I’m not exactly sure how it happened. Maybe it was something I ate, or I slept in just the right spot, or I managed to satisfy my basic needs in exactly the right way to trigger an awakening. It hardly really matters, since the end result is the same.

I, a garden-variety rabbit you would find almost anywhere, developed full sentience and sapience. Beyond that, I even reached a state some would call enlightenment, though that was less surprising. Humans are the ones inherently bound by the trappings of their own cultures and societies. Rabbits are more worried about basic needs. Eat, drink, shelter, sleep, make more little rabbits. I’ve done all of that without once considering any of it important enough to worry about… well, until I didn’t.

Let me tell you, intelligence and curiosity are not favorable survival traits when you’re a small herbivore with a list of predators that boils down to “everything.” Stick your nose in the wrong place, stop to think about your actions, spend too much time without paying proper attention to the world around you, and you become something else’s meal instead of enjoying your own. I’m honestly amazed I survived long enough to develop a full sense of self-awareness. Yet here I am, having lived through five or six cold times… winters? Something inside of me is saying it’s called a winter. Anyway, I’ve lived around that long and am realizing that I’ll live even longer. Information I once lacked the brain structure to comprehend suddenly hops to mind. I find myself getting annoyed by wordplay on rabbit behavior and activities.

And under that, I’m getting an understanding of some kind of… vitality. An innate energy in everything around me, a life force that translates to some… cosmic truth? I honestly don’t know how to explain or describe what it really is, and don’t have a word for it. All I know is, I can eat it.

Well, “eat” isn’t quite the right term, though a lot of the stuff enters my body from my food. But I’ve been learning to absorb it better, retain more of it as I digest and re-digest, and even draw in more of this energy passively. And the more I draw in, the clearer my thoughts become, and the more I learn to focus it.

Last night was a breakthrough, I think. I was nursing my most recent litter while drawing the energy in when suddenly the energy… collapsed. Where it was once just drifting through my body, held within me by skin and fur, it suddenly drew in on itself more and more, drawing more of itself from the world around me until it turned into a single point… and I suddenly had a sense of being me.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

When I say that, I realize you humans probably don’t understand. You’re all but born with a sense of self, the ability to discern the world around you, to think of things in terms of right and wrong. But to me? I nearly fainted from the shock. I’d been getting gradually more aware of my world over time, sure. But the breakthrough to full sapience was even scarier than first opening my eyes after I was born. Suddenly I could clearly remember that moment, for one thing.

After that, I had to check on the kits. Thankfully, they weren’t harmed by my awakening. That I’d even worry about such a thing was just another sign of that. I’m as maternal as any furred animal, but that’s just instinct. Suddenly caring about the tiny rabbits I’d birthed the week before was… unusual. I’m probably spending too much time trying to explain, but I’m just so amazed…

I’m alive, and can actually appreciate what that means for the first time in my life.

Of course, the next major question is what to do with that. I can still feel the life energy in myself, now concentrated in a little ball deep inside of me. It’s still drawing more into itself, but not with any kind of speed or force… and I’m starving for more. The kits won’t be ready to live without my intervention for a long time, but maybe I should explore the world around me. See if I can find more of this energy?

Well… that was my thought. Then I got chased by a fox, shot at by a human, and spent a night hiding in a small thicket, only to find my warren destroyed by ferrets while I was away. So once again, narrow escapes and close calls resulting in me surviving. Only this time, the other rabbits I knew weren’t so lucky, and I needed to find a safer place to live. Maybe one with more of this energy.

Then a human grabbed me with his bare hands. Which is ridiculous. I didn’t even see him coming! Ridiculous! I’m literally built to see everything around me! You don’t survive as a common prey animal if you don’t sense danger coming! Well, I’ll show him.

A quick bite, a sudden kick against his chest, and suddenly I’m slammed against a nearby rock and thrown into a bag.

Yeah… that showed him. Ow.