“What’s down there?” I fall to my knees and look over the edge into the pit below.

  “Probably better we don’t know.” The woman across from me says as she wipes the ash off her hands from the destroyed magical item.

  “Or you could have, I don’t know, not murdered the guy!” I yell as I climb back to my feet. She just chuckles and rolls her eyes.

  “It’s him or me. Besides, it’s the name of the game.” She turns to the other side of the wall, feeling around for what I can only assume is another magical item. “You there, grab that and blast him over the edge.”

  On the third platform is an older guy, I would guess probably mid forties. He didn’t look bad for his age, but he looked tired. He had the skin tone of someone who spent his day working in the sun and his hands were cracked with years of abuse. He was just an innocent man trying to better his lot in life here.

  “Patience wins the game.” I mutter to myself.

  “I’m sorry. Speak up, we can’t quite hear you oh holier than thou.” The woman screams across the pit.

  “I’m not holy.”

  “Well, you clearly think you’re better than the rest of us.” The woman starts punching the stone wall, trying to crack it. Instead, she was just breaking her hands.

  The older guy slowly turns towards the rod next to him, grabs it, and points straight ahead.

  “Just knock him off. Then we can go up to the door and keep going.” The woman screeches when she notices the man pull the item off the wall.

  I couldn’t help but think she was vile. Reality was, she was probably just desperate like everyone else. They were trying to make their way out of the hell hole that was being poor, and I was just standing in her way. Mind you, it’s someone who doesn’t even need or want the money. She probably is justified in her hate for me.

  The man slowly turns the magical item towards me, his hand shaking.

  “You don’t have to do that.” I say as I hold my hands up.

  “Yes I do. You heard the voice, only one will rise.” His hand continue shaking frantically. He shoves the item forward, sending a burst of energy in my direction. It’s not very powerful, I simply condense the energy in front of me forming a barrier, dispersing the blast.

  The man stares at his hands as the magical item turns to ash in his hands.

  “You’ve wasted it!” The woman screams at me as she continues punching the wall trying to crack the stone.

  I could easily end this, but to what end? I succeed and the two of them fall down into that pit and to gods only know where. I know I’m like a raging murderer for the Zodiac and The Saint but these two are innocent.

  I mean, the screaming Karen across the pit from me definitely has some issues, but not in the kind of way that makes me want to murder her.

  “I’m sorry.” The guy says turning towards me as he slowly creeps towards the edge. He looks at me, sadness in his eyes, as he falls forward and into the pit.

  “No!” I scream as I watch him plummet into the nothingness. I stare into the pit, waiting for something. I never hear a thud, so there is no telling how far down this thing goes, but either way, he’s gone.

  “You.” I sneer as I stand back up and direct my attention to the bloody knuckled Karen. “Your incessant…. badgering is what led him to jump.”

  “Oh please you misogynist, you’re the one who wasted the magical item. No, we are stuck here until I figure a way to knock you off your pedestal. Literally.”

  Finally after what feels like ages, a small chunk of rock breaks off the wall from where she was punching. She chucks the rock across the pit, missing me by a mile as it slams into the wall several feet above my head.

  “Nice going Babe Ruth. Solve your own problem.” I concentrate as I slowly begin levitating. I haven’t quite mastered doing this just yet, but I only need to make it up several feet before I can reach the archway and make my exit.

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  After a few seconds I can finally reach the arch way, I grab a hold of the ground and pull myself up, which isn’t easy. I should have done more pull ups in the gym, which you know, I haven’t been to in forever.

  “You cheater!” The woman screams after me as I pull myself into the opening, and sit on it. She spits into the pit as she stares up at me. If looks could kill.

  “Maybe be more patient next time.” I say as a final word before pulling myself into the entrance and out of the room, leaving her alone.

  As I take a few steps down the hallway, the entrance slowly closes behind me with another magical barrier. She will be stuck there, for how long I don’t know. If I was going to defeat the Zodiac though, I needed to make it to the next round. Sorry lady.

  * * * * *

  “This can’t be good.” I walk into a room that appears as though I was standing at the top of the tower. Rather than walls or a ceiling, it was simply just the sky and clouds. On the opposite end of the room sat a woman sitting very casually in a throne.

  Her head was resting against one of the arms, with her fiery red hair hanging all the way to the ground, the moment she notices me she quickly pops up.

  “Oh! A person! I was starting to get bored.” She says cheerfully as she jumps out of the throne and slowly starts walking towards me. She ha long curly red hair, a diamond shaped face, and icy white eyes. The light practically bounces off her porcelain looking skin, almost like she was glowing. As she got closer to me, she looked less angelic and more like a model.

  “Oh. My. God. The Magician? From the Major Arcana!” She squeals as she leans over and starts poking the card, which mind you is on my inner thigh. I clear my throat.

  She raises her eyes until it lands on…..

  “Oh, right. Sorry.” Just as quickly as she violated my space she pops back up and plasters a smile on her face. “Ishta from the House of Leo. How do you do?” She holds her hand out for me to shake, which I do without even thinking about it.

  Honestly, I kind of forget I was naked until she started poking at my inner thigh which was a very quick reminder, and not in the fun kind of way.

  “So… what’s going on?” I ask as Ishta spins around and makes her way back to the center of the room, and spins around again to face me.

  “Normally I wait til everyone arrives but just for you… Welcome to the first Trial of the Zodiac!”

  “Trial of the Zodiac? Isn’t that what this all is in general?” I motion towards the everything around us. She stops for a second, her face contorting in confusion.

  “Hmm, that’s a good point. The Tournament is a Zodiac trial of sorts and this is like a sub trial. Never thought of it that way before! Well, you’re smart so I’m sure you’ll do fantastic!” She responds enthusiastically. “There are twelve trials in the tower, one for each house. On average you will encounter three, if you pass them of course. This one here is the trial of Leo!”

  Ishta claps her hands excitedly as she flips her hair over her shoulder. Like, what is happening? This woman feels like she is presenting a game show, or like on a live stream.

  “How close are you to the head of the house?” I ask, thinking that maybe she won’t answer.

  “Theos is my sister.” She responds casually without even missing a beat, “But between me and you, I’m stronger than her.” She laughs slightly as she covers her mouth which slowly falls open. “I shouldn’t have said that. Sorry sis!”

  Ishta looks around frantically as if she was looking for where she was being watched from. During this lull, it’s the first time I’ve noticed that I’m drawn to her. Not in a sexually attracted kind of way, but it fell like something was pulling me in. Like, it made me feel like I didn’t want to look away from her.

  “A succubus?” I wonder out loud, though I didn’t mean to let it fall out like that. She looks at me and gasps, clearly offended.

  “Dirty vile creatures.” She spits. Literally, she spits at the thought of them.

  “Do they even exist in this world?” I ask. I have yet to see any kind of magical creature or beast since I’ve been here. It’s simply humans and magic, and that’s pretty much it. As fantasy worlds exist, this one is pretty tame.

  She simply raises her hand, puts a finger over her mouth with a shushing sound while smiling. If she knows what a succubus is and they don’t exist in this world, that means she has knowledge of my world somehow. Meaning the Zodiac somehow know of my world.

  “Any who, we shouldn’t be spouting secrets to the masses. The Trial of Leo really is quite simple. Resist temptation, and you pass.” Ishta slowly walks back towards the throne and takes a seat.

  “That’s it? Just resist temptation? Sounds easy enough.”

  “You’d be surprised how susceptible people are, even you. Oh look, it looks like our other guest are joining us now.” Ishta motions towards the door behind me just as Dardania, Avis, and Dai all walk in one after another.

  “Um, hey.” Avis says as she makes his way over to me.

  “Ishta, why are you here?” Dai asks, storming towards the throne. She holds her hand up, and he stops.

  “I wanted to do it this year, I was bored of just watching.” Ishta lays on the throne again, resting her head on the arm.

  “So they have no intention of letting us pass then.” Dai throws up his hands in frustration.

  “What’s going on?” Dardania asks as she eyes Ishta on the other side of the room.

  “First Trial of the Zodiac. The tower holds trials made by each of the families, if you don’t pass, you fail and you’re done. Ishta here might not be the head of the family, but she’s a prodigy. Even more powerful than her parents.” Dai explains as he paces back and forth in the center of the room.

  “Can you not just spill our family secrets? Geez Dai, so butt hurt over being booted from your family. Not my fault ya know!” Ishta screams from the throne as she sits up straight. Though, I think it’s quite obvious why she isn’t the head of the family. She’s not exactly composed.

  “Can more than one person pass? Or is it like the the first trial we encountered?” Dardania inquires.

  “You can all pass, but it’s not likely. Though, it is weird that all of you are in the same trial. Someone is playing a twisted game here.” Ishta chuckles as she waves her hand, and the door disappears from behind us.

  “Well, that’s that. Let the Trial of Leo commence!”