Chapter 7

"I take it by your confusion that the Blood Goddess doesn't have much claim in your world?" Anton asked with more than a little bit of surprise in his voice.

"Well I can't say that I've ever heard of her," Daniel said with a shrug.

"What a blessed world you must hail from. Regardless it isn't something you should be overly concerned with. Just don't die during the Blood Moon and you should be fine."

"How so?"

"If you die during a Blood Moon then the Blood Goddess will lay claim to your soul. You'll be revived every following Blood Moon afflicted with madness, and you'll lose your ability to gain cards. It's a pretty ripe deal, but those inflicted with the madness usually stick to killing each other so it's not the biggest of problems."

"Are you sure, because it kinda sounds like a big problem," Daniel said with some concern.

Anton waved his hand dismissively, "It's all relative, but more importantly we need to talk about your position in my city."

"About that, what exactly is your position in the city?" Daniel asked in response.

"Well, my father founded it, and when he passed I inherited his deck and by extension the city as a whole. I'm what keeps the beasties from scaling the walls and tearing apart the cardless. Though more often than not I just end up managing the guild here."

"And what does the guild do?"

Anton smirked, "They like to give themselves grand titles, I'll spare you those. Truthfully they're pest control. Monsters can't be allowed to lay claim to the land around my walls. They end up getting territorial and trying to break in."

Anton shifted position in his chair, resting both his legs across its arm before speaking again, "That's what the guild is for. I have scouts go and record the locations of monsters that have gotten a little too close for comfort, and then I send out promising kids like yourself to go deal with it."

"My card's not exactly made for combat. Not directly at least," Daniel carefully said.

"Then supplement it with others," Anton said with a wave. "The average man can fit about twelve cards in their deck, an uncommon with a decent combat ability shouldn't be too hard to get ahold of."

"And how do I go about getting one?"

That question seemed to get Anton's attention, "You don't already know? Do you not have cards where you come from?"

"... no, we don't."

Anton stared blankly at Daniel before chuckling softly to himself, "Well ain't that special. Short term you can kill monsters to try to get their cards. The card's rarity is directly proportional to the strength of the card, but the drop rates decrease dramatically with rarity. Most of the people in the city that have cards have decks full of commons, with an uncommon or two sprinkled in if they're lucky."

"And long term?" Daniel asked.

Anton smiled, "I'm glad you asked, we have an extensive shop of cards in this building. Well, it's more of a vault honestly. You can complete errands or spend money to get yourself something nice."

Daniel stayed silent for a moment, simply processing all the information before asking the question at the forefront of his mind, "Why are you telling me all this? You make it sound like you're the king of this city, surely delegating out this tutoring session would have made more sense?"

Anton scoffed, "You, my friend, are dramatically underestimating the versatility, and more importantly, the rarity of legends. My deck is built around the few I have, and even then I can barely kill the kind of creature that would drop another one. But be that as it may, I can still kill one. The search for cards isn't a linear path, it's a cascade. The stronger you are the more choices open up to you and the more creatures you can face."

Anton reached into the drawer of his desk and pulled out a small bag before sitting it on the table. "You have a hell of a head start, and I expect great things from you. In his youth Douglass' father rushed to fill his deck and was left without a slot for the legend. So when he finally kicked the bucket the card went to young Samuel, who was then given the same opportunity that you've been given, a strong, solid foundation."

Anton pushed the bag across the table where it spilled, letting coins slide out onto the table. "Though he squandered his chance, and clearly didn't build a versatile enough deck. Don't make the same mistake. Take these coins, we have rooms you can rent here. Use the rest on food and supplies. Talk to somebody at the front desk and they'll set you up with a group."

Daniel hesitantly reached across the table and picked up the small bag of coins before slipping the few that spilled out back in the bag. 

"Thank you, for the money, and for saving me."

"Bah, all in the day's work. You can pay me back by being up on the wall come Blood Moon."

Daniel contemplated the request for a bit before replying with a simple, "We'll see," before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

'Well that went well enough. For a demigod he's surprisingly easy to talk to,' Daniel thought. 

And that was the status Daniel had given Anton in his head. He'd teleported the two of them across the city in an instant, and subdued Douglass like he was a child. 

'Probably best not to get on his bad side. Fear the man that everyone fears, and all that,' Daniel thought.

With that Daniel walked back into the main room and joined one of the lines leading up to a desk. It moved surprisingly quick, nothing like the DMVs back on earth, and Daniel found himself in front of a worker in no time. She had short brown hair and wore the same dark uniform as everyone else.

"How can I help you today, hon?" Said the secretary as she shuffled away the papers left behind by the last person.

"Well," Daniel said after a moment, "Anton told me I could request to join a group here. Oh, and that I could also get a room."

The secretary smiled brightly, "Sure thing hon, now do you feel comfortable disclosing how many cards you have, as well as their rarities and abilities?"

Daniel thought it over for a moment before replying, "Uhh, no?"

"Then just tell me what you're comfortable with. It helps the process of fitting you into a team."

Daniel hesitated, "Makes sense I guess. I only have one card, it's… rare and it lets me turn invisible for thirty seconds at a time."

'Probably best not to go around broadcasting that I have a legendary,' Daniel rationalized.

The whole situation with Douglass was still rather fresh in his head and he wasn't looking for a repeat of it.

The secretary pulled out a book from under her desk as thick as her head and sat it down on her desk with a thud. She opened up its heavy leather cover and turned to the right page immediately before pointing near the top of the page.

"This one should be a good fit for you. Their group is called Iron Bone. They have a few ranged units, a healer and a fighter. A stealth ability would complement them rather nicely."

"Sounds peachy, where can I find them?"

The secretary responded by pulling out another slip of paper from beneath her desk. From what Daniel could tell it was a very intricate schedule, it only took the secretary a second to find his new group on it, "It looks like they won't be back until tomorrow morning. I'll set up a notice for you to be called when they come in tomorrow. The rooms cost one silver a night, would you like to pay for multiple days in advance?"

Daniel shook his head, "No, just tonight is good for now," Daniel said as he handed a silver coin over to the woman. It barely made a dent in the small pouch.

With that, the secretary pointed him in the direction of his room and handed him a key with the number fifteen printed onto the front of it. Daniel walked away and found his room relatively quickly. It had the same number printed on a slick marble door, but it didn't have a keyhole from what Daniel could tell.

With a shrug Daniel poked the door with the key a good couple times, letting the sound of metal tapping marble echo throughout the hall. He was only mildly surprised when it actually slid open.

'Brute force, works every time,' Daniel thought with a grin and walked into the room.

It wasn't a large thing, but it was more than enough for him. Daniel sat his heavy bag beside his bed, he'd need to toss a fair bit of its contents. It simply weighed him down too much and cost too much oxygen while in Limbo.

The far wall had a window that gave an overview of the city. It looked like a mix between Victorian England and a wizard's tower, with mechanisms completely unique from one another lining many of the buildings. Daniel was pretty sure just by the look of some of them that they were each custom built to suit a card that their owners had. 

Off in the distance Daniel could see the wall that Anton had mentioned. It stretched high into the sky, piecing the clouds and obscuring Daniel's view of the top of it. Its surface shimmered with runes that flashed in and out like rainbows in the sky. 

'The monster's must be really bad if Anton's worried about them getting past that thing.' Daniel thought as he dug through his bag. He stopped digging when he came across his fathers knife.

It shimmered in the light of the room, which Daniel couldn't find a source for. It was simply there.

Daniel held the knife, and stared at it for some time before he eventually signed and attached it to his belt. 

And then he laid back in his bed and spoke to nobody in particular, "This is just insane. Magical cards, Blood Moons that curse you, gods, and a city where everyone will die if its wall comes crashing down. First impressions aren't incredible to be honest."

Daniel closed his eyes and muttered to himself, "Ten years, I just have to survive ten years." 

'And while I'm here I may as well take everything I can from this place before I'm whisked back to earth,' a smaller, more greedy part of Daniel thought. 

'After all, even if I do escape. I'll only be back on earth for ten years before I end up here again, and the I'll have to repeat the cycle.'

"I need to get stronger, a lot stronger" Daniel said to nobody in particular, but mostly to himself.

Flicker Between Worlds 

Legendary

Space

Timer: 9 Years, 364 Days, 17 Hours

Upon the timer reaching zero the wielder of this card will flicker between one of two distinct worlds. Upon which point, the timer will reset and begin to count down once more. 

The wielder of this card can at any point choose to remain between worlds for a limited amount of time.

(The timer will not be reduced while between worlds.)