I sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night, leaving Sudarshana sleeping in my bed. Will's words bugged me so much that I had to think. I climbed on the roof and lied down there.

Fame had its price, and I really wanted to avoid it, because I wasn't a people person, and I was afraid that one day somebody might make me snap, and there would be consequences of that. Somebody would probably die, and then there would be a big freaking backlash, that would for sure be tragic for my mother. Not to mention Tihana.

The whole humiliation thing suddenly became unimportant when confronted with a much more concerning topic of this whole tournament.

The world needed a safe way of checking what people like me were capable of. Just so all the big fished of the world would know with whom they should negotiate. They all probably were scared right now, because out of the blue world got filled with new powerhouses. Right now anonymous, with few exceptions, but sooner or later the whole world was about to learn the names.

I switched to wondering what the hell The Great One was planing by making this happen. For a moment I was thinking about making a contact with him, just to find out, but I resigned. I already knew the goal of all of this. Right now we needed to somehow unite, and start building our power as a civilization.

I was just not sure if I should go for strong-arming everybody into submission, or try to form a united front of like-minded people, as I did in Arc.

It was making me feel very uneasy, since the scale this time was larger, and to be honest, I never wanted to have anything to do with such stuff.

The fate though hat its own plans, and wasn't concerned at all neither by my or The Great One.

When the light started pushing the darkness back over the city, uncovering the architecture hidden under the black shroud, I finally got down and prepared breakfast for Sudarshana. Then I shadow walked to the city center. It was so early, that only a few people showed themselves up.

I went straight to Will's new place he got just to take care of his son properly and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so I just shadow walked past it and found that bastard in the kitchen on the left from the entrance, enjoying morning coffee in a pink bathrobe and ignoring the knocking on purpose.historical

- Shit, I thought it was somebody else... Unfortunately, I can't ignore you, because you can walk through walls...

- I need to talk with you.

- I'm sorry about yesterday. I could put my words in a better way - he admitted - but that doesn't change the fact that what I said was true.

- I know, I came to strategize.

- Strategize?

- Yeah. The tournament you mentioned yesterday... When the world finds out that I'm the top dog, we will have to start making some moves.

- Hold your horses, Peter. The whole thing might not happen. Wolf can put the idea forward, but who the hell knows if it will pass? Nobody. Besides... Shouldn't we talk with The Great One first? I know this whole thing was my idea, but after a night of sleep, I realized that this is more complicated than I originally thought.

- So you made a mess, and now you are realizing it?

- No. It was a good idea. I still think this way. Besides, if The Great One doesn't want us going in this direction, he will probably contact others. Hm... Now when I said this, I think that maybe we should strive to contact those other people behind the gates. If they know The Great One, I'm sure we would be able to come to some conclusions, and together start working towards the same goal.

His words made me think. I even pulled myself a chair to sit down, while I went back in my memories. He didn't want me to speak about himself when I was in Alexandra's and Slaven's worlds. This meant there was a chance of other people behind those gates having no idea about the purpose of this whole situation.

I looked at Will, who was sipping his coffee, looking curiously at me. I wasn't sure if I should tell him what just went through my head.

- What if instead of the tournament, we put forward an idea of making something like World Trade Organization, or NATO, or UN, but just for the people from behind the gates, and the countries connected with them, like us and India?

- You think they would let us do that? I doubt that. We could go behind governments' backs, unite, and fuck them over. This will be the first idea in their heads. They don't want us united, they want to know the ratio between risk and reward. They want to know if they should focus on making things work with us, or try to prepare a way to get rid of us. Well... We are kinda safe because of your barriers, but it might not be the case for others.

- So how about we go with the tournament idea, but instead use it to walk with others? - I asked.

- How about you just talk with The Great One? He might have some answers.

I sighed and focused my mind.

- Hey, The Great One, we need to talk! - I said out loud.

Will started looking around, especially at his ceiling, like somehow the alien would pop out there. Instead, nothing happened. There was no answer.

- Hey! The Great One! - I repeated my call.

Still nothing. Even after several minutes of waiting.

- Maybe he is away? - asked Will. - Or bussy?

- I'm not sure... He usually heard me when I called him like this unless he was doing something important.

- Then maybe he is?

- Since when do you trust him so much? - I asked, a bit irritated by his attitude.

- I don't, but there is not anything we can do about him, so we will end up either on a warpath with him or just doing what he wants. Besides, his way of doing things wasn't so bad... I know that people suffered and died, but we also grew because of it. Look at me for example. I got my son back.

- Well... Others weren't so lucky.

- Yeah... - he realized that he literally had someone who lost a precious person because of that alien's shenanigans. - Sorry about that. I meant it in a way, that he is an ass, but with a purpose, that's pretty important.

- Just stop, ok? Let's focus on figuring out what to do.

Will sighed and leaned back in his chair. He took a big sip from his mug and put it down on the table.

- I still think that it's a good idea. The tournament, I mean. We can use it to have a fair shot at talking with those people. We would at least know how we stand with them in terms of purpose, and also in terms of strength. We could check each other out and talk. The problem is the whole idea might not pass.

- Then let's make it pass.

- What do you mean? - he asked.

- We have a gang of famous internet people here. They are perfect for the job. We just need to sell them the right idea, and when it becomes public news that there are other gates, the public will just do everything for us.

- The EU gate is public news - Will pointed out. - And your idea... It's not terrible, but we shouldn't just hammer it into their heads. We should let those people come with the idea themselves. We need them to start asking the right questions and give them answers that would make them even more curious. We also need to make sure they will keep talking about this topic.

- Do you have a plan? - I asked, raising my eyebrows.

- Of course, I do - he gave me one of those sly smirks. - I hope you are free today.

- I am.

- Great. Now get the hell out of my house, because I need to prepare myself, and do some groundwork. I'll use the coin when everything is ready.

- I would still like to know what the hell you are planing.

He smiled again.

- The would ruin the surprise. Now, off you go - he said, and stood from his chair, waving his hand at me, like I was some annoying animal.

I just left. Wondering for a moment what potentially stupid plan he was creating in his head. I'm not gonna lie, I was worried, but I also trusted him, so the worries rather quickly faded away.

Then I went to find a way to kill some of my time while waiting for him to prepare whatever he needed to prepare.. A mug of beer in the pub sounded pretty good, so I went there to have a drink, and relax before a potentially irritating chain of situations made by Will.