“The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.”

Albert Einstein

Bethany leaned over the back of her couch, staring at the ocean waters. The moon was high overhead, casting its muddled reflection on the ocean’s wavy surface. The light snow had turned into a gentle rain as a warm wind from the east mixed with the mountain cold.

The weather had grown more unpredictable with every day that passed. Regina had been thrust into an unnatural existence between four terrains that had no business being this close together, and the weather was responding accordingly. Another growing danger in a city submerged in chaos.

Tonight, the combination had simply caused a gentle rain to fall on the refinery, and for that Bethany was grateful. Fat raindrops fell on the windowsill, lending their soft pitter patter to the otherwise quiet room. As always, she was the last to fall asleep, save for Elias who had volunteered as watch for the night.

She reluctantly tore her gaze away from the ocean and returned it to the two objects unfolded on her coffee table.

The map of Regina – a physical copy from an age before Google Maps – had been given to her by Officer Shephard on the day she’d arrived in the city. The woman had been kind to Bethany, and her early guidance had helped keep Bethany fed and safe during those first few days away from home.

Next to the map was the aged scroll they’d won from the god Thoth in his knowledge arena. Between scavenging and fighting monsters, they’d had precious little time to contemplate the riddle contained within in the week since they’d received it.

Bethany had been studying the map and riddle for the past hour, trying to memorize as much detail as she could. Emily had memorized both thanks to her Infinite Recall talent, but that wouldn’t help Bethany where she was going.

She yawned – a deep yawn that spoke of a tired body ready to overcome a willing mind. Rolling up the scroll, she stashed it between the pages of an old white binder labeled ‘Refinery 2008 Financial Statement’.

“We should store it in a safe,” Rocky had remarked when he’d first hidden the scroll in the binder. “Which is exactly why a safe is a bad place to keep it. A thief will go straight for the safe, and with everyone getting these crazy powers, I don’t think a safe is very secure. Hell, Emily could probably break into the company president’s safe in under two minutes.”

Emily formed her metal claws. “I’d only need one,” she bragged, as she began slicing away at the orange she held. Her confidence made Bethany laugh.

“But no one – and I mean, no one – is going to search through company financial statements,” Rocky concluded. “Not even the accountants.”

Another yawn escaped Bethany as the memory faded. She slipped the binder back into place on the shelf and returned to her couch. She lay her head on her soft pillow, snuggled into her fluffy blue blanket, and closed her eyes.

In the moment before she drifted off to sleep, she wondered where she would end up tonight.

Her dreams…

Or the void…

* * *

Bethany opened her eyes to a darkness so deep that it prickled her skin. The only source of light were tiny pinpricks in the distance that resembled stars, and the sliver of light that was the hidden door into God Home. Beyond the door, she could hear the faint murmurs of secretive gods, and the drunken cheers of those lost in the revelry that came hand-in-hand with the God Contest.

“I guess it’s the void tonight,” Bethany whispered as she strolled over to the sliver of light. Her footfalls fell silently upon the darkness as she reached her fingers through the light, grabbed hold of ancient wooden frame, and closed the door. The sliver of light vanished and the distant voices from God Home went silent. All that remained were the pinpoint lights in the vastness.

Bethany activated her Oracle Eye and the void around her came to life. She found herself again on that ethereal meadow pond, the firefly light of her fellow players teeming below its surface. She felt the intense desire to lose herself in their energy and let it fill her until she was sated. Yet Bethany shielded away from its enticements, knowing the bitter taste of death and decay that lay beyond the light.

Bethany focused on the firefly light around her and twisted her wrist. Their light faded into the background as if she had turned the dimmer switch of a lightbulb. The enticement of their energy diminished.

Since acquiring the Spiritual Bridge, Bethany had found herself in the void as often as her dreams, though the nature of the void remained a mystery to her. She didn’t know if it was a part of God Home or something else entirely. For all she knew, it was little more than a forgotten storage closet in a godly realm.

She’d asked Diana about it, but her guide had stared uncomprehendingly at her student.

“What you are describing, Bethany, is not within my realm of knowledge,” Diana admitted after Bethany kept relentlessly prying. “Either Oracle kept that knowledge to herself when she created me, or this void is not known to the Goddess of Foresight and Prophecy. The latter explanation has ramifications that I do not wish to contemplate. If this void exists, you must keep it a secret from both mortal and god. The gods don’t react kindly to those with knowledge beyond their own.”

Bethany had heeded Diana’s advice, but without her knowledge and guidance, Bethany had taken to exploring the nature of the void through trial and error.

She knew the void was not a simple vacuum like outer space. The darkness was responsive to her thoughts and emotions, and each time subsequent time she found herself in the void, she was able to exert more control over her surroundings. It was as if the void were a blank slate – a canvas that its dreaming intruder could bring to life.

At first, all she could do was dim the firefly lights so she wouldn’t be drawn towards their intoxicating energy as she had when she’d first received the Spiritual Bridge. Yet once their temptation was suppressed, she found herself able to manipulate the small area around her in the same way as she could manipulate her dreams.

During her second visit, she figured out how to materialize objects – couches, chairs, and a coffee table – to create a cozy replica of her office bedroom, though the objects lacked fine detail. Her ability to create objects in the void was limited by her memory and ability to focus. The canvas would not fill in the gaps. However, once Bethany created an object she liked, she could recall it during a subsequent visit with little effort, as if the darkness saved her creations.

The realization that there could be continuity within the void – that she could use the void as her own mental sanctuary – had changed her perspective. The void became a place of contemplation in an otherwise chaotic world. It was the reason she’d spent the night memorizing the riddle scroll and the map of Regina.

Finally, a week after the Arena of Thoth, she had time and a place to contemplate the meaning of the riddle.

With a wave of her hand, Bethany recalled the replica of her office couch and coffee table next to her, ready to create tonight’s sanctuary.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Let’s start with the basics,” Bethany said. In the blackness beneath her feet, Bethany inscribed Rocky’s three questions and added key points under each one.

Who can win

* Team game, but only five victors?

* Contest/Arenas designed to tear allies apart.

How we win

* Stick with Emily and Rocky

* We will make mistakes. Adapt and move on

* Play the game. Get stronger. Fight and earn talents. Explore

* Don’t aimlessly wander. Find and decode the riddles. Keep the information secret

How long we play

* Plan for years but keep pushing forward. Don’t slow down. Don’t give up.

* Early stockpiling of supplies is important – food, medicine, necessities, luxuries.

“There. Now, let’s figure out this riddle.”

In her small-town library – her childhood sanctuary from the violence and neglect of home – Bethany had lost herself in riddles she’d found in old newspapers. She’d built her own system for solving them – a system that she could now materialize in the world around her with a thought.

She closed her eyes and focused on each word of the riddle. She needed to get it exactly right, lest she miss something critical.

Once she was certain she had them, Bethany opened her eyes. The riddle floated in the air in front of her – plain white lettering against the blackness of the void.

In the depths of the world lay five orbs, 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, reshaped in loneliness

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

One 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

“Yes! It worked,” Bethany said excitedly. As with her dreams, the more she practiced in the void, the easier it became. She could manipulate the letters with a simple flick of her finger.

“Now, let’s do the easy part first. The first and last lines tell us there are five orbs and that we need to bring them together to end the God Contest. Rocky figured that part out after Thoth’s Arena.”

Bethany flicked her finger, and the two lines separated from the rest of the riddle. She added both to the How long we play section of the three questions.

“That boils the essence of the riddle down to these five lines, each a clue to the location of an orb,” Bethany surmised.

Bethany mentally separated the void around her into five sections and materialized a cork board for each section. They had cork boards like this at the refinery, where, at the end of each day, Rocky consolidated information on monsters, scavenging sites, weather patterns, and players they encountered. He called them his ‘murder boards’ – a term used in military, business, and in murder mystery shows as a means of identifying patterns.

With a flick of her finger, the five lines flew apart and attached themselves to one of the boards. Bethany now had five murder boards of her own – one for each orb.

“Fire. Water. Earth. Wood. Metal,” Bethany recited as she slowly circled around the boards. “Heart, blood, skin, lungs, bones. Crowded strife. Loneliness. Free from chains. Breathing life. Bound in the depths.”

She repeated those words aloud, over and over, as if the repetition would reveal a hint as to their meaning. After her tenth circle, she gave an exasperated sigh and collapsed onto the couch. She stared up at the endless blackness as she circled her fingers with her temples.

She needed a distraction – something to clear her frustrated mind. In the darkness above, she began to create a model of Regina. She hadn’t been able to memorize the entire map, but she remembered enough to build a rough sketch of the major roads and landmarks.

“Police Headquarters. The Legislature. RCMP Training Center. Airport. University,” she recited as she added in each of the five factions she’d seen in her dream to the upside-down map taking shape over her head. She added in the Refinery, Northend Savers Supermarket, the downtown towers and library, and the Science Centre, as well as a rough outline of Wascana Park that ran across the city.

“Arena of Dolos. Arena of Thoth. Arena of Ares,” she counted off as she added a golden star outside the Science Center, at the downtown library, and at the supermarket.

“Add in the major roads - Victoria Avenue, the Lewvan, Albert Street… umm… a bunch of names I can’t remember. The one outside the refinery is… MacDonald… I think? And… the Ring Road, of course...”

Her final addition to the map – at least until she could memorize more of it – was the great stone wall that now encircled the city. Rising a hundred feet into the air, it was all that separated them from the four terrains beyond – the northern mountain range, the southern rainforest, the wide-open plains in the west, and the Mediterranean sea to the east. She added a segment after the wall with the terrains labeled, though it lacked any details save for the single island in the archipelago that she could see from her window.

They had never been beyond the walls. As far as they knew, no one had. Its great gates had remained sealed ever since the first day of the Contest.

“This world was designed with a purpose, so its every aspect of its creation is a clue to its true nature,” Bethany muttered. They were Rocky’s words, and she had taken them to heart.

Her mind drifted to the dream she’d had on the eve of the God Contest. She’d been standing on a hilltop, staring out at the four terrains that stretched endlessly into the distance. Paralyzed with panic, Diana had taken her to a beach on an isolated island, beyond the horizon of that great Mediterranean sea. There, against the gentle sway of the palms and the soothing waves, she had found a peace beyond any she’d experienced in her short life.

She longed to find that peace once more. A place where she could sit and listen to the waves, feel the warm breeze across her skin, look out at the gorgeous blue water and…

“Oh, for fuck sakes. I’m such an idiot!” she scolded as she dashed over to the Water murder board.

One is of water, of the blood, reshaped in loneliness

She wrote “Ocean terrain” underneath the line of the riddle as she released a triumphant shout.

She ran around the circle of murder boards, adding a terrain to each.

“Earth is the plains terrain, and wood must be the rainforest. Those two obvious. That leaves metal and fire. One for the mountains, and the other for… for what? There are only four terrains.”

She wagged her finger, and the two lines appeared before her.

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

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

“The mountains could be fire or metal. Volcanoes or mining. But… crowded strife. Mountains aren’t crowded. They are vast and empty. The only thing around here that’s crowded is…”

Her eyes grew wide as she stared up at the model of the city above her.

“Regina!” she said with a whoop of success. “Crowded strife is a pretty accurate description of the city right now. And the city lays at the heart of the four terrains. That’s got to be it.”

Bethany collapsed back on the couch as a sense of relief washed over her, which was quickly replaced by growing apprehension.

“Of course, ‘heart’ and ‘crowded strife’ aren’t much to go on. It could be anywhere in the city. Thoth said this was the first guidance scroll. We need the others scrolls, which means we need to find more Knowledge Arenas. And win them.”

Bethany gazed up at the rough city above her. “And we need to do it fast. There are a hundred and fifty thousand people – players – remaining. We need to secure three of the five orbs if Rocky, Emily, and I are going to escape this place. We don’t have time to play it cautious.”

Her thoughts drifted to Elias, Anjali, Priyanka, and the three children, but she pushed the thoughts aside before guilt crushed her spirit.

She gazed at her work in the void. She was pleased with the night’s progress, but it felt like something was missing.

“The riddles. Rocky’s questions. But that’s not everything, is it? I need my own list. Bethany’s list – just for me,” Bethany concluded. “It was a list that helped me escape from my father. A list that kept me hopeful when I first arrived in Regina.

Bethany focused, and a journal appeared on the coffee table – a mirror image of the one she’d been given by the nurse at sixteen years old. She picked it up, materialized a pen, and began to write

1. Survive

2. Protect my friends

3. Solve the riddles

4. Find the orbs

5. Never give up

She stared at the list for a long while, tapping the pen on the page. If she were any other player, that would be enough.

Her Oracle Eye flashed in the darkness.

“But I’m not just another player, am I?” Bethany admitted to herself. “I’m not meant to have this Eye. I’m not meant to have the Spiritual Bridge. I definitely shouldn’t be able to access the Void or walk the halls of the gods. As if this God Contest thing wasn’t difficult enough without whatever is happening to me.”

Bethany sighed and added a final line to her list.

6. Why me? Figure out the game behind the game

With that, she closed the journal and set it down on the coffee table. With a snap of her fingers, her murder boards, lists, and the model of the city vanished, ready to be summoned when she found herself in the void on another night.

All that remained was the leather couch in the darkness and the faint light of the souls of her fellow players swimming below that invisible pond.

Bethany lay on the couch, closed her eyes, and fell asleep in the void.

Its darkness settled over her like a mother wrapping a child in a warm blanket, and her mind was finally able to rest.