“Narcissism and self-deception are survival mechanisms without which many of us might just jump off a bridge.”

Todd Solondz, American Writer

“No!” Bethany shouted, reaching for her friends’ hands, and trying to tug them through the sliding glass door before they closed shut.

She didn’t make it.

Bethany slammed into the invisible barrier that had sealed the exit shut. The force knocked her to the floor and a shimmer of blue rippled out where she struck. The barrier encompassed not only the sliding doors, but the entire outer wall of the supermarket. An impenetrable prison for the Arena.

“Bethany, what’s the matter? What happened?” Rocky asked, helping Bethany to her feet.

“The North End Savers… it’s been turned into a God Arena,” Bethany explained, trying to fight against her growing fear. “I didn’t see the plaque until we were already inside.”

“It’s okay, Bethany. It’s not your fault,” Rocky comforted, placing a gentle hand on her tiny shoulder. He was remarkably composed, but Bethany could see the tiny tremble in his lip. He was putting on a brave face, but he was just as scared as she was. “We got through Thoth’s challenge. We’ll get through this one, right?”

“Yah… yah, we will,” Bethany answered, trying to give herself confidence.

She glanced towards the crowds of people frantically pushing shopping carts loaded to the brim across the store, oblivious to the danger. “Should we warn them?”

Emily hoisted her metal pole across her shoulders. “We don’t know what kind of challenge this is. What if they are competitors? We need to find someplace safe.”

“Hey, you’re blocking the door! Get out of the way, fat ass,” shouted a wrinkled blond woman barreling towards the exit with a shopping cart overflowing with canned vegetables and bags of flour.

“Ma’am, the doors won’t… Woah!” Rocky started, but Emily pulled him out of the way just as the woman slammed hard into the barrier, causing both cart and woman to spill to the ground.

“We can’t stay here. This will be ground zero for panic when this arena begins.” Emily said, pointing towards the store’s south-east corner near the pharmacy where there were fewer people. “Let’s move over there.”

Rocky was trying to help the wrinkled woman to her feet. She shoved him away and started to refill her cart, until two more players collided with the barrier and created a pile-up of groceries, metal, and man. They started shouting at each other as Emily led her friends over to the pharmacy.

They weaved their way through the store until they reached the south-east corner, not knowing what to expect. Bethany was relieved when they arrived without incident, and she took a moment to survey their surroundings. The shelves in this section of the store were chest-high rather than ten feet tall, creating a more open feeling. The shelves were stocked with off-the-shelf medicines, vitamins, and hygiene products. A small pharmacy department was built into the south-east corner, which had a narrow staff-only office and locked cabinets containing prescription medication. Bethany could see eight other people in the area, all of whom were busy loading off-the-shelf medication into their carts. Only the Indian mother and grandmother noticed them, before returning to their search for medicine to sooth the coughing toddler cradled in her mother’s arms.

“What did the plaque say, Bethany?” asked Emily anxiously, leaning up against the pharmacy’s long, pink counter. “What are we in for?”

“G.A. 1-142, Ares,” recited Bethany.

“Shit,” Emily spat. “Ares is the Greek god of war, and not the honor and glory kind. He’s more about bloodlust and brutality. This is not good.”

“How do you know that?” Rocky asked, impressed.

Emily pointed at her head. “Infinite Recall. I was up until three in the morning reading one of those mythology books we borrowed from the library yesterday. We need to know what we are up against, so I’m going to read them all.”

“And we are up against… war?” Bethany asked, not really wanting an answer.

“Umm… yah, pretty much,” Emily reluctantly concluded.

“… Shit.” Rocky and Bethany said, echoing Emily.

Rocky stared across throngs of people in the store. “There must be close to two hundred people here. Are we fighting monsters, or does Ares intend for us to fight each other?”

“Well, wouldn’t that be fun!” came an exited, high-pitched voice from behind the counter.

A Korean man leaped up onto the counter, his arms were laden with bags of pills that he had pried from the locked medicine cabinets. Wearing a dark trench coat and black cowboy hat, the man spun around in a flourish that revealed a silver dagger tucked into his belt and a half dozen small knifes tied to the inside of his coat. He flashed Bethany a broad smile and his eyes flashed with mischief.

He leapt down, and his heavy black boots made a loud thump that drew the attention of the Indian family. Dumping the bags of pills unceremoniously onto the counter, he started to run his finger along the hilt of his dagger. His eyes darted to Emily, and his hand wrapped around the dagger’s hilt.

Rocky stepped protectively between Emily and the stranger, his fireman’s axe clutched in both hands. Emily held her pole at her side and Bethany gripped her hammer tightly, their eyes never leaving the threatening stranger.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“You don’t want to do that,” Rocky warned with a growl.

The man in black returned their gaze with calculating eyes, until he suddenly barked out a laugh so loud that it caused it prompted a disapproving glare from the Indian grandmother. The man released his dagger and spread his arms wide in an elaborate motion to show he was not a threat.

“Excellent,” the man suddenly exclaimed. “You’ve all got balls. Especially the big one. I think I’m going to like you three.”

The man reached onto the counter, grabbed a bottle of painkillers, and swallowed a handful of the white pills inside. He held the bottle out to Bethany, shaking it enticingly.

“Umm… thanks, but I’m good,” Bethany said awkwardly.

The man smiled wickedly as he clicked the cap back onto the bottle. “How brave of you to face what we are in for without the marvel of painkillers. Brave, but also foolish. But I do enjoy the company of fools, for what better company is there. I am Zachary Choi. The Illustrious Mr. Zee, and I have no greater pleasure this day than making your acquaintance,” Zee gave them an exaggerated bow and threw each a playful wink.

“Now that you know my name, it is only proper that I know yours,” Zee continued, running a hand through this jet black, shoulder-length hair.

“I’m Rocky,” Rocky replied simply, still holding his axe tightly. “This is Emily and Bethany.”

“Relax, Balboa, I will not harm your women unless this game requires me to do so. And you should pray that it does not.”

Bethany cringed at the nickname, remembering the torment Rocky had gone through as a child. Yet Rocky did not correct him. The only indication of Rocky’s discomfort was a slight shuffling of his feet as his eyes remained fixed on the man with the dagger.

Shouts from the store’s entrance drew Bethany’s attention. A frustrated, angry, and increasingly desperate crowd had gathered in front of the sealed doors A tall man with a crowbar had shoved people aside to pry open the doors but could not break through the barrier. A brawl had broken out behind the check-out counters. A man carried his daughter on his shoulder, trying to keep her safe amidst the growing chaos.

“We can’t leave this store,” Zee said, disgusted by the unruly mob. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“This is not our first arena,” Bethany agreed. “And it’s not yours either.”

Zee grinned. “Beauty and brains. No, it is not, which is why I do not count myself amongst the dead and find myself here with you.”

“Perhaps you should be somewhere else,” Rocky said gruffly.

“Relax, Balboa. Save that protective instinct for what lay ahead,” Zee said dismissively.

Three high-pitched tones echoed across the store, and the supermarket’s loudspeaker crackled to life.

“Well, speak of the devil,” Zee laughed, staring up at hte ceiling. "Let's see if we are friend or foe."

“Here we go,” Bethany whispered to Emily and Rocky. "Be ready for anything."

A deep, rumbling voice began to address the crowd through the loudspeaker.

“Attention shoppers. Be still and be quiet, for you are in the presence of Ares, God of War and Courage!” Laced with an utter confidence in his own superiority, Ares voice was menacing and powerful, and it demanded obedience with every syllable.

The slow beat of a war drum began to boom from the ceiling high above. The shouts from the exit grew quiet, and the brawlers halted mid-blow as an eerie silence fell across the store.

Bethany looked towards the ceiling and saw hundreds of winged eyes, each assigned to a player below, perched on the beams that ran across the ceiling. She spotted Jitters amongst them, broadcasting her every reaction to the unseen godly audience.

“Good. Like lambs to the slaughter, you listen and obey. And make no mistake, you are all lambs and there will be slaughter.”

The chaos resumed, far greater than before. Shouts and screams spread like wildfire, and the mob pounded on the barrier in a desperate attempt to break free. The efforts amounted to nothing. The barrier was impenetrable.

“Silence!” Ares bellowed, his voice causing the supermarket floor to rumble as if an earthquake had struck. The voice had amusement hidden behind false anger, and Bethany knew Ares was intentionally stroking the chaos below. The scrambling of the players ceased, and once more you could hear a pin drop.

“Listen now, fragile mortals, and I shall explain to you the rules of my God Arena! But first, a gift for you.”

With an unseen snap of Ares’ fingers, hundreds of weapons appeared in the air above the players, dangling from the ceiling by invisible threads. Steel swords, axes, spears, and maces, all pointed downwards. The weapons hung there just long enough for the players to spot them before the threads broke and gravity hurled the weapons at players below.

Bethany dodged an iron-tipped spear, her feet moving faster than ever before. It struck the floor where she had previously stood and embedded itself in the tile. Her heart racing, she anxiously looked towards Emily and Rocky and was relieved when she saw them unharmed. Three more spears, a mace, and three daggers had crashed to the floor around their feet, and it was only luck that they had not been impaled.

“Nice footwork,” Zee said to Bethany with admiration, holding an iron dagger he had plucked from the air as it fell. “Beauty, brains, and speed. A deadly combination.”

“Rocky. Emily. Are you hurt?” Bethany asked, ignoring Zee.

“No, we are fine.” Emily started, but she was cut off by painful screams that erupted all across the supermarket.

“I guess not everyone had your speed,” said Zee impassively. “Or Emily and Rocky’s luck. They should have been better prepared.”

“Those are people out there, Zee,” Bethany scolded, her eye flashing with anger. “Families. Children.”

“Perhaps, or perhaps they are competitors. If you want to survive, you’d best learn that quick,” Zee replied grimly. He picked up another iron dagger off the floor and slipped it into his belt. “You'd better embrace it. In this Contest, if you stand around gawking like an idiot, something, or someone, will cut you down.”

“Someone like you, Zee?” Bethany retorted. “Are you an ally or an enemy?”

Zee held a finger to his lips and pointed towards the loudspeaker. “We’ll know in a moment.”

A shiver ran down Bethany’s spine as Ares resumed his arrogant instructions.

“I hope you enjoy my little gift to you. After all, what God Contest is complete without blood and iron?” Ares announced with amusement, his voice booming above the painful screams of the injured and dying. “In this world, only the strongest survive. Embrace this truth, and you may find yourselves amongst them. Deny it, and you will be crushed under the ambition of others.”

“Do you embrace that truth, Bethany?” Zee asked, his grin growing wider. “Are you ambitious, or are you just another fool, like those crowding the exit, begging for someone to save them?”

Bethany tightened her grip on her hammer. “I’m a fighter,” she answered simply. “We all are.”

“This truth forms the core of my challenge!” continued Ares. “My Arena shall judge whether you are strong enough, clever enough, and possess sufficient courage to survive this God Contest. It shall weed out the weak and the cowards to eliminate those who refuse to do whatever is necessary to survive.”

The war drums began to pick up their pace. The winged eyes on the ceiling above flapped excitedly.

“Here are the rules of this arena. They are as simple and brutal as war itself. Simply survive. Survive by any means possible. Survive until you can walk out the front doors of this supermarket. Make it outside, and you shall live and be rewarded.”

The war drums built to a crescendo as Ares’ declaration reverberated across the ceiling and filled the air around them.

“I will unseal the doors in ten minutes. Use the time well,” Ares concluded with a flourish. “My fellow Gods, the God Arena of Ares begins… Now!”

Then, all at once, the voice faded away and the war drums stopped. A giant digital timer appeared on the ceiling, glowing blood red and counting down to zero.