When I regained consciousness, I was in a void, just floating around in the nothingness. I was unable to sense anything, even if I could feel my eyes being open and my head moving around.

The only thing that I could feel was my body, suspended in wherever here was, with no clue if it was upright, prone or even upside down! And feeling it was just me being generous, as I was able to tell that there was something solid under where I believed my head was, no real sense of touch at work.

“This is confusing...”

I tried to recollect the events that brought me here, but I drew a blank. There was nothing. I had no memories of who I was, only of the things that I did. Everything related to me personally was as if somebody surgically removed it, leaving only the experiences.

Sitting (?) there, in this darkness, I kept trying to remember anything about me, but I could only get the fact that I was male and not too young, whatever the standard used was.

My only guess was that I was in some Limbo, by what I knew on the subject. I had no idea about how and why I ended here, and not even trying to wonder about how much time. I knew better than try to ask that to myself. If there was one thing that I was sure about, it was that the Limbo is generally a place between life and death, so that was my actual condition: either I was going to be born soon, or I was already dead and waiting to pass over.

“Now that I understood that, what is the next step awaiting me?”

As to answer my question, I felt like my whole consciousness was pulled forward, crossing the void at breakneck speed, until I arrived in a completely white space. It was the only thing I could sense, the only (welcomed) change, but still nothing about me or my body.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Before I could start guessing what this transfer could mean, there was something written before me:

[Subject located.]

[Current subject suitable for introduction into the System. Searching for Available Location

.

.

.]

“Wait... What? Subject? System? What is this talking about? And who, or what, is talking?”

Why was I called a “subject”? And what was this talk about a “system” and an “available location”? Were they going to transfer me somewhere else? Was I dead, and they were now checking my soul to decide which Beyond it was going?

The answers arrived in the form of the new string of code-like sentences:

[Location found: Planet 579-2B, known as “Toplera” by its inhabitants. Sector 63-F, “Fornia”, selected as the destination.]

[Error! The subject is no more in possession of a body after death. Searching for a compatible alternative.]

[Found compatibility with Insect-type. Search for species with higher survival chances.

.

.

.]

“Insect-type? That means bugs, correct? Why this thing thinks I have to be some beetle?”

The situation was a bit clearer, making me understand that apparently, I was going to be reincarnated, as I was already dead. This was similar to all those anime and manga and stories I kept reading in my free time, and as glad as I was to get another chance at life, why it had to be as a bug? If I couldn't be a humanoid, at least make it a mammal or a reptile. Even an amphibian would be a better option!

[… Does the subject prefers to be a Plant-type or a Protozoa-type, perhaps?]

Nevermind what I said. Bugs are the best! Who wouldn't love to be a bug? Why limit oneself to four limbs, when you could have six, am I right?

[… Continue searching.]

It was better to keep my thoughts to myself, avoiding to annoy whatever entity was in charge of this whole operation.

After what could be many hours or just a handful of seconds, the search finished.

[Eligible species found! Initiating adjustment process for best specimen possible.]

[Process completed. Found designated starting area. Initiating soul transmigration in 3... 2... 1... Goodbye.]

It was sending me blind! No information on what kind of creature I was going to be. Nothing on the “designated starting area”. And no time for questions, as the “System” disappeared immediately after.

Before I could ask anything, I was pulled away by some invisible force, this time in a downward direction, breaching through something elastic and thick.

I was able to see a planet under me, and then nothing. My consciousness drifted away like I was going to sleep.