Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Eighty-six

With fear for his future increasing with every step, Mitchell led a snake and a tiger into a scorpion's den. It was a unique feeling, fear. He didn't like it much and he wondered how beasts survived each day with this feeling. He feared death now, he feared pain and lastly, he feared losing Bailey. He'd only known the female for a few days and had decided to keep her on a whim; but now that he could feel, he looked back on those few days with a mixture of greed and regret. He should have spent more time with her. Should have treated her more gently. Should have shown her that he was more than just some brute. But before this moment, was he? No. He had been a brute and now these annoying things called feelings were making him feel terrible.

"You'd better be right about your father's strength." Said a voice in his head that wasn't his own. "If you lead them to her and your dear papa dies, we'll never see a strand of her sunset hair again. I told you to be more gentle. I thought she might cry and try to get away from your massive form. I hadn't expected her to be so willing when she knew it was me. Who knew she would miss me so much that she would allow me to hold her again? But then you almost screwed it all up by being too rough! I told you she was originally timid. If you're not dead by tomorrow, you have to be kinder if you want her to love you. After all I did to convince her no other male wanted her, she moves on before I'm even cold and gets five other males! This is our chance to put things back the way they should be!"

"Shut up." Mumbled the scorpion. The fox in his head didn't understand the gravity of the situation. He had probably never met a penta-marked beast in his life. Had he not felt the pressure earlier? Did he not get that no matter what Mitchell did, he would soon be joining the fox as nothing more than a lump of rock? Taking her males to her father and hoping Zachary could help them was the only thing he could think of. And if it was his father was that got killed? What then? Well, then he'd just have to die knowing she would be safe.

"Do you talk to yourself a lot, insect? Or were you speaking to me." Hissed a snake whose large body overshadowed Mitchell's dark one.

The scorpion just grimaced without answering. They were close now to the place where his father stood sentry over his mother's body. The old man hardly ever moved but he doubted if Zachary didn't know which way the ants traveled beneath this sand. He had eyes and ears everywhere and was able to control those lower in power. He probably already knew of his son's predicament and would not waste time later telling him how stupid he was.

In front of him he saw the massive limestone wall that would dissolve at his touch and behind that, his only hope. Mitchel lifted a claw and swiped it across the stone and just as the wall became permeable, he was brutally shoved into the still solid stone wall on his left.

The minute the wall had changed, he'd sensed it. A being as old and as powerful as himself lay in wait. The damn Scorpion King had led them into a trap but what he didn't realize was that Lance was well acquainted with this scent.

Lance shoved the scorpion aside and walked through the sand. Winston and Mitchell followed him. Inside was a massive room with only a simple throne at the far end. Sitting there was a beast he had never expected to see again.

Lance ran a hand through his long dark green hair with a frown plain on his face, "Zachariah. I should have known this city of neglect was yours."

St. Zachary stood from his throne and walked toward the group in disbelief. "Lancel? Is that you? Didn't you leave the continent?"

"It's the same out there as it is here, only smaller." He waved dismissively at the question. "Anyway, I didn't come here to greet you, old friend. You have something of mine. Give me my mate back and we'll leave your city in peace."

The scorpion scoffed, "Peace? Nothing about you was ever peaceful, Lancel. You left destruction everywhere you traveled. Besides, I need your female to heal mine first."

Lance gritted his teeth, causing the muscle in his jaw to twitch. "I've grown old, as have you Zachariah. Had I continued to fail to adapt as you have, the whole continent would be as barren as your desert. And from what I'd heard, your female died decades ago. Bailey is a competent healer but a soul once lost cannot be reclaimed. She is of no use to you. Now give her back."

"DO NOT LIE TO ME!" The scorpion raged, shifting into his massive, armored form and swiping his stinger from wall to wall causing dust and debris to fall. Mitchell and Winston moved back trying to avoid the falling stone. "I have spent the last thirty years searching for her soul stone. If your fox can cure her body, I would spend another three hundred just so I can give her back her soul!"

"Is that why you convince the rootless and the desperate to mine your tunnels? So you can find your mate's soul stone? You've gone mad." Lance shook his head, "You should let her rest in peace you blind fool. Only dying yourself would bring you closer to being with her again. I can give you that. It will be my last gift to you."

Lance shifted into his full snake form. He rose just as tall as the scorpion and as the two goliaths faced each other, Mitchell made his way to the cold cellar where he knew Bailey was being kept. Winston, noticing the shifty movements of the Scorpion King despite the large distractions in the room, followed him.

As they got closer to the wall behind the throne, a large stinger that was knocked away by a scaled tail crashed into the wall between the tiger and Mitchell. Rocks flew like shrapnel and scraped across the tiger's skin, causing countless lacerations. He had to pounce backwards to avoid the worst of it and when he looked to find Mitchell again, the feral was gone.

Then it was all Winston could do to avoid being crushed as ancient beasts tried to destroy each other in a limited space.