The Game is Called 'Esaar, Bawar, Noar'

“Alright, that’s everything, time for the game to begin! HaHA!”

I try to study my cards. My hands are trembling, like always. And then, I notice everything has stopped and everyone else is watching me. I awkwardly glance between everyone until I notice the clock’s minute hand is pointed at me. The clock also deems me as a spade as the card did. “…Oh, yeah. I go first since I’m…the guest, or something. Uh…” What’s my objective again? Make a- Make a full red trail? I need to play an Ace or ten, don’t I? That’s what he said, wasn’t it? Fuck. Quick! Do something! I don’t wanna know what happens if I take too long and the hand tracking the seconds make a full loop. Awkwardly and a little haphazardly, I realise I can’t start a trail with any of my cards and replace the three black ones from the draw pile. I hope for more reds, only to be given more cards that I can’t start a trail with. Ooh, boy, that better not be a sign of what my luck’s gonna be like for the game. I glance at the four face-down cards beside my hand, curious. “What do you guys do exactly?” I quietly wonder aloud. “Guess I can find out later since I can’t. Do. Anything.” I accidentally kick the minute hand. It spins wildly until suddenly stopping to point at the Monkey. “Looks like it’s next…” I murmur, worried.

It draws a power card, places it down after a moment of examination, and a bright red ‘Q’ appears above, which then turns into a large ghostly hand. I jump in surprise when my deck suddenly faces it. The hand replaces my black ten of clubs with the Monkey’s red ten of hearts. Which…would allow me to begin a trail? I glance at it, confused, as the clock hands spin again. Is it…helping me? Why? Unless…oh, no, we all have different objectives, don’t we? Oh, that’s not good. I’ve been working under the assumption that we all have the same objective, but if we all have different objectives- UGH! Fuck, that makes everyone else a lot more difficult to predict since I don’t know the game. And the only one who does know everyone’s objectives is…

The hands spin again. Hwumgotaaar. Great. He tosses down a red ten of diamonds to start his trail. It grows until large enough for him to stand on. His cards follow him, the one he played replaced with another from the draw pile when the clock hands spin again. The Spider does the same thing but with a black ace of clubs, causing the start of a forest path. It’s a bright bloody red path where the journey starts. Then, it’s my turn again. Nervous, I use the red ten of hearts to begin my trail. The beginning of a grand gate sprouts out from my card. It parallels Hwumgotaaar’s path like a mirror. Maybe his objective is to copy another player? But why? And I’m still confused about the Monkey! Why is it helping me? Does that help it win somehow? It makes a black mirror of my ten hearts appear right above me, implying the frame of my gate shall be an arched window of impassable stained glass - blood red. The clock hands move on.

As Hwumgotaaar peruses through his hand of cards, I fret over mine. I don’t have the right cards to continue my trail; I’m gonna get trapped by the Monkey! I look up when Hwumgotaaar draws a black power card. I sweat a little at the bright giant ‘J’ above him. Harsh orange light bathes everyone’s decks in spotlights that switch rapidly between each player until we lock eyes. He smirks. In a single move, he swaps our hands. Shit, wait, no, he’s-! he’s…given me the cards I need. ¿Qué? E- Esperar- ¡¿Qué?! I’m still staring at my deck as the Spider discards and redraws some of its hand(?) but can’t continue its trail, so the clock hands move back around to me. Alright then…guess I’ll accept the help. I play a nine and an eight, both red hearts, and then end my turn. “At least a bit of extra distance is nice,” I murmur, right before the Monkey tosses down a black nine of spades to mirror my nine of hearts. It warps the frame of my gate a little more to be the frame of its window. I grimace. “…Spoke too soon.” I expect it to end its turn then and there, but the Monkey instead draws another red power card to steal the red ace of hearts in my hand and use it to start a curse trail over the Spider’s path - a tea party with blue roses where the forest parts. Then, its turn ends. Its cards are automatically replenished back to a full hand.

…I probably shouldn’t be taking comfort in the fact that I’m not the only one it’s after. After all, if it wins, I’ll be doomed to forever wander that ruthless Wonderland of a tiny dream. And right now, the cursed trail is a little too close for comfort. To my surprise though, it isn’t for long. Hwumgotaaar draws a red power card to trade our trails, and the curse trail goes with him. His turn then ends, leaving him with a cursed trail and me with the start of a fresh one. The Spider discards and redraws again but can’t continue any further.

The clock hands move.

Right, back on me. Ugh, and I don’t have the right numbers to play. Desperate, I discard and redraw a single black card. “Please be something I can continue my trail with, please be something I can continue my trail with,” I whisper and frown - red ace of diamonds. I huff. “Can’t keep my current trail going, but I can start a new one. Just in case.” So, I play the ace and end my turn with a nervous sigh. The Monkey meets and then beats my fearful expectations by cursing my trail with a black ace of spades AND the Spider’s trail with a red ace of hearts before activating a black power card to steal a red eight of hearts from Hwumgotaaar’s trail. Hm. Doesn’t seem to be going after him. Perhaps it can’t. Maybe its objective is to trap me and the Spider then.

The clock moves.

Hwumgotaaar draws another black power card and trades trails with the Spider. Glad he’s not targeting me this time. I smile upon getting to see the Spider finally be able to move, laying down a black two of clubs and a black three of spades for its forest path to sprout out from. Tick, tick, tick. I discard and redraw a card. Nothing useful. Shit. My eyes fall to my untouched deck of power cards. I frown in thought. The Spider and I seem to have mirroring objectives, meaning our power cards must be similar and help us complete our goals. If its red power card can change from red to black for it to continue its trail, then mine likely does the opposite. Which is exactly what I need! I just need to change my black two of spades to red for me to keep my trail going. Okay, Lady Luck, I know you haven’t been kind to me so far but all I’m asking for is one black power card. You can give me that, can’t you? I take a breath as I pick up the card and look. Nope. A red Jack of Diamonds. My eye twitches. I huff. “Fine. Might as well use it.” I activate the card, curious and unsure of what it’ll do. I stare in surprise when a massive red ‘J’ appears above me, morphs into four hands, and swipes the other players’ hands to present them to me. I look over them; the black cards switch to red and back, then I smirk and select the Monkey’s black nine of clubs. It turns red. The hands return to their players. My turn ends. I can’t move forward, but I can at least screw with the Monkey in return for cursing me.

It seems to glare at me when it sees what I’ve done to its card. I stick my tongue out. In response, it draws yet another red power card and steals my black two of spades before moving on. Bitch, I was hoping to try again when it looped back around to me. The clock moves. Hwumgotaaar draws and activates a red power card to trade trails with the Spider, rendering the Spider unable to make a move. So, the clock moves onto me, only for me to realise that I also can’t make a move. No thanks to that damn Monkey! RGH! And, of course, IT STICKS A NEW CURSE TRAIL OVER THE SPIDER! WITH ITS STUPID GODDAMN STOLEN RED EIGHT OF HEARTS! Tick, tick, tick. Hwumgotaaar draws and activates a black power card this time. To my surprise, he trades hands with the Monkey and uses its black four of clubs to continue his trail. So, his objective must be to beat another player at their own goal! And if he and the Monkey can’t play against each other, he must be playing against the Spider and me. I scoff. Great. Wish we didn’t have opposing goals. We could team up then to take ‘em down. Poor thing can’t do anything. Its got my cursed trail after all; it can’t use that. So, it discards and redraws before passing the clock hands onto me.

I discard and draw two new cards, praying and hoping for what I need to at least stay in the game. Please, Lady Luck, I ain’t asking for the jackpot. Unless it’s yours, that is, ‘cause I’ll gladly hit that all game. I breathe in deeply and look at my two new cards. I slowly grin. Red two of diamonds, and red three of hearts. I continue my trail with them before ending my turn. YES! FINALLY! MWAH! ¡GRACIAS, DAMA SUERTE! Not even the Monkey using its black power card to steal my initial trail’s red ten of diamonds, erasing that start of a gate completely, can put a damper on my mood right now BECAUSE IT LOOKED LIKE IT WANTED A RED POWER CARD INSTEAD OF BLACK! MH! ¡CÓMELO, PUTA! I sigh with relief and smug joy as Hwumgotaaar draws a red power card to switch trails with the Spider once more. I smile at seeing it move again. Then I start to panic as its trail builds up fast: four of clubs, five of spades, six, seven! Shit, it’s getting close to completing its journey. And I’m getting lost in the woods left behind! Shit! I hurriedly draw a power card, grin when I see it’s red, and turn the Spider’s newly drawn black eight of spades to red before passing on my turn with a sigh. That’ll slow it down, for a bit at least. Shit, I was so focused on dealing with the Monkey and Hwumgotaaar that I forgot that the Spider’s victory would make me lose. Concéntrate, Cass, concéntrate…

The Monkey discards and redraws, only to loudly chatter and howl in annoyance. It passes on its turn, apparently unable to do anything this round. Jaj, sucker. My smirk falls immediately when I see Hwumgotaaar activate a black power cards to trade trails with the Spider, rendering it stuck with my old red trail and Hwumgotaaar close to beating both of us at our own objectives. Shit, shit, shit! He’s only three away from victory! The clock spins wildly. My heart pounds in my chest, my mind whirring with thoughts on how to stop him and catch up. I smile a little when the Spider activates a red power card and changes Hwumgotaaar’s newly given black eight of clubs to red, rending it useless in continuing his only trail. That takes care of one problem for the moment. All I gotta do is play catch up, and it looks like I have all of the cards I need to do so. Again, MWAH! ¡GRACIAS, DAMA SUERTE! I discard and redraw, then slam down a red four of diamonds, a red five of hearts, and a red six of hearts. I’m almost free of the game! Just a little more. I’m lucky enough to draw a black Jack of Clubs as my power card, allowing me to switch my black seven of spades to red. I smirk at Hwumgotaaar as I meet him, then grin as I pass him by playing my red eight of diamonds. All I need now is to turn my black nine of clubs red and a red ten of anything to win. My gate is almost complete, just needing to be unlocked.

The Monkey huffs. All it can do is add another cursed piece to its trail, its black two of spades mirroring my trail’s red two of diamonds, but I’m so far ahead that it’s nowhere close to immobilising me. All I really need to worry about Hwumgotaaar. I freeze when I see him smirking at me. Then I see one of his hands hovering over his deck of power cards. My eyes widen and I step back slightly. No. No, no, no, please- Please! I’m so close to getting out! I’m almost free! Fuck. Does it matter what colour it is? Red: he steals my trail and plays until he completes it because I can’t get it back unless he swaps around again. But if it’s black: he steals my hand and he wins by beating me at my own game because I have the two cards that he needs - a black nine of clubs and a black ten of spades. Fuck! Estoy totalmente atrapada! ¡Me tiene acorralado!

Out of sheer panic and desperation, I scramble for my nearest card with only the first second of an idea. He draws his power card. As it starts to become black, I flick my own playing card. He lets go as my card slices through the air. It almost seems to travel in slow motion as he plays his card. Then, in an instant, everything resumes back to normal speed. The two cards disappear in a blink with nothing more than a whistle of wind. I stare, wide-eyed, breathing hard through my nose. Everyone else stares too. My card has pinned his to the Spider’s forest. After a moment, the power card glows. Hwumgotaaar’s hand is swapped with the Spider’s. The clock hands spin. The spider can only discard and redraw new cards in hopes of starting a new black trail since it can’t use mine. Hwumgotaaar just stares, completely still. The clock hands spin. They land back on me. Then the glass cracks. The world begins to tremble. Hwumgotaaar slowly turns to face me.

“Gagiar…” he growls.

The trembling worsens. I hurriedly rush to throw down my red nine of diamonds, using my last power card to turn my black ten of clubs to red.

“Come on, c’mon, work FASTER!” I screech as Hwumgotaaar grows to his full size.

“Gagiar, gagiar, GAGIAR!” His many many arms spread out, winding back. His clawed hands are stretched wide and fully open. “GAGIAR!” He roars and launches his arms at me.

I scream, feeling my mind start to break itself apart at the sound of his voice, as I snatch the card and throw it down to complete my escape. The gate unlocks. I shove it open. I feel the disturbance as his hands slam into where I stood, followed by what must be the sound of the sound barrier breaking as I fall through my gate and out of the game. Swirling through a technicolour nightmare, I’m forced to listen to what can only be the sounds of a raging god corrupting and twisting and maddening the reality that we were playing in. I have no idea where my escape has thrown me to. I try to look around but find my vision completely blurred. I try to focus but find it hard with my ears pounding and my mind splitting itself in two. I let out a desperate cry. My body crashes forwards. My eyes snap open. I glance around. I’m back in the ruined temple. The moon rings softly glow in the twilight. Muerte is half laid over my lap, having been startled awake by my sudden movement. I sit up to see Chiaknaar standing over me. He bends down and picks his war scythe from beside me. His wounds knit impossibly fast. Mortal flesh should not mend so quick.

He smirks a little at the sky. “I see you’ve angered my brother. Did you beat him at Esaar, Bawar, Noar? Or did you play Kel Hwiwka?” I look up, confused, and come face to face with a sky that looks like it’s been coloured by spray guns and thrown paint buckets.

Woah.