Rey woke up with a start, breathing frantically as he quickly rubbed his eyes, hoping to get the random blurriness from them. He had just had the worst dream of his life, and though he can no longer remember the dream, flashes of it was still burnt in his mind. Endless wars, impossible levels of magic, deadly beasts roaming the lands, constant political machinations, and troublesome prophecies. Just the flashes alone were more than a little exhausting.
'From now on, no more Contest Of Kingdoms or Ninja Wars before bed.' Rey thought as he tried to clear his head, but the incessant sound of clanging and what sounded like screaming filled his ears.
Slowly, the blurriness faded away, and the view of chaos can immediately be seen in the distance, along with the sounds it brought. Rey could describe it as nothing else but a blood-chilling war unfolding in front of him. Rey's mind went blank with shock as he watched soldiers of many different races but two distinct uniforms, commencing with a deadly battle. One was red and gold with soldiers covered head to toe in thick plated armor, and the others wore a mix of white and grey robes and armor.
Rey sat there dumbfounded by the scene as his mind quickly came up with the only solution that made sense to him. "Holy shit... I actually got transported to a new world?" Rey mumbled in a mix of amazement and fear, as he knew there was no way this was fake with the level of blood and carnage he witnessed.
As a self-proclaimed nerd, Rey has experienced tons of media about a hero being transported to a new fantasy world and going on grand adventures. Rey loved those stories and wished many times for it to happen to him one day, but unfortunately, unlike those heroes who got transported to safe towns, given tons of money, new powers, and sometimes even a familiar, Rey was not so lucky. Instead, he got woken up in the middle of a war with nothing else besides the black tank top and grey shorts he went to sleep in.
'What the hell?! I don't get anything?! How the hell am I supposed to survive in this damn world, I mean look at that!' Rey shouted in his mind as his attention was grabbed by what looked to be a massive Orc with black hair that was shaved at the sides, wearing red-gold armor, biting the throat of a dwarf it effortlessly lifted into the air, before it tore his throat out, beard and all. With a roar of triumph and effortlessly slinging a large spiked hammer to his shoulder, the crazed, bloody Orc disappeared back into the throng of soldiers.
Rey's mouth hung open before he turned over to empty the contents of his stomach. Not only has he never seen anyone die in real life, he had never seen anything so gruesome either. It seemed the Orcs of this world were just as fearsome as they were portrayed to be.
Looking around frantically for a path to escape, Rey noticed that he was at the edge of a forest, lying just under some thick foliage, while the battle seemed to be happening on some massive clearing near what looked to be the ocean. To the west he noticed some mountains in the distance, while to the east he saw a glimpse of ships crashed onto the shore, all sporting the same dark red flag with large, wild looking golden eye in it's center, surrounded by a golden wreath.
It didn't take a genius to realize what was happening here. The red army was invading, while the white army was defending, poorly. But, it was when Rey tried to move and took a closer look at himself that he realized the most horrifying fact.
'What the fuck! W-why do I have paws?! And a tail!' Rey thought in a panic.
He still had five fingers and toes luckily, but at the tips of his fingers and toes he had toe pads like what you'd find on a feline animal. When he flexed his paws to make sure he wasn't dreaming, thick, sharp claws sprang out, gleaming in the sunlight threateningly. It wasn't until felt his new thick black mane, soft rounded ears, his fluffy black fur and his new long tail that ended in a tuft of black hair with streaks of white through it that he could tell exactly what he was.
"I'm a lion? No, my body still mostly resembles a human. So that means I'm a lion Beast Man!? Fuck... In every lore that I know, beast people are heavily discriminated against and even treated as slaves in a lot of stories. Seriously, couldn't I become an Elf or something? Even a plain 'ol human would be better..." Rey said to himself as he started examine himself more closely and lamented his new reality.
Though the situation was unbelievable and highly possible it was some vivid fever dream, Rey's gut told him this was real, and that he should be as prepared as possible. Worst case scenario, he wakes up and has one crazy story to tell.
Just as Rey was about to stand up and run deeper into the forest to get away from the war, he spotted some corpses not to far from him at the edge of the treeline. Now, Rey was in a conundrum. Currently, the only possessions he had was the black tank top and the grey shorts he wore. Even his new lion feet were bare. If he wanted any chance of surviving, he needed some kind of gear to protect himself. But, scavenging the corpses not only felt wrong, it ran the obvious risk of potentially getting spotted by one of the deadly soldiers.
'Dammit, how do I always find myself in these messed up situations?' Rey asked himself as he laid on his stomach and began crawling towards the dead soldiers. Though it was incredibly risky and dangerous, going out into a new world practically naked and defenseless was not only even dangerous, but stupid. At the end of the day, he was the one alive, and he wanted to keep it that way.
After what felt like an eternity, Rey finally made it to the edge of the treeline where the corpses from both armies were. Doing a quick scan around the bodies, and thinking about his new body, Rey only saw a handful of gear that could work for him. Though he hadn't had the chance to stand and fully check out his new form, Rey could already tell he was way taller than he was before. If he had to take a wild guess, he was now probably close to 7'-8' feet tall, and his body was packed with natural muscle, but not too much as he still had a flexible, athletic frame. Were it under different circumstances, he'd be thanking God for his new height and fitness.
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Knowing that he was tight on time and couldn't afford to be picky, Rey began rummaging through the corpses and taking different gear. Still having some of his wits about him, Rey went the safe route and only chose gear that had either grey or gold on it. Before this, Rey was black man who grew up in a rough neighborhood, so he knew instinctually that wearing anything that had the wrong colors on it meant death. So, he went the safe route of mostly choosing the plain grey armor pieces.
By the time he was done picking his armor and using the thick brush of the treeline to wear them, Rey now wore leather boots capped in steel on top, a large grey robe that covered most of his form, and on top of the robe he wore a black painted chest armor, which he felt was out of place among all of the gold and grey, but it was the only one that fit. Lastly, on his head he wore a gold armored headpiece that protected the front, back, and sides of his head, but left his face and wild black mane exposed. Rey couldn't tell if he looked stupid or badass, but he was hoping for the latter.
While he was grabbing the gear, he also took what looked to be valuables from the bodies as well. Though stealing from the dead left him with a shameful, sick feeling, he knew that he had absolutely no possessions, so even if does make it to a village or town, he wouldn't be able to get a room or any food. The only solace that he had was the thought that the dead couldn't spend it anyway.
Among the coins, pendants, and other trinkets he found were some obsidian rings with bands of colorful swirls around it. Something told Rey these would be immensely valuable to the right seller. He slid one ring with a shining green band on his right ring finger, a small smile forming on his lion face.
After grabbing a tall staff with balls of metal on either end, as he was the most familiar with this weapon thanks to his past martial arts training, Rey wrapped all of the things in a knapsack he made from a spare grey robe, tied it to one end of the staff, then quickly scurried back into the forest, hoping that none of the soldiers noticed him. Just as he passed a few trees into the treeline, something flew past him and smashed into a tree in front of him. To his horror, it was one of the soldiers in white and grey, mutilated and half sticking out of a tree.
Fear immediately seized Rey's heart as he prayed that whatever sent the soldier flying over there didn't come to finish the job. But, the sudden rumbling he felt getting closer told him that as usual, luck was not on his side. Looking over his shoulder, Rey saw none other than the scary Orc in red armor from earlier now running at him. Rey's mind went haywire as different voices told him to either fight or run like his life depended on it. It wasn't until shortly later that he realized that his body made the decision for him and was already running deeper into the forest with more speed and agility than he ever thought humanly possible.
Rey was completely stunned by fast and agile he was able to run through the forest, as he was always known for being quite clumsy in his past life.
"Stop running, you little beasty and face me like a man! I want to play with the cute kitty!" Shouted the Orc, his rough abrasive voice sending chills down Rey's spine.
Flashes of the Orc tearing the Dwarf's throat out with nothing but it's teeth and eating it went through Rey's mind, and without uttering a single word in reply, Rey was spurred to move faster, putting more and more distance between him and the Orc. Seeing his prey getting further away, the Orc let out a scream of rage that could chill you to the bone, before throwing caution to the wind and deciding to just barrel through all of the obstacles the forest tried to throw at him instead of jumping around them. Quickly, he got closer and closer to Rey.
Hearing something unsettling, Rey went against his best nature and glanced behind him, only to see the Orc crashing through whole trees like some crazed football player. The Orc was so close now that even the splinters from the destroyed trees were flying past him. Feeling his instincts blaring at him, Rey spun around with his staff in front of him, just before being sent flying a great distance and crashing into a tree. A mix of spit and blood flew out of Rey's mouth just before he began falling forward, his vision flickering in and out.
Just before he fell, with the last bit of strength he had left, Rey stabbed his staff into the ground and held himself up with shaky arms. Even if he was going to die, something deep inside of him said to at least die standing.
"Humph, you're still alive? Don't tell me this is that Lions Pride I've heard about. The day a Beastian can stand prideful before me, is the day Terria meets it's end." The Orc snorted in a derisive tone, as he strolled over to just barely tower over Rey. His massive build was truly terrifying.
"You're so young, still almost a cub, and you have the balls to be anywhere near my battlefield with your Commoner level cultivation? Still, with just a Mid-Commoner level, you manage to survive an attack from the great, Karrick Karsslak! So, you have a choice. I can cut your head off where you stand and let you keep your little, 'Lions Pride', but that'll be a waste for such a cute cub like you. So your other choice is to become my male concubine, and you get to live and enjoy being my personal boy toy every day." Offered the Orc, Karrick with a sickening smirk on his face, as he started to rub the front of his crotch.
'What the actual fuck?! What is this, prison? Is this the shit that girls have been complaining about this whole time?' Rey thought as anger from being attacked and immediately propositioned began bubbling up.
"I don't swing that way, buddy. And this hole is nothing but an exit, so you might as well save both of us some time and just kill me." Rey said, too tired and in pain to be scared or hide his disgust from the Orc in front of him.
The smirk on Karrick's face immediately turned into a sneer as a red mist-like aura began seeping out of his body. Not only that, but his dark eyes began glowing red and he started growing in size.
'Is he going into berserk mode just because I rejected him? Seriously?!' Rey asked himself, bewildered to see this famous videogame skill being used in real life on him.
Just when Rey thought he was about to be killed as soon as he transferred to this world, a loud, booming horn reverberated through the forest at a particular rhythm. As soon as Karrick heard the horn, his rage changed into great shock with a mild fear. His father placed him in charge of an important division and he just abandoned it. He thought that he could quickly catch Rey, have his fun, then get back to the war, but Rey proved to be far more slippery than he expected, and ended up leading him on a chase for nearly an hour.
"Argh!! I ended up leaving my division to chase you! And! I! Still! Didn't! Get! My! Cock! Wet," Karrick shouted as he brutally beat Rey with each word he spoke. Half sticking out of a tree, golden headpiece destroyed and fallen at his feet, Rey was barely hanging on to his consciousness.
"Grrr, you stay right fucking here, this isn't over, Kitty!" Karrick roared before he turned and tore through the forest from where they came.
Several long moments passed before Rey realized he somehow lived through that situation. With the danger no longer there, Rey fell out of the tree and to his knees, bracing on his staff, completely exhausted as his mind began swirling from the overwhelming pain in his head. Rey was certain now that he had possibly the worst starting point anyone has had after being transported to a new world.
Not only did he wake up in the middle of a war with nothing to his name, he turned out to be a whole new race. Then, he had to run through a strange forest where he was almost killed and raped by a gay Orc. It was too much, far too much. Rey's eyelids continued to grow heavier and heavier as the exhaustion, pain and stress of the situation started mounting. With no strength left to fight the sleepiness, Rey's vision faded to black.
Little did he know, that just his very presence has already sent the fate of the world itself into a tailspin, and has awoken ancient prophecies so old that even the gods are unaware.