Kelley

Kelley wasn't born into magic. He was born into a nature clan that valued gathering, work, and protection of the natural balance. He understood their beliefs and even believed in them as well for most of his life. That was, until he was taking a journey to collect a plant for the clan healers from the Tangled Wood. He flew into the forests of the shadow territory and was immediately struck by how much he felt like he belonged. Kelley saw two young dragons in the shadows watching him as he collected his plants. They tasted sour in his mouth.

The two dragons slunk out of the woods with a pack of cards.

"Play with us?" they said in unison, and Kelley glanced around before nodding in agreement. He set down the herbs he had been sent to collect and remembered what his clanmate had said before leaving. She had looked him in the eye and told him that shadow dragons were sneaky, and would try to trick him. He had shrugged it off at the time, but maybe it was true. He would have to keep an eye out.

One of the dragons lifted a few cards into the air for each dragon. They hovered in front of each of them with their faces towards the player. Kelley wondered if the other dragons could tell what cards he had, as they were the ones holding them up through magic. Maybe they would teach him how to do that, he thought and felt his chest well up with a feeling of purpose. He took his turn.

Kelley quickly realized that these dragons were not going to play fair. Their cards were always slightly better, more timely, and got them more points than his did, and he didn't like it. He started concentrating harder, thinking a few turns ahead and predicting what the best move each dragon could take was and making moves to contradict it. He started outplaying them, and when he realized he was winning, his heart started to beat a little faster.

It was almost as if he could see the future, just by a few seconds.

It felt amazing to play with these dragons, and it felt even better to be winning. He kept going until he realized the deck was exhausted and he had the most points. The other dragons let their cards fall to the ground and looked at Kelley in amazement.

"You won," one of them said, their eyes wide. Kelley felt embarrassed suddenly. He had gotten so into it he hadn't even realized how odd it must be for a nature dragon to beat two shadow dragons in a fair card game, let alone an unfair one (because he knew the shadow dragons had been cheating, they always did).

"Teach us how," the other demanded, shuffling the cards and sending them through the air at Kelley.

Kelley looked at the cards and then back at the plants he had abandoned on the ground. "Can I take this back to my clan? I will come back and show you after, and then I want you to teach me how to do that," he said, and gestured with his head to the cards floating between them.

The two dragons exchanged a glance and then they both nodded.

"Leave something here, so we know you'll come back," one of them said. Kelley nodded and took off his cloak. It didn't have much value, but it had been given to him by one of the elder warriors of his tribe, so it was important to him. He'd definitely come back for that.

He tucked the herbs into his bag and took off, flying back to his clan. The whole time, he itched to get back and learn how to win.