text: Everyone in the room had no problem finding their chosen divinity. They quickly moved to the various doorways and stepped into the cold, black liquid. If only they knew what it felt like to go through one of those damn portals, they probably wouldn't have been so eager.
  
  Twelve divinities of Light and here Dhane was pretending to one of their followers. He had, by instinct alone, projected his divinity as being the Lion, a warrior, and his original choice. However, the skills he'd likely use would be nothing like a warrior's skill of radiant power.
  
  What skills did an arachnomancer have?
  
  He quickly scanned the divinities: Lion, Monkey, Dolphin, . . . Snake? Well, there's a thought. Both spiders and snakes had venom. If his skills were venom based, then that would hide his affinity.
  
  Now for the interesting question . . . what would happen to an entity of Shadow that was so brazen to step into a Light divinity's realm? Would he become the ant to the god's magnifying glass, and if so, on a scale between one and ten, how much would that hurt?
  
  It wasn't like he could just leave without raising suspicions. Oh, you want me to talk to my divinity? I've changed my mind, that I have! Bye-bye.
  
  Gorlan scanned the room and paused on him, his eyes cold and calculating. Dhane projected the Snake divinity and Gorlan frowned a disturbingly ugly frown, like he had found a vegetable on one of his meat kabobs. What did a man like this eat to get so uncomfortably big?
  
  "I recall," he said in that deep voice of his, "a Lion in you."
  
  Dhane swallowed, eyeing the handle of Gorlan's two-handed axe that peeked out over his shoulder, a constant reminder of the poor Cobalins' execution and likely what would happen to him if he answered in a less than satisfying way.
  
  He shook his head, acting as nonchalant as possible, brushing some lint from his shirt while his heart did a little Zumba. "I can't say that was me. I'm a follower of the snake." And just as he said it, additional information awoke in his mind. He added, "I'm an assassin? for the Sisters . . . of Death."
  
  One of these days he'd have to work on lying better. But it seemed to appease whatever Gorlan was looking for. The tall man nodded slowly, as if to give respect to the snake divinity, then he held an arm out, pointing toward the snake's portal.
  
  Dhane held a sigh, plastered on some fake confidence, and marched up to the portal. Here goes nothing. He stepped in, eyes pinched shut lest the solar rays blinded him. Would they wonder where the pile of ash came from?
  
  Of course, it was just like the last portal, an absolute ride of happiness. . ..
  
  Glacial ice shot through him, weaving a storm of piercing cold that stung as it moved from bone to bone. The roaring sound of something reverberated in his chest, as if the mountains were shifting to open a way to the plane of divinities.
  
  And curiously, just like the first time, it all ended with him standing in a void of blackness, feet on textureless ground. His immediate thought was how this was the Mother of Shadow's realm—will all divinity portals lead to her?—though that thought quickly jumped ship and skedaddled when the first whispered words formed.
  
  "He is no follower," came a hiss.
  
  "He walks between affinitiesss," came another.
  
  "Yesss." The way her voice slithered into his mind, sent a wave of tingles down his spine and he shivered, goosebumps prickling across his body.
  
  "Dhane of Shadow, of Spider," the two whispers said together, "enter our realm, guest of night."
  
  Were there a choice, he may have politely declined and jumped into the closest pit of spikes. But just as with the Mother of Shadows' realm, there didn't appear to be a way out, nor could his perfect dark vision see anything other than what lay ahead.
  
  Dhane followed a curving, scaled construction, a statue of white and black stone, twisting together to form doorways. He stepped through them as if stepping through portals, each leading deeper into the void where whispers echoed, but not their words.
  
  He finally came upon a large basin formed by two massive snake heads, emeralds for eyes, circling each other to form the depression in the world. Green water filled the basin, and it rippled as he approached, as if he carried a current of wind, or his mere presence repulsed the liquid.
  
  "Interesting. . . ." a whisper said, tickling his right ear.
  
  Dhane jerked back and a white snake shifted through the air. Its body had no end, like the string of fate, controlling who lived and who died.
  
  "I see potential in you," another voice said next to his left ear. This time, a black snake glided through the air. The two snakes turned, sliding around each other, looping into a fancy display of crisscrossing colors. They faced him, eyes both a glowing green.
  
  "Tell usss," they both said at the same time, "what brings you?"
  
  "I don't . . . have a divinity of Light," he said.
  
  "We see thisss."
  
  Of course, they did, they knew he was of Shadow immediately. Even the Mother of Shadows could not hide this from other divinities. "I had to choose a portal in the arena."
  
  "And you chose oursss?"
  
  "Yes," he said. Was there a point in lying? Could one lie to a god? Honesty had always been important to him, and so he explained. "I entered your portal to hide my affinity. Snakes and spiders both have venom, so if everyone thought my divinity was . . . you two, then they wouldn't find out about my affinity."
  
  The black snake nodded. "You know," she said without slurring her words or speaking slowly in a godlike fashion, "that was a really good explanation, and it makes a lot of sense."
  
  "Altera!" the other said, "you promised you'd stay in character!"
  
  All the mysticism evaporated at that moment, leaving behind two snake sisters, bickering over . . . role-play? This was a heaven of games, after all, the sooner he understood that the fewer surprises there'd be. Maybe. . ..
  
  "Tsss, it doesn't matter," Altera, the black snake, said. "He's not one of ours. It was your idea to act all godlike to get more followers and we're still here with no one. Look around, Niveus. People don't want to touch a snake during the Choosing. Besides, I like Spider—there, I said it!—maybe we could work something out."
  
  "Wait, what?" Dhane said. "I thought you could only have one divinity."
  
  "Well, traditionally," Niveus said, "though you're of Shadow and yet human. Per our laws, you simply don't have a divinity yet. Hmm . . . it could work...."
  
  "Right?" Altera said.
  
  "If he channeled usss when projecting a Light affinity and channeled the Mother of Shadowsss when he projected a Shadow affinity, I don't see why it wouldn't work."
  
  "A dual-class! That is ssso cool."
  
  "Here," Niveus said, trying to move, "back up a bit. Ugh! This always happensss. You were supposed to move in from the right, on the last step before the third turn to the left, before the double loop, not the left!"
  
  "I did!" Altera said, her black scales tensing.
  
  "Oh really? And what ssside are you on right now?"
  
  "The . . . right?"
  
  "No! Last time you messed up, we were stuck in a knot until Monkey helped. And we still owe him a favor. God knows what he's going to ask. And if it's sssexual, you're doing it—I don't do fur!"
  
  Dhane loved puzzles, usually in the form of uncovering ancient secrets in video games, though this worked too. He poked Niveus and had her loosen her hold of Altera, then directed Altera out of their knot.
  
  "Great," Niveus said, "now we owe Dhane a favor. We don't have much divine energies to be owing everyone favors!"
  
  Dhane laughed. "You don't owe me anything, I was just trying to help."
  
  "Actually," Altera said, slithering her black form into her own coil, "when a divinity is helped, that help must be repaid. It'sss written in our codex of divine and spirit relationsss."
  
  "Oh. . . . What did you mean by divine energies?"
  
  Niveus, now happily in her own coiled form, said, "Divinities absorb energy from their followers. When you kill monsters and earn experience, you're feeding us with energy. When you level, we use that energy to help you learn a new skill."
  
  "And," Dhane said, realizing the problem, "you don't have many followers."
  
  "Right," the two snakes said together.
  
  "It doesn't seem fair that people are thrust into making a decision on which divinity to choose within the first few minutes of being reborn. Especially since we can't change that after the fact."
  
  "Oh you can," Niveus said. "The popular divinities don't want their followers to know that they could change. If they did, they probably would lose followers and thus divine energies."
  
  "And unfair?" Altera said. "You haven't heard anything yet. It's way worse! They don't even present all of the divinities of Light to new transcendents. They alternate our spot—out of all of the divinities—with the Ferrets. We eat ferrets for god's sake! But they wouldn't dream of doing that to Lion or Monkey."
  
  "Okay, okay, let's not dig into this too deeply," Niveus said, smiling at Dhane, "I have to live with her after all, and she ain't pretty when she gets all bent out of shape."
  
  "Oh, says you!"
  
  "Look, the world isn't fair. That'sss just a constant no matter what world you're in. The powerful will do what they can to remain powerful. I don't see what we can do about it."
  
  Altera started to say something, though Niveus cut her off. "Dhane, you are welcome to be our follower, but I want you to understand what it would mean if you chose usss for a dual divinity. You will gain all the perksss of both classes, the freedom and flexibility to choose skillsss, however, such things come with a cost. Leveling would require twice the experience, twice the amount of work as anyone else."
  
  "Yes," Dhane said, understanding the drawback, "though it's the perfect disguise. No one would think that I have more than one divinity, and if I'm a follower of the Sisters of Death, I simply cannot be of the Shadow affinity. It'll be extra work, but this is eternity, right?"
  
  Niveus and Altera looked at each other. Or rather . . . Niveus was glaring at Altera. Warning her to be silent. There was something there, something that wasn't supposed to be known by mere transcendents.
  
  "What is it?"
  
  "Dhane," Niveus said, "there are things we cannot say. And really, it's nothing to be concerned about. The heavens have their mysteries and that must remain so. The only thing you need to answer is, will you become our follower?"
  
  The sister snakes watched him with their glowing green eyes, a hint of eagerness there. These were the divinities that got trampled by the others. These were the divinities that played the game despite the unfairness.
  
  The best way to enforce the balance between Light and Shadow was to be of Light and Shadow. And that was his answer, but he did have one final question to ask. "When I came in here, the water rippled, and you—"
  
  Altera laughed. "Oh, it does that to everyone. Makesss them feel special, you know?"
  
  The transition between the plane of divinities and Olindale always went smoother leaving than entering. No glacial cold tearing through his body, no scraping sounds of crashing worlds, no deep feeling of dread. Instead, colors of the world elongated and spun around him until he stood on the hard sands of the arena beneath a blindingly bright sun.
  
  Dhane was probably the only entity in this heaven to have two official affinities and two divinities. He walked between Light and Shadow, which gave him some freedom where before, he could only hide.
  
  And if that wasn't enough of a boon, the moment after arriving back, a notification alert played in his head.
  
  Dhane summoned his phone and had a new message.
  
  Subject: A Favor Repaid
  
  Dhane, in accordance with our codex and laws, please see the attached item as repayment for your help. —Niveus & Altera
  
  Attached to the message was a ring. Dhane tapped it and it moved to his inventory, launching the app. The ring was a swirl of two snakes, alternating black and white with emerald eyes.
  
  ─ Ring of Rest [Legendary] Ring
  
  ─ Reduce the need for sleep by 50%
  
  Dhane laughed and tapped the Equip action. Oh, Niveus. . . . She was deceptively smart and no doubt tied herself in a knot only to get his help, giving her an excuse to return the favor. Clever clever.
  
  She knew that his biggest challenge would be gaining experience. Double the class, double the work. This ring not only cut one of the most time-consuming activities of the day in half, but freed up his evenings to explore other skills that should not be seen.
  
  "I told you, the bra guy's back," someone said from the side. . . . Oh, shit brownies, it was the blond dude again, the one who not only made Dhane the subject of public ridicule, but also tripped him when he tried to choose Lion as his divinity.
  
  Dhane considered him and his two friends, Bexley, the brunette girl he so awkwardly stared at while his brain was reeling from the simple fact it was alive again, and some bodybuilder, shorter than blondie, red hair, covered in freckles, and a set of massive arms.
  
  Dhane smiled and gave a sarcastically friendly wave. "Douche," he whispered and turned to take in the rest of the arena: a rectangle with rounded corners, maybe half the size of a football field with walls ten feet high and surrounded by a few dozen rows of seats. It could fit thousands of people.
  
  "Haha! Right on the money there," a deep voice said at his side. It was the three-piece-suit guy, however, now he was wearing a nice set of black leather armor and a small ruby amulet. It looked nice and expensive.
  
  "Vest guy! Where's your suit?"
  
  "Ah, man, call me Devron. I sold it. You see, given the information we had, I figured getting the most expensive set of clothes would be a good way to get some startin' money. But I needn't have worried."
  
  "Oh yeah? Why's that?" They started walking along the inner wall where stone benches filled the space between large gates.
  
  "You don't know? They gave us each a gold piece to get situated. I still sold those clothes, just not my style, and got this."
  
  And he wasn't the only one wearing new armor. Actually, it would seem that everyone had armor and some type of weapon. That was, everyone except Dhane, still wearing modern-day Jeans and a nice corded, silver shirt, as if he were ready to go to the club instead of battle.
  
  "Looks nice," he said. "Black leather, are you a rogue or assassin?"
  
  "Ha! No, man. I mean, I had naturally high attributes for Strength and Vitality from my last life. Could have been a warrior with my size, though we live in a world of magic! How could I pass up on that?"
  
  Dhane exhaled an annoyed breath.
  
  "What's the matter?"
  
  "It's nothing," he lied.
  
  "If that's nothing then my momma can't bake worth shit."
  
  "Your mom . . . couldn't bake?"
  
  "Hells, man, the things she could do with flour would convert a devout priest to worship her oven—the cooking sort, man, I see where your mind's goin'. The family I came from was huge, and she loved every bit of it. So, no, something is botherin' ya."
  
  "Does it upset you that you can't remember them?"
  
  "Sure does, however, even if their faces allude me, they're still there. I can remember how I felt near them, the fun we had, the challenges we faced."
  
  Dhane nodded. "Here's the thing, I didn't even know we had natural attributes until you said it. Now I know we have Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality, numbers that represent who we were in the last life, though I feel behind and suddenly knowing things I didn't before is a bit bonkers. That and you guys got a gold piece while I..."
  
  "Oh, don't ya stop on my account, it seems you've got a story to tell."
  
  "I wish, but I'm sworn to secrecy." Then an idea struck. "It was an initiation when choosing the Sisters of Death as my divinity. All I can say is, when it was all said and done, I didn't get a gold piece or a fancy meal at the Royals' palace. Do they really give new transcendents pedicures?"
  
  "Ya want to see my gleamin' toenails?"
  
  They both laughed.
  
  "Different paths, my friend. And speaking of friends," Devron said and winked. They stopped near a tall woman. She had deep brown skin with cool undertones and a sculpted body, like a marathon runner in the last life. Her eyes were green and her black hair was tightly braided, forming two tails that hung just below her shoulders.
  
  She stood and analyzed Dhane.
  
  He reflexively projected his affinity of Light following the Sisters of Death. Everyone seemed to want to pry into who he was, as if doing so was a social custom. Of course, as soon as he thought that, the answer told him it was. In fact, it could be considered rude to not look beneath the skin and see the true person therein, as if they were inconsequential.
  
  And with that knowledge, he understood how. Similar to how he projected his affinity, he could call to the affinity of someone. It had an interesting sensation of mentally asking Who are you? and actually getting a reply.
  
  This woman's affinity glowed a pure white, in the shape of the Hawk divinity. She smiled at the exchange, now feeling more . . . familiar, like they weren't just meeting for the first time.
  
  "Heya boys," she said and leaned to the side on her spear. Her armor matched Devron's in its black leather, though she wore it better, with casual confidence.
  
  "Aaliyah, this is Dhane."
  
  "Hello third."
  
  "Third?" Dhane asked.
  
  Devron nodded, carrying that easy smile of his. He was a likable guy, the type unafraid to move against the grain, to stand up for what he believed in, and give a helping hand to those in need.
  
  "Yeah, man," he said. "Out there in the wilds, parties normally consist of three adventurers. Gorlan said something like, 'Learn to work with others.' "
  
  "Whatevs, man," Aaliyah said, shaking her head. "He didn't say it like that at all. He said, 'Go alone, die alone!' Which I'd say is quite to the point."
  
  "Well, sure, though I think my version captures the essence without being overly dramatic. But that's neither here nor there, the point is, trainin' consists of groups of three and we need a third. Dhane, you don't seem to have a group...."
  
  "Alright," Dhane said, "I'll be your third."
  
  "Nice! And hells, man, you probably don't even know that you get paid 5 silver for each day of training, this being the first of two weeks."
  
  "That much?"
  
  "It's not that much," Aaliyah said.
  
  "It is when you sell everything you own only to get 92 copper, barely enough to buy a bunk bed for the night and a roll that most would mistake for a rock."
  
  Devron slapped Dhane on the back. "This guy has already been through some adventures. He's our bona fide veteran!"
  
  "Pfft, hardly."
  
  "I'd say, might even be party leader material."
  
  "Leader?" Dhane asked. "I don't know about—"
  
  "That's settled then!" Devron said and laughed. "Neither of us wants the position, and besides, it's only for trainin'. But if we win some of the challenges here, we can earn more than the 5 silver participation prize. That and all loot we may find is ours to keep."
  
  Dhane sighed. He had never really been the leader in parties and guilds. Sure, people tried to press him into the position—the famed game reviewer!—though he was always more interested in going off to explore than lay down the rules and organize events.
  
  "Gather round!" Gorlan bellowed. His voice really carried in the arena and all the chattering stopped. There appeared to be more people than there were beneath the arena, enough to form nine groups of three.
  
  Gorlan stood by a large wooden gate, reinforced with steel beams. He waited for the groups to arrive, then pounded a meaty fist on the wood. "Behind this gate, your first challenge. Better have your weapons and skills ready by the time it opens!"
  
  And with that, metal chains above the gate, attached to pulleys and wrenched by miserable looking, slave Cobalins, started lifting upward while something . . . a lot of somethings, clattered about on the other side.