A Game!

Did I hear him correctly?

Were we not told that our release was in order? What do you mean we are going to play a game? And one hosted by Demonic no less… a world he created as he said, throwing us all sorts of challenges I presume. Who would have thought that was how our fates turned about.

Now that I have time to think about it, what was the concept of a dimension? Or timeline?

Were they different countries on other continents or something? Back then, I revised the whole histories of our world and saw nothing of other dimensions or anything called along the lines of timeline.

I could only wait for his explanation after all. My wisdom and intelligence had no say in the matter this time.

"Buckle up for the explanation. I'll only say it once so be sure to listen carefully" he got down from his pedestal and joined us on the ground floor.

Unwillingly, but out of necessity, we all got closer to him. We were nervous to be near him after what happened earlier. But if we missed a detail of his so called game, then it would cost us dearly later.

"First of all, you must know that I created several worlds only for the sake of this. You seven of course, will be sent to one of them as a start along with your new identities—"

Demonic God stopped. Hunimo had raised his hand, cautious not to interrupt him as I did.

"Yes, sixth?"

"Pardon my interruption. By new identities, do you mean we will have to change our names and take on a different life?"

"I'm glad you asked!" he cleared his throat once again. I had a hunch, but it seemed like he was about to say something clever. "You will all be reincarnated into new bodies and have new lives. I randomly chose your new families, if you have any, and adjusted your ties."

Reincarnation?

We have heard of reincarnation before. It was a topic widely discussed among philosophers of our times. But it was always a debate that ended with fights among the different opinions.

Some believed that souls recycled and found new bodies to inhabit after the previous one died. Others concluded that past consciousness and memories were retained after finding their new hosts.

I for one, believed in none to be honest. I was always a believer of materialistic phenomena. If I couldn't touch, see or feel it, then it was most probably non-existent. For example, I never believed in the existence of higher entities until the day I met Demonic God.

(Anyway…)

"Will we all be reborn as new-born babies then?" Hunimo added to his list of questions.

"Of course not. That would be too boring" Demonic waved his hand to disperse this theory. "I made it so that your new age is proportional to the one when you either died or was collected. One might be born a baby while the other a toddler, or even an adult."

I was glad someone else was asking my questions in my stead. I was not really ready to face Demonic anytime soon.

I only hoped I don't end up as a baby. If the others reincarnate as grown adults, they'll do as they please and I won't be able to stop them as it is. There is also the notion of us even retaining our memories. If that is out of the picture then I can rest easy that they won't have the same personalities or intentions.

Still, I could not count on such variables to do the work for me. For all I know, I could get reincarnated as a baby and even retain my memories at the same time. And the worst case scenario still depends on what kind of world was in store.

Demonic though, had another topic to discuss first…

"During your stay in my world, I will plan random encounters for you all. Meaning I will either have you meet some people or…" and his eyes flared as before, he was definitely excited, "I can have you encounter some kind of danger or creature with which you will struggle. They can happen at anytime and anywhere, so be always ready."

Wait…if that was true, and I was indeed born, let's say as a child…then how would I defend myself should I encounter one of these creatures he talked about.

Moreover, my gut was burning me in that moment. The only image that popped in my mind when the word creature was said, was the beast depicted in the mosaic. If such a monstrosity was what creatures were meant to look like, then I could only say that I was doomed regardless of what my age was.

These were thoughts I could not help but ponder upon. Did the others think through such scenarios or were they clueless enough to think their reincarnation would be a smooth ride?

Please tell me that they were not all that stupid…

(Although it would make my job easier!)

"Excuse me, sir God. But on the off chance that some of us do reincarnate so young, how would we be able to fend off these encounters of yours? That seems unfair compared to those who would be older from the start."

Thank you!

At least Grivelkoriah had a few brain cells left. The way he spoke was so deep that even I forced myself to think back on it once again. I could say the same happened to our game master over here.

Upon Grivelkoriah's complaint, Demonic seemed to have gone in a deep thought state, processing about the matter.

Was he planning to comply with that argument and do something about it? Or was it just something he was reviewing casually?

"You're absolutely right!" he snapped a finger so loudly that our ears went numb. "I'll give you all a few years' head start…1, 2, 3…I'll give you seven years of preparations. Seven kings, seven years."

Seven years…it was still too little to prepare. But I've learnt never to haggle with such people. If I did, we would probably be left with less than that as a result.

The only thing yet unclear was what kind of setting was the new world. If there were monsters and creatures involved, then what could deny the presence of people with extraordinary abilities too? We have also heard tales of people who could break mountains apart. People who could summon lightning to fight for them in myths and legends.

I only wondered what other surprises this sadistic god had in store for us.

"So. Shall I call her now, brother?" Demigod interjected.

"Not yet, Luo. The matter of the setting is still at large" his hand went up to his chin, thinking again.

"Why not choose one randomly then?" he suggested.

Call who? I was definitely interested right now.

"Yes. Let's leave it to probability"

He sounded almost like a maniac and clapped harshly. I never thought even a god could be this nerdy about a game.

A few sparks escaped his clap but they were harmless. He opened his hand and revealed that he had conjured some sort of octagonal pebble.

"This is a die!"

He rolled it on the ground as a test. It stopped on the number 4.

Strangely though, it had 8 sides instead of the usual 6.

"Why does it have 8 sides?" I finally spoke unwarily.

My curiosity got the better of me after all. Demonic did not answer me anyway and continued nonetheless.

"I will roll it and the number it lands upon will determine which one of you will choose our setting."

If it lands on one, then Grivelkoriah would choose.

On a two, it would be Izaresius.

Three, Azra.

Four for Rubis and five for Kiobi respectively.

Hunimo will choose if it lands on a six.

And I would choose if it is seven.

The order of our rule was the factor then. Simple, I guess. But what about the number…

"Of course" he raised his head as if a sneer, "if it lands on the eight…then consider yourselves lucky for I will choose for you all!"

That didn't sound any good at all in my opinion. The manner he said alone gave me a run of goose bumps.

Without any warning, he made his move when we were still collecting our sweats after his terrifying statement. Instead of normally rolling it, he spun it like a pin on the marble. It swivelled for a whole minute, our stress levels rising with each second, until it finally landed on a number.

With much teasing on behalf of the die itself, it stopped on a seven…which meant it was for me to choose.

That being said, I could easily choose a setting with the most disadvantages to us all. That way, the other kings wouldn't be able to do as they please even when dealing with people other than me.

"Fantastic! Seventh will choose between one of the three settings I planned. Call her, Luo!"

Demigod nodded, placing two of his fingers to the side of his head upon doing so. I didn't really get what he did right now, but someone definitely answered his "call".

"Everyone. Meet the Lady of the Worlds!"