Delilah Pov:


    Delilah or Deli as she was called by those who knew her., had always been the outgoing one in her siblings. She had a large group of friends. She was a minor celebrity in her own right. Her accounts had many followers and she always had done well in everything but she was cursed with a high-achieving family. Mother and father aside, Her big brother Mark was studying hard and was a genius in his own right. Mark’s company was always enjoyable. He was smart and funny and tried to be there for them. She liked him the most of her siblings. Of course, there was not much competition when the other person was Elijah, the genius of the family. He was cold, great at math, and seemed a little condescending. He was eccentric, spent a lot of time alone, and except dinners you would not see him any other time. The one time, she went to his room, she did not want to go back there ever again. The times he spoke, it was always depressing and objective. Anytime a personal issue was the topic, he would make a depressing psychological analysis of it. He had an opinion about everything. Her parents may have missed his depression because of their busy schedule and lack of care but she had noticed. Because of these even though she was not that close to him, she knew something was off when he talked of the game in such a positive vibe. She maybe was not the mathematic genius but she was sure of two things one he had lied, and two she was going to find out why. When she saw the face Mike was making he knew he was planning on surprising Elijah inthe game. She herself wanted to do so. She was planning to play too. Surprisingly, their parents bought each of them a gaming cabin. At first, she wondered is this a bribe to spend time with Elijah. She wished she could watch his game play. It would be easier than getting him in game. She suddenly had an idea.


    Mike’s Pov:


    Mike was so busy with his coursework that he had spent little time with his siblings lately. He had come through and now he wanted to spend more time with Delilah and Elijah if he could. He liked them both, though admittedly sometimes Elijah could be a dick. He was concerned when he was diagnosed with depression. He wanted to see how he was doing. When he had come home and realized he was playing Holy Wars, he was intrigued. His father and mother had been wanting to invest in a pro game team for a while. A modern family business, they called it. They told him about Holy Wars before it had come out. They said it would be the game they were planning on investing the most. They said it would be good if he had an account in it.


    His father had actually said it was good the psychologist recommended it to Elijah. His mother seemed to agree. She told him If she had done it herself he would have made a big deal of her using her children for her business agendas.


    He was curious how had Elijah taken the game. He was not expecting he would describe it so excitedly. He planned on creating an account and surprised Elijah when Delilah came to him.


    “Mike are you planning on surprising Elijah in-game”


    “I did, he spoke like he liked it very much. It was so unlike him”


    “That is because he was lying.”


    “Hey, hey, I know he is a cold bastard but he does not lie,” he said jokingly.


    “You are always telling me to treat him nicely then you go and say he is a cold bastard. You have serious double standards. Anyway it is true he is not a liar but this time he was pretending Why don’t we bet”


    “Fine, you win. However, how do you want to determine the result of this bet”


    “I had an idea, I don’t think he has changed the permission yet. We can watch his gaming feed through home AI”


    And so they did. Mike and Delilah both entered the movie room. Letting home AI sort through the gaming feeds. Philemon had even made it easier. The game AI itself helped the game feeds be clear and it could easily be made into a movie. In some games they allowed the game feed to be restricted and sold to a company or them. It was a lucrative source of money for them. Holy Wars was going to be one of them. It was clear because there were restricted game feeds named stellar scenes. If a player reached a contract with a third company Philemon would take a cut from the deal.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    “Hello Mike, Hello Deli, What do you want to watch today”


    “We want to watch the gaming feed of our brother Elijah”


    “Looking for permission. It is granted. Would like a movie made from stellar parts. Sure”


    They did not know but they were in for the full experience, a complete movie. As they watched the hour-long movie, Elijah would be making the climax and final part before he logged out and slept.


    The first thing that surprised them was the name of the stellar movie and his character''s name.


    “How is this even be pronounced?” said Deli


    “I have no idea let''s ask home AI ” answered Mike. He had anticipated some sort of strangeness but this was too much.


    “What is this creature, what does it mean that he rose from 26 centuries, why is this fucked up creature even the soul of the outer gods. If he is their soul how ugly they could be?” said Deli while looking disgusted but strangely intrigued


    “I am more intrigued by the fact that this novel has an entire imaginary pantheon and why would my brother like this” said Mike already tired from thinking of future surprises.


    Then they watched him reading books and the scene where he found the magic circle was given a suitable ominous tone.


    “Typical Elijah,” They both said.


    “Why would it show a magic circle” wondered Deli


    “I don’t like where it is going but unfortunately I know how his mind works. I can guess, he probably used a modeling program to complete the magic circle diagram. He does not like incomplete things, I am surprised he is not diagnosed with OCD” said Mike absolutely resigned to the fact he was going to lose the bet.


    “He can’t do that, I refuse to believe he is that insane. It is just a game. Nobody, even him would spend money and time on this. Plus he had to remember the magic circle from the game he could not have copy pasted” said Deli


    “If I am right, will you call off the bet” said Mike


    “Sure,” said Deli in absolute confidence.


    As Mike was reveling in not losing the bet. The movie began. They watched as he carved symbols and prepared the scene. They watched as he used the dream skill but something was different. In Holy Wars you could watch the dream you create but Elijah had watched none of them. He only imagined them. The only dream he experienced was the one he entered himself. Stellar scenes showed inside dreams as well. Important ones in this movie were chosen by home AI.


    “Oh my God, a witch hunt,” said Delilah a little scared of where it was going


    “The bet is off, I did not lose,” said Mike as he turned on the adult filter while watching the village destruction dream.


    “It is a dream, he may not have done that,” said Delilah but not with much confidence


    Strangely despite the fact both of them knew where it was heading they also were a bit intrigued. Except for stellar scenes, you could share other scenes as you like. Even stellar scenes had the option of creating a trailer for marketing. They had watched other people create videos of the game, even if it was a few days out. However, none of them had played the game like Elijah.


    They watched Elisa’s dream and the witch hunt.


    “Don’t you think it is a little unethical to give a little girl nightmares,” said Deli knowing how worse it could look with adult filter off. That was the reason she chose not to protest against her brother''s child treatment.


    “I don’t think so, they are NPCs. They do not have self-awareness. Although I agree it does not look great. I am a little worried about him” said Mike in thought.


    His thoughts were all over the place. He thought his parents'' plan was ruined, his brother was probably on the opposite camp of the team if there was one. He thought that would this worsen his brother''s depression rather than make it better. He had a guilty thought as well would it be so bad if he played evil too? Elijah seemed to be having fun especially the smirk was hard to forget. He was apparently not lying about the fun part. He just forgot to mention he liked playing as an evil mastermind.


    They watched as the dramatic talk to Ka and his rescue. They watched as Ka summoned a demon. The AI had kept a bit of whisper so Ka’s insanity was intense. As the girl and his father left the village the movie ended with the chronicle.


    They were speechless. Though for different reasons. While Deli was working on figuring out his brother''s mind, Mike had a changed mindset. He had seen his brother had risen as an evil god. If the evil gods had a camp. It could be a lucrative theme to make it their official theme. Even though they were not part of the pro team, they could be a family team that earns the same from the unique theme.


    “Hey what do you think if we play evil too, Deli” suggested Mike


    “Why? Not that I am not in but why?”


    “Simple, Unique theme, fun, and joining him on his next plot,” he said the last part pointing at the screen.


    “I see. I could even attract more followers with such a theme. It is a little edgy but doable. It would be good if we were the first evil gods but why do you think he has more of these horrible scenarios” said Deli


    “Look, Deli. This game is from Philemon it is bound to be pro. It would be fine if he did not like it. He would play and throw it away, but he was laughing, facing moral conundrums and planning. He would never throw those away. So the first time he encounters pro gamers. Something will happen. Pray he does not find a way around the system to drive the enemy players insane. Deli did you read the whisper description? It was said a character, not a none player character?” said Mike


    “Wait you mean those fucked up whispers are allowed to be heard by the player?!!!” said Deli


    “I guess it was some sort of messaging. Though I guess the AI would intervene. It does not change the fact. Theoretically, it is possible”


    “Oh my god, I am in,” said Deli


    “What do you want to play? I searched a bit, and I like a plague doctor-themed character” said Mike


    Deli was wondering why Mike seemed to be enjoying it. She had a weird family but it was okay. Since she was weird too.


    “I am going to play a character from his novel. I searched Nyarlathotep is brothers with Darkness and The Nameless Mist. I plan to play Darkness as an evil goddess but name myself Nyx, why don’t you use Mist as your plague doctor-themed character to go with the theme too ”


    “That is a great idea, not only we are evil god themed but we have a unique theme ourselves too”