The front loading area of the hotel looked as peaceful as it ever had. People came and went, and the hotel busied itself with its regular customers. Almost a dozen motorcycles were parked in the hotel's parking lot, and a group of three people in leather jackets talked to each other near them.

Breathing a sigh of relief, James left his hiding place behind a nearby tree and began approaching the hotel. He had been worried about the thugs he had spotted before. Still, with all the motorcyclists around, James wondered if he had just been paranoid.

"What's with all the motorcycles?" he asked the receptionist, noticing they were free as he entered the lobby.

"Ah, there's some big event for them tomorrow. I'm not sure of the details," the man behind the counter said. "I am sure they would be happy to tell you."

"Ah, no, that's okay. Thanks," James replied courteously, immediately feeling better about the situation. He had just been paranoid after all.

"No problem," the man said, returning to whatever he had been doing on the computer as James made his way towards the bank of elevators.

James took the elevators to his room and entered it with a swipe of his keycard. The inside looked almost the same as when he left it. The hotel had made the bed, replaced the towels, and emptied the garbage. He thought he smelled something odd in the air but wasn't sure. He missed the enhanced sense of smell. Was it some kind of cleaner?

James turns and locks the door and places the lock bar across the door, just to be extra safe. He didn't want any uninvited guests.

After placing the tote bag on the dresser, James checked that all his luggage was still where it was supposed to be. The bags had been moved around a little, which was worrying, but he assumed it had been housekeeping. Otherwise, everything seemed fine, so he pulled out his deck of cards from his suitcase and placed them on the bed.

He wasn't one to be melodramatic, but these were his lifeline from now on. He needed to see what he could use.

The order seemed slightly off to him, and what was more concerning was that a few cards appeared to be missing.

He counted the cards and came to the correct number, though, so he wasn't sure. A lot had happened after all. They didn't seem like they had been gone through. He noticed no extra wear around the card edges or unusual bends. It wouldn't be the first time hotel staff had gotten handsy with his belongings, but maybe he was expecting the worst from people.

"I wonder if I just have trust issues," James said as he opened the bottom dresser drawer and pulled a small stack of his more valuable cards from the underside of the drawer. He had wrapped them in card protectors and stuck the stack of cards to the bottom with adhesive putty.

"Okay, I definitely have trust issues," he quipped. Nothing that had happened over the past day had convinced him he was wrong, either. He was still nervous despite being in the relative safety of his hotel room.

He added the hidden cards to his pile. They weren't expensive, at least by tournament standards, but they were valuable enough to be tempting to underpaid hotel staff. After all, his Rabbit of Tomnadashan was worth a hundred or two.

After pulling his cards out and placing them on the bed, he retrieved the three devices and placed them to the side. He then began sorting the cards into individual piles. Some would be useful, but others would not.

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Amelia was bored. She was really bored. She found herself reading a few pages of the book she was using as part of her disguise. It was a bit of a cheap, trashy novel she had picked randomly from the bookstore on the way to the hotel.

Her chosen codename was Noctua, which was supposed to evoke the sentiment of a wise and careful person. But she felt anything but wise at the moment. She was feeling bored and a bit awkward.

The receptionists knew why she was there and occasionally glanced at her as if she were about to start tearing up the lobby or something.

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The novel wasn't her style, but that was for the best since she wasn't supposed to pay attention to it. She was waiting for some random nerd to walk in so she could tell the higher-ups. The likelihood of that happening was about zero, in her opinion.

She wasn't a convert specialist but just one of the summoners, even if she wasn't into the dumb card game.

But still, the job paid well enough, and she got a cool codename, so that was something. She was thankful her uncle had introduced her to real magic, but it wasn't as exciting as expected.

She had even moved up the ladder recently. However, she wasn't interested in the so-called monster world the old fogies went on about in the meetings she was now required to attend.

"Maybe I should have gone into fashion," she lamented as she closed the book. She figured it was getting close to her lunch break as she stood up and stretched. Her relief should be here soon, and that nice panini place down the street was calling to her.

But to her surprise, her target chose that exact moment to walk into the lobby and converse with the receptionist before making his way to the bank of elevators.

"Of course," she thought as she took out her phone. "He just had to show up at lunchtime."

Noctua had a long conversation with her handler. After a bit of arguing, it was decided that she would confront the man in his room. She didn't like it. After all, she was only a lookout. But they pointed out that she was a summoner, so this was also part of her job.

She sighed as she adjusted her earpiece again and stood before the hotel room door. It wasn't very comfortable, but they had insisted it be on just in case she needed assistance. It was just some guy, right? She should be fine.

Finally, she adjusted the arcane slate on her forearm and placed the Obscure and Skeleton Key cards on it.

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James had managed to sort the cards into a few piles. He had piles for "super dangerous," "useful," "maybe useful," and "unknown." They had been sorted based on his best guess as to what they would do.

The first two piles were his combat cards. His rabbit and a few of his better monsters were in there, as were many powerful support cards.

The third pile consisted mostly of utility cards that could be useful in the right circumstances. Still, he wasn't entirely certain how useful they were, but they had good potential.

Finally, there were the unknown cards. These cards didn't seem to have much use or were generally garbage. He would have to test these to get a better idea.

He packed most of his cards into his backpack, an excellent step up from the tote bag, and began placing his cards in strategic locations.

He heard his door click as he placed the last of the devices within the drink holder. James immediately reversed the action and swiftly began to unzip the bag to pull out the "super dangerous" cards.

He almost fumbled the cards as the door was pushed open, only to be stopped by the security bar.

"Really?" he heard a feminine voice call from the hallway.

James placed his chosen card on the device, and for the first time, he summoned his Rabbit of Tomnadashan to reality. The green mist quickly swirled from nowhere and coalesced into the white, fluffy bunny with glowing red eyes.

The rabbit sat resting and waiting for orders even as the door flew off its hinges and into the room.

Standing in the doorway was the Death Knight himself. Black mist rolled off its armor as it walked slowly into the room, followed by a somewhat mousy-looking woman.

"Ah ha!" She said, pointing at me. "There you are."

James had barely dodged out of the way of the door onto the bed. He turned to his rabbit and yelled. "Attack!"

The woman's eyes widened as she took in the small rabbit and stepped back. The small ball of fur launched itself with rocket-like speed at her and the Death Knight.

The two monsters met in the middle, with the rodent's teeth aimed at the armored creature's neck. The sound of cracking and twisting metal was heard as the rabbit bit down.

"D-defend!" The woman said as she took a few steps back into the hallway. "Kill it!"

The Death Knight swung into action and batted the rabbit away, dislodging it. The killer rabbit landed feet first on the upended door and spat out a chunk of dark steel as its eyes glowed red.

"A bad matchup," James lamented as he shakily looked through his cards. Even as he did so, his rabbit re-engaged with the towering figure.

"Wait!" The woman shouted, a bit concerned. "We don't have to fight!"

"Yeah, right!" James yelled back as he played the Cornucopia card. The drywall cracked, and the floor grew uneven as vines, bushes, and small trees grew up the walls and along the floor. The branches and vines began to grow heavy with fruit and vegetables.

As it did so, the black mist emanating from the Death Knight weakened, and the Rabbit of Tomnadashan began to radiate a faint green.

He had his own cards now.

He could survive this new world of monsters.

He had to.