Terra looked at me, saying, “It is time for your Reward.”

  “You know,” I started, “In any other circumstance, a woman saying that to me would be a lot more exciting. But alas, I am a moth, and you're an eldritch plant god thing; our love is forbidden. A cruel tragedy that only Shakespeare could’ve written.”

  “Please take this seriously, my contestant.”

  “This is the first time I got to talk to someone who hasn’t or isn’t going to try and kill me, give me a fucking break.”

  “I have asked you not to use such profane language, contestant,” she put an edge to the word contestant.

  I scowl, “I’ll fucking say what I want, whenever I want, however I want bitch. Especially after the shitty month I’ve been having because of yo-”

  I didn’t get to finish saying what I wanted to, as I felt a presence like the death wish Krath used, but much more powerful, with a different flavour, for the lack of a better word. It rested on top of my soul, warning that it could crush me like a can any second, and I felt a weird reaction inside of my soul to it. Like a dog inside a house recognising a person they liked from a window.

  Then Terra interrupted my thoughts, saying, “You are not to speak with a foul tongue when in my presence, contestant, is that understood?”

  I felt the pressure loosen for a moment, allowing me to aggressively nod in agreement.

  “Good.”

  Then I felt the pressure release me, and I collapsed to the ‘ground’ of the void above the earth. Releasing for the first time, I was in a human body, my original body to be exact. I had slipped into it so naturally that I hadn’t noticed, while I was processing this revelation, Terra once again interrupted.

  Saying, “Now, shall we continue with the reward?”

  “Uh, yeah, yeah, sure… Um, what is the reward, exactly?”

  “It is up to you.”

  Then a system display appeared in front of me, saying.

  “Choose your reward among these four options. (Warning: only one person can get each reward.)”

  1: Mulligan

  2: Three Questions

  3: Power Boost

  4: Weaken Enemy

  I looked over them for a second, then asked Terra, “So, uh... Can I ask you any details on what these do?”

  “I can answer them, but there will be quite a few subjects restricted to you.”

  “Can you tell me what those restricted subjects are so I can avoid them?” I said, crossing my fingers, hoping the shoddy framework of The Great Debate extended this far.

  “No.”

  And a bust.

  “Ok, so what do all of these do then?”

  “Starting from the top. Mulligan allows you to survive one fatal hit. Three Questions relaxes the restrictions on what information I can give you for exactly three questions. Power Boost strengthens you, and Weaken Enemy does what it says to one of the remaining contestants of your choosing.”

  I perk up, “How much does the Power Boost and Weaken Enemy affect us?”

  “That is restricted information.”

  Ok, so that’s off the board. I ain’t picking one of those to discover, it only gives or takes away one level. Mulligan might be helpful, I was built like tissue paper after all. But then came the issue that if I were in a situation where the enemy could kill me, I was most likely not going to take or dodge a second attack that well.

  Plus, there was the issue of my mentality. I had played enough games with Mulligans to know that I got way too reckless when I got one. It was to the point that I would die quicker than if I hadn’t gotten it. I’d like to think I wouldn’t do that when it’s my real life on the line, but that was only a hope.

  Making my decision, I said, “Ok, I'll be having the Three Questions, please.”

  Then a system message popped up.

  “Decision had been confirmed, Three Questions has been taken.”

  “Ok,” I said, turning towards Terra, “So, tell me all you can about what that thing you and Krath did with your… ‘presence’, or whatever it’s called.”

  “Would you like to confirm that as your question?”

  I started rolling my eyes, but stopped in case she took offence, saying, “Yes.”

  She sighed and messaged the bridge of her nose in a surprisingly human way, “You idiot, that’s not going to be of any of any use to you. But I am forced to answer your question and not interfere with your thought process. Keep that in mind and refrain from being an idiot.”

  “Don’t think that’s possible,” I said wth a self depricating smile.

  She continued without acknowledging my words, saying, “It’s called a Domain, they’re things of higher beings, and things created by them, or lower beings taking a step to ascending.”

  She says in a tone one would take to explain how to use Excel spreadsheets, “You are the second, Krath was the third. That skill of yours, ‘Royal Will’, is just a piece of my divinity I placed in you in place of your species' original god, since they aren’t a part of the Great Debate, along with the slight inconvenience of being dead. And for Dragons, well, they just have an annoying habit of easily obtaining Domains.”

  She paused.

  And I said, “You didn’t answer the part about what Krath did.”

  “I was just letting you digest, but I suppose I shall continue. You can do anything with a domain, as long as it’s connected to the concept it was born from. The more power and understanding connected to a Domain, the more you can do with it. But there is one way you can defy your domain's nature, but in the process, you disconnect it from yourself permanently. It’s what Krath Nixm did when she enacted her death wish against you, to make it persist beyond the body it was attached to. And I recommend not using the same technique. Since the act would kill you outright, as your Domain is connected to the Lunar Scale Moths' very being as a creation of a Domain.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Wait, Krath was a she?” I ask.

  “Do you wish that to be your second question?”

  “No!” I said, thankful there was a safety net now, so I didn’t waste questions like that.

  Krath was a she, I guess I just assumed. My bad, well it’s not important now that she’s… dead.

  I took a moment to digest the information about domains, grooming my antenna, but just ended up stroking the air since I was in my human body now. So instead, I bit the inside of my cheek while I thought.

  After taking my time, I asked, “You said earlier that I would need Divine Dominion if I wanted to change parts of The Great Debate, and you also said that I have parts of your divinity because of Royal Will.”

  She looked at me with surprise that turned into a grin, saying, “You did not phrase that as a question; that is needed to activate the Reward.”

  “Oh, sorry-”

  Then she interrupts me, saying, “But on a completely different note. If you proceed with any action intending to change The Great Debate, that I or the other gods would feel like would make it unfair. Due to the contract we agreed to (something that binds us with our Domains), we would have to preemptively intervene. But depending on what you hypothetically change in the contract, that may not happen.”

  Subtle… Wait, there has to be a line in the contract preventing the signers from changing it. But I suppose I'm not Terra, just using her Domain, and hence not a signer. Damn, The Great Debate has horrible coding, seriously, who made it? I wasn’t really a security specialist back home coding wise, I'd only ever done some basic hacking challenges online. But this was giving me second hand embarrassment.

  I shook my head, focusing and took a moment to think over my question, again trying to groom my antenna, but I swallowed the instinct before it happened.

  “So,” I started, “Can you tell me ways to expand and gain proficiency in my Domain?”

  “Do you wish that to be your second question? Warning: that question contains restricted information, but I can divulge part of it.”

  I chewed the inside of my cheek, eventually saying. “Yes.”

  “Many of the ways to expand your Domain have been restricted. By both the information I’m allowed to give you and by The Great Debates framework to prevent it from collapsing under the pressure Domains naturally exude. But there is one way for you to grow. Your next evolution will considerably expand your domain as the most trusted minion of Lunaris, so I would have to give you it.”

  She paused, and I chewed on the information with the time she gave me, reorienting my goals.

  Then Terra said, “Are you done considering the information?”

  “Yeah, for now.”

  “Then I shall continue. To gain more skill at using the Domain I gave you, that will be more tricky, I only have two pieces of advice.”

  “Explain away.”

  “Don’t interrupt me,” she snapped, then continued, “The first thing is to just use and interact with it more. Every person has a unique relationship with their Domain, even if it’s the exact same, so every person has to figure it out for themselves. The second is to listen to your body's natural instincts. The Lunar Scale Moth has a more instinctual grasp on using a Domain, so it should come easier if you do that.”

  “You mean Bug Jacob?”

  “If that uncreative name is how you refer to the Lunar Scale Moths' mind, then yes.”

  “Oh, no. That’s not what I, what I call… no…” a blush forming on my face, “it’s not uncreative,” I said in a soft tone as possible.

  “You quite literally have four entire names for your slaves that aren’t just their species name.”

  “They’re not the exact same names, and also, I’ve told the system this a thousand times, servants, not slaves.”

  “Adding a V behind the name to indicate how many have had the name before doesn’t make it different. And your minions exactly fit the definition of a slave in your language and culture.”

  “Well… yeah, but like….” I didn’t finish the sentence, knowing I would unintentionally start quoting some quite unsavoury people. Instead saying, “Well, I have to use them, ok. You try to survive as an insect that a stiff breeze could kill, and not take advantage of the only ability it has, alright?!”

  “I don’t care or understand whatever ethical problem you have with slavery, despite its use. And I have no idea why you insist on continuing this conversation.”

  That stops me, and I look at her for a moment, about to say something that would’ve gotten me killed. But I controlled myself, deciding to go a different direction.

  “So I’m just wasting time, eh?” I ask.

  “Do you wish that to be your third question?”

  “No, but I was leading to that. My third question is the positions of all the other contestants of The Great Debate.”

  “Do you wish that to be your third question?”

  I resist snapping at her, instead saying, exasperated, “Yes!”

  “I can give you a map of the arena and give you their last location. Is that acceptable? If it isn't, this question can be refunded.”

  “Uh, yeah, it is. I mean… It’s acceptable, and I want the answer.”

  Then a map of an octagon appeared in front of me with a detailed depiction of the land, with a single green and yellow dot each, and two red. When I concentrated on a dot, a name hovered above it.

  Then Terra said, “When you are satisfied, you will be teleported back to where you were taken. Just simply tell me when.”

  “Ok,” I said, already distracted by the map.

  On the complete opposite side of the arena from me were a yellow and red dot next to each other. And when I checked, it said they were Urg Floaw and Second of the Snow.

  Ok, so I won't have to worry about them for now, and both of them will at least be injured if I see them. Good to know.

  But that was a distant worry since a square away from my green dot was another red one, Fifth of the Mist. And coming from the opposite side Krath did.

  That’s lucky, I still have some troops hibernating over there, so I don’t have to worry about the logistics of defending that side as much. But I still have no idea what Fifth of the Mist could even do, crap that should’ve been one of my questions. Damn it, gah!

  I spent time worrying over it, but I eventually came to the conclusion there was no point in doing so when I had zero information about him…

  Or her… You know what, I'll stick with they for now.

  Then I told Terra I wanted to go back, and after suffering through the teleportation (which it seems I was finally getting used to), and I was back on the branch I had been on before.

  OOO

  Two days later, I was surveilling the side Fifth of the Mist was coming from, the strain of waiting for a fight once again getting to me. I was trying to yawn, but I was a moth, so no dice. To pass the time, I was trying to experiment around with Royal Will and Bug Jacob, like Terra suggested. But I wasn’t getting anywhere, especially since Bug Jacob was being an asshole now, an arrogance to him that hadn't been there before evolving.

  Then I felt another yawn come over while I was paying attention to my minions' reactions to anything that could’ve been Fifth of the Mist. But there was nothing.

  I should get some rest; nothing’s going to happen.

  Eh, probably not, don’t want to risk Fifth attacking me while I’m asleep.

  But are they? Seriously, what are the chances of that happening?

  Yeah, good point.

  I finally allowed myself to sleep, even though I knew this body didn’t do that when not evolving or mutating. And I felt something from Bug Jacob that I hadn’t since we were getting attacked by the Jaguar. But I ignored it, falling into unconsciousness a moment later.

  OOO

  I woke up in my bed, rubbing the drool off my cheek with my human hand, the room around me an absolute mess of things I’d just put there and hadn’t bothered removing. To the side of my bed, I noticed something weird, but I ignored it, looking straight ahead for some reason.

  Wait, what was that?

  If you forgot it, it’s not important.

  I have ADHD, that’s not really the case.

  Do it anyway.

  …ok.

  I got out of my bed, stepping through my messy room with some struggle, but I was used to it. And started my day.