Home.

It was the first place my mind drifted back to, the only place I had called home since my birth; it was also the place which I yearned to go to the most in this world, thoughts of redemption had long left my mind as only the viciousness of revenge remained. 

Brief killing intent filled my heart as I thought of my brothers... There were no family ties between us anymore; the next time they meet they would be akin to strangers, their deaths would mean nothing to me - I had long steeled my mind with this resolve, inevitably I felt some heartache from thinking of murdering my own brothers, my own kin, after so long together feelings are bound to develop.

I could only push those thoughts down into the depths of his mind and hope they never resurfaced, they had stopped being my family the day they had started to plot against me; the day they had imprisoned me and taken the child I had thought to be mine away from me heartlessly.

Yet despite all of this, my face remained a cold stare as I stared out into the distance, out of the cave and into the orange sky of the horizon, a bitter sigh escaped my lips as they parted briefly. I had long forgotten what it was like to yearn for something, I wanted strength yet I did not yearn for it. The difference? I yearned for a home which I could call my own but to get there I needed enough strength to remain indifferent to the world around me, powerful enough to not be influenced by the mortal worries of this world. 

Which is why all I can do is sigh. Sigh at my own weakness, I berated myself for the hesitation I had felt when I first plunged my daggers into the Tiger Kings sons head; did I deserve to hesitate against an opponent which was stronger than me? The answer is no. The weak do not have the right to hesitate about killing someone stronger than themselves if it wants to kill you; you kill it at all cost to preserve your own life, this is the code I bind myself by.

"Another oath I see?" The Tiger Kings voice sounded age as it echoed in my mind, I nodded before returning my gaze into the distance, where did I want to go? The Tiger King merely nodded back before returning his own eyes to the distance, "There are many places you could go... This world is more boundless than you were probably led to believe." 

"This place is not expansive in width, yet in depth? It descends right through the molten core of the Earth and to the opposite side. There are so many levels to this realm of Kings that even I have only explored a small amount. Although with certainty I can say I am near the top of the food chain in most layers... Yet some places possess quantity over quality leading to my hesitation in descending any further." His voice sounded pained as he talked, he'd probably suffered quite a loss back when he was younger and had tried himself beyond his capabilities.

"There are small kingdoms, an empire that spans several levels and even other species which you would only find in your human books of fantasy as you descend lower. With your abilities now you would be welcome wherever you venture, but do you dare? Although King may not be able to find you due to this realm still merging with Earth, any action he takes may cause his plan to take years longer to complete. However that does not mean he won't send his 'Assassins' out into the world and look for you, I have no doubt of your skill but if he sends someone of my caliber such as that human James you would without a doubt be destroyed in an instant. The difference between Realms isn't something your Shadow Realm can bypass."

I nodded at his words, even now I didn't think I possessed the ability to even touch a hair on the old man's head that was the difference between our current power. "The old man said he'd see me in a few months so I have at least that long until someone comes looking for me. I had confidence in these months that I would be able to increase my power exponentially, it had only taken me a couple of weeks to reach the Mortal Leaving Pinnacle Realm I was confident in reaching the Core Gathering realm at least in the time I had; if I didn't? I would just have to go on a massacre, a vicious look appeared on my face.

The Tiger King looked at me concerned with the change in my expression, "I will only warn you once Human. But do not let your weapons influence you or you run the risk of being controlled by them, I have many memories of humans losing their way due to their own weapons forcefully shattering their souls and taking over as both body and weapon. I do not wish to see that happen to you." He stared at me as I struggled to change my facial expression, it was like pushing against a brick wall; yet the most shocking thing was that I hadn't noticed at all that I had been subtly influenced, now that the Tiger King had told me it was easy to see my emotions were turbulent and rapidly changing. I shuddered at the thought of becoming nothing more than a puppet for my own tool and took his words to heart.

"Good." I heard his voice once more in my mind, all I could do was bitterly nod in defeat - I truly owed him a great favor this time for guiding me off a path that could've led to my eventual demise at the hands of these two daggers. I shuddered again at the thought of never knowing how I had died...

I looked at the Tiger King about to say my words of thanks but he simply gave me a shake of the head before returning his gaze to the horizon, I guess some things are best left unsaid, in a way this just makes us even; he saved my life in exchange for my saving his in the future...

"I'll go," I said with determination in my voice, I needed a place to grow stronger, a place where I wouldn't be limited by my closeness to the person they called King, just his name alone was enough to demonstrate his arrogance; I needed the strength to match that arrogance before I could finally control my life.

"A wise choice. I suggest when you reach the lower level you maintain a low profile; search for manuals to improve your strength before descending even further; there are many layers to this world and many secrets and ruins which will boost your strength; quite a few of them are actually tombs of experts of the Earth which have slowly been assimilated into the realm. Others are the tombs of those who have lived and died here, never knowing the outside world existed."

"There's a passageway I personally built in the clan to descend to a lower level, it was meant to be used in the case that the clan was under threat of annihilation and our only choice was to descend lower into this hell; however it can only be used once... I just have to hope that in this time before you return my clan faces no such threat." I could hear the worry in his voice as he talked, I could only admire the trust he had in me that he would gamble his clan's fate on nothing unfortunate happening if there was to be one person I respected in the entirety of my time in this new world it would be this man. 

"Follow me..." My mind was brought back to reality from my thoughts, the Tiger King had already walked several steps away from me in the time it had taken for me to come to my senses. Bitterly smiling to myself I ran to keep up with the large strides of the Tiger King as his paws quickly brought him much further away.

My adventure was only just beginning...