Michelle sat at her window long after Rome's departure, watching the Beta's disappointed posture as he headed back toward Riven's territory. She'd asked for a week. Everyone assumed she needed time to heal and mentally prepare for the Huntress declaration ceremony.
They had no idea she was planning something dangerous. There's no way she's taking part in anything so unrelated to her.
"You're not actually thinking of running," Mira said from her chair. It wasn't a question.
Michelle turned from the window. "No. Running would solve nothing. They'd just hunt me down, and I'd lose any credibility I might have built." She moved to sit across from Mira. "I need to understand something. What happens if I refuse to declare as Huntress at all? Just... stay as I am and wish to return home?"
Mira's expression darkened. "You become a protected asset. No freedom. Guards watching your every move. And Michelle..." She leaned forward. "There are those who would use you. Force you to purify corrupted cores for their gain. You'd become a tool, not a person."
"But there's certainly a third option," Mira added quietly. "One you won't like so I had to skip telling you."
Saying so, Elder Mira got up and left the room.
Michelle stared at the empty doorway, a cold suspicion creeping up her spine.
What third option? Why leave without explaining?
She thought back over the past weeks. Mira's convenient appearance. Her immediate willingness to help. The way she always seemed to know exactly where Michelle was, what she needed, what she was thinking. Those stories about being from Earth—were they even true? Michelle had never asked for proof. Never questioned why a human would still be here after fifty years without aging much past sixty.
The Beatles song. Anyone could have heard recordings if they'd encountered other humans before. It didn't prove anything.
At the end of week, her body recovered and that evening Beta Rome visited once again to take her permission and thought reluctant Michelle granted.
Hence, on the next morning,
Michelle woke to the sound of drums.
Not the ceremonial, rhythmic kind—the urgent, warning kind. She bolted upright, pain lancing through her ribs, and ran to the window.
The clearing outside Mira's dwelling was packed. Hundreds of beast-kin from every territory, all converging on the ceremonial grounds. Dragons circled overhead. Wolf packs moved in formation. Bears, tigers, foxes, serpents—every species represented.
This wasn't the modest declaration ceremony Rome had described. This was a spectacle.
"Mira!" Michelle shouted. "What the hell is going on?"
The elder appeared in the doorway, already dressed in formal robes. Her expression was grim. "Word spread faster than I expected. Every territory leader is here. Every major clan. This stopped being about you declaring as Huntress and became a political event."
"You mean a powder keg."
"That too." Mira handed Michelle a formal tunic—deep blue with silver threading. "Put this on. Whatever happens today, you need to look like you belong here. Like you're in control."
Michelle's hands shook as she dressed. "I'm not ready for this."
"No one ever is." Mira began braiding Michelle's hair in an intricate pattern. "But listen carefully. The ceremony structure is rigid. First, the Council acknowledges your presence. Second, you state your intention. Third, interested males present themselves. Fourth—"
"There is no fourth," Michelle interrupted. "I'm not following their ceremony. I'm presenting my own terms."
Mira's hands stilled. "Michelle, if you deviate from protocol in front of every territory leader, you'll create chaos."
The Ceremonial Grounds were carved into a natural amphitheater a circular clearing surrounded by rising stone tiers where beast-kin gathered. At the center stood a raised platform of white stone, marked with ancient symbols Michelle couldn't read.
As she approached with Mira, the crowd noise died to whispers.
"That's her?"
"So small..."
"The huntress..."
"I've heard she rode on Lord Kael's dragon twice..."
"I've learned they're already mated."
"No, it was Alpha Riven who took her as mate."
Michelle kept her gaze sharp but her mouth twitched at the bizarre rumors, yet her expression remained neutral.
The Beastly Council leaders sat on the highest tier, where ten ancient beast-kin representing each major species. In the center sat a dragon so old his scales had turned silver-white. Elder Lord Valykor, Michelle guessed. The undisputed ruler of Feral lands from her outline reading though he looked more politician than monster here.
"Michelle," Lord Valykor,'s voice boomed across the amphitheater. "You stand before the United Territories on this dawn to declare your path. Do you understand the gravity of this moment?"
"I was told," Michelle replied, her voice carrying strength despite her nerves.
"Then approach the Declaration Stone."
Michelle climbed the steps to the central platform. The white stone was warm beneath her feet, and she could feel something power, maybe humming through it.
"State your lineage," Lord Valykor, commanded.
Michelle took a breath. "I am Michelle, granddaughter of Sarah, a human came to the BeastWorld through an accidental rift."
Shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd. Apparently, not everyone had expected to hear human talk about just being a human in beast world.
Lord Valykor's eyes narrowed at her and it seems like he had taken her introduction as an offence,"State your intention," he snapped.
This was it. The moment Elder Mira told her about where everything either worked or exploded in her face.
"I do not declare as Huntress," Michelle said clearly.
The amphitheater erupted.
"SILENCE!" Valykor,'s roar shook the very stones. The crowd reluctantly quieted. "Explain yourself, human. "
"I don't reject the Huntress path out of fear or disrespect," Michelle said as if presenting a problem, proposing a solution. "I reject it because I don't belong to this world or your tradition. While what I've heard about the Mate Hunt results in injury and death that's something I oppose at all cost. It treats females as prizes rather than people. It forces males to compete against each other when cooperation would serve everyone better."
"Its' tradition—" one of the Council members started.
" A tradition that could kill and inflict pain," Michelle cut him off. The crowd gasped at her audacity. "The last woman declared as Huntress twenty years ago. She went through your Mate Hunt. She bonded with males who supposedly won the right to court her. And then someone murdered her because they wanted to control her power. Your tradition failed her. It will fail me too."
"Then what do you propose?" Lord Valykor, asked, his ancient eyes unreadable.
"I propose a new arrangement." Michelle pulled out the scroll she'd prepared. "I offer my need or services freely to any territory that agrees to my terms. No bonds. No courtship. No ownership. I work as an independent entity, compensated with resources, protection by mutual agreement, and most importantly autonomy."
"Unacceptable," The bear-kin Council member growled. "You would refuse bonds? Refuse to continue our bloodline? This is your duty— chosen fate as you're sent here."
"I don't have a duty to be your breeding stock!" Michelle's voice cracked like a whip. "I have an ability that can help people. I'm willing to use it. But not at the cost of my freedom. Not at the cost of watching males kill each other over me. I'm offering you a partnership. Take it or leave it."
The amphitheater exploded into chaos. There were some female beast-kin that were shouting in support. Others in pure outrage. Arguments broke out in the crowd. The Council members argued among themselves with horrifying looks.
Then a voice cut through the noise like a blade.
"I accept your terms."
Everyone turned. A massive serpent-kin rose from his seat, his scales gleaming emerald-green, eyes like yellow ice. Lord Venom.
"The human speaks sense," Lord Venom continued, slithering down to the ceremonial floor. "Why fight each other when we can simply... employ her services? I have three corrupted territories that need cleansing from corrupted beast. Name your price, huntress."
Michelle's instincts screamed danger. "My price is transparency and mutual respect. Something you don't seem capable of, are you?" She didn't want to work for any Lords, just wished to be a mere alien in their territory so she could look for a way out of this world.
Lord Venom smiled, showing too many teeth. "How do you know? You've never worked with me."
"You know humans have instincts to know about the threats. The intimidation. It's one of our hidden talents."
"You mean the negotiations tactics," Lord Venom said smoothly. "I wanted to ensure you understood the value you possess. Now that we're discussing terms openly, such tactics are unnecessary."
"She will not work with you, Serpent," Kael's voice boomed as he landed on the platform in full dragon form, wings spread protectively over Michelle. "She's under Verdant Canopy protection."
"She just declared herself independent," Lord Venom countered. "No territorial allegiance. Or were you not listening?"
"We were listening," Alpha Riven said, appearing at the platform's edge with his Beta trailing back. "I heard her reject ownership. Which means you don't get to claim her either."
"Who said anything about claiming? And why would I say it if the human herself declared her rejection for it." Lord Venom's expression was all innocence. "I merely wish to hire her. Surely that's allowed under her new system?"
Michelle realized with growing horror that Lord Venom was using her own logic against her. If she refused to work with him without cause, she'd be undermining her entire argument about autonomy and choice.
"Before we discuss employment," a new voice interjected, "perhaps we should address the elephant in the room."
A fox-kin—Lord Ash, from his description sauntered onto the platform like he owned it. "This ceremony is a farce. The Council didn't knew about Michelle's proposal beforehand. They let her present it anyway. So we need to discuss it before taking it in action."
Lord Venom,'s expression darkened. "Careful what you suggest for, Lord Asher."
"Oh, I'm always careful. It's my defining trait." Lord Ash smiled."Who could know me better than you."
The crowd's anger turned from Lord Venom to the Huntress Michelle as if she was driving a rift in between the council Lords which was already a non-existent peace.
"You planned this?" someone shouted.
"We can not let her humiliate tradition on purpose?"
"What game she playing? Humans are written to be the most cunning and deceptive by nature."
Michelle turned to crowd, betrayal and rage burning in her chest. "You think so?" she muttered. "I think we call this survival."
"Our Lord's have given all species a fair chance to survive on feral lands!"
"You can not took away their ancestral choice! What did you human ancestor gave...you can't even make it to Feral Lands."
The argument was drowned out by a massive roar. When suddenly, at the mention of human history and past on feral Lands were mentioned as Dragon Lord Valykor rose to his full height, and suddenly Michelle understood why he was called the Feral Land King. Power radiated from him in waves that made her bones ache.
"ENOUGH!" His voice carried ancient authority that silenced everyone. "Michelle. Your proposal has been... yet to considered. The Council is divided. However, there is a precedent that may resolve this."
Michelle's stomach dropped. "What precedent?"
"Trial by Challenge," Valykor, said. "You claim the old ways are broken. The Council's subjects argues tradition must be preserved. So we will test both. You will face three trials designed by the Council. Succeed, and your terms are accepted. Fail, and you submit to traditional Huntress protocols."
"That's not—"
"It's the only compromise you'll get," Lord Valykor,interrupted. "Unless you'd prefer we simply reject your proposal and enforce traditional law?"
Michelle looked around the amphitheater. The Council members wore expressions ranging from hostile to coldly amused. The crowd was no more divided and clearly no one was on her side, others looking like they'd happily drag her to a Mate Hunt.
"What kind of trials?" she asked carefully.
"Pick any of three members to decide on trials."