Smoke filled with the scent of burning flesh settled in the room like fog. Well, room was a bit inaccurate. There were no walls, no ceiling, only a black void stretching out into eternity. The floor could barely be called a floor either, just an altitude that things rested at. 

The only light in this dark abyss illuminated a round table surrounded by players peering at their cards. All of them were faceless, featureless imitations of humans. 

All except one. 

She sat with a confidence that only came from playing for a very long time. Her uncovered eye was black with no noticeable barrier between her iris and pupil, the hair covering the other was equally black. If it wasn’t for her pale skin, she would be indistinguishable from the void. 

A smirk dominated her features but who knew what lay beneath it. 

“Aren’t you guys bored of this game?” The woman broke the silence so casually, as if it wasn’t an all-dominating part of this abyss. “We have been playing it for what? Three thousand years?” 

None of the other players responded, despite the fact the game had grinded to a halt a good while ago. There was only one chip left on the table, belonging to the woman. 

“Come on, there has to be a better game to play!” She shifted in her seat. “At this point, I would even take Russian roulette!” 

The silence continued to reign. None of the other players moved, nonexistent eyes fixated on their cards. The only movement was from the woman and the drifting smoke. 

She clicked her tongue. “Tough crowd.” 

In silence, she sat, stewing in her own thoughts. Eventually, she leaned back in her chair, facing up to that light, and confessed. “...I had a nightmare.” 

Again, none of the other players said anything nor moved. It was impossible to tell if they were even capable of listening. 

But she didn’t pay that any mind. To her, this dark gambling den had the sanctity for a confession booth. And she didn’t really care if there was someone on the other side of the curtain or not. 

She licked her suddenly dry lips. “I had a nightmare that I was alone... Yeah, I know, I’m practically alone already.” She responded to some unheard jab. “But I wasn’t just being ignored, neglected, no. You guys just... were gone.” 

No acknowledgement came from the other players. Her hands curled into fists, nails biting her palms. “You were gone and I was alone. Left behind.” 

The mask slipped and for the first time in countless years, she looked tired. Her cards fell to the table, all jokers grinning up at her, and she cradled her head in her hands, hiding what little of her face was exposed. “It’s come true, hasn’t it?” 

The other players stayed still and silent, but beyond the faint light, in the abyss, came taunting voices, inner demons materialized. 

“And it’s your fault, isn’t it?” 

Slamming her hands on the table, she stood and screamed. “I did it for us!” 

“No, you did it for yourself.” The demons hissed. “You couldn’t bear being ignored. You were so desperate to just be listened to and look what you did. You gambled away what wasn’t yours and now you reap what you sow. You pushed everyone else further away. Was it worth it?” 

Her jaw was clenched to the point it might just crack. 

“You created a rigged game, a grand calamity to force them to come to you. But instead of choosing you, they choose to lose.” 

Her fingernails gouged lines into the table, tears beginning to flow from her exposed eye. 

“Your gambit failed. But how could you predict that they hated you so much? The people who you loved the most.” 

“There is no one else at this table, you all bankrupted them with your moral bankruptcy.” The other players faded along with their cards. “You’re the only one to blame for making your nightmare a reality.” 

A thick, black ichor was starting to mix in with her tears, staining the white of her eyes and her pale skin. 

“All that’s left is to drown.” 

The flow of that ooze increased, starting to drip out of other orifices. 

“That’s all you deserve.” 

A hollow eye gazed ahead, fixated at nothing. 

Then it blinked, seeing something that reignited an age old fire. 

She wiped away the ichor and straightened up. Circling around the table, she made her way to a spot a bit more illuminated than the surrounding gloom. 

She crouched down to be almost level with yet unopened eyes before looking at her one remaining chip in her palm. “...I suppose there’s enough for one more bet.”