When Pepper walked through the door, he didn’t anticipate that he’d be greeted by a mound of trash. But, there it was. The bulging black plastic bag sat next to the crash can that was also overflowing with trash. He loudly exhaled when he saw the mound of drink containers directly above the trashcan on the counter.

  I thought he said that would all be taken care of. Pepper thought to himself. He took a few more steps into the house and then saw Marcus was standing at the far end of the kitchen. His roommate was peering into the oven and then turned towards him and nodded.

  “I thought you said you were going to clean up?” Pepper asked while he slowly shuffled into the kitchen.

  “We did. Man, did you even see this place? My dude, its ten times better in here than it was before.” Marcus waved his hand dismissively as if the topic was not even worth discussing.

  Pepper blinked and wanted to press the issue even more. But he stopped himself before he continued. It was then that his stomach grumbled at him and his mind immediately went to the Cheesy Chicken Alfredo with Bacon Bits frozen sandwich he had grabbed at the grocery store.

  Let’s just have some lunch and forget about the trash. He told himself while he walked over to the freezer. The waft of the cold container wrapped around his face and settled his heart for a few seconds. His hand quickly navigated the freezer compartment, however, and after a quick search he asked. “Did someone seriously eat the Bakable Sandwich I got at the store?”

  He quickly looked at Marcus who had a puzzled look on his face. “Man the only thing I get out of the freezer is ice, you know what I mean? Ha!” Marcus then nodded in the direction of the hallway, “Yo, slim, was that the last Bakable sandwich you heated up?”

  Pepper spun around and looked just in time to see Wilson standing in the hallway. The flaking pastry sandwich was clasped in his hand and he had just taken a massive bite out of the sandwich before entering his room and slamming the door shut.

  You little piece of… Pepper wanted to finish his thought but was then distracted by Marcus.

  “Gahhh, that sucks my man. But hey, don’t worry. We’ll grab another one at the store when we go to stock back up in a day or two.”

  In a day or two!? Pepper reared back around and could sense the distorted expression his face was making. His mouth was open and he was completely dumb founded. A quick check of the fridge confirmed his alarming thought and he then discovered that practically three quarters of the food he had bought was now all gone.

  “Did a roman legion swing by while I was gone?”

  Marcus reared his head back and looked completely baffled by his question. “What? Is that like a metal band or something?”

  Pepper closed the door and the few glass bottles of condiments and sauces clanked as it did. “I mean… where did all the food that I bought go? It hardly looks like I bought anything in there.”

  “Oh that!” Marcus brought the palm of his hand up and thumped it on his forehead. “Ha… now I get it… like an army of people who needed to be fed. Dang, that was a good one man.” Marcus adjusted his expression to more of a playful one and then continued. “Like I told you man, my friends had a seriously long trip and were toast by the time they made it here. I’m super happy we were stocked up and could feed them. You know what I mean?”

  The alarm on the oven went off and Marcus quickly turned his attention to it. He opened the door and pulled out the baking pan inside it. A quick turn towards the kitchen counter top and Pepper noticed the perfectly cooked pizza. The bubbling cheese and small pools of grease was nothing short of inviting.

  “You mind if I have half?” He asked.

  Marcus sulked and seemed embarrassed. “Sorry Pepperoni, but I promised my new number one fan I’d make it for us.”

  Pepperoni? Well that is certainly a new nickname in the books. Pretty sure I don’t like it either. He immediately thought while then hearing a slight disturbance behind him. He turned to see a young woman in a white sweatshirt and black leggings get up from the sofa and start making her way over to them.

  “Yo Pepper, this is my new big fan, Brittany.” Marcus said while nodding to them both.

  Pepper faked a smile but was then informed by the young woman. “Actually it’s Briana… but, that’s okay. And… I don’t know about number one fan, but so far it is looking like that could become a thing.” She smiled and sat down on a barstool on the opposite side of the counter top.

  Pepper could only imagine the confused expression his face must have had at that moment. He honestly didn’t care who Briana was or what her situation was regarding Marcus’s life. All he knew was he had had enough of the situation.

  “Nice to meet you.” He said and quickly turned towards the fridge. He opened it up and simply latched onto the first few items he could find, which consisted of three cheese sticks and an apple. He grabbed a bottle of water and a banana that was randomly sitting on the counter.

  “I’ll be out in the workshop if you need me.” He said over his shoulder and refused to look back or slow down as he made his way towards the back door. “Amp, come on bud.” He called out. His familiar didn’t hesitate and tagged along as they made their exit.

  Once Pepper was inside the workshop, he made his way down to the far end and fell upon the couch. A large sigh as closed his eyes and shook his head. What did I get myself into? He mentally asked before he turned on the holoscreen in the far corner.

  He lynched the screen with his Golem Chat account and waited the half second for the information to refresh and populate with his personal settings. His eyes immediately took notice of the notification icon which stated there was a new episode of Golem Lore Podcast. The sour mood Pepper was in left him feeling like the podcast was just the thing he needed to get his mind off everything else.

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  A quick tap on the icon and the podcast intro theme began to play across the screen. Pepper quickly jumped ahead as the long-extended intro was the only downside to the podcast. That and the multiple sponsored commercials which awaited viewers at the beginning of every episode.

  He stopped the video just after John had made his appearance. Pepper couldn’t remember the last time he had watched an episode, but John’s friendly have still greeted him all the same. John’s season 1 Golem League hat looked like it had faded another shade. But John still smiled through his brown goatee and re-adjusted his glasses on his face.

  “Well hello there everybody and thanks for tuning in to another episode of, Golem Lore. I am your host, the one and only John A. Douglas. For those of you who have been with me since the beginning…” John paused and brought his hand up and placed it on his chest. “I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

  John then smiled and brought his hand off his chest and towards the camera with a welcoming gesture. “And for those of you who are new to the show, welcome! We’re happy to have you here. This show is what I like to call, the central hub, the wiki of all wiki’s as we dive deep into the heart of all things Golem League.”

  The genuine tone of John’s voice always matched his passionate excitement for the golem league. Though Pepper didn’t always watch him, there was certainly a calming effect. Pepper smiled and watched as the screen shifted to show John’s guest for the episode.

  A darkened room which flashed and flowed with a multitude of colors. In the background were shaped panels which glowed in one color, while the entire edge illuminated in a completely different color. Pepper could see three monitors off to the one side of the man while a large microphone glowed with its own distinct colorful pattern.

  “Well, in case you were wondering folks, that isn’t Santa Claus, even though his room is lit up with more colors than a Christmas tree. But many of you know him as Mixtopher! The video game streaming legend who has some exciting news for us today. Now, I know you better as Chris, so I’ll just call you that. But Chris, I need to ask… a tall strapping guy like you looks more like you should be in a heavy metal band, slaying on the electric guitar rather than playing video games.”

  A giant smile beamed on Chris’s face. He reached his arm up and ran his fingers through his long platinum blonde hair. Pepper could just make out the silver neckless he was wearing and it looked like there was some kind of medallion dangling down from it.

  Chris gave a nod and then began with a low resonating voice. “Ha, you know John I have the electric guitar hanging up on the wall behind me. It’s just out of view from the camera but right next to it is my custom made battle axe. I like to tell my viewers that I am ready to slay at all times and in all ways.”

  The two gave a hearty laugh and chuckle. John finally adjusted in his chair and nodded along. “Well you certainly got that right. And talking of slaying… you just posted some exciting news about the next type of slaying you’ll be getting to do. Can you tell us all about that?”

  Chris smiled and threw his hands up playfully. “Hey, what can I say. These hands were forged to slay in video games as well, and yeah… its been a wild week as I signed on with OmeVision Studies. I’ll be directly helping them with test out the Golem Leagues first video game.”

  A surprised look came on John’s face. “Wait! So they’re already that close to the testing phase?”

  “Yeah… it’s crazy what they have already done in a short period of time. Now John, I know that you are all about the Golem League, but I am all about the video game sphere. So, I have been keeping my eyes on all the subtle updates that OmeVision has been descretely putting out. But…” Chris paused.

  He raised his hands as if to tell people to hold on. “Let me tell you… you guys are going to be amazed. Truly… a-m-a-z-e-d at home in-depth this game is going to be.”

  John quickly shifted in his chair and interrupted his guest. “So like… how would you even compare the game?”

  Chris nodded and licked his lips while his eyes shifted around. Pepper clearly interrupted Chris’s demeaner as if he was replaying his experiences to help generate a proper answer. “Like… they flew me out to Denver Colorado to their headquarters. They gave me the whole grand tour of everything right… but then, they led me into this room. And when I say they had every Golem simulator, I mean… they had every Golem League simulator available. So I messed around with each one for like… two days.”

  Chris shifted in his chair and Pepper smiled while John now looked as if he was on the edge of his seat. The little breadcrumbs of information Chris shared and behind the scene tidbits were all nuggets of factoids that John appeared to loved and ingest. “So, they wanted to start me there to see what the real gladiators in the higher echelon of competition train on, and then we moved over to the development side of things and they gave me like a solid day of just being briefed on all the ins and outs of the game mechanics, the structuring, and how they build the games infrastructure.”

  John then pointed his hand towards the camera and interjected again. “So like, in games, there are often times a tutorial one has to go through to understand how the game functions. But it sounds like they basically just told you all that and then skipped straight into the heart of the game. Is that basically what you’re telling me?”

  Chris smiled and nodded. “Yeah, absolutely John. That is exactly right. I basically was given the whole tutorial briefing in person and then I got three full days of just playing the game. The entire time they hooked me up with anything and everything I wanted. Snacks, drinks, food… it was incredible experience.”

  “So… what is your final assessment?” John asked while bobbing his head with excitement.

  “This game is impressive. I mean… I don’t think fans are going to be ready for it. The combat is epic, the customization of golems is practically endless. A seamless transition between real life and virtual life. I mean, we’ve already got it synched up to the Golem League mainframe. Like, the moment a match is over you can log in and replay that match with the same golem specifications that you just watched it in. That’s how detailed this game is going to be.”

  John’s jaw dropped and Pepper’s eyes widened in surprise. The entire time Chris continued to smile from ear to ear. “Yeah! Exactly… that is the same face I made. So after messing around with the professional simulators, I can say for a fact that this game could easily be used as a simulator in and of itself.” Chris paused and took a drink of water while the shocked expression remained frozen on John’s face.

  “John, I’m telling you man. If you come to me in six months after launch and tell me that more and more gladiators are using the game as a simulator. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “Well…” John adjusted his hat and sat back in his chair. The look of being completely blown away and stunned from detail overload. “What is the games official title going to be and when can we expect to see it?”

  Chris smiled and brought his hands together in front of his chest. “Well… I am excited to say, that just two minutes before we went live.” Chris paused and added just another layer of dramatic effect. “I was given permission to officially be the first person to break the news on the title. It is, Golem League Arena of Champions. It will hit the digital and physical shelves in just two months!”

  John’s face already had the appearance of being shaken, but then his jaw dropped even further. “No way! No way, are you serious? Chris! Chris… seriously!? Two months people! You heard it here first. Golem League Arena of Champions is set to be released in just two months!”

  Chris then lifted up a finger to grab John’s attention. “John, I just sent you the link to the official game tminier. The team just uploaded it and it’s live, so how about we show it here on the stream.”

  Pepper shifted around and readied himself to watch the tminier, but that’s just when his holodex buzzed with activity.

  “This is Grandy with Jay’s Crazy Circus… I’m pulling into your driveway now with your delivery.”