"I-It's in Denison," came the older voice from the other end of the call. Scarlette smiled a malicious smile.

"I knew you would cave eventually," she responded. "Now sit back and watch or flee, either way by this time tomorrow the branch will burn in crimson." A sigh came over the line.

"I cannot express the guilt you've caused me," she chuckled.

"I find it funny that even though you can justify it for your granddaughter you feel guilty anyway. I'll tell you this for your frail mind, you might have played judge and jury but I am still executioner." She looked out the large glass window of fort thirteen. "I will thank you though, you've given a perfect opportunity for me to test my new toy."

"I..." Scarlette laughed again.

"Don't push yourself old man. Just leave it all to me." She hung up and called a different number. Trem's voice came from the other end.

"Yes, mother?" he answered

"Bring your siblings to the top floor. We have a game of our own to play."

__________

Alina had woken out of breath and in a sweat. She had experienced a dream, one she could remember no detail of aside from a violent red. It was mere seconds before her alarm went off as usual. Tep was still asleep and she decided not to disturb him as she got ready for the program.

She set out with her usual blue scarf around her neck and her hair tied back. The walk to the manor wasn't long but she had started waking up early to allow her to take her time. At this point in the year, it meant she was out just as the sun started to rise and illuminate the mild landscape. She arrived at the manor to be met with a sight that instantly made her stomach sink.

Sledge and more specifically Lillian were out front standing in front of Marian and a group of other Kiyene. Based on their appearance and uniform they were Kiyene by blood. A recipe for trouble, Alina thought. They seemed to be asking questions in a rather unpleasant fashion. "What sorta Kinoun did you swap the blunt for?" taunted one?

"What family are you really from?" asked another. Marian stood with a smug yet shit-eating expression as she looked down upon Lillian. Alina couldn't see this going anywhere good.

"Good morning everyone!" she called out, forcing a cheery exclamation. A few only shot her glares while a few spoke. It was clear these were those without marks acting out of prideful jealousy.

"Keep walking," said one. "Go inside," spoke another. Cliche, Alina thought, that just makes it sound like you're up to no good. Still forcing an upbeat manner she responded.

"I was just going to see if I could steal these two from you guys. There was no response for a moment. The air became thick and Alina unconsciously held her breath.

"We were going to take them up to the river," Marian broke the silence with words feeling out of place.

"Even with our program beginning in an hour?" Marian shrugged.

"It's not like Brycen can say anything if it was my doing," she argued. Alina grimaced internally.

"We're not interested," said Sledge sheepishly, trying to work a way out.

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"We haven't even eaten yet," Lillian started. "I have no reason to go with you guys anyway." Shit, Alina though, that didn't sound good. Marian had gone from smug to aggravated instantly. She stepped towards Lillian while pushing Sledge aside.

"And why is that?" she asked sharply. Lillian momentarily contemplated responding politely but being frankly tired of Marian's disturbance in the morning went for the worse option.

"Because," she explained calmly with her own smug grin forming ever so slightly. "You are a bitch." Alina died internally.

Marian's mark was the first to activate with Lillian's immediately after. A bang and flash of silver stopped them dead. Alina was standing with her arm up and palm facing the sky. Whisps of smoke came off it as she gazed at the two in exasperation. "Both of you calm down. You're fighting over nothing." Ignoring the new ability Marian's eyes narrowed.

"You're just as bad as-" she was cut off by a male voice.

"All of you shut the fuck up." Thomas approached the tense group with a blank look that managed to communicate infinite displeasure. "You three," he pointed to Sledge, Marian, and Alina. "Get to your program with Marcus. And you," he gestured to Lillian. "Come with me." He looked over the other Kiyene. "Now I don't care who you lot are you can all fuck off."

Lillian followed Thomas up a hill on the opposite side of the manor. A river, likely the one Marian had mentioned flowed a distance below, carrying the odd leaf or branch down its rapid waters. Thomas let out a big sigh. "There's no good way to put this." That was enough to flutter Lillian's gut. "For any of this to make sense, I need to explain the game." Her dream replayed through her head. Game, yes the mysterious game.

"I've heard of it, what exactly is it?"

"You've heard of it?"

"Weird dream crown," she said simply. Thomas gave her an odd and concerning look.

"The game is a sort of competition between two entities. The will of the worlds and the will of the void. Candidates struggle for world pieces to have the chance to sort of invoke one of these as a crown. Which one depends on the person. It is the reason the candidates exist," he paused. "It was supposed to be simply that, you would get immense power from a crown, and as such people fought for them. What wasn't spoken of was the final phase, where by nature the two crown bearers would fight. They simply couldn't not, and well, in the last game it wasn't an even fight." Thomas's hands shook by his side. "Whole worlds were wiped out in the one-sided struggle," he half-whispered. Lillian was silent for a moment.

"So there was a game before," she realized softly.

"This world didn't have a world piece, it wasn't supposed to participate," he explained. "We- It was our fault that it will because we needed you." He turned to completely face her. After all that had happened, she could get by there being grand games and other worlds but such a direct correlation to herself startled Lillian.

"W-what?" she managed.

"We came to this world using a world piece and bringing it with because it held something, a page of sorts that could tell us where to find our salvation. According to it, that's you." Lillian's head was spinning around having trouble keeping track of what was exactly happening. "And by the way, the Twin Crown's Game starts at the end of tomorrow. I wish I could paint a better picture for you but you're just going to have to learn as time goes on." He looked down at the ground. "And the very fact you are a candidate means you have no choice in your participation, that applies to everyone else in your program. I'm sorry that it's you, really after everything that's happened to you I'm sorry." Further, it was odd that Thomas of all people was doing something such as apologizing.

"I," she clenched her fists briefly. "I never had a choice and never had control. If the crowns mean power then I will play this game willingly for that." Thomas looked relieved.

"I won't lie it will be hell. You'll see it's no different from war."

"It's always war isn't it." Thomas nodded.

"Humanity's greatest struggle is always against themselves." He sighed again, "and just so you're aware the stakes are pretty simple but well... If the crown of the void wins then the principle of void will be imposed, and all will be like it."

"And what about the game itself?"

"It's impossible to tell exactly what it will look like, not that it matters we'll know soon enough. Don't let the others know until it starts, if you're lucky your friends will stand by you and you can leave this shitty family behind. The game likely will still work on a family system, we have one of our own that the game should already recognize." A look of recollection crossed his face. "It's called Depravity."

__________

OMNI LOG:

Depravity chance = 79%;

Prevention canceled, preparing countermeasures for post Depravity registration.