Thabo looked at the back of the card in his hand. He hoped beyond hope that it was the card he needed to win. There was only one copy of it in the deck and he hoped it was the copy he had in his hand. He flipped it around.
He smiled. The card in his hand was Robo Girl Battle Tank!
“You seem happy,” the skeleton said. “Not sure why. I doubt you have anything that could beat me.”
“We’ll see, I first use 1 Aura to activate this Casting, Cost Up!” Thabo said. “This allows me to increase the value of a Unit Creature in my hand by one. And I choose, Tshepi!” Thabo said, showing Robo Girl. “I then summon her!”
Two Treasure Tokens flew from the Treasure Pile and joined Thabo at his side. He grunted and fell to a knee. He gritted his teeth, trying to fight through the pain.
Robo Girl appeared. She winked and took a ready position.
“Her again?” The skeleton said. “She may have defeated my Grim King once but she won’t be able to do it again.”
Thabo looked up at the talking skeleton, “Then you are going to be disappointed!” he said. “Now, for 3 Aura, I play her ultimate weapon. Robo Girl Battle Tank! It can only be equipped to her. It increases her power until it is 10!”
A giant Red and white tank appeared. Robo Girl leapt up and landed at the top of the tank where she could command it.
“Uh, now she is the strongest.”
“And not only that but she can attack twice!”
“That is impressive. But may I remind you that I have 10 Life Points and only 1 Sacred Treasure.” The Ferryman said. “At most, I’ll take 2 damage and you will end your turn and I will find some way to win.”
“Tshepi!” Thabo called out.
Robo Girl turned and looked at him.
“Let’s finish this!”
She smiled, nodded and gave Thabo a thumbs up.
“Let’s start with the weakest Unit Creature.” Thabo said. “Attack Black Imp of the Claw!”
The tanks guns began charging. Energy rippled before the muzzle of the multiple red and white guns. The guns all fired a beam of golden energy at once.
“Now, for my remaining Aura, I activate Exchange of Fortunes!”
“What?” The Ferryman said in surprise.
“This Casting switches our Sacred Treasures. Now you get my 7 and I get your 1!”
“But that means…”
“Yes, since you now have 7 Sacred Treasures, you will take 7 damage!”
The beams of golden energy that were fired from the tanks fused into one major beam. The beam obliterated the Black Imp of the Claw. The Ferryman lost 7 Life Points, bringing him down to 3.
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The rain became more intense. It was becoming difficult for Thabo to see anything. The lightning was raging over head, making the black sky look like a cracked pavement. It is as if the Between knew the game was about to end.
“Now, end this and destroy Grim King!”
The Tank charged up and fired multiple golden beams. The beams all combined into one, once again, creating the brilliant, giant beam. The beam engulfed Grim King in its brilliant light and the Grim King could be heard screaming before it was engulfed in an explosion.
“I win!”
Thabo jumped in the air from excitement. It rocked the boat, threatening to make him fall over. The black hands reached up from the black sea, from all around him. It seemed the excitement had awaken them.
“I win, so take me back to the land of the living!”
From the smoke, there were a pair of green flaming orbs. “You have not won.”
“What?” Thabo said, feeling his anger rising. “Are you trying to cheat me?”
“No, look.”
The dust cleared and still standing there, was Grim King.
Thabo’s eyes widened in horror. “Im-Impossible. I destroyed him.”
“No, you did not. I played my Casting, Grim Royal Guard.” The skeleton said, showing him the card he played on the field, showing Grim Kid, Grim Rider, Grim Cleric and Grim Wisp standing in front of Grim King. “This Casting Costs 4 Aura and if I play it your Unit Creature, loses 1 Power for every Grim Unit Creature in my Dead Zone. And I have quite a few.”
“No!” Thabo said. “That shouldn’t be possible. You don’t have enough Aura to activate that card.”
“I do,” The Ferryman said, his eyes burning brighter than before in the heavy downpour of rain. “You gave it to me. Remember with your Casting Exchange of Fortunes? It resets all Sacred Treasures, allowing me to use it to charge my Casting.”
“S-So, I lose?”
“You lose.” The Ferryman said gestured to Thabo, “Now, Grim King, finish him off!”
The Grim King rose to his feet from his throne, he lifted his scythe. Leaping forward, Grim King raised his scythe and swung it toward Thabo. He sliced Thabo and the boy screamed as his Life Points dropped to 0.
Thabo slumped over in his seat.
“Well, thank you. That was fun.”
“Go ahead, end my life.”
“What?”
“I lost, so now you can take my life.”
“I never said I would take your life if you lost. I wanted to play the game to pass the time.”
Thabo looked up at the Ferryman in confusion. “But earlier, you said we would play the game for the greatest prize.”
“You thought the greatest prize was your life?” The Ferryman scoffed. “You think too highly of yourself. The greatest prize is the fun playing the game. And I thoroughly had fun.” The skeleton suddenly looked up into the black sky. “Well, seems your fate has been decided.”
“You mean whether I die or not?”
The skeleton nodded.
“What will happen to me?”
“Why tell you?” The Skeleton said, reaching his hand to the sky. A beam of white struck the skeleton, making his bones shine white and the black colour of his robes melted away to become white. “When you will experience it yourself.”
It reached out for Thabo.
“Good luck, Thabo.” Its hand covered Thabo’s face.
Ferryman: 3
Empty Casting
Zone
Empty Casting
Zone
Empty Casting
Zone TT: 7
Empty Unit
Creature
Zone
Grim King
Val: 3
Pwr: 9 Empty Unit
Creature
Zone
TP: 2 Empty Unit
Creature
Zone
Empty Unit
Creature
Zone
Empty Unit
Creature
Zone Empty Casting
Zone Empty Casting
Zone Empty Casting
Zone
TT: 1
Thabo: 0
Thabo woke up in the hospital. Although it took great effort, he turned his head down to look at the girl sleeping at his bed side.
“Tshepi?”
She looked up and a look of excitement crossed her face. “Thabo? Thabo! You’re up! Stay up! I’m going to tell everyone.”
She ran out of the room in her excitement.
It took a while for Thabo to fully recover. Many of his family and friends visited him. Sometimes his physical therapy was so hard that he wanted to give up but Tshepi was always there to encourage him and in between his recovery excises, they had gotten into the habit of playing the most popular game at school, Sacred Treasure.