"Sources, Resources, Alignments, and Affinities have been the subject of research and debate for eons, and in that time, everyone that sought to define them was a little right and a little wrong."

~Collegiate Sofa Vergand

There we go, Devin looked proudly upon his creation. His last deck was made with a lack of choices, but now his soul card was a lot more impressive. Looking over his vault, there was only one more thing left to do. Or should I say two. Devin shook his head as he pulled out the damaged wolf cards to examine.

The magical mosaic on the back was infected with black, jagged lines. Even the artwork on the front of the card depicted scenes of the pain and fear of a cornered beast, one against the roots of its den, the other dying amongst its pack.

What should I do with you? He tapped his knee as thought about how to heal the summons.

As cards were an expression of pure power and possibility, it was possible a large amount of shards could do the job, but that seemed incredibly wasteful to him. Instead of using the shards he risked his life for, Devin [focus]’d once more and poured his own arcanium into the jagged wounds inflicted onto the cards, using the magical energy as a medium for his awareness to really see what he was going on.

It was a microscopic hellscape. The jagged lines were so red that they appeared black as it spread through the card like a cancer through life-sustaining flesh. Whatever it was, it destroyed the cards one microscopic shard at a time.

Not under my watch. Devin observed the situation a while longer as he prepared his skills, looking for a good place to start his attempt at purification.

The cancerous lines squirmed under his attention until they seemed to notice his arcanium. The disease seemed to become docile enough for Devin to approach even closer; that was until he came into contact with it. The black surged up his arcanium, spreading its taint through Devin’s awareness.

Devin lashed out with [destroy] right before it could finish crossing the gulf between them. It screeched in inhuman tones, plummeting back down to the infected cards. Rumbling. Waiting.

Crap. Devin felt sweat drip down his neck despite his focused meditations. That almost went left. He had no idea what would happen if he let that malignant energy infect him, but he doubted it was good. Luckily, his skills had an effect on it.

And that gave him an idea.

Squeezing every drop of concentration from [focus], Devin lightly caressed the cards with his arcanium, being careful not to fixate on the jagged, red cracks. The taint crackled at his proximity, but he [destroy]’d any tendril that strayed too close to him. He traced his arcanium around the cancer, driving it into a corner until he could grasp it all.

When he had the black surrounded with his own energy, Devin pulled with all his might with [seize], but the energy clung to the card-like mineral on limestone, acting as if it was permanently bonded with the material. Devin knew the truth; despite its strength, nothing in this world was permanent. He just had to find the right method to wash it away.

His skills doubled down his thoughts, reinforcing his will over and over again. Instead of trying to [seize] it, Devin changed his frame of mind, and sought to bend the disease to his will. [Subjugate] took his arcanium, and transformed it into a force of nature.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Gales and torrential tempests swept down onto the evil energy banishing it from both the cards one speck at a time. It left the cards looking cleaner, if not healthier. They were by no means fully repaired, but they were free of contamination. All that was left was a black cloud that spread through his deckspace, fighting directly against the manifestation of Devin's will.

It was storm against storm; a shadow of a nightmare versus man. In different circumstances, the black would've overtaken the man in a heartbeat, but as assured as he was in himself, the cancerous black couldn't find a crack in his defenses to penetrate.

Devin struggled at first, but every clash with the dark cloud left him more proficient in fighting with his mind. Clumsy tackles became graceful parries, while gainly strikes were transformed into sharp blades. Once he threw his skills into the mix, the dark storm didn’t stand a chance.

He [seize]’d and repurposed every piece of taint, [refine]’ing it into his resource. His skill took in everything and converted it into his own power, making him all the more stronger.

Pandemonium Integrated

Wrath—1st branch

A primal fury inhabits your body

Rage (42/1000)

Power (40/1000)

Fire (45/1000)

Pandemonium (831/10,000)

Life: 95%

Stamina: 100%

Arcanium: 98%

Pandemonium: 23%

Another rush of power went through Devin. He felt the same, but different at the same time. More connected with the ground, It's hard to explain. Whatever it was, he felt great. Even better than before., yet he ignored those feelings because he felt his face burning from a stare.

Releasing [focus], Devin opened his eyes to see Ben peeking at him from his perch on the bucket, which he promptly stopped once their gazes met.

He chuckled. “Hey, Ben. I think I have a couple of cards that can do you good as a Beastmaster. You might have to spare some shards to repair them, that is if you want them.”

The teen eagerly nodded his head with a smile, deftly catching the cards when Devin threw them. They were the Grey Wolf cards, the items looking lacking the unhealthy pandemonium plastered over them. Even their picture looked happier, from what Devin could see from where he sat. “Go replace your brother. You can use some of those shards to practice repairing them.”

Ben nodded, running to the shore much to Devin’s amusement. They’re good kids. He was glad Bella had the decency to help them awaken. It was the best thing she did for him in years. Dewey squeaked in his ear, comparing the boys to kits in her tribe within the library. I didn’t know you had a whole tribe. You’ll have to tell me more about that.

“You called, master!” Ken yelled enthusiastically as he approached.

“I’m not your master.” Devin said exasperatedly. “What do you have questions about?”

“Where do I start?” He took a deep breath. “Howdoyougetskills?Howmanycanyouget?Howdoyouhavesomanycards?Whatdoesalignmentmean?How—”

“What a damn second.” Devin held up a hand to stop the barrage of questions. He rubbed his temples, already feeling the headache coming up. “One question at a time.”

“Okay. I guess I really want to know how to use magic. Using a lair core for my circle gave me the dynamic alignment, but I don't know how to use it.”

“Hmm.” The question stumped Devin. He hadn’t thought of it before. “Hmm, I don’t have an answer for you. I don't even have an alignment on my soul card. Hey, Ben! Are you done with that book?”

Devin stopped feeding arcanium to the book in Ben's hands as the teen yelled a yes back and summoned another for Ken. Basics of Alignment Imbuement and Arcanium Manipulation. “Here you go, this can answer most of your questions.”

“Awww. I wanted you to teach me.” He sulked.

“I didn’t teach your brother, what makes you think I’m going to teach you?” Devin said, which made the boy sulked even more. Ken quietly sat on the bucket, almost pouting as he read the book.

That lasted for about twenty seconds before he began to play with his magical resources instead.

Devin shook his head as he begrudgingly unsummoned the book to stop wasting resources. He had a fair question though.

What is alignment, and how do you use it? From Devin’s cursory glances during his visit to the Lost Libraries, he saw many passages compare alignment to the properties one’s arcanium carried, yet it wasn’t that simple. Devin needed to imbue his alignment to transform his arcanium from pure specters to aspected energy. He just needed to figure out how.

Do I need a lair core just like Ken got? Devin didn’t even know what a lair was, let alone where he could find one. He sighed. Another thing to add to the list.

Heaven’s Lookout Activated

An eerie chime echoed through his mind, pointing his attention to the swirling water. Ben caught on a second later, suddenly looking around for the danger.

“Devin—”

“I know.” Devin moved before he could think, sprinting towards the shore as he waved to get Ken’s attention.

“Get away!” He screamed. “Get away from the water!”

Everyone gave him confused looks until large waves rippled as something huge rose out of the water and casted a large shadow on both Ken and Walters.