This is a story about a 15 year old male human dreaming of turning into animals and then one day it happens for real as he turns into an eagle. This is a story I've been wanting to write for a while. Been posting it over on Royal Road. Will be posting until I catch up with my new posts there minus 10 chapters. If you like the story check out what I have there, love any reviews, follows, comments and such there if possible.

Royal Road Link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/140572/sky-within-shadow-without

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Where am I! Confusion is all that I feel as I wake up suddenly. I am sweating and tired, and something feels off, but I can’t think about what it is. I feel almost naked and cold even in my PJ’s, as if I am not wearing my full set of clothes. Well of course I am not, who sleeps in clothes. I remember a dream, a sensation of falling but the wrong way.

It takes a few moments for my stupid brain to reset as I look around my room. It is morning making me groan, I feel like I barely got any sleep. I really need to stop playing games when I should be sleeping. Well, who am I kidding.

I yawn again, man, I hate school. At least it is the weekend. I rush over to grab my backpack and homework as I almost trip over my NES controller, giving it a glare. Stupid thing. Looking at the clock, I am… dang it, going to be late if I don’t rush, leaving all thoughts of the dream for the moment.

I just grab my backpack and rush downstairs. “Yeah yeah, I’m late,” I yell as I quickly grab some food. I notice we are the only people here. “Where’s sis, is she sleeping in?” I ask, giving another yawn.

I quickly begin stuffing my mouth with cereal as if I was afraid someone would steal it from me as she says, “It’s in-service day, so she gets to sleep in,” she says poking me in the chest, making a small laugh as I groan. “Now get to school, I’m not driving you so catch your bus.”

I groan shaking my head, “Yes mommy,” I say as I grab a donut and run out the door, again feeling that everything is colder than it should be and shiver as I wonder if it will be snowing this weekend.

I am soon running up the hill as I hear a kaw from above and spot a crow or raven above and sigh. Really would be handy to be able to fly right now. I could fly to the bus or just skip it entirely and fly to school. I remember some of the silly dreams I had growing up about being an eagle when I grew up.

Seeing the bus come down the hill, I groan and pick up speed as I wave at it. I just reach the bus stop, exhausted and tired, when it pulls over and opens the doors. The driver just laughs. “Late again, are you?” I just nod at him. Okay, next day I will make it in time. I know I will. Despite thinking that every week.

I find a seat, my lungs still aching as I shake my head. I always hate running on a cold morning, my lungs feel so cold. Once I gather my thoughts, I look out the window at the scenery passing by.

Seeing another raven fly by, it makes me wonder how much easier my life might be if I were out there going wherever I wanted. Hunting when hungry, sleeping when tired. Wait, did that raven just wink and give a little wing wiggle? Nahhh, it is probably just my tired mind as I give it a wave in confusion.

Did I just imagine that, or is that what happened? I am not sure which is real or not. The part of me that longs for the sky hopes it is real, but the pragmatic side of me rejects the idea as only wistful thinking. I am still puzzling it out when I realize we have already arrived at school and I quickly get out.

Heading toward the lockers, I see my friends all hanging out with Frank, John, and Charlie. Ohhh, they haven’t seen me just yet. I sneak up behind Frank and thwap the hat he is wearing off his head. “BOO!” I yell.

Frank yells and jumps as he grabs his hat, glaring at me, which just makes me laugh harder. “Har har, very funny. So we on for some games of Netrek during lunch?” he asks, and we nod our heads. He smiles. “Kay, see you then.” We all head to our classes.

I walk toward math class with heavy nervousness. This is the third time this week I am late on homework, which would not be so bad if I did not only have ONLY three classes. I head in, and the teacher just gives me a look. “Again? Good thing it is the weekend. You have plenty of time to finish it.”

Grumbling, “Thank you,” I say as I turn to head to my desk, it is an uneventful class as I head next to biology one of my favorite classes as I always love learning about animals, birds in particular. As soon as I sit down I notice the teacher has a slide up of an eagle and give a quick mental YES! in excitement.

I can barely hold my excitement as the teacher walks in, all I can think about is staring at it, and how beautiful it looks. I am ninety percent sure that it is a golden eagle from the coloring. Shortly he asks for all our attention and he begins the class explaining the biology of a golden eagle, my heart racing as I can imagine myself being one. Maybe in front of the class as the teacher describes me. Though then again would I be comfortable being in front of the class effectively naked?

The hour of class flies by so quickly that I barely notice it and I am off to my next class and then on to lunch as I meet my friends in the computer lab.

FINALLY!!! I am so glad to be out of classes and able to have some fun. I barely take time to grab a sandwich from my locker before rushing off to the computer lab where I wave to the others. “Hey guys,” I grunt as I plop down into a seat and load up Netrek. I wince mildly as the buzz from the computers is a little annoying for some reason.

As I start playing, I ask them, “So you want to go see the new Rescuers Down Under movie? I’ve been dying to see it ever since I saw the trailer.” Which is the truth — it had caught my interest the second I saw the eagle.

Frank and John just groan, making me roll my eyes as John says, “Really? A kids cartoon? Where is Predator 2?” he asks.

I give a small sigh. “That’s next week. We can see it too, but I really want to see this one,” I say, remembering the feeling of excitement and weirdness the trailer had caused. My whole body had felt energetic.

Charlie punches me in the arm playfully. “You just want to see it because it’s got a cute eagle in it,” he says.

Okay, kinda. I think, looking at him as I roll my eyes, muttering, “Not just… because I liked the original too.”

They all laugh, shaking their heads as I jump slightly from the bell ringing. I jerk forward again, feeling like something is right behind me. Gahhhh, that sucked. What is it with me today? I wave to them as I head to class and thankfully manage to make it through the rest of the day with only losing a couple of brain cells due to boring classes.

I wave as I quickly get to the bus as the others are already there. We decide to head to the arcade before going home, I always enjoy it even if I am pretty bad at most games. As soon as we arrive Charlie motions over to the Smash TV cabinet. “Let’s play this one, isn’t too bad,” he says. Yeah right, five dollars gets you about five minutes if you are really good and lucky.

I shrug and join in. Might as well play. In theory, we could survive longer. Soon the game starts up and I grin. That’s it, die, you enemies! I run around the arena watching with rapt attention. All I can do is focus on the screen and watch all the bad guys run around as if they were mice. Wait, mice? Why did such a comparison go through my mind?

Maybe I am tired as I focus on the game, hitting the buttons faster than I normally would, as if I am reacting more than playing.

Charlie looks over to me and laughs, “I think someone’s been cheating on us and practicing,” causing me to blush, shaking my head in denial and laughing.

“No, I haven’t,” is my immediate defensive response. I haven’t been playing at all since last time. But something is definitely odd. I am playing better than I usually do.

John laughs and I shake my head. “Maybe I am just finally good at video games,” I say. We soon finish the game and head off for them to catch the bus. I give them a wave as they drive off, relaxing for a moment. I have felt so weird all day and am starting to be afraid they might notice something. A walk home should help me relax, and maybe whatever is up will be gone by the time I get home.

“Kaw!” Again I hear a raven, or was it a crow’s call, as I glance up into the sky and see a black bird fly overhead. I give it a wave again, gee, so many of these things around, or was it the same one? I doubt that, unless I have a stalker raven. Or maybe he thinks I am a giant shiny thing.

To my surprise, I see its wing wiggle again, similar to the one earlier. Wait, is that supposed to be a wave or not? I am still confused and wondering about it. It soon flies off in another direction. Now I am just left with my thoughts. I just hope this is better in the morning, and all of this is just from lack of sleep. But something tells me it isn’t.