(I Died and got Reincarnated) My New Life as a Saltwater Crocodile Begins

CH•04 - "I Have Yet to Surface"

It's dark. And, there's no sound. Inside a cramped space with no light, I poke my way out. I made a crack. It's small. But, it's there. I poke the crack repeatedly. The crack widens and a hole opens. From the hole, light hits my eye. It was bright. But, it was warm. As if mesmerized, I insert my head out the hole. Then, the crack suddenly became fragile and I didn't waste any time poking it. At last, I finally hatched from my egg.

What greeted me was a large feathered creature that towered my view. She appears to be what I believe is my mother. Then, that makes the other two beside me as my siblings. And, there is one more egg unhatched and not moving at the back. So that makes four of us and I am the third in line then. Around us are earthworms crawling on the nest. Mother probably brought them here, expecting that we would be hungry after just hatching.

I eat. Then, sleep. Then, eat again. And then, sleep again. Eat and sleep. That's all I do for the next few weeks. I learned how to fly within that time, but I didn't stray too far from the nest. My eldest brother has already left the nest just a few days ago. My sister will also leave soon as well. All that's left is me. In the end, the fourth egg never hatched. It is just us three. Mother has stopped giving us food a week after I hatched, so we hunted our own food since then. And in just a few more days, it'll just be me.

Five days later, my sister has left the nest. I plan on leaving the nest too, but not yet. Although yes, I already know how to fly and I know how to hunt, but I'm not mentally ready to leave yet. If I leave, I'll have to hunt for myself, take care of myself, and protect myself until I grow old enough to have a mate of my own. But, that's only if I don't die somewhere in the middle.

Days have passed. I'm still residing in the nest. I know I should probably leave soon. Mother has already left too. I wonder what parent birds do after their children leave their nest. Do they find a mate again? Is that why I have never met father? Because he already left ahead? Will I end up the same too? I'm left to wonder.

Nests are usually for taking care of young hatchlings and fledglings until they become independent enough to leave the nest. It's not so much a home, but more of a nursing ground for parent birds to raise their young. So me sticking around this long is somewhat uncommon but not really rare.

Yesterday, it was raining very heavily. The rain lasted the whole day. It just stopped this morning. Now I'm soaking wet. And so is the nest. Should I make this my reason for leaving now? The nest is toppled on a tall leafless tree next to a river that leads to an estuary. I'm basically in what you call a delta. All the rainwater made the water level rise by a lot, but not so much that it flooded all the way to the tree. Most of the water just flowed to the sea.

Well anyway, that aside, I better find something to eat. I fly up the river and spot a bush full of berries further ahead. I head towards the bush. The river next to the bush looks like there's something releasing more water under it. The gushing of water from under the river makes it look like something will come out of it. But, I'm hungry. And, it's the nearest.

I grabbed a few with my talons, but then... something burst out from the river and caused a huge splash. I was caught in it and I fell on the mud. Something must've come out from under the river. Whatever it is, it's large enough to cause that much splash. My wings are too muddy for me to take flight right now. And so, I crawl away from the river.

As I carry my added weight in mud at each pull of wing, I heard a loud thud from behind me. Something... is crawling out of the river. Something huge. It's slowly making its way here. Hesitantly, I turn around. And with one last thud, the beast drops down its jaw, revealing its jagged teeth just wingbeats in front of me.

It's... a predator.