Soul Between Lives

"I think I know what part of the problem is. You don't seem to have any survival skills." The old man had approached Alex who was still sitting on the ground of that white space watching the screen showing his latest death.

[Is this lad even paying attention to me?] the old man asked himself.

Alex seemed to be transfixed as he stared at the screen. Finally, Alex tore his eyes away and looked at the old man walking up to him as he got to his feet.

"Alright, listen here lad. I'm going to send you to different worlds to see what happens. These worlds will have different rules that govern their laws but usually, the laws of nature remain unchanged and only things like magic and the such are added. Do you follow me so far?"

Alex still hadn't wiped the dazed look off his face before he nodded.

"Good. But this time before I send you I'm going to test your basic knowledge. Usually, the people I take from Earth have had some exposure to difficult situations or have at least been able to figure out how to survive with just their common sense." The old man gave Alex a slightly disappointed frown as he continued "Which you seem to lack."

Alex frowned back and asked, "What do you mean survival skills? Building a fire or killing things with a sword?"

"Yes, those can be considered survival skills. It's too bad you didn't even get that far before you popped up back here." The old man said with a sigh.

"So tell me, what did you do every day in your past life? The one where you lived on Earth."

Alex took a moment to think before asking back, "Are you asking me what I did for a living?"

"Yes let's start from there." The old man nodded.

"I scooped delicious ice cream!" Alex announced with a big grin. The corporate training that he was brainwashed with reared its ugly head.

"Did you have any hobbies? Have you ever gone hunting or perhaps even played video games?" The old man asked with hesitation as a look of disappointment began to show on his face.

"I was too busy making money" Alex proudly responded. He was lying about not playing video games and certainly wasn't making much money but wanted to look cool for this odd interview. Also, he had seen how older people looked down on younger people who spent all their free time playing games instead of working harder.

[This brat!] A slightly angry vein made an appearance on the old man's forehead. "You should at least have read some fantasy books that described goblins, elves, nobles, and other things right?"

"Nobody has time to read anymore."

The old man's frown deepened as he asked, "Then what did you do all day when you weren't scooping ice cream?"

"I mostly talked with my friends and sent texts and photos from my phone." Alex didn't want to seem like a loner so he trumped up his social life.

"All day?" The old man asked in disbelief.

"Pretty much." Alex frowned sensing the old man's disapproval. [What the heck? He's judging me when I'm not even his kid.]

The old man wiped his face with his hands and let out an exasperated sigh as he thought through his options.

"I think your life on Earth was way too simple. Easy mode doesn't even describe it." The old man was looking out into the distance of the blank space. [So this guy has no useful skills and any knowledge he has in that useless head of his probably hasn't been applied to anything more challenging than how to open a door that says pull on it.]

"Pay attention here." The old man waved his hand and the screen turned completely transparent.

"I'm going to teach you some of the basic concepts that will make all this much easier to understand for you. I don't usually have to do this as most people can figure things out on their own once they've started their new life. But you seem to need the extra help."

Having nothing else to look at in the blank space Alex finally gave the old man his undivided attention again.

"Alright, first I hope you can understand that this really is not a dream." He waited for Alex to show signs of following along before he continued.

"You really are being given another chance at life here. Though it's not back on the planet you came from, the places I have sent you, the lives you have been given should not have been too difficult for you to adjust to and get used to."

"I couldn't have done anything when that group of people killed me and Paul's father." Alex replied with an indignant frown.

"Ok, Ok. Granted that was unexpected." The old man shook his head to clear it. "It is rare that such a great start ends so badly but the real mystery is how you ended up back here instead of getting stuck in the cycle of samsara on that world."

"The what?"

"Forget it. That's not important to what I'm telling you now. The point is when you were a defenseless goblin you just left the safety of your cave. You didn't even try to eat!"

"Those were people!"

"You were a goblin! You're not going to eat french toast and tea. Besides that human meat would have tasted really good to your goblin tongue."

"That's both disgusting and really creepy of you to say." Alex felt like he was having a frowning match with the old man.

The angry vein on the old man's forehead was getting bigger. "This is your new reality. Where ever I send you is the world and the life that you must get used to. You can not keep coming back here."

"Why not?"

"Do you have any idea how much it costs me to keep sending you places? No, forget I asked that."

The old man summoned a lightning bolt and smacked Alex in the head with it, making Alex twitch and fall unconscious on the ground.

[That was close. I really shouldn't be throwing out careless details like that. But this means I have to start all over again...]

"What a troublesome lad." The old man said before he tried waking Alex up with another bolt of lightning.

[I'll just keep it simple this time.] The old man tells himself while putting on a false smile as Alex came to.

"Listen here!" The old man said as he clapped his hand to get Alex's attention.

Alex rubbed his eyes before shaking his head as if to clear it. "What the h*ll! Did you hit me in the head with lightning?"

The old man's mouth hung slightly open as he was lost for words.

[This guy, does he need another zap to erase his memory? Wait, it shouldn't matter what he remembers if I can get him to stay in one of the mortal realms.] The old man realized as he recovered from his shock.

"If you don't like it then stop coming back here." The vein on the old man's head that had calmed down was starting to throb again.

Alex stared at the old man with a dumbfounded look and didn't know what to say. He felt wronged. It wasn't his fault that he kept popping up near the old man after keeps getting killed.

"This time I'll send you back as something really simple to survive as. Do your best and don't go running off any cliffs." The old man declared as he wound up for the throw.

"Wait! You were starting to talk about some interesting stuff just now." Alex exclaimed as the orb that was conjured in the old man's hand, is once again hurled at high speed into his stomach sending Alex into that now familiar black abyss.

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Leilatha was still poring over reports with Perin at her side when a new messenger rushed up the stairs and arrived at her office. Perin did his check and led the messenger in.

"My lady." The messenger did the formal bow and waited for permission to give his report.

"It must be urgent if you rushed all the way here? Is it more good news?" Leilatha asked hoping her misgivings were wrong this time.

"No my lady. Another large group of monsters has crossed the border and is heading in the direction of the hostile group we repulsed earlier. This time they're fast moving aerial beasts and monsters with flame affinity." The scout reported with a pale face.

Leilatha sat forward in her chair and Perin visibly shuddered next to her.

"Do we know if they're hostile yet?" Leilatha asked. She was really hoping they were just there to settle an old score with the earlier group but she knew this was likely to be very wishful thinking.

"My lady, they've been burning the forest as they fly past and have hunted down a few of our scouts that were investigating the amount of damage done by the first group. The generals are requesting reinforcements as soon as possible. They haven't had time to rebuild the barricades and traps from the first battle and aren't equipped to handle a horde of fire beasts."

"How soon until these newcomers make contact with the home guard?" Leilatha was already grabbing the troop deployment reports to see which units could be sent the quickest.

She had to balance the response so that her troops were concentrated enough to repel the enemies with minimal casualties while at the same time not opening up holes in her defenses.

"The home guard was falling back and enlarging the swamp to hold more water as they reformed the mercenaries. But at the speed the new enemies were flying, they have most likely already reached the routed enemy land army."

They had very little time indeed. She had to make her decisions quickly. But what would be best? The home guard was already mostly concentrated near the new swamp to repel the first enemy army. It would buy them a little time if she pulled them all further back and let the swamp slow the land-based enemies. This would slow both enemy forces down if the fire beasts were truly joining up with the slower land beasts and stayed with them as they crept through the swamp.

But if the fire beasts pressed on by themselves they would probably hit the home guard before they've reformed their defenses. If this was the case, at least the home guard would be able to take on the two hordes separately and if her reinforcements arrived in time, there was the possibility of enveloping the enemy.

She also had to consider the possibility that the fire beasts would use their mobility and press past the home guard all together to strike at the core of her kingdom. They might even be planning to get past the defensive lines only to turn around and attack the home guard's rear once the land beasts get past the swamp. That would be a disaster she couldn't allow.

She made up her mind. She would send reinforcements to the home guard at the swamp and tighten the defensive lines around her core territory to directly defend only the highest priority assets until this new threat was eliminated.