1 Death

After death, James Marshall's journey had only just begun. Having failed to enter the reincarnation cycle due to the gods incompetence his soul was left a drift. But drifting is boring so why not learn something, explore the world and see all humanity has to offer. But even that got boring after several hundred years, so James decided to leave earth for another world, travel through space, ride comet's and watch the birth and death of distant stars. He spent hundreds, maybe thousands of years exploring. Eventually he got lost and could no longer return to earth, not that he wanted too, but he wouldn't mind some conversation.

The endless void seemed to tear at his very being. He went insane, but soon got bored of that. He then went sane, very sane. But even that was boring, so he found something in-between and stayed right there, feeling content with himself. After a few decades of mild insanity James found himself coming across another dying star. But this one was much larger than any other he had seen. It was then he came to a jarring realization "This star is about to become a black hole..." and without anything else to do, he hurled his soul Into the unknown.

People say that your life flashes before your eyes when you die. That didn't happen to me. At least the first time around. But this didn't feel quite like dying. It was more like being surrounded by darkness at the bottom of the ocean. An endless pressure enveloping me from all directions. It was quite relaxing really. I wonder if this was what it was like before one was born. Maybe it was that comfort that made me think of my life before. Or maybe I really was dying.

I don't remember much of my earlier years. Most of my life as a human has been muddled over the course of my long lifetime, but I do remember how I died. It was quite unexpected really, I mean to be fair most deaths are, but then again who would ever think they would be struck by lighting.

I was on my way back from a likely botched job interview, I had just missed the bus, but it wasn't too cold and I was early so I didn't mind the walk. I went through my bag and found my new copy of the first volume of One Piece. I meant to read it on the bus. At first I thought it was a nice day, until the wind picked up. Then the rain came and the clouds began to roil and rumble. Within an instant it was as if I was standing in the midst of a great storm, not the slightest hint of the calm sunny day from a moment earlier. I tucked the book into my jacket and started to run. That's when it hit me. And within a fraction of a second i was dead.

But as a great man once said "death is but the next great adventure." There was no pain, no bright light, just a moment of darkness before I was looking down at my own body. Floating as no more than a soul. A soul takes the shape of the being it was before it died, though without most of the features. It took me a while before I came to terms with what happened and realized I had died. But not too long, after all I was now a faceless ethereal body of energy. When I looked down at my own hands all I saw was, the same sight as when heat rises off asphalt, a translucent smoke like substance in the shape a hand.

So I did what any 'ghost' would do and went to my funeral. It was a disappointing affair though and didn't make me feel like I had lived my life to the fullest. So i decided to make the most of my after life. The first thing I did was catch up on One Piece and every other manga, anime and series I could find, it was difficult at first since I had to find people who were reading or watching them at the same time in order to see it for myself. I had plenty of time so I didn't really care for the wait. Once that was done I began to travel, Tokyo, Madrid, Rome, Britain, Africa, Greenland, Jamaica anywhere I wanted. I learnt every language there was by listening and spending time among the different cultures. I watched as buildings were built and destroyed. I learnt how to make instruments and the necessary movements of certain dances like ballet, hip hip and tap. Though I couldn't practise any of this knowledge due to being dead, it didn't stop me from wanting to learn. And I learnt every thing I could.

I drifted through the continents, into the deepest parts of the oceans and delved into the darkest jungles studying and observing every form of life I found. After learning I could pass through solid matter, I began to sink through the earths crust and make my way to the planets core. Nowhere was out of my reach and I found I could will myself to places I could see and had already been. I even found I could interact with things on a minor level, which further helped my understanding of the arts, calligraphy in particular was extremely difficult. This would have come in handy when was trying to catch up on certain series instead of wasting a few decades waiting for people to open books for me.

After spending several hundred years visiting every library and comic shop, watching and learning from the shadows, I started to feel bored and a little lonely. It had been a decade since I had learnt anything interesting and seeing so many people interacting with one another, forming families and bonds, didn't help. So I left the planet in search of another. Maybe if I return to earth one day they'll have advanced enough to surprise me.

Space was far more intriguing that I first thought. From asteroids and neutron stars, to black holes and nebulas, there was so much to see and I thought no amount of time could ever make me bored. Turns out I was wrong, it took a few thousand years, at least I think it did since I lost track of time soon after leaving earth, but I eventually got bored of everything I saw. And no matter how far I traveled, no matter where I went boredom always plagued my mind. That's when I went insane, but we know how that turned out. I even thought of going back to earth, but even that thought bored me. So I continued to drift.

My mind snapped back to reality. I was still plunging into a black hole. Everything in my life and death flashing before my eyes. True death very possibly right in front of me, and yet I never felt so alive. Not even when I was a human. I could feel it, this was the start of my greatest adventure.