“She went too early – this isn’t going to go well for any of us.”

Nakkharat sat hunched over a dwindling number of chips, yellow eyes darting around at his fellow immortals. The small man was unable to sit still, as he nervously scratched at patches of scaly skin or shifted at every noise or stray draft. The others were not surprised that he was breaking down; if anything, they were surprised he’d made it this long.

Merodach glanced at his cards, then placed a black chip on top of them and threw a green one into the pot. “Call. It’ll be fine, Nak. She’s right – his reign is over, and there’s nothing he can do to stop it.” He leaned back in his seat, watching his opponents.

Nak was easy. His narrow face, almost non-existent nose, and wide mouth were well controlled, but he would always run his tongue over his thin lips when he had nothing, and the vertical pupils would dilate if he had a hand worth betting. Mero never understood how the Snake could be so bad at hiding his emotions, but he was certainly going to use it.

His eyes slid over to Alozha, who was already looking back at him. He had always like Alozha – his favorite of his fellows, by far – and especially liked how she had found her groove and stuck with it. She was always a woman, always lithe with a narrow waist and broad shoulders, long arms and legs, and long blond hair tinged with green. Everything about her screamed that she would be more comfortable in water, and Mero fondly recalled swimming with her through depths heated by volcanic vents. He wanted to get lost in those memories for a while, but now wasn’t the time.

Across from Alozha, Taurin took a long drag from his hookah, blowing the cloud of smoke up above the table. Taurin was more tolerable than Nak or Erlig, at least, although Mero found him to be far too willing to go along with whatever popular thing was happening, whether that be among the immortals or whatever the humans were doing. Taurin was the most malleable of the immortals, and the one that Mero feared becoming the new supreme. Nak would never be the one, Alozha would probably make dolphins the rulers of the world, while Erlig would simply force battle after battle – Mero could deal with any of those. But he had no idea what Taurin would do at any moment. The only constant about the immortal were his eyes. Larger than most, with no white visible and irises nearly as dark as his pupils, they made even other immortals nervous. Everything else changed regularly – this time, he was short and dense, barely over five feet tall with shoulders over a half yard wide. He had the look of a laborer, muscles formed by long days doing hard work rather than sculpted in a gym. Mero wondered why he took that form – none of them needed to exercise to have any shape they wanted, and he thought that the prevailing fad was low body fat and visible muscles, but he hadn’t exactly been paying a lot of attention recently.

He caught Nak sneering at him, revealing small, sharp teeth. “He hates us all, but he hates her more. He’ll smite her down for this, and we’ll have a free for all worse than when Tiraxis fell.” He looked to the others for support and shrank deeper into his chair when he found none.

Alozha snorted at him, and Taurin drew deep on his hookah again before refocusing on his cards. “I think you fundamentally misunderstand our current leadership, Nakki,” Mero said, internally enjoying Nakkharat bristling at the diminutive but showing nothing. Alozha had called as well, leaving her, Nak, and Mero in for the flop. Mero waved at the deck, and the cards dealt themselves out. Mero ignored them, keeping his focus on the other players. He could tell that Alozha got nothing, while little Nak got just enough to make a play for the pot. Alozha checked, and Nak followed. Mero could see the little man had something and was a bit surprised he didn’t bet it. Strategy, from the snake? He finally glanced at the cards, and thought he saw the answer. Ten and Jack of spades, plus the King of hearts. Nak probably made the nut straight and may be hoping for a straight flush. His own Jack and Ten of hearts were a loser at the moment, so he checked as well.

Taurin leaned back and took another draw from the hookah, then turned to Nak. “Mero’s right,” he said, smoke streaming from his nose. He expelled the rest of the cloud and went on. “The Deist – we’re still calling him that, right?” Mero nodded. “The Deist is as different in mind from us as we are from Tiraxis. Erlig over there,” Taurin pointed at the other person in the room, standing by the floor to ceiling window, “would smite her for the joy of smiting.” Erlig grunted in response, not contradicting the statement. “Alozha would smite her over the way she became next, as would Merodach. You’d smite her over fear that she’d do it to you.” Nak started to protest, but Taurin held up a hand and the little man backed down. “I’d smite her because she’s what the humans would call nuttier than a five-pound fruitcake.

“But the Deist won’t. He won’t seek vengeance – we’ll likely never see him again after his time is done. He doesn’t care that she’s crazy because he thinks we all are. He disdains us. He cares about his creation and his ideas, and is almost certainly staring at Kashmir and contemplating the end.” With that, Taurin leaned back and took another drag on the hookah, and Mero flipped another card. Four of hearts, and the game just got more interesting.

Alozha checked again, and Mero could see she was just waiting to have a bet to fold to. Nak bet this time, putting in a short stack of black chips that represented about a third of what he had left. Mero took a stack and spent a few moments shuffling them – he was going to call, but it always paid to make Nak think something else was going on. Alozha already had her hands on her cards, and tossed them into the pot the moment Mero slid the stack in to call.

Mero waved his hand at the deck, and the last card moved to the center of the table. Jack of clubs, and Nak quickly suppressed a grin. Mero quickly ran the options again – maybe he didn’t have the nut straight at the flop. He couldn’t possibly have two Jacks, since Mero had one of them, taking four of a kind off the table. Worst case was going to be he had the match to Mero’s hand, and they’d split the pot, but he thought the straight was most likely. When Nak went all in, Mero shrugged and called, and Nak flipped his cards to show the Queen and Ace of spades. As he reached for the pot, Mero held his hand out. Confusion crossed Nak’s face – he saw no flushes had been made and was still sure he had the winning hand. When Mero flipped his cards, Nak bared his sharp teeth and looked ready to come over the table at him. Mero stared him down, and the little immortal pushed back from the table. Mero passed the cards over to Alozha and raked in his chips.

Nak walked to the hulking brute standing by the window. Erlig was seven feet tall with the musculature of an Austrian bodybuilder in his prime. He wore tight fitting clothes that emphasized this, although he would claim they were tight to prevent someone from grabbing them in a fight. His jet black, curly hair was cut short, less than an inch long, for the same purported reason. As Nak approached, the man turned his head slightly, dark brown eyes with reddened sclera taking in the little man before he turned back to stare across the city. Nak stood beside him and tried to follow his gaze but had no idea what he was looking at.

After a moment, as the others resumed playing, Erlig said, “It offends me.”

Nak nearly lost control for a moment and cursed Taurin in his head as he demonstrated the exact quality Taurin had called out. He swallowed down a touch of bile, and asked, “What are you looking at?”

Erlig pointed across the city, at a tall tower with a spire reaching even higher towards the sky. Nak began to ask what he meant, then noticed that the arm was tilted ever so slightly up.

“The Stratosphere?” Nak asked, and Erlig grunted. “It offends you?”

“It dares to reach higher than the place of the gods. It offends me. I will tear it down with my own hands.”

Nak had no idea how to respond, so he backed away slowly while waving his hand behind his back at Mero. Erlig’s fists were clenched, and some veins were starting to bulge from his neck, which made Nak speed up his retreat ever so slightly. Mero sighed, tossed what was probably a losing hand anyway into the center of the table, and walked to the window. He saw what Erlig referred to, the spire on top of the Stratosphere that was still higher than the Fountainbleu they were meeting in. “You know that’s just an observation tower, right? No suites up there to relax in?”

Erlig turned and stared at him for a moment, then looked back through the window. “That’s why it offends me. It pretends to grandeur. It claims the sky without being worthy of it. It will serve better as a warning to the mortals of this world when it lies in rubble at their feet – do not aspire to heights beyond your worth, or we shall tear you down.”

Mero tried to come up with a response, but nothing seemed right. He finally settled on saying, “OK, Erlig, do what you gotta do. But before that, how about we gather around and discuss what we came here for?”

“Fine. The tower stays for now, but when our full force is unleashed upon this world, it will be the first to go.”

“Sounds good, man. You do that.” Mero clapped him on the back, and gave him a slight nudge towards the living room of the suite. Erlig headed directly there, and Mero went back to the poker table to round up the others. The suite had ample couches, arranged around a glassed in fireplace merrily burning away natural gas. They each glanced at the TV on in the background, taking in Anastasia and the celebrities, before taking seats. Erlig sat in the loveseat, filling it like an armchair. Mero and Alozha took one couch, and Taurin stared down Nak as he looked to sit with him on another. Nak rolled his eyes, and sat by himself in the recliner.

Mero started, saying, “I appreciate you all joining me. First, let’s get Nak’s concern out of the way. Can we all agree that if the Deist was going to smite her, he’d have done it the moment she proclaimed herself? He wouldn’t have let it go on this long.” Everyone but Nak immediately agreed, and after a few moments, Nak nodded as well. “OK, that’s done. She’s going to be next, and it’s going to be soon.”

“Now, can we also all agree with Taurin’s statement, that she’s crazier than an outhouse rat?”

The others nodded immediately, and Taurin interjected, “I believe I said nuttier than a fruit cake, but close enough.”

“So we can agree that the next supreme being is a loon, but there really isn’t much we can do about that part. What we can do something about, however, is paving the way for the next supreme being. That’s why I’ve asked you all here.”

Taurin scoffed, and said, “You’re as crazy as she is if you think I’m going to support you, Merodach.” The others started to agree, and Mero held up a hand to call for quiet.

“I know that, Taurin, as well as you know that I’m not going to support you, or Erlig, or Nak.” Alozha smiled slightly when she was left off the list, until Mero caught it and looked at her. “Don’t get too smug, Aly – you’d be on the acceptable list for me, but I’m not here to try to coronate you or anyone else.

“I asked your four to join me because I know which of the lesser are sworn to each of you and will follow your vote, and this is the smallest group of marginally acceptable candidates I can come up with that can combine to ensure the vote goes their way.”

Erlig rose from his seat, anger flashing in his eyes, and he half screamed, “Marginally?!”

As Nak shrunk in his seat, Mero rolled his eyes. “Get over yourself, Erlig. You’re not going to intimidate most of us,” he said with a pointed glance at Nak, “and, yeah, marginal. None of us want anyone else to get the power, so anyone else we would even consider supporting is at best ‘marginal’.”

Erlig sat back on the love seat, and Mero continued. “Here’s the deal – if we all vote for the same person, between our votes and our proxies, we can barely win the vote. We have to be united, but we can do it. And I think we all know that the most likely person by far to win otherwise is Colivitio, which would be a disaster for us.” Reluctant agreement came from the others, but Taurin jumped in before Mero could continue.

“What makes you think everyone here is marginally acceptable to the others?” he said. Erlig gave a low growl which none of the others even tried to parse, while Nak nodded along.

“Because I have an idea of what world you would each run, and they are barely compatible enough. One of us gets the nod, and we return to the days of open worship, and powerful mortals working on our behalf. Erlig’s world may be a world of open warfare, Nak’s may be hidden assassins, and Alozha’s may be massive pirate fleets battling for supremacy. While I wouldn’t choose those worlds, I can thrive in them, as can all of us. We can put the worlds of the Deist and the Martyr well behind us and get back to something closer to the Pantheist’s reign.” Taurin considered this, then nodded.

Nak spoke up next. “Great, we’d all be happier if one of us was in charge. So what? Doesn’t change that I’d be much happier if I was in charge, so if you’re not here to convince everyone else to support me, none of that matters.”

Mero smiled at him. “Of course not,” he said. “Frankly, Nak, you’re the most marginal of the group, but you’ve manipulated yourself into having a pretty large group of proxies.” The snake sneered at him but said nothing else. “Anything else, Nak? Alozha, Erlig? Let’s get this out before I make the proposal.”

Nak shook his head, and Erlig grunted. Alozha looked around at each of the others before speaking. “You know me, Mero, and I know you. I think you know neither of us would be truly happy in each other’s worlds, though I do look fondly on our time in the depths.”

“None of us will be truly happy in anyone else’s world, Aly – I think we’ve all had that demonstrated to us over and over again. Happier is the watchword here, and I’d rather ensure someone I can live with makes it rather than go through Colivitio.

“Fair enough base to start discussions?” the others nodded, and Mero began his proposal. “Let’s see if we have some more points of consensus. As I see it, our new overlord’s reign is likely to be the shortest we’ve ever had. As we’ve said before, she’s not running on all cylinders –“

“Bats in her belfry.”

“Nuttier than squirrel shit.”

“Crazy as a bag of cats.”

“Looney as a dollar coin.”

Everyone stopped and stared at Nak. He looked around at the others, and said, “What?”

Mero got his voice back first, saying, “Looney as a dollar coin? What the hell is that?”

“You know, Canadian dollar coin? Has a loon on it.”

The others continued to stare at him, and Mero sighed deeply, muttering under his breath that he should have invited Aljir and Huaron instead. “OK, enough. We agree she is mentally unstable. She doesn’t have the ability to plan ahead, so this whole thing will come crashing down sooner, rather than later. We have to have whoever is next established before that happens in order to avoid another succession battle.”

“You’re dancing around why you want us to be together, Mero,” Taurin said. “Get to it.”

“I’d have told you five minutes ago if you would all just shut up and let me finish!” Mero was shouting by the end, and had to clench his fists to calm himself down. “Here’s what I propose, and why I asked you to meet in Vegas – a wager between us, with the claim to being the next Supreme Being as the prize.”

Erlig stood and glared down at Mero. “I do not play your games, Mero. They hold no interest for me. I will conquer on my own, starting with the offensive tower.”

Mero held up his hand again, and said, “You misunderstand. I do not wish to play a casino game or a card game for it. I propose that we each develop our own piece of the world, grow our own armies – or navies, if you prefer,” he said with a nod to Alozha, “and let the spoils go to the victor.”

Erlig stopped and stared at Mero for a moment, then sat down. “Proceed.”

Mero  pointed at the TV, and the sound suddenly came on. Rita was saying something about stars that he ignored, but it was enough to call everyone’s attention to the screen. He glanced at the clock, and realized the time had grown close. “I’ve spoken with Anastasia recently, and it will be chaos. Like I said, no ability to plan, which means we can make some plans of our own. We will not be shut down like we were under the Deist or the Martyr – we will be able to remake the world as we will as long as she doesn’t stop us. I want us to each take a piece of this world and build it in the image of what we want. When it becomes clear that Anastasia will fall, we unleash them upon each other. Winner take all, and we all agree to support them in the vote.”

Erlig grinned from ear to ear, and Alozha had a far-off look in her eye. Nak was twitchy, but Mero could tell that he was rolling it around in his mind and was confident the snake would conclude it was his best chance at ever ruling. But Taurin gave away nothing – had he shown this kind of poker face at the table, Mero wouldn’t have had most of the chips. Mero locked eyes with him, hoping for a better read, but nothing was coming.

Finally, after a drawn out few seconds, Taurin nodded slightly. “I’m not convinced, but I’m not saying no, yet.”

“Fair enough,” Mero said. He looked back up at the TV, and saw Johnny calling for a commercial break. “Before we go on, let’s watch for a bit. It may answer some questions.”