Chapter 149: The Road To The Beastfolk Lands

Bravelm, the Beastfolk Lands. The bell rang through the courtyard. Hundreds of beastfolk stood, facing the platforms where the instructors were demonstrating various spells. Flames swirled above one instructor’s palm while another levitated several stones in the air.

A young wolf beastfolk sent a blast of wind across the courtyard, sending a plume of dust into the air. “Excellent control!” the instructor said. “Continue practicing until you can hold the spell on your own.” The class resumed their exercises. Magic was the foundation of life in Bravelm.

One’s magical talent in the beastfolk society often dictated their future career and social standing within their community. Children were tested at an early age and the gifted were sent to special academies to hone their talents. Beastfolk were not simply animals with animal ears and tails. They were people, a people who traced their ancestry to ancient beasts.

They were born, they inherited certain traits from their parents and they lived in settlements of their own. While some of their bloodlines gave them powerful senses, enhanced physical abilities or even unusual talents, their society was still built around magic. Unlike regular monsters, beastfolk did not need to rely on awakening and evolution to carve their place in the world.

Through bloodlines, training and the mastery of magic, beastfolk carved out their domain and their way of life. In the Bravelm lands, a beastfolk who could not use magic was considered defective. Besides, there was only one in the entire kingdom.

“Lynessa!” An annoyed voice echoed in the courtyard. “Where are you hiding?” Behind the academy’s main building, two small black cat ears twitched.

A young woman crouched behind a pile of wooden crates, carefully sorting through the cleaning supplies she had been ordered to gather. Her long, flowing black hair framed a pale face and a long, slim tail coiled around her waist. Lynessa had beautiful amber eyes, excellent hearing and was built like a natural acrobat, capable of scaling walls, leaping large distances and creeping silently. None of it served her any good.

Her owner didn’t care if she could climb the palace walls with a bare hand. Lynessa was an orphan. And a freak. Since she had failed her magical exam as a child, the people who had taken care of her until then had quickly lost all interest.

Without parents, someone needed to take her in and a poor family had decided her to be their servant. Her collar identified her as such. “Lynessa!” “I’m coming!” Lynessa hurried out from behind the building.

A middle aged tiger beastfolk woman was waiting for her, arms folded in irritation. “What took you so long?” she asked. “I was collecting the supplies you asked for, Mistress,” Lynessa said. “Then you should have been faster,” the woman replied.

Lynessa bowed her head. “Yes, Mistress,” she said. The woman shoved a basket in her hands. “Take these clothes to the washing area. After that, clean the eastern corridor. The teachers said the dust bothered them again,” she ordered. Lynessa turned to watch the courtyard.

The exercises were continuing. She saw a young fox beastfolk boy make a sphere of water hover above his palm. It wavered a bit, but then steadied and his classmates nodded in approval. Lynessa’s ears drooped. She had tried so desperately to copy their movements.

She had practiced the breathing exercises, learned the incantations and followed every rule she had managed to overhear. Every time a child had discovered a new spell, she had practiced until she could repeat it. All with no results. She could not feel the mana, no matter how hard she tried and even when she did everything right, it simply did not respond.

Magic did not exist for her. “What are you staring at?” the woman asked. Lynessa quickly turned away. “Nothing, Mistress,” she said. “Good. Be glad you are in your proper place,” the tiger woman said.

The tiger woman turned to leave, but stopped and glanced back. Lynessa stood by herself, clutching the basket. She had wanted to learn magic. Not to become a noble or even a classless adventurer, but simply to know what it was everyone else was so effortlessly good at.

Why was it that every other beastfolk in the world could do magic except for her? What was wrong with her? She had wondered about these things for years. No one had answered her pleas for answers.

A bell rang to signal the end of the morning exercises. Lynessa gathered the basket and walked towards the washing area. Above the courtyard, the instructor who had been demonstrating the wind spell looked up into the sky. For a fraction of a second, the ambient mana around the academy had wavered.

He frowned. Then he dismissed the sensation as an anomaly and returned to his students. No one noticed the black cat beastfolk girl disappearing around the corner. No one paid attention as she paused to observe one last spell.

No one knew that the beastfolk who had been abandoned by everybody was about to enter a world far bigger than the one she knew. The world of humans, the Eldoris Dominion.

Eldoris Dominion.

Tanaka had barely finished his conversation with Eldrin when the air beside him rippled. He turned to look and saw a woman, standing in the air, leaning forward with a mocking smile. “So, pup,” she said.

Tanaka turned to look. Nethaliel appeared in front of him, as if she had been there all along. Her long hair flowed in an imaginary breeze and her bright eyes studied him with amusement. “Where is my brother?” she asked. Tanaka stared at her.

“Do you ever use the entrance?” Tanaka asked. “Why would I?” Nethaliel replied. “Because normal people walk through doors!” “So are you not normal then?” Nethaliel laughed. Tanaka sighed.

Of course not. “Malachiel is here. He was talking with Zarathiel earlier, but knowing him, he could be anywhere in the Dominion by now,” Tanaka said. Nethaliel’s face lit up. “Wow!” she exclaimed.

She glanced around as if searching for something interesting. Then, her gaze landed on Tanaka again. “Come along, pup. You can help me look for him,” she said. “Why me?” Tanaka asked. “Because you know where he might be,” she replied.

“I really don’t!” Tanaka protested. “So we will look everywhere!” Nethaliel said. Tanaka stared at her. The True Dragon of Flight smiled.

For the second time in a short while, Tanaka wished dealing with a True Dragon was more exhausting than battling a Demon Lord. Nethaliel was already walking away. “Come on now! I haven’t seen my brother in a while!” she said.

Tanaka looked to Eldrin, silently asking for help. The Goblin went back to his paperwork. Traitor! Tanaka sighed and followed Nethaliel. In another part of the Dominion, the mages worked on their communication device while the construction sites were busy erecting new buildings.

Elsewhere, new people made their homes among strange people. And somewhere very far away, a cat beastfolk slave girl was walking through an academy’s corridors carrying a basket of laundry. None of them knew that the world was about to change and that Tanaka would soon enough find himself right in the middle of it all.