1 The Bear

Thunder strikes. The thundering of five pairs of boots crush the damp grass beneath them. A large man with cold eyes and raven black hair leads the group from the front, and they seem to be running towards or away from something. As they approach the target of their hunt the party takes out several dull brown cards and says collectively: "Weapons Release" and their respective weapons appear in their sheaths.

"Formation B!" the leader yells, "And don't forget to protect the prince!" A small party of soldiers make a trapezoid formation (two in front three in back) around the prince, a young man around sixteen with a sheathed dagger, and bow. To his left is a mage, and the other three are knights of his Sword Kingdom. One wields two swords, another a spear, and the leader with his large greatsword.

"Our prey is just ahead," says the spearman.

An ear-piercing guttural roar bellows from the Earth Bear that the men face. It looks towards them with blood-red eyes practically oozing rage. Its prickly brown fur stands on end as it slowly rises to stand on its hind legs, then slams the ground with its front two paws before the men could react. The ground ripples like water outwards toward them.

The mage to the left yells, "JUMP! ITS AT LEAST RANK 14!"

"Use your card to transform if you have one." the arrogant prince says calmly from behind the leader.

The soldier's call was well timed, but the spearman still managed to get thrown backward and slam into a tree, throwing up blood. The air becomes much more serious as the group must get to a medic or healer quickly in order to prevent a permanent casualty. When the leader sees him incapacitated he takes out a dull grey card, portraying a lifelike image of a wolf, and says "Dire Wolf, Partial Transform!" His skin stretches, his bones crack, and his eyes become ferocious as he circles the bear. "You two, prioritize the prince's safety, and help me when you can."

"Yes, Sir Delan." they reply.

"Hmph." exclaims the prince.

Sir Delan, the leader of the group, crouches onto the ground, and as if he was never there, he springs off of the ground above the bear. The bear, it its rage looks to find him before giving up, and charging towards the prince and the two men. The prince pulls a golden card from his clothes, but before he can use it, a soldier throws his faintly glowing blades toward the front legs of the bear. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!" exclaims the prince, but as he watches the blades pin the bear to the ground he remembers Sir Delan. The wolf-man falls onto the back of the bear hard, brandishing his large sword which fits his size a bit better now, he strikes downward onto the neck of the bear, leaving a deep wound.

The bear roars again before stomping its back legs onto the ground repeatedly and heavily. The the strong vibrations, as well as the constant shaking knock Delan loose, and cause the others to fall down. Earthen spikes begin forming around the bear, ready to rocket into any one of the party. "I'm not dying here!" exclaims the mage as his long staff, and eyes begin to shine with a striking blue light. As the light from his staff expands from the stone at the top the raindrops seem to freeze in time, reflecting and refracting that soft blue glow. "Water Whip!" he yells. The rain begins to converge, and seep out of the soil forming 6 thick liquid tendrils that begin restricting it even further and whipping the bear into submission.

"Get up Delan!" yells the prince. He reaches for the golden card again, but before he can Delan howls loudly and his eyes and fur turn white.

"Use. bow." Delan growls, obviously pressured by his powerful temporary form. Delan turns towards the bear and pounces yet again, except this time, he leads with his sharp claws. As he uses his claws to tear into the bear deeper and deeper tainting his bone-white fur into a crimson red, the prince pulls out his bow. He draws back the string straining from the tightness of the bow, on the empty string a yellow arrow begins to appear.

"GET BACK!!" he screams, "LIGHTNING ARROW!", and as party jumps back he looses the golden-yellow arrow. The large golden arrow appears to ricochet between the raindrops speeding up as it approaches the bear. As it strikes the head of the bear, it gives off a blinding light and the ground beneath the bear is shocked within a two meter radius. The bear is still for a painfully long moment before its eyes roll back into its head, its mouth releases steam, and it collapses onto the ground. Lifeless.

[+3300 XP]

The prince then walks to the incapacitated soldier and pulls him up, bracing his arm on his shoulders. "How bad is it?" the prince asks.

"I should be fine," the spearman replies, "We should rest though, I think I may have some internal injuries from the impact."

"Alright," the prince replies.

"I may be able to help" said the mage, "I know a little healing magic, so I may be able to help boost your recovery." The prince then gives the spearman to the mage and approaches the bear with the dual swordsman. The swordsman removes his swords and starts poking the collapsed bear, beginning to sweat.

"You really did a number on this thing sir, why didn't you lead with that?" The prince conveniently forgets to respond and continues walking towards the now collapsed Delan. He leans over the un-transformed knight and looks into his eyes.

"Need help?" he asks.

"I'm fine" says Delan, "Definitely need to rest with the others though." The men collectively say: "Weapons Seal" and their weapons all turn into cards that they swiftly put away.

The mage then says, "I saw a ravine nearby, we should go there to set up camp, reduce our odds of being surrounded."

"I agree." said the swordsman, "I can toss the nasty bits down there so no scavengers try to pick them off of us."

"We can eat good tonight, then bring the pelt back to the castle for display, or to make into armor cards." said the mage.

"Alright, let's go set up camp there and get out of this rain." said the prince, "But first, has everyone looked at their status card yet?"

"Nope." they all replied.

"Ugh, status." the prince said, before a silvery blue card appeared in his hand, and same happened to the soldiers when they said it as well.

[Name:] ********

[Race:] Human

[Titles:] Card Wielder, Prince of Swords, Archer

[Rank:] 7, 243/3700 (6%)

[HP:] 70/70

[MP:] 20/225

[SP:] 30/100

[Affinities:] Lightning, Ranged Weapons

[Attributes:]

[STR:] 10

[DEX:] 12

[AGI:] 15

[INT:] 12

[WIS:] 11

[PER:] 8

[LUC:] 3

[CHA:] 9

[VIT:] 10

[Cards:] Knight of Swords, Golden Eagle, Sword Kingdom Bow

[Unique Skills:] Heir of Swords: As the owner of the face card, Knight of Swords the wielder is granted an extreme weapon talent for ranged weapons.

"Wow," the prince exclaims, "I gained one whole rank from that battle." Although the prince was skilled he had only sparred against soldiers in the castle and trained himself without the killing of monsters, so his rank had yet to catch up to his skill. Making his progress in the early stages monstrous compared to his guards who had lower skill but higher level. Plus the talent boost from the Minor Arcana card, the Knight of Swords, he will grow exponentially stronger than those without a Minor Arcana.

"Damn," the swordsman said, "If only I could get my hands on one of the swords suit, I'd be set for life, even the Two of Swords would be enough to satisfy me. It would be tough for me to switch weapons this late though, so maybe Four or Eight would be better."

"Shut up," the spearman said, "You can fantasize but keep it in your head, you wouldn't be able to kill those freaks of nature either, unless you plan on convincing them to hand it over?"

The swordsman looked away with a red face, embarrassed over his ramblings.