James Donovan was walking down the street, recently fired from his job. Not only was he fired, he was mugged, and beaten up afterwards just for the fun of it. He shambled on, watching the buildings pass by. Right before he was fired, he caught his wife with another man. Being the person he was, he just told his wife to get out of their home. He ignored the threats, he was deaf to the shouting. In the end, his ex-wife and her new boyfriend left. He then received the call to come in to the bosses office.
James looked down, noticing an old soup can. He stared at it for a moment, before viciously kicking it. He watches it fly out of his sight. He slowly sinks to his knees, in utter despair.
"Haven't I suffered enough!? Why must I go through this hell!? What did I do to deserve all this?" He shouted, knowing no one was listening.
He looks up, ready to shout some more at the sky, and maybe cry as well, when he sees blue specks falling from the sky. Normally, he would ignore such a sight, but for some reason he felt as if these were important somehow. After a minute or two, he realizes that the specks are actually large cards. He laughs silently to himself. Must be some kind of joke.
Curiously, one of the cards fall perfectly into grabbing range. James didn't particularly care at the point, but reached out and grabbed it anyway. When he looked down at the card, it looked to be some kind of list. He noticed another blue card nearby, and grabs it. It's exactly the same as the original. Only those two cards were nearby, all the other blue cards he saw from the sky seemed to have moved elsewhere.
"Please select your preferred deck"
James looked down at his hands in surprise. The blue cards seemed to have each spoken those words at the same time. This was a little startling, but James has come across many small things that could speak like that. Recently, a company had supposedly been experimenting with tiny voice chips that could even be used for the inside of paper. Something about the blind being able to listen to books.
James wondered if this was maybe an ad campaign of theirs. Perhaps they made a card game? James didn't really care, but he might as well play along.
James looked at the list once again, scrolling his eyes down to see the options. They were many decks, most of them sounding pretty ridiculous. Nothing particularly stuck out to him until he saw a deck labeled "Traitorous Luck". James, while not feeling humorous at the moment, thought that the name was quite amusing. Maybe it was destiny, he thought bemusedly. He clicked the deck.
"Are you sure you want this deck? You will not be able to choose another. " The card prompted. James clicked accept, wondering what that meant.
For a moment nothing happened. James sighed and started to continue his walk home. To him, this all was a minor waste of time. Suddenly, the card in his hand made a white flash. James averted his eyes, and when the flash dissipated, he noticed that the weight felt different in his hand. After looking again, he saw that the card that was in his hand was replaced by a deck of similar, if smaller, cards.
He was really starting to get confused at this point. While voice chips were possible, apparent teleportation was not. He looked at the other large blue card, wondering about it. He goes to select a deck on the other blue card, wondering what would happen. After clicking some random deck, the card immediately went blank.
"I am sorry, but it seems that you have already chosen a deck. As was stated, you cannot choose another before defeating an opponent. For consolation, we will grant you one perk for being able to activate another list. Would you like a random perk, or would you like to choose a weaker perk? Please say aloud, and speak clearly." The voice said.
James Donavan was even more confused, and a little worried, but decided to go along with it.
"I-I would like to choose a w-weaker perk." James said, hating the fact that he stuttered. It was starting to get really cold.
"Understood. Rolling random perk, please wait one moment." The card stated.
" Wait, t-that's not what I said! Oh f-forget it. " James said, disgruntled. Even with so many technological advances, they still can't get voice recognition right.
"The perk you have received is "Untrusted Draw"! At the beginning of your every turn, you may draw two cards and discard one, instead of drawing your usual one card." The card said. Once again, the card lit up with a white flash, before disappearing completely.
James was very unsettled, but was also really interested in what was happening. He noticed a blue glint in the distance. James debated with himself before deciding that home can wait, there's no need for him to go right now. Whatever was currently happening was starting to get interesting for James, and God knows James wanted some interesting right now.