A Tale of New Sentience (act 1)

Chapter 1: sacrifices

I have no clue where I was, or why, all I know is the first thing I remember is everything was black, or was it white? It's nearly impossible for me to describe the color, shade, or whatever it was that I seemed to float and swim in, in not what felt even a few moments before, but that doesn't matter, what does, is the situation I was in now, staring at the person... If that was indeed what they were, that was apposed to me.

The eyes, the first thing to catch my attention and grasp it firmly with it's humored look, as if they found my presence, or appearance funny or humorous to some regard. It wasn't long before he spoke however. "Another challenger... It has been ages. Perhaps you have forgotten how this game is played, allow me to remind you."

The next moment, my hand was forced to hold four cards in it's grip,I don't remember drawing them, nor gripping them, however I decided to ignore the questions that now flooded my head, looking at my hand of cards. I could process the person in front of me speaking, but not what exactly they said, as such, I was surprised when my hands acted without my input, almost on instinct as I first placed a squirrel card, which I found pretty cute, before it was promptly sacrificed for a card bearing the name of stoat, as the person apposed to me explained the purpose of the numbers, and the red droplet in the corner, as well as some new instruments to my left I had failed to notice until now. Regardless, once I rung the bell, my opponents card had moved forward, and the number supposedly depicting my stoats health, went down by two.

"your stoat has been struck by my coyote." He says simply, before I was able to draw, I contemplated my choices, before drawing a squirrel, and adding one of the simple and cute creatures to my hand, before it promptly went to the board, next to my stoat. The next moment,I began to pick at the corner of one of my wolves, I glanced down, and took a good look at the numbers for it, before frowning. 'if I were to sacrifice both cards on my side I would be able to, but wouldn't it be wiser to wait until next turn? The coyote will die this the. Regardless...' I think to myself, before forcing my hand to the side, ringing the bell and commencing with combat, striking the coyote as it faded away.

I almost immediately relax, as my stoat was safe for this turn, as I went on to draw another squirrel, I already had a good idea for a play, so I placed down my squirrel, and sacrificed the two, promptly placing my wolf down, looking back up at my opposer, seeing his eyes were only even more filled with humor, as if I did something funny, according to them at least. Then, the sound of a bell rung out, as I saw my cards attack, with the damage being applied to the scale to my left, as I relaxed s small amount, going through with one more turn before the shapes on the table disappeared, the instruments to my left seemed to fly away, and a piece of parchment paper was unrolled in front of me, with small drawings, depicting what, I did not know, yet.

I idly tap away at the table as I watch my small figure bounce along it's way, before the parchment was taken away, replaced by two cards, I took my time to flip them around. "Two denizens of the forest approached you tentatively, the caustic adder, damage from it's poison bite will always be lethal." He starts, finishing when I had flipped the first card, before continuing on once I flipped the second. "the undying cat, sacrificing the poor beast does not kill it, only one my grace your paltry deck." They once again start, and then finish after I had flipped the second.

I wanted to reach for the adder, even though it had a high cost it could prove invaluable with dangerous cards, but before I could my hand lurched forward and grabbed the cat, before I even had the chance to stop myself, with great confusion as I slipped it amongst the deck, the eyes of the person opposing me only filled with an untold amount of humor at my confusion, before a moment afterwards the parchment returned, allowing my figure to continue onwards.

It wasn't long after that, that I had myself at an almost unwinnable situation, although I wasn't too worried, on the board was a Raven, and sparrow, with my cat on the board, and a stoat and wolf in my hand, even though I felt guilty, I could only use the wolf by sacrificing the stoat and cat, to stall for time until I could draw another one cost creature, though before I could continue onwards, my hands once again acted without my consent, sacrificing the cat for a stoat, opposing it from the sparrow, the weaker of the two birds.