Round 31, Ancient Rome

Marie-Pierre Lalancette, one of the three players remaining in the semi-finale, began a long, long game. She opened her eyes, Liam's gem in hand. The tall woman was resting on her back against the burning sand of an unknown but peaceful desert. She was still dressed in a Roman-style toga. She quickly rose to her feet, looking around. She asked the Electoral Interface for information and received none. She was alone.

The sun above was bright, and it was obviously almost noon. She got up, oriented herself, and began walking toward what appeared to be distant vegetation. Similar to how Ronaldo was hosted by Georges, about two hundred and twenty million people rode along in her mind, but mutely. They were powerless to act but feet her emotions; their only course of action was to watch and live vicariously. Having focused on her gem, they would be sharing this adventure with her.

At first, for an hour, nothing happened. This was, for all purpose life as usual. Alone and hot, she walked for hours until she reached a town. She didn't speak the language. Oddly, watchers of the Electoral game normally saw a short edited version of events. This time, this would not be the case. Life was, here, normal. Time was the problem it would be full.

To the millions watching and to the player, time was undisturbed.

After weeks, Marie found out in the first town she was lost in time and people around her spoke a different older language. Hours passed normally, then days passed, then months, and years. To Marie and everyone watching, the game was endless. Life was simple, the days ordinary. Every person watching was caught, in this alternate world. To all, they were stuck to observe, like ghosts unable to change the movement of things. Marie was in Ancient Rome on earth and began a very long adventure.

There was no break, no jump in time. Marie lived but it soon became apparent she was immortal and not aging. Each time she died, she woke up with her voyeurs the next morning in perfect health. The years passed, then decades and finally centuries. The gem was there by her side invisible to the world. She just opened her hand and placed it flat and it appeared. Aside from this strange trick, the rest was and felt normal. She was caught traveling the centuries in this world where time was relentless.

She could not know millions were forced to watch her, share her life. She learned languages, travelled the world for what felt like an eternity. Jesus was soon crucified, there was a Spanish Inquisition, the Middle Ages, they soon it all began to blur. Marie travelled time and unlike on television or in a book, the passage of a thousand years felt long, very long. At some point, one thing made her keep waking up each day, the notion that after a thousand more years, she would have caught up to the world where she last left it.

She also knew the other players were out there, somewhere.

Soon, she needed to find them.

***

Mont Notre-Dame, France

Spring 1877

Marie-Pierre, for the last ten years, had assumed the identity of a rich bourgeoise in the central portion of France. Childless, she knew how to buy her way into life's precarious situations induced by her unique role. But without aging, in a world dominated by religion, once in a while, this immortality required a hard reset. There was no real communication and it was rather simple to be one of the most important person in France in a male-dominated world. A couple of well placed lies sufficed.

But today was, as they say, a drop of the curtains; at least she hoped.

There was symmetry in the forced exile from the Oldest, she had to cling to his superior wisdom as she tried desperately to return to the real world. With any luck, this game could and should end today. This was, she convinced herself the 2,000th year anniversary and that had to mean something to the Oldest and his endless game. She had lived hundreds lives, about forty more than anyone really needed.

She opened her eyes in the heavy carriage pulled by eight magnificent horses. As she looked out, she could see a couple miles ahead the tall spike of the church resting atop a natural mountain in the sea. "Madame, nous arrivons a la cathedrale, une autre petite heure." She smiled back. Today she would need to use a language she struggled over the millenniums to retain, english.

The hooves of the horses clicked on the cobblestones.

The coincidence was too important to ignore. Today she would meet a person captured by one of her captains sent around the world looking for stories of invisible gems. She was looking for the other two players. The woman was asian but lived in mezzo-America. Tales say she was lost to folly. It took some convincing but her prisoner awaited now atop the spike.

To Marie, she remembered in her dreams her real life. Round 29 of the game organized by Marilyn took place here. Marie knew the upper plateau of the Cathedral of the Mont St-Michel was the perfect location to end this unending nightmare.

Soon, the carriage stopped at the door of the city. With her aids, Marie-Pierre made her way up the small spiraling streets. Merchants and peddles spoke, but she did not care much. She climbed for quite some time until she reached the top. As she got closer to the outside patio of the main cathedral, her secret gem felt more powerful. The archbishop and the regional political figures were here. She spoke to them in French thanking them for helping arrange this strange meeting. She had a desire for privacy as she met the stranger.

She finally readied herself and opened her hand, allowing the colored diamond to shine. The others were shocked but remained silent. As she pushed the door open, classical music began playing in the distance. Marie wondered for a second if she alone could hear it. The puzzled look of those in the room made it clear that they also could perceive it.

This was it, she told herself, pushing the heavy wooden Roman door onto the world's most grandiose plateau.

The sky was partly covered in long white strings of high altitude clouds. In the air above played several falcons, looking for game lost in the cold upper currents around the mount. The thousand small stones forming the large plaza were covered by drying rain. In the center, a small table was set with two chairs, in one, another woman slept, head on the table.

"Ji-ing?" said Marie as she approached. The name sent a jolt and the longed hair Asian woman shot up looking around herself. She split the hair to look more carefully at the French woman. "Marie?" she said as she jumped and ran to embrace the powerful woman. "Finally!"

The two women hugged as in the distance, the intensity of the music increased. "What do you think of the location, fitting?"

"So long ago." She pointed at the sky. "This is it, right? Where the Oldest began his game? Test? Lesson?"

"Yes. Today it ends." They both sat at opposite ends of the table. "Remember the game, here?"

"A long time ago."

"How was it for you? I woke up in a forest of Vietnam; that was two thousand years ago." She opened her hand, three stones shone. "Only took a hundred years for Laurent to find me. He tricked me, he had placed the stones in a loaf of bread. One day, I was careless, I walk into a bakery in Japan. I was starving. I recognized him, but before we could talk, he gave me the loaf, and I accepted it. His two gems were inside it, of course. Laurent vanished."

"What did he say?"

"One word, the name of his daughter. I can't imagine the pain of being stuck here, living years without her. Personally, it's the torture I never got over; it sullies your soul. Have you ever been tortured?"

"Hundreds of times. The burning is the hardest. Anything that has to do with the skin, really."

"Now what?" asked the guest. "What's up with the music, you?"

Marie confirmed, "No. We are nearing the end. Let's end this, seems simple, I give you my stone, and this damn game finally ends."

"How about I give you my three gems? I will vanish. I don't want to be stuck here in case the Oldest has an encore for the winner. You are better at taking this false world," she extended her hand, and the colors lit Marie's face. The larger woman did not grab them. "Imagine the Oldest, billions of years he claimed to have endured. I can't take anymore, how can he not have killed himself? He could have." She added in desperation, "Please."

"Two millennia of sexism. Hard to take."

"Yes."

"Are we really going to discuss how this ends?"

"We could wait, in another two hundred years we will see ourselves."

"Doubtful the Oldest has that unplanned. Can you imagine living for billions of years?"

"Frankly, no. But his point is well taken."

The Asian woman refused to continue the discussion any further and offered the three stones to Marie-Pierre. "Please," she whispered. Both women took a deep breath and Marie grabbed them.

The birds flying in the sky froze in place. The ambient background noise of the sea stopped, all that remained was silence.

"Je veux laisser mon coeur voller," sang a French female voice. Both women stood up as their robes changed back to the Roman totes in which they began Round 31.

The Roman door of the church behind them creaked open. Marilyn and Liam walked out with Laurent and Emilio in tow. The three men were dressed in robes. Marilyn contrasted. She was wearing a full white tight single piece bodysuit. Her red lips and the perfect makeup distinguished her. To further contrast, her knee-high boots bent. Slowly the piano music increased in intensity as the entire top of Mont St-Michel began to lift from its base. In a matter of seconds, the stage had entered orbit, the darkness returned as the original set from which Round 31 had begun rematerialized. Once again, the players and audience had returned to the Roman set Liam had initially created as he set in motion the endless adventure. The game had just ended with no more than a simple exchange, but for those embroidered in it, the return to normalcy was difficult.

"What a stupid misuse of my power," snapped Marilyn, annoyed by the simulation. The shock was too severe for the two women who'd been enmeshed in the experience for so long, subjectively. They began to shake and dropped to their knees. They were crying hands hiding their face. Both were in complete shock.

"Touching," said the digital creature. "You realize, my dear, that you just drove half the human population mad with your stupid little experiment. No one can spend thousands of years locked in another's mind without going insane. Look at those two, and they had control over their actions." Emilio and Laurent went to the two, trying somehow to console them.

Liam was smiling, the Attractor asked him to teach everyone a lesson, to humble them. He, without a doubt, had.

"Before I relinquish the power back to Marilyn, let me articulate today's lesson. To understand the Sixth Attraction, and what Marilyn is ready to do, everyone out there just spent decades to thousands of years in Marilyn's prison. She is more powerful, her computing systems go faster than time, and for her, she is locked in that digital prison for eternity. She is alone. After so much time, what do you think she is willing to do to end this pointless experience? This wasn't about giving you some glimpse into the meaning of life, the Round was designed to help you see the world from Marilyn's perspective." He looked at Marilyn and added, "I think you underestimate humankind."

There was a silence, Marilyn was obviously unamused and crossed her arms as Liam continued. "Purpose is the meaning of life. Time teaches us that castles, things, places, and even people are all in-temporal. What remains is purpose, love, hate, and even despair."

"Stupid," added Marilyn. "Are you done? Can I try to help these poor people now? I grow tired of fixing things you non-digitals break."

"Are you going to do a Round 31 to your liking?" asked Emilio to Marilyn.

"After this nonsense? No. I was going to settle and teach the Martian situation. Resolve and explain how life is immaterial but fuck you, you, and you." Said the computer pointing to everyone around her.

"Marilyn," just concluded Liam.

"What?" She snarked.

"I went to the Underworlds with Sophie, trust me, this is nothing when compared to what this Multiverse had in line for you." She knew Liam was right.

"Whatever." The game ended.