Night falls, making the cave pitch black.
I, a baby crow, was now the proud owner of one green goblin.
Now the question was, what am I going to do with this guy.
Greenie doesn’t have any confusion about what he wanted to do, kicking aside the bones and broken armor and snuggling into the cold ground like it was any comfortable bed. What a hardy creature he was. My nest was more comfortable than that.
I’d also discovered another new finding about crows. They weren’t nocturnal animals. I couldn’t see a thing in the dark.
The only reason I was able to see Greenie getting ready for bed was through the loud clanging noises of iron and bone clanging together as he pushed it aside and the glow from Greenie’s eyes.
Goblins had night vision and glowing eyes, but not crows. Now that was a piece of information I would have never thought to consider.
You put me in a fantasy world, but don’t give a bird glowing eyes? Sounds like someone had slacked off on the finer details. It would probably be the same being that brought me here.
Being black and all, shouldn’t I be able to see in the dark? I was a bird that practically embodied the night and its darkness. You would think I would be able to have night vision.
It was getting colder, the breaths of the goblin misting white in the air as he fell asleep, closing his eyes and shutting out the only dim source of light available.
Though I’m not sure how exactly Greenie the goblin had become my pet, I was a lot more comfortable with him now, knowing that he didn’t want to eat me.
I hop and flap towards the general vicinity of where his eyes had last glowed, and arrange myself to sit on his stomach. His thick rough skin emitted a slight heat, and it was better than the hard ground. Another bonus was that it was quiet.
Ahh-
Sweet silence!
No annoying baby chick squeaks and squawks here!
Since the moment the light shimmered around the goblin, the faint feelings of hunger, fear, and sleepiness had been on my mind, somehow separate from my own feelings. It wasn’t my hunger, since my small chick body was full from gorging myself on Greenie’s pink meat.
These were Greenie’s emotions. As his owner, I could feel his emotions now. They were simple emotions, the goblin’s emotional capacity only able to focus on one at a time, so he would cycle through them. It was different from the way I felt, where I could feel a mixture of emotions. If Greenie was scared, he was scared. If he was hungry, he was hungry.
He had been sleepy, so he slept.
After becoming his master, I understood why he wanted me to be his pet. Greenie was scared of me, yes. But he was lonely too. Seems like there were other goblins out there, though I don’t know why he was here all alone by himself.
From the excitement I felt from him when he looked at me sometimes, he was expecting something from me.
Me, I was glad he wasn’t hungry when he looked at me.
Deep down, I was happy for the company. Though weird, Greenie was nicer than my crow siblings. He was smart too, knowing how to deal with the emerald snake.
Also, it made more sense for me to hang around here with Greenie the goblin.
I didn’t care about going back to the nest anymore. I was a bird. Birds all eventually left their nests anyways.
More than that, right now, I wanted to eat food. Real food!!! Like juicy hamburgers and spaghetti dripping in meat sauce. Chocolate ice cream. Ramen noodles. I want human food!!
The pink meat worked fine to stave off the hunger. Yep, it was a big step up from the baby bird food, but I was already craving the food that I knew existed in abundance back in that hazy other world.
In this fantasy world with goblins, I’m sure there would be humans, or races similar to humans out there that could cook.
Like elves! And dwarves! Maybe even fairies!
Did fairies eat fairy bread? What kind of meat was out there, waiting for me to devour them? I feel like dwarves would make a mean soup. My inner feeling was saying they would.
Just thinking about all the new cuisine ripe for the picking was making me super excited.
I blink my crow eyes, shaking my head at myself.
It was too early to get excited about that stuff.
Who knows what other creatures were out there, hungry for some baby chick meat. Though I wouldn’t be much of a meal, I was easy pickings. Not even a few meters away from the cave, and I had almost died.
I had almost died.
I-
The thought sunk in with all the finality and swiftness of a guillotine.
My heart starts to beat frantically in my chest. This was a strange new world! I wasn’t even human anymore!!
I was gonna die! I was gonna die! I was gonna-!
A wave of calmness automatically floods into my head, and my erratic breaths even out. This was the second time this had happened, though I hadn't noticed it the first time till I thought about it later on. The first time was during the time the snake had been staring me and Greenie down. One second, frozen in fear, and the next, completely calm, cool as a cucumber.
It was like my emotions were detached from me, and I moved independently of it, hopping away from both the snake and Greenie.
Now the strange thing was, whenever I tried to think about my former world and my personality as a human, whatever thought I’d somehow grasped would turn into mist.
It was easier for me to not think about it, and little tidbits would pop into my head during my natural stream of thought.
I comb my wing feathers with my beak, pondering the goblin below me. Looking on the bright side of things, having a goblin pet would be much more useful than flying around this never-ending forest by myself.
Greenie had bonus points for having arms and legs. At this point, he was in a better position than me with working fingers that could make things.
A monkey can create a simple hammer, but a bird?
Birds could only fly. Wings couldn’t do anything else but fly.
You’re my compadre now, Greenie.
Please don’t let me down.
Maybe the mechanical lady could help me. This was a fantasy world. I didn’t bother to question why there was a woman’s voice in my head that asked me questions. I’d already seen a goblin and a crazy huge snake.
I wouldn't even be surprised if a dragon appeared.
Uh-oh. Better change my course of thought.
Wouldn’t want to be raising a flag for no reason, right?
Information. What I needed now was information, and that system thing could give it to me.
........Hello?
Mechanical lady?
System lady??
…………Customer service?
None of the calls I made in my head work. There was no response.
Hmm. Maybe it was voice activated?
If it was, then I was stuck. The croaks and goblin noises I could do weren’t working to summon the voice.
Why had the goblin been able to activate the voice while I couldn’t? If I remember correctly, he hadn't said anything. He couldn’t even speak a language. The words Greenie said had no clear rhythm or inflection, and he had used different grunts to point out the meat.
This wasn’t working.
Maybe I needed to focus harder. I remembered playing a game once, where you could see the game characters had something to show with… what was that word..
I remember now!
Status!
Ding~! A large white square displays itself in front of me, conveniently glowing in the dark so I can read the words written on it.
Greenie was a deep sleeper. He would be a goner if a monster crept into the cave while he was asleep. The light and the ringing noise does nothing to disturb his sleep, and I continue to rise up and down on his stomach as he breathes, where I sit my fluffy toosh down comfortably.
---Status---
Name:
Raven
Race:
Common Black Raven
Title:
???
Magic:
N/A
Abilities:
Skill [Raven Call]
Skill [Peripheral Vision]
Skill [Flight]
Skill [Goblin Call] New!!
Resistances: N/A
------
Wha-
Whaaaaaat!!
We interrupt this program with breaking news-
I’m a raven!!
I’m a raven!!
Fvk, here I thought she already knew hakhakhakhak
I would like to ask if there is any actual reason for the amnesia in this story.
If it is no important part of the story and will not be explained later, it feels like there is just a huge missing out to characterize the protagonist. Things like family relationship and occupation tell us much about who she is and even more important help to relate to her as a human and what her goals and wishes would be when she ever would come to be in a better position. Wanting to eat good food alone is a little flat.
Also it appears a little random like this when she has memories about random stuff like her thoughts about crows, but nothing important like her own name. It's kinda dehumanizing her, posing the question why it's important if she was human before if she doesn't even remember.
That's just my own opinion, but I feel like there is a character behind her I would like to know and also her backgrounds, before the adventure starts. Otherwise she is just a weird crow, which I can't see as a former human only for the reason that I was told that's her setting. (Memories define us and if they're gone she could be just some random crow, but no good protagonist)
Hello~
Thanks for commenting and your thoughts on this story! Yes, there is a reason for her amnesia, related to why she was in another world, that I plan on revealing in the story, and consequently to the reader, as this story progresses.
Though her goals may seem immediate and personality come off as strange I didn't want to reveal the backstory just yet. I hope if you stay with me in this story parts of it will be revealed to your satisfaction(but not too much to spoil everything), in the next chapter and later on.
One of the main non-spoiler? reasons I gave her amnesia and a calming mechanism would be because I didn't think it would be realistic for someone to be suddenly transported into another world without freaking out. Especially in the fantasy world, where threats are everywhere. Also, if there were a family and friends out there somewhere in a different world, Raven may have had taken drastic measures like suicide in the hopes of returning to her original world.
It also works to explain some of her actions in the future when she will be faced with problems that may have to be solved in non-human ways.
Anyways, not all her memories are completely wiped, so her personality is still there :)
Hope my explanation helped
@tofu_moon I just hope that her past won't stay a blanc slate forever. How she did go about things when she was human might give a fine contrast for when she has to solve them in another way. I think letting her slowly accustom by giving her her families name in a dream or so might be good. She isn't stupid. She already said that she knows that she had family and lived with her parents.
One could argue that if not all her memories are there, not all her personality is there either. You admit yourself she would react differently to stuff. Like this she sadly feels, until she has them back, only like half a character to me, missing essential parts of her whole persona. On the other side I hope that she had no too colorful past, which makes her less relatable.
@expentio Hmm. Good point. I'm currently toeing the line between how much can be revealed while not spoiling the story. Do you have any suggestions for how much of a backstory you want to be seeing for her early on? I've just updated with a new chapter, where we can see more of Raven's personality there, I can go in and add more there, or keep moving forward with the story line. There's also the option of adding a prologue chapter, but I'd passed on that before since I as a reader tend to skip prologues.. LOL
Also, I like your suggestion about the dreaming thing, I may include that later. (Fingers crossed!)
Thank you!!
@tofu_moon First, this is all just my personal opinion and someone else might totally disagree with me and that would be fine too. It's your story and ultimately no one can tell you you did it wrong when it's your own.
I think a prologue isn't necessary if you stick with the amnesia. It would more split with her personality and raise the question what of these normal life impressions was now so important she had to forget about it. While I don't think she would directly go to kill herself, if she had her memories, since she was rather shocked by the very possibility she experienced, it would feel wrong if the reader knew more than she does about her life. In general I would say every secret that has no purpose for the story is unnecessary.
I think you could give her families names rather early, if they not contain any special meaning. Like first her sister's (who she seems most fond of), then slowly the others. I don't think it would really change her habits that much when she already knows they existed, so I see no reason for holding back on that. Her hobbies too, like you did, since you already established that her ground persona is there, so that knowing what she did like to do is no far stretch. Personally I think everything of her general demeanor towards others could be revealed, (like was she social, did she like to drink, partied?) because she knows how she would be to others right now and can like this relate to her past.
You should find a reason/relation why she remembers something at a time to prevent about randomly dropping stuff. Big chunks rather sooner than later, so that her remembering has a base. Her just sitting somewhere and suddenly knowing concrete stuff about her life raises the question "Why this, but something important you can't get back? Where is the line?"
The last thing to introduce might be what lead to her predicament, since this should be the most traumatic.
@expentio I somehow missed your reply thank you for this, I'm digesting it in my head as I write this lol you've given me lots to think about, really appreciate your kind advice!
@expentio i think having amnesia doesn't make her less of a character, and a weird raven with human like intelligence could be just as interesting a protagonist. But i agree that having a half-assed amnesia is a bit off-putting. I would rather she have few memories or have all of them. Either being more a intelligent raven or a human in the body of a raven