CHAPTER 115: Around the Natives

Ashtala thought she had known what to expect from the natives. She had seen some of the houses and buildings, though only those near the Leputi starting base, and that was after the power grid shut down. The people that they had rescued told her stories of what the world was like, but those sounded rather far-fetched without the [System] or magic to let things work.

What she found when the Ladies Andrea, Abbey, and Alissa brought her with them to their own base showed her just how small her world view was. The stories hadn’t really conveyed what these natives had done before the [System] derailed their world.

Usually, worlds invaded by the [System] had little beyond their natural resources and the weak natives. In this case, the people of this world understood the rules of nature and found ways to harness them, like when they had brought her father back to life. Magic had been used as well, but she learned they had similar techniques that relied on their machines and knowledge, which elevated their race in her mind.

Growing up in her tribe, she had lived in a world that survived alongside nature. Their tribe had been large for the Leputi, with providing increased offspring a major drive to their lives. Yet even the size of her tribe was small compared to the number of natives she saw moving around this base. These natives were prolific, even without many of the advantages the [System] could bring.

The large buildings reaching towards the sky intimidated her. She had been told stories of other worlds where towers reached so high the tops couldn’t be seen. The natives had these too, without the high-quality [System] resources. When she saw the building that was the native’s headquarters and home, she trembled a little at its size.

Her people tended to build downwards, into the ground. It made it easier to hide and move about unseen. These natives did not hide. Her mate did not move unseen. The statue of him and his warriors in front of the building made that clear.

Tens of thousands of people moved about with purpose. So many people that the Leputi could be eclipsed by them, and she was told this was only the people on the base. The number spread throughout the city was a hundred thousand more. Finding out that this was considered a small city before the [System] arrived almost shut down her mind.

Many of the people would stop and stare at her, but once they saw the Ladies with her, they would return to their activities after watching for a few minutes. There was no judgement or malice in their faces that she could tell. No one projected greed or harm towards her, which was also different from the rest of the worlds she had heard about or experienced.

Then she was shown to where she would live, and once more she was impressed, at least once she got over the moving closet that raised them to the tallest place in the building. There was a room for her with furniture, shelves, and a large bed.

“You can decorate the room how you want,” Andrea had told her.

“Do we not all sleep in this room?” Ashtala had asked with confusion. She was used to the Leputi pressing together as they slept in their burrows, with no consideration to personal space or gender. This much space felt uncomfortable and intimidating. Lady Alissa just laughed at her question.

“No, sweetie. We all have our own rooms, though sometimes we’ll all sleep together in the living room for the company.”

“That is such a waste,” said Ashtala. “Hundreds could fit in these dwellings.”

“Not with me here,” said Abbey, scrunching her nose in distaste. “Alissa and Andrea get handsy enough.”

“Oh, do we?” taunted Andrea, as she came over and put her arms around Abbey. Abbey easily shoved her away due to her increased strength.

“We smell horribly after that raid. The heat made us sweat like crazy, plus the blood. Save the joking until after the shower.”

“Shower?” asked Ashtala.

“Do you have rain?” asked Abbey.

“Of course,” nodded Ashtala.

“It’s like rain except to get clean with,” explained Abbey.

“Don’t worry, we’ll show you,” said Alissa.

Alissa and Andrea brought her to a room where the water fell from tubes in the ceiling. She had regularly bathed in rivers and streams with the other Leputi. She had even heard of higher-level individuals using waterfalls to get clean. None of that compared to how heavenly it was in the shower, especially with Alissa and Andrea rubbing different scented potions that they called shampoo into her fur. The water even changed temperature in ways she had never felt using magic.

Those with the [Midwife] class were responsible for the health and hygiene of the tribe, so she had never used what Lady Alissa called soap. Apparently, most of the natives used it regularly, at least before the [System] came. Now it was rarer, since they didn’t have access to all the same ingredients to create more as luxurious as these.

Once she had showered and become cleaner than ever before, floating in a relaxed daze from the shower and pleasant smells, Lady Abbey had brought her simple clothes to wear. They were called a T-shirt and jeans. The fit was very weird considering the differences in body shape between the natives and Leputi. Abbey also said there were no socks or shoes that would fit due to the size and shape of her feet.

Ashtala barely noticed when Lady Alissa escorted Rahsha into the shower while she wore another weird outfit called a bathing suit. Ashtala felt a little ashamed that she had been so overwhelmed by everything here that she had forgotten Rahsha was with them too. He seemed oddly attached to Lady Alissa, almost like a beast following someone with the [Tamer] class.

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“Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ll get you a nice soft bed for tonight,” Lady Alissa said to Rahsha.

There was a short time where they sat in what was called the living room. Lady Brittney had arrived and showered, looking much less hardened in her light clothes. She showed Ashtala more marvels she had not heard of in other worlds.

There were games that were strictly for entertainment, not for training. Thousands of movies and teevee shows that she could watch if she was bored. Hundreds of thousands of books that she could bring up on little screens to learn more about the natives or the world she was now in. Before the [System] came, these natives had conquered the world so thoroughly that their whole society revolved around finding frivolous things to fill their time with. Again, they had done all this without magic, simply by understanding and harnessing the rules of the world.

For dinner, the four girls took Ashtala and Rahsha to another dwelling on the floor. It turned out to be his highness’s place and was as regal and amazing as the castles of other worlds that she had heard about.

When they arrived, there were a lot of rowdy youths there, but Lady Abbey took her place as the head mate for his highness and forced the youths to leave. They all seemed to want to look at, talk to, and touch, Ashtala. Lady Alissa saw her discomfort and threatened them to leave her alone.

Ashtala wondered why it bothered her so much when the same actions would have been pleasant coming from another Leputi. Even when Alissa and Andrea rubbed her fur, she enjoyed the sensation. Those youths felt more intrusive and greedier than she was used to.

Once the youths had left, his highness came from his own chambers wearing a thin, sleeveless shirt and shorts that covered little of his legs. Ashtala did not find the natives visually appealing, with no fur to cover their skin and large amounts of hair on their heads and faces, but she could appreciate the power she observed in her mate’s muscles and that he was willing to show them off, almost challenging others to claim more strength than him.

The meal was wilder than she expected. All the warriors she had met showed up to eat the food served by his highness’s personal chefs. Ashtala wasn’t interested in meat, and willingly sat far from his highness, a little afraid of the puppy Carthraga sitting on his lap, receiving meat from him.

Otherwise, Ashtala had trouble using the utensils that the others found easy. Her large paws were not suited for their dainty silver wear. They even tried showing her something called chopsticks, but those would take a while for her to get used to. In the end she chose to eat like Lords Randall and Joseph, as they just picked everything up with their hands. Fortunately, the more refined warriors didn’t criticize her like they did the other two.

The food was enjoyable. There were several types of vegetables cooked to varying softness. There were also flavorful dipping sauces that she tried. Ashtala felt a little awkward as Lord Tom smiled grandly as he handed her a plate full of carrots. Though tasty, she wanted to sample as many of their foods as she could.

While sleeping had been lonely for her, Ashtala couldn’t blame the bed or the comforter they had given her. She wrapped herself in it and felt the softness and warmth of both as she sank to sleep.

The next day, while his highness and warriors were meeting with her father to discuss the [System] and invasions, Ladies Abbey, Alissa, and Andrea took her to see more of the city. She saw the training areas, met many people, was shown fancy clothing styles and metalworking with jewels made for appearance instead of to enhance the wearer’s strength. She couldn’t believe there was no bonus stats from wearing such fancy accessories. There was a great amount of curiosity over her, as the Ladies explained to the natives that more of her people would be moving in, which they accepted without complaint.

Ashtala had never heard of high ranked ladies or warriors of other worlds being so willing to mingle with the commoners. No one here seemed to think oddly of the Ladies being about, while accommodating their requests.

The outing was enjoyable and interesting to Ashtala, and she was becoming accustomed to being among the furless ones, when suddenly noise blared from the sky all around them. The natives everywhere stopped what they were doing and began running in different directions. Some ran to nearby buildings while others ran towards the Sentinel’s tower.

Ashtala stood there a little frightened and very confused. “What is happening?”

Andrea grabbed her arm and pointed to the tower. “These are alarms meaning there is an emergency. The army needs to gather. There are different sounds if we are directly under attack.”

They all ran through the throngs of gathering people. One glance at them and the crowds would move out of their way to let them through. When they arrived at the statue of the warriors, the other Lords and Lady Brittney had gathered in their battle gear.

“What happened?” Abbey asked Lord Lucas.

“Carlos and Nick decided to assault the base without reinforcements. Or more specifically the General’s Guard did,” said Lord Lucas.

“Can they survive until we get there?” asked Andrea.

The dark look Lucas gave Andrea caused Ashtala to take a step back. Alissa looked over the crowds and then up to their tower.

“Where’s Adam?” she asked.

“On his way. With the Leputi,” Lord Carlos scowled.

Ashtala trembled again. They said the Leputi wouldn’t be used as shields for the natives. Suddenly Ashtala feared for her people.

***

Before the meeting had finished, a knock sounded at the door. Mr. Fenton let in one of the soldiers that guarded their communication room. The arrival saluted while going out of his way to not look in Adam’s direction.

“What is it, man?” demanded Davian. “This is obviously important, or you wouldn’t have disturbed us.”

“Yes, sir! We received a communication from the Huntsman and Unseen Death’s group. The humans are going to be executed before we have time to mount an assault. The group already there will be attempting a rescue,” the man said, trembling in fear as the temperature of the room increased.

“Who made this decision?!” demanded Adam at practically a roar. He stood in front of his chair, the air rippling around him.

“The leader of the General’s Guard. Unseen Death was against it, but will be participating,” stammered the messenger.

Adam turned to Lucas. “Gather our forces and move out anyone who’s ready and fast enough.”

“By portal?” asked Lucas.

Adam thought for a moment and then shook his head.

“No. Take vehicles. We don’t want to tip that we figured out how to use the bases better. Even with the portal our forces can’t get there soon enough,” ordered Adam.

“Then what is the point?” shouted Carlos. Adam leveled his intense stair at Carlos who stared back in desperation.

“Vengence,” was Adam’s answer. Then he turned to Lashtam. “You said the Leputi are known for speed, right?”

“Your Excellency, I’m not sure…” started Lashtam before Adam interrupted him.

“Fast! Right?”

“Y-yes.”

“Jordan, open a portal for me and my bike to where the Leputi are, then to South Hampton. Lashtam, tell the warriors they’ll be following me to provide reinforcements. Everyone else, keep quiet that we can move between Rifts.”

People sprang into movement immediately. Davian went to sound the alarms. Adam’s group went to gear up.

Before Adam left, Lashtam asked him one hesitant question.

“Your Excellency, what race will we be fighting?”

Adam stared at Lashtam for a moment, causing Lashtam to back away.

“The Scyrric,” he said quietly.

Lashtam fell to his knees in terror, but Adam was already gone.