Warmth surrounded me. It enveloped me, along with darkness. The darkness could be forgiven, because it was so warm…too warm. I tried to move. My body struggled against the weight pushing down around me, and lost.

The panic start to come, as I thrashed about with what minimal space I had, to no avail. I went still, exhausted from those few seconds, and pushed the panic down. I tried to think.

First of all, where was I? No no no, more importantly, who am I? I searched my mind for an answer, and came up empty. Desperate, I tried to recall any clues about my identity and how I ended up in this damn furnace.

Wait, what the hell is a ‘furnace’? And what is ‘hell’? I couldn’t recall any details, but it felt right using the words in that way. Hmm…

As much as I tried, nothing came, so I decided first order of business was to get out of this weird toaster oven of darkness. As I tried to recall these new mystery words, I felt my way slowly around the edges of my prison. Moving to the edges was difficult, and I realized that I was in fact partially covered in an oozing liquid.

Pushing through this liquid, I traced my arm around the edges, and realized that I was in a sphere of some sort, or at least something close. Reaching the apex of the sphere, my left arm-which I now gathered didn’t feel quite right-felt a slight incline. I tried pushing against the top, but nothing happened.

Frustration and the panic from earlier set in once again, as I tried to push upwards. Anger flowed into me and I head butted the wall of my confines.

*craack*

I gazed in astonishment as slits of light shone through the crack I had just made with what I assumed to be my nose. I quickly smashed my face into the opening until the side of the oval gave out, and the liquid poured out. I could now see that it was clear, not that I cared about the color, I was much more concerned with the light.

I followed the streams of light and came upon a peculiar sight: nettles. Well, mostly nettles. I was standing on a mix of branches, nettles, and pebbles. I looked up to see a wall of the same, curving around me.

I spun around to see something even more worrying; three dark grey ovals resting on the needles. Panicking, I turned to look back to where I had come from, to see exactly what I feared: a dark grey oval, identical except cracked and in pieces.

As my mind raced, I was brought back to attention by cracking sounds from the other ovals, as one by one, three tiny, black-haired heads emerged, covered in clear ooze.

Frozen out of shock, I didn’t dare move as one of the baby creatures turned to me, and let out a single, strangled “kaak”.

As I stood staring at the three noisy individuals, a word sprung forth in my mind: bird.

Oh no Oh why please no…

I quickly stumbled around my own oval, hiding from the creatures, collapsed on the soft branches. How could this have happened??? Does this mean that I’m a... nonononono! I am not a bird, and this oval is not an egg! Those are just…giant baby birds… and I’m a…a…

I thought a moment, trying to grasp what I was, and again came up empty. An odd feeling washed over me; I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be a bird, but I couldn’t quite place what my true being was.

Snapped out of my daze by a chorus of “kaaks”, I looked down at my own body. Alright, two feet, two arms, everything’s all there! Or not.

My stomach was fuzzy, albeit damp, and a dark grey color. My ‘feet’ were talons consisting of three small toes in the front and one on the heel, all ending in miniscule sharpened points. My ‘arms’, were in fact two fuzzy wings, lacking anything that could make me fly, again the same color of my stomach.

I tried gazing at my left ‘arm’, only to realize I could not bring it all the way up. I frantically looked back and forth between my two… appendages, let’s call them, and quickly comprehended that the left was clearly shorter and stubbier than the right.

I slowly peered around the edge of my previous prison cell, checking to see if the annoying ‘kaak’ birds were still in their cells, only to realize that they had all gone silent. All three were staring over the edge of our needle platform, mesmerized. I tried to tiptoe near the side to see over, but to no avail.

I attempted to climb up the side using my left and right appendages, and my nose, which I still wasn’t ready to admit was probably a beak, and was nearing the top when a dark form swept past me, followed by a gust of wind that blew me headfirst into the center of the nest.

Struggling upright, I looked towards the looming figure that had stopped my assumed siblings from making their gurgling noises.

Resting on the edge of a rock bordering the nest, were two enormous talons, with edges designed for efficient killing. Attached these two weapons was a slim yet powerful body, coved by feathers black as night that still glimmered with the sun. Each individual feather reflected a faint purple or blue hue that dazzled the eyes, yet instilled a sense that they were crafted for soaring through the sky at unimaginable speeds.

My gaze finally reached the head of this magnificent creature, seeing a dark beak and more of those dazzling feathers. As I reached the beast’s eyes, my heart stopped. Glaring back at me were two piercing bright yellow eyes, which seemed to capture me and freeze my body. They searched me, and seemed to understand everything about me, even if I couldn’t.

As the towering creature turned its attention to the three babies, I shrunk back into the floor, trying to hide myself in the mottled nettles and branches.

Well, it seems my time had come. A bird of death had arrived to kill and feast upon myself and the three helpless younglings. Well, not that I was any more capable than them; I could barely climb the edge of the nest.

I turned back to the predator and its next meal, ready to face death with honor and whatnot, regretting the short life I had lived in this foreign body, and morose over the unanswered questions I still held.

What I saw was not quite right: the demon of the night hellspawn creature (I still didn’t understand what it meant, but it felt like a good way to describe the beast) was choking on something. Maybe my poor siblings had been eaten, and had taken the winged beast out as well? I quickly checked to see that no, the babies were still all there, now with their beaks spread open straight up.

The beast gagged once more, and a substance fell out of its beak into the waiting jaws of one of my siblings, who proceeded to swallow it and “kaak” happily.

The realization dawned on me.

Mom was home.