Beastmen: She Tames the Land-Chapter 58: Understanding the knowledge

Visha didn’t start immediately.

She knew there was a long way to go in order to decipher what the writing said. What she needed to do now was try to convince the rest of the pack to stay. She wouldn’t pretend to be ill to get them to stay.

That night, everyone gathered around the fire.

Visha didn’t mince words. "I need to stay," she said, looking at everyone. "There is something here that I need to do. I understand if you have complaints, but it won’t change my decision."

The pack saw her determination. No one objected.

Willa spoke up, "Visha, you are our priestess. You’ve already saved our lives more than once. We don’t have a stable territory right now. We will help with whatever you need."

The other members of the pack agreed without hesitation. Visha’s heart was bursting with joy. She expected some opposition, but it seems she was thinking too much.

She saw Uri and Xeno’s encouraging faces. The weight she was feeling in her heart fell away.

The following morning, light streaming through the cracks in the stone walls, Visha woke up. Her mind was alert before her body could adjust. She knew what she needed to do today.

She went about her usual routine before heading to the tower.

She stared up at the writing on the wall, trying to figure out where to start. Her first method seemed like the most logical. She decided to look for patterns. Her eyes traced the lines repeated looking for repetitions in the symbols.

She found them, of course. Some characters would appear more frequently than others. Either mostly at the beginning or the end of what she considered a sentence. She took the time to find the patterns.

She had previously taken a piece of charcoal from the fire to use as a writing instrument. Now she used it to mark the repetitions and frequently seen symbols. She was trying to make a simple alphabet, but that in itself proved difficult when she had no idea where to begin. Seeing symbols with no context doesn’t help make a proper alphabet.

Visha became frustrated. She didn’t know where to go from here.

After hours of trying one method, she decided to take a break. She would find something different after having some food.

Just as she stood up, she saw Xeno walking in. The scent of the meat in his hand made Visha’s stomach growl. She ate quickly. At this moment, Visha felt using her brain was more tiring than going out and doing physical work.

Xeno stayed beside her without saying anything. She could see him looking around at the scribbles she made and then back at the wall.

"Shasha," Xeno said, his voice curious. "Is knowing this important?"

Visha paused mid-bite. She chewed carefully, looking for the right words.

"I’m not sure, honestly. I’ll tell you when I figure it out."

Xeno nodded. He kissed Visha’s cheek before leaving.

After filling her stomach, Visha let go of her frustrations. She decided to focus on something else. She noticed there were carvings around the text. She noticed that the carvings were of various beasts. Giant bears, eagles, what resembled a coiled snake, and another looking like a cat. Visha assumed it was a tiger because it was similar to Xeno’s tiger form.

She found that next to the carvings were usually clusters of symbols. These symbols were not immediately visible, but after looking directly at the picture, she was able to see them. Visha realized that the symbol next to it was the name of the animal. She excitedly started noting down the pictures and symbols she noticed.

Using these symbols, she was able to figure out more words from the large symbol wall. Although the process was faster than before, it was still agonizingly slow. She felt she was trying to understand a book by reading only the Chapter heading.

That evening, she went back to the pack to eat dinner. The images were swirling in her mind. She felt the mental fatigue more than the physical fatigue. She knew she needed to relax. The problem is, the more she tried to forget, the more the questions swirled in her mind.

She knows the beastmen on the continent have a rich oral culture. They don’t have a culture of writing things down. Even if it exists, it is simply markings for territory or warnings.

Visha drew the picture of the tiger along with the corresponding symbol, then she addressed the pack, "Have any of you ever seen anything like this? I found it in the tower. This is what I have been working on."

The pack members respected her space and didn’t visit the tower. Now, Visha needed the input of the older members. If they had seen the symbols, she might have something to go off of.

The responses varied, but all of them were negative.

However, Visha noticed Krag. The way he looked at the symbols when she mentioned them. Usually, he was stoic and observant. In this instance, he went rigid. His gaze was fixed on the fire, still; his vision was unfocused. She could see he was not completely here.

A melancholy filled his face. One she could only place as homesickness. She had always known that Krag and Chi were different. She had an inkling about them when they first started following. Still, she was unsure of their purpose. She only knew that they felt safe, familiar.

Chi, sitting beside him, touched his arm. He jolted, being brought out of his memories. He looked away from the fire, his eyes meeting Visha’s for a fleeting moment before looking at Chi.

He knew something. She could feel it. But she wouldn’t ask. She would let him decide whether he is willing to tell her. Until then, she would continue to figure out what secrets the symbols held.

The following morning, after eating, Visha continued her journey of knowledge. Although she was no closer to deciphering the text than she was yesterday, she was optimistic.

Halfway through the morning, she heard footsteps approaching. She turned to see Chi. Although unsure of why she was here, Visha could guess it had something to do with Krag. After what she saw yesterday, she expected one of them would come and talk with her.

The tall, slender woman sat beside her. "We’re different, Krag and I. I know you already know. You won’t ask, and even if you do, we won’t answer."

Visha nodded.

"We don’t have any intention of hurting you or the rest of the pack members. For as long as we follow you, we are a part of the pack, and we have no intention of leaving. There are some things we can’t say. I can only hope you understand."

This was the most serious she had seen Chi since they met. Usually, she was a ball of sunshine. Nevertheless, after seeing her fight, she knew there were things about her and Krag she would never be able to understand.

"I’m aware. Since the grotto, I was aware that both of you were different." Visha smiled, "At first I thought you were like me." She paused and didn’t explain, only smiled slyly, "But now, I’ve realized it wasn’t the same. Something about the two of you is fundamentally different."

Chi smiled, back to her usually bubbly self. She leaned on Visha, "Different is a good thing. Can’t have these boys thinking we’re boring."

Visha snickered as she watched Chi stand.

Chi reached into her satchel, the one she has always carried with her. She took out a scroll, bound with rope.

"Gigi told me to give this to you." Chi looked at the writing on the wall. "It will help with that." She pointed using her chin.

It wasn’t paper, Visha was sure of that. It was thin, flexible, and silvery. It looked like wood. Taking it, Vish realized it was surprisingly warm to the touch.

She waited until Chi left to unfurl it. As soon as the rope was removed, it didn’t just unfurl; it started floating. It opened completely as Visha watched it glow. The characters on it were glowing with a soft light.

One by one, the glowing characters separated from the wood. They hovered for a moment before flashing into Visha’s forehead.

The feeling of the words entering her mind was similar to a sensory overload. It wasn’t painful. She felt a fullness in her mind she hadn’t felt before. The information swam through her mind. Knowledge from a language that has been lost in a river of time.

The silvery wood lost its colouring, became dull, and fell to the floor. Visha looked at the dull piece of wood, still thinking about the incredible scene a moment ago.

Slowly raising her head, Visha looked at the writing on the wall. Instead of the indecipherable symbols, she saw actual words. The wall of the ruins was no longer a mystery.

Instead, there was a story. One waiting to be told.