Beastmen: She Tames the Land-Chapter 57: The writing on the wall

Consciousness returned to Visha little by little.

The first thing she felt was the cold feeling on her back. Then she felt the furs covering her body. Then she could hear the sound of movement. Her eyes moved behind heavy lids.

Finally able to open her eyes, she finds herself lying on a stone slab. She thought to herself that it would explain why she was cold on one side and warm on the other. She looked around the room, noticing they were in a crumbling stone building. A fire was crackling nearby.

She sat up quickly. Remembering the fight, the wolves covered in corruption. The fact that she was able to use her powers to push out the darkness and kill it.

I shouldn’t be here. I need to find Xeno and Uri.

Her heart raced, thinking someone might have taken her away from them.

Before she could move, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She was about to hit the person when she noticed who it was.

"Easy," a soothing voice murmured. Xeno’s large, warm hands held her steady before pulling her into a hug. "You’re safe."

He put his face in the crook of her neck, deeply inhaling her scent.

Uri appeared next to them, as if he had always been standing there. He had the water pouch in his hand.

"Sha’mīn," Uri whispered. His eyes locked on hers, scanning her face. He held the pouch and helped her drink. "You’ve slept for a full day and night. You...scared me."

Visha watched his eyes soften. She couldn’t help touching his cheek. Hearing him admit that let her know that he was terrified because of what happened to her.

"It’s going to be okay," she said, snuggling into his chest.

She turned to look at Xeno, who was looking at the two of them and smiling. She stretched out her hand to hold his.

While she was resting with the two men, she looked around the room. Eyes sweeping through the room, looking at the people from her pack. Some were resting, others were walking around.

Willa and Fil huddled together. She noticed his legs were stretched out. Different from the mangled leg she had seen before, his leg looked as good as new. She hadn’t realized she healed it before she fainted.

Seeing everyone was doing well, Visha sagged further into Uri’s arms. Seeing was better than guessing. The moment she was sure everyone was safe, her body crashed.

"Sha’mīn..." Uri’s voice came out as a plea.

"I’m really alright. I’m just tired. I feel like I’ve been hollowed out," Visha gave a small smile. "I should be better soon."

Propping herself up, she looked at Xeno, "Tell me what happened after I fainted."

"We left. We couldn’t risk getting you hurt. We didn’t know how to deal with those creatures. We were worried about whether we would get sick again if we tried to burn or bury them. We could only leave." A frown clouded Xeno’s features. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Visha didn’t like seeing him frown. The Xeno she knew was always effortlessly carefree.

"Let’s hope we don’t meet them again," she sighed. "But I have to ask. You’ve never seen these creatures before?"

They both shook their heads.

"It could be because we are in a place no tribe had set foot. These things could have been living here for a long time, but no one has ever noticed," Uri answered.

Visha pursed her lips. "I wouldn’t know. All I can say is that these things have been corrupted."

"Corrupted?" Uri questioned.

"Yes. I can’t explain how I know. Consider it one of my priestess powers. But I know they aren’t supposed to be here." She looked between them. "You haven’t seen them before, but I have a feeling we will be seeing them a lot more in the years to come."

Neither man spoke. They were taking in what Visha said. The possibility of seeing those corrupted creatures again would weigh heavily on their pack.

Their eyes looked at each other, then back to Visha. The determination in their eyes said one thing: they would try their best to protect Visha. They would make sure she doesn’t need to use her powers to save them again.

The trio sat there talking for a while. At some point, the rest of the pack greeted Visha. However, seeing the two leaders refused to leave her side, they only gave a brief greeting and thanks.

They also brought food to Visha as she hadn’t eaten for a while.

Chi, in particular, didn’t care whether they were beside Visha. She bounded over, complaining about Uri being mean to her.

Xeno’s shoulders trembled as he tried to stop himself from laughing after hearing the complaint. Uri’s sharp eyes quickly shut him up. Xeno looked at him like a dejected puppy, and Visha laughed.

She slapped Uri on the arm when she saw the look he gave. She understood he must have been worried, and her heart swelled. She knew she wouldn’t be in a good mood if anything happened to the two of them either.

"Okay, don’t get angry at Chi. She was right. It’s better for her to carry me. Less trouble that way." Visha said quietly.

But then she patted Chi’s hand. "If something happened to your Gigi, would you want someone coming to take him from you?"

Chi pouted, "I’m not someone, I’m your friend."

"Alright then, if something happens to Krag, I’ll make sure to pass him off to Uri," Visha said.

Seeing Chi’s constipated face, Visha laughed. "See, you don’t like the idea either."

Sticking out her tongue, Chi walked over to Krag. Visha chuckled and shook her head, leaning into Xeno.

Visha’s strength returned a little at a time.

When she felt she was strong enough, she decided she wanted to go exploring.

This building was unlike anything she had seen during her time in Beast Continent. She had to admit that she didn’t know much about the continent. But when she asked Uri and Xeno about it, they themselves had never seen a building like this.

She felt the need to explore. If they hadn’t seen buildings like this, then there must be something special about this place.

She had to beg them to let her explore.

They only agreed to let her explore because they decided they would come with her.

Visha could only roll her eyes and agree.

She jumped off the stone bed, stretching her body. She had been sitting for too long. Then Visha, along with her two bodyguards, started to explore.

As they walked, she noticed the building was part of a larger complex collection of crumbling structures. The forest took up portions of the vicinity, weaving in and out of the building.

Walking through arched doorways and going down hallways, she saw rooms with stone benches and hearths that had long been cold. There are chambers with intricate carvings on the wall. They depicted hunts and harvest. The way they were incorporated into the stone was something she had never seen before. A sophistication she hadn’t seen in anything she had encountered on the continent thus far.

She could see from Uri and Xeno that they had never experienced anything like this either.

This was a place forgotten by time.

As they walked, they came upon a circular tower. This room was unlike the others. A single massive wall containing writing from floor to ceiling dominated the tower. It was etched into the stone. A tapestry of complex, angular curves with smooth, flowing curves.

It was incomprehensible and utterly beautiful.

Visha ran her fingers along the groove of the lettering. She was captivated by every curve and stroke. The script etched in stone was unlike any language she had seen in her world.

[Task: The Echo Of Stones]

[Objective: Decipher the ancient writing on the wall]

[Reward: Lore Fragment, 150 CP]

The system notification flashed before her eyes. It took a moment for her to comprehend what the system requested. It wanted her to figure out what this wall of text was saying.

Visha felt her heart drop.

How am I supposed to figure this out? Not to mention, I haven’t seen it before. They haven’t seen it before either.

She was certain Uri and Xeno hadn’t seen it because of the way they looked at the wall. The bewilderment on Xeno’s face and the frown on Uri’s face answered any question she would ask.

Wistfully, Visha said, "I think we might need to stay a few more days."

The two men looked at her, staring up at the wall. Visha could see them from the corner of her eye. She wasn’t sure what to tell them. Priestess power is one thing, but this is something else.

Am I just supposed to tell them that I want to try learning to read a completely foreign language?

She looked at the system reward. A lore fragment. It wasn’t the first time she had seen it. If she got this reward, she would have two lore fragments. Then there was the knowledge shard; she already had two.

She decided to take some time to look at both things after she figured out what the massive wall in front of her was saying.