1 Prologue

I died.

There is nothing much to say about it, as I don't remember when or even how it happened.

What I do know is...

I'm stuck in something!

My body feels weird and I can't move!

Even breathing seems like an impossible task right now, but I don't seem to be suffocating.

Thank God I'm not claustrophobic, because if I were, this would've been a living nightmare.

There is no light at all and surrounding space feels more and more cramped as days pass by.

Usually, you wouldn't know how the time is passing without a watch or some form of natural light, but when you think about something for a LONG time, you can tell that at least days have passed since you began thinking about it.

"What were you thinking about", you might ask.

Well then, let me tell you:

"How did this happen to me!"

Yep, not the most elegant of thoughts but what can I do about it, this place freaks me out, claustrophobia would have been a nail to the coffin if you know what I mean, with this situation being the way it is.

But soon after reclaiming my calm, I began pondering:

Could it be that I am being reborn?

Yes, that must be it!

This restricting feeling should be the womb getting tighter around me as my body is getting bigger. And having difficulty moving must be because my infant body is too weak to push against the wombs walls.

Heh, it seems I've been worrying for nothing.

In my previous life, I achieved most of the things that I wanted to achieve.

I got a job that I loved.

I was working as a tamer in the local zoo, taking care of the snakes and their habitats. As a tamer, there wasn't much to do but a repeating routine of cleaning and feeding of the snakes, which I enjoyed watching, and earning their trust by petting them and letting them coil around my hand to get warmer from my body heat. Occasionally there would be times when I was allowed to take them out of their habitat to show them off to groups of children, here on an educational trip or tourists which are here to see our zoo.

There were times I got bitten, but I always carried an antidote for the species I am handling at that moment, but still, in my 7 years I have worked in that zoo I've been bitten only 6 times and I am confident to say that I deserved it by getting too into their personal space at the moments I shouldn't have.

Besides a job in my previous life I also had a girlfriend!

Ha! Now you see I am not like one of those shut-ins that live in their parents' basement and have no work or friends.

Tho I do love to read and watch all sorts of Japanese, Chinese and Korean media, such as anime, manga and all forms of novels.

...5 of those 6 bites were primarily caused by me being too exhausted from an all-nighter I had for watching whole seasons in one go, the day before going to work.

I wonder what my then-girlfriend is doing right now...

Since I died, she must be grieving over me. I would feel sorry for her but I don't know why I can't sympathize with her at the moment.

maybe because my baby brain didn't develop those emotions?

I mean, my past body was the one that was in love with her, while this body is probably just wired differently.

I tried to remember what caused my death but to no avail. I tried to remember anything about the days before it and there were a lot of fuzzy memories with a vivid picture here and there, but pictures become most vivid when I don't poke around my most recent past, the one closest to my death. It seems like my head starts to hurt whenever I try to think about anything regarding my death, but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

I hope that nothing bad happens from not remembering that.

I remember reading that, when something very bad happens to someone, they can get so upset that their brain will automatically block in and suppress those memories to save itself from psychical harm.

I very much so hope that is not the case here...

Now that I think about it, I have a new body and as such a new brain. These forced down memories shouldn't exist...

But how do I retain memories from my previous life when I don't even have the same brain?

Is this one of those 'mysteries of the soul' kinds of things.

Who would have known that the soul has information storage properties... Maybe if this is one of those 'swords & magic' kind of worlds, that I read about in novels and manga, I can research the soul using magic and maybe defeat death itself. That way I could simply revive myself or reincarnate myself, using my soul to safe keep my knowledge from my previous life.

But that is only if I get born into that kind of the world.

Well maybe I get born into a royal family or some high nobility so I can have others research it for me, but that is of course only if I am that lucky and there are no extreme religions ruling this new world, the ones that would deem me a heretic for trying to do something like that.

I believe that ten or so more days passed as I was thinking of all the possibilities that might be waiting for me in my new life until a thought hit me...

What if I don't get reborn as a human?!

*crack*

You can't be serious...

My body, as if some primal instinct took over, started to squirm like mad.

It was only now that I could feel that what I am in now is not a human womb or even a womb at all.

What I was in was an...Egg!?

My head started hurting as my body started giving its all to break free from this shell that had imprisoned me for what I believe to be ten-odd days.

*Crack* *Slop*

Phew...finally free. If I had stayed in there for any longer, I would seriously reconsider what I said about not being claustrophobic...

*shhh*

*cough* *cough*

I just felt my lungs extend for the first time...

That hurts a lot!

And the stale air in here doesn't make it any better, It smells like spoiled eggs have been fermenting in here for a while.

Ok, now that I am FINALLY born again, what is the situation?

Feathers? None.

Beak? Nope.

Legs!? Sadly no, but with this, there are only two choices that come to mind.

As I am covered in grey scales that still seem to be hardening I'm confident to say I'm some kind of a reptile.

Either a legless lizard or a snake of some sort.

Let me just use my tail to do a dental check...

Dental conclusion:

IM A SNAKE!!

Thank God, for a moment there I was scared I'd be reborn as a chicken!

And nobody wants to be reborn as a chicken... Well maybe if you get some super strong power as a compensation and begin ruling the world as a 'Morning Announcing Emperor'.

Or not...

Alright, let's scan out my surroundings.

Hmmm... This place, it doesn't look very normal to me.

I am in a wast cave and it seems to be closed off as the only exit seems to be completely buried under the dirt. Besides the 'dirt wall' that is blocking my exit, there are only bare rocks from all six sides of this dome-like cave, with a weird structure in the very middle of the dome.

This structure... It looks beautiful.

It resembles a fountain, but the water inside it is anything but normal.

It gives off a sparkly light, enveloping the ceiling in a light show that can be only said to be from a dream. The refraction of light it gives off of the stalactites and the playfulness of colors and shapes on this ceiling make one question reality, wondering if they got lost in a dream, dreaming of heaven itself.

And the colors... gold, purple, azure and tinges of red, all dance around forming shapes, like a dancing night sky, far away from the city.

*crack*

Yeah, such a beautiful sight... I wish I can stay here for a while to engrave it in my memory...

*crack* *crack* *crack*

While gazing at this heavenly spectacle, I was too out of it to notice the ground around me.

This sound... It sounds familiar where did I hear it...

*crack* *crack* *slop* *crack* *slop*

Oh, how foolish of me, that sounds just how I sounded while breaking out of my... out of my e-egg...

It sounds like trouble!!!