Chronicles of Eden - Act XII

by Alexander Gordon

  All eyes witnessed in marvel as Mika stood with her sword held down and a powerful torrent of deadly energy blowing away from her, the woman’s cape fluttering wildly along with her hair while her furious yell lasted a little longer still. Slowly the wave of crackling magic died down and vanished, leaving a smoking crevice that led all the way towards a large hole that was struck into the side of the cave. Mika’s cape finally dropped down as the casting circles below from both her and Aeon vanished, the human wavering slightly as she felt a wave of fatigue hit her from the magic expenditure. Slowly she looked around the area, seeing ant girls and the desuwraith sisters staring at her in stunned silence while dust gradually settled within the cavern.

  “Did… did she get her?” Rulo asked as she was able to move again.

  “That was an extraordinary amount of magic you used, Mika,” Hollia complimented.

  “Is she gone?” Scay wondered spinning around in circles with her tail. “Is she? Is the bad monster gone now?”

  Daemon and the girls behind them observed the aftermath of Mika’s attack while keeping on guard, all of them then noticing something else in the cave that caught their attention.

  Mika breathed out and stepped back. She smiled a little at the sight of her magical attack’s onslaught then glanced behind to see Daemon and the girls all looking up at something. She paused for a moment, sensing an ominous presence still nearby, then carefully looked upward. High up in the air Aeon was fluttering her wings while having wisps of smoke coming off her body, the chronofly watching Mika with a death glare while green neon waves of light rippled behind her wing’s movements.

  “But… how?” Hollia breathed out.

  “Shit,” Tabitha cursed through bared teeth.

  “She’s still alive,” Forrus feared.

  “But that attack was right in her face,” Rulo nervously pointed out. “How could she still be alive? She was hit with it!”

  “She dodged it,” Mika softly said in horror. “She dodged the attack’s hit at the last moment.”

  Aeon looked to her hand and slowly formed it into a fist, flexing her fingers afterwards with distorted waves of energy rippling outward from them before turning her glowing eyes down to Mika again. The human started to lift her sword up only to then notice it was gone from her hand. Almost immediately the blade sliced through the air and her neck, lopping off her head with a slick crunch while cutting off most of her hair as the Dark Queen now stood behind the human with her weapon in hand.

  “MIKA!” Hollia cried out as the human’s head was then swiftly sliced into pieces in a mere instant, coating the ground with blood and bone fragments while her body dropped forward with a lifeless thump.

  “You foolish human!” Aeon raged at the remains of the hunter. “Did you actually believe you could kill me? That you, of all the lowly maggots in Eden, could possibly hope to overthrow your queen? You really were the most pathetic bug in this filthy world, weren’t you? You were nothing but a mere insect compared to the likes of me! How dare you defy your queen and have the audacity to draw your stupid little sword towards me!”

  “Mika,” Scay whined with watery eyes.

  “Fuck,” Rulo muttered. “She almost had her too. She just couldn’t do one right thing with her life, could she?”

  “Now we’re all going to pay for her mistake,” Forrus growled.

  Aeon threw the human’s sword aside with a scoff before she started chuckling bitterly at the fallen hunter.

  “How very rich! The mighty Mika Harollson finally loses her head from having an ego too big to hold it! I saw her death coming without a shadow of a doubt, even with all your insignificant meddling with the fates in a poor attempt to stop me, and yet even now I can’t get over how stupid that human was! I know I foresaw her failure clear as day, but still, it’s just unreal how naïve and foolish that little worm could possibly be!”

  “She really was,” Forrus muttered as she laid eyes on Mika’s remains.

  “And now we’re all going to be skinned alive thanks to her,” Tabitha morbidly added.

  Aeon bellowed in her vivacity with fluttering wings, waving distortions of air being cast out from their movements as the chronofly relished in her victory and freedom, before she slowly gazed around at those still standing in the cave. Daemon narrowed his eyes at the monster while the girls nearby were tense with alarm that they were next to suffer the wrath of the Dark Queen. Aeon chuckled then waved her hands aside, erecting a large casting ring below everyone that locked their bodies in place forcibly while an echoing clack sounded off in the cavern. The girls struggled to move while shouting in anger as Daemon continued to stare down the chronofly, watching as the evil woman began walking towards him with a sly grin on her face.

  “I must say, I feel much better after having sent that bothersome girl down to the underworld,” she mused playfully. “She really was a pain to have around. Nothing but a bother to those around her, wasn’t she, Daemon Warrick?”

  “As bad as her crimes were, she was still much more pleasant to have around than you,” he retorted, having black scales again forming on his neck and cheeks while his eyes turned colder.

  “Oh my, you appear to be upset again. I thought it was only at the cost of your dear pet reptile girl’s life that you could be riled up as much as this, but it seems striking down that human woman in front of you gets your blood boiling all the same, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s the sight of you that draws out the monster in me,” Daemon spoke, his voice deepening while scales began creeping up from his gloved hand along his arm.

  “I can see that,” Aeon cooed as she walked up to him, gently placing a hand on his cheek and slowly rubbing the monstrous skin that was appearing. Glancing to the side she saw his girls showing heightened rage and alarm from her being next to him, a curious smirk showing on her face now as she giggled at their reactions.

  “You really are a monster, Daemon Warrick. Though I must say, I do wonder how they compare to you when it comes to what lies within. They look rather angry at me right now, especially your pet reptile girl. Tell me, what kind of monsters would they become and show us all if I were to rape you to death right in front of them here and now?”

  “WHAT?” his girls screamed out.

  “Oh yes,” Aeon purred as she turned to Daemon with a malicious smile. “That is a big mystery. And so is what kind of monster you’re hiding in your pants right now, am I right? Haha! Well, girls, how about we solve these burning questions all at once? Pay attention now, make sure to compare his to all the other’s you’ve fucked during your lives, I’ll be counting on your findings for a final decision. And make sure to watch closely as I make your dear monster here climax until he breathes his last breath! HAHAHAHA!”

  “MASTER!” Sasha shrieked, her horrified eyes watching as Aeon reached down to grab Daemon’s pants, only for the chronofly to then suddenly stop with a sharp gasp. Aeon started shaking while straining to draw a breath, her eyes going wide while she appeared to be suffering great pain from out of nowhere.

  “Wh- wha… what…” she choked out before staggering back. Her magic in the cave flicked violently before shattering with a loud snap, freeing everyone who continued to watch in puzzlement as Aeon started screaming while turning red. She gasped heavily, her wings twitching while the transparent cosmos seen in their green segments began to show red cracks in them.

  “What… is… this?” Aeon wheezed as she dropped to her knee.

  “What’s happening to her?” Hollia asked.

  “She looks like she’s about to pop,” Tabitha guessed with a shrug.

  “No she doesn’t,” one of the desuwraith sisters said. “She looks like she’s about to poop.”

  “I think she’s about to throw up,” another added with a grimace.

  “You’re both so stupid,” the third retorted. “She’s obviously getting horny right now. Look at her face. It’s so obvious.”

  Saffron squeaked while tilting her head, herself
and the other ant girls staring in confusion as the chronofly screamed while dropping down to her hands and knees.

  “What is happening to me?” Aeon shrieked, gripping her head and struggling to stand again. She looked to her hands and gasped in horror as red cracks were appearing all over them, a shining crimson radiance coming from them along with sheer pain streaking through her body as she suddenly felt like she was being torn apart from the inside.

  “What is this? What did you do to me?” she screamed at Daemon, her eyes having breaking red fissures in them now as her vision began to blur.

  “We have done nothing,” Daemon answered shaking his head.

  Aeon cried out in agony as she dropped forward again, her wings now starting to break apart into dust while an echoing clack began sounding off in the cave, with everyone hearing the repeating snap growing louder and faster as if something was spinning out of control.

  “What is that?” Sasha asked looking around. “What’s making that sound?”

  “What the hell is happening to her?” Forrus questioned.

  Aeon looked up with a gasp as she heard the strange noise turning into a heated blare, her eyes then shakily moving over towards Mika’s corpse as she began to realize what was happening.

  “No…” she breathed out. “It… can’t be…”

  Everyone looked to Mika’s lifeless body then to Aeon as she started to choke with her right arm now beginning to break apart like glass.

  “Tell me, Aeon,” Daemon spoke up, the chronofly shakily turning to him with growing fear. “If altering the fates for someone causes you discomfort, what happens if you end someone’s fate altogether?”

  Aeon merely continued to gag as her leg began to break apart, all eyes watching closely as the chronofly seemed to be literally falling to pieces now.

  “You’re one with time, aren’t you?” Daemon continued. “You can feel those disturbances in fate quite clearly, yes? So answer me, what happens if you snuff out an entire lifetime of someone’s fate all at once with your own hands? What does that do to your being?”

  “Are you in pain, Aeon?” Hollia sharply asked. “You don’t look too well, dear.”

  “She looks like she’s getting stabbed a lot,” Scay mentioned with a twisted grin. “It’s so cute.”

  Aeon loudly croaked as she felt her body going numb. Slowly she looked over towards Mika’s body, her hand shakily reaching out towards the corpse as she realized the fatal misstep she had made.

  “How ironic,” Sasha spoke up. “It seems Mika was the one to do you in after all.”

  “NO!” Aeon shrieked, right before her legs and arms shattered into dust with bright green flashes of light. The chronofly’s body dropped to the ground as she screamed in her torment, her cheek now starting to have a large crack of red light opening across it while her eyes were breaking apart into dust. Turning her head towards Mika’s body the chronofly let out a strained cry as the clacking became painful for her to hear, the repeating snapping sound causing the pulsating breaks on her body to rip and tear her apart. With a final howl of agony the chronofly shattered into dust with a bright green flash, the haunting echo of the clacking noise suddenly stopping as time came to an end for the Dark Queen herself.

  “NO!” Aeon screamed with a jump, the chronofly still standing behind Mika who was frozen in time along with everyone else around her. The Dark Queen remained poised to behead the hunter as she trembled with a nervous sweat having formed on her neck. Her eyes were twitching along with her antennae, her distant gaze not focusing on Mika but rather something she had seen flash before her in the midst of her magical power flowing through the air.

  “No,” she uttered while shakily taking a step back. She looked to the sword in her hand then to Mika as the human remained perfectly still in the cave, the only sound being heard was Aeon’s unsteady breathing while she tried to calm herself.

  “How… how could that be my fate?” she cursed, a look of rage washing over her. “This can’t be. It can’t be!”

  She wound back to slice Mika’s head off, her eyes focusing closely on the human’s fate while her antennae twitched slightly. Slowly her anger subsided and was replaced with shock, her hand lowering with the sword as she stared almost through Mika and into the ether of time itself.

  “It can’t be true,” she worried. Glancing to the sword again she paused before looking at Daemon. Aiming the blade towards the frozen cambion Aeon focused on his fate while contemplating skewering his heart with the steel. After a few moments of silence passed, Aeon showed a horrified expression as she again lowered the weapon.

  “This isn’t happening,” she feared. Turning to Sasha she did the same, and then to Rulo, then towards Forrus, and each of those in the cavern with her one by one, each time growing more frustrated and alarmed as the same thing was present in every scenario of her ending the life of anyone around her.

  “No… no… goddammit, no!”

  It was the same fate she herself would be sentenced to should any of their lives be permanently ended by her hands; her own time would also come to an end shortly after.

  “NO!” Aeon roared with fluttering wings. She grabbed her hair while stumbling in circles, her glare moving around to Daemon and all the girls in the cavern as she couldn’t foresee any possible future where she could strike them down and live to tell the tale.

  “This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening! I can’t… I can’t kill them! I can’t end their time at all! How is this possible? I am queen of time itself, I am ruler of the fates, I am this world’s one true god! How is it I cannot kill these measly little cockroaches? This can’t be true!”

  She screamed while winding back to strike down Mika, her eyes staring intently at the hunter’s head as she focused on the human’s fate that she desired to end. Again she foresaw the same outcome should she murder the human without any intent to reverse the slaying afterward.

  “Curse it all,” Aeon snarled with fluttering wings. “I can’t believe this. To end anyone’s time is to end my own? Their own severed timeline would unravel my lifeforce as well? This was not anticipated while I was trapped in that accursed city. If only I had known this when I was first imprisoned, I wouldn’t have plotted to take my rightful place in this world as its one and only queen when I was finally released by means that would be fatal to me! Fuck!”

  She lowered the sword with a grunt and glanced around at those frozen in time nearby, each of them completely vulnerable to the Dark Queen and yet at the same time quite out of reach.

  “This is going to be a problem. If halting their time completely with death is fatal to me, then how the hell am I supposed to properly subjugate this filthy world as I’m destined to? I suppose I could cripple them, though that’s nowhere near as fun and pleasurable as killing them is. No… no. If I inflict any terminal deviations in their fates… no, damn it all!”

  Aeon turned her frustrated glare down to her own hand as it shook slightly in her revelation.

  “The timestream is my lifeforce, and that includes the rivers of fate for all of these accursed bugs! I can’t believe my own destiny is this twisted, I have all these stupid rats cornered and I can’t finish them off! Halting the timestream and its natural flow for anyone is fatal to me! The entire world is mine for the taking, and I can’t fucking take it!”

  Rubbing a hand down her face with a frustrated groan she then started pacing back and forth behind Mika, eyes darting around at the frozen people at her mercy while she brainstormed her next move.

  “Alright, so be it. I cannot kill these fools, or anyone else for that matter, so I’ll just have to get around this pesky law and find another method of disposing of these worthless bugs. But how?”

  After muttering to herself for a while and walking back and forth behind a motionless Mika for a few minutes, Aeon suddenly halted with an intrigued murmur as something popped into her mind.

  “Wait,” she distantly mused, her eyes then gazing ahead as she waved a hand i
n front of her eyes with a trailing lime glow behind it. Large green and blue triangular casting bases formed beneath her feet, the markers crossing through one another and slowly spinning while searing green emblems bled upward from them into the air around the woman. Aeon murmured while deep in thought, peering into the fates that had already passed while glowing neon lime symbols floated up near her from the magical bases.

  “That’s right. Mika Harollson’s little brother, he lived past his expected death because of my actions. By sending that little elf to his home, I changed his and that fat little centaur’s fate, and also the fates of those copycats who are now rotting corpses because of that temperamental tree rat. Those three monsters died in the end because of my actions, yet that did not end my own life in the process.”

  Grasping the air with a clenched fist she dissolved the casting bases at her feet with a loud crackle, a sly grin slowly forming on her face now while her wings gently fluttered.

  “That’s it. That’s how I can become queen of Eden. I can’t end anyone’s time myself, but others can do it for me very nicely. As long as I don’t personally kill them, I can steer the fates of others to suit my needs however I wish without concern. I suppose it’s rather poetic really, it’s simply the nature of being a revered queen. Sullying my hands with trash such as them, it’s not my place to do so. That’s a job for peons.”

  She paused for a moment, her antennae twitching slightly as she pondered her choices on what to do next, then slowly turned to Mika with a devious chuckle as she eyed over the frozen woman. Turning her eyes downward she saw where Nuci was slowly digging upward towards the cavern, the alurane moving her roots and flower bud up to the cave with the intent to strike down the chronofly by surprise.

  “Oh my, look at you,” Aeon derided shaking her head. “I can’t believe it. You too? You actually think you can kill me, and you’re really trying to be sneaky about it? I can see your fate just as always, have you already forgotten? You are completely idiotic to believe you have any chance of success. You’re just as pitiful as Mika Harollson here, and you don’t even realize it, do you?”