Walt studied Aimee, looking for any tells that she might be lying. The young woman was weary, exhausted and defeated. Her face was ashen, slick with a cold sweat.

Even if she wasn’t trying to deceive them, there was something about her story that was bothering Walt. “If your Earth has become inhabitable except for these megacities you mentioned, then why don’t its citizens just move to one of these other Earths? You have the technology to travel to them, and it’s clear you have the technology to conquer them. So, why not just claim one of the more hospitable Earths as home?”

She laughed then. It was a bitter and hopeless sound. “We do. But who do you think gets to move to those new Earths?”

“Not the poor,” Richard said.

“You think Slaynami would be able to have an influx of fresh and eager duelists every year if they just let anyone move to those new worlds?”

“Gotta dangle the carrot in front of the oppressed population, huh?” Richard said.

“Your family has to have at least a Baron or Baroness to even be considered for an off-world ticket,” Aimee said.

“So your family has to be of a Noble House?” Walt said.

Aimee nodded.

“And let me guess, a successful duelist can earn a title?” Walt said.

“They are considered the New Elites,” Aimee said, “but they gain all the rights and privileges of a lord or lady. But yes, earning a title can change the fortune of an entire bloodline.”

“I’m trying to wrap my mind around a corporate ruled earth that also has something similar to Noble Houses,” Walt said.

“It’s not so far-fetched,” Richard said. “Think of Britain and the East India Company in the 17th century. Now imagine, instead of the company being dissolved, it continued to expand and grow more and more powerful through the centuries, eventually running everything.”

Walt imagined it and didn’t like where it led.

“It’s the Dukes who are the most powerful shareholders in Slaynami and the others,” Aimee said. “The Houses control the corporations. And the corporations control the Houses.”

“A favorable symbiotic relationship forged in the pits of hell,” Richard said.

Walt and Richard grew silent then, mulling over the ramifications of this new information. Walt viewed Aimee in a new light. Knowing a little bit more about her circumstances made her seem like an actual person, instead of well, a psychopath trying to murder him with magical cards.

It also helped that she didn’t seem to have some despicable persona she was embodying for viewers. She was a lot like her handle. Quiet.

Aimee interrupted Walt’s thoughts. “Can I go now?”

He looked over at Richard. The old man gestured at the bag emitting the blue glow.

Walt opened the bag and tilted it towards Aimee. “Do you know how to use the Card Forge?”

#

Richard, wearing his Goblin Rocket Boots, had clomped over to where the vending machines were before the rest area building was partially destroyed. He had gathered some of the sodas and snacks that had spilled out of one of the ruined machines and returned to the table, laying the bounty out on the table between them.

Walt cracked open a Coke Zero and took a sip.

“You know,” Richard said, “That stuff is worse for you than regular soda.”

“It’s got no sugar,” Walt said.

Richard rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and what’s in its place? Chemicals. It’ll rot your gut faster than sugar.”

Walt took another sip, unconcerned. “I’ll take my chances.”

“Suit yourself, then. Don’t say I didn’t try to give you some knowledgeable life advice.”

Richard nudged some of the snacks towards Aimee. She finally gave in, grabbing one of the bags of Cheez-Its.

The Mouthy Succubus, who had been surprisingly silent during the whole interrogation, also finally cracked. “Oh! There’s a Snickers bar!” She was staring at the chocolate bar, longing on her face. She looked up at Walt, pouting her lips.

“Take it,” Walt said.

The Mouthy Succubus looked like she could cry from joy. She grabbed it and tore open the wrapper. She took a bite and closed her eyes, almost fainting from the pleasure. She looked surprisingly human.

So much so that Walt paused.

“She seems real doesn’t she?” Aimee said, nibbling on a Cheez-It.

“Real enough to kill,” Walt said.

“But it’s not just that is it? Even though she’s a demon, she still seems a lot like a human, doesn’t she?”

“What are you getting at?”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Aimee swallowed her Cheez-It. “Do you want to know what happens to the natives of the worlds we conquer?”

Walt and Richard glanced at each other.

Aimee stared at the Mouthy Succubus. “If you look at them long enough, it seems like there’s a real person underneath everything. Doesn’t it?”

Walt watched the Mouthy Succubus continue to eat her Snickers bar. Underneath the demonic exterior, it wasn’t hard to imagine an attractive OnlyFans model or sex worker standing there with them, eating a candy bar.

Then it hit him. “The minions were once real people?”

Aimee didn’t say anything, but she didn’t deny it either. She bit into another cracker.

Richard was oogling at the Mouthy Succubus. “They use real people for the cards? Transforming them into minions?” He sat down on the bench then, disturbed by the revelation. “My God.”

“So that’s what the survivors here have to look forward to at the end of the tournament,” Walt said. “Getting turned into cards.”

“Those are just the lucky ones,” Aimee said.

“What happens to the unlucky ones,” Richard said.

“It takes a lot of labor to get a new world operating,” Aimee said. “But what’s more convenient than a fresh world that comes with its own slave labor?”

“Has there ever been a world that has successfully resisted?” Walt said.

Aimee laughed again. “If there was, I’ve never heard of it.”

“If I were one of the Slaynami overlords or game masters,” Richard said, “I would scout out the potential alternate Earths to see if they had the capability to resist. Then I would avoid them, mark them off the list for potential tournament locales.”

The more Walt heard about Slaynami, the worse it seemed to get. He found his hate for the corporation increasing exponentially with each new tidbit of information. He took another sip of Coke Zero and then got to the matter at hand.

He set the Card Forge on the table between them.

“It needs to be authorized and registered,” Aimee said, pointing at one of the shorter sides. “Whoever is claiming it will put the palm of their hand here.”

Walt looked at Richard, but the old man backed off and said, “Of course it’s yours. It was your patron who told us where to find it. I’d just like to use it. I’d consider it a reward for helping you out.”

He didn’t argue with the older man. He was just glad Richard hadn’t made it awkward by trying to claim the forge for himself. This was fair.

“Of course,” Walt said. He followed Aimee’s instruction and pressed the palm of his hand flat on the side. The solid surface became rubbery for a moment, and he felt his hand sink into its mass a little. The outline around his hand began to glow and he felt something prick the center of his palm. He flinched.

“Don’t pull away,” Aimee said. “Keep it pressed down.”

Establishing link with Slaynami Card Forge….

The coloration on this side of the box turned red and pulsed. Then it turned purple and green and a Voidlock crest emerged on top of the device. His stamp of ownership.

Connection Established

Slaynami Card Forge #61623 registered under Walter Harmon

Congratulations!

You are now the owner of a Slaynami Card Forge!

Please find the Slaynami Card Forge Tutorial in your Media Files.

“The tutorial should tell you every thing you need to know,” Aimee said.

“While he reads the tutorial,” Richard said, "why don’t you walk an old man through it?”

Walt opened the tutorial on his HUD.

Welcome to the Slaynami Card Forge Tutorial!

Inside you’ll find information on:

Disenchanting Cards

Upgrading Cards

Combining Cards

Crafting Cards

“To fire up the forge,” Aimee said, “press this glyph here.”

Walt looked over and she was pointing at one of the glyphs on its slanted front panel. Richard pressed his thumb against the glyph. He felt the forge hum underneath his touch. The slanted surface with the glyph became translucent and a screen appeared with the four options.

“It’s pretty self explanatory,” Aimee said. “It’s all touch screen so you just follow the prompts according to what you want to do.” Then she pointed at the slide with the two slots. The top slot had a red coloration around it. The bottom one had a green outline. “The top slot is for inserting cards. The bottom one is where the forge ejects upgraded or freshly crafted cards.”

Walt selected the first option.

Disenchanting Cards. Select the Disenchant Card prompt on the screen. Choose the card you’d like to disenchant. Once the card is chosen, insert card into the red or top slot. The Vigor Dust value for the card will appear on screen. If you still want to disenchant the card, confirm by selecting the Disenchant Prompt. Then let the forge work its magic and collect your Vigor Dust vial!

Don’t worry, if you for some reason accidentally disenchant the card, you can use the Recraft Card option to remake the card.

“Vigor Dust vial?” Walt said.

“The Vigor Dust is the material you need for upgrading and crafting cards,” Aimee said. “Disenchant a card and see for yourself.”

Richard nodded at Walt to try it. “If you’re collection is like mine, there’s gotta be some cards you’d like to turn to dust.”

Walt took a moment and scanned through his card collection, which included the cards from the Starter Deck and the decks of his defeated opponents. He found a disposable card he had no qualms disenchanting. He held it up and showed them.

Graveyard Slug. Minion. Set: Necromantic. Rarity: Common. A soft-bodied mollusk found in abundance in every cemetery or in soil near decomposing remains.

Mucus Spray: 3 Attack, Cooldown: 5 seconds

Health Points: 2

Cost: 1 Vigor Stone

He fed the card into the red slot on the forge. The device accepted the card with gusto. There was an intake of air and suddenly the card disappeared out of Walt’s fingers.

A prompt on the screen flashed.

Graveyard Slug. Level 1.

10 Vigor Dust.

[Disenchant Card?]

[Accept?]

[Yes/No?]

Walt selected Yes.

The Card Forge hummed and began to tremble. Heat radiated it as the blue flames within flared. They all gazed in and saw glittering molecules crackling out from the flames, floating out of sight within the interior of the forge.

Walt thought he could hear the sound of tiny hammers striking tiny anvils within. This was accompanied by the click of mechanized cogs. All in all, it seemed as if the forge was the design of some mad gnomish tinkerer who had mastered an advanced form of technological artificing.

The forge finally stopped trembling. The humming subsided. The flames diminished. The device cooled down.

Then there was the clink and tinkle of something dropping into a slot.

Walt peered at the back side of the forge, where a compartment unfolded from the surface, revealing a glass vial about the size of an hourglass. And like an hourglass, it seemed to contain sand. Except this sand was glowing blue. He picked it up and showed it to them.

“There’s your Vigor Dust,” Aimee said.

“So this is what ten dust looks like,” Walt said.

“That’s a decent value for a level one, common card,” Aimee said. “You get more dust for higher level and more rare cards.”

“Where do you insert the dust when you want to craft or upgrade cards?” Richard said.

“See that glyph on the opposite corner from the one you first used?” Aimee said. “Press that.”

Walt pressed it and an area on the surface atop the forge swirled. The polished metal rose, morphing into a funnel.

“You pour it right in there,” Aimee said.

Walt held up the vial of Vigor Dust and smiled. “Should we try upgrading a card now?”