A chorus of screams wakes me up. I begin to stretch myself, and start to get up from the pile of sand that I was resting on. The rest of the forest is silent, which leads me to believe that one of the creatures around me started its hunt. I consider going back to sleep, but the idea of being disturbed once more makes me choose to go to another place to continue my nap.

As always, I can only see sand around me, and, further back, vegetation flourishing everywhere. It seems that the aether of this land is quite thin, so the mana I am emitting is enough to turn nearby lifeforms to dust.

I stand up. Mana fills my wings, and I take off.

I see bipedal beings through the foliage, and it seems that they are the culprits of my early awakening. They are fighting against what seems to be descendants of a narasimha. I thought I was the first to step on this land, but it seems that others were just as curious as me.

I look at the fight for an instant more, long enough to see the pseudo-narasimhas take the advantage, and I leave.

I fly long enough for the sun to reach its peak. It seems that a full rotation will last as long here as it does back on the other side. Nothing surprising, as different phases do not necessarily function on a different time axis, but I am pleased to see that I will not have to go through too much change at once.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Finally, I find a place that seems appropriate enough for another nap. I flew over several volcanoes on the way, but even though they were giving off enough heat for me to be able to fall asleep without exerting myself, I neglected them. The location where I slept previously was situated just above a heat source. It was not really hot enough, but it allowed me to rest for a bit. Here, though, the situation seems a bit different. It seems that a young elemental is going to form soon, and by the fluctuations that the ambient aether is giving off, it will be attuned to the sun. A chance for me, as the process should last long enough for me to feel wake up feeling refreshed.

Once again, as I land, the nearby lifeforms turn to dust, and I gather their remains to form a big pile, upon which I settle myself comfortably. As a new phase, its components are brittle, but they will acquire a resistance to my mana as soon as the aether begins to grow thicker. As such, I will enjoy the privilege of being able to make myself a pleasant place to rest as long as it lasts.

Everything seems perfect: there is nothing around that could disturb me enough to wake me up, but I can still hear the sounds of the forest. It is a guilty pleasure of mine, as I find that the consonances of a newly born world are some of the most exquisite that one can find, especially that of forests.

I look around one last time and imprint what I see in my memory, as most of what surrounds me will have changed once I wake up. Once I feel that everything is ready, I yawn, and I let myself drift off to sleep.