Chapter 2 - Consciousness

I woke up with a sharp screech. As I opened my eyes, the first thing I realized was that I felt very cramped inside a dark space. The memories of my own death, and the deaths of others, came rushing back. How I was alive, I did not know, nor did I care to guess. There would be time for reckoning later, but for now, my present situation was far more pressing.

The walls around me felt hard, yet perhaps breakable if I applied enough force. I don’t know where this thought came from, but I had an irresistible urge to push against them.

And so, I pushed with all my might. The result was, to say the least, unsatisfying. Not even a dent. No sign that I had affected the walls at all. A sudden image of a green goblin shooting a bow flashed through my mind.

Anger, cold and sharp, surged through me like fire in my veins, and I pushed again. This time, I was rewarded—a small, jagged crack appeared. Encouraged, I pummeled my head against the crack, and with a final burst of effort, daylight streamed in.

I stuck my head through the hole and, with a quick glance at my surroundings, felt a jolt—a lightning bolt of surprise. There were ugly little baby dragons of various colors rearing their heads from their own respective shells. Like me, they were checking out their surroundings—until their eyes all settled on something behind me. Every one of the wyrms stared intently at whatever was there.

A loud snort urged me to turn around. When I did, my vision was filled with the sight of a massive emerald dragon. Faced with a creature a thousand times my size, what could I do but drop my jaw in shock?

Seeing this, the emerald dragon tossed a slab of bloody meat directly toward my wide-open mouth. I would’ve applauded that perfect throw, truly, if my mouth weren’t suddenly filled with the rich, metallic taste of blood—delicious, delicious blood.

I hadn’t realized how ravenous I was until that moment. The conflicting sensations of disgust and enticement surged through me. I couldn’t decide whether to spit the meat out or devour it.

Then a sudden thought struck me, and I looked down at my body. There, I saw soft, black scales covering my stomach. The realization hit me like a donkey’s kick followed by a galloping horse. Even if both had struck at once, it wouldn’t have been enough to describe the shock I felt.

I had been reincarnated into a black wyrm—a hideous baby dragon.

The absurdity of it all washed over me. I, a twenty-year-old human male, now found myself trapped in the body of a wyrm. What could I do but lose all dignity once again?

I fainted… as a jet-black wyrm, if that was even possible.