The amusement card ride started forward with a light jolt, before moving slowly towards a dark tunnel directly ahead. Jacob glanced at his grandfather as the vehicle moved forward, bit by bit, approaching whatever Rama had planned beyond. The founder of the factory seemed fascinated by the journey she took her tour guests on, arranging for a variety of transportation types to get from point A to point B. A simple boat, then a grand submarine, and now a theme park ride. Jacob couldn’t help but wonder what would be next; were they going to take a drip on a horse-drawn sleigh? Perhaps she had a large tandem bicycle prepared on the tour, somewhere down the line? Whatever it was it would be filled with whimsy and spectacle; something Jacob had honestly had enough of.
The cart picked up speed slightly as it approached the tunnel, then jolted to a halt right before it reached the entrance. Jacob could see the tunnel curved slightly ahead of them, creating a gentle slope downwards and to the right.
WELCOME TO THE WONDER CORP. FACTORY. PLEASE KEEP ALL HANDS, ARMS, PROSTHETIC LIMBS, AND OTHER BODY PARTS INSIDE THE RIDE AT ALL TIMES. DO NOT CAST ANY CARDS WHILE SITTING INSIDE THE VEHICLE, AND PLEASE BE CONSCIENTIOUS OF YOUR FELLOW RIDERS WHEN VOMITING AND/OR CURSING. ENJOY THE TOUR!
Jacob glanced over at his grandfather, who shrugged. The ride started again, and they slowly began to roll in the dark. Whereas the cart before had felt like it had been slowly pulled by gears it moved freely now, gliding down the track smoothly as it picked up speed. The light around them disappeared, and they took a sharp right in the darkness. They began moving faster and faster, and the group cried out as they were suddenly jolted through a sharp left turn. The group suddenly plunged downwards as the track dropped from under them, descending 10 feet via an amusement park drop. It began swerving gently to the and right in the dark, oscillating back and forth as the track twisted beneath them.
“This isn’t a factory.” From the front row Veronica’s voice rose over the sounds of the cart racing down the track itself “It’s a fun house!”
“I’m glad you’re having Fun!” Rama laughed a little as she responded. “So am I!”
The group called out again as they hit a sudden hill, raising 4 feet in a fraction of a second. The ride vehicle slowed down rapidly as they reached the hill, slowing to a steady crawl. A light appeared ahead within the tunnel, and they slowly passed a series of paintings on the walls, illuminated from a soft spotlight overhead. Each one depicted a person casting, showing a progression of time through the sequence. The first painting saw a young boy in the rubble of a ruined city, wearing one of the bulky first editions of the casters ever made, casting a spell that filled the painting with swirling purple mists. In the background Jacob spotted the remains of the Cascadian Capitol building, slowly burning as it did during the first war. The second painting was similarly dark, a painting of a woman with a child casting a ghost in front of the collapsed ruins of the Golden Gate Bridge. As they passed they saw more calamities unfolding in the paintings. The Destruction of Tokyo. The Sack of Rome. The Battle of the Scorched Plains. Scene after scene of the ruin the world had faced, just after the cards appeared. In each scene an average citizen was casting into the larger environment; large cards casts unbound by Arenas or Tournament.
There was a flash from overhead, and the paintings briefly changed to a serene image of the same locations: A park overlooking the Golden Gate, with the woman and child having a picnic. The young boy playing on a playground, the Capitol Building pristine in the background. A bustling intersection in Tokyo. Tourists visiting ruins in Rome. Hikers wandering through an un-burnt wilderness area. Scenes from before the wars broke out, and before the cards were so heavily fought for.
“The world fell apart when the cards appeared.” Rama spoke ominously from the front. She was barely visible in the soft light of the paintings, outlining half her figure as she sat facing the group “But in the ruins, average people stepped up. They came together. They fought back for what they believed in. The borders of the world changed, but the people didn’t. They still helped each other, just as they did before. And with the cards they did great things.”
The tunnel up ahead grew brighter, as the outside could slowly be seen. It inched closer and closer to the light, before emerging into a bright room. Just as it emerged from the tunnel the ride vehicle came to an abrupt stop, and Jacob’s eyes took a moment to adjust. They were in front of another set of doors in a bright white room, this one just large enough to contain the ride vehicle and its passengers. Above the doors was printed the words: CAUTION. DISCOVERY ROOM. SENSITIVE EQUIPMENT AHEAD. The doors slowly opened, and the vehicle began moving again, hooked into gears as the cart slowly angled upwards, being pulled into the space beyond.
“Those cards are not invented.” Rama continued as they emerged into a room filled with massive servers and screens “They have to be discovered. And all of the cards my factory produces are discovered right here.”
The servers in the room seemed endless, row after row in an ocean of computing. The sound of fans was almost deafening in the space, filling a room with a constant whir. On the screens simulated matches ran in a blur, faster than Jacob could possibly follow, turn after turn of computer players casting in virtual environments. The type of casting on the screens was unfamiliar to Jacob; it almost looked like a series of street duels, however these appeared to happen in ancient temples and ruins. In each match the computer players had no visible opponents, battling the creatures themselves as they went.
“What’s going on with the screens?” Stan asked, piping up from the other end of the row Jacob was sitting in.
“When the machines and the cards fell through, they presented a challenge.” Rama looked over at Stan and smiled. “The machines gave us the ability to make amazing things, but the amount of cards was limited. Each machine came with a base production deck of 10 cards; nowadays that’s not even enough to participate in a tournament. Every machine appeared to have a unique set of 10 cards it could produce, but this still limited their use heavily. It was here at Wonder Corp. that the answer was found. We were the last of the five major card companies to be founded, and the first to unlock a card.”
“The Piper’s Melody.” Jacob spoke softly, just barely loud enough to be heard over the servers “Nokumori’s signature card.”
“Exactly right Jacob.” Rama looked out at the servers “What we discovered is that cards on the machine needed to be won. They couldn’t be designed, they couldn’t be created. Every card needed to be earned, as a result of battle. So we designed a computer system to do those battles for us.”
“Hence the servers.” Jacob’s grandfather stared at the screens as they passed, the ride vehicle slowly encircling the room, its track leading to a small platform near the top of the room
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Also right.” Rama pointed to one of the screens. “Each of these screens is showing a challenge to the machine. It presents itself to the screen, a guardian appears, and the battle begins. At the beginning of each battle the guardian presents the card to be won. If you succeed in the battle, it grants you a card. If you lose, it takes one. Cards that are taken cannot be produced again, until they are offered and won once more. That’s why some cards are so rare. They were lost in a challenge, and returned to the machine.”
“If you have to risk a card you already have, why would you even do the challenge for new ones?” Stan asked
“Because the card you get could be better.” Veronica looked at the servers below, a greedy look in her eyes “Obviously.”
“Indeed, Ms. Worth.” Rama glanced at the approaching platform before continuing “Before each battle the guardian offers a choice: to accept or reject the offered card. We programmed an algorithm to determine whether those cards would be worth casting for. If the algorithm determines it is not, we reject the challenge and the system resets. There’s no penalty for refusing a match, only for losing one.”
The ride vehicle pulled into the platform, slowly coming to a halt to the right of a small platform. A railing blocked access to the servers below on the other side, while a small stairway led to an enclosed space down below. A light beeping sound occurred below, and Rama smiled.
“Looks like we got here just in time.” Rama unbuckled her seat belt, and quickly exited the vehicle. “Sounds like the system just finished unlocking something good. Let’s see what it got.”
Rama walked towards the stairs, and the group quickly moved to unbuckle their seat belts and follow her. The eight members of the tour stumbled over themselves awkwardly a bit as they exited the vehicles, leaving Jacob to wonder how Rama had done so so elegantly. He stopped just as he got out of the vehicles, looking over the servers. Match after match played out in rapid time as the long shelves of hardware blinked with a dozen lights. If you turned out the bright white overhead lights it would look like a field of stars, blinking in various colors as creatures and spells were cast amongst them. There was a tap at his shoulder, and Jacob looked over to see Stan standing next to him.
“You keep staring at everything you see and you’ll get lost.” Stan chuckled “Let’s go see what the crazy lady has to show us.”
Jacob cracked a smile and followed Stan, heading down the short flight of stairs right behind him. The enclosed space it led to was small, with transparent walls on every side. A locked door led to the server room on the end of the space, at the end of a long table covered in computer monitors. Data and statistics flew across the screen rapidly; the results of matches, data on cards, and progress reports of each. One monitor on the each end was covered in tiny boxes that depicted each match happening, too small to see individually. Rama was peering over at one of the computers intensely.
“Yep. We’ve got a level 3 card.” Rama’s nose was nearly touching the screen as she watched the numbers flow past. “First one of the day. CR, can you call for a batch to be sent up?”
There was beeping, and Jacob noticed a small cylindrical machine in the corner. A small green light blinked on the machine, and it rolled forward. A small arm extended out of it and tapped a few keys on a keyboard in front of the monitors. Another beeping sound came from the computer, and one of the screens blinked a green message over the front. The machine pressed more keys, and the message disappeared with another beep.
“Wait, cards have levels now?” Stan looked to Jacob confused. Jacob shrugged.
“Officially, no.” Rama stood up straight and looked back at the group “Our system uses an algorithm to assess the quality of each card we are offered in each challenge, ranking from 1 to 5. Level 1 cards we skip entirely; they’re the weakest or least useful cards available. On the other end of the scale you have things like the Dormant Sleeper from the Ancient Times Kerl summoned earlier; that’s a level four card. Incredibly powerful cards that dominate matches. They’re rare to unlock, we’re lucky if we get 5-10 of those a year. The system unlocked a level 3 card, those are cards on roughly the same level as Ghosts of the Derelict Ship. Powerful, but not necessarily a match ender.”
“And what would be a level 5 card?” Jacob asked.
“Cards like the statues out front.” Rama looked him in the eye “Cards with the power to reshape the world.”
There was a small wooshing sound, and Rama looked to the back of the room. She walked over to a small tray Jacob hadn’t noticed before, which had a slot just above it. A small stack of cards sat in the tray where they had been spat out. Rama picked them up, and looked them over. She glanced up at the group and handed them out silently, giving each member of the tour a single card. When she reached Jacob she winked, handing him the card then moving back to the computer console.
“Of the five companies producing cards we currently have the second largest server bank for Card Discovery.” Rama said, dragging the groups attention away from the cards they had been handed. “We’re narrowly behind DefTech, though we hope to catch up in the next year or so. Right behind us is Happy Card Co., then Advanced Decks Inc., then FateCo. The servers are incredibly expensive to maintain and operate, but the location of this factory has minimized that for us. The geothermal power minimizes our electrical cost, and the ocean surrounding us provides plenty of cold water to reduce any overheating. This room is directly linked to the machines of the production line, and is capable of producing rough prototypes of cards within minutes of their discovery - just like the ones you hold in your hands.”
Jacob looked down and saw that unlike the others, he had been given two cards. When he saw the texts of the cards, he understood why:
Spell Change - Spell - Select one card that has been cast. For the next 3 draws that card is considered a Spell card, and is treated accordingly. Creatures affected by this card cannot attack during this time.
Source Mask - Equip - This card can be stacked and equipped alongside any other. While this card is equipped, all Shadow and Sacred cards are viewed as standard issue cards by all casting platforms and casters other than the one equipped with this card.
Between the two it was fairly obvious Spell Change was the level 3 card Rama had indicated. Jacob largely agreed with the algorithm’s assessment; the card was very useful, but wouldn’t be match ending. It opened the door for a lot of chained strategies to destroy and manipulate your opponents cards, but was moderately limited.
The other card on the other hand was clearly meant for him. The implications of it were obvious - his shadow and sacred cards would be hidden from others when he cast them. By including platforms it even implied that some tournament equipment would accept them - though that would likely result in an immediate ban after their use. While the cards would appear legitimate, they would still have the same name and attributes as their original cards. Most of the shadow cards were known and documented; he could never get away with casting one officially. Unofficially however this bought Jacob a lot of room in street matches and his official duties with the Cascadian government. It opened the door to a lot of possibilities, and Jacob quietly slipped it into his equip deck.
Jacob looked at Rama suspiciously as she continued to talk about server equipment; she had a game she was playing, though thus far he had no idea what that was. The more he played along, the more confused he got. There was no indication of the purpose nor end game, but for now he had no choice but to play along.
“I didn’t bring you all this way though to look at servers.” Rama continued as Jacob tuned back in to what she was saying “The next room is much more interesting. Every card that is discovered goes through that room. Try not to fall over as we enter it, his is one of my favorite transitions.”
Rama tapped her walking stick on the ground three times, and there was a whirring sound. The room jolted slightly as it spun on its axis, swinging the group away from the room in a 180 degree turn, until they were inside an alcove of another massive space. The space was identical to the one Jacob had seen in the wartime footage, with a platform forming a second level above them and a variety of casting arenas in front of them. Machines were in every arena, holding mock matches, summoning cards and pitting them against each other.
“Welcome.” Rama said dramatically “To the testing room.”
trust in the cards…
Which disaster mentioned sounds the most interesting?
