When Kristen was born a girl quite literally no one wanted her because women weren't allowed to lead the mafia. But that didn't mean they could kill her, and so, like any normal person would, they decided to stuff her and a single maid in a forgotten house on the edge of nowhere and ignore her for the rest of their lives. Or at least, that was the plan.
..
.
.
I woke up today thinking it would be the same as any other day.
Eat breakfast, read a book, eat lunch, read some more, eat dinner and go to sleep.
That was how every single day of my life had gone for the last 17 years when I was born.
Who could've predicted that the second I left the bed my door would be kicked down by some random goon that immediately aimed his gun and shot a hole through my chest.
For whatever reason, I didn't feel any pain from it. Almost as if I had accepted my fate before this had even happened.
Looking down I could see the blood gushing out and felt a growing sense of dread in my chest, 'I'm gonna die', I tried to think, but then everything went black.
I thought bitterly,
'wow, after all that, this is how quick it ends?'
..
.
.
After what seemed like an eternity a divine light flooded through the darkness and with it a warm, old voice. "Oh my, what a poor child".
Unable to see through the light, all I could do was listen.
"Don't worry I'll make sure that you get reborn into a higher realm where you'll have a prince charming and happy ending", hearing these words Kristen felt immense gratitude to this person...god?...saviour?
Either way she would hug them if she was able to feel her body, because currently the only thing she could sense was the intense light around her.
A falling sensation appeared out of nowhere, and although she didn't know it her memories were currently being erased to prepare her for her new life.
SPLINT!
In the middle of this process a shattering sound could be heard and all of her memories returned in a rush.
Baffled by this new development Kristen was only able to try and manage the headache that was forced upon her, but before she could even process what was happening she found that she could notice her consciousness slipping away, after that it all went black...for the second time that day.
.
.
..
A warm feeling enveloped Kristen.
'Mmmmmm it was so nice and relaxing, she thought, so nice and warm, little bit too warm, okayyy getting a little hot, WAY TOO HOT HELP ABORTABORT!'
Kristen opened her eyes and all she saw was black and so, like any sane person, she immediately started thrashing around until she managed to get out of her predicament.
She managed to make a hole in the darkness and rushed to lunge through it, landing face first onto a piece of wood and bruising her head with a nasty little bump.
'Shitttttttt, who the hell puts fucking stick right there?'
Rubbing her head with her hands she sat up and looked around and saw that she was...at the bottom of a birds nest?
Only then did she realise with a jolt that she wasn't rubbing her head with my hands and was actually rubbing it with...feathers?
Then the realisation of why she was in a birds nest hit her like a truck going a 100kms a hour.
'WHAT ACTUAL THE FUCK! NO! NO! FUCKKKK NO!' She pleaded internally to whatever god sent her here because she did NOT want to be reincarnated as FREAKING BIRD.
As soon as she spoke those words in her mind a status window appeared in front of her face.
[Level 7]
[Status:Newborn]
Exp:0/75
Name:Kristen
Race:Carrion Raven
Beast cores: 0
Evolution:Criteria not met
Lineage:None
Martial Arts:None
Divine Abilities:None
[Stats]
HEALTH:10/10
STRENGTH: 5
STAMINA:20/20
TOUGHNESS:2
[Titles:None]
[Skills]
Stab:lvl 1
Scratch:lvl 1
Appraisal:lvl 1
[Skill Points:1]
[Stat Points:5]
'Oh. OH. OH MY GOD. I'VE SEEN THIS BEFORE IN BOOKS. Wait, does that mean I have a system? Am I the main character? Actually, waaiiit a second. Is that skill appraisal the reason why I can see this? OH COME ONNN. Is this for real right now?
Taking a few breaths to calm herself down she looked at her surroundings and saw that she came out of a large egg the size of a basketball, eggshells everywhere.
Then she looked at herself and HOLY SHIT because she looked DAMN MAJESTIC.
Sleek, pristine feathers covered her half-a-meter long body, massive wings extended from her tiny shoulders with a sharp claw in the middle of each wing. A modest-sized tail protruded from the back of her body with small claws just before it and an extremely sharp beak below cold, unfeeling pitch-black eyes.
Kristen now looked like her previous human body had transformed into an animal.
As Kristen tried to get used to her new body and surroundings she saw eggshells on the ground beside and felt hunger in her stomach looking at them.
She tested what it tasted like with a small nibble and was surprised that it was actually good. Slurping up all the pieces of the shell around her she finally, for what seemed in like forever, got to have a moment of peace and quiet.
A sharp crack split the air beside her.
It wasn't loud, but in the suffocating stillness of the nest it sounded like thunder.
Kristen's head snapped toward the noise, fury still burning hot in her chest from her own violent birth. Fragments of shell shifted against one another, rolling slightly across the stone. Only then did she realise.
There had been another egg beside hers the entire time.
And it was already open.
A black shape burst from the shattered shell in a spray of liquid and jagged fragments. The hatchling didn't even hesitate.
It leapt.
Straight at her.
"Oomph!"
The impact knocked the breath from her lungs in a painful rush. The world tilted violently as the two of them tumbled across the nest, downy feathers and slick newborn skin sliding against one another.
Kristen's back struck the ground, air exploding from her chest again as tiny talons scraped uselessly against her shoulders.
The hatchling's wasn't actually dangerous but the suddenness, just after being introduced to this new, terrifying world was enough to make her head dizzy.
For a split second everything blurred. The scent of warm blood and crushed shell filled her nostrils. The other hatchling flailed wildly, wings beating in chaotic jerks as it tried to find balance despite having been born mere heartbeats ago.
It was disoriented.
Its neck twisted awkwardly. Its movements were frantic but unfocused, like a creature thrown into existence without warning.
And something deep inside Kristen stirred.
She got up off the ground and now she was the one attacking. Tackling her sibling to the ground she pinned its arms and legs against the nest and used her beak to tear its head clean off.
'....'
Kristen looked over in shock as she saw what she did.
She killed someone.
'Oh no oh no oh nononono'
She thought as she started hyperventilating. Trying to take a deep breath she accidentally inhaled a feather and started choking uncontrollably before spitting it out.
Calming her mind after killing someone and choking on a feather was no easy task and took her about 5 minutes of concentration to regain some sense of control.
Deciding to think about what she was going to do now she met a conundrum between the options that she had thought of.
Wait for her parents to come back to the nest or leave and not look back.
She was leaning towards the latter because she didn't know what her parents would be like and if they would eat because she remembered that when she was a human she read somewhere that cannibalism was a normal thing for animals to do.
She was pretty sure that she read that. Definitely that.
Whatever.
Although not knowing what was beyond the large nest she was currently in, it would certainly be better than being eaten by her parents.
'Fuuuu'
She breathed out as she began the climb to leave the nest. Using her little legs to climb up sticks and twigs, becoming more in tune with her new body the more distance covered.
Stumbling across a rather large stick she fell, once again, face first onto the walls of the nest.
Grumbling curses while pushing herself up she continued her journey and managed to reach the halfway point.
Taking a break she looked at her status window and saw that her skill [Stab] had leveled up to lvl 2.
Kristen wasn't that surprised because she killed someone with it, but what did surprise her was the fact that her strength had reached 10,
'oh, thats good' She thought happily about her improvement.
Using this happiness as fuel to reach the edge of the nest she got there in no time and finally managed to look out into the world.
'woah.'
That was her first thought when she looked out onto the looming canopy of trees in front of her, it went on for so long that you couldn't even see the end of it.
Trying to get a better view she shifted on the twigs she was standing on but this caused it to fall down off the nest and take her with it.
'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKK!'
One could hear a small black bird shrieking if they listened close enough.