The roads were jammed with people trying to get to Mass on time, typical for our church, it was quite popular. Thankfully, the church itself is built right over the train station, so all we had to do was make it to the nearest station and ride our way in. Zack and I were dressed in yellow and black, our Sunday best, with only a few hours between us and the start of the night. While the roads may have been jammed, the trains felt deserted, almost as if people were beginning to worship other deities. Heresy… nonetheless, there is only one true God, the Brown Bear, leading us towards greatness.

I stop pondering the wonders of our religion and begin conversing with the other devout around. The train leads us to our watering hole like thirsty animals, and we are more than eager to gulp it down. The ride was smooth with few stops, picking up others as we went along, but eventually it was time to take our first steps in the holy land. Up the stairs and out onto the street, it had finally come into sight: The Garden. Our home for the next few hours of worship. Only one holy road was between us from the church of hockey, and Mass was about to start. 

Hundreds of devotees flocked into the building, the booming priest filling the streets, alerting all who were nearby of the joy coming from the building. Herded into the building, we flocked like the other sheep to our designated pens. Some spent thousands of dollars to get as close as they could to the altar, but we did not have that kind of money to spend, so our seat in the rafters would have to do. Our view was perfect; we had a divine view of the ice below us, and we were right behind our guests' goal. It gave us the perfect opportunity to watch the sacrifice that was to occur during Mass. Other devotees slowly began to surround us, and not just the kind that worshiped our lovely Brown Bears; some worshiped false deities that happened to be visiting our church that day. As was tradition, these deities competed to see who was more worthy of their position in the hierarchy. Today we were here to see a match between the Bears and Cats, and blood was sure to be shed. 

Bells sounded, and Mass was to begin. The typical starting hymn was sung by every devotee, no matter who they were there to worship, and everyone was then quickly moved to the edge of their seats. More hymns and songs were played, each known to heart by their respective devotees. The notes rang throughout the church, filling us all to the brim with spiritual energy; we were proud to worship our Bears, and we were ready to let the strays know. 

Now, sometimes in the church, we do transfer some of our deities to other churches, and for the first time in a long time, we transferred some of our most worshipped deities. This made us devotees nervous; would we remain in our position in the hierarchy, or would we be barred from Olympus? Our glorious Rat King, our glorious pope trained to lead the others, was one of many that we had sent away, to the Cats, no less. This filled many with skepticism, yet we knew we must hold out hope that we could remain at the top. 

After the first twenty minutes of Mass, skepticism began to swarm within us yet again; the Cats had scored against us, while we were unable to find any ground to gain. We were allotted our first of two ten-minute breaks, during which Zack and I were able to buy some refreshments. We knew nobody around us, yet the shared energy amongst the worshipers radiated throughout our temple. Some, intoxicated but still praising all to their Gods. Some newly baptised Children of the Bears began to ask us a few questions about our service. As I was born into our glorious church, I knew much about the religion and was able to give many an insightful look into our worship. The lovely intoxicated couple had also complimented me on my worship, as I am very invested in achieving Valhalla with my gods, I tend to make comments about how the Mass itself is going. 

Our first designated break had quickly come to an end, and the next twenty minutes of Mass were ready to begin. All of the deities readily appeared on cue and were once again ready to begin reverence. These next twenty minutes were filled with nothing significant in the communion itself; however, from the devotees, we were full of life and were ready to show our Gods that we were ready for the action. The bloodshed was nearing; it was now just a question of whose blood would begin pouring. 

The final break mirrored the prior and passed fairly quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the final twenty minutes were upon us. This was our last chance to help our Creators reach Elysium. Finally, they heard our prayers. One point quickly appeared in our favor, with our representative, Pasta, to thank. He is our new head deity, and typically is the one to answer our prayers. Suddenly, the church became very tense; each side's devotees knew that this had suddenly become more serious. We were tied, and the heat rose through the room. No one wanted their paragons to fall down in the depths…that was always the worst outcome. 

A second point appeared in our favor, the church moved beneath our feet as thousands of us were moved to jump, dance, and cheer. Our Vibrant Divinity completed his job, and the Cats' blood was finally beginning to shed. Unfortunately, we were quickly answered, and the race was tied, back to an equal amount of red ice. No one a step closer than the other to Ascension. 

We knew we needed a miracle, with only five minutes left before we went to an extended Mass, prayers needed to be sent harder. The organ picked up the pace with hymns, the crowd outputting energy equivalent to the horn of the angels. It was time to finish this. 

We sang our hymns, sent our prayers, and watched as the tiny black Eucharist slid back and forth across the chancel. When, finally, the holy light shone in our favor, the shot had appeared to Supreme Being Zacha as if guided by the heavens themselves. They had done it, they had won. Finally, we would be the ones to achieve divinity; the Cats had been sacrificed. We roared and we cheered like the animals we were, our victory hymn playing under our celebration.

Slowly, we began to clear out of the church; they had to prepare for other services and sacrifices, plus, we weren't the only ones to use the place for worship. Still on a high of our newly grasped sanctitude, it felt good to send the false Gods out of our home, considering how we were sacrificed the last time. Back on the train we went, this time packed full of other devotees sharing the same euphoric feeling from church. Traveling away from the service, we knew now, more than ever, thoughts and prayers would be needed to truly achieve Heaven, but we didn’t go down without a fight. It was time to reach the pearly gates.