“When Life is too precious, you fight to keep it that way.”

“When Life is cheap, you realize the truth of the World, and you strive to improve it.”

“Those are the mindsets that matter in Life.”

“However, anything in between is ground for interpretation according to somebody's wants.”

“Therefore, carefully dredge the Gray areas of Life.”

“Otherwise, they will swallow you whole.”

#1 Quote - Book of Life and Death - Chapter Heroes and Villains

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Central Continent - Southern Forests - Survival Tribe

Beady eyes opened to stare at the World filled with Light, Trees, and their leaves. Vines with their wavy and bendy way of life. Vines strangling the Trees in their chase for the Light of the Sky.

Once the beady eyes blinked enough to clear away the slight sting of ever-present companionship of Light reaching for its embrace, the mind behind the beady eyes recognized what trees were.

It recognized them. Even though it's the first time brown, green, and fresh-looking trees like this graced its eyes. Usually, this freshness only occurred when Water dropped from the sky.

And yet, even then, it was not this deep green. Not as it was observed right at this moment.

Filled with wonder that felt as if it had not been satisfied for a long, long time, it stepped forward to smell, taste, and most of all to understand, yet every time it tried, its body fumbled around as its balance interfered with its desire.

It knew not why, but its body felt weird.

So weird that every single part of it felt strange.

It roused its butt to pull itself back on its legs, but the only thing that awaited it was an unbalanced gait that it had known for some time.

Time, it had spent inside a large burrow.

Time, it had spent suckling on a tit for milk, which it barely could remember ever doing before these moments. And it had no choice but to suck on that tit for the milk, as it constantly felt hungry, and milk was the only thing it was able to get its teeth at.

It had not felt that weak, ever. Yet, here it was in a weird environment, with its body not functioning adequately.

Still, the strangest of all things, its new eyes told it was not greenery around it.

Neither was it the strange hollowed-out Dens covered with even more green stuff that jutted out of the grounds.

Neither was it the big black thing with shiny lines upon it, in the center of this clearing where the Dens surrounded it.

Neither was it the white flowing apparition in front of the black thing.

Neither was it seeing beings walk on their behind legs. Still, while it was not the strangest thing, seeing the two-legged gait of those before it triggered a few memories of seeing something similar.

That fact mystified it very much. It felt as if it should know, yet, somehow, its mind refused to tell it where and when it witnessed it.

No, the most mysterious phenomenon that bothered its mind was the fact it somehow knew, without any doubts, that those it was currently seeing were of its kind.

It knew deep within that it was so. And that fact bothered it a lot.

Yes, they had the same coloring of black fur everywhere, but the back of the tail, the spine, and the head. Yet, that alone should not have been enough to trick it into believing it was seeing its own kind.

Not when their bodily shapes were so different compared to what it knew of its kind.

In truth, only the head was familiar with the shape of the snout, whiskers, and teeth.

Their eyes, on the other hand, felt the same, yet slightly different.

Despite all that, it should know, without a doubt, that they were not of its kind, yet that was not how it felt when seeing them.

They were of his kind, and there was no denying it.

How it knew for sure, it did not know.

However, one of those indicators was the smell its nose caught.

It was strange but familiar.

Processing all that contradictory information, it noticed something. Its eyes glimpsed something in the corner.

With instinct, its eyes glued in on the approaching Individual of its kind. At the same time, there was something about the approaching Individual of its kind that evoked old instincts inside it.

Instincts that nudged it to observe the Individual in question. To scrutinize how it walked and maybe find a weakness it could exploit. As such, its mind tried to examine the gait of this Individual of his kind.

The gait was simple. The arms kept the balance, and the legs pushed it forward. It was simple and effective, but most of all, it felt normal. In fact, it felt so typical to it that somehow its mind recognized that that is how it should walk too.

Only it could not, as its body failed to follow those instructions, just as its body failed to follow the old instructions.

That being the case, it felt vulnerable to the extreme. And that feeling only increased as the Individual of its kind stepped closer and closer.

As the big Individual stepped closer, from deep within it, snorts and grunts began escaping through its mouth, yet the sounds they made felt different from how they should be.

They should be Strong.

They should be Mighty.

They should be Loud.

So Strong and Mighty and Loud, in fact, that it would make all those who hear its roar cover away in Fear from the sheer dominance it emitted.

Yet, as the Individual of its kind stepped closer and closer, it realized just how much bigger it was when compared to it.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Instantly, instinctive reactions told it to run away.

The instinct told it to run away and cower from this two-legged Individual stepping forth to it.

Nevertheless, the moment those feelings rose inside it, a different one arose in return.

A feeling of indignation that it would not do so.

NEVER

EVER

He was Alexander, The Conqueror of Land and Females, The Scourge of Lions.

He would never suffer such inferiority.

He would never allow himself to feel it.

No, all who looked down upon him would suffer his VENGEANCE.

Instantly, as if the grogginess of a new life washed away by those of the old, Alexander found his backbone.

With a clear desire to display his own superiority, his quivering body settled for a moment, and he took a deep breath.

“Khyra-ya-ya-ya” Bellowed out of his lungs at the approaching two-legged Individual of his kind.

As mighty as the roar might have felt to Alexander, in truth, it barely reached the required crescendo to even count as a growl.

The fact was, despite barely counting as a growl, there was firmness behind it.

A firmness of conviction.

However, Alexander's growl did not stop the Individual from approaching Alexander and kneeling just before him.

Only at this moment did Alexander truly realize how much smaller he was, but he did not back down.

His pride would not allow him, even if his body said otherwise.

Moments passed as two pairs of eyes gazed at each other.

Then the big Individual pushed forth his right paw with its claws toward Alexander. Seeing it reach for him, Alexander tried to scuttle away at the last second, but his body decided at that moment that it was too much.

His body just refused to move.

Like that, the right paw went over Alexander's head and grabbed him by pinching the loose skin on the back neck.

“Yeep, Yeep, Yeep.” Alexander bellowed out his indignation instantly.

Yet, he stopped instantly when his head reached face to face with white teeth bigger than his current claws.

In the same instant, Alexander's mind felt like being examined. Right after the feeling ended, Alexander saw its mouth and lips twist upward slightly.

Alexander knew not what it meant, but the growl of satisfaction that reached him hinted at something.

“Son, Strong, Good.”

With that said, Alexander felt himself being lifted, as the two-legged Individual of his kind stood up.

He carried him towards the black stone, something in the center of the clearing.

The giant steps of the Individual meant he was there within moments. Then he was lowered into that white-flowing thing he saw earlier just as he left the Den.

Alexander knew not what it was, but there was no fear when he was brought before it and lowered inside.

Once inside, white filled Alexander's vision. “Yeep, Yeep.”

Panicked yells echoed from the small black-gold obsidian glass chalice fire pit sporting the White Flame.

However, moments later, Alexander quieted down. He realized that the only feelings he felt from it were a bit strange and invading, and ultimately there was no pain. In truth, once he overcame those feelings, Alexander instinctively began to open and close his mouth as if chewing on something delicious.

Moments passed as Alexander ate the White Flame with jubilation.

He knew not what it was, but somehow he knew it was vital to him. Yet, only after he had gorged enough of it did memories of feeling this contentment and gratification come to him.

Still, seeing only white before him, Alexander stopped munching on the White Flame for a moment. He remembered doing something with the content and gratification. He tried his best to remember what it was, but it felt so distant that it just slipped his mind.

“Hngh”

After trying to remember a few more times, he snorted once and continued eating the White Flame.

Yet, when he felt himself bloat with contentment and gratification, it came to him.

He used to spread that content and gratification to his whole body.

Following the phantom feelings of the past, Alexander did his best to spread them around himself. It failed in the first moments, but by the fourth try, the content and gratification began spreading inside him.

For a few moments, memories of Hunts in the past flashed into his mind. Precisely, the Hunts he executed on his most hated enemies.

Only far clearer and with no flesh between his teeth. As such, steeped in feelings of old, Alexander indulged himself for as long as he could in this moment of eating and spreading the content and gratification inside him.

There was nothing else besides those two.

Moments passed, and Alexander felt something inside him desiring to emerge from inside him.

Only it needed far more of the content and gratification.

So he ate and spread, ate and spread.

Until he could no longer eat or spread the content and gratification anymore

Then from his stomach, a familiar feeling emerged that required immediate attention. Yet, in the same breath, Alexander wanted to do it, a paw grabbed him by the neck again and lifted him into the air.

However, just because something had grabbed him and lifted him into the air above the White Flame, it did not mean that the emerging feeling would vanish. No, it only implied that the shaking of his body nudged him even stronger to complete the process.

Poop

Alexander's behind made sounds, and something tiny fell into the White Flame and vanished inside it as if it never existed in the first place.

Right after, Alexander experienced the first true prongs of mental exhaustion, unlike the physical exhaustion that predated it till this moment.

“Yawn” Alexander's mouth echoed out.

Hearing his own yawn and feeling tired like nothing he felt recently, Alexander's eyes caught the two-legged Individual of his kind, tilting its head left and right. As if pondering on something weird before shrugging its shoulders and turning away from the White Flame pit.

Then it carried him back to the entrance of the same Den he had snuck out from. Right after that, he was carried inside, and once more, he was eye to eye with the strange Den.

It was slightly underground, of that Alexander was sure, even with his currently tired mind wanting to fall asleep any moment now.

However, it was not that deep.

Nevertheless, it was big enough for this two-legged Individual of his kind, to not even need to duck at all.

Once carried inside, Alexander saw a few more openings. Then he was carried to the centermost doorway. Inside, a familiar shape reached his eyes, yet now that he looked closer, this one bore the same strange two-legged form.

Only its head had more fur than it should have. Even when it was curled up and sleeping, Alexander was sure of that.

The next moment, he was brought beside it and placed down right before a familiar sight.

Still, despite seeing it, it did not evoke feelings of hunger.

No, all Alexander wanted at this moment was to close his eyes.

And that was what he did the moment he was beside the warm female body.

Within moments, Alexander sunk deeper and deeper into the sweet lures of Dreams, yet he did not lose himself to it just yet.

No, just before that moment came, something flashed through his mind.

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Personal Dream Established

Description;

Alexander, my best buddy.

Welcome, to this new, exciting, and harsh world of the living.

Milestone;

Growing Up

Reward;

Award - Being an Adult

Perk - Badg’Er System Interface

Accolade - First Star - Node Opening

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He knew not what it was, but it was weird, so whatever it was, it mattered not at this moment, and he proved it by ignoring it and falling asleep moments later.