It’s been five years since I was reborn in this world. This world doesn’t have an official name, but the continent in which I have been reborn is known as Avalon. Avalon is divided into nine different countries and the Darklands where the monster race resides. The continent is dominated by six different species, they are Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Beastkin, Giants and Merfolk.

My family is of the beastkin species, Tiger beastkin to be precise, and I’m an odd one in that as I am a mutant of our species. My mutation is that I have a single claw that will pop out from my knuckles.

Even though I’m a mutant my father and mother didn’t abandon me but became so much protective of me. And my brother who is older than me by five years has shown reluctance in having to carry me around or to watch over me, but that melted away within the two months after my birth.

My father’s name is Eric, he is a hunter and the provider for our family, my mother Robin takes care of me and my brother, and she is the protector of our family. My brother Ralph is ten years old now and father has promised to take him out for his first hunt in the forest.

We are not living in a village due to my mutation, the villagers are all superstitious and believe that I would bring bad luck to them and my family. They even tried to persuade mother and father to abandon me, when that didn’t work they tried to kill me. So in retaliation my father and mother fought with them and injured quite a bit of the villagers and left the village.

We live in the Silverwood forest which is in the outskirts of the Kingdom of Elves, Everglade. This forest is shared by Everglade and Prideland, which is the Kingdom of Beastkin.

Even though the forest is shared between the two kingdoms, Silverwood is mostly left alone in order to let the wild animals thrive and also for settling down of nomadic people.

As I was thinking about all that, I heard the door creaking, so I looked towards where the door is, fully knowing that it's not time yet for father and brother to return after their hunt. As for my mother, she came running inside from the backyard as soon as she heard the sound of door creaking. Heightened senses are the best.

The door slowly opened and we saw five people standing out there cautiously. They are not Beastkin or the Elves, they are humans and they are armed to the teeth.

Looking at us the one with a greatsword spoke "Well, well, well look what we have here."

Trouble was brewing, and I'm not afraid of them. Some might wonder why I don't fear them, well the answer is simple.

If there is a mother tiger and her cub present, don't show any kind of hostility, because that's the one way ticket to meet the Death God. And right now these guys are practically oozing out of hostility, and looking at them I muttered under my breath "Poor bastards."

Right after I said that, my mother jumped on to them and started to fight them in close combat.

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In the world of Avalon, the Silverwood forest that is shared by the elven kingdom of Everglade and the Beastkin kingdom of Prideland is a vast, enchanted woodland that is steeped in magic and mystery.

The forest is a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, with a wide range of species that thrive in the fertile soil and temperate climate of the region. Many of the trees have silver-toned leaves or bark, which gives the forest its name and gives the area a distinctive, shimmering quality when the light filters through the canopy.

In this forest we can see two Beastkin walking down a path, one adult and the other is a kid.

The kid is dragging along a boar that is almost as big as the kid himself, and the adult is dragging along an adult moose. Looking closely we can also see the resemblance between these two Beastkin.

Stolen story; please report.

As they were dragging along the carcasses of the animals, they were talking to each other. To be precise, the adult Beastkin was talking and the kid was replying after thinking for some time.

"So what did you understand from your first hunt, Ralph?" A muscular man, he has green eyes and orange hair asked the kid next to him, who has yellow eyes and orange hair.

"I have to stay vigilant every time." Ralph said grumbling.

"Yes, you have to be on your toes whenever you're going for a hunt. Whether the hunt is for food or hunt to kill." The muscular man said.

"Yeah dad, I get it." Ralph replied to his father.

Smiling softly at Ralph, Eric said "What I have taught you is the same thing that my father had taught, and I have added a spin of my own."

"But you didn't teach me how to transform." Ralph grumbled again.

Shaking his head Eric spoke "Look kiddo, we Beastkin will only be able to transform at the age of fifteen."

"But, Rath transformed right after his birth, didn't he?" Ralph asked.

"He did. But, in my thirty years of life he is the only one I have known who can transform before the age of fifteen." Eric said. Sighing he kneeled in front of his eldest son so he could see him eye to eye.

Looking into his eyes Eric said "But after that one transformation he hasn't transformed till this day. That was because of his mutation."

"I know that…. But…. But if he transforms before I can, I won't be able to protect him from others!" Ralph said.

Sighing at what Ralph, Eric was about to say something, but was interrupted by a powerful roar.

*ROARRRR*

Hearing that, both Eric and Ralph shuddered at the same time and looked towards the origin of the sound.

Looking in that direction, Ralph said "Mom's angry."

"Yeah." Was all that said by Eric, then both of them darted towards their house which is where the sound originated from.

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With a roar that could devastate a dozen people, my mom started to attack them with all she got. As for me, I just stayed away from it as I didn’t want to do anything related to the fight.

But that was just wishful thinking of mine as one of the guys strayed away from the group and just disappeared from there. Seeing that I concluded that he must be an assassin, because stealth is one of the main abilities of an assassin. So I increased my five senses to its maximum, and thanks to my mutation my sensory skills are much higher than a trained adult in the village.

It didn’t take long for me to find him and he was creeping up behind my mom, as she had already taken care of two people and there was only the greatsword guy and a guy with a bow were remaining, so I loudly shouted at her “Behind.”

Hearing that, the two guys looked at me with wide eyes and the assassin tried to slice my mom’s neck, key word tried.

Just as she heard my shout, she did a roundhouse kick on the assassin without even looking back and then she pounced on the two guys who had been stalling her just like a tiger would.

The guy with the greatsword tried to block her, but she was fast and had more power in her hands, so her clenched fist had struck the man square on his chest and he fell down like a doll that got its strings cut.

Just as he fell down the man with the staff shouted “Ice Prison!”

It was a spell that contained the power of ice and it easily stopped mom on her tracks for a few seconds. That momentary gap was all he needed as he disappeared from the entrance of the house and appeared at the trail leading into the forest.

But before he could sigh in relief, he was hoisted up into the air by my father. Looking at him dad said “Where do you think you’re going?”

Then looking at my brother Ralph he said “Go and check on Rath.”

Ralph just nodded and hurriedly ran towards me with a face full of worry and concern. Just as he reached me he started to check for any injuries on me without saying a word.

While he was checking upon me, the ice started to crack up and a second later it shattered into a lot of pieces. Shaking off the water from her body, she looked at me and Ralph. Seeing that both of them are fine she smiled and turned around to face dad and said “I will take this guy.” Pointing at the man with the greatsword, then pointing at the remaining unconscious guys she said “You will take these three.”

My dad didn’t say anything but nodded his head and dragged away those three along with the wizard he caught at first. Seeing that I had a single thought ‘What are they going to do with them?’

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Chapter 1 End