With darkness grasping and clawing, Julia continued forward, the pursuing whisper continuing to dim. Flesh burning with fatigue, yet determination drove her ever onwards. The air swirled as if forced inwards by the darkness. Stumbling, Julia fought to keep momentum and kicked off with more force in her back foot. The darkness suddenly broke open as desperation surged, and its absence caused her to stagger forward. Eyes seeking an exit, any exit, suddenly caught the open sky, zooming in on the lip of the cliff ahead.

That emptiness seemed to claw her forward into its deadly embrace, as another step had bare toes curling over the outer edge. Desperate to arrest her motion, Julia tried to collapse backwards away from that fatal fall, arching her back as she did so. Unnoticed weights moved with an arching motion and beat outwards from her back. Their action snapped her course into reverse, ending as flesh smacked the rock suddenly behind her. Yet despite the pain, it had saved her from the fall and brought her time to find her feet.

The view before her dragged at her mind’s focus, leaving her oblivious to all else. The floor beneath the cliff looked to be hundreds of feet away. Wooden spines started as close to the cliff face beneath her as she could see and marched outwards across the dark ground. Something had driven spikes into the flesh of the earth, set to hold foul fruit aloft. A searing hot gust of wind pushed her harder against the cliff face, carrying with it the scents and sounds of the plane.

“Where am I?”

The wind felt scorching hot as it hit like a desert wind in the middle of summer. As each gust moved away, water clung to her skin, moisture seemingly from nowhere beading on her form. Humidity somehow still filled the dry air around her, yet the water rapidly evaporated. The whole place twisted, warped, and shuddered against her mind and senses. Her heart had been racing, yet now it was calm; laboured breathing had ceased when the Darkness broke. Julia took a breath that no longer felt needed, and wished she hadn’t.

Sickened both by the odours the wind had carried and the alien Heat it stirred in her chest. It seemed to herald a change within her very being, one that allowed no control. Trying to pull her awareness away from its consuming march, she concentrated on the closest impaled figures, while trying to ignore the others stretching out as far as she could see across the plains.

“How are they still screaming?”

The forest of ‘trees’ covered that blood-soaked oozing surface far beneath her, each holding a single victim aloft. Each of the figures should be dead and silent, yet they screamed. Their screams and continual writhing shook long dried blood from the tips of each broad spear. The black flakes their writhing shifted loose fell like a dying echo of snow, and yet the stream of them didn’t lessen. Then Heat surged, burning through her, leaving her ashen in its wake and the horrific echoed within suddenly numb boredom. As before her, the dreadful forest flickered in and out of focus.

The tortured beings continued to scream as fresh blood oozed its way down each shaft. Blood glistened with flecks of twisted energy that drifted within. That motion of the life clearly out of sync with the fluid holding them. A fragment of Soul energy harvested from the damned. This continual morbid play was purely to gather it. It was grotesque, yet it felt hypnotic, calling to her, the promise of a delicious chilled water glass on a hot day, dripping with condensation. A disturbing sensation filled her with something inside craving for a taste, just a touch of them.

As a fragment she had been watching touched the soil, its energy pulsed in her sight, flaring like a spotlight. Its raw glowing power pulsed, and light cascaded away from its point of contact, shimmering through the surface. The ground was not land; it wasn’t a dark earthen surface but a shallow lake of blood stretching further than she could see.

The energy rippled like a lightning strike against the background of a storm blacked sky. However, in this case, the spilled blood and sewage from the damned was its conduit. Energy crackled within the fluid, drawing glowing material in the wake of its path to collect like pus in a wound. The material clotted together while the lake bubbled and churned in on itself around the core of the lightning strike. It soon seemed a perverse placenta, the yellow pus material, providing a stark contrast to the form of solid blackness now growing within. A glowing thread of power formed an umbilical cord, tethering it to the spear. As the outline of the form completed, it sank beneath the surface of the lake.

Even worse, it wasn’t the only warped womb littering the forest. Some were already larger than a heavyweight boxer. Even while watching, she could see clawed hands and massive limbs pushing within the confines of the stretching prison. However, some far larger masses were showing signs of vigorous movement within them.

“There are some this place prepared earlier. Don't think this cooking show would go to air.” Words spilled without thought, and suddenly Julia wanted to be anywhere but here. Emotions struck hard, washing aside the numbness as she witnessed the perversion of birth occurring within the blood below. One thing ripped its way free of its ‘spawn’ point and rose awkwardly to its feet. The distortions as it moved providing her with no sense of proportion to determine its height.

The fluid appeared to be nearly up to its knees as it staggered for a moment before finding its balance and walking. Its staggering, unstable steps quickly shifted into a thudding, thoughtless, methodical gait. Its gait was as brutally direct as its form, solid round head attached to a straight column of a neck, broad shoulders, bulky torso and each limb like a carved log. The spikes that jutted out of its skin flexed with each motion of the rippling muscle under it.

The cowl of its ‘placenta’ slipped off the top of its head like some bizarre cloak, and the remaining material slid away. The mass disappeared into the wake of its churning course through the blood. Nudity didn’t bother this thing and its pronounced but flaccid maleness flopped away between its legs with each squelching step. The member wasn’t just well hung; it was well-armed. Its genitals sported cruel-looking ridges and spikes along its length, seeming more a torture device than intended for reproduction.

[Access ‘Profile’ for attribute point allocation and class selection]

The message blurted its way into her conscious mind, its sudden presence nonsensical against the eons of torture promised below.

“Profile?”

The moment in front of her froze like a horrible wallpaper on her laptop.

A mental display was suddenly at the forefront of her mind, an awareness of her physical and mental capabilities. The presentation contained only unknown symbols sitting in her mind. Yet overlaying it was either English or perhaps just an understanding of what each meant.

[Profile -

First Use detected - FAQ activated.

1) You can think the word, no need to speak.

2) This is happening in a gap between moments, so no backstabbing should occur while browsing.

3) No, this is not VR, a dream or a nightmare as the host says ‘ This is your life. .’

4) No, there is no going back. If you persist in asking yourself that question, see the previous point.

5) Press any key to return to your previous life. You so didn’t read point 3 or 4, did you? Plus, no keyboard detected, and likely not even clothes.

6) Stats gains from origins, current species, and variant adjustments applied before ‘Profile’ initialisation.

7) Yes, 10 is the mortal average.

Name

Julia Amanda Diane Earnst

True Name

Species

Least Succubus

Level

1

(Variant: Hidden Mortal Soul - Cursed)

Class

Level

0

Defence

16

Health

15

Attributes

(Unallocated: 22)

Strength

12

Faith

5

Endurance

20

Magic

20

Quickness

15

Intelligence

17

Willpower

16

Charisma

16

Resistances

Acid - Minor (5), Cold - Minor (5), Mana Resistance - Lesser (8), Mundane Materials - Lesser (10),

Powers

Abyssal Adaptability (1), Blink (1), Detect Thoughts (1), Energy Drain (1), Flight (1), Mana Sense (1), Shapeshift (1), Soul Sight (1),

Skills

Available Skill Points

40

Available Knowledge Bonus

10

Languages

Abyssal, Infernal, Common Celestial, English (No one speaks it here, but you can talk to yourself in it at least)

Inventory: Nothing, nada, zip, not even pocket lint, because you have no pockets or even clothes.

Current Class Options:

Succubus: Be all you can be, living the dream, well, maybe the focus of someone’s wet dream. Gain the skills and abilities to wrap a sentient being/individual/collective around your little finger. Intelligence will alter the level of effect, as smart as someone is when letting hormones do their thinking. The little brain does weird things when supplied lots of blood in a hurry.

Warrior: Because of combat training in your prior existence, you can be one of these armoured brawlers. A warrior excels at armed Combat, but we’re sure you can find a rock. Gain skills and abilities to endure the most challenging battles or end them quickly while not going down like a Succubus.

Monk: This path is one of discipline and continual focus on self-improvement towards ascending mortal limits. Gain skills and abilities that allow you to endure what others can’t and hone your body into a weapon.

[Status: Locked because of incompatibility with demonic nature. Guess you got kicked around those dojos for no reason.]

Librarian: No, really, you bookworm you, a Librarian. You owned over 500 books, and still borrowed more, so you got this class option. The bright side is you didn’t die from an avalanche of books dropped on you. Gain skills and abilities around properly gathering, cataloguing information in all forms and other Librarian type stuff.

Thief: Apparently, you stole someone’s heart, but you didn’t notice, so they cursed you. But you get a class option out of it, so you go, girl. Plus, you know you’ve now got checked out books you can’t return. Gain skills and abilities to enable you to take stuff that isn’t yours. Then to pretend it was to sell it as quickly as possible. Plus essential combat skills, like how to sink a knife into someone’s back while smiling. Yes, a previous manager would likely qualify for this class.

Hunter: The Ranger class option shifted by your demonic aura. Hunters are like Rangers but aren’t nature-loving types. This class provides skills and abilities to track and hunt your preferred target, regardless of whether it grazes contently or is a ravaging monster. Gain skills and abilities to get close enough to kill something with a weapon or lure targeted prey to its doom.

Scout: No, not the boy scout type. Instead, it’s the military type scout who learns to move about the countryside unseen by folks that would like to see them. Gain skills and abilities that allow you to get about without being spotted, keep track of, and concisely record what was found. Also importantly, to report back just without needing to steal everything not nailed down. On the upside, you'll also get better combat skills than the average politician, sorry, we mean Thief. Since Scouts are often there to find a safe path or information for those armoured brawler types, being involved during the actual hitting part that comes afterwards is part of the job.

Sorcerer: Caster types come in various forms: wizards, magicians and more; their craft learnt through catalogued and tested mechanisms. Then there is the Sorcerer. The former learns through catalogued and, hopefully, well-studied approaches to the schools’ arcane mastery. In contrast, a Sorcerer takes energy from a different plane of existence and tries to channel it via sheer Willpower into producing the desired outcome. The longer you follow this path, the more you become one with the energy channelled. If you push your luck, you'll become one with the power when it blows you into little pieces.

Alternatively, you could be a barmaid, a crafter, a cobblestone, or anything you see as your essential path in life.

Julia went to dismiss the screen but stopped herself in mid-thought at the absence of any motion in the horror show before her. A bolt of black lightning struck through the clouds stayed in place, its branching lines on full display. Mouths of the tortured stayed gaping open in mid-scream vomited blood that stayed suspended in mid-air.

Is it better to believe and take whatever advantage I can get or disbelief and hope this is all just a dreadful nightmare?

The symbols behind and around the screen shimmered in her mind's eye, possessing an alien beauty. The grace of their lines, the complete opposite of the nightmare below, taunting her with a weight of reality. An echo of pain dug at her from the recent past, the lines the phantom claws had dug into her, mocking her denial. Focusing her attention on one symbol that looked vaguely like a mosaic Mobius strip Julia felt its presence digging into the back of her mind. The harder she tried to trace the symbol's network of lines and tiny tiles, the greater the pressure until she had to break away from the pounding pain behind her eyes.

Letting her mind relax focused on a roiling black cloud formation, she spotted a body halted in its fall, flesh burnt to the bone along one arm. Fighting against the urge to scream in sympathy, she snapped her attention back to the familiar words the screen displayed.

Can I take the chance that if this is real that I'm throwing away advantages by denying it?

Deal with the now and worry about talking to the guys in white coats later. Get to the later first J, then worry about passing a psych eval.

Treat it as real, survive now, figure out the next step when it presents itself. So what do I have to work with?

It looks like it's offering me all the standard stats and the class options. Along with an unhelpful, 'become all you wish to be, but not the cool martial artist' option. Not the choice I think is the best for me. Cobblestone, seriously, what the hell?

[Cobblestone: Gains skills and ability in street solicitation and general knowledge of conducting sex work in Victorian England. Just maybe avoid that Jack fellow; he was a ripping, demanding customer to please.]

Geez, I knew you were an arsehole before, now that confirms it.

I want Monk out of these. Martial arts are cool. I’d prefer time in the dojo any day rather than talking with a therapist.

Damn you. I love martial arts. And it shows me the typical cool martial art class, and I get ‘Computer says No’.

Arse of a thing. If it’s not an option, why display it? Is there a purpose to you rubbing it in my face? Okay, let’s walk through them. The first option off the list, Succubus, that just gets a hard pass of no.

Warrior - Smash in demonic faces. There is a certain direct appeal to that if I’m stuck here. I could try to knock over or break a spike, use it as a quarterstaff.

Yet picking a class that needs equipment doesn’t sound smart when I have nothing. If constructing a makeshift weapon doesn’t work, it would be zero weapons and no armour. Also, I’d be down near those fellows for likely too long. I have claws, Eagle strike for the win right now, but it does not allow Monk?

Why can’t I be a Monk? If the messages are real then I got cursed. I didn’t come here because I’d lived that sort of life and earned it. Monks in games are cool; they push to overcome their limits. I need to overcome this place and the slut with wings stereotype, which most tales say Succubi are, just slutty corrupters and manipulators. So not wanting to become someone's speed bump or speed hump.

Sorcerer - Okay, magic is also cool - but it sounds like I’d be channelling more of the Abyss through myself - hard pass.

Thief - just no, only demons to steal from, yeah, but just no. I want to be better, not sink to their level.

Hunter - yuck, so yeah, based on the Ranger class, but distorted and twisted. Not like this place isn’t bad enough. I'm not making my life path start with a twisted class. Shouldn’t it have also offered me Ranger? Wait, why doesn’t it list Ranger as well and tell me it’s locked? Yeah, the Rangers in games gain power from nature or a good God. Nature here is twisted, and yeah, a good God. Not sure any would hear me in the Abyss even if I knew their names. But it’s making a fuss about Monk being locked.

Librarian - System, you are an arse, and I’m going to miss that series’ release.

Why does it show me a class from a light novel about someone who focused on doing what she dreams of despite obstacles?

Hhmm.

Scout - well, I enjoyed being sneaky when on those cadet camps. Lantern stalks were so much fun, seeing how close I could get without being caught.

Okay, Scout is an option, but I love martial arts.

Maybe it’s hinting, without hinting. Okay, J, let’s do this. Setup the attribute increases to be useful for a Scout and see if this works. Then I’ve not screwed up a fallback position of Scout, but I want Monk.

My choice is Monk.

Julia could feel a sort of mental resistance, like a wall blocking her. Yet, the resistance to following the path she wanted to take didn’t feel as absolute as had been indicated.

[Invalid option for demonic species, please select from your unlocked classes]

Allocate four points to Willpower.

[Willpower raised (16 -> 20)]

Monk.

The mental resistance she felt as she attempted to select the class again was still present but different.

So that felt like there was some give there. I should spread out points into other things as well, for scout just in case it’s just flexing but won’t give in.

Mentally allocating points, Julia crossed her finger and confirmed them. With no real guidance, all she had was hope that it would work. The notifications established it applied each as expected.

[Willpower raised (20 -> 24)

Quickness raised (15 -> 20)

Strength raised (12 -> 16)

Intelligence raised (17 -> 21)]

As she made the last change, she held off allocating a point and confirmed her selections. Even in the gap between time, she felt like changes to her mind and body were being made. Her focus sharpened, she could feel her balance change, and survival options came to mind. The changes came into effect, most without her noticing; the details of how her weight shifted, posture improved, muscles thickened in places, and ligaments allowing for more stretch.

One thing seemed to become clear to her though; a loophole, or at least a chance for one, now stood out.

She focused on the variant aspect that was showing in the ‘Profile’.

Hidden Soul: Variant due to Mortal Soul cursed and placed in a demonic shell. Mortal Soul present with no corruption occurring in advance. The Soul is the essence of existence, and it carries on between lives and layers of reality. The hidden Soul’s state is undetectable except by magics wielded by a Greater Power.

Monk.

[Invalid option for the Succubus species, please select from your unlocked classes]

My Hidden self and Soul feels it is essential to follow the path of Monk in this existence. I choose Monk.

[Invalid selection.

Classification conflict error detected.

Class option available to Soul, class option not available to species.

Error option availability conflict detected, priority integrity check beginning.

Integrity check completed.

Monk spiritual path option available to species with Souls.

Species restriction on class restriction lifted.

The class Monk has been unlocked and selected.

Variant hidden conditions activated and advanced hidden state applied.

Class selection presentation changed (Monk -> Blood Monk)

Class primary stat: Willpower.

Effects: Defence, Ki Pool, Melee Attack Power, and conditional bonuses to some resistances.

Racial primary stat: Charisma

Additional skills unlocked and bonus points assigned to Disguise and Perception. Defence Rating and Melee Attack Power adjusted and base combat skill allocated. Bonus point provided for Intelligence and Willpower.

Melee Attack Power unlocked (0 -> 16)

Melee Attack Power adjusted for class (16 -> 37)

Willpower raised (24 -> 25)

Intelligence raised (21 -> 22)

Defence raised (16 -> 22)

Unarmed Combat (0 -> 1)

Unarmed Combat gains 6 points from Monk.

Unarmed Combat (1 -> 7)

Disguise (0 -> 1)

Disguise gains 8 points from Succubus.

Disguise (1 -> 9)

Perception (0 -> 1)

Perception gains 8 points from Succubus.

Perception (1 -> 9)

Perception gains 4 points from Monk.

Perception (9 -> 13)

Taunt (0 -> 1)

Unlock activation: All relevant bonus points now allocated to newly gained skills.]

Julia mentally smiled as the system confirmed her Soul still had power in this place, and it wasn’t corrupt. Now for her starting skills. After examining the ‘Profile’, she focused on the heading of the skills section. She hoped it would provide an idea of her options, and she didn’t go away empty-handed in that regard. As a long list of skills inserted itself into her awareness, she mentally started scrolling through it. The skills list also showing which had synergy to her class, species or both.

Both Monks and Succubi could learn Acrobatics fast. It was the same skill but used for significantly different reasons: Monks used it for battlefield advantage, whereas Succubus used it for flight maneuvering and flexibility in intimate activities.

However, the note she spotted at the bottom of the list left her wondering how she should proceed.

[The unlock and improvement of skills occurs via skill points or targeted use. Challenges provide the best insights into ability growth.

Powers are species or class restricted and have conditional requirements to unlock. Additional capability for growth at various stages of class or species growth will occur.]

So I either keep hold of them for dire need or spend them to make life easier. If I need them, I can use them instantly. The flip side is without the right skills, I could die in an instant. But I can’t be sure I know what the right skills even are presently, or even if this is all of them.

Catch 22 is such a bitch right now.

Julia thought for a bit and then scrolled back through the list. Looking for and selecting what she’d hoped would help her survive. Making a mental note of the adjustments her Race and Class settings were going to apply, she rechecked her Profile.

[One Skill Point Spent.

Fly Unlocked.

Fly (1).

Fly gains 4 points from Succubus.

Fly (1->5).

One Skill Point Spent.

Analysis Unlocked.

Analysis (1).

One Skill Point Spent.

Acrobatics unlocked.

Acrobatics (1).

Acrobatics gains 4 points from Monk.

Acrobatics gains 6 points from Race: Least Succubus.

Acrobatics (1->11).

One Skill Point Spent.

Stealth Unlocked.

Stealth (1).

One Skill Point Spent.

Arcane Unlocked.

Arcane (1).

One Skill Point Spent.

Planar Lore Unlocked.

Planar Lore (1).

Planar Lore gains 5 points from Succubus.

Planar Lore (1->6).

One Skill Point Spent.

Planar Portal Unlocked.

Planar Portal (1).

Planar Portals gains 5 points from Succubus.

Planar Portals (1->6).

All applicable species and class bonus skill points now applied. ]

Name

Julia Amanda Diane Earnst

True Name

Species

Least Succubus

Level

1

(Variant: Hidden Mortal Soul - Cursed)

Class

Blood Monk

Level

1

Melee Attack Power

37

Defence

22

Health

30

Attributes

Strength

16

Faith

5

Endurance

20

Magic

20

Quickness

20

Intelligence

22

Willpower

25

Charisma

16

Resistances

Acid - Minor (5), Cold - Minor (5), Mana Resistance - Lesser (8), Mundane Materials - Lesser (10),

Powers

Abyssal Adaptability (1), Blink (1), Detect Thoughts (1), Energy Drain (1), Flight (1), Mana Sense (1), Shapeshift (1), Soul Sight (1)

Skills

Active -

Acrobatics (11), Analysis (1), Disguise (9), Fly (5), Perception (13), Stealth (1), Taunt (1), Unarmed Combat (7)

Knowledge -

Arcane (1), Planar Lore (6), Planar Portals (6)

Available Skills Points

33

Available Knowledge Bonus

10

Languages

Abyssal, Infernal, Common Celestial, English

Inventory:

Having confirmed the allocations, Julia felt a wave of information shake through her. While that initial rush of knowledge sunk into her mind, she struggled to shift through and make sense of it.

I’ve still got my soul, but its vessel is now demonic flesh. This situation could get so bad. No matter what, I need to survive.

Get out of here. Get back to a mortal realm. Those dots I could see are fragments of a damned soul.

No way am I feeding this place.

How do I get out of here? Can I even get home?