Sticking to the backstreets, Martin tried to get back to his friends. The alley they were occupying was at least a thirty-minute walk away from his current location and it would take him even longer to get there as he would have to keep out of sight.

Public transportation was obviously out of the question with blood now covering the vast majority of his clothing, there was no way that he’d be able to slip on a bus without being noticed.

The rain had subsided, and the heavy rain had been replaced with a faint drizzle. It didn’t really make any difference for him as he was already soaking, with his clothes sticking to his body as if they’d been glued to his skin.

He sank down next to a brick wall and breathed heavily, every breath being harder than the prior.

All the pain he’d experienced so vividly just a couple of minutes ago had been replaced by numbness as the festering weakness washed over him. He looked down to his right leg and wasn’t at all surprised to see that he was still bleeding profusely.

Ah, of course, I’m bleeding out… He chuckled a bit as he reflected on his “great” heist.

Man, what a pathetic way to die! Action heroes managed to jump out of windows all the time without getting injured all the time, they were fictional, but he’d been cautious enough to smash it before.

He put his index finger on his wrist and felt the pulse get weaker and weaker.

The last thing he felt before a veil of darkness clouded his mind was remorse for the lives he’d been the direct cause for ending. As he took death's hand all of it seemed so insignificant and with a faint smile Martin passed over to unexplored territory.

He couldn’t see anything at all… It wasn’t as if he found himself in a pitch-black room,

even then one could perceive matter around oneself. No, this was different, he couldn’t sense anything either, it was as if atoms or molecular structures existed, it was a complete void.

Martin knew that he’d spent some time just floating here, but it was impossible for him to discern if it had been a fraction of a second or several lifetimes, it was hard to have something to go by when you couldn’t even think proper thoughts.

From out of nowhere he somehow was able to formalize thoughts again, like someone flicked a switch. He thought about how surreal it all was, how he couldn’t feel his body, how he had no idea who - or what - he actually was.

Without warning there was a blinding light, and as he adjusted to it he found himself in a small room. For each passing moment, he could perceive more and more details, he was sitting, no, hovering by a small white table. It had some brochures on it and a tall blue vase with some flowers in it that he was sure could not exist. It looked similar to a rose, but the leaves and thorns weren't really attached to the stalk but were rather floating a millimeter or so off of the side. The crown itself was red, and the shape was the same as a standard rose, but it was as if the color flowed through it rather than being a constant.

He lifted his gaze and inspected the room he was in, it couldn’t be more than twenty or so square meters, and there were more tables just like his, and around each and every one of them there were orbs hovering. More like some form of glowing blue gas, but he found it hard to actually pinpoint what kind of materia it was.

Orbs flickered out of existence every now and then, and after a while a new one took its place. Occasionally an orb popped into existence at his table, and at one time there were orbs all around him.

All of them were different. They looked identical, and none of them moved or made any sound whatsoever, but he could sense that everyone was different from one another.

He couldn’t turn to see the wall behind him, but the one in front of him was white, just like the floor and ceiling, the walls to his left and right though… They were something else. It looked a bit like frosted glass, and if it weren't for the shadows moving back and forth behind it, it would have been impossible to tell it apart from the other white wall.

It felt a bit like one of those conference rooms that was in the middle of an office but without doors.

The silence was broken as he heard a calm female voice inside his head.

“We’re so sorry for the delay, Askaro is wrapping up his meeting and will come get you as soon as possible. Again, terribly sorry about this”

What is this place, what the hell is going on? Is this… Wait, is this a waiting room?!

Martin was sure that this realization would have sent shivers down his spine if he’d had one.

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Martin looked down on the white coffee table again and glanced at the brochures. He focused on the top one and to his surprise he somehow created a projection of it within his mind.

He could flip the pages and view it from all sorts of angles without having to touch it, which of course would be hard lacking a physical body.

It reminded him of the item screen they used to have in those old survival horror games where you could turn an item around to inspect it, and when you wanted to read a book or another item with a longer text it would just give you a prompt with it.

Awesome, Martin thought before deciding to actually read the brochure. He flipped it around so that he could see the front cover.

Wow, the graphic designer had really had fun with this one. He said with his inner voice as he looked at the almost insultingly juvenile cover. The background was light blue and in the center there was a minimalist logo of a skeleton with an oversized skull grinning goofily, giving him a thumbs up. The title said “You’re dead! Now what?” in a yellow unnecessary big font.

Just as he was about to open it and start reading, another voice spoke to him.

“Martin, is it? Sorry for making you wait, I’m ready to see you now”

As he tried to answer, his surroundings shifted and he found himself in a small office.

The walls were painted forest green and matched the walnut floor and ceiling perfectly. In the middle of the room there was a huge, ornate walnut desk with a golden nameplate, “Ms. Askaro” it read.

There was a small cart with different kinds of spirits to the left of him, and to his right, there was a timeworn, but stylish chesterfield sofa next to a lit fireplace. This room was right up his alley and it made him feel a bit less stressed out about the whole situation until he laid eyes on Askaro.

“What’s the matter, dear? Don’t you like the decor? I can change it if you want me to”

Martin just stared at the woman. Her skin was red, and not in the familiar sort of reddish tint that some people had, but as red as it gets. The eyes glowed yellow, and a few centimeters from her glasses frame, two horns protruded.

“Have you lost your tongue human, we don’t have all day”

Martin was able to let out a vague “I quite like the room as it is”.

“Good. Well If you haven’t figured it out by now, you’re dead. I’m sorry” she said as she walked over to the bottles on the small cart, “but I’d also congratulate you”

“I…” he started but stopped as he realized what she’d just said. Congratulate me, why would anyone be happy about dying? Martin didn’t know how to cope with the situation or the fact that he was talking to an otherworldly being. A succubus?

She held up a bottle, “A drink perhaps?”. She had been doing this for decades and she knew what was going on, “right Martin, let’s speed this up. Yes, I am in fact what your kind calls a succubus, and no, this is neither a dream nor some chemically induced hallucination”

She poured herself a tall glass with a green liquid and looked at him, he didn’t know where this was headed he nodded for her to continue. Even though he had no physical representation, the woman in front of him seemed to pick up on his intentions rather than his movements.

“Like I said, you’re dead. D-e-a-d. Are you following me?”

Once again Martin just nodded.

She put a second glass of liquid on the desk right in front of him before she sat down.

“Good. As for the drink, you won’t be able to drink it of course, but I’ve found that people find it comforting to have something in front of them”.

Martin thought about it for a second and he sheepishly admitted to himself that the drink just sitting there made him feel more human in some way.

“Fascinating, right? Anyhow, I was hand-picked to be your soul guide since you’ve shown some interest in my kind during your first life”.

First life, soul guide? His brain tried so hard but couldn’t comprehend what was going on.

“What is this place, what the fuck is going on?”, he didn’t intend for it to come off as aggressive as it did but she just smiled at him.

“Like we’ve already established, you are dead, I thought we were past that. As for this place, you could view it as an entrance to your true life, but most of us just call it the place in between.”

“In between wh--”

“Between worlds, of course, you don’t mean to say you thought there was only one right? Now, all entities live their first life within a world with only their kind, this is for their soul to find its identity. What really motivates it and what its core values are. You could say that the first life is like elementary school”

“Okay… I guess, but why--”

“Since there are a multitude of worlds, there’s also a vast number of gods. Gods form their own universe and for one to be able to decide where they want to spend their life, well, I guess they would have to find out what they find interesting--”

“And since I had a fixation with succubi when I was a teenager you’re going to force me to live in your world?”

She looked at him for a long time and he could tell that she didn’t like to be cut off. Moments passed as he began to feel as if he’d overstepped some boundary, which given his precarious situation most likely wasn’t the smartest thing to do.

Askaro burst out laughing, and when she’d collected herself she looked at him and said “That’s what you think?! That’s cute Martin but no”, she put her hand on the desk and a thick dossier with his name on it materialized, “we’ve got your whole life story here, and it wouldn’t be fair to send you to my starting realm based on your fantasies as a teenager. It wouldn’t even be possible, as I said earlier the starting realm is tied to your race, human in your case. Oh realm? That’s the formal word for a world in our universe.” she added quickly not to confuse the poor soul even more.

“So… What’s the plan then?”