So I died.

Not the best start to my story, if I do say so myself, but I didn’t do too much of interest before I died. Grew up, went to school, got hit by a car at twenty-two. Now here I am, sitting in this pitch black space.

Now to be honest, I was an atheist. So the fact that I was aware after death was quite a surprise to me. Honestly, if there was a god you’d think it would do a better job. Really, the whole world was ill designed.

Oh so you think you could do a better job?

So I meet god and he is a whisper in a dark space? Makes as much sense as anything else I suppose. The short answer to that question is, no I could not do better as I am now. I don’t have the requisite knowledge, so even if I had the power I wouldn’t be able to use it. Which does not mean you didn’t do a bad job.

This is why I hate human souls from worlds with science… Such a pain…

Well, I suppose the idea of an omnipotent and omniscient god is based on the Christian view. So if this god is not those two things I suppose it could be forgiven, but the real question is what happens now?

The worst thing about atheists is that they tend to be atheist for moral reasons. Those various twisted myths and legends you humans pass between each other as ‘religion’ generally don’t satisfy your desire for ethics and morals. So almost every atheist ends up speaking to me to be allowed something of a choice for their next life.

My apologies, I guess? I never expected to meet a god, but if I ever did I would never have expected their biggest complaint about me to be that I was too good. Mostly because I wasn’t that good at all, I mean, I died on my way home from a party that involved a drunk hookup. Not exactly the paragon of moral perfection…

The bar is real low for humans. The multiverse does not expect much from you guys.

Well shit, good thing the gods apparently grade on a curve huh? So how does this choice thing work?

There is an element of luck and randomness in reincarnation, depending on your first life you can have more or less options. You will have less options than most, however you will be allowed to keep your memories.

Huh. Well that is pleasant, nice to know I will still be me. Odd thought, but does that mean that most souls are reincarnated?

Not really. Generally souls are sent to some form of spirit realm. Reincarnation requires a lot of factors to align. You lack the capacity to understand.

If you weren’t a deity I would take offence to that. So what are my options?

Mortal or Immortal.

Wow. Thanks. Very descriptive. I know precisely what awaits me for either path I choose.

You are quite welcome.

Returning my sarcasm back to me huh? Well obviously the choice of immortal is a trap, but I will pick it anyway. No matter how I end up, I will have eternity to figure out how to return to how I am now. So bring on the catch, I bet it's a doozie.

Enjoy your new life… As a Dungeon Core.

***

Well now, this is strange.

I am overlooking a wide stretch of terrain from high in the sky and I have a window open in front of me. A game menu… Cliche, but useful enough. I won’t complain since the alternative is having to grope around in the dark until I understand.

I have a choice of where to place my dungeon, because yeah, I am a Dungeon Core now. If I ever have a chance to talk to that god again I would like to explain to him that being an inanimate object does not really qualify as alive. As I examine the terrain the window informs me that each area has its own benefits and effects. The most obvious one is the initial choice of monsters apparently. Forests get all kinds of wild creatures and/or goblins, marshes have amphibians and slimes, and mountains have goblins, orcs, and undead.

None of those sound appealing, but if I have to choose one for all of eternity I will go with the mountains and the undead. I would imagine the higher forms of undead will have reason after all, whereas goblins are likely to always be around the same level of intelligence. This is all based on my memories of fantasy settings, but I don’t exactly have anything else to base my decisions on.

After I make my choice I find myself in a room in a cave. I can finally see me, a crystal orb set atop a rough pedestal. A quick experiment proves I can no longer leave the dungeon, but a helpful screen pops up to inform me that I can spawn creatures to send out into the world.

I guess I should create something then...