Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan

"Hey, Vex," Ren said, looking at him across the small wooden boat, her voice cutting through the chorus of unsettling clicking sounds echoing from the dark swamp. "Do you remember that place we went under the swamp? The one with the big waterfall, when I went to save you that night?"

Vex paused his rowing. The wooden paddle hovered just above the black, bubbling sludge. He raised his free hand, scratched his head and let out a bright, overly cheerful sound.

"Nope!" The ’p’ popped loudly in the quiet mist.

Ren narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "You are lying."

"My dear Little Rose, you wound me," Vex replied, pressing a hand to his chest in a display of theatrical hurt. "You didn’t save me. If you had, how did I end up right back in Syris’s depressing dungeon? It was a dream. A trick of the swamp air playing with our fragile minds."

Ren raised a skeptical brow, refusing to let him wiggle out of it. "A dream? Are you telling me we both had the exact same dream?"

Vex offered a careless shrug, his fluffy tails swishing gently over the wooden bench. "It isn’t impossible. This swamp is full of strange pollens and toxic fumes. Shared delusions are a known side effect."

Ren stared at him for a long moment. The boat drifted lazily over a patch of murky reeds, the silver moonlight casting long, eerie shadows across the Fox Shaman’s face. She could read the sly, guarded glint in his orange eyes. She felt it in her bones; Vex was lying to her.

"Tell me the truth," Ren offered, leaning forward slightly. "And I will tell you something very interesting in return."

Vex hummed. He rested his chin on the handle of the paddle, tilting his head. "And why do you think I am not already telling the truth?"

"Because I have known you long enough," Ren said flatly, her tone dripping with dry exasperation. "And I have had the unfortunate displeasure of being around you a lot. I know how your brain operates. You lie first as a reflex, and you only tell the truth if you can somehow benefit from it."

Vex blinked, genuinely taken aback. For a fraction of a second, his smug, composed facade slipped, revealing a flash of surprise. Then, a smirk curled his lips, lifting the corners of his mouth.

"Well done, Little Rose," Vex murmured, a note of sincere respect coloring his tone. "I’m impressed."

"So you admit it?" Ren asked, keeping her gaze locked on him.

Vex chuckled. "How can you ever be sure when I am telling the truth? I could say yes, I remember, and it could still be a lie. It might just be the words you want to hear to soothe your own confusion. Truth is a very flexible concept."

"Stop spinning in circles," Ren demanded, refusing to play his verbal chess match. She offered the bargain again, her voice steady. "Tell me the truth, and I will make it worth your while. I promise."

Vex was certainly curious. He drummed his sharp claws against the wooden paddle, weighing the options. He decided he would entertain her.

"Very well," Vex conceded, his tone dropping its usual playful lilt, becoming slightly more serious. "I remember the cavern. Falling down a waterfall, the bright, beautiful sky. But..."

He looked out into the dense fog, recalling what happened next.

"I lost consciousness shortly after we plunged into the water. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the dungeon, feeling dreadfully lightheaded. My skull felt as though it had been stuffed with wet wool."

He tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "I can only guess that either the air or the water in that cavern possesses a natural, potent sedative. It induces sleep almost instantly. And I would also guess that whoever lives down there does not want outsiders intruding on their territory."

Ren leaned forward, gripping the wooden edge of the boat. The image of the bright, beautiful sanctuary was burned into her mind. "But do you know what that place actually is? How could it have bright sunshine down there during the middle of the night?"

Vex’s ears twitched. He looked at the twisting, skeletal trees of the swamp, his orange eyes reflecting the pale moonlight. "That place was new to me as well. I have traveled to a lot of places, but I had never seen a cavern like that. Though... I might have heard of it."

Ren held her breath, waiting for the lore drop.

"I am not certain," Vex cautioned, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper that barely carried over the gurgling swamp water, "but a long time ago, I heard about a place called Nirvana. A paradise hidden on the other side of this world, where there is apparently no darkness and no evil."

"According to the tales, only the pure of heart, those chosen specifically by the moon goddess, can ever enter it. Within Nirvana, beasts do not have to worry about the feral madness. The curse cannot touch them there."

Ren processed this. A sanctuary from the feral madness. A place untouched by the nightmare that plagued the world above.

"I always thought it was a ridiculous myth," Vex admitted, waving a dismissive hand. "And frankly, I still think it is a myth. That cavern under the swamp could just as easily be the Garden of Death, a deceptive trap where everything tries to kill you, even the air itself."

"It can’t be the Garden of Death," Ren argued, shaking her head adamantly. "The air didn’t try to kill us."

Vex shrugged, not caring enough to waste his breath on the argument. "Believe whatever you want, Little Rose."

However....

’If that place really was Nirvana,’ Vex mused, ’it makes perfect sense for the entrance to be beneath Syris’s castle. The Snake King is one of the strongest beast kings in existence, and he does not take kindly to intruders. What better guard dog for a sacred paradise?’

It was a brilliant setup. Furthermore, Vex knew he hadn’t magically levitated himself out of that cavern. Someone had brought them back up into the Onyx Palace. That meant someone lived down there. Someone skilled enough to even avoid Syris’ guards.

Vex was very curious, his mind was buzzing with the thrill of a new mystery. But he was also a pragmatist. He didn’t think it was worth risking going back into Syris’s Onyx Palace to investigate. Not when he could really die the next time he slips up and has a cub to play with.

"Now," Vex said, pulling his attention back to the red-haired woman sitting across from him. He smiled, an expectant expression returning to his face. "I have laid my cards on the table. What is this super interesting thing you are going to tell me in return?"

Ren sat back, racking her brain. There was a lot she had found out in the past few hours.

But looking at Vex, a sliver of doubt crept into her mind. The old Japanese woman had warned her of an evil fox yokai who had caused the feral madness.

Was Vex that evil fox? He was a Shaman, a trickster, and he was really obsessed with the feral madness stuff. She couldn’t trust him. She still had her concerns that he was the villain the old woman was talking about in her memories.

But a deal was a deal, and she needed to give him something massive to fulfill her end of the bargain.

She took a deep breath, locking eyes with the smug fox.

"I think Uriel and Selestia live down there," Ren said flatly.

For Ren, his reaction was...unexpected.

Vex’s eyes went impossibly wide. His jaw slackened, the suave, composed facade of the great Fox Shaman shattering into a million pieces in a single second.

His grip on the wooden paddle went slack.

Slip.

The long wooden oar slid right out of his hands, hitting the side of the boat with a dull thud before plunging directly into the dark, murky waters of the swamp. It sank beneath the bubbling sludge, swallowed by the depths.

"Hey!" Ren shot up in alarm, the small boat rocking wildly beneath her feet. She lunged forward, leaning over the wooden edge and grasping frantically at the black water, trying to catch the paddle.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ren scolded, slapping the water in panic as the paddle disappeared from sight. "You dropped the paddle! How are we going to move without the paddle?!"

She turned to scold him, terrified of being stuck in the middle of a monster-infested swamp in the dead of night, but the words died in her throat.

Vex wasn’t paying attention to the lost paddle. He stared at her, the stun glaringly obvious on his face. He looked like a beastman who had just seen a ghost walk out of the mist.

"You’ve seen Selestia?"