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 life and its death.

[Is this lad even paying attention to me?] the old man asks himself in his mind because Alex seemed to be transfixed staring at the screen. Finally, Alex tears his eyes away and looks at the old man walking up to him as he stands up.

"Alright, listen here lad. This time I'm going to send you to a different world to see what happens. This world will have different rules that govern the world's 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 as 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." Giving Alex a slightly disappointed look as he continues "Which you seem to lack."

Frowning Alex asks, "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 says with a sigh.

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

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

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

"I scooped delicious ice cream!" Alex announces with a big grin.

With a disappointed look showing on his face the old man hesitantly asks, "Did you have any hobbies? Have you ever gone hunting or perhaps even played video games?"

"I was too busy making money" Alex proudly tells him.

[This brat!] A slightly angry vein makes 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 deepens as he asks, "Then what did you do all day when you weren't scooping ice cream?"

"I mostly talked with my friends with texts and photos from my phone."

"All day?" The old man asked disbelievingly.

"Pretty much."

The old man wipes his face with his hands as he lets out an exasperated sigh.

"I think your life on Earth was way too simple. Easy mode doesn't even describe it." [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.]

The old man focuses on Alex once more who is currently staring at the paused screen showing the moment when the arrow came out of his goblin body. "Pay attention here." The old man waves his hand and the screen turns 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."

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

"Alright, first I hope you can understand that this really is not a dream." He waits for Alex to show signs of following along before continuing. "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." Alex says with an indignant frown.

"Ok, Ok. Granted that was unexpected." The old man shakes 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 that 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."

The angry vein on the old man's forehead is 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 summons a lightning bolt and smacks 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 says before he tries waking Alex up with another bolt of lightning.

...

[I'll just keep it simple this time.] The old man thinks with a false smile as Alex comes to.

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

Alex rubs 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 hangs slightly open as he is 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 world realms.] The old man thinks as he recovers 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 is starting to throb again. "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."

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