Regina darted towards the exit of the cave, allowing all the snakes to slither in tow. The gigantic snake was too big to move fast, and she used the extra time to knock down the snakes that slithered against the walls using a special ability of her crossbow that she had learnt as she practiced using it.
It had a small amount of magic like many other commonly used weapons, and did not require her to insert anything. She simply had to tug at the bow and aim, letting the bolts appeared on their own. Different crossbows could strike different kinds of bolts, such as hers which shot firebolts. Not to mention, she could shoot any desired amount of bolts at a time, swiftly attacking each wall.
She mass eliminated all the snakes along the walls using her crossbow as she jogged backwards and pulled out her Mascara bottle. Lengthening it, she used it to swing herself onto the head of the giant snake, landing on its head with her Machete's blade down as she tore its brains apart. The Raven flied to her instantly seeing that she had eliminated the biggest snake, took the Machete handle from Regina and flew away.
She shifted to cat form and proceeded to leave the cave triumphantly. However, the moment she shifted to her cat form, a searing pain burned across her neck and she instantly shifted back to human, pulling a small venomous snake off the back of her neck and tore it into two. Unknown to her as she check her back, a few more snakes had climbed up her back that instantly bit any of her exposed skin they accessed the moment she tugged at them. She tore them all off her neck and tore them apart.
She tried to gain her composure, but soon enough her vision got blurred and hazy as she fainted, lying limp across the hard cave ground. Last thing she knew, she had eliminated all the snakes but some smaller snakes had crept up her back from behind while she was occupied exterminating all the snakes in front of her as swiftly as she could.
She had been unable to think straight till she had torn apart the large snake's head, she couldn't be sure about how fast it could be... It seemed that it had also been injured in the process of the fight and hence was unable to slither towards her at full speed. It had continually hissed at her baring its large fangs and thick, long forked tongue.
Its mouth was bigger than she herself was in her human form, and she was unsure whether she would've survived if the snake hadn't already been injured by a stroke of luck, substantially decreasing its speed which allowed her to eliminate the other snakes. She felt overjoyed by how her father had handed her those weapons, without them she might've been in some serious trouble today... The test only increased her attachment towards him.
~~~
Regina fluttered her eyes open to find herself lying on her sofa. Quite sure she had last fainted in the cave, she wondered how she ended up inside her house. Alarmed, she jerked up, looking around hurriedly and felt two hands on her shoulders gently pushing her back down. She looked up as her eyes met Rex's emerald orbs.
" The snakes were quite small, they didn't spread the poison to any of your sensitive parts, so sucking the poison out was enough. Your wounds then healed quite fast after applying some medicine... "
" How did you know I was there? "
Rex smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.
" Ah.. about that... when you left without saying anything I shifted to a small climber and stuck to the side of your leg, inside your boots. "
Apparently he had waited at her back door when she had rushed to Victoria's room to change, and taken the moment she was about to shift to a cat to slide inside her boots. Regina did slightly feel like it was a breach of privacy, but she was the one who had allowed him to hangout anytime he wished with her in the first place, not to mention, Mr. T - Rex had saved her life!
She wasn't quite sure if the poison was deadly or not, so she simply assumed she would've died without his aid... She jumped off the sofa, and thanked him a lot.
" How can I ever repay you? "
Rex mischievously smirked, and said,
" Well, I do have a way in mind... "
Regina took him up the stairs and they both sat on her bed. She expectantly looked at him to continue with his sentence. Slightly blushing, he continued,
" Ah, y - you see... plant shifters are... c - cursed... "
~Am I about to be asked to help break some ancient curse?~
" The curse is that they have soulmates... and they are unable to feel romantically and se - sexually attracted to anyone other than their soulmate... "
" Isn't that more of a blessing though? "
" It would've been, but you see, most plant shifters die before they find that one soulmate! Whether they will ever find them or not depends almost entirely on luck... "
~Does he, perhaps, require my assistance in finding his soulmate?~
" Luckily for me though... "
He continued, blushing harder...
" I've found mine... and ever since my first day in this school... I've watched her grow with me... But you see, I've never really had the courage to talk to her till a few days ago when I was worried about her... If a plant shifters soulmate is a shifter, then the curse works both ways but if their soulmate is not then they might even be unable to truly win their heart even after finding them. "
" So is your soulmate a shifter? "
Regina asked, Rex laughed at her obliviousness and hummed in agreement... He then looked to his side as his face reddened and mumbled,
" .. and she's sitting right beside me... "
This time, it was she who blushed as he turned to a rose, too shy to remain in his human form any further. She had only known him for two days... he had watched her everyday since she was but a tiny, young girl. She continued to blush as she had some flashbacks... She finally understood why, unlike all the so called " perfect " men who had absolutely no effect on her... This green haired T - Rex guy had managed to give her butterflies the day she met him!
She always did prefer the shy, thin and submissive types over the muscular, dominating types... She loved the way he blushed and stuttered, how his sexy, deep and husky voice made him seem like he would be cold and domineering but he was really just an innocent overthinking sweetheart! She couldn't ignore her feelings for him any further now that he had revealed the curse to her, all her emotions seemed to overflow...
" So... does that mean we get stay together forever and neither of us will ever be attracted to another? "
Shifting back to human he nodded, looking ecstatic that she had now grasped the concept and he had gotten done with the hardest part, the confession! He had only said it indirectly though, he felt perhaps he should state it directly too.
He then bent on one knee in front of her, all kinds of beautiful red flowers appearing in his hands as he said,
" So what I mean to say.. is that.. ever since I saw you... I have loved you. I - I love you. "
Regina blushed harder, her fingers tingled as they brushed against his when she took the flowers from him. She wasn't quite sure what to do, so she hurried to her study table's vase in order to buy time to contemplate. Filling it up with some water, she stuffed all the flowers inside it and gazed at them in full bloom.
~It wouldn't be bad having someone to love... I won't even have to worry about him cheating on me or something... The curse's got me covered on all the disinterest, cheating, and uncaring drama... It's an absolute win - win situation, right? He can even continually spend all his time with me since no one lives with him anyway... He's also a huge help in everything related to the world of magic... I suppose it's time my cuddle-all-night-pillow got replaced!~
" Well... ummm... it wouldn't hurt to give it a try...! Its not like I'm gonna be attracted to anyone else, it would surely be dumb of me not to... "
For Rex, this reply was more than enough which was obvious by the huge smile adorning his face. She came near him, and sat beside him. Unlike every other previous time, this time she didn't maintain that half a meter distance and sat close enough for their hips to touch, the sensations making them both blush as Regina took his hand in hers intertwining their fingers and whispered,
" Stay with me tonight? "
Rex was quite sure he would've fainted right at that moment if he did not have his shifter abilities which made him much sturdier than a common human. Blinking his eyes in disbelief, he muttered,
" O - of course... my queen. "
With those two ending words, he gently squeezed her hands as she gave him a soft smile.
" Ah, you must be hungry... I made some sandwiches I'll bring some up for you. "
Regina nodded vigorously, she had forgotten all about her starving stomach in the heat of the moment. Rex brought up a plate full of sandwiches, he understood how shifters could eat much, much more than a normal human especially after being inflicted major wounds.
" Eat all you want, you'll need the energy to heal those wounds. Those snakes sure didn't go easy on ya. Oh, and about that... I watched you fight and I have to say... Never in my life have I seen someone as amazing and perfect as you are, you're beautiful, strong, and even good at studies and basically everything else... I'm sure anyone would've been fazed by the situation you were in, but you fearlessly fought those hundreds of snakes and if it wasn't for those sneaky little snakes, you would've surely left the cave without a single scratch! What was all that about getting things for the Raven though? "
He said, handing her the sandwiches and watching her as she quickly gobbled them all up. She had obviously spent a lot of energy in that test, and Rex hoped his sandwiches would be enough to replenish it. Regina savored the sandwiches, they were the tastiest one she had ever ate! They all had considerate amounts of slightly spicy cheese, cabbage, a small amount of tomato, grated cucumber and cottage cheese, a small amount of spice that resulted in a burst of flavors, greatly satisfying her taste buds.
" They taste amazing! Can you make them again some other time please please please! "
" Of course... They're just sandwiches... I'd do anything for you.. "
He blushed as he replied, gazing at her lovingly. No one had ever gazed at her that way, not even Victoria... and at that moment, she felt pretty sure she could never have enough of that gaze, or that boy...
~My soulmate...~