Mika slowly got back onto her feet before Saffron rushed over and punched her in the head, the woman stumbling aside dazed as the ant girl grabbed her cape and proceeded to swing the sorceress around with a loud squeak. The hunter screamed and kicked wildly as she was swung in circles before she slammed into Rulo’s hammer that the orc held out in front of her path. Dropping to the ground Mika groaned while holding her dented chest armor, the woman then quickly moving to get up before Sasha kicked her back down. Striking her broadsword into the ground next to Mika’s head the reptile girl held the woman down with her foot, the rest of the girls quickly gathering close and aiming their weapons at her while the hunter glared at them with a low growl.
“This fight is over, Mika,” Sasha declared.
“If you even blink funny I’m bringing just your head back to Daemon and demanding a reward for dealing with you,” Tabitha hissed.
“Even now your everlasting greed simply sickens me,” Forrus muttered shaking her head.
“Mika, can you hear us?” Hollia asked. “Do you even realize what you’re doing now?”
“She’s gone,” Rulo said shaking her head, herself and the others seeing Mika merely growling at them with a twitching eye while she almost seemed to be staring right through them. “Aeon ripped what little common sense she had right out of her.”
“Should I stab her now?” Scay grunted with a twisted smile and dagger held high.
“Not the worst idea,” Tabitha harshly mentioned.
Sasha shook her head at the sorceress then saw Daemon pulling his Archlight’s Blade out from its resting place. All the girls turned and stared at the cambion in silence as he examined his sword for a moment before walking towards them.
“Wow…” Scay breathed out.
“Holy… shit,” Tabitha quietly said, her eyes darting around at Daemon’s chest and arms as she lowered her stance slightly.
“My… knigh…” Hollia managed to say before losing her voice.
“That’s… your real form?” Forrus asked as the cambion walked up next to them, his cold blue eyes watching Mika twitching under Sasha’s foot before glancing around at seeing all the girls staring at him.
“Yes,” he replied, the deeper tone drawing stunned looks from Hollia and Forrus as they lowered their stances as well. Saffron slowly held her bangs away while eyeing over Daemon, an awkward smile coming over her as she fidgeted her hips a little.
“It’s quite… the dashing look, my knight,” Hollia stuttered before holding a hand to her cheek. “Very… bold indeed.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you as you are,” Sasha softly commented. “I’ve missed the real you.”
“I haven’t,” Daemon retorted shaking his head. “I don’t like being in this form.”
“Why not?” Tabitha asked. “You seem way more powerful like this, not to mention nobody with any sane mind would want to mess with you if they saw you like that. What reason do you have to hide it?”
“I don’t like this side of me,” Daemon said as he looked back down to Mika. “I prefer to keep it hidden unless absolutely necessary. It’s been… problematic in the past.”
“I doubt one of those problems was attracting a mate,” Hollia quietly said as she shakily brushed her hair.
“Problematic?” Forrus wondered.
“I only changed into this form because Aeon forced my hand,” Daemon replied looking to his own monster hand. “Or rather it was the only way to stay one step ahead of her.”
As everyone eyed over Daemon’s appearance Mika flexed her hand by her side, creating a small casting base in her palm as she channeled her magic along her arm. She quickly took aim at Daemon and fired a bolt of crimson light, the attack being swatted away by the Archlight’s Blade spinning in front of the cambion before he whacked the sorceress with the flat side of the blade, knocking her to the ground out cold with a twitch of her leg. The girls looked down at the unconscious woman then to Daemon as he glanced around at them with a raised eyebrow.
“Was she giving you girls trouble earlier?”
“Nah,” Rulo smugly replied with a wave of her hand. “We totally had her under control.”
“Oh yes,” Sasha dryly said as everyone looked around at the scarred and smoking battlefield surrounding them. “No problems here.”
*****
Mika groaned as she slowly opened her eye, the woman then quickly jumping with a startle as she found herself sitting against a boulder with her arms tied behind her and legs bound together. Her eye then carefully moved around to see Sasha and the girls standing over her while watching the sorceress with obvious discontent.
“You really are a handful, Mika,” Hollia sighed.
“I still don’t understand why we don’t just bash her head in now and get it over with,” Rulo scoffed.
“Or how about the fact Daemon let Nuci go free?” Tabitha spoke away from them. The girls turned to see Daemon sitting on a rock while examining the Archlight’s Blade in his hands, the cambion again in his human form while dressed only in his pants and boots still.
“Why did you let her go?” Tabitha demanded. “You had her crippled, didn’t you? You had her right where you wanted her, so why let her leave? She’s on Aeon’s side now, she’s going to come after us again, probably when we least suspect it too. So why are we not only sparing this troublesome monster hunter’s life but also that crazed alurane’s when they’re both threats to us?”
Standing up Daemon sheathed his sword at his side and started walking towards the girls, his eyes remaining locked onto Mika as the sorceress stared him down with a harsh glare.
“I don’t understand you at all,” Tabitha muttered. “You choose to let these dangerous enemies live. You choose to suppress your real strength and hide what you can really do. There’s no reason for any of it. You’re not making sense with any of what you’re doing!”
“Tabitha,” he said coming up next to the girls and glancing to the neko. “Please try calm down.”
“How can I be calm?” Tabitha exclaimed. “How can any of you be calm about this? And I’m not just talking about seeing you… you as you really are, because that alone got my fur standing straight up on end. I’m talking about the fact we have a brainwashed sorceress who’s trying to kill us, an alurane who could pop up anywhere and anytime to murder us without warning, and to top it all off there’s a Dark Queen out there who can control time and obviously doesn’t like us very much! She could kill us all any second now and we’ll never see it coming!”
“But she’s not,” Daemon pointed out with a raised eyebrow. Tabitha opened her mouth to speak before the cambion held a hand over it to silence her. “Listen, Tabitha.”
The neko stared at him confusedly then glanced around while the other girls remained silent, with Daemon slowly lowering his hand and turning his eyes back down to Mika.
“We’re not dying. We’re not dead. For an all-powerful Dark Queen who can control time itself, it seems she’s a bit shy with coming to deal with us herself. Instead she sends two pawns to fight us in her place.”
“She could stop time and attack us with no resistance,” Sasha pondered. “But she’s not. If she’s been alive this whole time, then why are we still living if we’re her targets?”
“What is she waiting for?” Rulo oinked. “With her power she could tear us all to shreds at any time. Why bother sending Mika and Nuci after us at all?”
“Furthermore, why did she allow them to lose?” Hollia questioned with a careful eye on Mika now. “She could have easily held us in place with her magic while these two ripped us apart without opposition. But she didn’t. She didn’t assist them at all.”
“I don’t understand her strategy,” Forrus grunted shaking her head. “What’s she plotting?”
“The only one who might know is her,” Daemon reasoned, with all the girls looking down to Mika as she growled at the cambion. Kneeling down before the woman she tried to kick him with her bound legs, with him ca
tching her feet and pinning them down as she struggled to free herself. Saffron and Scay held onto the human’s shoulders and kept her still while Mika only kept her hollow glare aimed at Daemon.
“Mika,” he calmly said. “Can you hear me?”
His only reply was the woman hissing and then spitting at him.
“She’s really pushing me now,” Rulo snarled.
“Mika, snap out of it,” Hollia urged. “It’s us, remember? Don’t you recognize who we are?”
“She’s not in there anymore,” Tabitha said shaking her head. “Not after Aeon got inside her head.”
“You will all die,” Mika scorned. “I will not fail my duty. You will all fall in the name of my queen!”
“So how exactly are we supposed to get any useful information out of her?” Forrus dryly asked. “I don’t believe she’s in a talking mood.”
Scay flashed her dagger with a twisted smile while Saffron smacked her fist into the boulder with a stern grin.
“That won’t work,” Sasha argued shaking her head. “It was torture that broke Mika’s mind in the first place. Pain isn’t going to bring her back to her senses.”
“I dealt a critical blow to Nuciferyne during our fight,” Daemon recalled. “She didn’t remember anything of her past or realize what had become of her afterwards, only swore revenge and retreated to heal her injuries. Hurting them won’t undo what Aeon did to them.”
“I still don’t understand why you let her go,” Tabitha mentioned.
“Striking her down would only bring Aeon joy,” Daemon told her. “Nuciferyne and Mika are merely tools in her eyes, expendable weapons she wields at her enemies. I’d rather find a way to bring them back to their senses and away from Aeon’s grasp without treating them the same way Aeon is treating them. I don’t want to give the Dark Queen any satisfaction in having her slaves being struck down in her place.”
“But still,” Tabitha warned. “Aeon sent Nuci after us once, she’s sure to do it again.”
“Then we’ll be given another opportunity to return the guardian to her former self,” Daemon replied as he turned his gaze back onto Mika. “I’m not sure what game Aeon is playing here, but I’m not going to grant her any victories. I’m sure seeing Mika cut down would bring a smile to her face, I’d rather not give her such a gift.”
“I wouldn’t exactly shed a tear myself if Mika was killed,” Rulo muttered. “But I have to agree with my master. No sense giving Aeon anything to smile about if we can help it.”
“So then how are we to free Mika’s mind from Aeon’s hold?” Forrus questioned.
“Mika,” Sasha spoke up as she knelt down and held the human’s chin. “Listen to our voices. You remember us, don’t you? It’s me, Sasha.”
“I’m going to incinerate all of you,” Mika snarled. “My queen has spoken, you’re all as good as dead!”
“Your queen is Leanna from Rockhelm,” Hollia argued. “She is the one you serve, not Aeon. Try to remember.”
Mika growled and struggled to move as she was held down forcibly, her eye moving around to glare at everyone while she bucked and snarled like a wild animal.
“You’re a monster hunter, not a monster servant,” Tabitha scoffed. “Pull yourself together, woman. You let your prey get the best of you. Have you no shame?”
“She’s not listening to us,” Scay worried as the sorceress kept struggling to get free.
“We aren’t your enemies,” Hollia insisted. “Aeon is your enemy. The Sisterhood is your enemy. Remember the ones who attacked you, killed your sisters even. The monster who blackmailed you, tricked you into opening her cage. They’re the ones you draw your blade towards, not us. We’re on your side, Mika.”
“Okay, this isn’t working,” Sasha warned as light built up in the human’s hands behind her. “She’s going to unleash her power again. Either reach what’s left of her mind or knock her out, now!”
“What about your brother, Max?” Daemon called out. Mika shook her head and snarled before glaring at him with rage. “What about your little brother, Max? Have you forgotten him as well?”
“I have no brother, I have only my queen,” she growled through bared teeth.
“You have a brother, Mika. One that you loved very much. One who you said was your whole world, the one you lived your life for and wanted to protect. The one who you vowed to defend by becoming a monster hunter. Max Harollson.”
“Shut up! Enough with your lies!”
“He’s the one you fight for, Mika,” Hollia said. “He’s the only family you have left, the one you swore to protect no matter what. You can’t forget him, Mika. You can’t forget your brother, he’s the most important person in the world to you. You would never forget who he is or what he meant to you.”
“Aeon blackmailed you with him,” Sasha spoke up. “Aeon used the secret of your forbidden love for him to have you release her. She used you, Mika! She’s using you now! You have to fight it!”
“Silence, all of you!” Mika screamed, shutting her eye tightly as she built up a crackling surge of crimson and dark energy in her hands.
“You need to wake up, Mika!” Daemon ordered. “Your brother is still out there, he’s still alive! If you let Aeon control you, you’ll never see him again!”
“No!” Mika cried out. “I don’t… I don’t have… shut up!”
“Remember him, Mika!” Forrus urged. “He’s counting on you to return to him. He’s lost two sisters already, you’re the only family he has left!”
Mika screamed while dropping her head down, her magic wavering in her palms as she began shaking with her internal struggle.
“Aeon… is… my… she’s my…”
“No she isn’t!” Daemon countered. He grabbed her head and lifted her gaze up to match his, the woman staring with a wide eye as she continued uttering something over her gasping breath. “You are not Aeon’s pawn. You are Mika Harollson, revered monster hunter and loyal huntress to your true sovereign, Queen Leanna. You fight monsters in this land to keep your providence safe, you fight to protect your younger brother. You are not a knight of the Dark Queen, you are a monster hunter and her sworn enemy.”
“Mika, listen to his words!” Sasha called out as the human shut her eye with a strained groan. “Aeon is your enemy, the very one who threatened you with your brother. The same who used you to get free from her tomb. She is not your ruler, she is your adversary.”
“Stop… it…” Mika groaned shaking her head.
“Wake up, Mika!” Rulo shouted at her.
“Remember who you are!” Hollia begged.
Slowly Mika opened her eye, its focus going in and out as she trembled with shaky gasps for air. In her mind a constant screeching deafened her thoughts, memoires of her past being blurred behind the noise while a familiar boy slowly began coming into view. Daemon held her gaze onto him as she appeared to be tearing herself up internally with her struggle, her eye twitching and rolling in her head as she tried to block out the screaming blare in her mind.
“Max is counting on you,” he said, with Mika shutting her eye for a moment before looking at him in a pleading manner. “You’ve made some mistakes in your life, Mika. Some very bad ones that will not be easy to recover from. But you are not lost yet, there is still hope for you to redeem yourself, both in your own eye and in Max’s. You need to grab hold of that strength within, the strength you still possess, and remember what it is you fight for in this world.”
“D… Daemon?” Mika quietly uttered.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“I can’t… I can’t think anymore. She’s in my head, she’s in my head, Daemon. I can only hear her voice now. I can’t block it out.”
“Fight it, Mika,” Sasha urged. “You’re stronger than her, you can beat her.”
“Yeah, you gave us a pretty good fight earlier,” Rulo mentioned as she rubbed her jaw.
“Please go back to how you were,” Scay pleaded. “I like that you a lot more than the you that
you are now. You know the you I’m talking about, right?”
Mika trembled in their grip with a hoarse scream, her magic then slowly dissolving as she slumped down against the boulder. Breathing heavily a few times she shook her head before shakily looking around at the girls, her eye then resting on Daemon as he watched her showing a heartbroken expression now.
“Mika?” Hollia carefully asked.
The sorceress trembled with a shaky whine before straining herself with a cringe. Hitting her head against the boulder a few times she took a few deep breaths as she slowly relaxed her body, her eye opening again and staring down into space as something finally came back to her.
“Max,” Mika breathed out. “My… brother. I forgot… my little brother. How could I? How could I have forgotten him?”
Scay and Saffron slowly backed away as Mika whimpered and lowered her head as she started crying in sorrow.
“I forgot him. I forgot the only family I had left. How could I have done such a thing? I forgot all about Max, what the hell is wrong with me?”
“Mika,” Daemon spoke, with the woman looking up to him with tears running down her cheek. “Do you remember now?”
“Daemon, I…” she breathed out, her unsteady gaze then moving around to each of the girls as they saw her finally coming to her senses.
“Mika,” Hollia said, kneeling down beside her and holding her cheek. “Are you finally with us again?”
“Hollia… I’m sorry,” Mika whimpered. “I couldn’t… I could only hear… I didn’t know…”
“Shh,” Hollia gently hushed with a small shake of her head. “It’s alright, Mika. We could easily tell you weren’t exactly yourself earlier. It’s good seeing you awake again.”
“Mika!” Scay cheered as she hopped onto the human’s lap and hugged her close. “You’re back! Now I can stab you as my friend and not my enemy! Hooray! I’m so happy I could just- nrrghmmm STAB YOU RIGHT NOW! OH CAN I? PLEASE? PLEASE? HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Mika’s reply was lost as her muffled words failed to escape the naga’s bosom that smothered her face. Scay laughed manically with eyes becoming crossed before Saffron pulled her aside, the naga then quickly hugging her and holding her dagger up in her hand that Saffron grabbed hold of and desperately struggled with keeping from being plunged into her.
Chronicles of Eden - Act XII Page 30