Elijah woke up to see the next game was announced over the group chat. Xaawo announced the app would play a role in it, so it was the last chance to have it downloaded. The next game would take place in Fluado, of all places. Ooh la la, rich loser central. And that was several bus stops away, too. He hit up Valerie asking if she could drive, and she was willing to provided he gave some money for gas.
The resulting car ride was fairly uneventful. Elijah tried opening his app, and still nothing. Valerie let out some kind of annoyed grunt every time a poster for Eustace passed her vision.
After what felt like ages, they finally hit Fluado. Valerie tried parking, but all the public car parks were insanely expensive. Like, she knew it would be more expensive, but four times as much as the public parking? Fifteen smacks an hour? What kind of money are Fluado people making?
"For fifteen an hour, this shit better come with a massage." Elijah muttered.
"Happy ending included." Valerie grunted back.
"Hah, you said it." Elijah laughed. "Look, I have a better idea. Find a house that looks empty."
Valerie did as instructed, driving until she found a house with nothing in the driveway. Curtains looked older, and the windows weren't nearly as clean as every other house.
"Okay, when you leave, just act like you belong."
The two stepped out, and the only other person outside was an old man. Tall, in a green polo and an extremely fancy mustache.
"What's with you two?" He asked, squinting slightly.
"We just moved in." Elijah replied casually.
"People your age? This ain't a starter home, son." The man replied. He was clearly somewhat dubious, but Elijah stayed cool, while Valerie tried to match the tone.
"Got lucky in the stock market." Elijah shrugged. "And this seems like the place at least one rich as fuck stock guy would hang out, you feel me?"
"Think Marty does stocks. Lives seven doors down, left of here."
"I'll keep that in mind." Elijah said with a thumbs up. "Gotta do some shopping first, though."
So the two left the street, which was unknowingly opposite the nearest convenience store, and left to the local park. Valerie had her phone open to the group chat, wondering where the game was supposedly being held. Ines replied that it was being held in the same park they were heading to.
When they finally got there, they saw Ines, Tedros, and Ramon waiting for one of the gods. They exchanged an awkward wave towards each other, and Ines and Tedros looked in a random direction. Ines at a cute dog, and Tedros at a random tree. Ramon was focused on Elijah, and Elijah just silently responded with a look of annoyed confusion.
After a few minutes, Sybil and Blair arrived, both looking nervous.
"Were they in the last games?" Tedros whispered to Ramon.
"I think I saw them." Ramon confirmed. Tedros squinted at Blair, and that was enough to make her visibly uncomfortable.
But as they were sizing each other up, a limo appeared in front of them. Xaawo casually stepped out, donning a pair of designer sunglasses, as well as her suit being swapped out for a pristine white one. She waved the limo off, and it drove out without much issue.
"Hm, these the players?" She asked herself. "Shame Leon's team didn't come."
"Hey, what are you saying?" Elijah yelled.
"Nothing important!" Xaawo replied, snapping back to the players.
"Now, before the game begins, I'd like to congratulate you, alongside Leon's team, for making it to the top ten! And as promised, it's time for me to explain just what the point of this little experiment is!"
"Experiment?" Valerie asked. This sounded like something Allan would have come up with if he was still alive.
"Now, like we said, we're Gods, or rather, representatives of Gods. Halford, for example? He was team Christ, which seems to be the main religion here. Me? I was with a man named Huitzilopochtli, otherwise known as the ruler of the Aztecs. Kwaku was aligned with Dagda, leader of the Tuatha Dé Danann. And Junichi was a friend of Odin, leader of the ese. With me so far? Now, we were in charge of one of basically infinite timelines, with the goal of beating any other gods who show up to get more power for our respective gods, but we all failed, died, and were supposed to receive our punishments. But we heard through the grapevine about a little woman who recently won this timeline. See, she came to a little conclusion. There's a divine council with all these Gods, and they all seem to be buddy buddy with each other. So what's the point of this little game we all have to play, exactly? So the plan was this: we hide out here and host a little game, where a group of young, ambitious people fight tooth and nail for survival, the winner joining our ranks. A few more god reps in a few other timelines, and some more killing game winners, we'll be able to slowly build our ranks up, kill the higher up bastards, and finally end these stupid competitions! Gods can freely guide humanity forward, free of any 'divine council' playing weird games to mess with us! Doesn't that sound great?"
She was met with seven absent stares. Several looked like they were calculating queries about whatever they heard in their heads.
"Wait, why did you kill ten people before telling us what your plan was?" Was the first question, courtesy of Valerie.
"Well, we wanted to test your prowess devoid of a reward. Beyond staying alive, obviously. Take that Allan guy. Seems strong, but he'd try to take everything over if granted any sort of power, so it's probably for the best he died."
"And what the fuck makes you think we'd just ally with you?" Elijah yelled.
"Because, Elijah, it makes the most sense." Xaawo muttered, her joyful tone evaporated. "Although maybe a lack of cooperation could be your undoing."
"So, Halford and Junichi, the two dead gods." Tedros asked. "Where are they?"
"Afterlife." Xaawo said. "We have a secret hideout and everything."
"You need a hideout?" Ines asked
"Hey, we aren't the only people going against the gods." Xaawo shrugged. "Just the best at it."
"And is everyone else who died in the afterlife?" Blair asked.
"Should be." Xaawo confirmed. "Unless they already reincarnated, but doing that a few weeks after dying is extremely rare, especially if they died young."
Xaawo waited for more questions, but none were coming up.
"Alright, before I reveal the next game, I got one more little twist for everyone here. Our boss? She's related to someone still in the game."
The seven players lit up at the revelation. They began exchanging looks towards each other, to their teammates. Tedros, however, turned his focus to Xaawo, now smirking with pride at her attempt to stir up more drama. However, it didn't stop Sybil and Blair from looking at each other, and Valerie was observing a few people.
"But anyway, enough explanations, let's get the next game on the road!"