《I'm a Harpy Now I Guess》


 Harpy Birthday 1

    Darkness was the only word to describe what I was experiencing. The dark void completely enveloped my consciousness as I float aimlessly within this space. It was like drowning as sounds of moving water shifted in my ears, yet I wasn''t suffocating.


    What was this?


    Where am I?


    Why can''t I see anything?


    These thoughts eventually came to mind as I tried to reach towards into the darkness. A hard surface was felt against my skin. It was strangely warm to the touch. Naturally, I pressed my whole body against it.


    So warm¡­


    Then suddenly the surface shifted, or rather my entire body did. It felt like falling over as the warm exterior became the floor.


    Did gravity shift under me?


    There was no way I could tell. I started to pull myself up from the ground before hitting something above me. Reaching my arms I felt yet another hard exterior, with similar warmth of the lower one. Slowly I realized that I was fully surrounded, causing me to feel unusually cramped. In an attempt to stretch my arms and legs, the enclosed space prevented me from reaching anywhere.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    I knew I had to get out of this confined space. I started to push against the surface with all my strength. The exterior held an amount of resistance before budging. I heard a muffled cracking as edges appeared along the smooth surface and floor. With a final push, my arms struck through, revealing a blinding light and unfamiliar voices muffling within my ears. Instinctively I gagged and coughed as if something was stuck in my throat the entire time. Then I breathed for the first time.


    What appeared outside the darkness was a bizarre flood of blinding colors, disorientating sounds, and a familiar warmth. My eyes took time to adjust to my new environment before slowly focusing on a large figure above me, ruffling me and my skin. Muffled sounds slowly registered as a foreign voice. The figure above me was a woman, with other equally bizarre features as the rest of these last moments.


    She had white ruffled hair and yellow eyes, her chest was laid completely bare. What was more eye-catching was the fact that she had no normal limbs of any sort. Her two forearms were replaced with snow-white wings with claws embedded at the tip of their ends, extending out completely around me. Her lower torso was human, also laid bare, but her legs were patterned in a yellow scale-like surface as she crouched. The two legs were bird legs equipped with talons that look like they could pierce most things that come to mind. A long feathery tuft extended from her behind.


    A large nest made out of soft knitted brambles and cloth surrounded us both. Leftover fragments of what appears to be a shell were left scattered across the ground as I turn my view downwards to see that I was in a recently hatched egg. Confusion turned into clarity as things slowly became clear to me. I was just born and this creature above me granting me warmth was my mother. ''Why do I know this?'', was a question that prioritized itself above all else. The best answer I could come up for this was:


    I have been reincarnated as a harpy.

 Harpy Birthday 2

    After what felt like years, "it" finally gained back it''s consciousness in proper form. However, what followed after was utter confusion.


    Just what the heck was going on? What happened to me?


    "It" entered a completely foreign vessel that was unable to maintain consciousness for long periods, and still wasn''t able to properly recall information. Therefore "it" wasn''t able to understand the sounds of a baby crying fading in and out along with its consciousness, nor why it felt a sudden shame each time it happened.


    After some time, "it" finally got the gist of what was happening after the first memory it created, yet even then, it only further added to its confusion. "It" clearly remembered being on the rooftop of the Yokohama highschool. Snapping back to reality, "it" was faced with a familiar, warm creature grooming its hair. Memories kept resurfacing and the first word that came to mind to best explain the creature above me was the word "harpy".


    An unexplainable situation. The multitude of questions and doubts kept piling on and on. Harpies were only supposed to be in fiction, works of mythology as a way to explain the unexplainable. Furthermore, the scene around me consisted of mountains covered in greenery. Forests that expanded like it the sea itself. I was in a large nest built of out bundles of twigs and ferns with me and the harpy taking residence. It would make sense if this was a hallucination after a major accident of some sort, but all of this scenery was frighteningly real.


    Reincarnation¡­


    It was a trope used often in the types of novels I consumed. I never actually thought it was a real occurrence that happened. Was I sent here as punishment, judged necessary by an all-powerful god? Was this a supernatural accident fabricated by the devil? I had no way of confirming any of my suspicions.


    My mind was fully functional, but the same couldn''t be said for my abnormal body. Instead of arms, I had wings with barely grown white feathers. Instead of hands, I had three foreclaws with talons embedded in each of them. Instead of legs, I had thighs of yellow tarsus and forefeet out of talons and claws. All of these parts I had yet to get used to, so all I could do is sit and be groomed by "it''s" mother.


    As seasons passed, I slowly grew accustomed to this body of mine.


    During this time I was able to contemplate my situation. Only pieces and fragments of my past life came to me, mostly in non-chronological order. So far I wasn''t able to recall my previous name or even gender. However, I do recall being from a country called Japan, as a few customs and cultural ideas had stuck with me. I attempted to recall previous family members, friends, and acquaintances, but their faces were a haze when I envisioned them. Most memories were like this, which only became even blurrier the harder I tried to recall them.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Only one memory stood out from the rest. One clear feeling any creature could identify with at one point in their lives. The will to live.


    Specifically, I felt this when I fell off the school rooftop, a dozen stories high. I was standing near the ledge looking out towards the busy streets and tall buildings in front of me. School ended and I waited thereupon a request of another student. That person was standing right beside me as we spoke to one another. Words were exchanged and lose ideas were tossed around, then solace laughter, but silence soon followed. As if planned we both stepped up on to the ledge and looked down below. We counted as if we rehearsed this multiple times before. Then the next thing I knew, I was already falling towards my death.


    The cold winds and deafening noise all rushed past my ears and vision as I plummeted towards the concrete. My heart was bursting out of my body as my muscles tightened to brace for impact. The fear of death gripped me tightly before my vision finally went to black.


    This painful feeling in my heart increased as an unknown pressure built up around me. This deep feeling in my chest, it was almost as if something had gripped my very soul. I didn''t know if this was regret or something much more than that, but at this point, I stopped desiring to recall any more due to fear of the pain getting worse.


    After some time, I''ve come to realize that this world¡¯s language was structurally similar to my previous one, so I quickly came to understand my mother. Frighteningly quick in fact.


    This was strange because I remembered being terrible at learning new languages. I figured this was due to this new body of mine, which was similar to getting new hardware or simply having a more capable brain to understand this information. Based on mother''s explanation, it was because monsters supposedly mature at a rapid pace, being composed of this world¡¯s magic and all.


    Magic was a phenomenon that existed in this world. No, it was more like it was one of the major foundations for life and how beasts functioned and sustained life for more threatening creatures. Superior creatures that thrived living off of magical beasts were called monsters. All monsters are naturally gifted at an inherent magical skill to help hunt magical beasts. They also can learn and develop at an extraordinary pace to survive in this world to compete with other monsters. It was the way of this world as mother explained.


    As I grew, I learned to be more wary of mother, for she wasn¡¯t as compassionate as I had initially thought. According to her, I had two siblings before me. Both of them were born defective and she promptly had killed due to it. I was fortunate enough to have not shared the same fate as them for I had no problems growing up. All mother did to raise me was by feeding raw meat from various magical beasts in the forest and occasionally answered many of my questions. She shared this information freely and was impressed with my curiosity and vastly expanding knowledge of the world around me.


    Eventually, the time had finally come where I grew fully accustomed to this body and had developed my wings to its full form. At mother''s discretion, it was time for me to leave the nest.

 Resurfacing 1

    It was then I realized my mother wasn''t as compassionate as I thought.


    Soon enough I was already plummeting from the high mountaintops and into the green sea of trees. My first reaction was to flap my wings as frantically as I could, but no matter what I tried I was still rapidly seeing the trees getting closer and closer. Then soon, painful emotions swelled in me. Flashes of my life started to reappear before my eyes. I could barely register any of these visions before I felt a sharp pain from hitting the green sea''s surface. Before I knew it-


    Snap!


    A sharp pain was the first thing I remember. My head was pounding at me with a heavy sense of dizziness. I opened my eyes. Blurry visions of red crimson liquid were all over. The same red liquid dripped from my eyes and nostrils. I turned my head around the hard burning asphalt to see another figure laying across me. His long white hair stained in a pretty red color. It was a student- no a friend who was on that rooftop with me. I swore I could have heard the sound of his laughter a second ago, but now he rests there unmoving. Breathing was painful and my heart felt like it was going to be crushed. Despite that, I tried to squirm, but the overwhelming pain paralyzed me in place. All I could do was look at the back of his head as his blood seeped out to mix with mine.


    As I laid there staring helplessly, no matter the clarity of this memory, it still didn''t answer one question that stood in the back of my mind.


    Why?


    From one moment to the next, I couldn''t ponder this thought for long. I jolted up fully awake and fully aware of my surroundings.


    Another sharp pain ebbed from my lower right lower half. I lifted myself back up to see that the ground wasn''t stained in blood, but of fresh grass and dirt. A crowd of trees scanned around me as wildlife scattered about hiding beneath their burrows. Sounds of chirping, birds alerting signs of danger rang in my ears.


    I examined where the pain was coming from. My right ankle bent unnaturally to the right, it''s completely snapped. The dull pain slowly became more and more acute as I am now aware of this. I braced myself, gritting my teeth as I sharply exhaled a moment of pain. The agony I''m experiencing keeps reminding me how real this world is, that I''m alive, but most notably, alone.


    Looking up at the sky it seems to be already dark. My eyes are well adjusted to the dark, but that wasn''t the main issue. It doesn''t seem that my mother came to retrieve me after shoving me out of the nest.


    How ruthless could she be? She probably thinks I''m dead. With my foot, I can''t even imagine trying to climb back up there.


    Looking behind me, there''s a large cliffside of stone and red clay. A mountain that rises dizzyingly high. It''s a miracle that I even survived at that height. No, it was a miracle that I was born in the first place. My mother told me once that my two previous newborn sisters were killed by her due to some defects they had. I was the only healthy child of that hatch of eggs. She surely must be disappointed by now. Turning my head back, what''s in front of me was darkness and numerous trees hiding various beasts and creatures within.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Not good. At the moment I don''t think I can attempt to fly again anytime soon or even walk for that matter. I''m so screwed¡­ No, I can''t think that, not after I''ve gotten this far!


    I slapped my cheeks together, which proved to be a terrible idea considering that I now had bird claws for hands. This time I rubbed my cheeks with my feathery arms to wipe away the blood I endured from my head. Gripping my twisted ankle, I grabbed a nearby broken off twig and bit hard with my mouth. In one small swoop, I snapped both my foot back and the twig. The pain was insufferable, but I''ve endured a lot to get here. Spitting out the broken twig, I aligned it against my now straight ankle and searched for something to bind it with. All I could do was to makeshift some string out of the stalks of some ferns.


    Tying up the injury the best I could, I pulled myself up and attempted to apply some pressure on my right foot. Pain shot straight to my head. It wasn''t happening. Hopping on one foot and leaning against one tree after another, I continued to find some shelter quick. I couldn''t afford to linger within my thoughts due to the circumstances. My senses were on high alert due to the danger the forest presented. A couple of hours have passed and I''ve already felt exhausted from hiking with only a foot. I judged that I didn''t travel all that far, wherever I''m going.


    The land was proved itself to be uneven so it was difficult navigating from one area to the next. The fact that it was dark out and monsters my mother warned of existed within these woods doesn''t help in the slightest. Luckily with my acute vision, I could sense danger around me at a moment''s notice. Danger which was happening at this very second.


    A pair of red eyes peered from the dark thickens. Numerous trees and bushes were obscuring its figure, but I knew well enough that I must avoid it if at all possible.


    The mysterious and dangerous figure a few dozen meters away from me continued to stare at me. I instinctively took a step back, but then it started to bolt after me in my direction. Panicked, my eyes darted left and right for a place to hide, but there was only rotten up logs and vines hanging from the trees.


    Wait. The vines!


    I wasted no time at all in using my claws and talon to hoist myself up the tree using the vines. A few of them were slippery, but I had to put faith into my grip that I wouldn''t fall. Rough savage barking hit my ears in the distance, which only made my climb even faster. One foot after another, I scurried up the trunk of the tree with my right foot tucked in underneath me. My talons wrapped around the vines until I eventually lifted my leverage against a stable tree branch. A loud snap of a jaw jumped right under me as I peered down to see fangs missing me by a few inches. Frightened, I quickly climbed in dear life to an even higher branch right above me.


    Below me was a huge wolf the size of a bear. It''s fur shined in a silvery color under the moonlight. Gnarls emitted from its scrunched up nostrils, obviously not amused as it attempted to scratch off the bark of the tree. Fortunately for me, this tree was large enough to withstand the weight of this monster. This silver wolf would have been the end of me if I didn''t have eyes that could see dozens of meters in the dark. I inhaled and exhaled a sigh of relief.


    Truly staying up in high places was the best defense against savage beasts that walk on land. If only I figured out how to fly sooner, then I wouldn''t even be in this mess.


    I took a couple of breaths before glancing down below me. It still revealed the silver wolf encircling the base of the tree, pacing back and forth as it waits impatiently before clawing at the tree again in frustrated gnarls and barks.


    "Oh, quiet will you! Go away! I have a lot on my plate already." I retorted in my frustration. Of course, the beast couldn''t understand the sounds I was uttering with my breath, and it continued to bark until it laid on the ground.


    Tsk. How persistent of you. Well whatever, I need to sleep as well. I''ll deal with you tomorrow.


    Grabbing whatever vines, I tied them around my waist as a precaution before going to sleep. I wouldn''t want to fall off into the mouth of the beast while I take my long deserved rest.

 Resurfacing 2

    The chimes of chirping disturbed my rest. Lifting my eyelids, a bright ray of sunlight blinded me momentarily before I almost lost my balance. The vines caught around my waist before I fell off the tree branch. I instinctively grappled onto the tree''s bark with my talons, pressing myself against its surface for dear life. Snapping myself awake, I quickly glanced downwards to see that the beast has already left.


    I could only sigh as I relaxed my muscles. The present danger was gone, but it was still alive out there. I muttered a small prayer, one that hoped the silver wolf only hunted at night. It wasn''t a prayer to any specific god in particular, rather if there was one I would gladly start to demand answers for my predicament.


    I turned my attention to the trees. Sunlight shown through the narrow gaps among the leaves, birds were chirping and smaller critters scampered beneath the bushes. At least that was a good sign that there wasn''t any greater danger around like that beast I''ve encountered yesterday.


    Glancing at my right foot, I could see no noticeable swelling of any sort. I tried to feel my talons. No pain, not even a sting. I attempted to move my ankle and it seemed to have no problem like it wasn''t broken in the first place. Sitting upright, I folded my leg so I could get a better look at my right foot. First removing the dried up flower stalks, then the two broken twigs from the night before. I shifted my foot around in a circular motion, feeling all my talons and nothing felt out of place.


    "What the heck?"


    This was beyond weird, but then again I had a harpy for a mother and met a wolf the size of a bear that tried to eat me. Well, I wasn''t going to complain.


    Does that mean that creatures in this world can mend wounds simply by sleeping? That''s pretty scary to think about. I sincerely hope that''s not the case.


    A loud rumbling erupted and has caught my ears. I patted down my stomach as I held the pain in with gritted teeth.


    I''m starving...


    My attention turned to the creatures still scurrying around beneath the bushes. It doesn''t seem that they have noticed my presence yet.


    Meat.


    As long as its something to numb the pain away, I''ll eat anything. My diet entirely consisted of raw carcasses and dead animals since I came into this world. Not once have anything mother force-fed me have gotten me sick, so it was safe to say that eating whatever was in that bush won''t kill me. Hopefully.


    Staring into the bushes, I don''t see how my talons could pierce through the thickens. I''d have to get them to come out somehow. Taking the leftover twigs from my makeshift wooden cast, with an underhanded throw I tossed them to the opposite side of the ferns from where I was. The impact of the wood has stirred a reaction and what appeared was scurrying sounds fleeing towards the base of the tree where I was perched.


    I instinctively swooped down from the tree, extending my legs and talons to were my prey was about to flee into.


    Gotcha!


    Whatever I caught was tight and secure within my left foot. I lifted it with ease, only standing with my right foot. It was some kind of wild mouse. Its tiny claws attempted to squeeze out of my talons, but its effort proved fruitless under my iron grasp. With a large thud, I smashed the creature''s skull into the ground. It didn''t quite kill it so I had to bang its head against a rock. That time it worked.


    I picked away at its body and made sure to eat around the bones. Even if I was able yo eat raw meat, I didn''t want to have some kind of indigestion or injury with some sharp objects down my throat. Picking the last bits of red meat around the eye sockets, I gulped down the rest of my morsel. It was barely much, but I was very satisfied with my catch.


    "First try too! Hah. I bet every meal is going to be this easy."


    I soon later spent the rest of the morning eating my own words as I haven''t caught a single morsel.


    <hr>


    "Ergh..." I wandered around the forest aimlessly, wobbling around slightly for exerting too much energy failing to catch any small meals. The thought of turning back crossed my mind more than once, but I knew I couldn''t go back home. My mother didn''t want me anymore as I was kicked from the nest. Even if I wasn''t, I don''t have the energy to attempt flying, much less climbing the way back there.


    "I hate this... how the hell did mother find and kill all these animals? She never told me how. Damn it, what a lousy parent she is. Don''t you want your child to succeed? Urgh..." I kicked the dirt in frustration. After exerting myself the entire morning with no reward, and with an empty stomach, I was understandably grouchy with the situation. "Damn it all..."


    However, amid my frustrations, I could feel that my ears have picked up something. Voices. Sounds of talking. My pointy ears perked up to listen closely. As I crept closer to the voices, I could recognize proper words being emitted.


    "******* damn it! By **** it hurts so ******* much. ********! I''ll ******* kill those **** for not warning me that they already *** up ***** around here."


    It wasn''t my native language, but it was the same language that mother has taught me. Albeit there were some words I didn''t recognize. It was feminine, so probably a female. Obviously in great pain, if she was screaming that much. Could they be in trouble?


    I peeked through between the bushes to see a woman. She had no feathery features of any kind. She was fully clothed unlike mother and me. Leather and cloth, along with some pieces of silver in the mix of her clothing. Her face wasn''t all that pretty, but her hair reached under her shoulders. It was as red as the autumn leaves during midday. The only word that could describe it was scarlet. She also had round ears poking out of the sides of her head, so as far as I could tell, she was human.


    My nose also has picked up the scent of blood by the time I''ve heard her. Her leg was stuck in some kind of metal jaw on the ground, chained to multiple nails embedded into various rocks and barks of trees. It was a bear trap. I examined her for a bit longer and she seems to have been struggling with the gears and springs that caused the trap to pierce her leg. Every movement she made seemed to make the jaw tighter, seeping out more blood along with another yell of anguish.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    What made it even more strange was that even though I have been through the same injury myself, I felt no sympathy for that woman. I felt nothing at all. Not empathy or any of the sort. Just complete and utter apathy. I didn''t even flinch when the woman attempted to dig her nails into her bloodied red wound to pry open the jaw.


    As I leaned a bit too close, I accidentally pressed my foot over a twig cracking it. The woman in scarlet jumped, letting go of the jaw as it snapped back two inches into her leg. She released another scream of pain before quickly fumbling over a long shiny object to her side before eventually pointing it in my direction.


    "W-Who''s there! Show yourselves!"


    Crap.


    My cover was already blown so I stepped forward slowly. However, as I came into view I realized I have made a fatal mistake. I didn''t recognize it at first, but it was a musket and she was pointing it right at me. Panicked, I opened my mouth to speak.


    "Wait! I don''t mean to hurt you." I said aloud with the best of my ability. Most of the vocabulary my mother taught me was mostly about hunting and food, along with avoiding certain dangers, so my negotiation skills were at most questionable at the very least. Her leg was bleeding.


    "I come in..." Crap, how do I say ''peace''?


    "I''m no danger to you."


    The scarlet woman stared at me with big eyes, jaw open. It would be considered comical if it weren''t for the gun being pointed at me. A couple of seconds have passed before she spoke again with a more stern and steeled attitude. "You''re a harpy and a young one at that. What? Thought you could come here to finish the *** while I''m weak and injured? Well, I have **** for you ***." Her leg was still bleeding.


    I raised both my wings slowly up to the air slowly and calmly. "No, that''s not my." Damn, I can''t say ''intention''. "I''m not going to hurt you. You just seemed like you were in trouble. I just wanted to." Shit, I can''t say ''help" either.


    The woman gripped her musket slowly and clenched her teeth as her leg continued bleeding. "Yeah? Wanted to what?" She still seemed in disbelief that I''m still talking to her. I should count myself lucky that she hasn''t shot me yet. I can''t just run either as I''m still held at point-blank. Her leg continued to bleed.


    "I can have you escape." I remained steady at eye level, making no sudden moves that would cause her to pull the trigger.


    "What?" She looked at me quizzically. Her eyes showed confusion which I thankfully could recognize.


    "Yes. I can get you out of that." I pressed on further.


    "You... want to **** me?" She remained on guard. The woman was still pointing the musket at me but was wavering somewhat.


    That word. Was that it? Let''s hope this works. "Yes, I want to **** you," I said with as much as a serious expression I could muster, using the word she just used to ask me with.


    Please let it work.


    A couple more seconds have passed, but the bleeding hasn''t stopped. The smell of blood smelled almost nauseous, especially with my hunger ebbing away at my consciousness. In truth, it smelled delectable, like homemade curry on a cold winter day. I tried to steel my mind by telling myself that it smelled horrid instead.


    More than half of my thoughts now consisted of revolting smells, such as the scent of expired milk, garbage juice, or rotten fish. I forced myself to not stare at her open wound. The mere thought of sinking my teeth into that would end me with a bullet to the head.


    "Alright, but no tricks! I don''t want you singing anything. Understood?"


    Singing? What about singing? Sure my mother sang songs to help me go to sleep, but what does that have to do with anything?


    "Alright, I understand." I complied calmly.


    The red-haired woman lowered her gun, still gluing her eyes to me. My ears could barely hear her mutter something about her not believing that she''s doing something like this. I stepped forth and crouched down to the bear trap. It bit into her leg quite a bit. Looking at the contraption, I could tell that there was a bit of rust accumulating along with the places where the gears would be. Her blood dripped along the sides of the rims and wires.


    "So? You think you can do something about this?" The woman muttered impatiently, still a little on edge from me approaching her casually. It was this moment I started to regret offering to help when I didn''t know how to do that in the first place. Still, I put myself in this situation and I had to get myself out of it. Ignoring her statement, I could see a broken-off lever on the side of the contraption.


    Was that supposed to be some safety latch? Did she break it?


    Of course, I had no way of knowing for sure considering that I''ve never seen a bear trap before in real life. All that I could determine that the latch did something. Seeing that I could risk breaking her leg if I messed with it, I asked "Hey what is this?" and pointed to the broken lever.


    "Oh, that? That was broken when I found it. I tried pulling it, but my fingers couldn''t reach." She explained in a full sentence, one that I could understand. It was a little disturbing since I learned the word ''fingers'' due to it being mother''s favorite snack to eat. I shook my head as I forced myself to stop thinking about food. My stomach gave an annoying growl. Her blood still was gathering in a dark pool in front of me.


    In any case, if she tried pulling it already then I guess it''s safe for me to do so too. Well here goes nothing.


    "Wait, are you planning to- wait hold on!"


    Too late. I already used my long talons to jimmy the latch open. It was then that the jaws of the trap lost it''s grip and released the crimson woman''s leg. She gasped in pain as she fell on her ass, grabbing her foot out of the trap as quickly as she can.


    "There. You''re safe."


    "Yeah... t-thanks..."


    And that''s my cue to leave. If I stayed much longer, I don''t think I would be able to control myself. The smell of blood is intoxicating. The hunger, unbearable. It was too much.


    I quickly went to leave.


    "Hey wait! Catch."


    Turning around momentarily, I had caught some kind of rectangular brown paper wrapping in my feathery claws. All tied up neatly in some white string. My eyes quizzically turned to the woman, only for her to avoid my gaze.


    "That''s just for helping me. Got that? Now scram before I change my mind."


    I didn''t need to be warned a second time. Leaving the small clearing, I got away from the smell as far as possible. The wrapping I carried didn''t feel like there was anything dangerous in it. The day seemed to have reached the evening by the time I''ve climbed up another tree to open the package in safety.


    Now... what do we have here?


    I carefully ran my claws along the knot where the string was tying up the brown paper. Undoing the string would allow me to reuse it and the paper. I wouldn''t want to waste precious material that could come useful later. However, what was most important than the wrapping was the contents of the package.


    "This is!"


    I unwrapped it fully. It was an entire loaf of bread. I ran my claws around the slightly hard surface, but once my claws have split the loaf into two, the insides revealed a soft spongy texture.


    I couldn''t pause myself for even a moment as I bit into the crust and spongey soft insides. The taste of pinnacle human agriculture touched my taste buds. Teardrops have dripped along the sides of my cheek and onto the rest of the bread''s crust, which should have given it a familiar salty taste. My ravenous hunger demanded sustenance, so I forced myself to gulp down my meal in only a few meager bites.


    I could only sit in silence as tears kept leaking out without my consent. I knew for a fact that these tears weren''t of tears of joy, it was instead remorse. It was a deep dark feeling that I have lost something essential as a human being.


    The bread tasted like rotten fish.