Ba'al filed in with the rest, intrigued by what they saw. It was like the place had been transported in mid thought, like everyone had been swept away by an Asgard transporter and the building deposited here, as it was. At least there was light, though not in a darkened corner. and besides, you know, the girl that kept generating fire by will. That was still incredibly interesting, and something he would have to inquire into later. Such an ability would be very useful, if not entertaining. Ah, the things he could do with the ability to make fire, and a device that could even bring back the dead....

His attention was distracted by his thoughts though as someone moved in the corner, answering his question somewhat enigmatically, and Ba'al found his grip tightening on his Zat'nik'tel. It was a strange being, like a three dimensional shadow, with a leg crossed, smoking a cigar, and reading the paper. He seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing.

"Hm, I would hazard a guess and say that you are one of the Ascended, but they would never manifest themselves as such, and abduction has never struck me as much the Ori's style. Which leaves the question of who you are really," Ba'al said, half a question, half musing to himself. He winced a bit as the fireball raced out, having learned the hard way what happened when one tried to attack powerful beings such as the Ascended, so he fully expected it to do nothing and pain for the Hok'tar to happen as a result, but seeing more of her abilities, as well as those of their strange abductors, was always welcome.

Vash’s focus on the fiery girl was quickly broken as the shadow-like man in the corner made his presence known. Almost immediately, Vash was on his feet, his eyes sharp and focused as he waited for the man to make his next move. Judging by the man’s words, it was obvious he was the one who brought them all there. He seemed calm about it, but, Vash didn’t want to make any assumptions based on that; just because someone was level-headed didn’t mean they couldn’t easily be a psychopath. In fact, sometimes the level-headed ones were the most dangerous. He stayed still, waiting for more information to come…

…Until a fireball whizzed past him through the air, nearly singing the tips of his blonde locks as it headed straight for the shadow-man.

Vash flinched, not eager to start an all-out fight between them and him, for a variety of reasons. Looking around, he realized Mokou wasn’t the only one whose first thought was to take the violent approach, as Saber seemed about ready to attack, as well. Thankfully Sazh spoke up to talk her out of it. “Yeah, I agree with this guy!” Vash chimed in, pointing to the afro’d gunman. “I mean, we don’t know what other powers this guy has.” he tried to tell the rest of the group. “It’s best we seek answers in a nonviolent way first, riiight?” he smiled nervously.

As the fireball zoomed towards the shadowy entity sitting in the corner of the room, Shiroe had a stricken look on his face. If the person were to die here and now, they would still continue to be in the dark! Just as he was lamenting the fact he was sided with trigger happy hotheads, the man shaped thing stood up and held out a hand. FWOOSH! As the conflagration lit up the darkened corner for a bit like a miniature sun, the shape stood out like a giant sun spot, substantially darker than his surroundings.

Then, a strange thing happened. The dark entity became darker, crossing the threshold of black to a point where the surrounding light itself seemed to become weaker and lost color for a brief moment. Streams of plasma flowed from the ball and into the shape, much like how a drain suctioned water. The fireball halved and halved itself again as it was viciously drained of its energy and then became nothing much a brief whiff of hot air. Nothing was left of the fireball so hastily thrown. It was a black darker and denser than any shade known or experienced so far, unstained by any other color.

"That was rather rude, miss." The figure said as it lightened up back to its blurry shadowy color once more, looking much less substantial after his show of defense. "You could have waited for me to do exposition BEFORE attempting to kill me, you know. That's etiquette in situations such as this." A tutting sound could be heard from its featureless head, as though it was disappointed. "Anyways, as to your questions... I am... well, an entity born from countless dreams and ideals. You can call me the Viewer. As for why I've brought you here..."

It paused for a moment, as if it was trying to figure out an explanation. "I do not know which dream to grant and for whom. Many dream of the end to all wars... while others want an iron handed dictatorship...maybe a luxurious life free from any hardship... often the darkest and bloodiest vengeance against ones who have wronged them... And many more in between... You see, the thing about dreams is that every once in a while, one absolutely MUST come true. And this is just one of many ways for it to happen... Just on a far grander scale than what you all are accustomed to. As of the moment, there are too much conflicts for me to turn desire into reality..." The Viewer explained as it gestured to the wall, which became transparent enough to show the rest of the patchwork city.

"I have granted immeasurable amounts of wishes, and have felt that my existence is finally running out of time. As of the moment, I am nearing the end of my journey..." The Viewer said rather happily. "This means, I will be finally free to rest and not worry about the consequences... And so, I decided to allow myself to be a little selfish after creating so much miracles to the various worlds. I want to see something amazing before I die... Hence, I made this city... Every day, I will create a Trial and you will have to overcome it... Survive long enough and I will give those remaining a single wish, exactly as you imagine it and without any ill intent. Everyone in this City, and there are many others besides just you people, are currently given the same ultimatum. Even if you do not want the wish, you are stuck in this place for a certain amount of time. Now, are there any other questions?" It asked with a chirpy voice, causing Shiroe to rub his eyes in exasperation at what he had just heard.

A small chuckle, came at Sorin's response. "No, I do not consider this hell. It was a quote from a man as he stripped his armor from his body right before my Lord, then threw himself into a pit of molten lava." Though all humor fell from his voice as the dark . . . creature reveled himself and his anger rose as his intentions were stated. "So jump threw hoops and run threw the tunnels till we find the cheese? I suppose you have no intention of letting us refuse you anyways." He kept his voice calm and methodical, magic was useless here the fireball had proved that much.

"I suppose you have some trial for us planned out for today or are you simply going to let us rest for now?" There was no helping the situation till they at least knew what they were up against. "Or do you prefer to give us our mission in person?" All things had a physical manifestation or could be affected by magic and magic properties, and while it was possible they were facing the thing now it was much more likely that this was just a message to be played out the them. He also watched the reactions of those around him he was impressed that most of them were not afraid in the slightest, though he did presume that if they were easier to scare that his form would have done such, but to so willingly take on something they did not understand . . . He could be the most battle tested here but not by much if he was.

The unknown being easily countered the hastily-cast fireball, essentially just as Sorin expected it to. Luckily it didn't take much offense to the provocation, and went on to explain itself and its motivations. All of the talk of "dreams" that this "Viewer" rattled on about was nonsense to Sorin; he was busy trying to piece together what this being actually was, and what it was truly capable of.

The easiest answer was that it was another Planeswalker, but that left much without explanation. Perhaps it once was a Planeswalker, but had managed to ascend beyond that state by some means. Its power was certainly reminiscent of that of Planeswalkers (Sorin included) prior to the Mending. This also tied in how similar this plane was to Dominaria, while being ravaged by the Time Spiral.

Whatever its identity, the Viewer was wasting Sorin's valuable time by involving him with this folly. The Eldrazi were running amok in the Multiverse at that very moment, with Sorin doing nothing to stop them. However, if the Viewer's claims of omnipotent wish-granting were true, this event could introduce an even greater calamity. He couldn't fathom what these other people would do with the nigh-unlimited power offered by this being. In such cases as the System Lord, he was sure that it would not be good.

It was vital that he ensured that no such thing happened, though he first had to ensure that his time was not being wasted. Sorin was the plaything of nothing and no one, and he needed to establish that fact posthaste, in addition to validating the true power of the Viewer.

"Listen to me, you cosmic mockery," Sorin called out, striding boldly forward. "If you do not know how grave an error you have made by disturbing me, allow me to enlighten you. I am Sorin Markov, Prince of All Vampires and Lord of Innistrad. Entire planes have risen and fallen at my word. I shall not be made a fool of by some interplanar jester. Give me a reason that I should not end your pitiful existence here and now."

Saber

The fireball was easily dealt with. However, Saber stood firm, angling the blade of Excalibur wrapped in invisible air even as he explained himself. Dreams... all he spoke of, these were things Saber did not completely understand the relevance of to their situation. He was clearly a being of some power, but Saber was not intimidated. At the very least, the shadow man was answering their questions. And when he came to the subject of wishes...

... Wishes...

This scenario was suddenly all-to-familiar. There was a time that Saber would have grabbed at this opportunity, seized it and pursued it... but that time had passed. She wanted to return. This situation was reminding her far too much of the Holy Grail War, the battle between the seven servants and their seven masters, the purpose for which she had originally been summoned. And this being spoke of trials... what were these trials? Regardless, Saber wanted this to end. So she could return to those she had sworn to protect, for their sake.

"My only wish is to return home," she replied, simply.

Mokou took the dissipation of her fireball surprisingly calmly--that is, she somehow produced dried plant leaves wrapped in pressed, damp wood pulp from her pocket, and set it alight, with the toxic fumes quickly rising into the air as she sucked on the tube. So this guy wanted them to play stupid games? So be it; she'd had to deal with much worse than this. Being stabbed repeatedly, for instance, or blown up. Or spending months racked by hunger pains because she'd left it too long and the pain was too debilitating to function through.

Playing games with a shadow was far from the worst thing that she could imagine doing.

"Eh, fine," the white-haired girl said aloud, looking rather... bored with it all, "Even if these whiners can't be bothered, I have nothing better to do."

With her thumb, she pointed out Sorin and the armoured skeleton thing, "After hundreds of years of wasting time, what's a few weeks? Kaguya won't miss me, and I'll make up for it once we get back. Might even learn a new way to make her scream."

Vash’s eyes widened as he listened to the Viewer’s story. Unlike most of the others in the room, who responded with anger, Vash only gave quiet contemplation. While some demanded to be returned home, the outlaw only crossed his arms and looked down at the ground while he idly tapped the toe of his boot on the floor. Wishes. He could do a lot with just one wish. He could finally see some progress in his quest - and turn Gunsmoke into a place of love, where neighbors didn’t kill neighbors over the most trivial of things. He could see Rem again. He could remove the evil from his brother’s heart and the two of them could be just as close as they used to be… He would have to pick one, but it was clear that any one of those wishes would be well worth it.

“I have a few questions.” Vash spoke up, his voice soft but serious. “Firstly,” he looked up at the Viewer, his eyes sharp and focused but also somewhat solemn - his previous, goofy demeanor completely gone. “Are there any limits or rules as to what we can wish for? Such as limitations in your powers or simply what we’re ‘allowed’ to do?” he asked. "Secondly, what are the nature of these trials? And how many will there be before we can claim our reward?” He paused a moment before asking the last question. "And thirdly, can anyone who completes all the trials claim a wish? Or is it a competition between all of us - with only one winner?"

Ba'al watched on as the figure caught the ball of fire, darkening to a color beyond black as the fireball was divided and drained of energy, seemingly absorbed into the figure or the space around him. Now that, that was impressive. Then he listened, hearing of this thing called the 'Viewer', it's purpose for bringing them here, and what it was and was not. So, not quite an Ascended Being, but still on the same level, if not higher. Still, he offered challenges, competition with others not yet met, and spoke with a wisdom Ba'al himself could respect.

Now then a tantalizing possibility that. A wish, any wish, as he said it and without ill intent. What would Ba'al do with a wish? He could because a God in fact as well as name, a being beyond the Ascended Ancients and the Ori, existing in the mortal realm by his own will and with the worship of the mere mortal humans that he deserved, and the power to cow every competitor. He could wish for the Empire he sought, spanning the galaxy and ruled with an iron fist by his will and desire alone, with fleets, hundreds of planets, and no one to challenge him. He might even have a place for the Tau'ri, his most loyal subjects.That and more. It was quite a conundrum of what to wish fr, but now that it had been offered, Ba'al had a goal to focus on. By hook or by crook, he would win these challenges, and seize his destiny.

He listened to the questions and comments, smirking at Asphyxious, before being surprised by Sorin. Quite a few titles to his credit there, and he could have done a dead ringer for a System Lord, though all impressions gave that his power matched his claims. And he did not seem happy to be here. Well, Ba'al wasn't either, but since there was no way to leave he would go with it. He did listen to Vash's questions and agreed with them, wondering what the answers might tend to be.

On his own though, he knew what he'd say. "Very well then," he replied, hand leaving the handle of his Zat to fold in front of him. "Since you have brought us here already then I suppose I will play this game of yours. After all, a wish is quite a prize."

Sazh was absolutely stunned by the display of power the shadow-man put forth. Sazh knew powerful beings that would rather opt to deflect the blast or just take it and smile, but this 'Viewer' put forth a massive display of power just to get rid of a ball of magic fire. It was easy to assume that he could annihilate any of them here just as easily. Or could he? The l'Cie took note of the greater lacking of translucency that the Viewer had before the use of his powers, which hinted towards him being near the end of his immortality. But he still had enough power to grant one wish of any (and possibly all) the individuals in this room.

It was very tempting, and Sazh was sure most anyone could attest to. Any wish, any scenario, exactly as you imagine it, brought to fruition. The older man definitely knew of at least 3 things he would most ever want like this...

The only catch: to complete all of his trials. This, Sazh couldn't bring himself to agree with. Despite the apparent sincerity of the Viewer's welcoming, his demonstration of such dark, horrifying power seemed to speak volumes to the l'Cie in the other direction. Even if that was what he had been doing for all of his existence, who was to say that there was no some sort of special condition, now that this was the end of him?

The red-cloaked, yellow-spiked guy (the name was something like... Mash? He'd have to ask again later) also brought up some good points. The specifics of to what extent wishes worked and how much they were going to have to do to get a wish granted would end up being pretty vital. Otherwise, most of the people were rather resigned to allow this event to occur.

Except for one person. Sorin Markov, 'Prince of All Vampires and Lord of Innistrad', and supposedly a master of planes (dimensional ones, Sazh presumed after a moment of thought). That man was not just content to refuse, but he had to outright threaten the Viewer's very presence in reality. Good lord, they don't get much more evil than this, Sazh practically shuddered.

"Uh, yeah..." Sazh started, still maintaining a good degree of caution. "How can we trust you? Even if we do clear every 'trial' you have to offer, what's to say you'll hold your end of the deal?" A legitimate question, surely, and the only one Sazh was ultimately worried about. Otherwise, going through all the perilous hoops of a Pulse l'Cie's existence was surely much worse than some 'trials'.

Of course, the old man had been wrong before.

Roughly around that time, somewhere not all that far away, a young man slowly started to regain conciousness. "Urgh... Wait, where am I?," he muttered, obviously confused. A confusion that only grew greater as he looked around. The world around him could only be described as pure chaos, with building and structures of all sorts spread around. Not to mention the fact that he was lying in some kind of cold, white... stuff. "What in the world..." He closed his eyes, trying to recall exactly what had happened. The last thing he'd remembered was steping through the gate, at which point everything went black. "So that would mean... Is this land really Belkhyde?"
-"No, it's not," a voice rang out somewhere extremely close to him, causing the teen to jump up and yelp before remembering the most likely source of said voice.
"Oh, it's you," the young man muttered after recovering from the initial jump scare.
- "No, it's the reincarnation of Lilith. Yes, it's me!"
"Forgive me for forgetting about the fact that my sword-"
-"Azoth!," the namesake sword interrupted his wielder.
"My Azoth can talk. So, anyway... You're saying that this isn't Belkhyde?"
-"Exactly."
"But wait. Wasn't the Belkhyde Gate supposed to be connected to, you know, Belkhyde?," Felt asked, not moving from their landing site just yet.
-"Correct."
"Then why isn't it?"
-"I don't know. Something must have altered the destination."
"But how?"
-"Look, do I look like an encyclopedia to you? Stop asking me all these questions!," the Azoth snapped at Felt. "Besides, you have a mission to fulfill. It doesn't matter how you got here, all that matters is that you get back."
"Bu-," the young man started again anyway before cutting himself off. "Tch, fine. Let's just look around to see if we can find anyone else, shall we?"
-"An excellent idea, master. How did you get so wise?" If sarcasm could kill people, everyone in a one-mile radius would likely be dead now.
"Shut up, sword...", the fresh Alchemist answered before walking off in a random direction, not listening to the objections that the Azoth was -"...not just a sword, but the pinnacle of Alchemy! I'll have you know that no normal sword could ever hope to stand up to me! Even after thousands..."

Some time later, the unlikely duo found a bunch of tracks all leading in the same direction. Seeing as tracks mean humans -- or at least these tracks did -- and meeting humans meant the chance of being able to ask someone where they were, the two set off and followed said tracks, eventually leading into a building which for some reason had its lock dumped on the ground rather than attacked to the door.
"Hm. Guess they went through here," Felt muttered, more to himself than his metallic partner. Of course, said partner answered him anyway.
-"Why, indeed! What great deduction skills you possess!" Felt wisely chose to ignore the Azoth's comment, instead focusing on the wet footprints on the floor leading him to wherever the creators of said footprints were now.
Not long afterwards, they stumbled upon what was most likely the most bizarre collection of humans and humanoids they'd ever laid eyes on. On the other side of the room, a single figure stood, a strange half-transparent figure stood, speaking something about a test. The young Alchemist/Swordsman chose to remain silent for now, instead attempting to listen in and see if he could find out what was going on.

Sleeping in the ground, the ever so confortable, and clueless about her surroundings, Plum Scarlet was having the usual cliche dream, and muttering the usual cliche line "I can't eat anymore." if one was snarky enough and have the knowledge of such cliches would have the possibility to point it out, a few seconds have passed as the blonde, blue eye girl woke up, and the sensation of cold kicked in, and the clothes she was wearing were exactly made for the cold temperature. "Brrr....Who turned the air-con on?" she groggily opened her eyes and noticed that the place she was sleeping wasn't exactly her room, all she saw was the desolate scene of buildings in the cold. "Hey...Aprico, if this is a prank, i'm not finding it funny, don't you have a less harmless game like...a fight?" declared Plum about her definition of 'Safe Game'. She scanned her surroundings, this was definitely not a place close to the Elemental Battle Academy at all, she decided to walk around, using her fire magic to warm herself, checking if she still had her weaponry, a red sword as tall as she is, a gun and a machine-gun, at least, she was armed if she really needed to fight.

From one the top of one the tall buildings, having awakened at nearly the same time as Plum, a 50 years old man was overlooking the scenario, he could say it wasn't that much diferent than his world, but of course, he still didn't had a clue to where he was, he tried to call his Gundam, but with no sucess, not even Fuuinsaki came. "All that remains is to explore this place." He commented to himself as he jumped from the tall building, landing on the ground with safety, not something a normal human would acomplish obviouslly, but aparently, the man known as the Undefeated of the East trained himself through the many Gundam Fights to be able to do such feats, as well as having the realization that the very same fights were destroyed his loved planet, he promised himself that he would wipe out the fools who dared to destroy the very home they live.

Some moments later, he stumbled in the footsteps in the snow, they were still visible and fresh, giving the impression that a group had just passed there recently, he proceeded to follow said footsteps until he met the infamous 'The Oasis', Master Asia did a brief "Hmm." while crossing his arms, he could see some people inside, the old master decided to enter, after all, he had the necessity to know where he was, as he entered the place, it was more full than he expected, seeing a variety of people and the ever mysterious 'Viewer', not knowing what kind of situation was in, he calmly asked. "Excuse me everyone, do any of you know where am i? I am a newcomer of in this place." said Master Asia, hiding the fact that he, the man whose real name was Shuuji Kurosu, had just woke up in this world, because at the moment, it would sound weird to state that fact until he got some real confirmation.

Back to the Flame Magician known as Plum Scarlet, she saw something she would expected to see in the middle of the cold, and the thing was...Miltank "Wow! What does a cute cow is doing in the middle of the cold?" she said in a tone that gave the impression she wasn't all that startled to have awakened in a strange place, after all, Plum Scarlet was always cheerful.

"Ah... so many good questions... Very well, I shall endeavor to answer the majority to the best of my abilities." The shape of a man said, turning its body into a different color to display what the City would look like from a different perspective. It looked much like a giant 3D map with terrain arrangements that should have never existed in nature. Then it zoomed in, dropping down from the clouds towards the geography which in turn grew bigger. After several dizzying twists and turns through both natural and manmade structures, it focused on the group in the hotel, showing them from multiple angles in quick succession. "This City... is a magnet of sorts. Its purpose is meant to pull those with strong ideals, fantasies, and imagination in... since those are the best ways to achieve a wish in the first place... Think of it as a lottery. Even I do not know who will come here... Which adds to the fun.~" It chuckled, before coming back on topic.

"Also, since I do not know where you came from, sending you back before the snap back effect occurs will expend more power than I can give, seeing as the majority is already invested into this contest.Your only choice to free yourself is to either wait for others to be granted your wish and then be forcibly flung back from whence you came by the system I made or join in the game to help those in need... or further your own ambitions. Who knows, this place might be full of opportunities you might not have ever seen on your original worlds...Basically, no matter what, in the end, you will be able to go home. Though not if you die. Then that just means you're dead." The specter said, nodding its head decisively. "So please, do your best to survive."

Sitting down in the chair once more, the Viewer then cleared its colorful self back to its customary darkness and heaved a sigh. "And now, information on the system. The Trials you shall face are 21 in length, each day shall have a different "theme" and "set of guidelines"... Obeying certain restrictions might net you an unexpected reward... and ignoring them might make things harder on you. It is your choice if you want to follow the rules or not, though the former would help I believe. The City itself shall change its very infrastructure and nature to create an entirely different plane to explore for these trials. Any and all spoil of war you obtain from the Trials shall be kept, even when the City reverts back to normal."

"As for the wishes themselves... They nudge possibility of success into a percentage where failure is all but erased. Say for instant that you wish for a loved one to be brought back to life... Events themselves will line themselves up so that said person will be able to indeed be living again... Though I warn you, the broader the wish you make, the more possibilities will branch off than the route you want. In order for you to get the wish you want most, be concise... This is a warning from one who have seen the very worst of such events..."

More events flashed through the space in his body, showing a man who wished to rule the world be assassinated after a day and then his body dragged through the mud. A woman who wished for eternal life now cannot die, no matter how old or painful living got for her as a skin clad skeleton to weak to even move her own body... Various other horrific scenes played out, a grim warning to those that got to eager. It was almost as if the entity felt guilt. It even drooped almost imperceptibly and dimming by a tad. "I am a being who exists primarily to grant wishes... Do not worry. You shall receive a wish once you have cleared my trials... Of that you can be certain. Those of you who make it to the very end... you will be granted your greatest desires... and I shall finally be able attain my own... So please! Do! Your! Best!" It said cheerfully, becoming much more energetic than before, going so far as to wave its hands in grandiose motions.

Shiroe himself was feeling many things. Hope. Caution. Wariness. Happiness. Fear. It swirled within him violently, changing from one emotion to the other so fast he didn't know how he was supposed to feel. If this was true, then he could transport everyone in Thedelsia back to Earth... Or barring that, he could control the new world in such a way that the Landers wouldn't be taken advantage of by both monsters and Adventurers... He sincerely hoped that what he heard was true... and even if it wasn't, then at the very least he could attain power here... power that would be necessary to bring about the best outcome back in the Elder Tales world...

"...I accept your challenges. I will survive and return home. There is too much responsibility for me back in the other world for me to fail here. I will play your game, take each and every advantage I can, and win it. Clean your neck and wait for us, Viewer. We shall be your executioners." The mage said decisively and pointed at the shadowed being, his face set in stone. On the inside, he was so very much nervous as he bluffed. Despite his straight face, his palms were moist with cold sweat and he felt stifling heat blossom in his frame. The deity in front of him simply gave off the feeling that it was pleased, steepling its fingers together under its chin and staring at the group quietly as it waited for more reactions.

That was some terrible immortality, Mokou had to reflect; she was certain that if Eirin was to see it should be wincing at how badly applied it was. It looked kind of like someone had heard about the Hourai Elixir, but forgotten that it stopped you from ageing. Or tried to make it without Kaguya around, leading to a potion that stopped you from dying but absolutely nothing else. Thinking about the Hourai Elixir probably explained her next words, too.

"Yeah, sure; if dying is the worst that can happen then it's got to be more fun than spending a few hundred more years in a forest. It's not like I can die."

He could keep the wish, though. The only thing she could possibly ask for was Kaguya's death--and if the wishes were made by changing possibilities, then he couldn't make that wish come true. Changing possibilities couldn't make the impossible come about.

Vash listened closely to the Viewer’s explanation, but much of what he said seemed to raise more questions than it answered - particularly the fact that the Viewer himself didn’t bring them there and the concept of a “snap-back effect” caught him off guard a bit. Regardless, he allowed the Viewer to continue without interrupting.

As for his question about the wishes, it was clear that the saying “be careful what you wish for” rang very true here. He supposed he should’ve expected as much. In that case, he’d have to think carefully about what wish to ask for, considering the potential side-effects and drawbacks to each wish in order to decide what would be best for Gunsmoke. Additionally, he’d probably have to be very careful in his wording for each wish, too.

In the end, while he still didn’t know much about what to expect from each trial, he saw that there wasn’t much point in backing down, as there was a whole lot to gain and not much to lose. Though, he did worry that one of the trials may require him to take the life of another - and if that were the case, he’d forfeit once he got that far. But, in the meantime, he decided he might as well go for it. “I also accept.” he spoke, stepping forward. “If I have any opportunity to make my home planet a better place then so be it.”

Morito considered the situation very carefully, despite more or less pretending to hide behind others at all the strange displays and powers he'd witnessed shortly before. The good news seemed to be that he was guaranteed a way home no matter what happened here, and really that was his most important goal at the moment. After all, he was a bodyguard who would protect his charge no matter what! Or at least that was what he had promised to be before all of this started. A little thing like being trapped in a strange dimension to play games for an ancient, dying deity wouldn't stop him from keeping that promise in the slightest, as anyone who got in the way of that would find out, the hard way.

As for a wish well...Morito really wasn't sure. He hated to admit it, but he was more the type of person who wanted to make the world better with his own hands, and the Viewer definitely did mention that wishing was dangerous business, as any magic-based exchange of power seemed to be in Morito's experience. It would probably be better and safer just to fight long enough to get home and let someone else have the wish. Preferably not the evil spacelord or the Lich, but somebody else not-totally-evil or selfish.

Thus, when Morito wailed "I'll play..b-but...I-I just wanna go home!~" while in (fake) fear for his life, he actually meant it, though with entirely different emotions.

Nobuo kept silent and followed the others. He had his trust towards Ba'al for now, at least until he confirms his suspicions, but so far, the lich and him haven't set off the Sentai hero in him. Then again, even if it gets set off, how would he be able to transform? Would he assume the Z-Cune would even work?

His mind was distracted when they entered the Oasis. The name didn't set off any warning flags for him, at least not right now. He listened in on Whitney and Nonon chatting, with Nonon claiming the former has something known as...

Eighth Grader Syndrome.

Nobuo had heard of this for a while. A pseudo-mental illness in which children aged fourteen begin to delude themselves into things like having a cursed eye or believing that they are a master of the dark flames. Nobuo tried to think if he was ever 'diagnosed' with it... Possibly. He did lapse into delusions of being a Sentai hero, even to his age of twenty-nine.

He had no time to dwell on it though. The group had arrived into the Oasis and spot a magician. After a scuffle, the magician introduced himself as The Viewer... And how he can grant wishes.

"OOOOOH! I know what my wish is!" Nobuo rushed to the front of the crowd. He hasn't caught the part where he had to work for it though... He had caught the part where the wishes can most certainly than not not be what the wisher wanted, even if he was really smart with the wish. Regardless, this one wish was worth any risk. Any consequence. While the Viewer may not want to hear his wish until after the Trials are done, Nobuo wanted him to hear it regardless.

"My wish is to finally have my wife be in real life! My beloved Aoi-Tan~!" Nobuo said before he began to fantasize about holding Aoi-Tan as a normal human being, in his arms. He was like this for quite a while.

So... Apparently that... being had drawn them in here to play some kind of game of life and death? And whoever won would be granted a wish, whatever they wanted to. Well, Felt already knew what he was going to wish for; the safety and restoration of Eden. Of course, in order to do that, he'd have to win first. Which meant that he might very well have to take the lives of other human beings, all of which were here against their will too. Although their motivations were obviously not known to Felt, he assumed that none of them had any evil in their heart, no matter how ominous some of them looked. Yet, only one of them could get a wish, if the man was telling the truth. Going by the fact that said man had apparently warped the very fabric of reality in order to bring them all here, there was no real reason for Felt to assume otherwise though. As such, there was only one thing he could do...

"I'll do it." the Alchemist walked forward from his lookout spot. "I'll play your game if that's what it takes. One qestion though: You mentioned that this 'game' will take 21 days. Will we actually be gone from our own world for that long? Or will we, when we 'snap back', end up right where we were when we were there?" Although Felt hadn't really expected to solve the mistery of Eden's sudden partial destruction, losing 21 days would not be a good thing either...

Saber

Saber watched in silence. It seemed others had arrived... and the child was frightened. She did her best to give him a comforting smile. So... They could not return until they had completed these trials. Saber could not help but feel irritated. She would be kept from those she had sworn to protect like this? Really? She could not help but feel frustrated... but a new determination grew inside of her. She would reach the end of these trials. She would defend those that needed it. And then she would return home. Once she may have desired a wish, but she did no longer. If it took facing and defeating these trials in order to return home, she would do so. There was no question of it. Truly and completely, this really was the only option.

Her gaze hardened as she looked at the shadowy figure once more, and the blonde gave a firm, decisive nod.

"I will pass these trials, and I will return home."

At last Vash was answered, and Ba'al listened attentively. Interesting, very interesting. How much like an Ancient to bring about the granting of a wish by the alteration of probability itself. With, of course, the aftereffects of reality snapping back to consider, unintended consequences and all. Still, he had enough faith in himself to ride out whatever may happen as a result of his wish. The images that played through the Viewer on his own body didn't help in that regard, but those were fools, without his intellect or deviousness. He would manage.

More interesting though was these trials. Twenty one total, with themes and restrictions. Well, that shouldn't be too hard, and what was a few days in the thousand year lifespan of a Goa'uld? Death was more of a worry, without a sarcophagus to heal his wounds, but as long as it was only his host, he would be fine. He would just need to make sure that a new host was at hand, or else things could end very badly for him. Other than that, he was ready. If he had to kill, then so be it. he would do so without remorse and probably without pity. Whatever challenges came, he could face them.

He stood and listened to the rest of the group, self confidence evident in his posture, if not smugness. They were an amusing bunch, though all accepted in the end. Especially that Nobuo fellow. Then there was the other, the unknown one who has previously been generating fire, though she wasn't doing that now. He was intrigued by what she said, the casual assertion that she had lived for thousands of years and couldn't die to boot. That by itself wasn't incredibly unusual by Goa'uld standards, given Sarcophagus technology that could even bring back the recently deceased, and give them those thousand year long life spans like the one he enjoyed, but if he missed his guess she didn't have access to that. Namely because she didn't have the general signs that extended Sarcophagus use manifested, which either indicated that she had a similar technology without the side effects, or was actually immortal. That was worth some investigation later on, since such a Hok'tar would make a valuable host in the ruling of his future empire, even if she was a female.

Still, it looked like it was time for the master manipulator (As the one Goa'uld to actually understand what the word 'subtlety' meant), to get to business. "I, of course, accept your challenge. This may even be fun."