Chronicles of Eden - Act XII

by Alexander Gordon

  “Ragnarok,” she said, the single word echoing in Daniel’s head as he saw the foreboding lady floating beneath him against a strange emptiness while having a dreadful vibe surrounding her without question.

  “If it’s the gemini’s death you seek, I can grant you that wish,” she boasted with a smug grin. “I can, in return for you doing something for me.”

  “You can kill them?” Daniel carefully asked. “You… but how… what can…”

  “Do you want them dead, or not?” Ragnarok sharply inquired.

  “Yes, yes I do.”

  “You want to avenge your dearly departed wife or whoever it was you were screaming about just now, yes?”

  “Her name was Squeak, she was my mate. And yes, I want to avenge her.”

  “Then become my new handler,” Ragnarok calmly requested with a fanciful wave of her hand. “Wield me, and I shall aid you in slaying anyone you so desire.”

  “Wield you?”

  “That’s right. Use me to tear apart your enemies. It is my very nature to be handled as such.”

  Daniel looked to his hand and then the woman floating beneath him, questioning how that was even possible in any fashion, then showed caution as something else she had said became prominent to him.

  “And what is it you ask of me in return? You said you wanted something from me in exchange, what is that?”

  “I thought you wanted to avenge Squeak,” Ragnarok curiously replied. “Is that not true? I’m offering you the one and only way available to you of achieving such a desire. Are you having second thoughts about this deal?”

  “I’m not sure who or what is it I’m even dealing with right now,” Daniel argued. “How can I trust what you’re saying? How do I know you can really kill them? How do I know I’m not speaking to another deceitful monster looking to take advantage of me like the gemini once did?”

  “I suppose if you put it like that, you don’t,” Ragnarok slyly answered. “But ask yourself this; what choice do you have?”

  “Any that doesn’t involve putting my family at risk,” Daniel said shaking his head. “Trusting the wrong monsters before nearly led to everyone I loved being killed, I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

  “Well, to be fair, I’m no monster,” Ragnarok replied with a shrug. “Now listen closely. I want to get out of this place and do what I was created to do, kill. You want to slay those that took your mate away. Either you take me with you or fail with your desire to destroy the gemini. Which is it going to be?”

  Daniel hesitated with his answer, finding very little about the strange woman to be trustworthy, while also desperately trying to validate her reasoning in hopes she really could help him slay Jovian and Jacqueline. Closing his eyes and clenching his fists he felt great reluctance with speaking again, knowing that even if she did appear to be dangerous she also might be his only hope of avenging Squeak.

  “How?” he finally asked. “How can I even… wield you? What am I supposed to do? How would that even work?”

  “Summon me to you,” Ragnarok answered, with Daniel then looking at her confusedly. “Call upon me with all your might, summon me into your hands with your strongest prayers.”

  “Call upon you with a prayer? I don’t understand,” Daniel replied shaking his head. With a sudden burst of wind he noticed the clouds around him beginning to rise up into the air, a forceful resonance rumbling through the area before he too began floating off the ground.

  “You need to summon me now!” Ragnarok shouted as she pounded on her side of the barrier. “You have to want me, need me, make me yours!”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” Daniel exclaimed, legs kicking in the air above him as he tried to grab hold of the invisible barrier between them. “What’s happening?”

  “Your mind is being drawn back to your body! Quickly, if you want me, you have to take me!”

  “But how? I can’t grab hold of you!” Daniel shouted as he frantically tried reaching through to her.

  “Summon me into your hand!” Ragnarok demanded. “If you want me, you have to unsheathe me! Become my handler, use me to slay your enemies, get me the fuck out of this shithole! Do it!”

  Daniel struggled to hold onto the ground as the wind picked up, the rising currents threating to yank him away with great force as he and Ragnarok tried to reach each other, their hands still being separated by the unseen wall between them despite his best efforts to push through.

  “I can’t grab hold of you!” Daniel cried out. “This isn’t working!”

  “Do you want to kill the gemini?” Ragnarok shouted.

  “Yes! I do!”

  “Do you want to avenge your mate?”

  “Yes! Yes I do!”

  “Then accept me as your weapon! You must become my new handler, so draw me out and use me like the weapon I am! Don’t think! Don’t try! Just do it! TAKE ME!”

  Daniel yelled loudly as the wind turned into a raging tornado, dark clouds funneling past him into the sky with him starting to float up with them. He desperately reached out towards Ragnarok, seeing her slowly drawing away while screaming at him as he was lifted into the darkness.

  ‘Come on, Daniel! You have to do this!’

  “I love you, Daniel,” Squeak’s voice echoed in his head.

  ‘You have to avenge her!’

  “Victoria may be my queen, but you are my king.”

  ‘You have to save your family!’

  “We’re going to make it, we’re going to succeed with your quest.”

  ‘You have to do this!’

  “I know we will, because there isn’t anything in Eden that can stop you.”

  “DO IT!” Ragnarok shrieked while pressing both hands against the barrier.

  “Ragnarok!” Daniel roared, his voice cutting through the dark void as he stopped moving suddenly. The woman closely watched as he kept his hand outstretched for her, his face now showing a bold and focused look that focused solely on her. A warm glow engulfed his hand, spreading along his arm while in his palm formed a spellbase unlike any he had made before. It bared no emblems or glyphs, instead only had a large white diamond that was shaped irregularly with small breaks rigidly running through it.

  “The Crest of the Ancients,” Ragnarok breathed out in awe. “Incredible. He’s an actual descendant. That’s why his aura is…”

  “Please come to me!” Daniel commanded.

  “Please?” Ragnarok bewilderedly repeated. “Did you just say please? You’re not asking for a favor here. You’re supposed to summon me like a true handler of myself. Don’t ask for permission! Just take me!”

  “But… well…” Daniel unsurely replied. “I mean I can’t just… I mean you’re… and that’s…”

  “Stop babbling! If you want me to be yours, then take me! You have to make me your weapon, you have to draw me out with your will, you have to show me who’s in charge here! Don’t reason! Don’t beg! Just fucking do it!”

  Daniel growled as the wind intensified around him, his reluctance to treating anyone like a mere object conflicting with his moral beliefs halting him from speaking further.

  “Don’t treat me like a lady!” Ragnarok called out. “Don’t treat me like a friend or even an enemy! Don’t show consideration or even kindness towards me! I am a weapon! I am a tool! That’s all I am, that’s all I strive to be, so treat me like as such and wield me to slay your enemies so that I may serve my purpose! Take hold of me and USE ME!”

  Daniel yelled loudly as the wind became a wailing storm in its efforts to take him away, his hand remaining outstretched towards Ragnarok while the magical spellbase in his palm shined steadily with a piercing white light.

  “Ragnarok!” he called out, his voice just carrying over the furious gales. “Come to me now! I command you!”

  A white glow surrounded Ragnarok in a thin aura, her body slowly lifting upwards towards Daniel as she reached out for him with a wide smile. Lightning struck through the clouds around them as the two gradua
lly drew closer, with Daniel watching the woman flowing towards him with joyful, almost abrasively metallic, laughter. As their hands came close to contact a shining radiance of white light grew between them, with Ragnarok’s eyes staring intently into Daniel’s as he showed not sorrow, fear, or even worry on his face. Anger, vengeance, unwavering focus, his sharpened eyes and stern scowl showed exactly what he was determined to do, something that brought out an eager giggle from Ragnarok upon seeing.

  “Now that’s the look of a real handler,” she purred. “Daniel Sorres, was it? I like that name. Now, take hold of me, and use me however you wish. I am at your command, your soul is my new sheath, and your will is my desire.”

  “So be it,” Daniel said, his hand finally grasping hold of hers. A thunderous boom erupted around them as a radiant glare of a star bloomed within the dark and cloudy void of the ether. And while the echoing laughter of Ragnarok sounded through the blinding flash and piercing blare of a magical force being unleashed, it all fell silent in Daniel’s ears as he adamantly remained focused on one thing and one thing only.

  To destroy the gemini once and for all.

  Chapter 12

  Slayer of Anarchy

  In the world of Eden not all rulers and leaders were idolized or even respected. Some were rather cruel with their subjects, callous with their followers, and perhaps even hated for their crimes that they committed by exploiting their power for personal or corrupted gain. Even mighty queens would eventually bring down rebellion upon their heads as those that opposed their tyranny would rise up to stop them once they were pushed too far. When a matriarch becomes a symbol of evil and oppression for her people, they soon learn to fear the words that are relentlessly chanted in the face of their injustices.

  Down with the queen.

  *****

  With a menacing quiver the forest floor of Green Haven threatened to finally give under the building pressure below. Fire, steam, and smoke were erupting from countless cracks and pits throughout the burning haven. Monsters of The Sisterhood within the doomed woodland were running as fast as they could towards safer ground in the northern bluffs, elves that remained or were wounded from the chaos were struggling to evacuate towards the southern fields where word was their rescue was waiting for them. Very few still lingered inside Green Haven; however of those few a small group were witnessing something far more astounding than the sight of the elven forest readying to erupt into total self-destruction.

  Aeon, for the first time, had a wondrous look on her face, her eyes wide and focused entirely on one thing while a grand smile began to show. Flarah had, also for the first time, a stunned expression frozen on her face as she was both speechless and motionless from seeing the same thing as the chronofly. In her hands were two of Kindra’s tails, the younger kitsune frozen in place with her big sister holding her back as she finally stopped clawing frantically at a tree in her efforts to leave their canopy and rush towards her human who she believed was about to die. Now however she remained perfectly still, eyes filled with amazement while her jaw had dropped as far as it could go.

  Clover and Cindy slowly wiped their tears away while watching in surprise, them along with Sheal and Felucia having been silenced and rendered in shock from a bizarre spectacle while a strong wind blew by that did nothing to faze them.

  Jovian and Jacqueline were also frozen in bewilderment, the twin sisters having halted from executing the human before them as something drastically different had appeared in the blink of an eye. The sisters slowly drew back a step and lowered their swords, both of them looking over their prey with confusion while another geyser of steam erupted behind them.

  Everyone was brought to a sudden halt by Daniel. His head was lowered, clothing tattered and bloodied, hair ruffled and messy just as always, breathing quiet and steady while he remained down on his hands and knees before the gemini; however something was noticeably different now, and not just the abrupt presence of a fearsome, ungodly aura that quickly surrounded him from out of nowhere.

  “What is that?” Jovian asked, pointing to Daniel’s right hand that now had a large, armored gauntlet worn on it. The dark black plating of the bulky steel glove radiated with a strange energy while the crimson engravings it displayed glowed softly amidst the darkened armor, the gemini staring at it with puzzlement before Daniel slowly brought one leg forward onto its foot. Without speaking a word Daniel punched the armored glove into the ground, shattering the stone and rock under him before a shimmering light began glowing from beneath the fracture. All around Daniel a strange casting diagram sizzled into formation on the ground, ridged and angular lines glowing with a black and red hue all traveling in irregular patterns within a large diamond spellbase while his gauntlet that now rested in the small hole under him had building energy shining up around it.

  “What’s happening?” Jacqueline asked. “What is he doing?”

  “What trickery is this now, Daniel Sorres?” Jovian demanded. “Are you still not finished with this tiresome game of yours?”

  “No more games,” Daniel firmly spoke, his eyes opening to show a cold glare in them with one single tear remaining to slowly run down his cheek. Lifting his gloved hand up the ground ruptured from below as he brought something else out of the dirt. He began standing up, arm flexing with muscle as he drew an oversized sword out from below that everyone stared at in astonishment. The massive blade had a white wrapped handle over its polished darkened steel, the hilt baring a glowing crimson orb shining inside it along with red lights coming from small vents in the sword’s base that radiated with energy. The sharpened white edge of the weapon gleamed in the forest’s fiery light while displaying two large crimson engravings adorning the blade, the portentous aura it exuded being easily felt by all those nearby, and was held by Daniel without any trouble despite its incredible size. To him it felt almost weightless while in the immovable grip of his armored glove that remained firmly fixated around its handle.

  “Is that?” Flarah slowly asked.

  “It is,” Aeon agreed with a single nod.

  “Ragnarok,” Kindra breathed out with stars in her eyes. “It’s really here. The ultimate weapon in Eden; Ragnarok.”

  “Where the hell did he pull that out from?” Felucia bewilderedly blurted out. “Fuck that thing’s huge.”

  “What in Eden?” Sheal questioned. “How is he doing this? Who is this human?”

  “Daniel?” Cindy sniffled. “What is that thing?”

  “I have no fucking idea,” Clover slowly replied while staring at her mate in awe.

  “Where did you get that from?” Jacqueline asked pointing to the human’s new sword.

  “What is the meaning of this, Daniel?” Jovian scowled.

  Daniel eyed over the new weapon he had drawn from Eden itself, feeling its feathery heft in hand while also noticing that the armored gauntlet that held it was unable to move its fingers at all to let go of the summoned blade. A great and dreadful aura resonated from the sword through his arm, the feeling causing his heart to falter with a beat momentarily while telling him that he was holding more power now by far than when he did with the Hellfire’s Edge. It was then he caught a glance of a familiar metallic hand gently resting atop his armored glove, his gaze traveling back to where Ragnarok herself embraced him from behind. The woman floated above the ground like a ghost while her hair flowed gently behind in the air, her hand tracing along his chest while the other gently drummed its fingers along the darkened steel of his gauntlet. Her smile was vicious just as her gaze was, the aura she herself gave off seeming to be identical to that of the sword in Daniel’s hand. In fact it was identical, showing him that the woman and the weapon were indeed one and the same. Though only the weapon was seen by all those who bared witness to the event, and only Daniel heard her words that she spoke so boldly into his ear.

  “Well done, handler,” Ragnarok praised. “You drew me out just as I knew you could. You are indeed worthy of wielding me as your prized weapon. I can see
clearly without a shadow of a doubt with you holding me as you are that I am in good-”

  Without warning Daniel suddenly keeled over and let out a strained cry, staggering back a few steps while holding a hand over his chest as he started to scream in pain. Everyone watched in stunned silence as Daniel shouted something in a slurred tirade and violently shook his head, waved the ridiculously large sword about at his side, and stumbled down onto his knee while gripping his hair as he appeared to struggle with staying upright in his distress. He got back onto his feet while screaming loudly, hopped about while shaking himself wildly, dropped to the ground and rolled back and forth, scrambled back onto his feet and staggered around in circles while swinging his weapon at his side, then dropped to his knees and frantically swatted his hand against his chest and shoulders while shouting in a panic.

  “Hands,” Ragnarok flatly continued. She looked over Daniel then shook her head in disgust. “Hold on, wait a moment. What blasphemy is this? Your aura, there’s no magic at all going through you now. What is the meaning of this?”

  “What are you talking about?” Daniel shouted at her. “AHHH! What is this? What are you doing to me? My entire body feels like it’s on fire!”

  “What happened to your aura?” Ragnarok demanded. She floated around in front of Daniel to face him, looking him over with shock before angrily pointing a finger in his face. “What deception were you pulling with me? Your aura, the magical ether that flows through you, where is it? There’s no monster energy flowing through you at all now! I can’t sense any energy coming from your soul!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about! Holy crap, this really hurts! What the hell is this?”