After practising, I got the hang of walking in this new body; movement was still weird, mainly because I walked on four legs instead of two. Running was also impossible; my moves were still too awkward, and I would fall headfirst into the ground whenever I tried, but it would be less frequent with practice.
I had decided that the best course of action would be to find a river, with it I could follow it and probably find a village. If there are any villages here, this forest might span thousands of kilometres for all I know, with no town in it. It would probably be a long walk before I found a river, and it didn't help that my legs tired reasonably quickly as I wasn't used to walking long distances yet.
The idea that this place was the same as earth calmed me. In all the stories I used to read of other worlds, I'm happy that this isn't a world made of sand with giant worms, a bare waste with flying snakes or a world where creatures lived with the only goal to turn you into a living machine.
This place didn't seem that different from the earth. The trees were green, the flowers were vibrant as they should be, and birds were singing; at least, I hoped those sounds were from birds;
If I could only go back home, I might have been able to say goodbye to my mother. All the time I wasted doing nothing, if only I could have lived a little more. I didn't even get the chance to repay my mother for what she did; raising a kid alone is hard, especially for one like me.
A sudden sound shook me out of my thoughts, I could barely hear it, but it sounded like water raging down a stream. I moved towards the sound of the water, and when I reached it, I saw a beautiful stream of water. I was ecstatic; who would have thought I would find a river this fast?
I wanted to scream out of pure joy, but only a guttural growl came out of my mouth, which surprised me. Excitedly, I moved toward the stream, bent my head toward the water, and started drinking. It was a blissful feeling, the water running down my throat.
After drinking enough, I turned around and saw several wolf-like creatures looking at me. The wolf-like animals nor I made a move. They stared me down, looking for any sign of weakness, but I knew that if I ran away, it would be my death. When I looked at them, a voice in my head started saying, "food, food, food, foodโฆ" constantly repeating itself.
How am I going to get myself out of this mess? I don't think I could beat one of these wolves, let alone 3 of them; they were twice my size. The right-most wolf made the first move; it jumped towards me, opening its gaping maw, trying to take a good chunk of flesh out of me.
I could barely jump out of the way, even stumbling a bit, but the creature didn't give me any breathing room and jumped towards me again, the voices growing louder "food, food, food!". It attacked with its claws; I couldn't dodge his attack this time. The nails dug into my leg, and pain shot through my body.
I winced in pain as blood started trickling down my leg, the creature attacked again, and out of instinct, I opened my mouth. Before the animal could reach me, a burst of flames came out of my mouth, and I burned the wolf to cinders.
The other two wolf-like creatures saw this. They were terrified of the flames that had hit one of their brethren and at once turned their tails. "Run, run, run!" the voices said inside my head. I didn't understand where these voices came from and why they were talking to me, but when I couldn't see the wolfs anymore, the voices, for some reason, disappeared.
But that was the least on my mind. I had just breathed fire! Only one creature was covered in scales, had wings, and could breathe fire. Those creatures were dragons! That voice has turned me into a dragon! Or at least something that looks like one! Where has this voice sent me?
The creature I had hit with my fire breath had barely survived, it clung to whatever it had left of its measly life, and now it was whimpering on the ground. It could scarcely move; even if it survived today, it would surely die tomorrow because of all the injuries.
So, I did the only thing I could do, I needed food, and this creature wanted an end to its suffering. I walked toward the beast, put my sharp teeth around its neck, and bit down into its neck. I felt the creatures' muscles tense in my mouth; I felt a warm liquid fill my mouth, which had a metallic taste. Shortly after I had bit down, the creature died from blood loss.
But when it died, something odd happened. Gold particles started to move up from the creature and floated towards me. The particles flew into my chest, and I suddenly felt more powerful! It was an odd feeling. It didn't just feel like I got a boost in energy; it feltโฆ more permanent.
I looked at the corpse of the creature. Its fur was completely charred. I used my claws to claw away the scorched coat, and to my surprise, the meat looked fine. There was some braised meat under the coat, but the rest of the flesh was still raw. I was hoping the meat was still edible because this might be the only thing to eat in the next couple of days. It would probably be safe to eat as I just killed it; at least, I hope so.
You know the feeling when you haven't eaten your favourite snack in some time? Eating this meat felt the same way. I couldn't stop myself from enjoying every single moment of it. After eating the creature, I noticed it was already getting dark. It was about time for me to find a spot where I could rest for the night. I couldn't lay down next to the wolf's corpse; it would attract predators, and I would not survive the night. I had to find another spot if I wanted to survive.
It didn't take long for me to find a place where I could spend the night. It was under an old tree where the roots had made a small den I could crawl into. It wasn't a spacious spot, but it was a perfect fit for my small size, and predators would have difficulty finding me.
๐๐๐ฅ๐-๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ? ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค? ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ค ๐จ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ? ๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐? ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ! ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐'๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ (๐'๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐% ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ซ'๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ญ), ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐'๐ฆ ๐จ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ; ๐'๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ซ ๐๐ญ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐จ๐ $๐๐,๐๐; ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ซ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ฐ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ (๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ). ๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฉ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ง ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ !
๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ซ: ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐