Players Of The Game

Quinn was waiting for them outside with his doors open. They had barely made themselves comfortable on the seats before he took off, the doors closing on their own. "Is everyone okay?"

Maitho nodded. He was certain the others did as well.

"I have a lot of questions, my lovelies," said Quinn. "But before we delve into them, where are we headed next?"

Good question. It just didn't have any easy answers. For Maitho, his mind was elsewhere.

He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping that by entering the blank canvas of his mind, he might just be able to make out an organized arrangement of thoughts. All he ended up discovering was a random assortment of information, like he was looking at ones and zeros of a computer code. There were so many solitary thougths, yet no connecting ideas.

He suddenly gained a compulsion to keep checking the next idea with the dimmest hope that this time, it would hold some answers. Instead, questions began flooding his mind. He opened his eyes, the noise in his head drifting away like pedestrians dispersing in a busy junction.

Someone called his name. He looked over to Bevan frowning at him. "You okay there Maitho?" he asked.

Maitho wasn't. "I'm okay," was what he answered instead. He pressed the first two fingers of each of his hands into his eyelids, rubbing them as though doing so might erase the dull throbbing he felt around his head. He blinked a few times, opening his eyes wide to take in as much of the light as possible. "I think we should pay a visit to Erik Odinson. We need a lot more answers to questions we probably might not have even asked." He took out his smartphone and browsed through the files until he found the address, which he entered into Quinn's nav system.

"It'll take an hour or so to reach there," said Quinn. "Depending on the traffic of course."

Taking a deep sigh to calm his mental tsunami, Maitho updated Quinn on everything he had heard. He added information that he thought he had forgotten to mention earlier. When he was done, there was a thick silence in the car. It felt like he was walking through heavy humidity, where the air itself pressed down on your lungs.

"I know you are all feeling overwhelmed, but let's try to avoid looking at everything as a whole." Quinn offered.

Bevan ran his hand through his curls, holding them back for a few seconds. When he released his hand, his hair flopped back to its original position. "What do you want us to do?"

"Let's start by focusing on the players."

A name appeared in Maitho's mind. He had little doubt that the same might have occurred to the others. He spoke. "Jonathan Cray."

"He's the first. According to him, the world needs to change and in order for that to happen, the Gods need to lose control over humans."

"The question is," said Brigid. "Is he a villain to us or a villain to the Gods?"

"Both," said Maitho. "I don't think his plans will discriminate between Gods and Guardians."

"So what do you think after meeting Jennifer? Is there a bigger hand at play here?" said Quinn.

"I'm not sure," said Maitho. "He's a powerful man. He could have set all of this up." Maitho thought back to the moment when he discovered that he was being watched. They had tracked his every move. Cray had even set up a false assasination in order to draw Maitho to his house. Would it truly be beyond the realm of possibility that all of this was all one big play? But if that were the case, what could Maitho offer that was of such great importance? The entire Norse pantheon was behind the old man. He already held such fearsome power, money, and influence.

"If that is the case, my dear, then the Norse pantheon should be in on his plans." Quinn's voice had turned contemplative. If he was a human or at least had a human appearance, then Maitho could imagine him with his brows creased and lost in thought.

"That may be the case," said Maitho.

"Oh my, we are not doing good in the numbers department."

"So as much as we doin't like it, we need to hope that Cray is at least partly true," said Brigid.

"An why wad we dae that?" said Epona.

"Because the thought that he could stage all of this for whatever reason is actually frightening."

Brigid's words struck deep. She was indeed right. If this was a massive setup in order for Cray to achieve a goal, then the implications were beyond something that a small team like them could handle. Besides, they were just five Guardians against an army of Cray's soldiers and an army of the Norse pantheon. Those were not good odds. There was also the appearance of Jormungundr, who had arrived at Raiden's beckoning.

"Which, my lovelies, brings us to the second party involved in all of this," said Quinn. "The mysterious figure."

"Sachiel," said Bevan, finally speaking up.

"Indeed."

"Who may or may not be Cray himself, masterminding all of this," said Brigid. For the first time, she genuinely participated in the conversation. She wasn't trying to be antagonistic. She wasn't attacking anyone. It was a welcome change.

"What we know is that Sachiel has tasked Jennifer to convince her followers into supporting Cray," said Maitho.

"Either Sachiel idolizes Cray for some reason or." Brigid didn't have to continue. The answer was obvious.

Bevan decided to speak up anyway. "Sachiel is Cray."

No matter what version of the narrative turned out to be true, it didn't make a difference. They both intimidated Maitho. They could either have Cray as the single controller of all events, which would turn him into a force that they have no power to face. Or it could be that there is another player in the game, which only meant that the list of opponents they had just went up by one.

"I should also remind you of the God who is giving information to Cray," said Quinn, as though he was reading Maitho's mind and was waiting for the right opportunity to speak.

"If there is even one," said Brigid.

The more they tried to answer, the more questions they uncovered. It was like being stranded on an island and digging for clues, except they found directions to even more hints instead of the final answer.

The group became silent for the rest of the journey.

Before they had even arrived in the area they were supposed to meet Erik, Maitho spotted the landscape of low-rise buildings, single-storey businesses, and small apartments giving way to towers of glass and steel. He knew that they had entered the downtown area. Buildings of various heights were stacked against each other, like dominoes of different sizes. They were so closely positioned that they all seemed conjoined. Occasionally, there would be a break in the arrangement to give way for a small road between the towers. At the base of the buildings, Maitho spotted various establishments that catered to the needs of those who probably didn't get enough free time during their busy hours. Fast-food joints, small supermarkets, plenty of coffee shops, and the occasional bar for anyone wanting to relax over a few drinks after their work shift. There were also more subway stops within a few square miles than Maitho could find in two neighborhoods of his area.

Eventually, Quinn stopped in front of a building that seemed to be made entirely of glass. Sunlight reflected off it's facade, casting a light on the building on the other side of the road. When Maitho stepped outside, he looked both sides, noticing that the building he was in front of was the tallest one in the row. At least from his point of view.

He leaned into the car to speak to Bevan, who was in the driver's seat. "I think you should stay inside until Quinn finds a parking spot."

"One day, they will invent self-driving cars," said Bevan. "When they do, I won't have to pretend to be a driver."

"Don't kid yourself darling, you find it comfortable being inside me," said Quinn.

Bevan opened his mouth to say something, but shut them again. The obvious innuendo was probably too much for him to handle. Maitho closed the door to spare the Celtic Guardian any more embarrassment. He walked over to the women, who were looking up at the building while shading their eyes.

"Ah'll be honest," said Epona. "This is no whit ah wis expectin."

Maitho shrugged. "The guy has been around for a thousand years. That's a lot of time to get a lot of things done."

Together, they walked through the rotating door and entered the large atrium of the building. The entire floor was spacious, the high ceiling giving the impression of a giant structure. Crystal chandeliers that were probably taller than two men standing on top of each other hung like glass beehives. The lights were turned on, even at this time of the day. A golden light seemed to fight for illumination against the sun's rays that filtered through the glass panes that dominated the front of the building.

Opposite them was a marble wall with the name of the building emblazoned on it in gold. A series of wall plaques showed the names of all the businesses in the building.

On one end of the wall was a series of electronic turnstiles with scanners. Three guards stood behind them, their eyes scrutinizing every person who used an ID card to tag the scanner and enter deeper into the building.

"No sure if we are supposed tae gae that way," said Epona.

One of the guards pressed a button on his collar walkie-talkie and listened for a moment. He then looked around before locking his eyes with Maitho. He spoke something into the receiver and began walking towards them.

"Are you Mr. Oruba?" he asked when he was within hearing distance.

"I am," responded Maitho.

The guard nodded. "Follow me, please. Mr. Odinson has been waiting for you."