keuk
blood escaped my lips, my breathing slowing down to a stop.
I died.
'but what's this nonsense ? am I in that tunnel where you go after you die ? if so, where's the light at the end of it ?'
I turned my body to look in all directions, but my hope was crushed.
'you've got to be kidding me !'
that's when I saw it. a door.
'why's there a door instead of a light ? no, nevermind, think about that later. right now, you need to escape from here !"
I ran in the direction of the door. I was quite the runner before I died, gaining praise from many of my peers. I quickly arrived at the door.
my hand trembled, but i managed to open the door that sucked away all light.
a bright luminescence surrounded me as the door flung open. I shivered down to the abyssal depths of my soul when the light covered me completely.
it was.. cold, unbearably so.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
***
I don't know how long I was in there but it felt like I was in that biting cold for years, maybe even decades.
suddenly, I could feel the presence of many eyes watching me. staring at me like I was an animal in a cage.
after what felt like years, but was probably only a few minutes, the watching eyes faded and a humanoid light appeared in front of me. oh right, did I mention I was in complete darkness ? scary, right ?
"congratulations, young traveler ! you have been chosen to reincarnate with all your memories still, y'know, in your head !" the light said, pointing at, what I assumed was, their head as they talked about my memories.
"you've been given this wonderful chance beca-"
"wait wait wait. before you give me this speech that I know you are definitely going to give me, tell me, what the hell are you ? an angel ? a great being like a god ? or what, an annoying light bulb ?"
I could almost see the anger on the 'annoying light bulb's' face when I called it that.
"would you, please, kindly not refer to me as a light bulb ? I am what's known as a demi-angel, or an angel's assistant, the latter being an insult. you may call me Cael."
"ok, angel's assistant, you may continue."
the light bulb, or angel's assistant, grunted in annoyance when I called them either insult, which was funny to watch as they didn't have a face.
"ahem as I was saying, you've been given this wonderful chance because you are the 100 billionth person to die ! As a reward, you get to customize your body, choose your skills, etc for your reincarnation ! once you finish, simply press this-" they pulled out a button that had the words 'PRESS TO REINCARNATE' on it. "-button to reincarnate into a world of my choosing !"
they handed me papers, a crude pencil, and the button. of course, I took it, what else was I supposed to do ?
the papers were just like a character creation sheet you would see in a role playing game. except this wasn't a game and I was supposed to use these papers to create myself in the next life.
***