“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”

Victor Hugo

They had emerged from the Arena of Thoth as the sun finished its descent beyond the western prairies. They had spent the last few minutes of daylight lobbing books into the truck, fuel for Emily’s new talent. They had prioritized books about mythology and fairytale, but had also grabbed books on gardening, home and automotive repair, and historic and modern military tactics. Rocky had loaded up a stack of cookbooks and had been headed back for another armful when Emily gave him a smack in the shoulder.

“Hey, don’t go getting any cheeky ideas, Rocky MacMillian,” she had playfully scolded. “Infinite Recollection is not the same thing as infinite talent. Talent requires practice. I can have all the theoretical knowledge in the world, but still burn a fried egg. And you know how much I hate cooking.”

“Well, in that case, I’m claiming the military tactics books,” Rocky retorted. “No offense, Emily, but you are pretty impulsive. You could have all the knowledge in the world in that regard, and your approach would still be ‘Emily smash!’”

Emily laughed but did not deny it. “It gets the job done” was all she said as they climbed in the truck and drove away from the library.

There was only a sliver of moonlight in the stary sky above, bathing the city in an eerie gloom. Bethany sat in the passenger seat of the truck, watching the streetlights passing them by. For a fleeting moment, she pondered how the city still had electricity. Did the city’s powerplant still had enough fuel and brave staff to function. Or was it the Gods who had spared them this luxury, so they could take it away later when it was most entertaining. She had asked Rocky, who said the office building where they now called home had a generator, and the refinery would provide the fuel. So Bethany decided it did not matter right now and added it to her growing list of unanswered questions.

The roads were just as void of people as they were when they had left the refinery. Bethany wondered how long that would last. People were hiding in their homes right now, but eventually they would run out of food or medicine and need to venture beyond their four walls. Would it be too late by then?

Bethany looked up at the golden letters in the sky. Five thousand more people had died since they had entered the Arena of Thoth. Yet she could see no bodies on the streets. This God Contest was a quiet extermination, killing them one-by-one. She wondered whether the monsters ate the bodies, but quickly added that question to her list so she did not have to think about it anymore.

“Bethany, how about you open that scroll?” asked Emily suddenly, desperate for a distraction. Rocky weaved the truck around an abandoned car and as he mumbled his agreement.

Bethany still clutched the scroll tightly in her hand. “Umm…yah, I guess we should,” she agreed reluctantly. “Though I’m scared of what we may learn. Once we know it, there is no going back.”

Bethany took a deep breath and ran her finger carefully across the red wax seal that held the scroll closed. The parchment crackled as Bethany unrolled it, and she wondered if it would break from age. She read through the fine handwriting before reciting the words to Emily and Rocky.

In the depths of the world lay five keys, that together unlock your fondest desire

One is of fire, of the heart, hidden power in the crowded strife

One is of water, of the blood, hidden power in loneliness

One is of earth, of the skin, roaming free from chains

One is of wood, of the lungs, breathing life into the world

One is of metal, of the bones, bound in the depths

When all five are brought together, your life shall begin anew

“It cannot be an adventure without a riddle,” Rocky said excitedly, eyes focused on the road, “I love me a good riddle.”

“You are such a nerd,” teased Emily.

"Hey, I used to sit in my school library doing riddles for hours," Bethany protested, feeling a hightened kinship with Rocky.

"Okay, you are both nerds," Emily laughed.

“I’ve always liked solving riddles,” Rocky explained, unapologetically, “It gave me a bit of solace when…other things weren’t going so well. When I solved them, it made me believe I could be smart.”

“You are smart, stupid,” scolded Emily, giving him another whack with her fist. “You are the smartest person I know, and don’t you dare forget it.”

Bethany chuckled. “Emily is right, Rocky. Don’t sell yourself short. So, riddle buddy, any initial thoughts?”

“Well, we need to find the keys,” he laughed, stating the obvious. “Beyond that? Each line is a clue to where each key is located. Thoth mentioned there are other guidance scrolls out there, and I expect each one will lead us one step closer to pinpointing the exact location of each one.”

“Couldn’t we just randomly find one without the scrolls?” asked Emily.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Thoth said it was impossible to win the Contest without the knowledge of the guidance scrolls. I expect there is more that they reveal beyond simply where they are located,” answered Rocky.

“He said nearly impossible, not impossible,” Emily countered, relying on her Infinite Recollection.

“I’m never going to be able to win another argument with you again, am I?” Rocky complained.

“Oh, Rocky,” Emily soothed. “You never won our arguments before.”

“Anyway,” Rocky deflected. “There is something more important that the riddle reveals. This contest only ends when all five keys are found and brought together. I’m willing to bet that’s what ‘life begins anew’ means.”

“So, it is the world’s most dangerous scavenger hunt,” Bethany concluded.

Rocky glanced over at her. “I suppose… but I’m not sure it’s that simple. These Gods seem to plan in layers. It may look like a scavenger hunt on its surface, but there are depths to it that we still do not know.”

“Well, I guess it’s better than something like a gladiatorial arena where we fight each other to the death,” Bethany said with an awkward laugh. “Because after my… encounter with Becka and Daniel, it was starting to feel like that.”

Rocky started to speak, but then closed his mouth and focused on the road.

“Rocky, I know that look,” Emily said with concern. “You know something else.”

“It’s just a thought…” Rocky said reluctantly.

“So tell us. Don’t keep it to yourself,” prompted Bethany encouragingly. “We need to work as a team, remember?”

“Okay. Well… and just keep in mind I’m not certain… what if… and don’t freak out, okay Emily… what if five keys means only five people can win? Five keys to open five locks, with one victor per lock.”

Bethany and Emily sat in silence, processing what he said. Only five? Five people out of over two hundred and thirty thousand. If it were true, the odds against them all surviving would be astronomically low.

“That would mean we’d need to find three of the five keys for all of us to survive,” Emily said.

“Or we’d have to be willing to take the keys from others,” added Rocky, grimly. “We’d have to doom another to save ourselves.”

“So, then it is a gladiatorial arena,” concluded Bethany, her voice shaking. “Just with more layers.”

“We… we don’t know that yet. Like Rocky said, it is just a guess,” Emily comforted, trying to stay positive.

Rocky did not answer. He just stared forward into the dimly lit darkness, focused on the road.

Silence fell upon them as Rocky drove on. Bethany returned to gazing out the window, unsettled. She started to count each streetlight that they passed as she tried to detach from the revelations of the riddle. As if emptying her thoughts would allow her to forget what they had learned, if only for a moment.

Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. What if they only found two keys? Would Emily and Rocky save themselves, and leave her to die?

Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. How far would she go to live? Could she kill another person?

What if they only had one key?

Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. What if…but what if…

Rocky slowed the vehicle as they entered a construction zone, swerving around three abandoned cars. Bethany looked towards the construction equipment at the side of the road.

And she saw the darkness beneath the equipment begin to move.

Suddenly, Bethany’s mind felt heavy, as if she were being pulled into a dream. Her Oracle Eye felt warm, and in her reflection on the window she could see light emerging from its depths, in the shape of an hourglass.

“Do… you… think… we’ll… make… it… to… the… end…?” said Emily, though she was speaking at a tenth her normal speed.

The darkness under the equipment began to flow together and merge, taking on solid form. An arm made of corporeal shadow, long and thin, emerged from beneath a backhoe. A second appeared from under the dump truck next to it. Limbs appeared one by one, until the Living Shadows had formed into a humanoid monstrosity, twenty feet tall and growing larger every moment.

“I…know…we…will…” came Rocky’s equally slow reply.

Bethany wanted to warn Emily and Rocky. She wanted to scream. But she could not move. She could not speak. She felt like a prisoner in her own body and could only watch in terror as the Living Shadow raised its clawed hand and struck.

Bethany could only watch as the creature ripped through the roof of the truck, wrapped its hand around Rocky, and squeezed. She saw Rocky’s neck snap, heard his bones crack, and felt his blood splash against her face. His life was snuffed out in an instant, like a candle in a hurricane.

Bethany heard Emily’s slowed down scream, a mournful wail drawn out like stretched toffee. The creature extended its shadows across the truck and lifted it high into the air. Bethany saw a mouth form in the shadow. A dark void into nothingness that promised empty eternity. It stretched the mouth wider and wider, until it could swallow the truck whole. The shadows released the truck and let it fall into the void, consuming Bethany whole.

The hourglass light in her Oracle Eye flared painfully and disappeared.

Bethany was sitting in the passenger seat once more, staring at the streetlights as they passed.

Rocky was driving the truck and had begun to slow down as he entered an abandoned construction zone.

“Do you think we’ll make it to the end?” asked Emily, seeking reassurance.

Bethany sat up with a sharp jerk, as if she had just awoken from a dream. She remembered everything. The terror. The blood. The feeling of the empty void. She glanced at the abandoned construction equipment, and saw the shadows begin to move.

“I know we…,” Rocky began to respond.

Bethany shot across the seat and grabbed the steering wheel. She pulled as hard as she could, causing the truck to veer left. They careened through the line of orange pylons and up onto the sidewalk, the truck’s tires squealing in protect.

“Bethany! What are you doing!” shouted Rocky, just as the shadowed monstrosity’s fist collided with the concrete where they had once been. A fragment shot forward, crashing against Rocky’s door and leaving a sizeable dent.

“Drive!” shouted Bethany, and Rocky stepped on the gas. They raced forward just as the shadow’s second strike fell behind them. Bethany clutched her seat as Rocky swerved around obstacles and shot out of the construction zone.

Bethany looked back and saw the shadow creature towering above the equipment. Bethany could feel its anger at their escape. The shadows began to break apart and slid along the ground to hide beneath the construction equipment once more.

“I think we are safe,” Bethany said with a deep sigh of relief.

Rocky turned off the road and into a well-illuminated parking lot.

“What the hell was that?” he shouted, out of breath and sweat pouring from his forehead.

“It came out of nowhere. How did you know it was there, Bethany?” asked Emily, her heart racing from the adrenaline rush.

“I don’t know,” Bethany said softly, staring out the front window, “I saw it happen. It killed you Rocky. It devoured Emily and me. It was a dream. A vision. But it felt so real. And then I saw the shadows moved, and I knew it would happen again if I did not do anything.”

Bethany felt nauseous as she recalled Rocky’s blood splattering across her face.

“The Gift of Insight! The talent you received from Thoth. Bethany, look at your eye!” Emily exclaimed excitedly.

Bethany flipped down the visor and stared into the small vanity mirror. Her Oracle Eye, once pure white, now had a minimalistic hourglass in its centre where the pupil would be. Tiny grains of sand flowed slowly from top to bottom. A timer, counting down the hours until her Gift of Insight could be used once more.

“It looks… nice,” Emily tried to comfort Bethany. “Very… um… mystic.”

Bethany closed the visor and sighed. The God Contest had marked her once again.

Diana, what did you do to me?