Vicki grimaced when she realized her arms had been replaced with pulsing tendrils of flesh. She didn’t know how to react. She was lucky that she only got away with fucked up arms, but also, her arms were really fucked up! Her skin had been stripped off her lower arms and hands as a sacrifice to the goddess who’s favorite offering is the skin of the strong and beautiful. Her mind understood that this should hurt more than anything had ever hurt in her life, but her body felt nothing. It was a weird phantom pain that got worse the more she focused on it, but almost disappeared completely if she distracted herself.

  [THE RULES OF THE GAME GO AS FOLLOWS]

  The voice of the otherworldly being brought most people out of their daze, including Vicki. Vicki concentrated on the voice with all her might, trying to absorb the rules of this weird game into every crevice of her brain. If she lost before she could help anyone just because she didn’t know the rules, she would never get over it.

  [THE TOWER HAS 100 FLOORS. IF YOU REACH THE TOP, YOU AND YOUR GOD HAVE WON.]

  [EACH FLOOR HAS A GAME YOU MUST PLAY. ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF PLAYERS CAN PASS EACH GAME AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT FLOOR.]

  [YOU MAY WORK TOGETHER OR YOU MAY FIGHT EACH OTHER. YOUR PATRON GOD WILL ALWAYS BE ON YOUR SIDE AND SUPPORT YOU.]

  [THOSE WHO WIN WILL BE REWARDED. THOSE WHO LOSE WILL BE SACRIFICED TO THEIR PATRON GOD.]

  The crowd burst out in panic at the mention of sacrifices. That sure didn’t sound like they’d be sent on their way with a consolation prize and a pat on the back if they lost. Vicki didn’t even know why she assumed she would be allowed to go home if she lost, these people removed her fucking arms! If the gods were your support, wasn’t it super unfair to the people who got chosen by unknown and peaceful gods? Vicki whispered a silent prayer to Xōchiquetzal, thanking her goddess for being from the notoriously brutal Aztec pantheon and giving her a fighting chance. As if she was thanking her only follower for the prayer, Xōchiquetzal subconsciously compelled Vicki to utter the word “Status”.

  [VICTORIA ‘VICKI’ RUBIE]

  AGE - 19

  RANK - F

  TITLES- N/A

  FACTION - AZTEC

  PATRON GOD

  XōCHIQUETZAL (AZTEC)

  PREFERED SACRIFICE

  SKIN (10-50PTS)

  HANDMADE ITEMS (5-20PTS)

  JEWELRY(4-14PTS)

  FLOWERS (1-8PTS)

  HANDMADE ITEMS (3-6PTS)

  ALCOHOL(1-4PTS)

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  SACRIFICE POINTS

  0

  [SKILLS]

  GIRL’S GIRL (UNIQUE)

  YOU EMBODY THE ESSENCE OF FEMININITY WITH YOUR KINDNESS AND COMFORTING AURA. WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND FEMALE DIETIES WILL FEEL POSITIVELY TOWARDS YOU.

  FLAY (D)

  YOUR SHARP CLAWS CAN CUT THROUGH THE SKIN OF CREATURES THE SAME OR LOWER RANK THAN YOU LIKE BUTTER.

  HANDICRAFTS (F)

  YOU KNOW HOW TO CRAFT POOR QUALITY ITEMS OUT OF THINGS YOU FIND.

  This was like straight out of a video game. Vicki had played many RPGs the kids had shown her while she volunteered at a refugee camp, and this status screen reminded her a lot of that. She was glad to know what her goddess liked and the confirmation that she was divinely recognized as a true girl’s girl, but her skills were kinda weak, weren’t they? The flay skill had a lot of potential, but with her current rank, she could only use it on other F-ranked creatures. At least she had the bedazzled pepper spray in her bag if things got dicey.

  The existence of factions probably meant that not everyone was her enemy. Vicki was kinda scared to find out what kind of people the other famously violent Aztec gods chose, but she was glad they would be on her side. She wanted to yell out her faction affiliation to find those like her, but the pit in her stomach told her that it was a horrible idea. Her suspicions were confirmed when a man with the demonic affiliation got beaten to a pulp by the Christian worshippers from earlier. She hoped nobody had a strange one sided beef with a long gone civilization.

  [FLOOR ONE STARTING IN: 10:00]

  The giant timer lit up the white sky, counting down the 10 minutes until the first game would start. Vicki’s heart beat a million miles an hour as she double and triple checked her purse, pockets, and secret lipgloss hiding stash in her socks for anything useful. Other than her pepper spray she had her car keys, an assault alarm, 4 pieces of candy, her cosmetics bag, emergency tampons, and a few loose painkillers. It wasn’t looking good if this was all he had to use for survival. At least she wasn’t the guy with the cement.

  [FLOOR ONE STARTING IN: 00:03]

  [FLOOR ONE STARTING IN: 00:02]

  [FLOOR ONE STARTING IN: 00:01]

  [TRANSPORTING…]

  The white expanse disappeared with a bright flash of light. In its place was a grand library that spanned outwards in all directions for infinity. It looked otherworldly yet very familiar with its creaky wooden floors and candle-lit chandeliers. Some people started wandering around, but Vicki didn’t dare to move. Gods had strange morals, and maybe moving inside this library was a heinous sin that deserved death. Probably not, but Vicki had always learned to be extra cautious ever since her volunteer trip to the elephant sanctuary.

  [FLOOR 1]

  [FIND THE SEQUEL TO YOUR BOOK WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT. YOUR BOOK IS LOCATED ON ONE OF THE SHELVES INSIDE THE LIBRARY. THE BOOKS MUST BE UNDAMAGED AND HELD IN YOUR HANDS AT THE END OF THE TIME LIMIT.]

  [FAILING TO FIND THE SECOND BOOK, THE LOSS OF THE FIRST BOOK, DAMAGE TO EITHER OF THE BOOKS, OR DEATH WILL LEAD TO ELIMINATION.]

  [24:00:00]

  The rules were both spoken out loud and projected onto the tall ceiling of the library. Vicki was under the impression that she had to fight to the death, so the challenge being finding a book was a pleasant surprise. Flashes of light appeared all over the place, and everyone found their designated book in their hands. Vicki looked down at her book, surprised that her fucked up arms didn’t stain it, and gritted her teeth with determination.

  Piper J-3 Cub Aviation Manual Vol. 1

  An old aviation manual!? She knew nothing about planes! The people next to her were equally panicked, muttering about not understanding why they were given such confusing and obscure books. Vicki took a deep breath and centered herself. So what if she knew nothing about planes? All she had to do was find volume 2. She didn’t need to read or understand it, just hold it in her hands. She clenched her book tightly as she began walking in a random direction, just like everyone else.

  Screams of despair rung out through the library, followed by panicked sobbing. Vicki had absolutely no idea how finding a book would cause someone to react like that. Sure, there were a lot of fucking books, but she just had to find the right category and look through the titles of every book in that category. If she just found the vehicle, or maybe the manuals section, she’d be peachy. Right?

  Vicki approached the nearest shelf in search of clues, only to be filled with the same despair as the people before her. The titles were strings of letters and numbers in seemingly random order, organized completely at random. “Adhdjsll92hd” was next to “99Hnnnncowcow” which was next to “gogogogogog888fofofoooooo”. A horrific realization dawned on Vicki in that moment…

  This was the fucking library of Babel.