Shuffle and Fall (OPEN)

[Talia Mafek]

The training grounds were quiet in the golden haze of late afternoon, the wind soft at first—barely brushing against the scattered stone pillars and mock ruins spread across the battlefield. One of those pillars, wide and flat as a small rooftop, sat isolated near the center of the grounds. Atop it, cross-legged with focused intensity, sat Talia Mafek.

Her cards were laid out in clean, disciplined rows across the sun-warmed stone. Each shimmered faintly with residual sigil energy, a few still glowing from her most recent inscriptions. Her Duel Disk—her Anubis Frame—rested unmounted to her side, opened like a black and gold fan, waiting to receive the deck. Around her sat scraps of parchment, clipped notes, and loose Dust chips categorized by type. Her focus was unbreakable.

Until the wind changed.

At first it was a gentle gust, swirling dust in a lazy spiral across the arena floor. But then, as if reacting to some unseen pressure system, the wind picked up—whistling sharply through the crevices of the stone formations.

Talia didn’t even look up at first. She calmly reached for a Gravity Dust chip to weigh down her notes, a practiced movement.

But the wind didn’t aim for her notes.

It went for her cards.

Three of them lifted from the stone with a sudden updraft, fluttering like startled birds into the open air.

Talia’s head whipped around.

“No no no—WAIT—!”

One spiraled up and away, two others tumbled edge over edge across the adjacent pillar, leaping to the ground below.

She shrieked—half-panicked, half-furious—and in a rush of limbs and long hair, Talia scrambled to her feet. Her boot slipped slightly on the edge of the smooth stone as she lunged, reaching for the first airborne card.

She missed.

And slipped.

Her squeal cut through the empty training grounds as she tumbled off the edge of the pillar, arms flailing and scroll flapping at her hip. She landed hard—thankfully cushioned by her Aura—and let out a groan that trailed into a huff of irritation.

“Ow… I just sorted these…”

Still flat on her back, she stared up at the sky for a beat. Then sat up with a grumble and began crawling after the scattered cards.

Her fingers finally closed around the first one—sand-dusted and half-buried. She turned it over, blinked… and then let out a small laugh.

It wasn’t the card she thought it was. But it was exactly the one she needed for tomorrow’s test duel.

“…Huh. Maybe I should let the wind choose more often.”

With a sigh and a smile tugging at her lips, she stood, brushed herself off, and went hunting for the rest of her scattered deck.