Rykard wandered the garden for a few hours, just checking on what else he could discover. He returned to the central tree whenever he wanted to, needing less than a minute each time regardless of how far he had wandered into any given direction.

  “You’re bored,” a divine voice eventually called out to him.

  The sovereign looked up at one of the true rulers of reality. Covered still only in golden ornaments and red strands of cloth, Tey looked back. The white-red-haired goddess sat upon a thin branch. It did not even budge under the weight her body should have had. On the contrary, it seemed to rise like an honoured standard bearer at the start of battle. Her feet swayed back and forth, pyfully x.

  “Of course I am,” Rykard yawned. “I have hours to kill before you allow me to face off against Tess. Is there any reason why there’s such a gap between the fights?”

  “You’ve demonstrated the reason already.” Tey gestured in a direction. Instinctively, Rykard knew it was where he had met Altana earlier. “These games are as much a chance for you to earn other ways to shape the world as it is to form rivalry and alliances. It wouldn’t be entertaining if we just smmed you Contestants into each other like a boy with his toy soldiers.”

  Rykard hummed in agreement. Had he been a divine being, his power and influence only limited by his peers, he would have done much the same. “Giving us choices to express ourselves, to connect, and to disagree, so that we may change our priorities from merely expanding our domains until the inevitable csh.”

  “Nothing more boring than a predictable game, is there?”

  “And how do you appearing before me like this fit into that?” Rykard asked.

  “Nothing more boring than a predictable game, is there?” the Twinned Goddess repeated, her gentle smile twisting into a feral expression. She plucked an apple from a nearby branch and bit into it. Sharp teeth sliced right through, crunching the juicy fruit flesh down into swallowable bits. Within moments the entire apple had been devoured. The goddess licked her lips like a cat cleaning blood of itself. “We are constrained in our favour, but we are not barred.”

  “You would offer me favour?” Rykard asked with a growing smile.

  “You know that I would be watching you. You seduced one my favourite pairs - in a spectacurly swift manner no less. The Twinned Goddess smiles upon those that prove their fitness, Rykard.” Tey crossed her legs, rested an elbow on her knee and her head on her hand. “Your seed is strong. Remarkable even. You’re not the first to do what you do, but you’re the first in a while.”

  “Isn’t there an infinite number of these games at all times?”

  “Yes and no.” Tey wiggled her perfect toes. “The number of games is limited by our number and the number of worlds we can call upon. The more worlds we create, the more worlds we can call upon and the more mortals there are to ascend to our ranks. By this point of the creation’s bloom, the progression is such that it is infinite effectively, but in effect there is a number. There will always be a number - until all of this colpses.”

  “Nothing sts forever?”

  “Nothing sts forever. Even this system will change, in strange aeons, when even death dies… but that is not what you wish to talk about, is it?”

  Rykard shrugged. “You’ll have to understand that I’m not that interested in peeking behind a veil I cannot even perceive. The here and now is more interesting to me.”

  “The grass is greener on this side, provided you know how to keep a nice wn.”

  “And I’d like to keep the twins happy. So, goddess of my Mena and Tena, what do you think of your favourites?”

  “They deeply amuse me, they follow my tenets expertly, they embody my primary aspects, and I was all too eager to link their wombs when they prayed to me.” Tey smirked. “They will only ever be pregnant together. It’s not quite the same as true twins, but it’ll work conceptually.”

  “Is it true that you sent them a vision that approved of their retionship?”

  “It’s not untrue,” Tey answered, then ughed when Rykard rolled his eyes. “No, I will not py the coy game of riddles with you today, Contestant. When Tena fell sick and Mena prayed, a fragment of my presence noticed their plight. I lent my aid and was pleasantly surprised by Mena’s aptitude to wield it. I imprinted on her a vision of my wish for the two of them to remain closely intertwined. How close they got, that was entirely their choice.”

  “You approve, then?”

  “I approve of their happiness, I approve of their closeness, of their sexual attraction to one another I have no approval or disapproval.” Tey shrugged, her magnificent breasts bouncing. “I am goddess of survival and fertility. Their closeness helped them survive. I would disapprove had them intertwining with each other motivated them not to seek out a mate for procreation, but this obviously has not happened. You would know.”

  “Is that why your church of that world was so against their retionship?”

  “The children always make up their own rules and it would be a bother to keep teaching them things they will learn themselves - they will forget again anyhow.” Tey stretched. “My core tenet states my loathing of such retions that create unfit children, including the incestuous ones. Expansion on such is up to the theologians.”

  Tey leaned back, still stretching. Elegantly, she fell backwards. As her body disappeared behind the thin branch it was removed from Rykard’s sight altogether. As quick as she had manifested, the goddess was gone, leaving the Competitor a few answers richer.

  “Pleasant talk, Tey,” he said, knowing she would hear, and went back on his stroll.

  Midnight was slowly approaching. Darkness had fallen over the garden and the Contestants were on their benches again.

  Benhuldran and his retinue were the same as before. The general sat alone on the bench, retainers and soldiers standing behind him. They all held a disciplined quiet - approachable and stern. Rykard could have talked to them if he had desired so, but he did not.

  Vimi was surrounded as before. Two of her honour guard stood behind her, one holding a blindfold, the other earmuffs. Iceface kept on sending Rykard warning gnces, something the king could feel despite the ck of visible eyes in the dwarf’s frozen face. The moment he engaged in erotic activities again, the queen would be protected.

  Maliande sat on her bench, her expression visibly sour. She gred at Rykard. Any shame and discipline he had instilled in the smug mage were repced with pouty aggression. Every other second, it looked like she would hop onto her feet and hurl words and lightning at him - but she did not.

  Altana chose a different bench than st time. Deliberately, the Ouroboros Queen picked the one right of Rykard’s. An unspoken sign of favour that he doubted anyone missed. They were still ‘enemies’ in the grand scheme of things, but perhaps that did not have to stay that way for long.

  Tess suddenly stood up. “Walk with me, Rykard,” she requested.

  The king raised his eyebrow but saw no reason to refuse. Miyo followed, attached to his side as she was, and the thief did not voice any displeasure at the fact. The three of them walked to the other side of the great tree, where she addressed them in hushed tones.

  “I have a proposition for you,” she spoke.

  “What is it?” Rykard was always eager to learn about propositions from women like her. Granted, the record on whether or not they ended up well for him was about 50/50. It had taken him a few tries before he got apt at telling when a woman was interested and when she was using her beauty to exploit him.

  “My surrender in our fight tonight in return for a promise to the Bonding Crow that you shall let me have first access to the Treasure Tile in your ocean. You shall pce it in a way that connects to my own Ocean TIles. You will promise me that you will leave it untouched, should you even find it, until I have my chance to explore it.”

  "Meaning, exactly?" Rykard asked.

  "One week after I first set foot in it. After that, you may pick what I have missed."

  “Are you not interested in the other benefits of this game?” Miyo asked, cool and inquisitive.

  “I have no use of the Ocean Tiles and I care little to build a realm of wealth,” the answer was swift, to the point, and clear. “I want to thrive. I lead a guild, not a nation.”

  “If we were to give you this, chances that you pce third are quite high,” Rykard analysed her motivation. “Its a fairly safe assumption that Benhuldran will defeat Vimi. She doesn’t strike me as a woman of power. You will have your one pre-poputed tile, use it for its ships, and assure yourself the treasure that way.”

  “Its safer than competing for second pce,” Miyo added. “You don’t have to reveal your powers or ck thereof to anyone.”

  Tess said and did nothing. Her dark form obscured any and all tells. “You will not run a risk yourself by doing this and all you will lose is a treasure you will need months to find anyhow.”

  “I’ll also have to pce the Ocean Tiles in a way convenient to you.”

  “Do you wish to make this Bond?” Upon the st word spoken, a number of heads rose from the feathers of her mantle. Little bck birds cttered excitedly with their beaks, eager for Rykard’s answer.

  “Not under those conditions,” Rykard answered and listened to the disappointed chatter of the little crows. “I will not pce my Ocean Tiles for your benefit. You want the treasure, you can put in the work of getting there.” Tess acknowledged that with a little nod. “Also, when you find it, you will call on me so we can explore it together.”

  “...Just explore it together?” Tess asked. “You do not want any of the loot?”

  Rykard shook his head. “We will explore together.”

  Tess contempted that for a few moments. With that wording alone, Rykard had the option of infinitely deying her by just saying he would join her ter until the end of time. It was a weakness in the contract she must have been aware of - and one she did not choose to point out.

  “I shall surrender in this upcoming fight, under the condition that I shall be the first to set foot into the pce where your Ocean Treasure is located. I will have exclusive rights to take the riches for seven days, after which you may do as you please. I will explore the location with you. That will be our contract. Do you agree to this Bond?” All the little birds, having half-settled, suddenly perked up again. Their bck eyes glittered in the moonlight that fell through the canopy.

  “Yes,” Rykard said.

  The answer spoken, one of the crows separated from her mantle. The small bird swelled, absorbing the nearby darkness and forming from it raven wings of enormous size. Cawing soundlessly, it flew a circle around them, before turning into fading feathers. The pact, Rykard could sense, was sealed.

  It was a contract to a god, entered willingly. The consequences should he break it were numerous, although not immediately deadly depending on the depth of it and the god involved. Considering what Rykard knew about the Bonding Crow, it would probably be a stroke of bad luck.

  “The second round then,” Tey announced, the moment Rykard and Tess returned to their benches. “Let’s make this swift.”

  The space around them was distorted, the same arena as the previous day surrounding them. Rykard and Tess stood in the middle, the goddess next to them not even bothering to remove herself from the field.

  The raven-mantled woman raised a hand and spoke the agreed words. “I surrender.”

  “Booo!” Tey cried out. “Booo, I say!” A swipe of her staff had Rykard and Tess transported into their seat in the watching area. “Worst tournament round ever!” She tapped the bottom of her staff on the ground and just like that, Benhuldran stood opposite of Vimi. Lazily, the goddess hovered up into the air. “The fight begins with the snap of my finger.”