As the blinding light fades and he slowly regains his vision, the bewildered shadow-man that is Jed spun in a circle to get a glimpse of the new surroundings. It's still just as dark and grim as the death god's home from his world... was this all some kind of joke? Maybe he hadn't actually left at all and that stupid old man was about to jump out to laugh at him some more.

A blue vortex of energy appeared directly in the middle of his line of sight, interrupting his inner turmoil and starling him enough to elicit a yelp of surprise. It quickly shapes itself into a rectangle and then text forms across the front of it.

*Bloop!*

Hey, Jed!Sorry we had to part so quickly, I only had time to teleport you and leave you with this message. The world I sent you to is called 'Andrathos', it is basically an experiment that a few powerful gods threw together in their attempt to make a livable world inspired by some old RPG games. I am assuming you've played one...if not then you're probably fucked.

Since you didn't go through a proper reincarnation cycle, and by that I mean birth, I'm sure you've noticed that you don't have a body. Go find one quickly, I don't know how much time you've got before you start fading away. I couldn't take the time to choose where I sent you, but hopefully there are some corpses or coma patients laying around. You never know, right?

I should probably just have told you that at the beginning so you didn't waste your time reading this... Oh well! Have fun and no matter what happens, just remember that it is probably better than being in that river again.Sincerely, 'Your friendly neighborhood substitute death god'P.S. Just think the words 'Status' and 'Skills' to see how good a body you've picked out, assuming you get one.

When he's finished reading the letter it blinks out of existence and he's forced to adjust to the darkness once again. Everything about this situation is insane and it is starting to get to him. Just what did the old man mean by 'fading away'? It seemed like if his spirit disappeared then that would be his permanent end. No soul would mean no soul river, no reincarnations, not even another chance with a wiped memory. The fear was overwhelming but Jed knew that now wasn't the time to worry about it.

'I already died once, I don't want to do it again before I even get a chance.'

With that thought all his worries are jammed back into the recesses of his mind and he begins to calm down some. He's not sure how long he's got but he plans to use every bit of it to find a suitable body. His focus renewed, Jed starts walking through the dark and gradually it gets easier to see. The walls are formed of jagged gray stone and it is easy to tell that he is in some sort of tunnel that is probably part of a cave. Weaving his way past a stray stalactite, he frantically looks around for any signs of life.

Plenty of different kinds of bugs skitter up the walls, in and out of tiny cracks and even across the ceiling but that was no help, after all, nobody wants to be reincarnated as a beetle. A small ball of fur streaks past his leg with an impressive amount of speed for something so tiny. Seeing the motion out of the corner of his eye, Jed whirls around to watch the rodent speed away and into the pitch black belly of the cave.

'Better than bugs but that still really isn't something I'm willing to live as. There has to be an exit somewhere, if I can make it outside then there have to be better options than a rat.'

Quickening his pace, Jed jogs as fast as he can go while still avoiding the rocky outcroppings and sharp turns of the seemingly-never-ending cavern. After a few hours of attempting to navigate the natural labyrinth he notices that it is getting increasingly difficult to move his spiritual body and his movements are closely resembling those of a drunkard.

Staggering around another turn, his imaginary eyes widen in surprise. The mouth of the tunnel opened up into a much bigger room, but more importantly there were bats hanging up above and occasionally zooming around on leathery wings. He had hope of getting out of here after all! If there were bats then he was probably somewhere close to the exit of this nightmare.

"I just need to make it a little farther...I can do this, come on, move it, me!"

The pep talk aimed toward himself has the side effect of making him look like a crazy person to anyone watching and also happened to scare the bats. A flurry of wing beats signal the start of a disaster, the swarm of furry little devils descends and the tornado of puff balls engulfs poor Jed.

He swats at them with incorporeal hands but they fly right through him, making him realize that he wasn't actually in any danger. On the other hand, the sound of so many bats swirling around him, screeching their lungs out was enough to scare him off. With dwindling strength, Jed dives over behind a boulder and slumps down against the wall. He stays like that until the screeching fades off into the distance and he can only assume they either calmed down or left the cave. With a heavy sigh, Jed tries to heave himself up off the floor, only to fall right back down in a pitiful heap. The shadowy form that he had been willing so hard to hold up finally turns back into a shapeless blob.

'I'm not sure if my luck is amazing or terrible, I happened to be the one soul that the old man pulled out early and was able to keep some of my memories, only to end up being teleported into the middle of a massive cave and with a time limit! Fate must be trolling me, looks like this might be the end of me but at least I had a good run.'

Feeling exhausted, he lay there and savored the strange feeling of peace that had come over him as his vision slowly succumbed to darkness. His thoughts drifted off, wondering about if the old man had gotten away with it or not. He didn't seem like a bad guy, hopefully he's over there right now being thanked and given a gold star sticker for a job well done. I wonder what those parties he mentioned are like? A party fit for gods must be pretty crazy, imagine all that extravagant food... do gods eat food?

Some time later, against all odds, the lights turned back on. Jed banished the groggy cloud that blunted his mind and sat up, wondering why he was still alive. This wasn't the after-after life, he was sure of that because after looking around, he confirmed that he was still inside the cave and even in the same exact spot. Something was off but he couldn't quite place it, in fact, everything seemed taller. He tried to stand up and was surprised to find that his strength had returned, but his celebration would have to wait because everything was still so high up... no, he was shorter!

Jed's gaze rocketed downward to get a good look at his body, only to find that the shadowy form he'd worn before was completely gone, replaced by what looked to be a similar humanoid shape that was made entirely of the rocks which could be found all around the cave. But why was he so small!?

A moment of clarity drove away the panic as he remembered the old man's letter. 'Status' The word echoed in his head and sure enough, the blue rectangle made its return.

*Bloop!*

Status InformationNameJedAge23RaceLesser Earth ElementalGenderN/ALevel1ClassN/AHealth200/200Mana150/150Strength20Agility5Vitality20Dexterity5Intelligence15Wisdom15

'He wasn't kidding about the game thing but how the hell did this even happen? I passed out and fused with a rock I guess? This rabbit hole just never ends.'

Jed dismisses the screen with a simple thought and then focuses on the word 'Skills'.

*Bloop!*

Skill InformationSkill NameSkill EffectHeart of Mana (Passive)Stamina replaced with mana.Soul of Mana (Passive)Grants exponentially increased mana regen.Enchanted Eyes (Passive)Grants the sense of sight through magic.Enchanted Ears (Passive)Grants the sense of hearing through magic.

Earth Magic (Active) Lvl 1Allows use of earth infused mana.Assimilation (Active) Lvl 1Consume nearby earth to restore health.

'This is actually kind of cool, I just need to think of it all as a game.' He reassures himself with a quick nod and then dismisses that screen as well.

'So then... what to do first?'