Title: Reverse Draw – Chosen by the Black Vault
In the Card Kingdom, magic ruled everything.
People didn't cast spells with their hands — they used Magic Cards, drawn from magical Vaults that held power. When a child became an adult, they were summoned to the great Ceremony of Cards. That was the day a Vault would choose them and gift their first deck. Some would become farmers, soldiers, healers, or even royal card soldiers. But the deck they got… shaped their destiny.
Arven was nothing like a hero.
He was a clumsy boy. A forgetful fool. Everyone in the village laughed at him. His spells backfired. He tripped while summoning. Once, he summoned a Flame Rabbit and accidentally set a tree on fire. Even the teachers gave up on him.
But Arven had a dream — a dream so big it sounded ridiculous to everyone.
"I'll become the King of Cards," he whispered every morning, staring out at the far towers of the Card Kingdom. "Even if no one believes in me… I will."
The day of the Ceremony arrived. A golden sky stretched over the Crystal Dome, where hundreds of teenagers gathered. Floating above them were glowing Vaults — each one a mystery, each one a possible future. The room was full of tension.
Arven stood in the back. He heard the whispers.
"Why is he here?"
"He's useless."
"He can't even summon properly!"
He ignored them. Even his own twin brother, Kael, stood near the front, calm and proud. Kael had already been chosen by a Blue Vault — one of the royal Vaults. Everyone admired him. He had a deck of one hundred powerful cards and was already considered a prodigy.
Kael looked back at Arven once. But he said nothing.
Then, the Vaults began to glow.
Gold. Red. Green. Silver. One by one, they floated down and opened for the students. Some laughed, some cried. Cheers echoed in the hall.
But not for Arven.
He stood alone… until the air changed.
The room grew cold. A shadow appeared above everyone. A strange, dark Vault floated down — black as night, pulsing with red lines.
People gasped.
"A Black Vault?" someone whispered. "That's… forbidden magic."
No one had seen a Black Vault in decades.
Then it floated directly to Arven.
"What… me?" he whispered.
The Vault opened with a hiss. Inside were three black cards, glowing with red energy.
Suddenly, the Vault shook. A blast of power exploded out of it, and a massive shadow lion burst from the darkness — wild, roaring, and dangerous. The crowd screamed. Kael summoned a barrier from his Blue Deck. Teachers panicked.
But Arven… moved without thinking.
He reached into the Vault and pulled a card.
Mirror Shield – Reverse Card.
The lion sent a fireball roaring toward him.
Arven raised the card.
The fire bent mid-air — twisted — and blasted back at the lion, now at three times the speed and power.
BOOM!
The lion exploded in mid-air. Silence.
Everyone stared at Arven — holding a smoking black card in his hand.
Whispers rose again. But this time, different.
"He reversed it…"
"That was… a Reverse Card?"
Kael stepped forward, stunned.
"That Vault… chose my brother?"
And in that moment, everything changed.
Arven, the loser no one believed in, had been chosen by the most dangerous Vault in the kingdom. He didn't look strong. He didn't sound smart.
But the fire in his heart had been real all along.
His journey had just begun.
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To be,... continued....