All The Skills - A Deckbuilding LitRPG

Arthur woke up.

He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, other than something was terribly wrong.

Notifications from his Heart Deck flashed in front of his face. Though he saw the words and recognized them to some degree, he was unable to piece them together. It was as if someone was screaming gibberish in his head. A constant noise he was unable to block out, and he was much too scatterbrained to understand.

But he wasn't frightened. Not even particularly upset. Perhaps this should have been the most alarming thing of all, but he found himself almost completely disconnected from his own emotions.

A face swam into focus over him. Though he knew those features and there was nothing wrong with his eyes, it still took Arthur a few moments to recognize him.

"You cut your hair," Arthur croaked.

Horatio smiled though there were lines of strain on his severe face. His dark hair was cut short to his scalp, which sharpened his features and emphasized his nose. He looked like the bully's evil toady Arthur had seen in plays.

More than that, he looked both worried for Arthur and anxious about something else. He kept stealing glances across the room.

"Arthur, you're blocking the healing."

"I... what?"

Again, Horatio glanced across the room as if for confirmation over what he was about to say. "You need to release your mind skills."

Words and understanding still felt slippery. Arthur blinked at him, replayed what he had just heard, and then wondered how Horatio had such a firm grasp on his abilities.

Only then did he realize he had been unconsciously holding on to his Empathetic and Telepathic blocking skills.

Horatio had known Arthur for years and must have seen the stubbornness on his face. "Please. They know what they're doing. Trust me."

It was the worry in Horatio's eyes that made Arthur waver. The moment he did it was as if a cottony cloud swept into his mind.

He didn't think he passed out, exactly. He just wasn't present in his own body anymore.

The next thing he knew, he was sitting up in a massive bed, leaning against half a dozen feathered pillows. The room was large and well-appointed with oil paintings of dragon riders posing with their beasts up on one wall, double doors leading out to a sweeping balcony large enough for a dragon to land on, and several expensive looking pieces of furniture meant to sit or lounge.

Sitting next to his bed was the rider of the white shimmer dragon.

Up close, she wasn't as young as Arthur thought. Crow’s feet pinched the corners of her eyes, but her bone-white hair was straight and perfect as ever.

She has to have a card for that, he mused and realized it was the first clear thought he'd had in... he didn't know.

The rider smiled at him. "Hello Arthur. How are you feeling?"

She knew his name.

He looked cautiously around for a clue of how deep in trouble he was. He found nothing in the unfamiliar room to reassure him. No sign of Horatio, either.

"Was my friend even here?" he asked instead of answering. "Or was that a vision placed in my head?"

"Junior rider Horatio was here," she said. "I had hoped a familiar face would set you at ease. You had extensive psychic damage, and your skill blocks prevented me from healing them."

Swiftly, Arthur checked the notifications he had been too muddled to read earlier.

New skill level: Empathic Resistance (Shield Class)

Level 12

New skill level: Empathic Resistance (Shield Class)

Level 13

New skill level: Empathic Resistance (Shield Class)

Level 14

New skill level: Telepathic Resistance (Shield Class)

Level 11

New skill level: Telepathic Resistance (Shield Class)

Level 12

New skill level: Telepathic Resistance (Shield Class)

Level 13

New skill level: Telepathic Resistance (Shield Class)

Level 14

It seemed the more she tried to access his mind, the stronger he became.

She succeeded in the end and that worried him.

"My name is Agatha," she continued, "Here is my card."

To his shock, she gestured to her chest and a projection of her card flashed into view.

Mind Healer

Rare

Healing/Mind

The wielder of this card has the ability to repair physical, mental, and emotional trauma. This healing is limited to the mind, physical brain-matter, emotional state including aura, and subconscious. Deep and/or extensive healing sessions may require the use of mana. The wielder must be within physical touching distance of their patient in order to heal.

Arthur read it swiftly and flicked his gaze back to her. This could be a trick, but for what end?

His thoughts had been so muddled he couldn't function before. Now he felt good as new.

There may still be an unpleasant surprise in store, but he felt the healing was legitimate at least.

"Uh, thanks," he said, feeling awkward. "How bad was it?"

A look of annoyance crossed her face, though it wasn't aimed at him. "That blasted scourgeling injured you far more than you were aware. Then you went and exacerbated the psychic tears by using skills which required mana, which you don't have." She gave him a sharp look. "As your healer, I strongly urge you to purchase a card capable of unlocking mana."

He nodded, unnerved that she knew so much about his abilities.

"Then there's the usual damage," Agatha said. "There is usually some scarring from trauma. I patched that up while I was at it. Think back to the events around the eruption. How do you feel?"

Arthur frowned. He remembered everything perfectly, but... "It feels like I'm... not there? It's like it happened to someone else?"

She nodded. "Standard practice in these cases is to separate the emotions from the events. This is temporary, and the full emotions linked to the memories will return. You may have nightmares. This is normal," she stressed. "It is your mind's way of processing."

"Uh, okay." He hesitated and blurted. "About my skills... when you went through my mind..." He took a breath and looked her in the eyes, searching for any sign of deception. "Have you read my cards?"

Agatha didn't flinch or look away from the question. It looked like she anticipated it. "I had to scan through your recent memories to fix the trauma, and to understand what was blocking my own card. That isn't unusual for a Legendary card user. The fact you have two of the same set is--" she paused, searching for the word, "Rare. But you are my patient first. You are allowed a level of confidentiality."

He wasn't certain he fully believed her about the last part. It had been something in her eyes. But he had been healed, and he had other questions.

"What happened after I... uh..."

"Went into psychic shock?" she asked instead of the word he was about to use which was 'fainted'.

"Yes," he agreed quickly.

"I could show you. We have a memory keeper on staff who witnessed nearly the whole incident."

Arthur's eyebrows raised in surprise, and he nodded.

She reached to him then paused. "Please don't block me. This won't work otherwise."

He nodded again and she touched the tips of her fingers to his temple.

Arthur was high in the sky, wings stretched to catch a balloon of warm air to keep him safely aloft. Far below he saw the top of the scourge-created crater.

The memory-keeper was a dragon. Arthur was in his memory, but also far enough away from it so he wasn't confused about who he was or what he was seeing.

And he only vaguely felt the memory-keeper's alarm as the top of the crater fell away and the Legendary-ranked mega-scourgeling climb out. Below, the rest of the white dragons dived to collect as many of the villagers as possible. Some stayed behind in a final sacrifice to head off the legendary card-wielding scourge as long as possible. Others risked flying close to the emerging mega-scourgeling to land and collect people.

Some of the effort was in vain.

The memory-keeper felt a pulse of mental energy. At least a quarter of the villagers and farmers turned to sprint flat out toward the mega-scourgeling.

Some of the dragons snatched them, but they struggled, kicked, and wriggled to get free. There were too many people with their minds still intact to save and too few dragons to fly them away. Most of the strugglers were let free again.

They ran, clawing up the sides of the cone, slipping and falling down unsteady ground.

The mega-scourgeling reached down and snapped them up by the handful, popping them in its mouth like popcorn. Then it tipped its head back and roared. A rainbow of magic flooded out of its mouth.

The grim certainty of the memory-keepers' thoughts told Arthur the mega-scourgeling had absorbed the villager's cards and added their power to its own. That was the reason why the mind-singer had brought them in the first place: They were to be sacrificed.

Those poor people, the memory-keeper thought.

Meanwhile, the white dragons had lifted off and flew at a flat sprint toward the rips and the sky. Some were so visibly weighed down with passengers, they were slowed and legged behind.

The mega-scourgeling emerged. It was a mountain-sized six limbed lizard with oversized shoulders which had human-like arms. Orange and red lava flowed out from the cracks it made from the cone.

Arthur had enough time to think, It has volcano powers! Before lava shot out of the cone and toward the fleeing white dragons.

Most were able to dodge. Two of the slowest were engulfed. They and their passengers went down in flames.

The mega-scourgeling scooped up a handful of lava the size of a house and flung it at more of the dragons.

Just then, the sky ripped open and an icy-blue dragon nearly the size of the mega-scourgeling started to emerge. Its head was only just through, but it saw the impending disaster and reacted, blasting the oncoming lava out of the air with a freezing breath.

More rips cut through the air and other giant dragons began to come through. At least a dozen of them.

Two of them, Arthur saw, were Whitaker's giant orange beast and Valentina's dragon who rode, as always, on her living thundercloud.

The white dragons with their passengers escaped, but the memory-keeper stayed to watch the battle.

The Legendary rank dragons launched their attacks -- the power seemed to warp the air. Between that and the now fully erupting volcano, Arthur only caught the battle in flashes: Lightning bolts as thick as trees peppering the scourgeling, the wind forming into living dragon-headed whips to flail and bite, the earth reforming under the scourgelings to lock it in only to erupt into spines of razor-sharp rock around it. One monstrous green dragon, which looked ninety-nine percent muscle, attacked the scourgeling with claws and teeth. Everywhere it touched, dark rot grew on the scourgeling's scales.

But the mega-scourgeling was hardly helpless. Lava flowed up around it, scouring any diseased wound clean and repairing minor injuries. It threw gobbets of lava as big as the dragon's head, forcing them to dive and weave if it wasn't knocked out of the air completely. It roared multicolored light of dozens of card powers. It struck a dirty gray Legendary dead on.

Terrible growths erupted up and down her skin, and it was all she could do to limp to the rip in the sky and retreat.

And the city and the once viable land all around was utterly obliterated.

No need for the King to come. The fight between all of the titans reshaped the earth down to the bedrock. That was before the new lava splashed in.

The mega-scourgeling put up quite the fight, but it was still outnumbered more than ten to one.

The memory-keeper turned to leave, and Arthur missed which dragon made the final blow.

The memory ended and Arthur found himself back in his body, breathing hard and clutching the sheets under him as if for stability.

Agatha drew her hand away. "You accepted that memory quite well. If you ever come across a memory-type card, consider taking it. You have the knack."

That meant she didn't know about the bookshelf. He was glad he had a few secrets.

"Who got the Legendary card?" Arthur asked. "I assume the mega-scourgeling was harvested."

Agatha snorted. "Of course. And Harvest Moon: Neddy, the ice dragon. Likely, they'll present that card to the king for favors, as usual." Her voice turned wry at the end.

Arthur wasn't certain what to say. He had so many questions...

"You may ask, Arthur," Agatha said gently. "No, I'm not reading your thoughts, but it's clear on your face something is troubling you."

Well, better to show his ignorance here. She's already been in his mind so she couldn't be too surprised. "That... mega-scourgeling," he said, remembering the word the memory-keeper had used, "Does that happen every eruption?"

She shook her head, and her lips drew down at the corners. "No, scourge-eruptions are much like natural eruptions: Some are minor and some... some are utter devastation."

"What about the mind-singer?" Arthur asked.

"There was no sign of it. Most of our white dragons are Common or Uncommon. A Rare mind mage could easily hide. We think it slipped away when the fight turned against the mega-scourgeling. But had it been able to feed more people to it... well, you saw what happened to the Grayling. She was lucky to live."

She paused and looked hard at Arthur. "You should know there have been serious questions raised if Wolf Moon hive should keep their Legendary egg after this fiasco. Valentina and Whitaker were not able to hide the fact they let a scourgeling with mind powers slip through their fingers. Half the nobles who lost children are baying for their blood."

"Half?" Arthur asked.

Agatha's smile had a touch of darkness to it. "Well, there is an inherent risk in trying to link a Legendary dragon. The King isn't happy either, though I doubt he's met the children he's lost."

Arthur didn't have time to react to that before she leaned closer. "My question to you, Arthur, is are you willing to go back to that hive? Knowing what you now know what being a Legendary rider requires."

Because of course those Legendary dragons had not been alone. The memory-keeper had been too far away to see the riders who were with them.

If Arthur linked with a Legendary, his duty would be to fight scourgelings with the strength of an angry volcano.

Arthur opened his mouth to answer, then paused. "Back?"

"Ah." Agatha shook her head. "Forgive me, I forgot. You're not in Wolf Moon hive. You're at Buck Moon."

That explained how he'd seen Horatio.

"Yes," Arthur said, answering her previous question. "I still want to try to link the egg. Why does it matter?"

"Because, dear boy, you're a hero."

He stared at her. "Me?"

In answer, she flicked her fingers around. "You don't think we give sickrooms like this to everyone? No, several dragons felt you break the illusion that allowed us to save what people we could. Not to mention you," she poked at his chest, "personally sheltered one of the king's son's and daughter's, and the son of a prominent duke."

An unpleasant chill went down his spine at the reminder of his uncle. Agatha didn't react other than to watch him for his reaction.

"Why are you telling me this?" Arthur asked.

She smiled. "Because your star is rising and that will only increase if you do happen to link the new Legendary hatchling. And," she hesitated, for once looking unsure. "You may someday find yourself in a position of power. If you do, I hope you remember that we mind mages are not the enemy." She rose. "Now, tomorrow, you should expect to be interviewed by the King's men on the events of the town's destruction. They are only interested in what you saw. Do not volunteer anything."

He still wasn't sure how much he should trust her, if at all, but this seemed like good sense.

"I recommend you bring out the prince and princess before that," she continued. "That will at least build good will. And Arthur--"

Here it was, at last. The whole reason she had been kind to him. He steeled himself.

Agatha's smile was kind. "Do seek any of us out in the future, should you wish for more mind strengthening training.”

Then with that, she glided out, leaving Arthur flummoxed.