Chapter 96: The Loudest Bird Returns
"You lying, floating piece of—"
[(𓁹 𓁹)]
[Host, please focus on breathing—]
"DON’T TELL ME TO BREATHE!"
Tera was on all fours on a rinsed silk leaf, her body trembling, while sweat dripped down her face. Every muscle in her body was locked in a battle against the overwhelming pressure building in her lower half.
She had never felt pain like this in either of her lives.
Could she even feel her legs?
’THE FIFTH MONTH ISN’T EVEN FUCKING OVER! THIS IS EARLY! THE BABIES ARE PREMATURE!’
[Host, please calm down]
[The cubs are already mature]
[They are fully developed and ready for delivery!]
"HOW?! YOU SAID I HAD SIX MONTHS!"
[This system said between four and six months—]
"YOU SAID SIX! AFTER I ASKED YOU AGAIN, YOU SPECIFICALLY SAID SIX!"
[∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ?]
[This system may have... rounded up]
"ROUNDED UP?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN ROUNDED UP?!"
This thing hadn’t even given her an accurate date!
Another contraction ripped through her, and Tera’s fingers clawed into the silk leaf beneath her as a sound came out of her mouth that she didn’t know a human throat could produce.
The females around Tera were terrified.
Tera had been very scary since that morning, and they did not understand what she was screaming at, but they were disturbed nonetheless.
They had wanted to help with the delivery in the clan, but Tera had raged and demanded she have it near running water, and Xavi and Ermin had carried the shiftless female here while most of the males had been left behind to watch over the cubs.
Another scary sound came out of Tera again, and they flinched. It was somewhere between a war cry and a dying animal, and if there were still birds in the trees, the echoes would have been enough to disrupt them.
’HOW CAN YOU BE SO FUCKING USEFUL AND USELESS AT THE SAME TIME?!’
[(ᵕ ó ᴗ ò)]
[Perhaps Host should direct this energy toward the delivery process—]
"SHUT UP!"
Tera screamed, and the females looked panicked, turning their attention to Xavi and Ermin, who looked just as alarmed.
Tera’s body felt like it was splitting open, and this system was telling her utter rubbish!
[( ˶ó‸ò )]
[Host’s cervix is dilating on schedule]
[Everything is progressing normally!]
’NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS NORMAL! I AM GIVING BIRTH IN A FOREST NEXT TO A STREAM ON A LEAF!’
[Many females have delivered cubs in far less accommodating circumstances]
[Host has clean water, experienced females, and two mates who—]
"FUCK OFF—"
Tera’s words died down as another wave of pain swept through her body.
She was going to kill this system.
[Host has been screaming and transferring aggression to the females—]
’DIE!’
[( ˶°ㅁ°) !!]
[Host does not mean that!]
Xavi’s face had gone pale while Ermin stood rigid with his tail wrapped so tightly around his own leg that it nearly cut off his circulation.
The females were whispering instructions to the screaming Tera.
No one had ever seen a female cry and scream while giving birth. A few of the females had attributed this maniacal behaviour to the illness she’d had shortly before delivery, and the others felt she was in so much pain because she was shiftless.
All in all, no one ever knew a delivering female could be so angry and vicious.
"Why is she crying?" Xavi whispered to Yara, who was kneeling beside Tera. "Is something wrong? Is the cub stuck? Should I pull it out?"
"Do NOT touch anything!" Yara snapped without looking up.
"But she is in pain—"
"Let it come out first!"
Xavi looked helpless.
Every time Tera screamed, a fresh wave of panic rippled through Ermin.
"Should we—should we go to her?" he asked Xavi.
"The females said to stay back."
"But she is in pain."
"The females know what they are doing."
Ermin doubted that, but he took a step back.
Tera’s eyes shot to the male like a hawk. "Why are you standing so far away?!"
He straightened, alarmed that Tera was suddenly focused on him. "I am giving you space."
"I don’t want space! I want someone to HOLD MY HAND!"
Both males lunged forward at the same time and nearly collided. Xavi got there first, his massive hand swallowing hers entirely. Ermin grabbed the other one a second later.
Tera squeezed.
Both males made sounds that suggested they had significantly underestimated the grip strength of a woman in active labour.
Tera was suddenly, painfully aware of how she must look right now. She was sobbing and screaming and acting like a big baby. She was embarrassed by her own behaviour, and she would have been mortified if every nerve in her body wasn’t currently on fire.
But childbirth was HELL. What the actual fuck?!
How did the other females do this so quietly?! Were their pain receptors broken?! Did beast women just not have the same nerve endings?!
The females surrounding Tera patted her and kept their voices calm.
They coached her through each contraction while another female splashed water at Tera’s face.
Tera wanted to scream at that one, but another wave humbled her.
’Be nice... Be nice...’
"Push again," Yara urged. "I can see the head!"
"You can see what?!"
Tera’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with alarm. The thought of something actually emerging from her body was too much to process. She had been so focused on the pain that the reality of what was happening hadn’t fully registered until now.
’Holy shit...’
"Wait. I’m not ready! I changed my mind! I don’t want to do this anymore!"
Everyone ignored her.
[Host cannot return the cubs at this stage]
’GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU HEATHEN!’
[(╥ ᴗ ╥)]
"Push! The sooner you push, the sooner it is over!"
Tera pushed.
The world narrowed to a single point of pressure, fire and effort, and then suddenly, the pressure released.
For a moment, she felt an out-of-body experience, then there was silence for a few seconds, followed by muffled voices, and then a sharp, thin wail pierced the air.
It was the most beautiful and most irritating sound Tera had ever heard.
"It is out!" one of the females cried.
Tera collapsed forward, gasping. Her body was shaking, but the pressure was not over.
"The second one!" someone shouted.
The second one?
She pushed again, and this time it was faster. The pain was still blinding, but her body knew what to do now, and within moments, a second cry joined the first. Two tiny voices screamed in unison as if they were having a competition.
Worn out, Tera collapsed onto the silk leaf, her body limp. Her breathing was ragged as she closed her eyes.
"Tera..."
The voices around her were slipping away, and the last thought in her head before darkness pulled Tera under was that she would never have sex again.
[Not even this system believes that]