Sam whipped around, stunned.

Floating in front of the window behind him was a woman. She looked other worldly, her hair an unusual shade of blonde and bright glow to her symbol filled eyes. He knew she wasn’t human. The sizable wings on her back, made up of feathers colored the purest white he’d ever seen, held her up despite not moving at all.

This was the owner of that voice that brought him here.

“Goddess got your tongue?” The woman said, smiling slightly. “Come on, say something. The silent treatment is no fun.”

Sam glared at her, teeth gritted, the frustration and anger that’s mounted coming to a head. All this time fighting and struggling and this woman had the nerve to show up talking of fun as though she wasn’t responsible for this shit.

He clenched his fist and held it all back.

“Take me back.” Sam said.

“Wow, not wasting anytime. Not worried about abandoning the people that depend on you?”

“They’re not my responsibility.” His answer came immediately.

“So cruel.” The woman shifted and she floated closer to him, laying in midair with her head laid on crossed arms. Even then, her wings barely moved, the laws of physics casted aside in the face of her ethereal existence. “That decisiveness must be what kept you alive so long.”

“Cruel?” Sam muttered the word in disbelief. Him, cruel? “You sent me here to fucking die and you’re calling me cruel. You-“ He paused, dragging the lid back over his bubbling anger. It wouldn’t help. “Send me home.”

“So close. Come on, little sacrifice, there’s no need to hide your feelings from me. I know everything there is to know about you.” She shifted again, floating around the room. “I can’t fathom why you’re so desperate to return. Not a single person noticed you went missing yet. How sad is that?” She twisted herself upside down and crossed her arms. “No friends, no girlfriend. Not even family…not any that wants you anyways.” Still upside down, the woman floated over the desk, her blonde locks dragging across the books and wood, eye level with him. “You meant nothing.”

Sam slammed his fist onto the desk, his teeth grinding together. “You think I give a damn about other people? I didn’t spend over years struggling to build my life so it can all be snatched away overnight!” His voice picked up into a yell, anger on full display despite his best attempts to keep it leashed.

“There it is.” The woman’s smile widened and she flipped herself, landing cross legged on the desk. “You might have a useful trait but you’re still human, little one. Bottling things up inevitable lead you mortals to one thing; regret.” She pressed a fist to her chin and leaned forward, poking his forehead with a dainty finger. “You’ll do well to remember that.”

Sam’s anger dwindled, the caring tone she spoke in throwing him for a loop. He hadn’t felt this lost since arriving here.

She leaned back with a sigh. “You might find this difficult to believe, but I’d send you home if I could. Alas, I lack the authority to do such a thing.”

“Aren’t you a god?”

“Of sorts.” With a flap of her feathered wings she rose back off the desk, caught the edges of her fluttering white dress and performed an exaggerated curtsy. “Hecate, lowest ranked deity and creator of the realm you call home, at your service.”

Sam stared.

He didn’t know what to feel right now. This topped all the crazy crap that’s happened so far.

“I have come to correct my mistake and properly inform you about this game you’ve found yourself in.” Hecate cupped her face, looking upwards and began muttering to herself. “Let’s see where should we begin? The nature of realms…no that isn’t important. The Grand Creator? That won’t help him survive. Maybe…..ugh! It’s been so long since I’ve done this. You know what? You ask the questions and I answer, things should work out far better that way.”

“Why? Why is this-this game a thing?”

“The long and short of it? We deities used to fight in much the same fashion you humans do, but that proved far too destructive. This game took the place of all that bloodshed. Mortals fight on behalf of deities and their accomplishments translate into tangible influence for that deity. It’s the only real way for us to obtain power in this era.”

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“So we’re just playthings then?”

“Proxies, avatars, representatives; there are plenty of other words you could use, but, yes. Ultimately you’re all here to carry out the will of your realm’s deity, like it or not.”

Sam pressed a hand to his forehead. He felt numb, like this whole conversation was just some fever dream cooked up by an overworked mind. Could he even believe this so called deity? The explanation felt contradictory to her treatment of him up until now.

“If I’m suppose to be your ticket to power why throw me into all of this without an explanation? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Truthfully? If it weren’t for certain rules that require the participation of all deities, you and I wouldn’t be here right now. I gave up on all of this long ago.” The glow of Hecate’s eyes dimmed, her wings lowering. “Tutorials, gifts, advice, I use to do so much to try and support the ones unlucky enough to be drawn into this game but it didn’t matter. You all die, every last one of you.”

“So what? We aren’t good enough so you abandon us and throw us to the-“ A brutal pressure crashed onto Sam’s back, his cheek slammed onto the desk. The wooden splintered beneath the force.

Hecate glowered down at him, an intense glow returning to her eyes, as she rose ever so slightly higher. “Watch your mouth, boy.” The pressure intensified with each word, her voice burrowing into his mind. Mai wielded power Sam could only dream of matching but this woman? He couldn’t begin to understand the depths of the divine wrath brought to bare upon him.

The power and glow vanished all at once, Hecate’s eyes closed. “You may be unique but death is all that awaits, little one. Would you have preferred I fed you lies beforehand? Have you believe there’s a chance you’ll make it out of this?”

Sam slowly sat back up, jaw clenched, hands quivering. He had to choose his words carefully least that incomprehensible pressure saw a return.

“If your so sure I’m going to die, why bother explaining things now?”

“Initially, I desired for you to have a quick death and be spared any prolonged suffering, but you’ve proven yourself too tenacious for such a thing.” Hecate said. “Without any assistance, you’ve survived longer than most. I can’t comprehend what drives you so, but I will respect your wishes.”

There’s plenty more he wanted to ask but one question outweighed all the rest. The one he’d been holding off on since the beginning.

“How do I get back home?” Sam said after a deep breath. The answer scared him so much that he hesitated to ask but ignorance would do him no good.

“I lack the authority to answer that question.”

“What?”

“There are many rules attached to this game, the purpose of which are to restrict the interference of us deities.”

“Is it possible for me to return home?” Sam framed the question differently, still hopeful.

“I lack the authority to answer that question.”

It took every once willpower he had not to show his frustration. Were all the big questions going to be off the board?

“What about this whole leveling system? Why is mine different than the others?”

“Now that, I can answer.” Hecate said, perking up and once more sitting herself on the desk, happy to finally be able to say something else. “What do you suppose the experience points you’re little party members have been gathering are?”

Sasha and Ivan said they earned experience from killing things, completing quests, and, their latest discovery, clearing dungeons. They earned smaller amounts doing things like cooking and other mundane activities; not enough to be useful but a detail worth noting. Said experience turned to attribute points at specific thresholds and allowed for unreal growth.

All in all he didn’t have the slightest clue.

“I don’t know.” Sam admitted. How the hell was he expected to rationalize people well on their way to becoming nearly twice as strong and twice as fast in a few weeks time? Or Ivan’s skin becoming so resilient that the zombies hadn’t been able to pierce it.

“You really are no fun.” Hecate poked at his face, now revolving around him. The childish persona disturbed him to his very core. This deity jumped between moods so quickly there was no telling what she might do. “Is that intelligence rank just for show? Come on, guess.”

“Power?”

“Come now, little one, you are far smarter than that. If mortals naturally gained power in such a fashion, many realms would be unrecognizable. Technology certainly wouldn’t have advanced the way it did in mine if you were all too busy killing each other.”

“Experience is a mix of two things: approval from one’s deity and that mortal’s ability to contain Divine Essence. Once certain milestones are hit deity’s typically bestow a portion of their Divine Essence upon their proxy.” Hecate explained. “Attribute points are simply that essence in a quantified form that mortals can comprehend and make use of.”

“Divine essence?”

“A miniscule portion of the, let’s say energy, that makes up us gods. Any amount is an immense source of power for mortals.”

Sam didn’t know if was the absurdity of everything up until now but the explanation made enough sense. The power everyone wielded came from their respective deity. That meant any possibility of obtaining the same growth the others were undergoing hinged entirely on Hecate.

The very same deity who labeled him a sacrifice and confessed to not wanting to participate in this hellish situation.

“You don’t plan on giving me any of this divine essence do you?”

“Of course not. You should consider your personal ID a catalogue of your accomplishments rather than something functional.” Hecate floated away and looked down at him with pity? “I may have chosen to respect your decision but make no mistake, I do not approve of it. Everything you’ve done up until now has gone directly against my wishes.”

“Give up your ignorant hopes for survival and cease this meaningless struggle. The sooner you accept death, the sooner you’ll be free of this cruel game.”

Lay down and die.

She dressed it up in fancy words and twisted logic but he got the message loud and clear.

Lay down and die.

The literal goddess and self dubbed creator of his realm was telling him to kill himself.

Sam chuckled. It was a bitter. Humorless.

How many people would kill to meet their creator? To be able to ask questions that no amount of human ingenuity could answer? Here he was instead of those fools full of blind faith and he was being told to end it all.

What kind of twisted situation was this?