Beastmen Love-Chapter 200: Living Without Her

Astri’s Pegasus form can’t pass the front door. If she can’t pass through the front door, she won’t pass the door to their bedroom. So, she’s taken to the covered area where they keep the firewood. The guards opened the space for her to stay, and then Zin and Beau put the master bed, which all of them shared in the master bedroom, to try to keep her in a comfortable place.

Galion orders the guards to fix the walls and keep the usual patrols. What was worrying Shung the most was convincing their people that Astri didn’t die. It’s of everyone’s knowledge that her spouses are the strongest beastmen that exist, and they believe that even if something happened to Astri, they would survive the backlash.

Xzan, Dante, and Shung went to talk to their people and tell them what happened, and it was hard to stop the people from getting sad or panicked.

"Will Nature’s Shield keep on working?" A male asks them.

"We’re not sure.. We know she’s not dead. Her spouses still have their spousal marks." Xzan answers.

"How do we know you’re not lying?"

"Why would I lie about her?! Do you think it’s being easy on us?! I’m doing what she would like me to do. To trust you and tell you the truth!" Xzan angrily answers, making the male mute.

"She’s alive... She’s alive! She said that our medals will always have this color as long as she’s alive. Its color didn’t change it!" A male who fought in the tournament says that after he checked the medal Astri gave him, he showed it to everyone.

Everyone remembers that she said that, but they’re left in doubt about whether to believe or not. The males of the tournament believe she’s alive and that she will be back.

After several days, Kangki and Claud still didn’t find a single clue about where she is. Making them even more desperate.

"We need to think about another solution. If you’re not finding her, it’s because she might still be here, just weak." Zin says, looking at the Pegasus still lying as she was peacefully sleeping on the bed.

"I remember that when she fell into the river, before meeting Zin, I couldn’t sense her consciousness entirely. I could feel that her soul was there, but I couldn’t find it. But when I called for her, she woke up. I’m trying to do the same, calling for her in her mind, but she doesn’t respond." Claud softly says.

Claud and Kangki are clearly tired. They’re using all of their energy to find her. They barely sleep or eat. All of them are trying to eat properly, because they’re sad. They just kept cooking because of the children.

Luckily, Ana was breastfeeding her last litter. Dieg asked her to give Aurora milk, and she accepted it. They take cups and cups from her every day, and during the night, they warm them. It’s not easy, but at least Aurora is still healthy.

"I believe that she’s somewhere. We’re not finding her because her soul is not complete and we don’t know how it feels like today." Kangki says, passing his hand on her neck, trying to find a solution.

"What should we do? I want her back.." Koa asks, cracking his voice and trying to hold his tears.

"All of us want her back. We need to do something. I can’t just stay sitting here." Tyr says.

Claud sighs, rubbing his eyes.

"We need to start to look after her as anyone would do, then. If she’s out there like how it happened with Dieg, she will look the same as we know. I’ll go talk to Queen Deanora, ask her to send search parties through the oceans and search in the tribes, but not spreading the word of what happened, because evil might want to get stronger after knowing Astri is missing. I’ll ask King Bono to send search parties, too, on his continent. And we will send here." Claud says.

"That will take too long!" Dieg says.

"Do you have a better idea?"

They fall silent, having no answer for that.

"But we need to act smart. We can’t leave all at once or together. We need to take care of the children and our home. Protect her here, too. We will send parties, we can shift parties, and Kangki and I will make portals for us to go to places to look after her. But we can’t stay away long. All of us are missing her. All of us are in pain. All of us have duties, and all of us have the right to do something. The children are scared, in pain, and have nothing to hold on to, and we cannot ask only Skalven or Fraz to take care of them. We need to be strong for them, too. Astri had the vision of how she should raise her children, and we must continue with her work. That’s what she would want us to do." Claud says.

They nod, agreeing. Hearing Claud say that made them remember why he was chosen to be their leader. All of them are grieving, including Claud, but he can be more rational than others. He knows that it might take a long time to find her, so he needs to think about how to make everything work together and doesn’t keep filling holes throughout the process.

Claud is only fulfilling his promise to Astri that he would take care of the children in case anything happens. It doesn’t remove the fact that it hurts to know that something actually happened.

Claud rests, or tries to, because while he bathed, the tears didn’t stop from falling. They widened a window and the bedroom door to pass Astri’s Pegasus body. Finally, the children could sleep next to their mother. Skalven, Dante, and Xzan got their beds inside to stay with everyone. They might not be her spouses officially, but she accepted them before Baal appeared.

On the next day, Claud meditates and goes to find Bono. Bono was sitting next to Astri’s statue, looking at her with a worried face. Caris and Carist are walking from one side to the other, anxious and also worried about Astri.

"Hello, Bono. Caris and Carist." They hear in their minds.

They look at each other, confused.

"Claud? Is that you?" Caris asks.

"Yes. It is me." freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"Claud. Where is Astri? We’ve been trying to talk to her for days, and she doesn’t answer us." Bono asks, standing up.

Claud tells what happened to Astri, and the three of them are shocked, trying to absorb what Claud says.

"You’re saying you failed to protect her again?!" Carist roars, so angry he wants to shift and destroy half of the world.

"Even if you were here, you wouldn’t be capable of doing anything. Baal was too strong, and he came to kill us to weaken Astri. Astri would never let him take any of her spouses. Galion shifted to his dragon form, and it was useless. You can get angry all you want, but it won’t help anything. Now, if you want to help, listen to my request." Claud says.

They try to breathe more calmly to listen to Claud.

"If Astri went anywhere in this world, she would probably have the same appearance. She will have memories of who she is and who she met. Send search parties in all directions to try to find her. I’ll ask the same in Aquaterra, they can have a wider search because they can travel the oceans and they know more people around the world. Look after her with us. But don’t expose what happened to her, people might take the opportunity to attack, thinking we don’t have her anymore." Claud says.

"All right... But I want to see her first. I want to make sure she’s fine and protected there." Bono says.

Claud sighs. After some moments in silence, Bono, Caris, and Carist thought Claud had left them talking alone. But a portal appears in front of them, showing Astri’s castle on the other side.

They slowly jumped to the other side. It was morning, all the leaders and Astri’s spouses were there discussing the first search parties and their directions. Kangki and Claud closed the portal. Shung, Yank, Xzan, and Dante were impressed with Bono, Caris, and Carist’s sizes.

"Where is she?" Bono asks.

In the Dinosaur Kingdom was late at night, and now it is morning at the Beast Kingdom, but Bono, Caris, and Carist didn’t even pay attention to that. They simply followed Claud to see Astri lying as she was sleeping soundly on her bed, but in her beast form.

They look at her in awe. They never saw her in Pegasus form. Caris and Carist are trembling, holding their tears, but they’re also concentrated on not destroying everything. Bono sighs, sad, watching her calm and asleep face. They kneel next to her and touch her face and neck, like they want to see if it’s true that she won’t wake up.

Claud could watch their minds becoming angrier and frustrated, as he imagined they would. Especially Carist, who has a more explosive personality.

"Even you two wouldn’t stand a chance against Baal. I know you want to find someone to blame, but it’s useless. If she were in your Kingdom, it would be worse. Here we have Nature’s Shield on our walls and prevent any Monster from coming inside, so only he came inside." Claud explains.

"If no Monster can come inside, how did he come inside, then?!" Carist asks.

"Baal is not a Monster. He’s the Evil itself. The shield can’t repeal him because Evil can take its form anywhere. Even if people grew better and harmonious, evil is something natural to exist in anyone’s heart." Claud answers.

"Why are you sure that he’s not coming back to her?" Bono asks, passing his hand on her face.

"She said he can’t kill her. Neither can she kill him entirely. They broke each other. The difference is that he won’t be capable of having a form again, and she will be fine... At least it was what Astri said before she... You know." Claud answers and sighs. "Will you help us or not? I still need to ask Queen Deanora’s help. The Queen of Aquaterra. And also the King of Beasts here." Claud says.

"Of course, we will help." Caris answers.

They heard the door opening, and it was the children coming inside. The boys run to Caris and Carist, and hug them somehow. Yuki hugs Bono, comforting each other.

"It’s going to be all right, little one. We will do everything to find your mother." Bono says to Yuki, trying to clean her tears.

Yuki nods in response.

"We won’t stop until we find her." Caris says to the boys.

"It’s a promise. And you take care of her here." Carist says.

The boys nod, too.

"Take care of each other. Help Albus and Aurora never forget their natural love for their mother, too." Caris says.

The nod again, cleaning their tears and remembering that they need to be strong and stop crying all the time. They can’t be depressed, they need to help each other.