So, that should have been it… right? I should have stopped existing, nothing but blackness, no thoughts, no feelings, no memories, just nothing. That’s what I believed happened after death. I couldn’t fathom an afterlife actually existing. All religions sounded like bullshit, no offense meant to you believers out there. I actually envied others who had such a belief. What comfort you must have. I thought once I was dead that was it, I stopped existing.

Yet as soon as the darkness took me, I felt like I was tossed into cold water. I felt that way because I was. The darkness was the deep depths of some kind of lake, ocean, or pool. It was a struggle to get to the top. My arms swung about, my lungs burned, I saw light, and kicked as hard as I could.

It was a long struggle, I didn’t feel I was moving very fast and knew I wasn’t going to make it. How can I die after having just died? Suddenly a hand gripped mine and I was pulled from the water. I gasped for air, the sudden light, though it was dim, burned my eyes. I blinked and wiped water from my face so I could see what had pulled me free of the dark water and was still holding me up.

Nothing. It was nothing. I could feel something holding my hand tightly but I saw nothing. This nothing moved me to what looked like a pier made of black, polished wood and set me down. I looked around for my savior but all I could see was the purple haze of twilight twinkling above the dark blue of a vast ocean as I sat on the planks of a dock whose vastness was hidden by a soft pink fog.

“Thank you, I guess.” I said as I crumpled into a wet pile there. It didn’t feel right to not thank whatever it was that pulled me from my panic.

You are welcome. The voice replied, startling me. We will have to fix that. You are the fifth this week to spawn so deeply.

“Spawn?”

Yes, spawn. Come into being. Not exactly being birthed as this isn’t life but your afterlife. The reply came almost cheerfully. The voice was hard to pin down. It didn’t sound quite feminin or masculine, it didn’t seem to have a location. It just was. I am still getting used to all of this, myself. You are in the first spawn group. Group Alpha, isn’t that lucky… or unlucky, really as you get to test out everything for us. I hope you do not mind, not that your opinion will change the fact that you are here.

“Alpha? First?” I was confused. Was I not dead but he did say afterlife? Maybe it was a dream, but this didn’t feel much like one. In fact, I could feel a lot. “Where is here? Is this hell?”

The voice seemed to snort in amusement. No. You don’t believe in the Christian God, why would you be sent to His domain? This is the afterlife of those without a faith, without a contract with a god. You didn’t believe in a god or an afterlife, so this is where you are placed. It took many years for the council of the divine to green light this project. We get to pull you from the void and give each of you an afterlife.

“I didn’t want an afterlife. I wanted to be done.” I said and struggled to stand.

There was something wrong with my feet. I couldn’t get them under me. I slipped far too easily and I couldn’t feel my toes. I looked down in the dim light to see no feet. It wasn’t like they were chopped off, no in the place where my feet should be, there were hooves. My legs were far hairier than I had let them get ever. They were covered in very soft, reddish-brown curls. My heart started to race again, just like it did before I was forced to arrive here.

“What the hell! Help… why… what?!” I thrashed about on the pier until I could get my hooves solidly under me. Frantic, I ran my hands along my entire body to see what else was messed up. My legs curved wrongly, like that of most animals with hooves. I was thin, well thinner than I had been in life. I was quite literally morbidly obese while alive, I never took good care of myself as I just didn’t care. Now my hips were very shapely, covered in the same fur as my legs were and the fur stopped just below my belly button on a relatively flat stomach. I reached back, following the fur line, and found a pointy, hairy tail flicked up at the base of my spine. “Oh. My. God!”

God has nothing to do with it. You don’t have one, remember? The voice said, almost cheerfully. This is part of your new afterlife. You were an Aries, if I am not mistaken. You were a good person too, it looks like. So you have taken on a lot of traits of the ram.

I reached up to my head. Oh no. No, no. As much as I wanted to deny it, there was, in fact, a set of rams horns sprouting from my forehead and curling around each side of my head with large, floppy ears poking out in the middle of the spiral. I teared up. Punishment, this had to be punishment and hell despite what this voice was telling me. It was lying. I didn’t believe in God and He was punishing me. Just great.

You will understand as you go along. I know it is hard. You have been in the void for a hundred years, your brain will work better soon. That is why you spawn here at the well of the void. It makes it easier for us to acclimate you and help you get started in your afterlife.

“So what is this afterlife? Why do I look like a satyr? Aren’t satyrs only male?” I nervously ran my hands through my hair. It was the same color as the fur on my legs. My body felt so alien. I began to pace around the pier.

We have to start with a bit of a history lesson for you. When human kind came into existence, it harnessed a source of power no other creature in your world had been able to before: faith. This power caused gods, afterlives, myths, and legends to be born. These beings didn’t do all the grand things that humans believed they did, but they do match for the most part the descriptions that humans believe in. Belief was enough for these beings, like myself, to be born but faith gave them power and the power of human consciousness or soul to manifest into a real thing. The voice stated as if giving a lecture in a classroom.

Carefully, I sat down on the pier, my legs dangling above the water by just a few inches. The disembodied voice was making a little sense but it seemed unreal. The idea of human belief manifesting things wasn’t too hard to believe. I knew the mind was rather powerful but creating beings of supernatural power and other dimensions like heaven and hell? That seemed like a stretch.

Those who believed in certain places to go after their lives ended were claimed by those divine that dealt with the places. They are judged in accordance to the beliefs that established religion had and their consciousness or soul is handled accordingly. Unfortunately, those who believed in no life after death and no being of power still had a consciousness that exists after death. It continued and I interrupted.

“Yes, but I believed that I would simply end, that there would be nothing.”

I could feel the smile in the voice that responded. Yes, that is how I came to be. Thanks to the belief of yourself and those just like you throughout time, I came into existence. I am Nothing. The Nothing that has been awaiting you. I am so very pleased to meet you, I have watched you for a long time and have watched over you since your passing. I know it doesn’t feel like it has been very long, but you have been dead and in the void for over a hundred years.

“No, no I just died. I felt my heart give out and then I was in water trying to get to the surface here at the… the spawn.” I argued, motioning out to the water in front of me.

Oh, no Alice, time passed in between those moments. Since you were in the void, which is the closest to not existing I can manage to keep my believers, you formed no memories and were aware of nothing. This makes it feel like there was no time between your death and your spawning. The Nothing helpfully explained.

My mind was reeling. A hundred years had passed. I was just now being spawned into this new afterlife. I just wanted to curl up and go back to the void. As those thoughts echoed through my mind, I felt a warm presence. A pressure like arms being wrapped around me.

You have been through a lot, but you aren’t alone anymore. I will be here every step of the way.

It was actually comforting. I don’t know how long it had been since I was last hugged with real compassion. How strange that it would be now, after my death, with a being that was quite literally nothing.

“Thank you,” was all I could muster. I was grateful for the hug, as I was for the help out of the water. I wasn’t grateful for much else. I am pretty sure I would prefer to go back into the void.

I mean it, too. I will be your guide, your UI or User Interface as they are called in games. The Nothing sounded rather proud of this. You see, when the void started to pile up with more and more souls than the other afterlifes, the council of divine met. Apparently too many creative consciousnesses in status was leaching power from the other pantheons, causing disruptions and trouble with their own believers. Something had to be done to focus all of your beautiful minds. I wasn’t quite fully formed into what I am now but I had potential. With the help of some of the larger brains and some of the latest souls that passed into my domain, your afterlife was created. We chose the form of something you would be familiar with from your lifetime, a video game.

The hugging presence moved away and it was missed, but I didn’t say anything. I did my best to focus on these words.

Rather than Valhalla, Heaven, or Hades, you will have a progressive afterlife with challenges, a goal, and reward. It continued. There is so much energy and creativity and belief in all of you that anything less would be an insult to the beauty of your souls!

I snorted. “Sounds like we are having to live all over again.”

If the Nothing could detect all my thoughts and the bitterness in my words, it didn’t comment on them. Yes, in a way. Pain here is bearable, more a sensation of warning than what there is in life. You cannot die again, well you can but like in a video game you respawn here and there is a little bit of a penalty in your advancement. That is something we will go over later, if the time comes that you face respawning.

“So if it is a game, are there classes?” I just wanted things to move along now. There was too much information to digest in one sitting.

Yes! There are classes and races. We have borrowed many aspects of the world you are familiar with, many you are not. The classes are based on something none of the other pantheons have claimed: the zodiac. This is why you bare the horns, ears, some facial features, and lower half of a ram. You were born an aries and lived quite a positive life when it comes to how you interacted with others. This is something we deem as worthy of more so you resemble your birth sign more than your visage while alive. Those who are less worthy will more closely resemble themselves.

I looked at myself in the water below my hooves. I didn’t look much like myself at all. My skin was still the same pale with freckles. I was, as I had noted before, much thinner than I had been alive. I wasn’t going to model in any high fashion magazine, but I looked good. My face was my own except my nose was flatter, squarish, with fuzz on top and a wet/sponge consistency on the end like most animals have. I also didn’t need glasses, I realized as nothing was propped in front of my blue eyes as I looked at my reflection. It isn’t a look I would pick for myself, but I have to admit it isn’t bad, save for the lack of clothes.

Along with your ram appearance, you have earned a fire affinity. This means magic you do that is fire in nature will be stronger than someone without the fire affinity. You are also highly resistant to fire used upon you.

“That sounds useful. What classes do I have to pick from? Assuming this is like many games I have played, there are classes right?” I guess the next best thing to not existing was playing a video game for eternity. Hopefully it would be one I enjoyed. During my life, games and books were my escape from the world around me. They brought me much comfort and the only friends I had. They weren’t very good friends, but there were people I could talk to a little and do things with to feel slightly less alone. None of them stayed in my life very long as they often moved onto games that I couldn’t afford to run or buy, but while they were there they were precious to me.

You do not get to choose. Fate will choose for you. And by fate, it is really an algorithm that decides your class based on your life, your personality, and what would best serve you in your afterlife. Draw a card.

I was about to ask where I would draw a card from when I noticed a deck of cards on the dock next to me. I shuffled through the deck, it looked rather standard and all the cards appeared to be present. I shuffled one last time and picked a random card. It was the ten of clubs. The card lit in a golden flame and was pulled from my hand. It rose above and I stood, still a little unsteady on my new legs.

The fire on the card burned brighter and instead of ash or smoke, liquid gold dripped from it and onto me. I covered my face with my hands and stepped back, but the card just followed. The gold stung my arms and sizzled before evaporating. Once the card was gone, I moved my hands away.

You have selected as your class and are of the order. Your order won’t matter much for a very long time, but your class is the driving force. As a healer, you will be much sought after for support.

I frowned. I didn’t want to be relied on or sought after. I wanted to mostly be left alone. People who relied on others often took advantage of those they rely on. That is what always happened to me. Do great at a task at work that no one else wants to do, guess I am getting stuck with it and looked down on because I do that unwanted task. Help someone study for a difficult test, guess they are always coming to me for my notes and do not offer anything in return and take up all the time I would have spent studying going over things I already know. Being relied on to look after my step-siblings and being turned into their mother while my parents enjoy themselves to the fullest. On and on, I had many examples of this.

You control your path here, Alice. You control whom you support. Parties are easily dissolved and created. You are not alone. The Nothing reminds me again.

I sigh and give up. “Well, since I am not going to be alone, I need clothes. I don’t want any others to see me in this… bared glory.” I motioned to my state of undress.

Behind you is your starter pack. That is what we have gleaned from the collective consciousness of those familiar with games.

I turn to the bag that I know was not there just a moment ago. It is a drawstring bag, not very large. My starter kit looks like it will leave a lot to be desired. I find a simple, blue, pleated dress with a black leather belt that has many loops and clasps to it. There is a black leather bound book and a necklace with a large white crystal that has been polished into the shape of the Aries zodiac sign. Quickly, I dress and sling the bag over my shoulder as I flip open the book with one hand.

This is your guide book. The void said. On the page I had turned to, those words also appeared, scrawling across the paper as I heard them. On this first page, you can communicate to me freely anywhere except in a boss room. I cannot give you a lot of details because spoilers are bad, but I can give advice on things you have already been exposed to and survived.

I flipped the page. This one had a picture of me on it. It looked like most other character screens I have seen in games. It listed several stats for me.

Level: [1]

Race: [Aries]

Class: [Healer]

Order: [Club]

Guild: -none-

Party: -none-

It did not list out health, mana, or any stats like strength and dexterity. Instead it had a section marked Skills with a flashing 10 points.

Skills are what allows you to use magic or special attacks. You will get one point per level. As you pulled the 10 of Clubs as your card, you start with 10 points to spend. You will get options to buy skills based on the skills you come across in your adventures from scrolls, tomes, things you witness if you have the right observational skills, and what is offered in guild halls. You can’t obtain a skill not meant for your class, unfortunately, but there are many skills for your class. Right now, you have two things available to you. and . I recommend getting both, they are one point each.

The words and were flashing in the section for skills. I touched them with my finger and they became solid and a 1 appeared next to each. My skill point count dropped to 8.

“This one here, does that mean my Skills level? Do I spend points to level?”

No. Your skills level through you using them in the dungeon floors. You will not gain any experience outside one of the 100 floors of the dungeon.

If I have no attack spells, that healing spell is going to level fast. “Do I get a weapon? All I got was this necklace.”

You are a healer, your weapon is through pendants and orbs which you channel your skills through. You will find wielding a weapon to be difficult and not very effective.

“Well, that is not going to work in my favor. How will I find others?” I closed the book, deciding to look through the other pages later. This dark spawn point was starting to make me uncomfortable.

In New Beginnings, the starter town that is growing around the dungeon. You are part of the first group that is spawning. There isn’t much built yet as that is the responsibility of all of you to do. There are avatars of stone that you can commission to build a shop, guild hall, tavern and inn, or personal residence on the docs surrounding the dungeon. Right now there is an inn and basic supply shop run by avatars, you would be more familiar with the term NPC, correct?

“So not a real soul but something artificial we can react with to get what we want, right?”

Exactly. They can’t do much more than interact with requests for purchases and buy back materials looted from the dungeon.

“Alright. Then let's get started.” I clapped my hands together. I couldn’t take all this standing around any longer. There was too much to take in and the spawning area was feeling less and less welcoming. It seemed that at the clap of my hands, a small, single passenger, little boat with a sail appeared. I carefully, with my hooved feet, climbed in and the boat dashed out into the darkness with such speed that I had to shield my eyes from the wind.