Chronicles of Eden - Act XII

by Alexander Gordon

  “What?” Clover gasped.

  “I’m sorry but it’s true. Those trolls you killed, the ones who ambushed you and your mother, they were just a scouting party. The rest of their tribe is on their way now, coming to take the forest and wipe out all who reside within it. That’s why I’m here. This is my job. To await their deaths and escort them into the underworld afterwards so they can continue the cycle of destiny.”

  “No. No!” Clover yelled stepping back. “What sort of trick is this? You’re full of shit! Who are you, really? What the fuck are you doing here? Did those trolls send you? Are you some outcast looking to make trouble? Whatever it is I’m not having it! Get the fuck out of here! Beat it before I-”

  “Kill me?” the woman guessed. She brought up her hand to her mouth, gently biting down on the glove and pulling it off, with Clover then freezing with a frightened gasp as she saw only a skeletal hand waving its fingers before her. While the woman’s arm had flesh to it her hand was nothing more than bones being held together by an unseen force. Clover stared in shock at seeing a wavy distortion rolling across the ranger’s arm, revealing nothing but her bones as it passed by, before it reached up to her head and showed the stunned girl a perfect view of a lifeless skull for a moment before eyes and flesh reformed again.

  “I died decades ago, Clover. Ever since I’ve been acting as a guide for those who the end comes for, as is my new purpose in death. And I’m sorry to say no matter how much you want to kill me there’s just no way for you to do so. Not as I am now.”

  “Fucking hell,” Clover managed to get out through gritted teeth. “You’re a goddamned zombie?”

  “No, not a zombie. I’m an elf. Or at least I was. It doesn’t really matter now. I am what I am, and I do what I must do, that’s all we need to be concerned with. I’m sorry, is this freaking you out?”

  “What? You having a fucking skeleton hand and being an angel of death? No, I deal with shit like this all the time,” Clover retorted shaking her head. “Are you kidding me? Of course I’m freaked out! I’m talking to a fucking ghost… or zombie… whatever you are!”

  “Calm down,” the woman sighed with a roll of her eyes. Gently waving her hand flesh formed around it, the undead elf showing her now normal looking hand to Clover before she put her glove back on again. “That was just to prove what I am to you. I don’t normally leave the hand in that state, makes it a bitch to properly fire arrows with.”

  “I’m sure,” Clover carefully said as she kept on guard.

  “Look, I didn’t come here to scare the piss out of you or give you nightmares. I came because your mother asked me to.”

  “I’m not scared! Wha… wait, what? You talked to my mother? You’ve seen her?”

  “Who do you think was there to guide her in the underworld after she fell?” the ranger replied. “Yes. Cadence, am I right? Long blonde hair, similar to yours. Green eyes of the lightest shade I’ve ever seen. And five lone freckles placed across her nose. She’s got a bit of a mouth on her too, again, similar to yours. Like mother like daughter it seems.”

  “That’s her… that’s my mother. You really saw her? You talked to her?”

  “I did, we had a very lovely chat all about you. See, every step of the way, every moment that passed after she and I met, she didn’t complain once about dying or lament her destiny, yet instead begged and pleaded and cried to know if you were going to be okay in her absence. That’s all she cared about, that’s all she spoke about, you and just you. Not even her own soul’s fate crossed her mind.”

  Clover stared at her in shock as the woman lowered her head and ruffled her hair with a tired sigh.

  “Truth be told, you weren’t going to escape what’s swiftly coming unscathed,” she admitted before glancing up to the stunned girl. “You were going to be sitting right here, crying and whining about the world being unfair and ‘fucking stupid’ as you called it, right up to the point the trolls found you. That was your fate.”

  “Are you… serious?”

  “Knowing the proper course of fate is what we in the underworld do,” the woman reasoned with a shrug. “I could see your future clear as day, Clover. Don’t worry, you would have gotten away from them. But not before losing your right hand and both your ears after they had their fun with you. You think you’re pissed off about everything now? You don’t hold a candle to the version of you twenty minutes from now.”

  “Twenty minutes?” Clover breathed out. “They’re going to be here in twenty minutes?”

  “No, they would have found you in twenty minutes. They’re about ten away from reaching the grove.”

  “What? No!”

  “Your mom begged me to spare you any more horrors,” the ranger solemnly continued. “To spare you any more pain. So here I am. I don’t normally take these kinds of requests, but I have to say I was a bit curious about you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Seven trolls,” the woman recounted with a smirk. “It wasn’t the fact that you took them all down on your own that impressed me, Clover. As I waited for your mother’s soul I witnessed you shooting arrows faster than any elf I’ve ever seen. You took down all seven trolls in fifteen seconds. Not bad.”

  “It wasn’t enough,” Clover argued shaking her head. “I wasn’t fast enough. I tried to get them all, I tried to kill them before they could finish my mother off. But I couldn’t. My fucking body couldn’t move fast enough!”

  “Well now you can move fast enough and get your ass out of here,” the ranger ordered as she pointed off to the side. “This is your only warning, Clover. I’m not exactly permitted by my superiors to change anyone’s fate, it really messes shit up down below, but you seem like a worthy exception to me. Plus you weren’t going to die anyway, so I figure it wouldn’t be too much of an alteration for destiny. Start running and get out of this forest as fast as you can, maybe then you’ll get to keep your body in one piece and your mother’s soul from weeping any further for you.”

  She turned and started walking away, taking only a few steps before stopping and looking over her shoulder to see Clover just staring ahead into the woods towards her village. The young elf wiped her nose then looked at the ranger with a stubborn glare, the woman solemnly watching as the elf seemed to be contemplating her choices. After a moment to think she made her decision; she picked up her quiver and strapped it to her back then snatched up her bow from the water, her sharp gaze focusing on the forest ahead as she took a few slow deep breaths. Taking only one step forward prompted the ranger to turn to her questionably.

  “You should run, girl,” she warned, with Clover ignoring her while marching towards the village. “If you go in there you will die. It’s going to be a slaughter, there will be far too many trolls invading your grove and no sympathy at all to spare among them.”

  “Whatever,” Clover muttered as she continued on.

  “You’re going to die,” the woman called out, with Clover finally stopping and keeping her back turned to the ranger. “You realize this, yes? I just told you what’s about to happen, and not even you trying to be brave and going back there will change any of it. Those elves are all going to die, there’s no way for them to escape their fate. You can’t change that.”

  “I don’t care,” Clover said shaking her head.

  “You don’t care? How very odd. Only moments ago you were cursing their existence, your own existence even, and wishing you could just die and leave it all behind. Wishing for everyone to die. Those people in your village meant nothing to you, they never have, right? So why march towards certain death all for the likes of them, those who wouldn’t even come to the aid of your dearly departed mother?”

  Clover remained silent, eyes focused ahead of her while her bow was tightly held in hand as she felt the woman watching her closely.

  “Why risk your life for the likes of them, Clover? Just let them all die, like they deserve. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

  “What I wanted was someone to h
elp me,” Clover retorted. “To help save my mother because I couldn’t do it alone. I wasn’t able to save her all by myself, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t do it, I needed help.”

  “But they didn’t help you. Those elves weren’t there for you.”

  “It wasn’t their job to be!” Clover snapped, turning her sharp glare back towards the woman. “My mother and I strayed far from the village, we got careless. We went alone. We didn’t pay attention. We paid the price. That’s not the fault of my people. It’s not the fault of anyone but us.”

  “But you just said-”

  “I know what I said earlier! I know what I shouted at the heavens, and I know fucking well enough that I was wrong! I was pissed off, okay? I still am, that hasn’t changed! But I’m not a fucking moron, I knew not to expect the gods to come to my rescue, that they would drop everything and descend from the heavens all to help me save my mother just because I prayed for them to! I was a fucking idiot to want them to do anything for me when we were the ones who messed up!”

  The ranger of death crossed her arms and smiled curiously as Clover lowered her head, the young elf’s hand clutching the strap of her quiver close to her chest as she shakily took a breath.

  “Life is cruel. Life is unfair. And life sucks ass. Nobody’s going to help me. Nobody’s going to be my savior. Nobody can be counted on to have my back when I need it. That’s how life works.”

  “Is it now?”

  “Yeah, it is,” Clover asserted at her. “But dammit, I don’t want my people to get hurt or suffer, no honorable elf would! I fucking hate this world, I fucking hate people, and even though you tried to warn me about this upcoming shitstorm I still hate you, especially knowing you reaped my mother’s soul after she fell.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. If it makes you feel any better, I’m often quite gentle with my reaping.”

  “But I hate murderous demons like those trolls even more,” Clover snarled. “I hate those that aim to kill and torture others even more, especially if it’s all just for their sick entertainment. I don’t like those elves, or anyone, I’ve been kicked in the gut too many times with misplacing my faith in others to give any more fucks for anyone in Eden. But those elves, my people, they are still a small step above the likes of those fucking trolls, and that’s reason enough to try to help their sorry asses, to keep those fucking mother-killing assholes from hurting anyone else the way they hurt me!”

  “I think I follow you,” the woman agreed with a nod. “But again, you will only get yourself killed by going back there, Clover. I promise you, you can’t win. You can’t turn the tides for your people in this conflict. You can only save yourself, or choose to die with them. Is this really what you’re going to do after your mother wanted to spare you any of it?”

  “My mother loved me just as much as I loved her,” Clover said looking down and away. “She was everything to me. Everything I had left to hold onto. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for me, and nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Losing her killed a part of me, ripped it right out of my soul and took a huge dump on it. But even so, even though this world has been nothing but shit to me and refuses to give me a fucking break, I’m not dead yet. I’m still here and I’m still me. And I’m certainly not going to allow those trolls who butcher and murder innocent people all because they’ve got sticks up their asses to do as they please like this.”

  “Again, you’ll die if you go, Clover.”

  “Then so be it,” Clover sternly replied. “Nobody came to help my mother and I when we were in trouble, nobody knew to come save us. I cannot walk away, even from those who have frustrated and pissed me off so many times, when I know I can at least try and help save them. At the very least, I like to think I can save at least one person, so that it doesn’t always have to turn out like it did for me in this fucked up world.”

  She started walking off again before suddenly stopping, the sound of the ranger now laughing causing her to turn around with a confused look on her face. The woman shook her head amusedly with a hearty chuckle at the young elf before tilting her head with a finger held to her cheek.

  “You’re just like your mother said you would be. Stubborn, temperamental, heated, disparaging, and… oh yes, selfless to a fault.”

  “She said that about me?”

  “She did,” the ranger agreed, walking towards the young girl with a curious eye. “She even said you might try to go back there and fight them all off, all to save your people. The very ones you claim to hate and feel indifferent towards, you would risk your very life to help them despite any warnings I may give of how futile your efforts would be, all because you refuse to let life turn you into a real monster like those trolls that struck your mother down.”

  “Well that proves you did speak to her, because she’s absolutely right. I don’t care what you say, I’m going to help my people because that’s the right thing to do. My mother raised me right, I won’t let her efforts be for nothing.”

  “My my,” the woman said as she now stood in front of the young elf. “Looks like I was right too. There was good reason to be curious about you, Clover. Such an odd elf you are. So much anger and hate within you, yet you still act honorably and selflessly without hesitation to those who need help. I haven’t really come across any like you before.”

  “I’m honored,” Clover flatly retorted.

  “Haha! Well, you should be,” the ranger reasoned with a small shrug. She looked off towards where the elven massacre would soon be taking place then eyed Clover with a slick grin forming on her face. “Still, it doesn’t change the fact that there are far too many trolls approaching your home. One more elven archer on the frontline won’t make a difference.”

  Holding her hand up she toiled her fingers together with a curious murmur, an idea forming in her mind before she then stepped behind Clover and gently held her by the arms. With a jump Clover looked back to see the ranger smiling shrewdly at her with a firm grip below her shoulders, her eyes piercing her own while again a whisper was faintly heard in her ears.

  “However,” the ranger continued. “Perhaps one more archer could make a difference.”

  “What are you doing?” Clover demanded, trying to pull away from the woman’s immovable grip.

  “Are you certain you wish to fight for them? Are you certain you wish to risk your life all on a gamble that you can save them? Will you not heed your mother’s and my own warning and flee while you still can?”

  “I’m not leaving my people,” Clover snapped. “I’m not giving up on them. I can’t do that. I don’t give a fuck if I might die, I have to try to help them!”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because that’s what an honorable elf would do! That’s what my mother taught me, how she raised me to be, and that’s what I’m going to live and die by!”

  “Does that matter if the world is nothing but shit?”

  “It matters to me! The world may be fucked up, but dammit I’m not going down without a fight in this life! I don’t care if I have to go at it alone forever, I’m going to stand tall in this goddamned world, and like hell you or anyone else is going to stop me! When I see my mother again I’m going to tell her I lived my life without anyone getting in my way, and I never let anyone or anything keep me from being a good soul in Eden!”

  “I see,” the ranger conceded. “Well, if you’re so intent on flirting with death as you are, then I don’t mind flirting back, Clover.”

  “W… what?” Clover bewilderedly asked.

  The ranger smirked as she gently moved her hands around the young elf’s upper arms, her gloves trailing a bright light that Clover stared at in surprise. As the woman traced her hands around the girl’s arms and slowly drew back, she left behind glowing bands of light that shimmered a yellow radiance before gradually dimming, revealing elegantly crafted golden arm bracelets that resembled those of the ranger’s. After they took their form however they quickly dropped down to her elbows as they were a siz
e too big, with the woman laughing a bit as she lifted them back up and held them in place with a tickled smile.

  “Oh my, you really are small, Clover. And I’m not just talking about your bust size.”

  “Hey!” Clover yelled back with a blush.

  “Calm down, I’m only teasing you,” the ranger chuckled.

  “What did you do? What are those things?”

  “A gift,” the woman replied, taking out a long strand of her hair that she used to tie one of the bracelets in place below the girl’s shoulder. Doing the same to the other one she calmly fastened the larger armbands to remain on the smaller girl’s arms, with Clover watching in confusion until the ranger finished and stepped around to the side to examine her handiwork.

  “Yes, that will work. They are a bit big, but you should grow into those in no time.”

  “What… what is this? Why did you give me these?”

  The ranger chuckled as she glanced over towards the forest trail before she started walking away, the low whisper seeming to follow her as she headed off along the beach with Clover watching in puzzlement.

  “You should get going,” the woman warned, stopping and glancing back to the young elf. “You should have just enough time to get there before the fun starts. Good luck, Clover.”

  “Wait, where are you going? And what’s with these bracelets you gave me?”

  “Like I said, they’re a gift. Hopefully you’ll put them to good use like an honorable elf would. As for me, I’ll be around. Someone needs to escort the losing side through the underworld when the fighting stops after all.”

  “The losing side?”

  “Yeah,” the ranger said as she looked ahead again. “I do wonder who that will be now. Oh well, I’ll find out soon enough.”

  She walked off with a single wave, leaving Clover alone on the beach with a confused look towards the mysterious elf. She examined each of her arm bracelets, the trinkets feeling a bit heavy while at the same time being held up on her arms by a single hair each from the ranger of death.

  “Hey!” she called out, with the ranger merely stopping and waiting for her to continue. “What’s your name?”