IV. The Gatecrasher (Chapter One)
“Welcome back to The Shuffle! I hope you all placed your bets for this final series!” Dela shouts as the crowd roars.
The sun creeps past the top of the stands, projecting a shadow over half of the arena dome. With the night on its way, lanterns are being lit, and a large magical globe of light is hung over the table where the two competitors will battle for the championship.
Burt and Quatal had both shaken up their brackets and are now about to go head to head for the championship. There was a slight intermission as one of the battles in the quarterfinals saw one of the other players knocked unconscious. It wasn’t Quatal’s fault, but using Wind Blade cut the legs off the chair, causing his opponent to fall and hit his head on the table. While the crowd initially laughed at the misfortune, the mood became more somber as the opponent failed to recover. According to Popi, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.
The crowd quiets down in anticipation for Dela to continue, and the globe of light shines a beam onto her. Her long, blazing red cape sparkles in the light as she presents to the crowd.
“Whiskers from far and wide, I present to you the finalists of The Shuffle!” Dela shouts with her arms out wide as if to engulf the whole audience.
Behind Dela, two black banners fall to the sandy ground while the globe transfixes its gaze upon Burt standing to the left and Quatal standing to the right. The audience roars with cheers as Burt waves awkwardly at them. Quatal takes a step forward and nods in greeting. You had thought the cheer for Burt was loud, but Quatal’s mere gesture seems to have woken up the entire town with an absolute uproar. It is clear who the favorite of the tournament is. You cheer for both Burt and Quatal; the tournament is beginning to feel more like entertainment than just another of Allard’s missions.
Burt and Quatal take their seats at the table as the beam of light focuses on Dela once again.
“This year we’ve decided to treat the champion with something extra special!”
Two Shuffle guards in sandstorm uniforms appear on the stage, each holding a side of a large black treasure chest with golden buckles and gilding. The audience immediately breaks into whispers. You look over at Popi in question.
Popi leans closer. “It has to be the stolen artifact.”
You nod.
The lights in the arena darken, and a single beam of light focuses on the table. The crowd goes silent. Dela walks over to the table with Burt and Quatal, places a hand on both of their shoulders, and nods. Dela stands up straight and yells,
“May you be the last fish standing!” The crowd becomes a thunderous storm once again.
Burt and Quatal both pull their cards from the draw deck, and Quatal does the honors of pulling the first encounter card. You look up at the magical projector with excitement: Rainbow Feather’s Descent. Quatal draws an additional card. He slaps down Pond of Greed, then draws two more. He has a significant hand advantage right from the beginning; fate must be smiling on him. After careful consideration, he uses Consuming Darkness. A single heart disappears from above Burt’s head.
“He found a way to attack on turn one!? That’s unheard of.” you hear Popi whisper.
“Wouldn’t want you going easy on me,” Burt says with a smile.
“I wouldn’t dare, buddy,” Quatal replies, ending his turn.
“Buddy? You let me sleep in so I would miss the tournament.”
“I had an errand I had to run; it wasn’t intentional. Promise.” Quatal places his palms together as a sign of apology.
“That ‘errand’ just about disqualified you because you showed up late,”
Burt says, raising an eyebrow as he throws down a Heal spell and returns to full health. The encounter he drew had no effect this early in the game.
“I had to do something for a friend,” Quatal says, winking.
“Must be someone special,”
Burt says as he equips Lozendar’s Crown, allowing him to draw once more.
“He’s alright, I guess. I just met him a couple days ago.”
Quatal draws from the deck then pulls an encounter card, Climbing Tourmon’s Wall, and draws again.
Burt smiles. “You’ve been nothing but hospitable to us since we’ve come to Amalhasu. I don’t get it.”
“What’s there to get?”
Quatal places a spell down, Merchant’s Acquisition, further augmenting his hand.
“Hasulians have a knack for taking advantage of tourists, and it’s wrong.”
“Well, I thought that was exactly what you were doing to us,” Burt says.
“So many people have lost the ability to trust,”
Quatal says as he uses Barrage, destroying Burt’s item and removing the heart he had just recovered.
“How can we? You and I were both orphans; our own parents betrayed us at birth. How do you know that something like that won’t happen again?”
Burt draws from the deck.
“You don’t know; you never will. But you can’t stop being a light to the world just because there’s darkness,” Quatal says, thumbing through his cards. “That would just mean you’ve become what you despised.”
Burt pulls from the encounter deck: Gust of the Heron. Fortunately, maybe unfortunately, having no remaining Items nullified its effect.
“I’m glad we met, Quatal. Even though I’m going to beat you in this tournament,”
Burt exclaims, throwing down Duplication and Slicing Sands. Quatal, unshaken, immediately responds with Guard Counter.
Quatal laughs, “You are so sure of yourself.”
The audience gasps. A complicated ruling, Guard Counter only manages to reflect one of the duplicated Slicing Sands cards, causing both finalists to suffer a blow.
“I have to win the prize to get the map back,” Burt whispers. “Confidence is key.”
Burt is down to his last heart, while Quatal has two remaining. Neither has any items to defend their hearts.
Quatal draws from the deck and pulls the next encounter card, Blessing of Spirit Lake, bringing Quatal back to full health.
“Well, that errand I ran before the tournament wasn’t for nothing.”
Burt pauses. “What do you mean?”
Quatal places The World Map spell card down on the table.
“I bought it back from Zul’Grasi,” he says as he adds another Heal to his hand.
Burt drops his jaw in disbelief.
“You did what?”
“I wanted to grab it before anyone else had a chance. Now you don’t have to worry about winning the prize. We can just play the game,” Quatal says with a smile, “the way it was meant to be played.”
“Quatal…” Burt begins.
Quatal raises his palm for Burt to be quiet.
“Worry not; I have enough gold to last me a lifetime, but it is not gold that fills the soul.”
Quatal ends his turn, opting not to attack.
“That was strange.” Popi says. You look at him confused, and he indulges you.
“It’s rare that he wouldn’t have an Attack card, with his hand as large as it is.”
The game continues with Burt drawing an encounter card, Mirage at Sheoland. Burt chooses to switch hands with Quatal, planning to use his opponent’s previous hand size advantage against him. The cards from each player's hand begin to glow, then teleport across the board in a flash.
Burt freezes.
He doesn’t move for what seems like an eternity. The audience is puzzled, humming that he’s lost his nerve. You watch the projector closely to see if you can work out the issue. While Burt is generally brilliant at camouflaging his feelings, you notice a small tear running down his face. Quatal reaches across the table, lays a hand on Burt’s arm, and smiles.
Burt slaps down Moon Slash (his Champion, Kian, the Nimbus’ signature), crushing all of Quatal’s health in one magnificent blow. The arena went silent, quiet enough to hear the desert winds dancing across the flags and banners. Quatal looks up at Burt as a globe of light materializes, slashing his chest and sending him to the ground.
The globe of light shines brighter, illuminating the stands.
“Burt is the new Shuffle Champion!” Dela shouts.
The light explodes, slinging countless motes of light into the air and sending the crowd into a frenzy. You cheer for Burt, jumping up and down, watching him as he stands up from the table, looking almost clueless to the fact that he had just won the second largest Last Fish tournament in The Great Pond. Quatal walks up behind Burt, raising Burt’s hand to celebrate the new champion.
The excitement is absolutely entrancing; you almost forget the reason why Burt fought so hard in the tournament. The Atlas. You make your way to the stage to celebrate with Burt when you notice Zul’Grasi. He’s been beaten blue in the face, sporting a black eye and bruises. You avoid eye contact with him, but his concentration isn’t on you; it’s on Quatal. You see him point in Quatal’s direction and whisper to the whisker beside him. Something is amiss, although you’re not quite sure what.
Dela projects her voice again.
“Burt, please join me over here. It’s time to find what treasures lie within this chest.”
Burt wanders across the stage with Quatal at his heels. You shoulder your way closer to the stage as the crowd fixates on the shining chest. Burt kneels down and unbuckles its golden straps. The crowd goes silent. Burt raises the lid slowly, with Quatal peering over his shoulder. Inside, laying on a black velvet pillow, lies a crimson shard. Burt reaches down to grab it, but Quatal quickly slaps Burt’s hand.
“Don’t touch it,” Quatal says in a whisper. “Use this to hold it.” Quatal passes Burt a cloth from his bag.
“Wha-What is it?” Burt asks.
“This isn’t what I was expecting, my friend. It would be best if you took this immediately back to the Adventurer’s Guild. Put it in your bag and leave. Quickly!”
The crowd stirs with impatience. Abruptly, the lights dim, plunging the arena into darkness. Shouts and screams come from every angle as you make your way as fast as you can to the stage. Wading through the darkness, just as you think you can make out Burt’s silhouette, a single fireball is sent flying into the air, briefly illuminating the stage. You rush to Burt’s side and grab him, only to have the Shuffle guards push you away to protect the newly crowned champion.
“Quatal!” Burt shouts, looking around.
Another fireball is shot upward, this time from next to you and Burt. You see Quatal being forcibly held by another whisker. You cannot believe your eyes. Andromadus. The crowd, still in a panic, hasn’t yet seemed to notice.
“Give me the artifact, and I’ll give you the Atlas,” Andromadus demands.
“Don’t do it! You can’t!” Quatal shouts.
The guards call for backup, tripling their numbers within a moment, each holding a spear pointing at Andromadus. You look over to Burt, standing speechless.
“Fine! If you won’t give me it now, I’ll be waiting for you and the artifact in the Saxum de Phasma. In a fortnight, when the moon is full, at the western dock,” Andromadus says in a low, hoarse voice.
In the blink of an eye, he vanishes with Quatal, and light returns to the arena.
“Quatal!” Burt shouts.
The guards look around, brandishing their spears as if Andromadus was still there. They focus on you next and begin to aim their spears.
“He’s with me! He’s done nothing wrong,” Burt says, and the guards relax their spears, utterly bewildered.