“Get used to your body, child. I will return tonight, and we shall have a little fun.”

With these words and a powerful gust of wind Rehm had soared upward and out of sight much quicker than I would have thought something of her size could’ve. Regardless, I had dutifully spent most of the morning moving about, feeling the burn of mana course through me as I projected flames into the air. By early midday, I had explored the entire clearing. As it had seemed, it was a rough circle of grass encased in a stone wall ten meters high.

The pond I had slept near took up a quarter of the circle, and the rest was mostly open fields sparsely filled with trees. One tree in particular, a massive gnarled oak at least a meter wide at its base, had hidden a passageway through the stone wall from me the day before. A brief look showed it led outside the the enclosure, but as much as I already trusted Rehm, I wasn’t about to test my new dragon-mom’s patience.

The other oddity I had missed the day prior sat right next to the broken shell of my egg. Another egg, orange-red and almost my height sat basking in the blazing sun. I had no way of knowing how near hatching it was, but I had always wanted to be an older sister in my previous life. I supposed it only took dying and becoming half-dragon to grant this only child’s wish.

For a moment I tried to recall how I had died; for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Just like all the other tries, all I got was a blur and a headache. I could vaguely remember someone from that reincarnation office saying ‘blunt trauma’ to me. Maybe I can’t remember much because I got hit in the head?

Ahhhh… so frustrating. So many questions and almost no answers.

Ripping my thoughts away from that line of thinking, I willed the mana from the core of my body, up through my chest and throat, and spit some fire into the air. At least I’ve got magic. And… crouching low, I squatted in the knee high grass with my hands clawing the dirt. With a deep breath, I unfurled my wings to their fullest, each reaching a meter out from my shoulder blades. Feeling some joints in the frames of my wings pop, I had the sobering realization that I probably looked more like a decrepit gargoyle perched on a roof than a majestic dragon readying for lift-off. Well, as long as gargoyles can fly, I’ll survive.

The faintest of breezes brushed over my wings, and I marveled at how even the slightest change in the wind could alter my momentum and center of balance in a drastic way. Feeling the breeze for a moment, I released the ground and pushed down with my wings. Again - I pushed my wings down - then again, and again until I was unsteadily hovering above the ground, flapping my wings to stay aloft. I was flying; my back was hunched down, my arms hugged close, still looking more like a gargoyle than anything, but dammit I was in the air.

Feeling inspired by my quick success, I shifted my body weight, spread out my arms to move forward - and promptly lost all momentum and face planted. As the afternoon went on, I gradually felt more stable in my flight; and I eventually had the basics of mid-air movement down. My body seemed to subconsciously sense and react to changes in wind pressure and direction, so as long as I didn’t overreact mid-flight, I would be fine. Of course, by the time Rehm returned at dusk I had already left countless imprints of my face in the dirt, and had spent thirty minutes being too scared to come down from the large oak tree after challenging myself to land on a branch; but Rehm didn’t have to know that. For all she knew, I had taken to the skies like a proper gargoyle. Er, dragon.

“I take it you enjoyed yourself?”

With my windswept appearance and slightly dirty face, I simply smiled back at Rehm. I would be lying to say flying was not amazing. The feeling of soaring through the air, even just a few feet off the ground, yet all under your own power. It was something indescribable.

“Now then, child. I have a task for you. The sun is about to fall away, but night or day matters not to us. I want you to go into the forest and hunt.”

I had somewhat expected this is what she was planning, but excitement still ran through me. A forest in a world with dragons and magic? My curiosity raged through me, but regaining my calm I simply nodded.

I am ready, Mother.

“Of course. Do not take too long, I shall be watching from here.”

With her dismissal, I turned towards the entrance behind the gnarled oak tree. Partially because I still wasn’t entirely confident in my flying, and partially because I wanted to see the rocky passageway from the inside, I half-stepped half-climbed my way through the darkness. The sun had almost disappeared at this point, but the lack of light didn’t faze me in the slightest; my eyesight was barely reduced compared to daytime.

Coming out on the other side, I was faced with a forest. Thick oak trees stood tall in every direction, still at a glance. Walking forward in the darkness, insects and other critters of the night started calling out, louder than I would have expected. It seemed the forest never went to sleep.

Perking my ears and straining my eyes, I continued wandering. It took about thirty minutes before I even saw an animal at all. Standing as tall as me, a deer with brown fur and an extremely tall upturned white tail nibbled at the brush. Crouching low I circled carefully towards it, staying hidden from its view behind trees. I had never hunted anything before, I was sure that in my previous life I had no experience. And yet, I had a sense of what to do. Breathing even, footsteps quiet, body low and ready to jump.

I took another step to place myself behind the nearest tree to the deer, behind it and to the left. The deer’s head shot up as a small crunch sounded, head turned almost 180 degrees, two impossibly large yellow eyes darting in every direction. Staying as still as I could, eventually the deer returned to munching on the underbrush. Slowly peeking around the tree trunk, I saw the deer seemingly unaware of me. Everything about it was entirely natural and relaxed, until I noticed a brief movement in its tail. Every few seconds, its tail would vibrate slightly, reminding me of something else. A... tuning fork?

I slowly unfurled my wings halfway, crouching around the tree trunk. Moving only when the deer’s tail was still, I readied myself to pounce. Well, here goes nothing.

Pushing off with my legs, I shot towards the deer like a bullet, wings angled and pushing the air back. Two yellow eyes darted back to meet mine, seeing outstretched claws and a row of sharp teeth hurtling towards it. It tried to jump out of the way, but only succeeded in making me miss my mark. Instead of sinking my teeth into its neck, I was firmly embedded in its thigh, claws wrapped around its back and wings flapping wildly.

The deer bolted, taking me with it through the forest. I saw its tail vibrating faster than my eyes could keep up, and a wave of intense nausea washed over me. Groaning, I reached with my claws and unlodged my teeth. Pulling forward, I reached its lower neck and began to scratch and cut.

It took seemingly forever, but the deer finally slowed and collapsed from blood loss. Standing over my fallen prey, I inspected my work. Scratch and bite marks everywhere, neck mangled, its blood all over me. Sighing, I bent down and grabbed the deer’s legs without thinking, two in each claw. I lifted the beast up and over my shoulders, and began the long trek home. It didn't end up taking too long, as to my surprise the deer felt as though it weighed close to nothing; and I was pretty sure it wasn’t because it was light. Testing my strength, I leapt and ran about until finally reaching the hole in the stone wall.

I dropped the dead deer in front of Rehm before jumping into the pond to wash off the grime and blood. After getting out and returning to Mother’s side, she opened her eyes and addressed me.

“Sufficient, for a first hunt. You chose one of the more difficult prey in the forest to hunt.”

I uh, I did?

“Indeed, Yellow-eyed deer can be quite evasive, and have an ability to induce nausea in an attacker. For such a young dragon, it can be troublesome.”

It did seem very alert to noise, but nothing so impossible.

“For a young dragon with a… normal body, it can be difficult to mask footsteps. Without magic to conceal sound, sneaking up on some prey is close to impossible. I suppose you don't quite have that problem.”

A normal body, huh. I briefly inspected my hands.

“It is unimportant, child. Now, you have killed your first prey, eat.”

Looking down at the deer corpse, I suddenly felt queasy. Nothing like the nausea from before, but realizing I wasn’t hungry to begin with made thinking about eating raw meat a bit uncomfortable.

Mother, you eat it. I’m not hungry.

After a moment, Rehm devoured the deer in a single bite and laid down comfortably around me. As her scales warmed me, I thought it was a bit silly to have no qualms about killing an animal but then feeling sick over eating it. Oh well. Some things wouldn’t change quickly, or maybe at all. I had seventeen years of experience living as a human, so old instincts would stick around for a while. Getting comfortable, I eventually fell asleep.