairline and the fact he was usually carrying around some kind of ledger it no longer seemed so bizarre everyone had nicknamed his professor... God he was getting old. Rian let out a creaky laugh running his hands along the sleeves of his coat; a strange dark blue overcoat which was worn over his shoulders the sleeves falling uselessly at his sides, while beneath that was a simple plain white shirt with long sleeves the edge and collar of which were covered in frills several brass buttons fastening each. His trousers were fastened to his waist by a bizarrely thick leather belt adorned with a bronze buckle the size of his fist a pair of dark blue trousers falling down his legs, flaring outwards near his knee before being fastened to his ankles by a red chain on each ankle the ends of which were made to look like the heads of dragons. Of course that part which stood out most was probably his shoes or to be more precise his sandals, he was wearing those weird wooden shoes the ones you saw in old Japanese cartoons and dramas... Geta that''s what they were called, he hadn''t wasted ten years addicted to anime for nothing! Ah the depression was starting to hit him again.
The old man let out a groan unfastening the buttons about his neck and throwing his shirt away; he knew it was rude to mock the dead but Tarveil had terrible dress sense. Rian sighed pulling his overcoat tighter about his head and pulling the hood down as he pressed himself as deep into the crevice as possible raising his hands to his mouth and letting out a slow breath, putting some warmth back into his mitts. Oh, Tarveil had mentioned that hadn''t he.
NAME: IRKAN
RANK: LORD
MAGICAL POWER:
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.100
FACTION: GREY-LAND NEUTRAL
There on his palm written in what looked like permanent marker was the name Will had come up for him, the rank Tarveil had awarded him alongside his ''magical power'' and faction, the large number One-hundred taking up the majority of his palm while on the other side of his hand there had been printed a strange image; that of a sun half covered by a series of gears contained within a large circle all drawn in black somehow remaining smooth on rough skin
He ran his finger along the image, a strange sense of foreboding welling up inside him. He was the Lord of Neutrality huh? Somehow he felt this was going to get out of hand very quickly and he really didn''t want to deal with that. It would be nice if he could take a nap in a nice warm bed, or at least a real bed and not a rock wall. Ah how the human comforts simply vanish and fade. He really needed to get to sleep before he started talking to himself.
Rian pulled his coat tighter securing it about himself and fitting the thin silver clasps in place and hiking up his trousers his hand grazing on a small leather pouch fixed to the side of his belt. He let out a yawn leaning back into the crevice as far from the wind and the rain as he could go before pulling out fiddling with the leather pocket slowly pulling it open and removing what felt like a small metal box. It was probably the card pack that Tarveil had been talking about. He was kind of interested in seeing what kind of cards he''d gotten, not that it''d do much good. It was too dark, only the light of the moon and the occasional slash of lightning to provide luminance to this most dark abode. Rian huddled into a ball knees braced against his chest as he stared forwards out into the storm, the trees wavering and shaking before him. Come morning everything would be fine, either he''d be back in his own bed (possibly in a hospital) or he''d still be trapped in another world unless he was eaten by animals first. That was probably a bad thought; he should just get to sleep before he said something even dumber...
Dawn broke, pouring out over the cliffs under which he had spent the night, and flooding outwards into the forests catching on leaves, the rain and the wind having combined leaving a coating of frost upon every exposed surface including Rian himself.
The old man sneezed, slowly rubbing his hands together to drive out the chill, the bags beneath his eyes growing deeper by the second. He hadn''t gotten much sleep last night, he''d fallen asleep for maybe three or four hours after finding his little hideaway, but after that sleep had evaded him escaped into the night leaving only a bitter exhaustion and the taste of despair lingering upon his tongue. Ah since when had despair been such a poignant thing and since when had he started monologue to himself like this? Maybe everything that was happening had started to drive him crazy. Rian sighed grabbing his shirt, the cloth having dried in the middle of the night, and pulling it on before stepping out into the early light. It was good; the sun was warm and soft and smooth, it felt good; after the rain the air was fresh and bracing and it almost made the cold he''d caught worth it. Rian sneezed again shoving his hands into his pockets, his fingers touching on something sleek and cold. Oh he''d forgotten to check what card''s Tarveil had given him. After woken up he''d decided to open the pack anyway, but it had been too dark to see exactly what kind of cards he''d ended up getting so he''d just put them back in the box they''d come from. Rian swallowed hard pulling the small iron packet from his pocket, the sunlight glinting off of the casing, he flipped the latch on the side of the box before prying it open and casting a discerning eye inside. Five cards just like he''d been promised, Rian emptied the contents out onto his palm before spreading them out into his hand. So... now what? How was he meant to activate these cards anyway; frankly he just hoped that it didn''t involve any shouting. Rian shuffled through his deck analyzing each card and reading out the instructions written beneath at least for those that came with them.
Okay he had two bronze cards, one silver card, one gold and one card which he supposed was the so called legendary. Alka Queen of the skies, it was somewhat of a grand name considering the woman depicted on the card couldn''t have much over sixteen years old. The card itself was coloured a sort of off Green which, within the light, seemed to shift to shades of blue, orange and purple, a large opal like stone mounted at its'' top on which the number ten had been written in roman numerals, well at least he assumed it was roman numerals and not just an X. As for abilities, she had a seven in offence, a three in defence and was apparently a skilled engineer pilot and gunner. Somehow this whole thing felt rather more steam punk that straight up fantasy at the moment; that was a little depressing, he was hoping for something a little more lord of the rings in all honesty. Well hopefully they''d invented flushing toilets in this world.
Rian continued to skim through his cards, his two bronze cards being a one costGoblin Houndand a three costRusted Sword the first card being some kind of monster without any kind of special abilities and the other being an item card which had the ability to decrease an opponent¡¯s attack by three points. From what he remembered of the games introduction item cards were a type of card which would summon and item which had a special effect and either had a durability which would wear down over time or did not, and by whatever logic the game developers (or possibly Tarveil) had come up with his new Rusted sword did not have a durability rating which meant it was apparently indestructible. Well maybe that was just the case in the game, now the sword would probably break if he swung it at a tree. Okay then what else did he have? For his silver card he had a five point spell card, which he was going to guess would just fire off some sort of magical attack or effect; this one beingEthereal chain.Apparently the spell had the ability to lock an enemy in place for one minute not matter where they were or what magical protection they possessed, the only limits being it only worked on living beings and the target had to be stationary. And finally his golden card;Jack''s Lost Lanternan item which would summon a total of ten will''o''wisps to attack an enemy every thirty seconds for up to five minutes. So how was he supposed to actually use these things?
Rian picked out his Rusted sword and began tapping on the front of the card the metal unnaturally cold beneath his finger. Well it didn''t seem like that was going to work. Hmm maybe if he tried doing that. Rian took a stance his feet placed wide apart holding the card in front of his face before taking in a deep breath and swinging the card out to his side and screaming "Go!" his voice bouncing out in the distant woods his card remaining just that a stupid little card. He was starting to feel ridiculous doing all of this. Okay then how about he slam it down on the floor?
Nothing...
He let out a low sigh rubbing at his forehead turning the card over in his hand; there had to be some way to activate it, maybe if he imagined pouring energy into it or something like that? RIan took a deep breath holding the card in front of him imagining all the energy in his body flowing into the card until his low cry had risen into a full scream. He was wasting his damn time, sighed throwing the stupid card down, a pale blue glow exploding from the back of his palm his sigil glowing in a bright blue light as the card vanished into thin air a sharp bell splitting the breeze a moment later a large one-and-a-half handed sword appearing lodged halfway into the soil. So that was it, he was meant to throw the card in order to activate them then, it was probably a little safer that way. Rian sighed grasping his new sword and holding it upwards towards the light. In all honesty it didn''t look all that rusted, actually it was perfectly well polished, even if it had a couple nicks and scratches here and there. Now how was he meant to turn it back into a card... He let out a yelp a moment later the sword beginning to glow with a bright blue light, Rian letting the sword embedding itself within the soil as he leapt backwards, the blade vanishing a moment later and being replaced with a card. Rian letting out a soft sigh before moving forwards to collect the card, so it was as simple as thinking about the object returning to its'' card then. Well that made things easier for him Rian sighed picking up the card and returning it to his pouch keeping his gaze fixed on his palm. The number had gone down quite a bit he supposed; from one-hundred down to ninety-seven, he''d lost three points for summoning that sword, he wondered how long it would take for his score to return back to one hundred, or if it would just reset and midnight or something. Rian sighed and continued walking , halfway between the cliff and the woods, his hands thrust deep into his pockets, his feet strangely comfortable despite the face he was wearing sandals.
Usually you were meant to stay put if you were lost in the woods, but he was fairly sure that only applied if someone would actually come looking for you, on the other hand if he just kept walking he was certain he''d come across a village or some random villagers being robbed by bandits, then he''d beat the bandits and receive a nice warm welcome. If he couldn''t rely on common sense in this new world of his then he could at least turn to tired old tropes and plot convenience!
Rian let out a dull laugh drawing to a halt the cliff and the forests joining together a wall of low standing trees and thick briars fencing him out pressed close to the cliff face. Now was the time to use his cards, now which one should he use? He doubted ethereal chain would be of any use in this situation, and he was still kind of reticent about summoning anything that was actually alive which meant he was either using his sword or his lamp, and since starting a forest fire was probably a bad idea that meant he was using his sword again. Rian reached into the leather pouch on his belt and began feeling around for his cards before picking out his sword and throwing it upwards into the air. A brief chime split the air before his sword fell backwards towards the earth, landing pommel down into the dirt. Rian smiled picking up his weapon the glow on the back of his hand slowly beginning to fade. Now he just needed to cut his way through the forest, sure hecouldjust walk around the bushes but there was no fun in that. He let out a loose laugh taking up a mock fighting stance and rushing forwards swinging his sword at the wall of foliage the top half of the bush falling away and leaving the bottom half still standing in his way.Rian lurched forwards over the first bush and into a clear patch of forestry before facing down his second opponent; this was probably going to take a while.
In the end the pointless endeavour probably took him maybe ten minutes, it would probably have taken even longer under normal circumstances but his new found sword was exceptionally sharpthough it did feel kind of wrong to be using it as a weed-whacker. Well it wasn''t like there was anyone around to complain about it. Rian smirked swinging his sword forwards once more clearing away the final bush blocking his path and stepping forwards into a large glade backed up against the grey stone cliff. Hmm that was strange, Rian stepped forwards into the glade dancing his way around a patch of wild flowers his eyes fixed on whatever it was that was protruding from the rock face his lips pursed tight as he stopped near the centre of the glade, a light fog slowly seeming to rise up about him as he came face to face with a massive stone gateway.
Two gigantic stone columns stood either side of the doorway, a large stone arch resting above the two pillars scales engraved upon the rock, the pair of double doors sealed tight standing a little over three metres high, engraved with what appeared to be the images of a war or a battle, filled with giants and dragons and humans and other things besides, most notable of all probably being the large hunched figure stood within the centre of the battlefield a gigantic staff topped with an image of the sun clutched tight within its'' grasp. Maybe it was an image of that ''Long War'' Tarveil had been going on about. Either way Rian had the strange feeling that he needed to leave as soon as possible and he had no reason to disagree with his instincts. He swallowed hard keeping his sword clutched tight within his grasp before turning sharply on his heels and marching forwards away from the cliff face entirely before a cloud clatter stopped him in his tracks. Rian pulled his sword up in front of him eyes peering through the mist picking out a trio of figures. approaching his direction seemingly talking among themselves, making their way slowly down a forest road, what looked like spears and swords resting on their shoulder followed a moment later by fourth shadow lurching its'' way behind them. Ha other people! Maybe he really could find a village before evening. Rian took off at a light jog moving his way through the mist towards the figures who had suddenly halted in their tracks, one of them pulling something from his belt and pointing in Rian''s direction, he gave them a wave as he broke into a run before he felt something hard impact the side of his skull.
The middle aged man tumbled backwards his vision tunnelling as he collapsed down onto the soil and then something inside him spoke out and he knew: his day was only going to get worse...