Stakes

Hoot!

Hoot!

A snowy owl hooted as she landed on her nest with a dead fox cub in her mouth. She has been out hunting and actually got lucky because a fox cub had just recently lost its parents underneath a car's tire. Worn out and hungry, it collapsed near her and she scored the meal of the night.

But, she also knew this was the night her chicks were going to hatch. The three eggs have been shaking even more than usual making her dread that they might hatch without her near the nest. Even as a predator, she knew she was far from being the top in the food chain, her defenseless eggs even more. She was just glad that it was currently winter time, most snakes are in hibernation.

Just as she was about to indulge herself in tender fox meat, one of the eggs suddenly cracked, making her turn to look at it. It was a small crack but it was just too loud. Suspicious, she inched closer to the egg before jumping back in fright as another crack was formed, this one even more louder. It was as if the egg was made of concrete and the chick was a wrecking ball building momentum. Mother owl just knew this wasn't how it should be happening even if these were her first eggs.

She watched in bated anticipation as the egg continued cracking thunderously, making sure the other two eggs are behind her. Finally, after five minutes of struggle, the shells were finally broke through and the mother owl sighed in relief as she saw a normal looking scruffy chick wobble out. There were little tufts of white, wet, soft feathers on it, making it seem like they had been plucked by a sadistic joker.

Giving the chick a hoot of encouragement, she urged the chick towards her, almost smiling in glee as it wobbled to her direction, looked up at her before tweeted in hunger. Mother Owl did not hesitate to tear off a small chunk of the fox meat and feed it, making it swallow with a little difficulty b fore simmering down beneath her warm feathers. Mother Owl was contented and slightly hoping the others wouldn't hatch for this was winter, there were less food even in the summer, winter was especially hard.

What she did not know was that the chick she was keeping warm beneath her was having an existential crisis. Why? Because the chick just got its memories back. It knew its name was Nolan Mikealson, a human, at least in his past life. As a human, how in the world did he end up as an owl chick?

It started when he got home from work. He was a construction worker in the busy city of New York. It was a sky scrapper, one of the hardest and most expensive building to build in such a city. They were two months in the job and he just knew everyone was as tired as he was. They were sluggish, boorish and full of a sailor's vocabulary the whole day and he just wanted to have a good night sleep to cool his jets.

But, fate had another thing in mind for as he was fast asleep, the building caught fire and while everyone was safe, he suffocated and got roasted to charred bones, making him end up as a statistic. He somehow ended up in front of a being calling himself ROB, a being who oozed of world ending, mind crippling power.

The ROB told him it was his job to reincarnate poor souls like himself to another world so that the ROB could get the entertainment of watching the entire world fall into chaos. Nolan knew then he had fallen into the clutches of a somewhat evil omnipotent being.

"I'ld like to warn you that these worlds are completely insane. If you are one of those that like to choose a low level wish and think you can get by with plot armor then you are terribly mistaken. These worlds have guardians that will completely annahilate you molecularly to your very soul for intruding into their worlds. So be smart," the ROB warned him with a frown.

This set his gears turning and he thanked god he was a comic and manga fan. He could recall some of the broken characters in comics and mangas so the problem came to who to chose.

"Also, your reincarnation will be completely up to random. You could be human, an ant, a microscopic bacteria, a world ending virus...The possibilities are endless. So, chose very, very, very carefully," the ROB gave him another warning.

This made him scramble everything else as three powers got to his mind. First, it was the Golden Sentry Serum. This could turn him from an insignificant insect to a doomsday inducing apocalyptic death god. The second is Superior Adaptation, the power to adapt to everything and become superior. The third was reality manipulation. He was thinking of pre-retcon Beyonder or the Marquis of Death when he pictured reality benders. So, he made his choice

"I'ld like to have the Golden Sentry Serum activated in my body as soon as I am born," he stated. This would give him a much, much higher chance of survival. Now, four wishes remaining.

"My second wish is to retain my memories and consciousness to this other world," he continued. That way, it would be him and not some version of him.

"My third wish is I would like to have the X-gene of the Marquis of Death, fully awakened at my third day. My fourth wish is to have the knowledge of the Beyonders in relation to reality bending. My fifth wish..."

"Okay, that's enough wishing. I guess you took my warning seriously, jeez. Superior Adaptation, do you know how boringly overpowered you'll become if you have that!"

"But you said I had five wishes! Those are four," Nolan was determined to have that last wish. Those four wishes would make him nigh omnipotent at best but the last would make him very much omnipotent, and that's the best you could hopeful in a world with possibly reality ending powers.

"I know, I know. But the reason I am giving you these powers was so that I can see the world devolve into chaos. You becoming so op will ruin the fun out of it. At least with these powers I know you will struggle with the truly most powerful beings out there. How about this, I will use your last wish to increase the chance of becoming a higher lifeform while also giving you a growing period of ten years before any of the big wigs realize you exist. How about that?"

"Deal!" Nolan agreed almost immediately. The ten years protection was crucial and Nolan was sure he would have become a universal calamity by then.

...

But now, he was weeping. He just turned into an owl! Even after his luck had been buffed, he turned into an owl! This made him fearful of the chances he had of becoming a bacteria of a fungi. So, the universe's hidden reincarnator slept under the warm protection of his mother owl.