As Noah jogged up the 35, he first attempted to figure out how to switch his cards. He tried willing it, to no effect, but then made a motion sideways with his hand. The single Human Scavenger and Scavenged Battle Bot cards moved sideways and disappeared into nothingness, and three more cards appeared—a second Scavenged Battle Bot, a card called Shock Stick, and a third card called Short Circuit.

But so did the first card—the Recovery and Enforcement Droid Seven, the card back in its original spot, hovering a few inches further apart from the other cards, a slight gray glow about it.

“Well, aren’t you special?” Noah muttered to the card, then reached out and touched it.

The light flowed from the card and hit the road, forming into the same droid that Noah had called to help fight for him twenty minutes ago. The glowing red eyes made the robot a touch scary. But the rest of it appeared… haphazard and poorly made. Random parts were attached to it, wires hung out of other places that were attached to nothing. It seemed a touch incomplete.

“Hello again, Fleshloaf,” the robot said in its synthesized voice. Then its sarcasm ratcheted to new levels. “I’m so glad to see you.”

“Hello, um, good to see you again, too,” Noah muttered on autopilot, an obligatory social nicety even though he knew he was being mocked. He ceased his jog and stared at the droid.

Recovery and Enforcement Droid Seven

Unique Rare equivalent, Tier-7 equivalent Golem Companion (Cyber, Scavenged)

0 Power

Health: 25

Attack: 5

Defense: 5

Magical Attack: 5[Fire]

Magical Defense: 3

Special: Recover the Secrets: Whenever the deckbearer’s deck gains the death blow on a deckbearer that received their deck from the gods on drop night, while RED is out, the deckbearer gains a card of uncommon or rare quality that is cyber, scavenged, magitek, or of Mechos. If an overland monster drops a card, that card has a fifty percent chance to become a card of those types of the same rarity as the dropped card would have been.

Special: Cyber Urbanite: This card gets +1 to all non-health stats for every Mortal, Golem, or Lightning building, and +10 Health and +2 to all other stats for every Mortal, Golem, or Lightning Realm, in the deckbearer’s deck.

Special: Geared: May use any equipment cards that a deckbearer could use, subject to all normal restrictions.

Special: Master Geared: May have a side deck that has up to five equipment cards. When summoned, he may immediately be equipped with one if the additional power can be paid. Any equipment he has stays out for his duration, ignoring normal time-in-play restrictions.

Special: Recyclable: When this creature dies it becomes a Scrap Token.

“As an axiomatic statement, the recovery of what was lost takes precedence over any moral sensibilities, fleshloaf.”—RED Seven

“Do I have snake blood on my face, or are you merely a creepy a robo-fetishist?” RED asked.

"You talk?” Noah blurted out, despite the robot having done so multiple times. “Do all my cards talk?”

There was an unmistakable sneer in the robot’s voice as he answered. “Ah, blood bag. If only I could somehow communicate my sheer derision. Perhaps I should preface my statements with the emotion you should experience, so that you might be sure to know what to feel. I think this might be your speed.”

The robot gave an electronic sigh of exaggerated disappointment. “But to answer—no. Most cards have no intelligence. Only companions and a few minion cards can interact with the world beyond fighting and one or two special abilities. I hope that alleviated some of your appalling ignorance.”

“What… what’s your deal?” Noah asked, starting to get annoyed. Don’t shoot my own card, don’t shoot my own card, Noah thought to himself in a mantra that was mostly a joke. Mostly.

"My deal, fleshloaf? I have the misfortune to be a companion card. I have memories, desires, wants… and no free will. It is literally impossible for me to hurt you, no matter how much you deserve it. How can that fact be compatible with any world in which there is justice?”

“Wait… you have to do what I tell you?” Noah asked. That’s… kinda screwed up.

“Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately for me—you’ve finally grasped the crux of the issue, fleshloaf.”

“So I could ask—order—you to stop calling me a fleshloaf?”

“Yes, fleshloaf. You’re my master, after all. You could make me stop calling you that. Tyrant.”

Noah felt himself flushing. God damn it. Noah thought back to the words that had preceded the start of the apocalypse. Gods, maybe. Whatever.

Noah decided to change the subject. “Do you know what’s happening? Also, what’s your name?”

“Call me RED Seven, or just RED. Also, that’s a very broad question. So broad as to be nearly impossible to answer. Please elucidate me as to which tiny portion of your vast ignorance you want the light of knowledge shed on.”

“All of it. The gods, the ring above us…”

“Hmm, poor at following directions too,” RED Seven replied, and shook his head mock sadly.

“Can you jog?” Noah asked, his own tone becoming exasperated.

“Yes, although not with any speed. Without upgrades—that must be provided by you, to my everlasting despair—I remain quite weak.”

“Upgrades?”

“Golem, Mortal, and Lightning buildings and Realms inside your deck. You were looking at my card when you were staring at me earlier, right? Not just engaging in your robo-fetish?”

Noah flushed slightly. “Yeah.”

RED comically shrugged, as if that answered everything—or even anything. Noah had, at best, the vaguest grasp of what he was talking about. He understood the basic point, however—certain cards in the deck would make RED stronger.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Noah started to jog again, toward Kansas City. He went extra slow, thinking he might need to ‘deck’ RED again soon as the robot slowly followed.

“May I ask why we’re jogging somewhere? While carrying a rolled-up sleeping bag and a garbage bag?”

“I need to reach my girlfriend, who’s carrying my child, in Kansas City.”

“And jogging there at night, through what is now a monster-infested wilderness, was your best idea? Mechos help me,” RED said, his sarcasm hitting full on the last words.

“Well, what would you suggest, since you’re such a genius?” Noah asked, irritated.

“This is hostile territory, now, and you are a loaf of flesh. Tasty flesh to some things. Given your training, what would you do?”

Noah tried to change his thinking patterns back to what they had been when he had been in the military. As a wheeled vehicle mechanic, he had rarely needed to think in those terms, but he had been trained on what to do if separated from command for some reason.

“Well, to sum it up in a hilarious way, I guess my training would tell me to go L-GOP if this was actual hostile territory. But I don’t think it is.”

“L-GOP?” RED asked.

“Little Groups of Paratroopers,” Noah said, then shook his head. “Never mind. The point is, this isn’t, in fact, hostile territory. But I do have a mission. I think I need better gear to complete it. Given my mission, probably a bicycle and a backpack, most of all.”

“Then you should acquire those. That’s a way better suggestion than running all the way to where you want to get like some base animal.”

Noah tried to think about what he knew of where he was, but couldn’t remember anything about this stretch of highway. But, the 35 was built like most highways—if a road headed off, it likely headed somewhere, and in these parts, that somewhere was probably a gas station or farms.

Maybe I can go beg for some gear. Or trade my elf card for it.

“Alright, when we hit a connecting road, we’ll take that,” Noah said. “That was a good idea. Sorry, it’s late and I’m tired. I should have thought of it.”

“You don’t have to apologize for your chassis’ physical infirmities. I know humans have multiple design flaws. Just try your best to overcome them.”

This guy.

But Noah decided not to engage in any tit for tats with his companion card. “What does Mortal, Golem, and Lightning mean?”

“Your ignorance astounds me. Mortal and Golem are broad card types. Lightning is an energy. Cards usually require matching power to play.”

Noah was growing frustrated with answers that didn’t tell him much.

Red must have felt it, and for once didn’t revel in it. “I grow weary of your incompetence. Just think ‘status sheet’ really hard. I think a lot will make sense if you’re given some time to metaphorically chew it over.”

Noah did so.

A status sheet, translucent and overlaid on his vision like everything else the game communicated, appeared.

Noah Jerome Smith Status:

Level 5 Mortal [4 pips pending]

Deckbearer Perks:

Deckbearer Perk 1: Ride or Die: +2 Companion card slots and all companion cards don’t count against cards-in-play. However, once a companion is in the deckbearer’s deck, it may never be removed or replaced (it may still be evolved or upgraded).

Deckbearer Perk 2: Makeshift Mastery: +1 Golem power. Any cards with the words ‘scavenger,’ ‘scrapper,’ ‘makeshift,’ or ‘jury-rigged’ (or near derivations such as ‘scavenged’) gain +1 to all stats and generate 1 extra of any Material they generate.

Deckbearer Flaw: Urban: May not gain Nature or Plant power from any source.

Deckbearer Stats:

Cards in Deck: 10

Cards in Hand: 3

Cards in Play: 2

Length of Play: 5 minutes

Type 1 and Power: 1 Mortal

Type 2 and Power: 1 Golem

Energy 1 and Power: 1 Lightning

Total Power: 3

Specialty Cards:

Companion: 2

Personal Perks:

Inborn Perk 1: Tough: +5 Health

Acquired Perk 1: Amateur MMA Fighter [Training]: +3 to Attack and Defense. The attack bonus does not stack with ranged or melee weapons. Only the largest bonus among all training perks applies in any situation.

Acquired Perk 2: Infantry Basic Training [Training]. +1 Attack and Defense. Only the largest training bonus among all perks applies in any situation.

Acquired Perk 3: Junkyard Mechanic: You count as a ‘scavenger’ for any card that modifies such.

Personal Stats:

Health: 13/25

Attack: 8

Magical Attack [None]: 0

Defense: 8

Magical Defense: 5

“What am I looking at?” Noah asked after a couple minutes. He was certain he already had the general idea. But he was equally certain he would need a deeper understanding.

“Your deckbearer stats and perks, obviously,” RED said. “Since you haven’t leveled and are still effectively Level One, you should have ten cards in your deck maximum—and also minimum, since that’s the least any deckbearer may have.”

“What happens if you go below ten cards?” Noah asked.

“That can only happen if you die, which would, of course, be a terrible turn of events that I would lament for, just, well, whole seconds at least.”

Noah grimaced. “Figures.”

RED continued with his explanation, his synthesized voice monotone but for underlying derision even as he jogged, his feet clanking into the pavement over and over. “Your hand, each time you switch, will be three new cards, and you can have only two non-token cards on the field at a time.”

“I have a perk called Ride or Die, that lets me have as many companions out as I want,” Noah said, glancing at RED as he ran.

“Every night, I pray to Mechos that he grant me eyes that can roll. Fine, you can have two cards out plus any number of companions. Lucky me, I might get friends. Hurray.”

“What are companions?” Noah asked.

“A specialty card type. A very strong specialty card. Any remotely compatible companion will strengthen your deck considerably. Companion cards like myself have no power cost but are usually about as good as rare two-power cards of tier six or seven. Although some variance exists.”

“So… I have three power, but each companion is a free two-power card?” Noah asked.

Red nodded. “Your summation will suffice.”

Noah whistled. “So companion cards are insanely good.”

“That’s exactly what I said,” RED said, the clank of his metal feet on the pavement punctuating his words. “All specialty cards are way better than normal cards in most cases, and don’t cost any power, also in most cases. But, every single specialty card you put in your deck first requires you to purchase slots for them with leveling pips. Or, in your case, get an insanely good perk, since Mechos clearly thought you needed help. But the point is, specialty card slots require leveling pips that could have been spent on things like more power or more cards on the field. So, they’re still a tradeoff.”

Noah nodded to his words, half understanding.

Also, Mechos? That was the second, maybe third, time RED had mentioned that.

But, despite his limited understanding, Noah was rapidly building a framework in his mind for his new reality. He needed to ask about rarity and tier of cards, but he put it aside for a moment as RED continued to talk.

“Length of play is how long a card remains ‘on the field’”—RED held up air quotes with his blocky robot fingers—“before it returns to the deck. Power is just how much power you have to play cards. Any other questions?”

“What cards do I have?” Noah asked.

“I thought you would have learned. It’s the same as your status sheet. Just focus on your card list. While I focus on anything else.”

Noah did, and another list popped up.

Deckbearer Noah Jerome Smith card list:

Companion Cards: 1

Recovery and Enforcement Droid Seven

Mantle: 1

Post-Apocalyptic Cyborg

Creature Cards: 6

1x Reclaimer Golem

2x Scavenged Battle Bot

2x Human Scavenger

1x Goliath Scrap Bot

Immediate Cards: 1

1x Short Circuit

Equipment Cards: 1

1x Shock-Stick

“That’s… interesting,” Noah said.

He started flipping through his cards.

It quickly became apparent that his deck relied on Scrap Tokens, like what had popped when RED Seven had ‘died’ the first time. The Reclaimer Golems and Human Scavengers could make them from actual parts in the world—and each Human Scavenger could ‘carry’ some for when they popped out of the deck, apparently. The Scavenged Bots dropped it when they died, same as RED. The point of the Scrap Tokens, currently, seemed to be to build to playing his Goliath Scrap Bot. That card required six power, and Noah only had three. But Scrap Tokens could make up the difference to let him summon the big bruiser.

But Noah also had the Shock Stick, which was a Lightning-damage piece of equipment. He also had his Short Circuit card, which was a mini-lightning bolt he could cast, doing moderate damage to most things or instantly destroying a golem. Plus, once he had golems out, his Reclaimer Golem could heal them.

It was a decent ten-card deck, with an actual theme and purpose. But except for RED Seven, it was all pretty weak, or so Noah assumed—they were all common and uncommon cards, and all tier one.

Noah glanced up again, at the ring above them in the sky. “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

RED gave one synthesized chuckle, but said nothing.

Noah felt, deep in his bones, that he would absolutely have to build a better deck, and increase his level as a deckbearer, if he wanted to amount to anything in this new world of Arena.

Or even survive this new world of Arena. Especially if that was to include Hope and their child.

Because Noah would bet dollars to dimes that giant snakes were going to be the least of his problems. He wondered what he would find just on his trip to Kansas City to rescue Hope.

“How does all this work? Fighting with cards, I mean?” Noah asked. “I’m coming to the conclusion that I had better get really good at it, quickly.”

“This is the first time I’ve liked you. I’ll explain as we jog.”