The pig snorted, “I guess your friends should have listened more when you explained the rules. If they knew what a mischievous soul you have, they would have expected this.”
“Oh, they were definitely expecting it, but I don’t think they guessed what I’d do. They’re a lot more wise to it nowadays, but that makes it more fun to find new ways to trick them.”
The younger Kaara proceeded to decimate Rorik’s final lives and win that round, “Arik’s next!”
“Well now they know your tricks, but I guess you don’t need to win in the end, right? You just to make sure you don’t lose.”
“Nah, I wanted to win this one.”
“Never have I ever been able to move mud with my magic!” Arik said, only to jolt when they felt Kaara tag them, “Wh- Hey! You’re not supposed to move. You can move the water in mud!”
“Aw, you caught me on my lie. I guess I lost four lives instead of one. You’re still a Malaki with four lives, though.”
“What? Wait… Huh? That’s cheating!”
“I never said it was cheating, just that if you get caught lying you lose four lives.”
“Real clever, now they can’t pull that trick on you until at least the next round, and even then it’s way too risky now that they know anyone can lie on the first statement.”
“I specialize in hustling my friends over games, yes.” Kaara chuckled to herself, “The secret is to throw some games with low stakes so they don’t catch on.”
The young Kaara proceeded to sweep all of their lives and take another victory. Rorik and Arik played Roshambo to decide who got to be the next reaper out of the two of them. Rorik got another chance as the reaper.
On the first question, Kaara took off again, only to be effortlessly dodged and outrun by the more athletic boy. Rorik rang the bell, “That same trick isn’t gonna work twice!”
The young Kaara froze again, “Aw man.” She pouted.
Kaara lost first, and Rorik was able to win that round.
The score was Kaara: 2, Rorik: 1, Arik: 1.
The young Kaara couldn’t hide her excitement, though. She let out an exaggerated laugh, “Fools! I’ve already won! It was all a part of my master plan to lose first! You played right into my hands! Mwahahahaha! I’ve got five statements which will guarantee my win.”
“Oh, I see,” The pig said, “ You lost that last round on purpose to guarantee you’d get to be the reaper. But why boast?”
“Why? Well, the answer’s pretty simple, really…” Kaara said.
“Oh yeah? Then we’ll just stop you from ringing that bell.” Arik said, “We aint gonna let her win. Truce?”
Rorik nodded, “She’s been way too underhanded to deserve a victory.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Hope you like lamb nuts, Kaara! I’ll stuff ‘em down your throat if I have to! Go ahead and ask your question.”
“Aw! What? No fair! You can’t team up on me! That’s cheating!”
“You didn’t say anything about it in the rules!”
“I only had two good statements, and I had to bluff so they’d rush me after the first one.” Kaara said to the pig.
Rorik and Arik took off after Kaara’s first question. Rorik sank her feet in the mud while Arik rushed forward like the wind itself. To their surprise, however, Kaara did not make a dash for the bell. She pointed her finger and shot a pellet of ice at it.
DING!
“You both lose four lives! Liars!” The young Kaara said, sticking her tongue out at them, “Never have I ever been out on a hunt!”
DING!
Before they even realized what was going on, Kaara had wiped all five of their lives in an instant and won the game.
“Wait, but you had to grab the bell to ring it!” Arik said.
“I never said you had to grab it. Just that you had to ring it, and the Malaki were in between.”
“But you said we couldn’t use magic on the bell.” Rorik said.
“I said Malaki couldn’t use magic on the bell. The Silver Reaper can, though!”
“Fine, then I guess me and Rorik do Roshambo to decide who the real loser is, huh?”
“Nope, lambs got two testicles for a reason!”
“What? But that only happens if you’re last place!”
“Yeah, and you two tied for last place, huh?”
“The way things were going I thought you were going to find a way to make Rorik lose or something.”
“Well, if Arik had won the Roshambo, Rorik definitely would have been the only loser. I thought it was better he had some company, though.”
The scene melted into a night time dinner scene with Rorik and Arik sitting next to a plate of unmentionables.
“For someone who’s got such a pure looking soul, you’re quite the devious little gremlin, aren’t you?”
“Gremlin? I’d like to think I’m more of a gnome if anything! Anyways, look at their faces!”
“Ew! Gross!” The young Kaara laughed, “Rorik’s choking! Wait! Spit it in the bucket if you have to! Haha!”
“You really are a bully.”
“Y’know, now that I’m looking at it from this point of view, you might be right.”
“Still funny though.”
“Oh yeah, definitely.”
Rorik wretched into the bucket, closely followed by Arik while the young Kaara was in tears laughing at them.
“I’m so getting you back for this,” Arik gasped.
“Count me in on that too,” Rorik spat.
“Well I think those eyes are satisfied, and I can feel myself starting to wake up.” The Pig said, “Maybe we’ll meet again sometime. I’d love to see what other stories you have to tell.”
Kaara smiled, “Maybe next time I can see one of yours.”
“Maybe. We’ll see. Take care, [̷̹͎̠̑͌͠R̷̳̩̿e̴̬̔̅d̵͉́̈́͗ǎ̵̢̳͕̇͋c̸̙̺̀t̷͕͍̻͋͐e̷̱̮̋́d̶̹̓]̶͍̟͑!”
“You too [̷̹͎̠̑͌͠R̷̳̩̿e̴̬̔̅d̵͉́̈́͗ǎ̵̢̳͕̇͋c̸̙̺̀t̷͕͍̻͋͐e̷̱̮̋́d̶̹̓]̶͍̟͑,”
And with that, Kaara once again found herself alone in the inky black abyss, but this time, it wasn’t so cold. It gave her some time to think. It had been a little while since she had properly had some fun like that. The last time she had tricked someone with a game and a wager was with Amaro and Deka. Maybe she could think of something on the eve of the Siren Ceremony? One more fond memory to show those eyes if she ever found herself here again.
And after the ceremony? What if some of them never returned? Kaara didn’t want to think about that. She remembered something the Pig King had said. Everytime the soul was pushed to the brink like this, it recovered to be far stronger than before.
It made sense. Kaara had likely been doing it to herself by accident in years prior. Maybe with this new strength, she could truly protect everyone.
That’s what she thought until she woke up to see Rorik and Arik covered in blood and begging for their lives at her bedside.