I redid the first chapter - this chapter. I wanted to give the MC a better background, even if it ment that it would take longer to achieve the milestones I've set for the story. Still it should be interesting to see the growth of the MC and his journey in life.

I hope you like my story, even if it's a little amateur'ish (it's because i am an amateur. First story yay!)

H.F.

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A very beautiful woman is currently going through a very important part of her life. She is in the process of bringing new life into this world.

It should be a happy occasion, but then why is the woman crying silent tears? These were tears of sadness and not from giving birth.

This woman is a beastkin, or a direct descendant from a god beast. Even as power has waned over the millenniums since these god beasts tread upon the world of Darsus.

Even if they are far descendant of these god beasts they still hold considerable fighting power. Even though they aren't as scientifically advanced as the other races. They still excel at their senses and instincts.

Their legacy from their ancestors makes them natural-born predators and war machines.

Their looks stem from their ancestors when they were in human form, this makes them look like a mix between animals and humans.

Looks vary from tribe to tribe, but many if not all of these tribes hold extremely pure blood lines. Therefore the different tribes have their own looks that represent a specific animal or god beast.

The woman giving birth, has the looks of a human with slightly laid back and rounded ears on top of her head, a patch of fur growing from her sex, to her navel, and a long slick tail clad in soft fur. All of this fur has the same color pattern. Bright yellowish orange with pure white stripes. Her long hair reaches her waist and is blond though with a tint of her other color pattern.

Even if this color pattern seems common it is in fact very rare, her tribe -The War Tigers of the South- might seem like it has a very domineering and militaristic name, though it was like that in the past, but at the present, they have nearly gone extinct.

They were once a very powerful tribe, but because of human influence, their tribe dwindled over the years. Until now, Where they are a rarity.

This started when the humans began expanding their influence from the central continent, unto the continent of the south, where the beastkin reside. Amongst the might savannahs and jungles. These tribes are not alone, but live together with Demonic beasts. Which are their only source of meat. These beastkin are extremely skilled hunters and warriors.

There was a mighty collision when the humans and beastkin met. The humans wanted the beastkins as toy and slaves. The beastkins of course denied. But this made the humans aggressive. The humans attacked tribes of Beastkin, until a mighty ruler banded the beastkin tribes together and repelled the humans from the continent.

The results of their collision could be considered a draw, the humans because of their low numbers retreated from the continent. but the beastkin lost many tribes, and many beastkin were kidnapped by the humans to be used as slaves.

The females would be used as stocks for breeding more beastkin slaves, and were considered prized goods.

The men were tortured and bound to do hard physical work. Especially the men had mighty strength and the humans used this to their advantage.

This is where the fate lands for this particular female beastkin. She was actually the daughter of the warchief of the War tigers. But her family was betrayed by a crazed war tiger. This war tiger, poisoned her father - the warchief, and defeated him in a tribal battle for the seat of power. This gave him various powers, such as influence over the fate of the previous warchiefs family.

He sold the previous war chief's daughter to some humans.

She ended up in a dirty cellar belonging to some filthy lower class noble. who raped her until she got pregnant. and this is how we ended up in the present situation.

The woman of course was devastated. She was betrayed, and she felt that she had betrayed the pure blood lines of her tribe, as she was about to give birth to a half human, half beastkin.

But even then she couldn’t let out her anger on an even yet unborn child. This child had not done anything wrong in this world. And this child deserved a good life, even if she would not be in it.

She knew!

This lower class noble, would not provide for his child born by rape, no. The shame would be unbearable for such a man of such ‘prestigious’ position.

The child would, without choice, either be killed or be sent away. Either sold to a slave trader or be left somewhere in the city. The choices - not so far from each other.

The woman was going through the final painful pushes. In this time of need she was alone, usually she was not, but the other slaves kept away from her in this period. This was because of the upcoming storm, Her owner - the prestigious noble, would be furious when he found out she had given birth. Her survival was not assured.

The shining head of the baby were now sticking out and she could just barely see it over her overgrown stomach.

The woman grasped, when she saw that the baby lacked animal ears on top of his head, he also lacked fur in the usual places. He truly was of mixed blood, cursed the woman.

She pushed once more, and the child fell out - unto a dirty pillow. even if it was dirty it was the best she could provide.

She fell sideways down onto the floor in sheer exhaustion. Even if she is a beastkin female, who are able to give birth to children without the help of another person. The process was still extremely draining and it didn’t help that her condition was malnourished and very weakly.

She glanced at the innocent baby lying on the dirty pillow.

To her shock it wasn’t breathing.

First she fell into shock, but after a quick realisation. she used the last of her powers to quickly move herself to perform life support on the unbreathing child.

She had not even seen the child's sex, before she had to provide life support. While fully focused on giving life support, she looked carefully at her child's head.

The baby didn’t look healthy at all. In fact it had sickly pale skin color and frail and patchy hair on top of the it's head. Her eyes moved, even as she was still providing life support, even if it was futile. She saw that the child was a boy.

She cried tears of despair while performing life support, even with the last of her vitality she lasted a good 5 minutes.

It felt like she was watering a withering rose. No matter how much she watered and nurtured the flower it was to no avail.

A shadow fell on her face from the burning light of a candle. Now she was truly alone, she could feel the heat disappear from the small child's body.

She was very sad and confused. She had hoped, that this boy would somehow be able to life a free life, that she had not been able too. Meet a special someone, whom he could cherish and love. But this ruined the last sparks of hope in her life.

Her motivation for life plummeted, as she held the newborn yet unbreathing boy close to her heart.

She was terrified and cried ever streaming tears of sadness.

She had truly given up.

As she was about to lose her mind, she thought of a legend.

This legend was special, it was said that her earliest ancestor was the God Beast Nazul who held the title Tiger of War.

She hoped that if this God Beast still existed somewhere, it might be able to help her in the time of need.

The legend was as follows.

“On a grassy field stood the predator. Around him was a sea of blood stemming from a solid foundation of corpses. These corpses were being bakes by the sun, releasing a pungent odor, but the God Beast strolled amongst them like in a garden of flowers. He was the victor and the god of this battlefield. A shining golden bolt of lightning fell from the skies. Crackling in the air before hitting the God Beast. The God Beast released an earth shattering roar, which could be heard 500 kilometers away.

The God Beast combat the heavenly lightning for two day and two nights before he once again emerged victorious.

From then on his figure changed. He now stood on two feet and had taken a human form.

He became the earliest ancestor and founder of the War Tigers. Nezul the Tiger of War.

But one day he disappeared, It was rumored that he ascended.”

This was what the woman hoped for, she hoped that the Tiger of War could use his divine power to resurrect her unbreathing child, giving it a chance of life.

She fell to her knees in prayer, while still holding her baby boy in her arms. Her knees hurt, but she didn’t care. Her face was resolute and unbending. She tried to put an image on Nezul the Tiger of War and she used every fiber of her being to achieve this feat.

She began to whisper in growling voices, the language of the native war tigers.

The language indecipherable to other beings as they are just not able to replicate the growling noises. But the meaning is as follows: “Oh, Great Tiger of War. Please grant my child your blessing. Please give him a chance of life. I WILL DO EVERYTHING. sob.. Please. I will accept any punishment for my deeds. Just... sob. save my son! Please!”

---

meanwhile: In an unknown place

A great white tiger suddenly opened his eyes. He roared with all his might, making the sky tremble. Clearly, he was furious!

Over the last long period of time, he had languished in the pain of his descendants, but as a being of a higher power, he was powerless. He couldn’t descent!

Which might seem ironic, as a being striving for power, all his life. Finally, reaching the goal line, but being unable to even help his descendant. Even though he is blessed with eternal life, he can’t change the fate of a lower being without authorization and the help from the Keepers of Fate.

But, he was furious. He had tried conversing with the keepers before, but they were stubborn unyielding. If not for the fact, that the keepers held considerable power, he might have gone on a rampage or two from frustration. He had but not against the Keepers.

But, He had finally had enough! His extremely limited patience had run out. It looked as if his anger and killing intent had manifested as a bloody red cloud gathered around the pure white body.

A young direct descendant had just given birth to a child of mixed blood, born from the punishment and rape from a filthy human. But worse is that the child wasn't breathing upon birth, upon which his descendant tried and tried again to save the newborn's life or at least start it. But to no avail.

In sheer hopelessness she had tried praying to an ancient monster. A terror of the battlefield and a directly taker of lives. This being was Nezul and the legends were true if not an understatement. Nezul had lived a life of rage and killing. As a tiger he feasted and hunted, this was his purpose and design. He didn’t care as he could only alleviate his rage by killing.

Only when he wore a human form could he feel peace. But that form disgusted him, he would rather kill than wear the form of a human.

The beings of a high plane held no power over their descendants. Unless, their followers or in this case descendants has absolute faith in their god or being of higher power, this could allow these being into performing those things that the mortals call miracles.

Miracles are often seen or heard by the church of the human religions, that is because the faith is so widespread and focused on a single being of higher power, that it makes it so that the being can perform miracles on a somewhat often scale.

But Nezul the Tiger of War, didn’t have that kind of power. This was the case until his descendant showed absolute faith. This faith would enable him in performing a single link of power, though only with the help of the keepers of fate.

The Tiger of War rose from his cavern scouting the area for the nearest Temple of Fate. Nezul had his home in what seemed like a desert only that it was filled with big metal like structures, it seemed like solid blocks of steel. The area was extremely desolate, only the sound of rushing sand could be heard in the distance. There were no Demonic beasts or other kind of creatures in this desert.

Nezul quickly found a temple only 200 kilometers away, this was an extremely short distance for the tiger.

Nezul began moving his large body, so that he faced in the right direction. He then lowered his body, like a cat preparing to jump. The muscles in his legs began bursting with power, expanding greatly. Before unleashing the terrifying potential. His paws or rather claws sank deep into the stone of his cavern. Before he suddenly vanished from sight.

Above the ground the tiger was shooting through the air, like a bullet straight out of the gun. loud booming noises followed, as he broke the sound barrier on multiple occasions.

In what seemed like a split second, he had moved over the 200 kilometer distance. Just mentioning this feat to any mortal, would call them a liar or a lunatic.

He landed on a stone platform of what seemed like a landing pad for a very large vehicle, but strangely this platform was about 100 meters in the air. The platform was connected to a very big and tall building with a temple like design with large white marble arches and beautiful greens growing all over it.

Over the temple was a large golden rainbow which seemed permanently locked in place.

Strangely, the tiger didn’t even glance at these features before walking to an golden entrance to the temple.

This was precisely a Temple of Fate. This was a temple for beings of higher power so it had to be grand. But the Tiger of War though, it was too grand and pompous. He himself lived in a secluded cavern, in the middle of an iron desert. He was also a traveler moving from place to place.

But there were also a difference in population, he, himself was alone. and the Keepers of Fate attracted all of those who practised the profound Art of Fate.

But still the Tiger of War thought that it was a little wasteful of effort to build such a grand building. He also wouldn’t be there for long, as the only thing he needed to do was to get an audience with the master of the temple.

As the Tiger of War entered the entrance, his form began to suddenly shift, he went from a normal tiger to what seemed like a beastkin. Except that he had some other features, for example: His base color was different, he had a completely different color palette compared to his descendants. He had paws instead of hands, with rings of fur growing up his arms, connected in a tattoo like pattern. He also lacked a tail, though he walked like he had one. He had a large scar growing from under his right eye to his right ear on top of his head, with scar tissue still visible which was void of hair or fur. His overall colors very a bit different. His fur was white with black stripes, and his short cut hair was also completely snow white.

Truly, it wouldn’t seem like he was in the same family as his descendants. But he was, it was just that the heavenly tribulations when ascending had granted him the celestial powers that changed his colors, to a more elegant and mysterious color blend.

He walked through the majestic temple, as if he was the master of the place. The priests of the place looked at him as if he was a lunatic.

He had walked a while before someone came up to him asking him of his business.

In a very arrogant manner, Nezul said “Hello there, I want to talk with the master of this place”

Clearly, he didn’t care for the positions of these priests, and their hierarchy meant nothing to him. therefore as the prideful being that he is he wasn’t going to show the slightest bit of respect unless, the one he was supposed to meet held considerable power, or had defeated him in battle.

The priest was furious, he knew that the one the tiger-man was looking for, was one of the cardinals of the temple of fate. But having the nerve to actually say master of this temple, was blasphemy. And this savage man was stepping directly on the face of the temple. But the priest knew better, he could see that if one had the nerve to be so arrogant, they themselves must hold considerable power or have a powerful backing. He guessed the former, as the tiger-man gave off a dangerous and ferocious aura around him.

The priest of course, replied after speculating a bit “Sir, if you could just wait in the room down the hall, I will call the Cardinal.” As he bowed with his hand cupped together he gave a prayer before going off “May Fate be with you...”

Nezul didn’t care for his prayer and had already gone off to the room to wait, he was clearly very impatient. He wanted to save the child and even if the time in the immortal plane, he was in moved at a pace of around 5:1, meaning that one hour in the mortal plane would be one hour and here in the higher plane would be five. Even then he couldn’t afford to wait.

He wanted to make the child his champion, and help him in life, and maybe someday freeing his people.

After what seemed like an eternity to Nezul. Though only one hour had passed before a man dressed in a robe of white silk and gold walked into the room he was in. This man looked like a Cardinal to Nezul, and he stood up from his chair. He stretches his body, from sitting still for a while, before walking up to the Cardinal.

On the chest of the Cardinal was a medallion of an open eye, encased in strange triangles. The medallion looked like it had been dipped in blood, and only a little of the original golden shine was left. Clearly, because that even if fate brings cruelty and death, it is a practice that must be upheld and honored. Even if it is a law of death and cruelty.

Nezul began speaking, this time in a not so arrogant manner, it was because he could feel the power of the Cardinal and somewhat respected him “Greetings. You must be the Cardinal and master of this grand temple, I am Honored to meet a man of your stature and that you will grant me this audience.”

The Cardinal was somewhat surprised, he was briefed by the priest which had spoken to Nezul and had the impression that he would be arrogant, but clearly he was not.

The Cardinal replied in a respectful voice, belonging to a priest speaking to the masses “We too are honored for your presence - Tiger of War Nezul, we have heard of your presence in the desert of iron, and we thank you for getting rid of the pests belonging to that region. We’ve heard of your previous visits, but i am sorry, we can’t interfere without a proper cause or power. As you know we can’t provide power for you.” it was like the Cardinal sang as he talked. Truly mysterious and profound.

Nezul was somewhat surprised, he had not thought that they would actually notice that he had hunted near his cavern. Though it was his fault that the Desert of Iron was desolate of beasts because of his hunting. Still he was a little furious with the last bit of the Cardinals response, he was happy that he had been shown respect. But now, he had power which he could use!

Nezul replied back in a happy voice, he had gained power and he could use it “Thank you for noticing. Yes, this is the same as the last times, but I’ve got power from my followers, now. So there should be no problems?”

The Cardinal raised an eyebrow, he had heard from the last times the Tiger of War visited that it had ended bad, and that he was not a man to be trifled with. But he was somewhat happy that he could help the miserable Tiger of War.

“We will grant you an audience and a power link with the one you seek. Follow me.” Replied the Cardinal as he was walking away.

Without saying another word Nezul followed the Cardinal. After going up many stairs, they finally reached the top of 150 meter temple, on top were a ball of golden rings, rotation in a very chaotic manner, yet the rings didn’t collide. With Nezuls sharp cat like eyes he could see that every time these rings passed each other they produced a golden lens of light.

As the Cardinal and Nezul neared the rings. The cardinal began chanting in a unknown language. After he was done he invited Nezul into the spinning rings.

As Nezul was walking in he saw that where he went it seemed like the rings avoided him, and this allowed him free passage into the midst of the spinning rings.

As he walked to the center, the Cardinal began speaking and chanting at the same time. Strangely, he could do both at the same time. “Think of the one you want to contact and the one you want to link your power and influence to.”

Nezul sat down in a meditative manner, he was slowly transforming back to his massive tiger form. He needed all the concentration he could manage, and being in his original form helped him in doing that.

He felt a massive golden gate open in his mind, as he thought of the two persons he wanted to connect to; His descendant for a message, and the link of power and influence for the unbreathing newborn boy.

A golden line of power had snapped to something behind the golden gate in his mind.

A connection had been made.

---

In the mortal plane, the woman was crying and shouting, she was occasionally praying. But not a long time had passed. The baby in her hands were now only fueled by the warmth of her body, and couldn’t produce any heat on it’s own, because it wasn’t alive.

Suddenly, she felt a burning headache in her head. She thought she had over exerted herself too much and that she was suffering from the backlash. But that was not the case.

A mysterious and majestic voice sounded in her head “Hello there young one. I am the one you prayed too, Tiger of War Nezul, I will make this short, because I can’t speak for long to someone without my influence, and right now I can’t grant you mine. I can grant you the life of your child. Though it will be under a few of conditions which I will decide. First of all, the child's name will be Azul, a majestic and powerful name. Meaning Savior in the language of the tigers - our language. He will bear my blood and only my blood, removing most of your influence over his body, and all of that filthy humans. Last but not least, he will be forced to follow my way, even if he likes it or not. Danger will be drawn to him, and he to it. He will suffer, and hopefully as my direct champion he will prosper, and achieve my goal of freeing our people and rebuilding our tribe.” At the end, the voice belonging to Nezul sounded exhausted.

Recovering from her burning headache and pondering over the things the Tiger of War had said. She prayed again without giving much thought, of course “yes” was the answer and she screamed it out loud. She could live with these things, just as long as her child would be alive, she would be happy. She had regained hope and knew that her salvation had come.

After a few seconds, a red cloud began to gather around the baby. To the woman it looked like killing intent was condensing.

The cloud began to solidify around the body of the unbreathing baby, the woman hastily put the child down on the pillow.

After a few minutes the cloud was now a solid shape of an egg. Though it seemed like smoke was moving about in the shell. Glowing patterns also began to appear on the shell, shining white and gold.

The woman was afraid, of course she was. But she knew what was at stake, and anything was better than a dead baby, even if it was an abomination of an ancient war god.

After an hour the shell began to crack. When the first piece of shell fell off, a piercing cry erupted from the child. This was huge, this meant that the child was alive. Though it was still not possible to see the appearance of the child, she didn’t care.

Though she waited patiently for the shell to break apart, she was crying so many tears as if she could drown the ocean. These tears were not of sorrow, but of happiness. She wouldn’t care if the child was ugly, she just wanted it.

The child in the shell, finally broke most of the shell, and the woman lifted him out and brought him to her chest.

however, she did take a close look at him.

The baby boy, was filled with tattoos, which was made up for pure white fur. Though the fur was very dense, but at the same time it was so short that it seemed like white paint. He had animal ears like his mother. However, they were white with black stripes like the Tiger of War, his hands were normal though, and he didn’t have a tail for some reason. his hair was pure white, with a very faint tint of black and yellow, a strange combination, but his mother - the woman was glad that he had something from her.

She sighed in admiration, this was a very beautiful baby boy. She grinned as she thought of how many skirts he would chase in the future. though it might still be a little early to think of that.

The boy until then had his head against her bountiful breasts, but as he calmed down and opened his eyes. He gave a huge shock to his mother.

His eyes, were a blood red color with a slit in the middle, just like a cats. Truly beautiful, but oh so frightening, the eyes of a predator and a warrior. The eyes themselves gave off a cold feeling, while giving off a faint killing intent.

It even sent a shiver down his mother's back.

The woman was sad as she muttered, his given name. “Your father (Nezul) has decided that you shall be called Azul, Meaning Savior in our native language, someday you will do great deeds. Though you may live a life of danger, I hope as a mother that you will survive and someday live a happy and safe life.”

She had decided herself to name Nezul the father of the child. As that skum of a noble, had done nothing good, even if he ‘helped’ bringing this beautiful boy into this world. He was after all the cause of the suffering, and probably also the reason that the baby was born unbreathing.

The woman had often been beaten and one should not be beaten, while bearing a child.

Nezul might not be happy, but she thought it was the right choice. As he also technically gave the child life.

Still, she was a little scared, those eyes were filled with killing intent. It would frighten anyone as if a death god stood before them.

She hoped that the boy’s fate would be good, even if he possessed such frightening eyes.

---

A red sun rose that morning, announcing a new Era. The people of the world of Darsus, thought it weird as a red sunrise usually meant an upcoming disaster.

The Human church was in panic, their top officials had decided to report the event to the pope.

But for some reason the matter had been laid to rest by the pope saying “A change is coming, but don’t let your ignorance fool you, a red sunrise is not a sign of an upcoming disaster, just a sign of divine power descending from the higher realms.”

The pope continued in a small voice that none could hear, “Though these event often lead to disaster… sigh...”