"What?" Yilas thought she had heard it wronged since Viosus was huffing and puffing. But he took a deep breath in and said it one more time.

"Milady, I went up the mountain but couldn't find Lyth, Berthort also hasn't come back since the morning. They might be gone with one another."

Little crow and Merth who saw Viosus came back flying into the main house, so they followed and listened from the door. They were both worried, they hadn't seen the two all day either. The sky looked as if it would rain any minute now so it would be dangerous for Lyth and Berth to stay out.

"Let's go look for another round, I will go with you this time. If we split up we will be able to scan through the area faster." Yilas commanded Viosus quickly, while both of them ran out the door.

At the door Yilas caught the little crow and Merth eavesdropping.

"You two stay here and wait for us! We will find them, don't worry."

As she spoke, Yilas and Viosus ran like two arrows being shot out of the house. They split at the edge of the mountain even though Viosus was disagreeing with the idea.

Since Yilas was not quite familiar with the way, she followed the little creek upstream. Viosus went back to the cave the bunch was staying at when they were in hiding.

The weather was worsening by the minute, the wind blowing was mildly when they got back to the house but it was now screeching and howling like a wild animal. But since it hadn't rained yet, Yilas bravely walked up the stream, yelling out Berthort and Lyth's names every step of the way.

In Yilas head, following the water was probably the best chance she had at finding them. Since the weather was hot earlier, the ground hasn't cooled down yet so Lyth would likely need to cool down a lot. She might be near the rocks on the side of the creek.

The sky was darkening and the wind was blowing hard, it had been almost an hour since Yilas left the house, luckily it still hadn't rained yet.

The creek went all the way up the mountain, but it was slowly getting bigger as Yilas walked, she suspected there would be a waterfall or a small pond at the top of the mountain. Thinking it might be where she could find Berthort and Lyth, Yilas sprinted with all her might up ahead.

Soon enough she reached a waterfall, and a small lake that looked somewhat deep.

"Berthort! Lyth!" Yilas screamed one more time and looked around the lake.

Yilas was walking closer around the edge of the lake and found an entrance behind the waterfall.

"This might be dangerous" Yilas thought as she planned to enter the cave "but Viosus is nowhere to be found and I need to find Berthort and Lyth as quickly as I can."

With that thought, Yilas carefully slid her body into the cave without getting wet from the water curtain.

The cave was cold and damp, the stinky smell of fish started to enter Yilas nose. It was so fishy that Yilas felt like she was about to throw up so she covered her nose of mouth with her hand immediately.

The sky was covered by black clouds so there was barely any light shining from the opening of the cave, Yilas couldn't see anything.

"Berthort! Lyth! Are you in here?" Yilas was covering her mouth but the sound still made it through her palm.

She listened carefully but answering her was only her echo from the end of the cave. Yilas took a few more steps but was hesitant at the edge of the light where it stopped shining.

Yilas debated if she should go back however she didn't feel right leaving the place if she hadn't looked carefully. As Yilas was about to take another step, she heard an echo sound of a rock grinding, and swiftly followed by a faint sliding noise.

"Lyth! Is that you?" It sounded like the noise Lyth usually made when she was half-snaked moving in the house. Yilas ran deeper inside the cave, fully emerged herself in darkness.

However, Yilas was careful, she kept one of her hands at the wall of the cave, giving her some sense of direction till her eyes could get used to the dark.

"Lyth! Come on out Lyth!" Yilas gently asked one more time but still no answer.

As Yilas walked deeper and deeper, she had lost track of where the noise was coming from and she was getting more and more anxious.

Then that sliding noise was made once again, Yilas body froze out of scare, she didn't even dare to breathe. Now that she was closer to the source of the sound, Yilas could hear that the noise was much slower and heavier than Lyth.

As the noise was getting louder, Yilas heart was beating like crazy but her legs were still not moving, they were trembling out of fear.

"AAAaAahhhhhhh…!"

And *Whoosh* Yilas felt something jumped out of the thin air toward her but she unconsciously dodged it. Yilas ran with everything left in her to the cave opening while screaming at the top of her lungs. The dark shadow was sliding closely behind her at full speed, there was no doubt about it, it was a big python chasing Yilas.

Yilas fearlessly jumped out of the cave, through the waterfall and into the lake. The lake was much deeper than Yilas had anticipated, and she immediately swinging and kicking to get to the surface since her feet couldn't reach the bottom.

Yilas now remembered one dreadful fact, she didn't know how to swim! Yilas was never allowed to go near a pool in her past life so how could she even know how to swim?

The more Yilas was struggling to float, the heavier she felt as she sank deeper. "Help!" Yilas felt desperate as she grew tired of paddling, she had given up and felt her consciousness drifted away. "Somebody help me!" Yilas thought as she passed out and exhaled her last breath.

A thick rope appeared out of thin air and curled itself around Yilas's waist, pulling her out of the water.

But it was no rope that had helped Yilas, it was a huge black snake. But she wasn't breathing anymore, her stomach and lungs had probably been filled with water.

The giant snake tail curled tightly around Yilas's waist, bringing her up off the ground and shaking her in an upside-down position. After a minute of doing so, it laid Yilas down once again and started to swing its tail onto her chest.

The tail slapped again and again until Yilas body had suddenly shaken itself and water came out of her mouth. Yilas was throwing up water as she regained consciousness and gasped for air.

"Cough...cough" Yilas was finally breathing again and slowly opened her eyes to a pair of purple gemstones shone brightly. But Yilas was so tired, she closed her eyes again, this time focused on her breathing again.

Without Yilas realizing, the snake transformed into a man with long black hair, standing next to her watching her as she tried to recover. It was the same snake that had chased Yilas out of its cave.

At first, he thought that Yilas was just another beast trying to find cover for the storm so he had tried to scare her away. But she had stupidly jumped onto the lake and was drowning to her own death. Normally the snake would have just let another beast died but since he had liked the sound of her voice echoing in the cave, and he didn't know what had taken over him at the time but he saved her.

"Get up!" the snake voice had scared Yilas, her body jumped as she was on all four on the ground.

Yilas had turned around to see a man instead of the blurry purple gems she saw earlier. And what shocked her even more that this man was standing naked. Even though she had seen several men in this word transformed from beast to man and it would result in them being naked, they would usually cover themselves quickly in the presence of a female.

As her eyes wandered down to his private parts, Yilas screamed and closed her eyes immediately. Still, she couldn't get the image of the two genitals on his crotch out of her brain.

"AAAhHHH! What are you doing?" Yilas eyes were sealed shut but she would still put her hand on her eyes, trying to protect herself from the perverted image she just saw.

The snake ignored her scream and walked toward Yilas, grabbed her by the arm, lifting her off the ground.

"Pervert! what are you doing to me?" Yilas couldn't help but opened her eyes to see what was going on, the first thing she saw was that purple eyes up close. Yilas remembered seeing these eyes, it must belong to the person that just saved her.

The snake didn't answer as he dragged her toward his cave behind the waterfall.

"Hey! Hey! At least tell me what you're doing" Yilas stiffened her legs and pushed them hard on the ground making it harder for the snake to drag her along.

"The cave." the snake saw Yilas's action and thought she must be dumb. As the storm was getting closer, of course staying in a shelter would be the best option.

"Stop! I am looking for somebody, I can't stay there!" Yilas was trying her best to break free of the snake's grip but she couldn't, it only made her arm hurt even more.

"Stop struggling, find it after." Yilas was helpless in breaking free but she couldn't afford to be stuck here either. As desperate as she was, Yilas decided to take a big bite out of the man's arm.

She bit down as hard as she could but the muscles were too hard, it even hurt her jaw but she didn't let go. The snaked had stopped walking and immediately looked down on to Yilas's mouth. He didn't scream, didn't yanked his arm away, just furrowed his brows looking at the blood starting to gush out from the spot Yilas was biting on.

"Are you hungry?"

His reaction was so bizarre that Yilas had let go of the bite to answer his ridiculous question. Yilas even secretly questioned this man's insanity.

"Of course not, I just did it because I need you to let me go!" The iron taste filled Yilas mouth making her body shiver, she had to spat out the blood as she looked directly into his eyes.

Now that Yilas had a closer look, this man looked extremely alarming. He had long black hair and it was wet so it stuck close to his face and body. If it wasn't for the numerous scars covering his face and body, he might not look like a dangerous criminal like he was right now. Yilas couldn't help but stare rudely at the scars all over his face. She thought he looked like the ghost from The Ring movie.

The snake had noticed Yilas's face too, she had a big pink scar across her eyes, just as chilling as his. The worst thing about the wound was that the left eyes of hers were completely blind, it turned into a frightening white color like that of a dead beast.

"Your eye" The snake had pointed his long, thin finger at Yilas left eyes and opened his purple eyes in awe.

"Oh, it had happened before this, don't worry ..."

"You're like me!" The snake man exclaimed before Yilas could finish her words, he rammed his body toward her and squeezed her tight in a bear's hug, lifting Yilas's feet off the ground as he burst out laughing like a child.

"Can't ... Breathe..." that was all Yilas could utter out of her mouth with the limited air she had left in her lungs. The snake had heard her, but he didn't release her, instead, he was loosening his grip, letting Yilas catch some air without dropping her.

"Hey... " Yilas tried to talk while she was still struggling to breathe "I am looking for somebody, I can't stay here wasting time. Let go!"

"But a storm is coming." the Snake pointed his finger at the sky this time, showing the obvious bad weather to Yilas.

"I'm looking for a young bear and a small snake girl, they would die in the storm if I don't get them back to our house!" Yilas was practically begging for sympathy from the snake, if he didn't let her go now she might not be able to find Berthort and Lyth.

"A big fat bear and a green snake?" The snake asked Yilas, correctly describing Berthort and Lyth.

"Yes, yes, that's them! Did you see them" Yilas's eyes were relit with hope, she secretly thanked God for finally getting a lead.

"They tried to come into my cave, so I bid them." The snake's explanation was like a cold bucket of water splashing onto Yilas's of hope. But Yilas had no time to be shocked right now. They needed to be treated and brought back to the house as soon as possible.

"Do you know where they had gone to?" Yilas asked worriedly, she knew she couldn't do anything against this man by herself so a better way of thinking right now was to save Berthort and Lyth first.

"I don't know, but they must not be far away from here. The poison usually makes them cramp and stop moving soon enough."

The nauseous feeling overcame Yilas's stomach, not only were they been bitten, the bite was poisonous. Yilas felt threatened for their lives.

"Let go! I need to help them now!" Yilas was swinging her arms and fists aimlessly trying to free herself from the snake man, but he didn't budge. He waited for Yilas to be done before he started talking.

"I can sense their body's heat, I can help you find them." Yilas stopped hitting as soon as she heard his offer.

"Please! If you can do that, I will help you with anything."

"Okay!" The strange man agreed quickly, turned himself into a giant black snake before curling's Yilas with his tail and started to sprint really fast across the bushes. Just about a few minutes later, he stopped before a big half-cave. It looked like a boulder of rock in the shape of a dish protruding out of the downward slope mountain, creating a shallow roof.

If one looked pass quickly it was just a boulder of rock covered with dry, brown leaves. But Yilas got closer and found Berthort's body, covered fully in a bed of leaves.

"Berthort!" Yilas exclaimed as she ran away from the snake tail to get to Berthort.

A little green head was poking out of the leaves when she heard the familiar voice. It was Lyth, who buried herself deeply there. Yilas could have cried out of relief when she found both of them but she had no time, Berthort was not moving at all.

It must have been the poison that got to him, Yilas thought to herself. Holding the crying Lyth in her snake form, Yilas got closer to Berthort and touched his bear shaped body. His body was cold and hard to the touch, but luckily Yilas could still hear his faint breathing.

"Please help!" Yilas yelled at the snake man that was standing not too far away. "Please help him, if you had bit him, you must have an antidote!"