Utopian System

"You're telling me," he finally said, "that instead of facing the challenge as intended, with armies of increasingly powerful monsters, you found a way to fight them one at a time, using death as a tactical advantage?"
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"Was that not allowed?" Elio asked, taking another bite of his cosmic fruit.

"I... well..."

Dionz seemed to be having trouble processing this development. "The challenge was supposed to be about facing its 100 levels with a 10 strong team of lvl 100 warrios..." He trailed off.

"Is that why the second goblin seemed so much stronger?" Elio asked innocently. "Because we were supposed to have 10 people?"

The god looked at the sphere, then at Elio, then at the invocations. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

"You know what?" he finally said, "I'm not even sure if this counts as cheating or genius. Possibly both…"

"So," Dionz began, trying to sound casual while floating cross-legged in the air, "before letting you out, we should probably get you leveled up. Because, well..." He fidgeted with his divine robes. "Nala's kind of about to win."

Elio paused mid-bite of his cosmic fruit. "Win what exactly, can you say it now?"

"Everything?" The god's voice went up an octave. "If she wins, I fall under her jurisdiction, and she gets total control over, um, divinity itself. And when I say total control, I mean TOTAL control." He emphasized this with expansive hand gestures. "Which is, you know, slightly concerning. Just a tiny bit. Like universe-altering levels of concerning."

Emberg and Poison Stinger exchanged glances, the salamander creating a tiny flame question mark while the scorpion shrugged its pincers.

"But!" Dionz brightened considerably. "By some incredible luck, in what could have been the final run, here you are! And you've already found a way to break… I mean, creatively interpret my challenge!"

The god caught himself, quickly changing subjects. "You see, this challenge is quite different from Nala's. I based it on these amazing games I used to play when I was still a mortal. They were going to be part of all the trials, but Nala..." He rolled his eyes dramatically.

"She said they were too 'cliché' and 'generic'. Can you believe that? Just because they involved collecting power-ups and fighting progressively stronger enemies..."

Elio raised an eyebrow. "You were mortal?"

"Not the point!" Dionz waved dismissively. "What matters is that after our... creative disagreement, we ended up using her challenge designs. But!" He raised a finger triumphantly. "She thought nobody would ever reach this far, so she let me design this one however I wanted. Including the rewards!"

The god's excitement was almost palpable as he continued, "So I created this totally intentional, completely planned from the beginning, absolutely-not-a-last-minute-fix Utopia Patch 2.0!"

Seeing Elio's skeptical look, he quickly added, "Not because I realized too late there were problems! No, no, no. It's just an 'extra feature'." He made air quotes with his fingers. "You know, like when game developers release DLC that completely changes core mechanics. Totally normal. Totally planned… Wait, you don't know what a DLC is…"

"...The point is," Dionz continued, shooting a reproachful look up, "that sphere you got? You can exchange it at Nala's statue."

Elio faced the goddess statue, when he was about to ask why the rewards were there...

"Could we focus?" Dionz asked. "The fate of divinity itself is at stake here, and my creative integrity as a challenge designer has already been questioned enough by one goddess, I don't need commentary..."

"Now," the god clapped his hands together, trying to regain some semblance of divine dignity, "shall we see what that sphere can do? I put a lot of work into this totally-planned-from-the-beginning reward system. And by 'a lot of work' I mean I definitely didn't create it in a panic when I realized the normal system might be slightly problematic for a potential utopia."

♢♢♢♢

In the empty chamber, Zala seethed with frustration.

Zara had withdrawn her consciousness, not fighting for now, just... resting. It was infuriating how this human's mind refused to be consumed, yet also refused to engage. Even more infuriating was knowing that Elio was relatively safe for now, leaving her with nothing to do but wait.

Her eyes kept drifting to the small white cube that contained her supposed memories. Something felt wrong about this entire situation. The timing, Dionz's behavior, the way her own memories seemed fragmented... none of it added up.

The cube pulsed gently in her hands, promising answers but possibly raising more questions. Without access to the system directly, this was her only way to understand what was happening. Her fingers traced the cube's edges as she considered her options.

"Fine," she muttered to the empty chamber. "Let's see what you're hiding."

She activated the cube. Memories began flowing into her consciousness like a river breaking through a dam. Years of experiences cascaded through her mind, battles, victories, defeats, endless cycles of the game...

Then she found something weird. A memory she didn't remember having.

A memory of the first game.

According to everything she knew, she had started in the chamber, waiting for the first human challenger. But this memory showed something different. She was in the initial human city, arguing with Dionz about the game's structure.

"The challenges need to be more structured," she heard herself saying. "Your design is too chaotic, too..."

The words faded as she realized something that made her entire world tilt on its axis. In the memory, she wasn't using just any form. She wasn't in the body of a queen's daughter, or any of the other vessels she remembered using.

She was in Zara's body.

Exactly Zara's body.

The memory cube slipped from her suddenly numb fingers, clattering to the floor as the implications hit her.

This wasn't just coincidence. This wasn't just compatibility.

What had happened? What did Dionz do to her?

She looked down at her current hands, at Zara's hands…

"They were mine first…"