Darkness and warmth.

Those were the two things Diann noticed first as she came to. Warm walls pressed against her on all sides. Pushing her out towards a place where that comfortable warmth stopped to exist. 

A moment later, she felt herself gently drop down onto something soft but dry. The material felt abrasive against her naked skin as the air sent shivers down her spine.

Other warm bodies pressed against her. So she pressed back, hoping to steal some of that warmth for herself. The smell of something hit her nose and a hunger inside of her made itself known. She followed that scent with vigor, pressing against the bodies around her. 

Diann's nose pressed against something soft and furred as she finally found the source of the mouthwatering scent. On instinct, she latched her mouth against it and started nursing. Milk filled her stomach as she satiated her hunger.

A moment later, her sluggish mind felt the pull of slumber and she fell unconscious.

 

---

 

A lot of time passed with Diann repeating the cycle of waking up, drinking milk, pushing around for warmth, and then falling asleep again. It had felt like almost two weeks, but being underground screwed with her sense of time.

During that time it had become easier for her mind to process things. The confusing circumstances of her birth became clearer and she came to a realization. The fact that she wasn't a human anymore. 

She did not know how or why, but in her reincarnation, she had become an animal. Diann seemed to currently be inside a nest of sorts, furnished with dry vegetation as it rubbed on her skin. 

The strong scent of earth led her to think they were somewhere underground. Her eyes still wouldn't open, no matter how much she tried. Anything she sensed, she did so through her ears and strange sensitive elongated nose. 

Sometimes their giant of a mother left to go do other things. The sound of digging reverberated through the lair as she presumably went to feed herself.

Whenever their mother left, her roommates started moving around, exploring their nest. She had joined them, hoping to get used to her strange form. Her tube-like body that had started sprouting fur and had a tail, two small feet, and two arm-hands? 

Her hands were confusing as the palms pointed out of the body, not like she was used to as a human. 

On them were surprisingly sharp claws. Her elongated nose and hands were very sensitive to touch. She could perceive the texture, warmth, moisture, and vibrations of her surroundings much better than she ever could before. Together with her ears, these were the ways she perceived the world.

Diann might not have been an animal expert in her previous life, but all the signs led her to believe she was a mole. Those burrowing pests that farmers always complained about.

The instincts of her new body were the only reason she wasn't going insane, as they helped her make sense of it all.

Had she been lied to? Why was she an animal? Why didn't they warn her? Was this a mistake?

Those were all questions that filled her head as Diann lounged around. Resting with her non-human siblings. 

She hadn't known that this was what she signed up for. Neither the Orb nor the being she had talked to warned her of this. It didn't even make any sense.

How would she properly accrue cosmic weight if she reincarnated as a small animal? Underground burrowing animals considered to be pests at that. Did they want her to struggle and earn achievements that way?

That was the only way she could make sense of this. She needed answers, but there was no one around to give them. The only way she could get them was through reaching the end of this life.

But she had promised herself that she wouldn't waste her life anymore would she? Even if she had to live it as something other than human. She had wished for a magical experience and here she was in the body of an animal.

When her mother returned, she decided to give her mind a rest. Together with her two other siblings, they paddled over to their mother and started nursing. Sleep claimed her not long after.

 

 

Enough time passed before she could finally open her eyes. Even still, darkness was all she could perceive. Being underground meant that there was no sunlight with which to see.

Her siblings had gotten more active whenever their mother left. Mimicking them, she started trying to dig around. It was kind of interesting. Moles burrowed into the earth by moving their outward-facing hands in an almost swim-like breaststroke maneuver. 

They pushed back the loosened earth with their hind limbs. It was fun and their mother always had to clean up after them. Pushing the loose soil back into the random tunnels they had dug up.

Sometime later though she seemed to have gotten fed up. She had stopped letting them stay behind in the nest whenever she went on her adventures. During their feeding times, their mother would only let them drink a little before slowly walking away into the tunnels. They understandably followed as they were still hungry. 

She had led them around the winding tunnels that made up their lair and showed them how to feed themselves. 

Diann had learned what kinds of roots they could eat. How root fruits that were edible smelled and how to catch and store earthworms. She also learned how to track moisture in the earth with their noses and how to find underground water sources. Even what insects they could nibble on. It was during these times that she was thankful for not having human taste buds anymore. 

The next day, as they were munching on a pile of earthworms that their mother had stored, she noticed one of her siblings crawling away from them. Her mother and her other kin didn't seem to care as they kept eating.

Diann though was curious about what her sibling was getting up to. She followed behind them, following their path as they crawled up a tunnel. It was then that Diann noticed what had grabbed her sibling's attention.

It was light. The darkness around her seemed to shift ever so slightly and weaken. It was not a major shift but her mole eyes were sensitive enough to detect it. 

Joy flooded through her at the prospect of finally being able to see again before her mole instincts triggered. Fear. She felt fear as she realized light meant an entrance which naturally meant the outside world. 

The anxieties of a subterranean animal flooded her and told Diann to avoid the overworld.

As she stilled to handle her anxiety, she noticed her sibling had continued crawling upwards, none the wiser. Whatever instincts she held must have not been instilled into her sister or brother.

Diann started crawling upwards at a quick pace hoping to perhaps stop or dissuade her sibling from leaving their nest. The darkness around her lessened the more she crawled upwards and they closed in towards the exit. 

She saw the entrance, a pack of loose soil slightly hiding their tunnel as rays of sunlight peeked through. Her sibling, non-caring for their safety, dug through the exit and into the outside world. 

Diann had to squint as her eyes adjusted to the difference in brightness. Her breath left her when her vision finally cleared up.

Huge stalks towered over her in a forest of white flesh interspersed with dark vines connecting what must have been trees. From the sky, she saw blurry visions of light, like a cluster far above them. The same light that seeped into everything around them. 

Her vision became incredibly blurry when looking at distant objects. But even then she noticed that it wasn't natural sunlight. The sky was dark around these clusters of light. They must have been in a cavern, with these clusters being shiny crystals, she recognized. 

Her sense of color seemed to be heavily muted in this life, washing the world in a filter of black and white.

A squeak dragged her away from the sights and she noticed her sibling was happily munching on a berry they found in a nearby bush. A strange bush at that. 

She tried telling them to come back, but the only sounds that left her mouth were the squeaks of a mole babe. With her head now sticking out of the exit she tried to squeak harder at her sibling. That finally seemed to work as they turned towards her and--

A jolt of electricity ran down her spine as an ice-cold awareness flashed into her brain. Telling her to move. 

Without hesitating, her body moved on reflex as she ducked her head back down into the tunnel.

Where her upper body had once been, now only a hand stood. Tipped with unnaturally sharp claws drenched with a dripping mucus that hissed as its droplets met the ground. 

A growl reverberated into the tunnel from what could only be a predator. The creature's arm left and a face appeared before her. The creature had the furred face of a loris, a mouth filled with sharp teeth, and dark eyes. What had once been an animal from her world that she thought of as adorable, was now a monster that had almost claimed her life.

She realized with a start that it must have been the ability [Incoming Threat] that had saved her life. She couldn't celebrate her smart decision to have picked that ability as she realized she needed to get out of there before she died.

The creature continued growling as she tried to backtrack into the tunnel. A squeak stopped her from fearfully running away as she realized her sibling was still out there.

Guilt gripped her as she knew she couldn't do a thing. They might have been animals, but she still believed that she bonded with her littermates. A feeling of powerlessness filled her as she could do nothing to save them. 

She saw movement from behind the creature tormenting her and heard the fearful squeaks of her sibling. A second later the squeaks ceased as the sound of something wet being bit into reached her ears. 

Bile filled her throat as she listened to her sibling being consumed. The fear coursing through her veins overpowering the rage that filled her tiny body.

She once more tried to crawl backward into the tunnel, but the monster had other plans. A burst of air followed by a high-pitched scream left its mouth as it shouted into her face.

A strange sense filled her body soon followed by her limbs locking up. She couldn't move, no matter how much she tried.

The creature removed its face from the entrance and instead pushed its arm down, its claws threatening to reach her paralyzed form.

She was frightened looking down at her end, even knowing she could try again didn't reduce the fear she felt. Diann closed her eyes in fear, awaiting her inevitable end.

Only to open them again when she heard the rapidly approaching form of her mother. Just before the predator's hand could reach her, her mother tucked Diann under her and reached forward with her own mole claws. They seemed to alight with a strange glow under the crystal light and raked across the monster's skin. 

To Diann's amazement, the injuries looked deep. Judging by the incoherent screams from the predator, as it pulled its arm out. It must have also been painful.

The scent of iron filled the tunnel as blood spilled onto the earth. Her mother rushed forward and with one swipe moved around large amounts of earth and closed up the exit. Turning around in the tight tunnel, her mother urged Diann to move forward. The paralyzing effect of the monster's scream seemed to have left her and they both rushed down the tunnel. Diann could both feel and hear the tremors in the ground as her mother compacted earth behind them.

Her last remaining sibling followed them, leaving the pile of earthworms as they too sensed the urgency.

They fled towards their sleeping chambers with their mother fretting over them. Making sure none of them were injured. Once time passed and adrenaline left their body, her mother laid on her side and let them feed solely on milk. Probably deeming the tunnel too dangerous for them.

As Diann begrudgingly crawled forward to feed, the events of the day repeated themself into her mind.

She felt like she had failed her sibling. Even though Diann knew that realistically she couldn't have done anything to change their fate. Looking at her mother, she noticed she was already sleeping. 

A sigh left her as she had to come to terms with her new circumstances. Being eaten was the fate of prey, mother nature was cruel like that. She might have been a human once and on top of the food chain, but here? She was just another animal in the ecosystem.

She didn't know what she would do in this life. But perhaps surviving would be enough. Yet, there were still some strange things to investigate, like how could a scream paralyze her? And why did her mother's claw glow so strangely earlier? They had ripped through that monster's arm as easily as through paper. 

Maybe with time, she would be strong like her mother, but for now, she just had to survive. 

Stay away from the overworld and stay close to your mother. 

That was what she would do. For now at least.