'Is this afterlife?'
A small bright light hung in the darkness. It looked around or tried to imitate what it felt to look around while remembering the feelings and actions from its memories, but no matter what he thought or what he tried, nothing happened.
Even though it couldn't do anything, it still had its thoughts and memories of the life it had lived in its past life.
'I do remember hearing that after living a life, there is an afterlife, and in the afterlife, there is nothing.'
'This situation feels weird. It's like I have been congested into a tiny place, and the freedom I felt from being able to move my body has been taken away.'
'Still, it is better that I have my thoughts, or I wouldn't even know of my situation. Maybe it would have been better if I didn't have my thoughts.'
'And how long have I been like this? If I remember the time I took to speak a sentence, then based on my thought process, I don't think much time has passed since I gained consciousness from the moment I died.'
'And remembering my death, hah! Such a happy thing. Finally, I am free from the 007 job, responsibilities, and living death of every day.'
'I don't know who was the one driving the car that struck me, but thank you, and may god bless you. Hope you ran away from the scene and are not caught by the police.'
As the speck of light, or it would be better to call it the Soul of a human being who lived on a planet named 'Earth' continued to ponder on his thoughts, it didn't notice another similar speck appearing not far away from it.
'Ughh! Even after thinking a lot of things and doing something as pointless as debating on whether sentience developed from non-sentience and if the first existential being had love and emotions, and if it did, for whom and what the emotions were for, nothing seems to have changed, and I can't see anything besides the darkness, the same darkness I used to see when I closed my eyes in late night.'
'Besides being able to think and ponder, it seems all the abilities have been taken away, and I wonder if this is how souls and this state are known as nothingness.'
'But considering that I can still think and exist, I don't think it's nothingness, but maybe I am on the boundary between existing and extinguishing.'
"Are you done monologuing and questioning philosophies of life?"
The Soul's mind flinched when it seemed to have heard words in its mind.
'Who? What? Oh! Finally, someone is here! Do you know what is happening now? Are you a pathfinder and here to finally take me away from this place? However, this place isn't bad since I can do all my thinking and pondering over anything in peace. But I don't know if I would be able to sleep in such a place, so it would be better to take me away.'
"You sure think a lot. It seems your repressed personality is coming out. After all, you weren't allowed to speak in your life, were you?"
'...That time I was jus... No, let's ignore it... I don't wanna think... It doesn't matter now... Let's just count on keeping control of my mind. 1, 2,3,4....'
"Haha, It seems you wanna leave it behind, like how you have been doing it for your whole life. Alright, I will make things easier for you."
As the soul heard the words, it felt its thoughts calming and even some change happening inside it. A bright light appeared around the soul and it felt like it was gaining some very familiar features.
"Uh?"
The soul's expression changed when it heard its voice and imitating the movements in its instinct, it tried to open its eyes.
The movement felt very slow, and the darkness around him started to disappear as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Woahhhh!"
The Soul exclaimed when he saw the sight in front of him. First, his eyes fell on the large brown trunk standing not far away from him and then was the vast expanse of light blue sky with clouds.
The diffusion of blue and white color at the boundary felt enigmatic and then appeared lush green grass in his sight. The grass moved here and there in a rhythmic pattern and then he felt a very soft and soothing touch of wind, as if he was being kissed and caressed softly.
"This scene feels like the 4k AI images I used to see on the net."
A moment later, the Soul noticed his situation, and he looked down. He also instinctively raised his hands to look at them.
"This is my body, but something is different."
The Soul moved his hand and stretched his body while looking around. His eyes focused on the scene around him, but his movements didn't slow down and were natural as if he had repeated the movements for a long time.
"The voice from before, where are you?"
Not seeing anyone in the vast expanse, the Soul said his thoughts aloud and continued to murmur.
"This body is lighter than before, more flexible, and very different as if it has been cleansed."
"It's because the body is made of pure energy."
The Soul heard a reply to his murmur and he looked in the direction of voice. But, he didn't see anyone there. Instead, he felt a tap on his shoulder and his body flinched.
Hurriedly, he turned his head to see who it was, but again, he couldn't see anyone.
"Are you playing with me?" The Soul asked while looking around in a circle and then up and down to look for anyone but he couldn't see anyone.
"Haha,"
In response to his words, he now could hear a burst of laughter but the strange thing was he couldn't make sense of the direction from which the laughter came.
"Quite a playful being you are," The Soul murmured, some amusement evident in his voice and he didn't notice that the corners of his lips were slightly curved.
But everything was visible to the being that had done everything. On a branch of the tree the Soul had seen before, sat a being with the shape of a human body with flowing long white hair. The being had facial features, but not very prominent and differentiable.
It would be appropriate to say that the being looked like a clay model of a human being with long white hair but alive.
"Playful being? Haha, it's been quite a while since someone called me this." The being murmured and unlike the Soul's voice that was audible to him, the being's voice wasn't audible to the Soul and it looked in the direction of the Soul who had sat down on the ground with his eyes closed.
"Hmm?"
A curious expression appeared on the being's face, and even though he could know of the Soul's thoughts, he didn't peek at them and decided to see what plans he had.
But unlike what he was expecting, the Soul didn't do anything ordinary, but he surely did something unexpected. The being watched and felt the Soul's breathing getting steady and under control, and then a few moments later, the Soul lay down on the ground and went to sleep.
Yeah, the Soul went to sleep, and it was something the being wasn't expecting.
"Haha Hahahaha~!"
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Would you all be interested in reading this further and buying the 10k draft for a dollar? Well, for now, it's only 3.6k words but with what I have in my mind, it will surely reach 10k words.
If not this, what kind of things you would like to read? Comment and let me know, but know that it is like paid commission. For the topics of my interest, it's a dollar for around 5-10k words and for commission topics, its 2 $ for 5-10k words short story or ramblings on topic of your choice.
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