Ari (Child of the Beastman Goddess)

The sky and the land blackened as the moon covered the sun, causing chaos on the land of mortals. There were strange movements of the land causing earthquakes and huge tidal waves. The male beastmen suddenly lost their control, causing them to transform to their aggressive forms-females and young ones ran to save their lives as the goddesses fused together.

Just a moment ago, before our fusion, me and my group went to the abandoned temple and entered from above since it has no ceiling. I could see the statues of all the Immortals in the center of the huge temple. The Horned Owls knelt down as I walked towards the center.

The sight was exactly the same as the dream I had years ago. I looked back and saw everyone kneeling except Dylan. They already started praying but didn’t dare to walk to the center.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

We were suddenly taken aback when darkness slowly covered the land-the eclipse was already starting. We felt the ground shake as they all transformed to their aggressive forms. Tora looked terrified and backed away.

Dylan ran towards me since he was the only one that was not affected by the movement of the moon, “My dear…”

I heard Lowell howling to the moon while the others were growling.

“What’s happening?” I mumbled.

Ayla suddenly appeared in front of us as she restrained the others before putting them to sleep. Dylan covered up for me, but she didn’t budge and just smiled at me before she suddenly released her power against Dylan. He tried to fight back, but he couldn’t retaliate-he’s no match for Ayla. She placed chain-like restraints on him that restricted him from making a move-he couldn’t break free. I instinctively stepped back as Ayla looked at me with a saddened expression.

“Arie… My dear sister… Why do you always choose that fool? I already gave you my precious wolf,” she asked with a miserable smile as we both got pulled by an unknown force towards one another and fused together.

I felt an extremely unbearable weight on my heart the moment Ayla and I fused. It was nothing like the first time we fused together. I suddenly felt the power of the moon within me heightened and I lost control over my body.

My head was suddenly filled with memories that I had long forgotten.

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[Flashback]

We were born as twins, but we have different fathers. My father accepted Ayla as his own and treated us equally. Even Ayla knew this so she also loved him dearly, but she loved me the most.

She was extremely hurt when she learned that I gave my stone of oath to Dylan.

She cried so much and told me, “Take it back from him! I don’t want him to take away my only sister.”

“But Ayla, our father already sent it to him. We are not allowed to go to the land of the mortals until our coming of age. Also, an oath can never be taken back.

“He’s so pitiful. He chose his loyalty despite knowing he would become an orphan and that his race would be condemned by our queen mother. Father also agreed with my decision, please don’t bear a grudge against him.

“I really like him, he was the only one who treated me well besides you. The others were bullying me,” I responded, trying to explain my point.

I really love her, though she was a bit excessive at times. She didn’t know I was being bullied by the other children of the Immortals. She was petrified when she heard my words.

“Who dares them to spout such nonsense? Not a single one of them has the right to say a word against the child of the queen goddess!” she said furiously.

I always feel bad every time I hear her call me “the child of the queen goddess”. For some reasons, she never acknowledged herself as one of the children of the queen mother.

“My dear sister, please pacify your anger. It was my fault because I was too weak to even become a rightful goddess even after awakening,” I said while hugging her tightly, trying to calm her down.

“Why?! How was it your fault? You’re not weak! It’s just… Your powers were too heavy for your small body to bear,” she said while hugging me back.

I smiled and said, “Thank you for being my sister. I love you, Ayla. You’ll always be my sister for eternity.”

She stroked my hair and whispered, “I love you too. You are the best sister in this entire world.”

Since then, she never left my side and drove away the other children since they were rude to me before. We played in the garden with our beast servants-a silver wolf named Owell and a lion named Gurion.

“Arie, why don’t you want to play with Owell?” she asked.

“He looked scary. He has the same fierce look as the queen mother,” I answered.

“Hmm… Let’s dye his fur then!” she suggested and plucked the blue lilies in the garden.

She made some dye using the flower and we both tried to dye Owell. He looked frightened as we approached him and ran away as fast as he could. We rode Gurion’s back and chased the wolf with the dye on our hands while laughing our hearts out. She used her power to make a sling and we both shot the dye to the running wolf.

He was so agile, but we kept on aiming towards his direction.

“Hahaha! Owell! Stop running away!” Ayla shouted.

“He’s quite agile. Gurion seemed to be more obedient than your wolf. Right, Gurion?” I said while hugging the lion’s mane.

“Hah! I can’t hit him! Right, he is not obedient at all. Tsk!” she responded then spread her wings to fly towards Owell.

“Haha! Don’t be too harsh on him Ayla!” I shouted while giggling.

She quickly landed on Owell’s back and said, “Caught you Owell! Now prepare for a new you!”

Owell tried to resist, but he had no way of escaping from Ayla. He looked like a bullied pup being played by children.

“Your dress is soiled with the dye too. Queen Mother might scold us when she sees us,” I said upon realizing Ayla’s dress that was tainted with the blue dye.

“Never mind her. Look! Are you still afraid of Owell? I picked the blue color because it is your favorite color,” she grinned while showing Owell’s new look.

“Haha! No! He doesn’t look scary anymore. It looks good on him,” I responded upon seeing the bright smile on her face.

“Haha! He looked like a different wolf,” Ayla giggled while Owell was whimpering like a pup.

“Wouldn’t it be hard to clean his fur? It became darker due to the dirt,” I asked.

“I like this color better! I’ll ask the goddess of the rainbow to make it permanent,” she grinned while stroking the fur of the whimpering wolf.

“But I don’t think he likes it,” I said.

“You don’t like it?” she asked her wolf with a threatening smile.

The wolf hid his tail in between his legs drooping low as he stepped back a little.

“Haha! You’re scaring him, Sister,” I laughed as Owell ran suddenly behind me.

“Wow! I suddenly felt betrayed… Anyway, since he looked different now, let’s change his name,” she grinned.

Owell suddenly rubbed his tinted fur on me while Gurion growled on my side looking at him with contempt. I chuckled and stroked the mane of the jealous lion and he rubbed his face on my hand while purring.

I looked back at the wolf and rubbed his chin, then asked, “Lowell… Do you want the name Lowell?”

He suddenly licked my face continuously, wagging his tail behind his back.

“A young wolf… It sounds good and I think he likes it. Let’s go with that name then,” she mumbled and smiled as she hugged Gurion while stroking his thick mane.

I thought everything will be just fine after that day. Many years later, right after our awakening and coming of age, we both managed to pass the bridge of trial and obtained the prestige of the goddesses of our domain, but we suddenly started to fuse together more often.

I felt quite frustrated because I never got the chance to be in control when our bodies fuse together, so I went to the garden alone one day trying to collect my thoughts and sat near the flowers.

“Arie? Why did you leave me suddenly?” Ayla said upon arriving at the garden.

“Give me some time alone. I don’t feel good right now,” I answered.

“Was it because we fuse again together? Do you really hate fusing with me?” she asked.

“Just go away for now, Ayla. I don’t want to talk about it right now,” I insisted sternly.

“You don’t love me anymore..,” she mumbled, then ran away riding Lowell’s back.

I was stunned seeing her hurt by my words-I cried and regretted every word I said. Gurion walked to me, licked my tears and rubbed his face against my cheeks.

Not long after, there was a huge explosion and I saw my father dashing to me in a hurry with a frightened look on his face. He was bleeding and covered with black shadow around his body.

I was terrified and stumbled to the ground, shivering in fright, “F-Father?”