The Elder One and Autumn discovered that they had no desire to sleep. Neither had done such a thing in their lives, and they weren’t quite sure how to. So, a decision was made, and they coordinated with Jake and the other men to patrol and guard the sleeping humans.

Truthfully though, hardly any humans, save for the most exhausted, slept. Many talked in hushed whispers to one another. The Elder One hoped they weren’t forming alliances and planning his demise. He had no doubt that if they knew the truth about his involvement in these recent events, he would be crushed under a flood of minor, yet unceasing attacks.

As far as he could tell, the humans seemed to be of two minds about him. There were those who suspected his involvement and thus guilt, and those humans who were more intelligent and could see what his aid could mean to them.

He breathed in the cool night air, something that until recently he could only have imagined doing, yet he couldn’t truly savor it. He was too busy forming a plan in his mind, a plan to win over the humans and their cooperation. He didn’t want to manipulate the humans, individually they were stupid animals, but collectively they were a fearsome beast, and potentially smarter than him, especially now that he was limited.

The plan was obvious, anyone could predict it, the problem was how to implement it. He would reward those who followed him and punish those who went against him. For a reward he could issue quests, that was something he was uniquely suited to do. For punishment he wasn’t certain how to proceed though. He knew he didn’t want to be an antagonist by striking too hard, nor weak for being too soft.

Autumn, who walked closely to him ever since being attacked, seemed to sense his distress. She had attempted to dissuade his worry repeatedly by reassuring him that the humans would obviously see the benefits of being rewarded quests. He wasn’t sure why she was doing it, but it made him feel more comfortable trusting her, and revealing to her his thoughts and plans.

“So, you will reward those loyal to you with profitable quests, conversely however, you are uncertain how to proceed?” Autumn asked.

“Correct,” The Elder One said.

“I have a few ideas, but first I think we should reexamine your capabilities as Earths controller more thoroughly.”

Doing so hardly dissuaded The Elder Ones worries. They both learned that every twelve hours someone or something that contested The Elder Ones title arrived. This meant that already there was one and neither had any idea what it was or where it had arrived precisely. This seemed to continue constantly for an entire year. The result was seven hundred and thirty contestants during earths trial period. Furthermore, The Elder One found no tangible way to punish those who disobeyed him.

However, The Elder One did discover he could issue and revoke titles to those in his command. He expected a list of predetermined ranks, but it was completely open ended. He could give someone the title turdy turd face if he wanted, which he did. The sleeping man seemed to be totally oblivious.

Once examined this title would appear between his first and last name and his level. They quickly realized no one had a middle name, or at least the middle names weren’t displayed. The only reason for this besides anonymity that The Elder One could guess was that in many stories names were supposed to hold power. Knowing one’s true name could give power over that individual such as in the story of Ra and Isis, or evocation the summoning of creatures, typically demons, via their name.

The thought terrified him, and he hoped it wasn’t true. The Galactic Internet had deliberately informed him that his true name was known to it. The more he tried to push the thought aside, the worse it became, and he even confided in Autumn about it.

“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “There’s no such thing as magic, not really. You more than anyone should know that. Given a large enough calculator the so-called ‘magic’ we perform can be quantified and explained easily. I’m not saying a human could ever comprehend it, the average human doesn’t understand quantum physics, and that is at least in a small way, part of this magic.”

What she said made utter sense to him. However, she hadn’t technically proven it was impossible, if anything she had done the opposite. What she had done was attacked the concept magic, perspective of it, and the knowledge or ignorance thereof.

“I agree, but by comparison, while we may understand this magic for what it is, at least in part, what about true names? What if the magic of a true name is silly and fantastical to us, like this mundane magic used to be to humans. The mundane magic has now been proven and we can understand that, but the true name magic has yet to be proven yet is no less of a possibility. My point is we don’t know the limitations of this game yet.”

The Elder One stopped and gasped loud enough to wake those nearest him.

Autumn sounded excited and scared as she asked, “What is it?” She had good reason to be scared, after all The Elder One knew her true name.

“I’ve just received a quest from an unnamed god, to discover the power behind a true name.”

Autumn started slowly laughing until The Elder One shared the quest with her.

Quest from an unnamed god.

Discover the power of a true name.

Reward: An audience with me.

“You put gods in this game too?” Autumn whispered as she glared at him.

The Elder One just shrugged before he started walking again. “This proves me right!” he exclaimed happily before stopping and saying with more than a little dread, “this proves me right.”

Autumns expression went from grinning to frowning along with The Elder Ones realizations. “We need to make this a priority,” she said.

“Agreed, I wonder if this is why we aren’t given any information on those who contest my title.”

Autumn gasped, “That’s it! Information, that’s what we need the most right now, perhaps there are some books or something on the Galactic Marketplace we can use!”

The Elder Ones head was swimming, it was the obvious answer to a thousand problems. He wondered how they hadn’t thought of this before. Even if they couldn’t find books written in a language they could read, they could decipher the language without too much difficulty. If there were no books, there was bound to be something.

Instead of pointing out the obvious, The Elder One pressed her for information. “Before you said that you had a few ideas of how to solve my current predicament, I’d like to hear them.”

“Yes, I may have a few vaguer ideas as well now. My first idea was to punish and reward the same way. Give a quest that specifies harming someone opposed to you as an objective with a decent reward. It can be as benign as snitching on one another, or as grave as killing those who oppose you.”

The idea was good, but the humans might consider it an abuse of power. Unless he was able to use it in a more discreet manner then it was unlikely he would resort to it, except as a final option. He no longer felt hopeless though, worst case scenario he could have the humans battle against one another. That may in fact be an ideal way of increasing their powers. The loss of numbers would be a severe detriment though.

“Last option idea, but I like it. What’s next?” he asked as he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it. Was it true that being emotionally involved with something could cloud one’s judgement?

“Also, I’d like to point out before I continue that I think you should create a global quest to kill these ‘contestants’ whoever or whatever they are with a suitable reward.”

“Done,” The Elder One said. “Wait, I just got an idea, I’m giving you a quest, so you can be rewarded for helping me.”

Autumn smiled at him, and The Elder One felt a little guilty about not doing it before. It didn’t cost him anything except for a small amount of effort and time to do it.

“Thank you,” she said. “My first idea involved pitting the humans against each other. That’s not the limitations of your ability though, you can summon monsters.”

The Elder One’s eyes widened as he realized where she was going with this. “Brilliant suggestion, but I’m not sure it’ll work. You suggest I summon monsters and give them quests to hunt my dissenters.”

Autumn nodded with a devilish grin before saying, “Yes but that’s rather two-dimensional, there’s so much you could do! I’m not sure if it would work but imagine if you could spawn an army for yourself! You could also create an arena for entertainment and encouragement for the humans to grow stronger.”

The Elder One sucked in a breath and shuddered as he released it. His own arena, he could place it next to his castle, the champions would be given some fantastic reward like an audience with him. Then they could tell him their true names, giving him the greatest champions of Earth at his beck and call. He chastised himself for not thinking of this sooner.

“That’s it we have to begin now!” The Elder One said far too loudly, waking more humans.

“Wait!” Autumn hissed. “I’m not done yet, I had another idea!”

The Elder One fought his urge to build his arena-castle, but everything Autumn said was magnificent and he had to hear what she said next. The Elder One quickly gave her another quest, with a much higher reward for her advice.

Autumns eyes twinkled devilishly, but they dimmed as The Elder One lost control and started hopping up and down. He left large impressions in the asphalt as he hopped, and he didn’t know why he was doing it. He wrestled control of himself, but he couldn’t hold out for long.

“Quickly Autumn! Speak! I can’t hold it much longer!” The Elder One yelled.

Autumn seemed to sense the need for urgency and she blurted, “I’m not sure it’s that good of an idea! At least not on the surface.” She paused for a moment seeming to think. “The titles. As far as I know, there is only two ways to achieve them. Either kill you and acquire your title, or be given one by you, or someone with an equivalent standing.”

The Elder One nodded but frowned, he didn’t know if killing him would give someone his title, but the theory was sound. He waved up with his hand, gesturing for her to continue.

“We’ll there is a sort of power to that as well, like the arena. Of course, the arena champions would be titled as such. I of course should be given a grand title, exceptionally so.” She stared at him with a serious expression for a moment before continuing. “It works both ways though, rebels should be labeled something terrible. Something they can’t try to spin into a movement. Maybe something embarrassing like ‘weakest human ever’ or ‘stupidest man,’ I don’t know you decide. That depends, of course, whether or not there is a limit to how many titles you can issue and if they can remove them.”

The Elder One nodded, he liked it, it wasn’t as good as the arena though.

“Very well, let me know when you decide what title you want, and it’s yours. Let me know if you can remove it also.”

Autumn opened her mouth to speak but seemed to hesitate before asking more than saying, “Autumn the Wonderful?”

The Elder One snorted loudly and covered his mouth. It was perhaps the stupidest thing he’d ever heard, and he’d heard just about everything. Autumn’s face was turning as red as her hair and The Elder One forced himself to be quiet as he thought of a way to escape this situation.

“Um, it’s not bad but why not try it in Latin? ‘Arbores Autumnales Mirifica,’ everything sounds better in Latin,” The Elder One backpedaled.

Autumns deep scowl turned into a toothy smile as she exclaimed, “That’s wonderful! I’m wonderful!”

The Elder One tried with effort not to roll his eyes as he gave her the title ‘Arbores Autumnales Mirifica’ and sighed. He would have to be more careful around Autumn, he relied on her far too heavily. He would be surprised if she wasn’t planning on poisoning him now, he would be sure to test anything she tried to feed him.

“I’m happy that you’re happy,” The Elder One said. “Now let us review: information, castle-rena, true names, titles.”

“Castle-rena?” Autumn snorted as she asked with blatant disbelief.

The Elder One puffed out his chest and held his chin up as he asked, “Yes, what about it?”

“Doesn’t it sound a bit too much like ballerina?”

The Elder One deflated slightly as his ears tinged red with embarrassment. He started to nod before saying, “What about the title can you remove it or what?”

Autumns eyes thinned before she said, “Can’t be removed, at least I don’t see how but I’ll look into it on the marketplace. Why do you need a castle anyways, can’t spaceships just blow it up from orbit?”

The Elder One almost deflated before pausing and waving away her concerns. “Force field obviously. What good is an aren-astle without a force field?”

Autumn guffawed as she said, “That sounds like a bad word! That’s even worse than castle-rena!”

Autumn’s guffawing was so loud in fact, that she woke everyone. Thankfully, the sun was starting to crest the horizon so there weren’t too many hostile complaints or remarks. The Elder One decided to take advantage of the attention they were getting to dodge his embarrassment.

“Who wants to fight in my castle-arena? You look strong, c’mon we need a practice trial.”

Autumn watched as The Elder One, who was quite possibly the most powerful being on the planet, gods and dragons notwithstanding, carried a struggling half-asleep man off in his arms like a baby. He could be heard calling out Jakes name as Autumn lost view of him.

As she finally caught her breath, she noticed for the first time that she enjoyed being human more than she could have ever imagined possible. Before she had known some small joy in her experiments and discoveries, but by comparison to what she felt now it was negligible at best. It wasn’t even what The Elder One had said that made her laugh either, that began it, but the way his face and ears turned red, he was embarrassed. The feared and revered almighty being who was whispered about and hid from squirmed under her laughter which made her laugh even more.

She was mostly glad he wasn’t what she would have expected. Her and all her kin reveled in surprises because they brought new and powerful insights. He was like a child really, he hid himself away and worked on his puzzle and thus never matured like the rest of her kin. Really it was for the best, her kin were full of themselves and arrogant, which was how she expected The Elder One to be.

Autumn noticed that she was alone for the first time as she stood in the street, lost in her thoughts. The Elder One had enemies, and by extension they were her enemies too. She had even been attacked, being the weaker of the two she was vulnerable. She was by no means helpless though, if needed she could slaughter the humans in droves. Unlike The Elder One though, she was highly susceptible to damage.

She sucked in a breath as quietly as she could as she glanced around and saw the last person she hoped to see. It was the woman who had vigorously assaulted her. The woman was standing at the far side of the street just watching her, seemingly waiting for something. Her eyes were pleading, attempting to convey something Autumn couldn’t put her finger on, but she doubted it was hostile.

The woman had apparently taken some cue from Autumns expression and she started walking towards her. Autumn paused again and checked for an ambush, there were others watching her, some of them even hostile looking. No one else approached her though.

“I wanted to apologies again for what I did, it was wrong,” the woman said.

This woman was the first to ever apologies to her, and she had now done it twice. Autumn nodded, she knew what the appropriate response was as she blurted it out, “Apology accepted.”

The woman seemed to deflate as she started crying again. “It was wrong of me, I wanted someone to blame, anyone!” she exclaimed loudly enough to draw a crowd. “I know that you’re trying to help, if there’s anything I can do tell me, please!”

Autumn was taken off guard by this woman’s open honesty, it was obvious that’s what she had done. Emotions welled up inside Autumn in a tumultuous storm, she was angry she had been attacked and made to look weak. That feeling ebbed though, and was overtaken by compassion, sympathy, and concern as a silent tear trailed down her cheek.

Autumn lifted a hand and touched the woman’s face. “What is your name?” she asked even though she knew the answer, she was grasping at straws not knowing how to behave in this situation.

The woman made eye contact with Autumn as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Marissa.”

Autumn nodded as she thought of what to say next, she was basking in her emotions, the sensation intoxicating. “Marissa, we will find who has done this, and we will make them pay, I guarantee it.”

Autumn flinched as Marissa grabbed her hand and held it firmly to her face. She rubbed it along her cheek as she cried silently for a few moments before she let go. Autumns hand withdrew as they made eye contact, and she felt a chill race down her spine. Marissa’s eyes held hers with fierce determination and Autumn understood she had just turned her greatest enemy into her greatest ally.

Autumn was swept up by this Marissa, she fussed over her torn clothes and disheveled appearance. Autumn knew that humans valued appearance and that she should too, but she was new here and had more pressing matters. Nevertheless, she allowed herself to be pulled by the hand as Marissa brought her to her house.

Marissa’s house was much like her, unimpressive and not particularly beautiful. It was a pale green mobile home with a small garden out front and not much more. They passed blood stains and a small grave that appeared to be fresh as they entered the house.

Marissa had cleaned herself since last night and she now wore black pants and a dark grey blouse. It appeared to be funeral attire by all intents and purposes. Marissa herself appeared to be about forty years old, she had long black hair that was braided into a long pony tail. Her face was perpetually stern and hardened, it was marred by lines and wrinkles that seemed to be indicative of a difficult life. Autumn noticed above all though, that Marissa had an air of strength about her, whether it was a recent development or something she had had her entire life she didn’t know.

Marissa picked out something similar for Autumn to wear and she thankfully accepted it as she changed. Marissa showed her surprise briefly that Autumn was changing in front of her, but it passed quickly. Autumn knew it was slightly unusual, but she had no sense of embarrassment, her body was perfect after all and she had no reason to be shy. She knew she wasn’t her body and that it was merely a vessel she used to exist in this world, much like a spacesuit for someone in space.

They were both of similar sizes and builds and the clothes fit well, or at least Autumn thought they did. Marissa brought her into a bathroom and began washing her face and combing her hair as Autumn glanced around for some sort of surprise attack. She was being pampered by Marissa basically and wasn’t sure where this was going. She suspected though, that she was a fly caught in a spider’s web.

Before Autumn could voice her concerns, Marissa broke the silence. “Now Autumn, tell me what I need to do to help you.”

There was a moment of stillness as Autumn though of a way Marissa could help her, she was just a regular human after all.

Marissa seemed to sense the hesitation and she practically begged, “Please! Anything at all, I don’t care how risky or dangerous!”

Autumn knew she couldn’t deny her help, not now. To do so would spring the trap on herself, and though she doubted that Marissa could kill her, it was still possible. She nodded her head as she took a gamble and said, “I need information, and I need to learn more about magic.”

Marissa sat down the comb and her face tightened, the lines and wrinkles made her look much older, her eyes hardened as she said, “It’ll be done. What kind of information and magic?”

Autumn spent the next several minutes staring into Marissa’s hard eyes through the mirror she stood opposite, explaining about their lack of knowledge and what could be discovered on the marketplace. She withheld information about true names since she thought it foolish to involve the humans in such affairs. She even told her about the contestants appearing every twelve hours and how they were a significant threat.

“Basically,” Autumn said, “we know nothing, we are at a severe disadvantage right now. To prevent more deaths, and to gather the strength we need to strike back eventually we need knowledge and power.”

Marissa was intensely focused as she hung off every word Autumn said. Instead of speaking though, she took Autumn by the hand and lead her outside. Autumn followed along, uncertain what Marissa was leading her to.

When they exited the mobile home, Autumn saw dozens of women stand and facing the door. They all looked as if they had just returned from a funeral, wearing dark or black colors and they all gazed at Autumn and Marissa with a spectrum of every emotion plastered on their faces. Mostly though, they seemed grief stricken or angry, and Autumn watched as more women trickled into the small gathering.

Marissa, who was still holding her hand, squeezed it firmly as she whispered to her, “You’re safe here, no one will hurt you around us.”

Autumn sniffled as she wiped tears from her eyes, she thought back to when The Elder One had started hopping earlier, losing control of himself. She knew what it felt like now, to be swept away by a flood of powerful and intoxicating emotions.

There was no rousing speech, no empty platitudes of comfort, or assurances that things would get better. There was no time for such frivolities, not now, perhaps never. Now was the time for action and they all knew it as they quietly listened to Marissa parrot Autumns task as orders.