[OVERALL SCOREBOARD]
- TEAM MAYA | 10 PTS
- TEAM AZTEC | 5 PTS
- TEAM YōKAI | 1 PTS
- TEAM EGYPT | 0 PTS
- TEAM NORSE | 0 PTS
- TEAM AKAN | 0 PTS
- TEAM CHRISTIAN | 0 PTS
- TEAM HINDU | 0 PTS
- TEAM OLYMPIAN | 0 PTS
- TEAM INUIT | 0 PTS
The scoreboard made it abundantly clear that this was a team game played between pantheons. The strongest players cursed at having to take care of a whole group, while the weakest ones sighed in relief. The groups were also uneven now that hundreds of people had been eliminated in the library, making those from small patheons worry about ending up alone. The uneasy chatter that filled the hall became even louder when symbols appeared above everyone’s head.
People quickly realized that the symbols indicated which team everyone belonged to. The Christians got a cross, the Norse got a hammer, and the Egyptian god’s followers got the eye of Ra. Vicki and everyone else with an Aztec god got a spiraled sun as their symbol. The sunpoken rule of keeping your god secret was instantly broken as everyone grouped up with those of the same pantheon. It was quite a spectacle to see a group of hundreds of people sorting themselves that quickly.
Vicki’s group wasn’t large, but it wasn’t small either. There were six of them in total, and Vicki was once again reminded that she got off lightly with her divine mutation. Vicki was about to say something to her new teammates, but the loud announcer's voice cut her off as soon as she opened her mouth.
[PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ROOM MARKED WITH YOUR TEAM’S SYMBOL]
A large door appeared, leading to a corridor with hundreds of other doors lining the walls. Each door had a large symbol painted above it, corresponding to the ones above their heads. The teams began walking one after the other, and every now and then, someone would call out to their teams, saying that they had found their door. Team Aztec’s room was about a five-minute walk down the corridor. The symbol of the sun was painted above the door, and a plaque reading “5 POINTS” was bolted to the middle of the door.
The inside of the room was furnished with six beds, a table with six chairs, and a grand Aztec altar. It was really bare bones, and it reminded Vicki of her college dorm room. As they stepped into the room, the announcer declared that everyone had 24 hours of free time before the next floor. A timer appeared on one of the walls, counting down the hours until they’d have to fight again. Still, they had 24 whole hours to get to know each other, something that Vicki wanted to take advantage of.
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“Hello! My name is Victoria Rubie, but everyone calls me Vicki! My goddess is the goddess of women, flowers, handicrafts, and abundance! Nice to meet you!” Vicki introduced herself loudly as she sat down on one of the beds, claiming it for herself.
The next person to speak up was the biggest of the lot. He was a tall man with dark skin and a bald head covered in tattoos. He stood out because of his size, but also because his heart was beating on the outside of his body. “My name is Hakim Adamu. My god is Huītzilōpōchtli, the god of the sun, war, and sacrifices. I hope we can work well together.”
“Tindra Qvist. My god is Opochtli. God of spear hunting and fishing.” The girl on the bed piped up. She looked to be about 14 years old and was clearly in some sort of phase. Her blonde hair was poorly dyed black, and she wore white face paint to make her already pale face look even paler. The edgy effect she was going for was a bit lost when you noticed that her legs had been replaced with spears.
“Ah! My name is Calloway Woods! The goddess whom I honor is the beautiful Chalchiuhtlicue! Goddess of all the world’s bodies of water!” A tall and slender man bowed dramatically to the group. His long hair had been replaced by a flowing river, his skin had taken on a light blue hue, and a cloud of rain followed him wherever he went. “I am so pleased to meet you, my companions!”
Next, a woman with the upper body of a beautiful woman, long braids, obsidian eyes, and the lower body of a jaguar spoke up. “My name is… Judith. Judith Kone. My god is Tepēyōllōtl. He is the god of caves, echoes, and jaguars. Don’t hold me back, okay? If you fall behind, I won’t save you.”
The last one to speak, and the youngest of the group, was a grade school boy whose whole head had been replaced by a golden temple. He was the one with the most drastic bodily change out of all the members of team Aztec, earning him a look of sympathy from Vicki. “M-my name is Wáng Jingyi. My first name is Jingyi… Wáng is my last name. My god is… Xiuhtecuhtli. He is the god of time and fire… Nice to meet you.” The boy whispered, clearly shaken from this whole ordeal.
With introductions out of the way, everyone started preparing for the next floor in their own ways. Hakim went to bed to recharge his energy, while Calloway did some strange artistic dance by the altar. Judith trained her new six-limbed body, and Jingyi sat quietly at the dining table. Vicki was sorting through her things when she heard the thunking of spears hitting the stone floor approaching her.
“Hey. You’re the girl who kept yelling about symbols, right?” Tindra asked sheepishly as she fiddled with the string of her hoodie. She didn’t know why, but she felt a strange pull towards Vicki, and she felt compelled to talk to her. There was just something about her that calmed the stress she’d gathered from this absurd situation.
“Yup! That’s me!” Vicki responded cheerfully. She was just as tired as everyone else, but she had a habit of smiling whenever she talked to someone younger than her. “How can I help you?”
Tindra hesitated for a moment, biting her already chapped lips before speaking. “Uh… thanks. You saved me. I was about to give up, but when I heard you, I ended up looking again, and I found a book with a spear on it that led me to the right place… yeah. Thanks…” She mumbled awkwardly before shuffling back to her bed.
Vicki smiled to herself at the realization that she didn’t scream until her voice frayed for nothing. She had actually saved someone, and a young girl at that. She had expected that the people the notoriously brutal Aztec gods chose would be violent criminals or freaks, but everyone was surprisingly normal. Well, except for Calloway, who wouldn’t stop praising his goddess, but she doubted that he had a single dangerous bone in his body.
Her thoughts drifted to why they were chosen. She sort of understood why she was chosen by a god of women; she had always helped girls in need, after all. But why was a young goth girl chosen by the god of fishermen? And why was a little boy connected to a god of time? Surely, they could’ve found adult candidates if they looked really hard, right? They were gods! They could do anything. Yet, they still picked children as their chosen ones.
[THE TEAM SHOP IS NOW OPEN. HEAD TO THE FRONT DESK FOR MORE INFORMATION.]