“Well, this isn’t a very comfortable place to talk, so let’s change the scenery for a bit” the man snapped his fingers, and the world around us changed, becoming the interior of a human building, I think, I don’t know what human buildings look like.

“This is a room in a human mansion, yes. Styled after the Victorian era of another world’s humanity, little pawn.

“O-Oh, it’s… nice. Wait, what?” I looked at him, confused. Did he just…. “Did you just?”

“I just responded to your inner narrative, yes.” he smirked, sitting down on a long, soft looking piece of furniture. He waved his hand at the other pieces of furniture in the room. “Have a seat, also, it’s called a sofa… or a couch, if you prefer... wait, perhaps this is a loveseat, or even a lounge chair?”

“Umm, are you… a god?” I asked him, trying to ignore that even right now, he knows exactly what I’m thinking, oh god he knows I’m thinking this!

“I was a god once, but a much more annoying one chased me away long ago, labeled me a demon and slandered my good name! So now I find myself here, long away from home where none truly know me.”

“So… you are a god then… why? Why did you save me, what about the rest of my village! My mother, my cousins!” I began to cry, the tears splashing down onto a hard wood floor below my feet.

“I told you, I was never saving you.” he replied coldly, leaning towards me and crossing his fingers together in his lap. “I needed a piece for a very important game, and you were the best match.”

“A… game? A game? A game?!” I shouted, my eyes flaring up with such a rage I hadn’t felt in my entire life.

“What? Are you so surprised the gods play games with mortal men? Eternity can be quite… dull, at times.” he answered, standing up. He walked over to me and placed his hand on my head., running his fingers through my messy red hair.

He placed his other hand on my chin, forcing me to look up at him, as he towered over my height like humans do.

“Rest assured that, while I call it a game, I do not take it lightly. The fighters in the Gol’ararl battle pits participate in games, but the stakes are life or death, just like this one.” he knelt down to closer match my height. “If you fall, more shall be lost than just your life, or mine… so I need you to be strong, I won’t lose here.”

“Why should I help you? Just because you saved my life? I'd rather you kill me now than be strung along at your whims!”

“Haahh...” he sighed deeply, a pensive look on his face. “Such a difficult pawn, looks like I’ll need to pacify you a bit.”

A shock ran through my body as he pressed his lips against my own. Suddenly, our location changed, below us formed a lavish bed in the same style as the rest of the furniture.

“Huh?! What?! M-My clothes… your clothes! Why are we naked?!” I began to stammer as he pushed me against the bed, kissing me again.

And then I headbutted him in the nose, so hard that he fell off the bed entirely.

“G-Get off of me, you perverted old lecher! If you’re a god that must mean you’re like, waaay older than my grandpa even if you look young, that’s gross… also I didn’t consent! What kind of goblin do you think I am?!” I quickly grabbed one of the bedsheets and covered myself with it, to hide my body from him.

I might be a four foot goblin, but this body is a 10, and nobody gets free access to it!

“Huh, usually that works on the women who see me in this form, I think the eyes make me seem vulnerable.” he replied, holding his nose. A small trickle of blood ran down it, but I doubt he was actually hurt. “My apologies, milady, I shouldn’t have picked such an outdated method of controlling you.”

“Give me my clothes back!” I shouted angrily at him.

“Those dirty old rags? How about something nicer?” he asked, and I just glared at him.

“Anything!”

I shouldn’t have said anything.

I found myself trapped in an overly complicated, fluffy, frilly white dress with a tight corset that pushed up my already big chest to absurd proportions. They weren’t that big for a human, but on a tiny body like mine, they were quite ridiculous. A headband pushed my hair back, exposing my forehead, making it look bigger than it should.

“Anyways, if you would calm down and listen to me, we can come to an agreement, yes?” he asked, and I reluctantly nodded. “Good.”

“Fine, it’s not like I have a choice anyways, do I?”

“Now you’re getting it.” he laughed, sitting down across from me as a chair formed below him. “My name, since I know yours, is Beelzebub. Lord of the Flies, One of the Seven Princes of Hell, The God of Ekron, none of these names matter to you, as they’re from another world, but now you know who you’re dealing with at least. Due to the rules of the game, I can’t explain everything to you, but know that it’s a game played with two sides, for domination of this world.”

“So… the winner will take over the world?” I asked.

“Not exactly, the world is already mine, having been taken from the previous owner in a similar but different game. Another party wishes to take it from me, not to rule, but to wipe it away. And well, I don’t think either of us wants that, do we?”

“And what exactly am I meant to, do in this game?”

“I lose should the monsters be defeated, and I win should the other side become unable to defeat the Demon Lord who rules the monsters and is forced to admit their loss.”

“That sounds like we’re at a serious disadvantage! They can just never surrender and we can’t win!” I shouted, and he nodded sadly.

“Thus, this game has continued for a long time. But there is another way to win, for the opposing side’s pieces are as you are now, aware of their nature as pieces; before now none of the red teams pieces were aware, I controlled them myself.”

“I don’t get it, how does that help us?”

I couldn’t follow his logic, I didn’t get how that could be advantageous to us.

“Because I merely direct my pieces against Beelzy’s, but they have their own will that simply aligns with my goals.” a female voice interjected, and I looked over towards an open doorway. A woman in fanciful dress, long wavy snow white hair hanging loose past her shoulders.

Her bust made me look like a male goblin, and her shirt was unbuttoned at the top to expose her cleavage seductively.

“Which means that my pieces can, potentially, change their alignment to no longer side with me, and our games rules state that, if any of my pieces give up, surrender or otherwise allow the monsters to exist, I will lose the game.” she continued. “But that will never happen! My pawns are hand picked, not even from this world, they could care less about the plights of the monster races, you’re just XP to them all!!”

The bombshell rich woman cackled like a witch, laughing as if she had just lost her mind.

“Beelzebub thinks he’s really clever, giving free will to one of his pawns, but that won’t change a thing! Garbage is garbage! It will always be garbage!”

“Heh, if garbage is always garbage, then that means you’ll never best me, Vi.” Beelzebub responded, standing up to face down with the laughing, hysterical woman. He showed the most visible emotion he had so far, his lips curling into a wide smirk. His white eyes glowed an intense white, yet the rest of his face was engulfed in shadow. “So, then, I take it you’re ready to continue our battle?”

“Bring it on, trash god!” Vi cackled, her purple eyes flashing with a violent expression, her mouth smirking so hard it exposed how sharp her teeth were.

And then the world was back to normal, and I was standing in front of an attack that was seconds from killing me. I had no chance to ask them anything else, and I was left just as confused as before.

“Oh fu-”