“Mama!” the child exclaimed, pointing up at something with shock that the others then took notice of. While the grand tree of Green Haven was catching fire amongst its branches the temple appeared to be seriously damaged with what looked to be flashes of lightning and fire dancing about atop it.
“What in Eden’s name?” the woman breathed out. “What is going on up there?”
“Daniel went up there to save your priestess,” Cindy told her. “Him and Clover.”
“Clover?” the child quickly repeated. “Clover? Did you say Clover’s back?”
“Clover has returned?” the woman asked in awe. “How do you know this? Do you know her?”
“Uh huh,” Cindy answered with a big nod. “She’s our friend. She brought us here so we could rescue you.”
“Rescue… us? What are you talking about? Who the hell are you anyway?”
“My name is Cindy, nice to meet you,” Cindy politely said raising a hand. Squeak nudged her with the end of her pickaxe and gave her an expecting look while waving her on. “Oh, right. And this is Squeak. Sorry, she doesn’t talk with words like we do. What are your names?”
The elven child and mother stared at them in bewilderment while Squeak face palmed before noticing other elves running to them, a few of the rangers having their bows and quivers of arrows with them while others were carrying baskets covered in brown cloth.
“Djrea,” one of them called out to the elven mother. “Good, you and Siric are alright. Thank the- wha… wait, who are these two?”
“Are they with The Sisterhood?” another elf demanded as she took aim alongside her sisters. “What did you freaks do? Is this your idea of some sick joke? Why have you done this to our home?”
“Djrea, get away from them!” one warned as all the elves were glaring at the ant girl and sand wraith.
“How could you have brought this hell upon our home?” another shouted in disgust. “We did everything you fuckers asked of us! How dare you treat us like this!”
“Hey, we didn’t do anything,” Cindy whined while Squeak raised her hands up from seeing elven archers taking aim at them. “We just got here. And we’re not part of The Sisterhood. Why would you say that?”
“Wait,” Djrea said, holding a hand out while watching the newcomers carefully. “These two saved us from being burned alive just now. And this one says Clover has returned.”
“Clover’s back?” one of the rangers questioned. “Are you sure about that?”
“Is she really back?” the child asked running up to Cindy. “I swear if you’re lying I’m going to beat the shit out of you. Is she really here?”
“I’m not a liar,” Cindy insisted before pointing up to the royal temple. “Clover went up there with Daniel to get your priestess. She’s really here.”
“She went up into the temple?” a ranger exclaimed. Everyone looked up to see flashes of fire and lightning shooting off the top of the palace while fire was quickly spreading through the grand timber’s branches.
“No, those demons are up there!” a ranger gasped.
“Demons?” Cindy asked. “Wait, I thought your priestess lived up there.”
“The priestess is dead,” Djrea told them, with Squeak and Cindy turning to her in surprise. “She was murdered by the leaders of The Sisterhood, along with all the high maidens who resided up there. Now only they live in the royal temple that they’ve claimed as their own.”
“If Clover ventures up there she’ll come face to face with them for sure,” an elf worried.
“If it really is Clover who has returned then she may make it out alive,” another prayed. “I just hope all those rumors about The Sisterhood’s leaders being impossible to kill are untrue…”
“I’m certain they are,” another ranger spoke. “Perhaps it is Clover’s plan to go up there and simply kill the fucking monsters outright for all they’ve done to us.”
Squeak glanced around questionably at the elves while hearing them speak about Clover in such regard then watched the temple again while her concern for Daniel came to the forefront of her mind.
“So, wait,” Cindy slowly said. “You’re saying your priestess isn’t up there?”
“No, she isn’t!” the elven mother shouted. “She’s dead!”
“But… Clover and Daniel went up there to get her.”
“Are you not hearing me? Our priestess isn’t up there, she’s dead! Only those two monsters who murdered her are in the temple now! …and who the hell is Daniel?”
Cindy and Squeak looked to each other in alarm then at the grand temple where a blast of ice exploded out atop the ravaged building.
“She’s fighting them,” the child said in awe. “Clover really is taking them on.”
“Well if Clover has returned and is taking the fight to them, then I say we join her,” Djrea asserted. “Our home is being reclaimed by Eden itself, but that shouldn’t be all that is taken away from those assfucking intruders who murdered our beloved priestess. They need to pay for what they’ve done to our people, a thousand fold at the very least!”
The elven rangers agreed with cheers while the child was smiling hopefully at the temple and hopping about on her feet. Squeak and Cindy however exchanged troubled looks from hearing that.
“Let’s get everyone armed and kick some ass,” a ranger declared with a fist held high. “This fiery wrath the gods have sentenced upon the land is a sign we need to fight back!”
“Get every elf a bow and as many arrows as possible,” another ordered the group. “The gods have unleashed their fury upon this land to aid us with our revolution, let’s make use of it. The enemy is in disarray, time to send every last one of those bitches to hell!”
“We’re going to make these assholes pay for everything they’ve done!” an elf cheered.
“Wait, that wasn’t the plan… was it?” Cindy asked Squeak. “We weren’t supposed to fight The Sisterhood, were we? I thought that would be bad.”
The ant girl shook her head then started squeaking at the elves while waving her arms around, getting only blank stares from everyone as absolutely nothing she was saying got through to them, before an arrow suddenly struck with a hard impact, all eyes quickly turning to see Djrea wavering on her feet with an arrow pierced through her head between her eyes.
“MAMA!” her child screamed as the woman dropped to the ground with a thump. Another arrow quickly silenced the daughter as well with a slick crunch through her eye, everyone staring in shock as the young girl dropped forward atop her fallen mother. Cindy felt her breath taken away at the sight of the child being slain before her, her fearful eyes locked onto her body while everyone else turned to see a gathering of more elves and also gremlins nearby. The elves who had their arrows drawn at their own kin were clad in darker colored cloaks and cowls, their bows having more angular and thornier appearances to them, while standing in the middle of the group was another who hadn’t bothered to draw her bow yet as it remained holstered over her shoulder. Its three crimson medallions gently swayed from the bottom of the weapon while the elf kept her cold eyes locked onto the remaining rangers that slowly backed up with frustrated grunts from seeing their self-proclaimed leader staring them down.
“I’m very disappointed in you ladies,” Sivil scolded as she slowly shook her head. “Our beloved home is falling apart around us, our new friends are hurt and scared in this dreadful uproar, my temple above appears to be under siege as well. And to top off all that, here I find my own sisters plotting to start a rebellion against their priestess, scheming to unravel everything we’ve all tried so hard to build together for our survival in this crazy world.”
She took a few steps forward in front of her group before stopping with a hand held to her hip, lips flinching in her scowl before she showed a bitter smile.
“And what’s this drivel I hear about Clover being back? Clover’s dead. She’s never coming back. She’s as dead as… well, you traitorous rats.”
With a snap of her f
ingers her fellow rangers let loose their arrows, the bolts streaking past Sivil and striking down all the elves in front of Cindy and Squeak, with the ant girl watching in shock at the monsters killing their own kind so mercilessly. As the fallen elves dropped before them Sivil turned her eyes towards the remaining two girls, Cindy who was still staring at the dead child nearby and Squeak who tensed up from seeing the elves taking aim at them while the gremlins beside them were watching with menacing leers.
“Who are you girls?” Sivil inquired. “Are you among The Sisterhood’s ranks?”
“We don’t have ant girls fighting with us,” a gremlin answered shaking her head. “But I do know they’ve been hindering our movements in The Outerlands. They’ve been quite the thorns in our side.”
“Those monsters are not allied with us,” another agreed. “They’re our enemy.”
“I see,” Sivil replied as she narrowed her eyes. “So these are likely the ones who helped orchestrate this attack on my forest. That’s all I need to hear. Execute them immediately.”
Squeak gripped her pickaxe as the ground rumbled below them, her eyes darting around at the archers all taking aim with sharp glares at the two girls. Sivil showed a faint smirk as she watched her before shifting her eyes to something, with Squeak then noticing Cindy shaking a little while again her fists were clenched so tightly her sand was grinding noisily.
“She was a child,” Cindy stuttered, her voice cracking as she appeared shaken to her core. “You can’t… hurt kids like that. You can’t. It’s so mean. So mean.”
“It makes no difference to me,” Sivil coldly quipped. “Young or old, elf or not, those that betray me, conspire against me, refuse to follow my order, they are all treated the same. They are all put to death as a lesson to those who question their priestess.”
“You’re not the priestess,” Cindy scowled, lowering her head with her bangs covering her eyes. “Those elves said the priestess is dead.”
“I’m the new priestess in town, girl,” Sivil chuckled. “I’m the new ruler over this forest and leader of every elf within it.”
“You’re not a leader,” Cindy growled. “You killed a kid. You killed an innocent kid. That’s so mean. It’s so cruel. You’re not a priestess. You’re a monster. A monster.”
“We’re all monsters here,” Sivil retorted gesturing around her. “I assume you’re just like us as well, yes?”
“No,” Cindy argued through clenched teeth. She turned to glare with teary eyes at Sivil, her cheek losing its magical disguise and revealing falling grains of sand. Her shirt over her left breast faded into crumbling sand as well while her hip turned to loose gravel, the elves and gremlins watching in surprise as Cindy faced Sivil with her face having rips of sand tearing through her magical concealment. Even Squeak stared in awe as the sand wraith’s natural form was slipping through in her anger, her ponytail having shades of sand appearing inside it while her fists made a louder crunching noise as they tightened.
“You’re the only monster here,” Cindy scorned, her voice distorting slightly as sand dripped from her lips. “You killed a child. She was just a kid, she was so young. How could you do that to her? That’s so wrong. It’s so mean. It’s so evil!”
“She’s a sand wraith,” a ranger spoke up cautiously.
“What is another one doing here?” a gremlin hissed.
“What do you care if she’s dead?” Sivil retorted. “You’re a sand wraith. Killing others is what you monsters do, it’s what you live for.”
“No it isn’t!” Cindy yelled swinging her arms around. “I’m not like that! I’m not like you! I would never hurt a small child, I would never do that! They’re so little, and cute, and innocent, and… and… YOU CAN’T HURT THEM LIKE THAT!”
Cindy trembled furiously before arching back with a loud howl, her cry sounding animalistic as she shook her head before slamming her fists down on the ground. With a thunderous impact the ground shattered and dented inward, throwing Squeak back onto the ground with a sharp squeak while cracks ruptured throughout the dirt in all directions from the raging sand wraith. Sivil stumbled in her footing while her archers fired their arrows from losing theirs as well, the bolts flying all over with hard impacts into the ground, next to Squeak with not an inch to spare, and into Cindy with sand bursting out her back from the sudden strikes. Squeak stared with wide eyes at the arrows that narrowly missed piercing her abdomen before seeing Cindy standing back up with arrows stuck in her chest and arm. Sivil watched in surprise as the wraith glared at her with teary eyes, her face now having mud from the tears and sand coming off her cheeks and forehead.
“You meanie,” Cindy growled heavily. “You mean… monster… stupid… evil… mean… I HATE YOU!”
“Burn her, now!” Sivil yelled at her group. The gremlins grabbed a few of their alchemic pouches and wound back to throw them before Cindy roared and struck the ground with a powerful stomp. The forest floor beneath her gave away into a pit with rubble and dirt falling down the sides, with Squeak tumbling down the incline along with Sivil while Cindy was wobbling on her feet in the middle of the collapsed ground. The ant girl and elf slid down onto the dirt next to the wraith and watched as the girl yelled out in anger while grabbing the arrows out of her and throwing them around blindly.
“Sivil!” a ranger called down. “Are you alright?”
“Still want us to burn her?” a gremlin asked.
“Wait for me to get away from her first, you idiots!” Sivil yelled as she started scrambling up the incline. She was quickly stopped with a yelp before looking back to see Squeak holding onto her foot, the ant girl glaring at her with a stern squeak while Cindy was shaking in her rage with even more patches of sand appearing on her body.
“You…” Cindy growled as she raised her fists up high that Sivil stared at with wide eyes. “You’re bad. You’re bad! You’re BAD! BAD GIRL!”
“Wait!” Sivil screamed holding a hand out.
Cindy shook while poised to slam the elf into a bloody smear, the sand wraith trembling with shaky whimpers and growls before she slowly held her hands in front of her. She stared at them, seeing the tightly compressed gravel they were revealed to be, then slowly opened them and whimpered with heartbroken eyes as her body returned to its normal appearance. Squeak looked up and saw the sand wraith crying now as she shook her head, her arms shakily moving to hold herself as she stepped back.
“No,” she whined. “What am I doing? Killing others is bad. I can’t do that. I can’t be like how I was before. No. Stop, Cindy. Stop. Don’t be a bad girl. I’m not a bad girl. I’m a good girl. I’m a good girl.”
She dropped to her knees and held her hands over her face, breaking down into loud sobs as everyone watched her crying loudly in the crater. Squeak softly squeaked at the girl before a boot struck her face, knocking her back with a sharp squeak as Sivil growled at the girls.
“Filthy rats,” Sivil scorned as she scooted up the incline. “You got my lovely cape covered in dirt. How dare you!”
She turned to climb out of the pit before everything started shaking more violently. The elves and gremlins above them noticed the forest trembling more while plumes of steam were now rising up through cracks in the forest floor in greater numbers. Grunts of The Sisterhood and elves all around slowly stopped moving and witnessed the change before turning to see large pillars of smoke billowing up from beneath the royal tree.
“What’s happening now?” Sivil demanded, right before a rock blasted up out of the dirt beside her with a loud bang. Steam and a high-pitched whistle blew through the small hole before another two shot up behind Squeak, the ant girl and elf noticing them with a jump while Cindy slowly looked up and around with a whimper.
“What… what was-” she asked before a large blast of steam ruptured the top of the incline behind her, the girl screaming and turning around while Sivil slid down the slope again as all the dirt was shaking loose. She and Squeak slipped and dropped down against Cindy, the girls watch
ing as steam seared up around the edge of the pit with a growing whistling sound.
“What is going on?” Sivil screamed out.
“Uh…” a ranger faintly said as she turned pale in fright, her hand shakily pointing to something that the elves and gremlins were staring at with unblinking eyes.
“That doesn’t look good,” a gremlin said shaking her head.
“What doesn’t look good?” Sivil demanded.
“That,” a gremlin replied pointing at something.
“We can’t see!” Cindy whined. “What are you pointing at?”
Squeak looked around at seeing steam blowing out all around the hole they were in before she, Cindy, and Sivil turned to each other as they felt the ground under them shaking with a growing roar beneath it.
Without pause a thunderous boom sounded off as an eruption of lava and charred rock blasted up all around the royal tree, launching molten magma and flaming rubble in every direction while lighting the base of the grand timber ablaze almost instantly. Cindy, Squeak, and Sivil saw the sky turn red while it sounded like every monster in the forest screamed in horror, which was quickly drowned out by a deafening roar from Eden itself. Through the growing haze above them they saw streaks of fiery light passing by in the air while the whistling sound around them grew even sharper.
“What the FUCK?” Sivil cried out.
The slab of rock beneath them jolted and dropped at an angle in the pit before it was blasted out of the crater in an explosion of fire and steam. The elves and gremlins screamed as they stumbled away before they witnessed a huge boulder flying off towards the grand tree trailing smoke behind it. This view was very bewildering to them, although not as much as it was for those pressed against the front of the airborne chunk of rock. Cindy, Squeak, and Sivil screamed with fright as they saw themselves hurtling towards the royal tree while eruptions of fire, lava, and smoke streaked up into the air from the ground all around them. The three girls saw the grand tree fast approaching before the boulder they were on started to roll forward, spinning around them and flying off ahead while the girls now screamed for both being thrown towards the tree and also flying at it without any means of a ride.
Chronicles of Eden - Act XII Page 5