"I play my Dire Forest Wolf in defense against your ogre," James declared. He placed the wolf card down on the artifact. On his side of the board, a vicious wolf appeared in a burst of green light. The wolf let out a howl, and it moved to defend his avatar against the mighty ogre on the other side of the board. The two tiny constructs of magic stared each other down. The dire forest wolf growled and postured, defensive as if protecting its young. Across from it, the ogre slapped his club against its free hand with an ugly grin on its decomposing face.

The rot was an effect of Paul's World of Rot trap card. It infected all his monsters with rot. This destroyed them after only two turns, but it infected all creatures that made contact with it. He also had the Infinite Graveyard in play, which let him revive monsters. Not only could he revive them, but he could revive dark monsters for half the cost.

"You're just delaying the inevitable. Your wolf has no immunity to rot, even if it does have a higher attack," Paul said across from James as he gestured at the field. "Is that it for your turn?"

James looked through his hand before he glanced at his remaining summoning energy and grimaced. Paul's monsters had infected and destroyed his own again and again. James was now running low on the energy required to summon more monsters. Worse, the only tactic he could use right now was simply tossing his monsters into the meat grinder and hoping Paul made a mistake.

Paul was using a cheap tactic, in his opinion. The World of Rot card had taken out his ace early on. The Rabbit of Tomnadashan, often referred to as the Killer Rabbit was a Tier 6 monster. All that was left was a downward spiral.

James placed a Tree Snare trap card face down and sighed. "Yeah, I guess it's your turn now."

The Tree Snare trap card wouldn't activate unless Paul played a monster from his hand rather than from the graveyard. It was close to useless in this scenario. Even if it worked, it would only buy James a few more turns. He would need to get his ace back, or the match was going to be over. Unfortunately, his deck wasn't cooperating with him. He couldn't draw the one card he needed.

Paul smiled as he drew a card. "I play my Vengeful Skeleton."

A skeleton appeared in a burst of purple light next to the ogre. It wore dark robes and had glowing red eyes within its hood. The skeleton wielded a vicious scythe in one hand. But just as it appeared, a rope appeared on the ground. The skeleton's foot was within the loop. The skeleton glanced down before the rope pulled tight around its ankle, and the skeleton dropped its scythe as it was suddenly yanked into the air. Just as quickly, the skeleton was smashed into pieces on the hard ground.

"Cheap trick," Paul said as he grumbled as he glanced over his own cards before shaking his head as he placed down a magic card. "I play quickened summon. I summon the Vengeful Skeleton from the graveyard."

The card was flipped face-up. The card read, 'Quickened Summon: You may summon a second monster this turn.' and then rotted away. Paul discarded the magic card and placed the Vengeful Skeleton down again.

"You've got to be kidding me," James said. The scattered bones of the vengeful skeleton pulled themselves together, and the skeleton appeared next to the ogre. The skeleton knelt down and picked its scythe up from the ground. He hadn't expected Paul to bring that card out so soon. Paul was going to be able to kill his wolf this turn. He sighed and discarded his Snare Trap card.

"I attack the Dire Forest Wolf with my Beastly Ogre." Paul said as he pointed at the Dire Forest Wolf.

The small ogre rushed forward and smashed its club into the back of the wolf, who let out a yelp as it was attacked. Tendrils of black rot began to cover the unfortunate wolf. The wolf lashed out with its teeth and bit into the ogre, ripping a chunk out of its flesh in a counterattack.

"My Vengeful Skeleton attacks your Dire Forest Wolf. Your wolf is destroyed," Paul declared with a smirk.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The skeleton moved forward, brandishing its shining scythe. The wolf looked up with fear in its eyes, as it was helpless to do anything about the incoming attack. The scythe came down and cut the wolf in two. The wolf dissipated into a ball of green light that faded away as the magic left it and entered the board again.

James was now left without any monsters to defend himself, and Paul had two monsters. Fortunately, they had both already attacked this turn. They were done.

"And that's where I end my turn," Paul said as he grinned at James.

James nodded as he drew a card. His eyes widened, and he glanced back at his cards. A smile grew across his face. He was finally drawing some luck. He had the card he needed.

"I play Springtime Growth." The card appeared before him on the board, showing its text to Paul, before vines covered the card and pulled it into the ground. "Springtime Growth allows me to return one monster to my hand from the graveyard."

James picked through his graveyard and retrieved the Rabbit of Tomnadashan. He smiled as he showed it to Paul, who shrugged in response.

"I summon the Rabbit of Tomnadashan!" James called out. The ground on his side of the field began to bulge as a paw forced itself from the ground. A large rabbit, rippling with muscle, tore itself free from the ground. It's claws and teeth covered with dripping blood. It's eyes glowed red as it observed the monsters before it. It let out a low growl that shook the earth.

"I now attack your monsters with the Rabbit of Tomnadashan!" James yelled in excitement as the rabbit turned into a blur. Like a furry bullet, it blasted through the skeleton, destroying it again, and its long teeth sank into the neck of the ogre. Grey, rotting blood spurted from the neck of the ogre as the rabbit ripped out its throat. The ogre fell to the ground and twitched as its rotten blood pooled on the ground. Black lines of rot began to creep from the rabbit's mouth as the rot infected it once again.

"You done?" Paul said casually, despite losing his monsters so quickly.

"Yeah, I guess so," James said.

Paul nodded as he drew a card and placed it on the field. "I activate the World of Death. I must discard my hand, and for every five creatures that have died, I can summon a dark monster from my graveyard without cost."

He put his entire hand into the discard pile and smirked at James. "I summon Vengeful Skeleton, Beastly Ogre, Wandering Spirit, and Demonic Imp." The four monsters started to appear in black light. "I now sacrifice-"

"Stop," James said, holding up a hand. "I forfeit."

"Really?" Paul asked in confusion.

"Yeah, I don't see the point in continuing. You've already won," James said as he looked at the board. All the monsters started to dissolve into motes of magic that sank back into the board. The board itself began to dim until it was just a flat slate again. They both stood up from the table and stretched.

"You did well," Paul said. "I didn't expect you to bring out the rabbit again."

"Where did you get World of Death? I've never seen that card before." James said, looking at the discard pile.

"Please, I live in the town with the main store. They run special events all the time for limited run cards." He smirked at James. "It's only been in print for a month."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. That's part of the reason I am vacationing here in the first place," James said with a shrug. "Still, it's been a long time since I played against you. You've gotten really good."

"Yeah, thanks," Paul said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm actually ranked now. Maybe we'll see each other in the state tournament next month."

"Uhm. I don't really play in big tournaments. I just like playing casually." James said, shrugging. "I don't have that kind of time anymore."

"Oh yeah, why not? You were pretty good." Paul asked, looking at him curiously.

James paused, staring at the board, before shrugging. "Gotta make a living somehow. I had to get a job."

Paul grimaced in sympathy. "Yeah, I can't imagine what it's like to work a full-time job. Thanks for taking time to play me."

"No problem. I hadn't seen you in a while, and I needed something to fill the time before I turned in for the night." James said as he stretched and looked at the clock. "Tomorrow I am going to visit that card shop and then go see the sights. Want to come with me?"

Paul shook his head. "It was great to see you again, but I have a thing tomorrow."

"A thing, huh? Got a lady now? I'm proud of you," James said, smirking at him.

"No." Paul said grinning before shaking his head. "Nothing like that. It's just family stuff."

James nodded. They talked for a few more minutes before James made his way to the door of Paul's apartment and let himself out. He walked down the hallway to the stairwell and descended to the main floor of the building. The hallway was quiet at this time of night.

He was looking forward to visiting the card shop. He had always wanted to visit the main branch in East Lake City. It was rumored to be huge and had almost every card ever released. He wondered if they had the card he was looking for. Maybe he would get lucky and get a limited-release card. He would know tomorrow.

He walked out of the apartment building and back towards his hotel. The night was quiet and peaceful. He looked up at the sky and smiled. It was good to relax for once.