Raising A Few Wives in a Beast Apocalypse

From ancient times. Long before the recorded history known to Muku's civilisation.

It was common knowledge that humans could only gain the ability to enter their mindscape after reaching Rank Four. Yet, there Freya was, standing next to Iris with a big smile on her face.

"Hhm? What do you mean?" Freya was confused by Iris' question. She also couldn't understand the exaggerated reaction of the fairy.

"You aren't supposed to have access to this place!" Iris screamed, still shaken by what she was witnessing. She even wondered if she was dreaming or having a nightmare.

"Well... I don't know how to answer that. I've been able to do this even before the apocalypse. I think I was ten when I first found myself in here" Freya replied, while also trying to explain after catching on to what could have been bothering Iris.

"Lies! There's no way that's true!" Iris screamed as she refused to believe it. Even fairies and beasts needed to be at least Rank Three to gain access to their mindscape. Only a rare few beasts with incredibly powerful bloodlines could access their mindscape at Rank Two or even rarer at one.

From such statistics, Iris' reaction became a lot more understandable. The fairy started feeling a bit afraid of Freya even. After all, all sentient beings are afraid of the unknown just like humans.

Freya's case, if it were true would be one of the biggest anomalies to ever happen. It was such an odd case that it should have been impossible.

"While I'm not lying to you. I won't go out of my way to prove it to you. All that matters is that I'm here. Now, do you want to be friends or not?" Freya didn't want to keep on discussing what she deemed a boring conversation.

So she tried to get Iris to forget about it. Which was understandable considering the amount of time she could do it. She also didn't know what Iris knew. Otherwise, she might have also been spooked by her situation.

However, in all honesty, Freya's situation didn't have any hidden cause to it. She was just that one variant in an established system that almost always exists. At best, she was just a lucky child who got a gift she would eventually get, a lot sooner than she should have.

It's not like the mindscape was significant to her in any way at that time anyway. So it was practically a fancy toy that didn't do anything. She rarely entered the scape in recent years since there was no point to it.

"Tsk, fine. You really don't know what an amazing feat you have accomplished. And I don't want to be your friend. If anything, I want to break your soul and take over your body" Iris spoke after collecting herself a bit.

She was an ancient being from an era long forgotten by time. So she had experienced quite a few things. For that reason, she could recover quickly.

After which she made her stance clear to Freya. While she could have faked some friendship and stabbed Freya from the back at some point. She chose to be straightforward with it.

In her mind, only trash hides their intentions from the opponent. She wasn't trash, she had accomplished way too much to be such.

"Oh... Too bad. I had thought that us getting along, considering the situation, would be for the best. However, it seems you don't want to. I guess I can only do this instead" Freya was disappointed by Iris' reply, but wasn't too affected.

She immediately did something that caught Iris by surprise as she was about to finish speaking.

Out of nowhere, Iris found herself bound to the ground by heavy chains, unable to move. Her mouth was covered by what seemed to be tape, so she couldn't speak. Not to mention an invisible pressure that was constantly bearing down on her.

That's when it struck her, she was in Freya's mindscape. Freya had access to that mindscape. Which meant one thing... Freya was the almighty in the mindscape. Anything Freya imagined would happen.

While the ability couldn't affect reality and was somewhat the same as daydreaming. It had real consequences for Iris. It meant that if she was willing to face the soul backlash of destroying a bonded fairy. Freya could actually kill her right there and then.

Or she could just torture her. Which wouldn't affect Freya in any way. Though it would be no different from hell to Iris.

Fear immediately crept into Iris' mind. She had been so confident that while she could irritate Freya. Freya wouldn't be able to retaliate just a while ago. Yet now, there she was, bound and facing a life-or-death situation.

She couldn't help but complain about how her life seemed to become one unlucky event after another recently. It all started the moment Muku's group broke into her habitat. Or rather, the moment they killed her avatar which exposed the hole.

Her hatred for Muku, especially after remembering the spanking, increased. It was all his fault that she was suffering so much.

"Mmmm! Mmmm!..." Noticing how Freya was about to heartlessly leave her like that. Iris tried to scream through the tape that covered her mouth.

Which, fortunately for her, worked as Freya stopped. The tape also disappeared from her mouth.

"Yes?" Freya signified for Iris to speak with only one word.

Using her imagination reminded her of the time she didn't want to remember. A time when she was younger after discovering her mindscape.

Just like one can imagine in such a situation when you discover a world in which you can do anything you want. A place where anything you imagine becomes true. The young Freya quickly got addicted.

It got to a point that she wouldn't eat all day or even move as she revelled in her imagination. She became a disobedient child who didn't listen to her parents no matter what they said.

It became so bad that her parents started fighting because of her. Her mother wanted to be harsher with her, while her father wanted to be more lenient since she was just a child.

Their fighting escalated until they got a divorce. Of course, it wasn't the only reason, as there were already some cracks in their relationship before her. So the breakup was inevitable.

However, the young Freya blamed herself for it. Especially when her mother was later found dead from a drug overdose. She again thought that her mother got into drugs because of her.

This, again, wasn't true. In fact, it had been part of the reason why her parents separated since her mother couldn't get over the habit. Which she had started long before Freya was born.

She only briefly stopped during Freya's pregnancy and a few years after. Then she started doing drugs again. Which later led to her death in a lonely one-room apartment. Freya was living with her father at the time since her mother had refused to take her.

After all, that. Little Freya swore to never enter her mindscape for the rest of her life. That's when she started turning her life around for the better. She even became a model student at school. Completely wiping her reputation clean.

It was only later on, when she got older, that she found out about her mother's issues. Then she realised that she might not have been as to blame as she thought.

She then started entering the mindscape again. Though for some reason, it was no longer as fun as before. Maybe she has hated it for so long she couldn't love it in the same way she did before.

So, she rarely entered it. If it wasn't because of Iris' presence, she wouldn't have entered it so randomly.

Anyway, that was the reason why she seemed eager to leave before Iris' actions stopped her. She still didn't like the scape as it reminded her of a painful time.

"Can we talk this out? Let's make a deal" Iris spoke in an unwillingly submissive voice. She had realised that she was the weaker party in the matter.

"Hhm, sure. Go ahead. Be quick about it, though," Freya replied in a slightly bossy tone. The scape affected her personality a bit, making her a lot less friendly and nice than she was.

It wouldn't have been a problem if Iris had been nice from the beginning, however. She was just reacting to the situation.

"R-right, while still don't want to be your friend... Wait! Wait! Don't leave! Let me finish first!. Right, instead of being a friend or enemy. I want to be a partner instead. I don't know if you already knew about this, but without my say-so, you can't use my plant element," Iris spoke in a calm and slightly passive tone.

Her previous confident and flirtatious air was gone. She hated every moment of her new situation, but she knew to do what had to be done.

"Oh... Is that so? I didn't know. Okay, what do you propose then?... Just so you know, I'm not selling you my soul. Only fools do that," Freya replied; there was a contemplative look on her face. She was wondering what Iris would ask for.

Before she was planning to reject whatever Iris suggested. However, the new information changed things. To think she couldn't use plant magic without Iris' permission. Though it did make sense if one thought about it. Otherwise, she would have way too much power in the bond.

"Tsk, I'm not a demon... Anyway, my proposition is that in return for using my power. You'll let me take over your body for at least eight hours every day" Iris rolled her eyes at being likened to a demon, then moved on to her preposition.

After saying what she wanted to. She went quiet and gave Freya the chance to reply.

"... I'll think about" After a little pause, Freya replied while she stepped through a white door that appeared out of nowhere to leave the mindscape.

Behind her, Iris was bound again. While the pressure was removed. Her eyes and eyes were also covered. So she could no longer see or hear what was going on outside the mindscape.

What would come after was a complete mystery to her...