The players huddled around Ed, waiting to hear what he was going to say.

“Have you guys figured out how to play yet?” he asked.

“Yeah, we think we’ve got it down. Just reading up to get a bit of a better understanding,” one of them said.

“That’s good. I think you’ve still got a bit of time, so you should get some practice in as well. Mind showing me what you can do?”

The crowd of people cleared out to the sides, giving the two teams plenty of space in the middle. Ed spread his threads out to create hoops on either side, turning the room into a makeshift basketball court.

The players got into position on the court, and a person dressed as a referee walked up with a ball.

The game started, and Ed was immediately reminded that despite the fact that they looked like humans, they were anything but.

Throughout the match, they jumped several metres into the air, almost hitting the roof. They made shots from across the court with ease, and even dunked from the half way line. It was all ridiculous.

Ed immediately signalled for a time out, calling everyone back. “I need you all to tone it down a bit. Limit yourself to only things humans can do. Buddie should be able to show you some videos so that you can get a better idea of the limits of the human body.”

They all nodded, and Ed continued by giving them a few examples of where to hold back on.

“His brother is here,” Buddie said, interrupting Ed.

“Very well.” Ed looked at the players who were still paying attention to him. “You guys can go back to what you were doing.

Ed walked away from the group and back to the door. “Where is he?”

“He’s waiting in a smaller meeting room for you. You can head through the door when you’re ready. It’s all set up for you.”

Alright. Lucien took a deep breath and stepped through the door. How am I gonna explain this to him? How will he react to seeing his brother again?

The room was just about how he expected it to be. A long glass desk that filled most of the room, and just about nothing else.

Inside, a man was sitting at one end of the table, waiting patiently. He had light golden hair that glowed faintly. The hair was tied back into a ponytail that hung just above his shoulders.

He was tall. Taller than Ed had expected him to be. And even more muscular. Either He already had such a terrifying physique, or Heaven had made him look even stronger.

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The man had a clean shaven face, thin lips, and a straight nose. His eyes were a dark blue with a glowing golden rings around the pupil and the iris. And to top it all off where a set of thick, downward sloping eyebrows.

The man looked mostly human, albeit with a few heavenly features. Hearing the door open, he turned to look at Ed.

“Hello, who are you?” He had a faint Bostonian accent, not as exaggerated as the one’s Ed had heard on TV.

“You can call me Ed. You are Dylan, correct?” He got closer and reached out his hand in a friendly manner.

Dylan got up from his chair and shook Ed’s hand. “Yeah.” The two sat down, and Dylan looked around the room awkwardly. “Can you tell me what’s going on here?”

“Of course. Ugh, how do I explain this.” Ed wasn’t sure what he could and couldn’t tell Dylan. Buddie should stop me before I say too much.

With that thought, he gave Dylan a basic rundown of what they were about, and their mission. He didn’t go into too much detail, deeming it unnecessary. Simply telling him what they did was enough.

“Let me see if I’ve got this right. You guys torture and kill ‘sinners’ to give them a chance at salvation?” Dylan rubbed his temples, trying to process everything he was hearing.

“That’s basically right.” Ed sighed, feeling that he must have already been treated as an insane person by Dylan. And honestly, he would think the same thing if he was in Dylan’s shoes.

“This has to do with my brother, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” Ed admitted.

Dylan closed his eyes for a moment before looking Ed directly in the eye. “What do you need me to do?”

Ed went on to explain his plan and what would happen to Campbell should he score higher than Dylan in the game. “Are you okay to do it? If you’re not it’s okay.”

“I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me.” Dylan looked down. “I never saw it coming, but I can see why he killed me. Or at least, how he could rationalise it in that twisted mind of his. He was not okay, even long before he killed me.”

“I’m surprised by how calm and understanding you are. I thought you would jump on the opportunity of sending your murderer to Hell with your own hands.”

“As much as I want to do that, I want to prove that I am better than him even more. I’m going to beat him and prove that I had earned my place.

Also, deliberately failing would only put me down to his level. I’ve got a good thing going on in Heaven, and I don’t want to jeopardise that. Besides, even with what he did, he’s still my brother.”

Seems like Heaven is a pretty good place. “That’s an interesting way to look at things. At least I can trust you to have a fair game. Speaking of which, you will be put back to what you were like before you died. Meaning no heavenly strength and all that,” Ed said.

The two continued to chat about what was going to happen, and Ed asked if Dylan could turn back to what he looked like when he was alive, to which Dylan agreed.

There wasn’t much of a difference between the two forms. He was slightly shorter and less muscular when he was alive, but not by much. His hair was also shorter and brown instead of blond. And the golden rings in his eyes had also disappeared.

“Everything is ready and waiting for you. Let me know when you are done here,” Buddie’s voice interjected, calling out to Ed.

That should be everything I need to cover. Ed turned to Dylan. “Are you ready?”

Dylan took a deep breath and nodded.

“Then let’s begin.”