The day had come; Stu was going to go take his test, live or die, those were the prizes today. The girls were seeing him off from the living room, they’d arrive to the pce in two different areas. This was to prevent contagious behaviors as they called the disease the Stewards carry. Stu looked at the gods standing before him, his heart was pounding as he thought; this may be the st time he sees any of them. He said, “You all were the best gods of all, you all are very special to me..” He stared at the ground, even faced with death he struggled expressing his emotions.

  Prosperity asked, “Do you have your good luck charms?”

  Stu turned red as he expined, “They seemed to have disappeared.. Now that I think about it, strangely it was right about the time Broth showed up.. I need to have a talk with him.. I’m sorry girls..”

  Chaos said, “Well at this point its tradition, let’s make sure he comes back alive this time too.” Stu’s heart skipped a beat in pure joy. Prosperity and Chaos both slowly removed their underwear right there. He thought; if I die today, it’s alright with me, thank you god! Chaos looked at him saying, “Really?”

  Prosperity said, “You too Miracle!” She bent over trying to help Miracle and causing her to jump back in surprise.

  Miracle yelled, “What are you doing?”

  Chaos said, “It’s tradition, we give Stu our panties for big battles, and you are part of the house of Chaos. So, take them off and give them to Stu.”

  Stu sat there silently grinning, but in his mind he wept with joy. All you could hear in his head was, Thank you God, about a thousand times. He smiled wide watching Miracle slowly remove her underwear, Stu could see from here they were silk like st time. He thought, “I won’t sniff them until no one’s looking..

  The girls offered him their good luck charms, and as his hand touched each pair a tear of pure joy slid down his face. Thank Chaos, and all glory be hers; he thought to himself. Chaos finally said, “Alright, I’m trying to be nice but there were a couple things that got graphic, can you just quit praising me if you are going to think about her doing that to me.. I mean I get the part with me and you, but her doing that to me.. Stu.. Come on..”

  He hung his head in shame saying, “I’m sorry, but I truly can’t help it..”

  Prosperity slyly asked, “So, who did what to you?”

  Stu said, “Alright, time to go..” Sniff god panties.. “See you at the battle.” He turned to leave.

  Chaos said, “He’s going to sniff our underwear as soon as he gets out of sight.”

  Prosperity said, “No..”

  Stu turned around and said, “I can’t help it! I’m into, what I’m into!” He continued heading out the door to his test.

  Miracle asked, “What did you honestly expect him to do with them, huh, Chaos?”

  Chaos said, “Well, I thought maybe he’d come home after a long day at work. Head to his bedroom to get comfortable and rex, change his clothes, open his closet door revealing the shrine of our panties he’s collected. Then he would bow in honor and worship at the throne of God panties…” She continued talking as Miracle and Prosperity stared in shock at her perverted yet naive imagery.

  Meanwhile, Stu was almost to the testing grounds and now his heart was pounding, He wondered if prisoners walking to their executions felt this way. He’d put on the best front he was able to with the girls, but the truth was he was terrified. The thought of dying wasn’t the big thing; it was actually just the thought of losing the people he’d become friends with. He just wanted to see them all after this, he didn’t need anyone to be in love with him, he just wanted to be wanted. Sighing he looked up ahead, a rge construction yard was waiting silently. It wouldn’t be silent much longer; this was the pce the test would take pce in. One more look, back at the world to remember the way it was, just in case..

  He rolled his neck, it popped. He headed inside the construction yard. His first step inside, the atmosphere instantly changed, the volume increased to pregame levels in a stadium. Looking around there were people or gods and animals standing everywhere, all watching the area he’d arrived in. upon seeing him they all went silent and stared. A rge wolf appeared in front of him, Stu asked, “Who are you?”

  The wolf said, “My name is timber, and I’m the Judge of stewards. Today, I will be the one that judges the battle, no others are to have any say in this matter. You will be observed openly, and all districts have representatives in attendance. Do you know why you are here today?

  Stu nodded his head saying, “I’m here today because I’m a steward. I’m here today to compete in a battle, win, and keep contagious behaviors under control..”

  Timber said, “I’m going to expin this the same way I expined it to your opponent. Your goal is to kill your opponent; no other options are avaible to you in this fight. If you lose control of your power you die instantly, if you disobey my orders you die instantly, if you leave the arena you die instantly, if you exhibit symptoms of contagious behavior you die instantly, and if you lose you die instantly. You may ask your gods for help in any way you would in normal combat, they will be observing you from the crowd, however, if they get infected they die…”

  Confused Stu interrupted asking, “What if they are already infected?”

  Timber said, “I wasn’t talking about your infection, I meant your opponents. Today you test against another steward. You didn’t think that you were the only one, did you?”

  A little red Stu said, “Oh, I kind of did..”

  Timber said, “If you infect your opponents’ gods they die, and you. Same thing goes vice versa, understand?”

  Stu nodded, “Win perfectly, or die, got it..”

  Timber said, “You get one 120 second time out, so will your opponent, I suggest only using it if you must. When the battle begins it will not be over until I decre it so. Are all of the rules understood?”

  Stu solemnly said, “Yes, I believe so.”

  Timber said, “Good, I’m gd to hear that. If you win here, you will guarantee admission into the preliminaries of this tournament. You will earn the chance to represent all of your ideals in this competition should you win the battle ahead. Good luck, maintain control, and remember this was always about all or nothing.” Timber was gone.

  The crowd began to murmur once again. Stu sat his bookbag down tucking his brand-new gsses in there, his phone, and the notes he wrote ahead of time. He sighed zipping it up and tucking the bag behind some sheet metal for safe keeping. The crowd started to grow quiet once more and he looked back to see Timber taking his spot and announcing the battle.

  Timber announced, “Welcome Gods, Judges, Servants, Blue Bloods, and of course Stewards. We will commence with the test of Stewardship if there are no further issues to resolve, therefore please remain quiet, stay out of the way, and do not interfere.” Stu stepped forward into the dirty industrial construction yard. “Our first steward is representing The House of Chaos, hasn’t lost a battle yet and is quickly making a name for himself, please welcome Stu!” The crowd erupted in cheers; Stu himself was taken back by the response. “The second steward found and also undefeated in battle, representing the…” Something happened as a cat ran to the wolf and they talked for a second. Timber sighed slightly annoyed saying, “Representing the House of Lords, please welcome Demi!” the crowd cpped but it wasn’t the response Stu received.

  Another guy walked to the center of the construction yard, a decent looking guy, eerily simir in build and looks to Stu, except Demi was a little taller, a little more muscle, and he was charismatic as he approached Stu. Stu hung his head saying, “Damn, he’s better looking than me..”

  Demi said, “Hello Steward, are you finally excited?”

  Looking at him like he was speaking gibberish Stu asked, “What do you mean? If you’re asking me out on a date, I have to tell you that you’re not really my kind. I like my girls to have better assets, if you get what I’m saying.” He smiled and winked at the guy, but Demi frowned.

  Frowning Demi said, “I’d heard you were full of bad jokes, but this is just pathetic. Is that how you win battles? By boring your opponents to death?”

  Stu smiled saying, “Sometimes.. other times I try having sex with them.. a few times I even got to actually fight!” He was unusually bubbly, for it being Stu.

  Demi, still frowning and crossing his arms he looked Stu over asking, “Are you trying to goad me on?”

  Shrugging sarcastically Stu asked, “Gee, I dunno… Are you trying to be a pompous asshole?”

  They were interrupted by Timber saying, “Gentlemen! I said the match has started, you may commence..”

  Stu yelled up, “It’s called forepy dog! I need this before I can perform!”

  Without knowing how, Stu realized Demi was behind him. Demi swung at Stu’s head; he went under the punch and turned to face him. Stu yelled, “Son of a bitch! You tried to go full bore without getting it wet? Weak man, just.. weak..”

  Demi scowled at Stu asking, “How have you managed to live this long? Your mouth should have gotten you killed a long time ago”

  Sarcastic as usual Stu replied, “The same way you avoid all the wrinkles on your face when all you do is frown. Did anyone ever tell you that would give you crow’s feet?”

  Demi rushed Stu and getting ahold of him finally, demi threw Stu across the yard into a stack of water barrels. Stu smashed into them so hard water exploded outward. Demi had an eerily calm rage that seemed to fester underneath his every action yet had an air of snobby hierarchy. Demi yelled, “What do you think now? Would you say that you are wet enough? Can we move on from forepy now?”

  Stu threw debris off himself and got to his feet. He was sopping wet now, shrugging he said, “Yeah I guess, but it’s going to take longer for me to finish if that’s all the romance you can offer me.”

  A voice from the crowd yelled, “What the hell are we watching, a porn or a fight?”

  Stu was focused on wiping mud off himself as he said, “I’m not sure this qualifies as either, maybe a snuff film?”

  Demi went for him again, but Stu expected this. He hadn’t moved because of the mud, and as fast as Demi rushed him, he had no control over his movements. Demi was running, then he was filing trying to keep his bance, and stew walked over drop kicking him in the slowest manner ever. They both colpsed into the mud, and both slipped back up to their feet. Demi said, “You think that was cute, don’t you?” He spit mud on the ground.

  Stu smiled, pulling his dagger out and asking, “Should we just go for it and see what happens? You know not look at our cards, go all in, and see how it ends?”

  Demi pulled two daggers out saying, “You aren’t even worth my time here, if this is all you have to offer in a fight then this ends with your death.” Surprised, Stu thought he saw something in Demi’s eye. He didn’t quite know what it was, but it had been like a subtle fsh of light.

  Stu got a bad feeling about this, his mind fshed an image of the door. Not now, he thought; he didn’t need fshbacks in battle. Was this the contagious behaviors? “Goddammit!” He had to keep his mind focused.. He grunted trying to keep his mind from fshing back, trying to keep focus on Demi.

  Demi asked, “What’s the matter steward? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” He rushed Stu, and catching him slightly off guard, drove the bde of his dagger through Stu’s forearm sending a river of blue cascading from his arm. Stu backed off some, putting distance between the two men.

  Looking at the wound, he saw it wasn’t going to hinder him much. He asked, “Did you see the door also?”

  Demi ughed saying, “The door? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, and quite frankly I don’t care. First blood is mine, that means I’m going to win. How much longer will you stay in control?”

  Stu said, “Doesn’t matter, I already knew I wouldn’t leave this alive..”

  Demi looked surprised saying, “Is this a serious moment in battle? Are you going to give your st words?”

  Shrugging Stu said, “Yeah, it was serious. I decided I would die here today already, but I also decided that I wouldn’t die alone, I’ll take you with me today. We will both die..” Stu heard it like thunder; a dagger traveled through the air barely missing him as he side-stepped. The dagger collided into a stack of pallets sending them crashing over. Even Stu was surprised by the impact.

  Demi had thrown the dagger at Stu. Demi confidently said, “See that? That is what you are capable of if you would’ve trained. Instead, it seems you only work your tongue.”

  Stu’s heart was pounding fast, that was close. He looked at Demi asking, “Do you know how hard it is living with sexy gods? All I can do is work my tongue? My god I wish! I bet it taste like..” He became lost in thought.

  Demi rushed him, jumping into the air and bringing his foot down on Stu’s shoulder. Demi pushed off as Stu didn’t even flinch, still lost in thought. Demi looked confused taking a step back asking, “What?”

  Stu looked at him asking, “I said do you think it taste like honey?”

  Demi was shocked asking, “No, that should have crippled you.. The way you fought before.. the way you just stopped my attack.. What happened?”

  Stu smiled saying, “I told you, we’d both die today. You see Demi, you were more correct than you realized. I don’t know how to control this, whatever it is inside me. At some point, I will lose control over it. When I do, I guarantee I’ll kill you before the judges put me down..”

  Demi’s expression changed, he was worried now. He yelled, “Time-out!”

  Timber sat between the two, “The first time out has been called; you both have 120 seconds to ask me anything for crification, colborate with your gods, or rest. At the end of the time, the battle resumes..”