“So...How is this supposed to work? Because this certainly doesn’t look like any website or web-app I’ve ever been on…” said Alex. Her tone skeptical and more than a little tired, considering that she’d just gotten off of her shift at the laundromat.

“Shush, girl...Damn you’re impatient. Just watch. Let me do the thing, first,” said Zara.

The petite half-mermaid grumbled from her position at a small unlit pyre of twigs, leaves, newspapers, and old phone books. Once she was done building the pyre she’d begun coring an apple. Hollowing out and stuffing it with a piece of paper covered in black scrawl.

“Whatever...Just, you know...Hurry the fuck up. It’s almost midnight and we’ve got school in the morning,” said Alex. Reaching into her pocket. Pulling out a pack of gum and taking out a stick for herself.

“Oh, it’s gonna be midnight and we have school in the morning….What are you, eighty?” said Zara. Speaking in sing-song. Her tone mocking.

“Tch, Just hurry. It. the fuck. Up…” said Alex. Her jaw beginning to work away at the stick of fruity gum she’d just tossed in her mouth.

“Alright, alright...I’m already done anyway,” said Zara. Standing as she set the apple aflame.

Thick, oddly sweet-smelling, smoke rose from the pyre. Zara opened her interface and began to read the chant that had been recorded in the web page she’d found the night before. She heard snickering at her back and ignored it, quietly promising to get some form of petty revenge on the lanky half-imp at a later date.

“What the hell are you doing?” said Alex. Barely bothering to contain her laughter.

“I’m logging in, what do you think I’m doing...Now repeat these lines if you want to get access to the app…”

“How the hell does burning an apple on a heap of garbage get us access to the app…?”

“I don’t fucking know...Do I look like I’m some shady government cabal, entertainment industry, uber cartel, tech giant, mucky-muck?... Just repeat the damn words. What do we have to lose do you want to stay in this dead-end fucking town forever?!” said Zara. Deadly serious for once in her life. Showing a touch of the determination and desperation she usually hid behind her carefree and laissez-faire attitude.

Alex frowned and then she sighed. She opened her interface. The site was already there in the corner of her vision. Minimized into a minor window. Neither girl wanted to allow this town to trap them like it trapped their mothers. Diz wasn’t a bad place to live, Alex and Zara knew this because the news reported on worse places each and every day.

There were places embroiled in shadow wars, skirmishes that were relatively minor according to the world stage but were absolutely devastating for the locals. There were places suffering from poverty, corruption, and oppressive government. There were places that quietly seemed to disappear leaving the rest of the world wondering exactly what happened to them.

Yet, for the girls, Diz was bad enough in its one way. For the girls, Diz was a physical, economic, and spiritual dead end. It wasn’t a hell on earth by any means, but didn’t need to be. A Purgatory could be just as bad if you had hopes and dreams and any kind of expectations for yourself.

Diz was a dying lake that fended off stagnation by consuming its youth. If they stayed, they’d know exactly how their lives would go, they’d be able to read the trajectory of their futures like they were seers.

They wouldn’t even need tea leaves or runic knucklebones to see their future. All they’d need to do was look around them. All they needed to do was look at their mothers and the other adults in the town. Life in Diz meant living in quiet poverty and mediocrity. It was a life where doing “pretty good” was the most they’d be able to hope for.

Thus Alex chanted the chant. Doing so joking at first, but finding a shocking hint of earnestness and desperation entering her words.

Once the chant was over and two girls had repeated the words three times… Nothing happened. The anti-climax was expected, but Alex couldn’t help feeling pissed. She opened her mouth to say something but swallowed her words. She and Zara might not have been “good” friends, but they were still “best” friends by virtue of familiarity. Alex knew that the half-mermaid would likely be harder hit by the disappointment than Alex was.

After all, at least Alex could still go for broke and try to risk it all by moving if this didn’t work out. Zara had six little sisters and an alcoholic mother to worry about. If this didn’t work out, then Zara was stuck.

“Zee…?” said Alex. Finally deciding to say something after the ten minutes of standing in silence.

“...Zee?”

“Zara, I think we should get-...”

Whatever Alex was about to say was interrupted by an explosion of sound and light. Both girls were picked up and sent flying as the guttering flame of pyre erupted becoming a pillar static-y light.

Alex ran towards her friend. Catching her before she landed. Sending the two of them rolling towards a ditch.

“What the fuck?!” said Alex.

“Oh, shit, I think its really happening!” said Zara. A wide smile spreading across her face despite the blood pouring from her nose and forehead. Her blue eyes opened wide as she watched the pillar that held all of their hopes and dreams.

Alex gazed at the pillar as well and watched a hand big enough to blacken the sky emerge from it. The hand was followed by an arm that could lift and throw worlds, followed by shoulders that could support an entire galaxy. Followed by a head that was oddly conical and crested like the helm of a knight.

The biggest mecha, Alex had ever seen outside of a military magazine or late-night anime stood before them. Its body was made of a mixture of crystal and beautiful silvery-blue metal. It stood tall enough to thoroughly dwarf every building in Diz, and this included the unlikely proposition of someone stacking all the buildings in Diz on top of each other to try and make up the difference. Its height was so immense that Alex imagined that the tallest mountains in the world would only measure up to its knee.

The creature seemed to scan the two girls and then there was a strange visual distortion similar to what one would see in a glitchy VR game. The space around them shifted a second time and the massive mech was replaced with a cute, plush, silver blue, creature. Its features half-way between that of a fox and a cat. It didn’t look like a real creature. It looked more like a stuffed toy come to life.

“Greetings, Prospective ‘Piece’ ”. I am Unit #8694731 of Null’s Moderator Fleet. Do you wish to enter the game of doors?” said the silver-blue entity.

Its voice still boomed like thunder despite its new diminutive size. The force of the pressure waves released by its words were just short of knocking both girls unconscious.

A mass of shapeless information assaulted their minds. Making the girls very aware of what they were about to get themselves wrapped into. In stories, the strange and fae creatures that offered people things and deals at the beginning of the story, might or might not, give the protagonists a warning of how much danger those who got involved with them were going to be in. Here, Alex and Zara were made almost painfully aware that in likelihood and all probability if they weren’t careful they’d end up dead, perhaps even deader than dead. With the possibility of worse fates remaining depending on what they encountered and the choices they made.

This should have been enough to make them balk and run screaming for home, but the info-dump had also made them painfully aware of how much they had to gain if they managed to play their cards right. It wouldn’t take long for them to reach their dreams if they managed to do this successfully. Everything they ever wanted or wished for and more could be attained.

The mech wasn’t just a mech. It was a devil and an angel. Singing in two voices warning them away and exhorting them to hold steady in the pursuit of a brighter tomorrow. Using a single sentence to speak the two conflicting messages at the same time.

“Er…Uh...Er…” said Alex. Unable to get a proper word out while her mind was short-circuiting.

“Yes! I absolutely want to join the game of doors!” said Zara. Standing at the mouth of the ditch. Her eyes were aflame. Her body was positively glowing with fighting spirit.

“Er...Me-, me too?” said Alex. Feeling a whole lot less sure about the prospect. Feeling a whole lot less sure about a lot of things right now, including her own sanity.

“Understood...Prepare for integration into the great game of doors! I will be your personal administrative assistant for your tenure in this game. May you live long and glory endlessly! ” said the plush admin.