Why Am I In the Beast World?!

Chapter 6-Tribes and Clans

"What?" Audre asked incredulously. "What do you mean that he will be my mate?"     

"Oh, you didn't know?" Juno asked. "Vadon, that young jaguar, was the one who brought you here. You must have forgotten since you hit your head."

'That wasn't what I was confused about!'

"But why would that mean he would be my mate?"

"Because he saved you in the rainforest," Juno said matter-of-factly. "By the culture of beast men, that would give him the right to be your mate."

'What am I? Some princess trapped in a tower destined to marry the knight who got her out?'

Audre curled her lip in frustration. Things were escalating way too quickly. She felt like a fly who had just realized they were trapped in a spider's web. If she outright refused to accept any mates, they would assume that she was cursed and kill her, but she wasn't ready to marry some random jaguar either.

"Isn't everything moving a bit too quickly?" Audre said. "I don't even know where I am and I'm still recovering."

Juno walked over to the side of the room and pulled out a small basin full of water. It seemed that she had only sent the jaguar out to get rid of him for a while. "There is no need to accept him immediately, he merely has the right to be the first to court you, although it is customary for a female to accept the male who has saved her."

'I'm pretty sure I would've woken up on my own without his help.'

Juno dipped a scrap of cloth into the water. "Could you remove your... um... Is that some kind of cloak?" 

Audre guessed that Juno had meant her jacket. 'I guess in some way it is kind of a cloak.' 

Audre took off her blue jacket and laid it on her side. She took notice of the rest of her clothing and realized just how odd she must look in this beast world. She wore a black t-shirt that had Life Be Like That written across it in bold white letters. She also wore blue jeans and tennis shoes. 

'It's not that bad.' Audre thought, but the way Juno looked at her clothing said otherwise.

Juno cleared her throat. "So, I never asked what tribe you came from. You look like you are from the land clan, but I've never seen a tribe who wears such odd clothing."

"Land clan?" Audre was confused. In all the beast world manhwa she read, she had never heard of a land clan.

"Yes, land clan," Juno said. "Or are you perhaps from one of the other clans?"

Audre stared at Juno. Confusion was written all over her face.

"It seems you've actually forgotten a lot." Juno surmised. She then instructed Audre to remove her top. 

"Why do you need me to remove my shirt?" Audre asked.

"I need to check for any bruises. You did fall after all."

Juno was right. From the aching, Audre could tell that she probably did bruise. Audre removed her shirt and was silently grateful for the black sports bra she wore underneath.     

Juno began to pat the bruised areas on Audre's back with the wet cloth. "There are ten clans. Each one is blessed with a certain power from the beast goddess. The first five are the element clans that hold the power over nature. These clans are the land clan, the sea clan, the sky clan, the flame clan, and the poison clan. The other five are the mystic clans that hold god-like power, these clans are said to be the most favored of the beast goddess. The mystic clans only have one tribe for each clan."

"What are tribes exactly anyway?" Audre felt that Juno would think she was dumb for having to ask that question, but with the talk of clans, Audre realized that she knew far less about this world than she had previously thought.

Juno sighed; she probably had guessed that most of Audre's memories were simply gone. "Tribes are the different beast-man species. For instance, I'm from the lion tribe which is from the land clan."

Audre winced as Juno pressed the cloth against her bruised shoulder. "Yeah, I think I get it. What are the tribes of the mystic clans?"

"The mystic tribes are the nine-tailed fox, phoenix, spider, unicorn, and dragon tribes."

Audre's jaw dropped. It was a good thing that Juno could not see her face. 'THERE ARE MYTHICAL CREATURES HERE!' 

Save for the spider tribe which seemed completely out of place, the other tribes were the stuff of mythology and fairytales. Audre could hardly believe it.

"The nine-tailed fox tribe, (not to be confused with the other fox tribes), is from the clan of wisdom." Juno went on. "The phoenix clan is from the clan of rebirth, the unicorn tribe if from the clan of life, the spider tribe is from the clan of death, and the dragon tribe is of the clan of power." 

Audre had so many questions. What exactly separated the elemental clans? She understood land, sky, and sea, but what about poison and flame? What were these powers that these clans were blessed with? What tribes were in each elemental clan? Why were the mystic clans the only ones that had one tribe?

All these questions were welling up inside Audre, but before she could ask any more, the jaguar ran inside the room with a basin of water. He came to a sudden halt at the center of the room causing some of the water in the basin to splash out. "I'm back little female!"