After collecting myself, I stood up on the stool I was on, the chair higher than the other furniture in the room, so I was eye level with the others. And I noticed that each of them got a seat that suited them, the Komodo with a giant pad like a dog bed, the ape got something that they could rest their arms on, etcetera. Then a system message popped up.

  “Order of questioners”

  1: Fifth of the Mist

  2: Krath Nixm

  3: Second of the Snow

  4: Urg Floaw

  5: Jacob Davidson

  Fifth of the Mist; your turn

  Hmm, seems like it’s going based on our placement on the Leader Board.

  Then the lights above dimmed, except for the Wasp, whom I presumed to be Fifth of the Mist. Then they said.

  “Ok, so… Ask question I do to someone?”

  Then the system responds.

  “Correct.”

  Fifth of the Mist takes a moment to think, then turns to me, “Jacob Son of David,” the light above me brightens, “those creatures what are with you? Why there? Exceed limit they do of five participants.”

  “Fifth of the Mist, that exceeds the question limit, please change it.”

  The wasp grumbles for a moment before rephrasing, “Why with the creatures you?”

  Then the light above me brightens, changing to a green color, a system message popping up in front of me.

  “Truth or Lie? Choose within 20 seconds or automatically tell the truth.”

  Oh, come on, another time limit? You have a fetish with those or something system!

  I took what little time I had thinking of what I should do, settling on, “I don’t know,” I intended to stop there but I felt more than I intended being ripped from my lips like pulling a strand of pasta from my throat, “But I suspect that the system brought them over because they are connected to a skill of mine, like tha Apes weapons.”

  Seems like I can’t do loophole stuff, screw you, truth spell thing!

  When I was done, the lights dimmed and went back to white, another system message popping up.

  Krath Nixm; your turn

  Then the light above the Komodo dragon brightened, and they flicked their tongue out, tasting the air, turning towards the Wasp.

  “Fifth of the Mist,” the light above the Wasp turned red, then Krath spoke again, “What are all Core Skills; Question?”

  Fifth of the Mist took the entire 20 seconds to answer, “...The first one allows me to enhance all of my abilities using the borrowed energy members of my hive. The second one allows me to create blades with my wings. And the third one allows me control over members of my hive.”

  The moment Fifth of the Mist is done answering, Krath immediately calls out, “Liar.”

  Then a system message appears.

  “Call Out from Krath Nixm to Fifth of the Mist has been made.”

  “Call out is correct.”

  Oh, that was nasty! Brutal, nasty, but damn clever. Krath essentially created a situation where either lying or telling the truth would turn out badly for his opponent. If Fifth of the Mist lied, it would’ve given a free guaranteed question. Even if the Call Out had been wrong, the information would’ve been confirmed. Risky, but probably worth it.

  Then the system announced again.

  Second of the Snow, your turn

  The lights changed, and the Ape turned to Fifth of the Mist.

  Saying, “Fifth of the Mist, what is your name?”

  Huh, why the hell would they waste their question like that?

  Then the wasp answered, “My name is Fifth of the Mist, of the Living Flame.”

  Then the system announces.

  Urg Floaw; your turn

  The lights turn on above the Axolotl, gently floating above a pool of water, droplets of said water now surrounding them.

  Then they said, “Um, can I skip; Question?”

  Seriously, what is with these weird decisions?

  A few moments later, Urg said, “Confirmation; Strong Agreement.”

  Then the system announces.

  Jacob Davidson, your turn

  The light above me brightening, almost blinding me at the sudden shift. Then a system message popped up before me.

  “To ask a question, first say the intended recipient's name, then ask the question. You have one minute each time to come up with a question.”

  You know, system, you ain’t making my accusations of you getting some kind of twisted pleasure from seeing me squirm! Well, at least it wasn’t 20 seconds.

  Hmm, what should I ask? Everybody else seems to be going for stuff like core skills, but I don’t have to do that since I’ll benefit from everybody else already doing it. So what question should I ask?

  Then I said, “Krath Nixm,” the lighting changed, “Have you found any way for more than one person to leave The Great Debate alive?”

  I didn’t exactly know lizard body language, but Krath looked surprised, “Um, yes; Confused. Everybody from the side that wins gets to return home. Did you not ask the gods a question like that; Question.”

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  Huh, wha… That can’t be, I did ask Terra about that!

  Then I think back to what she said.

  “And when only the contestants belonging to one god remains, the remaining shall be returned to their home at the exact place and time we took them.”

  Crap… I hadn’t picked up on the phrasing, of course, that’s what she meant. Jesus, I’m an idiot, I just wasted a question, gah! And that was probably why Second of the Snow asked Fifth of the Mist that question; they were in a team, and so was Urg and Krath. And I was… alone again…. Crap.

  Then the system message pops up again, indicating Fifth of the Mists turn. The Wasp turned to the Axolotl.

  Saying, “Urg Floaw, You, what is Core Skill?”

  Urg Floaw turned to Krath, a conversation consisting of only body language passing between them, the Axolotl soon answering, “One of my core skills allows me to create water,” then they stopped speaking..

  “Going to tell me, aren’t there remaining?”

  “You only asked for a core skill, not all. Do you not understand the basics of this game; Confusion.” The confusion suffix sounding tastefully condescending.

  “Max question reached, Fifth of the Mist can no longer ask questions.”

  Oh, ho, so there is a bit of loophole shenanigans I can play with, I just have to answer to the best extent I can, to the question asked. And if that question is flawed, well, that’s not on me.

  Then it’s Krath Nixm’s turn, and they turned to the Ape and said, “Second of the Snow, what are all of your Core skills; Question?”

  “Have Core skill, absolutely none,” they said, not even bothering to come up with a lie.

  Then the Komodo dragon said, “Liar.”

  “Call Out from Krath Nixm to Second of the Snow has been made.”

  “Call out is correct.”

  “Max question reached, Krath Nixm can no longer ask questions.”

  Then it’s Second of the Snow’s turn, they look towards me,

  Oh, don’t you dare!

  But they eventually turn towards Urg, saying, “ All what are Core Skills?”

  Then Urg says, “My first Core Skill allows me to Float, my second allows me to Regenerate, my third skill allows me to manipulate elements.”

  Both me and Second of the Snow perk up, noticing a discrepancy. Earlier, they said one of their core skills was to manipulate water, and that was suspiciously absent from this list. I went to use a Call Out, but I hesitated.

  Wait a minute, Fifth of the mist had never Called Out the previous answer, and this was too noticeable.

  But Second of the Snow wasn’t so trigger shy, saying, “Liar.”

  “Call Out from Second of the Snow to Urg Floaw has been made.”

  “Call Out is incorrect.”

  “Max question reached, Second of the snow can no longer ask questions.”

  “Error, unforeseen happenstance. Player has gained two mandatory truthful questionings at once, waiting for operator input.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Input has been detected.”

  “An amendment to the rules has been made.

  “In the event a player gains two or more mandatory truthful questionings, they will have to take them. And if none can question them, the standard procedure will happen until all mandatory questions are met, skipping over the one being questioned if they are next in line.”

  I see a look of shock appear on the Ape's face as the System decrees the words.

  Damn, unlucky, don’t want to be that guy. Also, why hadn’t this problem occurred before, at least foreseen? It seems like an issue that would’ve been. Well, maybe this game just hadn’t happened before, no play testing, no bug fixing.

  Then it’s Urg’s turn, and they look towards me.

  “Fuck you,” I preemptively tell them before they question me.

  “Jacob Davidson, what are all your core skills; Question?”

  “What are those?” I lie, looking down the list of people who could question me.

  What would happen was that it would go to Fifth of the Mist, who would probably ask Second of the Snow a question to prevent information from leaking. Then it would go to Krath, who would ask me a question. It would then skip over Second of the Snow, who would still have a mandatory questioning, going to Urg Floaw. Who would then ask Second of the Snow the final question.

  Then the Axolotl said, “Liar.”

  The system saying.

  “Call Out from Urg Floaw to Jacob Davidson has been made.”

  “Call out is correct.”

  “Max question reached, Urg Floaw can no longer ask questions.”

  Then it was my turn, which I totally forgot about. So I looked over the other contestants, trying to figure out what to ask, but an Idea popped into my head.

  Then I say, “Hey, system, can you give me the rules of the game again?”

  The others looked visibly confused at this action, but the system complied with my demands.

  Call out: Players are asked questions by other players, and are given the option to answer or lie. If they lie and another player calls them out, they are forced to answer the next question they’re asked truthfully. But if the Call Out turns out to be wrong, then the player who made the Call Out will be forced to truthfully answer the next question they’re asked.

  Every player can ask two questions, and be asked three questions every round. If a call out is made when the loser has reached the max number of questions they have to answer, they get an extra questioning. In the event that the situation previously described happens when nobody can ask questions, the next person in queue gets the question.

  A Call Out can only be made by someone who still has questions. A round is over when nobody can answer a question; the game lasts a maximum of three rounds.

  Amendment: In the event a player gains two or more mandatory truthful questionings, they will have to take them. And in the event that none can question them, the standard procedure will happen until all mandatory questions are met, skipping over the one being questioned if they are next in line.

  I read over it as thoroughly as I could in the minute I was given, smiling nervously at what I found. Or more accurately, at what I didn’t find.

  Then I said, “Jacob Davidson.”

  The green light above me shining, indicating I was the one being questioned.

  Holy shit, it actually worked! They must’ve really not tested this game out beforehand. It saddened my gamer heart that not even the gods were better Game Developers than most AAA studios. But, well, it was all the better for me in the end.

  And I continued with what I was saying, “Uh… how old are you?” Then I paused, putting on a funny voice as I answered, “Well, I'm 21 years old,” then I switched back to my regular voice, “Why thank you, Jacob.”

  Then a system message I had not seen not so long ago, reappeared.

  “Max question reached, Jacob Davidson can no longer ask questions.”

  “Error, unforeseen happenstance. The game has been manually paused by operators.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Amendment has been made.”

  “Players may not ask themselves questions.”

  Oh, come on!

  I protested, my victory being torn from my hands, but I had sorta been expecting it, so it didn’t sting as much. But then another system message popped up, making me regain hope.

  “Note 1: No previous occurrences of this happening shall be reversed.”

  “Note 2: You have me to thank for that previous note - Terra.”

  Yes! Thank you, goddess, for everything. Well, not the being kidnapped thing, but I’ll take it.

  Then the game continued. Fifth of the Mists turn next, asking Second of the Snow a filler question.

  Then it turned to Krath Nixm, who asked Second of the Snow, “What are all your Core Skills; Question?”

  The Answering being, ”The first gives me the ability to infuse weapons with my soul, empowering them and attaching skills to them. The second allows me to incorporate parts of things I’ve killed into me, like this chitin armor I’m wearing. The third allows me to manipulate the things I’ve attached to myself, such as combining them together.”

  At the end of the round, both the Yellow and Red sides were staring daggers at me.

  Sorry, it’s just the game.