The God Contest Regina

“When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching – they are your family.”

Jim Butcher, American Author

“You need more sleep, Rocky,” Emily whispered outside Bethany’s door. “Go back to bed.”

“I’ll sleep better knowing she is alright, Em,” Rocky’s deep voice carried through the walls. “If I can just heal her ankle and your ribs a little bit more…”

“Absolutely not,” Emily ordered, tolerating no disagreement. “You look like death. You need to recover. And you don’t have to heal us by yourself anymore.”

Bethany quietly giggled as she eavesdropped, pulling on her white flower-print blouse. After the horrors they had been through, the reminder that she could still laugh brought her a measure of comfort.

They sound like a married couple. And… and they should be a couple, damn it! Life’s too short to keep their feelings for each other hidden.

It was such a small thing next to the precarious reality they found themselves in. It wasn’t critical to their survival. It wouldn’t make the difference between life and death. Yet it was tangible and completely within their control – a small gift of happiness within their grasp. The need to realize that happiness grew in Bethany mind until she could stand it no longer. She grabbed her crutch and threw open her door.

Emily and Rocky stood outside, surprised at her sudden appearance. Rocky’s face was sunken from exhaustion, dark bags under his eyes. Emily wore a loose shirt, her ribs tightly bandaged.

“Maybe he’d go back to bed if you joined him,” Bethany teased, the words more aggressively insistent than she intended.

“Bethany… what… I don’t… that’s not…” Rocky sputtered, a deer in the headlights.

Mortified, Bethany started to backtrack, wondering what had come over her, until Emily gave an unexpected response.

“Maybe I will,” Emily replied simply. It was an intimate admission that made Bethany’s heart leap. Rocky stared at her, wide-eyed, as Emily grabbed hold of his hand and held it in hers. “After that arena… you were right, Bethany. What have I got to lose?”

Emily stared into Rocky’s eyes and let the reluctance she had built within herself crumble.

“You look like a goldfish, Rocky,” she laughed as his mouth opened and closed silently as he tried to process what was happening. He finally managed to squeeze her hand, giving her the courage to go on.

“It’s been… a difficult week, to say the least, and it has changed everything,” she started, her eyes flicking between his and the carpet beneath their feet. “We almost died. Twice. We’ve seen the darkness in each other’s lives and come out stronger. You’ve always been there for me…”

Rocky started to protest, blushing as he tried to downplay it, but Emily cut him off with a gentle finger to his lips.

“No, Rocky, you have always been there. Always. Infinite Recollection, remember? I see our entire friendship laid bare before me and I know… I know what I’ve always known. Before we walked into that supermarket, Bethany asked me what I had to lose by telling you how I felt. I was scared because you mean everything to me.”

“You mean everything to me too,” Rocky managed to whisper, his words so soft that Bethany strained to hear them.

“I guess… I didn’t want to risk it… but now. After that? Fuck it,” Emily said, as she tipped Rocky’s chin up with her finger and kissed him passionately.

Rocky froze in momentary shock, then relaxed and leaned into the kiss. He placed his hands on her hips and returned her kiss with all the feelings he had held back for so long.

Bethany squealed like the girls she had avoided in high school, unable to contain her excitement.

Emily and Rocky separated, their hands still clasped together and their eyes promising more to come.

“I mean…” Emily joked, breaking the tension. “We might get killed by a shadow monster or a Spartan or some other monstrosity at any time, so I might as well shack up with someone, right?”

“That… was not in any of my survival plans,” Rocky added with a smile, his brain still processing their kiss. “But it will be now.”

Emily laughed and gave him a swift kiss before she turned her attention to Bethany.

“And you, young lady,” she said in a motherly voice. “I don’t know where you’ve picked up that filthy mind of yours. This God Contest has been a bad influence on you.”

Bethany just shrugged, still beaming.

“Well, just keep it in check around our guests,” Emily instructed with a smirk. “They’ll be in the kitchen by now, and the children are quite impressionable.”

“Our… guests?” asked Bethany. She shifted her weight on the crutch as she gazed down the main stairway. In the distance, she could hear the clatter of pots and pans and the murmur of voices. “They came back with us?”

“More mouths to feed,” Rocky said sarcastically, finding his voice again.

Emily nudged him, then hissed in pain as the movement aggravated her ribs. Rocky placed his hand below her breasts and, before she could protest, gave her a dose of healing energy. Emily’s breath steadied, her eyes glaring both disapproval and gratefulness.

“Come on, Bethany,” Emily waved, heading down the stairs. Rocky followed close behind, his meaty hand resting tenderly on the small of her back.

“I’ll be down in a moment,” Bethany called after her, letting the two new lovebirds have a few moments to themselves.

Bethany hobbled back into her room and grabbed the two silver coins on the coffee table. They sparkled in the morning light, and she shoved them in her pocket for the Emporium downstairs.

“I will get stronger,” she promised herself. “We will all get stronger.”

She glanced out the window and watched the sun rise over ocean waters, its warmth evaporating the droplets that clung to the window.

“Be brave, little bee,” she whispered to herself. The words felt bitter on her lips, soaked in spoiled memories, but they were her words now. A reminder that she had already survived hell once.

“And I will survive it again. You just watch me.”

With that, she left her room and hobbled slowly down the stairs.

* * *

Bethany entered through the lunchroom’s swinging doors, and her heart lit up at what lay beyond. Stacks of food, pharmaceuticals, diapers, and hygiene products, sorted into haphazard piles, lined the walls. Rocky and Emily hovered across the nearest table, discussing where to store it all.

Anjali sat by the row of microwaves, heating up a bottle of formula for Jaya, who was lying on a blanket on the floor, giggling. She dabbed a droplet of formula on her wrist to check its temperature before lifting Jaya to feed.

The infant squirmed, and Anjali had to continually adjust her posture, as if the infant were unfamiliar to her.

Bethany could see why. The infant, who had been eight months old yesterday, looked like she had aged another four months overnight.

“It was that golden disk,” Anjali explained as Bethany approached, her eyes filled with uncertain tears. “It was the last one, and I didn’t know what it did. It just… It just flew at her and showered her with that dust. When I woke up this morning, Jaya was just… like this. I… I don’t know what to do.”

Bethany could hear the fear behind the mother’s words.

The toddler with the up arrow. It’s making her grow up fast. I guess an infant wouldn’t give the gods much energy. It must be their way of… fattening her up?

It was a cruel thought, and Bethany kept it to herself.

“Jaya can’t defend herself as an infant,” Bethany said, resting a comforting hand on Anjali’s shoulder. “The contest is giving her a fighting chance. It’s probably a good thing, though I can imagine how strange it must feel.”

Jaya cooed in Anjali’s arms. Her eyes darted about the room, curious and more keenly aware of her surroundings than they had been yesterday.

“I don’t know when she will stop growing,” Anjali said with a brave, half-hearted laugh. “Maybe she’ll miss the terrible twos.”

“Maybe,” Bethany chuckled. “The disk had an image of a toddler. Maybe she will grow until she reaches that size, when she can start comprehending the world around her.”

“I wish her father was here,” she said, her eyes on the verge of tears. “He was in the oil field when the contest started.”

“Your husband wouldn’t be any help,” Priyanka barked from the nearby table. Anjali’s mother-in-law looked as exhausted as Rocky did. She was sitting between Harmony and Brandon, their eyes puffy and red after a night of tears. Brandon stared intently at a can of peas at the other end of the table. Three other cans lay at his feet, slightly dented. His twin sister drew on white construction paper with crayons.

Priyanka whispered to the children, who nodded, then walked over to Bethany. She knelt on old knees and wrapped her hands around Bethany’s wounded ankle.

“What…,” Bethany started to ask, until Priyanka’s hands glowed blue and the soreness in her ankle began to fade. She sat down, basking in the woman’s healing touch. Priyanka’s healing magic was different – stronger – than Rocky’s healing. Instead of a cool compress, Priyanka’s felt like she had been wrapped tightly in a heated towel.

“He wouldn’t know what to do with Jaya. Ajay would just strut around, trying to take charge,” Priyanka grumbled. “Appa would do the same. No, we’re better off without them.”

“Sasu ma…,” Anjali started to protest.

“Better off without them,” Priyanka reiterated, but her eyes were distant. “They are better off where they are. Where they are safe.”

She whispered the last part, a note of grief escaping her tough exterior.

A silence fell between them, until a scraping sound drew Bethany’s attention. She looked up just in time to see the can of peas slide itself across the table towards Brandon. It picked up speed and it flew directly into Brandon’s hands.

“I caught it this time!” shouted Brandon with triumph, holding the can for Priyanka to see. Bethany stared wide-eyed at the child.

“Telekinesis,” whispered Anjali to Bethany with a smile. “Kid’s going to be a menace.”

Priyanka gave him a grandmother’s smile. “That was much better, Brandon. You are getting good. Keep practicing.”

Brandon beamed for a moment, and then his face fell, his eyes filled with guilt for experiencing the moment of happiness.

“Thanks,” mumbled Brandon, returning to his grief. He picked up the three cans at his feet and positioned all four in a line at the other end of the table. He returned to his spot, his chin resting against the table, and began again.

“Poor things,” Anjali said quietly. “Their mother was all they had in this world. To see her killed… Sasu ma and I are going to care for them.”

“We’ll all care of them too,” Bethany affirmed. “We’re in this together.”

“Finished!” Harmony exclaimed. She dropped her crayon and held up her picture for Brandon to see. It was a crude sketch of a horse, outlined in lime green and filled with pink and purple polka dots.

Brandon lifted his chin, studied it, and gave it a thumbs down. “Too girly,” he muttered.

Harmony puffed her cheeks out in anger and set the paper gently down on the table. Closing her eyes, she grabbed the drawing between her index finger and thumb and lifted, as if she were peeling off a sticker.

Bethany stared in wonder as Harmony set the drawing down on the table. The three-inch tall, two dimensional pink and purple polka dotted horse stood on its own, its head swishing back and forth. Harmony gave a clap of joy and twirled her finger. The horse began to trot in a circle around the table, head held high like a show horse.

Brandon held out his fingers absentmindedly, and his twin sister made her horse leap over his fingers like in a show jumping competition.

Harmony laughed and pointed towards Priyanka, and the horse galloped to the end of the table. Priyanka held her finger out and scratched the creature’s paper nose.

“Unbelievable,” whispered Bethany in awe.

Harmony pointed towards the kitchen. The horse leapt off the table and galloped across the floor and around the kitchen counter, out of sight.

Elias strolled out of the pantry behind the counter, his arms laden with giant pots and pans. He wore a sleeveless black shirt that was one size too small, and blue jeans that were one size too big, no doubt scavenged from the exercise lockers. His hair was damp from a recent shower, and his towel gently resting across his shoulders. Bethany felt sudden heat in her cheeks.

Elias set his burden on the stove and bent down. When he came up, he held the paper horse in his palm, the drawing lifelessness.

“It made it further this time, Harmony,” Elias praised, walking over and setting the horse on top of a pile of similar animal drawings. “You’re doing really well.”

Harmony gave him a grin, then burst into tears as her grief returned.

Priyanka let go of Bethany’s ankle and rushed over to the child to embrace her, practiced from a long night of comforting the children. Harmony buried her face into Priyanka’s shoulder and bawled as Priyanka stroked her back.

Elias walked over to Bethany and Anjali, wiping his hands on the towel around his shoulders. He gave Bethany a subtle smile.

“They lost their mother and gained amazing magical powers in the same day,” Elias said. “They don’t know how to feel right now.”

“Do any of us?” asked Anjali, and an awkward silence fell between them.

“They’ve been very brave,” Elias said to break the silence. “If any of my sisters were here, I’d be losing my mind. Thankfully, they didn’t come with us from the farm on that day. It was just me and dad.”

“Your dad. Did he…” Bethany started to ask, then stopped as she saw Elias look down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s okay, Bethany” Elias said, though he didn’t elaborate. “I’m alone in here now, just like Brandon and Harmony.”

“Then we’ll all be alone together,” Emily called as she and Rocky joined them by the microwaves. She rested her hand on Rocky’s arm and gave it a little squeeze.

Elias raised an eyebrow at Rocky. Rocky answered in the form of an awkward shrug and Elias barked out a laugh. A fist bump sealed the unspoken conversation.

“Well, I was about to make breakfast,” Rocky said, changing the conversation. “I hope everyone likes chili.”

“For breakfast?” Emily asked skeptically.

Rocky smiled and headed over to the stove. “We’ve got a bunch of half-rotting vegetables to use up.”

A few minutes later, the kitchen had exploded with activity, and the clang of pots and pans rang out across the lunchroom. Rocky tended a giant pot, sizzling with ground beef and onions. The smell that wafted through the air made Bethany’s stomach growl.

Bethany worked on the carrots, sorting through the two dozen bags that littered the lunchroom for those that were turning bad. She removed them and handed the remainder of the bag to Brandon, who stored them in the pantry. After she peeled and sliced, she dumped her work into the quickly filling pot.

Emily did the same with the peppers, Priyanka with tomatoes, and Elias with celery, until the chili was nearly overflowing. Anjali had fallen asleep against the wall, Jaya dozing on her chest.

“So what now?” asked Priyanka, as she handed her latest bag of tomatoes to Harmony, who carried them into the walk-in freezer. “We have food for a month. Do we hide here and wait for this whole thing to blow over?

A silence fell upon the kitchen, except for the faint bubbling of the chili on the stove. The trauma of the supermarket was still raw in their thoughts, and no one was anxious to stray back into the city. Yet every one of them knew the answer to her question.

The danger will come, whether we want it to or not. Hiding is the same as dying.

“We stay together, and we fight,” Bethany answered with certainty. She reached into her pocket and withdrew one of the silver Emporium coins.

“We get strong. And we win this damn contest!”

* * *

The final rays of the setting sun disappeared in the west, and darkness stretched out across the ocean waters. Bethany caught her reflection in the glass.

A week ago, I was a scared girl in an abusive home. It took every ounce of strength I had to leave that place. To come to Regina to find a new life.

She reached out and touched the reflection of her Oracle Eye, its pupilless form still unsettling.

You found that life, Bethany. It’s just not what you thought it would be.

She thought back on everything that had happened over the past week. The taste of the wine Becka and Daniel poured down her throat, and the sound of their pleas as she left them behind. Her hammer flashing to life as it tore into the Impastabull. The shadows and the Spartans, and all the other monsters that waited for them beyond these walls.

Her love for her grandmother, the one constant in her life, had crumbled to ashes along the road she traveled. In its place, she had found the joy of friendship and a new family.

The God Contest had forced her to stare death in the face, yet even that was paltry compared to game behind the game in which she had been unwittingly entangled.

This girl in the window… I don’t recognize her anymore. That scared little girl died last week. Just another forgotten soul amongst the tens of thousands of others the God Contest has claimed. Food for hungry gods.

“This is not the life I thought I would find in Regina,” Bethany said without regret. “But it is still better than the one I left behind. I have a life I know to be true, with a new home and new family.”

She took a deep breath and let her fears and doubts drift into the air and sail away over the wall that surrounded the city and beyond the horizon. “And I have purpose. I won’t let my friends die. I will get strong. I will protect them. Whatever the cost.”

Bethany lay on her couch in her bedroom and listened as, one by one, her new family settled in for the night and drifted off into slumber. Only when the final light switched off did she close her own eyes and let sleep take her away.

* * *

It was there, as she knew it would be. The rickety wooden bridge that stretched into the heavens.

Only now, a ten-year-old child sat at the head of the bridge. Her shoulder length brown hair was tied back in a simple ponytail, and she wore the same blue jeans and frilled pink shirt that she had in the empty prairie field where they had first met.

“Hello, Diana,” Bethany said, her voice calm and certain. “Or should I call you Oracle?”

“Diana,” Diana answered. “I am only her memory, after all.”

“Why are you here, Diana?” Bethany asked.

Diana pointed to her Oracle Eye. “Because you found your way here, to Spirit's Bridge, and we have a long road to travel.”

“Thoth said I need to learn to control my gift.”

Diana simply nodded.

“Then I guess we should get started.”

Name: Bethany Fox

Job: Player

Attributes:

Strength: 5

Agility: 5

Toughness: 6

Magic: 9

Attribute Coins: 0

Talents:

Oracle Eye (#error#)

Gift of Insight (Epic)

Hammer of Light (Rare)

Spiritual Bridge (#error#)

Name: Rocky MacMillian

Job: Player

Attributes:

Strength: 5

Agility: 4

Toughness: 6

Magic: 5

Attribute Coins: 0

Talents:

Healer’s Touch (common)

Axe of Stone (Rare)

Name: Emily Desjarlais

Job: Player

Attributes:

Strength: 6

Agility: 7

Toughness: 5

Magic: 2

Attribute Coins: 0

Talents:

Infinite Recollection (Epic)

Metallic Slasher (Rare)