Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 161: Episode : Took my Story!

A/N: [Welcome to SEASON 2]

"Are you the one named Roxy?"

The question hung in the humid air, heavier than the scent of the lavender soap bubbling a hundred yards away.

Roxy stared at the girl. The system was sending an alarm to her head.

[WARNING!]

[CRITICAL ALERT: ANOMALY DETECTED.]

A sharp migraine spiked behind Roxy’s eyes, a red static blurring her vision for a split second. She tightened her grip on the small harvesting knife in her hand.

"I asked you a question," Roxy said, her voice steady despite the alarm bells ringing in her skull. "Who are you?"

Roxy’s heart was beating fast; she had a bad feeling about this.

Then why am I not fucking running away?!

The girl let out a choked sob, wrapping her thin arms around herself.

"I... I don’t know where I am, but you can call me Alice," Alice whimpered, her voice trembling. "I woke up in the woods... It was so cold. But please... You have to help me. I heard you are the Queen of this area."

Roxy hesitated. The System was flashing [DANGER], but the girl looked so pathetic. "I can take you to the pack. My mate, Zarek, he can—"

"No!" Alice shrieked, her eyes widening in terror. She took a step back, shaking her head frantically. "No beasts! They... they chased me! Please, you have to help him first."

"Him?" Roxy frowned.

"The cub," Alice gasped, pointing a shaking finger toward the dense tree line leading up the rocky incline of the cliffs. "I saw a baby... a little tiger cub. He fell into a crevice near the caves. He was crying... he sounded so hurt. I tried to reach him, but I was too weak."

Roxy froze.

A tiger cub.

Immediately, her mind flashed to Torian. Tigers were rare. Their birth rates were abysmal. A cub alone in the woods was a tragedy.

She couldn’t leave a cub to die.

"Where?" Roxy demanded, stepping forward.

"Up there," Alice sniffled, turning toward the path that led away from the riverbank. "Near the jagged rocks. Please... he stopped crying a few minutes ago. I’m scared he’s..."

"Lead the way," Roxy commanded, sheathing her knife but keeping her hand near it. "But if you’re lying to me, girl, I will leave you for the wolves."

Alice nodded frantically. "I promise! Just hurry!"

They moved away from the river. Roxy glanced back toward the smoke of the soap fires. She should call out. She should yell for Mara or Zarek.

But the wind was blowing downstream, carrying the sound away, and Alice was moving surprisingly fast for someone who looked half-dead.

Roxy gulped.

I’ll just grab the cub and come back, Roxy reasoned. It will take five minutes.

They climbed the incline. The lush greenery of the Iron-Wood gave way to grey stone and scrub brush. The air grew cooler, the roar of the river below turning into a dull, thunderous crash as the elevation increased.

Alice led her toward a narrow path that wound along the edge of the cliff face. Below, the water churned violently, white foam smashing against black rocks.

"Is it far?" Roxy asked, breathing hard. The post-partum recovery had been miraculous, but she wasn’t ready for a hike like this.

"Just around this bend," Alice called back.

Roxy frowned. She noticed something.

The girl wasn’t limping anymore.

Down by the river, Alice had been stumbling, her feet dragging. Now, she was navigating the sharp rocks smoothly. Her spine was straight. Her head was high.

That should have been a red flag for Roxy.

"Hey," Roxy said, stopping in her tracks. The warning bells in her head turned into a deafening siren. "Wait a minute."

They reached a flat plateau of rock that jutted out over the river. It was a dead end. There was no cave. There was no crevice. And there was definitely no crying tiger cub.

Just the wind, the drop, and the girl.

Alice stopped at the edge of the precipice. She stood with her back to Roxy for a long moment, looking out at the horizon where the sun was beginning to dip.

"Where is the cub?" Roxy asked, her hand wrapping around the hilt of her knife again. "Alice."

Alice turned around.

Her eyes were cold, and she smoothed her tattered hospital gown as if it were a royal ball gown. A small, cruel smile played on her lips.

"There is no cub, you idiot," Alice said, her voice changing. It wasn’t the soft, melodic whisper anymore. It was sharp, modern, and dripping with disdain.

Roxy stiffened. "You tricked me."

Fucking hell, Roxy, you are so dumb, I can taste your stupidity.

[You never just listen.]

"I lured you," Alice corrected, tilting her head. "It was surprisingly easy. ’Oh, save the baby!’ God, you’re such a cliché. The ’Motherly Saint’ trope. It makes me want to vomit."

Roxy drew her knife. "Who are you? How do you know that word?"

"Trope?" Alice laughed. She took a step toward Roxy, unbothered by the weapon. "I know all the words, Roxy. I know the plot. I know the setting. I know that Zarek has a scar behind his ear and that Syris is insecure about his capabilities."

She tapped her temple.

"I know," Alice hissed, "because this is my book."

Roxy felt the blood drain from her face. The System’s warnings suddenly made terrifying sense—the Original Protagonist.

"You’re... you’re a transmigrator," Roxy whispered.

"I am the Lead," Alice snapped, her face twisting with sudden, ugly rage. "I was summoned! I was chosen! I was in the hospital, dying, and the voice told me I would be a Queen here! I would have the Dragon, the Tiger, the Snake, every damn male as my reward!"

She gestured wildly at Roxy.

"But something glitched. I got stuck in the void. And when I finally broke through... what did I find? Some random, background extra sitting on my throne. Sleeping in my bed. Breeding with my men."

Rage boiled in Roxy’s blood.

You think I fucking wanted to be here too??!

Alice took another step. Roxy stepped back, her heel hitting a loose stone. Behind her was a hundred-foot drop into the rapids.

"I didn’t steal anything," Roxy said, her voice hardening. She wasn’t going to cower. Not before this psycho. "I woke up in a forest alone. I survived. I built that house. I healed those men. They aren’t NPCs, Alice. They’re people. And they love me just like I love them."

"They love the role!" Alice screamed. "They love the ’Human Female’! That was supposed to be me! You’re just wearing my shoes!"

"Well, they fit me better," Roxy shot back. "If you were going to be such a good Main Character, maybe you shouldn’t have messed up your role. The world didn’t pause for you, sweetheart. We moved on."

Alice stopped. Her eyes twitched. The validation of her victimhood shattered against Roxy’s refusal to apologize.

"You think you’re clever," Alice whispered, her voice dropping to a lethal calm. "You think because you popped out a few mutts and taught them a little civilization, you matter?"

She lunged.

Roxy braced herself, raising the knife. Alice pulled a small, silver sphere from her pocket, something that looked disturbingly like a flashbang grenade, and threw it at Roxy’s feet.

A concussive blast of compressed air and blinding light exploded.

It wasn’t enough to kill, but it was enough to disorient Roxy.

"Gah!" Roxy cried out, throwing her hands up to shield her eyes, the knife flying from her grip.

She stumbled backward, blinded, her equilibrium shattered. Her foot slipped on the mossy edge of the cliff.

She flailed, trying to find purchase, but there was only air.

A hand grabbed her tunic.

For a second, Roxy thought she was being saved. Her vision cleared enough to see Alice gripping the fabric of her chest.

Alice pulled her close, nose to nose. Her blue eyes were manic, filled with a jealous, possessive hatred that burned hotter than dragon fire.

"You took my story," Alice hissed, her spittle hitting Roxy’s cheek. "You took my ending."

"It’s not a story!" Roxy shouted back, gripping Alice’s wrist, trying to stabilize herself. "It’s a life! And I fought for it!"

"Then lose it," Alice smiled. It was a terrifying expression. "How about you die for me, cunt!"

Roxy’s eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

Alice shoved. She put both hands on Roxy’s chest and pushed with a strength that shouldn’t have been possible for her frail frame, the strength of a desperate, broken narrative trying to correct itself.

Roxy’s balance failed. Her boots slipped off the wet stone.

The world tilted. The grey sky and the angry face of Alice spun away as Roxy fell backward into the void.

The wind roared in her ears, stealing her breath. She saw the cliff edge receding. She saw Alice standing there, smoothing her dress, watching her fall.

Shit.