It was an intense battle! Whatever it was long and thin, similar to a snake! It kept slipping away from him, and the thought of it biting him sent fear through his body!
He struggled to reach it and managed to grasp it tightly. "I've got you now!" Aureum yelled in his head. He bit down with his full strength, immediately tasting blood and happy he managed to bite his target. That was when it happened.
Intense pain shot through his body and his eyes shot open, staring at a tail. Aureum sat and stared at the golden orange colored tail in his mouth for a few minutes. It finally donned on him that there was no enemy and the only thing he was fighting was himself!
Aureum, embarrassed at the fact he just attacked his own tail, quickly spat it out and looked around. Aureum's brain then raced through many of the things that have happened since he woke up. One of the first things being that he had been walking on all fours, had a tail, as well as golden orange fur. "I seem to be some sort of animal now..."
As Aureum contemplated his situation, within a short span of time, came to terms with his new body. "I didn't have a very enjoyable life as a human, so who knows, maybe an animals life will be far greater!"
Feeling better while thinking about his new life, something came to his attention. "Hmmm... something seems different, besides the fact I seem to be an animal now..." Aureum pondered to himself. Thinking for a few seconds he realized it! He could now see!
He hadn't fully noticed at first, still a bit exhausted and flushed with embarrassment after fighting such an intense battle against himself.
With eyes open and full of curiosity, Aureum quickly scanned his surroundings. He came to find out he was correct, and was indeed inside a cave. Aureum started to wonder if he was on the same planet or not, before drifting into much more exciting thoughts about how he was reincarnated as an animal!
He didn't get much free time in his past life, but when he did, he would often read many books and online novels. He especially loved the fantasy novels about reincarnation! Shaking off those thoughts, Aureum wanted to explore his surroundings a bit more to get a general understanding of where he was and what to next.
...
An hour had passed since Aureum decided to check out how deep the cave went. He had mostly just been walking through the darkness, or rather what he assumed would be dark, if not for the fact he could see everything quite clearly. Another ten minutes passed and Aureum eventually reached what looked to him, a slightly circular opening at the end of the cave.
Upon closer inspection it appeared to be a hole in the wall leading into a smaller tunnel, through which he could barely fit inside. Wriggling into the smaller tunnel he continued to crawl through until he could see the tunnel start to widen out.
Pushing forward with both legs he finally managed to make it into what appeared to be a naturally formed, small circular room deep inside the cave. First things first, the view was dazzling! To him it was comparable to the sea of stars, through which he floated before coming here.
There were tiny crystals of many different colors embedded all throughout the walls and ceiling of the room. He walked towards the middle before noticing a small pond at the very center. Getting closer to the pond he noticed that the water was dazzling, it was crystal clear, yet at the same time seemed to swirl with color.
And in the middle... was a single fish! Thinking about how he hadn't eaten yet and how hungry he was starting to feel, he immediately wanted to eat it!