Outside of the morning's announcement, the school day went on as normal. And so Blair went home to her place in Strovam. She walked past the crater that once sat Leon's old house. It wasn't nice to look at, but it did strike her as odd how quickly she got used to it. Nothing else was damaged on the street, not even the wooden fences on each side of the house. She remembered discussing it with her father, who suspected some kind of foul play was involved. She heard a few people discuss that as a possibility, but the police said there wasn't a valid reason to suspect it. But since it was easy to avert her eyes or take another road to her house on the opposite end of the suburb, she never really thought about it. And once she got home, she got to drawing.
She didn't know what to draw, exactly. She knew drawing weapons would make them real, but that was it. She drew a more slender dagger then the butcher's knife she drew that morning. Sure enough, it was a similar result to the knife. So she tried a whip. She drew something rolled up, easy to fit on a page. And once it looked down, she brought it to life. She didn't know what a whip would actually feel like, but she imagined it to feel leathery, not like…solidified ink. Regardless, she tried extending it to hit the lamp across from her, the one that the bird from that morning already broke. One crack of the whip, and the lamp was once again on the ground.
Suddenly, the idea of drawing a gun popped into her head. No, that was too far. Or was it? She hated the idea of guns. Her cousin owned a couple, and that guy was a complete wackjob. But she was competing against guys who could summon gauntlets, or move things with their minds. Surely in that case pulling out a gun should be allowed. So she quickly sketched out a pistol, bringing it to life as soon as she could. She walked up to the abused lamp, pointing her gun at it and pulling the trigger.
Nothing. She tried again. No sound, no bullets. Wait, did she have to load her drawing? Like, was this some kind of cognition thing? She knew guns were meant to have bullets, so she had to load the gun? She went back to her bed and drew some bullets, bringing them to life. That was when she realised she had no idea how to load a gun. She knew guns needed bullets, but not how to put those bullets in. No place in the drawing to put the bullets. So she couldn't shoot anyone, but that was probably for the best.
So Blair went back to her bed, notebook held against her chest waiting for the challenge to start. She closed her eyes, waiting for the gods to take her. And after what felt like just a few minutes, a gate of light enveloped her, and when she came to, she was lying on concrete. She picked herself up and realized she was on a big car park in Ritzrub, the lights of the city finally sucker punching her eyes. and everyone else still alive was there. Some were in her situation, getting up. Everyone was looking around at each other, but Tedros was noticeably more agitated looking than anyone else. But at the end of the car park was three people.
"Good day, everyone." Halford said calmly, looking around at a few of the players. Tedros, Elijah, and Ines. "Good to see you all here."
"I'm just glad none of them were showering when you summoned them. That would have been a whole thing." Xaawo whispered to him. "But anyway, welcome to game six!"
She threw her hands in the air in celebration, but nobody else joined in. She looked around at her two co-hosts, who's presence wasn't exactly adding anything to the party.
"Okay, that's not a milestone to you guys." She said. "So how about I give some information?"
Xaawo noticed a few people perk up at that. Latrell, the girl always in a cap. Valerie, the one who only became a woman recently. Janet, the sunglasses one. Leon.
"Now, a few people, namely Allan, may he rest in piece, have wondered what we are. Throwing around theories like us being government experiments or whatever. Well, I'm here to tell you the twist. We weren't lying the first time. We're actually gods. Or rather, failed gods."
One scan around the top of the car park said that the players were all confused about she was saying, clearly.
"Look, when you die, you go to the afterlife. You got a bunch. You got Heaven, Valhalla, Elysium, and you just go to the one you like. Each one's got it's own set of gods, and these are so ingrained in humans that pretty much every timeline will have someone write the texts down at some point. But if you want, you can join with a god. Mostly the big names like Brahma, Zeus, Dadga, right? Go through a whole training process, and if you survive, you're rewarded with immortality and a chance to rule your own timeline. Oh yeah, this reality is one of like, a whole lot. Forgot to mention that part. But each attempt to take over a timeline has multiple gods competing for it, right? Win, and you get the timeline. Lose, and you have to report back to the afterlife and deal with a whole bunch of shit. Like, maybe losing your powers and god status if you screw up hard enough. So, someone who didn't feel that was fair took over a timeline, AKA the one you're on. And she hired us to help run the place before we could report back."
She looked around to see what the reaction was, and it was all pure confusion.
"Did I explain it well?" She whispered to Halford.
"I doubt it's easy to comprehend." He whispered back. "But anyway, I think we should start the next game."
"Wait!"
The two looked across, and Valerie was the one who spoke up. Her voice sounded much more gruff than the last few games, where she tried sounding more dainty.
"Look, I have one question about all this." She said, her voice returning to the dainty. "Why are you doing any of this? Like, what part of losing timeline battles require you to make us all kill each other?"
"I'll make you a deal." Xaawo said, clapping her hands together. "I gave you that information after five games, right? So five more games, and I'll tell the remaining players why we've set this up. Sound good? But without any further interruptions, it's time for game six! A game of capture the flag!"
"I'll explain further, we're already a little behind." Halford said, taking a small step in front of Xaawo. "The three of us are going to pick teams, and the three of you will compete against each other to find small trinkets around the city. First team to find a trinket is immune. Second team is also immune. Last team remaining has to find something on their own. And the player who doesn't find anything is removed from the game. Now then, I'll go first. If your name is called, come to who called you. And I'll start with Terrence."
Terrence nervously went up to Halford. Maybe if he got the chance, he could ask how his powers actually worked.
"Okay, I'm next." Xaawo said, jumping to Halford's side and scanning the players. "Mateo!"
Mateo walked to her. He knew separating them from the get go was their attempt at creating drama.
"My turn…Sybil." Kwaku said.
Sybil walked to him. She questioned what besides her age made her stand out. She also questioned which students she'd be stuck with.
"I pick Gabriela." Halford said. Gabriela went without complaint.
"Let me think…Latrell. She seems smart."
Latrell went without issue.
"Evelyn."
Evelyn went to Kwaku, looking her Chemistry teacher up and down. Could be worse people to be paired with?
"Tedros." Halford said, a slight bit of venom leaking through his pronunciation. Tedros went up him, high fiving his two teammates on the way, not paying attention to his leader.
"It's gotta be Leon." Xaawo said.
Leon went to her, staring at Latrell. He didn't forget the stabbing in the warehouse.
"Janet."
Janet tried approaching her team with a light tone, but neither of them were having it. Evelyn took a step back. Janet just spun around in Kwaku's direction without further word.
"Well, I'm not picking the fire one." Halford said, scanning the scraps. "I suppose I'll pick Blair."
Blair looked at her team. Two jocks and Tedros, who was probably stronger then he let on. If they didn't win early, she was doomed. She scanned her book to make sure she had everything she needed for the next battle.
"Uhh…Valerie."
Valerie went to her team. She waved hello to Leon, who at least waved back. The other two didn't react much.
"Elijah."
Elijah sauntered up to the women.
"What you guys know about Ritzrub?" He asked. "I don't come here often."
"You think I know anything?" Sybil replied, already exasperated.
"Shit, there's two left." Xaawo whispered to the other two. "Someone here gonna be down a member, or is that unfair?"
"I think it's unfair." Kwaku replied, looking at who was left. Ulysses and Ines.
"Eh, you're probably right." Xaawo nodded. "Congrats on being lame, guys, because now you're moving on. But you gotta do the next challenge."
Two gates opened below them, and both Ulysses and Ines were gone.
"Alright, with that out of the way, let the next round begin!"