“Well, let us see if that is true. If you would.”
He motions to Lucifer, who unzips his lips. Lucifer stares at Quinn.
“That is correct.”
Quinn feels a sense of relief, almost enough to have his eyes start to water. Samuel speaks up.
“Then tell us, is the first detail correct?”
“It is correct.”
“How about the second detail?”
“That is also correct.”
“And the third!?”
“That one is…”
Quinn feels dread spread across his body.
“Correct.”
Quinn nearly falls to the ground, at the unexpected response. “Why did he pause?!”
Samuel let’s out a curt laugh.
“Chehekika, well done then. You have passed this challenge!”
Lucifer looks at Samuel.
“What was the point of this?”
“Just a passing curiosity. It seemed like fun, so I put it in. Though…”
His look narrows and his tone shifts.
“Don’t get to comfortable. Why not throw away, the first two challenges? It’s not like you’ll be winning, the next one anyways.”
With that, the screen turns off. After taking a moment to collect himself, Quinn checks the app. “Wait while the next challenge is being prepared. What the heck is this about?”
Quinn looks over to Lucifer.
“So, um.”
“What?”
“Oh-uh, it says we have to wait for the next challenge to begin.”
“Fine.”
The two stand there awkwardly. “After this, I feel as if I know less of him, then I had initially thought. Being around someone, you start thinking you know them, but I guess that isn’t really true.”
“So, do you have to deal with people like Samuel often, in hell?”
Lucifer moves his head slightly, viewing Quinn.
“You have no idea, almost everyone down there has some strange proclivity.”
“Still, biblical riddles? That seems a bit on the nose.”
“Oh yes, absolutely no subtlety at all. Really, this whole thing has been rather direct, hasn’t it?”
“Definitely. Although, we seem to be able to handle it.”
“That we do.”
“I know it’s not good for my stress levels, though. I keep getting nervous, at the start of each game.”
Quinn squints at the man.
“You almost gave me a heart attack, with that last pause, at the end of the game.”
“Oh yes, I felt it would make things more dramatic.”
“Mission accomplished.”
The front door to the house opens up, with a thud. Quinn looks at the app.
“That’s our que.”
“Very well, let’s finish this next game swiftly.”
The two enter into the house, being met with a long dark corridor. Walking down to the end of the tunnel, they enter into a room with a large window, that looks out into Neri’s room.
“h-Hey!”
Quinn waves his arm. The girl doesn’t notice this action. Lucifer taps the window with the back of his finger, while saying.
“She won’t be able to hear us, were still in the alt dimension.”
“Oh…”
Neri is sitting at her desk, twirling a pen. Hearing a knock at her door, she replies with.
“Come in.”
Opening the door and walking in, is Samuel.
“Pardon me.”
“I’ve been expecting you.”
“Huh?”
Samuel glares at Quinn, through the window.
“What did you do?”
“I just sent her a text, that an oddity might be coming her way.”
Samuel adjusts his tie.
“Yes well, I am here to challenge you to a game, for your life.”
“Alright.”
“Um, quite.”
The little red man seems somewhat off put, by the reaction.
“What would this challenge be?”
“It shall be a game of wits and trivia.”
He snaps his finger, making a screen appear, on the opposite side of the room from the window.
“The rules are simple. This monitor, will have randomly chosen questions appear. The first to say the correct answer, wins a point. The first one to get three points, wins. Every point is also worth three hundred fragments.”
“What’s a fragment?”
“Essentially, your life force.”
“Understood.”
“Whenever you’re ready we can begin.”
“Then let’s get started.”
Quinn looks relieved, as Lucifer cracks his hand joints.
“I was worried when I saw Neri had to take a challenge, but this is perfect for us.”
“What makes you say that?”
“She’s better at this type of thing then anyone I have ever met, really anyone I’ve even ever heard of.”
“Tell me, your still confident, even knowing that this teenage girl is up against a demon, who has lived for hundreds of years?”
Quinn nods his head.
“Yeah.”
“How I wish I could share that same confidence.”
The screen flashes on, reading out the words First question. Neri and Samuel maintain eye contact. After a moment, those words fade out and a math equation appears. Solve for n: 3n+2=17. Lucifer seeing a math problem, immediately panics. Samuel closes his eyes and begins to glance at the screen.
“N equals five.”
A green check mark with the words correct appear.
“u-Uhh.”
In the instant it took Samuel to look at the screen, the girl had solved the problem. Samuel starts thinking to himself. “Heh, no matter. So what, I lost at a math problem? It’s only because I wasn’t taking this seriously yet. If another one appears, I’ll answer it instantly.”
Second Question: What military operation started April 17th 1961? Samuel begins reading the question.
“Bay of pigs invasion.”
Correct answer. A bead of sweat rolls down Samuels cheek, as he thinks. “I didn’t finish reading the question. Fine, for this next question, I’ll go beyond human capacity.”
Third Question: Who said this quote? “How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?”
“William Sherlock Scott Holmes.”
Correct answer, the winner is Neri. Samuel, with his incompressible reading speed, was only able to read the first five words.
“How- How did you read it? It’s not possible that you read it faster then me. How did you cheat, how did you figure it out?”
“Ah, well your right, I didn’t read the whole thing. I just looked at the length and then the first two words that popped out to me. Those being improbable and truth. Which, made the answer really obvious.”
“a-Ah.”
Quinn points at the girl.
“See.”
“Yes, I uh, see your point.”
Neri puts her hands behind her head.
“So, does this mean I win?”
“…Yes, but the game isn’t over yet.”
“Your still fighting Quinn, then?”
Samuel gives a confused look.
“Oh yes, the name of the host human. I would say that is correct, if I could call it a fight, that is.”
“Hm.”
“You don’t seem worried.”
“Oh, because I’m not.”
“You should be.”
Samuel starts walking out of the room. The one-way window shuts. Quinn looks down at the app. “Last challenge.”
Two-One Flip: Special Addition. “Not exactly a terrifying name.”
When Quinn finishes reading this, the world around them begins melting away. Feeling as if the floor was being pushed up through the sky, at high speeds. “What’s going on, now?”
Everything c
omes to instant halt. In the middle of the red sky, Quinn and Lucifer stand atop a black platform. In the center of it, is a table with two seats. Sitting across from the two, is Samuel. He motions towards the other chair.
“Come, have a seat and let us begin the final game.”
Quinn sits down.
“Let me explain the rules of Two-One Flip: Special Addition.”
Quinn’s eyes wince.
“For this, our last challenge, the rules are very simple. Each side draws two cards, one at a time from the deck.”
He motions to the deck in the center of the table. He then draws five cards.
“The deck is comprised of cards, with the numbers one-through-five on them.”
He flips his hand of cards over, showing an increasing scale of cards from one-to-five, each with their own color.
“Each round, both participants place one of the two cards down, along with a buy in of twenty and proceed to bet, call, raise, check, or fold, using the chips provided.”
Quinn looks down to see two sets of colored chips, one grey, the other purple. With Samuel having black chips, equal to Quinn’s own. Samuel places two cards face down onto the field, across from each other.
“Once both sides have checked, both cards get flipped over, the higher number wins the bet.”
He flips them, both cards are red fives.
“In the events of a tie, neither side wins, the chips are then returned to where they started, at the beginning of the round.”
He places those cards back on top of the deck.
“Don’t worry, it’s a special deck. Every card in it is completely random.”
“Okay.”
“If one side folds, then both face-down cards are discarded, without being flipped. Every three rounds, there will be an event round, were a special rule set is applied, just for that single round. The players can use the shop, at their transgression. It is cheating to swap your cards out, for one in the deck. Finally, no outside interference. If a rule is broken, that is a penalty of a thousand fragments.”
“Understood.”
“In that case, shall we begin.”
“Yes.”
The two men draw two cards. “Fifteen possible combinations. Fours and fives are safe bets, ones and twos are unsafe, threes are neutral.”
Quinn looks at his hand. “A two and a four.”
“Is it alright if I start us off?”
“Go ahead.”
Samuel places his right card down. “Which to use for the first round? A four is likely to be safe; but it might be better to take it slow at the start.”
Quinn places the blue, number two card down.
“Let’s place the buy in down.”
“Alright.”
“Since I placed first, I bet first. To start us off, I’ll simply only bet ten.”
Samuel places a ten-chip in. Quinn looks over his chips. “The smallest amount is a ten chip.”
“I’ll bet ten.”
“Starting slow I see. Very well, to let you get the hang of the game, I shall do so as well. I’ll check.”
Quinn thinks about his odds. “I’m likely to lose this, so.”
“Check.”
“All right then, shall we proceed to flip the cards?”
“Yes.”
“Then on my count. Two, one, flip.”
Both sides flip their cards.
“Mh.”
“It seems you’ve won this round.”
Samuel had played a black, number one card. Quinn grabs the two chips and adds them to his side. “Okay, that means I have a total of one-thousand, eight-hundred and forty chips.”
“Huh?”
“Noticed the that you are missing chips?”
“Uh- Yes?”
“I simply rounded it down. Besides, you dying instantly, wouldn’t be the best for us.”
He looks to Lucifer.
“I see.”
Quinn clenches his card. “Meaning only Neri’s life is on the line. That’s not fair.”
“Let us continue on.”
Samuel motions for Quinn to draw.
“Your draw.”
Quinn grabs his next card. “Gh!”
He pulls a number one card. “This isn’t good. Ahh, it was bound to happen, of course I couldn’t win with just luck.”
“It is your go.”
Quinn stares at the smirking demon.
“Fine.”
Quinn places down the card he had just drawn, to which Samuel does the same.
“I fold.”
“Hm, so soon? You do know, this game is as much about psychology, as it is about statistics?”
“I am aware.”
Lucifer bends over, to whisper into Quinn’s ear.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Yes, I think so, at least.”
“You fill me with such confidence, that words can hardly describe.”
“Yeah, yeah, let me focus.”
“Fine.”
Samuel snaps his fingers and a demonic slot machine pops out of the ground, next to the table.
“This next round will be an event round. If you would pull that level, it will randomly select a rule set for the event.”
Quinn stands up and pulls the zigzagged, sharp lever, with a little imp acting as the handle. The center reel, which had the word event written, begins to spin. “How will this change the game?”
The reel begins to slow down, stopping on the words – chasm tightrope. With a little illustration depicting the event. When it lands, the world around the group begins to contort. The chairs sink into the ground and the table is dragged off, a large distance away. Forming between the group and the table, is a large chasm with red light shining up from the bottom. A thin black road stretches up from the pit, connecting the two sides together. The slot machine reel, spins to another set of words. Rules: You can start the game normally, once you have gotten to the other side, from here. If you fall into the chasm, you will lose three-hundred fragments.
“Well, there you have it. A real nice warm-up event, if I do say so myself.”
Quinn looks out in awe at the gap. “That’s like, the length of a city block.”
“Since it’s your turn, you can cross first. Go ahead and take your time though.”
Quinn looks down on the man, frustrated. “What do I do here? I won’t die if I fall, right? That is kind of what he implied. There’s just no way for me to cross this. Unless…”
Quinn pulls out his phone and looks at it with great contemplation. He has his thumb hover the buy option, in the shop. “It’s only twenty-five fragments… Oh god!”
“Ah!”
He presses his thumb down, sacrificing some of his life, including the left over five fragments. He opens one of his eyes and glances around. “I don’t feel different.”
He starts moving, when he does, his body is lifted off the ground.
“Ah, uhh.”
Flailing around, he twists and turns through the air. “It feels like, moving my muscles in a certain way, propels me forward in a direction.”
Quinn focuses up, slipping his phone in his pocket, he starts flying to the other side. Crashing down onto the other side of the chasm, he stumbles forward. He turns around and looks out to Samuel, with a mixture of fear and pluck. Samuel then simply walks across the thin wall, with no problem.
“Very daring indeed. Hopefully, the next event won’t be so easily side stepped.”
The two walk over to the table. As they do, the chairs come out of the ground, for them to sit in.
“Your draw.”
Quinn draws a new card. “Alright!”
A number five card is added to Quinn’s hand. “With this, I might actually be able to win a handful of chips.”
Samuel draws his card. Quinn places down his number five card and Samuel places the card he just drew. “I shouldn’t come out to fast; I have to act as I would normally.”
“I bet ten.”
Samuel reaches over to his chips, picking up a stack, slamming them onto the table.
“I raise you one hundred.”
“Mh.”
Quinn looks down at the chips. “Even though I shouldn’t have anything to worry about, I still feel a strange sense of dread. If I had played any other card, I think I would have had to have folded here.”
“Call.”
Quinn puts a hundred chips into the pot.
“Fold.”
Quinn wins the pot. “I did it.”
“That confirms it.”
“h-Huh?”
“You’re like an open book. You had a five there and if I had to guess, your other card must be a four.”
Quinn’s pupils dilate. “How does he know?”
“Not that I can verify it, yet that is.”
Samuel discards his card, as does Quinn.
“My turn.”
Both sides draw. “A two. I’m also up to one-thousand, nine-hundred and twenty chips.”
Samuel places down his left card.
“Well?”
Quinn nervously hovers over his cards. “It doesn’t matter if he just guessed the right number, he thinks this is a four and that will affect how he plays. In which case.”
Quinn places down his orange number four.
“I bet four hundred.”
Quinn is frozen in place. “f-Four hundred.”
His stomach begins to turn, at the thought of how many years that must be. “Calm down. This is a good opportunity. Except… He thinks this is a four, at least he said he thought that. Could that have just been a long-con play? Perhaps, it was all an attempt to make me think he was going to play a five, to beat my four and he just happened to get the number correct? If that’s the case.”
“Call.”
Quinn looks down at the pot. “Eight-hundred and forty chips.”
“Raise, four hundred.”
Samuel slams down another stack of chips. Quinn looks as if his soul had just left his body… Again. “w-What?!”
The noise, Zawa-zawa-zawa, can be heard ringing through the young man’s head. Breathing heavily, he begins to rock back and forth, panicking. “Could he actually have a five? The only way to know is to call it; but if I do and he does, then I’ll have basically lost. Then we’ll both be dead.”
Oddity Specialist: World Of The Occult Page 15