"Well, how do you want to start?"

"Ummm... I don't know, how about helltonge and have the rest as practice?"

"Alright then but this will take more than a cycle so i will first get that out of the way. I'm assuming time worked in a day/night basis wherever you came from?"

"Yeah, something like that, does it not work like that here?"

"Nope. What you see is what there is, most of the time anyways. After some fixed amount of relative time has passed from the last, hell freezes over, everything stops moving, happening and who knows, perhaps even existing. Either way once this happens every citizen of hell has a chance to consume dust, apply for official events and so on. After that passes everything starts moving again and we say that it's a new cycle."

"Wait! Emm, okay can i ask questions?"

"You are already."

"Right. So, relative time, relative to what?"

"I don't know."

"Oookay, does everyone enter, erm, 'stasis', at the same time?"

"Yes."

"And everyone gets out at the same time too?"

"Yes. And everyone is in there different amounts of time."

"Alright. What if someone doesn't choose?"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"That's a choice too."

"Aaaalright, so... helltonge?"

"Let's start then."

----------------------------------------

"Me... want... spuord?"

"Almost, *sword*, let's"

CHOOSE.

----------------------------------------

"Woaaah...."

"Easy there, huff, don't worry, you'll get accustomed."

*Gasp* "Is it always like that?"

"First time's toughest. Don't worry. So? Up for round two?"

"Gaahh, yeah, just, a moment..."

"Hah, take all the time you want kid, i've already got paid."

*Gulp* "Okay, ready to continue."

"Well you've got basic helltonge more or less so let's just practice it with the others, alright?"

"Sounds good, what's next?"

"Well calendar's mostly done so... Let's see. Each package's choices change a bit, each box changes them all and each batch changes type and specialty, have you seen the specialty?"

"Yeah, hard to miss."

"Well that's more or less the calendar, though, as you may or may not have seen there are different official 'contests' happening regularly, and each batch another ascension is held but you shouldn't think about it, exceptional ones start entering around their tenth or so batch and get their asses kicked."

"Alright but, what does ascension mean?"

"It means exactly that, see, once you are 'welcomed' you turn from whatever you were into an imp and that isn't going to change unless you get a high enough amount of power, and even then the form of an imp is completely stable so if you want to change it you need to shuffle it around a bit, and that means powerful, and delicate, soul magic, the same magic that allowed you to turn from a wandering soul-blob to a stable form."

"Is that how it is on the other levels too?"

"Honestly? No idea."

"What! How can you have no idea if you know about how to go up from here?"

"Heh, they give us this information so that every one of us wait until we are ready and then go to the tournament, and so that no idiot gets too much power and decides they can just ascend themselves on their own. Don't look at me like that, this explanation is given for a reason. More than one fool has just gone and vanished."