[CHAPTER 21: THE BEAR AND THE HUMAN]

"Sister Bella!"
Bella chuckled as she watched Paas run towards her with a wide smile on his face. Paas's chamber was just next to hers. Raneki had given Paas a separate room because he too, thinks that male and female should not be sharing rooms, even if one of them is just a cub.
"When will you start your training?" Bella asked about his enrollment into the training troops.
"Lord Raneki said I can start my training tomorrow with the other young cubs who also lost their family. I will no longer live here, but at the barrack. I might not be able to see you for a very long time. Please take care of yourself, sister Bella." Paas said. His big brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
Bella ruffled his short brown hair before pulling him into her embrace.
"You take care too, okay? Be strong. Remember that you still have me."
"I will, sister Bella. Wait for me. I will return to you as a great soldier that can protect the weak."
Bella caressed Paas's head. He seemed to be a little taller than before. But it's impossible, right? He couldn't have grown a few inches just in a few days. She brushed the thoughts off as she walked to the dining room holding Paas's hand.
In the dining room. Raneki was there, having his meal. He gestured to Bella and Paas to take their seats.
"I have something to ask," Bella began to talk, "about the scroll that you gave me... I don't get it."
"A great seer from the Black Bear clan wrote it, about a century ago. The great seer and the whole clan of Black Bear died mysteriously soon after that. It was said that they have been cursed for knowing too much. Then a prophecy of the fall of all beasts was spread out by a panther clan necromancer," Raneki started to speak after wiping his mouth with a piece of clean cloth, "Bella, will you be the one who brings calamity to this world, or will you be the savior of all beasts? That is a question you should look for the answer yourself, no?"
Bella pursed her lips. Her mind was blank. She didn't understand a thing that he was trying to tell her. What did he mean by that?
Of course she understood what he was talking about, but she didn't understand what the fuck does all that got to do with her?
What great seer? Can a fortune teller really see that far? Like a century ahead? This is getting more and more absurd!
*****
After the meal, Bella and Paas followed Raneki to the library. They have a library, what the fuck? Well, in their case, Raneki called it 'the hall of scrolls'.
It was indeed a hall filled with scrolls. Every war and every event was recorded for the past decade. There were informations about everyone in the Ang tribe as well.
"What about other tribes? Do you record informations about them as well?" Bella asked as she carefully looked around.
"We do. But I do not think the information complete since we do not know everything about the other tribes. We do know that Ra tribe was only formed in the recent years by Gaharu. The Moro was the earliest to form their tribe. It was formed by the previous chief leader, Dovan, the Blood Snake, father of Tayen. The most vicious of all beasts."
Raneki explained that before all the other tribes were formed, other small clans like the Sun Tigers, the Snow Wolves, the Moon Hawks, and the Lightning Eagles were completely destroyed by Dovan. Raneki believed that Dovan feared their powers and so eliminated them before they could stand up against him.
"Some clans have special abilities, but not all were born with it. It was probably because their blood was no longer pure." Raneki said again.
Bella thought about what Mihaje had told her about Tayen. Those two were twins but only Tayen inherited the venom spitting ability. It was because they were mixed blood.
What about Gaharu's fire ability? Does that mean he's a descendant of an ability user? A Sun Tiger? Garuda's... A Lightning Eagle? Wait, Snow Wolves... Borius? Does that mean he has an ability too?
She was climbing the top shelf as she listened to Raneki's explanations and had her mind occupied with countless questions.
"Ah!" Bella slipped herself and almost fell from the shelf she was climbing on, but Raneki caught her in time. He was gigantic, it only took him one arm to grab her and pulled her close against his own body. Bella immediately felt her breasts flattened against the side of his bulky chest.
When he caught her, she accidentally pulled and tore his shirt, revealing his sexy collarbones and his little brown chest hair peeked through the curve of his torn shirt.
Oh, my. He's hairy.

From his thin shirt, Bella could feel the firmness of his bulky chest and his bulky biceps when her hands touched him. She felt the warmth of his body spread to her through her nipples underneath the thin fabric. Bella immediately blushed.
"Such a small creature as you should not be climbing here and there, you know." He said. His face was expressionless. His voice was emotionless. But his Adam's apple bobbed as he stared down at her in such a close range.
Bella lifted her face to stare back,
"What small creature? I'm a grown woman!"
Raneki who was still holding her in his arm tightened his grip around her small waist as his jaw clenched. This female is unbelievably beautiful when looked closely, and particularly funny when her cheeks puffed up in anger. He immediately let out a quiet scoff as he stared at her facial features.
"What's with the chin? Are you trying to be scary? Should I be intimidated?" Bella snarled, her face was flushed red. She struggled to get away from his grip but to no avail.
This female is really... Raneki let out a low chuckle,
"Why are you agitated?"
Bella gazed up at the face that was so close to hers. His facial features were symmetrical, perfectly handsome and well-defined. His nicely trimmed thin goatee added more charm to his perfect face. His strong musky aroma was similar to Borius's, but also very different.
"Eeeh... What is Lord Raneki doing to my sister Bella?" Paas who had been watching them since the beginning finally spoke, he covered his face with his hands but his eyes were peeking through his fingers.
Raneki cleared his throat before slowly putting Bella down on her feet.
"Violent catastrophe is drawing near... What sort of catastrophe do you think will befall on us?" Raneki continued his talk as though nothing happened.
Bella thought for a while and realized he was talking about the words written in the scroll he had given her.
"I have no clue. Definitely not war as it is already happening. Meteor? If that's the case, I have no power to stop such thing."
"Meteor...?" Raneki asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A meteor is... Um, a large rock floating beyond the sky."
That answer made Raneki even more confused. How come a large rock be floating in the sky?
"What about it?"
"When that large rock beyond the sky enters the Earth's atmosphere, it will hit the land and causes great harm to every living thing. Well, that happened once in sixty six million years ago and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs."
"Diner-soar?" Raneki raised an eyebrow again.
"Dinosaurs are much larger beasts than beastmen. I mean, humongous. They extincted long time ago. Because of the meteor, of course."
Raneki pursed his lips, trying to process her words.
"That's what happened in my world. But here... I don't think so. I'm not that unlucky, hahaha..."
Raneki bent slightly so that he could see her expression. Bella gasped when Raneki's face was close,
"Wh-what?" She stammered nervously.
"So, you do not think that this floating rock you are talking about is going to be the violent catastrophe? What could it be, then?" Raneki asked, gently clasping her face that felt so small in his large hand, lifting her face so that she face him.
"No... Why are you being so close?" Bella leaned slightly back. Raneki didn't seem to have any ulterior motive behind his action but why was he getting closer and closer?? Was he trying to read her face?
Apparently, he was trying to read her facial expression. As though trying to look into her soul, wanting to understand what she was thinking. He studied her face for a while, with one of his eyebrows raised.
"Lord Raneki, please treat sister Bella with the respect that she deserves." Paas daringly went in between them, using his small body to shield Bella.
Raneki's lips curved up a smirk. His eyes expressionless gazed down at the cub.
"You are one brave cub." Raneki patted his head and turned around towards the door. Before he left, he turned to look over his shoulder as he said,
"I will see you later, Bella."
Bella smiled awkwardly as she watched until Raneki was out of sight. Geez... it's a long road to proper communication. Raneki was a little tougher to communicate with. It was probably because of his intimidating giant strong built.
Paas wrapped her skinny arms around Bella's thighs,
"Whatever happens, I will protect my sister Bella," he gazed up at her with a bright smile, "I will not be intimidated by any lords or generals."
Bella caressed his head,
"It's alright, Paas. Raneki's definitely not a bad guy. He's just... Big and blunt? Haha..." Bella let out a quiet chuckle.
She was sure that Raneki didn't mean anything bad. It's just that his size was really intimidating, and his tone of voice and his way of talking were a little weird and awkward.
*****
Bella spent probably an hour or so in the hall of scrolls. Paas had fallen asleep on the table waiting for Bella to finish her research on all tribes information and some records of war history.
She now had a better understanding towards the beastmen world. Apparently, there were more than a hundred clans before. However, too many clans have died out due to war and contagious fatal illness.
Wait... Just how big is this world? If it's the same as earth, that means... There are other places that they have yet to discover. Different continents, different islands, perhaps?
Have they found other different beastmen out there? Bella searched for maps and scrolls or scripts that mentions different lands aside from here.
The servants then came in to tell her that she was needed in the meeting room. So Bella followed the servants to the meeting room where Raneki and Borius were, she had asked one of the servants to stay and look after Paas who was still sleeping.
In the meeting room. Borius and Raneki were seen sitting by the big wooden table, several soldiers were also there standing by the walls.
"What is it?" Bella asked as she joined them at the table. She sat down next to Raneki, facing Borius.
"It seems that there is a riot going on in Ang, so Borius needs to go back to Zov immediately." Raneki spoke in a low voice.
"Riot...?" Bella questioned, "What's that got to do with going back to Zov?"
"You might want to go with Borius."
Bella gave the two a questioning gaze. Was there another reason why she should go with the wolf? Her mind recalled the words Garuda had said to her this morning which sounded a little odd.
"Did something happen here that you guys need me to leave?" She asked again.
"To be honest, it is something that we are not yet certain of," Borius finally said, "it could be dangerous if we stayed."
"Bella, you must have read about the contagious illness that occurred once in every few years that had caused a complete annihilation of several clans, yes?" Raneki rested his chin on the back of his hands as he placed his elbows on the wooden table.
"So what if I did?" Bella furrowed her eyebrows, "I still don't get why it is safer to go to the Zov."
"There have been several continuous deaths in three of the villages in Ang, just recently. Sutakin and Garuda have gone to investigate, but we suspect that it must be due to a strange illness that strikes every few years." Borius explained.
"No doubt, it must be it." Raneki added.
Bella had read previously that the illness only happens during snow days. From Bella's understanding of it, it seemed to start from a simple cold, to high fever, rashes, then bleeding profusely from the nostrils and difficulty in breathing that leads to death. Strangely, it seemed to infect only the adults and not the youngs.
"Don't you guys have any witch doctor or apothecary here? Someone who has knowledge on drugs and herbs?"
Both Raneki and Borius gave each other a questioning look before they shook their heads slowly. There were imaginary question marks in their eyes, Bella mentally slapped herself. It seemed like they don't understand what she meant.
Tayen's pale handsome face came to mind. He was the only one she knew in this world who had a wide knowledge on herbs and had made his own drugs. Abnaki was quite knowledgeable on herbs as well but not as good as Tayen. Though he would be a great helper to Tayen if they could work together.
"No more wasting time, Bella. You must follow Borius back to Zov. Meanwhile, I will gather the survivors and will have them moved to the shelter. Borius will bring more troops to help."
"Raneki and I have talked and agreed on this." Borius said.
"Okay... So, are you telling me that we should depart now?" Bella pursed her lips when Borius nodded, "Fine. But let me talk to Paas before we go."
*****