Theo looked at the table, the two cards that were placed in front of him. He could feel the throbbing in his finger as he bit the inside of his lip, thinking. The backs of the cards were pitch black with a white circle in the middle. His fingers slid them towards him as he picked the cards up. His eyes looked over the cards: Ace of clubs and seven of spades looked back. He held the cards close and then looked back up at the other sinners around the table.
"For anyone that still doesn't know how the game is played, I'll explain," J said, his voice crisp. "The goal is to obtain a pair, or convince everyone else that you have," J said as a misty cloud of illusion displayed the words he spoke. "You have three folds you can use before you are out and are deemed the loser, so use them wisely," J says, looking at Theo. "Since you are new to Hell, both you and Jaxa have to fold for you to use one up." Theo nods at him as he looks at his two mismatched cards. "Good, now let's begin. I'll stand." J says, looking at the shadow demon. The shadow demon's purple eyes disappear for a moment, an equivalent to a blink.
"I fold." The shadow demon says as he tosses his cards onto the table. The demon's voice was low and gurgled as he spoke. J's attention moved to Theo.
"I'll stand," Theo says, his composure not breaking for a second. Jaxa looks at you, then places her cards on the table.
"I fold." She says with a hint of annoyance. Theo looks at the hooded woman, her blue eyes locked on Theo.
"I stand." She whispered. The woman's voice was clean and quiet as she held her cards close. J gave both Theo and the woman a look of content as he looked them in the eyes.
"Nice bluffs," He says, keeping his cards up. "No, that we have passed around the table once, you get one last opportunity to fold before we reveal. If there is a tie, the highest pair wins and then suits Diamonds, spades, hearts, clubs, in that order. And if we are all bluffing, then we all lose a fold." J says, "I'll stand." J says, looking at Theo. Theo thinks for a moment, looking at his cards. The imperfect match is digging into his mind. The best I can do is hope we all don't have a pair.
"Stand," Theo says, as Jaxa gives him an approving smirk.
"Fold." The hooded woman says, placing her cards on the table. Theo looks at her with a confused look.
"I forgot to mention. If you reveal your hand without folding and someone else has a pair, it counts as losing two folds." J says, his jagged teeth scraping against each other in a wicked smile. Theo's breath goes cold as J reveals the new rule. He quickly looks at J in shock. J places his hand on the table, revealing a pair of sixes. Theo's eyes widened. "Reveal your hand, kid," J says impatiently, his smile growing larger. Theo drops his cards, a poor display of failure.
"Shit! Why didn't you say that before?" Theo says in outrage.
"This is Hell, kid. You think I'd reveal everything off the bat." J responded by collecting the cards and shuffling the deck again.
"Any more secret rules that I should know?" Theo says in conceded anger.
"No, that is it, if I were to properly cheat, then I would instantly be declared the loser. Now that you have learned the game fully, we can keep playing." J says. "So that's one bluff from Sollen, one from our hooded friend, and two from you," J says, his grin sharpening again as he tossed the group cards.
"Wait, that round counted!" Jaxa yells in outrage, standing up. Suddenly, black smoke wraps around her arms and legs and pins her to the wall.
"What the hell!" Theo shouted.
"Behavior like that will not be tolerated in my establishment," J says. "Now then, kid, pick up your cards. You'll be playing by yourself now. Makes things more thrilling, doesn't it?" J says, looking at his own cards. Theo calms down and picks up his cards. Looking at them. King of clubs and King of diamonds. His eyes remain locked on the cards, then he lowers them slightly. The shadow demon Sollen blinks again and puts his cards on the table.
"Fold," Sollen says, looking up at Theo.
"Stand," Theo responds with a quivered breath.
"Fold." The cloaked woman says, placing her cards down.
"Fold," J says quickly, looking at Theo as Theo reveals his hand. Theo's eyes widened slightly. J reveals his folded hand showing a queen of hearts and a queen of clubs. "Congratulations, kid, you're still in for another round," J says, collecting the cards again. Theo thinks for a moment, looking at Sollen, then at J. His mind races with ideas of what could be happening. He stays quiet as J passes another set of cards. "Pick up your cards, kid," J says, picking up his own.
"I don't think I need to," Theo says, glaring at the two.
"What?" J says, laughing. "And what makes you say that?" J asks, intrigued.
"Because I figured out your game."
"Really now, enlighten me then," J says, leaning over the table.
"You're cheating," Theo says, leaning back in his chair, his eye never once diverting from J's.
"Really now, that's a big accusation," J says, returning his glare.
"This is Hell, of course, you're cheating. Last round, everyone but me folded. Yet you still had a pair, but mine was higher." Theo explains.
"I don't see how that is cheating; it was a hunch," J says, grinning.
"A hunch that I had a suit higher than you who had that strong of a hand already? I don't think so." Theo says, his eyes never faltering.
"Then please explain how I cheated," J says.
"You and Sollen are cheating. Every time I look at my cards, he blinks, yet I don't think a shadow has the need to blink." Theo says, glancing at Sollen. "He hasn't done it for any other reason since we entered the room. And I bet if we shined a light into the darkness behind me, we would know." Theo says, pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket and flicking it on. Suddenly, the light brightens the room, revealing a smoky shadow wrapped around the room, leading back to Sollen's misty form. Suddenly, the smoke fades, releasing Jaxa from the wall and returning to Sollen's body.
"Well done, kid," J says, clapping with a guttural chuckle. "Sollen here doesn't truly have a body, so his eyes can appear anywhere in the smoke, which makes for a good spy, don't you think?"
"Does that mean I win?" Theo says, taking a deep breath and sighing.
"My word is my bond," J says, putting up his hands in mock surrender.
"Not quite." The hooded woman says, looking at Theo. "I didn't cheat, which means we still need to finish the round." The woman says, holding up her cards.
"Shit, I forgot you were still sitting there," Theo says, as his posture breaks for a moment.
"So did I," Jaxa says, rubbing her wrists.
"Reveal your cards, Theo." The woman says. Theo's eyes widen as he looks at the hooded woman.
"How do you know my name?" Theo asks, picking up his cards, firmly gripping them as his body tenses.
"Wait, you knew we were coming here, didn't you? That's why there were exactly two empty chairs when we arrived." Jaxa says accusingly, her claws extending. The cloaked woman took off her hood as the room went silent; the only sound Theo could hear was his own heart beating. The woman's hair was a light blue with twisted horns and glowing ocean eyes. "Focalor..." Jaxa hisses, standing between the woman and Theo, her claws fully extending and her ears pinned back.
"Been a while, Jaxa," Focalor says, her posture perfect and voice calm.
"That's why his blood was normal," Jaxa says. "A Goetia's aura."
"A what?" Theo asks.
"When a Goetia or a Sin gets too close to something holy, they both become mortal," Jaxa says, still holding her defensive stance in front of Theo, the end of her tail flicking.
"Holy?" J asks, his voice satirical and amused. "You're telling me this boy has some sort of holy aspect to him?" J asks and nods at Sollen. Sollen's shadow moves to Theo, pinning him to his chair as the shadow slowly moves up Theo's body and removes his hood from his head, revealing his blonde hair.
"A... Human?" Sollen gurgles as his grip around Theo tightens.
"A Human! Now that's a profit I can't overlook." J says his brow raises and his smile widens even more. "Even if it's just his body." J Grins as Sollen responds by tightening his grip to a crushing force around Theo's body.
"Back off!" Jaxa shouted, beginning to move towards the shadowed man. Suddenly, a blue light of water and lightning shoots out of Focalor's hand, blasting Sollen's misty body. The lightning runs through the cloud, dissipating it into vaporized nothingness, causing the room to go quiet again. J looks at where his colleague once was, and now nothing. His eyes widened as he backed away from the table.
"Fuck this." He says, then quickly runs out of the room, leaving Theo, Jaxa, and Focalor alone to build the tension. Theo's eyes look at where Sollen once stood, a soul completely erased from existence. The truest meaning of nothingness his mind is unable to comprehend. This was what it was like to see true death, not just loss, but the complete obliteration of something to less than darkness or a void, but an incomprehensible lack of anything. He sat there in silent shock as his mind spun, trying to grasp the concept. Jaxa, however, didn't falter; her claws and fangs were still brought to bear, now moving towards Focalor.
"Reveal your cards, Theo," Focalor said, sitting back down, her voice calm and cold. "We still have a game to play and a favor to create." Theo's head slowly turns to her as his shaky hand reaches for the cards.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jaxa asks, turning to face Theo.
"The game isn't over," Theo says, looking at his cards.
"I stand as well," Focalor says, revealing her hand. A pair of aces, clubs, and hearts. Theo grins, his hand no longer shaking.
"Fuck." He says with a light chuckle, then he throws his cards on the table, revealing a two of clubs and a six of spades. "Guess I lost." He says.
"Damn it!" Jaxa yells, digging her claws into the table, looking at the two completely different sets of cards.
"So what do you want?" Theo asks, his posture unusually relaxed. Jaxa looks at him in shock at his calm expression.
"You fucking idiot." She says her eyes are wide and her ears perked up.
"I lost fair and square, plus she just saved me from being sold on the black market," Theo responds.
"Yeah, but she's a crazy bitch that only listens to Mammon," Jaxa whispers to Theo.
"Mammon?" Theo responds, his composure finally faltering.
"Yeah, she is one of his main generals, top of the food chain, crazy bitch." Jaxa says.
"I am still here, you know," Focalor says, crossing her arms. Jaxa's body tenses as she turns to face Focalor. Theo sighs, his shoulders relaxing again as he runs his hand through his hair.
"What do you want?" He asks.
"I need you to come with me to the palace of greed," Focalor says, expressionless. Jaxa chokes on her breath, then lets out a defeated chuckle.
"We are so fucked." She says, putting a hand on Theo's shoulder.
"That's it? Why?" Theo asks.
"Lord Mammon wants to meet with you. A... Human in Hell is a rarity." She explains.
"Guess I have to since I'm bound to your request," Theo says, sighing.
"How are you not freaking the fuck out?" Jaxa says her hackles raised and ears pinned to her head..
"Remember when I first got stuck in hell?" Theo asks.
"Yeah, and you freaked the fuck out," Jaxa says.
"At first, but then I told you that, if I'm stuck here and there's nothing I can do about it, there's no point in crying about it. I think that mentality applies here as well, plus you told me that if I don't learn to deal with this type of shit, I'll die." Theo says, his words full of false confidence as his heart rate increases and a single bead of sweat drips down the back of his neck. Theo looks at Focalor and nods. "Take me away." He says, holding out his hands in mock surrender.
"Very well," Focalor replies. Suddenly, a chain of gold wraps around Theo's neck and wrists, leading to Focalor's hands. She begins walking out of the room as Theo is forcefully dragged behind her.
"Shit, I didn't mean it literally," Theo says as he tries to keep pace with the impatient Goetia.
"Wait up," Jaxa says, running after and matching their pace. "You really fucked up this time, human," Jaxa whispers with a smirk.
"Well, if you hadn't been so aggressive, her hand would have been yours based on the order of cards," Theo says, returning the smirk and leaving Jaxa frozen.
"Shit, you're right." She says, picking her pace back up. "Whatever, you're still stuck with me, asshole." She says, punching his shoulder as the two walk through the slums following Focalor back to the top level of greed.