Chapter 2: 01
It is an immutable fact that the path of every hero and villain begins with death.
It can be the death of relatives, which became an unprecedented grief for a man and forced him to take the path of struggle against the most terrible enemy for him. Or the first murder, when he realizes that there is nothing sweeter than the realization of the inevitable demise in the eyes of the victim and the spreading warmth of her hot blood on the hands that committed a terrible sin.
The beginning of this story does not dare to defy the canons either, only this time death came to the hero himself.
It crept up on him secretly, insidiously and imperceptibly - in his sleep, while he was lying in his own bed.
It is not known what caused the rapid burning of the house. It is not known whether the only occupant, Pavel Kotov, knew anything about it. Unfortunately, he never woke up that night to even think about the cause of the disaster. Until the very end, Pavel never realized the impending disaster. Not that it helped in the least. Even before the fire had spread to all the rooms, the whole house was filled with carbon dioxide.
And yet, despite the dream, the last moments of his life were imprinted on his mind, a vivid sense of hopelessness, the smell of burning wood and melting plastic, the sensation of life leaving his body with each breath, and the hot air and smoke he inhaled slowly filling his airways with soot and tiny particles of ash.
Eventually, the hot flames consumed him, and no miracle was accomplished... or was it?
***
I'm dead. What else do you call the absence of a body and the darkness?
It took me a long time to realize this seemingly surreal truth, not only because of my reluctance to accept it, but because of the semi-conscious state I was in.
I didn't remember the moment of death itself, but the blurred feeling of heat and intense pain in my chest - yes, these feelings of the last moments were imprinted in my soul. Just thinking about it brought them back. All of this hinted that I had died of fire.
Most likely carbon monoxide poisoning, otherwise I'm sure my last moments would have been much worse. As it was, quietly suffocated in a smoke-filled room, I would have liked to live a little longer, but better that than to feel like a ham on a fire.
Surprisingly, my journey didn't end there.
At some point, I realized that I had a body again, which was covered on all sides with something liquid, similar in density to sour milk, if I was to believe the sensations. Considering death and my current condition, I immediately thought of a second chance - a new life.
I immediately thought that I was a fetus and was in the womb of a mother, of course, of the human race, and I didn't think about other options, but for nothing.
From time to time I lost consciousness, sometimes feeling irregular spasms, as I realized it was an important stage of formation of my body and primary growth of the organism. This was confirmed by the fact that each time I was able to stay conscious for significantly longer periods of time.
The strange thing started when, during another awakening, I touched something hard, and then it began to happen more often. In this unsophisticated way, I was able to determine by touch that I was surrounded on all sides by solid walls. Worried, I tried to find my navel to refute my panicked thoughts, but found nothing.
If I could understand the solid walls of the womb, because I knew sadly little about the physiological state of pregnant women and the placement of the fetus inside, but the absence of such an important part as the feeding tube was impossible.
It would be sad if I was some chick in an incubator at a poultry farm. I tried not to think about bad things, but sometimes the thoughts would go into negative territory.
At some point, the sudden blurring stopped, bringing back clarity of thought, and with it, a positive attitude. I could feel the liquid around me getting smaller and smaller, but I was still growing. This meant that the moment of my birth was closer than ever.
And so, during another awakening, I realized that the time for my birth had finally arrived.
When I woke up again, I felt that something was different. There was no usual feeling of satiety, and the surrounding walls did not leave any room for maneuvering. I didn't want to starve, so I had to get out.
I tensed my whole body and tried to crack the egg I was in.
Once again, I jerked forward and felt an otherworldly coldness coming on. I tried to inhale and get rid of the unpleasant sensation in my chest, but nothing worked; instead of air, all I got into my mouth was the tasteless sludge that still covered me.
Boo.
It was nasty, but coupled with the pain from the slowly approaching suffocation, it stimulated me to twitch harder, to literally fight for life.
Crackle. Crackle, crackle.
And the result was not long in coming. The first crack, or crunch, or crunch of the shell surrounding me, which was now a deadly prison, was followed by the second, and then the third. Eventually, after the next jolt, the shell of the strange egg surrounding me literally fell apart and spread apart, giving me my long-awaited freedom.
I'd say it felt good to take a breath of air full in my chest, but that wasn't true. Along with the air scalding my lungs came the sensory shock coming at me from all sides. In the first seconds I almost lost consciousness from the variety of smells, sounds and other senses, but I was able to withstand the first blow, getting off with a strong migraine, however, thanks to my young body, it quickly began to subside.
It was good to be young!
Having thrown off the remnants of a strange fleshy shell from my head, I began to look around. I didn't like the local scenery. It was a cold and dark world all around. It was also very blurry.
"M-yes, it's getting weirder and weirder. The only question is, what to do next, huh? Stop!" - I wanted to turn around, but I couldn't control my own body and ended up falling on my side.
I tried to lie on my stomach, which proved to be problematic. When I looked down, I realized that my limbs were far from the human ones I was used to.
Relatively straight hind and front, could bend forward, except for this paired set I had a long tail sticking out of my tailbone. My whole body was covered in wet black hairs, more like sparse fur, and there were some white antennae sticking out in front of my eyes. What the hell was that?
I suspected that I was in a body something like a cat, but there was one thing that confused me. When did cats start hatching from eggs? What am I?
Shaking my limbs, I managed to roll over and began to slowly crawl out of the remains of my egg. Slowly familiarizing myself with the controls of my new limbs, I made my way out onto the warm and smooth floor.
Having gained relative freedom of action, I began to knead my body, making the cartilage all over my body crackle just so. Ugh, finally, all this time in the egg I could even scratch myself properly. It was some kind of elaborate torture, every now and then I had something itchy, I couldn't get to scratch it. So the first thing I did was to start rubbing myself with pleasure on the edges of my former prison and maternity ward in one bottle.
What a thrill.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone