A cacophony of protests and shouts permeated the air and it wasn’t until Director Kingston raised a pistol and shot it several times into the air that the crowd calmed down. For his part, Justin stood shell shocked at what he had just seen. There was no such thing as dragons was there? As Jason stood and mulled over the thought, he realized that Director Kingston was talking.

“People. Please calm down. You all were informed of the potential dangers of participating in these games and that these superpowers don’t come free,” the Director stated in her cold voice. “One of the reasons that we have you sign that contract is to make you well aware of the process of obtaining superpowers and what potential harm could come to you when attempting to obtain these superpowers.”

Jason’s mind launched back to the large contract that he had paged through but had not taken the chance to read through the document in its entirety. He seemed to remember reading something about “dismemberment, disemboweling, and disavowment” and something about “assimilation” but the more he thought about what the contract said, the more it slipped through his memory. But one thing for certain, he did remember there being a clause at the end where Liquid Gold Corporation from any and all “accidental death” that occurred during the course of the games.

As far as Jason could tell, there wasn’t any way around the contract as what he could remember was very binding and exempted the Director and any employees of LGC from potential issues that might arise during the games. But there was one avenue that had not been explored: while LGC was technically not responsible for the deaths, they couldn’t force anyone to go through the portal. At least he believed they couldn’t.

“What makes you think that we will want to go through the portal after seeing what could potentially befall us?” Jason shouted at the Director from the back of the crowd. A ripple of murmurs and agreements made their way through the contestants at Jason’s outburst and even Tom looked at Jason and nodded in approval. Jason’s pride swelled a bit as he glared at Director Kingston.

She gave Jason a cold smile and replied: “Unfortunately for everyone, it’s written in the contract that you will at least attempt once to go through the portal and that you will be forced to if you refuse.”

At a gesture, the screen where the heart monitors for the previous team flickered and a document appeared on screen. The screen zoomed into a section of the page that was highlighted and Jason and the other contestants read:

“Provision 46a: All contestants will, either under their own volition or under force, if necessary, will participate in one (1) round of the games. Failure to do so will result in immediate and complete termination from said reality instance.”

Jason mentally kicked himself from not reviewing the contract further. He had noted that there were some strange provisions in the contract but he had not expected something so explicit as to require all contestants participate in a round of the competition. And what did it mean that any refusal to participate would result in “termination from said reality instance?”

As if to answer his question, Director Kingston stated, “As you can see, there is a specific provision in the contract that you all signed that allows us to force you to participate in the competition. I know that this is not standard for most game shows, but in this case, Liquid Gold Corporation, our sponsor and provider of the technology that allows us to run these games, has final say on this.”

More shouts of outrage came from the crowd at Kingston’s words and Jason even saw someone start sprinting out of the circle of lights that surrounded them. However, as soon as the man reached the edge of the circle, a hexagonal tiled barrier appeared, flashed purple, and the man was flung back several feet. He watched the man attempt to leave via a spot several feet away but was met with the same result. The shouts of outrage became louder as some people began grabbing whatever was near them and began throwing it towards the director.

If Jason hadn’t been watching, he was sure that he would have missed what happened next. Each of the items that were thrown towards the director stopped midair, turned around and returned to where they had been removed from almost immediately. A sidelong glance to Misty and Tom showed that they had caught the strange occurrence as well and were frantically looking for who had stopped the items from flying at the director. None of them were able to determine where the power had come from and returned their attention to the director.

Once again, Kingston had out the small pistol, but this time, she pushed something on the side of the weapon before firing it into the air again. A loud boom sounded and an energy projectile of the same purple energy fired out of the weapon and hit what seemed to be a top of a dome several dozen meters above the heads of the contestants.

With the attention back on her, the director stated, “I can understand that many of you are unhappy with the current situation, but know that you did sign a contract with LGC and have waived any rights to leave until you have attempted a foray through the portal. I regret to inform each one of you that your lives were officially property of LGC once you signed that contract and entered this stadium.

“However, this is not to say that you will not have a sporting chance of getting said superpowers and even get the opportunity to visit alternative realities to the one we are currently in. I believe that you all are worried that you are trapped here, but know that this barrier is not to keep you in; it is to keep them out.”

At Kingston’s word, a loud screech pierced the air and Jason started. As he looked beyond the circle of lights, he realized that the stadium that they had originally entered was no longer there. Instead, an alien landscape greeted him and strange towers of rock were illuminated by a dusky green light. Strange plants covered the landscape around him and he thought he saw something running through a large, leafy bush not ten meters from the barrier dome that they stood in.

A screech pierced the air again and the source of the sound finally appeared: a squat dinosaur-like creature leapt out of the bush where Jason had seen the movement. It was a dusky grey creature with a head shaped similarly to a crocodile, but rather than running along the ground on all fours like a crocodile, it sat on two short legs. Jason would have compared it to pictures of a velociraptor had the head not been shaped like a crocodile and the body being much shorter and more compact.

The creature shrieked and leapt at the barrier but was rebounded by the purple, hexagonal energy that Jason had seen previously. As he observed the creature curiously, it pounced at the barrier one more time before letting off a different screech. It was answered by several other screeches from farther away and Jason saw that three more of the dusky grey creatures emerged from the underbrush.

“We aren’t too sure what they are,” said Doctor Eggburton, “but we call them velocidiles due to their crocodile-like heads and velociraptor shaped bodies. Unfortunately, they always seem to find us no matter where we place the portal in this reality. They are extremely pervasive and will not stop trying to get in. Hence, why there is a barrier preventing them from getting in.”

“Thank you Doctor,” stated Kingston. “As the gentleman attempting to escape showed so effectively, there is a barrier currently protecting us from the velocidiles and other fauna that inhabit this reality. I know that it is a bit of a shock to find yourself in an unknown reality, on a different planet and completely cut off from those you know and love, but know that this was done specifically to prevent anyone from attempting to escape.

“You have the choice of going through the portal and potentially getting a superpower, or braving this hostile reality and the dangers that inhabit it. If there is anyone who would like to leave the barrier now, please let me know and I would be happy to facilitate your entry into this reality.

“My advance team that originally scouted out this reality tells me that the giant man-eating plants only extend for a few several kilometers beyond this valley. If you can make it past the velocidiles and man-eating plants, there’s only several hundred kilometers of acid swamps to make it through. I’m sure that each one of you would have a sporting chance.” This last statement was punctuated with one of Kingston’s cold smiles.

As if to demonstrate the danger around them, one of the velocidiles strayed too close to a large plant that looked eerily similar to an oversized venus flytrap. As the creature circled around the barrier, it had failed to notice the danger around it and in less than a second, the mouth of the plant had snatched the velocidile and closed around the creature. Piteous shreiks and moans were heard from the plant, but after several minutes, the sounds of pain slowly died away.

Director Kingston’s next statement pulled the crowd out of their collective shock: “I suppose that many of you are currently wondering how it was possible to transport you to this reality without you being aware of it.” Jason had to admit, the thought had crossed his mind and he was curious how he had been transported to another reality without seeing anything happen.

Kingston waved her hand and instantly the alien landscape around them disappeared and turned into the stadium again. Another wave and the landscape had returned again. Kingston motioned to the lights that surrounded and illuminated the area where the contestants stood.

“You entered this reality the moment that you stepped through the end of the tunnel in the stadium. We cleverly disguised a portal at the end of the tunnel and you entered through to this safe dome once you stepped into what you thought was the stadium field. In reality, the stadium itself was a hologram that was cast onto the energy field of the dome and allowed us to mimic the football field. We specifically set up the portal this way to prevent anyone from failing to meet the obligations of their contracts.”

“Now as you can see, there is no reason for you not to face the potential dangers of the portal as we have the only way to return to your original reality sitting in front of us. And please, do not attempt to overtake us by force. There might be more of you that the staff that are here to help guide this game, but do know that each of us has enough power to quell a rebellion of contestants on our own.”

A flick of her wrist again and the table that sat behind the director floated into the air and sat several feet above the ground. Another flick and the table returned to the ground and Kingston gave a haughty look to the contestants.

“If there are any takers, we do have a new portal lined up for another dimension and another attempt at powers.” Kingston looked expectantly at the crowd, but no one immediately stepped forward.

“How do we know that everything that’s been promised to us is going to happen,” a man at the front of the crowd asked. Jason would have ignored the man had he not said anything as he was extremely average. Average height, average weight, even the man’s face was average: not ugly and not handsome. Just normal. In fact, Jason was surprised that he had even noticed the man as he stood in the middle of a larger group.

Director Kingston looked at the man and smiled. “As a gesture of goodwill, I would be happy to show you what the process of getting superpowers looks like.” Kingston gestured towards the man who had spoken up and motioned for him to join her at the front of the crowd.

As the man walked to the front of the crowd, Kingston held up a small, yellow glowing oval stone. “This is what you are seeking in each of the trials through the portal. When you achieve the goal set for you at the beginning of each trial, each member of the team is awarded a Power Stone. I know that the name is not flashy, but what they can do is beyond your comprehension at this time.”

The average man made it to the front and Kingston directed the man to hold the stone in his left hand and cover it with his right. As the man did as instructed, the stone began to glow brighter and brighter until it seemed to penetrate the man as well. In a flash, the man disappeared from view and an audible gasp rang through the crowd.

Almost as quickly as he had disappeared, the man returned to the visible spectrum, a look of awe on his face. To the surprise of Jason and the others around him, the man popped in and out of the visible spectrum multiple times in the course of a few seconds.

With an exclamation of glee, the man exclaimed, “I HAVE SUPERPOWERS!”