When everyone was silent, a bird-human lady came in, flying. "My lady, we've got a problem." She addressed her leader while she knelt. Her wings were white without any spots like snow, while her bird legs were orange-pink.
"What is it?" Cora answered with her smile gone.
"It's Niko." She answered while kneeling and eyeing Iris. "Her venom is something that we never encountered before. We have no antidote."
"Can you make the antidote?" Cora looked at the girl behind her brother kindly but all with seriousness. She wasn't at all fazed by the situation.
Iris looked at her brother, gripping his shirt. "I've never made an antidote. I don't know if I can." She answered but, she didn't look at Cora's eyes.
"Every person can make their antidote to their own venom. And your father can teach you that." The head of Kan'nazuki spoke as she kept her teacup down. "Right now, I want you to save one of my people."
Iris looked at her father and her family. She had not stung anyone in her life until him. Ever since she knew she was a jellyfish shifter and was, specifically, a box jellyfish, she had been careful with her venom as it was deadly. She had never encountered anyone trying to hurt her family, so she hadn't had a chance to use her venom on someone. But now she did sting someone, and she was worried about him. She knew that he did not intend to hurt her mother as they were joking.
One thing she found weird was that her venom could kill within three minutes after being stung. An animal box jellyfish can kill within two minutes, but her venom worked a little slower than it. And she had stung the person in the forest meaning, it had already been seven to eight minutes. He was supposed to be dead by now but, he wasn't. Maybe because she was not a real box jellyfish, or because she was not shifted or, because he was a shifter too.
"I think I can try but, the hope is little." Iris answered as she came out of her brother's behind and went to her father.
"Thank you." Cora told Iris and looked at the bird lady in front of her, still kneeling. "Where is he?"
"He is with doctor Ronald, my lady."
"Thank you, Myra. You may leave." As soon as Cora told her, Myra flapped her elegant wings went off. "Now, we'll you come with me?" Cora asked the young girl.
Iris only nodded.
"Great." Cora smiled as she shifted again. This time, she didn't spread her tail before. But instead spread her wings. The top part was orange, the middle was dark brown with some shades of green, the lower part was white with some black spots, and the last part was the lower part gradually becoming light green in colour.
"Why are you a male peacock?" Castor voiced out his thought by looking at the head of Kan'nazuki in her bird-human form. He had been wondering ever since she shifted in front of them a little while ago. Wasn't a peahen supposed to be browner in colour? That is what he thought when he looked at her spreading her tail.
"Because I'm the head." Cora answered him but, Jin looked confused by this answer. "Just kidding. I don't know. It used to be browner in colour but when I became a head, it started to change. But I am still a female and, it didn't do anything besides changing the appearance more colourful. I don't mind it though." She told him honestly. "Anyway, Iris, come and sit on top of me. Lake, I will carry you. and you," She looked at Castor. "Do you want to join us?"
"Yes." Castor answered her immediately and, she let him be on her back.
"I will be back. You are welcome to roam around." Cora answered before she flew away from the treehouse with three shifters.
Iris and Jin were on her back while their father was carried by her legs. Lake was enjoying the view, the air, the wind... it was a magnificent feeling. Also, the two siblings were enjoying the flight as this was their first time flying, not counting the previous one. Even with their powers, they could not fly and, it was a fun, new experience for them.
Cora was taking them to the treehouse near the river that Alek spotted earlier by her former flight. The flight took some minutes before she safely landed in a similar house like before.
The house had its walls windows with one big entrance. But this one didn't have sofas and tables. It had beds like in a hospital and medicine drawers like those in a laboratory. Cora had shifted back in her human form as she told them to follow her.
This house was big, compared to where they were previously. Iris began to get nervous but, her big brother comforted her with a smile and holding her hands. Their father walked beside Cora and was talking, but the children could not hear it.
After walking for a few minutes, they spotted a familiar figure standing next to a bed with a person with it. It was the woman called Myra, the white bird-human. She was not in her part-bird form and was fully human as they approached her. Myra did not seem to notice their presence until they talked to her.
"How is he?" Cora asked her softly.
"He is having difficulty breathing, nausea and worsening of rashes on his back where he was stung." Myra answered her ruler.
"Iris?" Cora called Iris by her side. "Lake, can you do it?"
Lake nodded and stood beside his daughter. "Now, my child. I need you to concentrate. Think about your jellyfish. Think about what went through you when you stung him. How the venom flowed through your body to his body." Lake told Iris like he was casting her a spell.
Iris ad closed her eyes for concentration but, her mind was in chaos. She didn't know what she felt when she stung a man. It was instinct. And some of her memories were lost from shock and panic. "Dad, I don't think I can do this." Iris told her father while struggling to remember the feeling.
"Iris, I know you can do it." Lake told Iris as he held her shoulder warmly. She was the only one who could the antidote for her own venom.
"Dad, I don't think so." Iris spoke with a shaky voice. The more she thought about it, the less memory and feeling she had of that moment.
"Iris-" Lake saw how his daughter was panicking and was trying to calm her down.
"Ugh!" Jin screamed from next to his sister and crouched down.
Iris's was building up and, she accidentally stung her brother. Iris didn't know she had been holding her brother's hand the whole time. His scream brought out her from whatever trance she was in and looked at her brother crouching on the floor while holding his hand tightly.
His hand, where Iris had stung him, was red, and it was spreading wide and fast. She didn't know what to do anymore. Her brain had stopped working and, all she could do was to look at what she had done to her brother.
Iris was on verge of breaking down if it wasn't for her father to bring seawater and applying it on her face. He asked Cora if there was any seawater in this place when Iris couldn't bring her memory. Good thing they kept seawater in one of the medicine drawers and brought it in time.
The moment the seawater was applied to her skin, Iris was able to come back.
"Iris, look at me." Lake held his daughter's face in his hands and made her look at him in his eyes. "I know you can do it."
Tears started to pull in her eyes before turning to look at her brother on the ground, sweating from the pain. She held his face in her tiny hands and concentrated. But whenever she felt like she could do it, his groan made her snap out and, she was brought to the beginning.
Iris's breathing became heavier minute by minute until she was having difficulty breathing. Her lungs were in pain, the back of her eyes was in pain and, she felt like she was dying seeing her brother like this.
Once again, Lake held his daughter's face in his hands and told her. "I know you can do it. You are the only one who can save him."
Iris stared blankly before putting back her gaze towards her brother. Castor's breathing had become shallow and ragged. His eyes were closed but, he opened them forcefully and looked at his sad baby sister. He hated to see his sister sad.
"Don't cry." He said as he saw a tear rolling down her cheek. Iris felt helpless. He was her loving brother who had been with her all her life and now she was taking away his life. "You can still save me." Jin told Iris as he closed his eyes with exhaustion. His breathing had become more shallow and it was hardly audible.
Iris concentrated with a determination to not let her brother die. He was one of the people that she cared for and loved deeply. She closed her eyes but her tears continued to flow.
She concentrated on the moment when she opened her eyes and saw her brother on the ground. She had remembered what his hand felt like before she stung him. It was comfort and warmth. She was not going to let that go.
Then from where her hands were in contact with her brother's face, white light emitted.