Christopher was floating through empty space, surrounded by brilliant multicolored swirls of light. He felt serene and rested in that vast expanse.
It did not last, a sudden lurch interrupted the serene monotony. His consciousness returned from his existence among the dust of stars. As he slowly opened his eyes, that timeless experience was already slipping away, as if nothing but a strange dream.
‘Hmm, it's awfully bright in here,’ Christopher thought, squinting as his eyes adjusted.
‘Wait, this isn't my room! Where the hell am I?’ He gave his mind some time to fill in the gaps, but it seemed unable to bring him clarity. Christopher had experienced brief disorientation upon waking in unfamiliar places before, but his memories always quickly snapped back. This time, clarity eluded him.
‘Wait, is this room not rather strange?’
He was surrounded by smooth white walls, so spotless they were almost otherworldly. His heart began to pound within his chest.
Christopher looked down at himself and let out a startled yelp at the sight. He was completely naked! ‘What the hell was going on! And why are there no sheets?’ He flew into a sitting position with a panic. He had been lying on the floor, which somehow had conformed completely to his body. He had never seen anything like it.
‘Where the hell am I, is this some kind of hospital?’ He suddenly had a realization that sent a shiver down his spine, where the hell was the door? The room consisted entirely of those perfectly white walls. It seemed those walls provided a very gentle glow throughout the room. ‘What kind of nightmare is this?’ It certainly did not feel like a dream. He took a deep and calming breath before standing up.
The floor felt pleasantly warm to the touch of his bare feet. Touching the wall, he felt the same warmth.
A female voice, smooth but without inflection, suddenly filled the room, startling him half to death.
“Greetings occupant of room #1138, this is the automated response system of room #1138. My systems are detecting that you are currently in distress. There is no need to worry, your soul is currently very safe.”
He did a double take. ‘My what now?’
The voice continued. "I regret to inform you that your original body ceased to function an indeterminable time ago on your planet of origins. You have been summoned by the administrator of world HL83077602, to prevent the imminent extinction of the souls on world HL83077602. You have the option to refuse the summon and move on to the Beyond. No gains can be acquired from this summon, and no penalty will be suffered if you reject the summon."
Christopher listened to it all with disbelief. ‘What in the ever-living fuck! Was he just told that he had died!?’
“No soul points have been sponsored. No Items have been sponsored. Two skills have been sponsored. Your Soul has been given the unique skill of [Bookmark]. Your current status can be viewed on the Character interface.”
You have a choice. in exactly 28 minutes and 12 seconds, you can either be summoned to world HL 83077602 to prevent the incoming extinction of all it’s Souls, or your soul can move on to the Beyond. This system is available for additional questioning."
He was so dumbfounded for a minute that he was unable to speak. ‘Skills? A different world? This is wild.’ he thought
“I have died?”, he stammered eventually, somehow believing that it was true. His dream had mostly slipped away by now, but he could still feel that something strange had happened.. “what happened to me”
"Correct. Your previous body ceased to exist an indeterminable time ago. There are no records of the circumstances of you previous life or the details of your death. Your body was reconstructed to conform to your Souls self-image."
Looking at his own hands, Christopher felt strangely calm, very much feeling like himself. He did not seem to be in immediate danger, and this was all kind of interesting in a sense, as long as he did not think about things on an existential level.
Christopher considered for a moment whether there might be a more ordinary explanation of what was currently happening? He considered whether this was some kind of elaborate and expensive prank, some kind of mental delusion, or even a dream. He felt convinced that it was real though.
“Where is this place?” he asked.
“You are currently in a dimensional waiting area that has automatically adapted to fit your comprehension levels.”
‘In that case, they should have added a door and some furniture.’ Christopher thought wryly.
“You said you are an automated response system, Are you alive? Do you have some kind of self-awareness?”
“The function of this system is to monitor the summoned soul’s condition, give souls vital information, and to answer any questions that the soul might have. This program does not contain any functions beyond these parameters”
Sounded like some kind of AI program, and certainly an advanced one. Besides the lack of emotion, he would not have guessed he was talking to a program.
“Why was I summoned to this place, is there a particular reason why I was chosen to come here?”
“The administrator of this world used their last remaining creation force to gather 50.000 wandering souls and to provide them with skills. This was done in order to aid the population of world HL83077602 in combating the forces of Entropy
“Wait! There are 50.000 others like me? And what are these forces of Entropy? Also, who is this administrator that supposedly gathered my Soul?” Christopher worried that he might have asked too many questions at once, but the pleasant voice dutifully answered.
“Correct, of the 50.000 gathered souls, 14.265 have already left the scenario at this point due to mental distress beyond the set parameters, or due to their own choice. The portion of the remaining 35.735 souls that will decide to come to the aid of this world, will be summoned all over the planet in exactly 22 minutes and 36 seconds.
What the hell, 50.000 people just like him? And so many people had already left. Apparently, they lost it so completely that they had been sent to the beyond? To be fair, he had freaked out a bit himself in the beginning.
“To answer your second question. Entropy is the force of the universe that opposes the force of creation. Just like the world administrators, it has limits to the power it can use to affect worlds. In this world, the forces of entropy have gained an almost insurmountable advantage after a war that has waged for millennia.”
Entropy, he was somewhat familiar with that term. On earth, he believed that this word was used to describe the general trend of the universe toward death and disorder. He had heard from a documentary that with enough time everything in the universe would eventually reach that fate.
“To answer your third question. In a last-ditch effort to fight the forces of entropy, the Administrator has used almost all their remaining Creation Force to gather the 50.000 souls to fight against Entropy. The situation is now mostly out of their control.”
“why not pick souls from their own world instead of random souls from other worlds?”
“Finding souls is not something that is easy to do. Most souls immediately pass on to the beyond. A very small fraction of souls, for unclear reasons, do not immediately move on and start to wander through the dimension neighboring the beyond. Those are assisted and given the option of either offering their services to a world in need or if they choose, are helped to pass through to the beyond.”
“So that means that I am such a wandering soul?”
“Correct”
Good grief, was he some kind of haunting ghost, roaming through that strange dimension? Wait, had his dream not been related to this? Why did he not just pass on as he should have? The details of his end were very hazy and confusing. Had something happened to stop him from reaching the Beyond, or was he just really stupid?
“What is the Beyond like. What would my life be like there, will I get a body to move in?”
“It is impossible for any matter or information to pass out of the Beyond, it can only enter. That means that this question cannot be answered.”
Interesting, that kind of made Christopher think of a black hole, from which not even light was able to escape. The lack of information would make it impossible to make a truly informed decision.
“What is the world like that I would be helping?” He wondered how it was different from earth.
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“Status of world HL83077602 is unavailable.”
‘What! Why?’ They really seemed to want to thrust him into a situation that was completely unknown to him. Did this program really not know anything? Christopher wondered if he could even trust this program. Was he going to be dealing with a world similar to his own, or was the world more or less advanced than earth?
“Wait, are there even humans here!” his mind conjured some scary and strange looking alien beings.
“The intelligent beings on this planet share a human or a human-like biology.” Well, that was kind of a relief, he was not sure he could have coped with the shock of dealing with intelligent tentacle creatures.
“There are currently 17 minutes and 46 seconds remaining until the start of the transfer. please open your interface to receive the necessary explanation.”
“Where is the interface?” Christopher asked in confusion.
“To open the interface, just concentrate on the desire to open it. The console interface automatically adapts to your consciousness and should present as something familiar to you. There will be a representation of your status and your current number of soul points. The interface will give you information on your skills, soul-bound items, and attributes. A store is available that offers abilities and items that can be purchased with soul points. navigating is both possible with your mind and by gesturing.”
Well, he better try it then. As soon as he concentrated, The overlay of the interface seemed to project on his retina. It reminded him of AR devices back on earth, but this time without the clunky headset. The status screen floated in front of his eyes.
The interface looked familiar enough. It somewhat looked like a game menu. A live model of his own face stared back at him from the screen, which somewhat freaked him out. He sported a head full of black hair, a decent jawline and piercing green eyes. A number of clothing slots surrounded his body, all of them empty at the moment. This corresponded to his current state of undress. To the left of his body was his name, number of Soul Points, and a unique skill called [Bookmark]. He was curious about this unique ability and so he concentrated on the floating skill text. A new screen popped out almost immediately.
image [https://i.imgur.com/hpdn8Y5.png]
Fascinated, Christopher looked over the skill. He quickly realized that it was kind of incredible. This [Bookmark] skill basically allowed him to travel back to the past, to the time and location where he had last placed it. ‘This seems kind of broken.’ And best of all was that he would keep all of his skills, stats, Soul Points, and Soul Bound items as well. He realized that he might even escape certain death this way. He would just have to use the skill right before he was about to be killed.
He wondered what the dangers were for him. Thinking about it, this certainly did not mean that he would be invincible. Once he used it, he would be unable to use the skill for 24 hours, making the skill useless during that time. And what if he died quickly before being able to see it coming. He could be poisoned, assassinated, killed in his sleep. What if he was rendered unable to speak? Clearly, it would not make him safe.
‘I wonder what kind of abilities the other summoned have.’ He doubted many could match his unique [Bookmark] skill, but there was no way to know.
He suddenly had a realization.
“Place bookmark” he pretty much yelled into the strange room, his words slightly echoing of the walls. A message window instantly popped up on his retina.
[ Skill cannot be used in this area]
Christopher inwardly cursed. Apparently, they did not want him to go back quite this far with [Bookmark]. It would have been a great opportunity to get back here to ask more questions. Even though the system was severely constrained in what it could answer, he still worried that he would miss some vital information.
He continued looking through the interface, quickly making his way through the available menus, aware that he was pressed for time. There were sections pertaining to his Character status, inventory, skills, and the store. As he was cycling through, he received his first hint at the kind of world he would encounter.
When he took a glance at the available weapons, he did not find advanced weaponry, but an array of much more primitive weapons like swords, daggers, and spears. However even the more mundane options looked rather fantastical, and there were some strange objects in the store as well.
There was something called an Obsidian Soul Staff, which looked like a black shimmering sphere enclosed within a metal pole. Did this appearance and name suggest the existence of some type of magic? Why else would such an item be classified as a weapon? The possibility of magic or some equivalent did excite him.
Christopher forced himself to look away. The time he would remain here was short, he would look at everything in more detail once he left this place. He had gotten excited as if this was all a game for a moment, but he should not take this situation too lightly. He closed the interface.
“How do I earn the Soul Points that will allow me to purchase items and skills from the store?”
“Any action by you that will weaken the forces of entropy, or strengthen the forces of creation will lead to you generating soul points within the Interface. The number of points will be determined by the degree of the change. The interface is bound to your Soul.“
The fact that the Interface was able to monitor and perform such a function suggested quite some power behind the system. He wondered if earning Soul Points would be as simple as killing some kind of soldier of Entropy. There being some tangible enemy would at least make things more straightforward.
“There are 8 minutes and 6 seconds remaining until the start of the transfer.”
“There are a few more things that should be explained before a choice is made. You are required to adapt to the world around you. Your actions are expected to fit that of a person that lives in the target world. Any actions or conversation outside of the probability of this world will be met by an intense flare of pain.”
‘Well, isn’t that just lovely.’ Now they were placing constraints on him as well. It made some sense. Maybe it was just a rule to balance creation and entropy, but it would also be problematic to contaminate this world with countless alien cultures and inventions. Christopher was far from an engineer, so he doubted that he could recreate much anyway. They probably also didn’t want him and the others to spread some off-world religions.
‘Wait, then how am I supposed to get in contact with any other summoned?’ If we are all compelled to blend in, then how are we supposed to recognize each other?
“Realize that suffering that is tied to living, both physical and mental is also present on world HL83077602. You might face hunger, sickness, the loss of ones you care about, and face a violent death at the hands of the forces of Entropy. Please do not make your choice between being summoned or the Beyond lightly. Once you enter world HL83077602, there is no way to the beyond until after your own dead.”
‘Good God, they better not put this program in charge of making the brochure.’
“The potential suffering is clearly great, why ask Souls to do this, won't these people still have their souls, even if they are all wiped out?”
“This world is what is termed a soul factory, meaning that it is a very precious place that is able to bring new souls into the universe. If the forces of creation are defeated here, this place will never produce new souls again. The number of worlds that are able to create new souls is ever-dwindling due to the forces of entropy. It is unclear how many billions or trillions of future souls will never be born if this world were to be lost.”
That made a lot of sense, and it did indeed seem like a monumental loss. So his mission would be to prevent the loss of such a precious Soul Factory and the potential held within.
“If I decline this offer, would it be possible to summon someone else in my place?”
Christopher knew this would certainly be a cowardly move, but he was also having sincere doubts about his qualifications for this undertaking. He was pretty average in many aspects of his life. He was nothing special in sports, only studied to the extent that he needed to pass his exams. In the end, he was just a simple University student, with plenty of problems to boot. Could he really be counted on for something so important? He felt the weight of responsibility already.
“The Creation force has already been spent on collecting the souls and assigning skills and items. Any of the 50.000 summoned souls choosing to depart for the beyond, as well as their accompanying skills, can no longer be replaced. Neither can the Creation force be returned to the administrator.”
‘Damn.’ Well, that just about made the decision for him. He would feel quite guilty to be the one to call it quits now. He might have doubts about his qualifications, but there was no better option available. Also, despite knowing that this world was having serious issues, the thought of visiting a new world and to experience new things was making him somewhat excited. He was simply going to give it his best try.
“four minutes and sixteen seconds remain until the start of the transfer. Please try to reach a decision.” Oh boy, those 30 minutes were not enough at all, could they not at least give them a bit more time. What more did he really need to know?
“I have decided, I will transfer to the planet and try my best to fight the forces of entropy.”
“Your choice has been registered. Please use this remaining time to ask more questions or to mentally prepare yourself for the transfer.”
There was not much he could do to prepare, he had no items, no soul points, and low stats. So, what did he still need to know? There was a lot of information that the system did not have access to.
“Will I arrive on the planet with other participants, or will I arrive alone.” It would be nice to have some allies.
“All souls will be scattered over the world to locations that have been determined by the administrator. Those locations are not accessible in this space. Whether you will arrive alone or in a group is not known.”
So, the administrator had determined the locations. He hoped that the administrator would have had the foresight to not place them in the middle of an enemy stronghold.
“Of the 50,000 souls, how many have currently decided to be summoned?”
“Currently 21,366 souls have decided to make the transfer. 25,687 souls have already moved to the beyond. And 2,947 souls are still weighing their decision.”
Damn it, the majority had already left, what a waste. This would make things more difficult for people like him that we're going. The automatic response system had certainly not presented the option of being summoned in an appealing way. He was sure that the administrator was pulling at their hair somewhere. Although they might not even have hair.
“What kind of existence is the administrator of the world? Are they human like me?”
“Information not available. The administrator is responsible for looking over a world, and protecting it against the forces of Entropy.”
It seemed like this administrator had run into some serious problems. The automated response system had said earlier that the forces of entropy had gained an almost insurmountable advantage after a war that had waged for millennia. He wondered if this existence was able to watch him and the others somehow.
"Two minutes remain until the transfer. Now addressing all the 23.146 souls that have decided to brave the transfer to world HL83077602, in order to assist the inhabitants of an unknown world. Once you arrive you will stand on the side of Creation to fight against Entropy."
"Please remember that the interface will be one of your most important tools in order to grow stronger. You are about to undertake a dangerous journey into the unknown. Try to find many strong allies both among yourselves and among the inhabitants of World HL83077602 to join in the war. Maybe together you can surmount the enormous odds against you. Now preparing for summoning to world HL83077602, please stand by.”
Maybe it was supposed to be an inspiring speech, but whether it was due to the monotonous voice, or the words themselves, it failed miserably.
Oh boy, was this summoning going to hurt? He wanted to ask but it seemed to be too late. He really hoped this would not get too ugly straight of the bat.
Summoning commences in,
3,
2,
1,