Table of Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Artwork
Author's Thank You
Copyright
Chronicles of Eden: Season II
Author:
Alexander Gordon
Illustrations:
AniCrys
Copyright © 2019
All rights are reserved to the author. No part of this ebook may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
www.agordonpublishing.com
Special thanks to elite subscribers of my Patreon for their contributions and support!
Mike M
Fynnius S
Chapter 1
Aftermath of Her Passing
In the world of Eden very little compared to the pain of losing a loved one. Whether prepared for or even able to handle it, the loss would often bring many challenges with it, some being more daunting than ever imagined. Living through the tragedy, finding the strength to accept it, healing wounds that cut the deepest, or even knowing where to go or what to do next; losing that special someone could scatter all sense of direction and purpose for many. However, even those that fell into despair from the loss would once again find their way eventually.
And with their renewed stride, they would walk boldly alongside the memory of their dearly departed.
*****
The sunlight remained mostly hidden behind a sea of clouds that day, sparse veils of sunbeams piercing through what little openings they could onto the countryside below. Birds flew through the sky above the vast woodland while amidst the shadowy canopies a few deer pranced about in their peaceful forest. The wandering stags came to a halt on a worn dirt trail, stopping only for a moment before quickly scattering as hooves clopping ever closer and louder sent them running.
Riding along the road Lucky was swiftly galloping ahead, kicking up dirt in his wake while two riders atop him kept a sharp watch on the passing surroundings. Daniel held the reins for their trusty steed, his piercing gaze taking notice of everything around him while his dark leather gloved hands clenched the harnesses tightly in his apparent frustration. Holding onto him from behind was Clover, the elf’s sharpened eyes on high alert while her twintails flowed freely behind in the wind. The arrows in her quiver remained still in their dense bundle while her bow wavered slightly on her back. Her hands remained firm on Daniel’s hips, the left bumping against the dark hilt of a sword sheathed at his side in a white scabbard. Her eyes drew onto the weapon he now had then moved to the small rounded shield holstered on his left arm, the silver-plated defense sporting golden edges and a distended cross on its front that gleamed from a passing beam of sunlight. Slowly she looked over her mate who now wore a black cape and shoulder guards befitting a noble or journeyman of The Outerlands. A troubled frown appeared on Clover’s face as only silence once again filled the air around them, her eyes shifting to the back of his head as something had finally become too much to remain quiet about.
“Dan?” Clover softly spoke, pausing for a minute as she awaited his reply that never came. “Dan? Can we… stop for a little bit?”
“No we can’t,” Daniel sharply replied shaking his head.
“Please.”
“Clover, we have a job to do. We can’t stop right now.”
“Please.”
“Clover!” Daniel shouted. Clover remained still and quiet while watching her mate struggling to suppress his anger. “We cannot stop. We have to keep looking. We have to search every inch of Eden out here. We have to-”
“I’m begging you,” Clover softly said. “Please stop Lucky.”
“Why?” he loudly demanded. “We stopped not too long ago to eat. There’s no reason for us to stop again so soon. Dammit, Clover, we can’t-”
“Please!” Clover insisted. Daniel lowered his head as the elf rested hers against his back. “I’m begging you, please stop the horse. Please. Please, Dan.”
Daniel heavily sighed and began slowing down Lucky, the horse gradually coming to a small trot then halting completely. Clover took a few slow breaths before she hopped off, taking a moment to search the nearby area before turning her eyes up to Daniel who kept his gaze firmly fixated ahead. She walked around to his right and took hold of his hand, tugging on his arm to get him to dismount as well.
“Clover-”
“Please, Dan,” Clover begged, tugging on his hand again and again. With a more disgruntled sigh Daniel got off Lucky and touched down on the dirt beside the elf.
“What is it?” he demanded, finally turning his harsh gaze onto her. “Why are we-”
“Please stop,” Clover shakily said. “You need to stop this, Dan.”
“I will do no such thing. I have a missing mate to find. I have to find Kroanette and I have to find her now! I have to find her before it’s too late! I have to-”
“Stop!” Clover cried out. She struggled to hold back her tears as Daniel fell silent. “Stop doing this, Dan. Stop it. Just… stop running from it.”
“I’m not running from anything,” Daniel argued. “I’m trying to find my lost mate. Our mate. My Kroanette is out there and I’m going to find her no matter what! We can’t waste time with this, Clover, we have to get going right now and-”
Without pause Clover slapped Daniel across the face, stunning him, before he slowly turned back to see her on the verge of breaking down in her distress.
“It’s been three days,” she struggled to get out. “For the past three days you’ve been solely focused on finding Kroanette. For the past three days you’ve hardly spoken a word to your family. For the past three days you’ve blocked out everything except finding Kroanette.”
“Clover, I have to find-”
“Stop it!” Clover screamed out. “Dammit, Dan! This isn’t just about finding Kroanette and you know it! Stop using that as an excuse to run away from what happened!”
“Clover…” Daniel breathed out.
“Squeak died!” Clover shouted at him. “She’s dead, Dan! It broke all our hearts to accept that truth, it killed all of us on the inside, and worse yet it pushed you away from us! It’s been three days! You won’t even talk to us about anything, you won’t even listen to us when we beg you to stop for a moment, you won’t even acknowledge everything we still have to deal with since the fall of Green Haven! You just rush out here at first light and search all day for Kroanette!”
“I’m trying to find my mate!” Daniel defended.
“You’re not the only one,” Clover snapped. “Triska and Kitten fly out every day with Pip to search for her. Twilight is scouring the land from her prison in search of her. Apoch and Astreal are looking too. And I come out here with you every day. I join you in your search and hold my tongue every day, but I can’t keep quiet about this anymore. We’re all looking for Kroanette, we’re going to find Kroanette, none of us have lost faith in her being alive out here, we know we’re going to have her back with us soon. But fucking hell, Dan, your family needs you too!”
Daniel remained speechless as
Clover screamed loudly before she quickly clung to his chest, burying her face with tears now running down her cheeks.
“We lost one of our family, we lost Squeak. I lost my home and so many of my fellow sisters. We all lost something that day. As worried about Kroanette as we are, we’re still struggling to hold ourselves together because of what happened. We don’t know how to recover from it, we don’t know how to deal with it, and on top of that we don’t even know what exactly happened in Green Haven because of it.”
“Clover… I…”
“What?” Clover desperately asked him. “What did you do, Dan? What the fuck happened? It’s been three days and none of us know what the hell happened with you and the gemini. I was there and I don’t even know what the fuck happened! Please, don’t keep running away from your family like this! We’re scared! We’re confused! We need our man, goddammit!”
Slowly Daniel held Clover around her waist, the elf wiping away her tears before quickly holding onto him around his neck.
“What did you do to the gemini? What was that sword you pulled out of the ground? What happened to you? What happened to them? And what are we supposed to do now, Dan? I’m begging you, we can’t go another day like this, we need you to help us stand again!”
“Clover,” Daniel softly said, eyes closing while he for the first time in three days slowed down his stampeding anxieties in the wake of Clover’s plea.
“We’re going to find Kroanette,” Clover whimpered. “None of us are doubting that. We can’t. We can’t bear the thought of losing another of our family, we can’t live through such another painful blow. She is alive, just like you said. She has to be. And we’re going to find her. Just, please, help your family live long enough to see her again. We’re falling apart. We don’t know what to do next. Please, Dan. We need you now more than ever.”
“I’m sorry,” Daniel gently said as he caressed the back of her head. “I just… wanted to find Kroanette. I don’t want to lose her too. I can’t. I can’t lose another mate. I just can’t…”
Slowly they lowered down onto their knees, with Daniel feeling tears welling up in his eyes as the painful truth again flooded his mind.
“I already lost Squeak. My ant girl… is dead. My heart still feels the painful stab that I shared with her on that day. It’s horrible, agonizing, and never-ending. Losing her… it was too much. I can’t lose any more of you. Not a single one. I can’t. I can’t lose those that mean the world to me.”
“We won’t lose anyone else,” Clover said shaking her head in his shoulder. “I promise, Dan. I promise you won’t. Just please, don’t let us be alone right now. We need you. We need you so badly.”
Slumping down onto their legs Daniel and Clover broke down into quiet sobs in each other’s arms, both feeling their hearts aching from their loss and praying that another of their own hadn’t been taken from them as well. After a long while they slowly settled down, with Daniel wiping away his tears and then Clover’s as the elf sniffled with timid eyes at him.
“You’re right,” Daniel spoke as he tried to steady his voice. “I have to tend to my family right now. I… I shouldn’t be out here like this. All I’m doing is making things worse. I’m sorry, Clover.”
“I understand why you’re doing this,” Clover reasoned. “I do. And we will find her. I just… we just can’t keep going without some sort of closure… without some sort of comfort. Without a plan of what to do next. You’re the only one who can give us that.”
“Then that’s what I need to do,” Daniel said standing up. He helped Clover to her feet and gently held her cheek, the elf grabbing hold of his hand while nodding a few times in agreement. “Alright. Let’s head back. I need to tend to my girls.”
“About fucking time,” Clover remarked with a small smile. Daniel smirked then pulled her into a kiss, the elf holding onto his shoulders in his embrace while Lucky at this point was just walking around the edge of the trail in search of tasty grass to eat.
With their kiss ending Daniel and Clover held each other for a moment longer before heading over to their horse. Mounting their ride Daniel turned Lucky around before they took off with a hasty gallop, with Clover holding her mate closely from behind while resting her head on his back.
“Does this mean you’re going to tell us what happened?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Daniel answered with a focused gaze, eyes then glancing to his right hand as he felt an ominous presence faintly holding onto it. “I’ll tell you everything that happened.”
*****
Flying through the air Kitten had a solemn look on her face, her glowing blue eyes scanning the passing countryside below while her tail gently swayed behind. Zipping around in a blue blur at her side was Pip, the fairy spiraling around the cambion and flying off into tight loops before coming back near her airborne companion.
“Where is she?” Pip whined. “Where is she? Where is Kroanette? We looked that way, and this way, and that way over there! She’s not anywhere! Where is she?”
“She’s out here somewhere,” Kitten reasoned with a shrug. “We just have to keep looking until we find her.”
“But what if she’s not out here somewhere?” Pip worried. She flew over and landed against Kitten’s cheek, hugging the girl’s face while crying with fluttering wings. “What if something bad happened to her? I don’t want to lose her! We can’t lose her too! We already lost… Squeak. She… she… she… died! Waaaaaaah!”
With a heavy sigh Kitten plucked the sobbing fairy off her face and placed her between her breasts, the tiny girl quickly snuggling down low in her cleavage while crying in sorrow.
“It’s like this every thirty minutes with her,” Kitten muttered. “Can’t I just search for the centaur on my own? I can’t deal with this one constantly crying into my ear and onto my face.”
“She’s sad about Squeak’s death,” Triska snapped in her mind. “We all are. You may not feel anything about this but we’re all a little broken up in case you couldn’t tell!”
“Believe me I noticed,” Kitten groaned. “I’m not trying to be disrespectful about my master losing a-”
“If you dare speak about Squeak as if she’s just Daniel’s property at a time like this I swear to god I’ll never let you out again!”
“Mate,” Kitten finished. “My master lost a mate, Triska. I may not share the same fondness for that ant girl as you all do, but I saw very clearly the pain of losing her upon my master’s face. That’s what killed me inside, Triska. Seeing him hurt in such a way. He says she’s her mate. I will not disrespect my master in his time of mourning by sullying his words. Losing her hurt him to his very core, I’m not oblivious to that.”
“Losing one of our own was soul-crushing for all of us. Daniel… he’s trying to be strong… he’s trying to find Kroanette before we lose… before…”
Hearing Triska breaking down into a sobbing mess in her mind Kitten shut her eyes and tried to block it out. Between hers and Pip’s, Kitten could only hear crying in her ears as she struggled not to lash out in response.
“Back to my original question,” Kitten spoke up. “Why can’t I just search for her alone? Pip can stay home and… pull herself together if at all possible.”
“Because your master ordered you to take Pip with us.”
“But why? She’s clearly too upset to help with the search.”
“Because not too long ago we were nearly killed out here while searching for Kroanette by two succubi. It’s bad enough Kroanette is still out there somewhere, but the last thing we want to do is lose even more of our own. Pip’s out here to help us in case we run into trouble again.”
“I feel safer already,” Kitten flatly replied, glancing down to the weeping fairy who was hugging her chest.
“Don’t worry, boobies!” Pip whined as she caressed Kitten’s right breast. “I’ll protect you! I’ll keep the boobies safe! And Kitten too! And Triska! And the boobies! I won’t lose… any more boobies! Waaaaaaaah!”
<
br /> “You do realize that an emotionally upset fairy is extremely dangerous, right?” Kitten dryly asked with a raised eyebrow. “She could blow us to pieces any moment now if she loses control of herself.”
“She won’t hurt you, Kitten. She likes you.”
“Uh huh. I think the only thing keeping me safe right now is the fact that if she blows me up you go too.”
“She likes you. Just leave it at that.”
Rolling her eyes Kitten then resumed searching the passing landscape beneath them while soaring through the air. After a while of seeing nothing she showed a curious look as something finally caught her eye.
“Master?” she wondered, her sights now focused on Daniel and Clover riding Lucky along a dirt road between the trees. “Wait, he’s riding back towards camp now.”
“He’s heading back already?” Triska questioned. “That’s odd. He’s usually further out by this time. Why is he returning so soon?”
Swooping down in a speedy glide Kitten followed after her master. She kept her distance behind Daniel, watching closely as he rode Lucky through the woods and up along a tall hill towards their home. As they made their way over the bend and onto the hilltop Kitten flew further behind and touched down on the ground, keeping close to the trees while watching Daniel curiously. Alyssa’s lantern was lit on its perch beside the carriage as usual, a small campfire was going with Sheal sitting very close to it, seven elven archers were keeping guard all around the perimeter, and sitting on the roof of their ride Alyssa was looking up at the sky with a distant gaze while idly rolling her staff back and forth in her lap. Upon hearing Lucky’s approach everyone turned to see Daniel riding into camp with Clover, with the elven women quickly rushing over while Sheal kept still and quiet where she was with her radiant eyes focused on Daniel.
“Daniel?” Alyssa asked as she hopped off the carriage. “You’re back already?”
Chronicles of Eden: Season II - Act I Page 1