THE MOMENT
"Someone order a pizza?" Emily yelled towards the back of an empty hobby shop. It was decorated with comics and posted along the wall but every display case showed dozens of cards unlike any she'd seen before. Each card seemed to be made of tinted, translucent glass. Green, Blue, Purple, Red, and Gold. The gold-tinted cards were magnitudes more expensive than the red ones. She found that the trend seemed to continue with the green cards being the cheapest.
"Yeah!" A man's voice replied. "Be right out," he said. Emily set the pizza on the counter and took some time to study the cards. She wasn't sure what they were; but, she looked for the most expensive card out of curiosity. It was a gold-tinted card with a chest outlined on it in red. Red text spelled out 'Treasure’ at the top of the card with several red icons beneath it that she did not recognize.
"Sorry ‘bout that," the man walked out of the back towards Emily. He was a tall, portly young man with a wild nest of dark brown hair. "You caught me working," he smiled to soften his next words. "I got tired of waiting."
"Sorry!" Emily apologized immediately, but he chuckled.
"If I wanted it on time, I wouldn't have ordered Mundo's," he said. "Where'd you land?" he asked. Emily relaxed at his assurance.
"I rescued a princess from a tower," she said.
"Hey, nice job," he smiled. "So...I'm understanding and all; but, it's still free, right?" he asked. Emily nodded.
"What are these cards?" she asked. He narrowed his eyes at her and tilted his head slightly.
"You work for Mundo's and you don't recognize them?" he asked. Emily shrugged.
"Started not too long ago, haven't really had a chance to explore other than delivering," she said.
"Are you a Unique?" he asked. Emily nodded.
"#21, La Mano," she said. "Name's Emily," She extended her hand for a greeting. The man smiled and shook it.
"Nice to meet you," he said. Then, he released her hand.
"Well since you're here, let me tell you about these cards," he said. Emily nodded, but her brow furrowed.
"Unless you're in a hurry?" he asked. Emily shook her head, but she still seemed to have something on her mind. "Everything okay?" he asked.
"Sorry," she said. "It surprised me when you didn't introduce yourself too; but, it's okay if you like to be private...," He shook his head.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm so used to people knowing me already...," he extended his hand. "My name's Aurelio Luna," he said.
"Are you famous?" she asked. He shrugged.
"Have you heard of SoundCrowd?" Emily shook her head.
"Well, I was part of a roller derby team named SoundCrowd. We won a game against Ballisea and now she can't kill anyone for a year, so... that's kind of major," he smiled. Her eyes shot wide.
“Shhhh!” she said. “Mundo said to never say that name!” Aurelio smiled.
“We’re safe here,” he gestured at the walls. When Emily looked, she noticed the walls were glowing with a soft white light. “Technically, this shop doesn't exist in any universe. There's no getting in uninvited. Or with the right settings...," he shrugged. "There's no getting out. But, Mundo's has the key frequency of course," he chuckled. He moved to open the display case but Emily seemed distracted for a moment. He looked down and saw glowing text fade away from her wrist. He didn't catch what it said, but she sighed.
"Sorry, Mundo needs me at the shop," she shrugged and reached into her pocket. "But, can I come back?' she asked.
"I've got an even better idea," he said. "He extended his hand one more time and she reached for it. Once they touched, a pulse of golden energy passed between their hands. "There's a high school for Uniques opening next month. You should check it out and learn about these cards, Ballisea, and..," he stood up straighter and dropped his hands to his hips for a heroic pose. "...how awesome I really am," he chuckled.
"A whole school just for Unique Souls?" she asked with wide eyes. "Can I bring a friend?!" Emily pulled a black card out of her pocket and dropped it on the floor next to her.
"Sure, as many as you want," he smiled. "It’s not a school if there’re no students. Everyone’s invited to Toku-high; it's going to be an awesome year."
"Great! Thanks!" Emily waved, then jumped into the hole feet first.