Cold
That was the first thought that came to his mind when his consciousness came to. It wasn't the bone chilling cold of winter. It felt more like the comfortable chill of dipping into a pool after being under a hot summer sun. It felt like he was swimming too.
No.
Focusing more, Gen realised he couldn't actually 'feel' anything. He opened his eyes and was immediately met with the image of a vast galaxy looking space. His body, or his not-body floated through. He couldnt move a muscle. But then again, how could he when there was no muscle to move. A weird calmness had already settled over him so he simply couldn't freak out.
'Is this... heaven? No it can't be. It's too quiet and dark. It's too peaceful for hell though. Maybe limbo? Checks out since I wasn't much of a believer anyways'
When he died, it hadn't even felt dramatic. There was no bright light, no dark reaper and no angel. He'd only felt his heart slow to a stop, limbs falling stiff as he closed his eyes. It felt more like the sensation of falling asleep than anything.
'I wish I could go back and tell everyone that there's no such thing as light at the end of the tunnel. The government lied to us.'
Gen didn't know how long he'd spent floating. Hours? Days? Months? He wasn't sure anymorr. That soul penetrating calm prevented him from feeling anything besides mild curiousity at best.
Within the galaxy realm or soul realm as he had come to call it, he apparently wasn't alone. The bright light spots which he'd initially thought to be stars we're actually humanoid souls. Each soul had a different colour lining to it so regardless of colour similarity, no two souls were actually the same. But the one thing that absolutely baffled him was that, among the billions of souls, he alone was conscious or 'awake'.
He wasn't sure at what period he'd come to realise this. The longer he stayed floating around, the more his soul somehow got stronger. He could move about more and more, but only within limited diameters as he floated along. The more he moved, the more his soul absorbed the surrounding astral essence which in turn made his soul stronger. Eventually he could travel freely.
Gen looked around and following the only reasonable course of action available, he decided to follow in the direction of the soul flow.
The soul realm was massive. At some point in his flight, he'd wandered if it was really worth going off to god knows where.
'What if there's an entity who might just not be pleased at a free roaming soul? What then, Gen? Well who gives a fuck anyways. Anything is better than just floating around for eternity'
Luckily, the soul flow gradually began to thicken. The deeper he went, the more concentrated the soul stream got and the faster the souls were being drawn. He sped up and finally got to what looked like the center. At the sight, he finally felt a flicker of the first real emotion he'd felt ever since waking up in this space.
He felt awe
'It's beautiful... but what they fuck is that?'
At the center of the soul spiral was a massive sphere which the souls floated into. The sphere flashed with colour everytime a soul entered and since numerous souls were entering at a time, it continuously shifted colour. Sometimes the colours merged into different colours, new and old.
He flew closer till he floated right in front the spherical kaleidoscope. Once he got close enough to touch, everything seemed to have halted. The souls stopped moving and the previously epilepsy inducing sphere faded to a white colour. A massive multicoloured pupil formed and stared down at him. It was only a second but it felt like eternity. The eye faded back to white but Gen already knew what he had to do.
'It was inevitable anyways. Besides, I'm already dead... i wonder if I'm going to fet reincarnated or something. I hope I'm born into royalty or something
He placed a hand on the sphere and phased through. It flashed an odd mix of gold and blue before returning back to a calm white. The souls continued to float closer as though the momentary pause never happened.