Second Female Leads' Playbook

After the incident yesterday, Archer felt more and more like the god of order. I decided to avoid him at all cost subtly. I was just a few hours away from freedom. I would not be caught. 

He seemed to not have recognized me yet, or else why didn't he drag me back to my prison immediately? 

We set off quite early today, everyone was eager to leave the woods. The card readings from Emily did not bode well. 

"The cards said we're in a maze or a loop?" Emily said, brows furrowed. "We aren't lost, I'm quite sure. We're heading in the right correction." 

"Let's get out of the forest as soon as we can," Kris suggested. "The earthquakes weren't normal. Other explorers never mentioned about the quakes. And this is definitely not the earthquake zone."

Everyone nodded in silence as we quickly tidied up our belongings and set out. 

After trekking in the woods for a few hours, we had finally reached the border of the forest. the trees were spaced further apart. We were nearly jogging, trying to leave the Forbidden Woods behind when we're met with an invisible barrier. 

"What's happening?" Kris threw a fire spell at the invisible barrier. The barrier just quietly absorbed the fire. Not even a scotch mark was left. "Why is there a ward here?" 

No wonder the god of order was so silent. He planned to trap me in the wood. There was no rush in trying to search for me, I was trapped in another prison anyway. Frustration and annoyance began to build up inside my heart. 

"Maze or loop. The reading is correct," Emily whispered. 

I was just second away from this prison that had kept me in for thousands of years. I would not give up. And I still had cards up my sleeve. I had the pendant that could break all spells and the dagger that could kill a god. I wasn't afraid of you, the god of order. 

But first, I had to make sure Archer would not be a hindrance. No matter if he was really the god of order or not, he would still be the downfall of my plan. If he was really the god of order, as soon as I broke the ward, I exposed myself and he would catch me. If he was not, he was still a follower of the god of order, it's just a matter of time before my info was leaked to the god. 

"This isn't right. Just what treasure was discovered? The earthquakes, the ward to prevent us from leaving," Alice muttered. 

"Idiots~ Another bunch of idiots~ You guys deserve it. I wonder which fate will befall you, rotting to death or becoming food for us beasts?" the voice of a child echoed in the forest. 

"Who's there?" Kris shouted as he threw a fire spell at the direction where the voice was coming from. 

"Idiots~ Do you think you can kill me?" the child cried again. 

At that moment, before we could react stones and bananas were being thrown at us. 

"Idiots!" A child appeared on the tree a few inches away from us. He was hanging upside down on a branch with just a tail as the only support between him and the branch. 

It's one of us, a beast. He belonged to a weaker tribe. Their beast form was similar to that of a monkey as evident by the tail wiggling behind the child. 

"He has a tail!" shrieked Emily. 

"Who are you?" cried Kris.

"We're the beasts! Are you frightened now? You're going to be our food!" the child jumped from one branch to another like the trees were a playground of his. 

After our war with the gods, the more powerful of us, such as my family, were all killed by the gods and their bodies were sealed in mountains or seas in their godly world to prevent other weaker beasts from reviving any of us. The exception was me, I was stripped of my power and imprisoned with the god of order. I had no idea why the gods suddenly had a strike of mercy and let me live. The weaker tribes of us beasts were all driven into the Forbidden Woods. They were not allowed to leave the Woods, they were bound to the Woods. Their children were also bound to the Woods. We were relegated as the monsters in the bed time stories of mortals. 

He was just a child, if Kris and his group really had to fight, he had no chance to win. Just where was his tribe member? 

Just as I had predicted, Kris and his team members were frightened of the child with a tail. They attacked the child and the child was captured within seconds. Before they gave the child another blow that would injure him mortally, I cried out, "Maybe we can ask him what happened!"

"Lilith?" Emily asked with brows furrowed, no doubt she was not sure about my suggestion. 

"He's just a child! Can't you see?" I cried, my hands crumbling my dress. I was being too concerned, I tried to tune it down. After a pause I said, "Something isn't right. And he seems to know something about it. It's easier to ask things from a child." 

"That's true," Alice nodded. She lowered her hands and ordered the guys to tie the child up. 

"You said you're part of the beasts," Kris said. "I thought the beasts are just mystical creatures in bed time stories." 

"Idiots! A bunch of idiots!" the child struggled. "Let me go!" 

"We'll let you go if you answer our questions!" I said before they got annoyed again. 

"We won't harm you, you just have to answer the questions." I looked at the child straight at his eyes and planted a small suggestion. A suggestion that would allow him to stop struggling and aggravating the situation. 

This body was not my body, this body I occupied was not like the one that was mine. It was not gifted in the arts to mesmerize and hypnotize. I was draining power from my soul. As soon as I used my power, searing pain shot through me. I felt something in my soul shattered. 

The struggling stopped, the child asked, "What do you want to know?"

Kris seemed to want to ask more about the beasts, but Emily stopped him. She asked instead, "Just what has happened? Why were there earthquakes and a ward surrounding the forest?" 

"The earthquakes were the wrath of god. And mortals said they were gods' followers. They couldn't even recognize the wrath of a god." 

"The wrath of a god?" Emily widened her eyes in shock. The other people in the group also grew visibly paler. With the exception of Archer, he had been very quiet since we reached the border. Even now, he was simply looking at everything as a bystander in the shadows of the trees. 

"Why... would the god be angry all of a sudden?" asked Alice.They all placed their left hand over their heart at the mention of gods. 

With the exception of me. I hoped they didn't realize the lack of reverence I had for their gods. But I was quite certain Archer did. I was being careless. 

The child snorted. 

Archer finally walked out of the shadows and said with his head tilted, "We're having guests." 

Without realizing, we're being surrounded.