Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 241: Episode 239: At least I am Home!
A/N: MER PEOPLE ARC IS COMPLETE. Thanks to everyone who stayed through the storyline.
They reached the Treasury Corridor. It was dark, guarded by heavy stone golems that only moved for Royal blood.
Caspian raised his hand. The golems stepped aside. At the end of the hall stood the Gate.
The Treasury Gate stood before them, a swirling vortex of mana and displaced water, framed by ancient black coral that seemed to pulse with a heartbeat of its own.
It was a wound in the reality of the Deep Spires, a tear that led away from the pressure, away from the magic, and away from the life Roxy had built over the last eight months.
Roxy’s hand hovered over the black key she had just inserted into the lock mechanism. The water around her hummed, the vibration traveling up her arm and settling in her chest like a heavy stone.
She turned to Caspian.
He was floating just inches away, his robe reflecting the eerie light of the portal. He wasn’t looking at the gate. He was looking at her. He was memorizing the curve of her jaw, the way her hair floated in the current, the green in her eyes that matched their son’s.
"It is time," Roxy whispered, the words tasting like ash.
Caspian nodded, a stiff, jerky motion. "The current waits for no one."
Roxy took a breath, one last time. She turned back to the gate, her muscles tensing to push off the coral floor.
"Goodbye, Cas—"
She never finished the name.
A hand, large and rough with scales, clamped onto her wrist.
Before she could gasp, Caspian yanked her back. He didn’t pull her gently. He hauled her against his chest with a desperate, terrifying strength, burying his hands in her hair and crashing his mouth down onto hers.
Caspian kissed her as if he wanted to breathe her in, to swallow her soul and keep it safe inside his ribs where the ocean couldn’t touch it. He kissed her with the frantic, raw hunger of a man who knew he was holding sunlight in a jar and the lid was about to break.
Roxy froze for a split second, stunned by the intensity, and then she melted. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back with everything she had, all the guilt, all the love, all the "I’m sorrys" she couldn’t say.
They hung suspended in the water, a tangle of limbs and silk and heartache, oblivious to the swirling vortex beside them.
For a moment, Roxy thought he wouldn’t let go. She thought he would drag her back to the Pearl Wing and lock the doors.
Then, slowly, agonizingly, Caspian pulled back.
His chest was heaving. His golden eyes were blown wide, dark with an emotion that had no name in any language. He rested his forehead against hers, their breaths mingling in the water.
"I will always be waiting for you," Caspian rasped, his voice rough and broken. "Tide after tide. Year after year. The gate will never be locked to you."
Roxy’s breath hitched. She bit down on her lip hard and tasted copper. The sharp pain grounded her, kept her from falling apart right there in his arms.
She pulled back, drifting just out of his reach.
She looked at him. One second. One heartbeat. One final image of the King who had loved her enough to let her go.
"Thank you," she mouthed.
Then, she turned.
She didn’t look at the gate. She looked at the coral. She kicked her tail with a violent, explosive force, propelling herself into the swirling white light of the vortex.
The sensation was like being shot through a cannon. The pressure dropped instantly. The heavy, magical density of the Spires vanished, replaced by the vast, cold, empty expanse of the open ocean.
Behind her, a heavy, resonating THUD echoed through the water.
The Gate had shut.
Roxy didn’t turn around.
She couldn’t. If she turned around and saw the blank wall of rock where the gate had been, or worse, if she saw Caspian through the fading magic, she would swim back. But she wanted to leave and she had made up her mind.
So she swam.
She swam wildly. She swam with a frenzy that bordered on madness.
She tore through the water, her pink tail, stronger now after months of swimming in the deep. driving her upward. She didn’t check her bearings. She didn’t look for landmarks. She just followed the instinct that screamed UP.
The ocean around her was teeming with life. Schools of tuna, massive drifting jellies, and shadows of predators lurking in the deep blue.
But as Roxy shot past them, a strange phenomenon occurred.
A Great White Shark, cruising the middle depths, veered sharply away from her path. A pod of killer whales split down the middle, giving her a wide berth. Even the territorial barracudas darted into the coral, hiding from the streak of pink and indigo passing them.
She swam until her muscles burned. She swam until the water changed from the inky black of the abyss to a dark blue, then a lighter azure, and finally, a sparkling, sun-drenched turquoise.
The pressure lifted from her chest. The water grew warmer.
Shallow water.
She could see the sandy bottom now, rippled by the sunlight filtering from above. She could see seaweed swaying in the gentle current.
Her lungs, which had been processing water for so long, began to ache. They spasmed, suddenly rejecting the fluid, demanding air. The transition was starting.
Roxy kicked hard, aiming for the shimmering ceiling of the world.
Her head breached the water, and she gasped for air. The sound was loud, wet, and desperate.
Roxy inhaled. Real air. Dry, salty, sun-warmed air. It rushed into her lungs, burning and sweet. She coughed, spitting out seawater, treading water as she blinked against the sudden brightness of the sun.
It was blinding. After the eternal twilight of the Spires, the sun felt like a spotlight.
She shielded her eyes and looked around.
She was in a bay. The water was calm, lapping gently against a shoreline that curved in a familiar crescent shape.
There were no coral palaces. No bioluminescent towers. No guards.
Just sand. And beyond the sand, a dense, vibrant line of green grass and towering trees.
Home. Land. Everything I was born to.
Roxy sobbed, a sound that was half-laugh, half-cry. She started to swim toward the shore. As she moved into the shallows, the magic of the Beast World took over.
Her tail, which had felt so natural for so long, began to tingle. The scales receded, dissolving into light. Her real, human legs returned.
She stumbled, her feet finding the soft, wet sand of the bottom.
It was awkward. Gravity hit her like a physical weight. In the water, she was weightless. Here, she felt heavy. Her soaked silk dress, the Imperial Blue gown Nerissa had given her, clung to her body, dragging her down.
She crawled onto the dry sand, her hands digging into the grains. She dragged herself up the beach until she reached the grass line.
She collapsed onto the green turf, rolling onto her back.
She stared up at the blue sky. Clouds drifted by, fluffy and white. Birds wheeled overhead, calling to each other.
"I made it," Roxy whispered, her voice hoarse. "I’m back."
She closed her eyes, feeling the sun dry the saltwater on her skin. A familiar blue window popped up against the backdrop of the sky.
[Welcome Back to the Surface, Host.]
[Quest Completed: The Deep Dive.]
[Achievement Unlocked: The Amphibian Queen.]
[System Analysis: Vital Signs Stable.]
Roxy laughed weakly. "Where am I? Did the Gate drop me in the middle of nowhere? Do I have to walk to the Iron-Wood?"
The System processed the query. A map materialized in her vision, glowing with a pulsing red dot.
[Location Identified.]
[Current Region: The Whispering Coast.]
[Distance to Iron-Wood Manor: 15 Kilometers (West).]
[Territory Status: Neutral Zone (Border of Dragon & Wolf Lands).]
At least I am fucking home, baby!!! WOOO!
