Daniel burst through the doors of Anton’s office with a bright smile on his face. The sun was shining and the late afternoon air felt fresh in his lungs. Life was good, it was exciting, but even still the man sitting behind his desk looked remarkably bored.

“Ah, Daniel,” Anton said as Daniel entered the room without a hint of decorum. “I’ve been expecting you. I received word of your return to my city, and the auction you plan to hold later today. I can already guess why you plan to take such a drastic action, but I’d like to hear your reasonings firsthand as to why you’d do something so... extreme. So tell me, why do you plan on selling yourself like a common whore?”

“Don’t make getting a job sound so dirty,” Daniel grimaced. “What other reasonable action could I possibly take? I just had the worst day of my life, and ended it by getting the stink eye from a crazy goddess.”

Anton nodded at that, “I can understand the irritation. The report Pavel sent did say that you came into contact with the Blood Goddess, and that your sanity was currently being supported by a card. I don’t know what you’ve been told thus far, but do not deactivate the effects of that card under any circumstances. At least for the time being.”

Daniel raised an eyebrow, “Why, what would happen?”

“It’s hard for me to tell you while still considering your status as a traveler. There's a good chance that your beliefs will cause the effects to somehow worsen if you receive too much information. Just do as I say for now and don’t deactivate the card.”

“Noted. Speaking of which,” Daniel said icily. “Why didn’t you tell me that I was a traveler?”

Anton scoffed, “Is that not obvious? Ignorance can be a powerful tool for a traveler. Most of all in their early days in our world. I’m sure your status has already helped, and perhaps hurt you, but knowing about your condition can make it harder to use. It turns from water into sludge. Those that seek cracks in their understanding tend to fail in their search. You can’t force true belief, no matter how hard you try.”

Daniel slowly nodded, and then spoke his mind. “I’m planning to not take a single step outside these walls until the blood moon has passed. I'm going to make use of the cards that I gain from the auction to build a synergistic deck, and then I’m going to break that deck's rules over my knee. I don’t need to risk my neck to succeed.”

Anton nodded, “That’s not untrue, and not the worst plan I've ever heard. You don't necessarily need to risk yourself, though it would surely help you reach your goal. All cards hold secrets, and some are more poorly hidden than others. I’m sure with your disposition you could find at least some of them while sheltered within my walls.”

“Then why didn’t you just have me do that from the beginning? Why send me outside the wall at all?” Daniel spat. “It seems idiotic. I was hunted by a spector with a legendary card. Anyone besides me would be dead right now.”

Anton shook his head, “That was a very unlikely occurrence, and like I’ve said already belief is very hard to change, and while ignorance does help to warp it, true danger does things to a man’s belief that nothing else truly can.”

Daniel tsked, “And what if my belief didn’t work in my favor? What if I looked at the specter and saw an insurmountable wall? Being a traveler is a double-edged sword, you've said it yourself."

Anton sighed, “If you were that weak willed then you simply wouldn’t be worth investing in. A traveler that’s a coward is a liability that I can’t accept having inside my walls. So rejoice, the fact you’re still alive means that you're not a coward and will be welcomed with open arms into my city. Though I wouldn’t call you brave either. You’re more… survival oriented from what I can tell. I can still work with that.”

At that Daniel slammed his foot against the edge of Anton’s desk and leaned in, “You seem oh so happy to judge my behavior. Of course I'm not brave. Bravery if for well-equipped men, anything else is just stupidity.”

“Well said,” Anton said while reaching into his shirt and pulling out a necklace, the end of which held a shimmering golden card clasped in thin iron chains.

The art of the legendary card depicted a disheveled man sitting down in an old, worn out chair in what looked to be a decrepit inn. He held his face in both hands, and messy grease filled hair draped down over his face. All around him chaos ensued, men fought one another and devil horns sprouted from most of their heads. Blood soaked the scenery, and several figures in the background layed on the ground with ominous pools of blood formed around them.

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“This is the second legendary card I ever found. The second of four.”

A moment later the image on the card warped as the picture changed to form words, and Daniel quickly read them.

A Sane Man’s Burden

Legendary

Soul

The wielder of this card is immune to all negative effects applying to the soul and mind.

The wielder of this card cannot have other soul cards in their deck.

“I can’t use the card. By the time I’d found it my deck already had several high-grade soul cards that I simply couldn’t part with. So I’ve kept it as a sort of memento since then,” Anton said, shifting the card in his hand to look at it from multiple angles.

Daniel’s eyes narrowed, “It's more of a bargaining chip than a memento. Is this a bribe? Because I’ve already decided on my path. Regardless of what you offer me I won’t change my mind.”

“You can consider it a bribe,” Anton shrugged, “but not in the way you’re thinking. This is an investment. You’ve shown the drive to make use of your status as a traveler, so I’m going to reward that. Though I think you may want to actually add the card to your deck before that auction of yours. Only then can you safety deactivate whatever card is messing with you mind,” Anton said while sliding the card across his desk.

"You haven't added any soul cards to your deck, have you?" Anton asked.

"No," Daniel answered, staring at the shimmering, golden card.

“Not many of my citizens know this," Anton continued, "but the Blood Moon’s aren’t nearly as safe as we advertise them to be, and every single one that we are forced to endure risks the walls falling. Having somebody like Alexander on my side without his temperament is worth at least this much investment."

Daniel's grasped the golden card and felt the cool texture of the thin metal beneath his fingers. It reminded Daneil of when he'd picked up Flicker Between Worlds back in that cave such a short time ago. It felt nostalgic, like the card had a weight to it that wasn't measured in mere pounds. Daniel hadn't gotten much of a chance to really contemplate everything that had happened to him thus far, it'd all happened so quickly. One event after another, crisis after crisis. Daniel thought back to his family's farm, of the other caves he might never get the chance to explore, of the firsts he may never get to achieve. It somewhat hurt to think about, but he wasn't given the time to grow sentimental as the feelings were forcefully pushed to the back of his mind as quickly as they'd arrived.

If he wanted to be the first person to achieve something impressive, then he would just do it here. He was confident he could do it too, overwhelmingly so. Then he'd make it back home and do the same there. It wouldn't be hard. Simply having cards on earth would probably mark him as the only legendary user on the planet, and if there were no other card users at all on earth then all the better."

“I’ll keep the danger of the blood moon in mind," Daniel said. "Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an auction to attend.”

"If you feel that you must," Anton said with a sigh. "Though I would really recommend adding A Sane Man’s Burden to your deck before you go through with the auction. You'll thank yourself later if you listen to my advice now."

"I'll keep it under consideration."

===

Daniel did in fact not keep it under consideration. Three hours passed as he sat in the lounge area of the guild sipping on a beer and eating something similar to a steak. Nobles of all kinds continued to arrive, and Daniel began to wonder just how many people actually intended to attend the event. It was unlikely that very many of them actually intended on making a serious go at winning the auction. Most likely showed up to see who'd actually end up winning and to get a read on the kind of person Daniel was.

After their numbers passed fifty, he stopped counting, instead focusing on the food before him and enjoying every bite. They could wait, he’d had a bad past few days and a good, somewhat familiar meal was doing a lot to soothe his mind, but nothing good could ever truly last and Daniel soon found Pavel sitting across from him.

“You’re not very well dressed for somebody hosting an event for every noble family in the city,” the young boy said as Daniel cut his steak into bite sized pieces. The meat still sizzled despite it being served more than an hour ago. Clearly the work of some card.

“Obviously” Daniel scoffed. “I’ve spent almost no time in this world, why would I own nice clothes? Besides, I’m not some snot nosed noble, I’m a mercenary now. Dressing nice might cause them to mistake who exactly they’re hiring.”

"Of course it will," Pavel said in a tired voice.

With that, Daniel finished the meal he’d been savoring in a few quick bites and stood from the table. Conversation seemed to still at the gesture, as Daniel leisurely made his way to the center of the crowd where he stepped up on an empty chair and then fluidly stepped up atop a table.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Daniel said loudly, all remaining conversation quickly stilling. “I am Daniel Clay, user of the legendary card Flicker Between worlds and the soon to be user of the legendary card A Sane Man’s Burden.”

Daniel flicked out the golden card and the crowd of nobles practically drooled at the sight, “I have things I need to do later, so I’m going to make this short. I am up for auction! Ten years of my service will get you my loyalty towards whatever your cause happens to be, as well as first rights to purchase the weapons of my world.”

“Weapons? Don’t make me laugh, fool,” a voice from the crowd all but yelled as everyone's attention turned in his direction.