Up and Down

Jack took a look at the cards that he was handed.

Red Ace, Red 6, Red 8, Red 10.

Black 6, Black 10, Black Queen.

Since the goal was to remain within the eleven steps, high numbers were definitely not very good things to have. After all, they would take you from the 0th step to the 10th one and vice versa. The only saving grace was that they were not all the same color. Considering that they had the values of Blackjack, the Ace could technically be either a 1 or an 11, but realistically it was far more likely for 1 to be used.

The blue light appeared underneath Jack, indicating that it was his turn.

He took into account his position relative to the others.

On the 3rd step was Kenji, the new guy who seemed fairly easy going if not a bit rude.

He was on the 7th step. Above him was Jessica on the 8th step, and finally Mia was at the 10th step.

Going down was the natural move while he was so high, and from his black cards, the only one that wouldn't send him to hell was the 6. With that in mind, he simply decided to go with that, since there wasn't much point in thinking harder.

After lifting up a 6 of spades, it dissipated into the air.

The metal platform underneath him wrapped around his chair legs, almost like it was something organic. Then, his chair rapidly shot towards the downward steps. The steps themselves were greatly exaggerated in height, perhaps only usable by a giant. As such, while he was going between steps, he was tilted to the side as he slid down.

From there, he continued to go on and on, speeding up fairly quickly.

After zooming past Kenji, the metal rose underneath his chair and prepared to do the same thing to him. Soon, Jack reached the 1st step, though there was still the 0th step between him and Hell.

Kenji's chair forcefully took him soon after onto the 2nd step, leaving them to step beside each other. Though there were still a few meters between each other. Kenji looked over with a bored expression. Jack noticed that and waved to him with a smile on his face.

"Hi there!"

Kenji blinked a few times without saying anything, almost like he didn't hear it. But a few minutes later, he gave a weak wave back.

"Hey."

From there, it became Jessica's turn. She stared at her hand for a good while before letting out an audible sigh.

"These cards valued at 10 are seriously going to be a hassle to deal with... but I guess this isn't the worst hand in the world. I will be going down then."

She held up a 5 of clubs, before going down to the 3rd step, lining up with the other two. After which, it became Mia's turn. However, she had a pretty bad expression on her face. She pinched the bridge of her nose while the other hand held up the cards.

"Fuck."

She let out a small sigh.

"Sorry, but are you guys ok if I push you down a little bit? I have three black face cards that I need to get rid of."

Jack gave a thumbs up, while Jessica simply shrugged her shoulders. Kenji crossed one leg over the other and looked at her with a frown.

"Not much else you can do, right? Might as well."

After apologizing, Mia lifted up a King of clubs. She immediately descended all the way down to the 0th step. Right after, the other three began to move, albeit not by their will.

They each went down one step, with Jack also going towards the 0th step. Though before he made it, Mia was pushed over. The 0th step was just the floor of the stage, though there wasn't anything further. This made Mia a little curious.

"Ah, now that I think about it, it makes sense that I would be pushed down. But where exactly do I..."

Her question was answered by the floor of the stage parting ways, as a distinctly red set of steps was revealed, along with a blast of heat. She went onto the first step into hell and already began to sweat a little just by being there.

Stanley raised up a finger.

"For taking one step into hell, draw two cards!"

Two cards shot towards Mia, which immediately made her frown when she looked at what they were.

"...I guess it could be worse."

From there, it became Kenji's turn. For the most part, he had been looking at his own cards while the others were going. However, he was still doing the same even when it came to his turn once more.

He laid back in his seat and continued to think over his move for a few minutes.

Even when in truth, there wasn't much to think about while being on the 2nd step. Though before it got too excessive, he did end up holding a card up in the air.

It was a 4 of diamonds.

He moved to the 6th step, and Jessica moved to the 3rd one. After a full set of turns played out, Jessica smiled rather optimistically.

"Oh, wow! This game doesn't seem all that hard now that I think about it. Especially since we can use playing cards to make any small corrections. It should be easy enough for all of us to get through this together."

Jack let out a long hum. Before excitedly raising his hands into the air.

"Maybe I can go to fight one of the monsters to make it more exciting?"

Mia's eyelid twitched as she immediately responded.

"We really shouldn't force it. Besides, we already fight monsters whether we want to or not."

Jack pursed his lips in dissatisfaction but nodded. From there, they played cards one after another. Jack played a 10 of diamonds, immediately sending him from the 0th step all the way up to the 10th one.

Jessica played a 4 of spades, sending her from the 4th step to the 0th. Then, Mia with a Queen of diamonds. Kenji pulled out a 3 of spades before mentioning that he had a lot of red cards he needed to get rid of.

And with that, it came around to Jack's turn again. He looked at his cards for a little while, before eventually a smile formed on his face. Despite being at the top step without any explicit punishments, he played an ace of hearts.

"I would like to go up one!"

Stanley gave him a nod before clapping a few times.

Jessica looked rather panicked. She yelled quite loudly.

"Jack! You don't have to sacrifice yourself for our sake!"

Mia agreed with her, mentioning her own concerns.

"There's no need to do anything to yourself for the sake of us!"

However, Jack only looked at them with confusion. He clearly didn't think that he was sacrificing anything. After pondering over it for a few moments, he scratched the back of his head.

"Um, sorry."

Though it was too late now. A set of white blocks were brought down among the sounds of an overly squeaky pulley. There was a faint white mist coming from the blocks along with a strong chill, though Jack didn't seem to notice despite being on the block himself. One card from each person flew into his hand, and unfortunately for him, each of them was red. A 5, 6, and 9. Although it definitely wasn't that good of a thing, he didn't appear upset.

Kenji sent him a side glare for a moment before shifting his gaze back to his cards once more.

Jessica looked over to Mia, who was a step above her.

"Um, would it be too inconvenient if I went up a step?"

Mia shook her head and smiled.

"Actually, that would be more convenient than anything."

Hearing that, Jessica let out a small sigh of relief and put down an ace of diamonds, putting her onto the 7th step while Mia was pushed to the 8th. Mia played a 4 of spades, Kenji played an 8 of hearts, then Jack played a Queen of Spades.

So far, nobody forced anybody into either Hell or Heaven, and things appeared relatively peaceful. Though when it came around to Jessica, she began to hold the side of her head with a bit of distress.

"Um, I only have tens left. I think I'll go to the 4th step in heaven. Since it means I need to pull someone four steps up, would it be ok if did that to you, Jack?"

Jack looked at his cards. While he did have a black 10, he also had a red 5, two 6's, an 8, and a 9. He pursed his lips before pouting a bit.

"I don't think it would be very good... I have a lot of reds."