The projectile fell in the middle of the jungle like a meteor, unsettling all the wildlife. The birds, the panthers, and the reptiles—all shuddered as if their environment had changed forever. And it had.

  The rock landed deep in the forest, where no human had ever set foot. The impact was so violent that the trees and ferns around it were pulverized, scorched by the fire the collision had sparked. However, the flames were soon extinguished by a downpour that further terrified the beasts.

  The projectile that had fallen from the sky, hurled by the serpent goddess Tlaloc, awakened its consciousness.

  "What am I?" was its first thought. It was a good question. It couldn’t move; it was trapped in its own body. Yet, it was acutely aware of everything around it: the small embers being drowned by the rain, the dense plants that had trembled at its presence, the creatures hiding cautiously in the thick jungle.

  It thought of its mother, the goddess who had cast it down from the heights. It remembered the time it had spent in her womb and the affection she had shown it. Yet, here it was, in the middle of nowhere, unable to move.

  "What do you want from me, Mother? How am I supposed to overcome this if I can’t even move?"

  It received no answer. A loud thunderclap echoed through the storm now flooding the jungle. The consciousness of the rocky egg, now trapped in the ground with half of its body embedded in the earth, pondered what it should do.

  If it existed, there had to be a purpose. It knew its mother was a goddess; a deity wouldn’t abandon one of her own to fate. It tried to move, to break free from its rocky shell. Nothing. It remained still, frozen in its stony prison, absorbing the raindrops that fell eagerly.

  The sky continued to thunder with fury. It was its mother. It wanted to scream at her to pull it out, to return to her womb, to soar through the clouds with her again, but it was useless. Except for the storm, there was no response. Suddenly, a deep sleep overtook it, a lethargy it couldn’t control, and the raindrops on its rocky body only made it worse. With nothing else to do, its consciousness faded.

  It woke again under an intense sun. It could see the cracks caused by its impact around it, and a couple of leagues away, ceiba and cedar trees, overgrown with weeds and orchids, filled its world. It couldn’t see beyond.

  It tried to move again. Nothing. Any attempt to escape its stone prison was futile.

  Then, something began to move among the trees. Fear gripped its consciousness for long moments—the fear of the unknown and the helplessness of being unable to defend itself. It didn’t know what it might encounter, but it was aware of the dangers such a place could hold. The instinct its mother had instilled in it told it so.

  Suddenly, a small, furry creature emerged from the nearby ferns. Its fur was dark orange. The fear it felt soon turned to curiosity. A creature so small couldn’t harm it.

  A primate, it thought immediately, for some strange reason recognizing the animal. The little monkey began to walk around it. It moved on its small feet among the cracks it had caused, observing the stone egg with curiosity, emitting faint chirps.

  The consciousness trapped in the oval tried to move again, to scare or perhaps capture the animal approaching it. Again, nothing happened. Soon, the primate got close enough to touch the rocky wall. Seeing that nothing happened, it climbed onto it skillfully, as if searching for an opening.

  Somehow, the creature’s proximity provided the consciousness with nourishment. Life energy.

  It had felt the same sensation when it first awoke, caused by the puddles and dew.

  Somehow, this gave it more sustenance, more motivation to stir its interior, to break free from the rock.

  The creature continued to walk around it, as if it too felt invigorated by its closeness. It wagged its tiny tail in ecstasy and soon began to chirp and beat its chest with its insignificant hands.

  "That’s it, little one. Give me your energy." Then the consciousness knew: if there was a way out, it was by absorbing the energy of creatures like this one. But it would need much more.

  As if sensing its need, the little primate leaped from the top of its rocky shell and disappeared into the undergrowth.

  It felt the chill of loneliness contrasted with the heat of the afternoon. The wind moved the leaves of the trees and the weeds around it, but the consciousness felt abandoned to its fate. Now that it was a prisoner in this rock embedded in the jungle, it nostalgically remembered seeing the world below from its mother’s eyes, when she flew over valleys, jungles, and seas. Now its world was reduced to a small, cracked space surrounded by vegetation in the middle of nowhere.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Well, I’ll give myself a name. If I can’t do anything but exist, the least I can do is name myself. It didn’t know its mother’s name or what she might have wanted to call it, so it decided to improvise.

  From now on, I’ll be Leye, it thought. Somehow, it seemed like a fitting name, even if there was no one to hear it.

  Soon, the rain returned, drenching the world, and with it came the sounds of the animals around it. The sadness of loneliness was contrasted by the nourishment the rain provided. It felt stronger, though its attempts to move still failed.

  Suddenly, a screen appeared in its mind, as clear as the ceiba trees around it in the night.

  Serpent Egg: Leye.

  Core of the fallen goddess Tlaloc.

  This type of egg does not hatch but absorbs nutrients from its surroundings and is capable of growing indefinitely if it manages its resources well.

  Current resources:

  Water energy: 10/100

  Controlled creatures: 0

  Structures: 0

  Area of influence: 0.5 leagues.

  Interesting. So this is my welcome, Mother. A bunch of scribbles I barely understand. You could’ve given me a bit more information.

  Though it could comprehend the sudden information that had appeared before it, Leye barely understood it all. Somehow, the numbers gave it a sense of growth, but it didn’t see how it could overcome its current situation. It was still trapped in this inert body, over which birds and insects now walked indifferently, certain nothing would happen after its initial impact.

  The next day, however, things began to change. The "water energy" had increased to 20 points, thanks to the exceptional downpour that hadn’t allowed it to rest, and now it felt it could tremble slightly, scaring away the bugs that tried to walk on the rock. The ants attempting to build nests under its surface, competing with the beetles, were thrown off. Though the movement wasn’t strong enough to intimidate the vultures and parrots pecking at its surface, it was something.

  Now I just need it to rain.

  Soon, the primates returned. This time, a small group of five, all with orange fur like the one that had visited before, which was among them. The primates began to walk on its surface and hit its rocky wall with small stones, as if hoping to peel it like a giant fruit.

  "Is this the fate you want for me, Mother?" it thought, its pride shattered. "To be mocked by a bunch of monkeys?"

  Despite the humiliation, the presence of the monkeys provided it with energy, nourishment. Though there was no rain, and it was a cloudy day in the jungle, its water energy points began to increase slowly. About two per hour.

  It saved them. If it tried to move and "shed" its rocky surface, it would not only spend them but also scare away the entertained monkeys now contributing to its nourishment.

  It remained calm. Now things had a different perspective. The text before its eyes made it clear.

  This type of egg does not hatch but absorbs resources from its surroundings and is capable of growing indefinitely.

  Leye knew it had to stay calm and endure the annoyance of the primates hitting its surface. When it grew, if it ever managed to escape this state of helplessness, it would control or eliminate those creatures. It would decide later.

  The small clan of monkeys hit its surface for several hours and scratched its shell eagerly, in vain. Soon, they grew bored, and just before nightfall, they disappeared into the undergrowth again.

  The water energy points on its screen had increased to eighteen. Not bad for a group of primates, though their presence was more annoying than the rain and provided fewer resources in the long run.

  It decided to do nothing. It would save those energy points to control a creature when the time came. The name of the game now was patience.

  That night, it didn’t rain. Perplexed, Leye waited for the thunder sent by its mother or some other sky deity to provide the nourishment it craved, but nothing happened.

  Suddenly, an unbearable pain began to surge in the lower part of its structure.

  What the hell?

  Though it couldn’t see it, it felt it clearly. It was as if a hook was slowly penetrating the lower part of its "body," with ten times the force of the monkeys’ blows that afternoon.

  Mother, make it stop, for heaven’s sake.

  It didn’t stop. On the contrary, as the hours passed, Leye felt that at least five spears were piercing its interior, slowly but surely. The pain was so intense it was sure it would die.

  Then it realized that if it spent some energy points on the areas being penetrated, the pain lessened. It began to spend them, draining them without restraint, only to see the pain return after a while.

  I have to get out of here!

  It knew it couldn’t. Its body was embedded in the ground almost halfway, and in any case, it was a rock that could only move on inclined terrain. Everything around it was as flat as the sea’s surface.

  Water energy: 0/100

  It was out of resources, but the pain didn’t stop. The rain and the creatures it now missed didn’t appear, as if sensing its need. The strange things now penetrating its interior continued advancing toward its core with each passing hour, increasing the pain.

  It knew it was the end. Thinking of its mother and the happy time it had spent in her womb, when everything was simpler, it surrendered to the silence and the pain that cracked its interior and rocky surface alike.

  Its last thought was for her, as it saw the roots now emerging around it, reaching its core, its consciousness. In its agony, it wondered if she too had had to endure this before becoming the proud being that galloped through the clouds with elegant reptilian movements, while distant thunder announced a powerful downpour.