“Why are the Gods breaking their own rules?” I ask Taylor, my gaze studying the empty shop.

I adjust my position and cross my legs on the fold-out chair Taylor had prepared in her shop.

She raises an eyebrow at my question and leans against the bare wall behind her. “You can’t expect me to just tell you that, now can you? That will cost you more gold and you already owe me a gold piece.” She finishes with a frown, probably already regretting her decision.

Oh well, I’d hoped that she might just answer my question, but I knew that it was a longshot. Voices in my head, could you be useful for once and please summarize this new information?

♦ Cadet: Yes Ma’am! In summary, the gods made a treaty with each other, then one of them decided to break the treaty by letting in monsters before the proper time in a Beta World. This god’s name is Set.

♦ Captain: How exactly does this information benefit us?

♦ Cadet: Let me see here… Aha! It gives us the benefit of knowing that we still know nothing about everything!

That was… actually an accurate summary. “To be honest Taylor, I was expecting more information for four gold coins. This doesn’t tell me anything.”

“That’s because you are asking for the entirely wrong information.” Taylor gives me a comforting smile with her sharp teeth. “From what I can see, you haven’t even asked any questions about your abilities, about the gods, about the system or why the beta has started in your world in the first place. You’re driving blind and you don’t even realize it.”

My eyes narrow at her “It’s been six days, I have had other things on my mind and I know more about what is going on than most of the other Beta Testers.”

Taylor’s smile falters. “Listen to yourself, you think that you are more powerful than the other Beta Testers, that you know more, simply because you have fought two Beta Testers! Two out of two million. You barely escaped with your life both times and yet you still think yourself invincible.” She pauses taking a deep breath. “Look, I am only saying these things because I like you. You are actually a good person and you would be surprised how rare that is. I know things that you cannot imagine, it is my job to know these things. You are not as far ahead of the pack as you think you are and if you don’t prepare for what is to come, then you will find your throat slit by a monster! You’d just better hope that that monster isn’t wearing the face of someone you trust-” She stops her tirade, her green skin tinged red with emotion.

I look up at the ceiling of Taylor’s shop as I think about what she said. My chair tilts back on two legs as I push up with my feet.

A mural of the stars is painted on her ceiling, I lose myself in the painting as I just process her words. After a few minutes, the chair’s front two legs hit the ground with a *Clunk* “You are probably right.” I say with total seriousness, any sense of play gone from my voice. “I am definitely not perfect. There is probably more I can do to prepare myself.” I smile at her, back to my normal self “But I like having fun and doing things my way. After all, if you can’t have fun while living life, then what is the point of living? I can’t let silly things like possible death and dismemberment stop me from kissing the girl I have a crush on.” I pull my hair in front of my face mysteriously. “I will win either way, you want to know why?”

“Why?” Taylor asks with a frown.

I motion her closer and say in a mock whisper “Because I am invincible.” I stand up, scooting my chair backwards. “Thank you for the information, I will give back the gold owed to you asap. Until then, I want to spend some time with my little sister. I feel like I have been neglecting her.” I walk towards the door as an unsatisfied Taylor stares at my back. I stop in the door frame and look back at her “By the way, I’ve been wondering; why does Dee like honey so much?”

Taylor responds without thinking, “It’s like marijuana to the Fey. It makes them feel real good and chills them out.”

My fairy gets high on honey.

Now that is a sentence you don’t hear very often. Not that it is entirely unexpected, surprisingly. Wonder if it is just honey or sweets in general? What would happen if I gave her Royal Jelly?

Chuckling to myself, I leave the shop and return to my home.

My room is the same as ever, with the exception of a small fairy reading an equally small book on my pillow.

Dee turns the page, completely ignoring me.

I shrug, fine with letting her be. I pull out my phone, looking at snapchat as I walk down the stairs to the living room.

“Mom! I think I have super powers!” Elizabeth says, catching my attention.

“What makes you say that?” Mom asks as she stirs vegetables in a giant wok.

“You know those girls that have been bullying me lately?” Elizabeth says, running her hand through her hair in the same habit that I have.

Mom frowns, obviously unhappy with the topic. “Yes. Are they still bothering you? I can talk to the principal again.”

“Don’t do that. You’ll embarrass me even more.” Elizabeth pouts, before switching back to her excited self, “You don’t have to anyway! something way cool happened at school today! When Blair started making fun of me, lightning from the sky struck her. It was so cool and I think it happened because I was so angry with her!”

“Oh my god! Is she ok?” Mom asks, stopping her chopping of vegetables.

“I hope not,” Elizabeth mutters.

“Elizabeth.”

“What? She is a total B-I-T-C-H.” Elizabeth spells out each letter of the word, drawing a small laugh from me.

“Elena! Don’t encourage her!” Mom scolds with a wry scowl.

I don’t respond as I lean against the counter, enjoying the show.

“Mom! You are ignoring the most important part! Lighting came out of the sky and struck her. I think I have super powers.” Elizabeth crosses her arms smugly.

Dee~♪ What did you do to my little sister’s tormentors? Whatever it was. I will remember to give you extra honey for it.

I grab Elizabeth and pull her into a bear hug. “Something tells me that it was just a coincidence little sunshine.”

Elizabeth tries to break free of my hug, but I refuse to let her.

“Mom! Elena won’t let go of me.” She complains grumpily.

“Squeeze her extra for me.” Mom winks at me as she speaks.

“Mom!” Elizabeth pouts.

Dad walks into the room with a weary expression. “You guys look like you are having-” he yawns mid-sentence “fun.”

“Dad!” Elizabeth breaks free from my hug and hides behind him. “They are ganging up on me!”

“What? They are ganging up on my precious little girl? The heathens.” He jokes tiredly. A wane smile appearing on his face.

Mom walks up to him giving him a small kiss on the lips. “How was work?” She asks, going back to her cooking.

Dad sighs as he falls into a chair next to the kitchen table. “Not good and it isn’t over yet. I’m on call.”

“I thought you had tonight off.” Mom asks disappointed as she dishes some of the food out to him, leaving the rest of us to dish ourselves.

“I did, but the number of violent crimes are going through the roof. They needed some extra doctors to be on call. I volunteered.”

“You are exhausted enough as it is. You need some time off,” Mom says, placing the food in front of him a little harder than she needs to.

“I’ll be fine.” Is his only response as we all sit around the table and start eating.

The table is quiet after that statement and I excuse myself as soon as I can.

Dee is still reading her book as I arrive upstairs.

“What are you reading?” I ask Dee, motioning towards her book.

Dee looks at me with a wide smile, her face a little flushed, “It’s a romantic story set in the warring period. It’s about the forbidden love between a water fairy and an electric fairy.” She coos, holding the book to her chest. “And it is steamy.”

I smile at her, “You’ll have to lend it to me sometime, I’ve been looking for some good reading material.” Hopefully it has automatic size change for different races too. I muse playfully.

She hides her book underneath her and hisses at me playfully. “Mine.”

“You owe me for the trouble you have caused my sister. She doesn’t need that kind of attention.” I say, losing some of my playfulness.

“What? I only zapped the other girl a little bit.” Dee says, flying into the air so that her eyes are level with mine.

“People are starting to realize that the world is changing. Just so you know, supernatural attention to my sister is a bad thing.” I say seriously. “Next time, be smarter about it.” I give her a sly smile as I pull out a little bit of honey from my inventory.

She grabs the honey from me and it disappears into her inventory. “Will do.” She states with a grin.

■ ~ ☼ ~ ■

Welcome to the first event of The Beta Test! Your objective is to stop the infestation from spreading. You have twenty minutes to prepare!

Good luck, you’ll need it.

■ ~ ☼ ~ ■

I am shaken awake roughly. I open my eyes to the message in front of me. Why do these things always happen while I am asleep?

“Hello! It’s time to get up mate. This is not a safe place to sleep.” A young woman with a British accent pulls me up by my arms.

I shake my head, getting rid of the last vestiges of sleep. “Where am I?” I ask.

“An American girl, eh?” A man says with a French accent from the side. I look up at the group of people surrounding me.

The young woman holding me has raven hair and brown eyes so dark they are almost black. I catch a brief glance of some scars around her arm before she covers it up with her sleeve. “My name is Isabelle. What is yours?” She asks in a calm voice, her hand still on my arm, steadying me.

“Elena,” I answer, my gaze turning to the room that we are in. A stone floor and marble walls make up the entirety of the room with a single iron door being the only exit.

“Anton Pierre.” The Frenchman introduces himself, tipping the beret that I associate with everyone from France. He is the oldest one in our group with all grey hair and a few wrinkles lining his face.

I look at the last three people in the room. A tall Asian in a business suit ignores my stare.

The second person I look at smiles in greeting, his brown hair is tied back in a bun and a single earring hangs from one ear “My name is Nicolas Guerrero.” He rolls all of the ‘r’s in his name beautifully.

The last person introduces himself with a single word, “Hanz.” Hanz is muscular, but not overly so, he has blonde hair and blue eyes. He looks at me with a mildly irritated expression.

“Everyone here is a Beta Tester,” Isabelle says. “And we just figured out that no matter what language you are speaking, we all hear it as our own. You and I are the only ones actually speaking English.” She finally lets go of my arm.

“The devil tests our faith again and again. Why do you act as if everything is normal?” The Asian man finally speaks up.

“How else should I act?” Isabelle asks, glaring at the man.

The Asian man rubs his eyes. “Do not let the acts of these false gods cloud your eyes. That is all I will say.”

I ignore their conversation as I glance at my enhance body skill, which is now at beginner level seven.

I am as prepared as I can be, but what did the blue screen mean by infestation? My mind immediately goes to zombies, hopefully it will be the slow-easily-killed kind. But what if they mean a different kind of infestation? Maybe a disease? I completely ignore the group that is talking about gods and devils, as I move to a corner of the room. I pull out Sheyla’s notebook and look for a gas-mask spell.

■ ~ ☼ ~ ■

:: Enchantment: Detox lvl 1; Blocks all harmful bacteria, poisons and viruses up to level 5 from entering your system. Must remove to eat. Enchantment is broken if cloth is soaked in water.

:: Requirements: Cloth large enough to cover your mouth, 20 mana, 100 psi.

■ ~ ☼ ~ ■

Thankfully, I had decided to put some extra clothes in my inventory after the many times my clothes have been soaked or stained with blood in the past week.

I pull out a Hello-Kitty shirt and twist it into a makeshift cloth around my mouth. Then I start enchanting. No supernatural colds for this Beta Tester.

Using the psi from my power chakra and my root chakra, I create my second enchantment. It only takes five minutes to finish enchanting my shirt.

“What is that?” Hanz, the German man asks me.

I look up to see all of the other beta testers looking at me. “Protection,” I answer, my voice muffled by the cloth.

“Against what?” Hanz asks with an impatient tone.

“Sexually transmitted diseases.” I respond, smiling behind my ‘mask’.

Hanz just looks at me with a confused expression, while Isabelle laughs. “Just use Identify on it.”

I glance at a timer that had been going down in the edge of my vision. It says that we have roughly eight minutes left.

Anton, the Frenchman, hands me a scarf. “Can you enchant this for me?”

I nod and meditate to bring my psi back up to a hundred. Once it is there, I begin to work on his scarf.

I finish and hand it back to him.

“Thank you,” He says as I hand his scarf back to him.

“We are out of time, or I would ask you to do the same for me,” Nicolas says, pulling a staff out of his inventory as the timer goes into its last few minutes.

I pull out my gloves and put them on, everyone brings out their own weapons. The Asian, man whose name I still don’t know, pulls out a large suitcase.

Anton pulls out a revolver, nonchalant in his actions.

Hanz pulls out a large broadsword, lifting it easily as energy moves through his body.

Finally, Isabelle pulls out a familiar looking sword. Exactly like the one I saw in the video that Blake showed me yesterday.

I look at the clock as it ticks down.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

**Ting~♫**

■ ~ ☼ ~ ■

Preparation time is over!

Each group will have a score, the groups to get the highest scores at the end of the event will get prizes.

Now please leave through the door to enter the event’s stage.

Good luck and remember; the gods are watching!

■ ~ ☼ ~ ■

The only door in our room swings open, a bright light on the other side preventing us from seeing where it leads.

I shrug and walk through the door.