Beastmen Love-Chapter 201: The Kumagami

Several search parties were sent after Astri, but none had found her yet.

Days passed... Years passed... And they didn’t find any sign, yet.

Even if the people from Aquaterra can visit the whole world, practically, the world is big and they can’t travel long distances so quickly like Claud and Kangki. Claud and Kangki made portals for the search parties to try to find Astri on other continents that they had never seen before, some they couldn’t even understand their languages, even though Astri had taught them at least 4 other languages.

After Astri and Baal’s fight, things were different. Astri was the shining star of the family. Things weren’t fun anymore. The children barely play anymore, and they were kind of forced to mature to endure the pain.

Yuki, as a little female who has the purest heart, tried to keep her brothers calm and give the attention to play with her younger brother and sister. Her fathers was proud of her, but they didn’t want to force her to assume responsibilities.

She was only three when everything happened. Even if beasts mature their minds faster, she’s still a child, and Astri wanted to protect her children from having to become adults so soon and enjoy their childhood. Astri’s spouses do their best to help them enjoy their childhood somehow.

Astris’s spouses on the other side.. They try to survive the best way they can. Each of them has moments when they become frustrated and stressed, and they need to be alone to vent their anger and cry. They have part of Astri there, and it’s already so painful for them. They can’t even imagine how painful it is for beastmen whose females sent them away like snakes, or other beastmen that are seen as weak, useless, or ugly. After some years, Lee made the law that if a female sent males away for selfish or futile reasons, they would be banished from all tribes.

Some days, everyone is tired and with no hope of finding Astri. Other days, they’re full of conviction of finding her. Independent of their feelings, what they know that won’t ever happen is that they will give up.

——

After Astri felt her soul being thrown into a vortex, trying to steady herself, or try to understand what to do, she decides to simply let Nature do what it can do to help her. What held her mind strongly was the desire to keep on living and the desire of her family to be safe.

There was a moment when her mind simply darkened, and she heard Baal’s voice lurking around.

"Do you think I fear you, piece of a fart? Because I don’t. And I don’t regret what I did. You didn’t win anything. Nature won, and you know that." She snorts.

Baal doesn’t have a complete voice, and just stays trying to affect Astri’s mind somehow while she floats in the darkness of subconsciousness. She’s not afraid of that darkness because she knows that darkness is not all bad. So, she simply let herself sleep.

When she sees light, she wakes up slowly under a tree with pink flowers. It has ropes braided and tied around its large trunk. Astri sits down, confused, holding her head that is still swirling.

She looks down and notices she’s naked, startling her and then covering herself with her arms. She looks around again and doesn’t recognize the place. It’s nothing like her garden, though the surroundings are very calm and peaceful.

She stands up slowly, feeling a little weak, so she holds herself on the tree with pink flowers.

"Where am I, Nature?" She asks.

She cannot hear Nature as usual. Normally, she can clearly understand Nature’s energy, voices, intentions, and images. But it’s not clear, it’s like she’s trying to hear and see in the middle of a strong storm.

"And my family? Where are they? Are they safe?"

She only feels a soft wind surrounding her, and she understands it’s an affirmation, making her breathe a sigh of relief. Then she hears steps coming from her side, and when she looks in the direction of the sound, and faces a big and large male. He’s at least 6’5", wearing what resembles Japanese travel monk robes.

His skin is weathered and tanned, bearing faint scars of old battles. And his face shows she’s in his early 50s, having dark brown hair with streaks of gray near the temples. He keeps it tied back in a short, practical knot. His beard is short, neat, and emphasizes his jawline.

He looked at Astri with his deep and earthy brown almond-shaped eyes, with a confused and impressed face. She tries to hide her body behind the tree, and he blinks, shaking his head, and then walks forward to try to see her again.

"Wait! I’m naked. Please! Can you find me some clothes or something to cover me?" She asks.

He looks at the tree, confused about what he heard.

"What? What did you say?" He asked, but it wasn’t her language.

She realizes he speaks Japanese. Luckily, it was the language she loved the most to study and learn.

"Erm.. I’m naked. Can you give me something to cover?" She asks, now in his language.

"Who are you? How did you come here?" He asks, aware, and trying to look at her again.

"My name is Astri." She answers, then she pokes her head from behind the tree, trying to conceal her body from him. "It’s hard to explain how I got here."

When he looks at her face, he can see she’s not from around because of the shape and color of her eyes. Her long, light blond hair is a bit messy, with some grass and flowers on it. And for her to be naked, it’s because she was shifted.

"Were you attacked and flew here? What are you? I never smelled something like you." He asks, curious, and then he looks at the tree itself.

Where she’s touching, the tree is glistening softly, shocking him to the point of realizing something great.

"Are you.. Are you the spirit of the Sacred Tree?!" He asks, then bows to her quickly, kneeling both his knees and putting his forehead on the ground.

"I’m not the spirit of Sacred Tree.."

"You are. I can see the Sacred Tree reacting to you. This is the most sacred place of this area because it has great energies of Nature." He answers, still with his head glued to the ground.

"Oh... then that’s why Nature made me appear here." She says to herself.

"It’s my greatest honor to meet you! We must hold the greatest feast for you." He says, then looks at her again, and she hides more behind the tree.

"No one can know I’m here. I’m not exactly the Sacred Tree. Please, can you find something for me to cover myself? I don’t like being seen naked.."

"Of course! You must be cold. Snow season just finished." He says, removing the top part of his kimono, then handing it to her.

She covers herself and finally comes out entirely from behind the tree.

"What is your name? And what is your kind?" She asks.

"My name is Kenzou. I’m a kumagami."

She tries to understand what he is, and imagines he’s a bear by the ’kuma’ in the name.

"Nice to meet you, Kenzou. Are you the guardian of this place?" She asks.

"Yes, milady. I’ve been guarding this place since my spouse died 8 years ago."

"I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad you’re fine. You took great care of this place. It feels amazing. That’s why I could appear here."

"I’m truly honored to hear that." He says, very thrilled and happy. "I must find clothes that best suit the divine spirit! Please, come with me to the shrine." He motions for her to follow him.

"Thank you, Kenzou."

She follows him and finds a beautiful shrine. It looks very much like Shinto architecture, but it didn’t have many details in red and black like in the human world. But it is very similar, and it also has a rustic side. She can see that the place is cleaner than other places she has been to for the first time, too.

"I don’t have here female clothing suitable for you, great spirit, but I can take you to buy anything you want." He says.

"As long as I’m covered, I’ll be satisfied, Kenzou. Please, call me Astri. As I said, no one can know my identity for now." She says.

She takes clothes that were his clothes. It’s massing on her, so she made a dress with the top part of the haori (looks like a jacket used on top of a wafuku, traditional Japanese clothing). She asks for some water and food, then she asks him to sit and listen to her explanation of what happened, who she really is, and where she came from.

"I understand, now.. You want to go back to your family." He softly says.

"Yes. First, let me try to find them.." She answers, then she closes her eyes and tries to find her spouses.

She can’t travel her soul like before. She can’t even sense where the energies of her spouses are.

"I can’t... My soul is not complete.. That’s why I can’t sense Nature entirely, too. Probably I can’t use my powers, too.." She says, and sighs sadly. "If I can’t find them... Claud and Kangki won’t probably find me either.."

He watches her thinking by herself, and he can see that she’s sad. She goes outside the shrine and tries to shift, knowing that her powers will be bigger in her beast form, but only her wings appear. She concentrates harder, but her beast form doesn’t appear.

"I can’t shift entirely..." She softly says. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"My full beast form is a Pegasus. I can only bring out my wings, but my form is...appearing. Where is the other part of my soul..?"

He can see that she’s anxious, a bit overwhelmed with everything that is appearing on her mind. He walks to her and holds her shoulder, she looks at him, showing her worried and scared eyes.

"I understand you’re afraid. But everything will be all right. You still can find your family." His voice might be deep, but it’s also tender.

She smiles softly and nods.

"Thank you, Kenzou.. I need to be grateful that there was somewhere in the world that the energies are so good and pure that my soul could take form again." She says, and cleans her tears.

Now, she needs to find a way to go back home.