1 Rebirth

"Son, stay alive."

"I'll be watching over you."

Whose voice is this? Who was calling me 'son'?

How is that possible? My mother died a long time ago.

However, where am I? Is everything dark here?

What is the wall my hands are touching? Should I push harder?

Crack...Crack

Suddenly, a bright gleam enters my eyes, making me blind for a while. It took me some time to adjust to the light.

"What's this jungle? Where am I?"

"Why is everything bigger?"

I was confused and could not understand where I was, what I was doing here, and who brought me here.

These thoughts haunt me. All these questions were striking my head, but there was no one to answer these questions.

There was nothing but long, thick trees around me. Then my attention goes to my body.

"What's this?"

"What happened to me?" I cried.

I am small, around 2.5 ft., and not only that, my hands and feet have scales all over them. Not just limbs, scales are all over my body.

I could even feel a tail behind me just like my limbs. And what are these limbs, these are like paws. Eggshells are in the surroundings...

Did I hatch from this egg?

Did I reincarnate?

I remember now. I was Kazuma in my past life and used to work as a web novel writer.

On my 35th birthday, I thought I would give myself a small party. I went to buy a cake, and suddenly a thief pierced a knife into my stomach.

" Ah! Looks like I died there."

I would have given that thief-bastard cake if he had asked me, why he directly killed me?

Well, the past is in the past. What species am I now?

It feels like a lizard hybrid. Let's try to get out of this shell. The liquid inside the egg is pretty thick,' Yuck'. This is quite harder than it looks. Don't even ask how I came out of it.

First, let's try to feel this new body. I can stand on my legs fine. Then I should find a source of water.

"Whoo! Easy! Easy!"

I tried to walk however, this body has a different balance than humans. It will take time to adjust myself.

"Looks like I can manage," I proudly said to myself after a few successful steps, with a smug on my face.

Then let's scout the surroundings, but I have to be careful; this forest could have dangerous animals.

Moreover, if I am really in a fantasy world, then maybe I will have to face monsters beyond my imagination. As far as my sight reached, I could only see a dark green forest and nothing else.

"But why was I alone?"

"Where is my other kin?"

At least on earth, normally oviparous animals take care of their offspring until they are born and mature.

What if some animal has already killed my mother in this world?

"Yes! I heard a voice in my head when I was in the egg.

...Some female voice, I guess," Kazuma tries to remember but to no avail.

After wondering for a while, he heard the sound of water. He rushed there and found a clear stream of water.

The water was so clear that he had never seen it on earth. Kazuma bent a little to drink water, and the image reflected in the water mesmerized him.

"What!"

"So beautiful, adorable," he says while blushing. I should not indulge in myself, but I have a dazzling beauty that no one can deny.

The silver scales on his body were shining in the water. His blue vertical pupils were enough to seduce even the demon king.

Watching his new body, Kazuma fell in love with his image.

"Huh! What are these small projections on my back?"

He turns around to have a closer look at his back through the water.

"Don't tell me it's what I think it is. Are they wings?

I have never heard of a reptile species with wings. Should I try to flap them?

Mmm.....I don't think I can use them for now."

After admiring himself and playing in the water, he heard a sound.

Growl...

"Hehe...Looks like my tummy is hungry," he rubs his stomach in embarrassment. Let's find something to eat.

"Due to my short hands and paws, even catching a rabbit may prove to be an extreme task. I should at least try to catch a fish. If not, I may die on my first day in another world, without even finding out what this world has in store for me."

After gathering some twigs and binding them with tendrils and vines, he prepares a cage to catch fish. To his surprise, there were two big fish in that cage after some time. He had to eat them raw due to his inability to start the fire.

"Yuck!" Kazuma reacts while trying the first bite.

"Huh! It tastes good." Maybe because now I am an animal, my taste buds are also changing to these flavors.

"I should start scouting the forest after I have had my fill. This forest is deep, and there is not even an animal in sight.

Is this supposed to be a forest with no animals?

Perhaps all the are animals already hunted or extinct. What if there is no one in this world?

What would I do then, just wander until I found someone?"

----

After a long aimless stroll, the forest was clearing, and Kazuma could spot the end of the forest within his sight.

"At least I am out of the forest," Kazuma sighs with relief. Now he was in a plain field. He could see grassland stretching further than his sight.

"Looks like I can find someone now." Kazuma's belief now turn into reality because he could see a road made by some intelligent race.

They must be humans, he thought to himself. Kazuma was happy with the thought of meeting someone after his reincarnation.

"Wow! Is that a 'human village'?

"Haha, I found them! Humans! Living humans!"

Kazuma screams with excitement and runs towards the village with his full strength. The closer he got to the village, the faster he was going.

In addition, He could see some humans; suddenly he started hearing loud voices from the village. He thought that maybe some beast was running amok, creating a commotion, and that's why they were making such a mess.

"Maybe if I help them, they could let me stay in the village," he thought with a firm belief.

Moreover, he could see some humans on the village border with weapons in their hands and a frightened look on their faces.

He was confused because he did not find any danger in the way. So why did those humans appear to be either preparing for a war or chasing away someone?

Now Kazuma could hear them more clearly than before, "m..o..n..s..t..e..r"

"m... o..n..s..t..e..r"

"I don't know the reason, but it looks like I can understand them, even if I don't know the language they are speaking. Apart from that, where is this monster they speak of?"

Kazuma forgot for a moment that even if he was human in his previous life, he was a monster now. This thought never crossed his mind and became his first and major mistake after coming into this world.

When Kazuma reached close enough, everyone started throwing rocks and different weapons at him. They were looking at him with disgust. Kazuma could not realize their cause of abhorrence.

He could faintly hear their shouting "monster" and "kill".

Kazuma was stunned for a while. Furthermore, he could join the dots and see a clear picture of this situation. Upon realizing his blunder, Kazuma could see death ahead of him.

He started running towards the forest as fast as he could with all the strength in his muscle fibers. Humans were after him with any weapon in their hands; they were even carrying fire torches due to the darkness of night.

They were throwing everything in their hands-on Kazuma; he had bruises all over. He did not even have time to wipe his tears while running. His short limbs were also losing their strength, and he was on his last breath.

Suddenly, a batch of arrows came from behind and pierced his body. Because of the hard scales on his body, he could avoid instant death, but his wounds were severe.

He was now lying on the ground waiting for humans to put an end to his last struggle. Humans gathered around him and started talking.

"Chief, we never knew this forest had this creature." young hunter .

"How would we know?

Humans are cursed by elves to never enter the forest," the chief says.

"Well, that's what you get if you drive a race from their homes." old hunter .

"So, should we kill it and sell its corpse?" a villager asked them with greed.

"Its value is greater while it's alive. Some nobles may pay a heavy price to keep it as a pet." the chief says while poking a stick in Kazuma's body.

After listening to them, Kazuma was furious with no bounds. He could realize some humans enjoy killing and enslaving others for fun, but this is too much.

As his rage rise, a throbbing pain started in his head, and he lost control of his body. His wrath unleashed a power that even he didn't know.

He released an enormous fire from his mouth and destroyed a large area in front of him. The only word that came to his mind after that destructive skill was [Dragon Breath].

----

He was bleeding a lot, but he could not stay in the same place for a long time, so he started walking toward the forest. He remembered that humans are not allowed to enter the forest, so it would be best for him to hide there.

He took small steps while trembling; his tears were not stopping. When all the strength left his body, he fell to the ground.

A blurred silver figure appeared before him and pointed toward the forest. He could not see it clearly, but he instinctively knew that he had to meet that person.

Thus he began crawling and pushing his body against the ground, but he lacked the strength to approach that person.

When his eyes were going to close, he heard in a sweet voice, "Son, come here." These words were so soothing to his heart that he couldn't stop crying.

His tears began overflowing with a sudden flow of emotions in his heart, and he said, without thinking, "Mom."

He gained immense strength in his body just from hearing those words. Despite slowly losing consciousness, he ran towards that person just to hear her praise.

He fell as soon as he reached there and again heard a sweet voice, "Good job."

After hearing those words, he faints there while smiling.