《Curiosity killed the cat》 Prologue Death is a mysterious thing. People are always scared of it, but it seems that they are only afraid of it because it is unknown. As a kid, I had always been stupidly curious about a lot of things like most children are. However, my parents always seemed to rebuke this part of human nature for some reason, as if they were nervous about standing out. Well, I grew up too. I learned that humans are emotional creatures, and most are stubborn to a fault. However, they are fascinating, as is all life. When I turned into an adult, I didn¡¯t lose my curiosity. I didn¡¯t, as people say, ¡®grow out of it¡¯. Rather it grew to become an important part of me, admittedly a part that caused me to do stupid things. So one day I wondered, what was after death? Some say heaven, reincarnation or nothing at all. Some say that after death lies the truth, convinced that they live in some sort of imitation of the true world. So, I had made up my mind. I was going to die. Of course, because I decided to die I had to go out in the coolest way possible¡­via old age. I mean, dying is super scary right? What if nothing is after that? I can¡¯t come back, it¡¯s a one-way road for all I know. So yup! I¡¯ve decided. I¡¯m going to go out via old age!This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Just before death Well, I guess this is it. I had thought that it would feel weird or something, but I can¡¯t feel it coming. Well I can, but instead of feeling anything it¡¯s more like feeling nothing. As my vision fades to black, I think over my life. Most of my life was fun, with only a few bad parts like when my parents and my cat Tabitha died. I had traversed a lot of the earth, scaling my fair share of mountains and exploring the darkest depths of the oceans (although no one believed that I saw the kraken¡­). I don¡¯t regret anything in my life, and I think that I look forward to whatever comes next, no matter what it may be. As I reminisce about my life, my vision fades and turns to black¡­ I wanna be a cat! Waking up after death is terrifying. The first thing that came to my mind is if I really died. I didn¡¯t feel any pain, and I am still conscious, so I guess that means that there is something after death. As I look around, I see an enormous forest filled with darkened trees in the distance while the area around me is a similarly dark grassy plain. I turn my eyes upward to the sky, only to realise that it too was pitch black as if it was night. I¡¯m getting a serious underworld vibe from the gloomy atmosphere, I mean, it¡¯s either that or whoever runs this place is really into goth. It looks nothing like what the underworld would look like in the movies. The only other thing I can see are multiple lines of lights stretching out into the distance. As I wonder why I ended up in this place, I realise something significant. I can¡¯t feel my body. I know people don¡¯t normally consciously feel it all the time, but even when I actively try touching my hands, I can¡¯t sense anything. I look down to see what happened, but I realise another problem; I can¡¯t turn my head. As I start to freak out thinking that maybe I¡¯ve become paralysed, I remember that I could look around before, so why can¡¯t I do it now? After a few minutes of trying to figure it out, I realise that I didn¡¯t have a body, similar to the lights in front of me. This means that they¡¯re probably deceased souls too. The reason I could look around is that I¡¯m an orb of soul stuff, so I can see in all directions at once. I can also move, but instead of a moving sensation it¡¯s more of a rolling one, since I¡¯m an orb y¡¯know. So this is it, the afterlife is a dark place possibly ruled by a goth being and now I¡¯m a ball of soul waiting in line for something. I try to talk to the souls on either side of me, and after a few minutes of trying I figure out that I can send a part of my soul¡¯s aura as a message, similar to people with a huge presence. As I communicate with the soul in front of me, I find out that we¡¯re currently in line to be judged. It seems that a message was given an hour ago, but as I wasn¡¯t awake then I missed out on it. My sister did say that I was really bad at waking up¡­ Apparently after we are judged we are given options to choose from. Depending on how we lived our life and our circumstances, we would get points with which we can spend on what we want next. Some of the options consist of reincarnating into different worlds, specific species to become, potential talent in various fields and even wishes custom wishes. Of course, some people were really evil and were locked up in hell which I guess is a sort of afterlife jail, except without a need to care about wellbeing because we¡¯re dead the treatment is much worse. After hearing that we¡¯ll be judged on our past life, I hope that what I¡¯ve done will be enough to pull me over. I mean, I don¡¯t mind becoming human again, I just don¡¯t want to become a bug or anything. I start to ask the person in front about his life, but it seems that he doesn¡¯t understand what I mean when I ask if he likes cats or dogs. Starting to feel like I¡¯ve invaded his privacy, I back off. Sure I maybe be obsessively curious about things but I know when I¡¯m being annoying. After what seems like an eternity we reach the end of the line and I see a row of booths lined up next to each other taking in souls. The people in the booths seem to be talking to the souls, probably about their options. I guess this is what being judged is like after death, it¡¯s strangely professional. I expected more of a ¡®I¡¯m humongous and powerful and scary¡¯ grim reaper kind of judge but I guess not. Getting closer to the booths, I realise that what I had assumed to be people are in fact not people at all. They look more like strange combinations of creatures. Some of them have horns and tails and some of them are furry and have wings. In some way or other they¡¯re all different to each other and I personally find that fascinating. In any case, they¡¯ve successfully provoked my interest.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I¡¯m finally called to a booth, and the creature behind it is a beautiful blue lady with curling horns. As I float in front of her, she confidently speaks to me much like how I spoke to the soul when we were in line. ¡°Hello, can you understand me?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I reply. ¡°Oh good, most of the souls that come here haven¡¯t figured it out yet so I¡¯m relieved that you can. My name is Minty, I assume you¡¯ve heard the message. Have you considered what you want yet?¡± It¡¯s not surprising that some souls haven¡¯t figured out how to talk yet since I¡¯m willing to bet that most of the souls here aren¡¯t human and probably aren¡¯t intelligent. ¡°No, but I¡¯m interested in a seeing a list if you have one?¡± It¡¯s always good to see all your options. I know that there have been times where there was a better option but I didn¡¯t take it simply because I didn¡¯t notice it. Minty shows me multiple lists for options on seemingly infinite different transparent floating screens, options for race, birthplace, era for birth, world of birth and much more. There was even a list for how many windows the place I was born in has. I guess I was asking for too much of a list. As I was thinking about how I was going to deal with this mess, Misty calls out to me, interrupting my thought process. ¡°You have 15 life points to spend on your options, I personally recommend that you spend it on things such as talent and intelligence as the rest can be altered as you live your life.¡± Yes, that does make sense, living conditions and material wealth can be changed as long as one tries but talent and intelligence is impossible to improve as far as I know. ¡°Is there a rating against which I can compare it to?¡± ¡°Yes, the average for everything is 100 but a score of 100 is not necessarily smart by human standards as races are ranked against each other as well. For example, the 100 intelligence for a fly wouldn¡¯t even compare to a 10 for humans. You can increase your intelligence using points or increase your points by decreasing your intelligence.¡± I see, that makes sense. I guess I¡¯ll aim for the race with the most potential then and by default become super smart? ¡°Out of interest, what is the average amount of points a soul has?¡± ¡°The average amount is currently around 1.¡± Woah, so that means that I can influence my options way above the average person, but I¡¯m sure there are a lot of others who¡¯ve gotten higher than that. ¡°By the way, who has the highest amount of points?¡± ¡°You do.¡± ¡°Hmm wow that is rea- wait WHAT?! How do I have the most points?¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s because a lot of people are getting negative because they secretly lead evil lives. You¡¯re one of the few who hasn¡¯t done much bad and has helped out a lot too.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Well, I guess that¡¯s that. Time to decide on my options. ¡°What¡¯s the best race for a curious person?¡± I ask. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s the curious cat. It can freely change its abilities and affect timelines, it¡¯s basically omniscient. As well as this, it¡¯s good at befriending races that are usually aggressive towards those not of its own race because the aura it gives off is completely harmless. This means that it can freely explore dangerous areas without a care.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it! I wanna be a curious cat!¡± I exclaim excitedly. As I say this, I feel like I¡¯ve lost a bit of my dignity¡­ I¡¯m standing in front of Minty shouting my head off about wanting to be a cat. How ridiculous this must seem to her. ¡°Are you sure, you will have to spend all your points so everything else is randomised, and you won-¡° ¡°I¡¯m sure! Make me a cat!¡± I proclaim. As soon as I say this, I see Misty and everything around me fading into the darkness and I remember that I had cut her off at the very end. I feel rude so I start to apologize before I go, but by the time I start sending the message everything fades to black. As I lose consciousness again, a final thought flitters through my mind. ¡®I didn¡¯t get to ask for her number¡­.¡¯ Reborn A darkness surrounds me, and I feel a sticky wetness engulfing my body. Phew, well at least this time I am physical I think to myself. I try to move around, but my body seems strangely weak for some reason. I feel¡­restrained. I¡¯m not used to being restricted, it goes against my nature. As time gradually goes on, the restrictions feel like they¡¯re becoming tighter and tighter. I can move less and less and I hate it. After some time I couldn¡¯t move at all, my body has become stiff. Fear creeps into my mind like an unrelenting shadow. Where am I? Why am I so weak? Am I going to die again¡­? Thoughts wormed their way into my mind unbidden. I feel terrified and struggle even harder than I had previously, trying to escape from wherever I am. I can feel something coming, and although I have no idea what it is, I don¡¯t want to meet it restrained. As I fight I can feel the constraints becoming even harder to move than before, and I start to become stifled. The constraints start to pulse, and I can tell whatever¡¯s coming is coming fast. Terror sets in along with the suffocation and one thought, I can¡¯t breathe, resounds through my mind. Echoing faster and faster the thought fills my mind until finally I am granted a blissful escape by losing consciousness. The second time I wake I am no longer in the sticky darkness, and thankfully I¡¯m not restricted either. Thank you whoever got me out of there. Thoughts of relief wash over me, and I use my eyes to explore my surroundings. A blurry sight fills my vision and I can feel a warm embrace holding me. I once again have no clue where I am, but I can tell that I¡¯m inside of a cave. Looking around I notice that the cave has some half-eaten beasts and a couple furry balls, and I can also see what is holding me. It¡¯s a furry tail and I assume that the embrace I can feel holding me is my mother. I was really born again, I was half joking about the whole cat thing. I mean, who¡¯s going to believe instantly that they would be reborn just because they were told? I didn¡¯t think it was real. Well, at least now I¡¯m a super strong cat right? I sort through my thoughts, but while I think about my experiences, one particular thought hit me. How come I¡¯m still me? Shouldn¡¯t my mind be cleared or something? I remember wanting to be a curious cat and that should¡¯ve taken up all my points. It isn¡¯t normal to remember one¡¯s past life right? What happened? After thinking about it for a while I cast aside the thought. It doesn¡¯t really matter anyways. It doesn¡¯t give me any disadvantages. Throwing away the train of thought I turn my mind to a more fascinating matter. I was reborn. There really is something after death, and after being reborn I can explore a whole new world! This is going to be awesome! -2 weeks later- After settling into my new life for a while I grew to know the life of a cat. It turns out that for some reason I¡¯m not actually a super powerful cat species, I¡¯m more of a normal cat. Well, as normal a cat a cat can be when it has black wings. My whole family has them and they¡¯re soft and furry. I saw them on my siblings as well as on my body in a reflection in a pool of water in our cave. It turns out that the suffocating experience I had before was the experience of being born. Who knew it¡¯d be so scary if you didn¡¯t know where you were? No wonder babies are always crying when they are born¡­ My mother is really elegant and beautiful and she feeds us all sorts of interesting things. Small pink mushrooms, a scaly tail from some beast and there was even a fish that was really really big! If I had to measure it, it¡¯d have to be around 5 meters in my past life. Well, to a small newly born cat everything would seem gigantic I suppose¡­ I even have 2 cat siblings, and they¡¯re both really adorable. We were born together, so that makes us triplets. One of them is silver and our mother named her Shiara. Shiara has big blue eyes that match with our mother. Mother¡¯s fur is a sleek purple, while my other sibling is fiery red with blue eyes, it seems that blue eyes run in the family. Our mother named her Fyst. The colour of my fur is black and I also have blue eyes and black wings. My mother named me Xirea. I don¡¯t know where my father is and I can¡¯t ask because I don¡¯t know how to speak. The only reason we know our names is because our mother keeps calling us that.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I really like it here, but I yearn to go outside. Whenever we try to sneak out our mother yowls at us, I think it¡¯s because it¡¯s dangerous outside and our mother is worried, she¡¯s sweet like that. Even though we are given a lecture we don¡¯t understand we never get mad at her, we can sense that she¡¯s doing it out of concern. Even so, the yearning remains. I hope we grow up quick so we can explore the outside world. -A few months after being born- After being born for a few months I¡¯ve noticed that we are definitely not normal cats after all. Well, this isn¡¯t Earth anymore so not normal is to be expected but still. Our wings are strong enough to fly around on, and we¡¯ve discovered that we can do magic. I guess that instead of becoming a curious cat I¡¯ve become a less powerful cat species. This is probably because when I left hell I yelled just ¡®cat¡¯ as a final answer instead of ¡®curious cat¡¯, so I was given a random cat species. If I didn¡¯t know any better I would have guessed that a particular author didn¡¯t think their plotline through properly¡­ When I asked our mother about what we were, she replied with ¡°You kittens are magic cats.¡±. Her explanation ended there, it seemed like there was something preventing her from saying more. Even when I pushed she stayed silent so I left it there. Well, on another note this also means that I get to keep my memories since I had some points left over from the rebith. We¡¯ve all learned our mothers¡¯ language which is a common language used by beasts to communicate called beast tongue. Unoriginal, I know right? What beast founder came up with such a name? Shiara beat me in learning the language, even though I was sure that I would get it first since I had experiences in learning from my past life. I guess she is just naturally smarter than me. I¡¯m definitely not upset that a kitten a few months old beat an old lady in learning a language, definitely not. It¡¯s because I¡¯m old and my mind has slowed, yup, that¡¯s definitely it. I sulked while I reasoned with myself, conveniently ignoring the fact that I was reborn so my mental age being old had nothing to do with my slow learning speed. Anyways, after me came Fyst, and when all of us had learned the language our mother gave us all hugs. Even though I¡¯m old it doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m ever going to be too old for hugs. We also celebrated by eating some kind of rainbow coloured honey. It was gooey and sweet and the pure bliss we experienced was addictive. Our mother has decided that we¡¯ve grown up enough now to handle being outside so she announced that we¡¯re all going out tomorrow. The excitement racing through me has me feeling like a child again. After being stuck in this cave for so long we¡¯ve all become bored, even with the strange and weird foods mother brings in. After the announcement we all bounced around as delighted balls of fur, and our mother could only make us calm down by threatening to not take us out. We quickly cooled down after that, but the wide adorable smiles on our faces betrayed our excitement. Our mother looked at us with a knowing grin and a twinkle in her eye and guided us to bed, but of course we were all too excited to sleep. Eventually she convinced us to sleep by reminding us that if we were too tired in the morning she would have to leave us behind. Even so, we only fell into our dreams when it was hours after bedtime. -Morning- Warm sunlight on my face roused me from my sleep, and as I blinked my sleepy eyes went to the water pool to wash my face. In the midst of washing my head one thought reminded me what day it was. Today is the day that we get to go outside!