It took a bit for me to notice that I had woken up from these weirdly colorful dreams of swirling clouds and giant eyes and falling through...portals?

It did not take me as long to notice that I couldn't open my eyes, though.

A shudder went through me. As if I had rested in an odd position for too long and only felt the pains after standing up.

I felt cramped or caged.

Then the darkness started to slowly brighten.

Weird.

I shuddered again and tried to stretch but could not find the leverage. Except for my head. That part I could move and hit something with it. It was the oddest sense. Like having a toenail on my nose.

The scraping sound vibrated the air around and through me. I scraped more and more. Suddenly my head jerked forward as the material I had been working on gave way. Reeling in my nose I suddenly felt light upon my eyelids, as it shone through the hole I had made.

I stretched again and this time I heard a satisfying CRACK. This sent another shudder down my spine and I had the sudden urge to thrash. I found no immediate reason to resist and a lot more cracking followed until the wall that had held me captive exploded away from me.

Things were a lot brighter then.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Upon my self-extraction I found myself lying on my back on something rather pointy. In a struggle, I rolled onto all fours and shuddered again. This time, though, it was for the chilly air engulfing me.

I also found that I still could not open my eyes and my nose started itching.

Oh, it itched something fierce. I had the same attitude though and scratched with vigor. And I ripped off my nosenail. I reeled in shock but instead of pain I only felt relief as the itch stopped.

And I still couldn't open my friggin eyes!

~Ugh.~, that is what I said. Or thought I did. What came out of my throat was a lot squeakier.

What the heck...

Why wouldn't I be able t—

Egg. That word suddenly shot through my mind.

Just then I realized it. What I had broken out of... I felt around and grabbed one of the shards strewn about. I explored its texture, its curvature and found only confirmation.

I had just hatched from an egg.

I am not sure of how much time passed as I tried to keep myself from panicking. The only measure I could take was my rapid heartbeat and that one was rather unreliable at the moment. Seriously, instead of a ba-dum, I felt a Ba-dum-dum-dum.

I had hatched from an egg.

Sadly my mind would not let me rest as it followed that insight up with an inevitable question.

What hatches from an egg?

I suddenly became a lot more aware of my body.

With quivering fingers, I traced, well, everything.

I felt my skin and it was smooth and textured. I knew that surface; I had petted a snake before.

I felt my face and it was angular and stretched; muzzled really. It had something of a beak at its end.

I felt my neck and it was long and sinuous. It reminded me of a snake as well.

I felt my torso and it reminded me of a greyhound's with its deep chest and slim belly. Though it was longer and more flexible than a mammal's.

I felt my legs and knew them to be those of a quadruped. My three toes ended in thick claws.

I felt another set of appendages upon my back, stretching skin between their bones and my torso. I had wings.

I felt a tail. My tail.