I noticed a faint glow around the edges of the blackout curtains I had placed over my window. Was it already morning? It looked like I had stayed up all night again. I wasn’t proud of the fact and  sighed as I moved my mouse to my taskbar, prompting it to unhide itself and revealing that it was five thirty in the morning. I needed to stop doing this. Especially on a work day. At this point I’d be lucky to get an hour and a half of sleep before I needed to get up and get ready to go.

I closed the browser window that I'd been using and powered down my computer after checking that my latest pirated goods had finished downloading and seeding. I wasn’t particularly excited about these particular downloads, but they’d be a good way to pass the time before I joined my guildmates for a raid or whatever later.

I yawned as I made my way past last night’s discarded pizza box that was next to the one from the night before and made my way to my bed, doing my best to ignore the fact that my sheets and blanket were badly in need of washing as evidenced by the stains on them left from months of sweat and oily skin.

As I lay in bed, I went through my usual ritual of self loathing. Why did I let myself become like this? I had no real friends to speak of thanks to shutting myself in my room as soon as I came home from work. Heck, I even had roommates and I barely spoke with them, despite living in the same apartment. There was also the fact that I knew I would never have a girlfriend. I mean, who would want to date a lazy loser that smelled like body odor and pizza? At least I wasn’t too overweight, well, maybe a little.

Sleep overcame me, and I found myself looking at my body sprawled out in my bed, half covered by my stained blanket. Man, I looked terrible. Oily skin covered in pimples. Greasy hair that was badly in need of a cut. Wrinkled clothes that hadn’t changed out of for at least two days. Yeah, I deserved that body that only my parents seemed to love, my two sisters tolerated, and my older brother ignored. I bet they’d all be kinda relieved that their embarrassment of a son wasn’t around any longer. 

I was pretty sure I was dead at this point and I wasn’t bothered at all at the thought other than I wouldn’t get to see the ending to my game or some of the shows I was watching. I also felt bad for whoever ended up finding my body as I had no doubt about the smell in my room, even if I didn’t like to think about it. It would probably be my landlord after my job called asking about me going missing.

Next, I wondered what I had died of. A heart attack? It would make sense. I never exercised and only ate trashy food. Or maybe a brain aneurysm? Did it matter? I was dead, and that was that. I’m just glad it was painlessly in my sleep instead of something much more terrible.

The cool thing about this was that it seemed like souls were real as I was currently one right now. Now all I had to wait for was to find out what, if any, of Earth’s many religions was true. I hoped it was one that allowed for second chances, because I certainly hadn’t done much to earn a spot in heaven or Valhalla or something like that. I hadn’t done anything terrible, but I hadn’t done much good either.

I had had enough of looking at my body so I looked around to see if anything was different. As a soul, could I see other souls now? I didn’t see any at the moment, but I doubted they’d be hanging around watching me play video games or browsing the internet.

I went to leave my room and instinctively felt that if I left, I would never be able to come back. I felt both a connection to my room and my body and by leaving my room I’d break my connection to it, and if I went too far away from my body I’d lose that connection too.

So, should I stay with my body and see what happens to it? Should I stay and haunt my room while avoiding whatever afterlife awaits me? Nah. I had no desire to stay in this room and haunt it, nor did I have any desire to watch my body rot or find out who actually cared enough about me to be sad about my death. I’d rather hurry up and see what was in store for me.

Immediately upon leaving my room I felt a pull to… somewhere. It felt gentle and inviting, and I knew everything would be okay if I went there. For now, I ignored it. I was a freakin’ ghost that could fly and go through walls and stuff. Visiting my parents to say goodbye briefly entered my mind, but I had never been close to them and decided to put it off for now. 

But, where to go? I could go to the theater and watch movies for free. I could go see if I could haunt my friends, if that was even possible. I could go spy on famous people or politicians and see what nefarious things they were planning or if they really were reptilians or pedophiles.

The pull became stronger, but was still easy to resist. I was about to put it in the back of my mind again when I felt something else. I was like the first, but was less a pull and more of an invitation. There was a sinister touch to it, but it also seemed to speak. Speak of another chance. Speak of excitement. Speak of adventure. 

Only an idiot would ignore the sinister feeling. Unlike the gentle pull of the first that could only be good, this came from something… something that would probably betray the promises it gave. But, I didn’t want a peaceful afterlife. I had always craved adventure, which was why I so easily got absorbed in games, movies, and books. If there was any chance I could get that I wanted to take it. I knew I would regret it, but I figured I could work from there.

I focused on whatever it was and felt my essence pulled towards it, accelerating as its invisible tendrils found my very being and greedily began violating my very soul while leaving me no opportunity to resist.

The mental anguish was the worst thing I had ever felt and I couldn’t even regret my decision as my very soul was torn apart, leaving just my mind as I lost my senses and my sanity.

I had no way of knowing what happened next. Once I was finally able to think again, there was nothing but myself. Only my thoughts. It was also now that I finally had time to remind myself that I knew this was a dumb idea and should have ignored that sinister presence. Still, I was still me. I was pretty sure my spirit body was destroyed, but my core, my essence, was still here. 

Suddenly, I felt a connection to something. It was as if my mind had entered a room filled with static electricity and that the electricity was forming a barrier, no, a new spirit body around myself. It happened quickly, less than a tenth of a second, but it appeared I had a new spirit body, although compared to the brief time I had spent roaming around as a ghost, this one felt wispy, barely there, incomplete.

I suddenly felt my spirit jerk as I was forced inside something. After that, I felt more static electricity as my new spirit body was molded to fit better inside what I had just been forced into. This took longer, and was something I would never want to go through again, but was still much better than having my soul torn apart. 

Finally, after one final zap, it was over.

My mind grasped on new sensations, and I realized what had happened. I was in a new body. 

Slowly, I opened the eyes of my new body. Everything was blurry, and I could only make out light and dark blurs, but somehow, I was alive again. It looked like it would take me a while to get used to this body, but whatever had taken me, had made good on at least one promise. 

It had given me another chance at life.

As I lay wherever I was, I heard muffled noises that could only be voices. My new senses seemed to barely work as, at most, I could tell something was there, but not what. I could tell I was laying on my back, but not how hard the surface was. I could see and hear, but not well enough to make any sense of them other than something was there. I also felt cold on my back, and warm on my front, but not how much, just that there was a difference. I still had no sense of smell, though.

A deep male voice sounded in my head, one with a foreign accent I couldn’t place that sounded both angry and disgusted, Welcome to your new life, scum! And the first thing that the people who summoned me do is call me scum. I should have guessed. Lord Ignatio has been kind enough to give you utter trash another chance to improve your pitiful existence! You excrement dumb enough to take an offer that could have been from the devil himself don’t deserve this chance! You should have stayed dead like the dogs you are and gone to hell like all the other failures at life. But here you are! 

Great, I had died and gone to boot camp… Strangely not as much swearing as I would have expected, though.

I tried looking around to find the source of whoever was speaking, finally marveling at the fact they were talking straight into my mind. Pretty cool. 

He wasn’t hard to miss as I caught a large blob moving around to my left. I also thought I could see others laying on the ground around me, but I could barely even move my eyes at this point, let alone my head. I guess I was going to have to relearn how to move a body.

The blob moved, seemingly inspecting someone on the ground, You are now slaves to Lord Ignatio. You maggots will serve him as he wishes or die like a dog. Unlike that corrupt hellhole, Earth, you came from, you trash will put your lives to use. You refuse will work until you collapse to help Lord Ignatio fight his enemies, which are many. If you don’t, I will personally break your Soul Gems and you can spend eternity floating around as a soulless intelligence. 

The giant blob moved next to another person laying next to the first, and two smaller shapes moved next to the first and picked them up, Now, Lord Ignatio is a gracious man. If you show him loyalty you dumpster fires of ex humanity will graduate from being lower than the worms in the dirt. I was once like you, but Lord Ignatio showed me his mercy after I showed him I was no longer wretched filth like you.

My mind was racing as I listened. I was a slave now!? We weren’t on Earth anymore? What was a soul gem? Did it do what I thought it did? Did it house my soul now?

The giant blob raised a hand, and the person laying next to him was dragged away as he moved onto the next person, There is a curse on your Soul Gem. If we give you flaming piles of defecation an order, it will compel you to follow it. If you don’t, you’ll stay the lowest of the low. If you fight us, you will go to the sludge pits. If you show loyalty and willingness to help, you will earn special privileges.

The blob moved again and was only one person away from me now. I still couldn’t make out many details even now that he was closer, but it was getting more obvious that this giant of a man wasn’t quite human. The size of his head compared to his body was the first giveaway as it reminded me of those body builders whose heads are too small for their bodies, but three fold the difference.

As he stopped at the next person, I thought about the curse he said was on my Soul Gem. Would I really have to do everything they ordered me to do? Should I go along with them? Should I follow this Ignatio guy? I didn’t particularly care about being ordered around too much, it’s why I gravitated towards jobs that were simple and routine so I didn’t need constant guidance.

My current, no, past job as a delivery truck driver for an auto parts company was my best. I was alone most of the day as I drove parts to various repair shops while listening to audio books. I had even passed up promotions so I could stay. I had also been lucky I usually didn’t have trouble with customers when I dropped off an item. Sure they got mad when I made mistakes, but that was my fault so I just dealt with it and tried not to do it again.

I heard the man make a noise for the first time as he moved past two bodies and stopped at one three people away from me. After a moment, he shouted something angrily, then kicked the person, sending them flying from view, Let’s see… now that I’ve dealt with that child molesting politician… Oh yeah! I almost forgot to welcome you dung beetles to your new home. Ninais. No, that’s not a county. It’s a different world, one with magic. One with mutant races crafted over generations by real life mages. Mutants like you are now.

I was a mutant! Cool! I had no way of telling what kind of mutant I was at the moment, but it was still pretty cool.

The large man moved over to me passing to unmoving people between me and the last. He studied me for a second, then spoke in a way that I felt was directed solely at me, Sucks to be you. He then moved out of view in the direction my feet were pointed, then returned and attached something to my face. It was a mask that slightly restricted my view, I order you to never remove this mask.

I immediately felt static in my chest, and I knew instinctively that I now had no choice but to keep the mask.

The man nodded, Your Likeness just happened to be the most ugly Ieroquin I’ve ever seen. Believe me when I say you’ll thank me you’ll never have to see what your face looks like right now, but I’ll tell you what, if you’re a good girl, I’ll send word up to Lord Ignatio to do something about that mess of a face you inherited.

What… I didn’t like the sound of this. The whole what was an Ieroquin thing aside, did he just call me a girl!? With my body in the state it was, I had no way of checking, but I don’t see why he’d lie to me.

I felt the telepathic connection change, I command you to tell me what you did in your previous life before you died, your work and leisure time, but be brief. I don’t need all the small details.

I felt a static shock and began telling him exactly what he wanted, horrified that it was so easy for him to get whatever he wanted from me. I was truly a slave in both body and mind. They could make me do what they wanted physically, while being able to find out my innermost thoughts.

I finished giving him a brief summary of my pitiful life, A loner, and extremely lazy. I see why you ended up an Ieroquin. Still, we’ll have to beat that laziness out of you, because once your training is done, you’ll have a lot of work to do.

I felt the link between us vanish as he gestured something to someone I couldn’t see, and soon, two people came and picked me up, taking me away from wherever it was I had woken up.

As the figures carried me away, I no longer heard the man’s voice in my head. This allowed me to focus my thoughts on my surroundings. It was clearly midday as the sun was high overhead, but that was all I could tell about the weather. The area itself was impossible for me to get a clear look at, but I occasionally could make out a building here and there, as well as several dozen people, some as large as the man earlier, that we passed by.

Eventually, we ascended some stairs, where I was set on the ground in front of another figure.

As soon as the two left, the figure in front of me spoke, his voice a low gravelly masculine and hinted at old age, So. They finally brought me a Golem.

The images of many fantasy novels entered my mind. A golem was a magical construct that obeyed a master’s commands, which sounded fitting. If it weren’t for me being a slave, it actually sounded kind of cool, especially since I at least looked human as far as I could tell, even if my sex had changed. But if I was a golem, I might just look like a woman, and not actually have all the important stuff?

I turned my head to better look at the man, Yeah. Are you one too?

The man remained motionless, No. I am a true Ieroquin, unlike you, Tamana.

I guess it made sense they’d take me to someone that was the real thing. Ok. But… Tamana?

It means ‘to conceal’ in your tongue and was my daughter’s nickname as she wore that very same mask to hide the form you stole from her.

My mind stopped. I stole his daughter’s form? I wore the mask she wore? But if I remember correctly, the giant man took it from someone else before forcing me to wear it. Had that been his daughter? Did whatever they do to make my new body copy someone else, My new body is the same as your daughter’s?

To my surprise, the Ieroquin’s voice remained calm, despite me being a copy of his daughter, It is. The… technique, his voice finally changed from his normal neutral to one of spite as he looked upwards, it remade your soul and gave you a new body to match another used in the ritual.

So his daughter had been used in a ritual to bring me here? I only had to wonder if she was okay, Your daughter… The anger in his voice made me wonder if the one being copied didn’t come out without consequences.

The man relaxed again, his voice containing the previous spite along with a hint of grief, Her body will be disposed of like all the others. 

I wasn’t sure what to think. His daughter had died because this Ignatio guy wanted to summon the spirits of the dead from Earth? No wonder the pull I felt had such a sinister feel to it and I stupid enough to fall for it. And for what? I… I’m an idiot, aren’t I?

The man turned towards me, which answered the question of which way he had been facing until now, Yes. You are not responsible for my daughter’s death, so I will not hold that against you as another soul would have come instead. The fault lies on Ignatio’s and a sin that will be paid for. But, yes. You were foolish for answering the call of such sinister magic.

I felt my guilt continue to rise as I tried to think of what was going to happen to me, Is there anything I can do to help?

The man moved slightly towards me, Your soul and body is bound to follow Ignatio and his most loyal followers. There is nothing you can do. You can either stay a fallow slave or accept your place in Ignatio’s army and earn better privaledges.

I had no desire to follow Ignatio. How could I? He sacrificed who knows how many people for what? Why is he doing this?

Golems require no food, sleep, water, or even air. As long as your Soul Crystal remains intact you can recover from any injury, reattach or regrow missing limbs, and you will feel no pain nor experience old age. As long as you don’t reach the final sixth level, you will be nearly immortal.

A part of me almost stopped caring about being a slave. Of course, I doubted being a slave for who knows how many decades or centuries was worth the perks, but there always was the chance I’d be freed someday.

Still, I had some more questions I needed to know before I decided how to feel about this whole thing, Mind if I ask some questions? There wasn’t a reply so I continued after a moment, You mentioned something about a ‘sixth level.’ 

Yes. Golems have five levels, the sixth being your complete transformation into a human or in your case, an Ieroquin. You are a first level. Your magic is nonexistent outside of what is needed to keep you conscious, and your Soul Gem is too small to convey your thoughts into actions. Until you are given more Soul Dust, you will remain this way. As you move to higher levels, you will gain more control of your body or more magic power until you reach the sixth level where it would be the same as… the originator of your form.

So, a golem would never be as powerful as the original, unless they stopped being a golem. I guess that meant I’d get stuck at level five if I wanted to keep all the perks. I then guessed the only way to get this Soul Dust stuff was to impress Ignatio? I guess this meant I would have to go along with being a good slave for now, So if I don’t follow Ignatio I’ll stay like this?

No. You are useless as is. Once your Soul Gem has stabilized, you will be given Soul Dust.

I immediately felt some of my nerves relax, And after that?

If you refuse to fight for Ignatio, you will work the mines and sludge pits, or be used as live practice for his troops.

Neither option sounded good. Working mines wouldn’t be bad if it was like the coal mines on the East Coast, but I was a slave, so I imagined I would be worked until my body broke, only to work some more once I healed enough and the sludge pits didn’t sound any more appealing. As for being a live target practice, What if I don’t want that?

He spit. Then I will train you to become an Ieroquin assassin. 

I was okay with the training part, but being an assassin meant sneaking around and killing people. Could I really do that? I doubted I could pretend to train since all they needed to do was command me to spill my guts about my thoughts on the whole thing. So, work the mines and sludge pits? Be a target? Kill people to earn some freedoms?

I was a coward. There was no way I wanted to spend my new life like that even if it meant killing for someone who sacrificed who knows how many people just to build an army of slaves that had to follow your every command, Please train me.

The man turned his back towards me again, If that is what you wish, Tamana.

After the first four chapters I will try to release once a week.