The Story Begins!

Yin's ferocious punch landed on the chest of the beast with extreme velocity, sending it flying in an instant. The energy that was released from the force of the blow also caused Yin to be pushed back quite a bit. The tiger's lifeless body hit a large tree hard before falling to the ground, now having a large, black, almost burned mark on its torso.

Noticing the black mist that was now fizzling away from his hand, Yin looked down, unsure if he was just seeing things or not. However, his blurry vision from before had returned; and before he knew it, he was unconscious.

*Gasp*

'Where am I?'

Yin's eyes slowly opened to what looked like an infinite darkness all around him. He pushed himself up on his feet and looked around. There was nothing but looming black everywhere in all directions.

He looked at his body and limbs. His cuts and wounds had disappeared and his pain seemed to have gone away.

'It looks like I'm alive, but where the hell am I? I fell unconscious after the fight with the Crowned Head Tiger, and now it looks like I'm in some sort of void?'

In an instant, water appeared beneath his feet. It was quite shallow, and it felt much lighter in terms of weight. Looking back up, Yin realized a giant wooden gate had suddenly appeared in front of him as well.

'What in the world is this? A gate? I must be hallucinating.'

It was a red gate that was around 80 feet in height and 60 feet in length. It had no door and looked nothing more than an empty gateway leading to nothingness.

After standing there and looking at it in silence for a while, a flash of two red ovals suddenly appeared and disappeared. The flash only lasted for a millisecond like a blink of a pair of eyes. The ovals looked like they were quite far away, but they were big. Like, freakishly big.

On seeing this, Yin decided to try and step through the gate, and as he did, he was thrown back into reality in an instant. This time his eyes flew open as he tightly grabbed the grass below him and looked around. He was back on earth. A feeling of relief washed over him.

'What the fuck has just happened? First a random voice appeared in my head, telling me about some injuries or something, then a transparent black mist surrounds my hand when I punched the tiger, and then; I dream a hyper realistic dream of being in some sort of void... with a gate?'

Yin was trying desperately to gather his thoughts.

'Something weird is going on with me, I will have to figure it out gradually. Right now, it seems that most of my serious injuries have healed. Only small cuts and bruises are left on my skin. Although they sting, they are bearable. I don't know how they were healed... it probably has something to do with that voice I heard.'

He got up slowly before walking to the corpse of the dead tiger.

'I finally overcame you great beast. As you pass on to the next world, so shall I.' He put his hands together to form a firm circle and bowed down deeply in silence before starting to limp in a certain direction. Of course, although his body seemed to have healed mostly, pain still existed in some parts of his body.

He didn't know exactly where he was going, but his final destination was the New World. Yin walked for many hours, which turned into many days. Thankfully he still had his claws with him to hunt, and so as his body healed progressively throughout the days, food and other necessities were no problem. Although, he felt like he had been traveling these past couple weeks non-stop. It wasn't a very pleasant experience.

When trekking for the Crowned Head Tiger, his solid goal in mind allotted him extra energy to keep traveling forth, but right now Yin didn't even know what the New World looked like. Even if he was to find it, would he even recognize it? These thoughts bared down on his mind throughout the journey, but Yin simply refused to stop.

After 15 long days of walking, Yin had made his way out of the thick and luscious jungle and had begun trekking through a peaceful bamboo forest. Yin enjoyed this change of atmosphere, as he could clearly see where he was going and didn't need to be at the edge of his seat every second; being ready for a sudden ambush out of the brush.

The sun's bright yellow rays that sneaked through the bamboo cracks made the air look almost light green; giving the entire area a feeling of mellow. Eventually, he arrived at an interesting scene.

It was a small shack that was surrounded by bamboo all around. The sun's rays seem to emphasize the wooden building which appeared to be quite old and run down.

'Looks like a manmade structure of some kind. However, I doubt there is anyone living in it, as it appears to be so old.'

Yin walked to the shack before opening the creaky door and stepping inside. There appeared to be nothing more than a fire pit with no firewood, A small carpet made of hide, and an urn made of white marble sitting in the corner.

Yin's hand slowly reached for the urn, as it was the most interesting thing in the shack.

"Hey you! Intruding into other peoples homes without permission are we?" A voice suddenly came from behind him.

Yin's hand quickly retracted from the urn, as he turned around to face the door. Outside and a couple meters away looked to be an old man carrying a bunch of fire wood in a woven bag behind his back. He looked to be about 70 years of age, and was quite small in stature.

"No, I-"

Yin was interrupted before he could finish his answer.

"Oh I know, you brat. Of course your not a thief or whatever. Do I look dumb to you?"

The old man said as he walked into the shack and poured the wood into firepit with his skinny arms which actually looked to hold quite a bit of lean muscle. After wiping the sweat off of his forehead, the old man looked straight at Yin; putting his hands on his waist band. This was when Yin noticed the old man was wearing nothing but an old tank top and some baggy pants which were rolled up to the top of his ankles.

His gaze was demanding and stern.

"Dumb? Well I-"

Yin was interrupted once again.

"Why would a random kid who doesn't even look like he has grown a single pubic hair come to the middle of nowhere to steal from an innocent old man living in a run down shack? Of course your not robbing me kid. I figured that much... So, why are you here, care to explain?"

Yin didn't know if to feel offended or relieved.

"Well you see, I've been in the jungle for a whil-"

Just as Yin was about to explain his situation, he was interrupted again!

"Cheh!" The old man laughed. "You think I don't know that? You look more like a jungle dweller than me kid. Look at your long hair and unwashed face. Go take a shower down by the water before speaking another word to me. I don't care what you have to say; I cannot withstand this atrocious smell any longer. Now go!"

'What in the world is wrong with this guy!?' Yin thought to himself as he was promptly kicked out of the shack.