Utopian System

Zala's response exploded with equal intensity, the truth she had been trying to make him understand for millennia condensed into four simple words.

Zara's body trembled with the force of the emotion, and for the first time since her possession, Zara could feel that it wasn't an act, wasn't manipulation, but pure pain, the pain of a daughter trying to make her father truly see her.

"No... I don't believe you... I can't... Besides you didn't answer everything because you can't... The goddess shouldn't be playing directly! Breaking into the game is completely unfair!"

"Don't be an idiot!" Zala tried to strike the untouchable god. "You yourself accepted that term in the end!"

"I don't remember any of that!" Dionz approached, his divine figure radiating indignation. "What else have you stolen from me? Now you're stealing my memories too?"

"I haven't stolen anything from you... You're just a decrepit old man!" Zala's frustration was palpable. "You probably just forgot! Your mind isn't as perfect as you think!"

"Don't talk nonsense!" Dionz's eyes shone with divine fury. "My memories are secured! Only you could take them from me! It's impossible for me to lose them on my own!"

"I swear I haven't touched your memories!" Zala's words resonated with special force, a divine oath.

Dionz stopped, his expression changing. Such an oath couldn't be false, not between divine beings, at least she had to believe it was true. It was one of the few absolute rules that not even they could break.

"I'll have to check the divine box then..." he muttered, more to himself than to her.

Something gleamed in Zala's eyes. "While we're at it," her voice turned cautious, measured, "I want to check mine too. Things don't add up. Give me access to my divine box."

Dionz looked at her with suspicion. "Why don't you do it yourself?"

"I already told you," Zala shook her head with frustration. "I don't have access outside. What happens outside is… can only happen if it's a vital necessity. It's not entertainment, not a game, it's..." She stopped, as if the right words eluded her.

The atmosphere in the chamber changed. There was something in the way Zala talked about the "outside" that suggested a deeper mystery, something that not even she fully controlled.

Inside the shared body, Zara could feel Zala's genuine concern. It wasn't an act; there were memories, or the absence of them, that disturbed her as much as they did Dionz.

"If you're telling the truth..." Dionz seemed to be struggling with himself. "If you really didn't... if you haven't touched my memories..."

"...Fine," Dionz crossed his arms, adopting a more formal posture. "I'll give you access to the memory box from inside the divine game..." He made a dramatic pause. "But first, I need to check mine."

His eyes shone. "And I'm not going to force my processing on this. So it will take me a few days to do it properly."

A smile formed on his lips. "For now, the boy stays where he is. And I'll make sure his... stay is adequate."

"What?!" Zala stepped forward, indignant. "Giving the boy power is directly intervening in the game, cheater!"

"NOW YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT INTERVENTION?!" Dionz's roar made the walls vibrate. "YOU'RE HERE, IN A STOLEN BODY, DIRECTLY INTERFERING!"

The confrontation made the air itself seem to crackle with divine energy.

"If you want," Dionz continued, lowering his voice but maintaining firmness, "we can discuss the rules afterward. But first, I need to see those memories."

"Be fair for once!" Zala struck the ground in frustration. "Don't you remember that I can't cheat?! The rules are supposed to apply to both of us!"

An enigmatic smile appeared on Dionz's face. "Ah, but am I sure you haven't cheated? Not yet... After all, if your memories and mine don't match about the agreed terms..."

He left the phrase hanging, the weight of implications floating between them.

"And by the way," he added, his tone turning more serious, "if you leave this chamber meanwhile to 'progress'... that WILL be considered cheating. You have to wait until I finish checking."

"WAIT?!" Zala's indignation was palpable. "MORE time wasted in this damn chamber!"

And then, Dionz's behavior changed completely. The seriousness disappeared, replaced by that playful and erratic attitude that so characterized his messages in the statues.

"Oh, come on," he let out an almost childish giggle. "You've already waited more than 5 million years, haven't you? What's a few more days? Besides you have company, don't kill her consciousness like you did with the others..."

Before Zala could respond, Dionz's form began to fade, his laughter echoing in the chamber.

"I DIDN'T… WAIT, DON'T YOU DARE TO...!" Zala lunged forward, but her hands passed through empty air.

She remained alone in the chamber, her frustration mixing with a sensation she hadn't experienced in millennia: the possibility that there was something that not even she fully understood about her own existence.

Inside the shared body, Zara observed everything with a mixture of amazement and confusion. Five million years? Memory boxes? How much of the world they knew was really true?

♢♢♢♢

The stairs seemed endless, each step made of the same black metal that predominated in the upper chamber. Elio descended for several minutes until he finally reached an open space.

A colossal door rose before him, its surface engraved with symbols that made his eyes hurt trying to focus on them. On each side, monumental statues of the god and goddess stood like eternal guardians.

Elio extended his hand toward the door, but the god's voice stopped him.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Dionz appeared before him, waving his arms frantically. "Don't touch it! With that miserable level you'd die instantly!"

Elio instinctively stepped back. "What is this place?"

"Ah," Dionz floated near the door, his expression mixing pride and nostalgia. "This is the door that blocks the system's final power. The true power, the perfect combination of god and goddess power." He made a grandiose gesture. "The power that would complete the utopia!"

His eyes shone as he continued. "Or something like that… But it's only for the winner, you know? The true winner. Not like the other nine who barely scratched the game's surface."

He approached Elio, studying him. "This isn't like the book challenges, those are her thing. This..." he pointed to the door with pride, "this I designed myself."

Elio observed the symbols on the door, noticing how they seemed to move when he wasn't looking at them directly. "What's behind it?"

"Oh, many things, many things..." Dionz began floating in circles, but suddenly stopped. "But I need to check some things first. You'll have to wait here for a while."

A noise interrupted his words, Elio's stomach protesting days without food.

"Oh." Dionz blinked, as if just remembering that humans needed to eat. "Right, right. That could be a problem."

With a casual gesture, a small sphere of light floated toward Elio.

"Here, some mana. You can use the statues to buy something to eat. BUT DON'T TOUCH THE DOOR!" He quickly added. "Seriously, you'd die. And it would be very inconvenient having to explain to her why I let her... uh... 'hostage' get roasted."

Before Elio could ask more, Dionz began to fade.

"I'll be back soon! Or not so soon! Time is relative when you're a god!" His laughter echoed as he disappeared completely, leaving Elio alone in the chamber with his rumbling stomach and thousands of unanswered questions.