Chapter 1.
"Get your hands off me!" Was the last thing she said, before she was blinded by a bright light.
June had not prepared herself for what just happened, well, she had not prepared herself for anything that was supposed to happen before and after that. An unexpected proposal from a guy she barely hung out with for a month, who's basically been stalking her. Just a moment ago the both of them were arguing over how absurd the whole thing was as she stormed out of the restaurant.
June didn't think she would be thrown into the road by an angry stalker, killed? Probably, but pushed, that was something unexpected.
Before she had the opportunity to think her eyes met with a truck speeding towards her with barely five feets apart. She shut her eyes tightly, seemingly wishing the truck was a dream, "AHHHH~" She screamed with fear as she braced herself towards death.
It had been a while but nothing seemed to happen, a whole minute had gone by since she let out that distressful scream for her life and nothing had happened. In fact, the world had gone quiet.
No sound of car engines, no more jazz music from the bar just across the street, no more mumbling crowds. Nothing.
"Layla, what's wrong?" A male's voice called out.
For a moment she stopped to think, "Layla?" It definitely didn't sound like her name but it sure did sound like they were calling out to her.
Instantly the smell in the air changed, what trickled her nose was not the smell of blood but the smell of burning incense, of green grass, of fruits, and she thought to herself, "that can't be right!"
Slowly she took a peek at her environment and the earth stood still.
Although she didn't notice it before but, the man who called out Layla was tightly holding on to her left hand, a look of worry in his eyes. Her scream probably freaked the hell out of him, not just him but everyone else in the room, but she was just as stunned as they were.
June looked around.
Oil lamps lit in coconut shells, the smell of incense came from a burnt offerings laid upon a stone altar, the people dressed in animal hide had special markings and long feral ears and a tail?! That couldn't be right.
"Layla?" The young man with long floppy ears called out to her, "is everything alright, the beast mother was just about to proclaim the verdict."
Her brows rumpled, "what verdi-"
"You!"
The annoyed voice of an angry old woman who had gone invisible because June was too busy absorbing all that was happening, snapped June back to reality. "You cannot have children," she said to June, resulting in gasps from the villagers as if they had heard something serious.
Of course this came out as a shock to June, sure she had never visited the hospital to get checked for something like that but this news was definitely a shocker to her, "Excuse me?"
"An abomination!" The woman lamented. Chanting strange sounds as she walked towards an alter.
June had just realised that everyone has distanced themselves away from her, their eyes filled with hate, fear and disappointment.
Children holding tightly to their parents, lovers holding tightly to each other as though she would contaminate them, she was stuck in a maze of confusion, not sure how she got there or what was going on, being unable to convince shouldn't bring this much of a backlash, so she thought.
The man who had eyes of longing for June also joined the team and moved as far from her as possible, when a woman, who had the grace of a damsel in distress ran by into his arms, "Oh, Arik!" She cried. Her voice low and clearly hoarse, "I told you Fay was no good, that's why she didn't want to have the rites ceremony and just go straight to the Mate ceremony, imagine you agreed, you would have ended up with a female who can't even conceive."
Hearing this, Arik casted a hateful look towards Fay, now a shadow of the man supposedly had for her as he took the other young lady into his arms, holding her tightly as if to protect her.
"What a dick!" June mumbled.
Everything was happening at once to June, it was too much to bear. Who is this Layla? How'd she get into her body? And wasn't she about to die just a while ago? How was any of this possible?!
The more she thought about it, the more her brain seemed to fry.
"Did I- Don't tell me! Did I get isekaied into a beast world?" She wondered. That had to be the only explanation to what was going on, otherwise, she might as well admit she had gone mad.
Suddenly the day darkened, "great, it wants to rain," she frowned as she looked towards the sky, but she was so very wrong.
A voice from behind suddenly screamed, "the beast gods are angry because of her."
"Beast god?" She lashed out in shock. Her eyes scanned the environment in search of what could possibly look like a deity and found none, until she realized they were all staring at the sky and praying in fear. She could no longer hide her shock, "What are you talking about, it's just rain, and it's still miles away, it might not even fall."
"Silence!!!" The old woman roared, "This lowly infertile girl dares to claim she knows the will of the beast gods, after bringing upon us such calamity."
The thunderclouds clapped and instantly everyone went on their knees in worship, begging for mercy. June couldn't believe it, one minute she's dealing with a stalker, the next minute she's dealing with rain problems and crazy cave people.
Suddenly the elderly woman facing the crowd raised her hands to the sky, "we must offer her, to the beast gods, that is the only way we can appease their anger," she said.
"Huh?!!! Offer who?!"
It was obvious at that moment, as six hefty warrior men stepped forward, they didn't look like the type she could outrun in a race nor a battle.
She could only step back in fear, chuckling sheepishly, "This has to be a mistake!"
"No it's not, the beast mother doesn't make mistakes," Arik yelled with the people cheering behind him.
The elderly woman nodded in approval, "Tonight, we shall offer this female, as a sacrifice, to our beastgod to appease his anger before she brings upon us, a great calamity. Sound the drums!!!"
Before she could make an objection, June felt a sharp pain at the back of her head.
She could hardly control her own body as she lost consciousness.
***
"Fuck!" She cursed, her eyes slowly opening to the not so unfamiliar world.
June sat up, the scenery seemingly changed but not the people, this time, they had the look of warriors on their faces with a different marking from what she recalled before she fainted.
She was tied up to a tree, the knots were well done too. The beast mother walked closer towards her, "you are an abomination that shouldn't exist, a female unable to birth cubs is only meant for a sacrifice," she said, "but that's good, it means the beast gods will honor us at least with bountiful food, thank you for your sacrifice."
At that the crowd turned around and headed back home, "wait, you can't leave me here, this has to be a mistake or something. Let me go! Let me go, you old hag!" She screamed but there was no response.
The last set of people to leave was Arik and the distressed female who cunningly mocked her. Arik stayed afar but the lady drew closer and whispered into June's ear, "I warned you to stay away from my man."
At that moment, as if she has been run over with a vehicle, her head throbbed with a terrifying pain and the memories from the previous owner came rushing in.
The owner of this body, Layla was bullied by this woman, and her mother was the sacred beast mother, she had planned with her mother to kill her so she can take Arik for herself. They had poisoned Layla with a needle during the ceremony but when Layla died and June took over her body they had to switch tactics.
June realised.
She wasn't in this mess because she couldn't get pregnant but because two scamming mother an daughter didn't like her.
"The nerve!" She yelled as the woman walked away, hand in hand with her two timing boyfriend Arik.
Now, June was finally all alone, in the middle of nowhere, the day doing darker with storm clouds and no way out.
"What the fuck am I going to do now?" She finally cried.
DING!!!
DING!!!
System connected to host!
[Greetings Host, I am Bigo, your Beast world guide]