In a place, most can't enter without getting some achievements in the known universe. There was a girl. Mind you, not your classic human girl. She looked like a young woman with an athletic build with a body made of pure energy that constantly shifted from one pastel color to another. She had runic tattoos covering her curvy figure. These were of colors more intense than her skin, covering most spots in her body. Now they were almost black.

If you looked at her now, you would try to avert your gaze. Her body was full of bruises and cuts, tossed in a plain with pillars all around. Now, you should be asking how she has bruises if she is energy? Well, materialized energy, to be precise. It works like skin and muscle, a trait of her race.

On this place are entities of diverse origin. It is like a congregation of "Gods" and beings of chaotic or untold powers. They have achieved their ultimate potential in their universes. So, with time and work, they abandoned their worlds in the search for a more powerful place to reach new heights.

Now, the problem lies in why this girl is in such bad shape. The most basic answer is that she is in debt. Yeah, as you read, how does a god become indebted? For short, some "Loan Sharks" visited her, and now with nothing in her name, she has to begin at base one. It doesn’t matter if you are a God or a powerful creature; the mercantile system is always on top.

This system is a peculiar one; they charge you with your energies. For example, if you are a Death manipulator. They take that death energy from you as payment for any transaction, pretty crazy. All powers become transformed into pure energy, one that exists in all the universes. It has many names; more scientific cultures call it Energy, some magical, Mana, and Asther if you mix both. Well, that should be enough explanation for now.

The name of our girl is Evalyne, and many things are traveling through her mind. But why I don't let her talk for herself.

"How did this happen? Everything was almost ready to advance to the next layer of the Strómata and start again in the next level. Someone told the fucking loaners where I was at the time . It doesn't matter now; I will not get pushed. I still have one cache of Asther hidden. I have to reach it first, at least it is away from the central city. First thing first, I should regain at least a part of my lifeforce here in the Pillars Plain."

So yeah, there is a difference between Lifeforce and Asther. It should be pretty obvious for some. The Energy Woman got her shape to a less beaten state after resting for some time. She got herself up and began to walk in the direction of an area filled with black dunes.

The name of this place is Strómata. A tiered plane of existence. It contains Tiers from one to ten, and inside each are ten layers. These layers separate themselves by the purity and force of the Asther you have concentrated in you. She is actually in the tenth layer, almost reaching the next Tier. But oh well, her unique circumstances did not allow it.

She was walking in a strange black desert, one that was near the city—looking for something that only she knew. With time and a lot of excavating, she found it. Evalyne hid them beneath some marked rocks and a lot of black sand; A cylinder, like no other, with marks or sigils not recognizable to most.

"Perfect, it has one thousand Asther units, which is enough for a start over in the games. Not enough to get something useful with the prices in the city. I better absorb this before anything happens or someone sees me. I guess I will have to look in the soul market for something cheap. I should save the rest for the species and modifications for my Primal candidate."

Here is the thing. For these entities to advance in The Strómata, they can do many things. In most cases, they wager their Asther in a game called the "Primal Adaptation." The Asther they gather from the other gamblers is the currency they need to reach new layers and new tiers with time.

These are some of the more "civilized" ways these beings found to advance in this secluded place; why that? They have fought tooth and nail for centuries to reach supremacy. Be it on their planet, system, galaxy, and of course, their universe. They are creators and destroyers on their own, but not in this place. Here they are, The Limited, a derogatory title from the one in control of this plane.

When a being advances so much in their life, they ascend. But this is their first stop. It is a deviation to avoid an imbalance in the universe with their powers. In some ways, a test or tribulation to see if they are worthy of having what they have. of course, the Limited can kill themselves if they want. But only in duels and with their powers limited in each tier. Many don't take that risk, knowing their strengths and weaknesses. Add to that the deprivation of most of their abilities.

The games are the consequence of looking for a better way to advance brought by the owner of the Strómata. Evalyne was walking in the streets of the center of the city looking for a souls' market by now. She entered a building with drones going in and out through a slot in the wall. After entering, an android greeted her. It had six arms and a delicate frame; It looked capable of intricate work.

"Hello, I am looking for some cheap souls for the games."

"Of course, ma'am, what is your Asther limit?"

"Around three hundred."

"Excellent. follow me." — Evalyne followed along to the back of what seemed a deposit. — "We have a new shipment from the drones. They are souls from the Universe seventy-eight Gamma. from a planet called Earth. We have animals, insects, hominids, and other creatures. We can make chimera souls for a small fee. It can have the features of many creatures, like their traits or potentials, of course."

"Show me what is new."

"Here in this shipment, we got one hundred selected souls. Because we haven't done the cataloging yet, these souls' tier levels don't have an exact price. However, you can run with luck. The estimated costs are around fifty to almost five hundred Asther units."

"Can you give me access to their characteristics?"

"Doing that would catalog all these souls, and their prices would differ from what I am offering you. So, you better pick with your instinct. If you have been fair, perchance lady Karma will give you what you need."

"Mmmm, so I have to guess. At least I retained a little bit of control to read the souls of creatures and their energy levels. But that doesn't always matter; the energy levels can be high, but the potential useless. The traits are what always matter. If I am correct, this android will charge me by energy levels and not by traits. I should analyze each soul with care."

"Ok, then let me analyze the souls by touching their capsules at least."

"That I can do. Be my guest."

"Of the Hundred souls, each felt useless, but there were four that got my attention, two by odds feelings, and the other two by experience, who were near each other like if they got scooped at the same time... Ok, I have made my choice."

"I want these two. The weak and the bloodthirsty one."

"Very well. By energy levels, these two should be worth 250 Asther units."

The android took the two little orbs and put them in my hands. I made the transaction by paying the Asther solicited. A line of pinkish fluid got out of me and went towards a relay in the store.

"Would you like to make a Chimera Soul with your purchases? You only have to pay 10 Asther units for each trait you select from the souls."

"Ok, show me the traits and the species of what these two belonged."

"With pleasure."

Earth Human (Jimmy McKlein) Earth Gekkonidae Traits Traits

-Psychopath

-Perfectionist

-Bloodthirsty

-Intelligent (Tier 7)

-Athletic (Tier 6)

-Corrupted

-Morbid Killer

-Curious

-Weak

-Adaptable (Tier 8)

Potential: Tier 3

Potential: Tier 6

"Interesting..."

"I want to get; the Perfectionist, Bloodthirsty, Intelligent, and Athletic traits of this soul. Have them transferred to the Gekkonidae soul and delete the Weak attribute from it if you can."

"Right away, Ma'am, Which Spirit you want to be the base of the new soul?"

"The Gekkonidae one, the other bears' corruption and would fuck everything in the games for me. That if it follows the root of its sin."

"Very well."

The android took the two orbs and put them in a machine that held both capsules in the air. The android began typing at many screens; a new ball appeared between the two others, and from each capsule, a colorful hazy fluid began to seep. The orb in the center started sucking the liquids, and a spiral appeared in its center.

"The traits got extracted with success. Now for the spirits, the discarded one will go to the void, and the other will be the new owner of the traits."

Two holographic representations appeared from the now dull orbs—one from a tiny lizard and another from a human. The human was trying to scream in anguish and hate at what was happening to its remnants. Jimmy was trying to get a hold of what should be his essence. The other one was trying to become smaller between strange noises. The spirit of the Gecko got sucked to the new soul orb. Jimmy saw how he was about to disappear. In his last moments, he screamed at the giant being he saw as if he understood what was happening.

"CHOOSE ME. I AM BETTER THAT A VERMIN BENEATH YOUR FEET. I WILL BE YOUR CHAMPION!"

Evalyne saw the attempt the human soul made. With calm, she asked for a translation from the android. It replied to what the spirit had said. With that, she asked the android to answer for her. — "Corruption runs amok within you, Human Soul. You will bring me too much trouble for what I need you to become. Be destroyed in the void, Trash."

"NOOOOOOOOOOO GOD DAMMIT ALL!!!"

And like that, the Orb that contained Jimmy got incinerated, leaving no trails behind. See, I told you his story would be short.