Seventy-seven times I had died, and seventy-seven times I had reincarnated; in truth, I should be tired and sick.

 It seemed that the eternal rest people spoke of was not a thing, at least not for me. 

But after a while, you get used to it, you know? It no longer matters which body you inhabit, nor which world you find yourself in.

In fact, immediately after dying or getting yourself killed — something I seemed to be quite prone to — you almost begin to anticipate your next life. 
Questions assail your consciousness: What time in history will you be thrown into? Will you be a lord with a big harem, an old monk with some sick powers, a mage, a witch, or perhaps the big bad villain everyone wanted to kill but no one could? Well, I had been a victim in all these scenarios.

The bottom line is to always come around fast enough and realize that survival is the name of the game, even though most times such paths were already predetermined.
At the moment, I lay within some weirdly restrictive confines that greatly limited my body movement, that is, if I could call what I had a body at all. 

I could not see anything, but strangely enough, I could feel my environment, even though I could not make head nor tail of anything.

 I could not tell how long I had been here, lying around awaiting my 78th reincarnation.
 It happened a lot. 

Somehow, whoever was responsible for reincarnating souls tended to erase details of how they died, maybe to ease things for their next life, so as to avoid vengeful souls taking it out on their previous enemies.
Boring as it was, it had not taken me long before I figured out that I was some sort of foetus awaiting birth. 
Yeah, yeah, classic reincarnation cliché, I know. 

However, it was not always like this. Sometimes I had been thrown into the body of a stillborn child; sometimes I would be thrown into a fully grown man's body. One way or the other, I found my way around. 
Despite my lazy and admittedly cozy lifestyle, time still moved on.

In all my forms of existence in different worlds, trust me when I tell you that time was the only constant; it never gave a damn about what went on in anyone's life, well, and perhaps my ability to get myself killed sooner or later.

At one point, the environment I was in became tired of my lifestyle, which was literally nothing much. 
I began to sense the disturbance, as if I was now breaking free from the restrictive barriers that had confined me for what felt like an eternity.

With a sudden inborn instinct, I began using my mouth, which happened to be strong compared to my limbs, to push against the confining walls. 
My small body wriggled and squirmed in an effort to break free.

And then...

Finally, with one final push, the barrier around me shattered, and I emerged into a world of blinding light.
Despite my tightly shut eyelids, the intense light pierced through my tender skin, making me shriek and chirp wildly.
Wait, what the hell was that?

 All around me, similar chirps echoed, and from the push and shove that soon resulted, I realized that I was not alone.
 I felt a dreadful tension engulf me as I tried to stand on my wobbly feet, only to tumble and fall back onto what felt like a soft layer of moss or grass.

Whatever the hell was going on, it became obvious to me that I was no longer human!
Every sign indicated that. 

First, it was not like human babies to tear themselves out of their mothers' wombs.
Second, though it happened at times, it was still not very common for humans to deliver outside in broad daylight.
 I was certain that I was in an open space, even though it was well-shielded; I could still feel the wind on my bare flesh, and I could also feel the rays of sun reaching me from time to time.

And those... those shrieks and chirps! 

Whatever planet I had landed on, those were definitely not human.

"The gods be damned!" I screamed in fury, but only that ugly shriek came out. It also seemed to encourage similar cries all around me.
 Oh, about that! It just so happened I was not the only newly born... god knows what! 
Judging from the different shrieks, I mentally counted six, including me. 

Now, it became obvious; we had hatched from some eggs. What was not immediately clear was what manner of creatures we were.
I mean, from my human knowledge, and I happened to have a lot, mind you, all kinds of birds and reptilians hatched from eggs. That by itself left me with what... a couple of thousand creatures to choose from?.

 Wait... maybe I was a dragon?

Mmh... well, I wish, but even as I thought about that, I knew at the back of my mind that it simply wasn't true. 
Despite the fact that I was blind at the moment, my senses were still sharp. Besides using my body and environment as a case study, I easily ruled out all kinds of reptilians simply because I had two stumps of broad flesh on each side, which indicated wings. 
Maybe dragons were still an option... 

well, it wasn't!

I could hardly move around before I fell into some moist, tender body like my own, six of other creatures like me, all of us crumpled into such a tiny space. Dragons were simply out of the window.

I felt disappointment; it would have been fun to be reincarnated as a dragon for once. 

At the same instance, my tension intensified. The only option I had been left with was...

 Birds. 

Truthfully, I had never considered such a possibility, even though I was well aware that there was never any limit to what creature one could be reincarnated into. 

I had simply never looked at myself from that point of view, but now that I was crossing this bridge, a wave of uncertainty filled me.
"A bird!" I shrieked again, creating another echo of cries all around. "What kind of bird... it better be an eagle. I mean, for god's sake, not a chicken. For all I knew, Christmas may just be around the corner; even for me, dying that fast would set a new record."
Wait... now that I actually thought about it... it did not seem that dreadful. 

Well, death had lost its dread on me around the fifth time I died, and seeing that I was now a hatchling, it was a safe bet that I might actually face Mr. Grim again very soon. 

Most birds, after all, had a mortality rate of about 50% in their first years, if not months. So after all, I could have another chance at reincarnation... maybe then I would get Lady Luck's attention.

A sudden... weird and loud croak filled the confined space we were in. 

That had to be our parent... well, parents, as soon, another even louder vibrating croak echoed. 
A hard beak brushed on my side, straightening me from my previously toppled position.

That sound was very familiar to me.

 Thank the gods I was not a chicken... but hell... screw them just as much, I was a freaking raven! 

A raven, can you imagine? 

They better have given me a golden finger or some kind of cheat to make up for it, or I would soon be a pile of poop in some python's belly!