Source & Soul: A Deckbuilding LitRPG

By the time I recovered my wits, Hull was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t have the energy to chase after him or any idea as to where he had gone, so I rested on the steps to the match platform he had recently vacated. Some thoughtful spectators buzzed around me, asking after my needs and expressing their excitement over my advancement, but they were soon dispersed by a tournament official. The man was older and wore his robes proudly, the colored-spectacles that were a mark of gamemaster glasses resting on a long nose.

“Congratulations on your elevation, Master Hintal,” he said. “Would you like me to have you brought to the Coliseum's infirmary? It is much more comfortable than the name would suggest, with a knowledgeable staff who could help you recover before your next match, two hours hence.”

“No, thank you,” I replied. “I’m feeling more like myself with each passing moment. A bit longer here, and I’ll head to my room.” I experienced a wave of fatigue and added, “Though, if you could have a runner sent to retrieve me beforehand, I’d appreciate it. I may decide to nap for a spell.”

“As you wish,” he said, bowing his head. He then peered at me, I thought waiting to be sure that I did what I claimed I would. Instead, he ended up saying, “And would you like to know what boons the Twins have decided to bestow upon you?”

He could see my new abilities. My heart sped up at the idea of having more at my disposal than a perfect memory for cards, and I suddenly felt much more awake. I could find out myself, of course, but seeing one’s own soul card required deep meditation of a type I was unlikely to achieve situated within the hustle and bustle of the Colosseum floor.

“Again, I’m afraid I must decline. I would prefer that discovery to be my own.”

He inclined his head for a second time. “Very well. I’ll update our records regarding your status accordingly and see to that runner.” The man left then, and not long after, I managed the same.

I spent half of the walk to my room wondering about my new soul, tempted to stop at any nook or halfway quiet spot to delve myself and find out what I had gained. Each time I managed to keep putting one foot in front of the other, slowing sometimes but never stopping. You waited this long, I told myself. You can wait a few more minutes. The other half of my thoughts were centered around Hull. I was sure that there was something going on with him, and I was proud of myself that I had told him so and in such a direct fashion. Apparently the Twins had been similarly impressed, but what did that mean? Were my deepest desires actually centered around steadfast companionship, discovering the truth, or something else?

With such thoughts on my mind, the rest of my journey seemed to take no time at all, and I was only partially aware of what I was doing when I unlocked the door and stepped inside my suite. That was until I saw who was waiting for me.

“Esmi? What are you doing here?”

My fiancee looked up from where she was busying herself over a table and chair set that hadn’t previously been part of the room’s furnishings. I had missed the conclusion of her last match and her – a circumstance I had deemed less than ideal when I found out that the prince had won. However, Esmi wasn’t wearing the face of someone who had just lost to a heated rival. Caught in the midst of arranging a stack of paper boxes sitting in the center of the table, she looked adorably surprised.

“Basil!” she said, her shock transforming into delight. “I was just about to send a kobold to get you.”

“What’s all this?” I asked, stepping the rest of the way in and closing the door. I noticed that the places were set with plates and silverware, along with two glasses and a pitcher of water. Having an army of kobolds at her disposal truly was useful. “Did you bring lunch for us?”

She gave me a mischievous smile. “Not just any lunch.” Then she frowned, inspecting me closer. “Are you well? You seem paler than usual.”

Despite my unfinished talk with Hull, the return smile I gave her was genuine. I was about to say something I had spent most of my life thinking I would never achieve.

“My soul became Rare.”

Her eyes widened, and she covered the distance between us in a heartbeat, throwing her arms around me. “Basil, that’s wonderful. Congratulations.”

I dared to hug her tightly, talking into her hair. “Thank you.” The soft curls and scent of honeysuckle drew me in until my chin was resting upon her shoulder. “I feel run ragged,” I admitted.

“It can be like that,” she said, her warm fingers trailing the back of my head so soothingly I could easily have fallen asleep upright. “Gaining my Rare Soul took more out of me than Uncommon and Common combined.”

“I had forgotten you earned all three,” I said, as she gently led me to the nearer of the two chairs. Unlike Warrick and me, and most other nobles, Esmi hadn’t inherited any Rarity levels from her parents.

She chuckled. “I certainly haven’t.” When she got me into the chair, she stayed close, staring into my eyes. “The gold looks good on you. Like it was always meant to be there.”

I felt heat rising in my cheeks from the compliment. “You are too kind.”

Esmi pecked me on the lips, which only made me warmer, and then stepped away, her fingers opening the tops of the folded boxes with impressive assuredness.

“That makes this even better,” she said. “I had planned to get this lunch as a celebration for your win over Losum, but now it also celebrates your advancement. Twins be praised, what perfect timing.”

Watching her work, all I could do was smile over her faith in me. There was no way for her to have had enough time after her match to see how mine concluded, then get food and bring it here, along with a table and chair, even with her kobold army. Instead, she must have assumed my victory and gotten it right after losing to the prince.

My appreciation for her soon switched to the contents of the stiff wax paper containers, as Esmi pushed each in front of me after opening it. Within the first was an arrangement of grilled vegetables in a star pattern, their colors of green, red, and yellow evoking the rainbow, with a sauce as dark as night drizzled over them. The next was a collection of steamed hazelnuts, each wrapped in their own mint leaf, unless my nose betrayed me. The one after contained thin cuts of meat, ranging from light-colored chicken, to darker duck, then venison, and beef, the strips all glazed on one half with a browned honey. This wasn’t just food, it was art.

I glanced up, an impossible thought having occurred to me. “Esmi, is this… Obu?”

The look she wore was pure triumph. “It is.”

“But I’ve never heard of them allowing food outside of the restaurant, not even for those who manage to have a seating with them. Not once, ever.”

Esmi’s nod confirmed what I had heard. “My family supplies much of the fuel they use for their cooking, and it is surprising what you can get people to agree to when you threaten to start charging them double.”

“You strong-armed a Mythic card?” I asked in disbelief.

“No,” she admitted with a little laugh, “just the restaurant manager. He swore me to secrecy about the whole illicit affair, and the same goes for you, by the way. I also had to sign a note pledging that my house wouldn’t increase fuel prices for the next five years.”

“Esmi,” I said, torn by her thoughtfulness to go to such lengths for me and concerned that her mother and father would find out that I was the cause of a five year, likely less than favorable, contract, “that’s too much. What will your parents say?”

She opened the last box, giving me an unworried, contented smile as she did. “This meal is for you, Basil, but also me. I wasn’t able to enjoy Obu last night due to poor company at the time.” Her smile widened. “I’m sure I won’t have that problem now.”

I could have easily kept worrying about her family, but I chose instead to trust her assessment, letting myself get caught up in the delectable scents that were radiating off of the medley of food laid out before me.

“Esmi, this is amazing, and wondrous, and more than I could have ever expected. But… and I hope you won’t think me rude for saying it, I’d like to look at my Soul before I eat. As incredible as this food will be, I don’t think I can fully appreciate it without first knowing what the Twins have given me.”

Esmi let out a sigh of relief and plopped down in the chair opposite me. “Oh, thank goodness. I wished to ask, but didn’t want to be too presumptuous. I’m still getting my bearings on how to act in Treledyne after so long in Charbond.”

“I think you’re doing a wonderful job of it.”

She smirked at me. “Now you are being too kind.”

“Not at all,” I said, glancing down at my lap. I would normally have let embarrassment take hold of myself at this juncture, but now I had the ability to push through such hindrances. I looked back up, matching her gold-flecked stare. “Also, if it is agreeable, I would like you to see my Soul.”

“Basil… I would love to.”

To assist in the process, we moved the chairs out from under the table and set them facing each other, so that when we reseated ourselves, our knees touched. I rested my hands in my lap and closed my eyes, trying to ignore everything without and focus entirely within. My inner eye didn’t linger on my mind or my heart but instead traveled to the center of my being where my personal card lived.

At first, all was dark, but I knew this to be part of the process and stayed calm despite my growing eagerness. Each breath I took pulled a layer of the murkiness away, the inner place I stared at going from inky black, to soot, to charcoal, to a foggy gray where I could just make out the edges of a card. The shape of it was still the same color as its surroundings, but as I focused on it, falling deeper into myself, the shimmer of its golden border eventually revealed itself, along with a picture of me, like I was looking in a mirror, and then text, written in the Twins’ own hands.

I had done it. I was truly Rare.

“That good, is it?” Esmi asked.

Her words made me realize that I was grinning ear-to-ear with my eyes closed. “Better than I could have hoped.” I focused on the card, lifting it closer with my will, until I could see it as crisply as possible. Then, I opened my eyes, leaning forward. “Here, look.”

Esmi leaned forward, too, our noses practically bumping together, looking deeply into my eyes as I did my very best not to blink. If she focused on one of the flecks, it should subsume her vision, letting her see the card within.

“Oh, Basil,” she said, her pupils twitching back and forth as she read. “It’s wonderful.” She sat back, giving me that mischievous look I was growing increasingly fond of. “You do realize that after this tournament I’m going to want you to tell me about every card I have.”

“It would be my pleasure,” I said, “as long as you promise to stay with me after while I do the same for my own.”

Esmi laughed. “You do like to barter, but don’t worry, that’s a price I’m more than happy to pay.”

Full of cheer, we began to eat then, sounds of delight escaping us on the very first mouthful. Somehow the food tasted even better than it smelled, each dish equally delicious but in completely different ways. With every bite, I felt my previously flagging strength returning in leaps and bounds. It was all I could do stop myself from inhaling the entire spread in a matter of moments, and to avoid such a travesty, Esmi and I engaged in conversation.

We had a great deal to catch up on and started with her experience at the Top 8 dinner. Much of the bickering among competitors I had expected, but Hull having a private chat with the King and the Prince certainly came as a surprise, and I added it to my mental list of why Hull might be behaving oddly. Next, it was my turn to tell her about my confrontation with Warrick outside of Obu. I gave her the unvarnished truth, and she was sweetly conciliatory, letting me unbox the still-fresh pain, lighten it some through the act of sharing, and then put it away again. I wasn’t as open about taking the Tears of Les – that would be a story for another time, if ever – but I did tell her about the Epic Hull had given me, which brought a tear to her eye.

“He has such a good soul, that one,” she said.

“I concur, even if he doesn’t always seem to know it.” I reached for her hand across the table, and she provided it, her touch warm like always. “But, I believe we can keep helping him with that.” She nodded, giving my hand a squeeze of agreement.

While we were already on the subject of Hull, I told Esmi about how he had bested Lustra by cycling his Sucking Void using a Vampiric Blade – a tactic the urchin I had met a few days ago would never have considered. His growth was truly astounding. I even told her about how the vampire had made some incredibly suggestive offers to Hull after the match, which I had chanced to hear being so near the platform edge.

“She made a pass at me, too,” Esmi said, after taking a bite of honey-glazed meat. “Right before dessert was served at Obu.”

“Did she now?” Such same-sex relations weren’t unheard of in Treledyne, but I was surprised by the number of targets the vampire was apparently willing to go after.

“Mhmm. And when I told her that I was already engaged, she invited you along as well.”

I nearly choked on the bite I had been eating. Here I had joked with Hull about his fumbling of Lustra’s advances and now I was barely able to hold down my meal when faced with the mere suggestion of such a circumstance.

Esmi gave me a sultry look. “Should I have said yes?”

I coughed into my napkin, completely out of sorts and easily redder now than I had been at any point since returning home. In a desperate attempt to save myself further embarrassment, I hastily changed topics to my duel against Losum. Esmi smiled knowingly as I did but was a good enough sport to clap excitedly when I told her how I had managed to summon my mother’s Sea Titan using her fabricator.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Esmi said when I finished the details of the match. “After playing against your tri-Source deck, I had some concerns…”

A laugh escaped me. “And you had every right to. When I realized that I had no way of overcoming your kobolds, I made a large gamble that didn’t pay off in the slightest. This new version, however, is much more balanced and flexible, I can assure you.”

She smiled over a hazelnut poised to go into her mouth. “I look forward to seeing it in action.”

Lastly, we discussed her match against Gerad, at which point she did finally get heated. I had expected the loss to be frustrating to her and was impressed by how long she had held in such feelings. Apparently, he had out-Sourced her into a Legendary Relic that was too expensive for her Treasure Hunter to steal. I had actually seen both culprits before on a visit to the King’s Card Library.

It was strange, just thinking of the Paladin in my mind – the Mind Trap, my Soul card had called it – I could start to see shadowy images behind it, one with better stats, another with Resist 1, that one with Intervene, and one with an Arrival ability that brought in a 1/1 Order Troop for every Order Source on the field!

“But that wasn’t the worst of it.”

“It wasn’t?” I asked, quickly recentering my attention on Esmi. It was clear that my Seersight ability was something I could easily get lost in if I let myself.

“No,” she said, stabbing her fork into a box that was now empty. “It was him having Esmet.”

I had never seen the Order Mythic before, but I had read about her. Her stats were quite good at 5 apiece but it was her abilities that made her incredibly powerful. Her Arrival created an effect similar to Equality, but for Summon Decks, where the Duelist with more had to shed cards until their Decks equaled each other. Also, when Esmet was discarded, even as damage, she Healed the controlling Summoner for her attack value. Thinking about it, I could see that last effect being terrible for Esmi to face.

“Because she’s so good?” I ventured.

“He wouldn’t have won the match without her,” Esmi confirmed. “But it’s more the fact that a pretentious pimple like him has our greatest heroes at his beck and call. It’s not just Esmet, but Agata and Hilbrand, too!”

So it was true. Gerad did have multiple Mythics, as well as the Legendary Kitsanya. “I know what you mean.” I said. “Seeing someone like Losum with a card like Orelus was unpleasant.” It didn’t feel like quite the right time to say that these sort of feelings were what had inspired me to push for a Soul beyond Rare. Instead, I chose to comment on something else I had noticed, “But Esmet was especially hard for you, because you’re named after her, yes?”

Esmi looked at me, and it was like all of the sudden I was the only thing in the room. “You remembered that?”

“What, our conversations before you left for Charbond? Of course.”

“But we were only five at the time, and you haven’t mentioned any of them since I returned.”

She was looking for something, but I wasn’t sure what, so I gave a pleasant smile and shrug. “They just hadn’t come up is all.”

Esmi seemed to consider me a moment longer, and then reached into the purse she carried, removing a tiny pen.

“Do you remember this as well?”

I stared at the small object. It was old and chipped and too little for it to be of regular use. It didn’t evoke any immediate recollection, and as time stretched and Esmi’s face fell, I began to wish I had a perfect memory for things other than cards. She moved to put it away, and I spotted a bit of metallic blue paint remaining on its opposite side.

“That’s my pen,” I said, seeing the aged object as it had once been: all blue, with a copper tip. “It was my first pen, and I…” I looked up at her, remembering now. “Gave it to you. When you were sad about going away and not having a Common Soul yet.”

Esmi nodded, holding the child-sized pen tighter. “You told me to write down my dreams, so that Fate and Fortune could better know them. I ended up writing a great deal over the years, and nearly all of it has come true, but some things I had to come back to Treledyne to see done.”

The way she was looking at me now, I didn’t think I could ever look away, nor would I want to.

“Basil. I told my parents to ask for our match. I hope you don’t find that presumptuous.”

“I find it… wonderful.”

I probably would have told her that I loved her then, but we were standing and kissing so suddenly, I didn’t have the chance. The moment was much rawer than those in the past, and it was like no matter how tightly we held one another, it wasn’t as close as we wished to be. If not for the eventual arrival of the Coliseum runner to procure me for my match against Hull, it probably would have been days before we came up for air.