Chronicles of Eden - Act VIII

by Alexander Gordon

  “Sorry to ruin the lovely meal you made with all that. Thank you again for preparing this for us, Doku.”

  “It’s no trouble, Daniel,” Doku softly replied. “I do hope you like it.”

  “Daniel?” Triska called out from the hall. “You need to come out here.”

  Daniel and the girls exchanged questioning looks then stood up to head out of the room. They got to the archway before stopping as they saw Triska and the three hunters standing further out in the hall while watching something that everyone then took notice of.

  Sitting down in front of the grandfather clock in the court there was a girl who was making soft meowing sounds with each swing of the clock’s pendulum. She had large black cat ears and long purple hair draped down her back while her tan skin appeared clean without any blemishes. A white skirt with black polka dots was worn around her waist with a rip up the side of it along her left thigh, and from under the skirt she had two long black furry tails gently swaying about behind her, one of them having a white end while the other had a single white stripe at its tip. Her feet were seen to be bare as she sat on her legs before the clock while she wore a bland leather tunic. The cat girl’s head cocked side to side as she meowed to herself in rhythm with the clock’s swinging weight, seeming to be captivated by the moving object and not appearing to notice anyone behind her.

  “Who is that?” Triska carefully asked while her hand rested on her sword’s handle. “Or rather what is that?”

  “She’s not part of your family?” Mika cautiously said while she and her sisters remained on guard.

  Triska watched the monster girl seeming to be mesmerized by their clock then noticed Specca and Alyssa staring at the newcomer with horror.

  “Not liking the looks you two have.”

  “It can’t be,” Specca breathed out.

  “Daniel, hide,” Alyssa quietly urged.

  Daniel jumped then quickly backed up behind the group of monsters as they watched the cat girl meowing with her head rocking side to side.

  “What is that?” Kroanette carefully asked.

  “That’s a jinx,” Specca nervously answered. “Where did it come from?”

  “Over there,” Luna said pointing to the open door. “Someone forgot to close the door.”

  “Clover, you were the last one in, weren’t you?” Falla accused the elf.

  “I didn’t think we would be taking our time and having lunch with the fucking bitches who attacked us,” Clover snapped back.

  “Friend or foe?” Triska asked while holding onto her sword.

  “I thought you said monsters could be allies with us,” Mika quipped as she did the same. “Why are you preparing to fight if that’s the case?”

  “Because I don’t know if this monster can be a friend or not. So, Alyssa, Specca? Which is it?”

  With a quick meow the cat girl turned around and smiled at Triska, the group seeing her green and blue colored eyes as they gave off a soft glow briefly. The monster slowly stood up and chuckled with short mews while her tails waved around behind her. Facing forward the group saw the tunic was open towards the top showing her cleavage, her bust size being a little smaller than Triska’s while she stood about as tall as the cambion did.

  “Um, should we say hello?” Doku worriedly asked.

  “What is it?” Daniel whispered from behind Kroanette.

  “Big trouble,” Specca and Alyssa answered.

  “Why? What is that thing?” Falla nervously asked.

  The cat girl took a few slow steps towards Triska then instantly warped across the hall and appeared right in front of the teen’s face, leaving a small sparkly haze briefly lingering about where she just was and where she had appeared. Triska gasped and dropped back onto her rear while the hunters quickly backed up from the monster that had just teleported across the hall in front of them. The cat mewed and crouched down before the teen, watching her with a curious smile while her eyes gave off an unsettling vibe with Triska.

  “How did it do that?” Luna asked in wonder.

  “Don’t attack it,” Specca hushed out. “Whatever you do, do not attack it.”

  Slowly Mae stepped back while reaching into her satchel, the hunter drawing out her crossbow which unfolded with a click. She took aim at the cat monster with her finger resting on the trigger while her sisters tensed up.

  “Don’t do it, Mae,” Specca urged shaking her head. “Please, listen to me.”

  Triska glanced over to Mae as the hunter kept her crossbow set to fire. The cat girl mewed then turned her smile over towards Mae while her tails waved around. The hunter grit her teeth and pulled the trigger, with the wire for the bow then ripping off the right end with a loud snap. The wire sliced through the bow and then across her hand and cheek, the girl screaming as her crossbow broke apart with its arrow being flung off to the side and the string razing across her face while striking against her glasses.

  “What the hell?” Mae cried out as she dropped her broken crossbow and held her bleeding cheek. “How did that happen?”

  “Oh my god, are you alright?” Mika quickly asked her.

  “That would have taken my eye out if I wasn’t wearing my glasses!” Mae exclaimed as she saw the crack lined across the lens.

  Milly clenched her teeth then charged towards the cat with her axe held to the side. She rushed over and swung her weapon before her foot slipped on the floor with a loud screech. The group watched as she fell to the side in her swing, the heavy weapon soaring just over the cat’s head before Milly dropped down onto her back with the axe sliding out of her hands into the air. It spun around and fell back down towards her, the girl watching with wide eyes as it closed in on her head before it stopped a hair away from splitting her skull in two.

  “Don’t attack her!” Alyssa yelled while holding a hand out to keep the axe levitated above the hunter.

  Milly shakily looked over to the witch then up at her weapon before she scrambled away to the side in a panic. Alyssa dropped the axe onto the ground while Mae helped Milly stand and held her close.

  “How did that happen? My foot just slid out from underneath me,” Milly whined.

  “And my crossbow tried to kill me,” Mae said in disbelief. “I don’t understand how it could break like that.”

  The cat girl meowed at the hunters in a taunting manner, making pawing gestures while rocking her head side to side as she mewed again and again with a happy smile. She then looked at Mika curiously as the hunter was glaring at her with blue wisps of light rolling around her hand. The cat smirked then vanished before instantly appearing in the center of the court, her eyes locked onto Mika as she gave a mocking bow before motioning the hunter towards her with one hand.

  “You think you can mess with us?” Mika growled as she brought out her claymore and got ready to charge. “You think we’re playing around here?”

  “That’s what jinxes do,” Specca urgently replied. “Don’t attack her, Mika. She’s literally just playing with you. You can’t hurt her and she knows it.”

  “Oh yeah? Just watch me,” Mika retorted before throwing out a fiery blast of blue and white energy at the cat. The magical attack soared towards her then instantly bounced right back towards Mika at the same speed. Mika grunted as she shifted her hand to face outward with her palm, a small triangular casting base appearing in a green light before her that took the magical attack head on. With a flash and loud crackle the attack was dissolved by the counter spell, a wavering haze lingering briefly from the magical forces canceling each other out while Mika gripped her sword in both hands with anger.

  “You won’t get the best of me!” she yelled charging forward, raising her sword high to strike down with while the jinx merely stuck her tongue out at her.

  As Mika got closer and swung down with her blade her foot suddenly slipped on the floor, the girl flying forward with a surprised gasp while the jinx smirked at her amusedly. The cat warped away to the side of the hall while the group watched as Mika fell fo
rward with her sword striking down onto the floor. Before she could fall face first onto her own weapon she halted suddenly, her eyes staring in shock at her claymore which was resting against the marble floor on its edge and was about to split her in two from landing down on it. Slowly she looked over to see Alyssa holding her hands out towards the hunter with a dull expression on her face as the witch held the girl up with her magic.

  “I think she just did,” Alyssa flatly told her.

  Mika was tossed to the side onto the ground next to her blade, the girl quickly scrambling to her feet and looking over to the jinx who was taunting her with the same gesture she had given her sisters.

  “Nobody make any sudden movements,” Specca ordered holding her hands out. “You cannot attack a jinx. Not with magic, not with force, not with anything. Do you all understand now?”

  “Why do you think they’re called jinxes?” Alyssa quizzed while watching the cat monster carefully. “Bad things always happen to anyone who attack them.”

  “Are you saying my crossbow tried to take my eye out because of her?” Mae asked aloud.

  “They’re protected by magic,” Specca explained. “They’re essentially magical beings themselves. If you try to hit her or shoot something at her you’ll be cursed to be harmed instead. Everything threatening gets reflected back from a jinx.”

  “So then how do we hit her?” Milly asked as she grabbed her axe again and tensed up to fight the monster.

  “You can’t,” Specca answered. “There is no way to attack a jinx, they’re untouchable. They’re protected by magic that simply won’t allow them to be hit by anything, and they can teleport short distances with their magic at will. You can’t corner or even tie down a jinx, they can always get away from danger.”

  Mika glared at the jinx as the monster playfully swayed back and forth on her feet while meowing at her with a sly smile.

  “Are you saying we can’t hurt this monster at all?” she demanded back at Specca with frustration. “She’s just meowing with that stupid grin on her face, I’m sure she’s ridiculing me right now.”

  “That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say all this time. You cannot attack a jinx. And don’t be fooled by her only talking like a cat. They don’t speak in our tongue but they understand it clearly. She’s not a feral creature, she’s sentient. They’re actually very intelligent and crafty monsters.”

  Everyone then noticed that the jinx had warped back over in front of the grandfather clock, the cat sitting on her legs and rocking her head side to side as she mewed in rhythm to the moving pendulum. Her tails waved around together while she again became enthralled by the moving weight, seeming to pay no mind to the others who were staring at her in puzzlement. She didn’t even give the monsters at her side in the archway a fleeting glance as she sat before the clock, seeming to lose complete interest in everyone in favor of the ticking timepiece once again.

  “Um…” Falla slowly said.

  “Intelligent, huh?” Clover dryly repeated.

  “What’s she doing?” Pip asked landing down on Kroanette’s shoulder.

  “She… really likes that clock,” Doku reasoned with a shrug.

  “So what makes them so bad?” Triska asked as she got back onto her feet and kept on guard. “They’re just hard to attack?”

  “No, they’re impossible to attack,” Alyssa corrected shaking her head. “But more importantly if she finds out we have a certain someone here she’ll try to rape that someone, and we won’t be able to stop her.”

  “What?” Kroanette questioned while moving Daniel back more.

  “They can teleport at will,” Specca explained. “We can’t bind her down or throw her out. She’s immune to any form of attack we may try to use, we’ll only hurt ourselves trying to stop her. If they want to rape someone there’s nothing that can defend against them.”

  “Can they be reasoned with?” Triska asked. “You said she’s sentient, she’s not a wild monster. Do you think their kind can be allies with us?”

  “I have no idea,” Specca fretted. “They’re extremely rare in the world, but all the instances I’ve heard of travelers encountering them didn’t end well. They don’t kill people, at least not on purpose.”

  “Not on purpose?” Kroanette repeated.

  “People hurt themselves trying to attack them,” Alyssa clarified. “They don’t try to harm others, but they do try to rape men. And almost every time they succeed, there’s just no stopping them when they get a man in their sights. Everyone that tries gets hurt by very bad luck befalling them, sometimes with fatal results.”

  Doku and Squeak slowly moved back by Daniel and kept him behind them and Kroanette while the group kept a careful eye on the magical monster sitting in the hall.

  “But there’s a chance we can talk to her, isn’t there?” Daniel quietly asked.

  “A very risky chance,” Alyssa softly replied.

  Triska kept her hand on her sword’s handle as she watched the magical monster meowing playfully in front of the clock. Although she got a strange feeling from the newcomer she couldn’t quite tell if it was a sense of danger or not. She then noticed Mika and her sisters keeping a close eye on the cat while remaining on guard, none of them moving although they were obviously contemplating it.

  “You three should leave,” Triska spoke up. The sisters glanced to her as she waved back towards the doorway. “We’ll deal with this, it’s not your problem. Go back home and make sure Max is safe.”

  “What are you doing to do?” Mae questioned. “Try and make friends with that monster?”

  “Worth a try,” Triska mused with a smirk. “Trying to find the good in monsters is what we do out here.”

  Mika grunted with frustration then slowly breathed out as she watched the magical monster with a dull glare. Not wishing to tempt fate with another go at the enchanted creature she reluctantly began making her way over towards the doors while keeping an eye on the jinx. Mae gathered her broken crossbow and placed it in her bag before she and Milly moved towards the exit as well. As they passed by Triska they halted and looked over to the group of monsters gathered in the archway to the dining room.

  “Thank you,” Mika said to Alyssa. “For saving us earlier.”

  “We’re not all bad,” Alyssa promised shaking her head. “And we’re going to make sure our sisters learn to be good in the world.”

  Mika turned to Triska in silence, the cambion looking back to her while keeping her hand on her sword and nodding in agreement. After a moment the hunter then left with her sisters without saying a word, the two other girls giving one last look back to the group before they quickly ran off from the campsite.

  “Here’s hoping they don’t think we’re bad people anymore,” Specca sighed.

  “Forget about them, what are we going to do about her?” Kroanette asked pointing to the jinx who was still sitting close to the grandfather clock and meowing to herself.

  Outside the three sisters rounded a tree and looked back to the carriage sitting near the road further away as they came to a stop.

  “Shouldn’t we help them?” Milly asked. “It sounds like that cat monster could be dangerous.”

  “We’re monster hunters, not monster saviors,” Mika argued shaking her head.

  “But Daniel isn’t a monster, he might be in danger.”

  “He already is staying close to so many monsters like he is. He’ll get what’s coming to him soon enough for his stupidity.”

  “That witch,” Mae softly said, getting the attention of her sisters as she watched the carriage with concern. “She saved you and Milly from getting hurt. I never heard of a witch saving anyone before. And they tried to warn us not to attack that thing, they didn’t want us to get hurt.”

  “They were nice,” Milly agreed. “They even tried to give us something to eat.”

  “Let’s just get back to Max and make sure there aren’t any other monsters lurking nearby,” Mika ordered as she sheathed her blade. “Tho
se people are on their own. If Daniel wants to play with monsters so much, then let him. He’ll learn soon enough they’re nothing but trouble.”

  The three girls took off towards their home, with Mika leading the way and her two sisters keeping pace behind her. As they raced back to their cottage Mae glanced behind her with a curious eye, questioning what she had heard and seen with the strange group of travelers.

  Inside the main hall the jinx continued to watch the clock’s swinging weight with a cheerful smile on her face. She meowed as she rocked her head side to side in rhythm of the ticking clock, seeming to find amusement with it, while the rest of the group watched her with growing curiosity.

  “Why does she like the clock that much?” Falla asked scratching her head in puzzlement.

  “She’s just sitting there enjoying herself,” Kroanette mused.

  “If she sees who’s behind us she may not care about the clock anymore,” Alyssa carefully pointed out.

  Triska slowly walked over beside the jinx, watching as the cat girl continued meowing to herself and paid the cambion no mind. Sitting down next to the monster however caught her attention, as the jinx quickly turned to Triska with a curious expression while her tails stopped moving.

  “Hello,” Triska kindly said, getting no reaction from the jinx. “What are you doing in here?”

  The jinx smiled at the clock and meowed again before returning to her constant head rocking and mewing to the swing of the pendulum.

  “You like that clock, don’t you?” Triska asked with a curious smile.

  The cat gave an enthusiastic cheer with a loud meow then continued staring at the moving weight in her rhythmic mewing as if it was the only thing in the world to her.

  “What’s your name?” Triska said, the jinx then turning to her with a questioning meow. “You’re not a nameless monster of Eden, right? You have a name, don’t you?”

  The jinx nodded with a single meow.

  “What is your name? Mine is Triska Raylight.”

  Again the jinx only responded with something said in her own tongue.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t speak jinx,” Triska confessed with a weak smile.