Chapter 16

Daniel left Limbo and lunged towards the translucent monster. He didn't need to move far, it hadn't been giving him any room to breathe all this time and that was now working against it.

It didn't seem to have expected Daniel to actually lunge towards it, because the tendrils that shot down at him missed by a wide margin as Daniel's hand grasped hold of the monster's body as he willed his card to activate.

In the next instant he and the monster were in Limbo, and Daniel ripped his hand away from the specter as if he'd been touching a burning stove. Then, the second Daniel was no longer touching the spector he fled the dimension like a bat out of hell. Daniel appeared back in the real world where he only managed to take a few shaky steps before he collapsed down onto the grass where he took deep, gasping breaths. His mouth tasted of iron, and despite having all the air he could ever ask for he felt weak as a newborn lamb. 

His body hadn't appreciated the abuse that he'd just put it through, and now that he wasn't in any immediate danger, and he'd actually stopped walking it was poignantly refusing to move in any way he wanted it to. 

So he laid there for several minutes, just catching his breath, and when he did finally manage to move he struggled to so much as pick his face up out of the dirt. After some time passed he eventually managed to lean himself up against a nearby tree, but that was only after a great exertion of effort and willpower. 

The bark of the tree felt as comfy as a thousand feather mattresses and each breath of air felt like sweet honey caressing his throat, up until he felt the sharp sensation of a knife pressed against said throat as a rough voice whispered into his ear.

"Pretty far from home, ain't you fella?"

Daniel refrained from so much as looking towards his assailant. He was too tired to care, too annoyed to raise concern, and all his half awake mind wanted was to be left alone. To be away from monsters, from bandits and back in his nice warm bed in his parents' farmhouse. To be in his ramshackle mine drinking beers hoping to find treasure that he knew wasn't actually down there.

Unconsciously, Daniel brushed his hand against the assailant's leg, and then he was gone. He hadn't left, he was simply there one moment and dissapeared the next. 

Daniel's exhausted mind couldn't even begin to care for what had happened to his would-be mugger, and with eyelids that felt like lead, he drifted off to sleep.

===

"Great gods, what did he just do to Sentrek?," A small humanoid creature asked two of his companions. The humanoid creatures had a complex series of scales covering their body in place of skin and wore tight leather armor. One of the three wielded a wooden sword and had it pointed towards Daniel's sleeping form. 

"Should I get rid of him? His card has to be good to disappear Sentrek with just a touch," He asked his two companions, but before they could respond the sound of shifting plants drew their attention away from Daniel as a tall and muscular red-haired man stepped out from the foliage and approached the group.

The red-haired man's eyes moved from Daniel's sleeping form over to the wooden sword as annoyance marred his expression, "Put your weapon down Kresk, right now."

Without hesitation the scaled man followed his orders and sheathed his sword before dropping to a knee, "As you wish, sir." The other two quickly followed suit with eyes full of respect and a bit of fear.

The red-haired man stared down at Daniel for a moment before his gaze began to follow something that the others couldn't see. He watched it move for several moments before flinching backwards slightly. Then, with disgust plain on his face the red-haired man brought his hand up and wiped it across his clean face. Neither he nor the scaled men commented on the bright red blood that now covered his hand.

"Explain why my quarrel is in another dimension thrashing Sentrek around like a bag of flour."

Heavy silence filled the air, and the scaled man with the wooden sword was the first to break it, and as he did so more and more of the scaled men began to catch up to their small group, crowding around them.

"Lord Alexander, to the best of my knowledge that human has a dimension traversing card. Sentrek went to apprehend him and it seems that he's been… disposed of by the human."

Alexander nodded at the explanation and stepped towards Daniel before crouching down, cupping his hand around his mouth and yelling as loud as he could, "WAKE UP!"

Daniel's eyes immediately shot open as he scrambled to his feet and whipped out the knife from his belt. His eyes darted all throughout his surroundings, and found every possible escape route blocked by off by strange, scaled men.

Before he could do anything drastic the red-haired man across from him laughed a deafeningly deep laugh before pointing at Daniel and falling to the floor as his fit of laughter quickly escalated to the point that it looked exaggerated. 

"You should see yourself right now," Alexander said between deep wheezing breaths. "You're like a little kitten brandishing its claws, it's adorable!"

Daniel stared at the strange red-haired man with confusion plastered across his face before asking, "Who are you exactly?"

One of the larger scaled men stepped forward with his grip tightened on his spear and anger plain on his face, "You dare speak to Lord Alexander without respect?"

But his outburst was quickly subdued by Alexander himself.

"Stop," said Alexander, his tone stern. His laughing fit seemed to have ended, and he was now standing next to the large, scaled man who'd frozen the second he'd received the command. Daniel hadn't even seen him move.

Alexander then patted the scaled man's head before turning his attention back to Daniel. 

"Now, what are you doing so far from that wall of yours with nothing more than a single card to your name." 

'That's a damn good question,' Daniel thought bitterly as his mind raced for the best, least likely to end in death, way to answer the question before eventually settling on honesty, "I came to clear out a portion of the area around the Riese with my team, but we got ambushed by some kind of specter. We split up and ran away, and I was lucky enough to be the one that it picked to hunt down."

Alexander snorted, "Luck doesn't have a thing to do with it lad."

Daniel waited for him to expand on that, but Alexander seemed content to leave the statement where it was. 

Then, with a harsh crack Alexander smacked his hands together as a bright grin spread on his face. It was loud enough that Daniel heavily suspected that he had a strength enhancing card, but he couldn't be sure.

None of the scaled men seemed to care about the noise as Alexander turned to a group of the scaled men and pointed at two of them.

"Bring me my armor. Oh, and Jrek come here. I need one of your cards."

Jrek, or at least who Daniel assumed to be Jrek had been near the back of the group and Daniel watched as a look of abject horror spread across the creature's face before it broke into a terrified sprint away from the group the second that Alexander had finished his sentence. Daniel had seen the creature's eyes turn horrified at the mention of losing a card, and as quick as a flash Alexander gave chase after the creature.

A few of the scaled creatures ran to assist Alexander, but the majority of them stayed with Daniel and formed a protective circle around him, still annoyingly making sure to block off any potential paths of escape. Not that he had the energy to take advantage of them anyhow. It wasn't like he could use Flicker Between Worlds either, considering that the rampaging specter likely didn't need oxygen.

Not too far from him, Daniel could hear several of the creatures muttering to one another, "What a fool. I'm surprised his family didn't beat that behavior out of him as a child. No bother though, it just means more opportunities for the rest of us."

Daniel turned to the talkative one and posed a question, "Who is this Lord Alexander, exactly?"

And it looked back at him as if he'd just asked the dumbest question imaginable, "What, you just spoke to him, how could you not know who he is? Are you dim, son?"

'Ah, I see,' Daniel thought. 'They're idiots.'

"No, I mean why do you respect him so much?"

A general feeling of glee spread throughout the group of scaled men. It seemed this was a topic they took great joy in discussing. Which was surprising considering their grand leader had just run off to presumably hunt down one of their own group's members.

A large scaled man with long dark hair that stood on Daniel's left was the first to speak, "He is strong. He is the only reason our clan is still alive."

Another added to the sentiment, "He is a genius who has led us to many victories."

But the next to speak was the one that really captured Daniel's attention, "He is cursed by the goddess of the Blood Moon, and he has but a single card to his name. Yet has gifted our clan with countless powerful cards over the years. He is unaging, immortal and our leader."

In the direction that Alexander had run off, Daniel could hear the faint sound of explosions. 

"If he's cursed by the Blood Moon, then doesn't that mean he's insane?" Daniel instinctively asked before the thought that voicing that point may be taboo to these people managed to cross his mind, but that concern was quickly proven to be unnecessary as several of the scaled men nodded their heads.

"His madness is directed towards his hunt. He finds and kills others cursed by the Blood Moon, as all those cursed desire to do, but he is greater than them, smarter than them. He is willing to enlist aid, build towns, lead armies in his never ending quest, whereas many of the others don't have the wherewithal to do the same." 

The group's conversation was cut short as Alexander reappeared, pushing his way through the nearby shrubbery over towards Daniel where he then tossed the disembodied arm of what Daniel assumed to be Jrek at his feet.

"His card should come off here in a few minutes. You'll need it for what comes next," Alexander said with a mischievous grin. 

Daniel eyed him warily, he didn't like the way he'd said that, but nonetheless Daniel glanced down at the arm as his eyes locked onto the tattoo of the likely deceased creature as it shifted from a detailed tattoo of a man sitting atop a dead dragon into legible text. The name of the card was Foundation of One, and it was graded as rare.