Stu had left Miracle and Chaos at home to guard the house while he and Prosperity went to see Broth at the b. You know that one? The one with the thing? It’s like something state university or something? oh well, I tried. Anyways, they arrived just after midnight. Broth said it was urgent.

  Pulling into the parking lot, Prosperity had been berating Stu for his performance as a master. Apparently saving the world wasn’t enough, It needed to be more in the moment. In other words, she was jealous and wanted more attention. They were parked for five minutes before she quit lecturing him.

  Prosperity said, “I just don’t get why you were naked with Miracle. I met you first! We should get together tomorrow night and…” He kissed her, interrupting her thought and catching her off guard.

  Sitting back, it was finally quiet. He asked, “Can we go now?” She nodded without a word. They got out of the car and headed up to the doors where Broth was waiting impatiently. He ushered them inside quickly.

  Broth said “Th-this is big! That shit you brought was fucking huge! Man, the stuff has a quad helix, genes that are rare a-as fuck on earth, and a b-bunch of other shit. We are going to be rich!”

  Concerned, Stu asked, “Broth buddy, have you been hitting the crystal? You look like you haven’t slept since I saw you st.”

  He looked at him like a kid in trouble, “W-w-well, I-I only, had a f-few weeks-s… and I’ve gotten so much done! L-look at this! Do you know what that is?”

  Stu looked at the paper, all he could make out was a stain of some kind. He said, “Uh, a pizza stain?”

  Broth ughed, “No man…” He looked at the paper closely, then licked it, throwing it and picked up another paper. “Okay that st one was a pizza stain, but this one is a Quad Fucking Helix! Not like any earth life, max they have are three, and three is unstable.. No, no, no, this quad is stable.. It’s the most stable form of life ever seen. It’s perfect… So perfect! I-I I need more blood! Yes, can you get more?” He was all over the pce and extremely excitable.

  Stu asked, “when do you need it?”

  Broth said, “I’m out! S-sooner than ter, is best.”

  Prosperity yelled, “Your out, how?

  Confused, Broth said, “It’s stable..”

  Stu looked at him trying to understand, “What do you mean?”

  Broth got an idea and ran off; he came back with some junk. He went, “When we don’t know anything about something, we first break it.. L-like I don’t know what’s in this rock…” He held up a rock. “To break it, we smash it!” He grabbed a hammer and struck the rock, breaking it in half. “Then we look inside, to see what goes on. B-but if the rock is harder than the hammer, i.e. the blood is stable.. T-the machines are breaking, breaking with sample c-c-contamination. I-I’m sorry, if you want more information I-I need more blood…” He gave a sharp involuntary ugh-like sound, “Nothing more I can do until I h-have more..”

  “Are there animals in here?” Stu looked around.

  Broth said, “Pfft, with this e-equipment? The only a-animal is you d-dog.” He ughed a dry ugh.

  Stu said, “Right buddy.. Prosperity let me get the dagger.” She hiked her skirt up removing it and handed the dagger to him. “What your about to see will get you killed as soon as you ever talk about it with anyone but me.” He stood by a gss fsk, cutting his wrist, letting the blood drain into the container.

  Broth screamed like a girl; Prosperity covered his mouth. She said, “Be quiet and no one has to get hurt.” He was wide-eyed as he silently nodded.

  Stu said, “That’s about half of what I have, so that will have to work until I can put more together.” He pulled his belt off using it to keep his blood from going everywhere until it clotted. He grinned at Broth, “It’s kind of scary when you think about how much you picked on me when we were kids, huh?” Broth nodded still terrified.

  Prosperity asked, “Is there a virus or disease you have seen in the blood? Anything unusual?”

  Broth looked at her blinking the fear out of his eyes, “Unusual? V-Virus? Virus! Brilliant! I didn’t know.. There is something, b-b-but it’s not a virus. I-it’s us…” He looked at them like it should be obvious, “I-its human DNA b-blending with the blood, I-it’s off the c-charts in evolution! The human DNA I-is mutating and.. traveling to other organisms. Not like a virus but like a v-virus… Except it’s not genetic, I don’t know, maybe it is genetic.. I don’t k-know more yet…” He looked at them nervously.

  Stu looked at prosperity, “Can you afford to spend more on him?”

  She grinned, “It’s in my name! What do you need?”

  Stu said, “50k bonus to him. Under the condition he gets a full night’s rest!” that st part was for Broth.

  Broth said, “R-really?” Scratching his head; his hair was greasy and messed up.

  Prosperity nodded, “No problem and I only want one thing. I want the very next date. Just you and me and none of the other gods. Okay? “

  Broth was confused asking, “G-gods?”

  Stu said, “That’s fair, just no getting mad when the others want dates too. You know this will make everyone jealous.”

  Prosperity kissed his cheek saying, “No promises!”

  Broth said, “W-wait gods?!?”

  Stu patted him on the shoulder and said, “Yeah man, gods. Welcome to your new job.”

  Broth asked, “Are y-you a god t-too?”

  Prosperity said, “Only in the sack.”

  Broths mouth hung open. Stu said, “Get some sleep man, I need you ready to work in the morning. We can work out your next payment soon, sound good?”

  Wide eyed Broth said, “Yeah, sounds good. I think I might be hallucinating.”

  Stu and prosperity shared a look before Stu said, “Yeah, I wish you were. Get some sleep and call me when you get back to work.” He and Prosperity walked out of the college b building.

  Just before getting to the car Prosperity asked, “What we’re doing here is dangerously close to breaking the rules Stu, this is a dangerous line to walk.”

  Stu looked over at her saying, “So is everyone else apparently, everyone seems to be picking sides for the finals, we haven’t even gotten to that point.”

  Prosperity asked, “So what side are we on?”

  That was a good question, he thought. Unlocking the car and getting in, he waited for Prosperity to get in before saying, “I think we’re making our own side in this tournament. I need to think about it but I think Tom is right. I think we are representing humanity..”

  “A wise deduction on your part.” The voice came from the back seat of the car.

  Stu yelled, “Goddammit cat!” I don’t like when you appear out of nowhere! Some damn warning would be nice!”

  Tom smugly said, “Very well.. Stu, I’m lurking in your backseat.”

  Stu sighed resting his head against the steering wheel. Defeated he asked, “What are you doing here?”

  Tom said, “I’ve come to see what you learned from the blood tests.”

  Stu looked back at him, “How do you know what I’ve been doing?”

  Tom climbed up on the center console and looking at Prosperity asked, “Do you mind giving us a minute?” Prosperity looked at Stu and he nodded; she stepped out of the car shutting the door.

  Stu asked, “How long have you been following me?”

  Tom sighed, “Me? Not long. Honestly Stu, you never ask the right questions.”

  Frustrated Stu hit the steering wheel, “Listen cat, I am sick and tired of the mysterious act. We all are.. I know that I’m changing now. I know I’m making everyone sick by being near them. It was confirmed tonight.”

  Tom said, “I need you to open your mind. The rules say I can only interfere in certain areas. I can’t tell you what to think. You confirmed your blood, so what else could you do?”

  Stu shrugged in frustration; he hated the mysterious nature of the cat. It was however the only help he ever got. He closed his eyes thinking, “What? Like checking to see who is infected? Maybe, see if I can locate the steward?” He looked at Tom questioningly.

  Tom asked, “How would you find the steward? I waited to talk to you about this until you got the results, I knew about this st week. Come on Stu, how will you locate the steward?”

  Stu looked at him concerned, he asked, “Wait, earlier you said something about the steward had awoken and it was contagious.. You asked how to find the steward, it would be the blood, but the blood came from me…” His face was no longer concerned, more in shock and surprise.

  Tom looked at him with a smirk saying, “Your almost there, come on! Say those words I need to hear!”

  Stu asked, “Am I the steward?”

  Tom’s smirk turned into a full-blown smile. “Congratutions participant, the entirety of rule 19 has now been unredacted for your use in the tournament. You have completed the criteria in its complete pretext.”

  Unredacted Rule 19:

  Blue blood will participate as human weapons. They are all-powerful worshippers, carrying humanities’ hopes and desires for the future in their blood. Once a blue blood worships a God as their own, it will allow said blue blood to stand on the pin of Gods, see section rule 19(A) for more information. As determined ahead of time by the humans and gods.(A) The pin of Gods refers to any event, action, pce, or time the Gods are privy to. This allows a small subset of humanity to have a say in the outcome of the tournament.

  (B) Once a Blue blood is activated it will no longer actually be able to exist as a human, since humanity is fully incapable of competing with Gods. The blue blood will retain all human like faculties and appearance but are unable to return to their previous actual css of humanity.

  (C) In exchange they will receive regen abilities and be able to draw on the power of their God. They are still mortal, however far more durable and harder to kill than natural earth life. They may now take a God’s life or interact on a personal level with the Gods.

  (D) There are not enough worshipers for all of the Gods to even have one each. Not even close, actual numbers will not be released.

  (E) All Gods have been sent on a mission to collect blue bloods. Blue bloods mustn’t collect Gods; they may become unstable from transmission of Stewardship.

  (F) If a blue blood achieves a steward title then they must demonstrate the ability to hold the power in check for the tournament or face immediate destruction. The destruction of a steward will destroy any gods in its collective and/or in active worship thereof.