The alarm clock beeped repeatedly as Stu fumbled around on the nightstand trying to turn it off. He thought he’d just sleep in if he didn’t have to get up. The gods would be alright for a while, he was exhausted. He rolled over to get more comfortable, his hand felt something that shouldn’t be there. It was warm soft and… He opened his eyes and saw Prosperity in his bed, his hand was on her breast. She was lying there smiling at him.

  Prosperity said, “Good morning tiger!”

  Stu immediately sat up asking, “What the hell are you doing here?”

  She said, “What do you mean? It was my turn to sleep with you remember? Was last night not good enough?”

  Stu was trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about. He had no idea. He asked, “What happened last night?”

  At that moment Chaos opened the door and went into the bedroom. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed saying, “Sorry guys I have to get ready for work. I’ll be out of your hair soon enough.”

  Stu was confused, what did she mean? He asked, “Work?”

  She walked over to him with an arm full of clothes and kissed him on the forehead and said, “Yeah, you know work? We have to pay the bills!” She laughed and walked out of the room.

  Prosperity asked, “Well if you don’t remember last night should we try again?”

  Stu jumped up saying, “What’s going on here?” looking down he wasn’t wearing anything, grabbing his pillow and covering himself he looked over at Prosperity, she wasn’t wearing anything either. She was barely covering herself with the blanket. She did look really good, he never noticed she had light pink eyes. “Wait..” He said.

  Prosperity asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  He slowly asked, “What happened to your eye?”

  Letting go of the blanket and showing off an amazing ass, she jumped up running to the bathroom saying, “I don’t know.” Stu was still thinking about the other stuff, but he did respect the hell out of that ass. Prosperity came back in wearing one of his shirts saying, “There is nothing wrong with my eye silly, so do you want to come back to bed?”

  Stu considered it.. “Right, the eye thing!” He yelled. “Yeah, what happened after the battle last night?”

  Prosperity looked at him weird. She asked, “Are you feeling alright? You don’t seem to be acting like yourself..”

  Stu said, “Focus prosperity, what happened after the battle last night?”

  Prosperity asked, “What battle?”

  Stu said, “I have to go.” He grabbed his pants and ran to the bathroom. Getting dressed he noticed the bathroom sink had 3 toothbrushes. They had all their names on them. That wasn’t here last night, he thought. He had a new thought; he blew his nose on toilet paper. There was blue in the tissue. Something was very wrong. His blood had tried to warn him about something that was here.

  Stu marched out of the bathroom into the living room completely ignoring the advances by Prosperity. Looking around everything was different; this wasn’t the same place it had been. He yelled, “Alright, I get it! Let’s skip the whole; whoa, this isn’t my life! Saturday afternoon, TV special, bullshit! If you did all this, it means you are right here watching! Show yourself bitch!”

  A voice over at the kitchen table said, “Well, out of all the times I have ever done this, I have to say you win the fastest to figure it out. You really aren’t any fun.”

  He turned looking, there sat another God, her hair was jet black. She gave off an eerie feeling; Stu could almost feel her presence from where he was. Stu asked, “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

  She smiled and said, “My name is Miracle, I want you. Duh, why else would I be here? To fight third rate gods? Please…”

  Stu said, “I’m sorry to disappoint you but my Callender is pretty full with two gods already. Why don’t you try the corner store and see if they have any Stu?”

  Miracle sighed, “You think your clever don’t you? I’ll tell you what, ask Tom. He will tell you why you should join me.”

  Stu pulled his phone out and said, “Hold on, ring-ring-ring. Hold on it’s still ringing, oh, wait. He said go fuck yourself! I don’t know who you think you are, but I don’t like people fucking with my head. I already know I don’t like you, and that’s all I need to know about you.”

  Miracle said, “Just ask. I’ll be in touch afterwards. Don’t die until then!”

  The front door opened, and Stu looked back seeing Chaos and Prosperity coming in. Looking back Miracle as gone. Chaos looked over asking, “Is everything alright Stu?”

  Stu asked, “Do you have a job?”

  Chaos looked confused saying, “Not if you don’t count being a god.”

  Stu flopped in the chair Miracle had been in. He must be back home. Prosperity came over asking, “Are you alright?” Her eyepatch was on now, still a light pink color to her eye.

  He said, “Yeah, well, no.. A god was just here.”

  The girls looked at each other concerned. Chaos asked, “Who?”

  Stu said, “Someone named Miracle.”

  Prosperity grabbed his arm saying, “Come on, we have to go. We need to go to see Tom right now.”

  Stu was being dragged out the door by both girls as he was asking, “Why? What is this about?”

  The girls didn’t say anything else until they got him to Godley Sushi, they dragged him in there demanding Tom. When the cat showed up, the girls finally said something.

  Prosperity said, “Tom, Stu has met one of the originals.”

  Tom looked at Stu asking, “Is that true? What happened?”

  Stu wasn’t sure what to say, “Um, I guess you mean Miracle?”

  Tom yelled, “Yes! How did you survive? Why are you still here?”

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  Stu said, “I told her to go fuck herself, uh, multiple times? She told me to talk to you…”

  Tom said, “Miracle was one of the first gods born, she is powerful and not to be trifled with. What did she offer you?”

  Stu said, “Nothing?”

  Tom asked again, “What did she offer you Stu? This is important..” Stu looked at the girls before angling his head towards them trying to hint at Tom. Tom said, “I don’t know what that means, I’m a cat. Can you just say it please?” Stu muttered something. Again, Tom asked, “What did she offer you already?”

  Stu said, “I think she offered me Chaos and Prosperity, plus giving prosperity her eye back. Along with a normal life.. if you mean what she made me think had happened..”

  The girls stared at him in shock. Tom said, “I thought that’s what you were saying..”

  Stu yelled, “Then why did you make me say it?”

  Tom said, “I didn’t think you would honestly.. but this is serious. If she was there, I don’t understand why she didn’t kill you all… Miracle is dangerous Stu, don’t let her name fool you. If you are going to serve Chaos to the end, then it may be coming fast. How did you get out of her power? Normally if she has your name then she can make you believe anything happened, how did you manage to see through it?”

  Stu said, “I’ve tried telling you all a million times my name isn’t Stu it’s…”

  Miracle said, “Because Stu isn’t his name, I thought it was but that didn’t work as well as I’d hoped.” She walked past Stu taking a seat. Everyone watched nervously except for Stu; he was mad as soon as he saw her. She waved at him suggestively.

  Stu said, “Hello bitch..”

  Miracle asked, “Is that how you talk to pretty young girls?”

  Stu sneered saying, “You’re older than me hag.”

  Tom cut in saying, “Alright, Stu take it down a notch. Hello again, Miracle. What brings you here today? Are you looking to sanction a fight?”

  Miracle laughed saying, “With who? Theres no fight in this district that’s worth my time. I’m just here to hunt a tiger. Isn’t that right, Stu?”

  He glared at her but stayed silent. A hand grabbed his, Stu looked down. It was Chaos, she said, “My worshipper has no interest in you, he wishes to stay as part of my group.”

  Miracle asked, “Your group? What does that mean?”

  Prosperity got up and grabbed Stu’s other hand saying, “We are part of The House of Chaos.”

  Miracle said, “Oh, I didn’t realize team ups were part of the tournament. Interesting.”

  Prosperity was shaking as she spoke, Stu could feel it, was she scared of this god? Prosperity said, “We didn’t team up, I surrendered.”

  Tom looked over saying, “You did what?”

  Prosperity said, “I’m Stu’s prisoner, and I have no interest in the tournament anymore.”

  Miracle said, “Actually, this is far more interesting. This district may actually have a fight I want to schedule after all.”

  Chaos spoke up saying, “If you challenge me, I won’t hold back on you. I will throw all of my power at you.”

  Miracle said, “Do you think it could work? Do you think miracles are scared of a little chaos? I’ve got a news flash sweety, all miracles are found in chaos. Besides I’m interested in more unique prizes.. Tell me, what would you take for this one? Name your price and it’s yours.”

  Chaos looked at Stu, and for a moment he wasn’t sure if she’d take the offer with the look she gave him. Tom said, “This is between the two of you, I have some other things to tend to. So, if you don’t mind I’ll be leaving. Miracle, remember, no aggressive behavior will be tolerated, even for you.”

  Miracle smiled at Tom and waved. She asked, “So Chaos? There is something you want; I can smell it in the air. What is it? It’s yours if you want to trade.”

  Chaos hung her head saying, “There is a lot I want, but none of it is anything you have to offer.”

  Miracle smiled at her saying, “That’s a lie, everybody has a price. Oh, I see.. I can see it clearly now, I know what you desire Chaos, and yes I can do that for you.”

  Getting nervous Stu asked, “What?”

  Chaos asked, “What are you talking about? I already told you I wasn’t interested.” Stu wasn’t convinced by the lack of emotion, there was something Chaos would trade for, he swallowed the fear lump in his throat.

  Laughing Miracle said, “That’s cute, I can make it all happen right now. All you have to do is give me this Stu and everything you want will be yours right now. Consider it a new life, one where your decisions here never mattered.”

  Stu was getting really nervous now, what was going on between these two? Prosperity said, “Chaos! You can’t really be considering this? You’d give her Stu? After everything we’ve been through. What about The House of Chaos?”

  The chair Miracle sat in started to creak, suddenly one of the legs broke, and the chair caught on the edge of another nearby chair. Miracle looked down amused saying, “Did you try to break my chair? Looks like Miracle trumps Chaos, again.”

  Chaos said, “I am telling you right now, I don’t want what you have to offer. Your miracles will not beat chaos.. I usually hold back; I don’t ever let my power out. If you come after my Stu, then I will destroy you.”

  Miracle said, “You would need an army to even have a chance young lady. I’m not scared of a wannabe god and her friend the god of cyclops’s. There are far more interesting things to focus on.”

  Prosperity said, “I’ll fight you.. If you want an army? Bitch, just call me the rods of god!” Stu looked at her, he could feel the fear in her shaking hand, but she was willing to take this to the death.

  Miracle stood up, approaching Prosperity. Getting in her face she asked, “You are out of the tournament now, killing you wouldn’t be any different than a human. Do you really want to try your luck after the way you got beaten by a human? Huh, cyclops? Do you know what I’ll do to you?”

  Stu let go of both girls’ hands, he pushed Miracle. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t take tis any longer. She stumbled back and looked up at Stu with hell in her eyes. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “You are talking to a member of the house of chaos; I won’t put up with your disrespect. You want to fight? Why don’t you fight me? I’m just a human after all, what are you scared of? Play with me Miracle, and you’ll get a game over.” Stu was pissed as he glared at Miracle.

  Miracle stared at him, she was unreadable for a second, she said, “Hmm.. Perhaps I’ve misjudged you all, Stu is the only one that seems to have a spine. The rest of you are shaking in your boots. Him though, he doesn’t care that I can kill him instantly. What if I send him to paradise? A place he will never want to leave, what then?”

  Chaos started to say something, instead without hesitation Stu slapped Miracle. The whole restaurant went silent. Tom rushed in yelling, “What’s going on here?”

  Miracle looked like she was in shock as Stu said, “Like you said miracle, I’m not scared of you. Fuck with my head again, and I’ll burn the world to ashes if it means I destroy you. I don’t like you; you have nothing I want. If you touch my gods I’ll make it so that the next miracle you perform is coming back from the dead, and when you do I’ll be waiting by your grave to put you back in it with a smile. I don’t like you…” Stu had gone dark; he was solely focused on Miracle and only her. The whole restaurant was frozen watching, even Miracle was unmoving.

  Tom said, “Stu, stand down.”

  Stu said, “No.”

  Tom sternly said, “Stu, stand down now.”

  Stu was laser focused on Miracle with him looking more like a demon than a human. He said, “Make her stand down, don’t worry about what I do.”

  Tom said, “Miracle stand down..”

  Miracle stuttered saying, “I-I d-did. He i-is aggressing!”

  Tom yelled, “Stu! Stand down now!”

  Stu glared saying, “Touch them and I’ll come for you, even in death, you won’t be safe..” With that he turned and walked out of the front door.

  Chaos and Prosperity looked at one another, then at Tom, he said, “Go..!” They ran out the door after Stu.

  Tom looked at Miracle who was still sitting there, shocked by what’d happened. She tried to move, and she couldn’t… what was that? Tom asked, “You were aggressive weren’t you?”

  Miracle said, “No.” still staring off waiting on the fear to subside.

  Tom asked, “I’ve never seen that before, what was that?”

  Miracle got to her feet and straightened her shirt before saying, “A fluke, that’s all. I’ve grown soft in 500 years, and I just need to get back to being a god. That’s all, just a fluke.” She walked out of the front door. Tom could see that she’d been trying to convince herself more than him, this wasn’t good. He needed to let Marrow know, there was a problem, and it could mess up the whole plan. Maybe he could get rid of Stu himself, but that could exacerbate the situation they were trying to handle. He broke the rules, he’d have to speak with him one way or the other. The one thing bothering Tom was, how did Stu know about Miracles Ability to return from the dead? Only judges have that knowledge and none of them were giving that information up. Indeed, the tournament was in jeopardy..