Ugh, trying to remember stuff didn't get any easier with the migraine that was creeping up on me. I felt like I'd been ran over. How strange.

Well, the picture forming in my mind was... Average. Very average. Man I was kind of hoping I'd been something cool like a rockstar. Or at least something useful like a doctor or something. All I remembered though was paperwork and endless Excell sheets. I'd obviously been working in admin or something, though no matter how hard I tried I didn't remember what the company actually did. Something told me I hadn't cared much about that in my previous life.

What a waste, huh? I had been, what 30? A little more? And the first thing I remembered about my life was a job I hadn't cared one bit about.

Well, at least outside of work things looked better. I remembered faces, about a dozen or so, some hazier than others but all of them seemed important. The two oldest ones, a kind-looking man and woman, I assumed we're my parents. The rest, I assume, were a variety of friends or sibling. Something in me stirred at the thought of them all. Love. Regret.

I couldn't remember any of their names. No details either. Just a sense that how matter how much time I had spent with them, it couldn't possibly have been enough.

I hoped they were alright. I didn't remember any particulars about the accident, but I didn't get the sense that there'd been anyone else with me at the time.

Huh. I'd died alone. I mean, I was glad, of course, that none of the people I cared about were involved in the accident. But also...

Oh, there was light! I hadn't even noticed, it had been so faint at first, but it was getting brighter. Or I was getting closer? Hm, how was I able to see that anyways? I still didn't have any eyes due to the general lack of body.

I mean, I guess that fit the script? You die, there's a tunnel, you go into the light and then... Well I hoped I got to go to the good place. If there was one. Oh man I hope I didn't do anything horrible enough to go to the bad place.

I hoped I'd see the others wherever I was going. I'd like to ask them about their names. Maybe they'd remember more than I did.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Not that I wanted my loved ones to die, obviously. I felt horrible for even getting close to thinking that! But it was kind of an inevitability and judging by most popular depictions of the afterlife, I had an eternity of time to wait for them.

As the light got closer, I could start to make out details, which surprised me. First of all, I just assumed the light was just, well, light. An undefined blob of brightness. But even if there were details, I would have expected something like a heavenly gate or an ethereal train stations taking me to the next life. Not the clean glass and white plastic aesthetic I would have expected from an apple store.

But that's exactly what it looked like. Sleek, modern, with a single desk in the middle of the room, on chair for me and one for whoever was going to judge me.

The presence of furniture was odd, I thought. I still didn't have a body, after all. But just as soon as the ethereal current I was drifting on had deposited me past the automatic door and it's clean, sleek glass panels slid closed behind me, that changed abruptly.

My body was airy, undefined, made of pure light and soul. But I had a presence again. Sight, sound, smell and all the other little sensations were suddenly back like they'd never left. I luxuriated in the feeling of solid ground pressing up against the soles of my feet, wiggling my toes a little, shifting my wight and feeling how my body shifted. The time I spent as a soul seemed like it had been an entire eternity and only a blink of an eye at the same time.

"Ahem," someone said.

That made me nearly jump out of my skin. I stumbled backwards, the automatic doors opening obligingly to let me almost fall back out into the infinite darkness. I managed to catch my balance just in time.

"Oh, I didn't intend to scare you, terribly sorry."

There was a clerk at the table. Sitting there like they'd always been there, like they were just another part of the furniture, but I could swear they hadn't been there just a moment ago.

"Pleased take your time, the transition process is disorienting to many."

"What? Who are you?" I said, my voice affecting a tone as if I was out of breath. My body didn't have any lung, or other organs for that matter which was good because otherwise I'd have just died again, of a heart attack this time.

"I am a facilitator," the figure said. I tried to look at them properly, but it was hard to make anything about them out. They looked... Polite? Professional. Like the very concept of a polite customer service smile given physical presence. But aside from that I couldn't make out any identifying features. "Please, have a seat. I will explain everything once you've calmed down."

Without any reason not to, I did as they said. "All right, I'm all ears."

My voice was weird. It didn't sound like my voice, not that I could remember what my voice had sounded like, but just like this body it was distinctly only a placeholder. Impersonal.

"Alright then!" The facilitator smiled broadly like someone who really, truly enjoyed their job. "Welcome to Venatus! Congratulations, you have been chosen for reincarnation!"