RISE OF EROS

The empire of Cannaris is a multiracial country. Although the dominant race in both numbers and power are humans, there were also beastmen and elves within the territory of the empire.

They not only existed as inhabitants of the country, but also had a high social status, as their role within the empire is important. Beastmen inhabited the territory of the western savannahs, where the grassy meadows are extensive.

Beastmen are a race specialized in livestock, so most of the animal products of the empire were produced by them, for this reason they were very much loved and valued in the empire.

In many countries ruled by humans, beastmen and any other race are treated as slaves, but in Cannaris this is not the case. Here they had the same right as humans and even superior thanks to their contributions.

Just as the beastmen were the main producers of food and animal-based items, the forest elves also provided the empire with their knowledge of planting plants.

The forest elves are more reserved, so they do not like to interact much with other races, but as the empire always treated them well, the ones living within the territory of Cannaris are more sociable and are always contributing with new knowledge about planting, which has helped the empire to improve its crops.

For these reasons these two races are very much loved within the empire. However, unbeknownst to anyone in the imperial capital of Cannaris, a group of unknown knights were slaughtering the beastmen.

"Kill them all, don't leave one alive," ordered the man leading the attack, who was obviously the commander. Beastmen are not weak at all, in fact, they are naturally physically stronger than many races, but in this village there were only animal breeders and keepers, no warriors, so it was a one-sided slaughter.

"Let's move to the next village," the knight commander shouted again after slaughtering all the beastmen in the village. When the knights left, under the corpses of some beastmen a wooden door hidden in the ground opened.

From it stepped out a young girl of about 20 years old, brown-haired with ears and tail like a dog. Although ragged, badly wounded and frightened, the girl held back her tears and pain and walked to one of the buildings in the center of the village.

This was the village community hall, where the village chief resided and where they met when they needed to discuss something. The girl approached this building, because it was also where she could launch a communication and let everyone else know what had happened.

The girl reached the building and went inside. She staggered on her way to a statue of a dog at the back of the hall and placing her hand on the statue said some incomprehensible words, but within seconds of finishing speaking, the statue lit up and a beam of light shot into the sky.

The strange beam of light reached the sky and transformed into a huge sphere of light that gradually changed its appearance until it became a giant replica of the dog statue the girl had touched.

The only difference was that the statue was made of stone and this one in the sky was made of light. Seconds after the ball of light took the shape of the statue, it exploded and several beams of light shot out in different directions.

The girl, seeing how the beams of light flew in all directions, let out a sigh of relief and seconds later fell unconscious, she had died. Although she had managed to hide in a subway room with the help of other villagers, that was after several fights and escapes.

For this reason the girl had not escaped unharmed and had only managed to maintain consciousness by sheer force of will. She knew she must report what had happened or many of her fellow beastmen compatriots would be in danger, so she spent all her energy on that one task and when she completed it, her life was extinguished.

The light beams summoned by the dog girl were a unique message system used by the beastmen of the empire and were only used to report when a village had been attacked.

These light beams quickly reached several places. In the empire of Cannaris there were 5 different clans of beastmen. The dog clan, bull clan, horse clan, cat clan and the falcon clan.

Although there were many villages in these savannas, there was also a large city, where the leaders of these 5 clans lived and regulated what happened in the savanna. One could think of the western savannah of the empire as a special region within the country.

In a tall building in the center of the city, 3 men and 2 women were gathered. Each of the individuals gathered there had unique characteristics. One of the men, who was quite athletic, looked thin, but with defined muscles, had brown hair and dog ears identical to the girl who had sent the message.

Another of the men was muscular and large. The horns on his head and the bull's tail made it clear that he belonged to the bull clan. Next to him sat another man of almost the same height and similar physical build, but with dark skin, despite the similarities he still paled before the bull man, this was de horse man.

Next to these men were also two beautiful girls. One with short blonde hair and cat ears and tail, with a rather athletic build and the other looked more delicate, but with sharp eyes and a pair of wings on her back.

These were the chiefs of the 5 clans of beastmen of the western savannah of the Cannaris empire. They had gathered as usual to discuss some problems that arose in the savannah.

However, they had only greeted each other and sat down, when a beam of light entered the building and landed on a dog-shaped statue similar to the one the girl in the village activated to send the message.

When the 5 saw this their looks of seriousness deepened, but the leader of the dog clan was more furious than serious because this was a message about a village of his clan that was attacked and as leader he could not allow his brothers and sisters to be attacked.

Despite his anger, he did not act recklessly. He knew that this situation had to be consulted and handled in conjunction with the other leaders. "So, what do you advise?", the dog clan leader asked and as the cat-eared girl was about to answer, another beam of light entered the room and landed on the bull-shaped statue.

This startled those present, but it wasn't until the third beam entered the room and landed on the cat-shaped statue that the 5 leaders exploded in murderous intent.

"There is nothing to recommend, send the soldiers to the attacked villages and start tracking those bastards," said the leader of the bull clan and although his vocabulary and demeanor were unbecoming of a leader, none of his four companions scolded him because they were not calm either.

"I will send hawks to the capital and to Marquis Cupal's territory. To notify the situation and request help," the girl leader of the hawk clan quickly said. Her companions assisted in agreement to her proposal and quickly left to organize troops to pursue those who were attacking them.

The beastmen quickly organized themselves. As a race of tribes and clans, they are very attached to their clan members, so when the leaders notified that three villages had been attacked, the army immediately assembled.

To the beastmen, their clan members were family, even if they were not directly related, so when they learned of the attacks, they were all upset and ready for battle.

The gathering of the army was quick and the speech was short, so about 1,000 beastmen from the different clans left the city heading for the attacked villages, to find clues and pursue the attackers.

The knights who attacked these villages did not know that the leaders of the beastmen had been notified of what had happened and that an army of 1,000 men was heading towards them, as they were convinced that they had killed everyone in the villages they attacked.

It never crossed their minds that some of the beastmen would have survived and that was their mistake. Unaware of the threat they faced, they continued on their way with the intention of destroying other villages.

These attackers, as well as many were unaware that the beastmen had such advanced communication techniques and that led them to misinterpret the effectiveness of the beastmen to move.

This means of communication that launches beams of light from statues, is not only used to communicate to the leaders in the city of the savannah, but also to the nearby villages, so when the knights arrived at the next village, they were surprised to see that the bull men in front of them were ready to defend themselves.