Bleary eyed and exhausted, I remained still in the cold, damp cave. As night passed the illumination from my body dimmed even further, the light from the evolution being replaced by daylight.
My eyelids started to grow heavy, even though I was stressed, my tiredness seemed to overtake it in this moment. I fought to keep my eyes open and thought I succeed, when suddenly the daylight which had been shining into the cave's crevice was blocked off, throwing me into darkness. Checking to make sure I hadn't accidentally passed out, I stood up quickly, almost tumbling over myself.
I was about to launch an attack against whatever blocked my exit point, backing myself up as far as I could into the small cave, since "flight" wasn't an option, "fight" would be my choice.
I commanded the system to activate the mutation and run soul power through me, I knew that relying so heavily on Mr.S would lead to trouble but that was an issue I shafted off for the future.
My legs were taut and my tired eyes were as sharp as my feathers. I wasn't going to keep running, if I die then I die proud.
"SKREE SKREE!!" An ear shattering screech came from outside.
'What?... Oh god it's her again."
Does mother want to abandon me or help? She's changed her mind so many damn times I can't help but question her sanity.
"Yeechi chi chi!" I yelped out, hoping her maternal instincts were still in play, there was no way I could put up a fight against her.
I jumped back in fright as a pair of giant red eyes made it's way into the cave, her beak moving rocks and dirt around, unconsciously I had pressed my back against the cave walls again, she wasn't that trustworthy to begin with and her strength and size worried me further.
Her head was now inches away from my body, she eyed me with the same blank stare I saw when I first met her. The hen's beak opened and closed, making snapping sounds; was this a ritual or some sort? Showing some respect to the food before eating me? On earth I had watched nature documentaries one too many times to let my guard down around her, parents eating children weren't uncommon.
Her neck snapped forwards.
'YEOWCH!!'
She had bit me, my right wing felt as if it was under a hydraulic press from all the pressure that was still being applied to it, she pulled her head out of the cave, dragging me by the wing outside with her.
I dug my talons into the ground, even in perfect condition I wouldn't have been able to resist; much less now.
The mother hen quickly jerked her head back and out of the small crevice I called a cave, throwing me towards some grass, luckily the mutation minimised the damage I took. My head got buried in the long and soft blades of grass, it couldn't even be compared to the cave in terms of comfort, I almost regretted hiding myself and not sleeping out here. I stood up after checking my health and stared at the bipolar mother who had once again returned.
The black hen paid my pain no mind, she chirped a bit and then released another unholy screech; I felt like I was being yelled at.
I wanted to retort and screech back, but if being a child on Earth had taught me anything, talking back will probably cause more harm than good. I didn't know if chicken there was anything that was the magical chicken equivalent of slippers or wooden spoon in this world but I didn't want to find out.
"Mum" continued to stare at me while screeching for a while more, she was obviously confident in her fighting ability to be making this big of a ruckus in a dangerous forest but it was still worrying. After she had finished, her wings which were folded up, extended, stretching out and covering the sun itself.
*THUMPCRCK*
'Something just fell!'
Out of her black wings, an equally black object was dropped onto the floor; accompanied by the sound of bones breaking.
She hadn't eaten me yet, so I assumed it was safe... I walked closer and inspected the body that fell.
'Oh my god, it's a human! This size... is it a child?!'
A child did that? A human was able to perform such acrobatic feats? They managed to get that strong?!
'So... I guess gaining strength isn't just for beasts...'
'Mr.S, Appraise this guy!'
[ The creature is not for sale ]
You don't have to keep ruining my dreams of fantasy system.
'Uh, like you did with the lizard! Inspect or whatever'
[ Inspect : Unknown Dryad]
• Age : 28
• {Status Sum} : [ X ]
• Gender : M
Oh 28? He's older than I tho-
Hang on a second.
Dryad?!
You mean those green skinned tree-huggers from those fantasy books?! The ones that seductively eat apples and sleep in trees?! Those Dryads are real?!
I banished the thought of asking the system what Dryad's were just yet, I wanted to find out on my own! Sure he had tried to kill me a few hours back, but I had mum's protection from now and he seemed to be out cold.
The man was about 5'6, at first glance he could be easily confused with a child due to his stature, there was a dark, soft material covering his face; my feet didn't have as potent of a sense of touch as I previously had, but it felt similar to silk.
I tugged the cloth down, hooking a nook with a talon and pushing it down.
Dusty brown hair popped out of the mask, the hair was matted and ruined, a comb hadn't been through it in seemingly years. Pulling back further revealed the green eyes which had stalked me before, the Dryad had fallen unconscious with his eyes wide open, I couldn't blame him, having my beast of a mother chase him down might've caused some trauma. I finished tugging the mask over and looked at his face, the things which fascinated me most about him was the green tinge his skin had and the pointed ears adorning his face, if I glanced over him in a crowd, I'd have thought I just saw a human man about to throw up rather than a Dryad.
Compared to the beauty standards of my previous world, he looked average. His face resembled a teenager more than the adult that the system had identified, if not for how reliable it was, I'd have thought it was messing with me.
The existence of other races was truly fascinating and I wanted to learn more, I was about to ask the system to give me an in-depth explanation before I was broken out of my curiosity stupor by a screech.
'Ok alright... what is it?'
I looked at the hen, her eyes had reduced to a squint, was she asking me to do something? I just flapped my wings and gave a few "yeechi! yeechi!" trying to act as harmless as possible, if she wanted me to help her with something, she should find a better way to ask rather than glaring and screeching at me.
Her eyes opened up and her beak soon followed, I swear I could hear her sigh, guess I was talented at disappointing parents wether I was a human or a chicken. She bent her orange knees and plopped down onto the ground, her eyes flicking up and down from the Dryad and me.
Before asking the Mr.S what a Dryad truly was, I wanted to know what the " X " in place of the status sum meant.
[ The status sum of the individual is too high compared to yours to comprehend ]
'Damn'
That was all my brain could muster as a reply, there was too much information spewing out at me and I had no time to organise my thoughts, I haven't been alive for 2 months yet but I'm already in dire need of a vacation, maybe a chocolate bar or two as well...
*ZZZZZ*
A shock ran through my body, I "YEECHHIIEE"'d on accident while this happened, it wasn't painful nor pleasant, I felt as if Zeus gingerly hugged me. My mother simply watched this scene without lending a wing or batting an eye, have some compassion towards your child please!
I looked around for the thunder yeeting enemy when the orange interface returned, quickly followed by multiple other interfaces.
[ Your evolution has completed, expand Status? ]
[ Pallidi Chick ability:
[ Pallidi Chick ability:
[ Pallidi Chick ability: