After what he assumed to be his death, Aureum realized he could still form thoughts, causing him to become very curious about his current predicament. "Hmm... maybe there truly is something after death!" Aureum exclaimed.
Aureum had always been terrified of the notion there may be nothing after death, the idea of floating in a vacuum unable to do anything wasn't a very ideal situation in his eyes. Thinking of this he started to look around, confirming his surroundings.
He seemed to be floating in a sea of stars, thinking to himself that this was the greatest scene one could ever imagine. It wasn't until he looked down that he realized he seemed to be in a gaseous form.
Aureum become extremely curious as to what he had become. "Is this my soul? I had always heard people theorize about the soul leaving the body after death." Aureum wondered. Having no clue as to what was happening at the moment, Aureum could only talk to himself to pass the time.
He thought about many things, such as "What now, do I do something?" and eventually started pondering his life and the events leading up to his death. He thought about his family and wondered how his parents were doing after he died. "I wonder if they're grieving over my death..." before altering his statement, "They're definitely grieving, but for their loss of income, not their own son's death."
Thinking of this Aureum was actually a little glad, he didn't have many attachments to his family or anyone else for that matter, and he felt if he did everything would've been much harder on him right now. Wondering where life, death rather, was going to take him Aureum got lost in his thoughts.
After what seemed like a few hours, he noticed what seemed to be one of the stars becoming brighter and brighter over time. A couple more minutes had passed, and suddenly the star rapidly expanded, filling his vision and blinding him. Aureum only had time to form the thought, "What the hell is going on right now?" before everything went blank and he lost consciousness.
...
After what felt like a very nice rest, Aureum's consciousness slowly returned. The first thing he noticed was that his senses had returned!
He tried to open his eyes only to realize they seemed to be shut closed. Realizing this he started to feel around him, discerning his surroundings. After a couple of minutes, he concluded he was currently in a cave. The ground was rough and hard like stone, as well as his surroundings being cold and moist. He then tried to explore a little bit by feeling his way along the walls.
He noticed that one direction seemed to get colder and moister, while the other seemed to warm up and feel a bit drier. At this moment he didn't know what he should do so he stopped, sat down, and started brainstorming.
Aureum thought about his current situation and believed his first course of action should be getting his eyes open, as he couldn't fully tell where he was without seeing his surroundings. Without his eyesight he didn't wish to go anywhere, the danger was too high.
While he was thinking he started to realize something. This entire time while he was walking around he wasn't on two feet. In fact he had been walking on four limbs. Aureum went into thought, "How come I've been walking on all fours? It's almost as if it comes naturally to me..." this is when he felt a strange sensation. There seemed to be something moving near his rear end. He froze, before hastily turning around and pouncing!