After exploring outside for a few more minutes, I finally couldn't ignore the pull of the door that had magically appeared in the weird white room. I liked nature and hiking, but just thinking about being stuck out here by myself was starting to freak me out a little, and so far the strange door was my best chance of figuring out what was going on.

Nothing happened when I carefully walked back into the room, and a looked at the pamphlet and the bed to see if anything had changed... but they were both the same as I remembered them. There was even a vague impression of my body where I had been lying on the bed before getting up, and there was still water splashed on the wall next to the window from when I got sprayed by.... well, whatever it was that shot out that water.

Moments later I stood in front of the door and took a deep breath. I had so many questions - for example, what the heck was 'divine' vs 'celestial'? I really hoped that I wasn't going to end up as an angel, although even that sounded way better than being a pig or a monkey. Cat actually didn't sound too terrible, the more I thought about it, but not being able to talk or play video games would suck. Wait... were there video games in Heaven? Was I even going to heaven?

My mind was full of turbulent and sometimes conflicting thoughts, but they vanished as soon as I touched the door handle and a holographic message appeared on the door just below eye level.

Welcome!

Through this door lies your infinite future! Upon leaving this room you will resume your normal form, which is a disembodied soul. This room will remain behind for you to return to, and you can spend as much time here as you like before venturing forth.

You will be met by your guide after passing through the hallway.

Note: Your friend Mark has already left his room.

The tone of the message was nice, and it was nice to know that the option to go back was open to me, but the content was weird as heck. At that point, however, I was more curious than concerned, and I knew that the only path that interested me was the path forward. On top of that, knowing Mark was here too gave me a sense of urgency, and I opened the door without any further hesitation.

I was half expecting to see the same garden as before, even though the door hadn't been visible from the outside when I had walked around the cabin a few minutes ago, but instead what I saw was a long stonework hallway lit by torches (but still much darker than my sunlit room). After starting at the hallway-that-made-no-sense for a moment, I took a deep breath a walked out of the room. A sense of weightlessness was the first thing I noticed as I passed into the hallway, and my first thought was that I had stepped into an elevator that was going downwards so quickly that I was about to float off the floor.

After less than a second that sensation passed, as the sensation of 'sudden-weightlessness' transitioned to 'sustained-weightlessness', and I felt more like I was floating in a swimming pool filled with body-temperature water. Or maybe like I was in a spaceship, orbiting the earth in freefall, but that was harder for me to grasp because it wasn't something I had ever experienced personally. It certainly didn't feel 'wet', so I guessed it must be zero-g, but not having gravity pull down on you was such a strange experience that I just didn't know what to think.

I tried taking a hesitant breath (just in case it was some kind of invisible water surrounding me), but this time it didn't work, and I felt a swell of muted panic. I felt like I should have started hyperventilating, but being unable to breathe meant I just kind of... floated in place and did nothing. But right away I noticed there was no building sense of urgency in my chest to take a gulp of air, as if I could hold my breath indefinitely. It reminded me of dreams I have had, exploring the ocean and swimming underwater for hours without having to care about oxygen at all.

Glancing back into the familiar white room behind me, with the garden still visible through the glass door on the opposite side, I decided that since I wasn't in pain and I felt surprisingly comfortable, I might as well just go with it. I tried to walk down the hallway, but quickly noticed that I wasn't able to move my feet... because I didn't have feet.

Never mind, back to the white room it was!

After experimenting by going back and forth a few times, I figured out that passing through the door literally turned me into a featureless floating orb. I could see in any direction I chose (I didn't have a head to turn, but I could move my perception around just by wanting to do it) and I could kind of 'float' in any direction I decided (again, just wanting to move seemed to be enough to make it happen). I could also hear the faint sound of the torches burning in their sconces along the stone hallway, but I didn't smell (or see) any smoke - so it appeared that I lost my sense of touch, and maybe smell, but at least sight and sound were still on the table.

It was also comforting knowing that the transition was reversible simply by passing through the doorway, but my curiosity had returned even stronger than before. What was going on? And was Mark really here? I passed back into the hallway again, this time determined to get some answers.

Taking a deep breath (it didn’t work), I started walking (floating) down the hallway, which lead in only one direction; forwards, directly from my strange white room to a distant range of brighter light (probably another doorway) that was growing larger quickly as I made my way towards it.

A few moments later I was finally able to make out a larger room in front of me. Inside the room was another floaty-cloud-soul-thing (which I somehow knew was Mark), and a distinct male figure who looked like the CEO of a high-tech internet business – kinda nerdy but with a pleasant smile and a super expensive-looking suit.

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I tried to say hi to Mark, but nothing seemed to happen. I had a sense that he was perceiving me, but we didn’t appear to have any way to communicate. Well, that sucked… need lungs and air and stuff to talk I guess. I blame science. Maybe if I didn’t think I needed those things, I wouldn’t. I tried to focus...

“Oh hey guys, sorry that won’t work. You would need telepathy at a bare minimum to communicate as a soul,” said the nerdy CEO. Except I was pretty sure he didn't actually 'speak', I just kind of knew what he was saying.

Well that sucks, I thought, trying to perceive harder at the Mark-cloud.

“Ahh, I’m not sure… usually these meetings are individual, but I thought, you know since you are friends and all, and with the saving and the dying… ahh, you know maybe being together would be fun?” Telepathed the CEO guy at us (or just me?). His lips were definitely not moving, I was certain this time.

'No, I don’t know, and yeah it sucks not being able to talk to him,' I thought at the CEO. 'Can you fix it?'

“Ahhhhh, oh darn… I’m really sorry guys… ahhh, how about I just patch you together? I’ll have to undo it before you get reincarnated though…”

'Yeah, do it, quickly!' Thought both the Mark-cloud (probably) and I.

“Ahhh, oh geez oh man I’m really sorry again, here let me fix this.” Sent the CEO as he reached towards us, grabbing a bit of cloud from each of us (ooh, tingly!) and mixing it all together in a ball of green and blue light. Reaching back towards us, he deposited the combined goop in both of us. Umm, did he just mix our DNA together or something?

Moments later I heard (but, without actually hearing...)