Curse of the Goddess

Chapter 8 - The road to Victory

I walked over to the front door of the abandoned taco bell and reached my arm out. Before my knuckles even graced the door, it flung open. The hunk of a man with the braided beard stood before me, I opened my mouth. But my words were snatched from my throat. He had eyes now! Not just any eyes, but the same eyes as the girl from yesterday! The one whose eyes sparkled like the night sky. 

"Ahhh! It's good to feenilly see ya my boya! You've checked in just in time."

I blinked a few times, attempting to wrap my head around this. His words, the eyes, the braided beard. None of it should be allowed on the same server as me. 

"Umm, yeah, I'm just gonna." I walked past him and he gave me a nod.

I kept going and tried to just not think about it.

"What you seek is near, Mr. Grendell. Returning to life may not be possible, but an audience with the lost is closer than you think."

A chill ran down my spine, and I stopped in my tracks. I turned back to him and he had a wide toothy grin. 

"How did you…?"

"Your fate may not be written in sten, but your desires and their roads. I can see that clearly." 

Wait, fate. A memory of the old Hercules movie came into mind. The fates in the movie all shared that one big ugly eye. This guy and the girls must be just like them.

"What road leads to Annual?" 

"You'll face your death before you arrive upon that road. In every path you take, I see it clearly."

I turned back around and continued forward. Doesn't matter what he says. Even if this road takes me to Hell. I'm not giving up on you Annual.

… 

All of the participants stood in a cluster at the bottom of the coliseum. The women from the bar yesterday instructed me to meet them down there and find my place. The whole area was dimmed down with only red lights illuminating the area, like it was a club or something. While the coliseum itself was bright like a football stadium. My eyes gazed over the people who weren't participating. It was mostly old guys and their floozies walking around. Guess this really was just a game. I wondered where Gilda was? Wait, where the hell was Bean!? I scanned around, but he still wasn't back. My strategy definitely wasn't gonna work if he doesn't come back. 

Soon I made it to the stone steps that lead to the open area. I glanced around and honestly it didn't help. There were a few people I looked up while waiting for this. But there was a ridiculous amount of people just standing around, and I definitely wasted too much time on Pokémon…

Once I made it to the bottom of the steps, I just walked over to a corner and eyeballed the room. There wasn't any consistency with the people. There were kids, adults, old men,  old women, and even some guy who looked like the pope! I scurried away from the crowd, and I definitely could feel their eyes on me. So, I took to my own corner and leaned against the wall. Placing a teleport marker against it. 

That's when the sound of grinding rocks echoed off from the steps. I looked over toward it and saw a rock wall rising up behind someone that was coming down. Each step behind them vanished and an earthy wall shot up where the step once laid. Once the figure got closer, I finally noticed who it was! It was Valentine and mouse form Bean on his shoulder!

He didn't acknowledge me as he got down the steps and just walked straight to the middle of the coliseum. He carefully adjusted his Yankees cap and the room fell silent. He held out his hand and a translucent blue mic appeared between his fingers.