[color=598527][h3][i][/i][center]~~Ash~~[/center][/h3][/color]

[@Zeroth]

Warm.

That was the first thing Ashlyn felt as she felt herself floating in some dark, cramped void. It was difficult to think very much, suspended in this tight prison, and she might have felt a little claustrophobic if she could think clearly. The only thing she could feel now, though, was an urgent need to break the walls of this prison and free herself. The egg began to wiggle and crack, the young lizard inside using its claws and body to beat and scratch against the edges of the prison - she didn't have to try for long. The egg tumbled over, the top of the egg splitting open and spilling its yolk and the young lizard within onto the ground.

[color=598527][i]"Urf..."[/i][/color]

Ash's first memory of her new body was of sputtering, hissing lowly, spitting up some of the goop that had been filling the egg as she struggled to her feet, getting a feel for her new body. She quickly looked around, feeling something was...[i]off[/i] but not entirely registering what before scrambling off into the shadows with her brothers and sisters.

Her next memory would be far less pleasant.

For the next few hours, the lizard worked purely on autopilot, simply waiting and listening along with a few others for the chance to nab food. They had gotten lucky - a larger predator hadn't noticed them waiting quietly underfoot, camouflaging themselves with dirt from the caverns floor. As soon as its foot hit the floor, they swarmed the large beast, one of her brothers getting the first bite in, paralyzing the careless larger beast, and letting the others swarm it, devouring it whole as it's distressed cries began filling the air.

[color=598527][i]"H-huuh?"[/i][/color] It was around this time, Ash reclaimed her senses - the beast in front of her still alive as it was being devoured by the others. A large gash in its underbelly, ripped open as they feasted. The lizard leaped back in shock at the gruesome scene as she tried to make sense of the situation, green eyes flitting from each of the reptile to the predator they were devouring.

Right, something about some demon lord reincarnating her after she died? Huh, fancy that.

After the initial panic wore of, her much more rational mind took over as she calmed herself, eyes narrowing at the whole scene in thought. Well, she was hungry and it seemed she regained her senses in the middle of a feast. It was gruesome, but at the moment she didn't feel a need to so readily change the status quo at the moment. Free food was free food after all.

[hr]

After the initial surprise at her new situation, Ash spent the rest of the week exploring her new body and surroundings, content with merely observing everything from the shadows. She first thought the other lizards might be hostile, but for the most part they seemed perhaps a bit like pack animals - or perhaps opportunistic would be a more apt term. Ready to gorge themselves on any food they could find, and that one feast they had thanks to a careless predator. For the most part though - she found herself eating bugs and beetles from the ground and occasionally scavenging from other, larger predator's meals after they were done. For the most part, it was easy so long as she didn't get nabbed by some bigger predator, but perhaps she was simply being optimistic. She made sure to lay low and avoid other creatures too - especially the goblins, staying clear from their bonfire. She had no desire to become food or to test her lucky with something like a straight fight anytime soon.

Now that a week had passed though, she had far bigger concerns to worry about - like how to get out of here and how to possibly use this new life of hers to her advantage. She had always been one to go with the flow, do whatever it was others told or wanted of her without much fighting. Got her nowhere aside from a few hollow awards few places in life until she literally died of overwork.

...she wondered how many people attended her funeral?

...

[i][color=598527]"Now that's a horribly depressing thought. Here I am with a new life and I'm already being a nihilist. Aren't I just a wonderful ball of scaly sunshine."[/color] [/i] She shoved the thought out of her head as she skittered along the floor of the cavern, heading for the pool of water in the area as she resting at the side of the pool. Today, she was going to go about things on her own. None of the other lizards seemed too interested in anything other than eating, sleeping, and well...being animals. She reached the edge of the pool, glaring at her reflection in the dark pool.

[i][color=598527]"Oh good, I'm hideous."[/color][/i] She grumbled in thought to herself, holding the side of her scaly face with a claw as she shook her head. [i][color=598527]"Ugh, I swear to whatever gods exist on this place if I speak words with an annoying 'ssss' sound I'm going to save them the trouble of killing me."[/color][/i] Could she actually talk? She hadn't tried it, but she doubted she could with a body like this, and she didn't want to bring unnecessary attention to herself so she didn't try. Instead, she was more curious about those green plants growing here - plants needed sunlight. That was third grade science right there...so why were they growing here? Those blue crystals were also of interest, but she'd investigate them later.

She walked silently over to the herbs, giving them a sniff to see if they had any particular odor before trying to pluck a leaf from one and realizing quite quickly, claws were not going to be very helpful. Well, she supposed she could always try eating one - but it might also be poisonous, which for obvious reasons would be bad or her health. What were some things she could do to observe its effects? She'd need to see what it's chemical composition was made up of before anything, but she didn't have the technology to do anything here with it, and outright eating it would just be too dangerous.

...Well, for now she'd just wait and watch. She was getting a little hungry, so ambushing something roughly the same size as her should be easily done. She crouched low among the herbs, letting the grass settle around her before beginning to wait.