Days passed. The sun failed to go completely below the horizon. I waited for another ship to go by, for someone to wander down the beach, for anything to happen. I did see a couple of birds drift pass but none came near.

  The bodies were beginning to smell. I eventually took the crude knife and dug holes in the sand and buried them. But by the time I had finished they were sad bloated shapes.

  I tried the barriers periodically but nothing I did allowed me to pass them. Oddly I felt no hunger or thirst, which was good since all I had to eat was the two men I had just buried and neither had looked at all edible.

  I was beyond worrying about cannibalism at this point. I was pacing the beach looking for anything that would allow me to escape. I tried climbing the rocky outcropping, but the walls were too sheer. I thought about drowning myself but the water was too shallow and my attempts to force myself to inhale only made me sick.

  I realized after my second failed attempt that I was truly slipping towards madness.

  I finally began to beat my hands against the barrier screaming.

  “Somebody help me!”

  ASSISTANCE REQUESTED, said a deep male voice.

  “I tried to help him,” said the soft female voice I heard in my head earlier “but he rejected all assistance.” I thought I could detect a bit of a pout.

  PLEASE RENDER ASSISTANCE, said the male voice.

  “Very well, but if he turns me off again…” It was a definite pout.

  “I… I’m sorry,” I said. “Would you please tell me what to do?”

  “Of course,” said the female voice, now back inside my head. I jumped and touched my skull.

  “Do you have to be inside my head?”

  “Of course,” said the voice. “If you could hear the voice of every guide, it would make the world too difficult to negotiate.” I heard a small chuckle.

  “Fun? This hellish nightmare is supposed to be fun?” I couldn’t help it. I began laughing. I fell back onto the sand and just kept laughing until I was coughing and gasping for air.

  “Well,” said the voice, “I must admit, it’s not much fun the way you’ve been living it.”

  There were tears in my eyes. I was gasping for air. I swallowed huge gulps and eventually calmed a bit. I managed to wheeze out.

  “And how am I supposed to ‘live’ it?”

  “Well you could let me show you how to access your inventory of items for a start.”

  “Inventory? I’m wearing rags. What inventory?”

  A ghostly hand appeared in the air in front of me. Considering everything else I had seen it wasn’t much of a surprise. The hand made a small movement, and the fingers curled. The little finger pointed up.

  “Do that.”

  I duplicated the gesture and suddenly a screen appeared, floating in front of me. I gasped.

  The voice seemed a little less annoyed now, a bit more helpful.

  “That is your inventory screen. Only you can see it. Inside are all the items you have acquired so far.”

  I looked at the items. I recognized several that I had tried to pick up that had disappeared.

  “How did these things get here?

  “You picked them up.”

  “I know that,” I said unable to keep the irritation out of my voice. “How did they get here?”

  “Don’t you know anything? You picked them up. When you pick up something it goes here.”

  There was something different about her voice. It was no longer quite so angry. In fact, it seemed amazed and curious.

  There was a pause and a new tone entered the voice - regret.

  “I apologize. I am supposed to be your mentor. When you told me so rudely to shut up, I assumed you knew all about the world and just wanted to be left alone. Then you turned off the sensory feedback, and I watched you go from death to death. I thought you were a gilt trying to beat back some boredom. I moved you through a bunch of different homage worlds to alleviate your boredom. They do that.”

  I filed away the words “gilt” and “homage worlds” for later.

  “You can move me through various worlds? Can you take me someplace safe?”

  “I can only move you when you die,” said the voice regretfully. “And then I can only move you to a designated starting point.”

  “A designated starting point? What’s that?”

  There was a moments hesitation.

  “A place designated by the gods as an arrival point for new or returning souls.”

  Something in my head stopped at her words.

  “Did you say, ‘gods’?”

  “Of course, there are many, but as new souls arrive they agree on a starting point for each soul.”

  He could hear some pride come into her voice.

  “I was given the privilege of moving you to a number of starting points.”

  Her voice fell. “But you didn’t do well in any of them. I think perhaps we should just go back to the beginning…”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  You mean where I was shot? That hurt like hell…”

  “Yes, you’re sensory feedback was set above maximum, far above what is normally allowed. But it is turned off now. You shouldn’t feel anything.”

  And I realized it was true. I had been cut, stabbed, burned, crushed, and bitten. Yet I felt nothing when I had died, just a slow darkening.

  I thought for a moment. “Can the sensory feedback be modified?”

  “Of course. And it can be modified for each of the senses. The sense of pain is the one most frequently changed, followed by pleasure.”

  She paused again.

  “In addition, your senses improve as you level as part of the advancement process.”

  “Level?”

  Another hesitation. Another glowing hand appeared in the air. The fingers were pressed together, and the thumb moved so it looked like it was holding a round object like a ball.

  I imitated the gesture.

  A new screen popped up. It showed a huge table of information.

  I looked it over and then spoke to the voice.

  “What is this?”

  “It is your stats, specialties, your capabilities…”

  “So why are all my attributes marked, ‘Unknown’?”

  “Until your reach Rank 7 you are able to acquire skills and abilities from all the various occupations that are available. At rank 7 you will pledge your service to a deity and in return your attributes will be revealed. In addition, the deity you choose may deign to increase some of your attributes and enhance or add new skills and abilities in return for your pledge.”

  The voice stopped, hesitated.

  “Are you sure you don’t know any of this? How about your name? Surely you know that?”

  I shook my head.

  “This is all a complete blank.”

  “Well, I admire your ability to remain calm then. I’d be climbing the walls and screaming at every little…”

  Her voice stopped, and he heard a giggle.

  “Oh yeah, You already did that didn’t you.”

  I sighed.

  Contriteness filled her voice.

  “Really, I am sorry. You should have gotten a better guide. I’m really new.”

  Her voice brightened.

  “You should know that you don’t have to speak out loud. I can read your thoughts…”

  “What!” I could feel my heart rate accelerating.

  “Just thoughts you bring up and project. I can’t read every thought.”

  I thought about how strange it was to have a woman’s voice in my mind. Maybe I really was crazy and all of this was a hallucination. I could be delusional. No water or food.

  “Why am I not hungry?”

  “Actually you are,” she said. “But you have suppressed the pains you should be feeling over lack of food and drink.”

  “How long until I die?”

  “Oh that would take much longer. And if you did, you would just come back again. Reincarnation restores health. Lack of food and water does affect your ability to fight and defend yourself, however.”

  I thought about some of the times that I had felt weak as I struck out with my fists. I nodded. Time to check just how crazy the delusion was.

  “So, how do I access food and water?”

  Do you see the flask in your inventory?

  I nodded, then felt foolish.

  “Yes.”

  “Reach out and point at the item. Imagine grasping it in your hand…”

  I reached and suddenly there was a flask in my hand.

  I twisted the top off and drank. I could feel cool water in my mouth. I swallowed slowly. I could feel the water sliding down my throat. I gasped and coughed. Then I drank more.

  “Food.” I said.

  “There’s an apple in the inventory. Do you see it? If you focus, you can see the items better.”

  I tried and suddenly it was as if I was looking into a large bag and items floated in front of me.

  “That’s right. Now, think ‘apple’.”

  I did and suddenly I could see an apple in the bag. I reached out…

  An apple suddenly appeared in my hand. I bit into it and I heard the crunch and a sweet taste of apple filled my mouth. I chewed slowly then faster and faster as I began to feel a gnawing in my stomach.

  “Go slowly so you don’t get sick.” She warned.

  Realizing she was right I slowed. I chewed the entire apple eating the core and spitting out the seeds.

  “You should probably put on some clothes now. You are looking a bit… exposed.”

  A new suspicion came to mind.

  “You can see through my eyes?”

  “No, I actually see as if I am floating, following above and slightly behind you.”

  After a short pause she added.

  “And there are certain activities I don’t look at.”

  I realized I had been holding my breath. I let it out slowly trying to digest all that was going on around me without my knowledge. After a few moments I simply thought, “I appreciate the truth and your discretion.”

  I could hear the voice sigh.

  “There are many beings that can hear your thoughts if they try. However, remember that they can hear everyone’s thoughts and amid such cacophony they try not to listen.”

  There was another pause.

  “Do you remember just before you died the first time accepting a new bind point?”

  I thought back. “I remember the question. What’s a bind point?”

  “It is the place the gods designate for souls to return to if you die in the world. Mages and such, can also create special bind points and travel to them. Powerful mages can even bring a small party of adventurers with them to a bind point.”

  “That’s impressive, but what does it have to do with me?”

  “Well, since you accepted a new bind point you won’t return to the clearing where you were attacked. Instead, you will arrive at the stone circle where you died.”

  I thought for a moment.

  “I see. That means I could return to that clearing without the two men who attacked me knowing I am coming.”

  “Well, that wasn’t what I was thinking…” began the guide, but I cut her off.

  I gestured for my inventory to reappear.

  “Let’s see what I’ve got for armor and weapons…”