Sasharilexishartefexeruia let out a sigh of relief. Of course, it was purely a mental exercise, as she was currently in limbo after the death of her most recent charge. That stung. Less than a minute in, and he’d already died once. But! This was actually a victory, she tried to remind herself.

After all, how often did a Sinner start over ten thousand feet in the air? What the heck was that? The start point for all Sinners was supposed to be random, but she’d been doing this too long to actually believe that. There was a certain level of…malleability when it came to supposedly random things like starting location and many other supposedly random variables about Hell’s Great Game. Obviously, her new charge had managed to piss off one god or another.

It might have even been her god. The great I Am had chosen a form for her that she personally enjoyed, but wasn’t of much benefit to her Sinner, which was a bad sign. Then again, it was the only reason she had managed to keep her charge from a permanent end. As far as she knew, her current form was one of the only ones her god offered that allowed the Sinner to send mental commands through the Hell System. And that was the only reason he wasn’t already out of the game entirely.

She wondered how her new charge was doing. Well, that’s not true. Not entirely, at least. She knew what he was doing. Right now, he’d be in the same dark void she was, looking at a message he’d no doubt become intimately familiar with in the next few days. At least, if any of her other charges were any indication of his survival chance.

A wave of soul-deep depression hit her as her thoughts drifted back to past charges, but she pushed it away, pulling her attention back to her charge. Her charge, and the choice in front of him. She knew it by heart at this point.

You have died!

Available Deaths: 100

Would you like to Revive?

Then there was two simple options for him. Yes, or No. Yes would lead to another message, also one he’d become very familiar with.

Revive beginning.

Available Deaths: 99

Bind Point not set, Reviving at nearest Dungeon Entrance.

Enjoy your stay in Hell!

Of course, that was assuming he didn’t just pick the second option. If he did, Sasharilexishartefexeruia would be back in the Heavenly realm of her god, and waiting for her next charge. At this point, she wasn't sure if that wasn’t just better for everyone.

But she’d likely be in limbo for a few more minutes. Possibly hours. Most people took a long time to recover from a death, especially a violent one like this. It gave her plenty of time alone with her thoughts-

Sin Totem, your Sinner has chosen to Revive.

Returning to Hell.

…What? It had been a few seconds at most since he’d died! Who recovered that quickly? More than that, he would have barely had time to read the message, let alone think about it. He’d just splattered across the terrain, and he was immediately ready to jump back in? Who was this crazy person?

Sasharilexishartefexeruia had to calm herself. Maybe he’d just hurriedly selected yes without processing anything. Yes, that made more sense. Most likely she’d arrive to a panicking man unsure of what he’d done. She could deal with that. She’d done it before. Mentally shaking herself, she got her game face on.

It was time to go to work.

A moment later, the abyss of limbo disappeared, replaced with the familiar chaotic vista of the First Floor of Hell. Sasharilexishartefexeruia hated it here. The First Floor was by far the worst, in her opinion, not that she’d seen much of the other ones.

Or any.

But that was the problem. Most Sinners lost all their Revives on the First Floor, where they had no resources and little understanding. By the time they, by some miracle, reached the second floor and beyond, most Sinners were better equipped and more knowledgeable, which made those floors more bearable.

At least, that’s what she’d heard from others that managed to get their charges that far. Sasharilexishartefexeruia wouldn’t know. She…didn’t exactly have the best track record. Another wave of depression threatened to swallow her whole, but she pushed it back down with practiced ease. Now was not the time to feel sorry for herself.

Looking around, she found that she was once again around the neck of her charge in the serpentine form of her Sin Totem body. They were on the side of a mountain, which wasn’t surprising. The whole First Floor was nothing but mountains and valleys rolling on endlessly. The surprise always came in the form of what the mountain was made of.

“Is that a toilet?” The drawling, calm voice of her charge sounded from next to her head. He seemed far more stable than she was expecting, if his tone was anything to go by.

“It appearsss that way,” She replied.

Indeed, the mountain they were standing on was formed from millions, possibly billions, of porcelain thrones. All of them somehow not crushing each other in a gargantuan pile spanning miles into the sky.

“Right, I almost forgot you were here.” The man turned his head to face her, staring into her serpentine eyes without an ounce of the fear she was expecting. Instead, Sasharilexishartefexeruia found calm brown pools with a small flame of humor dancing in their heart. He was clean shaven with slightly tan, pale skin.

“That’s rather rude of me, I apologize. Name’s Frederick, but everyone just calls me Rick.” He continued, showing a slightly mischievous, crooked smile. Sasharilexishartefexeruia saw only good will in his eyes, not an ounce of confusion or distress she had expected. What a strange man.

“Ssssasharilexissshartefexeruia,” She replied. “I’m here to help.”

The man laughed at that. “I’d rightly think so, considerin’ ya already pulled my hind quarters out of a tight spot, and we’ve hardly even met! Yer name’s a bit of a mouthful, would it bother ya at all if I shortened it up a bit?”

“That’sss no problem.” She wasn’t particularly attached, and having her charge walking around spouting her angelic name was a recipe for disaster on later floors. Assuming they got that far.

“Hmm, any nicknames?” Rick rubbed his chin.

She shook her head.

“How ‘bout Sasha? You sound like a lady to me, so I reckon it fits.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“That’sss fine.” It was actually pretty. Sasha liked her new nickname immediately. Maybe it was just that she wasn’t used to her charges being so personable.

“Well all right then, Miss Sasha, I wonder if you couldn’t enlighten me a bit. All I know is that I’m in Hell, standin’ on a mountain of toilets. Not a lot to go on.” He kept smiling, completely relaxed.

Sasha wasn’t sure what to think of her news charge. He was far, far too calm. She wasn’t sure how to handle this, it diverged too much from every past charge she’d ever had. How was she supposed to deal with that? What if he was some kind of psychopathic serial killer? She didn’t want to help a murderer! Honestly, this was the worst thing about being a Sin Totem. She had no idea if her charge was a good person or not until they got to know each other. Plus, it was her job to help Rick even if he was a bad person.

“Miss Sasha?”

The question snapped her out of her mental spiral. “Yesss? Oh, right!” She wanted to hit herself. “You need to basssicsss. Let me explain. You’re currently in Hell. That isss to ssssay, the afterlife for thosssse who have failed to live up to the ssstrandardsss of their godsss in their mortal life.”

“Yup, the lady who checked me in let me know. But she said that all the gods had a say in my afterlife, even those I didn’t worship.” Rick scratched the back of his head. “I’ll be honest, that seems a mite bit unfair.”

“Yesss,” Sasha sighed. “You are unlucky. Ssssee, the godsss grew…bored. They ssaught entertainment, and ssso a pact was formed.”

Risk snapped his fingers. “It’s a game, innit?”

Sasha paused in surprise. “Yesss, it isss. How did you know?”

“Oh, the screen I saw looked like some of the video games my nephew Timmy plays. The little wiz kid tried to explain it all to me one time, but it flew right over my head. Not much for sittin’ still and lookin’ at screens.” Rick laughed at himself. “I like to get my hands dirty. But I could recognize the looks. It was buggin’ me something fierce. I thought I’d seen that sorta design before. Then you said ‘entertainment’ and it just clicked. So, the gods decided to turn all of Hell into a big ol’ game, right?”

“Clossse,” Sasha was once again surprised by this man. Such rapid thinking, and calm, rational thought. Especially in such odd circumstances. It was just plain weird. “Hell isss endlessly vassst, the same as the Material Plane, and there are more worlds, more godsss, than you would ever know. A sssmall number of them joined in thisss pact. Godssss can control a portion of both Heaven and Hell as places for their followers’ afterlifes. These godsss pooled parts of their Hellish Domains, bound by contract, into a single, massive domain.”

“From there, they created an arbiter of their new game, the Hell Ssysstem. A being of machine mind and vast scope that could impartially judge, sssso that no god could cheat and change the rulesss. Thisss game is a battle between their followersss, but alsso a battle for sssurvival. Your goal, Ssssinner, is to sssurvive and join the forcess of your god in holy war againssst the infidelsss. Do so, and vast rewardsss will be yoursss.” Sasha sighed. She hated having to repeat the same stiff lines every time. But it was a requirement to conveye that message, no matter what god a Sin Totem worked for.

“Ok, now with the opening ssspiel out of the way, let me give you real advice. Get off the First Floor assss fassst asss possible. Thisss place isss a death trap designed by sssadissts. Over nine tenthsss of all Sinnersss die on the Firssst Floor.” Sasha pleaded. The First Floor was seriously the worst. It was made just to weed out anyone even slightly normal. The gods only wanted the exceptional to make it to the higher floors where they played their games. Anyone else would be ‘too boring’.

Rick frowned. “What’s all this about fightin’ infidels and what not?”

“The godsss crafted that ssstatement to be told to every Sssinner when they enter Hell’s Great Game. A basic premise needed to be estabilssshed to explain the Game to the Sinnersss playing it. It’sss partly true, but each god hasss their own reasssonsss for participating. Do not believe all are here for the sssame purposssse. But they all wish for Sinnersss under their purview to ssserve their endsss, and the sssuccessful will be rewarded.”

He shook his head. “Oh, I think I’ll pass.”

“What?” Sasha recoiled in surprise. So casually throwing off the whole situation was stupid, borderline suicidal. The gods had no interest in the unfaithful. Harsh punishments would follow their ire. Everyone in Hell’s Great Game played. That was the rules. Anything else would be met with divine disfavor.

Rick waved her off. “Not important for now. You said this place was dangerous? Are we in danger right now?”

Sasha collected herself, coiling tighter around her charge’s neck. He was right. The immediate situation was more important than the larger scope of the Game. Even if the nature of his remarks were deeply concerning. “Yesss and no. There are two main threatsss in Hell’s Great Game, outside other Sinnersss. The nativesss, Devilsss and Demons, and the Dungeonsss.”

“That’s right!” He snapped his fingers. “The message said I’d Revive at the nearest Dungeon Entrance. What’s a Dungeon?”

“They are the only place on the Firssst Floor that hold the god’sss interessst. Basically, testsss and trials desssigned to challenge Sinnerss, filled with the Rewards needed to survive. The concept and name were drawn from a trope in video games common in several universes. We’ll have to enter one eventually, but now is a bad time. The firssst Dungeon iss important, sssomething to be selected carefully.” She warned. Sasha was glad she was getting a handle on this form. The subtle hissing lisp she had was making her self-conscious. Luckily, it was slowly vanishing as she adapted.

“If you look behind uss, you’ll see a cave or some form of entrance seemingly headed underground. That’s a Dungeon Entrance. There are a near infinite variety of Dungeons. Each one is different, varying based on the nature of the god that made it. It’s hard to predict what Rewards they’ll hold, or how good they’ll be. They’re very risky in general.”

“All right, followin’ along so far.” Rick nodded, “What kinda dangers are we lookin’ at, from the Dungeons or the local critters?”

“Well, that’s hard to say,” Sasha hissed out an exhale. “Death is alwaysss on the table. You’d be astonished how quick you can run through one hundred lives. Demons and Devils are everywhere, and they vary dramatically in strength and intelligence. But they’re the greater threat to your Revive count, as some species can actively drain unspent Revives without having to kill you.”

“Meanwhile, Dungeons are a larger unknown. They can be inescapable death traps that kill you over and over again as you fail their challenges, or they can be simple skill challenges with the option to leave at any time. It’s a gamble, whereas the natives are more consistently dangerous. Some Dungeons will have information on the challenges inside posted at the entrance, but that’s up to the discretion of the god that designed the Dungeon.”

“A general rule of thumb, the harder the Dungeon, the better the payout. The Hell System sets bounds on the gods’ designs, ensuring that there is a certain level of fairness involved. It’s set up that way to prevent the gods from arbitrarily making Dungeons very easy for their followers and nigh-impossible for their enemies.”

“Interestin’” Rick muttered, rubbing his chin and turning around. Just as she’d said, there was a dark hole in the side of the toilet mountain. A Dungeon Entrance. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t sign-posted. Some gods placed message boards at the Dungeon Entrance, describing what was inside. The payout was, of course, less than un-sign-posted Dungeons, as knowledge made the challenge easier. But generally the benefit of knowing what you’re walking into outweighed any loss in rewards. Every Sin Totem was taught to search out sign-posted Dungeons to give their Sinner an easier first. Not that that had ever helped Sasha.

“Say, you had me put some Sparks into my Revival Account. I’m assumin’ that means I can get more Revives if I get more Sparks, right? What are those, and how do I get ‘em? Actually,” He rubbed his chin, gaze shifting toward the dark hole. “That’s one of the things in Dungeons, innit?”

“Uh, yes,” Her charge was rapidly outpacing her expectations in catching on to the rules of Hell’s Great Game. “Sparks, Divine Sparks, are the currency in HGG-”

“HGG?”

“Hell’s Great Game. Some call it the Higg. It’s a bit of a mouthful otherwise.”

“Gotcha. Sorry for interruptin’, go ahead.”

“Right. Sparks. They are the currency of this game, for obvious reasons. One must have Sparks to Revive. Dungeons are actually the only place where they can be found. They’re one of three main Rewards for entering Dungeons-”

“Say, no more, Miss Sasha.” Rick’s face burst into a wide, mischievous grin. “Sounds like a plan.”

“What?!”

With a long, confident stride, he walked into the Dungeon.