Upon the top of his castle, Pandora gazes down upon the lowered drawbridge that stretches into the void. Colors swirl around the feet of each divinity as they cross the translucent, glowing crystal span, each according to their power and aspect. She takes the measure of each god as they arrive. Loosely speaking, they fall into three categories. The numerous minor gods are nascent beings still struggling to survive against the wiles of fate. Mid gods, true immortals, sustain themselves from the mana of their worlds and will last as long as there is mana. Typically, each world hosts one mid-level god. Major gods are rare beings, free from the shackles of worlds or mana or even physics. To them, a universe is but a toy. They usually become creators… or destroyers.

It opens a second eyelid. A human god from one of his seeded worlds saunters out of the void. The bridge beneath the god’s feet blazes an eye-hurting violet, completely dyeing the crystal’s soft white glow in black light. The newcomer strolls across the span with the power and poise of a major god.

“Chaos,” Pandora tastes the air, “it seems the tides are changing.”

Pandora continues to watch the arrivals, all the new and old divinities until no more gods are on the bridge and the appointed proper time is come. With a thought, the drawbridge begins to rise.

Just then, a late arrival forms from out the void. The latecomer is a bipedal goddess reminiscent of a human in general form, except for the single large eye in the center of her head. The goddess, seeing the bridge rising, rushes across the causeway and jumps. She almost makes the jump but her foot catches the edge and she sprawls eye first onto the crystal bridge. The crystal glows a very muted rare silver-grey, insinuating the girl is a minor goddess of explosive luck.

The bridge continues to rise and the goddess panics. She wipes the tears from her eye and attempts to rush down the bridge. Unfortunately, the bridge is already too vertical, and she falls forward, then begins a roll.

Pandora snorts bubbles as the goddess rolls into his castle.

________________________________________________

“Ughhhh… Yazula is unlucky today.” She cries aloud. The one-eyed goddess pushes her body off the floor and looks around the stone antechamber.

“Yazula is also lost.” she announces with a pout.

Then she notices the massive glowing arrows on the ceiling.

“No, not lost. Yazula is blind.”

Then she remembers her timing.

“AND LATE!” she screams and runs down the hallway. After a minute of running and occasionally tripping, she finally enters a massive stadium filled with thousands and thousands of gods. She looks around, unsure if she should take a seat or stand with some of the standing gods.

Confused and a bit overwhelmed, she hurries to the first god her eye falls on. “Hello,” she says, tapping the god. “Yazula has a question!”

The god, towering over her height by three Yazulas and her mass by twenty, glares down at her with red tusks, sharp-pointed teeth, and spiked horns made to rip and tear.

“What do you want?” the god of rippling muscle and spikes asks with a deep and powerful voice.

Yazula blinks rapidly. She swallows as she gazes at the monstrosity before her.

“Um, Y-Yazula has a Question.”

The god wraps a massive appendage around the goddess’ petite frame, eliciting a squeak of surprise. He raises her till she’s eye to face with his toothy visage.

He grins. “And why should I answer the questions of fresh meat?”

Yazula swallows audibly. “Because Yazula is cute?”

The monstrosity guffaws. He raises his arm back and the Goddess realizes what's about to happen.

“Yazula is sorry. Yazula will not ask questions from you. So, if you can find it within your heart to not thr-ahhhhhhhhhhhhh”

Like a professional pitcher, the spiked god throws the petite goddess across the stadium, her cries of panic elicit the chuckles of many gods. Finally, just as she is about to crash into a god, the god in question reacts quickly by taking a step back. Yazula screams as her body crashes into the just vacated stadium seat with a sickeningly deathly crunch that would have been the death of her, if not for the fact that she isn’t mortal.

Groaning in pain, Yazula gets up off the ground and finds that everyone except for her is seated. Panicking, she quickly sits down in the empty seat she crashed into, next to a bipedal god with white gloves, a top hat, and a red suit of some kind.

“Oh,” Yazula realizes.

She taps the man, and the man glances at her.

“Yazula is sorry for almost crashing into you.” She apologies.

He tilts his head. “That's not your fault.” The man looks across the stadium and locks eyes with the spiked god. “I was just being targeted because I’m new.”

“You’re new? Yazula is new too. We should be new buddies!” She grins happily.

The man laughs. Luck, it would seem, is by his side. He opens his mouth to say something, but stops.

“It seems the show is starting.”

________________________________________________________

The stadium falls silent and the lights go down. A single spot shines on the raised dais in the center of the stage

A grey fluid slowly rises into a column until it stands two Yazulas tall. For a moment it is still, then it flows into the shape of an anomalocaris, then a woman, then a goose, then things less identifiable.

The mercurial being spreads its antenna wide as it turns a full circle, to welcome the audience.

“I am Pandora, and I welcome each and every one of you to the 17894th God Games.”

The crowd of gods roar into the sky. They yell and scream, creating a cacophony of noise that sounds less like a cheer and more like a zoo filled with screaming animals.

Pandora lowers his arms.

“Now then,” her words echo over all the adulation, silencing everyone and thing, “this next game of mine will be very different from those before.”

Above the stadium, a holographic planet lights up. The planet is massive and covered with numerous floating islands. Underneath those islands is the planet's half-frozen and half-molten core.

“For this next game, I have spent a great deal of time creating, testing, debugging, and finally finishing something I like to call a World-System. For those of you who don't know, the World-System is a mana-based self-sustaining planetary interface, wholly designed to change and enhance living beings not just as a species, but on an individual level.”

The crowd… continues to be silent, to the growing annoyance of Pandora.

“Some of you may have enjoyed one or even several of the many thousands of beta test worlds. For your contributions, thank you. And now you all have the opportunity to play, experience, to immerse yourself in this, the culmination of an eon of efforts, World 177.11!”

The crowd doesn't cheer.

Pandora sighs flame.

“Fine-fine. You’ll understand the greatness of my system soon enough.”

Pandora points at the hovering planet.

“This world is called Tristique and will be the playground for my game.”

Six more planets rise up and float around Tristique.

“Tristique has six different species that I have seeded from different worlds. From these worlds, you will be required to choose a champion from among the critters that survive my tests.”

Seventy two bursts of light emanate from Tristique.

“As for the game, I have placed a blessing into seventy-two floating towers. Your champion must collect all of the blessings either from the towers themselves or from a previous champion who did. Once all blessings have been collected by a single individual, then the final tower will reveal itself. The champion that completes that tower will win the God Games and be awarded this–”

Pandora raises a tentacle that flows to unveil a single, glowing, box.

“This is a single-use item that contains the power to transform any mortal into a god!”

Now the cheering begins as all gaze at the simple box in Pandora's hand. Even the Major-gods are sitting with rapt attention.

______________________________________________________

As the cheering continues, the single human god tilts his head thoughtfully toward a cheering little girl.

“Yazula, right?”

“Hm?” she stops cheering, and grins. “Yup, Yazula is Yazula’s name.”

“Do you plan on joining the God Games?” he asks.

She nods. “Yazula wasn’t listening to what blob-person said, but Yazula thinks games are fun!”

The man snorts and looks at one of the six seed planets.

“Then, how about I give you a recommendation for a Champion.”