Beastmen: She Tames the Land-Chapter 135: The Beacon

After Fil skidded into the caldera, the gate closed tightly behind him. He made his way to the square where the others were waiting. He didn’t mince words.

"They are here because of the howl. We just met some outsiders who said they came here because of it. But I don’t understand why." He turned to the trio.

The eyes of everyone in the caldera turned to their leaders.

"So, we are the source of the trouble," Uri stated.

"No, I am," sighed Visha. "I truly had no way of knowing that the land would react the way it did."

"Don’t blame yourself," Xeno said. "There was no way you could have known."

"But didn’t you perform the ritual?" The person who spoke was a rabbit shifter.

She was one of the twins they had bought. She and her sister were both quiet when they first came. After a while, they began to notice that one of the twins was dissatisfied with life.

She was one of those people who wanted to be in power but only knew how to play dirty tricks. She thought she was above others and refused to do any dirty work, which led to her sister having to share her food with her.

"Vina," her sister said, tugging on her arm.

"Vera, don’t stop her, let her speak," Visha said.

Vina scoffed before continuing. "You said it was a ritual of cleansing. You had us say all our secrets out loud. You told us it would make us feel better. Now you say you didn’t expect this to happen. I don’t believe you."

"If you can’t be a priestess, then I’ll take the job. I’m sure I can do better than you."

Uri and Xeno bristled immediately. Vina’s disrespect had already reached the point where they could not tolerate her. But she had not betrayed them, so they could not kick her out. Being disrespectful is already grounds for punishment.

Uri’s cold eyes pinned her in place. Xeno’s low growl made her tremble. Their display was a reaction to disrespect, both as the priestess of the pack and of their mate.

Visha watched as Vina’s eyes teared up. She watched the way she looked at Xeno, whose face was hard. Visha knew why Vina was acting like this. She didn’t blame her. Xeno is an excellent mate. A tickle of pride filled her chest.

She was sure they felt it when they both turned to her, and she felt their pride in return. She knew they thought she felt proud because of the way they protected her. But really, she was proud because another female wanted her mate.

"Vina," Visha said, forcing her to turn her eyes away from Xeno. "It was never supposed to be a ritual."

Visha’s word struck a chord in the crowd.

"It was to help each of you. It was to allow everyone to open up about what they were feeling. The sense of lightness you felt afterwards did heal your soul. The herbs I used also healed your body. Everything was designed to help."

She paused as they took in what she said. "Many of you may not know, but I come from far away. What you consider a ritual is something we do every day. There has never been a reason to consider it a ritual. It was simply a way of life."

"Unexpectedly, here it became something totally different." Visha turned her face to the sky, closing her eyes briefly before continuing to speak. "Whatever these people are looking for, they will not find it here. The ritual has already been performed. We don’t know if it will happen again. And unless things are desperate, I have no intention of doing it again if this is the outcome."

"Vina, if you wish to be Priestess, I will not stop you. But you must first be accepted by the land and the pack. I will not allow someone with selfish motives to harm this pack."

She stepped between Uri and Xeno, touching both their shoulders. "As for these two, they’re mine. Stay away, if you know what’s good for you."

There was a brief silence before Xeno brought the attention back to the topic at hand.

"We need to figure out why that howl triggered people to come to this place. I don’t believe they simply appeared because of the howl of the colours," Xeno reasoned.

"There has never been a need for people to be greedy," Uri stated.

[System alert: The Forbidden Zone is stirring.]

[Warning: The border between the corrupted and pure lands is weakening.]

Visha watched the system notification pop up and felt a bit of annoyance. It did not give this notification on the night it happened. Rather, it gave the notification when they were having a conversation on why this happened.

She seriously thought the system did it on purpose. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

But she couldn’t be annoyed because the words sent off a warning bell in her mind. The corrupted. The things they fought in the meadow before they came here. The same things that disappeared when she went to check.

She didn’t need to ask the system what a pure land was. It was the places the beastmen were living now. The places where all the different tribes chose to inhabit. And now, because of a simple therapy session, Visha realized she might have caused a problem for the entire Beast Continent.

She tried to keep her face neutral. She blocked the bond and covered it with their soul bond. She knew it would they would be able to feel her emotions vividly, but she didn’t care. Better Uri and Xeno know than the rest of the pack.

Clearing her throat, she said, "If we want to know, we can only ask. It is obvious they know something we don’t. The only way to find out is to have a meeting."

"That would be risky. It could put us in the eye of the storm," Uri responded.

"Better the eye of the storm than never knowing there was a storm until it’s too late," Visha said.

Rather than debate on their own, they posed the question to the pack. Do they actively seek out those who have come searching? Or do they wait for them to visit?

They hadn’t come to a conclusion when they were notified that there was someone at the gate.