I wasn’t sure if it was my suddenly heavy eyelids simply falling down or if blood loss was sending me into unconsciousness. But there hadn’t been any blood on the others? Either way as the world faded to black those fucking letters stayed floating in my vision.

You have been sacrificed for the entertainment of the gods. Transmigration initiated. Welcome to the War of Six Souls.

I could no longer feel my body. I tried to blink but nothing changed and the goddamn writing still hung before my… eyes? I tried to reach out to swat it away but I couldn’t feel my arms. Well, this sucked.

Raymond Cobbler… Assessing…

I hadn’t used that surname in fifteen years. Not even Jimmy, the closest thing I had to a friend in this -that?- the world knows it.

Known Aliases: Raymond Potts. Raymond Cobbler. Bob Filpert. David Culpepper. Chris Santiago. Philip Johnson. Reg Smith. Dakota Idaho. Norman Jones. Peter Bulmer. Ray Shine.

The list scrolled on and on. I'd used a lot of names at various points across my life. Mostly one offs for particular jobs but whatever this thing rummaging through my past was its thoroughness was no longer in doubt. It didn’t miss any of them I could remember and included a bunch that I'd completely forgotten about.

Rolling stats…

Stats? What the actual fuck?

The War of Six Souls is an altered reality. In order to make things more interesting you will have access to certain abilities you would consider abnormal in the mortal realm. While on Otherside you will have access to Affinities and a Soul Shop.

While my adult years had mostly revolved around killing and getting away with it, I'd played my fair share of RPGs and DnD when I was a kid.

It will be something like that. I’m sure you’ll pick it up quickly.

If you’re listening to my thoughts: got any fucking hints?

Don’t die? Character sheet complete:

Secondary statistics are modelled based on a standard mortal modified by your life experiences and training. A ten represents almost peak human capability.

Secondary Stats

Physical strength: 9 Reflexes: 9 Health: 90

Magic strength: 6 Focus: 7 Mana: 70

Huh. So I’m pretty good physically and above average magically… Magic?

Yes, Magic. We’ll get there shortly. Primary stats are a shorthand way of gauging the strength of the competitors, they represent a rough outline of someone's secondary stats. This information will be available on sight when you meet your rivals.

Primary Stats

Body: F Mind: F Soul: F

Available Souls: TBC

Calculating souls available at start:

A blur of my misdeeds flashed past my eyes while I grumbled internally about getting all F’s in my primary statistics. Everyone and everything I’d ever killed, injured or caused mental anguish was toted up like a shopping list which left me feeling extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable. This thing knew everything about me. My code hadn’t served me as well as I thought and I wouldn’t be sleeping well for a few weeks after having all the horror of my deeds play out like movie credits in front of my unclosable eyes.

Error. Souls available exceed a reasonable starting value.

My status screen updated to show thirty souls available. I had no idea how far that would go or how I could spend them.

Souls can be spent in the Soul Shop or invested into levelling up and enhancing your Affinities.

Levelling up? This fucking writing was starting to piss me off. Was this the gods equivalent of tabletop role playing?

I apologise for your frustration, mortal. Perhaps you’d prefer I skip this introduction and let you loose on the Otherside?

Was this thing getting pissy with me? Was that sarcasm?

I am indeed and it was.

I’ll go through the tutorial then if it’s all the same to you. What do the stats mean?

Body statistics control physical attributes and interactions. Mind statistics control mental attributes and interactions. Souls are a resource to be spent as you see fit.

How do I get more of them then?

Impatient bloody mortals…

Rolling for Soul generation technique… I think this one should be fairly predictable…

Killer: Soul can be harvested by killing other lifeforms.

So I have to kill stuff?

I’m wondering if we should reroll your mental statistics perhaps?

No, it’s fine. So I get Souls by killing stuff. What do I spend them on?

I was just coming to that… the first thing you can spend Souls on, and one you should pay attention to, is your level. You will begin at level one with everything for that level unlocked. Levels are divided into tiers. Level one to nine is tier one, level ten to nineteen is tier two etcetera. This is clear?

I tried to nod only to find I was still disembodied. Somehow whatever this was understood.

Tier one levels will cost ten Souls each. Tier two levels will cost twenty Soul each and so on. Each level will unlock purchasable upgrades to your Affinities and each tier you ascend will unlock new options in the Soul Shop as well as new abilities. For each level you ascend you will also receive two points to be spent on enhancing secondary stats.

How does the shop work?

For the love of Me… It’s a shop. You pay for what you want. This is one thing I’m not going to go into right now. You’ll figure it out. Our next little conundrum is getting you to pick your first Affinity without taking eternity to do so. The longer you spend in Limbo the more time your competitors get as a head start by the way. Seeing as you got sacrificed last you might want to stop wasting both of our time.

Shit. I wasn’t sure how I felt about having to hunt down the others but… It wouldn’t be my first rodeo at least. I’d have that advantage over most of the others..

That’s the spirit! Now onto Affinities. You will receive one Affinity per tier up to tier three. After that you’ll have to discover what happens for yourself.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

You can choose from the following Affinities. Please make your selection:

Fire

Ice

Lightning

Light

Darkness

Life

Death

Time

Space

What’s the difference?

Fire is hot and Ice is cold? Would you like more information?

I was pretty sure the thing had sighed in my brain at the end there but I mentally nodded once more and a stream of information flashed before my eyes in what appeared to be a spreadsheet. The realisation that some prick had installed Excel in my brain proved to be the crowning turd in the waterpipe of this day and that included getting stabbed in the heart by a goddess. It could not get any worse.

Each Affinity had one or two abilities, like spells I assumed, per tier. The elemental ones were all pretty similar. Tier one was just conjuring the element, a blob of fire for Fire etc. and the upgrades increased the strength and range at which said blob could be summoned.

Tier two for the elemental Affinities had projectiles, making me think of fireballs due to the Detonation statistic that was included, as well as Walls of the element that could be cast over a set area. No new abilities for tier three so maybe that was just upgrades for previous skills? Tier four introduced some kind of shield power and a summon.

Some of the Affinities got a bit more interesting at tier two. Light had an illusion ability and Dark had something called Cloud of Shadows which seemed fairly self explanatory.

The ones where it got weirder were Life, Death, Time and Space.

Life offered healing, enhancement, a heal other, something called Rapid Growth and at tier four I could get Enhance Other and Minor Shapeshifting.

Death didn’t interest me. Rot and corrode seemed to do the same thing to people and stuff respectively and at tier four you could reanimate defeated foes.

Time and Space both offered interesting abilities but seemed too weak at the start.

I had a gut feeling that it would be a good idea to pick an elemental Affinity to start with and then choose something later on that I could hopefully boost up fairly quickly.

You will receive all the free unlocks for your level when you choose later Affinities. The purchasable upgrades will be locked until you pay the Soul cost for them and have unlocked them by gaining levels.

So the god-voice seemed to agree with my thoughts…

I do.

Piss off. That meant if I picked Light at tier three I’d start with Projectile and Illusion already available. Only at the lowest strength for sure but it would be a big step up. And if I happened to have a few Souls floating about to spam into the tree? I could boost it in strength quickly. I was starting to feel more confident about my chances.

Then hurry the fuck up.

More confident. I ignored the voice. Still, magic? What should I pick? What will it be like when I get there?

The starting location is variable.

Equipment?

Only what you can purchase from the Shop.

Huh. So it was going to drop me off naked in a whole new world?

Yes, Mortal. Pick an Affinity. I’m running out of patience. I could just randomise the selection…

Dammit. Ok. What would be most useful if I’m appearing buck ass naked in god knows what kind of world… The Shop offered some hope of being able to equip myself with weapons and clothes… touch wood. What was the most important thing to have in any survival situation? Water, food and shelter; in that order.

Getting water in the wild wasn’t usually an issue outside of arid climates. Not shitting myself to death from dysentery was likely more of a problem as a result of drinking unsanitary water but I could cross that bridge when I came to it.

Food, like water, wasn’t too tricky if you know what you’re doing and I very much did. Again not poisoning yourself and catching nightmare-inducing intrenal parasites that would eat you alive ass first was the problem. Shelter? All about keeping warm.

The water problem could be solved by boiling and the intestinal nightmare-worm issue could be solved by cooking. Shelter was all well and good but keeping warm might take some work.

You’ve made up your mind?

I chose Fire. The first level of the Fire Affinity unlocked.

Tier 1

Fire

Intensity (heat): 4%

Range: touch

Resistance: 2%

Thank Me. Righto. Rolling for starting location…

Names of places blurred past my eyes like I was stuck an inch from a slot machine. Markat City, Hualnem Town, Plains of Grethu, Baktun Legion Encampment (southern frontier), Jimrak Mountains, Slavers Archipelago, Bridgetown… endless villages and cities and place names scrolled past.

The names rolled on and on. Some of them were familiar-ish and understandable while others seemed alien and menacing. The rolling names gradually slowed and came to a stop.

Starting location: Plains of Grethu. Byeeeeeeeee!

Suddenly light and sound returned. The cold wind blew across my body. Yes, I was nekkid as the day I was born. The rustle of leaves as the chilly wind moved shuffled about filled the air. Below me and off to my right stretched a small forest. I had been dumped about half way up a hill. I could see the forest off to one side and in the other direction endless plains of grass stretched away from me. My hands flashed over my body to make sure everything had come along for the trip. I appeared to be whole and unharmed despite the grim memory of that knife sticking out of my chest.

Bird songs assaulted my ears. I mean, I’m assuming it was bird songs but they were discordant and alien to me. Out on the plains below me I could see herds of large animals moving slowly across the vast grassland in the distance.

I glanced around to check my surroundings, old habits and training taking over as my brain was overwhelmed by what had happened to me. A cave disappeared into the hill a few metres further up the slope. Nothing leapt out at me, figuratively and literally, as a threat so I risked accessing the Soul Shop.

Words once more hung in front of my eyes, an effect I got the feeling I would come to hate in the near future. Thirty Souls to spend… I began to suspect I wasn’t as rich as I wanted to be.

Sure enough I wasn’t. From what I could tell I’d been thoroughly shafted. If the brief glimpse I had caught of the total number of Souls I should have received in payment for my misdeeds was right I should be able to jump dozens of levels and purchase all the good shit in the Shop. As it is… I was functionally broke.

The shop is divided into Equipment, Affinities and Crafting. The Affinity section was blanked out, presumably until I hit level ten, so my first stop was Equipment. This was the point where my blood began to boil. It was all stone age stuff. Sure I could get a knife but the most expensive one, at fifty Souls was made from fucking obsidian. Axes, spears, Atlatls, cordage… I was back in the fucking palaeolithic!

The Shop did have a clothing section, thank Christ, featuring shit that would look great on extra’s in Conan but was way below the kind of thing I was used to having available in a survival situation. I selected a rough wool cloak for four Souls and a crude flint dagger that cost six.

I checked the Crafting section to find I could buy almost anything I might want relating to pottery, up to and including various sizes of kilns. The largest kiln would set me back the princely sum of three hundred Souls. Some other time, then. There were also arrays of pots and clay bowls in various sizes and designs as well as rudimentary tents. Salt and an array of resins were also available which would come in handy later on for curing meat and making glue.

I clicked onto the food menu and smiled to myself. Fresh meats and vegetables were all available with little pictures next to them which was helpful as some of them were definitely not native to Earth.

Having to split my Souls between equipment and levels would slow my growth. I was pretty handy in a survival situation and although it had been a while since my training; I was confident it would all come back to me fairly quickly. So make do or do without in order to push my levels and magic up faster seemed like a good idea. I’d need a few more purchases from the shop but for now I was happy with the cloak and dagger. I mentally approved the transaction and a long dirty green cloak appeared at my feet. On top of it lay a flint dagger in a crude leather sheath.

Cordage next. Definitely. I picked up the dagger and swung the cloak over my shoulders. I was still “tackle out” unfortunately but some of the vulnerability of feeling that way disappeared as the heavy wool settled across my back and wrapped over my shoulders. I turned to walk uphill flipping the sheathed dagger in my hands and set off to investigate the cave I’d seen earlier. If it was dry it would make for some decent, zero-effort shelter to get me started.

The floor of the cave sloped upwards from the entrance which was a good sign. Water wouldn’t pool and run into the interior when it rained. The air smelled musty with leaf mould and the general decay of such places in the wilderness. I moved deeper as the cave began to twist to the left and began to leave the light behind. The roof dropped slightly but I could still comfortably stand upright.

As I turned a corner I figured I’d try out my spell and held out a hand. I thought better of it and stopped to grope around on the floor and find a stick. If the ability was limited to touch range I had no desire to inadvertently set my hand on fire the first time I tried out my magic.

I held the stick awkwardly in the same hand as the dagger as I moved further into the darkness. I focused on the stick and touched it with my free hand. Orange flames wrapped up the length of the stick throwing dancing shadows all around me.

I heard a deep rumble as I blinked away the after effects of the sudden brightness. At head height I could see two rows of fangs gleaming in the flickering light, above which two glowing eyes narrowed menacingly.