Chapter 75

“Yes. This is one of Yggdrasil’s buds, and this forest is the field of play!” “…?” Anita blinked. Buds? What did that mean? This tree in front of them had to be centuries old. “What you are all observing right now is a young leaf sprouted from one of the God-Tree’s seeds.” “Young?!” “Indeed. Yggdrasil’s own body is far from here, very far. This forest is where the buds of Yggdrasil’s next generation grow.” “Geez, really? The gods do know something about scale, don’t they?” Captain Ashlan said. “So now what? Don’t tell me this Yggdrasil is an actual god?” “The gods you will be facing are over here!” Gods? Plural? Before Fay could ask any questions, something—in fact, many somethings—began to descend one after another from the ancient tree. There were nine of them in all, three each of three different kinds of beings: Faeries no larger than the meep, with emerald wings. Human-sized, humanoid tree-people with long limbs. Spirits almost two meters tall, looking much like trees themselves. They all came down and lined up neatly behind the meep. “Allow me to introduce you. These faeries, treefolk, and tree spirits are nymphs, dryads, and treants, respectively!” “Wh-whoa, hold on! There’s nine of them!” Nel said, her eyes going wide. “I thought the gods’ games were supposed to be one god versus several humans! But this is almost like…” “A god(s) team versus a human team!” “Say what?!” Nel could hardly get the words out. She was used to games against absolutely ludicrous gods—but never more than one of them at once. No matter how far back you went in the Arcane Court data banks, there was no record of a game against multiple gods. The nymphs were cheering. “Huzzah! Humans are here! Real, live humans!” They floated right about the height of Fay’s head, their voices loud out of all proportion to their tiny bodies. “You’re very lucky. We were just looking for someone to play with, so we made up a game we can play. You’re not gonna beat us, though.” “Nymph, it’s not nice to taunt those who have been kind enough to come and play with us,” said the dryads. They had a feminine voice, more mature and reserved than that of the nymph. “Gods show no favor and make no threats. They open human hearts gradually and care for them gently.” “Yikes! You have got weird tastes, Dry!” All three of the nymphs started laughing. In fact, to Fay’s surprise, the nymphs and dryads each spoke in unison, the three bodies uttering the same words simultaneously. “Tell them, treant! You say something to them!” the nymphs urged, but they were greeted with a long silence. “………………” “Oh, right. You don’t speak a human language. Well, don’t worry, I talk enough for all of us!” The three nymphs fluttered up through the air to a height of about three meters, from which they proceeded to study the human players. “Okay, let’s get four balls ready to go!” The nymphs snapped their fingers, and a great gale sprang up in the forest, like a storm, rushing upward toward the top of Yggdrasil’s woods. It brought four fruits tumbling down from above: A green one about the size of a palm fruit that bounced like it was made of rubber when it hit the ground. A blue one about the size of a palm fruit that bounced once when it hit the ground and then came to rest. A red one about the size of a palm fruit that hit the ground with an audible thwack. Another red one larger than a human that slammed into the earth with the force of a meteor, leaving a crater. They were different weights—as anyone could tell by the way they landed. Especially that last one. It was clearly of a different size and much heavier. “These four fruits are the balls,” the meep announced. “The court is Yggdrasil’s forest, and the game is God-Tree-Fruit Basketball! Let’s get started!” Vs. the Guardians of the God-Tree’s Wood Game: God-Tree-Fruit Basketball Win Condition 1: First team to fifty points wins Win Condition 2: If time expires, the team with the higher score wins However, in the case of time expiring, points scored will be used to Other: All four fruits are used at once. Green fruit (1 kilogram). Blue fruit (5 kilograms). Yellow fruit (50 kilograms). Each scores different points. And the red fruit A gods’ game humanity had never experienced was about to begin.