Chapter 3: First Shock
There were rumors after my egg hatched saying that my mother secretly mated and formed an informal relationship with an unknown winged lion beastman from an unknown tribe behind my father’s back. Even so, despite the rumors, my father trusted my mother and believed in her because a mark they called insignia shall be present on the male’s chest once he impregnated a female until the egg hatches. It indicates the condition of the little cub inside the egg.
Only males have the ability to transfer the energy that is needed to hatch an egg. The transmission of energy to an egg is called incubation.
My father nurtured my egg from the first day until the day I hatched so he was sure that I am his daughter. He named me Ari even before my egg hatched.
My previous name ‘Arhi’ was a name meaning gorgeous, while the name ‘Ari’ given by father Lev was usually given to males that has a meaning ‘Lion of God’. I had no idea why he gave me a male name despite knowing that I am a female. Even so, I love it since it is a name similar to my name on my previous life despite the difference of meaning.
Similar to my father; I have a platinum-silver hair, a pair of white lion ears, a lion tail and a pair of amber colored eyes. No one can dispute the similarities of our physical appearance on my passive-aggressive form and my father’s passive form except for my white wings.
One time, my father accompanied the group who was tasked to hunt for food so the other male partner of my mom, Dov, was left in the house to help my mother with the chores. He also helped my mother in taking care of me since I was not placed in the nursery due to my odd appearance.
However, an inevitable thing happened during the absence of my father. After my mom fed me with milk, she asked her male partner to carry me so that she could prepare for my bath and my clothing.
He carefully held me in his arms despite the dislike that was clearly shown in his expression. I was sure he disliked me despite the care he was showing since I was only a few days old hatchling. I also disliked him because I hate males except my father Lev, who has a personality similar to my father in my previous life.
Despite my dislike of him, I had no power to retaliate since I couldn’t control my body properly yet, because I am technically a newborn baby. Unfortunately, I felt like my stomach flipped over the moment my skin touched his body and I threw up all the milk that I drank on his tanned pectorals that made his expression change from dislike to extreme disgust.
I then started to feel like something overwhelming was choking me till I lost my consciousness. I can faintly hear my mom and her male spouse’s panicking voices as they called the elders for help.
After the elder healer named Loni confirmed that I was indeed allergic to males not related in blood; I was isolated indefinitely until they could figure out a cure for my illness and was treated like a plagued patient. I was only allowed to be taken care of by the female elders and my parents. Everyone was so puzzled to the negative reaction I showed to any physical contact on all male excluding my father and my siblings.
My mother started to become indifferent to me after that incident and my parents started to drift apart. I wasn’t even sure if the reason was my illness or was it another issue that happened to overlap with the incident. They are still officially married, but they no longer interact unless necessary.
I was sad with the set up despite receiving love from my father and the elder healer. Even though my mother was allowed to take care of me, I was gradually abandoned especially after two more male siblings hatched from their eggs a few months after. They were named Arthur, a bear hatchling, and Sarff, a snake hatchling.
Most of the members of the tribe despised my existence and looked at me like a wasted piece of meat just because of my unique appearance. I was constantly alienated and bullied even by young adults.
I wanted to scream on their faces at that time.
However, what came out from my mouth was “ak uh ada uhhas! (F*ck you mother f*ckers!)”, while crying in frustration.
I was almost thrown outside the tribe after multiple debates if it was not because of my father being the Alpha.
“Teh at eehas! (Take that b*tches!)”, I mumbled as I raise my middle finger into the air.
My father loved me dearly that he did his best not to be suppressed by the other males to protect his position and to protect me.
I tried my best to adapt rapidly to survive and prepare for any unavoidable circumstances.
As soon as I turned 5 years old; I was able to hide my ears, wings and tail making me look more normal and was finally allowed to step outside the healer’s house.
My father crafted a few pairs of leather gloves, cloaks and a mask for me to wear. It helped me tremendously in dealing with my special condition.
Due to the cloak, leather gloves and the mask crafted by my father, I was able to live like a normal beastman and was able to handle unavoidable physical contact with males specially when playing and doing chores.
At the age of 6, I learned how to sew and make my own clothes despite so many failed attempts since I was not used to the tools available in this world.
My father brought me all the best pelt he got from every hunting so I was able to sew my own long sleeved shirt, skirt and fitted pants when I turned 7 though it didn’t look similar to the clothes I used to wear on my previous life. It looks shabbier and primitive.