Alex woke up, rubbed his groggy eyes and went to the bathroom to freshen up. It was yet another monday and it was time for him to go to school. After freshening up, he made his way to the kitchen to have breakfast.
His mom, Kathy Lune, was running around in haste, prepping up the food.
"Alex, you woke up early today." She muttered as she ran around the kitchen.
Alex nodded. "I couldn't sleep well last night."
Alex's mom laughed while asking. "Is it because they will begin teaching cards from today? Hm?"
"Cards?...What cards?" Alex asked with puzzlement.
His mom had a bizarre expression on her face. "What cards? Well, that is a poor way to hide your excitement."
Alex was confused by what his mom was saying. What cards was she talking about? Shaking his head and ignoring the awkward conversation, Alex finished his sandwich and orange juice, carried his backpack and left for school.
As he was walking on the street to school, he was a little surprised. His neighborhood seemed to have changed a little bit. The style of the houses seemed a little different, as did the roads and the street lights. He couldn't tell what was wrong, but he had a feeling as if the neighborhood had a makeover to look a little futuristic overnight.
When he reached the school he was even more surprised. The school building seemed even more different. He didn't remember his school to look like a glass office skyscraper from downtown. For a second, he was puzzled as he dumbly stood at the entrance. Did he walk into the wrong area?
Just then a strong hand gripped his shoulder with a 'pa' sound. Alex turned around to see his friend Luke.
"Brother, why are you standing here? Afraid to enter school?" Luke asked him with a smile.
"Luke, tell me something. Did our school building get renovated or something?" Alex asked.
"Ha? Have you hit your head? Hasn't the school looked the same for the past ten years?" Luke looked at Alex. "Do you want to go to the doctor?"
Alex was really confused now. Was he dreaming, did he have some form of delusion or amnesia? He kept these thoughts to himself out of fright.
The two walked into the class, and it indeed looked very different and futuristic. The wooden desks had been replaced by tables and chairs made of some shiny plastic. What shocked him more was that the tables all had a holographic screen on them and his friends who were already in class were flipping through the news on these tables, Tony Stark style from the Marvel movies.
Alex quietly sat down on his seat, barely managing to hide his shock. At this moment, he definitely had the feeling that something was wrong with him. He copied the others and began using the holographic terminal on his table. The first thing he did was look at the news.
The date and time were correct. The place and planet were also the same. However, he immediately realized that this wasn't the world he knew. This was a world of cards!
The more Alex looked into it, the more perplexed he became. Cards were the basic foundation of human society. Complementing technology was a parallel world of cards, created by humans, they were almost supernatural tools.
Cards could be made by people as a manifestation of qualities beyond the reaches of technology. From learning tools, harvesting energy, augmenting life, cards had the possibility of making humans stronger, faster, more intelligent and acquire special talents aka superpowers.
And Alex, starting from today would get the opportunity to learn about the theory of cards and how to manifest them, at school. In the final year of high school, the theory and practice of cards is a compulsory subject that is taught worldwide.
The quality of cards a person could generate would be crucial to their future career. A new set of occupations existed in the card space, that Alex had never imagined possible. There were two distinct societies, one whose life revolved around cards and one whose life didn't. Alex immediately understood that a future with cards led to a more privileged life.
Now he had certain suspicions. Had he been displaced into a parallel world where cards are a thing? The world was slightly different, yet a lot was still the same on a surface level.
While Alex was digesting these facts, Luke came over to Alex's chair. "Bro, why are you so serious? Did you get rejected or something? hm?" He ribbed Alex.
Alex shook his head. "No Luke. I was just wondering what exactly they would teach us about cards."
At that moment Josh, another classmate joined into the conversation. "I get you man, I'm pumped to learn about cards. I hope I can generate a powerful battle card and enter the Star Academy."
"Star Academy huh..." Alex nodded as he played along. He didn't know what Star Academy was, but he could make a guess.
Even within the card world, there was a significant hierarchy depending on the kind of cards people could generate. One of the most sought after card types seemed to be this battle card.
Alex hadn't gotten the opportunity to deeply research this world yet, but on the surface, from the news he glanced at, this world was not the relatively peaceful world he was used to. There seemed to be a lot of open combat between card users with special abilities and having strong cards of your own was a desired trait.
Luke suddenly became stressed as he brought his head down and whispered. "We are only going to begin learning the theory about cards, but do you know there are a few people in our class who have been learning since many years already?"
Alex was surprised by this. "Who all have already studied cards? And why does the school teach us the theory of cards only now, if others could learn it earlier?" He asked with curiosity.
Josh looked at Alex as if he had heard an alien speak. "Your knowledge about cards seems to be pretty bad Alex. The government teaches us the publicly revealed Fundamental Training Formula which is used to train cards. I heard from my father that this training formula can damage the potential when trained at a young age.
Those who have started training since they were in the first year of high school have some secret training formulas of their own within their families which allows them to train from a younger age."
Luke agreed with Josh. "I have also seen the news that the top ranks in the high school examination have often been training since middle school." His gaze turned towards the class representative Richard. "Unlike him, us plebs only get to begin our training now."
Alex now understood. The difference in those who had cards and those who didn't was so stark, that the stratification between the two classes would continue over generations, forming an elite class with their own secrets.
At this point, Alex had realized that he had somehow shifted into another world, a much more interesting and mysterious world, yet a fairly dangerous and unequal one. He stayed as quiet as he could, trying to take in as much information as possible.