Twenty-eight days until he got turbo cancer.

Max swore, long and low.

Ebba was standing on the log in front of them, her hands smiling as she watched everyone read their messages. She knew this was coming and she was here to extort them. None of them even knew where a low mana area was.

“So that’s how it is, huh? You wanna lead us to safety, but there’s a cost, right?” Yang yelled, her hands on her hips. “Well, get on with it. What’s your price?”

“You are correct, I am here to lead you to safety, but don’t act like I am some kind of umbrella squid. I am here out of the goodness of my heart. It took me weeks to get here and a lot of resources. I am only asking for payment so that I don’t end up worse than I started,” Ebba said.

“Fine, we need your help. What do you want?” Yang repeated. The short woman had a positively menacing look on her face.

“The only thing of value you have, of course. Your heart cards. In exchange for escorting all of you to the save zone in the first layer, I only require four heart cards. It is much less than what others would ask,” Ebba said, folding all four of her arms.

“You ain’t gettin’ my card!” one of the gun aficionados yelled out.

Max could see the same sentiment building up among a lot of the other portal jumpers. They hadn’t even gotten the chance to try out their cards yet, and she was already wanting to take them away.

He held up his hands and said, “Give us a minute to discuss it, ok? I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

“That is acceptable. I will give you a moment to discuss. But I want to talk to one being, choose a leader while you talk,” Ebba said and strolled away to the edge of the clearing.

Max didn’t know how good her hearing was, so he motioned for everyone to move to the other side of the clearing. Once they were gathered he said, “Hey, everyone. I’m Max. The purple alien lady seems sketchy, but I think we can all agree that we need her help, right?”

“We need someone’s help, but why trust this vulture? Oh, and I’m Kristina,” she said. She was the leader of the adventurous five that had been the first outside.

“It’s not like we have another choice. It’s the purple-people-eater or no one. Gus by the way,” the bearded man said. Gus tapped the rifle hanging by his side. “But after seeing her magic, I think we can take her. Guns are a lot more effective than floating knives.”

Max gave everyone a second to digest that then said, “Alright. We agree that we want her help. Let’s agree to her terms and decide who gives up their card later. We can test out our magic cards first, maybe some of us will be willing to part with our cards then. I know my hammer card doesn’t sound that impressive.”

“That sounds like an acceptable solution,” one of the Chinese guys said.

“The only thing we have to agree on now is payment for those that give up their cards. If all of us agree to chip into a central pot, it will be easier to give up your card when the time comes,” Max said.

“We can agree to that. But we must withhold payment until after we have arrived,” the Chinese guy said.

Max made a mental note to learn everyone’s name. He couldn’t keep thinking of people as categories. He said, “Good idea. We’ll pay her the cards when we are safe and everyone contributes to the people that give up their cards. That’s settled. We also need to pick a leader that talks with Ebba. I don’t want the job. Does anyone else want it?”

Kristina started to raise her hand, but then put it down and shook her head. Max turned around, looking at the group of social misfits. If they were well adjusted and popular, they wouldn’t have left Earth. None of them wanted to be the leader. He sighed and said, “Fine. I’ll do it. But if you guys make me be a leader, you have to agree to do work if I delegate it, alright?”

Everyone quickly agreed, glad to be out of the responsibility. Max continued, “Alright, I’ll tell her we accept her terms and in the meantime everyone can test out their magic cards.”

That got people excited and they quickly spread out to try and use their cards again. Max guessed that they would all have enough mana by now and couldn’t wait to test it out himself. But first, dealing with the purple alien.

“Hello Ebba. I will be your contact with the group. My name is Max. We have decided to accept your terms. Four magic cards in exchange for leading us all the way to civilization within a low mana zone. As soon as the quest shows complete, we’ll hand them over,” Max said.

“That wasn’t the deal. I want payment up front,” Ebba countered.

“No. Payment when we arrive. If you are telling the truth, we can’t possibly survive without you, so there is no danger of us running away. We will pay on delivery. I swear it,” Max said, hoping his fellow humans wouldn’t make him a liar.

Ebba glared at him and her fingers twitched. “Fine. We have an accord. Are your hatchmates done playing yet?”

Max glanced back and said, “Everyone is excited to try out their magic cards. It shouldn’t take too long and then we will be ready to go.”

“I will be scouting out our route, come get me when you are ready,” Ebba said.

She sat down on the log and closed her eyes. A small blue bug appeared in the air above her head. It had six extra long legs and two sets of wings. It buzzed for a moment and then shot off into the distance. The way she continued to sit there made Max guess that she was able to see through the eyes of her summoned insect. That was a handy card.

Max turned around to see James walking up.

James pointed behind himself and said, “I totally killed that fern back there. Started slow, but I think the effects are cascading. How about you? You try it out yet?

“Not yet, I was just about to.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Alright! Let’s see the magic happen!”

Max chuckled. The expression was literal this time. He had to prepare first though. His hammer card used transmutation so he needed material to use. Like having feed stock for a 3D printer. He used his knife to harvest several nearby plants. He made sure to stick to plants he could identify, ones that didn’t seem too magical. Ferns, vines and tree bark. He got more than he thought he needed because he didn’t know what the conversion rate was.

When he had it all ready, he held it in his hand and concentrated on activating his magic card. To his shock, it was easy. His awareness was swiftly drawn to his metaphorical center where the hexagon card hovered. He mentally clicked on it and magic rushed out. He felt the tingles in his arms as magic slowly flowed through them and into the bundle of plant matter in his hands.

The plants dissolved into tiny motes of light. The light assembled itself in seconds into a familiar shape. Soon he was holding a framing hammer with a rip claw back. The magic had used less than a third of the materials he had gathered and he dropped everything but the hammer. He swung it around, impressed with how perfectly balanced and comfortable it felt.

There was writing on the side and he got a shock when he read it. There’s no problem a good hammer can’t solve. This was an exact copy of the hammer his brother had left him eight years ago. It was familiar because he had used it every work day for the last three years. Max hurriedly unclipped his backpack and dug into it.

“That’s cool. Can I see?” James said.

“Just a second,” Max said and found what he was looking for. It was his brother’s hammer. He held the two hammers up to each other to compare. They were very similar, but not identical. The magic hammer was heavier, the writing on its side wasn’t as crisp, and there was no wood grain. Other than that, they were identical.

He handed the new hammer over while he thought about it. This hammer, particularly with the writing on it, hadn’t existed on Spinworld before today. Max guessed that the magic card pulled the information from his head. And if his mind determined the shape of the hammer, it meant that he could change its shape just by thinking about it.

James handed his hammer back and said, “It’s pretty cool. You did that from memory?”

“No, I just activated the card, I didn’t put any special thought into it.”

James decided one of the other portal jumpers was too close. He moved into Max’s shadow and said, “Interesting. So it pulled the information from your brain. I wonder if you can change it. Are there types of plant diseases I can study that will increase the effectiveness of my Decay card?”

“Good point. We should test it out. You got some survival books downloaded on your phone, right? Maybe one of them will have it in there.”

“Maybe. I’ll have to check.” James said and pulled out his phone. He stared at it quietly until they were interrupted.

“Hey boys, aren’t you going to ask about my power?” Lily said.

James turned sheepishly, an apology on his lips. They were greeted by the sight of twins. Lily was standing next to another Lily. Both of them had a hand on their slim waist and their hips cocked to the side. Max couldn’t tell them apart. James walked up to one of them and ran his hand through it. The illusion scattered and reformed after he pulled his hand out.

“Wow, this is your decoy card, right? It’s so bright. It’s amazing,” James said, awe in his voice.

“Bright? You can tell the difference right away? I thought it was a pretty good copy,” Lily said and ran a hand through her long black hair.

“I don’t think it’s bright,” Max said. “I couldn’t tell the difference at first. Other than the fact that your decoy doesn’t move, it’s a great copy.”

“What? No. This thing is bright! I mean, maybe not bright, but, like, vibrant. It’s clearly magical, colors I have never seen before,” James said as he continued to waft his hand though the decoy.

Lily tilted her head. “What are you talking about? The decoy is wearing the same thing I am, same colors. Do you have mana vision or something?”

“Noo... When I watched Max do his thing and when I killed the fern, they looked like regular colors. Not like this thing,” James replied.

They stood there, stumped for a bit before Max snapped his fingers. He pointed at his friend and excitedly said, “James! You’re colorblind.”

“Good job! I knew you would figure it out, it only took you ten years,” James said and rolled his eyes.

“No, you don’t get it. You can see the real colors on Lily's decoy because it’s magic,” Max said. He could tell that his friend wasn’t convinced. “Here, let me show you what I mean.”

Max reached down and sorted through the plant cuttings until he found what he was looking for. He held it up to the decoy Lily's green tank top. The color match wasn’t perfect, but it was close.

Lily caught on and excitedly said, “James, those colors are both green. What do you see?”

“Green? You’re wearing green? I was so sure it was red,” James said as he squinted at the real Lily's tank top.

“James, don’t you get it? The decoy is made up of the colors the rest of us see all the time. That green on the decoy’s shirt is the same green that makes up most of the jungle around you,” Lily said. She put a hand on his shoulder and used the other gesture in a wide arc.

James squinted at the decoy and then took in the jungle around them.

Lily didn’t notice. She tapped her chin and said, “Why though? The magic is called decoy, it shouldn’t be easy to tell the difference between the real and the illusion.”

She brought up a good point. Any intelligently designed card would make it as hard as possible to see through the illusion. Why was it so easy for James? It took him a minute, but Max came up with a theory.

Max snapped his fingers and said, “Your decoy isn’t an illusion. At least not in the way we think of them. If it was a magical construct made of light waves, James would think it’s washed out like everything else. But since he can see the real colors, it means that the effect is bypassing his defective eyes and going straight into his brain. The decoy is broadcasting brainwaves or something like that.”

“Hey, don’t talk about my eyes like that. They can’t help it,” James said, throwing a dramatic hand over his face.

Max just laughed and shook his head. Lily wanted to track down Yang and find out what her power was, so they walked around. They found her at the edge of the clearing, crouched down and looking at a four foot tall blob. It looked like a glowing blue mushroom with four tiny legs. Its face was on the stalk and the mushroom cap acted as its hat.

Yang held up her hand and said, “Stay back. I’m still trying to teach it friend from foe.”

“Is this your summons? It’s so cute!” Lily said, stars in her eyes.

“Yeah. My card says I can keep it active for an hour a day and I can teach it stuff. The teaching isn’t going so well. It’s dumber than a pile of rocks,” Yang said. She stood up and brushed off her suit.

“What is it? Some kind of mushroom man?” Max said.

“Close. It’s a mushroomantis. It has lots of little blades under its cap,” Yang said. She turned to the summons and said, “Follow me.”

They walked away and the mushroomantis burbled and followed, its tiny legs churning to keep up. Lily put her hands up to her face and let out a little squee. Yang stared her down. Lily's smile didn’t waiver, but she mimed zipping her mouth closed. The four of them rejoined the main group.

Some of the portal jumpers were still happily testing out their magic cards. The gun nut with the beard was shaking the ground with every step. One of the solo portal jumpers was sending glass shards spinning through the air, slicing up a nearby bush. A Chinese guy had grown bark all over his skin and was awkwardly walking around. The majority of the humans were done with their testing though.

Max decided it was time to leave and walked over to Ebba. She opened her eyes and stood with a stretch.

“Are your people ready to go?” Ebba said.

“Yes. I just wanted to make sure you were ready before I gathered them up.”

“Excellent. Let’s go. I found an excellent teaching opportunity. It’s time to learn why ‘phase whale shit’ is a common curse,” Ebba said.