Xander sits alone in his room, contemplating if Kayde has already gotten Gwendolyn to safety and out of the clutches of God, not knowing that the attempt has failed and Kayde has found himself in those same clutches.

His thoughts are interrupted as he hears a loud banging on his door. He opens it to see a distraught Kali, tears streaming down her face as she pushes past him into the room.

Xander quickly closes the door and goes over to Kali to see what’s wrong, “What happened?”

“He… He…” Kali isn’t able to get it out through the sobs. Each time she attempts it causing her to break down even more.

“Drakthar, he…” she tries again with a similar result.

“What about him? Did God do something to him?” Xander asks, his voice full of concern as he assumes the worst.

“No. He… slept with her,” Kali finally manages to get it out.

Xander starts to question it, knowing Kali could only be referring to Arua, “What? How do you know this? I don’t think he would…”

“I saw her… She came out of his room,” Kali interrupts him, knowing what she saw.

Xander tries to defend his best friend one last time, hoping somehow Kali is wrong, “Just because she was in his room doesn’t mean they…”

“She… she didn’t have a shirt on and her hair was messed up. I’m not stupid Xander,” Kali stops him, making it clear what she claims is true.

Xander has nothing else he can say, he has no other way to explain what could have happened, concluding that Kali is probably right.

“I don’t know what to do,” Kali sobs her face in her hands as she sits on the floor.

Xander sits down next to her and puts an arm around her shoulder to try and calm her down.

“I don’t either,” he tells her, painfully agreeing with her previous statement. The two of them stay on the floor, Kali crying as Xander does his best to wordlessly comfort her, knowing there is nothing he can say to make her feel better.

Eventually, Kali falls asleep on the floor, not having enough energy to sit there and cry anymore. Xander strains slightly, managing to pick her up, she’s not as heavy as Gwendolyn but she is still stocky.

He brings Kali over to the bed and lays her down, deciding to exit into the hallway so he can clear his head. Continuing down the hall, Xander finds himself inside the lounge, God and Alistar, the blonde man who Xander knows little about, are sitting on a couple of the couches talking.

It seems slightly contentious on Alistar’s side but God remains relaxed, sitting back on the couch and casually responding to each of the other’s statements.

“Just the man you wanted to see, isn’t it Alistar?” God comments once Xander crosses the threshold of the room.

The blonde man turns to look Xander directly in the eyes, his crystal blue eyes glaring at Xander with a feeling of resentment.

“I’m not interested in whatever is going on here,” Xander tries to leave, having too much on his mind to deal with God right now.

“I think you are going to sit down and have a conversation with us or your wife will suffer… or maybe I will take it out on your friend Kayde who I caught trying to help her escape earlier today. I don’t know, I have so many intriguing options. You know what? I will let you walk away but you will have to choose which suffers,” God takes joy in telling him that his friend has failed.

Xander begrudgingly sits down, trying to stay as calm as possible upon learning that not only has Kayde failed but that he is now God’s prisoner as well.

“Now Alistar, do you want to explain to Xander who you are?” God guides the conversation forward, secretly relishing the pain Xander is in over the unfortunate news.

“My name is Alistar Kinneck,” Alistar states with a pompous air about him, nowhere near as pompous as God but it’s still notable. Xander recognizes his last name immediately, knowing he is from one of the highborn families within the Sacrosanct Empire and is likely not pleased with the current regime that Xander helped instill.

“I don’t know you but I’ve heard of your family. Which, judging from that would make you a big fan of mine,” Xander sarcastically comments.

“I’m not here to play games, I just want answers,” Alistar insists, catching Xander off guard as his words are full of uncertainty.

“I’ll just get to the point, Gwendolyn, your wife, her mother… she was a Kinneck, my aunt actually. Which makes Gwendolyn my cousin. I wanted to talk to her but I heard from God that she is no longer in any sort of state where that can happen,” Alistar catches Xander up on what he was discussing with God.

“Hold on, you are saying Gwendolyn is…” Xander starts to question him but stops when he sees Alistar’s extremely familiar crystal blue eyes staring back at him, “Alright, I believe you”.

“I think you should let both of us see her, what does it hurt you?” Xander pivots his focus towards God.

“This guy hasn’t even gotten to meet his cousin, why not be as generous as you claim yourself to be?” Xander challenges God, knowing full well he won’t comply.

“Now now Xander, we both know Gwendolyn came into my possession. She’s mine now and I do not like to share,” God grins upon giving his refusal.

“Don’t talk about her like she’s an object, she doesn’t belong to you,” Xander snipes back at him, appalled that God views her in that low regard.

“Yes, keep up that tenacity, it only serves to make you all the more interesting. But for now, because I, God, am not allowing either of you to see her. It is more interesting that way. Alistar will just have to ask you about her in order to satiate his curiosities,” God explains why he wanted Xander here, partially wanting more insight into Gwendolyn as well.

“While you and Gwendolyn were in the Sacrosanct Empire last there were a lot of rumors going around, mainly spread between the high society, my mother being one of the biggest gossips. She and your friend Drakthar were the only ones identified so most of the rumors were about them, how they were savages, and would kill anyone who opposed them or even for fun. I just need to know where the line is, I need to know really what kind of person she is,” Alistar gets to the root of it, uncertain if his mother’s words can be trusted.

Xander takes a second before responding, “Those are just rumors. She is nothing like that, she is a demanding person but she is not a bloodthirsty murder like they made her out to be”.

“I could have made that observation, although she is stubborn, has a foul temper, and is terribly rude,” God decides to butt in, giving Alistar his impressions of Gwendolyn. Xander stares daggers at God, not amused by his comments, although finding them quite accurate if you are someone Gwendolyn despises.

As Alistar begins to try and speak again, God cuts him off, “You know I also wanted to ask some questions about her. Xander, is she a good kisser? I would imagine she could work magic with those lips of hers. No, how about what kind of woman she is in the bedroom? I will need to know for the future”.

Xander stares angrily at him, not entertained in the slightest by his thinly veiled taunting.

“Xander, you are not playing fair, you are supposed to think about the answers to those questions, not about how you are going to kill me. But I can answer that, I am immortal I will not die but you knew that,” God pouts, making a show out of it to provoke him further.

“Enough! I am trying to get answers here. I appreciate that you are powerful but I do not need you interrupting and interfering like you are now,” Alistar lashes out, having grown tired of God’s antics.

“I understand this is important to you. I have nothing against you Alistar, you are right I have been treating you unfairly in this circumstance, I will leave and give you two the privacy you requested,” God switches tone as he graciously gets up and leaves the two of them to their conversation.

Alistar looks over his shoulder making sure God is truly gone before he tells Xander, “I want to help you get Gwendolyn out of here. The truth is, I never wanted to believe she was everything my mother and the other nobles said she was. I remember aunt Guinevere from when I was young and she was always so kind but my mother talks about her like she was this terrible monster who abandoned the Empire. I want to bring Gwendolyn back to our family and show them all that my mother is wrong and that they shouldn’t hate her. I mean you shouldn’t hate your family no matter who it is”.

Xander ponders his last statement for a second; it’s something he doesn’t necessarily agree with given his grandfather killed his parents and he killed his grandfather. Sometimes the actions of family are irredeemable and they cease to be family anymore.

“I don’t agree… family isn’t who you are born into. Family is those you choose. I don’t want to sound territorial but she chose me, so I don’t think it matters how those she doesn’t even care or know about feel about her,” Xander shares his thoughts, not caring that it is not what Alistar wanted to hear.

“I would expect nothing less from an orphan that bounced around between the military and the church before being ousted. People must have done you wrong your entire life. Since you are married to my cousin I guess you are my family now too, so I’ll make sure they accept you too,” Alistar ensures Xander, knowing quite more about Xander than Xander expected.

This causes Xander to worry that Alistar might know the truth about his lineage, that he is the grandson of the corrupt king that was killed.

“I thank you for the offer, if Gwendolyn wants to reconcile with her family then I won’t stop her but I can’t make any promises that will happen. I’m sorry you wasted your time in coming here if that was your goal,” Xander tells him, trying to maintain a distance from the man.

“My goal wasn’t to find her in coming here, it was to win this battle and prove myself the strongest. I still intend to do that no matter if I have to defeat you in the process,” Alistar declares, not wanting Xander to get the wrong idea.

“Alright, I look forward to facing you then. Hopefully, we get the opportunity to cross swords in the arena… I’m going to go now, goodnight,” Xander tells him before getting up and going back to his room.

Inside he finds Kali sleeping soundly in his bed, causing his mind to drift back to the unfortunate news she brought to him earlier. He lays down on the couch thinking about how he should confront Drakthar about this tomorrow and what it could mean for Kali.

The next morning, Xander awakens to find Kali still asleep in his bed. He goes over to the window and pulls the curtains a little, allowing the morning light to shine through into the room a little.

“So it wasn’t a nightmare,” Kali notes dejectedly, the small amount of light having been enough to wake her.

“Sorry, I wish it was too. I can talk to him today if you want me to?” Xander apologizes before offering, not knowing what else he can do for her.

“No, you don’t have to do that. This is between me and him, I’m sorry for getting you involved. You already have a lot on your mind,” Kali tells him, regretting burdening him by rushing off to his room last night.

“I’ll get out of your way so you can focus on preparing for the fights tomorrow,” she notes before collecting herself and exiting the room. She contemplates knocking on Drakthar’s door to just confront him now, but her courage is lacking and she finds herself back inside her room instead.

Soon all eight of them are summoned, coming together and being ushered towards an unfamiliar room by some of God’s servants. Inside they are met by the man himself, sitting at the end of a table covered by a spread of appealing foods that none of them are used to except maybe Alistar.

“Welcome, feel free to take a seat and enjoy this meal. I want to ensure you are all well fed for your bouts tomorrow. Speaking of, I am sure you are all curious who it is you will be fighting,” God greets all of them while attempting to pique their interest.

The eight of them all sit down, eyeing each other as they begin to contemplate who they wish to fight and who they will be fighting.

“I find it interesting the many different preferences all of you have… but I am sorry to inform you that I have selected the matchups that will be the most intriguing for me,” God explains, everyone in the room hanging on each of his words.

“I will leave you waiting no longer. Let us start with the ladies, initially, I had them fighting different people but given what I have gleaned from the moments before this I have decided that the first match shall be Arua versus Kali,” God announces, vaguely hinting at the situation from last night that only a few of them are aware of.

Arua gives Kali a brief smile, a pleasantry Kali returns with a frown. Kali glances over at Drakthar to see if he has any sort of reaction to this but he is as stone-faced as usual. He doesn’t care, she thinks to herself as God starts to announce the next matchup.

“After them, Drakthar will go against Xenos. I believe the two of you both originate from the Iron Legion… or used to. Now you will be able to settle that little debate between the two of you,” God explains his reasoning as to why they are matched against each other.

Xenos sports a wide grin, eager to prove to himself and his comrades in the Legion that he is stronger than the one they all look up to. Drakthar’s expression remains unchanged, Xenos not being one of the warriors here he would consider a challenge.

God begins again, “Next will be Xander versus Alistar. Now that the two of you have found something in common it will be interesting how you will fare against the other”. Alistar nods politely over towards Xander, the gesture is returned, Xander making sure to mask his feelings on this in front of the others.

“That leaves us with the last of you two, Frederick and Radek. Unfortunately, I have no reason to pit the two of you against each other. It just worked out that you two are the ones left over,” God laments, wishing he could have had four contentious matchups instead of just three.

They all begin to enjoy the veritable feast laid out before them. The room is completely silent as they all ponder what their strategies will be against their new opponents.

Never one entertained by silence, God speaks up to spark what he views as an interesting conversation, “So, Drakthar. I know how you feel about your own match but who do you wish to emerge victorious in the others?”

Drakthar doesn’t need any time to ponder the question, unaware that God is trying to spark further contention between Kali and Arua over this, “Whoever wins the battle is who I want to win. Fighting against the strongest is all I’m interested in”.

This makes Kali feel a little bit better before she remembers that Drakthar said he considered Arua the strongest outside of himself, therefore it means he wants her to win. Her misinterpretation of his words causes her depression to heighten, this having been God’s goal in asking the question.

“You truly are a cold man. Not even wishing for your friends’ victory in battle. Not much of a friend then are you?” God responds, trying to indirectly push Kali further and further. Drakthar just grunts disapprovingly, not wishing to get into it with God on that subject.

“No one here would let friendships get in the way. Your banter is pointless,” Frederick speaks up, finding God’s comments and prodding to be an unneeded nuisance.

“That is very much not true. But to one such as yourself, I guess you would not understand,” God responds, an amused smirk finding itself on his face.

Once people start finishing their meals God informs them of where they can train for their upcoming fights, “Out back you will all find a fully stocked training grounds. Feel free to use it as you will to prepare for tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your days. I will see you this evening”.

As God leaves, others start to follow suit, most heading to the training grounds with others choosing to return to their room first to get some of their equipment. As Xander heads down the hallway back towards the rooms, Alistar approaches him.

“I just wanted you to know that I will not hold back just because you are married to my cousin. And also I will enjoy using this as an opportunity to truly gauge your measure as a man,” Alistar tells him, a sense of excitement in his voice.

“Yeah,” Xander half-heartedly agrees, knowing already how their fight will play out, doubting it will leave much time for Alistar to take measure of anything. “Come on, you do not have to act so coldly. I do not dislike you as you think I do,” Alistar tries to get him to loosen up, knowing the tense nature they left off their last conversation in.

“Sorry, I have a lot on my mind after what God told me last night. I’m sorry if it makes me sound cold. I’m just concerned… and angry,” Xander explains, trying to smooth things over in case Gwendolyn decides to actually care that this guy is her cousin.

“I understand. After this is over if he still has her, I’ll help you get her out. You can count on that,” Alistar informs him, not wishing for things to remain as they are.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that,” Xander thanks him, his words making it harder and harder for him to swiftly defeat him tomorrow.

“I am going to train now. I will see you in the arena tomorrow,” Alistar bids him farewell as he walks off towards the back of the mansion. Xander continues towards his room spotting Drakthar loitering outside of the rooms.

“Hey,” Xander greets him, trying to gauge if Drakthar has any sort of regret about anything that might have occurred the previous night.

“What are you doing out here? Not going to go train?” Xander asks, thinking that would have been his first instinct.

“I will, I thought Kali would train with me but I don’t see her anywhere,” Drakthar explains, causing Xander to realize they are standing just outside her room. Xander contemplates for a second if he wants to say anything, weighing if this will cause Drakthar or Kali to lose a step in the arena if this is brought up.

Just as he is about to let it go he realizes that even if it caused Drakthar to fight worse tomorrow he would still defeat Xenos. That and he wants some sort of explanation either way.

“Kali saw Arua come out of your room last night,” Xander comes out with it.

Drakthar’s face turns to a scowl, knowing this has already turned into something it shouldn’t have.

“It was nothing,” Drakthar tries to explain, that being what it was to him.

“Kali said she came out with messed up hair and no shirt. It looks bad man. At least to her,” Xander notes, trying to use a tone that conveys he wouldn’t despise Drakthar even if he did cheat on Kali.

“I know, she told me she wanted to talk to me about Sharn but what she really wanted was to convince me to go with her and join the island of immortals. I already refused, I made that clear, then she came onto me and I told her to leave,” Drakthar recounts the night for Xander.

Xander lets out a deep sigh of relief, “Alright, now you should probably tell Kali that. She is kind of freaking out about it right now”.

Drakthar scowls, annoyed that he has to even do this but he agrees, “Fine”.

He steps over to her door one more time and bangs on it, “I know why you are avoiding me, get out here”.

There is no response so he decides to try again, slamming his fist against the door again as he yells, “I know you are in there Kali”.

Just as he is about to knock again, the door opens and Kali is standing there looking dejected as she asks, “Well, finally here to say it?”

“Look, it’s not what it looks like, just let him explain,” Xander urges Kali, planning to leave the two of them alone.

“No, Xander stay here. We can do this in front of you,” Kali tells him, thinking Drakthar will be more honest with Xander there.

“Well, what do you have to say for yourself? Are you going to try and claim you never cared about me? We both know that’s not true,” Kali starts to get defensive. “No, let me just tell you what happened. You can think whatever you want about it but let me explain. She came over to my room telling me she wanted to talk about Sharn. I let her in and she tried to recruit me to join her on the island of immortals when I refused, she kissed me and started removing her clothing. I made her stop and told her to leave,” Drakthar recounts the previous night.

This explanation causes a sensation of relief to wash over Kali, knowing from last time, before the tournament, that Arua is someone bold enough to try that by herself and that it would also make sense that Drakthar would refuse her, seeing her as a nuisance.

She wraps her arms around Drakthar hugging him as she starts to apologize, “I’m so sorry I freaked out about this. I just saw her leave your room and assumed the worst. I should have trusted you”.

Drakthar starts to feel guilty when she says this, knowing that in the moment he was tempted even if it was just slightly.

“Did you want to train together?” He asks her, trying to get his mind off this bothersome stuff.

“Yes! Let’s go,” she agrees, happy that all of this was just a misunderstanding.

Meanwhile, Lunette wakes up the next morning after Kayde never returned home from his attempt to free Gwendolyn. She sits down at a table, within the tavern they are staying at while the others compete in the tournament, staring down at Fore who is lying down nearby with a particularly somber expression for the normally chipper wolf.

“You think something went wrong too don’t you?” She asks Fore, knowing she won’t get a response no matter how much she would like to talk to the wolf.

“What are you saying?” Maximus asks her, the songwriter sitting at the same table.

“Kayde isn’t back, he was supposed to help Gwendolyn escape. If it has taken this long then I’m afraid they might have him too,” Lunette explains her concern.

“I was hoping to have a pleasant conversation with a gentleman of high standing such as him. This is truly unfortunate,” Jean the Blacksmith chimes in, having followed them back once he heard of Kayde’s presence here.

Lunette remains silent, sitting at the table of oddballs as she ponders what she should do to liberate Kayde and Gwendolyn if he has in fact been captured.

“Jean the Blacksmith you said your name was? And you claim to be the greatest smith in all of the desert?” Maximus asks, wondering if this man could be worthy of being the subject of one of his songs.

“Not only the desert, I am the greatest blacksmith in the entire world. If you think otherwise, show me their work and I will point out their dreadful flaws,” Jean the Blacksmith challenges him.

“I do not know much of weaponry myself, but if you make company with those such as the heroes staying here then I believe you,” Maximus responds, having no reason to doubt the confident smith.

“Hmph, yes it would seem you are a man of good judgment. You will make fine company while I wait for Kayde,” Jean the Blacksmith declares.

“I have an idea!” Lunette blurts out, having been tuning out their conversation.

“Okay… what is it?” Maximus asks, not sure what it could be.

“Maximus, do you know how this God guy finds the women he keeps in his tower?” Lunette asks, having an idea of how she can find out where Gwendolyn is at least.

“I am not sure, but I would assume if a woman caught his eye he would add her to his collection,” Maximus theorizes.

“Okay, then I need to go out and get his attention,” Lunette stands up and decides.

Maximus looks at her baffled at such a plan for a couple of reasons.

“Miss Lunette, I do not mean to be rude but I can see flaws in a plan like that. For one, even if you do catch God’s eye he would be able to read your mind to discover your motives. He would not let you near Miss Gwendolyn if he knew that. Also, I do not mean to be rude but the way you take care of yourself… I would say… I do not know if you would draw God’s attention,” Maximus points out the obvious problems with her plan, trying to do so without being rude.

“Don’t worry I have a way around both of those. Let me get ready,” Lunette notes as she skips up the stairs and off to her room. Almost half a day later, when the tavern has started to fill up for the day, Lunette finally makes her way downstairs.

Not only do Maximus and Jean the Blacksmith watch as she comes down, but all of the men in the tavern, watching as a raven-haired beauty appears before them. The two only recognize her as Lunette once she joins them at the table.

“Well, what do you think now Maximus, this sexy enough for him?” Lunette asks with a smirk. Maximus examines her figure, noticing she picked a dress that compliments her subtle features perfectly as well as her straightened silky hair and done up face.

“Yeah,” he responds, quite intimidated by her beauty, barely able to believe it’s the same Lunette.

“Alright, time to go find God,” Lunette raises a fist in victory preparing to walk out of the tavern.

“Wait, how are you going to stop him from reading your mind?” Maximus asks her, not sure how she decided she would take care of that problem.

“Oh, I don’t like to admit this all the time… but I’m kind of an airhead despite my intelligence. Point is if I want to I can just focus on how hot he is and forget about trying to save Kayde and Gwendolyn and all that. Not to mention if worst comes to worst I’ll think in numbers,” Lunette explains vaguely.

“Come on Fore, let’s go find them,” Lunette pets the wolf to get his attention. He instinctively gets up and the two of them set off to see if Lunette can tempt God into adding her to his collection of women.