Mercy's family owned a relatively new Ford truck in cherry red that they were now loading up with weapons and supplies.

“What are you doing?” the Prince asked.

Ash appeared to be trying to hide laughter. I tried to remember if I ever saw the Prince in a car, even when he was pretending to be human.

“Getting ready to go,” Brad snapped.

“A car will only slow us down.”

Ash started laughing, “Dibs on the grouchy girl.”

The Prince turned to him, practically pouting!

Ash laughed again, “I am not carrying a bunch of dudes. People already thought I was gay when I was human.”

My heart lurched at the reference to the misunderstanding when he first became my roommate. The others looked to me as if I knew what was happening. But the light-hearted exchange would have been impossible for the Prince and Ash that I knew.

“We’re not going to be carried like children,” Brad jumped into the truck bed. The others made to follow. The Prince cocked his head, I made to intercede but before anyone took another step the truck rose into the air.

“I suppose I could carry all of you.” The truck landed with a crash, practically throwing Brad out. I winced. Heala ran to him to make sure he was all right. “Or we could stop playing around and get where we need to go,” the Prince beckoned Heala forward.

We saw her struggle but move forward anyway. Lightning grabbed her arm but they only moved forward together.

When she reached him, he put his hand on her face, no claws I was grateful. Heala let the electricity go from her body, attacking the Prince. He absorbed it all. A moment later he let her go. “Good, now we can go.” He snapped his fingers and our surrounding grew fuzzy, then black to fuzzy before finally clearing up. We looked around to find ourselves in a wooded area.

“What the--?”

“What happened?”

“Where are we?”

“Did you really think we’d drive?” Ash laughed, “You’ve been with gods, haven’t you ever traveled with one?”

“No,” the Prince answered for us, “Those two wouldn’t risk themselves for humans, not even Ethereal.”

No one commented. The Prince stood away from us, looking around. As we watched the ground shook. I grabbed onto the nearest thing which happened to be Brad's arm to steady myself. Dirt started to shoot into the air, digging itself out of the ground, until a hole appeared complete with a dirt staircase going down.

I guess it figured. If Ethel could make a compound under the ocean; she’d be able to make one underground.

The Prince didn’t wait for us to catch up before moving down. Ash grabbed my hand and pulled me along. Past the first layer of dirt, columns rose. Details of vines, spirals and floral patterns decorated the columns. The path led to an archway decorated in the same manner. She couldn’t have done that at the compound, I thought, maybe I wouldn‘t have been lost at every turn.

The archway led to a giant chamber with a cathedral ceiling. I looked up half expecting to see stain-glass windows, but the room was lit by floating light bulbs. That’s neat, I guess. It was like stepping into another world, something older and more beautiful than the square architecture of the last century.

As we walked in music started playing. Beethoven, I think. And though there were no screens visible, images began to appear on the walls, famous artworks, most of which I couldn’t name. No, wait, that's the Mona Lisa. Ha, got one.

“Humans have quite a bit of value, their emotions have led to some fantastical inventions and creations, don’t you agree?” Ethel walked out from the back of the room.

Again I couldn’t smell her. But as the others walked out behind her, gods, at least two dozens, none of which I’d ever seen before, I was hit with an overwhelming menagerie of scents. Thick saltwater and dewy grass and God knows what else, all with an underlying scent of decay; I had to slap a hand over my nose and mouth and force myself to breathe from my mouth.

“Have you come to ask for my help? To get your crown back?” Ethel seemed different, more confident, she even looked more…substantial. Like she was a wraith before but now was a whole, solid person.

Behind the gods, I could smell them now, were Worshippers, at least as many as there were gods; all coming out like rats after a fire.

The Prince looked around as he answered her, “Words and insults? Is that what we are reduced to? How human.”

She opened her mouth to reply but he interrupted her, “I suppose it has been a long time, perhaps you don’t remember--”

“I remember everything.”

“I remember when your name meant power,” he seemed not to hear her, “Or have you been running for so long you only know how to be terrified of me?”

I shivered, we would never leave this room alive without the Prince. Brad was beside me, he took my hand, “Ethel wouldn’t hurt us.”

I turned to him, incredulous, such blind faith. Did the Worshippers think that before their makers slaughtered them?

The Prince heard him, “Ah, such blind faith from a human and he’s not even a Worshipper.” I started at how closely my thoughts coincided with his, “But that’s not true is it? You’ve got a taste of your old power, if the Princess asks, you will bring them like lambs to slaughter. That’s why you abandoned them, you hoped they would hide.”

Ethel's eyes blinked, white on white, barely even visible. She wouldn't look at Heala and Lightning.

“Enough of your theatrics, never knew you to be so melodramatic,” a woman in a pink dress sat in an armchair.

“Apparently I’ve been corrupted by humans,” the Prince made his way to her.

The…conversation continued but my attention strayed to the Blade, whole and alive, making his way through the crowd towards me.

The Prince won’t let him hurt me. I took a step back. Why did I think that? Was I as blind as the rest or was it instinctual?

“I would have brought you to him,” the Blade spoke close to my ear, the sharp scent of metal penetrated my nose, “But you fought. Yet here you are by his side and where is my Katana?” His black eyes revealed a deep hurt, “She is where you buried her.”

“Unlike all of you,” the Prince was behind the Blade, “I do not turn my back on the lives I create.”

The Blade backed away, still watching me.

“So you do want the crown back--” Ethel started to be interrupted by the Prince’s laughter. Actual laughter. It echoed in the complete silence in the room. Identical looks of shock ran through Worshippers and gods.

“Want the crown? I am finally free,” he paced in front of her, “but I will take it back if she agrees to stay with me,” suddenly everyone was looking at me. “If she stays I will agree to never harm a human in her lifetime on the behalf of all gods. Without her, you can watch your precious toys be eradicated as you weigh your power versus their lives. You know, Ethereal, which you would choose if you had to do it over again?”

They looked at each other as if some other communication passed between them. Ethel looked away first.

I found myself backtracking out of the room. What would they do to “convince” me?

“You can have her begging after you like a puppy with just a touch,” the woman in the pink dress dismissed the whole conversation with a flip of her hand.

“No, Wave,” the Prince turned to me, “She will choose on her own.”

He was resting everything on whether I willingly shackle myself to that room again. Ethel looked at me with pity as she approached, “Will you make that sacrifice child? Or perhaps you will see your options?”

She looked me in the eyes and we were moving through fog denser than the heaviest snowfall. On the other side was a house with a white picket fence.

“I’ll be kind, this is your future should the Prince take the crown without you,” Ethel walked through the door, I followed.

The house was full of light and smelled of sunshine. We were greeted by child’s laughter and running footsteps. A child, no more than five, ran past us followed by…me? I stared at myself.

“I’m gonna get ya,” I said to the child, running after him.

I smelled smoke, we turned to see a thick plume rising in the distance.

“The gods, of course, still ravage the earth,” Ethel said.

The door opened, Brad walked in, “Hon, I’m home.” He limped on the left leg, had a cast on the right arm.

Me and Brad? The thought was bizarre.

“Your friends will continue to fight and die one by one.”

“I wouldn’t leave them to hide in the house,” I said, desperate to leave, for the illusion to fade.

“But you have a child to think of, do you think Brad, after the death of his whole family, will let the boy be an orphan?”

We watched Brad and a smiling me hug and kiss. I shook my head, “Stop.”

Ethel turned, “Then lets see what the future looks like without the Prince taking the crown.”

The fog enveloped us, letting us go in an empty street. I recognized the coffee shop where I worked.

I turned in a circle. No people. Everything looked the same, just empty.

“The Princess has no need to destroy what humans built, just the humans themselves.” The landscape shifted. It smelled of gunpowder and blood. There I was, fighting against gods, as in several, with Shadow and Heala.

“Your friends die one by one, the last pockets of resistance then the last pockets of humanity.” Ethel gave me a pointed look, “You will live though, the Prince will never let you die.”

Tears finally welled. The Wave, the woman in the pink dress, had her hands on Shadow. He appeared to be choking. Water spilled from his lips, he was drowning.

“Stop, take me back.”

Ethel shook her head, “One more, the future if you accept the Prince’s terms.”

Again the fog swirled and dissipated. The noise was overwhelming. People crowded the streets, cars honked, people yelled. It was as if the gods never came.

“You can’t know that one choice and things will be perfect,” I yelled, “nothing’s perfect.”

“You’re right,” Ethel agreed, “humans are still humans, they are far more cruel to each other than we’ll ever be. And the gods will follow the Prince’s edict to an extent but gods like to have playthings.” She swept a hand at the scene, “But look around, there is no fear, people do not cower even though the gods are all around them.”

The scene shifted, like a television screen readjusting the image. A man at the coffee shop was a god. A woman walking down the street was another.

We moved and I knew where we were going, “No, Ethel, please, I don’t want to see.” And suddenly we were in that room, the golden sheets, the luxurious space. I shut my eyes, “I get it, please.”