The Arcade Series

In a dark and dingy cell in hell, a goddess gasps as the last of her energy leaves her body, the last of her reserves drained for a single chance, a single hope, a final bid for freedom from her enslaver. A small device's whining can be heard as the energy is used in the creation of the goddesses finest work screeches to a halt, a small soul popping out of the device, a tool for the goddesses freedom.

“Go now dearest and find one worthy of this power and raise him up well.” The weakened god gasps and motions for her creation to leave and achieve its holy mission. The small soul rose up into the air and disappeared through a small opening in the wall, searching for a host to free its master. It will not fail its master's request.

As the small device combed through the land of the afterlife, another soul wandered through the hellish lands. This soul’s name used to be Leonard Hope, one of the many veterans of the third world war from a small unnoticed planet called Earth in a small unnoticed universe. He had always believed in the afterlife, though like any soul, he pondered about what he could have done differently, what he could have done better. After the war, Leonard had started a cafe, it was a small but homely place that he was proud of, despite the relatively low income that it provided.

Sadly, Leonard was not left to his life managing the small shop. Slowly, his small shop was falling apart, the income got lower, he got into debt, the shop continued to fall apart and his income lowered, this repeated in an endless cycle until finally he got a notice from the government that they will shut down his shop unless he can supply enough to pay off his debts. Leonard was a fierce old man, but he was helpless as he was tossed onto the streets by the police as they shut down and demolished his small cafe.

He was resentful, angry and cold when he passed away, comforted only by the thought that he could meet his friends that died in the war, only to now find that he could not find them, or anyone he had ever seen the like of before, alien creatures, bonafide monsters in their own rights roamed the lands of this weird place and so, he was tossed back into another war, one of survival. He had no body, so he could not truely die in the way he knew, but that did not mean the strikes, bites and scratches of the monsters with him hurt any less or that he could die in the way of any energy; consumed.

He was engaged in a fierce battle of will against a lizard-like creature that seemed humongous and unstoppable, but Leonard had learned to fight after months in this place and so he was not easy to kill either. As the fight raged on, a small man against a mountain of lizard, a the lizards roar followed by the bestial shout of a man attracted the attention of a small floating spirit and it made its way over to the scene, watching as the small old man killed the spirit of the larger beast and let the spirit’s energy permeate his being with a rage burning in his eyes.

This spirit recognized the power and determination of this man and gilded forwards like a bullet and attached itself to the man, bringing the fierce old veteran into someplace new, someplace to start anew. They went to The Back.