As Charlies consciousness returned, he found himself feeling warm and comfortable. It was strange and restrictive but he couldn't help but feel like he was being lulled. He tried fighting it but couldn't hold back for long, eventually succumbing to the warm embrace of sleep.

Like this, Charlie spent an unknown amount of time, waking for a short moment before falling back asleep. With it coming so quickly his thoughts never had a moment to grasp the situation. After some more time passed, each new session felt like he could stay awake longer and longer.

Until finally, he no longer felt the pull of sleep. Now he was able to assess his situation and there were some discoveries. He wasn't sure but he felt like his body was either restricted or somehow paralyzed. He couldn't even move his fingers or feel his toes.

He was able to just about move his head but even his shoulders felt wrong. Not that he was given much room to move in. There was something hard above his head but it moved when he pushed his head into it. Not having the room to move his hands or feet he kept shoving his head higher into the ceiling.

Finally, it cracked. A shard of light peeked through the new opening. It was awfully close to his face so he wasn't able to get a better look at his body. He continued working the crack and eventually found his head breaking through.

The sudden light blinded him momentarily, but after having his vision clear a little he could see something straight out of his dreams. A vast vista of greenery surrounded him and his first breath filled his lungs with clean air.

The suns light was pleasant and warm, nothing like his previously bleached world. It didn't sting, it didn't blister his skin and certainly didn't bake his surroundings. There was so much green that it was overwhelming.

There was so much noise too! There were the chirps of birds, the wind that shook the tree tops and even the sound of running water somewhere. It was beautiful.

Charlie tried to move himself out of the hole that he had made but found it increasingly difficult to bring his body up. Feeling hadn't returned to his fingers yet and he still couldn't feel his limbs. His eyes wouldn't fully clear either, he felt like they were far too blurry.

Shimmying forward he was able to finally get a good look at his body. Dumbstruck, Charlie didn't know how to react.

'What, the fuck, am I?' he thought.

A long and coiled body that dropped out of what looked to be an egg. He had scales of vibrant black and a deep green that reflected the sun. The coloured scales gently faded into a brilliantly white underbelly. He tried to blink to clear his vision but found that he couldn't even close his eyes.

Being keenly aware now that there was something wrong with his body, he realised there was something wrong with his mouth too. He tried using his tongue to explore but found it to be so thin and far too sensitive. His teeth were gone and instead he found two sharp pointed fangs, neatly sat inside holes made for them.

He knew he should have been more shocked. Maybe he should have even lost his mind at this revelation, but he just couldn't bring himself to be overwhelmed by this. He had went through too much already to be bothered by this change in his life, so while shocking, it wasn't something he could get stuck on for too long.

So he took it on his chin and continued on with his life. If he still had a chin.

This time he tried testing his voice and what came out was weird. He couldn't control his voice properly and wasn't able to speak, but he found out that he was able to make this shrill, raspy noise. At least it sounded threatening.

He tried moving forward but not having hands or legs really put a damper on his efforts. With time he was able to find a type of movement that allowed him to move a bit more, but he'd have to figure this out quick. He didn't believe that he's safe out in the open like this, and especially vulnerable now that he was some sort of creature with no real way to defend itself.

Charlie awkwardly crawled forward and found himself plopping out of an egg. With a quick glance he found that it was one of many, all neatly bunched up in the dirt. Thankfully none of them had moved, not yet at least. He didn't want to meet his brothers and sisters, not sure if they'd be able to tell he was different to them.

With no knowledge of his surroundings and no real direction, he set forth towards the closest brush. He needed cover and time to figure out what to do.

With a little bit of cover finally over him, Charlie went over the basics of what he needed to do. He was hungry so he needed food, and with food he'd need water. He was alive so he needed those at least, the only certainty he had with his new body.

A problem arose with that bit of thinking. How would he find food? How would he cook it? Did he need to cook it? He wasn't a fan of eating anything raw, his past was a fervent reminder of uncooked meat and its consequences.

He spent some time hidden in brushes and high vegetation, looking for anything he could scavenge. Using this time he tried figuring out how to move comfortably but nothing was coming to him. He had no frame of reference from his past life, nothing like this existed where he lived.

Crossing uncovered paths when he needed to and keeping hidden to the shadows, eventually he came before some juicy looking red berries. Pulling from his past experiences, he inspected it for any sort of black spots that he knew were a bad sign and, in finding none, he took a bite. His mouth opened awkwardly and exposed his fangs, but they were frustratingly useless in peeling off the berries.

Since he was toothless, he tried to use his lips, or whatever it was that he had now, to try and tease the berries off the branches. He succeeded and mushed it in his mouth. It tasted of nothing.

Somewhat disappointed, Charlie swallowed.

There was an immediate burning sensation in his throat and everywhere the berry passed felt like it was scorched. The burning turned to pain and settled somewhere lower in his body, what he assumed to be his stomach.

He wasn't too afraid, reminding himself that he only ate one berry and not the whole bunch. Whatever was wrong with him would eventually pass.

Still, he wasn't in a better situation with the berries being a failed venture, so he had to continue moving. If it was awkward before, now it hurt to move at all. Using the pain in his stomach he found a way to slither forward that caused him the least amount of discomfort.

This provided him with an additional benefit, he found himself moving much faster. It was a weird experience to move your lower body in repeating patterns and using the underside of his body to provide grip.

If it wasn't enough, now his tongue burned too. It was uncomfortable to have it touch anything in his mouth. Even his cheeks made the burning sensation much worse. Out of options for relief, he opened his mouth and let his tongue droop.

Everything became much clearer. The world seemed... thicker. Like everything had a scent that he could now see. It was so hard to describe and even understand this new sensation. Was it his tongue? Could he taste what he saw? At least it seemed like it.

Not knowing what to do with this newfound knowledge, he put his tongue back into his mouth. Thankfully the burning had passed a bit and it was no longer a pain to keep his mouth closed. The world dimmed but it didn't bother him, his stomach took most of his attention.

He explored the grand forest further and what he found the strangest in all of this, was not needing to blink. His eyes didn't feel dry, but they didn't feel wet either. He felt that, if he could blink, it would clear his blurry vision. Right now he was stuck only being able to make out as far as a tall bush and everything past that was too blurry to make out.

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Though he didn't need sharp vision to see the random creatures that wandered the forest floor. They were much larger than he was and came in all sorts of shapes. Some resembled creatures from his own world, but far less ugly.

They didn't have boils or tumours growing through their fur - Their fur was full and luscious. They didn't have patches of burnt or torn skin. Sure there were plenty of scars, but he didn't think that these soft looking creatures didn't know how to bite.

He distanced himself from these creatures, as far as he could at least. He didn't want to be fighting anything at the moment, he was too hungry and far too thirsty to put up a fight. On that note, he realised that the sound of running water was getting closer the more he explored.

Charlie continued following the sound of water and came into another clearing. Thankfully there was some sharp and long looking vegetation by the river to conceal him. Being extra vigilant of his surroundings Charlie moved forward and was able to hide in the reeds.

He was stuck again. He had no hands to cup the water, no arms to hold himself back if he wanted to dunk his head in and worst of all, if he fell in he'd drown without his limbs to keep him afloat.

Slowly approaching the water, he kept most of his body on the bank so that he, hopefully, wouldn't fall in. The water was slow in truth, but moved too quickly to see his own reflection.

He wasn't upset, but he was interested to see what his head looked like. It couldn't be much weirder than the rest of his body, he hoped.

Charlie let out the closest imitation of a sigh that he could and dunked his head into the water. It was cool and crisp. The drag of the water wasn't too bad and wouldn't threaten to pull him up off the shore.

With his tension easing, he pulled his head back out and took a deep breath. He dove his head back down and drank his fill. Back out of the water he noticed that he could see a bit better and that his eyes didn't feel as strained.

He decided to keep a mental note of that and form a conclusion later. For now he had bigger things to worry about; getting food that wont kill him. The water at least cooled his stomach, but he'd need something he could keep down.

He set back out to look for anything smaller than him. He stayed away from the large creatures and it seemed that the ones smaller than Charlie had the same idea. It posed a timed problem but at least he was no stranger to hunger.

Charlie continued to scour the forest floor for any sort of easy snack, but failed to detect anything. Night was coming and he needed an answer soon.

Remembering that his tongue did something weird earlier, he let it droop out and was quickly assaulted with a new experience.

It was like the world got dialed up a notch in clarity and understanding. The air both felt and looked more solid, the plants now both had a feeling and a new look associated with them that announced their freshness. There was also something new, something he couldn't see but could feel. It was a thicker, muskier sensation that wafted in through some of the underbrush.

He could almost see the path that the new sense provided, if he focused hard enough. He struggled to comprehend that the new feeling was a mix of sight and scent, but at the same time it was closer to a physical feeling.

With nothing to lose, Charlie slithered forward with his tongue hanging out the front of his mouth. The further he went, the blurrier the world became, eventually falling back to the muddled standard.

He put his tongue back in his mouth and felt it spring back up. He didn't realise that his tongue had felt wrong until it felt normal again. He stuck it back out and the world turned vivid once again.

He followed the musky trail and once in a while he would flick his tongue. He found that flicking it out and in often would provide him the greatest clarity.

The light was dimming now and he was still following this trail. He'd been at it for a while and had nearly crossed paths with some horrific looking creatures. Some towered over him so much that it didn't even compare to when he was a human fighting the Toradh.

It must have been moving, there was no other explanation as to why he hadn't reached it now. The trail had felt stale at the beginning but it was becoming more and more intense. He was definitely getting closer.

The trail intensified all of a sudden and seemed to collect around a burrow that led into the ground below the roots of a tree. He didn't know what he was going to be getting himself into but the hunger in his stomach was starting to become a little too noticeable to ignore.

It played on his nerves a bit. He wasn't sure of course, but he didn't think smell was made by a plant. He felt that it was going to be something living and that he'd have to fight.

If he was going to survive he'd have to keep fighting, something he's done his whole life but it couldn't feel more different than what he did before. There was no home to come back to if he messed up, there was no Sabrina to cheer him up on tough days. This time he was alone and messing up didn't just mean no food, it meant he'd die.

He didn't want to count on somehow being reborn again, didn't want to count on surviving meeting those beings again.

So Charlie pushed the thoughts of his wife aside for later and accepted that he'd have to kill. Not having any arms to grapple with, he only had one hope. He still had two sharp and pointed fangs. If he could just sink them somewhere important, he'd be able to kill.

The problem arose that from the fact that these creatures are comfortable in their bodies, their instincts are honed in all of their strengths and what does he have? An awkward body and the instincts of a limbless man.

Still, he had to learn and he had to learn fast. He dove into the burrow and was quickly assaulted by that strong musky scent. It was everywhere and it felt like it stuck to the dirt walls. The burrow was short and narrow, even for him. So whatever he was about to meet wasn't going to be too large.

His tongue provided him an additional benefit that he was now starting to appreciate. His eyes could barely make out what was in front of him, but with his tongue flicking out he was able to sense his path almost as well as if he could see it.

He sensed it, a small rustle nearby. There was a bend separating them, but he could feel that they were less than a meter apart. There were multiple bodies but he couldn't yet make out how large they were.

He turned the corner slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible, and had a much clearer feel of the opening before him. The roof was a little higher and it was much warmer in here. He was able to make out three bodies. One larger and two smaller ones huddled up beside it.

They still hadn't noticed him, giving him an edge in this encounter. He opened his mouth and readied himself for what he had to do.

Charlie quietly tensed and coiled his body to its max in this limited space. He needed to cross the distance quickly so that even if they become aware of his presence they wouldn't have the time to react.

Lunging forward, Charlie bared his fangs and bit down on the quickly stirring target. It had sensed Charlies lunge but it wasn't fast enough to react to the sudden attack. Charlies fangs pushed past the thin fur and sunk in deep.

The creature panicked fiercely, jumping up and hitting the ceiling immediately. Charlie, latched on to its back, was tossed into the dirt roof which stunned him for a moment.

The two smaller creatures started squeaking and ran to the edge of the burrow. The bigger creature let out a shrill squeak itself and frantically tried to get Charlie off. Charlie found himself stuck on the creature, not being given the room or time to pull out his fangs.

He could taste the blood that filled his mouth, and it tasted good. It tasted really good. The empty feeling in his stomach spiked, filling his mind with that sweet flavour. He was overcome with a ravenous hunger and bit down even harder. The creature attempted to use its pitiful claws against Charlies scales in a frantic attempt at defense.

They grazed off harmlessly for the most part, until one claw found a way between the scales. Pain radiated from Charlies side and filled him with foreign anger, something instinctual. The quick flash of anger when someone hits you out of nowhere.

He mindlessly pulled out his fangs and sunk them back in, finding a much softer spot. It gushed with more blood and drowned his thoughts further.

A feeling, a sort of energy, welled up inside of him. He wanted to release it but his drunken mind failed to understand how. It became more and more intense as it grew, begging to be released.

It began to overflow and he felt something working its way through his fangs. It was less than a drop at first but the energy, finally finding an outlet, poured out with great relief. It was intense but it lasted less than a fraction of a second.

The creature was finally able to dig its claws into the dirt and provide itself enough leverage to push Charlie off. Momentarily stunned by what he had just went through, Charlie didn't fight back against the creatures efforts.

It ran to the smaller ones in order to protect them with its body, but stumbled a bit before reaching them. Charlie didn't miss it. He kept his distance for now, trying to assess his target and find a moment where he could strike. His stomach didn't want him waiting too long though, still savouring that strong flavour.

The furry creature was squeaking aggressively at Charlie but it didn't dare move closer. Though over time its squeaks became a little less powerful. Charlie didn't think that he mortally injured the creature, he couldn't be sure that it wasn't a trap. He made an aggressive gesture and moved forward to see how it would react.

It was weakening and whatever was happening, it was happening fast. The creature no longer had power behind its squeaks, no power behind its movement and barely reacted to Charlies taunt. Eventually, it collapsed. At first its breathing was quick and strained when it fell, but that too stopped.

The little ones continued to panic, trying their hardest to nudge the bigger one. Seeing the little ones try so hard, Charlie concluded that it was the mother. An image of the nightmarish creature facing him and his mother down tore through his mind.

He was the creature that attacked a mother and their children. He was the creature that tore his world apart.

Charlie moved in closer and the children got much louder, quickly scampering away from their mothers body. With a cold feeling in his heart, Charlie got the rest of his body into the burrow and created a route for the little ones to escape.

They were frozen in fear and refused to move, so he had to give them a little nudge with the end of his tail. They quickly fell over themselves in an attempt to escape, but made their way out.

It was silent now.

His stomach let off a sharp pain, but Charlie wasn't hungry anymore.