Atlas shivered in the brisk evening air, holding his heat card close to his chest for warmth. His energy was being drained at almost an imperceptible rate, such was the price of using the card’s magic. He glanced at the card briefly, seeing the ornate number 2 depicted in the top corner.  When Trevor, one of the kings of the merchant faction, had asked him to meet a Queen level merchant of the House of Shadows in secret, he rushed to grab some cards without seeing exactly what they were.  Luckily at least one of them had been able to keep him warm, even if it was only a heat level two card.

Little was known about the House of Shadows.  Their shadow cards were seen by many as underhanded and sometimes bordering on immoral.  They guarded their cards and their secrets closely, very rarely allowing shadow cards to be sold on the official market. So it was more than a little surprising to Atlas when Trevor tasked him with receiving mysterious cards from this mysterious house.

Atlas normally didn’t take orders from faction members, unless they were aces. He was the second son of the Lord of the House of Nature after all. Trevor had become his friend however, and Trevor had told him that he needed somebody trustworthy to meet the merchant from the House of Shadows.

         Atlas couldn’t imagine what kind of cards were on their way. They must be very powerful or very rare for it to be necessary for him to come pick them up personally. Trevor had seemed overly anxious and insisted that Atlas was the only one that could meet this messenger. The messenger was late however, and Atlas couldn’t stay out here forever. Things came out at night, things that he did not want to deal with.

         After another hour, the sun eventually began to set, and Atlas decided not to push his luck. The House of Shadows merchant was over an hour and a half late, and it wasn’t wise to be near the ruins after dark. Stowing his heat card, Atlas headed back to Summerwood. Summerwood was the capital of the House of Nature, the largest city in all the forest, home to many of the citizens of the House of Nature.

         Atlas traveled quickly, concerned that the House of Shadows never appeared. What if he ran into trouble on the way here? He thought, keeping a careful eye on his surroundings. Atlas was about as average as you could get, as far as his build went. Maybe a little taller than average, but certainly not large enough to scare off any predators on his own.

         He carried a couple defensive cards with him, but he didn’t want to rely on his cardwielding if he could help it. The House of Nature didn’t have many decks of cards, and it was difficult for Atlas to sneak off with the few cards he did. Luckily there were a few cards, such as the heat and the candle, that were plentiful and most people had access to those.

         As he approached the city, he smelled smoke. Immediately he felt that something was wrong. There was hardly any wind that night and the amount of smoke needed for the smell to reach this far away was much more than a simple campfire would produce. 

         It could be anything, probably nothing, he thought, trying to calm himself. But deep down he felt that it wasn’t just anything, it was something terrible. And he turned out to be right. 

The House of Nature was no more. Atlas stood frozen, unable to move or even think. He stared at the burning houses in front of him, the fire still raging. An ember landed on his cheek, breaking him out of his trance. He ran towards the center of the city, ash sticking to the tears and sweat on his face.  His home, or what used to be his home glowed bright yellow and red from within as the fire made itself at home.

         There was nothing he could do.  Even if he had a powerful enough card, he would not even be a strong enough wielder to use it.  He fell to his knees and put his head down.  He could feel the heat that seemed to stretch and dry out the skin on his face, but he didn’t care.

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         The only cards that would have been able to start this fire so quickly were owned by the Elemental house to the southwest.  

The House of Nature was set in the forest on the northern edge of the kingdom. In addition to a small border with the Elemental house, it shared its borders with the House of Shadow to the west, the House of Enhancing to the south, and the House of Shapeshifting to the east. While Nature was not one of the stronger houses, the forest provided them with some natural protection. Their nature cards were powerful when used in the forest. They had thought they were safe, but they had been wrong.  There had been no reason to expect an attack.  The House Treaty still held sway, but maybe not anymore.

         Atlas had no idea how long he knelt there, useless and helpless amid the flames.  Tears had stopped falling long ago and the intense light from the fire started to dim.  His home, lit now mostly by moonlight filled his vision. The door hung on its hinges, an ominous sight to behold. He fumbled with the inside pocket of his loose green robe, and pulled out a level three lash card. He rubbed his thumb over the card nervously, preparing to unleash its magic if the need arose. 

         Pushing the door aside, he stepped inside the ruined house, still filled with immense heat. He wilted away from the scorch marks that peppered the wall. It was obvious that whoever came here had access to high level fire cards, enough to put the entire city in flames. For a moment he thought of the villages surrounding Summerwood and elsewhere within Nature House lands, and shook his head. He hoped those villages survived but whoever was responsible for this probably would have sent attackers there at the same time. 

Who would do such a thing? He thought as he searched the house for any survivors. The House of Nature had enemies of course, it was impossible not to have enemies, but the House of Nature wasn’t strong enough to be a threat. The amount of fire cards needed for this attack suggested that the House of Elements might be involved, and the House of Enhancers were well known to be an ambitious house. The House of Nature had more enemies than he had realized.  These perpetrators either were not scared of or didn’t care about the treaty that bound all houses.

There were bodies scattered throughout the house, but they only belonged to those of the House of Nature. Either there had been no casualties among the attackers or the dead attackers bodies had been carried off, leaving no trace back to their Houses. When he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped, overwhelmed again with grief.

I should have been here. He saw his father first, lying faceup, still recognizable despite the damage the flames had caused. His body was positioned in front of the rest of his family, clearly the victim of a violent bladed attack. Alder, the Lord of the House of Nature was a protective man, and he died protecting those he loved. After he was cut down, the attackers got to the rest of his family. His three brothers, Aaron, Jordan, and Stephan lay around his mother in a pool of drying blood.

He knelt in the darkness, dyeing his pants in the blood of his family and the charred remains of his home. He wept again openly and loudly, screaming into the hot, heavy air, devastated at his loss. Never had he thought his life could change so quickly all at once.

He, again, had no idea how long he knelt there. Taking a deep breath, he wiped his eyes and considered his options.

First, he needed to check the vaults. He needed to see if by some miracle some of his House’s nature cards had remained untouched. After that he would need to find somewhere to spend the night. He couldn’t bear to remain here. His home, what once was a place of safety, had been destroyed.

He found shelter in the Scholar’s faction. Of all the buildings, this one seemed least damaged by the inferno.  After finding nothing in the vaults and no cards left behind, he needed a familiar place. He loved nothing more than the smell of old books and the peace and quiet that the libraries brought. That familiar smell was replaced by a painful stench of smoke and death. He had always wanted to join the Scholar’s faction, but his father had pleaded with him to consider the Merchants. The House of Nature was lacking in capable merchants that could effectively barter and trade for more powerful cards. Atlas had just turned eighteen and would have joined a faction within the month, but that obviously was not going to happen now.

After finding a mostly intact bedroll, he tried to sleep in a hidden corner of the library. Atlas tossed and turned all night, trying not to consider the possible paths that lay before him. The sole surviving member of the House of Nature. He knew he would die if the house that had performed this atrocity found out that he was still alive. 

He was sorely tempted to hide out in the forest and live the rest of his life out in solitude. But he thought of his family, their deaths weighing heavily on his mind. His heart burned for vengeance, and he felt something inside him change. 

I swear to you Father, I will find out who did this to our House, and I will make them pay. I swear it to the Dealer, may he bless my hand. 

The thoughts slowly ebbed and exhaustion won out, sleep finally claiming him.