The Earth Online

32 Preparations for the Next World Part 2

Nightmare # 192

August 31

4:15 AM 

Where am I? I looked around and the first that I see where swirls of multiple galaxies up on the sky — the hypnotizing swirls of purple and magenta were filled with twinkling stars.

When I looked around there were nothing but light fissures on the ground and weird looking trees.

It was deafeningly silent, the only sound he could hear was the whistling of the wind and the weird clicking and chirping of animals.

He tried looking around again and just saw the same beautiful night sky and quiet fields. As soon as I found myself closing my eyes in the serenity, I heard heavy stomps.

It sounded like a large creature was approaching. He quickly opened his eyes and saw that an elephant-like being was stomping towards his direction.

But this elephant looked different as it had fur similar to that of panther’s and antlers like that of a stag’s. It was as big as a whale, but still had the same body.

He suddenly heard someone shouting and saw that someone was riding on top of the creature. It looked to be a humanoid alien that had tribalistic features.

It had some face paint on it and wore a maroon loincloth and black tunic.

Just as he was staring fascinated at the two creatures, he heard another pair of heavy stomping on the other side of the field.

When he looked at his right, he saw a different furry elephant that had another humanoid riding on top of it. It looks like they were facing each other off and were ready to kill the other.

It basically looked like an alien version of knights jousting. Suddenly, someone shouted from the sky in a booming voice,

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! This is the Godly Gambles second stage and we’re going to watch the Rodeias race fighting against each other.” Suddenly, thunderous applause surrounded the whole field.

It felt weird because I couldn’t see anyone, once I turn my head back to the scene, they were just about to hit each other, suddenly someone woke me up.

“James, get up!” They said to me, now I’m trying my best to remember as much details as possible.

~ ~ ~

“Woah, so that’s what the gods were alluding to back in the first ever announcement. There’s going to be a second world, what the f**k, are we all required to go?” Ygritte asked as she was still trying to wrap her head around the whole concept.

Thaleos was mildly shocked by the tiny woman swearing, as she barely said anything that was remotely bad or offensive.

“Yeah, this is what they’re talking about. That’s why they’re trying to weed out all the weaker humans through stronger earthly beasts.” Thaleos gently explained, he could see how Ygritte was still trying to take in all the information from James’ journal.

“What about eomma? Seong-hi?” The young druid choked out, she was clutched unto her cargo pants in deep anxiety.

“Don’t worry about that, Ygritte. We can find a way to keep your family out of harm’s way.” Kedrick aimed to eradicate his cherished friend’s harm. Thaloes nodded his head in agreement and proposed,

“I think the perfect solution is to bring your family back to the Lagash Interpoint to become the storekeepers of Haya’s butcher shop. We’re not sure what will happen on earth if you don’t go to the second world. I think they’ll turn this planet into another stage for other species.” The bearded man announced with resolution, as he knew how James explained the dangers to low-level humans.

Since the gods all, generally, still view them as NPCs, they were basically feed to stronger species out there.

Ygritte nodded her head, letting out a relieved sigh as she knew that at least her mother and brother were going to be safe.

“So, what do name our team?” Kedrick asked in excitement. He was already thinking all the different team names they could have.

“How about Resist the Gods? Or Gambled Gods? Or Fear Earth?” The man was chattering away as he was really into teams, groups, and families.

Haya, on the other hand, was covering his ears and jokingly acted like he was tired of hearing the umber man’s voice.

“I was thinking of The Igigu Revolution.” Thaleos piped in, making the other three nod their heads in appreciation.

“Wow, that sounds so cool. What does ‘Igigu’ mean?” Haya respectfully asked, since he knew that the beast tamer probably placed some deep thought into this.

“Igigu means ‘group of deities’ in Sumerian language. The gods probably know we’re challenging them, but with the millions of team names, James mentioned how the gods were too lazy to even care about team names.” The bearded man slowly mentioned, as he knew how most of the team would badly react.

“Are you sure? Isn’t it too early?” Ygritte anxiously interjected. It’s not that she was scared to die, but she was scared how the gods might harm everyone she loves.

She directly looked at Thaleos’ eyes and the man’s reassuring look gave her the answer she needed.

“It’s going to be okay. Trust me, they’ll just face us in one game and think it’s a cute little prank.” The beast tamer softly answered.

Kedrick nodded his head in happiness, as he was eager to play a small joke on the gods — he just wanted to get back at them, even if it’s just a little bit.

Meanwhile, Haya was still a bit wary of the team name, but he trusted Thaleos as the man has never intentionally placed them in harm’s way before.

“Alright, so what should we do to ready ourselves for this second stage?” The young druid asked, with a small smile. Thaleos responded with his own smile and said,

“Oh, the whole killing of elite beasts and consuming their blood souls were the first things we needed to do. Now, we need to join The Night Parade game.”

~ ~ ~

“So, this is the gods’ playground.” Haya muttered in amazement, as he stared around the area. It was like they were inside a large cube where each side gradually changed to a different scenario.

It looked like a slideshow as it displayed images of famous earth paintings, serene mountains, and old cartoon shows.

“It seems like each side of the cube is like a portal of sorts. It leads us to each of the gods’ mini games.” Thaleos responded in deep interest.

Ygritte and Kedrick were just amazed at how the pictures on the cube sides were moving — like the Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night seemed to had twinkling acrylic stars and shifting clouds.

“This is beautiful.” Ygritte quietly muttered to herself.

“Yep. James did mention that this was one of his favorite places in the game. He said it felt like he was in an interactive museum.” Thaleos whispered from behind her.

“Yeah, I mean, I could just stare at it the whole day.” The young druid said in awe, making the beast tamer beam.

Kedrick elbowed Haya to stare at the two and they laughed to themselves. The soft chuckles caught Thaleos’ attention, making him look up.

“What’s up?” He asked with a smile on his face. The priest and berserker just stared at him with grins on their face, which just made the beast tamer smile in confusion.

“Welcome, everybody!” A clown suddenly appeared right before them, making everyone jump in surprise.

The jester was plastered with white paint and had the classic red curly wig. Noticeably, the clown seemed to have put on its makeup sloppily.

“If you wish to play the jesters of the gods, you simply need to go through one of the scenes. Although, heed my call, death awaits in most of them.” The clown laughed out while staring at all of them with its eerie snake eyes.

Right after giving that warning, the clown immediately disappeared.

“Never mind about that, my man. Please do tell us about The Night Parade Game.” Haya asked with hints of left-over laughter.

“Oh yeah, so based on the journal, this specific game has the smallest chance of dying and highest chance of getting the best prizes.” The beast tamer responded in a nonchalant tone, the word “dying” slightly made Ygritte’s ear perk up.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked, as she was concerned about her friends and extended family.

“Well, basically, James spent the most time on this dream and refused to wake up. Looking through the moving pictures, he started seeing humans and other species playing with the gods. The gruesome scenes usually happened in the mundane places like mountains or forests.” Thaleos answered and merely scratched his beard in deep though.

The three people in the group were just staring at him, waiting for him to continue. So, he did,

“Yes, so the wackier the picture is, the safer it is. But there’s still a chance of dying, so we need to watch out for each other.” He cautioned while clenching his jaw at the thought of the gods’ screwed up games.

“So, how do we get inside The Night Parade.” Haya asked while looking around the same images.