“That was a disaster,” Gu says and slaps the cards in his hand on the table top that is gridded for Smiting.
“I can’t believe that it’s over so quickly,” Jo says with a stunned look on her face as she surveys the cards on the grid. “So much time curating this deck and even with the multiversal additions, it was no match for the Doom deck. I can’t believe I failed so easily…”
“We all failed,” Xêvioso says.
“It is not surprising when you idiots fail, but it shocks the Fonlands when even I can’t rise to the occasion,” Jo says, still staring at the cards on the grid. All of the Vodun’s cards are spent, no magic issuing from them indicating that they are inert and unable to make a move, while the cards from the Deck of Impending Doom course with a magic of a color not previously known to Smiting. It is purple and also green and yellow, but it isn’t a mixing of the colors that would likely form a brownish tint, the color of the magic suffusing through the Doom deck is like seeing all of those colors at once, though the purple and green are the most prominent. The magic and its colors have a neon glow that makes them look as foreign to the Fonlands as they are; the magic of the Doom Deck that the Vodun and the Smiting Chamber had approximated from their assessment of the enemy that they’d been able to cobble together from spent universes and universes currently under siege by the enemy is a stark contrast to the soothing light blue color of Divine Essence.
“Your arrogance is not amusing at the moment,” Xêvioso says and he leans on the table top. “This is a collective failure and is cause for serious concern. We had countermeasures for the most devastating effects that we know the Doom deck is capable of, we all brought great strengths to bear in our colors, but this sickly green, purple mess is too resilient. What could possibly be the source of this power that confounds even the Mother-Father?”
“Ogi knows the source,” Lêgba says. “We must go to paradise to understand this enemy better. The source of this doom seems to have unlimited power.”
“I am not traveling to some far off universe to hear a story that you can tell me,” Gu says angrily. “I have agreed to help because I understand the urgency, but I am not able or willing to travel the multiversal structure when other plans are underway. I am committed to arming whatever incredible force we are to deploy in this apparently unwinnable fight when we take it from cards to real battlefronts across the multiversal structure, and that is work that started some time ago when we started this endeavor!”
“Calm down, brother,” Xêvioso attempts to bring the hostility down. “We are all heated, but this is not the time for anger. We need to run this game again, but only after we have made adjustments. We will need to make these adjustments quickly because this deck only gets more difficult to defeat with time.”
“I wonder if the color of this magic is significant?” Jo asks after a moment. “This color that the Smiting Chamber devised for the Doom deck contains primarily purple and green with noticeable yellow. As much as it pains me to admit, Xevioso was by far the most successful in this game, the yellow cards lasted the longest. My cards did better than Legba’s and Gu’s, presumably because my secondary color for Smiting is yellow.”
“That is worth exploring,” Xêvioso says.
“That means that we need to get Agê involved,” Jo says.
“And Owuo,” Lêgba interjects. “The Chamber identifies him as the purple Vodun.”
“Owuo is not a Vodun!” Gu yells and slams a fist on the table top that crumbles to pieces before Xevioso reassembles it with his magic. Gu stands. “I am not ignorant to the power of that…thing, but he is not a Vodun! He is not our sibling. He is not our equal. He is a tool to be used at our disposal. I am needed in my workshop, I can be doing much more good for the effort there than in this discussion. You all know how to summon me. If there is a vote about whether Owuo should be invited to future exhibitions against this deck, my vote is a resounding no.” With that, Gu portals away from the gathering of Vodun.
“Lêgba is right,” Jo says. “We should send the Arcana Master with enchanted Green and Purple decks to Agê and Owuo.”
“Agê doesn’t know Smiting,” Xêvioso says. “I’m sure she will help, but she can’t help the way we have been approaching this.”
“Agê, Agbe and I have regular Smiting games,” Jo says and looks at Xêvioso curiously. “Did you not know that? I assumed you all did because occasionally Sakpata joins as well. They all refuse to join our games because Xêvioso and Gu can be pretty annoying when they get competitive.”
“I didn’t realize that,” Lêgba says, “not the part about Xêvioso and Gu, obviously, but that you had a regular game with Agê and Agbe. I thought they had no interest in the game whatsoever.”
“Not the way we play it. We occasionally play this version where you dominate a grid, but Agbe developed her own version of Smiting that is strategic in the same way, but doesn’t involve gridding.”
“Now I must know more about this,” Xêvioso says. “But it will have to wait until Lêgba and I return from this Paradise universe. Unless you want to join us?”
“I will go back to the Smiting Chamber and talk to Issac and Yana about this disaster of a game and I guess let Owuo know that he will be at our next gathering, despite Gu’s objection. Then, I will fill Agê, Agbe, and Sakpata in on what has happened so far. The next time we gather won’t be so resounding a victory for the Doom deck. Be safe and swift on your journey to paradise, brothers, and we will meet again soon.”
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