At first, Benjamin was worried they would be forced to participate in gladiator battles like the ones held in the Colusseum of old, considering the architecture of the place. But it didn't seem like it, even if the stands were filled with blurry figures and silhouettes of humanoid people.
Benjamin narrowed his eyes and looked closer.
His head started aching when he tried to see through the blurriness. But when he stopped doing that, he realized something.
All of the spectators were huge.
They looked human from afar, but even from afar, Benjamin could see their blurry, mostly human silhouettes clearly. He almost thought they were statues like that tall green lady statue holding a torch next to water.
But the figures cheered, talked, and whooped when Benjamin's class entered.
And Tamzi was tall. Tall things could be living people, too.
Benjamin decided to stop questioning it as he followed Leo with his eyes.
After having grabbed Tamzi's attention, it seemed Leo would be the first to…He would be the first. Benjamin wasn't sure what would happen.
Tamzi guided Leo to the front of the class and had him stand on a raised circular stage.
"Then, everyone, without further ado, I present to you, Leo Videll!"
Tamzi spoke to the gods. He didn't pay a lick of attention to Benjamin's class. The members of the class slowly realized they couldn't move or make a sound. They started to panic, but even their ability to panic was restrained.
The gods stirred and talked among themselves with voices Benjamin and the others couldn't understand or hear before eventually, one god spoke out.
Tamzi bowed toward the tall man with fire for hair, beard, eyes, and coat.
"Leo is honored to receive your grace, Lord Pyros."
Leo got to walk back to his class, mightily confused. Next up was Joanna.
She didn't have to stand on the stage for long before a goddess with violet silky robes stood up and spoke with an entrancing voice.
Tamzi bowed toward her.
"No one would dare object, Lady Nesfaria."
After Joanna was Timothy Jenkins, Rydell's right-hand man, childhood friend, and best buddy.
A person covered in armor from head to toe uttered one short word that shut up the rest of the gods.
"Naturally, Lady Allmara."
Next was Rydell.
As soon as he stepped up, the gods burst out in eager chatter and excitement only to fall silent when the god sitting straight ahead in the seat of honor raised a hand.
Tamzi bowed until his head almost touched his shins. He didn't dare say anything presumptuous.
Rydell returned to his classmates, giddy from the stares he felt from the gods and his classmates.
They weren't so foolish they didn't notice the gods' and Tamzi's reactions. The god who had chosen Rydell was a step above the others in rank.
One by one, the rest of the class also stepped up on the stage and, after varying degrees of discussion from the gods, they were all chosen. No god chose the same person twice.
Finally, it was Benjamin's turn. He had been shoved last for obvious reasons.
He walked onto the stage, his heart threatening to beat out of his chest.
He could tell that this was the pivotal moment of his life. It would bring him back up from the darkness of his life on Earth or it would plunge him further into it. He didn't know anything about the gods or where they would go afterward.
But the god that chose him would determine his life ahead.
Benjamin hoped he would get a powerful god.
Benjamin's heart beat so loud that he first thought he couldn't hear the gods murmuring.
But after a moment he realized that wasn't the case.
The gods were silent as they looked at him, their gazes heavier than anything he had ever endured. The looks, mocking, bullying, and jeering at school were nothing in front of the cold and powerful gazes of beings he couldn't comprehend.
The silence continued for what seemed like an eternity for Benjamin. But it was at most a minute or two for the others.
Tamzi cleared his throat.
"It seems we have no takers for this last one. Thank you all for your patience."
Tamzi bowed one last time as the gods, one by one, faded away and disappeared.
When the last god was gone, Tamzi righted himself up and turned around. He gave the frozen Benjamin a cold glance before turning to the rest of the class.
"Congratulations, everyone. You have taken the first step toward life on Arthea. If you have any questions, please be quick. We don't have much time before your time in the Pantheon is up. You are, after all, mortals."
Benjamin heard his classmates buzz and ask the questions on their minds, the doubt and fear from earlier pushed aside by the excitement of the gods and being chosen by them. Most of them had started to accept that, no matter how outlandish it was, their situation was reality.
But no one talked to or even checked on Benjamin, the only one not chosen. It was like he didn't exist anymore. Even Tamzi ignored him.
Eventually, Benjamin snapped out of the shock and confusion and looked at Tamzi.
"What about me?"
Tamzi reluctantly turned to look at Benjamin.
"You weren't chosen by any of the great gods. It happens."
Benjamin frowned.
"Okay? Do I get to go back then since I couldn't fulfill your expectations or needs?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
Benjamin's eyes widened in shock.
"Ridiculous? You kidnapped me, embarrassed me, and now you're saying what? I'm stuck in this place?"
Tamzi frowned as he looked at Benjamin like a barking, spitting chihuahua.
"You are lucky I can't do anything to you for the insolence you just displayed. It is your fortune to have been summoned and your misfortune to have no one choose you. Do not blame me. Accept your fate."
"—!"
Benjamin wanted to protest but Tamzi interrupted him with a clap of his hands as he turned to look at the rest of the class.
"Now, everyone, it's about time you get going. You will all end up in mostly random locations on Arthea. It should be influenced by the gods who chose you, but you will be split up. If you want to reunite soon, you should decide how to do so now. Except for you, Rydell Hanson. You will end up somewhere in the Kiamtar Empire. An envoy should receive you soon after your arrival so just stay put."
Rydell looked a little surprised but accepted it quickly and told his closest crew to just look for the Kiamtar Empire and he would ask the people there to look for them. After that, he walked over to Benjamin with a smug expression.
Benjamin glared at Tamzi for a moment before turning to Rydell with a scowl. Rydell was about to say something, but Benjamin spoke first.
"Shut up and listen to me for once, Rydell. Do you remember about two months ago when I was absent? If you don't remember that, do you remember how your mom was acting strange when you got home? Like, really strange? Yeah, I fucked your mom."
Rydell didn't even have time to react before all of them disappeared in their separate beams of white light.
The beams of white light left the Arthea Pantheon and headed toward Arthea, a vast planet multiple times the size of Earth and covered in lush colors.
Tamzi frowned as one beam seemed to have encountered turbulence. But when he looked, he saw that it was Benjamin's beam. Tamzi shrugged and left the arena.