TRIGGER WARNING
Lyra's eyes greeted darkness as soon as she opened her eyes, her mouth was covered with duct tape preventing her from making any sound, she tried to move her hands but soon realized that they were bound with a rope, she panicked and started struggling to break free from it, but it felt like her body was devoid of any strength. After some time the door to the room she was in opened and a tall burly man entered inside "You are finally awake kid" then he roughly removed the tape from her mouth.
Lyra's eyes watered as she spoke in her baby voice "Wh-who are you?"
The man smiled eerily and patted her head "There-there pretty doll don't get scared, I will not harm you"
Lyra shrunk back in her place "I want to see my mama and papa, please take me to them"
The man narrowed his eyes "You are staying here from now on" then he put the duct tape back on her mouth and left the room.
After the man left he called one of his underlings "Take good care of that girl, we don't want our product to be damaged before selling it"
The man nodded his head and followed his boss. Inside Lyra's muffled cry filled the entire room, she was very scared, the man she met earlier looked like a bad guy that her father warned her about, she just wished that her father could come and save her from here.
After crying for a long time she was exhausted and fell asleep. Right at that moment, a commotion broke out of the room jolting her awake, police sirens with shoe steps were approaching her. The door was opened and the burly man that she met earlier strode towards her and picked her small body from the ground and hid inside a small compartment inside the room.
From a small gap outside the compartment, Lyra caught sight of her father with policemen, her eyes widened and she started struggling against the man, he glared and whispered at her "Stop struggling, or I will kill you"
Lyra choked on her tears as she watched her father leaving the room without finding her, she was helpless, Lyra wanted to scream at her father to not leave the room, but the man held her from doing any movements.
One of the policemen turned to her father "Mr. Clifford, I think that we received the wrong information about your daughter's whereabouts, we should search somewhere else"
Her father nodded his head and started walking towards the exit when he heard a metal clinking sound behind him, he turned around and saw the gemstone chain that his daughter always wore and widened his eyes, he bent down and picked it up "This is my daughter's chain, she always wore this on her neck"
The policemen became alert and started searching the room thoroughly, the kidnapper panicked inside the compartment, then took out a knife from his back pocket holding it near her neck "I will get caught anyway, It is better to kill you off"
As he drew the knife nearer to her neck, the same pendant in her neck clasped the knife preventing it from moving. One of the policemen barged inside the compartment and shot the kidnapper on his shoulder making him let go of Lyra. Her father rushed towards her and held her unconscious body and hugged her "My poor baby, Forgive me for coming so late"
Then he took her outside the building and raised his brows in surprise when he saw that she had her sapphire pendant on her neck, then he searched his jacket for it and was baffled for not finding it. He frowned because he remembered picking it up earlier from the ground, then Lyra stirred in her sleep stopping his train of thoughts.
He took her to the hospital to get her minor injuries treated, her mother ran inside the hospital ward weeping "My baby!"
Lyra slowly opened her eyes and blinked to get adjusted to the light, then as she glanced at her surroundings, the familiar stone ceiling greeted her, She held her forehead, Lyra was confused as to why she dreamt about her childhood kidnapping after so many years, but more than that, she now started missing her parents.
Then she felt something slithering on her hand and opened the blanket to reveal the green snake eyes staring at her, Lyra's heart warmed up looking at her baby "Are you trying to console mama?"
The little snake just hissed and rested its head on her palm, Lyra smiled faintly and caressed his head.
.
.
.
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Back near the ocean, the mermaid king repeated his words "When the five treasures embrace the sapphire will the blood eclipse arrive"
Lucas frowned "What does that even mean?"
Victor tapped his fingers "Five treasures? sapphire? It is very confusing, I can't decipher"
Blake looked at the mermaid king "Do you know what it implies?"
The mermaid king shook his head "I'm not that knowledgeable in that, I think we should find a sage to decipher it" then he glanced at all three of them "But I'm sure that, it is something related to Lyra"
Victor groaned in frustration "Did Gregory say anything else other than this?"
The mermaid king thought about and widened his eyes "Yes, there was also another prophecy which implied that the owner of sapphire will have to mend the broken hearts of powerful one and prevent them from their tragedy which may lead to the destruction of the beast world"
He continued after a short pause "Gregory deciphered it to a long time ago and I understood that Lyra who is the new master of sapphire has to do it"
Blake narrowed his eyes "How does that relate to Lilly?"
The mermaid king pursed his lips "It does, it means that she has to mend you guys to prevent a disaster"
Victor blinked his eyes "Mend us? How does it even prevent a disaster?"
The mermaid king smirked at them "Can you both remember how many days has it been since you experienced intense blood lust? Being an immortal beastmen, you guys know that it is very hard to control" then he observed both of them "I heard that snake king would go into killing freak every fifteen days and Vulture king is worst, I heard that you would kill anyone near you"
Blake and Victor frowned, it was indeed true that immortal beastmen frequently lost control of their powers. Sometimes the blood lust was so uncontrollable making them lose their minds, which is also the reason why they almost stayed in seclusion.
The mermaid king chuckled looking at their gloomy face "Can you tell me how many beastmen you both killed recently without any reason?"
Blake sighed "None, I have not felt my blood lust in months now"
Victor clicked his tongue "Same, I have also not killed anyone from fifteen days" he held his forehead "I thought something was wrong with me when I decided to interrogate that fish instead of killing him"
The mermaid king smiled faintly "See, being near Lyra made you both more rational and forgiving, now you understand that not all things are solved by killing"
Blake chuckled with a foolish grin "My Lilly is something else"
Victor smiled and shook his head "Ah! my love saved this stupid world from my hands"
Lucas's brows drew together "Then why did Ly's mother get kidnapped by her father and she had to go through all that trouble with other powerful beastmen like Gregory?"
"Because she was a scardey cat" Olivia deadpanned gaining everyone's attention
She glanced at them and continued "My dear friend didn't have the guts to rebuke her mates, she was too soft for her good. I always scolded her be more firm in her decisions, I was getting scared of Theo's obsession with her, now that I know the truth about Gregory, I think that she accepted to declare him, as her mate because she pitied him"
The mermaid king nodded his head in agreement "Iria was indeed like that, but her daughter is opposite of her. Earlier she didn't even care that she was standing in front of two immortal beastmen and berated them for thier behavior, that child is indeed brave.
Victor frowned "My love didn't scold me, she just advised me not to get hurt in the future"
The mermaid king rolled his eyes and grumbled "Whatever helps you sleep at night"
Then he turned towards Blake "What should we do now? Gregory is currently holding Iria as a hostage, we should save her from him"
Blake squinted his eyes "Where is Theodore now?"
"I heard that he is currently on the peak of Perseus mountain, no ordinary beastmen can reach there because it is filled with dangerous beasts. He went into seclusion after Iria's incident" the king replied
Blake sighed "We should bring him out, he should learn about his mate's situation"
Olivia shuddered "It is dangerous, he will go hysteric if he learns about the truth, can't we solve it ourselves?"
Victor raised his brows "Are you saying that we should keep him in dark? Isn't it unfair to him? He lost his mate and daughter in just a day, I can't even imagine the pain he must have felt"
Lucas frowned "But can we truly believe him in not turning against Ly?"
Olivia smiled faintly "He loved her so much, until this day he is forcing himself to continue living for her sake, he is waiting for his daughter to return to him"
Lucas nodded his head "But who will go to Perseus mountain now?"
Blake's eyes turned into slits 'Sssss' he hissed calling a nearby snake "Go and inform Peter to come to me, he should be in front of me in fifteen minutes"
The snake took his order and slithered away, after some time a large bluish-colored snake slithered towards them and turned into a beastman with light bluish-black hair with black eyes "You called me my lord?"
Blake glanced at his trusted subordinate and opened his mouth "I have some task for you Peter"
Peter bowed his head "I'm listening my lord"
"I want you to go to Perseus mountain peak and relay the message saying that his daughter has returned to an immortal eagle beastman" He ordered
"I will fulfill this task my lord" Peter answered
Victor looked at the five-star snake beastman and spoke "Take a vulture beastman with you, it is difficult for any other beastmen to reach the peak"
Blake nodded his head "Do as he says"
Peter nodded his head in agreement and fidgeted to talk something, Blake chuckled at him "Just say it"
Peter smiled awkwardly "My lord, I heard from my men that young masters hatched out of the eggs"
Blake raised his brows "They did. Do you want to meet them?"
Peter beamed and nodded his head vigorously "I would love to meet them"
"Follow me" Blake replied and slithered towards the house.
In the house, Lyra was playing with her children when Blake entered the house "You woke up?"
Lyra reached towards him "I had a bad dream"
Blake frowned "Are you okay Lilly?"
"Hmm" she replied and hugged him, then she noticed another presence in the house and pulled back from Blake.
Blake noticed her curious eyes and answered her "He is Peter, my trusted subordinate"
Lyra smiled in return "Hello Peter"
Peter froze in his spot looking at the beautiful face in front of him, his mouth agape with awe, Blake narrowed his eyes and said irritably "Peter!"
Peter came out of a daze and replied cheerfully "Nice to meet you, my queen"
Lyra blushed because of his title for her and nodded her head. Blake glanced at Peter and spoke "Here are your young masters"
Peter followed his line of sight and looked at the ground, his eyes were twinkling "They look just like you my lord, I can't believe that you were once this small"
"Do you want to take one with you?" Blake asked
Peter widened his eyes "Can I?"
"I'm just joking" Blake replied chuckling
Peter pouted sadly and bent down to touch them, Blake warned him "Careful, they are hostile towards strangers"
Peter nodded his head and got up "I will leave now my lord" then he glanced at Lyra "You are very beautiful my queen" then without waiting he slithered out of the house.
Blake clenched his jaw "That bastard"
Lyra chuckled "You must like him a lot, I have never seen you treat someone so well other than me"
Blake smiled faintly "I saved him when he was still a snakeling from danger, from that day he would always follow around pestering me to let him stay with me, he is loyal to me"
Lyra rubbed his shoulders "I'm glad you had someone you trusted by your side in the past"
Blake turned towards her and pecked her lips "Lilly, I'm okay with you accepting Victor"
Lyra frowned "What is this all of a sudden?"
Blake shook his head "It is the right thing to do"
She caressed his face "Are you hiding something from me?"
Blake kissed her head "I'm doing this to keep you safe Lilly, please don't ask more questions, I promise that I will tell you everything one day"
Lyra pursed her lips and sighed "Okay, I will not ask anymore" she wanted to ask him, but if he was not ready to reveal now, then it was not in her personality to force him.