"You're lucky you weren't killed where you stood human." I heard the voice in my mind vividly, looking around in shock I saw nothing besides myself in the room. 

"Don't bother looking, come find me when you gather your thoughts - I'll be waiting." The voice abruptly ended as suddenly as it had begun, where am I? The last thing I remember was closing my eyes moments before death then blacking out from the pressure of that tiger. 

So is this? The home of the tiger? I shuddered at the thought, what could he want with me; I'd killed one of his clansmen was he planning on torturing me to death on return?

I was flooded with thoughts at the moment, unable to calm myself down I took deep breaths in an effort to calm my mind - logically if the tiger wanted me dead I'd be dead by now, the fact that I was alive at least left me with the possibility for survival.

"Human I know that look on your face, we do not want you dead; if we did you'd have died a long time ago, I wrestled with my wife for a long time before she finally allowed me to spare your pitiful life." The voice echoed in my mind again, so this was the tiger? I had no idea why he'd help me but I was thankful for it, I could barely tell but he sounded pained when talking about his wife... I'm probably overthinking it, but why did he let me live?

Well no use trying to figure out on my own, I don't think I could escape even if I wanted to right now. My current situation was akin to being in the belly of the beast. I sat crossed legged on the bed I woke up in; it was more accurate to call it a cave rather than a room, which made more sense since tigers lacked the need to construct homes as humans did.

...

Walking out of the cave I was met with the blinding of the lights above me, it was the first time in days I'd seen them; the shade of the trees had already become like a second home to me in recent days.

The first thing I noticed on exiting the cave was the abundance of tigers walking around, there were packs of them laying all over the place with what I could only assume were their families, I saw many walking around carrying corpses and delivering them into a cave close by, there were cubs playing by a stream and adults casually watching them from the side. It felt peaceful all around, this place lacked the ferociousness I had felt in the past few days, in the middle was a towering figure that I recognized almost instantly.

As my eyes fell on him his eyes met be back, his senses were extremely sensitive it seemed; meeting my gaze with one of his own. "Human." He said nodding to me before turning back to look at the cubs besides him, I could only assume they were his children as he stared lovingly at each one of them. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that he was depressed behind that expression of love. His mouth had moved when he had spoken to me and yet his voice had echoed in my mind instead, it seemed he was capable of telepathy since he couldn't speak the language of humans.

I hadn't noticed but at the tigers words the place had become silent, the tigers around me had become silent as they glared at me - some of them had an expression of interest as they looked over, others were disinterested as they only spared me a cursory glance and some looked at me as if I was food, if I wasn't brought back with their leader they'd have already pounced.

The leaders gazed returned to me from the cubs and he sighed, "You killed my child.." He muttered as he stared at me, I could see glimpses of rage behind those tranquil blue eyes; like the calm before a storm. Yet in an instant, the rage disappeared, something that confused me. He left off another sigh as his gaze returned to the children, "But I can't blame you; the laws of the jungle apply here - if it wasn't for my own strength allowing me to rise to such a realm I would've already been torn apart for my mercy. A new leader replacing me after a bloodbath had ensued," He said glancing at the other tigers lying around - they refused to meet his gaze but it was obvious the thought had crossed their mind, despite not having said it out loud and rather into my mind if they knew what he was talking about.

"My name is the Tiger King, you could say it's more of a title than a name but it's the name I'm called by all; to a human that may be strange, yet to tigers all that matters is strength. This title could be claimed by anyone in the future but for now, it's mine." His voice sounded solemn.

"Why're you telling me all this?" I asked confused, I owed him nothing; even having killed his child and yet he was talking to me as if nothing had happened. 

"Because I'm bored. I'm bored of this land and this place, I see a strength in you which could help me break free of all these bonds; the lies, the deception and the harshness of this land. I see a potential for greatness in you which could overcome the illusions and mysteries of this world that I've not seen in others and it both scares me and excites me. By not killing you now I wish for you to return me the favor in the future and rescue me from this place.." He said as he looked at me, his eyes not hiding the expectations he held for me as our eyes met once more.

"But why?" I asked, "Why are you trapped here? Why can't you just return to the surface! We're underground, aren't we? Wouldn't it be simple to just tunnel upwards or even ask the so-called King of this place to allow you to leave? Why wouldn't the assassins listen to someone of your strength if you could reason with them?" I had so many questions to ask, yet it seemed like the matters I had thought were simple were more complex than I had ever thought.

"If only... This world is an independent space, it exists in the same existence yet on a different level to the mortal world in which you were born and which I was brought here. It's the space of the being who refers to himself as King, the reason you see walls around us is that he wills them to appear," He said becoming angrier with every passing word, "This world is connected to the mortal realm, yet it's not our realm! This is a realm where that man is treated like a god and we have no choice but to follow his rules! He is meant to be the guardian of our planet and yet he allows us to toil here as his minions whilst pretending to run an organization of assassins; even to his closest minions, these are unsaid secrets. He has convinced them that he is this worlds guardian, which albeit to my anger he is; yet he has fabricated a history that he is just one of many guardians throughout his time here. Every few hundred years a successor is chosen by him in which he'll transplant his soul to continue living, his power increased by the talent of their body." His voice was now filled with anger as it roared in my head like a tidal wave, his emotions boiling as he bared his fangs into a cold sneer.

"Assassins? Hah this place has no huge secret or meaning behind it, it's simply the world of a madman who wanted to be treated like a king; everything you've seen so far is due to his wild fantasy of being the ruler of all, which is why they have titles such as Knights and Soldiers - like a child he plays with us as if we were toys he can dispose of at a moments notice." I was shocked by his words, if I was to believe him then people such as the old man were just toys that had been raised for the amusement of a madman; strangely I felt like I should trust him, "You should've seen the entrance to this place like I had once seen it as a cub when they transported us here; you see he can create something from nothing, he's no god however he accumulates energy by transplanting things from the outside world into his own world which he had latched onto it which is why despite his insanity the members of his sect only believe this place to be something he had created in his spare time beneath the Earth since if you dig straight down into the Earth you could potentially find this place; it's indistinguishable from the planet, his main goal is to take over the planet through assimilating his own world into it." 

I was dumbfounded, how had I become involved in something so complex?! I was simply minding my own business trying to make money in an attempt to get revenge on my brothers, yet now? I was involved in something that reached conspiracy levels of crazy and I actually believed it!

"Which is why I can't leave.. he can detect anything that enters and exits the realm, he has full control over us here because we're far from his level of power. So please, help me." He said with pleading eyes, I could vaguely sense that his request was truthful as his eyes stared into mine, I had no reason to trust him and yet I had no reason not to either.

"I want to.. but first, could you tell me about the levels of power?" He looked at me shocked as if he didn't understand my question, "You're at the 2nd realm yourself and yet you have no idea what the power you wield is?!" 

"Yes.." I admitted reluctantly, I had no idea about the power I had, I could tell it was more than a normal human and yet I had no idea where I was in terms of power relative to others.

"You truly.. incredible." I felt like I had done something too eye-catching just now by admitting I had no idea about my own powers but I didn't care, I wanted to learn so I could be ready in the future. "The first realm is the Mortal Realm; it's the realm which most people in the outside planet are at, those at the limits of the physical abilities of a human are a hair's breadth away from the 2nd Realm, Mortal Leaving." I nodded as he continued to talk, so those bodybuilders at extreme levels of strength were barely at my level of power I inferred. 

Information Gathered: Realms of power. 

The familiar shadow text floated before my eyes once more, displaying a message and my status again; this time my level was replaced with the new information I had gained:

Name: Lewis Jones 

Race: Human (Shadow)

Title: Monarch of Shadows (Inactive)

Abilities:

Shadow Diving (Lvl 1) 

Shadow Whisper (Lvl 1) 

Ruler (Lvl 1)

Stats: 

(Menu Inactive please progress to ???)

Realm: Mortal Leaving (XP: 4/100) +1 Per Minute in Shadow Realm

So if I thought about this logically, Level 1 was the Mortal realm and I was currently at level 2, the primary level of the 2nd realm; so to unlock my stats I would have to be at the Pinnacle stage of the 4th Realm at least.."From the Mortal Leaving Realm onwards they each have a Primary, Intermediate and Pinnacle stage; currently you can be considered to be at the Primary stage of the Mortal Leaving realm which is why your power doesn't differ much from that of a normal humans, yet despite that you can't use the energy inside of you to its fullest meaning your physical prowess is no different than before. As for me, I am at the 3rd Realm, Core Gathering." He looked at me as if to check I was still following, my previous actions of moving my eyes to follow the text on the status board had most likely grabbed his attention. "I am at the Intermediate stage of Core Gathering, with some luck I will be able to advance to the Pinnacle stage within five years.." 

The Tiger King had stopped talking for the moment, looking at me for any questions I may have, "So what's the 4th realm?" He seemed to have expected my question as he began talking immediately after, "I have no idea. My ancestral memories only tell me that there was a tiger who had reached the Pinnacle of the 3rd realm, so far there have been none who have advanced beyond that." 

I was disappointed that I didn't manage to get the information I needed but remembered another point, something that could boost my powers; "How do I use my energy?" He had mentioned it before but I had shaken it off whilst looking at the status menu, "A wise question Human, something I hadn't expected from someone with such a small brain." I'll try not to take that as an insult looking at his massive body, his brain probably being at least five times the size of my own.

"I will teach you." I was stunned, a tiger teach me? How? 

"Hahaha, you look confused; it's simple - despite our differences in appearance we use the same powers to strengthen ourselves in battle, I can teach you how to manage the energy inside of you and use it to improve your combat ability to another level, I will also train your body so that it can withstand your power. If the body is not strong enough it'll simply explode if you try to use your energy at later realms. So I have one question for you human, do you accept my offer?"

I looked hesitantly at the beast before me, he could kill me with the swipe of his paw and yet he was giving me the power that I had desired, my mind was made up within moments of him asking, "Yes." A look of resolve on my face as I stared at him. 

His lips curled into a smile, which on a tiger was terrifying to a human; my life couldn't just be easy, could it?