“Hey… Who turned the lights out?” The arena has gone dark. I hear the confused screams of other gods, their shrieks ringing out through the ruined city. I clutch my trident tight, sure that this is some trick of the Fates. Just another obstacle for us to face. Darkness. Fun. I just have to stay alive until the lights come back on. And then I hear the call of the bat.

Bats? When were there ever any bats in this arena? Now, normally, bats wouldn’t be a problem. But this doesn’t sound like multiple bats. It sounds like one big-ass motherfuckin’ bat. And he doesn’t sound all that happy.

And then it hits me. Camazotz. He’s the god of bats. Could he? No, that’s not possible. There’s no way he could do this… But as I really think about it, it makes more sense. He can turn into a bat, and there’s a big bat in the arena. He can also control darkness, and the arena is completely dark. Maybe it is him.

Whatever it is, I know I need to survive. And if it is him, I know he can see in the dark. So he has the advantage here. Which means I will need to level the playing field. I bring together my magic, and begin to change.

The first time I did this, it was the strangest experience ever. But now that I’ve had thousands of years of practice, it’s just like changing clothes. My transformation into the Jade Dragon has become quicker, so it is only a few seconds later when I have turned into the majestic, serpentine green creature. Who, just as it so happens, can see in the dark.

I hear the cry of the bat-god. He is far from me, and so I take off. My powerful wings propel my body up, up, up. I fly over the ruins of the once great city, looking for others. We will need to band together to defeat this monstrosity, for he is old and powerful. But I also know that I can’t trust anyone but myself. Gods can be temperamental, heavy on the mental aspect. You never know when one will turn on you. And I’ve had it happen too many times. But I don’t want to even accept that as a possibility, because if we don’t work together we very well might all die.

I soar over miles of land, yet see nobody. The city is as barren as ever. But I would have expected to see somebody by now. Even if there are only six… At least I think it’s six. If not, then my counting skills must not be up to par. Back to preschool I go, if I survive. Well, that is the question. Everything depends on it. Will I survive? My life hangs in the balance. Oh, that was a bad pun. But, hey. It’s gallows humor. I’m allowed to choke once in a while.

I hear the screams of other gods. Immediately, I spin around in the air to look at where it’s coming from. And I see the giant shadow of a vaguely bat-ish thing in the darkened sky. It is swiping at a person on the ground. And that’s the last straw. First the Fates put us in this stupid arena, and made us fight to the death. Irritating, okay. And then they give us all these twists. And after this, after all of this, then they send in Camazotz to kill us for them? Not. Freaking. Okay.

I flap my winds one more time and then tuck them into my body, shooting through the air like a torpedo. I fly towards the god, and just when I’m about to hit him, I pull up. Fire sprays from my mouth, hitting his leathery skin. Most just fizzles out, but a little bit catches on his wing. He sees it and flaps frantically to try and put it out. But the only thing that does is feed the flame more. Within a few seconds, he is completely engulfed in fire on his left side. He falls from the sky, like a flaming meteor. And as he falls, the area he was scraping at is illuminated. And I see the other five gods, six if you’re counting Persephone as two. The springtime version of her is shooting vines that wrap around his neck. But even as she does this, Camazotz turns back.

And once again, he is a human again. Or at least in his humanoid form. He jumps for Persephone, and clamps his teeth into her neck. She falls to the ground and wilts. And I mean it. She shrivels, becoming older by the second. Her skin darkens to a brown, and then turns gray. She lets out a sigh, and then she is gone. And right before my eyes, I see the other half of her do the exact same thing. Persephone is dead.

Next, he goes for Nyx. But she is close to me, so I swipe at him. Camazotz goes flying across the road and into a building. Some fires from when he fell are still going, and light the area. He pushes himself back up and jumps towards me next. I fly away, and it is then that I see I was not his true target. He bites into Balder, who is doing some sort of chant. His leg was bitten, so he takes longer to die. But it is still short. And then there are four of us.

Camazotz dives for Loki this time. His teeth sink in slightly, before Yemaya hits him with a piece of wood she found. I see her palms light up as she places them on Loki’s wound. And I know what I have to do.

I shoot flames again, a neverending stream of them. They follow the bat-god, and keep him from reaching the others. I swipe at him with a claw when he gets close. And when Yemaya calls out that she is done, I back off. Nyx then steps forward, trying to control the darkness. It has become a battle of wills between the two of them. And the loser will die.

Loki, seeing that Camazotz is distracted, picks up a dagger that was laying on the ground. He sneaks up behind him, and stabs the ghastly being in the back. For a second, he lights up, screaming in pain. And then he is gone, swallowing the darkness with him.