IN THE GAMES ROOM, Carter brayed, “Those playpets have got stamina, there’s no problem there.” Molson didn’t react. Ben’s eyelids drooped. Joel took a breath, expecting a long stream of brag and crowing, but that was all there was.

When he didn’t get a reaction from the others, Carter just shrugged.

As they all kitted up there was an atmosphere. With even Carter being quieter than usual, Joel wondered if there was something he didn’t know about. Then he wondered if they’d all compared notes on his absence at the dining table the evening before.

If they had all been paired with a companion for the evening, he wondered why they were all so subdued.

After everything he had seen and learned, Joel wasn’t at all sure that he wanted to win this process, whatever it was. He had a deep unease about what ‘winning’ would lead to. But he knew for certain that he didn’t want to be one of the eliminated participants.

Ben came near to help Joel fit his exoframe.

“Six to five to four. Looks like we may not be too much longer about this process.”

Joel helped him tighten up his own rig. He didn’t say anything.

Ben lowered his voice to ask, “You remember we talked.” His eyes flitted around the room. “Think we could take the other two?”

Joel suppressed a sigh. “It isn’t us who decide which sections are team games.” He lowered his voice again, though he wasn’t sure why. “I’m not even sure we really pick our teammates.” He looked into Ben’s face. Ben’s eyes still flicked and fled. “Not since the first game, at least.”

“There’s something else at work here, that’s for sure.” Ben sounded sullen. Sulky. He was in the last four, but his face said that he was beaten already. Joel didn’t want to be around that.

“You have to follow your instinct and do your best. That’s what the process is for.”

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“Just like a game.”

Joel understood. He was thinking about what happened to the ones who didn’t reach the end. Again, Joel had to push the memory of those jars away. He pulled down his visor.

The swirl into the village scene was harsher than it had been, and darker.

LEVEL UP :NINJA SKILLS UPGRADE

WEAPONS UPGRADE

BASIC MAGIC SKILLS ACQUIRED

HEALTH BONUS + + + + +

A scroll of text followed after that, but Joel was distracted checking out the swag. He was interested in the magic but, apart from seeing some ornate scrolls, he couldn’t get any idea of what to do with it.

The whole village was gathered. Everybody stood still and straight with their heads bowed. Joel, Ban, Carter and Molson were in dark, samurai robes. They stood in a line on a raised platform, along with the village elders. A somber ceremony had begun.

The spike on top of the Golden Horseman’s helmet glinted in the morning sun. Wraiths of black smoke rose from the ceremonial pyre in the center of the village square. The warrior in his full armor was stood, lifelike, facing away. Slowly his body was pulled on a sled, toward the smoldering pit.

Ben, Carter, Molson and Joel all stood in ceremonial robes at the back of the platform. Their function was to honor the fallen warrior. Joel commed to all of the interns. Where’s the old man? The one who talked about the ‘treasure’?

Ben commed back, We can’t do anything until after the ceremony. The samurai are touchy about their rituals and their demons and gods.

The Golden warrior moved in a slow glide until he reached the edge of the pyre. The sun burst off his helmet and his huge shoulder plates. Joel knew that the others were painfully dazzled, just as he was. None of them moved. Even with his eyes closed, the intensity of the glare was a painful glow that seared through his eyelids.

Squinting and opening his eyes by the smallest possible crack, Joel watched. The great golden samurai slid away, toward the smoke. At the edge of the pit, he slowly turned. Rotated. When he stopped he looked right in Joel’s face. Through the square holes in the center of the gold coins over the horseman’s eyes, Joel felt his stare.

With a shock, as the warrior fell straight back into the flames, Joel recognized him.

The image was hard to shake. The eyes he saw through the holes in the coins were his own. Gripping on to reality, or whatever passed for it here, he told himself the others could well have been shown images of themselves.

The golden warrior’s eyes could have shown a different view to every one of them. Another version of their fate.

He looked around at the others. All three of them were looking back at him. The black smoke and the crackle rose as the golden warrior’s armor melted and his body was consumed in the fire.

Did they all see themselves in the golden Warrior’s face, or did everybody see me?