Without hesitation I gave my guess.
"The middle card is valued lower than the left, but equal to the right."
The two remaining cards with their back facing upwards, flipped.
My guess was...
"W̴̪̼̩̘͔͒̏̓͐͂̆͑̐͝ŕ̶̛̰̱̈́̀́̑̿̾͛͂̈́͗̓̈́̒͘͝️o̶̯͎̱͐̇͋̅̃̈́͋̽̊̀̓͊̃́͋̓️ṉ̵͓̬͈̞̥̭̥̇̓̔͋ğ̶̡͚̺̼̱̺̘̳̘̩͚̯͔̎̅̍͋̒́̔̈́̎̂͜͜."
The entity didn't have a slight change in its tone, still the same unusual voice.
I was slightly taken aback, my confidence had taken a bullet.
It appears that all three cards were Jokers?
For a moment, I questioned the legitimacy of the game. The odds of drawing three of the same cards is already low enough.
Then again, this could be my pride refusing to take a loss.
As of now I've accumulated a total of one win and one loss. A fair, yet, unfortunate trade as one might say.
*ding*
The entity, before beginning the next round, raised the silver coin up.
It held the silver coin between its finger and thumb. Before I knew it, the coin was engulfed by a black flame, turning it to nothing. Not a single sign of its existence.
Knowing the entity has such powers, instilled fear in me. But, how can I be sure its ability to incinerate something applies to humans?
Though curious, I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig. It's better to stay curious for now...
I rubbed the right side of my temple, the pressure of having incomplete knowledge of the stakes at hand during this game finally set in.
Feeling my heartrate pick up again I caught my lip between my teeth hard. One single thought kept repeating in the space of my head.
"What happens if I lose?"
"I don't know..."
The familiar ring of a bell echoed.
The entity had finished preparing.
"Did this thing get faster?"
Then, I couldn't mess up now, I have to win the climax.
The middle card was placed.
At this point of time, I began to regret using the coin flip.
"It was stupid of me to use the coin flip in the previous round! I would've lost and realized the stakes sooner! I'm such an idiot!"
"No! Wait! If I had lost the previous round it wouldn't change much! This is a guessing game, there's no way to tell whether I can truly win or not!"
"Wait! Did I know the stakes at hand before!? I don't know. I don't know."
"Why? Why!? Why do I have to go through all of this!?"
My own thoughts clashed like oil and water against each other. I'm a mess I shouldn't have taken the train home, I should've just stayed at a hotel. None of this would've happened.
Frustration became clear on my face. My lip bled as I pressed my teeth down harder onto it.
I'm experiencing all of this yet this entity, not once had it shown any sort of emotions. From the way it moves to the way it speaks, this thing is like a cold machine.
"Why does that thing have to be like that!?"
The card was right in front of me but yet I couldn't form a single sentence in my head. I don't know, my head feels like it wants to explode. There's too many questions for me to give a theory for.
"I..."
All of a sudden, the atmosphere of the room changed. An ominous aura radiated right in front of me.
"F̴̢̛̗̹̼̮̲̪̼͕̓͒̃̆̑̊̓̇̔̆̓͝Ą̵̘̥͉̘͖̱̥̺̿̀̈̒̂̅̀̅̈́̓̏͊͘͝️S̴̨̛͇̺͇͕̟̘͎̗͖̙͍̭̞͇̒͆̀͝T̶̢̧̨̝̺̺̿̑͆̀͋̎̅̓͘̕͝.Ě̵̢̧̛̦̼̜̲͕͕͍̤̙͉͓́̅͒̽̍̐͋͜͝R̴͇͌̀̆̍̽͝͠ͅ️"
The room's furniture was blown along with me, except the marble table and chairs. The blue liquid in the floor slowly bleeds into red.
I was wrong, this thing...it was not patient.
My back had hit the wall. I felt paralyzed. I was sitting on the floor.
My eyes shook uncontrollably. It was not afraid to hurt the person it saved. Did the true colors of this thing finally get revealed?
"Crap..."
All three cards rushed at me, getting in my face.
I could hear it thud closer. It was slowly approaching me. By the time I lifted my head, it was right in front of me. Fear gripped my heart and I tried to yell but I couldn't. I was so afraid to the point that screaming becomes a challenge.
In desperation, I crawled away but the cards followed. No matter what I couldn't shake them off as they crowded my vision, all the while the entity followed like a hawk tracking its next meal. I couldn't escape no matter what I did.
The room, it felt like hell, shrinking with each passing second. I was unable to do anything. Run, ressist, not even being able to stand upright on my two feet. The realization made me seize, tears started streaming down my eyes.
My desperate crawl only led to a dead end. I was cornered, forced to watch as the entity loomed over me, analyzing every part of my being.
"F̴̢̛̗̹̼̮̲̪̼͕̓͒̃̆̑̊̓̇̔̆̓͝i̵̢̢̡͚̩̞̥͕̜̻̫̩̐̈͘͜️ṉ̵͓̬͈̞̥̭̥̇̓̔͋i̵̢̢̡͚̩̞̥͕̜̻̫̩̐̈͘͜️ş̵̛̳̍̃̏͆̏̂̎͌͘͝͝͝͝ȟ̸̨̯̲̝̳͓͎̭͖͊̄̔̽̓̂̋̇̋̀̕̚͜."
Whatever the entity wanted, it wanted it now and fast.
Looking at the three cards before me, I gulped and whispered.
"Left is... Equal to middle. Middle is higher than right..."
I was drained of every drop of my strength. My hair was a pure mess and "Jean the Peasant Orphan's" rags were tattered even further, laying my chest bare.
A familiar silence followed, my ragged breathing filling the room.
I myself don't expect to win this game.
"U̴̡̥̱̫͕̞̐͂͒̑̽̋̐͊̈́͗̚️ṉ̵͓̬͈̞̥̭̥̇̓̔͋ḟ̴̧̧̗͍͉͔̹͎̻͓̇͊̃̒̄̈̓̉̌̈͝͝o̶̯͎̱͐̇͋̅̃̈́͋̽̊̀̓͊̃́͋̓ŕ̶̛̰̱̈́̀́̑̿̾͛͂̈́͗̓̈́̒͘͝️t̵̏͛̃̍́̈̚͜͝u̴̢̠͎̲̗̮̤̥̪̖̦͈͕͛̈́̀̒̒̄̚͠️ṉ̵͓̬͈̞̥̭̥̇̓̔͋â̸̙͐͑̌̿͛̽t̵̏͛̃̍́̈̚͜͝ẹ̷͓̺̰̽̍͛̉̐̔͋̓̚͜l̷̢̨̨̫̼͙̞͉̗͉̖̲̿̉."
As it turns out, I was not wrong. Even though I expected it, I couldn't help but break down.
Snot leaked from my nose as I cried, I was pathetic.
"Wh-what do you want from me?"
My voice was weak, whisper-like.
"What would happen to me now?"
The entity steadily crouched down to my level, its ghostly hand gripped around my neck.
I tried pulling away, desperately trying to dig my fingers into its grip to set myself free only to be proven useless. Its grip was strong yet, somehow, someway, my neck wasn't crushed.
However, it did become harder to breathe as its grip tightened around my throat.
*ding*
As soon as the bell rang, the entity struck with its free hand, impaling my chest.
At that moment, my head felt light, my vision blurred and my hearing became muffled. I had stopped crying altogether, my face looked petrified.
Although my vision was now terrible, I could still roughly make up what I'm looking at. I didn't feel anything splash on my skin. Why wasn't there a sound of my flesh?
"Where's my blood?"
I asked myself.
I simply couldn't tell if there was blood or not because of the room's lighting.
Then, I heard a whisper right in front of me. I couldn't tell what it had said nor do I care enough to find out. Death is inevitable now.
The entity pulled back, there was something in its hands.
It was glowing in a white—no, light blue hue.
The entity loosened its grip around my neck, dropping me down on the cold ground.
Everything felt lighter, was this because of blood loss? Maybe?
As I laid there, I thought about how miserable my end is. I don't want to die, not yet, I haven't done much, there were still things I wanted to do.
My vision became even blurry, I'm practically blind. But even so, I could see that the entity started to manifest some sort of aura.
It radiated around the entity, this aura was different from the previous—significantly different. It felt familiar even.
As my eyes began to close, I heard a voice. This voice was clear as day, spoken by someone I've never known.
"Wake up."
"What?"
I replied with my own thoughts.
In a flash, I was back in the wooden shack. Everything was where it was before... All of that.
The book was on the floor, the dim candle light was almost out. It was all there.
Before I knew it, I dropped down onto the floor—getting dirt and sand in my mouth in return.
I had passed out.