Christopher Bell was floating through empty space, surrounded by brilliant multicolored swirls of light. He felt serene and rested in that vast expanse.

But nothing lasts. His consciousness slowly returned from that existence among the dust of stars. As he slowly opened his eyes, his experience was already slipping away. Hmm, it is awfully bright in here. He gave his eyes time to adjust to the light of the room.

Wait. Maybe not his room, where was he? He gave his mind some time to fill in the gaps, but it seemed unwilling to alleviate his confusion. He certainly had this feeling before after just waking up, but it usually would only take a few seconds at most for his memories to catch up. Wait, was this room not rather strange?

He looked down at himself and yelled at the sight. He was completely naked! What the hell was going on! And why were there no sheets? He flew into a sitting position feeling panicked. He was lying on some kind of soft mattress, it conformed completely to his body.

He was surrounded by smooth white walls, so spotless they were almost otherworldly. His heart began to pound.

'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 the illumination for the room. What kind of nightmare was this turning into? It certainly did not feel like a dream.

When he stood 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.

“Greetings occupant of room #1138, this is the automated response system of room #1138. My systems are detecting that you are currently in deep distress. I can assure you that your soul is currently quite safe."

"I regret to inform you that your original body ceased to function some 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."

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.

In 28 minutes and 12 seconds, depending on your choice, you will be either summoned to world HL 83077602 to prevent the incoming extinction of this world’s souls, or your soul will move on to the Beyond. This system is available for additional questioning."

He was so dumbfounded for a minute that he was unable to properly think. Was he just told that he had died!?

“I-I have died”, he stammered eventually. “what happened to me”

“Correct, your body has ceased to function, no information about your world is available in this space, therefore it is impossible to currently give an answer regarding the details of your death”

What the hell, could this be real? Christopher was frustrated that there was no information on what had happened to him. His panic had actually started to subside quite rapidly. He did not seem to be in immediate danger, and this was all kind of interesting in a sense.

Could there be a more ordinary explanation of what was currently happening? Maybe this was some kind of elaborate prank. But no, surely not, something like this would be highly unethical and illegal. And when he tried to recall his dream, which had mostly slipped away by now, he knew something strange had indeed happened.

“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 windows. Christopher thought.

“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”

So, it really was very similar to a voice assistant on earth. It certainly seemed more advanced. 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 collect 50.000 wandering souls and to provide them with skills. This was done in order to aid the population of world HL83077602 in combatting 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 summoned me?” Christopher realized that he might have asked too many questions at once, but the pleasant voice dutifully answered all his questions.

“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 the world. 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 all the remaining Creation Force of the world to gather the 50.000 souls to fight against Entropy. The situation is now out of their control.”

“why not pick souls from their own world instead of random souls from other worlds?”

“Capturing souls is not something that is easy to do. Most souls immediately pass on to the beyond. A very small percentage of human 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, we help them 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? Also, it figured that only humans would be stupid enough to not pass on. And clearly, he was one of the most stupid ones.

“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 is only possible to enter, therefore this question cannot be answered.” Interestingly that sounded kind of like a black hole. The concept seemed to be similar. Unfortunately, it would make my choice more difficult.

“What is the world like that I would be helping?” He wondered how it was different from earth.

“Status of world HL83077602 is unavailable.”

Well, that was disappointing. They really seemed to want to thrust him into a situation that was completely unknown to him. Did this program really not know anything? Was he going to be dealing with a world similar to his, or was the world more or less advanced than earth?

“Wait, are there even humans here!”

“I do not know what the people call themselves on this world, but all souls that come through here from the worlds are sharing the same 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 current number of soul points. The interface will also 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 pointing”

Well, he better try it then. As soon as he concentrated, The overlay of the interface seemed to project on his retina. It seemed to be similar to some AR devices back on earth, but this time without the clunky headset. The holographic status screen floated in front of him.

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, he had a strong jawline and 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 his unique skill called [Bookmark]. He was curious about this unique ability and so he pressed his index finger against the floating skill text. He only felt the air, but a new screen popped out.

Fascinated, he 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. And best of all was that he would keep all of his skills, stats, and Soul Bound items as well. Unfortunately, he would lose his soul points when traveling back, so he would have to make sure to use them all before using [Bookmark]. He realized that he might even escape certain death. 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 was still easy enough for him to die.

He wondered what kind of abilities the other summoned had received. He doubted many could match his [Bookmark] skill, but there was no way to know.

He suddenly had a realization.

“Place bookmark” he pretty much yelled in the strange room. A message window instantly popped up on his retina.

[ Skill cannot be used in this area ]

Cristopher 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. 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, knowing that there was no time to waste. There were tabs 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. There were however some peculiar weapons.

There was a black sphere enclosed within a metal cane that was called a Soul Staff. Did this appearance and name suggest the existence of some type of magic? He certainly could not figure out why such an item would be classified as a weapon otherwise. That thought did excite him.

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 the generation of soul points by 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 a minion of Entropy. There being some tangible enemy would at least make things simpler.

“There are 12 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, wasn’t that just lovely, now they were placing constraints on him as well. Honestly, he could somewhat understand this perspective. It would be problematic to contaminate this world with countless alien cultures.

So how would something like that work in practice? He probably was not allowed to recreate any inventions from Earth. Well, he was not an engineer or something, they would be safe from him in that regard. They probably also didn’t want him and the others to spread some off-world religions.

If they were all supposed to act as if they belonged, then he did worry that this rule might make it difficult for him to find and contact other summoned souls.

“It is also important to make clear that all the suffering that is tied to living, both physical and mental is also present on world HL83077602. Possibly you will find it to a much greater degree than your home. You might face hunger, sickness, the loss of people you will grow to care about or 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 death."

‘Good God, they better not put this program in charge of making the brochure.’

“The potential suffering is clearly great, why ask people to do this, won't these people still have their souls, even if humanity is 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.

“If I decline this offer, will you be able 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 random souls in this area and assigning the skills and items. Any of the 50.000 summoned souls choosing to depart for the beyond, as well as their skills, can no longer be replaced. Neither can the Creation force be returned to the administrator.”

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, the anticipation of a new world to explore and new things to experience was growing inside of him. He knew that maybe he should not feel this way, but he could not help himself. He was simply going to give it his best try.

“Five minutes 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 a few more questions or to prepare yourself.” 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. It was likely that the administrator had watched the people in their struggles.

"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,