Without realizing, we're being surrounded by members of the beasts. Unlike the child that's being tied up in front of us, the beasts surrounding us were adults. They had full control of their power to shapeshift. They looked just like a common mortal with the exception of their eyes. Their eyes were of different kind of strange colors, now all staring at us with untamed hostility.
Emily and her team members immediately picked up their weapons and faced the beasts surrounding us, ready to fight any minute.
"Release him," a voice rang out. "He's just a child." The voice was from a female beast with golden cat-like eyes. She held her head up in confidence.
"He attacked us first!" cried out Ralph.
"The stink of the god of light," snorted the female beast in distaste. "That does not mean you can beat up a mere child and then tied him up like a monster. Or is it because he's not a child in your eyes? Just a monster?" The corner of her mouth tipped up sarcastically. "Typical mortals."
A look of unease appeared on Emily and Alice's face.
"You are surrounded by us. You can't escape. Release the child and we'll still treat you with courtesy. Or else..." She let her threat settled in as the other beasts surrounding us showed off their sharp claws.
Emily immediately knelt down and untied the knot tying the child up. Once untied, the child ran towards his tribe members.
"We have released him. Now it's your turn," Kris yelled with tight lips.
"You beat up our child, do you think we'll let you go so easily?"
"He... he started the fight first," Kris tried to defend himself.
The female beast chuckled. "You mean throwing bananas at you?"
Kris and his members' faces grew visibly paler.
For one second I thought that female beast was my friend. When she smiled, she looked quite like my friend. I pushed the thought out of my mind. Back then my friend was part of the weaker tribes, the gods might not have tortured her tribes like what they did to my family, that didn't mean her tribe or many other tribes would be left unscathed. The gods ordered their followers to wipe out us beasts, the monsters. Just because we had different appearances, different powers than the mortals, they feared us. With the approval of their gods, they gladly carried out the job of wiping out their land from monsters. They were just carrying out orders from their gods.
From what I knew, only a very small portion of beasts were left to be banished into the Forbidden Woods. And this female beast in front of me looked more like part of the tiger tribe than the lamb tribe where my friend was from.
I should just be glad that there were still part of us living out here. Even though they're bound to the forest, but they seemed to be living quite well. I knew the god of order was not one to mistreat the beasts. I smiled bitterly, even though he's my enemy, deep down I never once worried about the remaining beasts. I knew he would treat them with fairness. That's the god of order.
"If we attack mortals, we will receive punishment. If it's the other way round, I believe the same rule applies. Unfortunately, we currently have some questions at hand. So it's a pity, you have to stay in our prison for some time." She smiled elegantly. "Please drop your weapons."
"Who knows what you'll do to us if you capture us?" Ralph cried as he threw a spell at the beast.
The female beast's smile widened as she sliced the spell coming in her way with her claws. The spell then disappeared like a puff of smoke. "Are you attacking us?"
She meant to capture us and then wait for someone to give us punishment. But waiting for who? If we were captured, I could take a look at where they're living now. Furthermore, I was one of them, I could persuade them to help me escape.
I held up my hands and said, "We're sorry for the misunderstanding. We will follow you."
"What are you talking about, Lilith?" Ralph roared. "You can't decide for us!"
"Do you think you can defeat them? There are more than 20 of them!" I muttered with clenched teeth. As I said, those following the god of light were idiots.
"As expected, a follower of goddess of spring seems to be cleverer than a follower of the god of light." She chuckled.
So the girl I took the body from was a follower of the goddess of spring? No wonder she was digging out flowers when I occupied her body. But now they all knew I was lying, Archer included.
"You said you were a follower of goddess of water!" Kris cried.
"Lilith..." Alice looked at me with disbelief.
"I was just protecting myself," I lied.
"How about the rest of you?" the female beast asked.
Emily picked out a card from her stack of cards, after looking at it, she said, "I will follow you back and await punishment. I hope it's a fair punishment."
"Of course," the beast with golden eyes said, "that I can guarantee you. Nothing but fairness."
The remaining team members seemed to finally understand there's nothing they could do for now but follow what the beast said. They raised their hands in defeat.
That only left Archer. He was still holding onto his sack when others had dropped all their bags and weapons to the floor.
"I'm sorry for the incident just now," Archer nodded in briefly in apology. "If you'll allow me to keep this bag, I promise there's nothing that can threaten you inside."
Both Kris and Ralph ordered harshly, "Just put it down!"
The female beast raised her eyebrow.
"I vow in the name of the god of order."
"A follower of the god of order." She tapped her chin with her finger and waved her hand, "Bring the child to me."
After a second, the child that started all these was brought to her. She knelt down and asked the child, "Now tell me who attacked you just now?"
The child whispered something in her ears. She nodded and patted him on the head. "You know where to receive punishment when you get back."
The child nodded dejectedly and ran away.
"He said you two didn't beat him up just now. Alright, I'll trust you for now. Don't taint your god's name. I think you know better than me what your god will do if you lie." She turned around and headed back to the deep woods. "Tie them up and cover their eyes. We don't want to expose where we're living to them too. We have exposed enough secrets today. Let's all wait for punishment."
With our eyes covered, we started our trek into the unknown.
---------
Author's note
Excitement!!! Action!! Are you excited?
YOU ARE READING
After the Villainess Failed to Overthrow the Gods
Fantasy'In every story, there is a villain who has been defeated. What happens to the defeated villain?' After Lorelei's plot to overthrow the gods failed, she was stripped of her power and voice. She became a mermaid bound to a lake, with her enemy (the...
