"Don't put your legs on the table. It's rude."

Disgusted, Saint watched how his opponent stuck out her tongue in an attempt to mock him. Smugly, the woman grinned at him in response, curling one of her long two raven braids around her index finger while one of her feet set on the table swayed slowly from left to right as she slouched in her dark wooden chair. Amusement was written all over her face, her dark eyes beamed with anticipation of his reaction, even though she did not express it through words, to Saint's relief. The least he could need was to hear her snarky voice vibrate in his ears.

Her childish behavior infuriated him but his neutral expression did not show his anger – a skill he had been honing ever since he was damned to know her. Instead, he just shrugged it off and averted his gaze to focus on the game board in front of them. Over all those long years he had to endure her presence, he had learned it was the best solution to pay her no heed like you would just ignore an annoying child, who would eventually keep quiet. There was absolutely no way he would give her the attention and satisfaction she craved for – he'd rather die than see her happy about that.

A big and heavy sigh ensued from the other side of the table.

"You're no fun, my dear Saint," the woman stated in disappointment, retreating her long legs from the table, putting them to the ground. She would sit like a normal civilized person, if she only hadn't rested her elbows on the table, keeping her oval head upright in the pit her intertwined fingers formed.

"The same goes for you, Jinx. All those years and I've never felt entertained by you in the slightest."

Eyes still fixed on the game board, Saint could only hear how Jinx snorted angrily upon his cheeky response, immediately resulting in him smiling. Being a jerk to Jinx was balm for his soul and when being offered the choice to annoy her, he'd do it every time, without a doubt. Even though he was supposed to be one, he would certainly be no saint to Jinx. That goddess of Chaos did not deserve any kindness.

His only concern belonged to the little weak human beings who roamed the Earth, perfectly portrayed through the game board as little silhouettes in front of him. Unaware of the gods' presence, they went on about their day, lived, loved, suffered and died. Saint was absolutely fascinated with them. He watched them with great interest as they experienced the ups as well as the downs of life, but this God of Peace particularly enjoyed the range of positive emotions. Every time a human being smiled, laughed or felt joy in any kind of way, his heart would be at ease as if he was the one experiencing it.

Jinx, however, did not feel the same way. And it clearly showed in that monster's behaviour.

"Saaaaaaiiiiint, leeeeeet's plaaaaaaayyyyy."

The mistress of mischief's childish voice interrupted Saint's thoughts and furrowing his brow, he lifted his eyes to meet her evil malicious gaze, sending chills down his spine as he knew what Jinx was about to do. How could he have ever forgotten what she – that misfit of a goddess, equal to him in power– was capable of doing?

"Throw the dice, let's see which head will roll," the raven haired goddess rolled the tiny half – black, half – white dice until it came to a close on the game board. It read the number 13. Uneven. Saint bit on his lip. Jinx had won that turn. The uneven numbers belonged to her, the even ones to him.

They had made those rules so long ago. Saint started hating the fact he had agreed to the conditions back then.

Rubbing her hands, Jinx leaned forward, her right index finger hovering eagerly across the game board. She came to a halt right above a male human, maybe in his mid – thirties, neatly groomed, a faint kind smile on his lips, who was on his way to work. Was. Until Jinx was the one to decide his fate.

"Get jinxed!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, her finger lunging forward, plunging into the game board like a hot knife through ice. For a short moment, her black gloved hand disappeared as if it became one with the board, almost translucent, until it returned to its original form. Satisfied, she laid back and withdrew her arm, watching the scene in front of us carefully.

All of a sudden, the man was hit by a truck as he tried to cross the street. Sirens of an ambulance could be heard.

Joyfully, Jinx clapped her hands as if she had watched a performance she especially liked. Happily, she began to laugh, fueling Saint's disdain for her every time her voice rang.

"Yay! He'll most likely die! I guess that's the number thirteen for ya, right?"

That was Jinx power. That was all she could do. Take but never give.

He had watched scenes like those so many times – one time Jinx had purposefully controlled a young man to take a wrong turn, leading him to loose his wife in the flames the accident had caused - yet he never got used to it. How someone could be that cruel, yet would sit with a babyface across him all while pretending to be innocent, was something he neither could nor would ever be able to fathom in the slightest.

Saint's jaw clenched as the Goddess offered him the dice, grinning broadly.

"Your turn."

His eyes drifted to the dice in her black gloved hand. Internally, he cursed, he raged, he was fuming – yet no word escaped his sealed lips. The promise he had made a long time ago gave him no right to lunge at her. After all, those were the rules, the promise they had forged so long ago.

1. In order to prevent the two gods fighting each other for eternity, neither one being able to kill the other, and in order to keep Earth from being annihilated by their battles, they had forged a promise to just gamble who could play "God" whenever they rolled the dice. It was a game purely based on luck or coincidence as humans might say.

2. No cheating. The dice was especially created so any kind of interference would be sanctioned immediately – which of course, Jinx had tried so many times Saint had lost count. Her attempts always ended in failure but she was dumb enough to try from time to time again. Saint himself only tried once to influence the dice, trying to save a women from breast cancer and it ended in him causing a tsunami on planet Earth. Ever since then, he never thought about cheating again. He didn't dare to.

3. Whatever happens, you can not role the dice twice. If you did, the Gods would not be able to use their powers on Earth. Taking turns was important to uphold the equality of both deities.

4. Whenever an uneven number was rolled, Jinx was allowed to directly influence Earth and its people, obviously causing them nothing more but pain, illness, wars and pain. Saint would be allowed to grace Earth and its population any kind of miracle, if the dice showed an even number. A high number equaled great fortune or misfortune, a small number meant small blessings or sorrows.

5. In total, every number from 1 – 100 was possible. Above the number 60, the Gods could choose if their miracles would be bestowed on a single individual or an entire group. If you roll a number above 80, it will affect the whole world, causing events such as wars or famines.

In the end, this "system" tried to uphold the balance of the world in order for Earth not to be destroyed.

Saint snatched the dice out of Jinx' hand and rolled. It seemed like an eternity for the God until the little cube finally came to a halt. It read the number two, the smallest fortune Saint could have rolled. At the other side of the table, Jinx snickered arrogantly. "No luck, eh?" she commented.

"You'll see what I can do with that, Jinx."

Sighing, the God just shook his head, cursing his bad luck as his hand reached through the game board. His gaze locked on a little poor girl with pigtails, located somewhere in a poor district.

This will do, the God thought quietly to himself and as soon as he retreated his hand out of the board, he could see that the little girl crouched down on the ground to pick something up, rubbing a small penny in between her fingers. Grinning widely, she kept it close to her chest, running to show her mother the treasure she had come across. What was a little blessing for Saint, must have been a great fortune for the poor girl. Satisfied that his minor help turned out to be greater that what he had imagined, the God leaned back, smiling at Jinx' disgusted face.

"Ah, that was boring. These entertainers seriously suck to amuse me. I liked that child better when she had that miserable expression on her face."

"These are not entertainers, they are human beings," Saint corrected her immediately. For Jinx, the Earthlings were no humans, they were nothing more than creatures purely existing for her sick and twisted feelings of entertainment. He hated her ideology as it clashed with his own philosophy.

His critique clearly didn't bother the Goddess an inch as she just shrugged it off, purposely disregarding his believes. "Whatever. We've had that conversation so many times these hundreds of years, you won't be able to change my mind. These – What did you call them again? Something with the letter H ... Ah, it doesn't matter anyway," she made a waving gesture with her hand as if she wanted to discard that chain of thought, "The entertainers whole purpose is to please us, nothing more, nothing less. They are just pawns in our little game of life to pass our time, dear Saint. Life is just a game that's never won, you only play. With that being said ..."

Jinx eagerly grabbed the dice and rolled.

Saint couldn't conceal his anger at her words. He would have loved to beat some sense into her but that was unfortunately an impossible task as that women lacked the emotional complexity to even understand the weight of her own words. Even if his life depended on it, he would never be able to understand her point of view.

Suddenly, the Goddess jumped up, kicking the chair behind her a few feet away due to the impact. Saint took a look at the dice. Number fourty-nine. Cheerfully, she rejoiced: "Jackpot!" It was the highest number of misfortune she could bestow upon an individual. His stomach turned at the thought alone.

Saint struggled with himself as he watched Jinx hand plunge into the game board. Should he interfere and risk another human beings safety? What would his punishment be? Could he really be the one to save this human, without opposing the rules directly?

The answer was simple. No, he could not.

Quietly, he prayed to himself that it somehow would not work, that somehow someone would be able to prevent this poor human's demise. But if he, a God, could not do it, there would certainly be no one else who could.

Jinx' mortifying scream pulled him back into reality. The Goddess stepped backwards slowly, her eyes plastered in shock at the game board as she just shook her head. Repeatedly, she muttered "That can't be!" in a mixture of shock and morbid curiosity.

Just what has transpired? Saint leaned over to take a look at the game board. Everything seemed normal at first glance. As he took an even more closer look, Saint's eyes locked on the young man Jinx had tried to use her powers on.

In fact, the young man just sat on the park bench, legs crossed, calmly observing his surroundings, the way people passed by, not taking notice of him.

It seemed he hadn't been affected. Nothing had happened.

Wait, he was not affected?

Jinx spoke out exactly what Saint had thought: "My powers didn't work on him!"

How could this be? Pondering, he ran his fingers through his blond hair, scrutinizing the young man on the game board. One look was enough for the God to get every information about this young man in an instant as it displayed the details in his mind's eye.

Name: Hunter Ward

Age: 18 years old

Occupation: High school student

Gender: Male

Height: 1,75m

Weight: 65 kg

Eye colour: Brown

Hair colour: Brown

[Further access denied]

Saint squinted his eyes shut, blinking a few times in order to make sure the message on display in front of him was no delusion. Further access denied? How can that be? He's just a normal mortal, isn't he?

Agitated, Jinx banged her fist on the table. "Just what is wrong with that guy? Why can't my powers affect him?" she exclaimed, visibly discombobulated, her eyes transforming into slits like those of a snake that felt threatened.

"It can only mean that he is different from the other human beings," Saint blurted out as soon as he realized, eyeing Hunter's silhouette curiously from head to toe. In all those years they had spent playing the Game of Life, this had never happened before.

Saint's voice trembled as he spoke: "You are aware of our existence, right, Hunter Ward?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Hunter Ward didn't flinch an inch as his eyes quickly shot up towards the heavens. That voice was right: He was aware of their existence. However, he probably was the only human being on Earth who possessed knowledge of their existence and he sure as hell would not tell them how he got the ability to do so. After all, a magician never reveals his secrets, right?

As quickly as they went up, his brown eyes almost immediately glued on the people in front of him again. Hunter definitely was not dumb enough to reply in public – or else people would call him crazy. Passersby must not have noticed the slight nod he had given as an answer but the both entities, of course, did.

~~~~~~~~~~

Upon this discovery, the Goddess of mischief shrieked. In disbelief, she stood there, open-mouthed. "That entertainer nodded. He really did hear us. That bastard really did hear us, Saint!"

"I know. However, we won't be able to communicate with him just nonverbally. We will get in touch with him through his mind."

The God held his hand above the board, the dice glowed faintly in his hand as he rolled another two. Even. He now had the permission to interfere again.

[Access denied]

The message popped up as soon as Saint tried to read Hunter's mind. Needless to say, the attempt had failed. Baffled, the God lowered his hand. How? How could he defy the Gods powers?

~~~~~~~~~~

A sharp twitch resonated in Hunter's head, causing him to rub his temple in circular motions. They had tried to read his mind, no doubt. Did they want to communicate? Nonverbal communication didn't seem to be satisfactory for them, he assumed.

He'd allow them. Just for this one time.

Gathering information about them was crucial for his goal as long as it only proved to be beneficial for him.

Ward closed his eyes for a moment, exhaled, and opened them again.

~~~~~~~~~~

[Access granted]

Both Gods looked at each other dead in the eyes as soon as the message popped up. For just this once, they were able to put their hatred for each other aside in silent agreement. Nobody dared to say a word.

I know you're able to read my mind now. First you interrupt my thoughts and then you refuse to make the first step. If that's the case, I guess I'll have to close off my mind again.

No! both Gods exclaimed in a hurry, Saint stood still while Jinx nervously circled the table.

Who are you? Saint asked hesitantly. Communication through thoughts alone without having to move one's lips cut both ways – one had to be highly concentrated as to not overshare one's true thoughts by accident. Otherwise, their conversation would end far too quickly without the Gods having gained information.

Please, as if you don't know. Don't play dumb. You already know my name.

Well, thank you, dipshit, aren't you such a nice entertainer, Jinx sarcastically intervened the conversation which earned her an angry glance from the other God at the other side of the board, giving her the 'I-thought-you-would-leave-the-talking-to-me-look'. Saint only shook his head. Of course, she would ruin this valuable opportunity as soon as she opened her mouth.

A cocky laugh echoed from the human's mind. Judging from those words alone, I don't think you recognize me as a human but as some sort of 'entertainer', whatever that is ... Thank you, you confirmed my suspicions.

Suspicions? Saint inquired, desperately trying to keep the conversation alive.

The both of you are Gods. Guess that whole Bible thing has always been a scam, who would have thought?

Before the Goddess could bring this conversation to any further ruin, Saint cut her off, trying to ease the tension. Just how much else did this man know?

There is no need to hide it. Yes, you are correct – we are Gods. We -

Well, you both surely suck at your job, then. Do better. You're Gods and that incompetent?

Saint immediately tried to interrupt her but Jinx' mouth spoke faster.

Listen, you pathetic creature. Stop beating around the bush.

Jinx, don't! Saint admonished but the Goddess kept hissing:

I don't know how you made it possible to be immune to my powers but as soon as I get the chance to make your life miserable through the Game of Life, I will absolutely crush you. I'm the Goddess of Havoc and I will gladly live up to my name.

The God threw his hands up in the air. That dumb idiot gave away too much information. Why could she not kindly hold her tongue?

Oh, so I'm right to assume that you gamble people's lives? Or am I mistaken about this so called Game of Life? Hunter's voice took on a mocking tone. Well, considering that you claim to be such a frightening God, I've never heard of your existence before. You sure you're even a God and not some imposter?

Enough! Jinx voice trembled, her nasal wings quivered in anger. She banged her fist on the table, declaring war: I will absolutely crush you once I get the chance, Ward. I'll take everything you love and make you suffer.

Have fun doing that, you won't be able to achieve that, anyway. I will be the one to destroy this game of yours. Mark my words. Oh, and thanks for the information, chatterbox.

[Access denied]

Hunter had closed off his mind, meaning communication was no longer possible anymore.

Saint realized what a sly creature that human was. Provoking the Goddess was all part of his plan so she would make a slip of the tongue. It was a strategy. Ward did it on purpose.

Maybe he could be more dangerous than Saint had estimated.

"Good luck finding where we reside, cocky brat," Jinx raged, snapping her fingers, even though her lips formed a broad excited grin of a predator. Saint knew she would enjoy this cat and mouse game between them, only so she could crush him later on.

However, for Saint, this would be the perfect opportunity to reforge their promise. It would be a promise that would benefit only him and humanity but not Jinx – she would be the one on the loosing end.

"Jinx, let's make a new bet," he suggested, hiding his true intentions behind his stoic facade.

"You're on," the Goddess replied as she grabbed the chair to sit down, "What do you suggest?"

"Let's modify the Game of Life."

"How?"

"Do not worry, we will keep the dice system. We will just add a third player to the party."

"And that would be?"

"Humanity," he announced, "We will not only play against each other but also against them."

Jinx scoffed: "Wow, so you're telling me we are just gonna keep doing what we've been doing for hundreds of years. You're an absolute genius." She clapped her hands sarcastically.

"Not like that," he explained without showing his annoyance at her behaviour, "In fact, Hunter Ward is in pursuit of us and apparently, he will not stop until he gets the chance to stop us, stripping us of our positions as Gods. We will grant several humans powers and provide them with the knowledge of our existence. They will compete for the position of the third God in our round of the Game of Life."

Saint pointed at an empty chair at one side of the large table. The Queen of Havoc eyed him warily, visibly intrigued by the idea.

"You're telling me that I am allowed to use these entertainers like chess pieces if I grant them powers?" she asked, grinning mischievously.

Saint gulped. As much as her phrasing disturbed him in every way possible, this was the reality of things and his honesty could not deny this fact. Otherwise, he would be a hypocrite.

"Yes, use them at your whim." He ground his teeth. "Each of us will grant five humans powers."

"On one condition," Jinx lifted one finger, "I want Hunter Ward to be an entertainer assigned to me. He will be my first subordinate. We will name them performers instead of entertainers, then."

The God went silent. There was no way Jinx could have guessed his plan to make Ward a God in order to overthrow her, was there? Perhaps, this was just an act of revenge of her in order to humiliate Ward for his snarky remarks towards her – Jinx' ego was fragile, after all.

"You know that you will not be able to affect him with your powers. He seems to immune to them, for whatever reason."

"I don't care. I just want payback."

Revenge, it is, the God thought to himself, not surprised. "If that is the case, so be it."

"Oh, and the reward of offering them to become a God is surely a disguise to just lure them in and to compete against each other. I won't tolerate another God among us," she added, arching her eyebrows, "It's a game between old friends, after all."

"Yes, of course." As if I'd let you do as you please, he thought but kept a straight face. Saint would never discard his plan to overthrow the Goddess, no matter what.

"Exciting, isn't it?" the Goddess hummed in satisfaction, a smile plastered onto her face, picturing the excitement this newly made promise would bring forth. Those entertainers could go and annihilate themselves. "It's just weird of you to make such a proposal, dear Saint, what made you suggest this idea? I expected a concept as morbid as this only to be a creation of my mind and not yours."

"I have my position as a God to defend, Jinx. It is one thing I do not wish to loose, despite the circumstances."

Satisfied with his answer, Jinx just nodded and leaned back, cupping her chin in her hand as she observed the game board silently.

Now the cat and mouse game could begin.

Their rivalry had ceased to be this exciting a long time ago. Perhaps Hunter Ward's appearance was no coincidence as the dice pulled the strings of fate.

"Ah, look down at all the puppets here," Jinx smirked smugly, sinking further into the chair, looking down at the silhouettes on the game board contentedly. Her gaze was particularly focused on Ward, carefully executing her revenge on him in her mind.

"Oh, look up at all the puppeteers," Hunter sighed, his gaze still focused on the blue sky above him.