Pain. There was so much pain. Everything hurt and it was cold. Where had that car came from? I had only looked away for a second. What else was a guy to do with a short skirt that little? My lungs burned and I tried to draw in air. Instead of a breath though wet liquid filled my lungs, the taste of blood thick in my mouth. The pain was starting to fade the cold was deeper. I had a moment of panic; was I going to sleep or was I dying? The cold had taken my hands and legs. The relief of pain was nice. I blinked and then didn’t blink again.

I felt a rush as if moving down the street going 150 kph on my Harley. There was nothing but blackness for a while. The Sense of movement never stopped though. Suddenly I could see a light off in the distance. It was a Golden white light; the sight of it gave me a deep sense of peace. Calm like a crystal clear lake on a windless autumn night overtook me. With a sense of happiness I flew toward the light.

Suddenly I felt a searing pain around my navel. It felt like a white hot poker was stabbed into my stomach. Looking down I saw nothing. My body wasn’t even there! I began to panic. Just blackness where I should have been! What was happening to me! I flailed my arms trying to touch my body. First my face then my chest, my arms, my legs. It was all gone. But I did not scream at least until… “NO! Not the family Jewels!!!”

Then that pain in my navel twisted and my movement to the golden light altered. I was pulled to the side. That painful force grabbed and pulled me from the light. It pulled me sideways into the dark nothingness.

Suddenly a grey fog swelled around me. Then I was standing on cold fog like marble. By standing I mean I was back! My body was there and… Yes! The Jewels were back too! My smile changed to a frown as I became aware of my surroundings.

I was in a coliseum like setting. But I wasn’t in the good area; the seats. No I was in the area where people died. Gulping I looked up past a hundred meter tall walls to where the stands should have been. I saw feet there. I did a double take. “What the hell?” I muttered quietly.

There were hundreds of massive 5 meter tall feet. Most were wearing some kind of footwear. Sandals were the most common, but there was modern shoes too. Tennis shoes and high heels. Even a couple pairs of combats boots. Some were well manicured with well-cut and filed nails. Some had nail polish. There was even some that could not belong to Human feet; like hooves, clawed green scaled talons, spider like legs, and a few snake like. But they all had one thing in common they disappeared into the fog right above the ankles. Or where it should be for those without them.

“What the …” I repeated, but I shut up suddenly when I heard something. A low deep baritone voice said, “He should be here soon.”

A high nasally voice that I figured came from a pair of feet in a golden sandal. “Why do we need an outsider?’

The low baritone replied, “Because if he was from our world then he would not be able to break free.

A voice that sounded like a high school cheerleader came from my left, “Like, it would be bad; if like these dark guys made it with a soul from here.”

A fluid feminine voice cut off the other voices, “Shhh it is here.”

A rustling went through the feet as all around me the feet shifted. Some uncrossed others flattened on the grey marble fog.

“Welcome…” The deep baritone started to say before cutting off and in a not whisper whisper said. “Hey turn that thing on.”

A new voice from behind me sighed, “Always with the drama.” I heard the sound of a mic catching dead air, then.

“Welcome mortal!” The deep voice boomed out echoing around me shaking the very fog and instantly giving me a head ache.

“Congratulations mortal! You have been pulled from your afterlife to our realm to be a hero.”

A child like voice snickered, “A hero!?!”

The deep voice did not pay any attention, “You are here to become the spirit of a dungeon. A Dungeon Core.”

“What do you mean my afterlife? Am I dead? What the hell is a dungeon? Like with whips and chains?”

“SILENCE MORTAL!” the deep voice boomed. “You are speaking to gods not your mortal chums to answer your questions. Shake in fear and pray we do not smite you and choose another.”

I opened my mouth to say something but a loud telephone sound rang across the coliseum.

“Shit is that?” The deep voice said without the booming effect.

“Like it’s him.”

A scared voice said, “Shit, I thought you said he wouldn’t notice?”

The fluid woman’s voice said, “I thought he wouldn’t he has not cared about his souls for almost two thousand years.”

The ringing kept going for another two or three rings.

“Hello?” The child like voice said.

A pause.

“Um, yes the soul is here.”

A pause.

“No, we didn’t ask. but we did not think you would mind.”

A muffled shouting could be heard. I tried but I couldn’t understand what the voice on the phone was saying.

The child started to cry, “I told him not too.”

The deep voice growled, “Of for my sake! Give me the phone!”

“Hello? … Yes, I know taking a soul from your world violates the Divine accords. Yes I know you could demand 1,000,000,000 souls as repayment.”

The fluid voice sighed, “Really? He doesn’t even know this souls name.”

The deep voice must have been listening because he asked in a shrewd voice, “What is the soul’s name?”

A pause that dragged out for a full five minutes ensued.

“You say his name is Matthew.”

There was another not whisper. “Hey, what is this mortal’s name?”

Whispers went around the gathering as Gods and Goddesses asked if anyone knew my name.

Suddenly a voice from behind me made me jump. Unlike the others this one came from right behind me.

Spinning I saw a two meter tall pale skinned woman. No looking again, I saw her ears. She was an Elf! She was beautiful, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I tried to understand what made her beautiful, but her appearance kept changing. Everything about her seemed to shift as mist moved around her. On instinct I reached out to touch this beautiful insubstantial being. As I did she also reached out to place a hand on my cheek.

My hand touched solid warm flesh. It was absurdly tender and oddly firm at the same time. An unconscious grin spread across my face, until I realized where I was touching this Elf goddess. Her Eyes narrowed as she glanced down to see my hand disappearing into the mist at her chest.

As this occurred her hand never stopped on its path to my face. As her soft fingers touched my cheek lightening ran through my body. I screamed in pain and pleasure in equal amounts. It traveled from her fingertips to every muscle, bone, vein and cell. My hand on her chest gave a reflexive squeeze as the energy ran through my fingers and back into her supple mountain.

“Oh my!” she gasped cheeks flushing.

The arc of energy continued through us. What felt like years passed, but some part of me knew it was only a couple seconds. As the lightening shot through my soul’s physical creation images of my entire life flashed through my head; from birth to the moment I died. Even as I collapsed to the ground I thought, “See! That Fucking car came out of nowhere!”

Laying on the ground with smoke spiraling away from my rapidly cooling soul, I heard the Elf Goddess’s voice from upon high, “His name is not Matthew, its Alex.”

The deep voice said something, but I didn’t notice because at that moment an odd blue box with yellow writing appeared in front of me.

Title Gained: Touched by Divinity

Your soul has been touched by a God or Goddess forever altering you.

Effect 1: Astral Projection

You can project your soul into the Astral Plane between worlds.

Effect 2: Unknown

Effect 3: Unknown

Effect 4: Unknown

Effect5: Unknown

“What is this?” I muttered but as I fully read the message it disappeared.

Rubbing my eyes I stood up. The Elf Goddess was gone and I was alone in the coliseum again.

“Fine you have a deal!” I heard the deep voice say before I heard the sound of a phone being hung up. “Now where was I?”

Looking around completely confused I heard a deep cough then the sound of a mic being picked up

“Now hear me Mortal!” The voice boomed around me again.

The Fluid female’s voice said, “We do not have time they’re about to complete the ritual.”

The deep voice sighed, “Oh for the love of all that is holy! Fine”

With that a hole opened up under my feet and I was falling through a black nothingness.

I was picking up speed as I fell, but oddly I wasn’t afraid.

The only thing that I was thinking was, “Could those morons really be gods?”

“