Ari (Child of the Beastman Goddess)

A few more glides through the air and we were halfway from our destination when it started to rain hard accompanied by a strong wind.

We had to stop and sought shelter in a cave near the area to wait for the rain to stop because I cannot fly in such a weather that we almost got blown away by the wind due to the sudden change of the weather.

We were soaking wet, but luckily there are dry small branches, leaves and hard stones inside the cave so Dillon lit up a bonfire to warm us up and dry ourselves. We didn’t remove our clothes so we just sat down in front of the fire to dry ourselves patiently waiting for the rain to stop or lessen.

The rain did weaken a little, but it was already too dark and it would be hard for us to return to the tribe because the moon was still covered with thick clouds. It would be hard to see the way back since my eyes are not as sharp as a normal lion beastman at night because I wasn’t trained to function at night all thanks to my overprotective father unlike the male beastmen of our tribe.

Communication was also hard once we were in midair since the air pressure affects my sense of hearing. I am technically deaf in midair when flying too fast so asking Dillon to be my eyes will be hard unless I can grab him closer to me.

Dillon also seemed to look pale while shivering even in front of the fire.

“Are you alright?” I asked worriedly as I looked at his pale face while sitting at a distance.

His lips were starting to turn purple and his scent was getting weaker as if a poison got into his system.

“I-I think my l-legs and h-hands g-got numb a-and I f-feel c-cold.” He stuttered while shivering from the cold.

“Let me check the bruises on your body.” I suddenly uttered in worry, forgetting my condition.

I started to check his hands, his face, his eyes, his mouth, his arms, his body and his legs.

I didn’t bring any medical supplies with me so we could only have his wounds treated once we got back to the tribe.

When I checked his leg despite my trembling hands and panicking heart, I saw some scratches on his legs that turned to purple and saw a few thorns stuck to his skin.

I removed the thorns one at a time without using any tools since the thorns are big enough to be removed by hand.

I heated Dillon’s bone knife, then cut the wounds open to make it bleed more and let some of the poison flow out with the blood. I saw a concave shaped rock in the cave, then ran outside to find water to clean the blood. There was a river near the cave so I went there to fetch some clean water.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

The thorns I removed were thorns from a poisonous plant named the ‘bliss of abyss’.

It doesn’t take effect instantly, but once the poison enters your bloodstream, you will experience symptoms that are similar to hypothermia. You will feel cold and start to feel numb, starting with the tips of your fingers and toes till your arms and legs get numb.

If an antidote was not taken, once the numbness reached the chest, you will feel breathless and fall unconscious. Most hatchlings, cubs and younglings can’t get over at this stage, making their hearts suddenly stop as soon as they fall unconscious. There are also cases of adult males who are unable to pass through this stage depending on how much poison they received.

If the patient survived that stage for a few hours and maintained their heartbeat, their temperature would gradually rise to the point of having a high fever causing the patient to hallucinate.

Dillon was slowly losing his consciousness, but I was still trembling while arguing to myself that I should do what I must do as the only apprentice of elder healer Lony.

The poison in Dillon’s body was quite strong since his condition didn’t subside despite lying near the fire.

If the poison was weak, it would be sufficient to just lay the patient near the fireplace to keep him warm till he regains consciousness and have him sweat up once his temperature rises.

Unfortunately, we do not have any dry blanket and it will also be hard to find some more dry leaves since it rained hard and we already burned the leaves inside the cave just to light a fire.

I laid his head on my bag as he suddenly lost consciousness. I removed my shawl and laid it on a rock near the fire to fully dry it so that I can use it as a blanket for Dillon later.

His breath was starting to grow weaker and I was afraid that his heartbeat may start to stop at this moment.

I was also afraid of seeing people dying in front of me. It was the effect of my father’s death on my previous life.

The regret I felt for not trying harder to control my condition, making it harder for me and my father to bond like a normal father and daughter.

The sorrow I felt whenever I thought of his overwhelming smile as tears fell from his eyes the moment I was finally able to touch and cling to his hand.

It was the same feeling I felt when I saw the terrifying image of my brothers who died due to dengue and the boar attack incident.

“H-Hey! D-Dillon! W-Wake up! I t-thought you w-will still m-marry t-the youngling y-you are e-eyeing w-when she b-becomes an adult? H-How c-could you l-lay down there k-knocking at the d-deaths door?!” I stuttered as I was trembling due to anxiety and panic.

Dillon and I never had any proper conversations even when we were young because he was always surrounded by his friends, brothers, sister, cousin and Lindie.

I may have felt attracted to him before and used to have a crush on him because of his looks and his soothing aroma. The scent of mint that cradles me every time he’s near.

The day I heard that the elders were talking about the possibility of him being married to Lindie was also the day I drew a line with my feelings towards him. I was still young back then, but I was already used to having my emotions crushed due to my inability to have any skin contact with males so I thought it wasn’t a big deal.

The situation was getting worse as Dillon suddenly stopped breathing.

I briefly froze as I suddenly felt an urge to save his life. I can’t let a patient die in front of me because of my illness.