"The Devil Game
" is a Creepypasta detailing a ritual with which one could summon the Devil into a mirror, written as a set of instructions.
The text first details why one might want to do this. While people who want to just chat with the Devil are called stupid by the text, almost as much as those planning to strike a Faustian bargain, one can challenge the Devil to a game of question and answer. And if the human gets a question correctly, then the Devil has the answer a question truthfully, being able to, for example, give out the winning lottery numbers.
Naturally, one should take a lot of precautions, in the form of candles, red string wrapped around the mirror, never leaving the Devil out of your sight, and never, ever going above the time of 66 minutes and 6 seconds. Breaking one of these precautions will lead to grave consequences, usually, but not necessarily, death.
Of note, going over the time leads to the Devil taking over the summoner's body while the summoner is stuck in in the mirror. And as options of things the Devil might want to do with a human body, there is torturing and murdering the summoner's family, setting some dark plans into motion, posting a guide on how to talk to him online...
Tropes associated with "The Devil Game":
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: A darker take on that trope. The ending reveals that the one writing up the instructions is, in fact, the Devil Himself.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The text doesn't make it clear what exactly the Devil will do to you if he gets out of the mirror. It just tells the reader, who is most likely a fan of horror stories, to imagine what it might be.
- Demonic Possession: What happens if you let the time run out. You get stuck in the mirror, the Devil gets to use your body (until sunrise, when it'll die from the strain).
- Evil Is Not a Toy: You could summon the Devil for just a chat. It's just a very risky idea, as the text tells you.
- I Know Your True Name: At some point, the Devil may ask the deceptively simple question, "What is your full name?" He certainly already knows it, but if you tell him, of your own free will, your full, true name, you effectively give him permission to do what he will with you. (It's directly compared to inviting a vampire into your home.) The only "advantage" this has over looking away from the mirror is that the police will actually find a body in the morning.
- Knowledge Broker: If you successfully answer one of the Devil's questions, he has to give an honest answer to your next question. He's not omniscient (as much as he would like to pretend), but you can get some very useful information out of him - next week's winning jackpot lottery number, the name and address of the person who most wants to kill you, whether a loved one will survive their serious illness...
- Look Behind You: If you lose sight of the Devil, he can leave the mirror and do whatever he wants to you. Naturally, that means he'll try to get you to turn around. With loud noises and strange smells behind you, or even putting on a panicked expression and pointing over your shoulder.
- Narrator All Along: The Devil is first seen as just the object of the ritual, until it turns out that He is also the one posting it. That probably explains all the snark.
- Not Enough to Bury: If the Devil gets out of the mirror, either because you lost sight of him or messed up one of the protections, that may be your fate. Depending on his mood.
- Number of the Beast: You have 66 minutes and 6 seconds for your chat. The text even calls out how unsubtle it is.
- Religious Horror: It's about how to summon the Devil.
- Riddle Me This: One of your options is to ask the Devil a riddle. It has to be one off the top of your head, though, because the Devil knows all the classics. If he answers it correctly, he's allowed to lie the next time he would have to answer truthfully.
- Schmuck Bait: The very first lines of the text tell you that summoning the Devil would be a stupid idea. Given that the text is written by the Devil, He probably wants the readers to try and one-up him in his favorite game...
- Second-Person Narration: Being written as a ritual, the text keeps saying what "you" should or should not do.
- Self-Inflicted Hell: If you go over the time limit, the Devil locks you in the mirror, tormented by anything that you can think of. If it's too bad, you can beg the Devil to let you out - If you give him your soul.
- Small Role, Big Impact: During the game, you can take a dare from the Devil. He might dare you to do something like breaking off an important relationship or publicly humiliate yourself, or he might dare you to scribble a few numbers on the wall of bathroom stall. If it's the latter, as innocuous as it seems, you'll be playing a role in the Devil's plan, causing a lot of harm to a lot of people.
- Take That, Audience!: The text consistently snarks at the reader, like calling the very idea of summoning the devil "patently moronic".
