Smart rats.

A simple concept, but possibly a terrifying one to most mortals. Rats, Nai knew, were already fairly intelligent, at least compared to most other mortal beasts.

But these were different. Nai was perked on Tob’s back, and she was watching.

Mice, rats, skunks, and raccoons gathered within the forest. They believed themselves to be hidden, but to Nai, they were anything but.

She could easily see through the leaves and into the depths of the strange forest. It was Bill’s forest, something made vast and small at the same time. The forest to a mortal was a forest. Leaves were leaves and trees were trees. They could go in and harvest some wood, forage, even hunt and come out completely unbothered.

But to cultivators, it was different. It was vast and contained, a realm all its own in a way, and Nai knew that was where the beasts lived.

Nai was a bit scared of that place. She could walk through it like a mortal of course, but when she had shrunk down and seen the true nature of the place, well, it had terrified her. Even animals seemed larger than gods from that perspective.

But now she wasn’t looking for the small beasts or trying to enter the magical forest full of small beasts of wonder. Now, she was trying to spy on some rodents.

Some strangely intelligent rodents.

Nai watched as the animals started to collide with one another. One of them, the raccoon, was laying plans, pointing out lines of attacks and pointing vaguely toward the village.

The bastard was waving excitedly and carried a plotters grin. Nai frowned.

Intellect like Tob, except this was not her fault but rather that of the forests. The array had grown and even if the strange thing liked to zip around every now and then, its main body was still tied to the valley and it produced qi worthy of its rank, qi worthy of a demigod.

But it had been focusing on one spot for almost a week now, staring down at one singular child. She had asked Bill about it but apparently the array was… meditating, at least that was how Bill put it.

He had seemed a little uneasy about the whole thing but, he said it would be fine.

Nai watched the gathering with more attention. This was not her fault, but in the distance, she saw a great war brewing. A war between the critters of the forest and the fair people of the village.

People have started to call it the Desert Village nowadays, or even the Oasis Village. Apparently, no one named it because it was such an isolated area. You could always say the village with the Great Desert Strip or the Village of the Desert Strip.

But more visitors had come and eventually, a name had risen out of necessity.

Oasis Village. Nai liked the way that sounded.

Her home. Her people. The critters would attack soon.

They were going after a grain shed that was holding a few bags of the village's grain supply.

Nai breathed. The baby crawled to a stray stick and clutched it tightly in her hands.

She smacked the stick against her open palm in contemplation, then immediately fell over.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Walking was still not something she had figured out.

She pushed herself up via the stick and crawled her way onto the overly energetic dog.

Her companion. Her steed.

“Aguah!” The baby yelled, pointing towards the shed.

And the dog ran at her command, both ready for war.

********

The raccoon had a plan. It had always had plans. Ideas came naturally to his mind, but they had grown over the last two months. Complexity had risen from his fevered little mind and now he knew. He thought.

He wasn’t a genius by human standards. In truth, he would be a moron compared to any human child, but he was a genius among his kind. And if he was a moron, it was only due to his inability to comprehend things as they are, his inexperience.

But he was a budding fellow, a growing flower. And he had yet to bloom.

Under the guise of night, a motley mix of rodents, birds, and reptiles moved silently. Bushes shook and the forest ground suddenly found itself to be clear of mushrooms and berries.

Smaller than them, the divine beasts walked unmoved by the strangeness. After all, these were normal beasts, creatures of the forest. They weren’t worth acknowledging and the regular animals couldn’t even see the small gods that walked beneath them.

But one phoenix saw them, and she had grown curious. The small phoenix of the House of Wisdom. That was what the divine beasts called her.

She was one of the few chosen to have power over the last ruling body of the beasts, and her story was a curious one. But today, she would remain a witness watching from a distance.

The animals gathered together on the small shed, crows perched on the roofs as lookouts. Squirrels waiting with empty cheeks ready to be stuffed. Skunks hung around as last-minute sentinels. Mole rats and groundhogs waited for a small distance away, having created tunnels for transport, which large badgers guarded either side.

And a line of rats and squirrels stood ready to raid. They would function as the main transport along with the tunnels close by for quick cover.

The skunk's spray would function as the alarm sound but the raccoon doubted they would need to do that. He’d been planning this heist for days, gathering different species and plotting different routes of attack.

The crows had helped admittedly. They had helped a lot, and the raccoon wasn’t even sure if they were changed like the other beasts or if they were always this smart. A bit of both he thought. One of them could even speak, with words like humans.

They were strange creatures.

The raccoon shook his head, throwing off those thoughts and coming back to the moment. Then they moved.

Out of all of them, only he had the ability to lead. For some reason, only he had thoughts that could spread.

His tail swished and his peers listened. Instantly they knew.

A small ladder of raccoons waited for him, and he quickly climbed onto his people’s backs, climbing them like stairs. His small hands finally reached the locks and with a twist, the door was opened and--

His head went up.

What! No! The skunks had sprayed already? How? How could they fail so quickly?

A crow squawked and just as they were about to scatter, he got the message. Dogs, four of them. The skunk had used a preemptive spray and both had been run off before they could see the scene.

The skunk was fine but depleted and his kin would have to stretch their perimeters to cover for him.

The raccoon swished his tail and they all calmed down. It drained the raccoon but the reassurance made its way around to everyone eventually.

He dropped. But he had planned for this, at least that was what he told himself. In truth he had given himself the easiest job of opening the door, because he was lazy. But in retrospect, keeping himself from working and just supervising the plan was probably the best approach.

The door creaked slowly and all the animals listened in both hope and horror.

But eventually the door opened, and no one came.

The raccoon smiled as he jammed the doorstop into the door. Finally, Victory. After days of plotting and conniving. He was just seconds away from-

Thunk.

The raccoon’s head swiveled in fright. He looked, he stared into the empty room and then… he sniffed.

A dog. A dog was here.

He called forward the badgers and the skunks. And they shuffled forward quickly behind him. They all bore their fangs as they looked. The smell of wheat had dulled it but now everyone could smell the dog in the room.

Behind a crate, a beast walked out. He was old, but his eyes sparkled with light. The moonlight danced upon his dusty brown fur. It gleamed.

On his back was a sack, no- a human. No- something that looked like a human.

Thunk.

She smacked the side of the crate with a stick, and fear devoured the rodents still.

From the crows, to the skunks, to the badgers and rats a distance away. They all felt it. Something superior was among them and they could not move.

Nai looked at them with a face full of power, and they could only stare back. None of them moved simply for one reason.

She didn’t want them to move.