"March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move towards perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path."

  Kahlil Bibran, Poet

  Milly stood anxiously by the elevator, impatient for it to arrive. She kept her head down, backpack clutched to her chest, trying to look small and unassuming. The only other person waiting for the elevator was Calista, who was scrolling on her phone as she waited. Milly kept her head down and shoulders slouched, and focused on the rhythmic sweeping of the barista in the tiny coffee spot in the corner.

  Milly scuffed her foot on the dark grey tile, and winced as Calista looked up from her phone.

  “Gods, Mil-dead. The hoodie again?” Calista uttered, glancing up from her phone. “Do you even wash that thing? It's starting to smell, and you have potato stains on the bottom”.

  Milly’s knees shook as Calista approached her and grasped her hoodie between two fingers, rubbing the fabric. “Yuck. Mil-dead, this is gross. Do yourself a favor. Splurge on clothes that would not be found in a fat man’s wardrobe. You might look half-way presentable. Perhaps even cute, in a goth sort of way.”

  The elevator ding echoed across the lobby as it arrived, and Calista released Milly’s hoodie. “Well, put your game face on, Mid-dead,” she said sarcastically, stepping into the elevator. “Another wonderful day at Acicentre.”

  Calista lifted her fingers to the edges of her mouth and stretched them upwards in an exaggerated smile.

  Milly just stood there, frozen in place like a deer in the headlights.

  Outside, a fog started to gather and the first droplets of rain fell against the lobby's glass roof. The sound created an ominous tension that raised the hair on Milly’s neck.

  Calista held the elevator door for Milly. “Are you coming?”

  Milly stepped tentatively into the elevator beside Calista, head down and clutching her backpack as tightly as she could. Calista rolled her eyes, pressing the button for the tenth floor, and the doors shut just as the first flash of lightning illuminated the lobby and thunder rattled its glass.

  * * *

  The storm built exponentially over the next hour as rain cascaded down in a torrant against the glass and leaked through its cracks. The rumble of thunder shook the tower and lightning flashes caused the lights in the Acicenter call centre to flicker with each strike. It felt like the storm was right on top of them.

  “Everyone stay calm,” Mr. Fredrickson announced as the windows visibly shook from the hurricane-strength winds. Their phones had gone dead, and cell phones had lost their signal. The fog was so dense that the city beyond the windows was no longer visible. “I’m sure this storm will pass us by. You are safe here.”

  His words of comfort were challenged by the storm. The largest lightning strike yet flashed, and the accompanying boom knocked pictures off the walls and books off shelves. The entire building rattled, and Milly felt the floor sway beneath her feet. Calista screamed, which triggered a wave of spreading panic amongst the employees despite Mr. Fredrickson’s feeble attempts to maintain order.

  Another lightning bolt crackled outside, tracing along the fog like electricity through a circuit. Milly squeaked and ducked behind the false protection of her cubicle walls. The only thing that stopped her from joining the growing chorus of screams was the fear clenching at her throat.

  “What the hell is going on?” shouted Xavier, crouched beside her. “The skies were clear less than an hour ago.”

  Milly could see his mind spinning, searching for answers and coming up empty.

  Another flash. It felt like the tower would collapse at any moment from the pressure of the storm. Milly put her head between her knees, rocking back and forth. “Please, I don’t want to die. Please.”

  “Knock it off, Milly,” Xavier demanded harshly, his own fear making his short temper even shorter. “That’s not helping.”

  He scoffed and ducked from the cubicle, headed for the window. Milly tried to beg him to stay, but she couldn’t find her voice.

  Another crackle of lightning and boom of thunder, and this time Milly’s monitor was knocked to the floor. The screen broke, leaving little shards of glass in the stained carpet.

  The lights flickered and finally died, leaving only blackness illuminated by rolling waves of lightning.

  Her coworkers abandoned any sense of bravery, and their shrieks echoed across the office. Milly sat in her cubicle, terrified, as she stared at her broken monitor.

  At least, it should have been broken. Only there were small, green words suddenly being typed against its black background.

  Is anyone there?

  Milly blinked. All she could see were those three little words, illuminated in the darkness. Three little words on a broken screen in a building without power.

  Milly crawled over to the monitor, grabbed the keyboard off her desk, and set it on her lap.

  Her hands shook with fear. She closed her eyes and took three deep breaths to calm her racing heart. She used the same technique she'd learned as a child, hidden in her closet to escape the drunken attention of her foster father, her heart beating so fast she was sure he would hear.

  Milly breathed deep and her fingers steadied. “I am here,” she typed.

  She waited a few moments, and the terrified sounds of her coworkers faded into the background as she focused.

  Where is here?

  “The Acicentre call centre. I’m Milly. Can I help you?”

  Milly winced as she realized she'd typed the same generic customer greeting a thousand times before.

  Is that on Earth?

  “What?” whispered Milly, confused.

  This must be one of the IT guys playing a practical joke on her in the middle of this chaos. Teasing the weird girl, just like Calista teases me.

  Normally, Milly would play the meek girl and simply ignore it, but the storm scared her down to her core and she had reached her breaking point.

  “I don’t know who you are, but this is not funny,” she typed, underlining the final two words to emphasize her disdain.

  There was a long pause as Milly watched the broken screen. She was about to set the keyboard down, certain that the culprit had been put in his place, when the response came.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  My name is Oracle. Find me. Find my memories. They will help you survive.

  Milly did not respond.She threw down her keyboard in disgust, her anger keeping her fear at bay.

  Definitely a joke, and a cruel one at that. What could they possibly...

  Please forgive me.

  Milly didn't have time to absorb the words. The lightning evolved into a non-stop cascade. The building shook without pause and Milly felt herself thrown to the side hard. Her head struck the side of her cubicle and she felt nauseous. She felt herself lose consciousness as the storm reached its climax.

  In her final moments before she blacked out she saw the monitor blink. Its message in green disappeared, and a new one in bright gold lettering took its place.

  The 13th God Contest has begun!

  * * *

  “Get up, Mildred. Get up!”

  Milly opened her eyes, her head aching. The storm was gone and light once again poured in through the tower windows. The power was back on and, except for scattered belongings and the occasional busted monitor, the office was intact.

  Xavier grasped her arm, urging her to stand up. “We need to get going. Hurry.”

  He's excited. Why on earth is he excited? And why does that worry me so much?

  Milly glanced around the office. A group of her coworkers had gathered at the window, their confused murmurs growing louder with each moment that passed. There was palpable tension in the air, as if waiting for that single spark to reignite the chaos of the storm.

  “Milly, I will leave you behind if you don't get your ass moving. Now!” Xavier shouted, growing increasingly impatient.

  Milly blinked, and her eyes fell on her monitor shattered on the ground.

  The 13th God Contest has begun!

  Players, attend the lobby for orientation.

  Fight hard and die well.

  The message was on Xavier’s monitor as well, and every other screen within her sight. Monitors, cell phones, televisions. Each displaying the ominous three lines.

  “Xavier, what... what is going on?” she asked desperately, her voice weak. Her head was still fuzzy.

  This must all be a joke. It must be.

  Xavier hauled her to her feet and unceremoniously led her to the crowd gathered at the bay window, where their confused murmurs were quickly becoming cries of disbelief and terror.

  Milly released herself gently from Xavier’s grasp and walked forward, until her nose squished against the glass. She couldn't believe what she saw.

  The city was gone. Every tower, every road, every home, every person. Just gone. The Castle of Glass stood alone, every trace of civilization around them erased from existence.

  The view from the northern window was now a majestic mountain range stretching far into the distance, the peaks rising high above the tower. Magestic waterfalls flowed down the sides of their slopes, cascading rainbows into the air where they struck. Deep, broad valleys with rapidly flowing rivers spilled between the peaks, with great glaciers forming where the dense pine forest stopped. It was as if the Rocky Mountains had been delivered to their doorstep, only with exaggerated beauty woven into their rocky tapestry. As if they had been designed by an artist.

  It was too much for Milly to process, and she simply stared out the windows with the others in disbelief, mouth open but words failing to form. She unconsciously scratched at the glass, as if trying to peel away a sticker. A war of emotions was erupting inside her, and she did not know which would emerge victorious.

  Xavier grasped her hand firmly and led her away from the window, leaving a greasy smudge where her nose had been. The act broke the trance of the others at the window, and scared shouts began to spread throughout the office one by one.

  “It’s not just the mountains in the north,” Xavier said, surprisingly composed. “Every cardinal direction has a different terrain. Look!”

  He led Milly quickly around the perimeter of the office, and Milly gasped as they passed quickly by each window. To the east stretched an immense ocean, its crystal blue waters dotted with an archipelago of islands. A white sand beach reached from the water to the edge of the Castle of Glass and palm trees dotted the landscape. Milly touched the glass, feeling the heat that was emanating from outside.

  “It’s warm,” she whispered in disbelief.

  “Yes, it is. You’ll need to find something other than your hoodie to wear,” responded Xavier, continuing to pull her along.

  Did... Did Xavier just make a joke? No, he’s completely serious. Just what is going on here?

  Xavier led her to the south of the building, where a thick rainforest emerged from where the beach stopped. The canopy of massive trees stretched far above their tenth-floor window. It was raining outside, the soft patter of rain on glass filling the south side with an eerie gentleness that stood in contrast to the panic around them. It was humid over here, and Milly could smell the scent of moisture and plant-life that leaked through the cracks in the glass.

  As they rounded the final corner, Mr. Fredrickson came into view. He was shuffling people away from the windows towards the boardroom in the centre of the office.

  “You two! Milby and Zachary," he called to them. "Into the boardroom with everyone else. Follow my directions and…”

  Milly was shocked as Xavier shoved Mr. Fredrickson backwards, causing him to lose his balance and stumble into a cubicle wall. Mr. Fredrickson’s shocked expression stole his false bravado.

  “Fuck off, Fredrickson,” Xavier spat with venom. “And learn our fucking names.”

  Xavier pulled Milly past their manager, and they left Mr. Fredrickson behind without a second glance.

  “Xavier, what was that?” Milly asked, shocked.

  Xavier led them to the elevators and pressed the down button. Milly glanced out the window to the west as she waited for Xavier to answer. Great plains, marked by tall grasses, gentle hills and patches willows, stretched into the distance.

  Is that a herd of buffalo?

  The tower was at the center of the four terrains, each stretching out far into the distance and utterly unique. The boundaries between each terrain were stark, as if separated by an invisible wall. It was all too much for Milly to take.

  The elevator arrived and Xavier pulled her inside. He pressed the button for the lobby. The doors closed with their telltale ring, and something snapped inside Milly.

  She ripped her hand away from Xavier, rubbing away the soreness his grip had left. “Just what the hell is going on, Xavier?” she demanded, her voice raised.

  Xavier looked at her, as if truly seeing his work friend for the first time. He was surprisingly calm given the circumstances, and seemed to be calculating something in his head before he finally answered her.

  “I don’t know for certain,” he responded, staring at the panel on the door that was slowly counting down until it reached the lobby. “But I have an idea. What do you think happened?”

  She was shocked. In the six months she had known him, Xavier had never once cared about what she thought.

  “Are you…testing me?” she asked, a sharpness in her voice.

  “Yes,” Xavier simply replied.

  “You are a real jackass, you know that Xavier,” she spat, angry at him for the first time in their friendship, amplified by the stress and fear that had been building within her.

  Xavier simply shrugged, dismissing her opinion of him. He nodded towards the panel slowing counting down as they descended, as if it were a countdown for her to answer.

  “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth.

  When was the last time I've been this angry? When was the last time I'd felt this…alive?

  The thought hit her like a freight train - it was the first time in years that something had pierced the depression and loneliness that had characterized her entire life.

  She took a deep breath, letting her anger at Xavier subside. “Okay... well… I doubt the city vanished, so I guess the Castle of Glass was moved?”

  Xavier nodded his agreement and prompted her to continue.

  “The storm…” she reasoned, gaining some confidence. “Was not a storm. It didn't feel natural. It must have been responsible.”

  “Good. And…” Xavier prompted as they moved past the fifth floor.

  “And it brought us to some kind of competition. This ‘God Contest’. With fighting and…”

  She did not want to finish.

  “And death,” Xavier finished for her. “Denial will not change that, Milly. Denial will get you killed. Now, look at this.”

  Xavier waved a finger, and a translucent blue screen the size of his torso appeared, hanging in midair between them.

  Milly jumped backwards in surprise, her head striking the elevator wall. She rubbed the growing bump vigorously. “What the hell is that!” she shouted.

  “A player screen,” he replied softly in awe.

  “Wait,” Milly said, “I know what that is. You're always ranting about inventories and profiles and skills, and all manner of these ‘screens’. It's a video game thing.”

  Xavier nodded, and moved beside her and the screen moved with him, so Milly could read it.

  “When I woke up after the storm, I starting thinking about something similar that happened in this game called Band of a Thousand Suns, where you need to search out companions across the world to…”

  Milly just stared at him and he stopped. “Sorry, the narrative of the game is not important. What is important is I started thinking of the character I had built in the game, and suddenly this player screen - my player screen - popped up out of nowhere. Look.”

  Milly gazed at the screen, reading the fine white lettering against the blue background.

  "What is all this?” Milly asked, confused.

  “My stats,” Xavier said, smiling.

  “Yes, but what is it for?” Milly asked.

  The elevator dinged. They had arrived at the lobby.

  “I think we are about to find that out,” Xavier said, smiling from ear to ear.

  The Non-Canonical Aftermath

  "Wait, a toughness of 3," asked Milly, scoffing. "Does that mean you're a pushover?"