After eating, we all got up and started to get ready to depart. The driver was already in the carriage and waiting outside for us, refusing to eat on the same table as the people he was serving as he saw it as an act of rudeness and against his core beliefs. To be honest, I thought he was a rather petty man at the start, and even though my mind has not faltered from that thought, I did gain a negligible amount of respect for him after what he had said.
I always believed those who stick with their beliefs were the best people, even if they were evil or saints. 'A man who does not stick with his beliefs is but a hallow shell' a wise man once told me.
After entering the carriage, we set off once against to the district of waves, and after only three hours of travel, we were met with an outstandingly long line. This line was filled with horses, people, carriages and even beast pets some have tamed.
For the first time in what seemed like forever, my father was surprised to see the bright expression on my face as curiosity and excitement overwhelmed my sense of calmness. Everyone looked at me with a raised brow, half of them wondering where their annoying sister who acted older than them went, while the other half felt worried that I had finally started acting like a child. My father changed his expression from a raised eye brow to a wry smile as he etched the excited childish smile I had on my face into his mind.
"DAD! Can I go outside!?" I asked excitedly looking at my father with an expectant glint.
Looking at me with a complex expression, he wanted to say no but did not have the heart to, which forced him into a corner. "Yes, but Olivia will be going with you. I hope I can trust you Olivia, to take care of my daughter"
"Your wish is my command" Olivia bowed and walked towards me without a single change in expression, however, inwardly I could identify hints of nervousness and worry.
"Alright, cya!" Immediately locking arms with Olivia, I walked out of the carriage with her and started to descend down the hell towards the great wall that surrounded the district of waves.
'Where are we going?' Olivia asked while staring into the eyes of one of the beasts in the distance.
"To check on the beasts of course" I said out loud
Sighing, she knew she couldn't retort anything I were to suggest, however, she was not going to simply comply either.
'But don't go touching them, and if a owner say's to stay away, you do so. Understood?'
'Sure, whatever you say, MOM' I replied sarcastically.
Walking towards the large bull, which also happened to be the closest beast, I looked him in the eye before looking at the owner, as if asking for permission. The owner only looked at me weirdly before looking at Olivia who had an apologetic smile on her face. The man just sighed and waved for me to do whatever I wanted, seemingly understanding that I was just another curious child.
Looking at the bull, it looked right back at me. It had two large black horns, brown tough skin, a huge black furry buffalo mane and a tale sharp enough to cut trees in half.
"Hey there." I spoke nonchalantly, however, to everyone's surprise, the buffalo widened his eyes before mooing something that no one understood.
"How do you speak our language? No, how do you speak our tongue without uttering the same words with your mouth?" The bull asked, making me silently thank the divine language ability I had gotten when I had awakened my divinity.
"How are you doing said almost instantly while moving my hands towards the head of the bull and stroking it slightly while looking into his eyes. By looking into his eyes, I was able to transfer a very minute amount of information, such as the reason why I cannot talk to him directly, but rather in a pet like way.
"I see. You are no human! You might smell like one, but you have a strange beast like scent. Do you happen to a be a beast kin?" The bull asked
I simply shook my head a little, not making it obvious to those watching.
"So where are you from?" I asked the bull while stroking its head
"Not sure what the humans call it, but I know where we are going to is somewhere underwater. I do not believe it is the prestigious city where all the human younglings go, but another marine civilization, yet away from the merfolk." The bull said
'Hmm? Good to know' I thought to myself with a wry smile
"he's so cute" I said while looking towards the owner with a bright smile thing time. The owner has his eyes wide open the whole time I was speaking with the bull. He had never seen the bull being so nice to anyone before, nor tolerating any kids, however, this little girl, that being me, was able to gain the favour of the tyrannical bull?
Before the man could say anything, I quickly gestured to Olivia follow me and move to the next beast. in the span of less than 30 minutes, I had talked to 8 different races of beasts about where they were going and what they were. They would tell me about what race they came from, their affinities and what tribes they are from. While some are tribal creatures, others do not have tribes and therefore are lone beasts.
After speaking to all these beasts, I gestured to Olivia to return back to the line with my father and my brothers in the carriage, however, when I saw something in the distance, I stopped her.
Using my eagle like eyes to see miles in front of me, I looked at a certain beast, or maybe animal? I did not know what it was, but from where I was looking, it looked like a cat at best. Zooming in a little, I could see that the cat seemed to not be affiliated with any of the human's and the carriages, just sitting around and observing the area. It was a black cat with deep yellow eyes and a black slits as pupils. It was casually licking the back of it's paw, while its tail randomly whipped around from right to left.
While this cat had seemed normal, I had a weird feeling about it. It was not the same feeling I had about Juilam when I met him, nor was it the same feeling of dread I felt in front of the purple flame I saw before being reincarnated. However, this cat gave off an illusive mysterious aura around it, making it hard to gauge what it is. To normal people however, I'm pretty sure it would be almost impossible to even recognize the existence of the cat.
'Analysis'
[Analysis is unavailable for this creature.]
[Host is currently too weak to analyse entity -???-]
'...'
Widening my eyes in shock, I stepped back in horror of what information just appeared in my retina in golden letters.
Unbeknownst to me, a illusionary pair of golden eyes lifted their eyelids to reveal an iris with a expanding pupil, that eventually turned into the outline of a 3 dimensional star of David, also called the Shield of David. However, when the pair of eyes met the eyes of the cat, the illusionary eyes shattered like glass and sent an illusionary shockwave in all directions.
A frown, or the closest thing a cat can make to a frown, appeared on the fact of the black cat with yellow eyes. It looked at me with it's vibrant yellow eyes, which now had turned into fiery slits, before I blinked and the cat was now gone.
'...'
'No way right? There is no way a random cat just scared the shit out of me. It must be an illusion of a cat. How can I be weaker than a cat, to the point where I couldn't even analyse it with divine eyes. IT LITERALLY HAS THE WORD DIVINE IN IT!... No, calm down Atla- Pandora. It is okay. Someone might be targeting me now, but I'm sure I'll be fine. Right?'
While inwardly panicking, Olivia seemed to have finally realised that something was happening to me, and now that she looked at me carefully, she knew there was something wrong.
'Are you okay?' She asked
'Y-yeah. I'm fine. I'm fine, don't worry.' I said with a fake smile and slight hesitance in my voice
Thank you to WitchOfAgony, Flame_Trivk, MerkurySol, Play_destruction, LovelyDat, dameoncottrell1, NighT, LightBladeMaster, FujiFlam, Kaifchocho, 4lamKhan153 and Godly_death for all continuously supporting my novel and voting for it every single day.