51 Let The Games Begin!

"You agree?"

Raya scoffed, "did you think I wouldn't?"

"I was expecting you to show some hesitation at least."

She looked oddly proud at having bested me, while the guy behind her almost lept from joy. His elated expression was really annoying me.

He wasn't the only one one who seemed happy, as everyone who heard my proposal felt their blood pumping due to the adrenaline. The only person who couldn't smile currently was Celestia whose face had lost all color.

"Don't take your words back," the guy said and then laughed, "well it's not like you really can. Really, don't regret it."

"ᴇᴠᴇʀʏʙᴏᴅʏ ɪs ᴛʜɪɴᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀ ғᴏᴏʟ," Agnes chimed in.

"Oh, you aren't chastising me," I replied.

"ʜᴏɴᴇsᴛʟʏ, ɪ'ᴍ ᴊᴜsᴛ ʙᴀғғʟᴇᴅ ʙʏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴅᴇᴄɪsɪᴏɴ," she shook her head, "ɪ'ᴍ sᴛɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ ǫᴜɪᴛᴇ sᴜʀᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ғᴇᴇʟ."

"Well, let's find out together, after I'm done here," I then faced Raya and asked, "so what will we be playing? Can I decide?"

"No, the game has already been prepared."

"Eh," I said in disappointment, "isn't it usually the one who got challenged that get's to decide?"

"I'm sorry, but that is how my magic works. However, I guarantee you that it is fair."

I sulked, "alright, what's the game?"

She smiled enigmatically and grabbed the contract. She ripped a piece off, but it it immediately regenerated itself. A familiar white flame burned at the place that was torn and the parchment returned back to normal.

The small piece she had in her hand began to glow, it was a bright white that hid it's features and made people who saw it squint their eyes. What appeared in her hands were a stack of cards- or well, it wasn't a stack as there were only three.

The cards all had the same shape and cover, but a each had a unique drawing.

Raya showed me the first card, "this one represents heaven," she said, the card depicted the blue morning sky with a bright sun.

She then reached for the second card, its drawing was a sturdy tree standing amidst a field of grass and flowers, "this one represents earth."

The last card was mostly red, it was a cave but the flames and magma made it appear very hot, "and this one represents hell," she told me. The card looked sinister.

The drawings reminded me of the pictures on a tarot cards, but they were a bit crude. It was as if they were drawn by a child. I admit, a child with artistic skill, but still a child.

The person standing behind her joked, "Raya where did you find such cute cards, did you steal them off a kid?"

She stared at the cards in her hand and sulked, "I made them myself," she mumbled.

"Eh, really," his eye twitched, "sorry."

"Anyways," I interrupted the two of them, "what will we do with the cards?"

She gathered her attention towards me and explained, "well, it's a card game. Heaven, earth and hell. They all have a connection with each other, do you want to know which," she giggled, "the demons, citizens of hell, devour the souls of humans. The angels, god's servants in heaven, purge the demons. The humans living on earth pray for the angels who gain strength from their faith. It's a circle of life. Of sustainability. All three parts need each other to survive," she drew a circle in the air, "so it goes like this, the hell card beats the earth card, the heaven card beats the hell card, and the earth card beats the heaven card. Understood?"

The people surrounding us held their breaths and listened attentively.

I replied, "more or less."

"Good."

With her hand, she drew a line in the air and each card duplicated itself. They were now six cards in total, two of each.

"Both parties will play a card, which they then reveal simultaneously," she stopped, "oh, I forgot to mention, this game is a team game, you will need a partner."

"Huh, for what?"

"To assure the fairest play, the six cards I have here will be shuffled and each team will draw three at random. The team partner will choose one of the three and play them face down. We both then choose which card of the two that have been played we want."

"We don't take the card that the team partner played?"

"You could if you want to, but no, you don't have to."

"It certainly is fair."

Rather than fair, I would say it was completely random.

She saw me grumbling and asked, "you don't look satisfied?"

"Yes, well, isn't that just rock, paper, scissors with extra steps?"

"Rock, paper scissors," she stared at me in confusion, "certainly this game format isn't new, but I have never heard of what you are talking about."

What, she never heard about rock, paper scissors?

Well, now that I thought about it, I didn't really know when that game was invented, so maybe it was on a later date.

Wait, then how did Seraph know about it?

Ah, well whatever. There were bigger problems.

"Who will be your partner," Raya inquired.

I stared at the crowd and they immediately averted their gazes causing me to sigh. That was just how it was.

"Celestia will be my partner."

"Eehh," the maid blurted out, "are you sure?"

"Are you not up for the task?"

She looked at me and after some thought finally agreed.

If she wanted to face the world, this was the least she could do. Still I was proud of her.

Raya remained silent first. Only after a few seconds did she reluctantly say, "alright," she then clicked her tongue and pointed behind her, "he will be mine."

"It will be my pleasure," the guy said and smiled. His long, black hair, hid the corners of his mouth.

"So let's get some rules clear. We will play for ten rounds- wait nine, to make it an odd number. The one who wins more rounds takes the game," she then lifted her finger, "to make it more intesting, in case of a draw —meaning if we play the same card—, nothing will happen. But if you win the next round, it will count as two wins."

"That sounds good," I nodded, "also, no cheating. That naturally includes using magic."

"Of course, that goes without saying," she then added, "however as there are no judges, if someone is suspected of cheating, she will have to call it out and prove her suspicions, is that alright with you."

"Yes."

She laughed loudly, "that is great, let's not dawdle any longer and begin the game. I'm itching to play. But I need one last thing. My magic is called <Blood Oath>," she pointed at me, "so I will need your blood," she then threw a knife at me, "ten drops to be exact."

"Really how barbaric," I muttered, but Raya didn't reply. Instead she had already drawn her own blood, which were exactly ten drops too. The drops flew towards the contract and were absorbed. The contract then moved around pivoting around itself. It was like a living being that was enjoying fine wine.

The crowd turned pale on the sight of red. I didn't let those cowards get to me and just repeated what Raya had done.

The contract sucked up my blood and the letters gained a faint glow. Looks like it was complete.

"Just to confirm," I whispered, "the things written in the parchment are what Raya and I had agreed on, right?"

"ʏᴇs, ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ɴᴏ ᴘʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍs," Agnes replied.

I clapped my hands afterwards, "alright, let's begin already," I then looked over at Celestia, "are you also ready?"

Her eyes were unfocused and she kept wiping the sweat off her hands, "uh, what, uh, yes. Yes."

I grabbed her arm and felt how she had goosebumps all over her body, "are you nervous," I asked.

She flinched, and then nodded meekly. She had a guilty expression, her brows tugged downwards, "my heart is beating so fast, I can't even hear anything. I feel like I can't even breathe. if, if you were to lose, I don't know what I would do."

"Calm down and enjoy the game, just leave it all to me," I smiled, "I trust you. Just do what you feel is right."

She only gulped.

"Okay, let's go, let's go," Raya interjected, "this round will be a test run, is that alright?"

"Yes."

After my answer, no one talked anymore. The six cards began floating in the air and had a slight glimmer to them. They then rapidly moved —it was a speed that left afterimages— and thus the cards were shuffled.

"How about this, I will let you decide when to stop."

"Sure," I waited a few seconds, "stop," I said, and so they did.

The cards were then distributed between the teams. One for me, one for Raya, one for me again. It repeated the sequence until both of us had three cards.

The guy that had been annoying me since I first met him began to move. He calmly reached out for the three cards and began to study them.

Seeing that, Celestia did the same, but she was a lot less peaceful. Her brows were furrowed and she bit her lips, even thought she hadn't even seen the cards, yet. The moment, she did, her frown just turned deeper.

"Don't think too much about it," I reassured her. Whether she took my advice to heart, I didn't know.

"Alright, I have made my decision," he announced and played a card face down. Pressured to do the same, Celestia chose a card soon after.

The two cards were shuffled again and placed in front of me and Raya. They laid listlessly on the table waiting only for someone to pick them up.

"Let's do it your way. Which one of the cards speaks to you," Raya leaned forward and rested her head on her hands, "just point at it."

"Oh, you are really nice today," I used my finger to choose left one.

She let her hand drift around the cards and stopped on the one I picked, "this one? I'm just asking to confirm," she asked

"Yes."

"Okay, I will remove this one then," she pulled it away and gave me the other one, "here you go."

"Thank you."

"No need, are you ready to unveil them," she said softly, "one, two, three!"

We both revealed our hand.

My card had a tree and there was lucious grass underneath it. It was the 'earth' card.

I looked at Rayas and saw that her card was of the vast sky, the big clouds covered the sun, but the light still shone through. She had the 'sky' card.

"Oh," I grinned, "looks like I won this one."

"Yes, you did," Raya replied nonchalantly. She was still smiling.

Everyone gasped at the reveal, they covered their mouths and had kept their eyes on the table the whole time. They were dying to know how this little game would play out. Celestia exhaled a big mouthful of air and dabbed the sweat off her forehead.

"Let's take a break after every round and consult with our partners," Raya suggested and I saw no reason to refuse.

Both teams turned to a corner and began talking in a suppressed voice.

"You won, Agnes," Celestia said happily.

"There's no reason to get excited, it was only a test game."

"Oh you are right," she tensed up again.

I patted her head and once again told her to relax and just trust in herself.

Another game soon began.

Raya was giddy and announced, "this will be round one. There's no going back now. May the fortune favor the bold."

There was no unnecessary chatter and we repeated what we had done in the test run. Soon enough, there were two cards on the table.

"Which card speaks to you," Raya asked me again and In turn picked the left one again, she asked me to confirm again and so I did again.

It was the same thing only repeated, but the stakes made the choices feel a lot different. A heavy pressure was weighing down on the gazebo, seemingly bending time, as every second passed slowly.

Everyone, no matter player or spectator watched with bated breaths as they stared at me and Raya. Our expressions were unreadable.

Everyone understood, the first round was a special one. It was the starting line and a morale booster. Whoever took that round would gain a priceless advantage. It was the advantage of feeling relief. On the other hand, the loser would feel intimidated and might lose her momentum, a problem that could be fatal in gambling.

We both turned our cards, and what was revealed left everyone speechless.

"A draw," Raya simply said.