Augustus arrived out of a bright flash of light at the back of an enormous line of spirits, slowly shuffling their way towards a bridge. He began walking with the other ghosts as they progressed on their way to the crossing bridge. It took about half a day before he had reached the beginning of the bridge; he stared at it before crossing as he noticed that just below the bridge was a pool of deep crimson blood that gurgled unceasingly. This pool of blood was filled with poisonous insects, snakes, and creatures he couldn't even identify or guess at their point of origin.

However, the ghosts didn't stop and pushed Augustus up and across the bridge. He watched as a ghost near him began shaking as they were crossing. The spirits started wailing as he was dragged off by an invisible force into the pool of blood as he screamed out for help, but no one paid attention to him as he sank deeper into the blood all the while being attacked by the vicious unknown inhabitants. This was the Bridge of Hopelessness, and any ghost that crossed it that was weighed down by karmic sin would be dragged into the abyss of blood and punished till their souls were cleansed by torment equivalent to their sins.

Augustus shuddered after watching this scene and was thankful that he had lived an ordinary, albeit short life. It was just beyond the boundary of the bridge that he saw a beautiful field to either side of the path filled with countless flowers. Slightly further down the path were three stones that floated in place, and it was here that each ghost would take a moment and look into their shadowy and lost reflections. The suspended iridescent stones were the gems of life, and they showed spirits their past life, their current life, and a glimpse of their future to ease their way on the path forward for rebirth.

Augustus continued forward and looked into each of the reflections. He saw his past life was him sailing across the sea on a ship as pirates attacked it, the next depicted his current life he had just departed from, and the last one showed a glimpse of him being born and held by two young parents as they were placing him into a jade crib.

He walked forward as if being pulled by an invisible force away from the three reflections. An older woman was handing a bowl of water to each spirit as they came near her.

"STOP, STOP, I REFUSE TO FORGET!" a ghost wailed as an invisible force wrapped around his body, making him drink from the bowl. The screams came now and then from others who were unwilling to forget their pasts. This was the water of forgetfulness, and it washed away the karmic ties of a past life in preparation for a new one. Augustus had almost made his way to the old lady as he saw the ghosts that had drank from the bowls of water drifting into six different tunnels. They were labeled Devas, Asuras, Humans, Beasts, Ghosts and Hell Spawns.

There were only twenty ghosts ahead of Augustus before it would be his turn to drink the water and move towards his new life. He sighed out as he thought back to his family that he would never see again and the cute girl at the café whose name he regretted never asking. What happened cannot change; he thought to himself as he stepped forward and received the bowl of water from the hunched older women. She looked him deep in the eyes and smiled at him as he received the bowl. He didn't feel any pressure to drink from it like a few of the ghosts wailing near him. Just as he was about to take a sip, a loud voice echoed across the skies.

"I have returned!" a masculine voice thundered.

The hunched older woman began frowning as her eyes turned dark like the pools of starlight before she disappeared deep into the skies after the masculine voice intruded into the realm of reincarnation.

"How dare you interrupt the cycles of reincarnation," she yelled from far above the ghosts in the dark and gloomy sky.

The sounds of metal crashing washed over the ghosts as fire and lighting stormed above them. A giant fireball headed straight toward Augustus and blasted the path in front of him, sending him and the other ghosts flying towards the six tunnels. The older woman's bowl flew from his hand as strong force sucked Augusutus into one of the tunnels.

His head began hurting, and his whole body felt sticky and wet. He was in tremendous pain, and it felt like days as he attempted to push back at the darkness that enrobed him before finally, he felt it surprisingly give way. He struggled for what seemed like hours before smashing his head at it in angst, and the darkness gave way to light. He continued headbutting and pushed out of the darkness gasping for breath. He saw he was inside a white shell and as he climbed the rest of the way out. He looked at his body. He had two small wings, fluffy yellow feathers, and taloned feet.

"Fuck, I was reborn as a chicken." He thought to himself, and just as he was looking at his body, a large hand reached out and plucked him up. "It's a boy; he looks pretty good; we can keep this one and get rid of the other male to replace the one we just lost." The man who spoke had dark brown eyes, black hair, and tanned skin, but he seemed to be gentle as he handed Augustus off to a young girl, who grabbed him tight and began toweling off before tossing him into a small cage. Augustus felt extremely tired as he laid in his tiny cage, staring up at these two humans, and fell asleep exhausted from forcing his way out of his egg.