Not Alone

Chapter 21: Amazon

Cool arms wrap around my waist as I sit back in Asper's coils, his head resting in my lap as we lounge by the crackling fire. The Husbands won't be back for several hours, and Asper gently insisted that I rest and take the weight off my feet.

Petting his silver hair, I can't help but go over just how odd all this is compared to the original manga I once read. The original plot was placed in a warmer climate, with the Beastworld having some heavy Asian geography influences, like the kind of plants or foods that could be found naturally. But not here. The area we ended up in is almost exactly like a North American climate, with plant life, animals, and all. Sure, the area Dias and I first arrived at was more similar to the original plot's geography, but there were still heavy North American influences.

Asper shifts his head closer to my protruding stomach, his ear pressed against the stretched flesh. His hand lazily strokes my lower back as I ask "Hey Asp, can you tell me about the land here? How far in each direction can you possibly go?" Should I have asked earlier? Yes. Was I too focused on ensuring I survived the winter instead of local geography? Also yes.

He hums as he answers "The land as far as my memory goes is very large. It would take many seasons of travel for a female and her family to cross it all"

I scratch his scalp gently "Oh?" I prod

"To the far north is a mountain range, where the cold and blizzards make it impossible to traverse for all except the strongest of snow leopard or snowy owl clans. To go further north is a death sentence, as it only gets colder. The mountains of the north wrap around to the far east and down to the southern coast, and while they can be passed, it is dangerous in even the best weather"

I hum "I bet the Skiing up there is amazing though"

He sighs "You say many things I do not understand," "One of these days, you are going to understand all of my references, and then I'll really be in trouble" "Anyways, traveling from the center, the northeast is many moons of sparse forest and foothills. A major Panthera city is Camel Hump Valley, with mostly Leopard Beastmen living there, but all Cat Beastmen are supposed to be welcome"

MMMMM This IS the same world as Bai Qingqing and her merry band.

"The center lies on the outskirts of the plains, and the City of Beastmen is at the foot of a tall, lone mountain. A sparse forest surrounds the beast city to the north, west, and south. To the east is a vast land of plains, many prey species of beastman make their homes there"

I blink, I don't remember herbivore beastmen in the original "What kinds of prey Beastmen?"

"Sheep, Rabbit, and Horse live there full time. Sometimes wandering horned tribes wander down east, but it is often too warm for their tastes"

I place both my hands on his head, holding back a sigh "You're going to have to explain what Horned Beastmen are"

Silver scales shift under me "They look like deer, but are larger, and often with massive horns on their heads. I have heard of horned beastmen so large, their shoulders in their beast forms would be the same height as, say, Silan, truly massive"

Holy shit, Caribou? Reindeer? Elk? Please god, tell me there are Moose Beastmen, how friggen cool would that be!? Wait, back on track. Geography lesson.

"Sorry, go back to the directions and things"

"Mmm, okay, "He yawns, pearly white fangs glinting underneath his lip "Southeast is the dry grasses plains. Hyena and Lion Beastmen mostly. There used to be Elephant beastmen, but they are dying out if they haven't already gone extinct yet. Bordering the Southeast and the south is the desert which reaches back to the mountains, where primarily Scorpion Beastmen reside, it is also where the City of Flames is located. To the South from the center is a forest, then turns into a rainforest, and to go further south means hitting the coast where the majority of Mermen live. Bordering the rainforest and the southeast is a smaller forest, too dry for constant rain, but wet enough for large trees"

"So the Dry grasses and the Forest regions get the most of the Scorpion Beastmen?"

Asper props himself up on his elbows as he explains "The Tribes of the Dry Grasses have made deals with the Scorpion tribe, they let the Scorpions travel through their lands unharmed and unhunted, and in return, the Scorpions don't steal or kill their females"

"Sleazy"

"Mhm, many think so. It is why the Lions and Hyena's mostly stay in their own lands. The southwest is full of rivers that lead to the ocean, making the land swampy in some areas. Mangrove trees are common closer to the rainforest. The West is steep foothills and canyons that push against the ocean"

"Interesting. So the mountains make a kind of wonky backward C shape" "What is a 'see'?"

"Don't worry about it, we can get back to that. So where are we right now?"

"We are in the Northwest, the cold forests and cliffs. If we traveled further north, we would meet the northern mountain within the season."

Asp settles back down, putting his head back in my lap as the silence stretches out, my questions spent for now.

Okay. Okay. Bai shows up in the Northeast, moves down to the center, then further south and to the east a bit, skirting around the rainforest and closer to the coast. Dias and I must have shown up closer to the center, in that warmer forest, but traveled Northwest until we hit the coast where we live now. From what Asper implied, the Volcano near the City of Beastmen hasn't erupted yet, so either Bai hasn't arrived yet, or it is still fairly early in the story.

Reclining deeper into Asper's coils, I tilt my head back and let out a deep sigh. Is it worth getting involved? I would get put through so much more drama and action, but at least I would know the general future. There is also the question of do I want to pick up Winston or any of the other Hot Main Characters(™), but... they are people. Before being Males or Main Characters, they are still just... people, and to treat them like they are just some sort of collectible item or, even worse, protective baby-making fodder, really doesn't sit right.

Plus Curtis is fucking insane, so there's that as well.

The slap of bare feet against stone echoes down the tunnel as Dias saunters into the cave, a smug look on his face. Silan's mouth twitches with amusement as he hauls a blonde-haired man under his arm, squawking indignantly, futily scratching and pushing at the massive black-veined arm locked around his middle. Dias crows joyously "Hello there! Ma'am? Yes hi! We have your delivery!"

Authors Note:

Canon is my BITCH and the geography of a fantasy setting can be varied damn it! Have you seen Canada? Hoe is large, and has almost all of those climates. Yes, even a small desert (It's in Saskatchewan if anyone wanted to know).

Honestly, I'm imagining the Beastworld as MASSIVE, like the MINIMUM, is as large as Canada in terms of area. Feel free to imagine it larger or smaller as necessary, I fucking hate geography.

I may come back and edit this chapter more later. It's late, I'm tired, and I can't tell if this chapter has been garbage or not, so I'll check back in later when I can properly spell again.

Fuck it, here's a map I threw together on Inkarnate. The places with scattered trees are supposed to represent the kind of forest we saw with Bai and her gang-bang gang. The big brown trees at the bottom is the rainforest, I didn't feel like paying to get the really good tree stamps.