The inferno raged all around the man in a deadly dance of destruction. There amongst the hellscape was a reflection of chaos, his senses nearly overwhelmed by the haunting wailes of a kingdom’s final death throes. Flames so tall they licked the heavens, scorching tongues reverberated with the cacophony only war could bring. A thousand screams, a thousand lives lost and a thousand more.

Blood pooled beneath his feet and painted his flickering shadow red. Each breath was a struggle to fill his lungs, every heartbeat a wave of paint. Yet despite the world growing colder even amongst the flames, despite his eyes growing heavier, he stood defiant. He was a monolith that refused to topple, a solitary pillar against the tide.

A sword sliced through him, stabbed him in the back and cut through his entrails. He spoke the words of power not to save himself, but to save those that cried out for a savior. His vision blurred, darkness encroaching on the edges of his consciousness. As the final syllable left his lips, the world seemed to pause, the fire's roar muted.

Death.

***

The first sensation was warmth, then breath, then darkness as his eyes rolled open. Everything was muted, all sensations felt odd. That was when he noticed that he was confined in a small area. Everything in him told him he needed to move. He had to get out! He pushed at the walls with his arms and legs as hard as he could. Then with his tail… Wait tail?

I don’t have a tail!

“What is going on? Someone help.” He wanted to speak but he found he could not talk.

His mind raced as he processed an appendage he shouldn’t have, or at least he thought he shouldn’t. He didn’t know who he was, he didn’t know why he was in this box… or was it a box? It was more an ovoid than cuboid. The walls of his prison were not stone, or wood or steel, or at least he thought so. He wasn’t even sure how he knew what those words meant, only that what he was in was not that.

What am I, where am I? Why is it so hard to breathe all of a sudden? Wait, am I about to die?

Panic set in as he struggled to release himself as another sensation took hold. This one was more pressing and primal. Suffocation. If he did not get out he would die. He continued to kick and scratch and bite at the walls of his ovoid jail which would soon be his crypt. As he fought for his life it felt as though the walls were closing in on him. That was when he noticed it. A crack in the prison, a means of escape. It was so small he nearly missed it. He focused all his might into that one point until the crack widened and he saw light.

“You will not be killing me today,” he thought to himself in triumph.

He pressed his mouth against the crack and breathed. The air felt nice but his lungs burned as if it was their first time taking in the crisp substance. After taking in a few more breaths, he continued to claw at the crack until there was an opening barely large enough for him to see through. Despite not getting much done he was tired, his body wanting to rest and his muscles aching. Something in him told him he could not rest, he needed to get out. So he struggled to widen the hole until it was large enough for him to get his head and shoulders through. 

“Finally I can get out of here,” he thought as he pushed his way into the light.

Triumph in freedom was short lived as the exhaustion finally took him, and he lay down still half inside his prison. Now at least he could see what he was trapped in. 

His jaw fell open when he saw it was an egg, and from it came a long, slimy and scaly body. It didn’t seem right, but was that his body? He was sure his body was different; somehow the scales seemed, well, new.  He wondered how he could turn his head so far around, so he looked down to see his neck was long and serpentine.

“Am I a lizard? I thought I was something else. I think I was just born, but how do I know that if I am a lizard? Shouldn’t I be all instinct and no thought? True Dragons are smart. Am I a True Dragon?” He looked back at his body, his long neck allowing him to examine what had so far escaped the egg. “No wings, no dragon. Uhg, what is going on? Wasn’t I just killed or something?” 

He finally turned to look at his surroundings. He was on a circular platform a few inches off the ground in the middle of a bedroom. It was about four feet in diameter, and had arcane carvings arranged in a geometric shape all over it. His egg was placed in the center of the platform. The room itself was nothing special; just two beds, a study area and dressers. The floors were hardwood, and the walls were painted a baby blue. His spot seemed to be the most interesting out of everything he could see. 

“How do I know what walls, hardwood floors or beds are?” he thought to himself. “Wasn’t I just born? Is it weird to know that? I mean I am the only newborn I know, and I know it, so I guess it is normal.”

A new voice said abruptly, “Hello, sir. It would appear everything was a success.”

The lizard looked around for the source of the voice. He tried to speak but all that came from him were squawks and chirps. He tried again but no luck. The only sounds he could make were all unflattering squawks and chirps.

“I do not believe you will be able to speak in that form, Sir. Don’t worry though; I am speaking directly into your mind and I can hear your thoughts,” the voice responded. 

“Where are you? Who are you?” the lizard thought, mainly to see if the person could indeed hear it.

“I am the Reincarnation System you created before your untimely demise. You named me Failsafe. You have my deepest sympathies on your death, Sir.”

“Reincarnation?” the lizard asked mentally.

“Your rebirth failsafe. Hee-hee, I just realized why you must have named me Failsafe. I believe you may be experiencing memory loss due to these unforeseen developments. You were supposed to reincarnate into a sentient humanoid race.”

“Wait, Failsafe, who am I?” the lizard asked. “What am I?”

“I am unsure, Sir.” Failsafe responded. “My main function is to restore your reincarnated mind and spirit back to how it was, but the amount of magic you possess in your current form is limiting my capabilities and memories as well. It must be another unforeseen happenstance due to the fact you are now a uh… baby long neck lizard thing, and not a human or some such race. I will run a diagnostic; please wait.” Failsafe was only gone for a moment before he spoke again. “Ah, I see. In your current form you are wayyy less magically apt than you were at time of death.”

The lizard cut him off. “What does that mean for me and my memory?”

“You need to gain magical strength equivalent to your previous self for me to access your memories and share them with you. I will develop a system that will aid in displaying your progress to that state. We can even set milestones for certain levels of strength,” Failsafe said, sounding excited at the prospect. “I will need to get more information on your current capabilities first. So we can add to it as we go.” 

“Uhuh… So what do you need?” the lizard asked.

“Right now nothing, Sir. You are exhausted from being born-uh hatched, so, I will see how long it takes you to recover,” Failsafe said.

“Do you really not know anything about who I was or how I died?” the lizard questioned.

“All I know is that you were human before, and my creator,” Failsafe admitted. “I am not even sure what you looked like, but you were powerful. That I know for sure.”

“Well that doesn’t help much,” the lizard said. “Maybe the best thing to do is just look around. Let's see if I can get used to these limbs.” 

Despite what he said, he ended up not being able to move. His strength had all but left him. The most he could do was kick at the shell that still covered half his body, freeing the last of his form. He found his body to be more dog-like than that of a lizard, aside from his neck, which was long and snake-like. His front arms, or legs, whatever they’re called anatomically, had dexterous fingers. Not as adept as human hands, but they were capable of some manipulation. His hind legs, all lean muscle, looked powerful. His tail was longer than his entire body, making him look almost like a snake. 

If not for the long neck he would assume he was some type of drake. He wasn’t a dragon nor was he a normal lizard. With his current memory he didn’t recognize what he was. Failsafe didn’t know either, so there was no point in questioning it. He pushed himself back into his egg, which seemed safer than just laying on the table. Drained of all of his strength, he laid his head back down and closed his eyes.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

***

He woke up to Failsafe buzzing in his head. He yawned, which came out as a chitter and a tongue flare. The movement seemed rather natural. That led him to think maybe he was a chimera of some kind; it would explain the odd body. If he was someone's science project to combine a snake and a drake it would give him some interesting abilities. His thoughts were interrupted by the continuous buzzing in his head, so he decided to turn his attention to Failsafe.

“I have completed your analysis,” Failsafe said, his voice full of pride. “Until we know what you are and what you are capable of some places are blank, buuut,” he held the last word for a while and paused for suspense. “Ta-daa, look at this.”

A square menu appeared in the lizard's vision, causing him to jolt awake. It was magic. Somehow he recognized the sensation and understood that only he would be able to see this. It was a mental projection, but he didn’t know how he knew that. He wanted to understand how it worked and how Failsafe managed to do this without it taking what little mana he had. He was so intrigued it took nearly five minutes before he even looked at the words.

Name: ???

Species: Unknown

Level: 0.01

Vitality: 1

Restoration:1

Constitution: 1

Strength: 1

Dexterity: 1

Stamina: 1

Magic: 1

Magic Regeneration: 2

Page 1 of 2

“Well, good job but what is that level?” the lizard asked.

“Ah, so while I don’t know much about who you were, I have a good feeling about how powerful you were,” Failsafe said cheerily. “So I divided that hypothetical magical strength into 500 milestones. I didn’t like how milestone sounded, so I called them levels instead.” He started to sound less confident. “You know, it is like you’re… I don’t know, rising up. You know, leveling up… on a new level of power.” He paused. “I mean it sounded better in my head but now that I am saying it out loud…” He coughed nervously. “I can change it, it-its not set in stone or anything.”

“No, that’s not what I meant, it’s fine,” the lizard assured him. “I just didn’t know what the term meant in this context. So essentially according to your gut feeling, which is all I have to go on, I am about, hmmm, lets see… 0.002 percent as powerful as I was when I died. Huh.”

“W-well, yeah but I was trying to make it sound nicer,” Failsafe said. “Did you take a look at the second page yet?”

“No, I was getting to it. First, why out of five hundred instead of one hundred?”

“Well by my calculation, at each level you should gain enough magical energy for me to access more of your locked memories. So, each level requires twice the power of the previous to unlock. It doesn’t mean you would be twice as strong though. You can think of it as an unrefined resource being turned into a key and opening the next stage. The unlocking of the memories is the main reason for the number of levels.”

“Are the other statistics like magic and vitality based off of the 500 rule?” the lizard asked.

“No, those don’t technically have a limit, just kind of a general observation,” Failsafe said. “Ignore them for now. I need more observation data and something to compare you to. But you know what I don't need more data for? Page two. You should look at it.”

“Okay-okay.”

Skills Analysis

Reincarnation Failsafe

An incomplete reincarnation magic construct and your best friend that has your back no matter what!

Venomous Bite

Magic Cost: 0

You have a neurotoxic venom which can be injected through a bite with your fangs.

Poison Puff

Magic Cost: 1

You can mix your venom into the air using magic, creating a small area of poisonous gas. This gas will reduce the health of those inside the area. The wider the area of effect, the less effective the poison.

Poison Scratch

Magic Cost: 1

You can infuse your claws with neurotoxic venom, making even small scratches fatal overtime.

Mysterious Magic Connection

Magic Cost: -1?

You are connected to an outside entity which is feeding you power. More study needed.

Page 2 of 2

“Skills, does that mean what I think it does?” the lizard asked.

Failsafe said with pride, “Yep, in factー”

Failsafe was cut off by the sound of someone entering the room. Everything seemed to stop for a moment as what sounded like two girls chatting in an unfamiliar language drew closer. Then without warning a high pitched squeal rang out. If it was of excitement or terror, the lizard did not know. He peeked his head from the now sizable hole in his egg. Staring back at him were two faces, both flush with excitement. They spoke with one another, still staring at him, until one quickly dashed out of the room.

Something about the girl that stayed resonated with the lizard. It was something the lizard could not quite place. An aura, an attraction… no, it was more like an arcane compulsion. Something about the girl's presence felt right. It was like he was supposed to be near her, protect her, befriend her, even raise her as his own daughter. 

It was odd to feel such a strong paternal instinct towards a stranger. For some reason in her presence he felt stronger and less tired. He had so much renewed energy that he uncurled from his hiding spot in the egg and started to emerge. The girl held out her hand, a smile stretched across her face.

The girl seemed to only grow more excited as the lizard drew closer, stumbling over himself a few times as his muscles adjusted to carrying his weight. He didn’t notice before, but he didn’t know what the girl’s race was. She looked humanoid, sure, but not quite human. She had a human face; young with brown skin and three large freckles under each eye. The reflection of her large circular glasses almost hid inviting eyes whose color was only slightly lighter than her skin tone. Her hair was raven black. Most striking were her antlers, a feature humans most certainly did not share. They were small and barely peeked out of her hair, but something told the lizard they were going to grow as she aged.

“Bjorn,” the girl said as if calling him by name. “Bjorn.”

Somehow the lizard knew that this was his new name. As he reached the girl he stretched out his paw curiously. The girl took his paw, then suddenly wrapped herself around him in an embrace, tears rolling down her face. He was startled at first and tried to escape by kicking at her but when he realized she wasn’t hurting him he calmed down. She did this while saying something in the language he did not understand.

“Soooo, don’t want to interrupt, but I think I know what that Mysterious Magic Connection is now,” Failsafe said in Bjorn’s mind. “It would appear you are a familiar and you just received a name, so, congratulations? Bjorn?”

“We will go with that name for now. It’s not like I can remember my actual name. Can you understand them?” Bjorn asked mentally.

“I will after I hear them talk for maybe an hour or two,” Failsafe said. “I got a few words down so far but not enough to translate anything meaningful. Good news though, the magic connection between you two seems to be rejuvenating you at an accelerated rate. The familiar contract you are under is symbiotic.”

“What do you mean?” Bjorn asked.

“You two are connected through a magical link,” Failsafe stated, obviously proud of his deduction skills. “That link shares magic between you. Her magic is stabilized and amplified by being around you, while at the same time you get a steady supply of that new excess mana.”

The girl finally stopped crying and picked Bjorn up by the armpits. She held him in the air for a moment, spinning around before placing him back on the ground and sitting down beside him. Now that Bjorn had a human-ish girl to compare to, he was about the height of a medium sized dog, but a lot longer because of his serpent neck and prehensile tail. 

The room was larger than he thought it was from his egg. The beds shared a common space between them that had a small coffee table. There were books under the beds and the girl had an insignia on her uniform with a coat of arms. Bjorn assumed that this was a dorm for a school given the girls ages and similar outfits. He didn’t know how he knew what a dorm was but it was the least of his concerns.

He took the opportunity to look around and get used to his new legs, now that he was strong enough to walk thanks to the girl. Walking on all fours felt right but at the same time different. Every few seconds he flicked his tongue, which he realized was automatic. He noticed that he could literally taste the world around him, including magic. Now that was unexpected.

The horned girl watched him closely and prevented him from crawling under the beds by pulling him away anytime he tried. She also prevented him from getting too close to the door to what he assumed was a hallway. He could taste the presence of many different people and magics coming from under the door which made him want to explore even more. 

Then he tasted something wholly unlike anything else. A savory flavor that brought attention to how hungry he was. It didn’t take long before the first girl returned with a plate of meat cut into small chunks and a young man that looked to be about the same age as the girls. They were all around sixteen or seventeen. Most interestingly, the two newcomers were human, fully human. The boy's blue eyes were striking, as if he could see into the soul, and the girl had a mane of red locks with tribal beads and feathers. They stopped at the doorway when  they saw Bjorn walking about. While Bjorn could not understand them, he could literally taste their concern. 

As the group conversed, he noticed they didn’t walk any closer. The girl he was bonded to was called Freja by the human girl, who in turn was called Julie. The boy was called Mat. It appeared Freja had to demonstrate that Bjorn wasn’t going to bite them by picking him up again, which he offered no resistance to as he simply wanted the meat Julie was carrying. She placed him back on the platform near his egg. It wasn’t until Bjorn tried to step off the platform that the runes and symbols carved on it started to glow. A barrier of light prevented him from stepping off without Freja’s assistance. Mat and Julie finally entered, and Julie presented the grilled meat for Bjorn to eat.