Beastmen: She Tames the Land-Chapter 67: The valley of flowers

Standing on the mountain pass, the scene they saw before them was spectacular.

A valley filled with flowers. They carpeted the land, stretching as far as the eye could see. The variety of colours made anyone looking feel at peace.

There were emerald greens, deep ruby reds, sapphire blues, colourful blooms with a kaleidoscope of shades. All of them swaying in the gentle breeze.

The scent of the flowers drifted, creating a multitude of perfumes that proved dizzying to anyone who watched. The beauty of the flowers captivated the pack.

Watching the flowers swaying, the small jewel coloured insects flying from one flower to another. The first thing to come to mind was...paradise.

After all the hardship they had been through, seeing such a beautiful sight made the pack members want to stop for a moment. They wanted to forget everything that had happened. Having to leave the Tiger tribe, the Winter Blight, Heta deciding to stay. They all seemed to drain away at the sight of this field of flowers.

"It’s...beautiful," Willa breathed, her eyes shining.

Nimo took a step forward, his eyes scanning the flowers, "It’s so happy here. Everything is singing," he whispered.

The pack began to move, slowly, almost dreamlike. They drifted towards the flowers. They walked down the slope leading to the valley.

Visha felt the pull. Always moving, never being able to stay in one place for too long. She never admitted it, but she was tired. The exhaustion took a toll on her. She looked at the flowers, thinking this would be the place they stayed.

They had finally found their home.

She found herself smiling as she walked towards the flowers.

She was only a few steps away when she heard it.

[!!! Critical System alert!!!]

[Hazard detected]

[Parasitic pollen: Somnolus Mortis]

[Effect: Induces euphoric hallucination, followed by respiratory arrest. Finally absorbing biological matter.]

[Wake up. Now.]

The sound shattered Visha’s illusions.

The pure joy she felt earlier now became the stuff of nightmares. She could still see the flowers, but she noticed other things she missed. Standing so close, she could see the bodies she hadn’t noticed before. All of them are in various stages of decay.

She shuddered, thinking she might have been next.

She quickly turned to her pack members, who were still walking towards the valley of flowers. Her eyes were fixed on Uri and Xeno. They were so close, the grief, anger, and fear she felt culminated the moment she saw Xeno raising his foot to step into the flowers.

Xeno and Uri, who were entranced, jolted as if they had been struck. Xeno stepped back, his heart pounding. Visha was in trouble. That was the only thought that passed through them as they woke up. Both immediately took defensive stances, looking around for Visha.

Visha, seeing them out of their trance, shouted, "Stop them, don’t let them touch the flowers!"

Willa was already leaning forward, reaching out to touch a bell-shaped flower that was leaking a suspicious sticky liquid. Krag had taken a step into the flowers.

Visha ran towards Kit and Nimo, lifting them and putting them under her arms. The wiggled, trying to get free.

Uri and Xeno were running quickly to the rest of the pack members. They subdued them one by one.

Visha accessed the system, looking for something that might help. Until they snapped out of the hallucination, they would keep trying to get to the flowers. All Uri and Xeno could do was throw them out whenever they got too close.

[Item name: Aetheric dust]

[Description: A shimmering blue powder sealed in an obsidian vial. Neural stimulant.]

[To use: Inhale through nostrils. The effects are instantaneous. The user will experience a brief bout of cold to cause clearheadedness.]

[Cost: 500 CP]

Visha almost cursed seeing the number of points it needed. But she didn’t hesitate. She bought the dust, leaving herself with 100 points.

Shaking off the sadness, she held the struggling children and pinched a little into their nostrils. Then she ran towards Willa, who had just been thrown back. She didn’t wait for her to smell the dust. Visha simply pinches a small amount, putting it directly in her nostril.

She does the same for everyone.

They have no strength to resist. They are like zombies, only moving towards their source of food. As the system said, the effect was instantaneous. They jolted awake as soon as they smelled the dust.

She walked towards Uri and Xeno, asking them to smell the dust, then she did it herself. She felt the rush of clear-headedness. The trio quickly ushered the confused pack members back to the mountain pass.

They didn’t stay but continued walking. Hoping to get as far away as possible from the valley of flowers.

Once they were far enough away, she explained to the pack what just happened. She noticed Krag and Chi were more visibly shaken than any of the others. As with many things about the two, Visha wouldn’t ask; they would tell her in due time.

"Paradise just tried to kill us," Willa whispered.

"It wasn’t paradise. That was a garden of death," Visha answered. "The flowers release pollen that makes us feel like it is paradise. Then it takes the time to slowly devour us."

She saw Willa tremble.

"Are we in the Thicket of Thorns?" Cato couldn’t help asking.

That place is said to have man-eating plants. Now, here they were meeting such a plant. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"We are not," Uri responded. "I’ve been steering us away from that place since I noticed we were walking in that direction. If we continued to walk along the river, we would end up in that territory in about ten suns."

Everyone was silent, hearing what Uri had said. They didn’t even know they were so close to the place they feared.

Visha saw the panic on their faces.

"Don’t worry. We all know how good Uri is at mapping. I have a feeling he’ll find a place for us to live soon."

She turned to look at Uri, an encouraging smile on her lips.

"He’s our leader," she said, looking at him. "He wants what’s best for us."