“What’s happening?!” His voice cracked, unable to contain the panic rising in his throat.

  “This plane allows your soul to manifest physically. But the soul can only last so long without a vessel. Linger too long, and you will die. Permanently.” The imp’s voice was factual, without even a shred of sympathy.

  Hearing the bland words, Reid calmed slightly, thinking back to the woman that had guided him here, then shot a pointed glance at Hudson’s definitely-not-disappearing body. There had to be a solution, or those two would be disappearing as well.

  The imp sighed.

  “Those who work here are given a vessel to house their soul. The standard is a meat suit like this one. It’s not exactly pleasant to look at, and you can imagine how it feels to live in, but its something I’ve learned to live with. It costs two-hundred years of karma points to buy a human vessel and much as I hate this grotesque body of mine, I see no need for the expense. After a three hundred years of service, I’m free to reincarnate. I don’t plan to increase that by another two hundred years just to be comfortable.”

  Hudson leaned forward, speaking in a loud voice.

  “You want my advice? Become a Punisher and earn karma in the Hellscape. I’ve been cursing myself every day of the last hundred and fifty years for choosing to work here in Limbo. A job as a Punisher is far more dangerous, but at least they are free to earn as much karma per day as they want.” His voice soured before continuing. “They get a free vessel, too, from what I hear. Don’t make the same mistake I did.”

  Reid leaned closer, struggling to hear over the screaming man in the line next to him.

  “Why tell me all this?”

  “Consider it a thank you for relieving my boredom. I’m stuck earning a single point of karma per day. That won’t change, no matter how many souls I guide to the three gates. Most of those souls are assigned one of the gates at random, but you? You can make the choice I was too chicken to make. Become a Punisher and earn karma in the Hellscape. It’s not easy, but if you’re determined enough, you might actually have a shot at getting your old life back.”

  “What about them?” He glanced at the line to his right. None of those in line looked peaceful. Every single one had the same unwavering, hardened expression, as if they knew exactly where they were.

  “Those whose karma has no need to be measured. Their souls must be washed free of the sin they committed in life before entering the reincarnation cycle. They have no choice but to enter the Hellscape and atone for their misdeeds.”

  Reid shivered. Hudson’s advice aside, venturing into a place filled with murderers and other lowlife scum sounded dangerous. More than that, it was madness. What good was a chance at returning to his old life if he just died before reaching the finish line?

  Hudson watched him, his beady black eyes staring intently at Reid’s transparent arm.

  “Do you really need so long to make a decision? You’re dead either way, and I’d say you don’t have much time left. Better hurry.”

  Reid glanced at his arm, eyes narrowing as he mulled over Hudson’s words. He would be safe here, bored out of his mind and stuck in the same disgusting form, but he would reincarnate. It might take a few hundred years, but there was no question he would get out of here, eventually. Could he say the same of becoming a Punisher?

  He opened his mouth to accept the offer, but swallowed the words. Was risking his life, his soul, really worth it?

  What about his father?

  Carter?

  No. Death wasn’t an option. Not for him. Not right now. Danger or not, he had to get back to his old life. If he reincarnated in a few hundred years, what good would it do? His friends and family would be dead. His memories gone.

  He had to go back. The secret to bringing down the Spades couldn’t die with him. The police would never find more evidence, not after those thugs destroyed the warehouse.

  As if feeling his resolve, Hudson nodded.

  “The Karma Redemption System will aid you no matter the path you choose.”

  Reid nodded, staring back at the long line of people with a firm gaze.

  Leaving Limbo was worth the risk if it meant getting to go home. The woman’s vacant eyes and Hudson’s unpleasant appearance had said all he needed to know. Office jobs were bad enough, but the equivalent of an office job with no end in Hell? No, thank you. He’d refused to work in his father’s company for the same reason, but it didn’t mean he planned to see everything his family worked for go to waste.

  He had to be resurrected. And caution was not going to make that happen.

  Hudson hopped down from his chair, grabbing a vial of what looked like golden yellow flakes, and gesturing for Reid to follow.

  “Brimstone. A crystalized power source used to fuel the tools here in Diyu. Stand there. I’ll need to measure your fate before sending you on to the Annex.”

  Reid stepped around the table to the platform, wondering what he meant by “measure his fate.”

  The imp cast a weary glance in his direction before pointing down at the drawing carved into the stone beneath their feet. Two sets of concentric circles glowed faintly in the ground, one white and one black.

  “That is the Karma Scale. It will judge your deeds in life. As I said before, those with overwhelming sin, the souls meant for punishment in Diyu, are automatically sent to the Hellscape to atone. In your case, the rules are a little different. The Lords of Diyu have chosen to show mercy. As one of the Wrongful Dead, any sins you committed will offset the merits you accomplished in life. The remainder will be credited towards your remaining karma balance.”

  Hudson paused to draw a breath, a foul stench emanating from his open mouth.

  “Beyond here lies three gateways. Should you choose to become a Punisher, the gold gate will take you to the Annex, where you can redeem your karma for the necessary items to survive in the Hellscape. The second gateway, the red one, will grant you a vessel should you choose to become a worker here. I believe you’ve already seen where the black gateway leads.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Is reincarnating back to my old body really possible if I become a Punisher and venture in to the Hellscape?”

  “Few have been successful, but yes, it is possible.”

  The imp shook his head when Reid tried to ask more, pointing to his rapidly fading form, and jerked a thumb towards the three gates behind him.

  “You don’t have time for any more idle chatter. The Karma Redemption System will handle the rest. If you have any further questions, best to wait until you aren’t at risk of fading into nothingness, don’t you think?”

  With that reminder, Reid strode to the golden gate without a backwards glance, eager to put as much distance between himself and the desperate souls behind him. Choosing the red gate would mean resigning himself to fate. It was the easy way out, a choice for cowards.

  He refused to join them.

  The moment his fingers brushed the gateway, the world dropped away. He stood in a vast expanse of nothingness, his only companion a kiosk that looked suspiciously like an ATM.

  An eerie golden yellow light emanated from the screen and a mechanical yet somehow cheerful voice chimed in his head, reading aloud the words as they popped up on the screen.

  Thank you for choosing the Karma Redemption Service, Punisher. You have one hundred and seventy-five karma points available. Would you like to redeem your karma points before entering the Valley of the Wrongful Dead?

  Reid paused, absentmindedly pressing his round rimmed glassed further up his nose as he twisted his arm side to side, marveling at how solid he appeared once more. What could he spend his karma points on, and would it help him get resurrected? He didn’t wasn’t to waste a single point if it didn’t help him return to his old life.

  As if reading his thoughts, the screen changed, and the voice piped back a response in the same cheerful voice.

  There are many ways to redeem karma, however at this time, there is only one method available to you. Standard Vessels may be equipped with an ability for 100 karma points.

  Seeing no reason to refuse something that was sure to help him, Reid nodded.

  There are four different abilities, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Would you like to review them before making your selection?

  Ried silently agreed, grimacing when the screen flashed an almost fluorescent yellow, information scrolling across it in small black letters like a bad powerpoint transition. Thankfully, the voice continued to read the information aloud, and he gratefully closed his eyes.

  Perception: Enemies will drop fewer loot items, but will appear more often and be easier to locate.

  Luck: Enemies will be stronger and harder to locate, but will drop more loot and karma points upon defeat.

  Wisdom: Spells will require less karma to level up, but require more spell shards per use.

  Augmentation: Objects will require less karma to enchant, but their durability will be decreased.

  Eyes snapping open to stare at the screen, Reid reeled back, shocked by what the abilities revealed.

  Of course.

  With a nickname like Diyu, what else did he expect? The gods refused to work, so they completely gamified the system, and karma was the currency. Those who spent their lives doing good deeds would have the advantage in death, but how do you earn karma after death?

  The most effective way to earn karma is by killing Hellbeasts in the Hellscape or selling items to other players.

  Reid sighed, resigning himself to the idea of a long grind killing enemies. If karma was how they earned their reincarnation, he doubted very many people would want to waste it buying items from other players. At least treating this like a game would help him forget reality. Help him forget the fact that he was dead, and every moment he spent here was another moment his family remained in danger.

  Turning his attention to the screen, Reid skimmed through the options. They all sounded useful, but his attention kept straying back to Perception and its visual enhancements. Could it improve his shitty vision? He thought back to the fight with the Spades in the alley—and how he died. If he had seen the guy coming, he never would have been struck from behind.

  He never would have ended up here.

  His glasses slipped down his nose; he shoved them back on his face. Not having to rely on his terrible eyesight in battle would be great.

  A thought crossed his mind, and the voice answered helpfully.

  The Perception skill does not improve impaired vision, however, it can augment your sight with another sense. At the base level, creatures within a 2 meter radius will glow red.

  “Any chance it can glow a different color?”

  When no answer was forthcoming, he sighed. Red might be the shortest wavelength, but at two meters he should have no trouble seeing it. Reid scrolled through the other options, reviewing their strengths and weaknesses, but the faintly flickering screen was giving him a headache and he didn’t want to listen to that mechanical voice more than neccesary. Frustration and a hefty bit of irritation driving him, Reid made a rash decision, smashing his finger on the screen with enough force to distort the pixels.

  The Perception ability costs one-hundred karma points, do you wish to continue?

  The chipper voice betrayed no emotion, but Reid still found himself hesitating, unable to shake the feeling that the Karma Redemption System was warning him. It was an impossible notion, yet his finger hovered over the confirm button, a sliver of reason staying his hand. Being able to see without his glasses would be an incredible convenience, but a hundred points was a lot of karma to waste on something his glasses already fixed. He would be better off choosing Wisdom or Augmentation.

  If this was no different than any other game in the real world, then stronger spells or better gear would be a more reliable option. Their drawbacks were no more serious than the other two options, but was it really his best choice? This wasn’t a normal game, where dying meant nothing more than restarting at the last save point.

  Here, if he died, that was it.

  Reid thought back to the countless times his glasses were broken during a fight, of how he’d spend days hunched over his desk every time, his face inches from the screen to read the barely legible words.

  It would be nice to deal more damage with every attack, but what good was that if he couldn’t hit the target? Blurry vision could be corrected and broken glasses fixed, but in mid-battle? One mistake there would cost him his life.

  Permanently.

  Reid glanced at his remaining karma, wondering if he could increase those stats another way. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, the system answered.

  A Standard Vessel may only equip one ability tree, and only the related skills will be available for leveling.

  That settled it. An attack he couldn’t see coming killed him just as effectively as a blow he failed to dodge. No matter how strong his spells were, no matter how powerful his gear, he still had to land the hit. Wisdom and Augmentation both required skill to use effectively, and Reid didn’t see himself as a very strong fighter. Especially not with impaired vision. He could hold his own in a street brawl against a few thugs, but against a stronger opponent? Against whatever a Hellbeast was?

  With his bad eyesight, he’d be lucky to dodge a single blow, let alone land a hit.

  He would choose Perception.

  A new message popped into the screen, and he blinked back watery eyes, straining to focus on the flickering words.

  Acquired: Perception Level 1

  Passive Unlocked: Boundary Level 1

  Karma Required for Level Up: 25

  Reid had a moment to register the screen blocking his vision before he plummeted through the floor, his stomach jumping to his throat like the last time he’d been dragged on a carnival ride. The fall lasted seconds before suddenly, there was solid ground beneath his feet and the sun warmed his skin.