“Welcome,” a cheerful voice rang inside their heads. “I am the Game Master.”

They opened their eyes to see themselves floating in the void. Tiny shiny dots illuminated the dark space. The voice that spoke to them seemed to come from everywhere. They heard it coming through their ears. But they also heard the voice ringing inside their heads. They didn’t know where it emanated from.

Myles looked around to see the Scion floating in the air with them too. Then he turned the other way to see the others observing the Scion too. He spoke but no sound came out of his mouth. The others were also shouting something. But it just looked like it, the sound was inexistent.

“What’s this?” the voice said in a tone that suggested disappointment. “You’ve interrupted my perfect winning streak at Devil Snare for this?”

“Forgive me Game Master,” a deep voice said. “I was only – “

“Where’s Fort?” the first voice that spoke asked, irritated.

“He gave up on the games long ago master, don’t you –“

“Oh shush!” the first voice interrupted. “Plain creatures, do you see what I’ve become?” he asked.

Everyone stared at the stars in the distance. They looked helplessly puzzled.

“Well,” the voice spoke after a short while. “Might as well be done with it, what do you want?”

The others tried to speak but no sound came out still.

“Ah yes, yes. Forgive me, where are my manners?” The voice said. “You must be lost. You’ve never taken part in the Tribulations, have you? I’ll deal with that rogue Fragment first. I’ll be with you shortly.” The Scion instantly disappeared while the others witnessed a scene unlike which they’ve never seen.

All of a sudden, shooting stars surrounded the four winners of the Holi Tribulations. They all felt a sudden jolt as they were propelled forward. They saw stars with some circular rocks, big and small orbiting them. They saw a star extinguish then absorb everything around it.

They saw a tribe of cat looking people, chasing each other’s tails. They saw a knight in shining armor take a sword out of a rock. They saw apes wielding strange bows and raging war against humans who lived in tall castles. They saw different landscapes and races until everything became a blur. Then a voice, the first one to address them, spoke as an old man materialized in front of them.

“I’m the Game Master,” he said. “You can call me Qil-Al for simplicity’s sake.”

The others looked at him, bewildered. They were in space, witnessing some things they weren’t sure were real. The old man looked at them one by one, smiling all along. He slowly approached them then waved his hand aside. The dark space in which they floated instantly disappeared. They were now standing in a marble hall, filled with gigantic paintings.

“This here’s the history of this game,” Qil-Al explained as the others looked at the paintings around them.

“Where are we?” Vivian asked. They’d finally regained their speech.

“This place has no name,” the old man replied. “We created it to tell a story, and to send a warning.”

“Who are you?” Myles was looking around frantically as he asked.

“I’m the Game Master, that’s all you need to know.” Qil-Al looked like your average grandpa. He had a medium length white beard and long white hair. He wore a gray suit and a bowtie. His black shoes shone even in the absence of light.

“Why are we here?” Vivian was looking at the paintings, trying to understand what they were about.

“You’re here to receive your prizes of course. You’re my beloved champions, and you’ve won me two precious rings. Speaking of which – “ Qil-Al spanned his fingers and the two rings which were in Myles and Vivian’s possession flew from their hands. They slowly landed on the old man’s palm as he smiled triumphantly.

“You’ve taken care of a Rogue Fragment, and a Scion at that. You have my sincerest thanks.”

“What’s a Rogue Fragment?” Lillin asked.

“You ask too many questions,” the man retorted. “I’m the Game Master, not your encyclopedia.”

“But you know a lot of things,” Vivian interjected. “Why bring us here if it weren’t to provide us with answers?”

“I’ll tell you what you’re entitled for.” Qil-Al was walking through the corridors, holding his hands behind his back. “Any other question will be met with silence.”

“Can you tell us why we’ve been summoned to the Holi Tribulations then?” Myles asked.

“Look at the paintings,” the man urged. “Tell me what you see.”

He led them through the marble hall. He’d stop from painting to painting and allow the others to have a good look at them. He was like a guide in an old museum. They saw shadows of men wearing golden armor. They produced lightning bolts out of thin air, and caused tidal waves. They saw thousands of golden armors, floating in the air and raining hell down upon other shadows. They looked smaller but they had a greater numerical advantage. There were millions of them.

In another painting, they saw spells raining down on the millions of shadows below. They were sure they’d see them all obliterated in the next. But the spells fell on an invisible barrier then appeared to have dissipated. They walked around the marble hall, inspecting all the pictures.

After their attack failed, the golden armor shadows were enraged. They raised their hands in the air then produced a large rock that covered the earth with a grim shadow.

“Long ago, two powerful races raged an endless war,” the old man spoke as the others observed the paintings. “We call them the Monarchs and Scions. The Scions were a race with minimal affinity to magic. Monarchs were their complete opposite. For years, their war ravaged the entire known universe.

“Scions had developed weapons and armor to protect themselves from the mighty magic of the Monarchs. As you could see in the paintings, the Monarch’s magic was useless against the millions of Scions they fought.”

“But they look like they’re losing here,” Lillin pointed at the painting where a meteorite was sent to obliterate the shadow army.

“Look at what happened next,” Vivian suggested. They all moved to the next painting to see a magnificent view. The characters in the painting seemed to move by themselves as if in real life.

“This is a Painted World that retells the story of the first war,” Qil-Al explained.

They saw one tiny shadow emerge from the crowd. With one jump, the shadow was upon the rock then smashed it to smithereens with one punch. Myles looked at the exchange with amazement. He never imagined one person could do such a thing.

“The Scions won the first war and acquired some of the Monarchs’ powers,” the old man went on. Myles saw the small shadows jump on the golden armors. There was a skirmish after which most golden armors plummeted to the ground. There was a glowing ethereal form that left the golden armors then went inside the Scions.

“Monarchs died, their souls were restrained by the Scions’ handmade machines. They used the strong magical souls to ravage the worlds around them.”

They moved to another painting, unmoving this time. It showed people wearing extravagant clothes and a man wearing a crown addressing them. They moved to another picture to see an army that extended to the horizon.

“Scions were an intelligent race. Their technology was unrivaled, unique. Look here,” the old man urged the others to look at the next painting.

They saw flying machines in the air and tall chimneys that produced thick smoke. They saw the flying machines in subsequent works. They flew in the dark empty space and landed on different lands. They also saw people populating those planets, the new lands.

“The Scions’ entire civilization was built on war and blood. The realm they lived on had gone dry. All resources were mined. The land was ailing, dying. So with their new powers and intellect, the Scions sought other realms. They built ships that could travel through the air and into other realms, other planets.”

Qil- Al led the others from the hall towards a spacious room. A blue light came through the window and into their faces. The room they were standing in had a hologram in the middle. It shone a bright green light at Qil-Al’s orders then started producing live images.

“The Scions had built large ships with wings on them. They travelled through the dark space and into the unknown.” The old man explained as the others looked at the screen in front of them. Myles and the others saw the Scions land on many small rocky orbs then colonize them. They spread at a dangerous rate, corrupting and killing all the other races that lived on the other lands, or turning them into servants that worked under constant pressure.

“Then came the time of the endless war,” Qil-Al said as the pictures switched to large ships in space battling the golden armored mages. The mages didn’t seem to be affected by the dark cold space. But the small Scions wore strange suits of armor that covered their entire body. They also had smaller ships, shooting projectiles at the protection screens the Monarchs had in place.

“The two races fought for three millennia. The Scions had found a way to cheat death. They were weaker than the great mages, but they were resilient. They killed more Monarchs than any other race. They even threatened to exterminate them.

The Monarchs, in a last attempt to defend themselves against the evil Scions, spoke the forbidden words. The world had gone dark, all life forms extinguished. Their souls, now scattered in every corner of the dark universe, the last of the Monarchs and Scions were doomed to wander the void aimlessly.”

Myles and the others saw the dark space being extinguished. Stars exploded then destroyed everything around them. Others disappeared into tiny dots that absorbed everything around them. The fighting Monarchs and Scions though, had exploded into tiny shiny pieces.

“From the lost souls of the old races, a new life had begun. And to those of us, who exist outside the boundaries of time, fell the responsibility to keep this world from chaos. Galactic scale wars could only happen under strict rules. And so the Holi Wars were created.

“You can only gain power by playing games against us. If you win, we allow you more time in this universe. You lose and we take everything from you.”

“What did you take from the Scion?” Vivian asked.

“She offered the Painted Worlds in Ulmir’s domain and those two rings. The second painting wasn’t hers to give. So I took the Fragment as my own now.” The old man was smiling. His clear blue eyes read through everyone before him. His smile suddenly faded as he seemed to remember something important. “I believe you had had enough of my ramblings. Besides, I am ready for another game of Devil Snare.”

Myles and the others found themselves standing in a field covered in white flowers. A refreshing cold breeze hit their faces and soothed their minds. They slowly woke up from their daze. What they had just seen and heard was mind blowing to say the least.

“You are the winners of the shittiest Holi Tribulation game I’ve ever seen – or been told about – Anyway, you have met the conditions for victory, this calls for a celebration.” The old man’s voice was mechanical. It seemed as though he was bored to death.

“Now let’s see…” he looked at Myles then beckoned him forward. He observed him with his clear blue eyes for a long while as he circled around him, sniffing the air and looking at Myles from head to toe.

“Someone’s Familiar, are we?” Qil-Al said. “Your master’s in the other painting the Scion offered me, you know.”

“What sort of prize do we get from the Holi Tribulations?” Myles asked as the man kept circling around him.

“Oh I don’t know,” Qil-Al casually answered. “It’s usually Fort who takes care of this. Now let me see. You don’t have a special liking for your master, do you?”

“Not particularly,” Myles mumbled under his chin.

“But he’s given you life,” Qil-Al whispered in Myles’ ears. “He’s made you a sentient life form whereas Fairies are faithful servants, never to think for themselves.”

“Yeah! Well it’s not my own life, is it?!” Myles replied, melancholy apparent on his face.

“No matter,” the man replied with a casual flick of his hand. “You’re sentient life form now. I can free you from him. Would you like that?”

Myles weakly nodded.

“It doesn’t work like that Fairy,” Qil-Al stood in front of Myles then straightened his bowtie. “Say it out loud. Say you want to break free of your master’s bonds.”

“I- I want to break free of my masters bonds!” Myles blurted out.

There was a clicking sound then Myles straightened up. He was beaming.

“Done!” Qil-Al answered. “And since I’m feeling especially magnanimous today, you can keep that Fragment your master entrusted you with. Where would you like to land?”

“Say again?” Myles asked. He was too happy to feel the bonds around him breaking that he didn’t pay attention to the old man’s words.

“You were trapped in a Painted World that is now my property. I’ll have to send you somewhere after you receive your prize. Where would you like to land?”

“I don’t want them to hear,” Myles said as he looked at the other three.

“So be it, think about it and I’ll oblige.”

Myles closed his eyes and thought of the place he wanted to be sent to. The man snapped his fingers and Stalwart instantly disappeared.

“Then to the one who’s found the second key,” Qil-Al turned to look at Vivian. “The misunderstood witch, your soul’s as virgin as they come.” Qil-Al walked around the woman as he did for Myles. “Would you like power, or knowledge?”

“Power,” Vivian answered.

Vivian’s skin turned violet as a foreign aura embedded itself in her body.

“I’ve gifted you a Spirit Fragment from the Monarchs. Make it your own,” Qil-Al urged, “unless you end up like the one who imprisoned you.”

Vivian felt her body with her hands. One could tell she felt stronger, reinvigorated.

“Think of where you’d like to land. I’ll send you there.”

Vivian closed her eyes. Qil-Al snapped his fingers once more then the woman disappeared.

“And now, let’s deal with you.” Cane and Lillin looked at each other questioningly, unsure of whom the old man spoke.

“You two didn’t technically win the game. But you’ve helped. I suppose I should reward you or Fort will have my hide for this.” He turned to look at Cane then went on. “You suspected your friend yet defended him out of loyalty. I see you already have a Fragment.” The voice sounded delighted at its new discovery. “Have this.”

A book materialized in front of Cane. It floated in the air, unaffected by the laws of gravity. It had an emerald, leather cover with golden letters on the side. Cane tried to read the book’s name but couldn’t decipher the language.

“Go on, open it!” the old man urged.

Cane did as he was told. A blinding light shot out of the book and enveloped Cane’s head. His gruff hair fluttered upwards for a while. When he came to, Cane felt that he’d learned something important.

“You doubted your friend but never took action against him. For that you’ve earned precious knowledge. Making that Fragment yours shan’t be such a hard task after all.” The voice chuckled as Cane stared, wide eyed, at the air.

“And finally, the little girl who refuses to give up, your resilience can’t earn you anything worthy though.” The voice went quiet for a long while. Lillin was lost in thought as she contemplated the white flowers that surrounded them. It was a pretty sight to behold. She wished she had visited this place under different circumstances.

“I know!” the man suddenly sprung back up to life, smiling. “I can sense deep hatred and an unbending will to prove yourself. Here, take this.”

Two wooden sticks floated in the air before Lillin. They each had a handle near the top. A scaly snake with long whiskers was engraved in each weapon. “A Tonfa!” Lillin happily exclaimed.

“And not any Tonfa,” the voice commented. “Go on, give it a whirl!”

Lillin held the weapon then swung it in an uppercut motion. A gust followed that flattened all the white flowers in front of her. The plants sprung up to life again after a while and Qil-Al resumed his speech.

“It’s strong here since it freely borrows from the energy around it. You’ll have to learn how to use it effectively back in your world. It’s Scion technology, worthless to me but perhaps useful to you.”

“What happened to the Hunt?” Lillin asked.

“You can go back there and finish the Contest if you want. But I have to warn you, a great calamity is about to hit the entire realm. I’d steer clear of it.” The old man hurriedly looked at a watch that instantly materialized in his hand. “Look at that! My turn is about to end!”

“Close your eyes and think of where you’d like to go!” the man’s voice suddenly changed into one of urgency. “I have a game to get back to. I’ve served my purpose here, good luck and all that!”

Cane closed his eyes and tried to think of a place. He felt drowsy again then fell asleep. When he came to, he was inside the Champions’ Lounge. At least a hundred guards surrounded him, aiming their sharp spears at him.