Game for Survival

A lot can be passed down by inheritance. Heroic health, high intelligence, a full chest of old gold coins... Demons hunting your loved ones and you personally, a forced ticket to another world, an alien parasite. And also—additional points in the grand game of living pieces, where humans are only one of many races. The rules of this game are vague, the goals are unknown, and those who show insufficient effectiveness—or simply unlucky ones—are turned into a bloodthirsty monster, mindless in the most literal sense of the word. But successes are rewarded accordingly, allowing you to obtain almost anything: knowledge of other civilizations, weapons, superpowers, magical artifacts. Even to break free from this man-made hell for a while and bargain for vacation—whether for a year or for a century. But will there be anywhere to return to?