Death is not unknown to humans; many, in fact, have witnessed it up close. However, Howard was not one of those people.

Before his fateful accident, Howard had no memories of losing any family members. Both his grandparents and parents were well, and his three brothers were as healthy as bulls. But only the person themselves can truly know death up close.

"Where am I?" Howard wondered because, until that moment, he was just crossing the street while returning from the market with the milk his mother had asked for. Yet, unexpectedly, he found himself in this dark and warm environment.

The more he thought about it, the more Howard finally understood what had happened. Before blacking out, he felt something. In fact, his memories were slowly returning, and in a few minutes, he could fully recreate everything that had happened in his consciousness.

"I... died," Howard finally realized. In reality, he was going back home while listening to his favorite song of that week. He was so energetic after successfully closing his second month with a positive outcome for his shop that he simply forgot to look at the road before crossing, and what seemed like a gigantic truck appeared on the extreme left of his vision. "I died from a damn truck, seriously? Are you kidding me?"

"And where am I now? Is this the afterlife? No... I know it's not. It was a truck. Those bastards are involved with souls that somehow manage to escape this eternal fate and go into other bodies... sometimes even on other planets or dimensions."

"So it must be that. That would explain why this space feels so comforting. I've been reincarnated, and this is actually my mother's womb."

"But I was doing so well. With a little more time, I would have secured another investor and could have expanded to two more stores... and it all just ended, just like that. I just hope my parents are not... or are not having a very hard time. Thank God they have other children, so even though my death is somewhat tragic and totally unexpected, they will eventually overcome it."

"However, why am I trying to see this situation in a more logical way? Why am I not desperate about my death? I lost twenty-five years of continuous hard work, and now I have to start all over again, and I don't even know why. Maybe I'm in an extremely early stage of formation, and thus, the emotions, originating from the body, wouldn't be connected in any way."

"But I'm not sure how long it takes for a baby's brain to fully develop, so I guess I can disregard this hypothesis because everything here is new to me. I am as if I were without arms, legs, or a head, floating in what seems to be a pleasant and warm sea."

"But I feel so sleepy, is this normal?" As he tried to continue thinking continuously to not lose consciousness, in a futile attempt to retain the minimal control he had over the situation, Howard ended up falling asleep, mysteriously waking up when a strange sensation began to permeate the entire belly... it was hot, very, very hot, and he didn't understand, having just woken up. In fact, he could now feel his limbs forming slightly, and that was very strange, but all of this was set aside to understand what that was.

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That sensation seemed probing, but he understood what it was. This sensation wasn't somehow hurting him or trying anything, it was just probing him. Perhaps it was some ultra-advanced technology that detected the baby's health, or maybe it was simply magic... There was no way Howard could know.

"I feel strange... how long have I been asleep? These things growing around me, and yet I can't move at all." "Well, surely I will turn this sweet lady's life into hell when I am able to do so, but nobody asked to be conceived."

"But that sudden sleep, and surely a lot of time must have passed for me to have developed to the point of feeling something. But this control, I don't want it again. I don't want to lose days, weeks, months. I want to stay awake. I can't just sleep while others control my life... I have to find a way to try to maintain maximum focus, perhaps through meditation?"

"I never tried meditating for more than ten minutes. In fact, I only meditated when I remembered to do so, but since I didn't follow any specific technique or school regarding this art, I never tried to delve into the hyper-focus that this simple realization provides. However, when I was in my periods of esoteric Kabbalist youth, I did try to practice various more mysterious methods aimed at developing my own consciousness... if only I could remember them now. But well, if that's the case, I'll have to go the most basic way."

After that, imagining himself sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, Howard began to meditate. At first, it was difficult, but when he realized he never got tired of trying and trying, most likely because he was still a fetus, he decided to put all his time into it.

And the more he did it and the more he managed to maintain it, the more he realized he was getting good at it, sometimes even managing to shut down his mind... if only for a few seconds. Unfortunately, after that, he would remember he wasn't thinking and end up thinking again.

This practice was giving him some purpose as a fetus trapped inside a belly.

However, what he wasn't realizing was that when he somehow managed to shut down his brain from the world around him and stay in a state of complete calm, various strange particles started to appear. They seemed to hide very well when there was a lot to see, but when it came to the most fundamental aspects of reality, only these mysterious lights seemed to remain.

And when Howard noticed, which took him a while, he saw them gathering all around him and entering his body. He didn't understand what was happening, but he quickly stopped meditating after realizing it.

However,

It was too late, and the particles continued to enter his body until they all disappeared, and when he realized that there was nothing left, and that nothing seemed to have happened to him, Howard could only be relieved with all that... What were those strange particles? Does this happen to every baby, or was it just because he was meditating? Why would meditating have manipulated those particles in some way?

But Howard didn't have much time to think about it because a few minutes after finishing meditating, he felt that same drowsiness he felt before, and seeing that he couldn't fight it, he just accepted his fate, hoping to leave that place as soon as possible."