Bel was tiring of waking up in strange places. First the weird fake apartment, then the prison cell, and now a forest in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, or dew, or humid air, or whatever.

“At least the locations are improving,” he mused as he raised himself up onto all fours, and then to his knees. He padded his hands around his body, checking for broken bones, bruising, charred flesh, or anything else to solidify his altercation with the judge as a real thing that really happened, and then he looked at his hand.

It was still there—the mark that had been burned into his flesh like a brand. It was difficult to make out only in the moonlight, but it was unmistakably there. Ovular with a ring around the top of it, and if he moved his hand just right, the ink seemed to shimmer in the light like reflective tape. He thought about the judge, the heat, and the words he’d said. Had he really meant it? Had he meant for the judge to kill him? At the moment, it seemed like a net positive. He still wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, and he was so tired—so exhausted—that anything that gave him a break sounded like a good idea. He knew it wasn’t, though. It was his irrational anger working through him. He didn’t want to die, not really, but he also wasn’t sure exactly what living meant anymore. A sudden thought snatched him from his memories.

“Meph?”

Where had the snake gone? He wanted to panic, but something stopped him. Was he out of emotional energy, or was there something else? He looked around. A snake in the forest at night might as well be invisible. He checked around the ground in all directions, hoping to see some slither marks or something. Then he realized how stupid it was to look for snake trails in the underbrush.

“Meph!” He shouted it this time. From somewhere in the darkness, an animal rustled, and Bel jumped. He shoved his hand into his pocket and yanked out his phone. There was another sound of movement, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was near him. He aggressively tapped the screen to wake it, but it was off. He held the power button, and it booted. The “G” logo appeared, and then the rest of the text. He remembered. “GASPAR”. The same logo as last time, and again in place of the standard Google branding.

Fucking nothing can be simple, huh?

The home screen appeared after a few seconds with only one icon, ‘Start Here’. He ignored it, went to slide the drop down bar out, but the screen went bright white, blinding his dark-adjusted eyes. He squinted and read the text.

“Greetings, Potential Sovereign.”

Be scrunched his face. “Potential…sovereign?” He flicked the bottom of the screen to dismiss the blinding white text. “Fuck off, just give me my flashlight.” He pulled the notification bar down and clicked on the flashlight button. The tiny LED on the back of the phone erupted into life. He didn’t remember the flashlight being this bright, but he hadn’t ever really used it when it was this dark. It was more for looking under the couch for the TV remote, spare change, or a rogue snake. Now, though, it was a proper flashlight, illuminating all the ground beneath him like a torch.

He turned in place, shining it across the nearby trees, looking for anything that might tell him where Mephisto had gotten off to.

“Meph!” He shouted again.

Another rustle from his periphery, and he glimpsed some small blur as it darted past his feet. A moment later, and another flash of movement, as it was caught and quickly wrapped up in the coils of a very familiar Ball Python.

Bel watched as Meph tightened his coils around his prey until the small furry thing stopped struggling. Then, the snake opened his jaws wide and consumed it in one go.

Bel had never really enjoyed watching Meph eat. He thought it was kinda grotesque, and he’d never fed him live prey, only frozen mice and rats. Seeing him now, moving as fast as he did, scarfing down a live rodent whole—he was actually kind of impressed.

“Well, I guess you haven’t lost your instincts, huh, bud?”

Bel felt a strange sense of contentment wash over him. He shook it off and looked down at the snake. “Come on, mouse breath, let’s see if we can’t figure out what the hell is going on now.”

Bel bent over and held his hand out towards the snake. Meph flitted his tongue in the damp night air and slithered over, crawling up Bel’s arm and across his shoulders.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

He squinted and peered off into the dark. “Ok. First off, where are we?”

Mephisto flitted his tongue.

“Right, OK. Phone.” Bel unlocked it and looked at the home screen. There was only a single icon: ‘Start Here.’ Bel tapped it. The screen flashed bright white again as the text appeared. He read it aloud.

“Greetings Potential Sovereign. You have been chosen as a representative of your species in the Sovereign Games. Congratulations! As a contestant, you will be granted special privileges, including but not limited to increased progression speed, dominion of your own kingdom, and, if you succeed in the games, the ability to recreate your species in your own image. Continue?”

“Oh, cool. Recreate my species in my own image. How very biblical of you.”

Bel shook his head. He understood the words, but they may as well have just been randomly strung together for all the sense they made. He tapped on the ‘Continue’ icon, and the next screen loaded.

“Unfortunately, it seems that you have failed to meet the time requirements to continue your bid for sovereignty, and your kingdom has been claimed by another. If you wish to continue your participation in the Sovereignty Games, you must restore your kingdom and claim it for yourself. Continue?”

Bel stopped reading and talked to himself. “My kingdom has been claimed by another? I have to restore it and reclaim it? What the fuck is all this shit?” He tapped on ‘Continue.’

“Once you have reclaimed your kingdom, GASPAR’s functionality will be further unlocked. Until then, limited functionality will be available to you. Functions include: Map, Status Screen, Inventory, and an abridged Encyclopedia. For further information on these systems, please open the app on your device. Finished?”

Bel sighed. “Ok, you know what? That’s actually something I can work with.” He tapped ‘Finished’ and the window faded, bringing him back to the home screen. The ‘Start Here’ app was still there, but now there were four others: Map, Stats, Inventory, and Wiki. Bel tapped on the ‘Map’ icon.

It was just like any other map app. It loaded a screen that showed a close view of the area he was in, but it was all foreign to him. He zoomed out, and the map expanded, showing that he was on an island in a place called the Leigh Archipelago. He scrolled a little and saw that the body of water to the south, east and north was the Sea of Antik, but to the west it became Antiko Bay. Further west, the Archipelago ended, and a larger landmass came into view, called Prusious. He scrolled over it, but without a frame of reference, it made little sense. He zoomed the map out further, all the way, and the world came into view.

There were nine continents of various sizes, though one super continent was divided into three sub-sections. Prusious, the closest to him, was in the map's northwest. Below it were two more continents separated by a narrow strait; Slocraes and Eqeicis, and south of them another, much smaller, named Ruzira. To the east of Ruzira was another small island continent named Hecrune, and north of it was Ayon.

Further west was the super continent that ran from the north to the southern hemisphere. Its northern section was labeled Ezia, the central; Luhen, and the southern; Irin. It was by far the largest, though its livable area was much reduced by the frozen regions in the north and south, and the sprawling desert wrapped across the central section. Lastly. To its west were two more continents; Viquoa to the north, and Rimeth to the south.

Bel spent some time scrolling over the map. He was slowly beginning to get a full grasp on the situation. It felt like the time since the Glass Slipper had all been a blur, but now he breathed and took it all in. He was on an alien planet. Completely alien. He could breathe the air, and he wasn’t compressed by excess gravity, but it was something wholly unknown to him. Every time he inhaled, he sucked in new air. He looked back down at the map. None of the continents looked like ones on Earth. If he squinted, he could say that Ayon kinda looked like England, but it was way too large. There was nothing familiar about any of this, and it was terrifying in a way that he couldn’t wrap his mind around.

He closed the map and pulled down the notification bar and turned off the flashlight. His light-adjusted eyes were blind in the complete darkness of the forest. He closed his eyes and opened them. There was no difference, so he just stood there and listened to himself breathe. He was so completely overcome with every emotion that he felt nothing. Just emptiness. Loneliness. Then, he felt the cold nose of Meph as the snake rubbed his snout against his cheek, and he cried.

He probably could have stood there until he died, crying, feeling sorry for himself, and completely lost. But Meph was there with him. It was like he could feel the snake in his mind. A sense of calm, presence, and contentment. Bel closed his eyes tightly and exhaled a slow breath.

“Ok, bud, that’s enough of that,” he sniffled. “We’ve got shit to do, right? So, let’s see if we can’t figure out where to go.”

Bel opened the map app again and zoomed in to the small island. It was unnamed and had no obvious city or settlement. He scrolled and saw that none of the islands did, aside from the main island of Leigh, and its capital city Tothers.

What a weird fucking name.

The main island was to the northwest of him, so he assumed that if there were a port on this island, it would be in that direction. He turned so that the map adjusted his heading, and he aimed himself towards the coastline. He flipped the flashlight back on and started walking.

“Hey, Meph, you’ll let me know if there is some big-ass tiger or something like that stalking us, right? You have some kind of sense for that?”

Meph flitted his tongue.

“I sure hope that means ‘yes.’”