Wanderlust Beastkin, Beauty and the Beastkin-Chapter 89: A Dungeon is Born

Kai’s Perspective

Kai remained shackled to a bed in a room inside a small cabin constructed from rough wooden boards. Several small windows were barred. Gazing out at the profusion of wildflowers outside, which had grown larger than usual due to their unrestrained growth, he realized he had been taken to a remote location. Such rampant plant life would not be permitted within the village limits, where dangerous creatures lurked in the tall grass and the risk of a carnivorous plant breaching the aura barrier was ever-present.

As the sky brightened and then dimmed, Kai struggled against the drugs that Lirit had spread across his bed, resisting her persistent attempts to mark him. Occasionally, a small bird would flit through the barred window, and he would observe it closely. When he had the chance, he would coax it to his side, attach a tiny message to its leg, and then send it off after providing it with food. He had no certainty that anyone would discover the message, but escape was impossible for him, as he was heavily sedated, his powers suppressed, and chained to the bed with only a chamber pot for company. The chains tightened whenever Lirit entered the room, controlled by a crank on the opposite side. They restricted his movement while she washed him with a soapy cloth and rinsed him off. They grew tighter when she drugged him to diminish his resistance and remained constricted while she tried to make her mark permanent.

His skin was red and irritated from constant bites, inflamed by a fever that raged through his body; he sometimes hallucinated that Perla was with him, his beloved Perla. Yet, when he caught the sickly sweet scent of Lirit, laden with pheromones, attempting to seduce him with her overly sweet, contrived aroma, he felt nothing but revulsion and fury. Any affection he once held for her had vanished long ago. Though he had not managed to break free during this ordeal, he had managed to pull out enough of her beautiful golden feathers to make her wings half-plucked and scabbed. She wouldn’t be able to fly anytime soon, and she’d taken to wearing cloaks to cover up her dreadful-looking wings.

As he observed another bird nibbling on the small pieces of apple he had set out to attract them, the cheerful song of a nearby bird abruptly ceased. It halted its melody and its feeding, remaining completely motionless, as if gazing out the window, before emitting an odd squeak. Then, it took flight, and the once bright and joyful day was suddenly turned dark.

"Crack!"

"CRACK!!" He was startled to see that a crack was suddenly travelling down the side of the wall.

"CRACK!!!" The crack spread across the crank that held the chains, splitting it in two. Suddenly, the chains fell loose, and he tugged at them. Though the chains were lengthy, they remained connected to him. These were mana-infused chains that he couldn’t break free from, burdened by the drugs in his system and the suppression collar. He yanked the chains until they were completely detached from the crank. The long chains he then wrapped around himself before slamming into the cracked wall.

He shattered the wall a just started going outside, just in time to collide with Lirit, who was sprinting toward the building.

"Where do you think you’re going? Get back inside that building. You have no clue where you are and won’t get far with those chains. Helio was informed that if your aura crosses the barrier, he will track you down and bring you back, so there’s no use in trying to escape; you’d just be wasting your time."

He shoved past her, and a loud crack echoed from behind him, revealing a deep chasm beneath Lirit.

She managed to cling to the edge of the chasm. Deeper inside, there were bricks and some moss, and the chasm expanded into a vast hallway below, illuminated by fire-lit sconces. Kai approached, peering into the abyss.

His eyebrows shot up in astonishment as he crouched down to gaze further up the chasm. "I never anticipated a dungeon would emerge here in Deity Duarte’s domain. Something significant must have happened while I was held captive."

"A dungeon?! Ugh, just help me up already!"

"Quickly press your hand against the lock release on this collar, and I’ll pull you up. These chains are too cumbersome to carry while lifting you up with my powers suppressed."

"Ugh! Just get me up already!"

He bent down, ensuring the chains were beyond her grasp, and placed the collar against her hand. She just managed to cling to the edge of the hole.

The moment her palm made contact with the collar, it unlocked, allowing him to remove the chains and cuffs. He rose and stretched his back, feeling a sense of relief as the burden and restraint were finally lifted.

"Hurry up and help me!" Lirit yelled at him.

He looked down at her with a charmingly wicked grin. "No, I don’t think I will."

"You must help me! You can’t just let a delicate female fall into a dungeon."

"I don’t see any delicate female here. I was eventually going to get you back for the indignity you subjected me to, but this seems like a good conclusion to our association."

"Quit playing around and help me up already," she said in a shrill tone, convincing herself that he was just joking and not being serious.

"Does it seem like I’m joking? I did remind you that I’m a General and have killed beastkin, I warned you, but still you didn’t listen and insisted on flirting with death."

Her eyes widened in horror. "You wouldn’t," she whispered.

He lifted up the chains that she had tied him down with and draped them over Lirit.

"No! Stop!"

He lifted another chain and continued to layer the chains over her, weighing her down. "These are yours, I’m just giving them back."

"Stop...stop...it’s too heavy," she gasped, struggling to catch her breath. Suddenly, the chains felt unbearably heavy, and her grip began to falter. "I’m so sorry! I swear I won’t do it again, I promise! I won’t! Please, help me up! I command you to pull me up right now!"

"It’s a bit too late for regrets. If you want to come up, pull yourself up, I won’t stop you. These are just your own chains that I’m returning to you." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Get them off of me!" she yelled, panting from the strain, but then she lost her hold because of the chains. "Help!" she cried out as she plummeted into the abyss of the dungeon.

Kai looked down into the hole and watched her fall all the way down, screaming and throwing insults and promises for retribution the whole way.

He surveyed the room, and as she finally landed and began to push the chains off her body, he glanced around the space and started tossing items into the pit, ensuring she would have the belongings down there that he once possessed. She let out a scream and crawled to the side, trying to avoid the objects he was dropping into the dungeon after her. "Sto..oop goofing around. Th..this isn’t funny anymore."

"Are you still in denial? By now, you ought to be grateful that I’m leaving anything for you."

"You can’t leave me alone in a dungeon, I’m a red aura beastkin."

"You should have thought about that before messing with me."

"I will never let this go! If you do this to me, our love is finished!"

"Well, it’s about time! I never asked for your affection. I’ve been clear all along that there was never going to be anything between us. I told you to seek someone else, but you just wouldn’t listen, dragging things to this point when I was trying to let you down gently. But now, you’ve crossed the line. You should be grateful I’m not leaving you down there without any provisions." He stuffed all the food into a sack and tossed it down, along with a mana whip. A mana weapon that, when activated, unleashes a whip made of pure mana from the metal rod, powered by mana gems. He dropped some mana gems in a small sack and then clapped his hands.

"There! You can’t claim I’m abandoning you without supplies or leaving you defenseless, which is more than you deserve after everything you’ve put me through. You can either sit there and wait for someone to rescue you, bide your time until your wings heal so you can fly out, or search for the exit. It’s your choice, but whatever you decide, I’ll be long gone by the time you manage to escape. You’ll likely make it out alive, but when you do, I strongly advise against seeking more trouble from me. I won’t be so forgiving next time."

That being said, he swiftly transformed into his beast form. Sure, he had shed some weight and muscle, but he was still a massive white tiger. He charged through the dense, towering grass, the wind whipping against his face, bringing a tremendous sense of liberation. He sprinted with every ounce of speed he could gather, chasing the faint echoes of the nearly faded mate mark.

Coming Next Time: Behind the Veil