Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan

Ren woke up gasping, her body thrashing wildly. She was instantly hit by a blinding, pulsating ache centered right behind her eyes. Her skin was incredibly slick, her entire body drenched in a freezing pool of her own sweat.

[Ding! Good morning, Host! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the air is free of neurotoxins!] The System’s cheerful voice chimed happily in her head. [Did you sleep well?]

Ren groaned, her hand automatically flying to her aching temples. She sat up slowly, her vision slightly blurry as she scanned the dim, quiet cavern of the King’s Nest. She was alone in the massive fur bed.

She looked down at herself. She was currently wearing the emerald silk dress.

’Wait. What?’ Ren’s brain scrambled to catch up. She knew with absolute certainty that she had experienced a very strange dream. But the details were completely washed away, leaving behind nothing but a residual throb between her thighs and a frantic, lingering sense of urgency.

"System," Ren hissed aloud, rubbing her head aggressively. "Where the hell were you all of yesterday evening? You went radio silent!"

[Error 404: System Log Unavailable.] The voice chirped unhelpfully. [However, Host, I strongly suggest you check your current notifications! Urgent Quest Update: Vex the Fox Shaman is scheduled for execution in approximately 4 minutes! You might need to hurry!]

Ren’s heart stopped. "Execution?!"

She forgot! Her brain was a mushy mess of confusion and memory holes.

She didn’t waste a single second. She threw the furs off her sweating body and bolted barefoot from the Nest.

Her legs felt incredibly weak, like jelly beneath her, and a strange, nauseating wave of lightheadedness crashed over her as she sprinted down the dark obsidian corridors. She was sweating profusely, her pale skin incredibly clammy, but she forced herself to keep running, guided by the loud commotion echoing from the central courtyard.

Ren burst through the stone doors and into the blinding sunlight of the courtyard.

It was a chaotic spectacle. Dozens of snake guards were gathered around a raised wooden platform. Standing in the center of the platform was Vex. The Fox Shaman was bound tightly with thick, thorned vines, forced to his knees. A fur sack covered his head, hiding his face. Standing behind him, wielding a large, jagged obsidian axe, was Syris.

"Stop!" Ren shrieked, her voice cracking as she pushed through the crowd of hissing beastmen. "Syris, stop!"

It took Ren a frantic, shoving minute to reach the raised platform. She was out of breath, panting heavily as she practically threw herself at the base of the wooden structure.

"Syris," Ren gasped, gripping the wooden planks tightly, her vision momentarily swimming with dark spots. "He cannot die."

Syris paused, his pale features twisting into a look of confusion. He lowered the obsidian axe slightly, his striking amethyst eyes narrowing down at her. "Why? Is he immortal?"

"No!" Ren yelled, wiping the sweat from her sickly pale forehead. "I mean you should not kill him!"

Syris’s confusion instantly morphed into a dark, explosive fury. His grip on the axe tightened until his knuckles turned white. "Do not tell me you want the trickster fox as your mate too," the Snake King snarled, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that silenced the entire courtyard.

Ren’s panic was quickly eclipsed by a surge of exhausted, reckless defiance. She glared right back at him, her green eyes flashing dangerously. "And what if I do?!"

Syris looked like she had just slapped him. His chest heaved, his amethyst eyes flaring with a brilliant violet rage. He pointed a trembling, accusatory finger down at the bound fox.

"I spared the tiger," Syris roared, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "But I will absolutely not spare the fox! He plotted against me! Stole from me! Disrespected me! The fox shaman dies today!"

Ren’s frantic mind raced, desperate for any excuse to save the smug, trickster fox who had a lot more use to her alive than dead.

"If he dies, I will suffer!" Ren blurted out wildly.

Syris froze, the heavy axe hovering dangerously close to Vex’s neck. "Explain."

"I... I owe him a favor!" Ren lied frantically, the words tumbling out of her mouth faster than her brain could process them. "He saved my life! I owe him a massive, magical life-debt favor! If you kill him, I will suffer the severe, karmic consequences of not honoring the favor!"

Syris’s jaw tightened visibly. In the strict laws of the Beast World, a favor from a friend was an incredibly sacred, binding contract. The magical consequences of breaking one were legendary and deeply fatal. If killing the fox meant physically harming his own mate, Syris absolutely could not do it.

The Snake King lowered the heavy axe with a deeply frustrated, defeated sigh. "Fine," Syris grumbled, his voice dripping with venom. "I will not kill him. But I will not free him either. He will rot in my deepest, darkest dungeon until he dies a natural, slow death."

Ren let out a shuddering sigh of relief. "Thank you," she breathed.

And then, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed in a dead faint onto the stone courtyard floor.

"Ren!"

Panic instantly erupted. Syris dropped the heavy obsidian axe, leaping off the platform and practically teleporting to her side. He dropped to his knees, frantically scooping her small, limp body into his strong arms.

"She is burning," Syris gasped, his amethyst eyes wide with terror as he pressed his cool hand against her flushed, very sweaty forehead. Her body temperature was terrifyingly high. It had been elevated since last night, but Syris had simply assumed it was a strange biological quirk that mammals did to stay warm in the cold.

He gently patted her cheek, his voice trembling with uncharacteristic panic. "Ren! Wake up! Open your eyes!"

She didn’t even twitch.

"I can help her."

Syris whipped his head around. Somehow, Vex had managed to miraculously wriggle sack off his head, shaking his orange hair free. He looked unbothered by the fact that he was just seconds away from decapitation.

"I refuse your help, trickster," Syris snarled, holding Ren tighter to his chest.

Vex shrugged elegantly. "That is a shame. Because she is about to die."

Syris’s eyes flared with murderous rage. "You are lying!"

Vex chuckled, a soft, incredibly arrogant sound. "Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. But tell me, Snake King... do you really, truly want to take that risk with her life?"

Syris clenched his jaw so tightly his teeth practically ground into dust. He stared down at Ren’s pale, sweat-slicked face for a long moment. She looked incredibly fragile, her breathing shallow and rapid.

"I can save her," Vex urged softly, his orange eyes glinting with a dark, calculating light. "I am a Shaman. I know the exact cure for this specific ailment."

Syris slowly raised his head, glaring venomously at the fox. "And what price would you demand in return? Your freedom?"

Vex laughed out loud, his three fluffy red tails swishing behind him in pure amusement. "My freedom? No, Syris. How incredibly cliché. I have a much more interesting request." The Fox Shaman hummed for a moment, as if he was thinking, "I want the golden eagle she has made her mate."

Syris blinked, completely derailed by the bizarre demand. He did not care for the golden eagle, nor did he care what business the fox had with the bird. Furthermore, Vex would still be locked in his deepest dungeon at his mercy. He literally wasn’t going to lose a single thing in this exchange.

"Deal," Syris agreed coldly, his voice flat. "I will deliver the bird to you the second she is fully healed."

"No," Vex countered instantly with a smug, infuriating smirk. "I want the bird first."

Syris glared at him, pure hatred practically radiating from his pores. "Fine," the Snake King spat.

Syris slowly stood up, cradling Ren’s unconscious body securely against his chest. He turned his gaze upon his gathered guards.

Every snake guard subtly shrank back in natural, instinctual terror. Eagles were their natural apex predators after all. They hunted snakes from the sky. None of the guards wanted to go anywhere near the eagle territory, let alone actively hunt one.

Only Viper, swallowing hard, was brave enough to step forward from the terrified crowd.

"My King," Viper grunted, dropping to one knee on the stone floor. "I swear to you, I will find the golden eagle. He must still be in the swamp somewhere. I will convince the golden eagle to come. And if he refuses, I will forcefully drag him here by his wings."

Syris nodded, a pleased smirk crossing his features. "Excellent. But listen closely, Viper. The eagle is of royal blood. He possesses a healing ability. He will be very difficult to defeat."

Syris leaned down, his voice dropping to a commanding whisper. "You must be smart. Do whatever it takes to bring him here alive."