Looking around, Arthur’s gaze first fell on Cressida. Unlike him, she’d arrived standing next to her dragon and not astride. She met his gaze and said, “I think this is the first chamber.”

“Chamber?” he repeated, though immediately his mind went to the hearts and offal of the animals he’d prepared for cooking. It was messy business, but one did not get to level 50 in Butchering without dealing with inner organs.

Cressida started to answer, but Soledad spoke first. “I’ve heard of this before from people who’ve delved into Dark Hearts. It’s a sort of staging area—a place where we go to take a load off, rest, and prepare to face harder challenges.”

“If this is the staging area, what was that all before?” Horatio asked.

Soledad started to answer, but this time Cressida interrupted her, while throwing a pointed look her way. “That must have been a preliminary. I think it was meant to see if we were ready for the rest of the challenges—or to prepare us somehow.” She looked around. “Did you guys get earth challenges, too?”

“Earth challenges?” Arthur started to ask, then shook his head. “No, never mind. It looks like we’re the first here, but I don’t think others will be far behind. I don’t want to be caught here talking. Let’s see if we can find a shelter or somewhere that’s more private to talk.”

“I can help with that,” Marion said unexpectedly. Then, four exact versions of himself seemed to step out of him and run in different directions, each toward a separate hill.

“Oh, is that your new card power?” Joy asked.

He nodded and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Yes, my illusionary clones.”

Sure enough, one crested a hill to the south, turned, and waved to get their attention before he poofed out of existence. One by one, the others shook their heads before also disappearing.

“That way, I assume,” Marion said, nodding to where the one that had waved had been.

It was a short enough distance that all started walking without remounting the dragons, though no one spoke. All seemed to be in a pensive mood, lost in what they’d see in their own challenges.

Near the top of the hill, Brixaby took it upon himself to buzz ahead. He returned quickly. “There is a shallow cave on the other side.”

“Good, it won’t hurt to have some kind of shelter.”

Unfortunately, when they got there it was more of a divot than an actual cave. Sams could only stick his head in.

There was also a blank card floating in the middle of it. It glowed faintly green at the edges.

Arthur exchanged confused glances with the rest of his group, then reached out to grab the card. Before the tips of his fingers could close on it, a message flashed in his mind.

Do you wish to claim this territory for your party?

Yes/No

Couldn’t hurt. “Yes,” Arthur said. And when he grabbed the card, the edges glowed blue.

Instead of a description or a rank, all of their names appeared on the card in a list.

“I’ve heard of these.” Soledad leaned over to squint. “This is an inclusion list. As long as you hold the card, no one but the people—or dragons, I guess—who have names on the list will be allowed to enter.”

Horatio threw a disgusted look at the shelter. “Enter what? It’s like two feet deep at most.”

“We don’t have to stay here, but I think we should take a moment and talk.” Arthur looked around at the others. “I take it you guys didn’t get the kitchen challenge, either?”

They threw him baffled looks.

“No!” Brixaby puffed out his chest. “I was dropped in a blacksmith’s foundry and fought scores of scourglings until there were none left. They were attempting to trick me into forging weapons for them, but I know what to do with scourglings when I see them. And I took shards from them all!”

From his Personal Space, he grabbed a clawful of shards and held them out for the others to see. But they were unlike any card shards Arthur had seen before. They were oddly blank, but in a way that was more than surface deep. It was as if each was an absence of power that was waiting to be filled. Arthur couldn’t tell if they were Common, Uncommon, Rare, or just fancy pieces that were meant to look like shards.

“Those were the same type I got,” Soledad said.

Arthur took a good look at her for the first time since coming here and saw that the pockets of her trousers and the bag she’d slung over her shoulder were bulging. In fact, several seams on the bag had split.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Soledad continued, “Only, mine wasn’t a blacksmith foundry. I had to save turtle hatchlings—scourglings were the predators. That’s where I got the shards.” She smiled ruefully. “I thought I was working against a timer or something, but when I’d saved a thousand hatchlings, the challenge ended.”

Am I supposed to understand what any of that means? Arthur thought. Turtle hatchlings?

“I wish I got some shards,” Horatio grumped. “Me and Sams were put in a puzzle challenge—we had to complete a wall of light by matching the different frequencies. Well, it would make more sense if you had light cards.” He waved a dismissive hand at them. “It took us forever—felt like days.”

“Yes, but the amount of practice did you well,” Sams said. “Your sensitivity to the different spectrums of light has grown by leaps and bounds.”

“Yeah?” Joy perked up. “I got stuck in a really boring hallway maze that went on forever and ever, but then after a while I calmed down and sort of listened to my inner voice. I didn’t get any cards or shards, but a sort of . . . intuition? Like I was practicing something that I already had, but it became really good in there.”

“Intuition?” Brixaby repeated. “Does that have to do with your quest card?”

“No! Well, I mean, kind of? But it’s not really in the description,” Joy said, which of course didn’t help.

“Wait, so am I the only one who got a card?” Cressida asked.

Immediately, all gazes turned to her. Arthur noted that most were jealous.

Marion sheepishly raised his hand. “I got a card, too.”

And now that Arthur was paying attention, he saw his friend was radiating quiet pride. From his heart, he projected an Uncommon card.

Healer’s Instinct

Uncommon

Healing

Upon visual inspection of individuals, the wielder of this card will be able to instinctively know if that person is sick or injured. As this card does not use mana, the information may be indistinct. Exact diagnosis will depend on the wielder’s education and experience in the healing arts. As experience grows, the wielder will be able to make diagnoses with greater accuracy.