120 Years Ago

  “It is beautiful, isn’t it?” asked thirteen-year-old Vlas as he gazed at the Tiny Kingdom.

  It was remarkably complete: it had a central castle, a trade district, a market, and thousands of tiny inhabitants, half an inch tall, bustling about and engaged in miniature chores.

  The buildings were just tall enough to make Vlas and Pob feel like Tribulations.

  “Do we really have to kill them? They seem so defenseless. It feels almost like genocide,” he said to Pob.

  “First of all, they are not defenseless. The seven local villagers whom these little creatures have already devoured could probably tell you otherwise,” Pob replied.

  “Secondly, there is no possibility of genocide. There are only two beings in that kingdom: the boss, which is made up of the common rabble, and the core, composed of the nobility. They are two different hive minds that control the tiny beings.”

  “Thirdly,” Pob continued, “they are not even human. They may dress and move like us, but if you were to examine one under a microscope, you would find that they are insect-like creatures. Their faces resemble those of humanoid ants, and they are very territorial and aggressive.”

  “How are we going to go about this?” asked a worried Vlas. “As I told you, most of my Arcana are oriented towards knowledge and study.”

  “Vlas, I am thirty-five, I like beer and betting on the races, and my most daring exploit so far was dating two sisters at once and hoping not to get caught; I am not wise mentor material,” said Pob.

  “But I can teach you something: Bounty is the most flexible magic system ever created. If you can think of an effect, there's probably a way to achieve it with any deck. And we have two.”

  "And how did you learn that?" Vlas asked.

  "By using a clever Arcana based on protocol to disguise myself as the sisters' mother just when they were about to catch me in the act," Pob explained proudly.

  "Not only did I escape that day- I also grounded them both for a month."

  "You were right," Vlas replied.

  “About what?” inquired Pob.

  “You are not wise mentor material,” Vlas answered.

  “Ok, let me see your Arcana,” Pob asked.

  Vlas made a gesture, and thirteen Arcana cards, along with his Joker, appeared floating in mid-air.

  “We shall use this one,” Pob decided, pointing at an Arcana card called The Two of Vigils. The card depicted a man standing atop a tower, silhouetted against the night sky, holding a spyglass as he gazed at the horizon.

  At the bottom of the card, there were several inscriptions.

  Swords: Perceive one important detail you missed for every Sword you play.

  Wands: Increase your perception abilities by 20% for every Wand in the Hand, as long as you hold it.

  Coins: Play one Coin to get another card of the suit you want.

  Cups: Get a 5% increase in your perception abilities for every Cup at the moment you Folded. The enhancement will remain until you Fold again.

  “Now, make the Draw,” Pob instructed.

  Vlas concentrated for a moment and drew his cards. Five of them appeared in his hand. One was guaranteed to be the Joker. Cards could be drawn only once every seven minutes, but there were numerous ways to change that.

  Vlas wished for the Joker to turn into the Two of Vigils, and the card transformed in his hand. He had one Sword, one Wand, and two Coins as the rest of the Hand.

  “We want Wands for this particular game. Exchange the two coins for two Wands,” instructed Pob.

  Vlas did so, merely by wishing it. He spent the two coins, which disappeared from his Hand and were substituted by Wands.

  “I am going to cast a blessing on you, prepare for it,” Pob warned him.

  Vlas felt a fresh wind wash over him, cleaning and repairing his clothes. “What is the use of that?” he asked Pob.

  “Your Call gets activated when someone who cares for you helps you. Mine does when I help anyone I care for. Both our Calls have been triggered. You can draw again without having to wait for seven minutes, and so can I.”

  Vlas made the new Draw, keeping the Arcana and all the cards except for the Sword, which he exchanged. He got lucky and obtained another Coin. He then swiped the Coin for another Wand.

  As long as he held the Hand, his perception powers multiplied the perception gains granted by his Cup Fortune by 80% and made them not depend on luck.

  “Now I want you to use that excellent perception to study the dungeon and find out everything you can about it,” Pob instructed.

  As soon as Vlas lifted his eyes from his card, he discovered a vastly changed world.

  The colors were more vibrant, and there were a thousand smells in the air that he had not noticed before.

  He could hear the tiny chittering noises that the Lilliputians made when talking among themselves.

  The details of the Tiny Kingdom became clearer. Vlas could see microscopic mold growing on the tiny walls, hear the tolling of small bells from the belfry in the central building, and watch the Lilliputians go about their daily chores.

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  Pob was right; there was nothing human about them. Their faces looked deformed, as if someone had placed a rubber mask over features that were far from human.

  Their chittering seemed to mimic language, but it was far too rhythmic and repetitive to serve as a genuine means of communication.

  Vlas understood that the whole Tiny Kingdom was a giant trap, meant to attract travellers with its apparently inoffensive beauty so that its inhabitants could devour them.

  For one instant, he wondered how many of those seven villagers eaten by the dungeon had been kids.

  The interactions between the midgets also looked forced. They moved in a manner that seemed too coordinated to be natural. The place felt more like a military parade with all its members moving in perfect synchrony. The chaos and disorder of a true market were totally absent.

  Vlas realized that, much as Pob had hinted, there were only two minds in the entire Tiny Kingdom, and they seemed to be at odds.

  All the commoners spoke in unison, angrily spluttering the same sounds. The noble midgets ignored them haughtily, but now and then, they would simultaneously utter some word of contempt.

  The boss and the core team seemed to have a strong dislike for each other. He studied the kingdom carefully, memorizing every detail, until he felt his Joker wake up again. Seven minutes had passed, and he could perform another Draw.

  “Keep the Arcana, and get rid of all the other cards. We are going for Swords now,” Pob instructed him.

  He needed to make a couple of Draws to get the cards he wanted, but Pob’s and his Call complemented each other so well that calling the Joker was child’s play.

  “Play the Hand,” Pob instructed.

  Vlas did so, and four sensory impressions exploded inside his brain like fireworks.

  ... diminutive knights on horses the size of beetles, running through the Tiny Kingdom Market…

  ...the smell of gunpowder stashed in minuscule crates, fireworks not brighter than a spark, ready for some celebration…

  ...small merchants quietly cursing in synchrony under their breath as the knights passed by…

  …a lamplighter, with a pole no larger than a needle, igniting the lamps that illuminated the market…

  “Seize the chance,” instructed Pob, as he cast some bravery-instilling blessing on Vlas, renewing the Call for both of them.

  Vlas knew what he had to do. He looked at the Joker in his hand and wished it to transform into one of the Arcana he had obtained over the last few days playing with Pob.

  The Two of Memories

  Two butterflies fly out from an open box in the shape of a brain.

  Swords: Create one false memory in a target you see. The quality of the memory and its duration depend on the number of Swords you play.

  Wands: Increase your mnemonic abilities by 20% for each Wand you hold in your hand.

  Coin: Spend one coin to replace it with any other card, except an arcana, that has been played in the last three minutes.

  Cups: Once the Arcana has been played, you will get a perfect recall of any memory you create till you Fold again, as long as the Hand has one Cup in it when you Folded.

  He got two Swords, two Coins, and one Wand in his hand.

  He replaced his coins with another two Swords and made a mental attack on the commoner Boss, creating the false memory of it habitually dousing his pole into the crate to rekindle the flame. He made it seem as though it were filled with an alchemical solution rather than fireworks.

  The explosion rocked the market, sending the diminutive horses into panic. They crashed into the merchants. Pob cast more spells on him, granting him new draws, which he used to create more magical memories that added to the panic.

  In less than three minutes, the commoners and the nobles were savagely attacking each other.

  The nobles were better armed and would have easily won, but Pob and Vlas empowered the commoners with diverse spells, enhancing their ability to fight.

  Eventually, the fight got so heated that nearly four-fifths of the Lilliputians were slain. At that moment, a female Liliputian in ermine robes, standing on the tallest tower of the Tiny Kingdom, spotted them and sounded the alarm.

  The nobles and the commoners stopped savaging each other and turned against the Beli, running at a speed Vlas would have thought impossible for those tiny legs.

  Vlas panicked and would have run, but Pob stood in front of him, drawing the wrath of the Lilliputians to himself.

  The Two of Sacrifice

  A serf rides into battle, a target painted on his chest, another on his back.

  Swords: Taunt your adversaries. The more Swords you play, the greater the effect.

  Wands: Decrease the damage you receive when protecting others by 20% for each Wand in your hand.

  Coins: Turn each Coin into a card of any suit, as long as you are protecting others.

  Cups: Play the Arcana, and any number of cups, and you will slowly heal all wounds you received while protecting your betters. The effect lasts till you Fold again. The more Cups, the greater the benefit.

  Vlas played two swords, exchanged one coin for a wand, and kept the other wand.

  The Core and the boss tore into him, two savage hordes of mini-raiders, trying to take him to the ground to finish him there.

  Pob got good protection from his cards, but there was no way he could hold his own versus two bosses, even in a weakened state.

  Vlas felt the panic rise inside him. Pob was going to die for him, and there was nothing he could do about it. He focused his mind and concentrated on his words. All is possible in the House of Bounty. All it takes is imagination and luck.

  Vlas was not big on luck, but he had a lot of imagination.

  The Two of Echoes

  A man puts two small toy boats in the river. Hundreds of similar toys can be seen floating down it.

  Swords: Perform a small, insignificant action. The magic will replicate it on more targets. The more Swords, the greater the number of targets. Four Swords plus the Arcana guarantee any target in sight.

  Wands: Each wand you hold in your hand will multiply by one factor the number of actions you perform, as long as they are unimportant ones.

  Coin: Each coin you spend will allow you to play another card without removing it from your hand

  Cups: Play the Arcana and any number of Cups. Each Cup will increase your efficiency in performing daily chores by 10%. This benefit lasts till you Fold again.

  He felt Pob sending him Swords to his hand through some magic of his own. When he got four Swords, he played the hand.

  How can an action be more insignificant than squashing a bug?

  Two days later, with Pob already healed, they began the trip back home.

  “My father is going to be very cross with us, Pob,” Vlas said while he smiled. “He wanted me to return in failure.”

  “And that is exactly how you are going to return, Vlas,” Pob told him seriously. “We are going to tell your father that we failed, that someone got there first and cleared the dungeon before us. The moment he realizes our Jokers work so well together is the moment I get booted from his service.”

  “You are already, by far, a better man than your father, Vlas. I am not going to let him rob you of the opportunity of being a better Player, too.”

  “Thank you, Pob, for everything,” Vlas told him simply. “I wish my mother could have seen this. Who could have guessed we would win?”

  “All is possible in the House of Bounty,” Pob said quietly.

  They rode together, seeking the next in a long, long string of new adventures.