Heavenly Forest Wolf 1 Chapter 1 - Dead End's Gate

Zaro was moving as fast as he possibly could and with every distance he covered, his breath had hastened to the point where he could no longer breath. Yet, just as he was about to slow down to catch his breath, he could hear the shouts of his pursuers close behind him. With the remaining strength he had left, Zaro turned another corner only to find himself facing a large stone wall and with his pursuers being closer than ever he could only drop to his knees and cry at that very moment.

However, just as those goons were about to lay their hands on him, a blinding light emitted from the wall causing them all to retreat backward while covering their eyes. After a brief moment and some nauseating swirls and flashes, Zaro yelled out as tears flowed down his cheeks "I'm in heaven! Take me!"

Following his cry, there was nothing but silence accompanied by the rustling of leaves from the canopy. Opening his eyes slowly, Zaro soon realized that he wasn't in heaven but in a dense forest rich in various plants and shrubs which gave off a tropical feel as if he was in a jungle. With a short giggle, Zaro tried to pick himself off the ground and it was only then when he realized that his point of view was significantly lower? "This can't be?" Shortly after he realized that his feet were not human feet but two small paws similar to a pup's.

*Processing*

Zaro looked down at his paws, then at a small tail, then he crossed his eyes and noticed that his once small nose was now a long muzzle sticking out like a sore thumb. After a few more moments Zaro had finally understood what was happening... "Oh... So, I must've reincarnated? Perhaps as a dog? Or maybe... Wait! I reincarnated?! What the f.u.c.k!?" Staring down at his two small paws once again, Zaro was going so insane that he even tried ripping his fur out with his paws.

"Okay, okay... I reincarnated... meaning I died? That means those goons got to me and mauled me to death with their fists!" After some further contemplation, he had accepted the fact that he was now an animal and attempted to walk.

Oddly enough, walking on four paws didn't seem that difficult and soon he realized that his vision and smell had multiplied to the point where he could identify a plant and the smell of it while being numerous meters away. After walking some more, he had become more and more comfortable with his new body but what kept surprising him were his sharp senses. It seemed like he could detect anything as long as it had some sort of a smell.

As he was sniffing around curiously, it wasn't long until he picked up an odd scent not too far away from him which stood out much clearer than the others. Interested in what it could be, he followed it as if it was a visible trail, however, he didn't pay attention to that and simply walked onwards.

As he got closer the smell had turned into an aroma and his mouth began to salivate and that's when he noticed a half-eaten corpse from something which resembled a boar yet had a red crystal wedged on its snout and a yellow horn sticking from its forehead. Since he was a human beforehand the sight was simply horrifying yet his nose gave the impression of a juicy steak sizzling on a grill.

Although his humanity refused him from touching the corpse, the animal inside of him lunged forward and began digging into the boar. The raw meat was so delicious it caused Zaro to tear up as the endless amount of juices began dripping from the prey. "Who in the right mind would ever choose to abandon this beautiful dish?!" He cried in his mind.

As he was chewing away at the meat, he didn't notice another animal creep up right beside him until the last moment which caused him to yell in panic, "Don't hurt me, I'm sorry, I just saw it laying there and like I wanted to go but like there was a voice in the meat and I had to eat it and then I was so immersed that I just-"

"Silence you filthy brat!" A large wolf stared down at Zaro, his eyes emitted a monstrous killing intent which caused him to pee a little. The large beast prowled around him until finally speaking again, "What are you doing in my hunting grounds?!"

"Ll-like I... Ss-said, I, I, I" Zaro was being crushed by the intimidation of the larger beast.

"Ah don't bother... where are your parents? They will take the consequences of having their pup wandering into a Hierarchy's territory." The beast said in an annoyed tone.

Zaro stood silently and stared at the animal in front of him and then answered with the little bit of courage he had left, "I do not have parents... rather, I don't know who they are..."

"You take me for a fool?! If you won't tell me where they are, I will hunt them down and ask them myself... of course, after I rip them to shreds for raising such a moronic brat!" The wolf continued to grow much angrier with each word.

"Uh... but I... I'm not lying!" Zaro cried out.

*Growling*

The beast stepped closer to Zaro while growling aggressively, "Get out of my territory!"

Realizing that there was no way of talking himself out of this situation, Zaro turned around slowly before fleeing away from the beast with his tail literally between his legs. As he ran he could hear the elder wolf muttering curse words behind him.

After running for a considerable amount of time, Zaro slowed down and collapsed onto the ground exhausted. Since he was just a pup his small paws could only carry him for so long before running out of energy.

"Finally, I got away... what was his deal? He just left a delicious piece of meat laying around without eating it fully? That is incredibly annoying..."

*Grumble*

Zaro's head dropped and he realized he had to find some food before he died of malnutrition. With the little energy he had left, Zaro prowled forward in search of food with his senses on alert. With his keen sense of smell, it wasn't long until Zaro stumbled upon an animal, it was a boar, similar to the one he ate before yet this one was much smaller and it's horn and gem were differently shaped.

Without much hesitation, Zaro lunged forward at the boar with his claws emitting a dangerous killing intent. The boar surprisingly didn't react until his claws landed on to its back, yet Zaro continued to move his claws upwards towards the boars head and within mere moments, Zaro had torn through the boar.

With a deafening screech, the boar tumbled onto the ground and slowly lost consciousness and with that, Zaro leaped onto his prey and began chewing away. At this point, his humanity had completely left him as he gladly feasted on the boar. Although he felt no pity, he still retained a lot of his memories from his previous life but at this moment they were all ignored.

Eventually, Zaro got to the gem on the boar's head and hovered his blood-stained nose over it. A faint green glow emitted from the gem and it seemed like it was edible in fact, it seemed extremely appetizing!

Zaro tore out the gem and dropped it on the floor and after inspecting it a bit longer, he then swallowed it whole.

The gem was slowly being digested and a soothing aura was released from it which replenished Zaro's energy as well as increasing his strength slightly. This was it! A delicious snack which made him feel much stronger! Thinking back, Zaro vaguely remembered a gem on top of the elder wolf's head too, perhaps the greater the beast, the more power the gems would offer?!

Suddenly, Zaro detected multiple boars heading his way.

"Oh wait for a second, wouldn't this small boar have parents?! I gotta get out of here!"