Guinea Pigs

Cecilia

Ceci sat on a park bench with her phone in her hands. Where most people would be scrolling through social media or clickbait articles, she had already gotten her fill of that for the day. She glanced up from her screen periodically to make sure she could still see the kid she was nanny for. Isadora was running around the playground with the other kids, completely pre-occupied with enjoying life the way only a four-year-old could.

Returning to the screen of her phone, she watched as the opponent of the virtual card game she was playing activated an ability from one of the cards they'd played. The game showed an elven archer fire a bow from her opponents back ranks into the motley crew of defenders Ceci had been able to put into play. An Ogre barbarian took the damage and its red health gauge dropped, nearly to the bottom. The game indicated it was now Ceci's turn.

In her mind's eye, she pictured herself standing on the gameboard depicted on her screen, the cards in her hand floating before her, practically life size. The mana pool she used as a resource for card abilities represented as a globe of swirling multi-colored light. She looked at the five cards in her hand. Two more unit cards, with attack, defense, and health statistics. An enhancement card, providing a bonus to the attack rating of which ever unit she used it on. A healing card, which she could use on her ogres before they died. Then finally a direct damage card that could be cast on her opponent her or their forces.

Hmmmm, what to do? She pondered. After a quick glance to check on Isadora, Ceci slid the heal card over to her ogre's and then the fireball spell card on top of her opponent's archers. That wiped out nearly all of her mana pool, but also destroyed the archers, the only unit in the field on the other side of the board. There wasn't enough mana left to use any of the remaining cards she had, so Ceci drew a card to end her turn. Another healing spell.

As her opponent decided what to spend their mana on, Ceci stood from the bench and took a step or two toward the playground. "Izzy?" she called. She could see the girl, she just wanted to make sure the girl knew she was there. Isadora's head snapped toward the direction of her name and Ceci smiled. "I'm here!" the child called.

Ceci made eye contact with the girl and nodded. Isadora turned her attention back to the other children on the playground and Ceci went back to her seat. When she looked back at her phone again, the turn was hers again. Her opponent had put out three more archers.

Ceci's mana had grown from last turn, so she had more versatility now. She moved both of her unit cards into the field and watched as the game transformed the card graphic to that of a cyclops and a small gang of goblins. She took the enhancement card and applied it to the ogre she had. Its large wooden club burst into flames, and the Ogre chuckled. She then double tapped on the ogre and it started running across the battlefield on the screen, charging into the line of archers, knocking down two, and swinging the fiery club into the face of the third.

All three archers died. Ceci smiled and wondered what else she'd have to deal with. Taking another card from the draw pile ended her turn. Her opponent placed two cards into the field. One was another elf, from the appearance a stealthier roguish type rather than a distance archer. The other was an enchantment spell. The four archers returned from the graveyard, a translucent white. Then each of them in turn appeared to be sucked into the rogue, increasing its statistics with each archer apparition. It was now stronger than even the cyclops Ceci had played.

The turn counter flipped over, showing the face of Ceci's avatar. Ceci looked at the card she'd drawn to end the last turn. Another healing spell. Her tactic had been sound. A mix of medium to heavy units to field with lots of healing support. But now, looking at the enhanced rogue, it could easy take out any one of her units. A dead unit can't be healed.

She tapped on all three of her creatures. Prompting them to attack, she expected at least one to be cut down by the rogue. All three units moved across the virtual battlefield, and Ceci looked up to check on Isadora. The girl was hanging off some monkey bars upside down, oblivious to the world outside her circle of friends.

Looking back at the phone, Ceci saw the aftermath of her attack. The rogue was untouched, but all three units had dealt damage directly to her opponent. They were low on health, but not out yet. The card's stealth ability allowed it to be bypassed as a defender.

Having only healing cards in her hand, and uninjured units, Ceci did the only thing she could do, drew a card to end her turn. Her eyes lit up when she saw her draw. It was another enhancement card that allowed all units in her end of the field to attack twice on a turn. It should easily allow her to take her opponent out on her next turn.

Her opponent played another enhancement card themselves, granting the rogue the ability to attack each unit in their opponent's army that turn. The game showed the rogue slip into the shadows on their end of the field and then appear in the shadows behind each of Ceci's three units, killing them all. Then her opponent drew a card.

Ceci shook her head. With only healing cards in her hand, and no units to play them on, she didn't have many options. She drew a card. It was another Cyclop unit, but she wouldn't have the mana to pay the activation on the card until next turn.

Isadora walked up to the bench and poked her head into Ceci's view of the screen, "I'm getting cold. Should we go home?"

"Okay squirt." Ceci said, looking up to see all the other kids on playground had left or were leaving. She stood up and grabbed Isadora's hand, tapping the resign button in the game with her other hand while her opponent's rogue was attacking her directly unimpeded.

They started walking toward Isadora's apartment. The child spoke up, "You loose your game? You usually win don't you?"

Ceci smiled, "Yeah, but that's okay. It's important to be a good loser sometimes." She closed out the game and saw on her cellphone's default homepage an e-mail notification. All it listed as the sender and the subject line. RMO; Welcome to an Exciting Opportunity!