1 - Clean Slate

Somewhere in a damp and dark cave, a Nyre is waking up for the first time as the sound of dripping water interrupted its slumber. How long? He couldn't quite remember.

"Ah, my head. WHY IS IT SO DARK IN HERE?!? SOMEONE TURN ON THE DAMN LI-" *pop* "Shut up kid, one more word out of you and I'll hang you upside down for a week. Now go join the others and wait for dinner. Your parents will be back soon." Some grumpy old voice croaked.

"Parents? Wait, where am I? what's my na-" *POP* "I said shut up. Do you think I'm bluffing because I'll be more than happy to prove I'm not?"

"Now that's no way to treat the newborns Jahé! run along now little one and go play with the others. you'll receive your name when your mother returns from hunting." Came another unfamiliar but much softer voice.

My eyes finally began to adjust to the darkness and... 'I can't explain what I am! I examined my wings attached to my skinny arms, the claws on my fingers and toes, and the short fur that covered my entire body. I was quite small but so was everyone else, including the adults. If I were to guess our height I would say the babies are around 2ft while the adults are around 4ft, 5ft at the largest. My best assumption of what I am is some sort of bat!'

I quickly ran over to a small puddle of water to get a better look at myself. 'I have little fangs on my top jaw, my eyes are pure black, my ears are long and pointy, and my fur and skin is a fair mix of black and purple yet our bodies still have some resemblance to that of humans. I must be some sort of bat, human, vampire thing! But then that raises the question of how I can already speak and have cognitive thoughts if I'm a newborn. Based on the few memories I have, I used to live on a planet called earth. I was a human and I worked at a law firm... How in the hell did I get here???'

'This must be some sort of dream or super realistic hallucination. It feels way too real, and I can also feel pain! I have a lot of questions that need to be answered.''

'I guess I'll just sit over there and wait until my parents get back. In the meantime...' After maybe an hour or two of sitting alone by a wall examining my body, a group of my species came back with what looked like Wombats hanging from their claws as they steadily flew in the air.

'They honestly all look the same, I can't tell a boy from a girl more less which one is my mom. Guess I'll go stand around with all the other kids and wait for something eventful to happen.'

Walking over I noticed some weird symbol pop up in the top right of my vision but no matter where I looked it wouldn't go away. I tried touching it with my claws but it had no effect so I decided to ignore it and ask about it later. I figured it had something to do with either the laws of this world or my species.

"SPHAR!!!! OH IF I KNEW YOU WERE GONNA OPEN YOUR EYES TODAY I WOULDN'T OF GONE OUT TO HUNT!" said some crazy looking bat who was a bit shorter than most of the others that came back with the food.

"Are you...my mom?" I asked, startled by the obnoxious nature. "Why of course! I'm sure you have lots of questions as do all the newborns so I'll be more than happy to help my little baby!"

'Jeez, could she be louder? My ears feel like they're about to explode.' "Well yeah, I have a lot of questions actually. Could you tell me what I am?" 'I need to gather as much information as possible, as it stands right now I'm quite literally clueless about everything.'

"We are called Nyres! We live deep underground and periodically travel to the surface to hunt, but we don't eat much so you don't have to worry about that! Now before you flood your poor old mother with more questions why don't you eat?"

My mom handed me what I assumed to be a wombat raw... "Do we not uh... cook?" I asked still struggling to grasp the fact I'm no longer human. "Cook? You sure are strange but your mother will love you no matter what, just stick your teeth in the neck and suck the blood out!"

'Oh well yeah I guess that makes sense, but can I really "just" do that? What about diseases?... welp, I'll never know till I try.' *Shrck* ...'hey that's not bad! I was half expecting to puke my brains out but I guess this body thrives on this!' Before I knew it I had sucked the entire thing dry.

"My my it looks like someone was hungry." My mom said. "Yeah." 'I don't know how to respond to that'. "So mom, what's our sleep schedule like, and what do we do for fun around here?"

"You sure do ask the strangest questions. Most kids ask for food, their name, and to sleep but here you are asking for our species name and our sleep cycle."

"Ah... yeah, my bad" 'She has a good point but I can't help but be curious since I don't naturally belong here, or at least I don't feel like I do with being reincarnated and what not'.

"Well, there's no harm in knowledge! Anything for my little baby. We typically don't sleep much so we don't have an accurate schedule. The only reason we know about the day and night cycle is because we have scouts at the entrance of our cave to warn us if anything bad ever happens."

"Has anything bad ever happened?" I asked. "Nope! In fact, we hardly ever see any animals besides these Wombats, deer, owls, and other harmless low evolution monsters."

'Well that's reassuring, and I knew those were Wombats! Thanks National Geographic Wild Channel!'. "Do you mind if I go sleep somewhere? Do we have our own space?" I asked, feeling an unforgiving wave of drowsiness washing over me.

"Well of course! But in order to get there, I have to teach you how to fly... Well, I guess that can wait for another time, let me carry you up." She gently grabbed my arms with the claws on her feet and flew me up to our den made on the side of the wall which was surprisingly big.

"Thank you" I said, barely clinging to consciousness. I slowly crawled my way to the deepest part of the den while my mom just watched with loving eyes. I guess she was still enjoying the ecstasy of being a mother...wait a mother. 'Where's my father?' But before I could question my mother on the matter I was out.

--------------------------

Waking up to the still empty den, I could only wonder how long I would have to wait for my mother to come back to fly me down. I sure as hell wasn't going to try my luck at flying by jumping off.

'Damn, I completely forgot to ask her about this weird bell-like symbol at the top right of my vision.' I continued to try to tap it with my claws but to no avail, it was still there. I then attempted "selecting" it with my eyes while staring intently at it but that also didn't work.

'If someone saw me tapping the air with my claws and staring intently at the wall of my den they would surely think something was wrong with me' I jokingly thought to myself.

"Wait what if..."

'Notifications'

[notifications]

-System installation is complete.

'OH HELL YEAH!'