---

Gliding.

Hm, seeing as how far above my nest is, there is no way I'll make it back up there with my lack of flying skills.

There is only one path forward! 

GLIDING!

Or, falling very very quickly DOWN, if I mess up...

Before I crashed onto this ledge, I had tried with the flapping, and that didn't quite work.

I am lacking the basics, obviously.

For now, I'll mimic a kite and just keep my arms - ah, my wings - stretched out and unmoving.

That should let me glide gently downwards - after all,  gravity still holds true to birds.

Decided! Done!

Wings at max stretch, only a gentle breeze, the sun is still rising, and all engines go!

I took a short run off the small ledge and launched into the void again.

And........

I WAS GLIDING!

In moments I had left the cliff behind me as I glid gently over the forest far below me.

My general direction was down, but every so often a gentle updraft would push me back up a bit.

Hm. 

Ok... so I'm gliding, but that is very limited. I might never land at this rate.

Also, I was just meandering in a general direction with no goal.

I'LL STARVE TO DEATH UP HERE!!!

First things first, let's try turning, just a bit.

---

Doh, died again...

When I opened my eyes, it was dark, but cozy.

I felt... safe?

As I looked around the empty space, I noticed to one side of me the darkness slowly gaining a very faint golden glow.

Some instinct made me push my head towards the brighter side and...

Clunk.

My beak (!) hit a hollow sounding barrier a mere finger's length away.

Ah no!!! 

I'm back in my egg, and it is all sealed up!

How did that happ... oh... right.

The last thing I remember was looking up at the underside of green leaves as I crashed through the forest canopy on my inevitable path to the forest floor.

Obviously the floor won.

HOW EMBARASSING!

I've died on my very first day back alive!

Hopefully that deity like figure wasn't watching me - I'd die again from embarrassment!

Parroting the famous statue "The Thinker" by Rodin, I put my wing under my beak and considered where I had gone wrong.

I had successfully started a wide arced turn - but then my wings cramped up and instead of just stretching straight out again...

... I pulled both my wings in.

That's the same dumb move as stopping the engine in a jet plane while flying!

Sigh.

This time I'll do some light warm up exercises before flying, and I won't under any circumstance pull in my wings!

I hope.

Ah, I'm still in my egg, aren't I?

Time to peck peck peck at that shell - and the sun was shining right into my face once the shell fell away.

Huh, it is morning again, and the wide forest is far below me, and left and right of me stretching to the horizon on each side, a wall of rock.

Does that mean each time I die, I am reborn the next morning up on this endless cliff?

Well, I suppose this is a pretty safe place - can't see any wolves or such reaching me here.

Hm - before I move out:

"Status."

[[

Race: Immortal Phoenix

Name: NULL

Level: NULL

Experience: -999

Mana: -100

Strength: NULL

Dexterity: NULL

Wisdom: NULL

Specials: NULL

Skills: Appraisal level NULL, Gliding level NULL

]]

Ooo I got a new skill, gliding!

Wait a moment... experience is minus 999???

Well, I suppose it is still better than NULL, which most of everything is, sniff.

Light warm-up... hm I think I remember some of those radio exercises that used to be popular with office people - why do I even remember that, when I can't even remember what my job was, or if I even had one? 

Eh, whatever, no use getting gray hair - ah, I mean gray feathers - about this...

First lean to the left... then to right... then standing straight, twist to the left, then to the right... then...

---

Turning.

The warm morning air was streaming over my wings as I slowly made turns over the forest.

I dared not yet try anything too hasty after yesterday's disaster.

Obviously falling from 2 stories versus what I estimated to be 50 stories down to the forest was a deciding factor if I survived or not.

If I was maybe a bit more scientific minded, I would maybe even see what the maximum height of survival was - but honestly, I did not relish having to peck myself out of an egg so soon again. 

With my (bad) luck, I'll almost certainly figure that out naturally some day.

For now, let's see if I can control my altitude a bit - if I remember correctly I can use both the angle of my wings, but also my tail.

Gently and slowly now...

---

Landed! Sort of...

Amazingly, I'm still up in the air, and the sun has just about reached noon, now.

Using my tail I've pretty much figured out how to move downwards safely by increasing the air drag, which slowed me down a bit - slower flying objects fall faster, after all.

Now I'm looking for a clearing or field I can land in.

Wait a moment - if I land in a field, how will I get back into the air? 

I haven't mastered take-offs yet, not to mention I have just been gliding - when I tried flapping yesterday, I crashed into the ledge below on the cliff.

Ooooh! Idea!

What if I landed on a cliff ledge - that would be high enough to jump off for gliding again.

As I turned back towards the endless cliff, I saw hundreds of little ledges lining it - perfect!

I randomly chose a ledge within my flight path and aimed for just above it.

Worst case I'd crash into the cliff, which I might even survive - with broken bones of course, but they would heal up in a moment.

Not that I was looking forward to the pain, but still less embarrassing than being back in the egg on the second day!

As I was getting closer to the ledge, I gently adjusted my tail to cause a bit of drag to slow me down, and I ever so slightly twisted my wings to also add to the drag.

Oh right, need to extend the landing gear, too! My feet that is.

And whoomf... skid skid skid - bump.

I landed!

Well, the cliff wall ended up stopping me, and I bet it looked hilariously stupid - but I had slowed down enough to not break anything this time, at least.

Woof... my heart was racing from the excitement and adrenaline!

Let's take a bit of a rest, and then try it a few more times.

---

Status Check.

The sun was now around a half way between noon and sundown, so I guess around 4pm-ish, if the sun sets around 8pm?

That is, if we can assume it is spring or early fall - it didn't feel like summer, as the day had been pleasant and not hot - at least as far as I could tell.

I had practiced landing quite a few times now, and the last five times I had actually managed to stop on the ledge before smashing into the cliff face - so a resounding success, right?

I was sitting on a ledge at the moment, and out of curiosity, I checked my status - a new skill showed up!

[[

Experience: -998

Skills: Appraisal level NULL, Gliding level NULL, Landing level NULL

]]

I now officially had "landing" as a skill!

Of course, at NULL, sigh, but that was fair - I was skill skidding clumsily after all.

And, I got another experience point! 

Seems each time I unlock a skill, I get one point.

So I'd need to learn another 998 skill before I reached a positive number - huh, are there even a thousand skills I could learn?

And how many centuries will it take me to learn all of those???

Eh, whatever - no use going bald about something I had no control over...

---

Flame - off!

I was back up in the air, gliding around, slowly getting a bit thirsty.

And look, I had found a large pond or small lake up ahead - at this height I couldn't really tell the difference.

As I passed over the water I noticed a shiny flame being reflected in the surface.

Hey, that's me!

Huh, I guess it makes sense that a Phoenix would be on fire?

Wait - is that why I've got minus one hundred mana?

Am I literally burning up mana???

Hm, wonder what would happen if I concentrated to not burn anymore?

After a few tries, while continuously circling the body of water below so I can see the result, I finally was able to extinguish myself.

And look at that! 

[[

Mana: 0

]]

Well, at least it isn't negative anymore - and even better, NOT NULL!

Wonder why I was engulfed in flames anyway?

Seems a bit of a waste, really - once I get more than zero mana, I bet I will have many more uses for it than to be a flying torch!

---

Third death, but who's counting?

When I opened my eyes, it was dark, but cozy.

I felt... safe?

As I looked around the empty space, I noticed to one side of me the darkness slowly gaining a very faint golden glow.

Sigh.

Yes, I had died.

Again.

On the second day, even.

And this time I remember seeing the reflection in the water below me of a giant winged creature swooping down over my back - and then nothing.

Aha!

If this were a comix, a little light bulb would have appeared over my head.

The reason I was wasting 100 mana which put me into the minus, was as protection!

Guess without the flames I just look like a tasty morsel.

What predator would want to eat a ball of flames, after all? 

Maybe a balrog, but probably not even - I'd be the size of a bean and not worth the trouble to a being as big as a balrog, after all.

Again, doing "The Thinker" pose, I put my wing under my chin, and considered what I'd try out today.

Sort of got the basics of gliding, check.

Sort of can land, even if embarrassingly, check.

Sort of discovered why I am using up 100 mana, check.

Can take off from the ground -  that's a negative, captain!

Well, I suppose it is time to learn flapping - without that, I'll be stuck in an eternal cycle of killing myself on purpose when I get too thirsty or hungry.

After all, the only good thing I could think of about being reborn in the egg was that all my hunger, thirst, and energy meters seem to reset.

Ah yes, I'm still in the sealed egg, time to get out.

Well, third time is a charm, as they say!