God of Destruction: Living Among Mortals

Nova met up with Adam, as he had killed all the wolves along the way, the big one that was knocked also died, as Nova caved its head in. He dropped the rock after killing all of them, feeling the rush of excitement and adrenaline drive his actions. But at the same time, his body was shaking.

"Cover me, really quick," Nova muttered as he started to meditate.

Adam looked out. He didn't know what exactly to do, but he looked out. As Nova finished, he turned his gaze back to him. He saw how Nova wasn't shaking anymore and asked him how he did that.

"How did you do that?" he inquired, wanting to know for himself as well.

"It's an exercise I found when I was studying at the library." He said, cracking his bones again.

"The library?" Adam didn't look amused, since everything was digital, and being born in the generation before, he grew up with technology; he had never set foot in the library, he found all his books online, and all his answers online. "Y-you, joking?"

"No," there was a hint of sass in his "no." Then continued: "Adam, maybe you should go to the library more often. It doesn't feel like you're utilizing such a great place."

"I-I have never t-touched a single b-book in the lib-library. I read di-digital."

"Well, that sucks. That means you don't know where real knowledge comes from. I swear, technology in any civilization ruins it." Nova muttered, nodding his head side-to-side.

Adam looked at him, confused about what Nova had said. He realized that Nova was an interesting person, with all his jokes and a new, fresh view of reality. He wasn't like the others at his age, even though Adma and Nova were technically the same age. Most people at their age would ignore the library and go out to party, and be chaotic. Nova seemed like the chaotic guy, but in his domain. Where he had everything under control.

They kept walking until they heard, across the maze, a loud voice of a girl speaking through a microphone: "To help with monsters, we have deployed crates filled with weapons of every kind across the maze. And seeing how one player has already passed," Nova was baffled. Someone had already passed before him? This meant he had spent way too much time finding Adama and fighting the wolves. "We have decided to shrink the maze and let the volcano start its eruption, in exactly ten minutes."

"Shit, we only have ten minutes to get to the volcano; we have to hurry," Nova said as he started to run. If they wanted to be among the 128 who passed, they needed to be swift and agile; otherwise, they had already lost.

Adam remembered the man he saw earlier, who, in the blink of an eye, disappeared, as if he teleported, but upon further inspection, he didn't teleport; instead ran at a very high velocity. Maybe, faster than the speed of sound. Adam kept thinking, but Nova snapped him back, since his thinking wasn't going to save him. That man was useless to him in the situation at hand. He was pure useless, because if he didn't make it to the next round, he wouldn't be able to find the guy ever again.

They rushed. Pushing their legs to overdrive mode. Since they needed that active.

Nova was moving himself forward like a madman, his jacket flapping behind him, his hair attached to his before because of sweat. Adam, somehow, looked like he was just running for PE class, not for his life. The maze had started to feel… different. Corners that weren't there before now were. The walls seemed tighter. It couldn't settle well with a claustrophobic person. Everything tilted like it was leaning toward the volcano, in the center, as if it was pulling everything in like a blackhole.

Dust fell from the massive black stone above them, bits of ash spiraling down. In the distance, the volcano rumbled, not just like a growl, but like the earth itself was clearing its throat before screaming.

"Fucking hell. This doesn't feel like ten minutes!" Nova yelled, sliding around a corner so hard his shoe shrieked. "Feels like it's about to blow now!"

Pause.

"Maybe I-it's like a… uh… dramatic build-up?" Adam panted behind him. This body needed to go to a gym. His scrawny little ass couldn't even run for ten minutes before panting like he had just run a marathon.

"Adam, this is not a movie! If we die, there are no credits! Only—" Nova ducked as part of the wall ahead exploded inward, a rock the size of a car tumbling out. Behind it, molten red cracks began spidering up the wall. He didn't finish his sentence. No time to explain how dangerous of a situation they were in.

They accelerated faster, the air getting hotter, burning their skin slightly. It wasn't warm. It was hot; someone turned a hair dryer on max heat and shoved it down their throat. The walls radiated, heat waves from the volcano distorting the stone like it was made of water. Adam's shirt stuck to him so badly; it looked like he'd gone swimming in his sweat.

Nova turned another corner, then stopped so suddenly that Adam almost ran straight into him. At the end of the corridor, just before the volcano's base, there it was. The door. Literally, anything that symbolized an exit, but in this case, a door. A normal-looking, perfectly wooden, completely regular door.

Right at the foot of the most apocalyptic, world-ending volcano you could imagine.

"…Is that—" Adam started.

"Yes," Nova cut him off.

"It's just—"

"Yes, Adam."

"A… door?"

"Yes, Adam."

They stared at it.

The door wasn't even scorched. It had a shiny brass handle, no scratches, no dust. Just a simple, plain old door.

"…This is some cartoon bullshit," Nova finally said, squinting at it like it might try to run away.

"Should we, uh… knock?" Adam asked.

"Knock? On the foot-of-the-volcano-death-door?"

"I mean, yeah… what if there's someone in there? Like… the next stage guy? You know, the 'Congratulations, you made it' guy?" Adam shrugged.

Nova stared at him, unblinking. "…Do you think the guild hired a 'Congratulations Guy' to stand inside a door… in a volcano?"

Adam shrugged again, completely serious. "Maybe it's in the budget."

Nova wanted to scream.

The volcano rumbled again, louder this time, and a burst of heat rolled over them, strong enough to make the sweat on their skin feel like it was boiling. Somewhere above, a chunk of molten rock exploded out of the crater and fell who-knows-where in the maze.

"Alright, screw it," Nova said, storming up to the door. He grabbed the handle, cold, weirdly cold, and shoved it open.

Light poured out, blinding for half a second, and then: The maze, the heat, the roar of the volcano, were gone. They stepped through into somewhere completely different.

Stage Two.