She dropped to her hands and knees, clawing through the loam. The soil was warm, almost feverish. Her fingers touched something hard—a stone? No. A skull. Small, birdlike, with a single seed wedged in its eye socket.

The ringing stopped.

“The bet is settled,” it said. “You lost nothing. You won nothing. But the game recorded you.”

“The game is Earth and Fire,” the figure said. “You play for the bell.”

“You opened the bet,” said a voice like gravel rolling uphill.