After my mind was recovered, I immediately got up and decided to continue exploring this cave.

I can't say that I've been able to forget that incident completely. The guilt and fear still haunted me.

I couldn't deny that I was a selfish coward who only thought about myself. I wanted to be safe, I wanted to be able to leave that place unharmed. My survival instinct overwhelmed any remaining empathy within me.

All sorts of wild guesses that came to my mind were quietly eating away at my sanity one after another. It felt like my mind was poisoning myself.

However, I couldn't stop here.

It was too late to turn back, and the only option was to keep moving forward. From the first time I decided to leave, I should have realized that there wouldn't be any way to turn back.

That was what made me finally decide to continue my journey.

By now, I was quite far from the cave entrance. Since the light source was too far from here, it was completely pitch black inside this cave.

With that, I decided to fully trust my instinct and keep moving forward, while hoping my feet wouldn't step on any dangerous things.

…

Complete dark and silence. Inside this cave, my vision and hearing were completely isolated. The lack of stimulation in my senses left me numb and anxious.

The only thing that calmed my mind was the fact that my feet were still touching the ground. At least, I knew that I was making a progress.

However, this dark atmosphere made me unable to see my surroundings. I could have missed another route, I could be walking towards a hole, or I could be walking into a dead end.

Judging by those possibilities, the safest option was to keep walking straight until I found a way out. Even so, I was not that sure that I was still walking in a straight line. The lack of light turned my navigation instinct off.

I kept moving my feet, but the scenery never changed. No matter how many steps I made, I found nothing but darkness.

Then, what I feared the most really happened—a dead end. I groped the cave wall in front of me to make sure that my guess was right.

And yes, it was indeed a dead end.

I tried to put my hands on the wall surface and slowly walked sideways to look for gaps or holes that would allow me to continue moving forwards. Even then, I found nothing.

When I knew that I couldn't keep walking straight, I tried to fly upwards using my wings to check if there was any way out. But I immediately hit another wall.

Bad luck. It seemed like this place was not only dark and silent but also extremely cramped.

"What should I do now? Going back?" I began to doubt myself.

I really couldn't see anything, so it was almost impossible for me to rely on my luck and hope that I would find a way out of nowhere.

However, no matter how much I cursed, I really couldn't find an alternative.

Out of options, I then decided to retreat, walking back in the opposite direction.

This time, I decided to walk sideways while touching the walls around me. Who knew I might find a new route or even just a hole to slip in.

Unfortunately, just as I decided to turn around, my feet suddenly stepped on a hole. I mean, I was looking for a hole, but this was not what I asked for!

The hole wasn't that big. But because I stepped on it, the hole then cracked and increased in size, dragging not only my feet but my whole body inside.

“Guhh!”

Just like that, I fell into the hole.

Falling at extremely high speed, my body felt like it was slammed left and right. From my head to my feet, nothing could escape the impact of this narrow hole.

"Agh!"

Luckily, I didn't fall on any hard surface, instead, in a watery puddle. It was quite shallow, but at least it reduced my damage.

The hole was torture for me. It was too narrow. Compared to this hole, it felt like the dead end was not so bad after all.

I didn't know where I was, but for sure, the darkness remains unchanged.

I felt excruciating pain all over my body. Although this puddle was quite helpful in preventing my body from even greater pain, it was still so painful. 

Even easy tasks like moving my arm or my leg felt impossible. The more I moved, the more the pain became.

Lying in this puddle, the only positive thing I could feel here is the sound of water which made me felt not lonely.

However, the sound of the water ripples was getting closer. It was as if what caused the sound was right behind me!

I was then forced to move my head and look behind to find out what was going on there.

A light!

The light was shaped like a floating ring. I didn't know what it was. However, it was slowly moving towards me.

As it got closer to me, I could see it more clearly. Beneath the floating shining ring, there was a creature whose stature was similar to mine.

I didn't know why he had a ring above his head. But I think that didn't matter.

The important thing was that I was sure that it was one of my kind. I couldn’t see him clearly due to my blurry vision, but the two wings on his back were the proof!

Excited, I wish I could stand up and greet him. But moving my legs was just impossible at that time.

Maybe I could ask him for help when he saw me lying here, I thought.

The creature kept walking toward me. Though similar, his stature was a bit different than mine, but I could tell that it was the same creature as me—my species.

Now he was right beside me. His steps stopped when his foot accidentally nudged my weak body.

"H-Hi," I tried to greet him. It seemed the way our species communicated was by channeling our thoughts to the person we were talking to.

He didn't give any answer. However, he was now looking at me. It seems like he heard what I just said.

“I am of the same kind as you, can you help me find a way out?” I asked him.

However, he still didn't respond. He was staring at me but neither his face nor his voice showed a sign of accepting or rejecting. It felt like he was staring at me like a mere object.

He then turned his face back to the front and started to walk again.

He completely ignored me.

“W-wait! Don’t leave me alone! Help me!" I called for his help. But he didn't care the slightest.

Then suddenly I remembered something.

What was happening at that time was the same thing I did to that poor creature at the cave entrance.

"Is this a punishment for me?" I wondered.

I who previously ignored the poor creature who asked for my help, now received the same treatment when I’m stuck in the same position.

He was getting further and further away from me. Of course, I didn't intend to give up at that point.

I couldn't just let him go. Maybe by following him, he could lead me to a way out.

I forced myself to stand up, fighting the pain that ran through my body.

“Gaarrhh!!” My body felt like it was roaring with pain. Every move I made felt like it was slowly destroying me inside out.

But I couldn't lose track of him. He was my only clue to finding a way out!

Every footstep I made tortured my body. But I didn't want to be left behind. His footsteps were fast compared to mine. If I let my guard down even just for a moment, I might be left alone!

The creature continued to lead me to enter the deeper part of the cave.

For the first time, I could see what the inside of the cave looked like. His glowing ring helped me to see my surrounding.

The cave at the bottom was much wider than the cave at the top. It was as if the cave above only served as an entry point for the bottom part.

In contrast to the upper cave’s dry and cold surface, the surface here was filled with puddles of water. I could hear its voice rippling as my foot stepped on it.

I continued to concentrate on following him. Over time, I no longer felt the water wetting my feet. It looked like we were finally walking uphill.

The creature led me to a very large place—ten times larger than before. But what surprised me was how bright this place was compared to the rest of the cave. Its walls were decorated with a lot of glowing stones.

If I had to name it, then I would call it the 'Great Cave'.

I kept following him, wondering when and where he would stop.

“When are we going to stop?” I asked him. But of course, he didn't say a word.

After walking for a long time, a strange sight greeted me. Even more winged creatures like me appeared out of nowhere.

One, two, ten, fifteen, twenty.

They filled this place one after another, creating a sight that I’ve been longing to see.

I did it. I finally did it.

I arrived at the place where everyone gathered.

I have lost track of the creature that led me here, but I didn't care anymore. Most importantly, I have arrived at a place where I wasn't alone.

The relief and satisfaction after all of my pain and effort paid off, really weaken my body until I finally lost consciousness.

I lay down and then closed my eyes.

"I'm really tired right now."

"I want to… rest my body for a while…" I whispered to myself.

My consciousness then completely faded, and I fell fast asleep.

…

“Mo…ve…”

A voice woke me up. His voice was faint because I was still half asleep. I wanted to wake up but I felt so reluctant to open my eyes.

"Get out of the way...."

The voice buzzed in my head again. Inevitably, I tried to open my eyes to see what was really going on.

Two—no, three winged creatures were standing in front of me. They seemed to be waiting for me to do something.

"Get out of the way."

Since my vision was still blurry, I tried to rub my eyes to see my surroundings more clearly.

"Huh!?" Surprised was the most appropriate reaction I could show at the time.

The vast space that was once filled only by me and a few winged creatures had been swarmed by hundreds to thousands of them!

I stood up and then looked around. This place had been filled with “copies” of me. It was as if this cave had turned into a sea of me.

Some of them had rings on their heads, some didn't. Some of them were flying, and some of them were walking.

Surprisingly, they looked like they were doing their own thing. None of them communicated, grouped, or simply looked at each other faces.

"Ugh!?"

Maybe because of waiting too long, the creatures that told me to get out of the way started to walk forward without paying any attention to me, so they accidentally bumped into me.

I didn't want to stay silent either. Because of that, I then walked forward.

Judging by their behavior—doing their own business, flying out from one place to another as if they had known this place for so long, they had lived here for a long time.

Weird, I thought. Was I the only one new here? Could it be that of the many eggs down there, only I hatched at that time?

I was no longer alone by myself. But somehow, despite being surrounded by many people, I still felt lonely deep inside.

This was not what I expected at all. Stuck in a crowd but with no one, I could communicate with.

By being here, it felt like more questions arose than answers. I still didn't understand everything that happened.

"Ah?" I just realized one thing.

My egg fragment! It turned out that until that moment, it was still in my hand. Even after I fell into that hole.

I looked at the egg fragment once again. The shiny part of the egg fragment reflected the light that illuminated this place, allowing me to see my reflection.

So it was the truth all along. My face, my body, and the pair of wings on my back are completely similar to the others. There's no mistaking it, we're one kind—one species.

In that case. Who and what creature was I?

I was afraid that the answer might never come.