My sense of touch floats its way back into my head next with the feeling of warmth that still surrounds me. My still scattered mind registers the feeling of some sort of fabric against my skin, though the sensation is strangely muted on my lower half.

Coming further out of sleep brings my sense of hearing back, my ears flicking and twitching lightly at the sound of a feminine voice cooing something I couldn't understand properly. Like hearing someone talking from another roo-

Wait, what. That wasn't-

My ears twitch again as what little coherent thought I have focuses on them. Ears don't twitch. They're supposed to stay still, right? I...think.

...Ok, something weird was going on.

The shock of this new discovery kicks my mind into gear and the lethargy and stupidity that infects my brain every time I initially wake is rapidly disappearing. Leaving me with the certainty that yes, my ears most certainly aren't supposed to move that way. I was happy with myself for having put together that stunning conclusion.

Ok, so maybe I was still half-asleep. It's not my fault, with how damn comfy I am. A comfy, warm sleeping spot has always been my weakness.

It's the cuddliest kryptonite.

I needed to get to the bottom of this mystery, so I force my eyes to slowly open and am met with harsh burning light that makes me flinch. My reaction seems to have spurred the owner of the voice into action as the previously low tone she was using suddenly picks up in volume.

"Mikhael! Dear, he is waking up! Put that down and come see!~"

As my eyes finally adjust to the light, I get a good look at the figure above me and my breath catches in confusion and shock.

A quite beautiful woman with fey-like features is looking down at me with what can only be pure love and affection in her eyes. Not the worst way to wake up from whatever the hell was going on but still, not what I was expecting. Fair skin with a few freckles her and there, kinda big eyes that were a nice green and golden-brown hair pulled back into a braid or something similar; I couldn't really tell from this angle.

Yep. I have never seen this woman before in my life. Was… she a nurse? Then why the hell was she creeping over me? Ok, that look is starting to freak me out now. I don't even know who you are, lady!

She looks up at something, or someone judging by the sounds of movement and her previous words, out of my line of sight and says something again. I'm not listening though, as I only just noticed two very important details I really should have spotted right away.

First, this woman is really, really big. And not big as in fat, but big as in 'fee-fi-fo-fum I'm a giant' big. It's pretty terrifying seeing something that far out of what is realistically possible.

And second, she has a pair of fuzzy pointed cream and brown patterned ears pointing out from where a normal person's ears should go.

Something is definitely wrong here.

Whatever I was going to think of next is rudely interrupted when she lifts me up towards her face -whoa wait, what the fuck how did she- and nuzzles her face against mine while making baby noises.

Ok, this has officially gone into bad touch territory!

I desperately try to fend off the woman but my arms feel incredibly weak and pushing them against whatever parts of the woman's face I can reach just makes her giggle.

Opening my mouth to protest and call for help, any words I try to force out seem to choke in my throat and all that comes out is a high-pitched whinny.

The woman pulls her face back to look at me again, a twinkle in her eye. "Oh, so that is how its going to be then? Well I am just going to eat you up!"

Before I can even being to react to that statement, she begins playfully biting at my hands; complete with exaggerated chomping noises. Like she was talking to a baaaaa...by.

Hahahaha, no way right? I couldn't possibly be-

And those are chubby little baby hands attached to chubby little baby arms. My chubby little baby hands and arms, judging by the fact that I could move them.

No. No no no no no.

My skin isn't even that colour!

I'm way pastier than that!

Not some light tanned nonsense like this!

This is not ok!

I-I think I'm going to freak out!

You should never underestimate the value of a good cry.

After I burst into tears, the woman held me softly against her till I stopped and then placed me down in a pile of very comfortable blankets when I feinted sleep.

So now here I am, hiding in a blanket fort after coming to realise a few very big things.

I am now a centaur.

...And no matter how many times I run it through my head, it still rebels against the idea.

But if I look down there it is. A horse body attached to where my ass used to be, in all its fuzzy four-legged, cream and brown glory. A quick feel also told me I had the same fuzzy pointed ears as the woman. I'd put money on them being the same colour as well. I did notice that my body proportions were stumpier than what a newborn foals would be, though. I was just going to go ahead and assume it was a centaur thing and leave it at that.

Speaking of centaurs and horses; should probably never make any comparisons out loud. I have a feeling it would be their equivalent of saying a person looked and acted like an ape.

Next thing is, I currently can't talk. Anything I try to say just comes out as horse noises. Whinnies, neighs, nickers and snorts galore. I'd probably find it funny if I wasn't utterly emotionally drained. No clue why I can't talk since I still remember english. Or, at least I think I do. There are definitely things different in my head than they used to be. I was afraid to find out just what else might have changed. For one, what I assumed was english the centaur woman was speaking before was actually just more horse-sounding noises, but somehow more flowing and structured.

And I understood it perfectly.

After I had realised that, something in my head had clicked and I now only heard what I assumed was centaur language; yet I still knew what it meant. In fact, lying here gave me the chance to go through what I knew of the language that had been stuffed into my head and I can sum it up as 'basically everything'.

I now knew several hilarious centaur swear words.

All these things make one thing clear, however. The pain, the fear, that I experienced had been real. I had died.

And then I had been reborn. I have never been happier to have been wrong about something than I am now, now that I know reincarnation is actually real.

Alright, so I died and now I'm a recently born centaur. The woman from before is my mother, who is currently talking quietly somewhere else in the room with a man who I can only assume is my father. God, that is trippy and kind of disturbing to think about.

...I wonder how my family are right now wherever they are. They're going to hurt so much from this. Mum... oh god, mum. She's been through so much, she didn't deserve to have to deal with my...my death.

I start to tear up again as thoughts of the pain and hardship my family will go through because of my death begin to flood my brain.

I bury my face into one of the blankets and silently weep into it.

I must have fallen asleep again while I was crying. I came too leaning against the large warm side of one of my centaur parents; feeling it slowly rise and fall in time with their breathing. It's too dark to see and both of them appear to be in the pile of blankets with me, so its most likely late at night. Probably best for me to slip off again, deal with everything with a fresh mind in the morning.

God I hope young centaurs share a foal's ability to walk shortly after birth. I don't want to have to lay around like a vegetable for what would be a frustrating amount of time waiting to grow and learn to walk. Especially now that I'll remember every boring moment of it, unlike the first time.

I lay my head against the warm body next to me and let the scent and sensation of their breathing lull me to sleep.