King of the Forest

"DIE YOU BEAST"

After jumping in front of the Ambulance, the guy in weird clothes went into an unconscious state.

Greg, who was trying to change his clothes, suddenly felt his whole body jerk and fell. He couldn't analyze what happened to him. He felt like a wave of force hit him but there were no physical injuries found on his clothes.

He thought whether it was side effects of the Drug, but he heard someone shouting, "DIE YOU BEAST." It felt both real and surreal because the voice felt familiar to his.

Greg used his shirt to dry himself off and walked towards the camping spot topless. He hung his shirt on a branch and went to check on his supplies as he felt hunger-striking his stomach.

He looked at his cart and made a simple Tomato Egg soup with scrambled egg. With this he only has five eggs, 1kg of tomato, 5kg of cabbage and some pickled cucumber with abundant of spice.

After finishing his breakfast, he took his android phone from the lower drawer and switched it on. He was 100% sure that there wouldn't be any signal in the jungle, but he had to try it off.

Somewhere inside his mind, Greg had the suspicion of this being, not the world he lived before. But still, his subconscious brain pushed aside the thought so to not lose any hope.

As expected, the signal was Nil. He quickly switched off and removed the battery to conserve the power. He was planning to use the phone to check on the signal occasionally.

He silently followed the downstream while pulling his cart. He heard occasional roars but simply brushed off it as bears or tigers. Since the sounds were coming from the mountains not from the path he was going, he was little assured. But little did he know, only the higher tier monsters live there which would mostly hibernate, and so the low tier monster never invades their territory while the human settlements could be found beyond the mountains after crossing the treacherous paths filled with monsters.

Greg slowly walked following the stream while keeping an eye out for snake or dangerous animals.

As Greg was taking careful steps, he felt the environment is slowly changing like he entered a different forest. Hearing the sounds of the insects and the eerie surroundings, he felt goosebumps.

He used his cloth to wipe out the sweat from his head and found a spot to camp. He took his cooking utensils out and started preparing his lunch.

On his way, he collected edible mushrooms and some ginseng. He had some knowledge about ginseng and fewer type of edible herbs from an Older Chinese couple who has a good relationship with him. The couple treated him like their grandchild and often chat with him for more extended periods.

He also plucked out some fruits in curiosity but didn't have the nerve to try them. But still kept them if he ran out of food. Since he was new to the environment, he still hasn't felt curious why he hadn't spotted a single animal on his path.

He turned the burner on and poured oil into the pan. With quick hands, he gracefully chopped off the mushrooms and cabbage inside the pot. As his mood was in cooking, he forgot that he was in a jungle and he didn't have to perform cutting stunts while chopping vegetable.

As the spice poured in, the aroma of the oil mixed with spices and vegetable slowly spread through the forest.

It took a little 10 minutes for him to finish the delicious, looked food. He poured his food on his ceramic plates, which he used to serve the food on. Pipping hot food inside the pleasant environment of fresh air increased his appetite.

After inhaling the aroma, he pushed his spoon to take a bit.

But his hand motion stopped in mid-air as he felt a hot air blowing from his back. The spoon on his hands fell on his plate as he slowly turned his head.

In front of his eyes was a White tiger with a black striped pattern on its back. It was looking at him with the eyes of a predator. No, it wasn't, it looked more like its eyes were looking at him like he was an ant.

It eyes slowly darted towards the excellent smelling food which the weak human was eating. It woke up after smelling the nice aroma drifting towards its cave.

Suddenly inside his head, he heard a voice, "Hey! Can you hear me? If you can listen closely. Don't look into its eyes. It will consider you as someone challenging him."

Greg was in so much fear that he nearly peed in his pants. But after hearing the voice same as before gave his some confidence as he quickly lowered his head.

He tried talking to the voice inside his mind, "Hey! Who are you? No... first, tell me how should I escape from this situation?"

Hearing the voice filled with panic, the other voice tried talking in a way to bring him some hope.

"Don't fear. The beast in front of you is one of the kings of the Endless Forest. Yo have entered its territory. But since you are very weak without a shred of Aura projecting off from your body, it will treat you same as an insect and feel its beyond its dignity to kill you."

Greg, for the first time in his life, felt happy that he was weak as an insect.

There are thousands of questions running through his mind now, but he pushed the thoughts aside to face the situation he was in first.

He looked at the tiger standing at the height of a 2 story house watching him with curious eyes.

With his body going into vibration mode looking at the majestic tall beast with its body radiating a kingly aura. His body automatically bowed like he was showing respect for a person in high status.

But luckily the vigilance in the eyes of the Tiger lessened after seeing him showing respect. Greg had his face down, so he didn't notice the change in the Tiger's eyes.

But the next thing happened shocked him to the core.

"%^&&**%%#**^^" the beast started speaking in human language. It shocked him that the creature can talk.

With a shocked expression, he came in contact with the beasts eye. But thankfully, it didn't take it in the wrong way. The White Tiger's intelligence was much higher than the humans, so it knows how a human react heard him speaking.

"Quick, it's asking you a question — answer in the same words I use. "Lord King, I am a weak human who lost his way on the jungle." the voice urged him to reply to the White Tiger faster. Otherwise, he might be squished like a pulp by the Tiger in anger.

Greg didn't wait as he spoke while stammering most of the words. The White Tiger smiled, looking at the human calling him as Lord king.

Looking with its eye were mostly on the foo Greg made. The voice urged him to ask whether the White Tiger wants to try his food.

"Lord King, will you honor this weak human by trying his hand cooked food?" Greg spoke as the voice told.

The grin of the Tiger's face grew more extensive, hearing his words. Looking at the expression of the white tiger, Greg felt a little assured and found some hope.

The White Tiger has lived alone and dominant inside his territory. But looking at the weak human using his flowery words, it felt happy. Most of the humans it met were killed by it in annoyance, or sometimes it treated them like an insect not worthy of its attention. But the little human in front it felt strange.

The weak-looking human had a strange foreign smell on his body, not the scent it usually found on humans. And the food the human was eating smelled very appealing to its nose. For some reasons, it cannot resist the allure of the aroma created by this human. And the way he's speaking the language, it has doubts on his mind. A sly smile flashed on its face but quickly vanished before the human noticed it.

The White Tiger accepted his request.

After confirming from the voice inside his head, he turned on his burner and used his entire stock of vegetables and cooked a delicious meal enough for the Tiger to taste it. He was afraid inside whether the tiger would get angry from the amount of food he made.

But surprisingly, the White Tiger shrank its body to the size of an adult dog.

The nose of the Tiger twitched from smelling the aromatic food that it never tasted before. It used its tongue to scoop out five spoonfuls of food and chewed it inside its mouth instead of swallowing like a normal animal.

The expression it made looked like a human. Greg looked at the White Tiger, who had an enjoying expression on its face and felt proud. Within minutes, the White Tiger finished the entire food and sat with a satisfied expression on its face.

Greg sat with an anxious expression on his face. His finger was fidgeting, waiting for the Tiger to leave him since it finished the food.

The White Tiger sat straight and looked into his eyes for minutes like it was thinking of something. It even shook its head like it was deciding something.

Again its eye concentrated on him. It opened its mouth and said something in the foreign language.

"What is it saying?" Greg asked the voice to translate.

"It's saying that it has decided that you will serve him from on now." the voice spoke with a sympathetic tone.

"Wait...What?"Not even waiting for his reply, the White Tiger made its move.

A white Aura in lightning speed surrounded his whole body, including his cart, pulled him above from the ground. He looked at the White Tiger, which is also levitating in the air.

With speed faster than an X-15 aircraft, both the tiger and the human arrived near a large cave. The cave was large enough for the tiger to call it as home. It threw him inside the cave and went into hibernation mode.

Greg felt both happy and sad at the same time. He was glad that the Tiger wasn't going to eat him but worried that he might become a slave to the Powerful tiger.

With an anxious voice, he started questioning the voice inside his head.

"I know what you are going to ask. So I'll explain what I know!" the voice started speaking.

"OK!" Greg nodded and waited for the voice to answer.

"If I am not wrong for some reason, we have switched places with each other. And how or by whom? I am clueless as you are." the voice said.

Greg sighed after confirming the fact that he wasn't on Earth. Even after meeting the Tiger, he hoped that "What if its someplace on the earth?" and can return someday. But now the hope crumbled into pieces.

"And the surprising fact was that we both should look alike. I saw your face when you looked at the shiny cooking vessel." the voice said.

"So you were watching me all the time," Greg asked.

"Not all the time. Only after you fell from dizzy, I somehow found you roaming in a familiar place where I should've been. Maybe after I got knocked unconscious by the sliding metal monster with a rotating bulb on top, we somehow got our subconscious mind connected." Greg felt bizarre hearing his explanation. Either way, he found it funny how got knocked off by an ambulance.

"So you're not dead, are you?" Greg asked as a joke.

"I am sure, I am alive." said the voice.

"So how do you speak English?" Greg asked since he didn't get a language like him.

"English? Do you mean the language, I am speaking? I don't know at first, but somehow, after I got knocked off, I felt like I knew this language very well." the voice said.

Greg scratched his head in annoyance, "So do I have to get knockdown to learn this world's native language?" he wasn't a Masochist, so he didn't felt good upon inflicting pain upon himself.

"No, Since our conscious got connected like network, you might learn the language after a good night sleep. If not, getting knocked unconscious is the only way." Greg sighed and didn't say anything for a minute. The whole thing happening for him was very bizarre and unreal. He wasn't a reader of a fantasy novel, so he didn't know how to take his otherworld adventure as in real life.

"Okay! I feel like I am going to wake up soon! So tell me where you live and all your details." Greg sighed and told him everything. He felt dejected by giving up his identity and also felt light like unloading weights from his body.

The cave was relatively dark, so Greg chose to take a nap since he's awake for nearly a day, including the day of his work. He went to the entrance of the cave and carried a load of leaves and chose a spot behind the White Tiger and spread it out evenly. And then pulled out a cloth from the cart and used it as a bedsheet.

Without his awareness, the White Tiger was silently spying on him. Even after his sleep, the Tiger was awake, but it kept its eyes closed.

******

Unlike Earth, this world has 24 hours of sunlight and 24 hours of the night. But because of the moon, the night is much of Dusk rather total darkness.

After diving into sleep, his conscious felt like it was seperated from his body. He looked around and found emptiness rather Darkness. At some distance, he saw light radiating brightly like it was calling for him.

His conscious slowly drifted and arrived at the point. Squinting his eyes from the glare, he found a projection of someone else's vision.

"Wait! It should be my Dummy!" he thought out loud.

"Who are you calling a Dummy? It should be you the dummy, not me!" the guy humped inside his mind.

Greg laughed it out, "So what's your name? I am Greg!" he introduced himself.

"I am... Grey too.." the guy said with some reluctant.

Greg felt reluctant in his voice but never mentioned it, knowing he might be hiding his other name deliberately.

If he were in his position, he would do the same because he didn't want someone to live as him with his family. He didn't have a family, but the other guy did, so he understood his concern.

Their conversation stopped when Greg saw the police entering the room. The two policemen were carrying cloth and an exquisite looking dagger carried inside a transparent plastic bag.

"Hey! Greg2, tell them you wanted to do suicide. And tell them the stunts you pulled because you wanted to act like your favorite character from a Chinese novel. Otherwise, they will put you inside a Psych ward." Greg said and instructed him while his conversation is going on with the police.

Greg2 performed like a pro in front of the police since he didn't want to get stuck inside a closed room.

The Police felt the investigating was smooth and was happy after hearing the ambulance driver and the hospital owning the vehicle were willing to drop the charges. Since it was one less paperwork, they happily complied while requesting the hospital to give an evaluation of the patient from the psychiatrist. They don't want a psycho running around the city.

Soon the process was done, and the result was that the patient was mentally 100% stable and free to go. The Police also adviced Greg2 not to attempt suicide again; otherwise, they will have to take action against him.

With the help of Greg, he got discharged and safely arrived at home. Greg2 was full of curiosity and amazement while Greg felt tired explaining him everything. For now, Greg asked him to stay at home while he woke up for a new day in another world.