The bright blue of the sky could only hold my attention for a few seconds. The quiet oblivion of my dreams was replaced with violence and chaos. Explosions, curse words, and threats rained over my head.

I sat up to look around and saw a group of about twenty people duking it out. These were no ordinary people. Some had characteristics of mythical beings like horns or wings. Others had flames around their hands or even ice. I was clearly the most normal-looking one, so how had I wound up in the middle of their fight?

To make it worse, my body was smack dab in the center of the battlefield. The strangest part of all was that they didn't seem to notice me.

I attempted to scooch away, my mind racing, but just in time, a twinge in my heart allowed me to dodge an errant blade. My premonitions had kicked in, giving me a glimmer of hope amidst the chaos.

I put a hand over my beating heart and chose to survive no matter how ugly it looked. I kept my body low and to the ground, as I ran away on all fours.

I dodged flames, blades, and bodies as I bit my tongue to stop my screams from slipping past my lips.

I could dodge everything as my innate talent for escaping problems kept me safe. It didn't hurt that no one was aiming for me. It was almost like I was invisible to them all. I couldn't focus on that, so I ran on all fours until I was past the battle.

My miraculous escape had cost others their life. Corpses and body parts littered the ground as everyone seemed content to fight to the death.

It didn't help that everyone seemed to speak a different tongue. Words flew just as weapons and magic did.

I spotted a shadow on the ground that, for some reason, prompted me to look up.

A floating figure that looked eerily familiar held out his hands. The pressure on the ground smacked everyone still alive, hard on the ground. Well, everyone except for me. I wasn't far from it all, but why was I exempt from this chaotic mess?

The people collapsed on the ground, all closed their eyes, and I hiccuped in fear. What if they were dead?

The floating man smoothly landed on his feet, and with the sun no longer at his back, I could see who it was.

It was Wyatt.

Wyatt had grown even taller somehow. His lanky blonde hair had turned almost platinum, as if it had been tempered in the sun and turned into transparent lace. His sparkling blue eyes shone in his tanned skin. His expression was savage as he examined all the bodies at his feet.

I watched him silently as he rooted around in everyone's pockets. He was stealing from all the people he knocked out! I refused to think that he killed them, so he must have just knocked them out...right? He had filled out and matured into his twenties. He wasn't as big as his father, but I could see the family resemblance. He was stronger, and undoubtedly, his muscles would become as wide as his father one day.

I hiccuped again, and quick as a whip, Wyatt turned his head in my direction. I gulped, but he said nothing as he scanned where I was sitting.

Like the people who were trying to kill each other, he couldn't see me? Why couldn't he see me?

On an impulse, I stood up and started waving my hands. Wyatt didn't react, and instead, he went back to robbing.

Emboldened by my stupidity, I walked closer to him, but his hand snaked out when I was a foot away and captured my wrist.

"Wendy." He said as he looked in my direction. He couldn't see me, but his powers must be able to sense me. His white teeth were already showing a shit-eating grin.

"Wyatt, did you kill them?" I asked.

"I knocked them out. What are you doing here?"

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"Where is here?" I said.

"You're in the Divine Colosseum."

Well, shit. That simple phrase repeated itself in my head as I followed Wyatt around. True to his word, he didn't go out of his way to kill what he called the other contestants. No one else showed him the same grace.

The Divine Colosseum was where Acuzio said I used my favor from him. This was history finally righting itself, but how did I slip here? I needed to return to The Liz because Darius was all alone now.

Wyatt, as usual, could have been more helpful. The giant oaf was hellbent on knocking out every other contestant. He refused to answer my questions and didn't care if I followed him or not.

I followed him, of course. He was my only possible way out of this mess.

"Wyatt!" I said as I watched him dodge and duck every elemental attack.

He ignored me and grabbed a contestant by the throat. I watched with a sharp hiccup as he dangled the muscle-bulging man several feet in the air. Wyatt then chucked him as one would a ball.

"Homerun," Wyatt said with a smirk.

I started shouting at him, and finally, he turned to me. "Wendy, I don't have time to be dragged into your mess. I have to be the last demi-god standing to win." He said,

"Is that what this is?" I said, watching as he stole whatever items were on his victims again.

"My father dropped me here as punishment for Gavin's demise."

I grabbed Wyatt's arm. "What happened to Gavin?" I said with a dry mouth.

"He's dead," Wyatt said. "The World Tree in that world and him were swallowed.

"And Adam?" I said, searching his hard blue eyes for answers.

Wyatt's eyes looked above me as his mouth twisted into a sardonic smile. "Why should I know?" He said.

"Because you know everything," I said, smacking his arm. I should fear this hardened man. But it was Wyatt. The stinky monkey who I grew up with. My relief at seeing him overpowered any apprehension I should feel.

"I haven't seen Adam in years," Wyatt said. "I wouldn't know what happened to him.

I tried to hide my hope from sight, but I couldn't fool Wyatt's powers.

"Focus on survival; we don't have time for anything else," Wyatt said. He caught a blade that was aimed at his throat, spun, and stabbed the man who appeared out of nowhere.

I stepped away from the two as the man bled out at our feet. Wyatt searched the man for goodies and started walking away.

Despite my better judgment, I ran after him.

I told myself that the man from before hadn't died, but I don't think my mind believed it. I had never witnessed such brutality, and the fact that it came from Wyatt was shocking.

I silently followed Wyatt as he destroyed everyone in his path. He didn't even break a sweat.

There was a brief moment when no one appeared to attack Wyatt, and I watched him wrap up the minor wounds he had garnered.

"How did you know we were related?" I said.

Wyatt looked up in my general direction, and for a brief moment, I wondered if he could somehow see me. Acuzio said his descendants could recognize me, but he made it sound rare.

"Gwendolyn," Wyatt said as he finished wrapping his wound and walked over to me. I felt a strange wave of something come down on me. "We're cousins no matter how many generations removed. Your soul is proof of that."

"Is that how Acuzio could tell as well?"

Wyatt jerked as I name-dropped his father. And for the first time, panic crossed his face. I watched him dispatch countless attackers, but his father was the one he was scared of?

"Don't say his name. Speaking a God's name can summon them."

"I'm wounded Attarib." A deep, gravelly voice rubbed the top of my head, and I looked up to see the towering silhouette of Acuzio. The Dragon God was covered in shadows as his hardened flesh glowed hot like the sun.

"Uncle!" I said. Finally, some relief from this hell.

He smiled down at me, ignoring his son, who was glaring openly at him.

"You're not supposed to be here," Acuzio said as he petted my head. "This is for demi-gods to battle and earn their parents' favor by becoming the champion."

"Why am I exempt from that?" I said. It could be because I'm not Mordecai's child or because I had that clause according to everyone.

"You're more important than any of these replaceable stones," Acuzio said rather heartlessly. I mean, his son was right over there, covered in another demi-god's blood.

I gulped and looked at Wyatt, whose face had hardened.

"Wyatt isn't replaceable," I said. "He shouldn't be here."

I couldn't read the dragon's expression as he stared into my eyes. He didn't look mad, but he didn't seem pleased. "Out of all my children, you grow attached to that one..." He said.

"He's my brother," I said simply. Wyatt was special to me regardless of the world we were in. Sure, he drove me crazy, but this was Wyatt.

"Is that your wish? For Wyatt to be with you?" Acuzio said.

I stared at Acuzio as I made a face. I forgot about his promise. He said he'd do what I asked of him the next time we met. Maybe he knew what would happen when he gave Adam the scale, and this was the apology.

I was tempted to ask for a new scale to make a wish. If I could undo the original wish I made long ago, I could return to Adam. I could stop all this pointless pain, and we could start fresh.

But I couldn't. What if I made life worse? And I'd lose Darius. I'd held myself together by having Darius there to need me. I'd be a sobbing mess huddled in a corner without him. I couldn't risk everything I built on a wish that could make everything worse just because of my greed.

"Yes." I missed the monkey shit, Wyatt. He was a guy I'd need in my corner. I blinked seconds after that admission came out. "Wait, no!"

But it was too late. Acuzio disappeared, and the scenery changed to my suite in the Liz Hotel. Wyatt, with all his blood, had followed me.