It was now the man’s turn. He took a deep breath and reached for the deck. A few centimetres away from the deck he stopped. He instead slammed his fist onto the table before him.
The being tilted its head in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
“This… This is unfair!” he snapped.
“What?”
“You’re not playing this game right!” he pointed at the skeleton in a robe accusingly.
“Are you suggesting that I am cheating?”
“No, I know you are cheating!”
“You dare?” the being shouted, standing up to its full height. The balls of green fire in its eye sockets burned even brighter with his anger. “You dare accuse me of cheating?”
There was a flash of purple lightning in the black skies above, accentuating the angry skeleton's face.
The man was intimidated but steeled himself and pushed the fear he felt deep inside him. If losing this game meant his death, than there was nothing to lose. “I thought you said this was a deck building game?”
“Yes! Your point?”
“How is it that you are the only one who can build a deck!” he shouted, also standing up to match him but he was much smaller than the Ferryman. “You got to build your deck with your Grim Units and even that monstrosity behind you!” He pointed at Grim King.
The Grim King shrugged its shoulder. Though he looked bored on his couch thrown, he was no less intimidating.
“I didn’t build my deck!" the man continued. "I don’t know what is in it! I don’t know it has anything to even beat your Grim King!”
The being’s flaming eyes burned dimmer. “Oh!”
“Oh?” the man said, the response smothering his anger in confusion.
“I understand your confusion,” the skeleton said as it sat back down.
The man mirrored the skeleton and also sat down. The sky ahead would still streak with purple lightning, momentarily showering them with purple light.
“You see, you did build that deck.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Uh?”
“That deck was constructed by your very soul. It represents your past, your future, your present. It encapsulates your desires, your hatred, the best of you and the very worst. It is who you are, who you were, who you want to be and who you will be.”
“If I… if my soul made this deck, then why don’t I know what is in it?”
“Perhaps it is because you do not know yourself. The only way to fix that, at least in this place is to draw upon the deck. The more you draw, the more you will discover about yourself and perhaps you will get to the point when you know what is in the deck, when you know yourself.”
He looked at the deck again. Taking a deep breath, the man reached out and drew a card…
He was no longer in that place. That place with the dark skies with purple streaks of lightning. That place with rough seas made of black water. That place where the safest area to be was on a boat, with a living skeleton, playing a game for your very life.
“Thabo, come on. We’re late.”
The voice sounded sweet and comforting. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.
Thabo opened his eyes and looked at the girl. Even her annoyed face did nothing to dampen her beauty. She had her black braids up into two corn roses with trails going down either side of her face. Her white school shirt shone brightly in the daily sun, contrasting her grey skirt. He noticed he wore the same clothes, white shirt with grey pants.
“Well?” her beautiful voice said. “Come on!” she offered him her hand.
Thabo smiled and reached out for her hand and just when his hand was millimeters from hers…
He was back on the boat sailing the black sea. He blinked, his brain adjusting to the strange place of The Between. He looked at the card in his hand, Robo Girl. It looked like the girl he had seen in his vision, the girl who called her Thabo. At least her face was, the rest of her had pink metal parts.
“Are you okay?”
“I think I got another vision of… of my life.” He said. “My name… My name is Thabo and I have someone to return to!”
“Okay?”
“I activate, Forceful Treasure Snatch!” Thabo said, playing a card with an artwork of a man snatching a Treasure token from another. “This card allows me to take a Treasure Token and add it to my Treasure Zone. I don’t have to pay any aura but at the end of my turn, two Treasure Tokens must be deactivated.”
A token joined him on his side. He gritted his teeth as he felt the burden of another Token entering his zone. “I… I summon my Unit Creature,” he said through the pain.
Another token joined him as he summoned the Value 1 Unit, bringing the token count to 4.
Robo Girl appeared. She looked at Thabo with worry. Thabo had keeled over under the pressure of having 4 treasure tokens.
His vision blurred. He was not sure he could hold out any longer
Ferryman: 13
Empty Casting
Zone
Empty Casting
Zone
Empty Casting
Zone TT: 5(2 inert)
Empty Unit
Creature
Zone
Grim King
Val: 3
Pwr: 9 Grim Kid
Val: 2
Pwr: 2
TP: 1 Empty Unit
Creature
Zone
Robo Girl
Val: 1
Pwr: 3
Empty Unit
Creature
Zone Empty Casting
Zone Empty Casting
Zone Empty Casting
Zone
TT: 4
Passenger: 10