Arcane Ace: The Slow Roll (Part One)

Hey out there, Overseers of the HR universe. I'm Arcane Ace. I'm working on developing some sort of spiffy catch phrase to go with my name, but it hasn't manifested yet.
You can say I just appeared today. Well, at least as far as being known to the public. I've been around for several years, but it was just recently I decided to try to put my powers to use for the good.
For a long time, I've seen these beings of incredible power flying high and saving the world and thought "Good for them, they've got us protected. I can just be my normal self and ignore what Morphons have done to me. I don't need to be a part of all that."
That changed for me. I don't expect you to know what happened to cause that, since I haven't been very interesting in the whole cosmic scale of things, but let me share my story with you here and see what happens.
It all started with the approach of League Wars: Haunted Heroes...

Face it, ever since The Legion showed up and dosed the planet with Morphons, things have gone wonky around the world. Some people embraced their new powers. They get all the attention.

Others just kept on with their ordinary lives as best possible. Work. Family. Sick days. Vacation. Bills. You know the routine.

I sort of lived on the periphery of that normal world. 9 to 5 wasn't my jam. The bread and butter I earned came from Lady Luck at the poker tables. I would either feast like a king or scrape up enough change to buy off the dollar menu. 52 cards were either my best of friends or my worst enemies. And I liked...no... I loved it. James Holzhauer was my personal hero and idol. (If you don't know who he is, you haven't watched enough Jeopardy.

Speaking of cards, I think I have my new catchphrase. Arcane Ace. Magic's Wildcard. Short, sweet, and suits me perfectly.  

As I was saying, I am a competitive poker player. I travel the circuits looking for the tournaments that the big names ignore, trying to build my reputation.
A few weeks before League Wars: Haunted Heroes began, there were two big tournaments running. One in Vegas and one in Atlantic City. Atlantic City had the larger prize at the time, so most of the top-ranked competition headed to the east coast.
Now, just so you are aware, when they call Las Vegas 'Sin City', they aren't kidding. I'd always thought it was simply a catchy mouthful of a slogan to draw visitors to the casinos, but I was wrong, as I soon found out.
Before any of you judge me, I don't use my arcane skills while gambling. I have enough self-control to not be a cheater. What I can do is identify when other players do. I've seen some low-down dirty attempts to use illusions or stack the deck by some means. I have this innate sense that tells me when natural, physical laws are being broken or powers are being used.
It comes in handy, but again, we will get into that later.

So, here I am, the night before the tournament at the Supernova, checking in, and the power goes out. Emergency lights kick in after a second, but you know how people react whenever a room goes suddenly pitch black.

"What happened?" A woman asked her husband.

"OMG. Like, what's going on?" A young girl asks another as they wait with the rest of their classmates.

"Dude," a bellhop said as the elevator doors stopped opening half-way into their housing. "This sucks."

I move to a window and can see that the lights all across Las Vegas have gone dark. The funny thing was that there wasn't an ominous storm huffing or puffing outside. The sky was as clear as could be.

I focused on the world with my Arcane Eye. Unlike normal vision, I could sense the world around me in all directions. Sort of like sonar or radar, but normal objects appeared in black, whites, and grey, while anything magical or supernatural glowed with a heightened brilliance.

And in the distance, several glowing portals hovered in mid-air next to an electrical tower. Ribbons of energy flowed into them from the steel framework.

Since only I could see with my Arcane Sight, I don't think the people around me could understand the panic behind the sharp breath I brought into my lungs. "Holy Harrads!"

"What's the matter, buddy," an elderly gentleman asked as he sat at the only slot machine in the lobby. "Power will be back on soon."

"You're probably right, sir," I replied. No need to worry the old fart. "Do these black-outs happen very often?"

"More than the Chamber of Commerce would like to admit, son. I've been in Vegas for most of my life, so I can tell you, most assuredly, that is a fact. Brownouts are an almost daily occurrence around here."

Not like this one,I thought to myself. Something out there was drawing energy into those portals, and I doubted it was to get some out-of-this world fans here to the Blue Man Group's latest show!

I carried my luggage back to my vehicle and stowed it before I went to look into the portals.

I jogged up the street and to a vacant building whose property the electrical tower rested on. According to my Arcane Sight, the portals hadn't fully manifested yet. The connective energies that were winding together to weave an opening into other locations, potentially even dimensions.

Squeezing between the panels of the chained gate, I headed along the panes of broken glass shattered on the ground, leaving openings into an abandoned casino building. I passed a sign, barely covered by a tarp, identifying the site as "The Gambit". The fact the business failed told me the gambit hadn't been a winning one.

A glowing light reflecting of some remaining glass in the building caught my eye. With the power still out everywhere, something else had to be generating it.

I couldn't help but look in. Really, I know I should have ignored it and minded my own business, but I'm a curious guy.

The inside of the building looked skeletal. I doubted that The Gambit casino ever even opened by the state of the incomplete constructions. Bare support pillars and beams of wood and steel littered the areas where walls should have been. Half completed boxes where slot machines might have sat. A pit for the employees with nothing more than a frame for the counters. The light must have reflected from a broken glass mirror that might have been the a bar.

Another big dream in Las Vegas that never came true.

Someone, or something moved from behind a stack of boards further in. With my Arcane Sight, a faint trail of mystic energy trailed along with the being as it ran.

If I was trespassing, they were likely tresspassing as well. Funny thing was that the mystic energy they were surrounded by smelled like the same energy coming from the portals.

Just let me say that "YES", I know how strange it is for me to say something I see with Arcane Sight has a smell. You try your best to describe perceptions outside of your personal five senses and come up with a better word. The energy has a smell. Like manure and cotton candy doused in alcohol.

I stepped through a tear in the plastic sheet covering and opening into the building and followed the movement. Portals are more like doors than holes, someone has to open them. I didn't know if what I saw was a traveler from the other side or the doorman, but I would rather find out before stumbling forward and letting it attack me from behind.

At times like this, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have a league or group of powered friends to call on. I never really wanted to do the whole superhero thing, but I couldn't stand by and watch as danger threatened the citizens of Las Vegas. I considered calling BADGE for assistance, but what if it wasn't a threat? I don't like facials, and egg on my face is even less appealing.

My Arcane Sight made it easy to follow the scent of whatever moved ahead of me. It moved to a metal doorway and opened it. A door leading to a lower floor of the building. With a hiccup of hesitation, it descended down the staircase behind it.

Great. This is just the kind of crap I wanted to be doing. NOT!