Chapter 1 - The best card in the world.
10 seconds. 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... !!
Watching the countdown, Ed's face was all contorted.
On the one hand, he was excited. Years of playing, buying and selling cards from a TCG game, playing competitively, traveling to events and championships was his actual life. And it all led to this moment. Using all of his financial reserve, Ed bought the most expensive and rarest card in the world: Heart of the Universe, and with it finally earning a chance to win the world championship!
[ Heart of the Universe: Artifact - type artificial organ. Cost 10 common mana. Upon coming into play, the heart of the universe creates random universes, bringing up random effects from those worlds as well as life force. Each turn, a random card from a random player's deck will be put into play. The player who owns the heart of the universe will be able to use the card immediatly this turn, futhermore, the owner of Heart of the Universe will gain life points equal to half the card's cost. Afterwards, the card will be placed under the control of the owner of the deck from which it was drawn, as long as that player pays half its mana cost, otherwise it'll be sent to exile. ]
This was a cheat card! A supercheat!!
But, even so.... On the other hand, he just used up all his money to buy this little card. Not even money to buy a snack was left in his account. In the fridge he had his last lunchboxes, and some fruits - which would last another day or two -, but, besides that, the electricity and water bills were already at least a month late.
- What did I do... - Banging his head on the computer table, as he watched the auction online closing the sale, Ed smiled as tears spilled from his eyes. - With this card, I finally have a chance to be trully someone big in the TCG world; but in the end, if I can't get the bare minimum to survive these next few days, it won't do any good. Why? Why didn't anyone else bid on the damn auction!? - For quite sometime, screaming and crying was the only thing anyone could hear inside Ed's apartment for an entire day, until he literally passed out.
.....
*Beeeeeeeep* *Beeeeeeeep*
After an entire day of crying mixed with hysterical laughter, the sound of the doorbell finally snapped Ed out of his self-imposed martyrdom.
At the door, the deliveryman from the electronic auction company left after placing a small package in the mailbox. Inside it, the most precious possession in Ed's entire house - and the reason for his partial madness -, the rarest card in the world.
Holding the package, Ed felt like crying again even with the smile plastered on his face. But, after picking up his deck of cards and rearranging his gem among the other spells and creatures, Ed finally started to get his head together.
- The card is already framed in the deck, crying and regretting is no use. So, instead of complaining, better get out of the house; play a few games to test the deck and maybe place some bets? So not only am I going to test the effectiveness of this little beauty, but I can earn at least enough change to feed myself for the next few days.
With his plans in place, Ed quickly changed, put the deck in his pocket, and checking his cell phone, found a bookstore where a TCG event was taking place, with trading cards and a little friendly competition.
....
Close to 'Margins's Nook', a bookstore known in the city for the diversity of its activities, including a space reserved for TCG, RPG and other board games players, Ed was getting nervous about the debut of his new deck!
He was about to enter the bookstore when his attention was caught by a noise in the street. Even so, as he turned around, Ed braced himself for what, in his imagination, would be the last thing he would ever see; a car, completely out of control, flipped and came flying towards him. He didn't even have time to scream or jump when that giant block of metal and rubber hit him squarely.
His last thought was that, if he'd known he was going to die soon after receiving the letter, he wouldn't have spent so much time crying over that last bid at the auction. What a waste of tears it was!
What Ed didn't notice, however, was that as his blood ran down his clothes and soaked into his deck of cards, between them a small light glowed, and it disappeared in a flash.
....
- Aahnn... ouch, ouch, ouch.
Painful groans sounded through the room. Opening his eyes, Ed couldn't believe what he saw. In fact, he didn't even believe he was still able to see.
His last memory was a car, rolling down the street and hitting him squarely in the chest! He... shouldnt't he be dead?!
- I was supposed to have died. But, this pain? Surely the heavens are not so petty, that not even the pain of being hit by a car can be erased after death, right? - However, his questions were not answered, as the image in his eyes said he was not in heaven, or hell.
All around him was a simple, white-walled, unadorned room. A bed—on which he was lying—and a bedside table with a pitcher of water. In the distance a closed window prevented daylight from filling the quarters - clearly to let its occupant rest - and, not far away, a half-open door, through which not much could be seen, but it was possible to hear low voices, which Ed certainly did not know.
- I Survived? Haha... Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHA. I Survived! It's a miracle! HAHAHAHA. - What a day, what a roller coaster! In the end, Ed picked up where he left off: again the smile of happiness for having one more chance at life was stamped on his face; while the thought that he didn't even have a penny to pay the doctor's bill after buying that damn card made him cry nervously.
Ed's screams soon attracted the owners of the voices outside. Soon, two people entered the room, catching his attention. In front, a tall woman, with long black hair falling over her shoulders; a thin, perhaps even underdeveloped body with signs of malnutrition was the first thing to catch Ed's attention; that is, until the girl moved her hair behind her... long, pointed ears!
- Cosplay? - was the first word that came out of Ed's mouth, seeing the girl in front of him.
- Cos-play? - replied the girl, with a tone of confusion. It was not possible to know if this was from surprise or ignorance of the term used by the man in front of her.
Soon, she turned to the second person behind her. Another woman, very similar in appearance, but older, more mature. The countenance of this second woman, whom also had the same pointed ears, was more serious and penetrating though.
After a few seconds of contemplation - or shock -, the two girls started talking again. But their language was completely foreign to Ed. A little sung, well insinuated, few pauses. As much as he thought, no language he knew of seemed to fit it.
- What the hell! Where am I? First I get run over, after I wake up in a strange room, with two... elves? Is this some hospital prank? They found my deck with elf cards and decided to make a joke? Its kind of unprofessional this kind of attitude, isn't it? But not even the elves in Lord of the Rings talk like that. After all, where am I?
The explosion of questions finally brought the women back to the present and their attention to Ed.
Seeing their gaze, he imagined that maybe something more than an 'elaborate prank' was going on. Suddenly a fear gripped Ed.
- Did I really die?! - But how? He is clearly alive, breathing, seeing, touching, hearing, smelling. Reflexively, Ed quickly put his hands in the pockets, where he usually keeps his deck of cards and found... nothing. - MY DECK! - finally taking some time to observe himself, Ed realized he wasn't wearing his clothes; but a simple T-shirt and pants, made of a cotton-like material, just like the younger elf in front of him.
At that moment, the older woman came towards him. Her right hand pointed at Ed's glabella while her right hand pointed at her own temple, dictating a few words in a low tone.
After a few seconds, Ed had the impression of a strong light on the woman's fingertips flashing; at the same time, a burning sensation appeared between his brows, disorienting and knocking him down again onto the bed from which he had risen, with a loud ringing in his ears.
- Can you understand me? Hi, sir, friend, boy. Can you understand me? Did the Word Drive not work Gih?
- There's no reason it shouldn't work. He's human, we've been able to use Word Drive with humans before. I think he's just slower than the others. Or maybe he's weaker? Look, he's already waking up.
As Ed recovered, the voices of the women in the room began to return to his ears. But this time, he understood them. The tone was the same as the sung language, but now he knew the words and their meanings. Miracle? Magic? Ed didn't care about that, he just thought that he had certainly died, and that place was definitely not Earth.
And for the third time that day, Ed fell into contented-despair. On one hand, he was alive and, better, out of debt! On the other, he was completely lost, alone and he doesn't even have his deck to comfort himself with.
The two women did not know when, or why, but after regaining clarity the man began to cry, with a few lapses of laughter between sobs and tears.