Tearis looked at his hand in, which was a straight flush. The game had been going well, and he was about to win. He was betting enough chips to wipe out his opponent with this hand while not bankrupting himself.
“200 Bits.” Tearis stated.
“I’ll Raise.” The blue figure pushed two hundred chips and a blue card.
“Good. What is that?” Tearis asked.
“If you beat me I’ll count it as you winning all three games and you’ll be allowed to go forward. If you don’t then I’ll be taking back all of your chips and adding another game to the list. Do you agree to that gamble?”
Tearis sobered up as the implication met. This figure was either bluffing or had no way to lose.
Unlike normal people, this blue creature had no tells. Its vaguely human shape and lack of features betray nothing. Its tone of voice is deceptively calm.
Tearis sighed. “I really hate all or nothing gambits. So I’ll fold.”
“A shame really.” The figure revealed their hand anyway—a royal flush.
“It’s a good thing I folded then.” Tearis raised an eyebrow.
The blue figure snickered. “Is that so.”
The remainder of the poker game ended in a loss and lasted well over forty-five minutes. Tearis was mentally exhausted by that point and lost gracefully. As it turned out, Poker was about more than just luck and reading people.
“Liars Fish. Since we already have the cards out. The rules are simple yet different. It’s like Go Fish, only you may ask for cards you yourself don’t have. There is a variant of the draw rule as well. You may instead look at the top two cards of the pile and draw one. If you do so however, you must place a card from your hand on either the top or bottom of the deck. The second card goes where the previous card didn’t. Finally you may only set down two matching cards at a time at the end of your turn.”
“Adds some intrigue and tactics to an otherwise simple game. I imagine lying about the cards in your hand is a big no no?”
“Correct. The only lying here involves trying to poach big Fish from your rivals.” Tearis lied. It was a mind game for the most part.
“Good. Good. If that is all, let’s get started.”
The referee gave each player seven cards, and the game began. Unfortunately, the end goal was a high point total, and the ability to snatch cards away from your opponent dragged things out.
The match lasted another forty-five minutes and ended with a close loss when the blue creature ended the game by asking for the ace he had just drawn. Long had it been placed at the bottom of the deck, and as it was fished, the game ended.
“You lack foresight and planning ahead. Everything is mostly moment by moment with you. That’s a dangerous way to plan. It’s been about an hour and thirty minutes since we started playing. You also spent fifteen in the first room.”
“Guess we’re ending this with rock, paper, sheers.”
“Any special rulings?”
“Best two out of three.” Tearis smirked.
“Guess it’s quicker than another card game.”
“Yeah… You take some long turns.” Tearis raised a fist and looked at the referee.
“You may begin.” The ref answered the unasked question.
Tearis and the blue figure spoke in unison.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“One.”
“Two”
“Three”
“Shoot.”
Tearis had thrown out sheers.
The blue figure had thrown out paper.
“Seems I lost.” The figure raised its fist again.
Tearis had finally figured his opponent out. This his opponent was going to throw out paper again. The blue figure loved mind games and tended to favor replaying the same trick assuming Tearis would be the one to switch.
And so round two began.
“One.”
“Two”
“Three”
“Shoot!”
The blue figure threw out paper for a second time.
Tearis threw out sheers again. A smirk on his face.
“I won!”
“Congratulations. You do know that you only had to play three games btw. You weren’t expected to win.”
Tearis fell to his knees. “All that time wasted.”
“Hey, not wasted. I was entertained.” The blue creature faded along with the referee.
“The next test of serenity is open.”
“Huh. Guess I need to go forward.”
Tearis returned to his feet and dusted himself off before stumbling back to his knees and clutching his head. He coughed, and black bile covered the wooden floors.
“Status.”
Health: 20/37
Mana: 0/24
Stamina: 29/29
Condition: Poisoned: Effects, mana slowly drops over time. When mana has reached zero, health will drop instead. The current stage of poison: Three.
“When was I poisoned? Damn. No time to think. Need to run!”
Tearis got to his feet and ran through the gate. He needed to find either a cure or a healer soon.
The third test proved to be an obstacle course. To Tearis’s right was a blue fountain with a statue of their goddess in the center. A restoration fountain. It can restore one’s health, mana, and stamina, but one can only drink from it once daily. Doing it a second time is dangerous.
“Guess I was supposed to cheat or something using magic.” Tearis sighed as he drank the water, and only half of his mana was restored while his health went down.
Secondary effect discovered! Restoration weakening. Effects that could resore mana or stamina are weakened. Tertiary effect discovered, anti cure. When an effect would heal it instead deals damage.
Skill gained Toxicology rank 1.
Skill gained lesser poison resistance rank 1.
----------------------------------------
“This is crap. This is worse than crap! This can’t be part of the test.” Tearis ran towards the obstacle course and jumped across a gap. Ducked under a swinging log trapped and pushed his feet off the ground.
Using techniques honed from years of running away when his misadventures had gone awry, he quickly scaled the wall and ducked under a wooden pole that shot out of the wall. Tearis was sprinting forward when a cylindrical wall erupted from the ground and surrounded him, the only visible exit above.
“No time for this.” Tearis pushed off the ground onto the wall and reached up to grab the top. Unfortunately, his foot slipped, and he fell back to the ground.
Tearis coughed as he put his flute away and pulled out a few pitons with a hammer. He hammered them into the wall to create a platform he could use for a few more feet. And so he barely reached the top. From there, he saw a maze below him made from similar walls.
Placing another piton in the wall, he tied a rope around it before he lowered himself to the level where the wall of the maze met the wall of his cage. Eventually, seeing that there was a hidden door within the cell further down.
Not one to misuse an opportunity, Tearis navigated the maze from above, jumping between gaps and navigating through the cell to the best of his ability. A few minutes of hopping around led Tearis to a bridge that passed over a high drop.
Climbing down the wall, he had used to get there, the young man made his way there.
“To pass this bridge, you must show me something entertaining.” A green figure sat in front of the bridge. Featureless, like the blue and white one from earlier.
Tearis heaved as he drew his flute and began to play a nonmagical composition of his. One that had been heard during many bar fights throughout the city.
“Boring.” The green creature rolled over and off the bridge.
Tearis instinctually tossed his flute to the side and ran to catch the falling person. Spending even more stamina for the burst of speed necessary. His outstretched hand grabbed onto their leg.
“Huh? Could you have grabbed me anywhere else?” The green figure protested.
Tearis sighed as he started pulling. “If I tried to think before grabbing you then you would be paste and this conversation wouldn’t be happening.”
“Always wondered what being paste felt like.” The green figure joked.
Tearis ignored them as he pulled and pulled, eventually getting the figure back on solid ground.
The green figure got to its feet and soundly got away from the edge.
“Can I pass now?” Teirs asked.
“Sure yeah go ahead. You helped me so I owe you one. Just don’t tell anyone about this, ok?”
A darker blue door opened up on the bridge.
“You have discovered a shortcut through serenity.” Said a monotonus voice from above.
“Great.” Tearis felt his mana drain more as he walked through the door. He didn’t have much time left.
The fourth trial was usually the last. Yet all Tearis could see were many different colored doors in the distance. So his job was to find the door best for him.
So Tearis began walking towards the blue door. And he walked and continued walking some more. Yet no matter how far he traveled, he couldn’t get any closer to a door.
A pain ran through Tearis as his mana dropped back to zero, and his health took a hit. Black blood began to leak from his eyes and ears as he kept trying to make it to the door. He had to make it to a cleric. It couldn’t end like this, he wouldn’t let it end like this.
Yet the blue door rejected him. The path he wanted was unreachable and he lacked the strength to turn around. The power to change direction.
Tearis pushed forward to no avail, eventually succumbing to the poison and blacking out.