Rayna suddenly gasped for breath.
She opened her eyes.
All she could see was a greyish white background. She tried to move but she couldn't. It was too much of a compact space.
"Wait, what the heck is this? Where am I? Wasn't I in my room and fell on the floor? Oh but, I can no longer feel any pain. Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? But why the hell is this place so suffocating and small? I can't even move properly!", Rayna was agitated.
She realized she was within something. However, she was claustrophobic. So, she panicked and immediately tried to move out and break free of whatever she was in.
"I need to get out of here!"
Suddenly she yelped. The barrier cracked. Her legs broke out of the barrier. She moved and wiggled more desperately. She needed air. Her arms were now out too.
"Just need to break this now. A little more. Please."
And the thing cracked open. She was able to pop her head out. But her eyes were blinded by light.
She covered her eyes. Slowly she opened her eyes and squinted. She looked around. "Why is it so hot in here?" As she walked around, she looked up. The sky was blue, and the clouds were fluffy white. But this place had high rugged walls on both the side.
"What is this place? It's so hot and warm. I need to get out of here."
As Rayna was figuring out, she looked down. "Wait why am I like this? All bare without a single piece of clothing!".
Feeling embarrassed she quickly covered herself with her hands and looked around. She found a black cloth. She had no idea why it was there, who would have kept it there, but she was feeling glad she found it. It was of thick material but had a smooth texture. She wrapped it around herself. It was quite long in length so she could wrap herself with it and tied a knot around her neck.
"Well, a doable dress for now, but how do I get out of here?"
She looked around for any tool she can use to climb out of there, but she found nothing. Just some eggshells sort of.
Wait, Eggshells!?
"Did I crack and come out of there? Seriously? No wonder it felt so compact and suffocated. But why was I in an egg!? A damn egg! And this hot and humid place. An egg here? Why?" Rayna wondered.
She was now feeling frustrated. First her hectic life, her collapsing and now cracking out of an egg that too in an unfamiliar place. Could she not even reach her afterlife?
"Wait, is this hell? That explains why it is so hot. But hell surely wouldn't have such a pretty blue sky." Rayna looked up and sighed.
She then tried to climb up the walls but every time her feet couldn't stay on the walls and she fell down. Her 22 attempts in total went in vain.
She looked up at the sky and sighed. She was feeling trapped. And she hated that feeling. One of her childhood dreams just like many of us maybe, was to fly freely in the sky.
"I wish I could just fly up like the birds and get out of here. It would have been so much easier just flap my wings and whoosh!"
Suddenly she felt a sensation on her back. She felt heavy, as if something was hanging and was attached to her back.
She looked behind to inspect, and her eyes widened in shock.
"Wait wings! Really? But how did they...no I mean why are they attached to my back?"
She jumped in joy and excitement.
But she slowly observed her wings. The weren't feathery like she had imagined in her fantasy childhood dream. They were black and scaly. And they looked like the wings of a bat. And they had two thorns at the end of it.
She was even more surprised when she looked down and found that she had a tail.
"Wait, a tail!? Am I a reptile? But a reptile with wings like this? I can't remember anything like this."
Rayna was bewildered. She moved her tail. She also tried to move her wings. And they did move.
She tried to flap her wings more. She wanted to get out of whatever place she was in. She imagined the birds taking off flight from the ground.
"Yes Rayna, you can do it! Let's get out of this damn hot and humid place!"
She slowly felt her body is being lifted up. Her feet are no longer touching the ground.
"Yess a bit more! Please a bit more."
But suddenly she felt herself falling down. No! No!
Thud.
Rayna crashed on the ground. She was not successful in getting out.
"Well even newborn birds fall down while trying to fly. Don't lose hope Rayna."
She forced herself to have an optimistic mind. However, her head was swarming with negative thoughts. "What if I'm stuck here forever? What if I am not able to get out ever? I don't even have food or water here how will I survive here? What did I do to deserve this? Why did all of this have to happen to me?"
Rayna sniffled. No. No. She has to try. She has the wings, she just needs enough power and determination to get out of there.
"Let's try again."
With sheer determination Rayna concentrated. She focused, to transfer all her might and power to her wings. Just like she uses her hands she imagines flapping her wings and flying.
Rayna flapped her wings. She again soared a few feet above the ground. She focused and did not allow herself to get distracted.
"I need to get out of here! Fly up! Fly up!"
She felt herself flying up. She looked down the ground which was far below from her now. She looked up at the sky.
"I will fly and get out of here no matter what!"
And whoosh!
Rayna was struck by a ray of sunlight. A gush of wind softly touched her face. Her eyes widened. All she could see was vast acres of green lush forests.
And she was flying! Up in the sky! She was flying in the blue sky the one which seemed so far away just moments ago!
"Yes! Yes! I did it! I'm so happy!" Rayna exclaimed with joy.
She lost her balance a bit, but she fixed it almost immediately.
"Still need to be careful I guess."
Rayna looked around to examine her environment. What exactly was the place that was so hot and in which she was trapped in?
She looked down.
"What the heck? A volcano!?"
"I was trapped in an egg, inside a damn volcano!? Well, that answers my questions. I'm lucky it wasn't an active volcano or I would have been roasted meat the moment I came out of the egg. But why am I inside a volcano that too in the middle of a forest? There is no city around here. I cannot see any buildings or anything. As far as my eyes go, I can only see a green landscape."
Rayna decided to fly a bit more. She was feeling confused. She just couldn't wrap her head around it. The situation in which she was in. As she was flying, she noticed something soaring in the sky. She squinted her eyes. A bird maybe. She decided to fly towards it. But as she went closer to it she could feel the size of the bird getting bigger.
"Oh a big bird? But such a big bird? I have never seen such a large size bird even in the discovery wildlife channels."
"The bird's sharp yellow eyes snapped towards me. I froze. It sent a chill down my spine. Was the bird looking at me? A stupid question. Of course the only beings, flying in the sky, was that bird and me so he was looking at me only. But he was constantly directing his gaze at me."
Raya felt nervous. Such a big bird staring at her. The bird had dark blue feathers and its eyes were sharp and glowing.
The bird slowly approached her. Rayna wondered why he came close to her.
Kraa! Kraa!
It was a shrill and loud sound. Rayna tilted her head.
"What? Was the bird saying something to me?" Rayna thought.
Seeing no response the bird came closer.
"Is it going to attack me?"
The bird came so close that its wings clashed with Rayna's.
Rayna lost her balance. She started falling. "Wait no! I'll definitely get hurt as hell if I fall from this height!"
She felt her body falling down rapidly. She flapped her wings but the speed of her descent was really fast. She looked up and saw the bird flying towards her.
"That damn bird! If I survive, I'll kill you!"
Rayna tightly shut her eyes awaiting the impact. She fell between the trees in the forest.
And thud.