Chapter 1: Why God's surname is Damn
It's been some time since he came to senses. With only darkness surrounding him, he could feel his body, but couldn't move an inch.
Is it how death feels like? A strange feeling: groggy, weak, unsteady, body refusing to listen. The feel of touch was vastly different, totally unfamiliar. The neural network was sending unfamiliar sensations.
NO—it's not even his original body, at least that's what he could perceive. For, he discerned that the body size was very small, smaller than the usual. It's uncertain if it's a usual thing, but with him laying down flatly, the surface area in contact with the ground felt drastically smaller than what he was used to.
He's receiving a passive contact; for he couldn't even properly control those body parts he's picking up the sensation of. Along with it is the feeling that something is missing. Whenever he tries to move his body with the help of the limbs, he fails to control any of it. There's a sharp pain; misconnected neural sense—as if the body parts didn't even exist.
'Is it what they call phantom pain? But why?' Logically, even if he was in a different body, he wouldn't have lost total control of it; the body structure would have been the same.
Yes, he already accepted that he's in another body. With the speed the car overturned—even multiple times at that—he would have died long ago. Forget about amputating a limb (associated with phantom pain), his head would have been naturally amputated by the broken car frames.
So, if he's able to even think and feel his body, it's either the afterlife or another chance in life.
While thinking so, Cloud tried to slowly move the body, commanding one muscle at a time.
Gradually, he got a sense of his body. First of all, he was totally drenched. 'Is it because of falling inside the water during the accident? But wasn't this a completely different body?'
Another twitch, and the body rolled to the side. He felt some prickling sensation underneath. 'Grass?'
Just as he was getting a hang of the senses, he suddenly lost total control of the body. The lax body which refused to move suddenly stood up on its own; it suddenly shook in high frequency, throwing away all the water. As the eyes opened, blinding light…well, not that blinding since he could still feel the outside light even if the eyelids were closed, but it was a tear-worthy vision to finally be able to get rid of the eerie darkness of a blind person.
As the eyes opened, Cloud got to see the outside world for the first time (after the accident). The first detail is the blurry and unfamiliar picture—not the world, but how the view was perceived. It was blurry; the color was dry, like a gray filter. Though, he could still tell that he was outside, in a jungle like place with grasses and trees as far as he could perceive. The vision was wider than what he was used to.
Just as he was assessing his surroundings, the head moved.
Suddenly he looked down; the picture of a pawn appeared, and he—started licking the upper part of the forelimb. Immediately, he tasted furballs through his new tastebuds.
"WWHHAT TTHHE HECKKK!!!?" That's what he screamed in his mind.
His head was in turmoil, both mentally and neurally. Yet, he already expected it and calmed down quickly. Then he recalled. There was something strange a while ago.
People can listen imaginated sound of their thoughts, but why did it feel like an echo? As if multiple people were saying the same thing.
As that thought came in his mind, a foreign voices entered his head.
"What on the Randy Rim is going on!?"
"A syntax error; I'm getting a syntax error!"
"O'er wrought! What ill doth befall me?"
Along with that came some confusing sounds.
"Who's talking?" He tried to sound out, but the voice got mixed with the others and turned into gibberish.
He was confused, even the body now out of his control jumped up in shock. It started crying out while looking around. "Meow?" was the sound which came out of the throat.
Yes, he's possessing a cat's body. The earlier paw was even silver in color. He had a daring guess: the cat he is possessing is the very cat he was hugging before his death, his precious—Silverbell!
But before he could think more about how this happened, he needed to understand what was going on in his mental world. It seems he's not the only guest inside his cat's body. Yeah, only a guest, for the cat—Silverbell—seems to be able to move on its own. Even the cat seems to be shocked with the foreign voices.
Well, it's normal to be shocked, just like how one would be after seeing unfamiliar faces upon opening the door of their house, when they were living alone.
Were they thieves, or just another victim of this sudden kidnapping by the universe. Though, from the initial shocked voices, it seems they were also lost souls.
Anyway, before this digression could expand more, Cloud came back to senses and tried to voice out again.
Yet, it seems the others were also panicked and tried to call to each other, all at the same time. To understand the situation better, just imagine the atmosphere of a physical stock exchange house—thousands of voices shouting loudly.
Though obviously, it's not that many voices, less than 10. One could still hear what the others were saying if they focused.
Leveraging that, he tried to convey the message by repeating his lines multiple times.
"Everyone stop. Say your words one at a time."
It seems they heard it, but still, one time it's too quiet, another time it's a sudden flood of voices.
Presumably, they first waited for the others to speak, only to avail, as the others were doing the same. When one tried to talk, the rest followed.
The situation went back to the initial fish market state.
This time, Cloud had an idea; he screamed "Name, name. Everyone, just shout your name, and we'll follow an order of speech."
"Cloud."
"Cloud."
"Cloud."
…
"What the actual fuck" screamed Cloud (The original one).
The rest was a mess with different words mixing in.
"4What I0 de3vilry want is a wroureghtfund"
"I'm pleagoingse sensihleut ouhgopd! SHUT UP SHUT UP"
Cloud screamed "Shut up. Just say random words. Everyone gets to say one word. Repeat the same thing at least 10 times so that everyone can recognize it."
Immediately, the chaotic voices calmed down, and slowly, they kept repeating one line.
"DSP."
"C++"
"Twelfth Night"
"CCG"
"Koenigsegg"
Those were the words he could discern. After a while, everyone quieted down; there were no new lines.
5 people, including him and Silverbell, that makes 7 souls inside one body!
'I think that's why God's surname is Damn.' thought Cloud in his head.
…..
Date & Time: 2:10 am, 19th July 2025
Words: 1161