It's a ritual that has existed since our very first ancestors settled the Frostlands in the time beyond memory. Once upon a time almost every boy and even some women were Soul Brothers. Now though, even the fact that I had one was a rarity. The sea snake from which the venom needed for the ritual just doesn't exist in the same kind of numbers anymore. It makes me sad that a portion of our culture is fading away son, but one cannot stop these things any more than they can stop the moon from rising. Your grandfather used half of this jar on me and my Soul Brother and told me to use the other half on my eventual son. I wasn’t sure it would ever be something you would need to endure. It is a very painful ritual for a young boy, you know? But watching you and Alley, once I was sure you two weren’t gay I knew you two were a pair of Soul Brothers if I ever saw one. There are all sorts of religious and spiritual connotations, but you want to know about the practical side of things. In a loose sense, it will create a link between your internal Resonance System and his.

  -Leshy Knots answering a question from his eldest son about the nature of Soul Brothers.

  Alabaster

  Alley Roe was doing his very best not to rush. He knew there was a very good chance his best and only remaining friend was fighting for his life outside. He had requested Alley make this a quick challenge and that was precisely what he planned to do.

  It was just the boy couldn’t really rush if he wanted to win, which seeing as the Challenge having an early ending only helped if he was the victor meant he couldn’t make mistakes. So Alley was doing his best to play with aggression but not haste. He absolutely could not afford to miss something he would have otherwise seen, not when he was only a single Card from his planned win condition.

  Moving on to his War Phase Alley refilled the empty slot left in his Hand by playing Zombie Brute. He hadn’t drawn what he needed as it was somewhat ironically a copy of Death Elemental. A Card that cost three Vials to play and was what would be Manifested if Lady Astley’s Seeds Of Death spell Card fully activated.

  While interested in the Card he didn’t possess a way to negate its cost and thus couldn’t play it. So Alley mostly relegated the Elemental to the back of his mind for now and focussed on the other Cards he held and what was in play. On his side of the field stood the 2000 Power 1 Vitality Banshee Saoirse, backed up by the 1600 Power 1 Vitality Zombie Brute.

  In the way of his two Creatures stood one goofy-looking but rapidly powering up Unearthed Botanist, enchanted with the Obsession Beyond Death Card that increased its power by 500 every time a Bloom Resonance Card entered a Crypt. By using its activatable effect the Botanist had already grown to 3000 Power, well outside the range of what his current side of the Arena could challenge.

  His hand was at least a little more promising, holding Chill Of The Grave, Rouse The Heroes, End the Bloodline, Skeletal Cavalry, and the newly drawn Death Elemental.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Hating that he had to slow-play things, Alley essentially abandoned his turn. His win condition was building, but he needed a field that could keep him alive long enough to draw what he needed. That wasn’t going to happen if he pointlessly threw away the monsters he did control. So despite his promise to Darius to make this one quick he moved on to his final Creation Phase of his turn and discarded the Death Elemental. He wouldn’t get to redraw for it until the next turn but he wanted to keep his Cards flowing as fast as he could regardless.

  He could feel his opponent’s sense of superiority at his lack of forward momentum, a sense that dimmed just a little bit after she activated her Botanist’s ability for the third time, and for once it didn’t help her. Instead, it sent the very Card she had Ante’d to her Crypt. A powerful Card and possibly possessing a crypt-related effect that neither of them understood, but certainly not a Bloom Card.

  [Armon, WraithKnight Gaurdian

  Unique

  Cost: 2 Vials

  Power:3300

  Vitality: 3

  Armon may be discarded from your Hand or Banished from your Crypt to Negate an attack]

  From Alley’s Deck was sent Feral Stalker a Lionkin Beast that was a clear relative of the pair of Reed Stalker Cards that had once been a part of his Aegis Of The Fisher Lord. It wasn’t a useful Card for him to draw, and with City Of The Doomed And Rotten in play being sent to the Crypt might even prove to be the most help the Card could provide.

  ‘I really need to get some more Cards that work with my Resonances.’ He mused to himself as he awaited the rest of Lady Astley’s turn. He was fairly certain she wasn’t actually taking a frustratingly long time to actually act, it was more that with the sounds of combat outside intensifying every second felt agonizing.

  “Now young interloper I want you to bear witness to another unassuming Gardener that gains incredible power from simply tending her crops.”

  Alley briefly wondered if the woman was going to play another Unearthed Botanist, but she thankfully didn’t monologue further and just got on with Manifesting the Creature. This one cost her at least one Vial, Alley was sure of it from the way the glow that had started within her wooden hands when the Challenge began dimmed a little. Sadly though that was all he could tell. Where Your average opponent had little choice but to reveal their Vials and thus the cost of their cards the tree woman had all of it hidden under bark and vine.

  ‘CorpseBlossom Dryad.”

  [ CorpseBlossom Dryad

  Cost: 1 Vial

  Power:1100

  Vitality:1

  Once per turn, you may Banish three Creatures with the Undeath Resonance from your Crypt. If you do, you may Manifest an additional Bloom Creature this turn without paying its Vial Cost.]

  What Manifested on the lady’s side of the Arena was a short woman with green skin, and branches growing out of leafy green hair. She would have been beautiful if she wasn’t so clearly dead and rotting.

  “Show him my darling, show him what you can do. I activate the ability of CorpseBlossom Dryad.”

  That Dryad effect is big.