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.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  ***

  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.

  ***