A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 159: Saving Merinda

Serena jolted up from her bed the moment she left her subspace, making Theo wake up. The tiger beastman immediately shifted into his human form at the sight of her panicked expression.

"Serena." Theo murmured in a soft tone, not wanting to wake Kiro. "Did you get another nigh-"

He was used to her night terrors by now, both normally heading out so Theo could make her some tea to calm down. However, he soon noticed Serena was acting differently from normal.

Serena straightened up, careful not to disturb Kiro as she moved quickly to the door. "Something’s happened to Merinda... Can’t explain right now. I need to get to Healer Kai’s hut."

As she spoke, Theo suddenly noticed a purple crystal in her hand and quickly figured it all on his own. He then turned his gaze back to her and said, "Alright let me-"

But before he could finish Serena was out the door. Theo sighed at the snow leopard beastwoman, turning his gaze to Kiro. The cub was still sleeping soundly, not waking despite all the noise.

He should be fine... Theo mused to himself, deciding to go after Serena.

He made sure to close the hut door, so the cold night air wouldn’t get to Kiro before shifting into his beast form. He then ran to Healer Kai’s hut, just as Serena came to a stop in front of the hut.

She banged on the door, letting out heavy puffs of air that formed tiny clouds for a few seconds. Theo shifted back to his human form and stood behind her.

"You didn’t need to run... I could’ve brought you here." Theo stated, glancing down at the snow leopard beastwoman.

She turned to look at him and murmured, "You should’ve gone back to sleep... I didn’t mean to-"

Before she could finish the door flung open with Davis appearing. The rabbit beastman gazed at them both with a tired and confused expression.

"Do you need-" Davis started, but Serena interrupted.

"Where’s Merinda?" Serena questioned, sidestepping the rabbit beastman and entering the room. "I need to get to her..."

She stopped in her tracks at the side of the older beastwoman lying unconscious in the back of the hut. Three of her mates were with her, all by her side, trying to help as Healer Kai tried to reduce her fever.

Jason was off to the side, mixing something on the working bench. He glanced over at the door, surprised to see Serena and Theo. However, he didn’t have much time to ask what was going on.

"Jason, have you finished with the paste?!" Healer Kai barked out, focusing on wiping Merinda’s sweating brow. "And Davis, who in the world is knocking on the door?! Damn it..."

"It’s me." Serena answered before anyone else could say a word. "I... I had a bad feeling..."

She stopped in front of the bed, watching all four rabbit beastmen turn their attention to her for a moment. She then held out the purple crystal.

"You need one don’t you?" Serena stated the obvious. "Use it."

"How..." Elder Samuel asked, blinking back the tears in his eyes.

What started as a simple cold this morning had escalated into a deadly fever. Healer Kai had tried his best, but Merinda was lacking energy. Using her ability had sucked too much out of her.

They had tried using the only purple crystal that the village had after getting the Council’s permission. But it wasn’t enough and Merinda’s condition worsened.

They needed at least another purple crystal to save Merinda. And like some miracle, it had appeared.

"It doesn’t matter." Serena exclaimed, getting annoyed at their reactions. "You need to save Merinda, don’t you?! Snap out of that daze!"

Her words finally sprung them back into action and Healer Kai began barking orders at everyone. He grabbed the purple crystal out of Serena’s hands before quickly getting Jol to lift Merinda up a little.

Once she swallowed the crystal, Healer Kai kept working to reduce the fever, giving everyone instructions. Which somehow got Theo and Serena involved too. Not that it was really a problem.

Serena’s mission was to save Merinda and she would complete it. No matter how.

After running around the small hut for two hours straight, Theo heading out twice to check on Kiro, they all finally got the chance to sit down. And with the chaos gone, a bunch of questions arose.

"Serena..." Healer Kai coughed. "While we’re grateful for the help... How did you know?"

"I... I had a nightmare." Serena lied. "It felt so real... I just had to come check."

"And this is why we’ve got to get your charisma up." Liz chuckled as it nestled into her hair. "It’s another situation of Serena bullshiting her way through something."

Serena ignored the taunt, not really in the mood to deal with the system right now. If anything, it was the Beast God’s fault for putting her in such a situation.

As Liz spoke, Davis was moving around the hut, handing everyone a cup of tea to keep warm. Mostly because Healer Kai didn’t want Serena getting sick after learning the beastwoman had run over here in the cold.

The older rabbit beastman was not in the mood to deal with another sick patient.

"Hmm... I see." Healer Kai pursed his lips as Davis handed a cup of tea. He took it, thanking his nephew before he then asked, "And the crystal?"

Before Serena could come up with an excuse on how she had two purple crystals, Theo calmly stated, "Of course it’s because she has a capable mate. I gave her a few crystals when we became mates... It’s really nothing."

Serena almost choked at the blatant lie. How could he say that giving her a few crystals was nothing?! Especially something as rare as a purple crystal. It was not nothing!

"Wow..." Liz mused. "Your bullshitting talent is rubbing off on Theo."

"Right..." Healer Kai muttered, bringing his tea to his lips.

The other male beastmen in the room all averted their gaze, awkwardness filling the air. Serena sighed, shaking her head at Theo. It was not to say she wasn’t thankful for his help, but they probably could’ve put that differently.

"Ahem..." Elder Samuel suddenly coughed, breaking the tension in the air. "Anyway... I must thank you for the crystal... I’m not sure what would’ve happened..."

His grip tightened around his cup as he spoke, everyone all well aware of what would’ve happened. Merinda wouldn’t have survived the night. And the village would’ve lost a lot of its important people.

"We’ll be sure to repay-" Jol continued, but Serena raised a hand to stop him.

"I didn’t do it because I needed repayment." Serena stated. "Besides, your family has helped me greatly. If anything, this is just a small way I can repay all your help. I won’t take any arguments!"

That last part was directed at Elder Samuel who had opened his mouth to retort. He then closed it again and sighed, "Serena..."

"Let her be." Healer Kai huffed out suddenly. "It’s late and Serena should be heading back home now. Drink up and head home. We’ll watch Merinda from here... Her fever has stabilized now, so you don’t need to worry anymore."

Serena decided not to argue and followed the healer’s instructions, seeing no arguments from the others. Once Theo and Serena were finished with their tea, the two headed out after Serena promised to come by in the morning to check on Merinda.

Theo kept close to her as they walked, trying to minimize the cold wind from hitting her. He was quiet as they hurried back, but she could see the questions whirling through his mind.

When they got back to the hut and checked that Kiro was still sleeping, Theo finally asked, "So... what really happened?"

"Liz told me what happened..." Serena answered honestly. "As for the purple crystal... Liz exchanged it for ten clear crystals. That’s how I got it."

She explained the last part because Theo was the only one that really knew what crystals she had. After all, he had seen them when they were looking for the purple one back when Jason was injured.

"So this was the Beast God’s doing then..." Theo mused, settling back down.

Serena nodded her head, also getting back in bed. "Basically yes.... I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I’m sorry."

"Don’t be." Theo smiled faintly. "The chaos in that hut already told me that it was urgent. You didn’t have time to properly explain everything with Merinda’s life on the line."

"Yeah..." Serena murmured.

They had been lucky... Really lucky.

There were a hundred different ways this could’ve ended badly. Not that they were completely out of the clear yet. They needed to wait until morning for that. But for now, Serena had done what she could.

So all she could do now was wait until morning for the good news.