What I found inside the next room struck a note of despair in my heart.

Hundreds of spectral figures lined the stands of an amphitheater-styled area. Their roars filled my ears as I stepped into their midst. The armor of warriors clattered, shields and spears shaking in hysteria. Bald servants clad only in loincloths jeered from the back rows. Nobles dripping in silken vestments laughed raucously at my inadequate form.

Eight pillars held up a pitch-black domed ceiling. Dots of light shone against the black of the sphere. A representation of the night sky, perhaps?

The high ceiling served another purpose, though.

A titan lounged directly under the dome in a golden throne the size of a department store, a massive fist supporting his tilted chin. His physiology appeared human, lacking the bird-parts of his gate’s decoration. A handsome face framed by black curls and a corded beard bore an intense set of emerald eyes. Their gaze gleamed in the light of a hundred torches that formed the perimeter of the court.

He wore a burnished golden chest plate engraved with the countenance of a flying bird. A skirt laced with plating covered his upper thighs and kneecaps. On his feet were leather-strapped sandals caked with sand. He clutched a fiery sword in his hand that could immolate a city block with one swing. This was a man forged for war.

“Swindler! Bend your knee before the Sovereign. The subduer of Nubia, the conqueror of Syria and the Levant, the bane of his foes, the hand of truth, the light of Ra; Thoth Reborn!” A wizened man bound by flowing white robes screamed from the foot of his king’s throne. In front of him, a fire raged in a circle cut out of the limestone floor. Its flames ebbed and flowed with the crowd - the more they yelled the larger it seemed to flare.

I blinked, unsure of what to do. It was all I could do to keep my legs from giving out.

“Your knee, you base miscreant! Lest he strikes you down for your sedition!” Spittle flew between the gaps of his yellow teeth.

Again, I made no move to comply. I could barely even hear him over the din of the audience. The geezer raised a wooden staff and began to mutter something, but he was cut short by the waving hand of the giant above him. All noise in the room ceased instantly. The fire shrank to embers.

“Trespasser. I find you in my halls upon The Epagomenae, the five days in which the Ogdoad was established? This is either grave sacrilege or an omen posited by my father.”

He brought a ringed knuckle to his chin, scraping the hair with the rough edge of a ruby.

“Judgement is upon you, and I shall be the arbiter.”

I had no idea what that meant, but it did not sound good for my health.

In my current state, there was no way I’d be able to take on the hundreds of figures in the room. Not that I could in a healthy state, but, the disabled half of my body didn’t make things any easier.

Peering at the nearest warriors in the stands, I realized I could see through their bodies to the row behind. Normal weapons might not even work on these guys. And, if I got past them, there was the living tank with a nuclear sword to consider.

Judgment it is.

“Let us start from the beginning.” Thutmose’s voice rolled like thunder. A crescent moon rotated into the left side of the dome above.

“You entered my chambers from the center, where you were met with one of my guardians. Instead of facing it in honorable combat, you fled the scene disgracefully. When cornered, you chose to seal yourself off with an underhanded trick rather than face your mortality with valour.”

The crowd hissed and booed. Spear-butts slammed against the ground. The fire rose. Something wet splashed against the back of my head. Did one of these bastards just spit on me?

“What say you to this charge?”

“I tactically retreated your lordship,” I replied.

This drove the crowd to madness. Warriors leaped from their seats, starting down the staircase with murderous intent. The old man produced a tablet from his robes and began to furiously scribble something with a stone stylus. A blood-red hue overtook the flames.

“Silence!” Thutmose roared. The unruly returned to their places. He beckoned for me to continue.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“You are a great military tactician - the greatest, no? Not all fields are for fighting. A brave man takes every battle and dies with honor. But a great general knows when to reserve his forces for another day. I knew it would be my undoing to fight such a vicious beast in close quarters.”

“Hm. It may be as you say, foreigner. Or it may be that your cowardly instincts overtook you and drove you from the field. I have my suspicions.” Thutmose murmured in reply.

“Wise as always.”

The grey scribe gave me a sour look. He continued to record something on that tablet of his.

“Next,” the king continued. I watched as the moon sailed across the dome, settling a third of the way across its width.

“You found yourself in the Halls of Rumination. The sins of your past threatened to swallow you, to halt your journey.”

I shuddered, remembering that frigid hallway. Demons of my past I had long tried to bury came back to play in that tunnel. Not much penetrated the emotional defenses I developed for myself on the hard streets of Walkman’s, but those memories left a deep wound in my psyche. I wasn’t sure if all of “me” had left intact.

“Though grievous they were, you held firm. Commendable. I honor you where it is due.” Thutmose waved his hand dismissively.

Aw. He almost looked proud.

“But.” He raised one of his pillar-like fingers. “You spoiled your honor in the chamber of my heir - the blessed Thutmose III. You dared to swindle the divine in a game of Senet. So arrogant were you, thinking this would not be seen! All is recorded. All is known. I am Knowledge and Truth!” Thutmose bellowed. He cast the tip of his sword across the room with a broad arc. It sliced through a few servants on its way down, evaporating their forms in a cloud of blue-green dust.

The fiery edge was mere feet from my face. The heat of the blade threatened to melt me where I stood. I averted my gaze from its brilliance.

The fully waxed moon shone on me from above. Even among the yellow-orange blaze of the fires, I could feel its scrying pale light upon me.

“Think you wiser than a god? Think you more worthy of fortune than the lord of wealth? Explain yourself, deceiver!”

The audience voiced no comment, but I could feel the tension at an all-time high in the room. I couldn’t see the pit behind the flames of Thutmose’s blade, but I’d be willing to bet it surged like a gas fire. If I said something wrong now, I would be engulfed in the blaze.

> 25% chance of survival

“No, you’re right. I’m to blame here. I really ought to know better - it’s my nasty habit of cheating that landed me here in the first place.” I started, not wanting to piss the fire-sword guy off.

“And have you learned nothing?” He thundered.

“I believe I have.” I wracked my brain for the words Dedún used.

> “A bold man may strive to change his fate, and may even succeed in doing so, but a wise man knows when it is right to resign himself to its workings.” I recited.

“Glib.” He raised a hand to his beard once more. “But perhaps you have learned something.”

Thutmose returned his blade to his side, relieving me of the inferno.

I could see around me once more. The pit fire had grown to the height of a man in its rage. The crowd around me was still silent, but if the flames reflected their opinion not much needed to be said. On the other side of the room, the old man snickered and flipped over his tablet, scribbling something with intensity.

I thought back to just a few weeks ago. My life was a simple routine of maintenance work for a lifeless international corporation, spotted with the occasional bout of unruly fun. How the hell did I end up in a situation like this?

“Your final trial - the battle that gained you entrance to my court.” The king got a faraway look in his eyes as if watching something unfold in the distance. The moon waned and crept along to the edge of its onyx sphere. He murmured to himself and tugged on the mass of coarse hair around his chin.

“Elusive. Underhanded. Averse to confrontation.”

I grimaced. “Would you accuse me of being a coward for using the terrain to my advantage?”

He glared at me. I forgot, no speaking unless spoken to in the courtroom.

Instead of taking my head off, he continued his remarks. “Bold. Bold with a hint of madness - but bold nevertheless. Perhaps the heart of a conqueror resides in you after all. Albeit, with an unorthodox approach to victory.”

I breathed a sigh of relief as the fire began to die down.

“Does this mean I passed?”

“Passing. Is that all your life is about?” He spoke with flint in his voice once more.

“Well if I failed too much I wouldn’t be standing here.” I shrugged.

“Puck Mallory, all you have ever done is satisfice. You do not ride the chariots of greatness towards the brilliance of the rising sun. You do not reach for the heavens in your every endeavor.”

“Yeah, I work for Ophelia Corp.”

Again he ignored me. Probably to my benefit. “Greater than the sin of deceit is that of apathy. Within you, you have the potential for greatness but deny it. This is unforgivable.”

The audience erupted in a clamor. Chants for blood and honor filled the air. Metal clanged on stone, feet stomped, hands clapped. The fire blossomed and threatened to consume the pit, and the moon disappeared from the sky, plunging it into darkness.

Over the noise, Thutmose yelled.

“Your life has been a waste, Puck. But now you have seen your true potential. Reject yourself and burn in the flames, or embrace greatness and let them cleanse you!”

At the king’s prompting, the old man tossed his stone tablet into the blaze. It turned the fire a bright blue, intensifying the heat threefold from where I was standing.

“You want me to walk into the pit?!” I screamed, but I don’t think anyone heard me over the chaos.

Soldiers marched in from behind me, pushing me forward with the bulk of their wicker shields. The rabid spectres in the stands drew closer. A noose of souls wrapped itself around my position. It seemed the way out was clear.

Fuck this stupid competition.

I barreled into the fire with a lowered shoulder. I felt the flames lick at my flesh, biting to the bone. The acrid smell of burning rubber filled my nostrils. My entire body screamed at me to turn back. Instead, I dove straight into the pit.

Nothing could escape his gaze. The flames would consume or cleanse. Judgment was upon me.