Chapter 2: A Man? In a Strange and Foreign Land?

(Phil POV)

As the streaming golden light passed me at astounding speeds, I looked up to see an endless golden tunnel of light stretching out in front of eyes. I then began to force my head down to look at the other end of the tunnel to see what had pulled me into the endless tunnel of golden light.

As, the wind forcefully barreled down on my entire body, I was barely able to glance my head down, to see what was dragging me into this golden tunnel of light; it baffled me. Never in all my life did I think I would see what clearly in front of my own eyes.

A pair of ethereal golden arms with hands vastly bigger than any humans were tightly grabbing my legs from the base of my ankles to middle of my shins. The arms stretched into the far reaches of the endless tunnel of golden light that stretched out before my eyes.

The Golden hands that were clenched around my legs felt as though they were searing the skin; muscles that they grabbed. Noticing this I began to try to calm down and think…

As I forced myself to calm down I began to contemplate the question whether I was alive or dead? I then felt the severe pain from my wounds begin to wash over me, for the first time since entering the endless tunnel. The pain, made me realize that I was still alive; that this was all real!!!

As I realized I was still alive, I felt excited; scarred, while trying to think of what to do next. I then felt the blood from my various wounds begin to start pouring out. I soon realized I would die in this tunnel if I didn’t try to stop the bleeding from my wounds.

I shifted my right hand with as much force as I could muster, while reaching for my neck; tried to apply pressure to the various puncture wounds along my throat from the wolf that had torn my throat out. As my right hand forcefully wrapped around my own throat to apply pressure to the wound. Then the force of the air pressure continued to grow, pulling me farther; farther into the tunnel of golden light.

The air pressure began straining my right arm to its limits, the pressure continued to grow in strength, until my bones started to vibrate inside my body.

As I continued to look into, the never-ending tunnel of golden light, the light; wind began to whip by my face so fast that my eyes started tearing profusely from the oncoming air.

As I forced my eye closed, I lowered my left hands onto the exit wound on the left side of my chest to apply pressure. As I did this, I felt the air pressure suddenly slow while down, while my body slammed into solid ground. this made my eyes shoot open and stare in disbelief at what was before me.

(POV Holy Kingdom of Illengard) pronounced {ill-en-gard}

In Idevast the capital city of the Holy Kingdom of Illengard, the king addresses a small group of priests preforming a magical ritual.

(Fredrick Ackerson) “Illengard has blessed us, the magic ritual is working! We will gain a Champion to fight the Demons; other Demi-Humans races! *AHAHAHA*. This is only the beginning!!” Fredrick laughs while thoughts of another Holy War beginning in the name of the Goddess of light Illengard, ran throughout his head.

(Hammond Light-Bringer) “That she has, my king, hopefully this champion is as easy to control; manipulate as the last one was.” The High Priest of Illengard stated. While he; other priests continued focusing of the magic ritual the Goddess of light Illengard, had given to her followers so many years ago.

The current magic ritual that Hammond; several other priests were preforming only had one flaw. That was it could only bring one human from another world at time; until that being had died, another could not be summoned.

Luckily, The Holy Kingdom of Illengard had never had any issues arise from this flaw. The humans, they had summoned in the past were always willing to kill; slaughter the demi-humans of the world of Aredeaia. {Ar-e-de-aia}

(Alphie Shadowsnuffer) “High Priest Hammond, I believe the champion will be arriving shortly, he has entered the magic portal to enter our world” the young priest states.

(Hammond) “Good, prepare the Class Stone for the champions arrival” Hammond tells Alphie, In a cold tone.

Alphie waits for another priest to take his place in the magic ritual, then cuts the link that was siphoning his magic to support the magic ritual himself, other priests; high priest Hammond were preforming. He then walked over to a pedestal near the kings’ throne, which held a white stone orb.

The orb Alphie proceeded to grab, was known as a Class Stone.

Class stones had the ability to give all races a [Class] in the world Aredeaia; were created by the many gods that helped to create the world of Aredeaia and its varying races. The gods themselves did not create classes though, classes were created by the magic of Aredeaia endlessly. This of course was not widely known fact but was still the reality of the world Aredeaia, even the gods had no control over what classes were created or given to individuals.

Classes could only be obtained by touching a Class Stone; all races took their young to a temple of their respective gods at the age 6 to obtain their class for free; because of this all individuals in the world of Aredeaia had a class.

Classes could not be changed once obtained but would develop over time as the individual grew and changed, this happened naturally without the need for a Class Stone. This allowed for significant variation amongst individuals with the same class.

Classes were given based upon the experiences the individual had gone through, their mental state, beliefs, and other factors that were unknown. Due to this fact, obtaining a specific class was very difficult.

Classes themselves could be divided into their categories of rarity normal, unique, and undiscovered. Any race could obtain a normal class. While unique class were harder to obtain, some unique classes were inherently linked to certain races. Such, as the Animal-kin Race, a race of Demi-humans, that could inherit classes associated with the animal they were.

Such as classes like the [Knight of Talons] or [Warrior of Claws and Fangs] could only be obtained by Animal-kin Race who belonged to specific animal groups. With that said it was not a guarantee that one would gain a unique class if they were an Animal-kin or another race linked to unique classes.

Unfortunately, this was not the case for the human race, they had no unique classes that were linked to their race but could still obtain unique; undiscovered classes. This was far rarer occurrence than that of other races that had unique classes linked to them because of their race.

The odds that Animal-kin would obtain a unique class was out of every 4 Animal-kin 1 would obtain a unique class, while the odds for humans were out of every 10,000 humans to 1 would obtain a unique class. The odds for any race obtaining undiscovered class were out of every 1 million individuals only 1 would obtain an undiscovered class.

Even with this being the case human still had access to enough classes; people to dominate and control two separate kingdoms in the world, with varying views; ideologies…

One aspect that varied from class to class; even varied among the same class was the [skills] that class holder could obtain. In short skill gave passive and non-passive abilities to class holders. These abilities could range from a general understand of how to swing a specific weapon such as the skill [Sword Proficiency] or could give the class holder a better control over their sense like the skill [Enhanced 5 Senses].

Generally, skills were obtained when a class holder leveled up, when this happened they would be awarded Skill Points[SP]; Attribute Points[AP]. When a class holder obtained [SP] they could freely spend those points on skills that their class had given them access to or level existing skills up to higher levels. Other than buying skills with [SP], class holders could only gain skills by finding Skill Book’s or randomly when completing specific actions. When either of these occurrences happened, it was not required to spend [SP]. Skill levels could be raise with [SP] or by consistent use of the skill.

Attributes were broken down into five categories [Strength], [Agility], [Constitution], [Intelligence]; [Wisdom]. These attributes determined the physical; magical capabilities of individuals; could only be raised with [AP] or by doing something related to the attribute, an example would be if you lifted weights for extended periods of time your strength would go up.

[Strength] and [Agility] were physical attributes that assisted in physical actions. [Intelligence] and [Wisdom] were magical attributes that allowed for the use of magic, its regeneration over time in body; also increased the natural amount of magic a body could hold. Constitution was a physical attribute that gave the individual more health; stamina…

{Authors Note: I apologize for the long drawn out explanation, but I thought I would clarify the logic behind the systems I am using from the get go. There’s also a few more aspects to cover but they are fairly self-explanatory, so I won’t rant on them.}

(Alphie POV)

As Alphie picked up the class stone, a limp body crashed into the center huge room. The body of a bloodied man hung limp on the floor, yet the man’s dark green eyes shoot open filled with desolate and cold look in them. As the man looked around in shock, blood poured onto the ground from various sever wounds the man had, as he locked gazes with Alphie.

As Alphie stared into the eyes of the bloodied man he became in-tranced in the man’s dark green eyes.

(Hammond) “Hurry Alphie, make him touch the class stone at once; use healing magic to treat his wounds, he must be saved!” the high priest stated in a loud but calm voice

Alphie was immediately broken from the trance from the High Priests voice; he ran to the bloodied man; forced the class stone into his hand. As he did the man began to scream in pain. Alphie just stared at the man while forgetting to heal him due to the blood curdling screams that the man cried out in.

(Phil POV)

As I laid limp on the ground staring at one of the figures in front of me. One of the other figures started to talk at the man I stared at in a language I couldn’t understand. The man I stared at proceeded to run over to me while he shoved a white circular stone into my hand.

As the stone made contact with my hand, I felt a pain rush throughout my body that made my wounds feel like paper cuts. As I laid their I started to scream, as I began to scream I noticed the blood stop pouring form my wounds, which surprised me; stopped my screams for a moment.

(Phil) “ahhhhhhhha * Screams Stop*”

As I noticed the blood stop pouring out, I felt my body began to rip and tear from within. It felt like every muscle, tendon, and bone slowly snapped and then began to reform in my body. The pain continued to wash over me as I began to regain control of my lifeless body I rolled lashed out on the ground in pain; began to scream louder from the immense pain that throbbed throughout every inch of my body.

(Phil) “AHHHHHHHHHHHAAAH”

(Illengard King; priests POV)

(Fredrick) “HAMMOND, WHATS HAPPENING TO THE CHAMPION?!” the king screamed at the high priest

(Hammond) “My king I do not know what going on if I had to guess. I’d say it possible that the pain he Is feeling is related to the class he is obtaining from the class stone, if that not the case I do not know what is happening to the champion we’ve summoned. I would recommend that we use Skill [Inspect] on him and see if he gained a class and proceed from there” the high priest calming stated Calmly to the king

[Inspect] was a common skill that almost all classes had, as the skill grew in level it could identify more about anything within the world Aredeaia, the information provided by the skill would come back to the owner of the skill in their natural language. If the skill was used on a person, depending on the level of the inspect skill in comparison to the target individuals level you would be able to identify aspects from their Status. A person’s status included Name, Level, Race, Class, Health, Stamina, Magic, Skills, Buff’s, De-buff’s, Attributes; Titles.

Several individuals within the room immediately used [Inspect] on the man flailing who let a continuous scream. This included the king; high priest but they were all surprised by the information that the skill brought up in front of them; due to the man’s low level all of his Status information was easily accessible to the varying individuals.

[Status]

[Name: Phillip Mauger]

[Level: 1]

[Race: Homo-Sapien {Homo Sapiens: a race of animals that evolved into humans without the assistance of the gods}]

[Class: Shape-Shifter {Undiscovered Class}]

[Health:45/150 - 50/150]

[Stamina: 150/150]

[Magic: 0/0]

[Skills: Inspect-passive, Shapeshift-passive, Regeneration-passive, Scent Tracking-passive, {Claw; Fang Growth-passive}, Howl of the Pack- active {cost -50 Stamina}, Animal Instincts-passive.]

[Buff’s: Regeneration]

[De-Buff’s: Sever wounds {in the process of healing}, changing body, Non-Magical being – Permanent {This being has never have magic within it; will never be able to use it}]

[Attributes: Strength-18, Agility-18, Constitution- 20, Intellegence-14; Wisdom-14]

[Titles: Child of Nature, The Last of His Race.]

Fredrick; Hammond; the other priests were dumb founded at three aspects of the man’s status.

The first foremost was the man’s race, which was a mystery, he was human but also something else, they’d never seen before.

The second was his inherent lack of magic, this made them wary because all life on Aredeaia had magic, even the other Champions summoned from other worlds gained magic after obtaining a class.

The final aspect of his status that puzzled the group was his class, none of the men had ever heard of such a class. It was undiscovered class with no information about it, so [Inspect] could not identify what the class was capable of.

As they thought this the man screams became more enraged as he cursed; yelled at them in a language that none could understand.

(Phil) “ WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME!?!?!” as he body began to warp and grow unnaturally.

(Phil POV)

As I screamed at the men, they looked at me dumb founded. I then felt my body begin to rip; tear internally. My entire body began to grow unnaturally, while the of force from this rapid growth forced the skin to tear like an over-ripe fruit.

As my hands; feet grew their bones began to elongate, while the tips of my fingers; toes grew 6inch long claws. The balls of my feet; toes continued to grow as my heels shrunk back up to into my shins. As, I began to force myself up right into the standing position I noticed that I stood on the balls of my feet; toes that were nearly as long as my feet before the transformation; it felt natural.

I then began to rip the tear my skin from the entirety of my body excluding my head out of some uncontrollable instinct that I now felt rush over me.

As I did this, dirty blond fur began growing extremely fast while covering the areas of my body that had been freed from my human skin. While this happened my tail-bone extended about 7 inches forming a small; stubby tail that jutted from my lower back that hung down loosely between my ass cheeks that were now covered in dirty blond fur.

As my body continued to grow, I now stood at about 7 feet tall, even though I was slightly hunched over allowing my elongated arms to touch the ground. As I noticed this I felt my head and face continue to grow, while my new-found instincts forced me to rip the skin from my face; head. As I ripped the skin off my face, it like I was peeling dead skin from my body.

As I did, my face elongated and began to form into a long snout; jaws as my skull extended. I felt my nose become wet, while my human teeth began to fall out of my mouth. As my teeth began to regrow, my front teeth became 1 ½ inch fangs, while my canines extend to about 2 ½ inch fangs; my molars grew back their tops were slightly sharpened and jagged like a serrated knife.

I then noticed my ears extend; become elongated while becoming similar to that of a dog. As my face; head finished growing, I stared at my now transformed body that looked like a werewolf, while standing up straight taking it in confusion, excitement; fear flood my thoughts.

As I stood straight up I noticed I was just over 7 feet tall when standing fully erect while my long arms hung at knees.

As I looked my transformed body trying to understand what had just happened to me, I heard the men in front of me start yelling at each other while pointing at me. This didn’t surprise me, in fact it was the most logical thing that happened since coming to this place. Rather than stick around my instincts forced me to look around the room for a way to escape.

While looking for a way to escape I notice the room I was currently in was immaculate, the main stones that constructed the room were type white marble with gold; ivory inlays depicting various scenes. The most noticeable scene was one with a giant golden woman with wings, her entire body was made of gold; appeared to emanating light. She appeared to be battling some type of beast with horns one that I was unable to identify.

While taking this in, I noticed a stained-glass window with the same woman on it. After looking at the window, I immediately ran towards stain glass window. That was about 15ft off the ground; about was 150 feet away from me but was surprised to see myself running on all fours. As I did this the two men simultaneously shouted at the other men in the room.

(Illengard King; priests POV)

(Fredrick; Hammond) “DON’T LET IT ESCAPE! WE MUST CAPTURE IT OR KILL IT!!!”

Alphie and several other priests move to intercept the now changed man, who now looked more monstrous than most Animal-kin.

Luckily, Alphie; the other priests surrounded the bestial man due to the difference in attributes but just barely. As they did, they began to pull out their swords; other weapons from their wastes while other priests began to ready their magic skills.

(Phil POV)

Men rushed at me from all sides as I barreled towards the window, but I soon found myself surrounded with weapons pointing at me, this cause me to stand up straight towering over the men. My instincts tried to force my body forward, but I wouldn’t allow my body to move, I was already injured severely; had no idea how far I could get away from these people.

Hell, I didn’t even know where the fuck I was. As I thought this, the men began to shout at me in a foreign language that I couldn’t understand but got the gist of what they were saying. As I stared into the eyes of the men who surrounded me slowly creeping forward I saw only fear; hatred.

(Alphie: several other priests) “DON’T MOVE OR WE WILL ATTACK!!!” echoed in unison

The men’s actions made me absolutely sure I didn’t want to stick around in this place. I immediately went on all four as I let out a guttural growl unconsciously.

Then with all my strength in my arms and legs jumped, throwing myself at the window. Which was about 20 or so feet away now; 15 feet in the air. As I soared through the air, I felt something slam into my left arm; felt pain wash over me once again.

(Alphie) “Continue to shoot it with your magic!” Alphie told the priests

As I looked at my left arm I saw blood pour from the gaping wound from some unknow force that had split my left bicep to the bone. My body then smashed through the window with the woman with wings; I felt my body fall several feet before my legs smashed onto solid ground.

I then heard a voice chime in my head.

[Pain Resistance] Skill gained.

As I landed; heard the strange voice in my head, I grabbed my left arm loosely in my right hand while doing so I felt the intense pain begin to subside. While looking around I noticed I was in some huge city, with thousands of people. The people looked at me in absolute terror while all shouting and pointing

“ANIMAL-KIN RUN!!!!!”

As I heard this I felt an instinct scream from my body, RUN!!! I immediately decided to run towards the nearest wall.

While running towards one of the high walls that surrounded the huge city I was currently trapped in. I began to hear bells start to ring throughout the city, not taking note of this I speeded off towards the nearest wall, as the distance between us continued shorten.

As I did, I heard more; more screams coming from the people that I speeded by. As I came almost to base of the high wall passing several houses and other buildings with business in them, I noticed a group of men blocking my way.

Rather than stop my momentum like earlier I just kept running on two feet, while preparing to jump at the wall knowing Id wouldn’t make it to the top of the 35-foot wall. I readied the claws extending from my right hand; jumped with all my strength in my legs.

While I jumped over the men blocking my way I felt several arrows slam into various parts of my body. My body was unaffected by this; the pain coming from where the arrows had struck was significantly less than I had imagined it would be.

As my body flew towards the wall I stuck my right hand tipped with 6inch claws into the wall; proceed to do the same with my feet. I then proceeded to use my hands and feet to pierce the wall and climb to its top, while arrows continued to bounce off the wall; occasionally pierce my body.

Forcing my body onto the top of the wall I proceeded rip thee arrows imbedded into my flesh out, then forced myself to jump over the opposite edge of the wall. While my body fell I looked around to find a place to escape.

I noticed about a mile off to my left was a forest. My body barreled towards the ground; landed without breaking any bones in my legs but I still felt the jarring sensation of my bones cracking from within.

Between me and the forest there were several small farms; groups of houses. As I started to run rather than following the roads I just ran straight in the direction of the forest.

I then heard the galloping of horses, whiles yells emanated from behind me. My instinct forced me to continue running without trying to look back at the sounds.

As I ran through fields of crops, breaking small fences separating plots of land in the process. I looked at my left arm which somehow had started to re-grow the muscle that had been cleanly sliced through before.

I continued to run as fast as I could without looking behind me, I heard the horse gallops grow closer and closer as I neared the forest.

I then felt something hard smash into my back, throwing me onto the ground. While trying to force my body up I noticed the riders were already upon me.

My new found, instincts forced me to start howling from the ground while I felt my body become more exhausted; the voice echo again within my head again [Howl of the Pack -50 stamina].

This forced riders to a complete stop, even the one that had managed get close enough to smash me with a giant hammer he wielded. The horses or what appeared to be horse started shacking in fear; wouldn’t move forward anymore, some of the horses began to try to buck they’re riders as they attempted to flee.

While these events transpired I forced myself up; while my instincts forced me to jump on all fours and start running into the nearby forest, I looked at my left arm as I ran; noticed that my bicep had healed just enough to put pressure on my arm.

As I ran I heard the echo’s, of other howls emanating in the distance of the forest, as I continued to run closer to it. The sounds of these howls continued to move closer and closer until two wolves with jet black fur came barreling towards me. They both looked confused when they saw me,; both stopped while looking at me from the entrance of the forest.

Rather than stop for the wolves in front of me just ran straight past them; heard them for some reason fall into line right behind me as we sped off into the forest. Leaving the riders speechless as they attempted to calm their horses.

I continued to run for a long time, then felt body give out; drop onto the ground. As thoughts of not having any idea where I was or what was going on run throughout my head. I felt my eyes force themselves closed, as I passed out from physical; mental exhaustion from everything that happened within the last hour.