“Are you sure, boss,” asked Rurth with concern. “Maybe you’ve had enough for tonight?”

“Another!” Stephen shouted over his shoulder at the bar. Blargh nodded when the journeyman wizard working the bar looked at him. The journeyman brought another bottle of celestia to the table.

“You can summon her back, just like you did with Blargh and me,” suggested Rurth. “We’ve been living our lives here in Hopedale. I’ve learned enough magic that I would be considered a journeyman back at the old Wizard’s Guild. Blargh has learned some fighting techniques. She can live her life, the same way we have.”

“Yes,” said Stephen, looked blearily at his friend, “and if she dies she goes back to how she was at the moment I captured her. Any growth or change is an illusion. She would have hated that. She told me she didn’t want it.”

“Most people just die when they die,” said Blargh, joining them at the table. “Neither of us have been complaining.”

“And I’ve turned her into my slave,” said Stephen. “I never even told her how much I loved her, and now she’s a mindless automaton.”

“Mindless automaton is a little bit strong,” said Rurth, looking at Stephen with mild disapproval.

Stephen rolled his eyes at his friends, shrugged, then put his head down on the table and fell asleep.

***

Sitting at the table with Rurth, Blargh, and former master Elore, Stephen laid out what he wanted. “So, my focus is going to be on figuring out how to release the people I’ve captured.” said Stephen. “I don’t know if it will involve destroying the cards or what, but I want to give them all their lives back.”

“Well,” began Elore, “We know so little about your magic as it is, how to do what you seek is really anyone’s guess. You’d have the best idea, I suppose. What are you planning?”

Stephen looked back at him for a few heartbeats, then said, “I don’t know.”

“Not to pressure you to keep on the course we were previously on,” Rurth suggested carefully, “but maybe finding the battery to let you cast dimensional travel would help? Other dimensions might know more about what you do than we do.”

“I can cast dimensional travel,” admitted Stephen quietly. “I used Shomos’ mystic grove to power it, and it’s energized.”

“How were things back on Earth?” asked Rurth excitedly.

“It felt wrong to take advantage of my capturing her grove to get myself home. I haven’t used dimensional travel yet,” Stephen said.

“And what was her opinion about the current situation?” asked Blargh.

“I haven’t unleashed her yet, either. I can’t face her until I have a solution,” said Stephen.

“Do you want us to take a look at the new cards?” suggested Rurth. “We could summon Wort and see what we can figure out between the three of us.”

“I’m not ready to gloat over them as new booty,” said Stephen.

“You seem to have a path forward,” said Elore. “It’s your choice when or whether you’re ready to take it. I don’t see anything here helping you until you do. I had some ideas about Numeracy at the new guild I wanted to get your opinion on, would you have time to talk about that now?”

“I can’t deal with any of that right now,” said Stephen. “Not with things up in the air with Shomos.”

“I understand,” said Elore, tight-lipped. “We’re eager for your thoughts once you feel up to it.”

“Fine, you all seem to be in agreement that digging into my dimensional traveler abilities is the best way to help Shomos,” said Stephen, standing up decisively. “Let’s do it!” and he unleashed the dimensional travel card.

***

Stephen stood next to Rurth and Blargh, who both promptly fell to down with the absence of their chairs. Blargh rubbed his ass and gave Stephen a dirty look after he picked himself up.

Nearby stood the Hopedale Wizard’s Guild, exactly as it had been originally, with a section of Hopedale’s cobblestone street surrounding it. The cobblestone gradually blended into grass, upon which sat the water wheel from Lord Ashburnum’s estate. It looked exactly the same as it had after they’d built it. The wheel turned lazily and a section of river ran past it. Past the water wheel was a blue, eldritch mist that the river began from one section of and ended in another. The cobblestone and grass gradually blended into Shomos’ mystic grove. Through the trees, Stephen could see her hut. The mystical fog was far behind the grove and the wizards’ guild.

The three men stood at the intersection of the three sites.

“This isn’t at all what I thought Earth would look like,” said Rurth, whistling. “Your university looks just like the Hopedale Wizard’s Guild. No wonder you liked it there so much.”

“That is the Hopedale Wizard’s Guild,” said Stephen. “And there is the water wheel we built on your father’s estate.”

As the men regarded the strange sights around them, Blargh suddenly stiffened. “Incoming,” he warned, and drew Starfire.

A ghoul came around the corner from a building at the Wizard’s Guild and began approaching them. Stephen got ready to cast ‘magic missile’ in combat for the first time, when he suddenly saw the wounds on the creature.

“Is that the ghoul we captured?” he asked. Suddenly realizing their absence, he felt that none of the cards that had been in his head for the past months were there anymore. As it approached, the ghoul started moving increasingly quickly towards them.

“Stand still,” ordered Stephen. The ghoul’s tongue hung obscenely out of its mouth, and it charged quickly towards him. “Stop,” he said again. In a panic, he cast ‘magic missile’, causing bolts of magical energy to fly out of his hands towards the creature, hitting it, it knocked it down dead.

“Uh, boss,” said Rurth. “You might want to brace yourself and look over at the druidess’ grove.”

Looking in that direction, Stephen saw Shomos approaching them.

***

The four people sat at a table they’d set up between the three sites.

“So, we’ve been here for 3 hours. What have we learned?” Stephen asked.

“The last thing I remember was sitting with you drinking juice, when you vanished, and reappeared over here with these two men,” said Shomos. “It was instantaneous for me, but you said it’s been some time since you enslaved my grove and me. At first, I thought it was the area surrounding my grove that had changed, but now you tell me it’s myself and my grove that have been taken out of reality.”

“None of you have the blind obedience to me here that you had back in ‘Land of Legends’,” said Stephen. All three started to give him a hard look, when he raised his hands and said, “I’m not complaining, just observing.”

“The ghoul has been buried,” said Blargh. “I’ve kept an eye out in case it reappears, but it hasn’t yet.”

“Walking around the perimeter,” began Stephen, “I found a portion of the fog where the words ‘Land of Legends’ hung in midair and another where the word ‘Earth’ hung. Both right there in the mist. It might be worth walking into the mist at one of them and see if that’s where it takes you.”

“I wonder what would happen if we walked into an unlabeled area?” asked Stephen.

“We’re not going to find out,” said Shomos sharply.

“Elore didn’t come with us,” observed Rurth. “It seems like it’s only you and people you’ve captured who were brought here with the dimensional travel power.”

“I appreciate that this wasn’t intentional, but…” began Shomos, when she was suddenly interrupted by a loud klaxon that sounded for 7 seconds. In the misty sky above them appeared the words “Incoming Challenge: 15:00” and the timer began counting down.

“What’s that?” asked Blargh.

“I have no idea,” admitted Stephen.

***

Watching the countdown approaching zero, the four people looked up at the decreasing numbers in the sky.

“You should decline the challenge,” suggested Rurth.

“How?” asked Stephen. “Maybe at the end of the countdown, I’ll have the option to reject it.”

Watching the counter cycle through the last few digits, as it hit zero the world around Stephen shifted around, and he found himself in a large cavern, with a blond haired, blue-eyed tall man standing 30 feet away from him. The two men were on opposing sides of a circle inscribed on the rock ground below them.

“Nice to meet you, newbie,” said the man, smirking at Stephen.

“Newbie?” asked Stephen. “Are you from Earth?”

“Earth?” asked the man. “Oh, your home dimension. No, I’m not from your backwater. Part of the challenge ritual is the participants gain the ability to communicate with one another. Anyway, let’s begin.”

“Begin what?” asked Stephen. “I refuse your challenge.”

“The time for that has passed,” said the man. A large deck of cards appeared in front of each of the men. The backs of the cards had illustrations of themselves. Stephen’s deck had 8 cards, while the stranger’s, much larger, deck had dozens of cards. Each of the decks shuffled in midair, until the man made a chopping motion with his hand, Stephen’s deck stopped shuffling. The top card turned over and hovered in the air, rotating.

Above it was the word ‘ante’ in red.

Looking at the card, Stephen saw it was Shomos’ card, which he’d been avoiding looking at.

“Oh well, crap card,” said the man.

“Ante?” asked Stephen. “Am I risking this card during the challenge?”

“You’re starting to catch on,” said the man. “You’ll be happy you won’t lose a better card.”

“I don’t want to lose this one,” said Stephen, distraught. “I refuse to pick one of yours.”

The man sighed theatrically. “Fine, you want to see how the time-out works. That’s ok. What do you want to talk about while we wait?”

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” asked Stephen.

“Dimensional Traveler Avin, at your service,” he said with a mocking bow. “I’ve challenged you to win one of your cards. You’re Stephen Crawford and you don’t know shit.”

“How did you find me? How did you challenge me?” asked Stephen. “How do you know my name?”

“Was I ever this dumb?” Avin asked himself. “Just like you’ve captured cards, so have I. And every other dimensional traveler. I have a card that lets me find new dimensional travelers and ‘introduce’ myself. When you entered your pocket dimension for the first time, it let me find you and issue a challenge. You can challenge any dimensional traveler you know. You can’t challenge the same traveler again after you’ve beaten them, until they’ve challenged you and won.”

“After I kick your ass, you’ll see my name in your pocket dimension. I strongly encourage you to challenge me, and we can repeat this exercise, perhaps with me getting a better card. Who knows, you might beat me in our second duel?”

“Maybe I’ll beat you in this duel,” suggested Stephen.

“That’s the spirit, although I really…” Avin reply was cut off by a disembodied voice saying, “Time out, ante automatically chosen.” Avin’s deck stopped shuffling, and the top card was turned over.

“I know that spell!” said Stephen. “Why do we have to fight? Can’t we talk about this?”

Each of their decks started dealing cards to the men. Avin’s seven cards showed only the backs, while Stephen’s showed seven of his cards with their details facing him.

“Challenged player goes first” announced the voice. Stephen’s eighth and last card rose to his hand.

“We can talk all you want,” said Avin. “We can talk until you find out about the time-out again.”

Stephen noticed that each of his battery cards had brightened, like a light was being shone on them. The remaining cards were dark. Stephen pointed at the Hopedale Wizard’s Guild and a small version of the building, roughly the same height as a person, appeared in front of him.

“Nice card,” said Avin, admiring the guild building. “Would have preferred to get that one instead of the druid.”

Blargh’s card lit up indicating it could now be cast. The other batteries in his hand had darkened. Pointing at Blargh’s card, orange energy moved from the Wizard’s Guild to the innkeeper, and Blargh appeared in front of him. The Wizard’s Guild darkened.

“What should I do?” he asked Stephen, eyeing Avin.

“Attack him with your new combat skills,” ordered Stephen.

“I don’t know about any new combat skills, but I can teach this stuffed shirt some respect,” said Blargh. Running towards him, the innkeeper feinted then kneed Avin in the crotch. The other dimensional traveler seemed more annoyed than seriously hurt. In the air above him, a red X appeared.

Blargh started swinging again, but vanished and reappeared in front of Stephen. He seemed shrouded in darkness. “Hit him again!” Stephen ordered. “I can’t move forward,” Blargh said, confused.

“That’s your turn, newbie,” taunted Avin. “Just say ‘end turn’ and I’ll show you what I can do.”

“No, I’m not saying that,” said Stephen. “You can have the wizard’s guild, if you let me keep the druid.”

“We can talk about trades after I finish you off,” said Avin.

“Why can’t I play another battery?” asked Stephen.

“One battery a turn,” said Avin. “Don’t get greedy.”

“Forced end of turn in fifteen seconds,” the disembodied voice announced.

“And I’m assuming I was able to cast Blargh because he only needed one orange energy,” asked Stephen.

“How much energy do your other cards require?” Avin asked.

“Never mind,” said Stephen.

“Player’s turn ended,” announced the voice. A card rose off of Avin’s deck and added itself to the other seven floating in front of him.

A man-sized volcano appeared in front of Avin. Looking at it, Stephen saw information similar to when he cast ‘identify’.

A magic missile flew from Avin to strike Stephen. Pain shot throughout his body. The volcano dimmed and Stephen saw a red X above himself.

“End turn,” announced Avin.

The wizards’ guild and Blargh both brightened. “Deck depleted,” said the voice. “No card to draw.” The remaining, unplayed, battery cards brightened. “Hit him!” yelled Stephen. Blargh advanced on Avin and punched him in the gut. Another red X appeared over his head.

Stephen cast ‘magic missile’ and an eldritch bolt shot across the battlefield and struck Avin. A third red X appeared above him. All the cards in front of him went dark.

“Why can’t I play another battery and card?” asked Stephen.

“You just used your turn casting a spell instead of playing a card,” said Avin. “You also could have come over and smacked me yourself, for all the good it’d do you.”

“I had a ghoul card that isn’t with my others, what happened to it?” Stephen asked.

“Did something happen to the ghoul in your pocket dimension?” Avin asked.

“Yeah, I killed it,” said Stephen.

“Well, there you go,” said Avin, rolling his eyes. “If your champions die in your pocket dimension, they die for good. If they change in your pocket dimension, and then you leave, it updates their cards.”

“So is the ghoul card gone?” asked Stephen.

“Maybe,” admitted Avin. “Or you’ll have its corpse as a battery. You’ll find out when you leave your pocket dimension and your cards update. Most people don’t kill their champions.”

“Player’s turn automatically ended,” announced the voice. Another card was added to Avin’s collection.

“It doesn’t seem fair that you keep getting cards and I don’t,” said Stephen. Avin smirked at him.

A small stand of trees appeared. Looking at them, Stephen saw that it was similar to the volcano, except it produced green power.

Two magic bolts flew across the field and struck him. They hurt! Two more red X’s appeared above his head. Both men now had three wounds. Avin had four cards and Stephen had six. Stephen’s deck was gone, while Avin’s still had dozens of cards.

“End turn,” said Avin confidently.

The wizards’ guild and Blargh both brightened. “Deck depleted,” said the voice. “No card to draw.” The remaining, unplayed, battery cards brightened. “Hit him again,” ordered Stephen, and Blargh ran over and decked Avin. A fourth red X appeared above him.

“I don’t think this is going as well as you hoped it would,” said Stephen. “Do you want to call it a draw?”

“You really don’t understand what’s happening here, do you?” asked Avin.

Stephen pointed at the water wheel, and a small version of the structure appeared in front of him. Pointing at Starfire, the sword appeared in Blargh’s hand. The Wizard’s Guild and the Water Wheel both dimmed.

“Well, that was dumb,” observed Avin. “If you’d given it to him before he attacked, he’d have done more damage to me.” Stephen looked at Avin in irritation as he realized he was right.

“The rules are different from ‘Domains of Danger’ card game,” Stephen said.

“Are you going to make the turn automatically end every time?” asked Avin.

“Yes,” said Stephen.

“Player’s turn automatically ended,” announced the voice. Another card was added to Avin’s collection.

A graveyard joined Avin’s other batteries. Looking at it Stephen saw it provided violet energy.

Avin cast “magical repeater” for one violet power, whose description said it doubled any ‘fast cast incantation’ unleashed. He then unleashed another Magic Missile card, which turned into two bolts and gave Stephen two red X’s.

“Any last words before I end you?” asked Avin.

“Please don’t do this,” said Stephen. Avin cast another Magic Missile, which also got doubled, and Stephen fell to the ground. Blargh and his structures disappeared, and his remaining cards crumbled to dust in front of him.

“So now you kill me?” Stephen asked the other man.

“Kill you?” asked Avin. “I just take your card. Why would I want to kill you?”

“Trade her back to me,” Stephen begged. “You said you liked the Wizard’s Guild better.”

“No,” Avin said, looking at Stephen appraisingly. “I’ll trade her back to you for ALL your other cards.”

“No,” said Stephen flatly. “If I give you all my other cards, I won’t be able to summon her.”

“I’ll throw in a bunch of crappy batteries then,” offered Avin. “More than enough to summon her.”

“I don’t trust you,” said Stephen. “No.”

“Fine then, but remember you chose to let me leave with her,” said Avin, a cruel look on his face. “Get in touch if you have something interesting to offer me. I’d trade her to you for a dozen Magic Missile cards or other fast cast incantations that do damage to dimensional travelers and are cheap to play.”

Stephen looked imploringly up at the other man. “Please,” he said quietly. “She’s important to me.”

“Not important enough, apparently,” Avin said with a shrug.

Their battlefield disappeared and Stephen found himself back in his pocket dimension.