Location: Udyr Kingdom, Satriona Continent: Northern Snowy Mountains
Water dripped from the cave roof.
A dark large, empty cave lay ahead, an unnatural darkness covered the whole cave. The cave shouldn't be visible to the human eye, but Jackson's eyes adjust unnaturally to the darkness.
A small stream up ahead ran through the cave, surrounded by cave fauna. Jackson could see life flowing through everything in his surroundings.
"Amazing!" Jackson exclaimed.
He looked around to see who spoke but there was no one here, not so deep within the mountain. There was the flutter of bat wings, but nothing else. He doesn't know how he seemed to know so much about his surroundings.
He approached the stream, ever since he woke up, he'd been feeling immensely hungry and thirsty. He took a sip from the river but jumped back so far, he didn't think it possible, he shook it off as a hallucination brought on from the dehydration and hunger.
He inched closer; there it was again but he couldn't believe what he was looking at. The most Horrendous creature he'd ever seen.
'Dinosaur!' Was all that crossed his mind.
"What the fuck?!" he exclaimed, but he didn't see the creature's mouth or snout move. Relieved he thought this might just be a dream, maybe.
He knew with all his being that this was no dream but his new life.
He looked down to discover this in fact was his body, the black scaly skin, long black metallic claws, and he looked back to see jet black wings, spanning twice the size of his body. He resembled a tyrannosaurus but much longer front legs, his muscular body stretched as long as 40 feet, about the size of a school bus, from his snout to the tip of his powerful tail.
"A dragon," he said, "I also appear to be walking on all fours, interesting."
He continued to study himself in the water and entered the stream, he felt the cool sensation across his front legs. His new body was black all over, a black dragon and black lizard-like eyes giving off the aura of staring into a primordial predator's eyes.
Jackson decided to take a sip but quickly discovered that the water was really shallow as he hit his snout against the streambed or what he thought was the streambed. He grunted and stared dumbstruck at what he saw at the bottom of the stream, lots and lots of gold and gems, as well as glowing weapons and Armor. The light reflecting off the weapons and Armor was unnatural, almost magical.
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'This must be a hoard, whoever was here first left quite a lot of treasure.' he thought.
He returned to the place where he'd awoken from, deciding it'd be best if he took a look around, to find something of use.
In a corner, he spotted a book with the same glow as the magical weapons and Armor at the bottom of the river. As he got closer, he felt the pulsing of power coming from the book, resonating with him. It started to glow brighter as he got closer, it rose to eye level. Everything flowed into his mind, a burst of memories unknown to him, information and powers which made him realize that he hadn't explored and tested the extent of his new body.
The book dropped to the ground and turned to ash. The book appeared to be a gift from the guardian he had met. He felt a painful headache enveloping his head but decided to let it be for now. He walked around the cave, getting used to his new body and his movements.
Suddenly a thought dawned on him, 'What happened to the soul that inhabited this body?' As if to answer his question, memories surfaced in his mind.
"I see so dragons work off instinct like any other animal until they are around four centuries old, at which point they will either develop their own consciousness or as I've come to realize my case is quite special." He reflected on his current situation.
If he were going to live in this new world he was going to need to learn as much as he could about his current body before he left to explore the world above. Since the memories of the dragon had returned, he had smelled them and seen all the creature's life forces around in the forest. Every single being on this planet has its roots embedded in magic in some way or the other, and they are all connected to this world core. That's why he could see them because they are all one.
First, he learned how to use the wings on his back, he unsuccessfully flapped his wings for a bit before he got his body's muscle memory to help him and he flew not perfectly but he did.
The huge cavern extended high and wide enough, so he could rise a bit above the ground, and circle his surroundings. His powerful wings caused the water from the stream to separate, revealing the treasure beneath it. He landed back on the ground.
After his flight session he realized that he hadn't had a meal, what should he do he wondered.
"There has to be something," he beat his tail irritably against the ground, it's been a decade since this body went into hibernation. he needs to find something soon or he felt he'd start losing control and it won't be good for anyone.
"I'll have to leave my lair." He concluded, moving towards the only tunnel in the cave.
He saw the life force of multiple animals above ground, some very close to where he was.
'Life vision sure is great when you actually get to experience it.' He thought while heading for the exit.
After exiting the tunnel, he found himself heading straight to an exit covered by huge boulders, he recalls that he had dug this to slumber and the mountain probably shifted, dropping these boulders.
"Damn, what now?" he complained and was about to turn back when he realized he was a dragon. He might've been asleep for a while, but a few boulders were nothing for his strength, as he recalled this body's previous might.
"Silly me." He grinned or flashed his teeth in what he assumes was a smile.
Crash!
The boulders fell away with one push with his snout.
He squinted as light flooded his vision for the first time since he came to this world. He realized the grandeur of what lay beyond his squinted eyes and how his previous life was just a trivial matter and he had another chance at life.
'Mother will be better off without me, now it's time to live the way I want to.' He thought to himself.
His new life has begun.