“Want to watch a movie, Emily?”

“Movie? Oh, those. Sure!” I exclaim, a bit more excited than I usually am. “What kind?” Yhannason stands up and moves over to one wall, then flips a switch on it. From separated panels, a television (black screen that shows moving pictures (movies)), comes into view. Under it is her entertainment center that has many cabinets of boxes I’m not too familiar with. I don’t watch movies or television in general, so I’m a little curious about them.

“Well, let’s see… I have comedies, horror, romance, drama… Hm…”

“Ooh, romance!” I say with a sudden interest in it. “I want to watch one of those.”

“Fine, fine,” she laughs as she steps over and kneels in front of the cabinets. I watch her as she does, feeling my chest begin to tingle. My focus draws straight to her and I have to shake my head to look elsewhere. What is going on with me? She fiddles with a case and a small disc, which she inserts into a black rectangle on the shelf. The television flickers on and she walks back with a small, equally black item in her hand- a remote. After sitting, she looks to me. “Huh?”

Shoot, I’m staring again. “Oh, nothing,” I smile and look towards the screen, which has the faces of an angel woman and a demon man surrounded by light colors and rose petals. “What is this about?”

“Shh, just watch.” She points the remote at the television, presses a button, and the image on the screen goes to black and begins to move. “It’s called ‘Troubled Skies,’ a story about two star-crossed lovers bound by their race,” she says, using hand motions to make it more dramatic. I look down and notice that my glass is empty again, then look back up to her staring at the screen.

“Sounds a little cliché,” I respond, then turn my head to watch the television, but my vision goes slightly sideways and the color in the world seems a bit off. “I feel funny, Yhanna.”

“Hm? You are feeling the alcohol in your system, Emily, don’t worry. Here, have more,” she insists as she takes the bottle again. I see the liquid unnaturally spiral out into the glass, then she asks me, “Is that you doing that?”

I shrug, “I don’t know, maybe? I can’t really tell.” I guess I’m using magic sporadically in this state, but that’s fine as long as it doesn’t get out of control. After she pours the drink, I take a big drink, though don’t taste much of the wine, so I down another gulp. After not tasting anything again, I begin to laugh. “Oh, Yhanna, you didn’t give me any!”

She looks to me, then looks at my glass. “I did, Emily, you just drank it all again so quickly. Don’t drink too much your first time, alright? I don’t want you getting hurt. And, Emily,” I notice she is grabbing the end of her shirt. “Please, stop.”

I shake my head rapidly, realizing that I’m accidentally using my magic again. “Sorry, I just am so distracted.”

“No, it’s my fault for letting you drink so much. I’ll get you some water.” She gets up and walks away, then I look to the television. I see the picture moving and hear what is going on, but I can’t seem to focus on it. I feel myself instinctively lie myself down on the couch and then my vision begins to float away from myself. I think the effects of the alcohol are what make me cast the spell that disconnects my mind from my body. I see myself lying on the couch and I see Yhanna come back with the water. She sets the glass down, then sits next to me.

“So pure, yet so corrupted. You don’t deserve this pain, Emily.” She leans over and lifts a hand, probably going to try and purge the Darkness in my body. Not today, Goddess. Every time she does that, she takes it into herself to break down over many, many, many years. Last time, there wasn’t much to take in, so it wasn’t that big of a problem. This time, though, there is just too much.

No longer being clouded by the alcohol (which will come back as soon as I reenter my body), I center myself back into my vessel. Instantly, I shift, then sit up. Just as quickly as I entered my body, I forget what happened. “Yhanna? What are you…?”

The Goddess is leaning over me with her hand close to my face. “Uhhhh… Sorry, I thought you were asleep.” She falls back into the corner of the couch and smiles. “I was going to put a blanket over you.”

“Oh.” I look to the table, then notice the glass of water, which I take in my hands. “Thank you for the drinks and taking care of me tonight, Yhanna.”

I sip from the water as she says, “It’s my pleasure. How do you feel?”

“Cloudy, tired… a bit unsure, to be honest.” I realize the movie is still playing. In it, the angel woman is being held in the arms of the demon man. “I forgot, I’m sorry.”

She looks to the television as well. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t imagine that you would last too long anyways.”

I feel a prick of playfulness in her voice, then look to her with a challenging gaze. “Oh, you didn’t think so?”

“Not really. I thought you would want to try some liquor, maybe do shots, but I guess that’s out of the question.”

“I don’t know what a ‘shot’ is, but I want to do one.”

“Nooo, you don’t, Emily.”

I stand up, probably looking goofier than I think I do. “Do, too. How do I do one?”

“Alright, fine. Come with me,” she beckons as she stands. We go over to the kitchen and she sets out two very small glasses on the counter. She grabs a square bottle of brown, translucent liquid and fills both almost to the brim. After setting the bottle down, she gives me a glass to hold and holds hers up and taps it against mine. “On three, you throw it back into your mouth. Don’t even try to taste it because you will just spit it out.” I shake my head at her, smirking. As if this tiny bit of liquid is going to do anything. “Ready? One, two, three.” We both drink the liquor down and I feel my throat try to throw it back, but I press a hand against my chest to keep it down. She wasn’t kidding, it does not taste good at all.

I place the glass down, straighten my face, and exclaim, “Another!” Yhannason laughs at me and repeats the process, pouring more shots. We do the same one, two, then three more times before I begin to sway in my spot.

I ask for more to drink, but she places her hands over my shoulders. “No, you’re cut off.” After she lets me go, to protest, I take the bottle from the counter and set up a barrier to hold her back while I begin to drink from it. I use magic to have the liquid go straight down instead of lingering in my mouth, so I don’t taste anything. After a few moments, I put the half-empty bottle back down and stop, checking to make sure I have balance. Yhannason looks at me from the counter and says, “That was a mistake, Emily.” She sounds more sympathetic than angry.

“What?” I ask. After that, I forget what happens. The night becomes a bit of a blur and I lose my mind. I vaguely remember flickering, colorful lights and loud music. There was something about angels and demons that made an impression in my mind, though I don’t remember why. I remember a shameful moment leaning over a sink with vomit running down my chin and tripping on the stairs to Yhanna’s apartment. The last thing I remember is falling into her bed and having trouble getting to sleep because of how quickly the room was spinning.

“Gods, that was not a smart night,” Yhannason says to me in the morning while I hold a blanket over myself on the couch.

“Mmgh,” I reply. My head aches immensely and the world is still spinning.

“Do you even remember what you did last night, Emily? Should we recap?” I shake my head, though she continues anyways, “Shall we talk about when I had to stop you from trying to conquer the living world again? You know, when you convinced all of those monks that you were a herald of the Void and almost took them to pillage a small town? Oh, what about when you dropped that all of a sudden to go drag Elysewhyr out of bed to go dance with you?” I silently beg her to stop, then she adds, “And let’s not bring up the part where you tried to seduce your own inhuman maid.” Yhanna puts down the plate she is drying. “Emily, I had to go into the Void. I wish I could say that is redeemable, Emily. I really wish I could.”

I just listen to her go on about my mistakes and keep my head hung. If there was something to stop me from hurting so much, I would be so happy, though I guess I just have to drink water to get over a hangover. I guess at some point, Yhanna realizes my pain and speaks with a bit more sympathy. “I’m sorry, I know it was your first time drinking alcohol.” She comes over and sits next to me. “You are going to drink a lot of water, have some pancakes, and then help me this afternoon. Assist me, and I’ll forgive you for taking me on that crazy trip.” I nod, then she smiles and goes back to begin making food. I look down at my hands, seeing that they are completely pale.

I stand, making sure to keep the blanket over me. “I’ll be right back,” I say before going to the washroom. Inside, I take a look at myself and see that almost all of the corruption has receded. Almost, as in my eye and a bit of my face is still black-skinned. Poor Yhanna. I go back out and see her looking down while getting ingredients ready, so I step behind her and wrap my arms around to give her a hug. “Thank you,” I say before releasing her. I go to my bag to retrieve my tablet of light and then sit back down with it. I scroll through the news, searching for a specific name, but find nothing. I can’t tell if it’s good or bad, but my mother is nowhere to be seen. The news has the same, regular articles about me. Some of them talk about how my appearance continues to change, while one talks about my fight with Eres in the living world. The author wrote about how I valiantly fought back against a god until they retreated to Descentia, which made me smile. Of course, I took a glance at the name near the top, then sighed a breath of relief. Eleanor.

Soon enough, a plate of food is set in front of me. I smile at Yhanna and mouth “thank you” before drinking the rest of the water that’s in my glass. We eat breakfast together and she lets me use her washroom to shower and change into clothes from my bag. Then, we go out on a stroll to admire the beautiful Ascentian weather and we see some people Yhanna knows, though they don’t stay long. “They don’t like me, do they?” I ask.

“They don’t understand you,” she replies, which is just fine by me. After a while, we arrive at a walled in building with many halls and steps in it that all lead to what looks like a massive amphitheater. “The gods have been working tirelessly, though you already understand how quickly construction is here. This is where it will all happen.” Right, she’s talking about the gladiator business. What does she need me for here? I gaze at how each individual seat has its own table and is risen just a bit higher than the one in front of it. There are cameras (devices used to capture light into an image or moving image, which can be connected to televisions all around the different worlds) strung up on wires that move by themselves along the center stadium. “This is where disputes normally handled by war will be handled. This is where the many gods and goddesses can show the might and cunning that their greatest followers possess.” Many people are walking along the stadium, drilling into the hard panels on the ground while others work on the electrical parts.

“Interesting… So, what am I to assist you with, Goddess?” As soon as I ask, she beckons me to follow her away. We go through some back halls and end up in a room overlooking the entire place. Inside, God Argoncin, his Suns, and a few others stand waiting. “Good day to you all,” Yhannason says to them as we walk in. “If you don’t know her, this is Emily Everlock, the Demigoddess of the Void.” That’s a new title, ‘of the Void.’ I like it.

“Right on time,” Argoncin greets us back. “We will begin shortly, but first, let us sit down.” A round table forms in the center of the room and we all take our places. Yhanna sits on my left and a rather tall-looking demon sits on my right. I can smell the stench of blood on his skin. “I gathered you all to test the Savas Batallal, a complex system made with magic and science combined. With it, the Gladiator Battles, or the Creuzetz, will be enacted to restore peace to all worlds. I want to thank those chosen to test it for coming today as well.” He goes around the table to point us out, starting with me, “Everlock of the Void, Zitse of Descentia, Xh’njin of the living world, Nefita of Ascentia. You four are the founding champions alongside us, the deities you are representing: Yhannason, Goddess of Love, Death, Teyalu, Goddess of Wisdom, and myself, God of Light.”

Next to him, Judican illuminates and spreads out what are like sheets of light to all of us. Along with the words on them, he reads, “Below are the guiding lines for the enactment of the Creuzetz. Under no circumstance will any competitor sustain injury or death endured inside the arena when exiting. Each competitor will be treated fairly by the officials of each match. No god or goddess that is being represented in the current battle will be an official of the same battle.” As he goes on, my mind begins to drift. Yhannason brought me here to test this gladiator thing. I know I went a bit crazy last night, but was it enough to deserve being subjected to this? I sure hope this turns out well…