Watching Kendra deliver these audacious speeches, it was hard not to draw connections to myself. Like him, I had enjoyed my fair share of bold monologues and shoutings at the sky when I was in his situation. Only now I was the one steering the ship, while he was trapped in the brig, blindfolded and bumping into the walls of his cell to see where the boundaries were.

When the simulation was over, and we debriefed him, would he blame us? Would he understand the stakes?

I understood the stakes. I was complicit in this plan. And still I found it difficult to offer Photo a full pardon. Ripping us away from our lives and shoving us into games without an explanation? It wasn't something I could easily forgive, regardless of the context.

Blaine waved his hands mysteriously, pretending to do angel magic on Cecilia's foot. After a two second pass from one of Photo's wisps, she was healed.

"Remember. You have access to my power and blessings whenever you need it. Just ask," the Blaingel told Kendra.

"Yeah, I'll consider it," Kendra replied, noncommittal.

Blaine shrugged - he actually shrugged - and then was whisked away in a flash of light.

Addy critiqued his performance the moment he was back in his chair. Blaine ignored him, reaching across Maisie's lap to snatch up a handful of Layla's chips.

We move on to phase three.

Phase three. My contribution. 'The Dungeon.'

I was nervous, uncertain, and a bit skeptical. I hadn't given Photo much to work with for this one. A few bullet points of things to include, like 'traps,' 'optical illusions,' and 'monsters.' A few bullet points on aesthetics. But most of my time had gone into creating lore for the dungeon, which I had to admit was a poor use of resources. Would that be enough?

An invisibility bubble disintegrated twenty or thirty meters from our group of players. In its wake, the entrance to the dungeon was revealed. A squarish structure with an entryway and a staircase which descended underground. Faceless angels were etched into the black pillars which framed the entrance. The stairs were carved from white stone.

Photo spoke, and Kendra and the girls reacted. They could hear it.

Behold! Stooge's Folly, the only path to the demon you have come here to slay! Those who enter can never exit, lest their quest is abandoned and the world is betrayed.

"Huh," Addy commented, "Photo finally decided to speak human."

"Those are my words," I explained, "That 'novel' you saw me writing? This is paragraph one."

"Who speaks to me!" Kendra shouted, looking over either shoulder and then checking behind himself. His sisters mimicked him while cupping their ears to focus their hearing.

Despite his show of confidence, Kendra's face was pale.

Photo said nothing more. That was the end of the script for this part.

"Kenny! Are there going to be more Blaingels down there?" Cassie asked, pointing at the stairs.

Kendra grunted and shook his head, "Let's hope not. Come on."

They followed him into the dungeon, leaving the cloudless skies and barren landscape behind them.

Photo did something then, and the floating platform we sat on split into eight squares, each of them just big enough to accommodate their respective chair - or beanbag. The eight platforms shuffled and shifted, rearranging into a formation that was two chairs wide and four chairs in length. More compact, so we could better fit into the dungeon halls.

Addy fell in beside me in row three. He kicked the seat in front of him and said, "Layla! Toss me a chip! Let's see if I can catch one in my mouth!"

He opened his mouth wide, ready to receive his airborne snack.

The entire bowl of chips decked him in the face.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, rubbing at a roundish crease across his forehead and handing the now-empty bowl off to me. The remainder of the chips were scattered across his chest and legs and crinkling into the folds of his recliner. He scooped a handful up and smooshed them into his mouth.

"Want the guac, too?" Layla asked him playfully.

"Fuck no! Keep it!" Addy said, "Photo, can I get some ranch?"

"Ranch and tortilla chips?" Blaine said from the front row.

My resources - ♣ - being strained right now. I am sorry.

I played the sentence back in my head, not sure if I'd heard it correctly. One of the words had sounded wrong, as if spoken in another language. A distinctly alien language, and yet I felt like I knew the word's meaning.

I also wondered what Photo was doing to strain its resources. Was the dungeon being generated as our players progressed?

"Hey, don't sweat it, P," Addy eventually said. A very delayed response.

So Addy could hear it, too.

On his way down the stairs, Kendra used the game stone to create a stone cap for the torch. He attached it to the top of the sconce, and the flame was diminished. When he removed the cap, the flame burst forth, just as large as before. Kendra re-capped the torch and pocketed it.

Our platforms cascaded down the stairs and into a narrow hall. We came to a stop a few meters behind the players, who were facing down their first obstacle.

Three pendulum blades, swinging perpetually back and forth, each slightly faster than the last. The curved blades glinted in the ambient white glow of the dungeon.

Cecilia stepped forward, "Can I try first?"

"Hm?" Kendra said, "Oh, you want to jump in front of the swingy pointy death thing? Be my guest."

Cecilia took another step forward.

Kendra grabbed her collar and yanked her two steps back.

"Hey!" she complained.

"I was kidding," Kendra clarified, "The balls on you, though."

Kendra forced the girls to stay put while he advanced towards the first pendulum. He summoned a tower shield made from stone and held it with both hands. With zero hesitation, he charged.

Pendulums were a classic obstacle. The typical adventurer would wait for the pendulum to reach the top of its swing, giving them a short window of time to dodge past.

Kendra waited for the pendulum to be in the middle of his path and slammed into it with the shield. The metal bar hanging down from the ceiling bent, and the pendulum was thrown off course, lodging itself into the wall instead of into the narrow divet it was supposed to slide in and out of.

"Jesus," Brad commented, "What does this guy eat for breakfast?"

Addy answered, "Forget about his size. I'm impressed with how this guy uses his mass."

"Mhm," I agreed.

Kendra and the girls walked past the immobilized obstacle, and Cassie whooped, pumping a fist in the air. Maisie whooped too, though there was a falter to hers.

Kendra dispensed of the next two pendulums in the same fashion. When he was done with the third, he hauled it out of the wall and let it hang lamely in the center of the tunnel. Four body slams later, the midsection of the bar bent to the point of snapping clean in two. Kendra hefted the blade from the floor and held the splintered rod with both hands like a double-sided battle-axe.

"Every weapon needs a good name," Kendra explained to the girls, "This one will be called Whirlwind."

"Oh!" Cecilia cheered, "I want to name mine!"

Kendra took the stone dagger from her and gave it to Cassie.

"Whaaat?" Cecilia fretted.

"Give me a sec," Kendra told her, putting down Whirlwind and raising his shield.

A few more shield bashes and the second pendulum fell to the floor. He advanced and absorbed the metal into the game stone, followed by his shield. Like a magician and their rabbit, Kendra pulled a metal sword from the stone and passed it to Cecilia. The dark metal glimmered all across its surface.

"Your blade, Cecilia Proctor," Kendra intoned, "I pray you never have to use it."

"I'm calling it Death Sentence," she decided, practicing a wide swing.

"Whatever you want, little girl," Kendra said, heaving Whirlwind from the ground.

"I'm not little!"

"Can I call mine Nuclear?" Cassie asked.

The fuck?

"Doesn't work. How about Nuclear Option?" Kendra suggested, "Because I'm only letting you use it as a last resort."

Cassie smiled, "Okay! Mine has the best name because it means normal!"

"No it doesn't," Cecilia said.

"Yeah-huh!"

"Alright, naming time is over. Let's get on with it," Kendra said, forging ahead down the endless hall with the white tiles and the grainy black walls. Faceless angels pointed the way, inscribed into the walls in silver.

Small tremors shook the hall as they walked, accompanied by a distant thumping. The occasional crack would appear in the ceiling, causing chalky dust to rain down.

One of the louder thumps caused a section of the ceiling to collapse, and a shower of debris pelted everyone. Nothing big enough to harm, but I still looked around, confirming that everyone was ok.

In the back row, Teddy sat next to a vacant recliner.

"Hey, where's Kioshi?" I asked, prompting other heads to turn.

"Oh. That old man? He flew the coop," Teddy answered, completely casual.

"Yeah, when?" Addy asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"He's a private man," Teddy said, "And he asked me to stay silent."

"Photo, did you know this? And can you track him?" Addy asked the surrounding bubbles.

He asked me - ♣ - allow his escape.

Again, that alien phrase. Deep down I knew that word. I hated that word. And I still couldn't place it.

"So you let him escape, then?" Addy inquired.

Kioshi is escaping.

"Answer the question," Addy demanded.

I failed to see what the big deal was. Kioshi never wanted to help with our plan. If he managed to slip away, good for him. The world was ending soon, one way or another, and he deserved to spend those last moments on his own terms.

It was a selfish desire, of course. Knowing what I knew, there was no way I wouldn't help Photo. And for someone who had taken the time to knit our friendships back together, I had expected better of Kioshi.

Please end this line of questioning.

"Why? Will I not like the answer?" Addy prodded.

"Addy, this isn't the time. Drop it," I said.

Addy folded his arms and pouted, "For all I know, you've all been brainwashed or cloned, and this is another game where I'm the player."

"Yeah? That's your theory?" I asked him.

"Conspiracy."

"Ask me a question then. Something only I would know."

"How intelligent are you?"

"Fuck off."

"For the record," Addy stated, "When we later learn that Photo juiced Kioshi into a puddle of pulp, let it be known that Addy was right all along!"

"Deal," I said.

"I don't think Photo is that sort of fellow," Teddy remarked.

Photo interrupted our flow, speaking again to the players walking down the hall.

With the first challenge completed, I pose to you this first question. What is the meaning of life? Have you ever wondered this? Maybe you've filled in the gaps with fairytales about Gods and angels? Heaven and Hell?

"Here we go," Addy murmured, "Alec's course in philosophy. Kill me now."

All of it is true. The after-living, the demons. Angels walk the earth and they enact God's will. All angels, except for those in Stooge's Folly.

Photo's voice changed then, and it sounded like two voices were layered overtop one another. One was deep and booming. The other was normal in pitch and laughing every syllable.

You are ours now!

"What the fuck?" Addy and Kendra spoke in unison.

Make no sound for the next four seconds, Photo instructed us. One of our two protective bubbles - the sound barrier, by my estimation - transformed and swallowed up the two girls. It carried them through the walls and out of sight, then returned to us and restored the barrier.

Photo had nine of those wisps, yet it was repurposing one of the two which kept us hidden. What were the other seven doing? Building out the dungeon? Photo's resources were apparently being strained...

"Where did you put them?" Maisie asked, half-standing from her seat.

"Into parallel versions of the dungeon," I explained, "Each player has to do the rest of the dungeon on their own."

"Another classic gimmick from Alec! You couldn't resist, could you?" Addy said, reaching over to slap the back of my neck.

I will occasionally reconfigure the reflector to show a lens, that you may use to view the others. I ask that you stay silent for the duration of those moments.

We consented.

Meanwhile, Kendra was losing it.

"Where did you take them!" he roared.

No response from Photo. No script.

"Answer me!"

He lifted his weapon, stepped into a swing, and sliced Whirlwind into a wall. Stone chipped and came loose, but it didn't give way like he had wanted. He swang again.

"If ya won't do God's will, you can't be a friggin angel!" Kendra bellowed.

"Hey, Photo, send the Blaingel in!" Addy advised.

"No! Fuck no," Blaine refused, trying to wave his hands back and forth in an X, despite the heavy and drooping robes.

Photo didn't.

Kendra screamed a few more times, incoherently, and then broke into a sprint down the hall. Something invisible clotheslined him, and his head snapped backward, his body crashing to the floor.

If I squinted hard enough, I could see the blurry shape of the near-invisible blade sticking out of the wall. It was at neck level. Had his weapon not been the first thing to intercept it, he might have lost his head.

Ah. The optical illusions I had requested.

There is no demon to slay because that would signify your journey had an end! No, you shall dwell in these halls forever, separated from your kin, never to see your family again!

"Is anyone else more than a little creeped out by how good Photo is doing that voice?" Blaine surveyed.

We all agreed, but no one wanted to acknowledge him with words. A silent and unanimous agreement.

"You'll never see the light of day after I find you!" Kendra threatened the voices, "I'll rip out your esophagus and make you chew it back down!"

He swung at the invisible obstacle and detached it from the wall. The needle-thin ghost blade was shoved into a pocket for later use. He proceeded carefully from then on.

The sound barrier around us began to transform - our cue to shut up. It became a convex surface which we could peer into to see through the walls of the dungeon. On either side of Kendra were parallel hallways where each of the girls walked alone.

Cecilia was ahead of Kendra, progress-wise. Cassie had taken maybe five steps forward.

Just as quick as it had appeared, the lens reverted.

Kendra lopped more invisible blades from the walls, grunting with each successful removal. His rage was his fuel, or so I guessed.

Do you like games? Are you having fun, yet?

"No and no and fuck you!" Kendra shouted, irate.

As angels, we have no concept for fun, but we make do. We have an eternity of boredom to fill, after all. Your 80 years of service won't fulfill our needs, but we welcome the possibility all the same.

"Grah!"

The frequency of the ghost blades was increasing now. Kendra bashed at two that formed an X across his path, only for another configuration to block the way a single step later. Like slicing through tall grass, it was becoming a real jungle.

The girls were shown again, and Cecilia had fallen behind. Blood dripped from her hands and slid down the lengths of her arms. Rather than dismantle the obstacles, she waved her hands around to locate them, and then ducked under or climbed over. Cassie was doing an army crawl. Given her size, it seemed to be working.

Your lives lacked all meaning until we intervened. Like tokens taken from a dusty box and placed on a game board. You should be grateful!

"Show yourself!" Kendra growled, smashing through the last of the invisible meshes. Now that his path was clear again, he renewed his charge.

With the second challenge complete, I pose this second question. What is reality? Is it what you think it is? How many of your acquaintances are real?

"Hey Alec," Addy spoke, "When you wrote these lines, what were you going for?"

"Psychological attack," I admitted, albeit quietly, for Maisie's sake.

"Yeah. Thought you might say that. Now here's my second question. Did you really think this was a good idea?"

"Yeah, of course. Still do."

You think this is the first game. It is not. You might have had a normal life before. Those who enter Stooge's Folly are not just victims in the present, but also in the past. Your whole life has been rewritten, Clemente Proctor. All of your memories are lies. Everyone you know is a lie. You are the only token on the board.

"Less so, now," I said, mending my statement.

Shit. Had I taken this too far?

"This is horrible!" Maisie added, helpfully.

"Yeah," Addy agreed.

Ok, I wouldn't call it horrible.

As we trailed behind Kendra, a humanoid figure was coming into view further down the hall. A woman with greasy blonde hair and a sleeveless brown tee. A shiny revolver hung at her waist.

"Who the fuck is she?" Addy asked, apparently to me.

I didn't fucking know.

Kendra stopped a few meters short of the woman and snarled at her, "Draw a gun on me and it'll be the last thing you do."

She drew the gun and began to speak while toying with it in her hand. Her performance was exactly that. A performance.

"Love conquers all. Every cloud has a silver lining. Faith-,"

Whirlwind was swung, and the woman's head forsook her torso. The body crumpled, the head bouncing and rolling down the hall. Blood spouted from the neck stump like an unmanned firehouse, completely soaking Kendra and his blade.

Maisie was turned around in her seat, burying her face into the cushions. Layla rubbed her exposed back in an effort to comfort her.

"Baka," Kendra said, spitting on the corpse and breaking into another mad sprint.

Something was off. Justified or not, Kendra had just committed murder. Was that my fault, for putting him in this precarious state of mind?

He would be forced to kill her anyway, right? Also, what was she even doing down here?

A final challenge and a final question. I ask you now, who can you trust?

"Get out of my head!" Kendra screamed, flecks of spit spraying from his lips.

I'll give you the answer, just this once. Trust no one.

"I'll trust who I want to trust!"

I raised my eyebrows. That was the last part of the script, and he had held his ground against the deception. Part of me wondered if I should have written more. Seeded more doubt.

No. That's just the tunnel vision talking. Resist!

I took a deep breath. Released.

Take it easy. Relax.

Kendra reached a crossroads. Ahead of him, the edges of the hallway became more distorted. The path to the final boss. To his right and left, hallways leading to either of his sisters.

"Cassie! Cecilia!" Kendra called out.

"Big brother! Help!" Cassie's voice replied, distant.

Kendra rushed into the left hall and stumbled around a bend. Our chairs silently followed.

A carbon copy of the blonde woman from before was talking to Cassie, "-everything happens for a reason. Where there is life-,"

Kendra buried one end of the pendulum into her skull. Cassie shrieked in terror, then waddled to his side, hugging his blood-soaked clothes.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Kendra said, patting her matted hair, "Come on, your sister is in trouble."

"I don't want to be strong anymore!" Cassie whined, pulling at his waist-line.

"Don't be foolish. Come on," he repeated.

The siblings returned to the intersection and entered Cecilia's hall. Again, our envoy of spectators trailed closely behind.

Cecilia's version of the woman had finished her monologue and was busy laughing while advancing on the girl. Cecilia matched each of the woman's steps with her own step backward. Her sword, Death Sentence, was raised in front of her face, the blade blocking her view of the woman. Her legs shook like jelly with each step.

Blinded by terror.

"Cecilia!" Kendra cried out, hefting his weapon.

Before I could register what was happening, my cheek hit the tiled floor and scraped along the rough surface. White pain across the side of my face, and a near-instantaneous wet feeling.

The sound of more things hitting the floor. People, chairs, the marble platforms. 'Oofs' and 'ow's' and 'what the fucks' echoed. A gentle warmth left me, becoming distant, and I felt less whole.

I tucked my face against my white shirt to stop the bleeding while dragging myself to a sitting position. Slumped against the wall of the dungeon, I gathered my wits.

No mechanism to keep the chairs afloat. No invisibility shield or sound barrier.

Photo was gone. It had abandoned us.

Kendra was staring at the heap of people and recliners that had materialized behind him. A moment's distraction from the conflict at hand.

He squinted an eye, cocked his head, and bore his teeth at us. Then turned around in time to see Cecilia take a bullet to the face.