Ari

Chapter 2: The Beastman World

I was born in a tribe called Forest Lion Tribe, the only tribe of the Lion race in the whole beastman world.

A regular beastman had two forms which were passive and aggressive forms. Their passive form was their human or human-like form while their aggressive form was their beast form.

Male beastmen were naturally hatched in their aggressive forms and will be able to transform into their passive form once they reach the age of 7. In our tribe, at this age, they were required to attend school with all the other cubs under the teaching of the assigned elders.

A passive form of a male was only a humanlike form, because they still have beast body parts. A Lion has lion ears and tail, but has a human shape.

On the other hand, a regular female beastman was hatched with her natural passive form—which was a full pledge human form. She has no ability to transform into her aggressive form even if she cultivates her body. Only a few females were born every generation, so they were required to accommodate multiple male spouses.

Females undergo estrus once a year—it was a state wherein the s****l arousal of a female was heightened and was ready for reproduction. It was similar to the ovulation of a female human, but their arousal was quite beastly and sometimes out of hand.

Unlike humans, the female beastmen lay eggs a week after mating with their spouse or spouses. The higher the number of their spouses, the higher the number of eggs they can produce. However, not all eggs can hatch into hatchlings and not all hatchlings can make it to adulthood. It was one of the reasons why a single female was required to take in multiple spouses. Most tribes focused on reproduction to maintain the necessary manpower to survive because the higher the manpower, the more efficiently a tribe can function.

The newly hatched beastmen were called hatchlings until they turned 7 and shall be called cubs. They will be then called younglings when they turn 15 until they reach the age of 17.

In our tribe, younglings will have to start helping in any chores assigned by the responsible elders—such as hunting, cooking, taking care of the hatchlings and cubs in the nursery and a lot more.

A female youngling also starts experiencing her estrous around this period—so the under aged female tribesmen were separated every mating season to prevent unnecessary impregnation.

Even though female younglings undergo estrous, they were not yet prepared for reproduction and the risk of death was inevitable. Any male at any age who was caught assaulting a female youngling during her estrous shall be exiled to the tribe.

Once the young beastman turned 18, he or she would be considered an adult and would be required to participate in the yearly courtship ritual until he or she could find a spouse and shall be wed at the end of the ritual.

The ritual lasts for 7 days. During the first three days, the participants were observed by the elders for physical rejection before they could proceed with the ritual. It was implemented because there were cases wherein the male or a female showed physical rejection despite their claim of willingness to be tied together and ended up having no offspring.

The females were only required to attend the ritual once, but they can still be invited by their suitors in the succeeding years. The invitation can be accepted or rejected by the female.

A tree house was provided by the elders to each female upon reaching adulthood. They were expected to be taken care of by their males.

Any female who was identified as infertile shall be sent to the temple of the beastman goddess where they were expected to serve the disabled or abandoned beastmen while their current spouses shall be freed from their spousal ties. A ritual was done to unbind the males to the infertile female and freed males were allowed to find another female.

Males hunt for food while females process and cook the food to be distributed to each family. The elders teach the young beastmen how to hunt and do chores.

The strongest male in the tribe was called the alpha and was expected to lead the tribe and solve any issue that concerns the tribe. In our tribe, the other males can invite the alpha for an official duel during peace season and the winner shall be acknowledged as the new alpha.

Any duel held pass or prior the peace season can be announced as void unless the current alpha agrees to the succession.

If the alpha dies due to any reason, their spouse shall succeed and a battle royal shall be held in the succeeding peace season to determine the new alpha.

My father, Lev, was the current alpha of the tribe. He was a rare white Lion and was the strongest in the tribe. He has soft platinum-silver hair. His eyes were like a pair of amber colored gems that glisten when it's dark. His eyes were so scary at night that sometimes I scream at the top of my lungs every time he suddenly appears out of nowhere. There was a long scar on the side of his forehead across his left eyebrows that he got when he dueled the previous alpha. He has a fit, but muscular body that can make every female from the tribe drool and fall for him if only he was not wed to my mother.

My mother, Freya, was the most beautiful female in the tribe. She has a soft and wavy honey blonde hair that bounces elegantly in her every move. Her sapphire eyes glisten in the light like a brilliant gem.

My mother has 2 more male partners beside my father—Drake, a black Snake and Dov, a brown Bear. She loves the other two males despite my father being the alpha. She loves her children, but she was indifferent to my father, which breaks my heart.

I had four siblings—they were Lindie, Askook, Orson and Bjorn. Lindie and Askook were Snake cubs while Orson and Bjorn were Bear cubs. Older Sister Lindie was my only sister. She and Older Brother Orson were hatched 3 years before me, while Brother Askook and Brother Bjorn were one year older than me. There were two more eggs to be hatched, but their genders were yet to be known—but most probably, they will be males since females were rare.

My parents and some elder females take turns taking care of me. I was not brought to the nursery like the other hatchlings for some reason.

It was only a few days after my rebirth, but I can slowly understand the language used in the tribe.

Even though I still couldn't move my body freely. I finally realized that this body has a passive – aggressive form. It means that even though I was a female, my passive form has features similar to the passive form of males. It was an isolated case and no other case was known all throughout the history of the world of beastman. Another thing that puzzled everyone was that I was the only known Winged Lion and was birthed by a Lion couple—because a Winged Lion belongs to a separate race.

There were rumors after my egg hatched saying that my mother secretly mated and formed an informal relationship with an unknown Winged Lion male from an unknown tribe behind my father's back. Even so, despite the rumors, my father trusted my mother and believed in her because a mark they called insignia shows up on the male's chest once he impregnated a female until the egg hatches. It indicates the condition of the little hatchling inside the egg.

Only males have the ability to transfer the energy that was needed to hatch an egg. The transmission of energy to an egg was called incubation.

My father nurtured my egg from the first day until the day I hatched so he was sure that I was his daughter. He named me Ari even before my egg hatched.

My previous name 'Arhi' was a name meaning gorgeous, while the name 'Ari' given by Father Lev was usually given to males meaning, 'Lion of God'. I had no idea why he gave me a male name despite knowing that I was a female. Even so, I love it since it was a name similar to my name in my previous life despite the difference of meaning.

Similar to my father—I have platinum-silver hair, a pair of white lion ears, a lion tail and a pair of amber colored eyes. No one can dispute the similarities of our physical appearances in my passive – aggressive form and my father's passive form except for my white wings.

One time, my father accompanied the group who was tasked to hunt for food so the other male partner of my mom, Dov, was left in the house to help my mother with the chores. He also helped my mother in taking care of me since I was not placed in the nursery due to my odd appearance.

However, an inevitable thing happened during the absence of my father. After my mom fed me with milk, she asked her male partner to carry me so that she could prepare for my bath and my clothing.

He carefully held me in his arms despite the dislike that was clearly shown in his expression. I was sure he disliked me despite the care he was showing since I was only a few days old hatchling. I also disliked him because I hate males except Father Lev, who has a personality similar to my father in my previous life.

Despite my dislike of him, I had no power to retaliate since I couldn't control my body properly yet because I was technically a newborn baby. Unfortunately, I felt like my stomach flipped over the moment my skin touched his body and I threw up all the milk that I drank on his tanned pectorals that made his expression change from dislike to extreme disgust.

I then started to feel like something overwhelming was choking me till I lost my consciousness. I can faintly hear my mom and her male spouse's panicking voices as they called the elders for help.

After the elder healer named Lony confirmed that I was indeed allergic to males not related in blood, I was isolated indefinitely until they could figure out a cure for my illness. I was treated like a plagued patient and was only allowed to be taken care of by the female elders and my parents. Everyone was so puzzled by the negative reaction I showed against any physical contact on all male excluding my father and my siblings.

My mother started to become indifferent to me after that incident and my parents started to drift apart. I wasn't even sure if the reason was my illness or was it another issue that happened to overlap with the incident. They were still officially married, but they no longer interact unless necessary.

I was sad with the set up despite receiving love from my father and the elder healer. Even though my mother was allowed to take care of me, I was gradually abandoned, especially after two more male siblings hatched from their eggs a few months after. They were named Arthur, a Bear hatchling, and Sarff, a Snake hatchling. There was another pair of younger siblings born after a year, but they didn't let me see them—I didn't even know their names.

Most of the members of the tribe despised my existence and looked at me like a wasted piece of meat just because of my unique appearance. I was constantly alienated and bullied even by young adults.

I wanted to scream on their faces at that time. However, what came out from my mouth while crying in frustration was, "Ak uh ada uhhas [F*ck you mother f*ckers]!"

I was almost thrown outside the tribe after multiple debates if it was not because of my father being the alpha.

"Teh at eehas [Take this]!" I mumbled while raising my middle finger up in the air.

My father loved me dearly and he did his best not to be suppressed by the other males to protect his position and to protect me. I also tried my best to adapt rapidly in order to survive and prepare for any unavoidable circumstances.

As soon as I turned 5 years old, I was able to hide my ears, wings and tail, making me look more normal and was finally allowed to step outside the healer's house. My father crafted a few pairs of leather gloves, cloaks and a mask for me to wear. It helped me tremendously in dealing with my special condition.

Due to the cloak, leather gloves and the mask crafted by my father, I was able to live like a normal beastman and was able to handle unavoidable physical contact with males especially when playing and doing chores.

At the age of 6, I learned how to sew and make my own clothes despite so many failed attempts since I was not used to the tools available in this world.

My father brought me all the best pelt he got from every hunting so I was able to sew my own long sleeved shirts, skirts and fitted pants when I turned 7. Though the output didn't look similar to the clothes I used to wear in my previous life, it looks shabbier and primitive.