*Rei woke up feeling oddly refreshed, the weird dream now fading from his mind, but a sensation of cleanliness still permeated, like he could think better*

  The cave was now actually illuminated, the morning sun penetrating deep into it, revealing even more than before.

  “That’s why everything was weirdly gray …”

  -Ra Raw Rarwarawaa Rwo rawra rwae-

  “It was dark before … thinking of it …”

  *He looked up again, long neck unsteadily looking up*

  The cave stretched high in some places, the erosion of the water soluble rock visible in the uncountable stalactites hanging up in the sealing, the rock a yellowish white with big, opaque and sometimes transparent white crystals all around.

  “Are those quartz ? … it doesn't matter, I still need to get rid of those falling hazards, or at least make something to protect me … hum … why don't I just get out of here … that feels wrong … why does it feel wrong ? … I’ll deal with the pointy rocks, I just need to find a better spot to sleep …I won't be able to relax until i’m sure that ‘Rock’s Fall, Everyone Dies’ is not on the table for me”

  *Rei tried to get up, but his body felt heavy and tired all of a sudden*

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Not eating in a while has consequences, so does almost dying, and whatever his body did to fix itself so rapidly, surely consumed a lot of energy that he now has to replace.

  “Makes sense … I almost died and … somehow resolved my brain hemorrhage while stopping my heart with sheer desperation and will … I’ll think about it after I eat … yeah, think about it after I eat …”

  *Designing to leave some more of the strangeness behind, Rei focused on the NOW problems*

  “I have fangs and a forked tongue … That’s pretty much says a heavy carnivore right there”

  *Rei said passing his serpentine forked tongue on the fang’s of his maw*

  “I have a muzzle”

  *Looking at the long snout with his peripheral vision, now that he noticed it, his brain had a hard time not seeing it*

  “There are wings on my back … “

  *He tried to move them, but it felt awkward, like a muscle he never had and was having a hard time connecting to*

  “I have eagle-like talons on the front and back …”

  *He flexed them, they felt stiff and imprecise on the front and way too mobile on the back*

  “Long neck, skinny body, long and slim tail, leather like skin … halfway mesh between a serpent and a feline …”

  *He tried to move, but everything felt wrong and right at the same time, a very confusing mix between completely unfamiliar and instinctive it he just didn't think about it, all in all, very uncoordinated, like a drunken cat*

  “That’s not hunting material … that’s just disgraceful and infuriating at the same time …”

  *He tried to take a step and almost fell on his face, like the idea of walking on fours was just alien to his mind, he didn't even know how to start*

  “Allrigh, that’s enough … this is not working …”

  -Rawra, rwa rwerow -

  *Grunting in dissatisfaction at his disobeying body, Rei did what any ‘sane’ person would do … stretch*

  The young dragon tried different positions, while testing the range of motion of his limbs, feeling the deep and tiring stretch that a properly made routine gives you.

  Staying on his hind legs felt the most natural, but his body just wasn't built for it.

  Staying on fours was what his body was most comfortable with, but his mind could not make head or tails of the movements.

  “I can't believe it … I need to learn to walk again …”

  But before a training montage could begin, his stomach growled at him, reminding him why he was trying to move in the first place, when just before he had the mother of all concussions.

  “I don't have time for this …”

  *Unsteadily, Rei walked out of the cave and into the world beyond, before the growing body dysmorphia could catch him*