“PHASE OPEN!” drawing her card with a serious tone!
Analyzing her cards. Her left arm is still limp…
“Ok! Field Dice!” she rolls it.
It lands on a 2…
“Hmm…” she moves a card forward.
Jacques drops a bead of sweat…
“Hmm? Hmm! Hmm,” she moves another card a single space to the left.
The Queen grits her teeth…
…now she has a look of surprise…
…now starting to laugh…Jacques does too…
…all because they both noticed that Faith is crying heavily…
…doing her best to keep too many tears from pouring out and rubbing them with her right sleeve…
It must be an admission of defeat.
Confidence. Quips. All meaningless in the final hour.
They laugh a bit more loudly. They are unstoppable, and this seals the deal.
Together they erase more filth. Sure, sometimes, these idealistic upstarts approach them with exciting game ideas. They all have a certain degree of passion, but some lack the heart to see it through to the end or lack the brain to bring home the gold.
Sheesh.
These would be game creators…
Others can talk-the-talk but fall apart with their games when Jacques and his mother exploit a flaw in the design, the rules, or even the player…
…
*HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*
A burst of much louder laughter overtakes theirs!
The Jack of BurningHEARTS is laughing at them.
They stop while she continues.
Jacques looks to Faith.
Her tears are gone, and she is grinning to one side. She had already flipped around the card in her hand.
It is a King card.
Jacques thinks to himself, ‘She can’t Range Strike with that…’
…then he remembers…
He focuses on the card she had moved off to the left!
“JOKER RUN!”
Using her aura, Faith stylishly throws the card in a spinning motion like a fan. It catapults the Range Dice high into the air.
The Queen and Jacques both watch with anticipation as it falls.
It lands on…
…a 1…
Faith is amused that it barely missed being a 0!
Jacques feels humiliated. Gripping his fists.
One of Faith’s cards on the field spins and drills down. Forming a deep hole.
The Queen and Jacques can only wonder what’s down there…
*FLOP*
A long furry ear pops up and down.
*FLOP*
Up comes another one, and it goes down again.
Next is a snout. Sniffing in a circular motion.
It climbs out. A fuzzy rabbit with red fur. Now outside the hole, it continues sniffing and crawling about. It’s wearing a long scarf that still dips into the hole.
This is Red Runner Rabbit. Another Joker Rank Card.
It looks up at Faith and *plops* down, awaiting her command.
She points ahead at the unguarded IV-zone.
…the last zone she needs to lock…
Understood. The Rabbit turns around and focuses on its goal…
With one foot, it begins to thump the tile it is standing on.
The Queen and Jacques feel a light rumble…
Stronger shaking…
Small bits of rock are falling from the ceiling…
Now a violent tremor…
Despite its small stature, this little Red Rabbit is building power!
Faith gleefully cheers it on, “RED RUNNER RABBIT! WILD RED RUN!”
*POW*
The Rabbit takes off!
Only to misfire and falls.
It quickly gets back up, shakes its fur, and tries again!
*BOOM*
Jacques can only see the afterimage of the Rabbit! Did it break the sound barrier?
More of the scarf is hoisted out of the hole like a crank. It just keeps going and going.
Finally, out pops an object.
The scarf was attached to a large metal shield with a HEART emblem.
It *thuds* back down on the opening of the hole.
The Queen of NightSPADE won’t stand for this!
She charges at the same IV-zone out of desperation. Shoving a nearby card out of the way. She must act fast!
She’ll rip that furball to shreds!
Honing her claws…
Locking eyes with The Rabbit…
She stands in its path…
She swipes at it!
He’s gone.
Did she get him?
*POMPF*
Nope!
The Rabbit bounces off her head, and she falls like a clown.
The Jack of BurningHEARTS, snickering at her failure, blows a raspberry and twirls her hair.
High in the sky, the Rabbit rolls into a ball. Fireworks shooting out from it.
Like a shooting star, it comes crashing down!
Faith, Jacques, and The Queen watch on…
*Ta-da!*
A perfectly executed landing. The Rabbit lets out one more firework, then burrows into the IV-zone…
The last red vortex forms…
Excitedly Faith screams, “ZONE LOCKED!”
The Queen lays there on her knees. Before wallowing in pity for too long, The Queen glows with a red aura and begins to float…
Like a magnet, she is dragged back to the tile she left.
*GE-HE-HE-HE-HE*
The King of NightSPADE mocks her. Then, he turns around and strangely begins to walk back to Jacques’ side of the grid.
“Ehm. Hem.”
Jacques looks to Faith…
“Ehm. Hem. Hem!” she is clearing her throat.
“This is my favorite part!”
She closes her eyes and raises her arm forward.
She giggles.
“Unus I...”
A pillar of flame erupts from the I-zone!
“Duo II…”
Another pillar of flame!
“Tres III…”
Another one! Magma is quickly consuming Nightfall Swamp!
Suddenly…
The room dims to an eerie blue glow…
Jacques is terrified! He’s all alone!
It’s just him sitting at the stone tablet. His mother, the cards, the game, Faith! All gone!
He stands up to look around.
Down the hallway behind him? Nothing.
…
Sitting back down…
…
“QUATTUOR IV!!!”
The sudden volume sends a chill down his spine!
Impossible…
‘When did they?’
In the same pose that Faith had…except with their eyes open…
A new face is occupying her seat…
A gaunt woman…dark circles around her eyes.
Eyes that make a statement.
A death sentence for Jacques…
This woman doesn’t have a hair on her head. Yet, she continues to stare at him with condemnation.
Jacques is puzzled. He doesn’t recognize her…
…or does he?...
‘The Queen of Burning-?’
Before it can fully click for him, everyone and everything appears to have returned.
Faith has stopped talking and opens her eyes.
“This is my favorite part! It’s been a while since I could recite it. Although…sometimes I wonder if I can come up with something cooler to say?”
The four pillars of fire have formed a wall…
“…well, a win’s a win. Thanks for playing my game and not quitting too early!”
Faith snaps her fingers, and the wall of fire centers into one spot.
…the flames are taking shape…
Two angelic wings…
Long flowing hair…
A pure and holy figure stands before Jacques and The Queen…
It radiates the same scarlet aura as Faith…
To Jacques, this Angel also resembles…
Faith points at him!
“Insignia for the Proud HEARTS of the Burning Lands! The road to victory lies before us!”
The Angel raises her left arm, and Jacques’ remaining cards in his deck turn into vapor. Wrapping around himself, The Queen, and a trail back to the Angel.
The Queen picks up on a foul odor, as does Jacques.
Faith commands, “CLEAR THE GRID!”
Jacques checks his sleeve…it’s a bit wet…
Then it dawns on him…this vapor around them…fumes…
Jacques jolts up out of his chair! His glasses fall off, he turns, ready to flee! The Queen glances at him, confused. Then she notices her face is wet and sticky…
“GRACEFUL CLEARING FIRESTORM!”
The Angel blows a kiss, a tiny HEART floats on her palm, it releases a stream of pink energy!
*FWOOOOOOSSSSSSSSH*
It ignites the vapor like gasoline! Creating an outward cerise cyclone!
Jacques and The Queen howl in agony as they are tortured in the sweltering gale!
One of their cards is not in pain…
The King of NightSPADE places a hand over where his heart once was, bows before Faith, and slowly begins to fade away…
Behind him, she can see other human faces…
They appear thankful. Flames of rest…to carry them to the afterlife…
The flames pass.
Nightfall Swamp is no more. Only stone. The wood tiles are gone.
The Queen of NightSPADE is Jacques’ sole remaining force…
Her smoking seared backside is facing Faith, and when she tries to turn her head…it snaps off at the nape…
Hitting the ground in a pile of ashes…the rest of her body crumbles…
Faith is looking up to The Angel.
The Angel turns around. She has an intense cool look as she leers down at Faith...
…she smiles and gives Faith a thumbs up…
Faith pauses and lowers her head…
She is crying again but perks back up…
…she’s shaking while smiling too and has returned the thumbs up back…
The Jack of BurningHEARTS is holding back tears of her own…
The Angel drifts away, feathers falling from her wings. In between them, Faith gets one last vision of The Queen of BurningHEARTS...
…
…then Grace…
~Goodbye~
She passes on.
They did it together.
The two sisters won.
-CHAPTER END-
End of Game Report!
Game played…Royal Four-Ces!
Jacques Lenoir vs. Faith Roos
Result…Faith Roos…WINNER by GRID CLEAR!
-PHASE CLOSE-
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