Source & Soul: A Deckbuilding LitRPG

I was only able to listen to the Grand Marshal’s speech with half an ear, standing as I was a few feet from Gale, our own conversation hardly begun. The Marshal was not a nuanced orator, but I appreciated his blunt honesty about what to expect from our time in War Camp, and if the type of hard work he was describing was necessary to reach another soul advancement, I’d gladly do as the man asked.

Through it all, Gale had a distracted air about him, verging on traitorous boredom. As a past winner himself, he had likely heard a similar diatribe and then proceeded to make it through the very gauntlet I was now staring down. I vaguely remembered him complaining about the conditions of the Camp, but seeing as we were ten years apart, it was a hazy recollection. Much stronger memories involved the powerful cards he had earned during that time, which I always begged him to show me. I doubted he still used many of them anymore, but if my haul of Rares and Epics was similar, three months of my life would be a small price to pay.

My ears perked up at the mention of a new human city, a rumor I had not heard of before. It sounded like a marvelous opportunity to try leading people on a smaller scale, much as I had learned to first duel with 5 cards, then 10, and so on.

However, nothing could have prepared me for the sheer spectacle of watching the Marshal summon our Camp using the Mythic Fortification. While I knew some traders used Building Relics for travel, as a city-bound duelist they had never seemed worth the Mind Home slot to me. But for war and with the persistent buff that this one provided? I nearly forgot about Gale, hungering for one of my own. How rare was something of this caliber? What were ones of other Source types like? Should I consider building a deck around such a Relic?

Approaching its metal walls, I could still see the card it had been summoned from when I unfocused my eyes. It was a foregone conclusion that one of the days I was encamped here my curiosity would get the better of me, and I’d use my Seersight to see what other effects the Fortification could gain if it was elevated – something I couldn’t even begin to guess the costs of.

But, of course, these things were distractions – distractions that very nearly allowed Gale to get away from me. However, after we passed under the gate, I pulled him forcibly inside the nearest of the low, metal huts that abutted the inner wall.

“I’m afraid that I cannot be your bunkmate,” Gale said, giving me one of his lazy smiles and acting as if me dragging him about was normal for the two of us. “I’m sure it would be a delight for us both, but such would interfere with my duties.”

“And what precisely are those again?” I said, rounding on him. “You were unspecific previously.”

“I told you,” he said, brushing out where my grip had wrinkled his sleeve now that I was no longer holding it. “I’m here to serve as an advisor. This should be no great surprise. I am part of the king’s army, after all.”

“You will be teaching classes?” I asked, even though I did not want him to say yes. Him having any sort of authority over me would be even worse than having to deal with his presence.

“Yes, among other things.” He looked at me so calmly with those newly red-flecked eyes of his, I found myself on the verge of hating him.

“Are you purposely trying to ruin everything for me? Have I been such a poor younger brother to you as that?”

He looked mildly taken aback, like he had been accused of something that was so clearly untrue as to be absurd. “Ruin? What are you…” He snapped his fingers. “Is it Esmi we are talking about? I was under the impression that you were amenable to the change.”

“Amenable?” I nearly yelled, his entire air of feigned ignorance only making me angrier. “What in the Twelve would give you such a preposterous idea?”

Gale stepped closer, putting his hands on either of my shoulders, something I had not been prepared for. “You did,” he answered, no jests in his tone that I could detect. My building rage, however, was far from abated.

“I did? That’s absolutely ridiculous. What did I do to make you think such a thing?”

Neither his hands or tone wavered. “I believed that if you had a problem with the new arrangement, you’d come speak to me. When you did not…”

He trailed off, and I felt the first crack in the anger I was directing toward him. I thought I had been bold to refuse to speak with my parents these past four weeks, taking our dinners in silence, and doubly so for not giving Gale the satisfaction of hearing me whine about how he was treating me. But with his words, my actions now seemed petulant and avoidant. Had I actually been weak, hiding from a confrontation I did not want to face?

I had been so sure that I was stronger than that now.

“You assumed incorrectly,” I said, shaking out of his grip, refusing to let him turn the conversation around on me. “And if you need to be told, then fine, I’m telling you now: I wish to be with Esmi. She is not for you.”

He let his hands drop to his sides, looking both at me but somehow past, a slight frown upon his brow. “I see.”

When he didn’t say anything more than that, I could only let the silence stretch so long without filling it. “Well? Now that you know, what will you do about it?”

“Do?” he said, eyes snapping back onto me. “I’m not sure there’s anything I can do now.”

And here was the Gale I knew. Gorgeous and talented, and yet as flimsy as it came to any sort of action, especially the type that would help me. “What do you mean ‘now’? It’s not as if you two are married yet or even announced. Just tell father and mother that you do not wish to wed Esmi, or better, that you do not understand how they could be so uncaring of me, and the deed is done. A simple thing. A trifle compared to that demon I heard tell you slew.”

Gale chuckled but in an uncomfortable way. “I feel you have never seen mother truly piqued if you make such a claim. I would choose the demon again any day.”

If he was attempting levity, I didn’t appreciate it. “This is not some joke to me, Gale. I love her.”

He pulled a face as if finally accepting the pain he was causing me, but still, he did not say he would do as I asked. “You do know that mother’s plans for this are in full swing, don’t you? She’s inviting everyone: her clubs, charities, the Crown. According to her it will be a combined Gala and announcement for the ages.”

“Of course I know,” I grated. “You are the only one who appears to not know things.”

“If someone had but said –” he began again, but I spoke over him.

“You could have asked me my thoughts on the matter. You should have guessed I would have some. My first relationship, Gale? You were being willfully obtuse to not see that.” When he didn’t immediately argue, I took it as encouragement to continue. “If you had bothered to speak with Esmi, your supposed fiancée, you would have found the same answer. You haven’t talked with Esmi, have you?” Before entering this conversation I’d had complete trust that Esmi would tell me if she had received such a visit – and I still did – but in the moment, I felt the overwhelming need to ask.

“No,” he admitted to my relief, finally looking a touch out of sorts himself. “It was just an engagement announcement, so I failed to see the need. I was letting mother handle everything.”

“That was foolish of you.”

He actually looked sheepish, damn him. “Yes, I suppose it was, wasn’t it?”

“Thankfully, no lasting harm has been done,” I said, endeavoring to reach my goal in this conversation without being sidetracked emotionally. “We’ll tell them together if you prefer, and mother can have the names changed on whatever she’s purchased.” I raised my hand for him to shake. “Swear it, and this can all be past us.”

Gale sighed, running a hand through his long hair. “It’s not as simple as that.”

I kept my hand out, deciding if I should turn it into a fist. The way I’d seen Hull punch people before seemed like it might be immensely satisfying right now. “It’s exactly as simple as that.”

Gale stepped closer to me, eyeing the door and windows, though not a soul seemed nearby.

“Esmi is high Rare,” he whispered to me when a bare foot separated us, “soon to be Epic, if she continues on her current trajectory.”

“How can you know that?” I hissed back, the hairs on the back of my neck raised. Esmi was powerful, there was no doubt of that, and her win over Gerad – Epic himself – had been no small feat. But to hear that her Soul might soon belong to an echelon of rarity that only a handful of people possessed in all of Treledyne was a heady thing to consider, and for a moment, almost made me question if I was worthy of her. However, I had learned better than to give such corrosive thoughts purchase, so I returned my attention to my brother. “Gale? You cannot just make such a claim. Why do you say it?” Esmi had mentioned that her parents were planning to purchase the services of a Soul assessor, but they hadn’t spent that tiny fortune yet.

Gale took a step back but otherwise stayed close. “The how doesn’t matter for the purposes of this argument, but you clearly feel I have wronged you, and perhaps I have been less… aware than I should have been. So, I will answer you as an offering between us: a little known fact of our House is that mother has a second Soul ability, one that lets her gauge the rarities of those nearby. She does not have the accuracy of a true assessor, but on Esmi, she is adamant.”

That revelation I found myself unable to fully digest. “So little known that her own son is unaware of it?”

Gale shrugged. “Mother and Father must not have felt you ready to hear it. They didn’t tell me until after I graduated War Camp, and I am unsure if Randel knows.”

Hearing that I was aware of something that our other brother might not be made me feel slightly better, but only just, as it only took me another moment to realize why my parents would wish for Gale to marry Esmi instead of me.

Gale didn’t fail to notice my eyes widen. “You see it then. With two Epics…”

“You could challenge the higher Houses,” I said in a whisper.

“We could challenge them,” Gale corrected. “Our whole house would elevate. With neither of the heirs of the 2nd and 3rd Houses making it into War Camp, the way is as clear as it could ever be. You had a part in that, Basil, one mother and father appreciate even if they haven’t told you yet.”

He was speaking of Reginald and Losum. After the Champion’s Parade, nobles and regular folk alike would know that they were out of favor. Of course our parents would be pleased, and even hearing it second-hand, a small, child-like part of me that wished to make them happy warmed. But what of my own happiness? What of Gale’s for that matter?

“Is that what you want then?” I asked him. “To marry a woman you don’t even know so you can be second only to the king’s line?”

Gale’s fey grin returned. “It doesn’t sound like the worst proposition in the world. And with that much power, surely we could throw some truly decadent parties.”

When I neither laughed nor responded, his smile slipped.

“I didn’t pilgrimage for a year to the kestrels’ cloud city because I wanted to be tied to Treledyne, Basil. For that matter, I didn’t cultivate Air because I wanted to be beholden to anything. And that demon rift? I would never have ventured to its end if there hadn’t been wounded comrades that needed aid.” Something was growing in him I rarely if ever saw beyond his cordial exterior but then just as it might have formed, he blew it out in a long sigh. “But, one has to grow up at some point. Or so I have been told.”

“You can do what you want, Gale,” I said, trying to capture what had almost been in him. “You’re not some summoned card.”

“I may not be, but I have to give back to my family along the way, mustn’t I, Basil? As one of the few Epics in the city, don’t I have the responsibility to better it? If not me, then who?” To hear my brother voicing the very things I had been planning to accomplish caught me off guard, in part because it sounded very much like he was trying to convince himself. “Order is the foundation of noble Houses. Without it, they will crumble, and Treledyne not long after. I… that cannot be the legacy I leave.” Then Gale laughed, surprising me. “If old man Jorin could hear the speech I’m giving you now, he might actually crack a smile. Responsibility and Duty are the twin teats he suckles on,” he added by way of explanation. “I’m sorry, Basil, truly I am.”

Then he turned, heading out of the room.

“You are a coward,” I said. I could feel myself on the verge of crying, and I hated that he could make me weak like this. Why I had ever thought he would help me I didn’t know.

He paused, looking over his shoulder. “The worst kind,” he agreed with a sad smile.

“She won’t marry you.”

Gale shrugged. “Then the union will absolve through no fault of mine. If you can accomplish the same by speaking with mother and father, feel free.”

Knowing that Esmi had such a high potential to be Epic, I couldn’t imagine my parents giving up on what they wished, no matter how I might beg or reason. Gale was nearly out the door when the next words popped out of my mouth.

“A duel!”

He turned slowly to face me, his golden hair silhouetted by the light behind him. “A what?”

“A duel,” I said, stomping up to stand as tall as I could before him, even if that only meant that my eyes were level with his chin. “I challenge you to a duel for Esmi’s hand.”

“Basil…” he said, shaking his head. “This is obviously ill-considered.”

“No it is not.”

“Oh really? How long ago did you come up with the idea?”

“The longevity of an idea has no bearing on its merit,” I quipped back, not letting myself be nettled by his questions.

“It may provide no guarantee but it can certainly assist,” he said, humor returning. “And how would a duel between us solve our problem? Even if I were to lose, I plan to do as mother and father wish.”

“If you do not accept,” I answered, “I will announce it during the gala. You will find it harder to rise through the ranks I am sure if it is known that you refuse a duel from a younger, less elevated sibling and don’t agree to the conditions set forth in it. Dare I say you may find yourself inundated by others seeking to exploit a perceived weakness.”

Gale considered me, not seeming mad, just thoughtful. “Very well,” he agreed. “Mind your lessons closely this next month. For House Hintal to ascend, we must all appear mighty.”

He took his leave then, and I didn’t attempt to stop him further. Instead, I stood just back from the doorway wondering what in the world I had just agreed to. Duel Gale? I hadn’t seen his deck in years, nor did I have a clue what his new Soul ability was – surely something combat related if he earned it facing a demon.

However, he didn’t know what my Soul ability was either – no one in my family did. With a month, I could likely refine the majority of my cards, if I could but decide on a direction to go with them.

“Human?” a light voice said, and I looked up to see an elf standing nearby. His hair was longer than my brothers and mossy green, his angled, pointed ears clearly marking his race. His body was whip thin and dressed in vines and bark it seemed, much different than the ambassador I had seen during the Rising Stars Tournament. This one must be from an entirely different village. His eyes were green too, but bright, like something poisonous.

“Yes?” I asked, feeling a touch hesitant.

“I was told that this was the last empty lodging.” He peeked within the small metal dome, seeming to dislike that word for the enclosure. “Was I misinformed? It was a dwarf who told me, and I have been fooled by their kind before.”

When rooming had been mentioned, I had assumed I’d share with Hull, but if what the elf said was true, it seemed he had already settled in; hopefully War Camp would teach him an ounce of patience. Not that the situation was entirely poor for me; I was quite curious to learn more about the elves.

“You were informed correctly,” I said, and then bowed slightly at the waist. “Basil of House Hintal at your service. I look forward to sharing accommodations with you for the stint of the War Camp.”

“So orderly,” the elf said with a musical laugh. I had expected him to appreciate the gesture, especially after the comment about dwarves, but he seemed to find it funny. “I see and hear you, friend. My name is E’lal. As long as it is true from here,” he tapped his chest, “feel free to speak to me as it comes, without the need for filter or decoration.”

He then slipped past me, and I caught the stringent yet energetic scent of anise following him. E’lal selected the bunk nearer the window and unslung the pack he had been carrying atop it. I wondered idly if my own luggage might be waiting outside the building, the porters not wanting to disturb the conversation my brother and I had been having.

“Might I ask you something, E’lal?”

“You already have,” he said, tilting his head toward me, smiling, but in a way I didn’t find annoying like my brother’s. “I’m sorry,” he apologized right after. “A joke at the expense of your ordered phrasing. I know it is meant to show respect, even if it rings oddly in my ears. Of course, what can I answer?”

There were a countless number of things a younger Basil would have wanted to ask this elf, but for the man I was now, there was only a single thought on my mind. “How well would you say Life Source fares against Air?”

“Quite well,” he answered to my delight. His nearly phosphorescent eyes regarded me. “Were you thinking of cultivating it?”

“Perhaps,” I answered, not wanting to oversell my plans. “I was hoping for more information concerning its cards first, to see if it is the right path for me.”

“Is that so?” E’lal responded. “It seems Qi’shen was right to bring us here. My understanding is that we are to convene for more group speaking soon, but after, we could engage in an exchange of information if that is agreeable.”

For the first time since entering War Camp I found a smile of my own. “That is most certainly agreeable.”