The acceptance of his inner chaos and the return of the god Chaos made Stu feel a lot better about things. Prosperity had really helped him the night before, he had been close to breaking. He didn’t exactly know what that meant but he desperately didn’t want to find out. The shear amount of physical reaction he’d exhibited told him that Prosperity’s advice would save his life if he actually took it to heart. The world didn’t have to change, he did, not just physically but mentally as well.

  Stu and the girls created a rigorous training routine for the times when they would be able to train, they were all too aware of how far they’d gotten by barely holding their shit together. On the mental side of training was Broth, Stu, and Miracle. The physical side was Prosperity and Chaos. They all decided to work on both aspects of training, they all felt the group needed to work in both areas to stand a chance of winning the tournament. Why was Stu on the mental side of training, if you guessed his bullshitting abilities then you’d be correct. It hadn’t been his idea, but he had been convinced when the girls pointed out how much his mental gymnastics had actually accomplished up to this point. He had even won a battle without hurting anyone, fair enough he figured. Stu had his reservations about things, but he was willing to give anything a try to save his world, the one he’d created here.

  Miracle and Broth could make you pretty much believe you were anywhere else, then Stu could convince you that you wanted to be there, or so they said. The other two were pretty much amazing at kicking ass only, that would work for now. The end result would be their banced training regimen with plenty of meditation. They increased their nutritional intake; also, to Stu’s dismay they would eat a lot more sushi. He liked the sushi, but he had eaten fish for almost every meal for weeks at this point, and he desperately missed pizza.

  With all the training prepnned, and everyone in agreement on the way to proceed they began their new training program almost immediately. Stu was supposed to figure out how to use his best abilities and make them stronger. The problem was all he did was bullshit people into getting confused so he could use it to his advantage in the fight. He had no idea if this actually counted as an ability like the others kept trying to convince him it was. Stu figured the best pce to start was to meditate and try to get his mind in order before he tried to send someone else’s mind to disorder.

  Stu found a quiet pce in the house away from everyone else and got comfortable. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to quiet his mind, but this was proving to be a bigger challenge than he realized. His mind was flooded with questions like, what if he failed, or what if someone died? His mind was always attempting to predict the next danger he would face, or it was looking for abnormalities in interactions he’d recently had. It was nonstop all the time; he took another deep breath trying to rex it. His mind fought his attempts at every turn refusing to slow down or turn off. It seemed to actively push back on him; he tried another breath. The result was identical to the other attempts.

  This time was different, putting in every ounce of effort he could, he attempted to silence his mind. It relented, allowing his mind to fsh vivid imagery of his most hated memories. This was silent but powerful imagery of him taking Prosperity’s eye and torturing Miracle. The teeth shattering and heart being taken from Euphoria. His eyes shot open and Stu doubled over vomiting on the floor. He cried out in pain faintly and saw the distorted image of evil Chaos imprint itself on his mind. This was the st image that forced itself through the silence before his mind was alive with the noise again. Stu as feeling dizzy and said, “Goddammit.. God.. Chaos..”

  Within ten seconds Chaos came running into the storage room finding Stu on the floor. Chaos got down looking at him and asking, “What happened Stu?” He couldn’t stop shivering and looked pale to her. She softly said, “Alright, I understand. I can feel it now, I think you shared with your prayer, and I’m being generous when I call it that. You need to just rex for now.” She took his head and pced it on her p soothing him.

  Prosperity appeared in the doorway asking, “Is it happening again?”

  Chaos responded softly saying, “Yes, would you mind getting Broth? I think it’s time to help Stu, and I’m guessing that this is something that can only be helped in the human world. This is probably some sort of trauma response; tell Broth he is needed immediately.”

  Prosperity nodded, “I already called him, he said he’d be here in five. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  Stu weakly said, “I’m sorry, this is ridiculous.. I should be able to handle my own mind.. I just don’t know how. I’m sorry…”

  Prosperity came over sitting by the other two and saying, “Stu.. You have handled everything with a grin and a joke until it came to you.. You don’t owe anyone an apology; you have done so much. If anything, we should apologize to you for thinking you could handle so much so easily. We all need to let our minds decompress and we shouldn’t expect any less from you either. As a matter of fact, I want to apologize to you.. I’m sorry for thinking that you were stronger than the universe, I look at you thinking that you must be almost invincible, forgetting that you are not a god.. So, I’m sorry..” She put her hand on his shoulder trying to reassure him.

  Stu said, “You would all be better off without me, that’s the truth.” He knew it was the truth in the deepest part of his soul. There was no way this sort of visceral reaction was helpful in a situation like this, but there was literally nothing he could do. If it wasn’t uncertainty, it was something like paralyzing fear or even pure unfiltered hatred for himself. There wasn’t much else anymore. Stu was doing his best to hold it in, but for some reason it was physically forcing its way out of him. He sighed heavily repeatedly feeling like he couldn’t quite catch his breath.

  Miracle and Broth appeared in the doorway, Chaos asked, “Broth, there’s something going on with Stu. Will you talk with him and see what you can figure out?”

  Broth came into the room saying, “Sure Chaos, but just so you know I’m a bio-chemist not a doctor.. I’ll do what I can though..”

  Chaos showed a lot of positivity as she said, “That’s all we need, we’re just asking you to try. Something has affected Stu and I think it’s something human. You are the only one that has a shot at helping him right now. Today we need you to be the hero, so please help him..” She was silently pleading with Broth.

  Broth took a deep breath and said, “Alright, I’ll do what I can. Let’s get him to somewhere more comfortable.” He helped a weak Stu get up and they all helped him to his room. Getting him to his bed he was able to sit up and not have to y down. Broth looked at the girls saying, “Would everyone mind waiting outside while I talk with Stu?” They all looked at one another, then to Stu, and reluctantly left the two men alone while they talked.

  The girls looked like family members waiting to see how a surgery went, pacing the hallway as the hours ticked by. The more time passed, the more the girls were getting worried. Eventually after almost six hours the door opened and Broth stepped out, the girls mobbed him in a flurry of questions that came across as inaudible noise. Broth said, “Alright! Calm down.. I want to first remind you that I’m not a doctor, or a psychiatrist.. That said though, I believe Stu is suffering from PTSD symptoms. He’s reported intrusive memories, numbing of normal emotions, nightmares, stress, hallucinations, inability to turn off his alertness, and a lot of other things that all point to the same thing.”

  Prosperity desperately asked, “What can we do to help him?”

  The girls all looked at Broth expectingly as he said, “I don’t know if there’s anything any of us can do. Again, I’m not a doctor.. Even if I was, this kind of thing takes years to deal with and normally will never be cured or fixed in any real way. Really the only thing that can be done in the human world is medication and therapy for pretty much the rest of his life. This mental condition is a physical rewiring of the brain through intense trauma, all we can do is try to take some of the weight he’s carrying off his shoulders.” He wished there was more he could offer them in terms of hope, but this was the truth.

  Stepping forward from the group Miracle said, “I would like to talk to him if it’s alright, alone.” Broth nodded and stepped aside allowing her to go into the room.

  Shutting the door behind her, Broth turned back to the other two saying, “I think we should go downstairs. This may take a while. Those two have a lot to discuss right now, and she may be the only one here that can rete to the complex emotions that he is experiencing currently.”

  Chaos asked, “Is there anything the rest of us can do?”

  Broth looked at her recognizing the helplessness in her eyes. He said, “The best advice I can give you is just giving him space when he needs it and listen when he talks. I don’t know what else to say, this isn’t my field of study.. My father did have wartime PTSD though and I know the signs sadly. It’s a positive thing that we are catching it early; it only grows worse as time goes on if left untreated. Honestly, up until today I was jealous of Stu; after hearing about everything he’s been through in the st few weeks.. I’m thankful for what I have..” He grew quiet, reflecting on his time listening to Stu.

  Prosperity hugged Broth suddenly and saying, “I’m so sorry Broth, if I’d known you were such a good guy I wouldn’t have punched you in the face! Twice..”

  Broth blushed saying, “Uh.. Um.. Yeah? I guess you should remember that next time!” He was feeling proud of himself.

  Quickly Prosperity let go saying, “Never mind, you ruined the moment.”

  Making their way downstairs, they passed the time with mostly small conversation and silence. The girls felt useless currently, especially Chaos. She was Stu’s god after all, and as much as Stu had done for her, it was difficult to be told there wasn’t anything she could do. She was the most anxious while waiting. Eventually though, Miracle and Stu both appeared in the doorway with Stu looking more like himself and slightly better.

  Broth asked, “Feeling a little better?”

  Stu lightly chuckled saying, “Nope, I feel like complete shit. That said though, I’ll be alright. Apparently, I need to learn that my greatest enemy is myself. This is going to take some time to figure out, so just bear with me and I’ll get through it. That much I assure you.” Chaos jumped up running to Stu throwing her arms around his torso and hugging him tightly while crying. Confused he asked, “Are you alright?”

  She sobbed saying, “I wasn’t sure you’d be alright after Broth said you have PMS.. There’s a lot I want to do with you before you die from something so terrible. I thought it was some sort of mental issue, but it was worse than I could’ve imagined! I don’t want to lose you Stu..”

  Stu looked annoyed as he gnced towards Broth asking, “Did you by chance happen to mention PTSD and not expin what it was to them?”

  Broth looked uneasy saying, “I uh.. Well.. Alright, fine! I forget they are gods not humans.. And yes.. Their sex appeal may make it hard to think clearly sometimes.. For instance, Chaos is still hugging you and I can clearly see up her skirt right now.. And that she is wearing pink underwear.. That itself is making it incredibly hard to be terrified of you, like I know I should be..” Chaos jumped off Stu while holding her skirt down and blushing.

  Stu shook his head and sighed. Looking at Broth, he said, “It’s alright.. I understand..”

  “I hope I’m not interrupting.” Marrow walked into the living room and sat down. He said, “I’m here to inform you that the preliminaries are going to begin tomorrow. If you complete this next step we will move you to the quarterfinals. First though, we go to the celebration.”

  Stu asked, “Are you saying this tournament is structured like a bracket fight? Does this mean that semifinals and the finals come next?”

  Marrow looked pleased, he said, “You are pretty much on point there. That is assuming that you stay alive and win of course.”

  Nodding Stu said, “Of course.. So, what does this mean for us tomorrow?”

  Marrow smiled, “It means we are going to the opening ceremony for the tournament. So, get plenty of rest, we leave at sunrise.”

  Everyone stared at Marrow as Broth asked, “Even me?”

  Marrow sharply said, “No, I didn’t mean you..” Broth looked embarrassed.

  Chapter 45: The Opening Ceramony Of Armageddon

  Marrow showed up the next morning, just like he said he would, it wasn’t until the st second Stu found out they were taking his car though. Three girls plus Stu, and one carsick cat. Stu wasn’t pleased with this travel arrangement, especially looking at the now green cat sitting on the floorboard constantly rocking back and forth. Stu eyeballed him out of the corner of his eye, as he tried to make it to the quarry as quickly as he could. Even with the pstic liner on the floor he wasn’t sure it would be enough if Marrow popped after how green he’d become on the long drive.

  Bobbing and weaving with his head, Marrow asked, “Are we there yet?”

  Stu responded sternly saying, “I think we’re close, just hang in there..”

  All Stu heard was miracle in the passenger seat say, “Aww.. Marrow poor baby.. yeah, just let it all out…”

  Stu frowned and kept staring ahead as he said, “God…” Stopping when he got spped in the back of the head by Chaos behind him.

  Chaos yelled, “Don’t you dare say it!”

  He gnced at her in the mirror, she was serious. He sighed relenting, she was already upset that Miracle was riding up front and not her. He only had it that way because of the cat, but she thought it had to do with Miracle helping him the other day with his PTSD episode. It really was about the fact that he thought she would help keep Marrow from upchucking, that however was obviously a lost cause. Stu sighed again and asked, “Is it bad?”

  Miracle said, “Um.. Define bad..”

  Marrow weakly said, “I’m sorry..”

  Prosperity leaned forward in her seat saying, “It’s bad, it’s like a little swimming pool full of Marrow slush..” She was too eager to describe it.

  Stu bluntly said, “Thanks.. Both of you..” The image of Marrow slush danced in his head.

  Stu rounded the next turn and as the tree line broke they saw the quarry up ahead. A rge and old limestone quarry had been repurposed for the event. The isoted location provided the perfect pce to have a gathering of gods, and at the same time keep prying eyes out of things. They saw there were thousands of vehicles and people moving about the quarry. It was a little overwhelming as they approached the massive crowd, Stu slowed down by a police officer who was directing traffic and stopping vehicles before entering. The officer signaled for him to roll his window down and he did. The cop asked, “Color?” Pulling a metal pin and pricking his finger gold blood came out.

  Stu said, “Blue?”

  The officer shook his head saying, “Not good enough.. You must demonstrate it sir, this is a special event.” He gred while saying it.

  Stu asked, “Can I use your pin?” The cop passed it to him and Stu pricked his finger showing the blue. “Is this good enough?”

  The cop said, “I’m sorry for the inconvenience sir.. Also, can I ask you a question?”

  Handing the pin back to him Stu said, “Sure..”

  The cop smiled rexing a lot and saying, “Sir, I am such a big fan of you, we aren’t supposed to talk to the participants while on duty, even if we are fans.. but I just wanted to say I’m rooting for the house of chaos, all the way.. Anyway, sorry sir. Just continue following the yellow signs to your parking area. You are in the VIP section of the Ceremony. Here are your wrist bands.” He passed some cheap looking yellow wrist bands through the window smiling wide. Then he said, “Good luck Stu!” He waved them on.

  Stu was confused driving forward and asking, “What was that about?”

  Marrow groaned in misery saying, “Damned.. Enforcers.. They’re annoying..” Then he made a weird noise.

  Miracle said, “It’s okay poor kitty.. I have you..”

  Stu frowned saying, “Really cat? Again?”

  Marrow weakly said, “I swear I’m empty now, there’s nothing else that could come out..”

  Prosperity leaned forward saying, “That’s probably the truth, I’m not sure how a little cat held five gallons of liquid anyway..”

  Chaos chimed in saying, “That is impressive.. How did Marrow hold so much inside when he is so slender? It’s more like he’s swimming in a pool now..”

  Yellow parking ended up being closest to the entrance. They came to an empty parking spot that said Steward of Chaos, Stu pulled into it. Fancy he thought. Getting out of the car without paying any attention to the swimming pool in his floorboard, a man came rushing over talking excitedly. He said, “Steward we’re so thrilled you could make it!” He rushed over, extending his hand in gratitude.

  Caught off guard Stu shook the man’s hand saying, “Uh, thanks.. Who are you?”

  The man pointed to a badge saying, “I’m the Judge of Enforcers, you can call me Mike though.. I’m the only human judge; my job is just making sure the enforcers keep their nose to the grindstone.. But you my friend! You are quite a big deal this year! Everyone is talking about either the house of Chaos or the house of Lords, you are the biggest of the two though.. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise!” He smiled excitedly.

  Stu was unsure saying, “Alright.. I guess that’s kind of cool.. I’m just here because of Marrow though.. I don’t really care about the fame..”

  Mike still smiling wide said, “No problem Steward, I understand completely.”

  Stu said, “Yeah, it’s just Stu..”

  Mike eagerly said, “Stu, got it! No titles.. So, Stu, are you ready for the ceremony?”

  Shaking his head in total confusion Stu said, “Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing here..”

  Mike put his arm around Stu saying, “I get it.. You are a fish out of water here, there’s no worries though. I have your back..”

  Stu looked at mikes arm around his shoulder before saying, “I feel like a shark out of water and this shark doesn’t like being touched..”

  Mike slowly withdrew his hand saying, “Hey buddy, no harm, no foul.. Um.. You definitely don’t disappoint on the rumors, that’s for sure.. I’ll remember that you are not to be touched..”

  Chaos came up beside Stu and put her arm around him showing off. Mike started to point at her questioningly, and say something but Stu cut him off saying, “Look at her dude, I’m touchy, not gay..”

  Mike nodded slowly before saying, “Right.. Now that we have this understanding, we were hoping that you might be willing to step in for the demonstration portion of the ceremony today, the other participant was found deceased today.. So, we’re one person short for our demonstration, and you are the biggest name in Armageddon right now.. So..?”

  Stu asked, “What kind of demonstration?”

  Mike slyly smiled, “Well, it would be simir to the Stewardship test but no fighting, just a demonstration of controlled power. That’s all, something to get the panties wet, you know?”

  Looking at Mike like he was retarded, Stu asked, “What power? Even if I did have something to demonstrate, I doubt what I have, would as you put it, get the panties wet.. Right girls?”

  He looked at the girls for reassurance. They either avoided his gaze, or in Prosperity’s case she had a wide-eyed look and said, “Hot..”

  Mike said, “Looks like I can put your name on the list after all.. Yes?”

  Confused Stu said, “I don’t have powers to demonstrate though..”

  Mike began walking away and saying, “Don’t worry Stu, you’re the house of Chaos.. I have the upmost faith in you guys..” He turned jogging off into the crowd.

  The green cat groaned before saying, “Damned.. Enforcers.. We need to find Tom.. urmff..”

  Miracle soothed him again saying, “Yeah, there was a little more.. It’s okay little kitty..”

  Prosperity excitedly said, “That is absolutely amazing! Where does it keep coming from?”

  In frustration Stu yelled, “Why the vomit? Why didn’t any of you back me up? What the fuck guys?” The girls stared innocently at him, he knew better though. He bluntly asked, “Alright, but can we at least all agree that I have earned one, and I repeat one, night of sexy time?” They stared at him bnkly, he felt his brain breaking as he asked, “Are you really gods, or are you actually devils? This is torture!” They kept staring silently.

  Marrow said, “We can.. Head inside now.. I’m feeling better.. Kind of..”

  Stu gred at the cat saying, “At least you get to feel better, I’m actually dying and no one cares..” Taking a deep breath, he said, “Alright, lets go see if I can find any relief getting myself killed..” He turned and walked toward the gate, prompting the others to grab their things and follow behind.

  Heading through the gate it was like a big state fair, with rides and food everywhere. Games and demonstration booths lined up in rows that went on as far as Stu could see. This was even fancier than he’d first thought, he was overly impressed with the whole setup. It began on the upper portion of the quarry and spiraled towards the bottom. To Stu’s surprise several kids ran past him pying, confused he looked at Marrow asking, “There are kids here? Really?”

  Marrow said, “The prize is humanity, that means them too. So, yes, there are children here as well..”

  The sweet look of children pying carelessly suddenly turned into a very dark prospect, as Stu realized that the cat was right. He’d been thinking of the Judges as a way to keep humans out of things, not that they were protecting a prize and that meant the kids as well. Just like the two he’d been protecting at the railyard. Another reason for him to win the tournament he thought. There were always more reasons to win piling up and never any answers as to how to win. He sighed; those were things he’d just have to figure out when he crossed that bridge.

  Miracle asked, “Are you doing alright?” She could see the stress on his face as he thought to himself.

  Stu said, “Just thinking about things.. Let’s go find Tom, it feels like we hardly see him anymore..” He started leading them down the rows as they looked for Tom.

  Making their way through all the events and distractions, the girls were all over the pce. They were distracted at every opportunity they had, Prosperity quickly found herself basically banned from the games after repeatedly winning. Chaos found herself banned from rides, does anyone even need to expin why? Surely it had something to do with the judges having to file a battle report after riding one and the chaos that ensued as it seemingly fell apart while she rode. Miracle was one of the few that seemed to remain unbanned from all things but was the most childlike as she was distracted by everything, and Stu really meant everything.

  Other than the things the girls were interested in, Stu did manage to take a look at some of the demonstrations going on. He saw people maniputing elements, breaking concrete barriers, lifting tractors, the usual stuff you’d expect but he was looking for something new. These demonstrations were everywhere; he was looking for something he figured he would recognize when he saw it. For a moment he thought that he might have found it when he saw a young guy that literally looked like he came from the tribes on the pins of Africa. The guy was doing some sort of fighting style Stu hadn’t ever seen before, and the guy cut himself using his blood as a weapon. Stu sighed, “Cliché.. There’s always one blood maniputor..” He moved on looking some more.

  Moving a few more rows down he noticed a slightly rger crowd. Heading towards the mass of people he heard them cheering for the demonstration. Stu pushed his way up to the front and stood there watching someone demonstrating in disguise. “I thought it was you until you showed up watching as well.” Looking over he saw Demi speaking and watching beside him. Demi continued, “You missed the unknown blue blood using their powers.”

  Stu asked, “What were they?”

  Demi coldly said, “I don’t know. The blue blood made the targets explode without touching them. At least that’s how it appeared.”

  Stu bluntly asked, “You’re sure they weren’t moving too fast for you to see?”

  Sighing Demi said, “If that’s what you choose to believe..”

  Stu said, “I don’t trust you.”

  Demi smiled saying, “Fair enough, and honestly you shouldn’t.. Unless telling the truth benefits me more than lying to you does.. I’m saying I don’t believe I could beat this blue blood, and I believe I could beat you. So, where does this leave us?”

  Stu watched the unknown blue blood finish setting up some targets, all concrete barriers, walk back towards the crowd and all six barriers exploded. The crowd cheered and cpped. Stu said, “The enemy of my enemy.”

  Demi finally gnced at him for a moment before asking, “Shall we go ahead and decre a truce for now?”

  Turning and pushing his way out of the crowd Stu said, “Fair enough.” Demi never stopped watching the unknown blue blood and Stu needed to go find Tom before the demonstrations began for the ceremony.

  It took a little longer than he’d hoped but eventually he found the cat. He had The House of Chaos booth. Stu sighed, “Of course there was a booth for us.. God..” Another sigh, “Son of a bitch..”