Chapter 27 –– Rodentia Village

Dear Diary,

To you who found this diary, let me tell you a story about how I escaped the biggest incident in Rodentia village: The Erasure of District 13.

My name is Marie Qapy and I am an alpha female capybara. I lived in a small district in Rodentia Village, the farthest village from the surface. I was born and raised in an orphanage, with the clerics as the ones who raised me. I never knew who my parents were, but from the stories I’d heard, they abandoned me and left me at the orphanage right after I was born. I would be lying if I didn’t get hurt after hearing that, but as a coping mechanism, I just considered them the same as dead.

Before we get to where and how it started, let me tell you some important information about me and my hometown, Rodentia Village.

The village is located in the deepest part of the realm, the farthest from the surface. Our tribe is inhabited by Rodentia tribesfolk who mostly work in the mining industry. We are the largest exporter of minerals and ores to other villages, especially to Caninus Village. We are also the only exporter of peanuts in the realm as the plant could only grow here in our village.

In Rodentia village, betas are considered as the “normal” ones out of the other genders. Since more than half of the population of Werebeasts consist of betas–– not only in this village, but everywhere in the realm–– they are particularly put on top of the hierarchy in this village. Meanwhile, other genders–– alphas and omegas–– are treated as “less than.” Omegas are treated somewhat better and are more accepted in society because they have wombs that can carry offspring–– something considered as an asset here. Omegas are also considered as “less threatening” and pose less danger compared to alphas.

Meanwhile, alphas in this village are being discriminated against by society because of our “perceived” predatory nature caused by our rut. Alphas have a hard time finding a decent job here as we keep being viewed as dangerous and are constantly assigned highly hazardous jobs, such as labour miners. Very rarely do I see an alpha working together with an omega. However, in my defence, I have only worked as a miner all my life so I don’t know much about it. The only thing I know is that being an alpha is extremely lonely because people keep ignoring you and try to avoid you at all times.

According to the Holy Scripture which is available for reading at the orphanage, a calamity happened around a thousand years ago that wiped out all living creatures on this planet. Just when our kind was about to go extinct, the founders of the realm dug underground using their gnox skill–– which I am not even sure what that is–– and created a barrier underneath the surface to protect our kind from the harm of the world above. Since then, we Werebeasts have been living below the surface. Reports claim that there is nothing up there besides ruins from the great calamity, or at least so we are told. We are the sole survivors and the last of our kind.

The book also explicitly told us not to dare to explore the world beyond the surface. Not only that, even conversations or mentioning anything revolving the topic of the world above is considered taboo and heresy, so people dare not to talk about it. It is an actual crime stated by the capital government. Any attempt to penetrate through the barrier of the surface is punishable by slow death and torture, while conversations about it could get us burnt at a stake by the Heretics Hunter.

As a survivor of The Erasure of District 13, I will tell you exactly what happened that day. Have patience and pay attention closely, as this might be the last evidence you could ever find.

Good night and see you tomorrow,

Marie