Silence filled the hexagonal room for several long moments. Sydney tilted her head to one side, regarding Tulpa for several moments. “The Game of the Gods?” she eventually asked. “You said that like I’d have any idea what that is. I mean it sounds like a big deal an’ all but it’s just words from where I’m sitting.”

Tulpa regained her prior composure, a soft smile on her face. “Apologies. I got ahead of myself,” she replied.

“Okay, well, what are we talking about here? Like… a competition or something?”

“Oh yes. A rather intense one at that. But I think you’ll quite like the prospective prize at the end of it.” The spirit reached up, elegantly flicking a few strands of hair behind her right ear. “Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Everything you need to know will be explained to you in the briefing which will be happening…” She glanced up, as if inspecting some invisible clock, “oh, rather soon.”

Sydney perked one of her brow’s up. She was an open-minded woman bit this was still a weird situation to try and comprehend. “Uh, well before we get into any meeting or whatever, what happens if I just refuse?” Couldn’t hurt to ask.

“Your spirit will be shunted off to another life back on your home world. But I should say that refusal to participate will reflect poorly on your prospects for reincarnation.” She smiled and shrugged helplessly, as middle managers often did whenever something was out of their hands.

“Huh. Sounds bad.” As far as she could recall she had never done anything too bad in her past, nothing that would count toward a bad reincarnation.

Well, okay, she had smashed Garret Wilson’s window that one time. But then it turned out he was a depraved sex fiend, so damaging his property wouldn’t be too bad in the grand scheme of things.

Then when she was thirteen she had, admittedly, broken Heather Shaye’s nose. Though Heather Shaye had been a raging bitch who picked on anyone she saw as weaker than her, so as far as Sydney was concerned she’d merely given her a taste of her own medicine.

Perhaps her life had not been wholly virtuous but if good and bad deeds dictated a reincarnation, she was certain she’d be in for a decent life under normal circumstances.

It’d be a shame to be cursed to a shitty reincarnation over something stupid.

“Then… I guess I’m in.” The alternative sounded much worse.

Tulpa gently clapped her hands together. “Wonderful! Then, in that case, please follow me. We should be able to make it to the meeting on time.”

Sydney followed Tulpa through a series of winding corridors, their footsteps echoing off the dark wooden walls and floor. There were no windows to speak of, nothing to suggest there was anything beyond the structure. Occasionally, in passing, she glimpsed distant figures down the far end of the branching halls. But they disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared.

“You get a lot of people out here in… wherever here is?”

“The Place Betwixt,” Tulpa confidently replied. “And yes. Though the vast majority of our guests are processed quickly. Only spirits like myself stay here permanently.”

This all should have seemed much stranger to her. Being dead, stuck in a limbo between worlds, becoming a plaything to ‘gods.’ Yet the strange atmosphere of the Place Betwixt won out, soothing her anxieties and fears.

Or, perhaps spirits were simply less emotional than physical beings? Something must have gotten lost without all those brain chemicals at play.

They came to a stop in front of a pair of colossal golden doors, thrice Sydney’s height and made from solid metal. The things should have weighed a ton. Yet the merest brush of Tulpa’s fingers caused them to silently part, revealing a great radiant light beyond the doorway.

A strong breeze flew through the expanding entryway, buffeting her and snapping the back of her jacket.

“Please,” Tulpa said, “follow me.”

Sydney obliged her. She did not remember much after passing through the shining miasma of light. One moment she and Tulpa were taking a step forward, and in the next instant they were standing together on a broad metal platform suspended in the air.

All around them stretched a massive void of overlapping white and gold light, an aurora oscillating through the air around them.

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From where she stood, Sydney could count fifteen other platforms dotted about the strange void. Many of them were too far away for her to see whoever was on top of them. But the one nearest to her quickly caught her eye.

“Hey, that’s…” She dared to inch closer to the edge for a better look. “I knew it! That’s the guy! The guy from the alley this morning!”

Sure enough, Joshua was standing nervously on one of the platforms, flanked by a spirit who looked like a lime-skinned version of Tulpa. He wasn’t looking her way. His attention was affixed to the strange vortex at the heart of the void, around which all the platforms orbited.

“Something of a last minute addition,” Tulpa said. “There was a great deal of interest in your soul, given your nature as a fighter. But since the two of you died at the same time and in the same place, the powers that be decided there was no harm in adding him to the mix. They do like to spice the Game up from time to time.”

Sydney frowned. Poor bastard, getting roped into all this. But it wasn’t like she could do anything to bail him out.

“Just spicing things up, huh?” she murmured under her breath.

A sudden pulse of crimson light raced through the swirling vortex, snapping Sydney to attention. Tulpa’s posture shifted, her smile vanishing. “Pay attention now,” she said, not even looking Sydney’s way. “You’ll want to remember everything you hear from this point onward.”

A figure slowly took shape in the swirling light, warping and condensing into a humanoid shape. Another spirit, Sydney quickly realised, though this one was male and had azure skin and golden hair. A jet black robe covered him from the neck down, the sleeves and hem covered in golden lace.

And, unlike Tulpa, there wasn’t even the faintest hint of mirth to his expression.

His gaze slowly swept around to the platforms as they came to a halt in mid-air, his gaunt face unreadable. And though he was a considerable distance from where Sydney stood… it was almost as if some unseen power was magnifying him in Sydney’s vision, until he looked as if he was within arm’s reach.

“I bid a fond greeting to you all. Both to my kinsmen, and to our esteemed guests,” the stranger called, his voice echoing across the expanse of the void. “I am Lode, a representative of the Tuath Dé, the ‘God Tribe.’ And it is my esteemed duty to explain the essentials of the upcoming Game. Please, listen well.” A glimmer of fire briefly flashed

in Lode’s eyes. “I will not be accepting questions.”

Visions filled Sydney’s eyes, just as they did for the other Chosen. A vast desert landscape stretched ahead of her in all directions, the sky dominated by a colossal red sun that cast a scarlet hue across the clouds.

A silver tower, like an upraised sword, stood miles and miles away on the distant horizon, the tip vanishing into the clouds. The Burj Khalifa was the tallest tower on earth, just shy of being 830 meters tall.

It would look like an insignificant toothpick if it were placed beside the strange silver spire.

“Before you is the land known as Elmyria. It is a harsh land, where the elements, people, and wildlife are cruel and dangerous.” More scenes rapidly flicked past her vision.

Rusty cities populated by strang, humanoid beings, endless sand dunes being patrolled by colossal vehicles that belched choking trails of diesel smoke, and scaly monsters so massive in size they could crush an elephant in their jaws.

The more Sydney saw, the more uncertain she became. Elmyria, from just a fleeting glance, looked like some post-apocalyptic shithole.

“By human standards, it is barely hospitable. It has been designed to be the chosen plane for the Game for many centuries,” Lode explained as the visions melted away from her eyes.

Sydney couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that had settled in her gut. Elmyria sounded like a nightmarish place, like a world lifted straight out of a video game. But, she supposed, this was all meant to be part of the challenge for the ‘Game.’ She glanced over at Joshua, who seemed to be taking in the information with a look of slack jawed horror on his face.

Lode’s voice drew her attention back to him as he continued to explain the finer details of the Game. “Your role in this is simple. You Chosen are all expected to make your way to the spire at the very heart of Elmyria: The Adamantine Tower.” Another vision took shape before her, giving a closer look to the colossal silver tower. Flocks of birds and pterodactyle-like beasts flew around the surrounding sky.

“Whomsoever reaches the top first, and sits upon the throne at the apex of the world, is the winner. Your prize?” Lode’s words trailed off as the vision changed again, revealing a massive throne room . A throne, made from sculpted white stone with a tall back, stood at the back. Light radiated from the stone, dispelling the darkness of the chamber.

“Godhood. Whoever sits on the throne first becomes a God.”

A chill ran down Sydney’s spine. “What the fuck,” she mumbled. Had she heard him correctly? Surely not…

“Only one of you may win. Those of you who make it to the end without winning, or die along the way, will be sent back here for a normal reincarnation. Though, should you amuse the Tuath Dé enough, you will find your reincarnation quite… lucrative.” The visions evaporated like a cloud of multicoloured smoke, and once again Sydney was focused entirely on Lode.

“It is not necessary for you to kill each other, of course. But you may find your prospects of winning significantly easier if you thin the herd.”

Sydney narrowed her eyes. The more Lode spoke, the ore insane this all sounded. Anxiety blossomed inside her, like fire that had just had gasoline dumped on it. She gave Tulpa a nervous, sideways look. “The gods want us to kill each other? I’m getting thrown into some Battle Royale-type shit?”

“Please don’t speak during the orientation,” Tulpa urgently told her in a hushed voice. From what she could see, some of the figures on the other platforms were also speaking to their guiding spirits. “Killing is not… necessary. Just an option.”

“I can see that some of you are uncertain about all this. And I do not doubt that this seems daunting to you. However, you will find that the Tuath Dé would not send you to Elmyria without the means to defend yourselves.”

Lode raised a hand which became wreathed in a plume of azure fire, nearly blinding to look directly at. A series of luminous projectiles shot out from his hand, one for each platform. Something struck Sydney’s neck, a stab of pain causing her to suck in air through her teeth. “Fuck!”

“Each of you has just been gifted a Divine Brand. Think of it as being a magical weapon, now infused to your soul. The God Tribe has designed each one to be reflective of a deity from human pop culture, and your Brands were hand picked to be reflective of your skills and personalities. They will evolve and grow stronger the more you use them.

However, should you kill a fellow Chosen… their Brand will become a part of yours. A great advantage to have, you’ll come to understand.”

Lode’s words were hard to focus on, compared to the pain still burning on the side of Sydney’s neck. Slowly, gradually, the blue light shaped itself and darkened into a jet black tattoo partially hidden by the collar of her shirt: A visage of a snarling lion.

A single word flashed in Sydney’s mind, a name she was at least partially familiar with.

Hercules.