Valentina swooped low across the ground at high speed, racing towards the group before stopping suddenly before Tabitha with a burst of wind blasting past them and furious look on her face. She gripped her hammer tightly in one hand while pointing at the neko’s face with the other.
“You took them, didn’t you?” Valentina hissed. “You think you can trick me? You think you can take what is mine like that? GIVE THEM BACK NOW!”
“Give what back?” Tabitha asked holding her hands up. “Look at me, I have nothing with me but my swords. Do I look like I’m keeping anything from you?”
Valentina eyed her over quickly then looked to Scay, the naga holding her hands up as well with a cheery smile.
“Only have my dagger and shirt, nothing else,” Scay giggled.
“Then where are my key fragments?” Valentina roared. “There was nobody out there, not a living soul! Who took them from me?”
Turning her fierce glare from one girl to the next she saw them all raising their hands defensively and showing they had nothing of hers. When she got to Sasha she noticed the reptile girl’s pouch was missing from her hip, something Sasha glanced to then back to the angel with a raised eyebrow in question.
“Wait, where’s the one you collected?” Valentina demanded.
“Stolen as well,” Sasha informed her. “Seems we’ve all been had.”
“How did they take all of them like that?”
“It wasn’t too hard I imagine,” Tabitha sighed shaking her head. “You terrified all of Daemon’s helpers stiff with your threats and then you left your relics just floating there in the open. Thanks to you putting on your loud display those sneaky rats were able to swipe everything from us without opposition. I hope you’re happy with yourself.”
“WHAT?” Valentina yelled at her with anger. “How is this all my fault?”
“They’re getting away,” Scay whined. “What do we do now? Now none of us have those things. Oh woe is us.”
“Who’s getting away? WHO TOOK MY KEY FRAGMENTS?”
“Whoever they were they were moving fast,” Tabitha pondered as she carefully looked around at the dark surroundings. “This isn’t good, who knows how far they’ve gotten now.”
Valentina screamed with a stomp of her foot, shattering the ground below her and knocking the girls away with the sheer force. Daemon braced from the impact while keeping a close eye on the temperamental angel, watching her shouting into the air with brightly glowing wings before she dashed off with her glowing hammer held tightly in hand. She flew a short distance then quickly came to a stop, pausing for a moment before turning her sights back onto Forrus to whom she pointed her weapon at with a vicious glare.
“I’ll deal with you later, mutt,” she scorned with bared teeth. “If you value your life you will remember your place underneath my big brother’s foot.”
“Yes, I will,” Forrus quickly agreed.
Valentina slowly aimed her hammer around at all the girls with a cold glare before smiling coyly at Daemon.
“Big brother, I’ll see you again real soon. Please do take care of yourself, you know I worry about you.”
“I’ll be just fine, Valentina,” he replied while keeping on guard.
“I know you will be,” the angel giggled. “I’ll never let anything bad happen to you. We’re going to be together forever and ever after all.”
With that she quickly took off with murder returning in her eyes, racing into the hazy night with her glow shining brightly for a while before slowly fading away. After the angel was long gone and silence filled the land all eyes turned to Tabitha as she breathed out in relief.
“I’d better be getting paid enough for all this crap,” she muttered.
“Not bad,” Daemon said, gaining the neko’s attention. “Though next time I’d prefer you didn’t place Forrus’s life on the line like you did.”
“It was the only opening we had to get those things from her,” Tabitha reasoned with a shrug. “Besides, your pet dog was the one barking too much in the first place.”
“What was that?” Forrus yelled while advancing on the neko.
“Still barking,” Tabitha warned as she began to draw out one of her blades.
Forrus got in front of the girl and growled as they stared each other down with harsh glares, both tensing up to leap into a brawl with low yowls and growls. Before they could make a move a large broadsword was thrust between them, severing their locked stares and snapping them back to reality.
“Enough, both of you,” Sasha ordered before lowering her weapon and watching Tabitha closely. “Alright, you managed to procure two more fragments for us, so I can’t say you’re completely worthless. However if you risk her life like you did again then we’re going to have a problem, one that I will remedy very quickly. Am I clear?”
Tabitha slowly slid her blade back into the sheath and nodded before stepping away. Sasha eyed over the neko in derision for a moment before walking over towards her master with a worried expression.
“I’m sorry I lost my temper earlier,” she softly implored. “I promise to keep better control over myself in the future. She just really infuriated me, I couldn’t stop myself.”
“Me too,” Rulo added in remorse. “When she started hugging you like she did I couldn’t stand it. Who does she think she is hanging all over you like that?”
“You two are better than that,” Daemon reminded them while sheathing his sword. “I know you’re both capable of self-control. Don’t be like Valentina who doesn’t exercise any restraint.”
“Yes, master,” Sasha and Rulo said together. They twitched then looked at him nervously as he remained silent while staring at his scaly hand. He didn’t say a word as he tilted his hand slightly and examined the cut across his palm which had stopped bleeding.
“Um, I mean, Daemon?” Sasha slowly added.
“Sorry?” Rulo said carefully.
“Call me what you want,” he said with a shrug. Sasha and Rulo jumped a bit and watched him with awe as he walked forward while keeping his eyes on his hand. “If it will help you two control yourselves better then so be it. I’m done arguing with you on this. Call me master if you so desire.”
Both Sasha and Rulo dropped their weapons as they were rendered speechless and stunned, the two girls staring at Daemon with wide eyes as he headed over towards where Hollia was looking around at the desolate ruins of her home. Upon approaching her she quickly turned to him and stepped back a bit, seeming to be nervous about being close to him while her eyes showed they were holding back tears.
“What have I gotten myself into?” she quietly asked. “An army of horrible demons, a male monster, an angel, seals and divine artifacts, all of this is only making me question if I’m even awake right now. Am I dreaming all this? Is Ruhelia still standing? Is my family still alive?”
“You’re awake,” Daemon answered as he eyed over the surrounding land under the moonlight. “All of this is very real. Though I can understand how it may be more than you’re ready to accept right now.”
Hollia slowly walked up to Daemon then knelt down before him, dropping her spear with her hands down at her sides as she watched the swordsman with a distant look in her eyes.
“I feel numb,” she softly spoke. “I feel… dead inside. Everything has been taken from me. My family, my home, my kin, even my understanding of the world is being contended. I feel completely lost and alone, like I’m in another world entirely.”
The other girls had fallen silent as they watched Hollia kneeling before Daemon, the centaur gazing into the swordsman’s cold blue eyes as she appeared to be losing touch with reality.
“I no longer know where I am. I don’t know what to do or where to go. I feel the weight of the world crushing my spirit, it’s becoming too much to bear. Please, I fear I don’t have the strength to push on. This… this nightmare is draining the life from me. Those horrible demons that destroyed everything I held dear… they killed my soul as well. I can’t take
it anymore.”
Slowly she held her hands together in a pleading manner as a single tear formed in her eye.
“Avenge my people, avenge my mother. I beg of you. Please, Daemon, it’s all becoming too much, everything is lost to me now. I implore you, please… kill me.”
Daemon merely raised an eyebrow at her as she showed a sorrowful smile from those words.
“Kill me, grant me release from this twisted world to which I cannot understand. My heart is broken, my mind is torn, and my soul feels heavy. Please, make this horrible nightmare end for me. I feel everything suffocating me now, nothing makes sense, everything is becoming too much to accept. Kill me, please.”
Daemon remained silent as the centaur begged him to end her life, watching as the princess’s eyes appeared to lose focus with everything she had gone through hitting her like a wave all over again. After a long pause he slowly drew out his sword, the centaur’s gaze shifting to it then to him as she began to cry. Daemon held the sword up to her cheek with a blank expression on his face, seeing the centaur closing her eyes and awaiting death from him.
With a gentle tap from the flat side of his sword he hit her cheek, catching her by surprise as she suddenly looked to him with a small jump.
“And so falls the princess of Ruhelia,” Daemon declared before sheathing his sword. “Died of a broken heart after her kingdom was razed to the ground.”
“What are you doing?” she quietly asked.
“I did as you asked, I put the princess out of her misery. Now what I ask of you is what remains before me?” Hollia stared at him in wonder and confusion as he gazed around at the surrounding landscape. “What is it that is still here, alive, and able to push on? Answer me that.”
“I don’t… understand.”
“You’re not dead,” he informed her. “The side of you that was once a princess, heiress to the kingdom of Ruhelia, has passed on from her spirit being crushed. So answer me, what is it that remains kneeled before me?”
Hollia looked down at her body in question as she was rendered speechless then back to him with a small shrug.
“You. You’re still here,” Daemon answered. “The world is not how you imagined it. There is much you don’t yet know or understand, it is a cold and harsh place to live, and it is not forgiving in the least to any. But you’re still here, you’re still alive in it.”
“But… I…”
“I’m not going to kill you,” Daemon stated crossing his arms. “If you really want to end your own life then do so, that’s your choice. But I’ve seen the fighting spirit you have, the way you attacked those who invaded your home, the way you pressed on even with a broken leg so as to avenge your family. I’m not going to put an end to that, it would be a waste to do so.”
Hollia opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, words failing her as she saw the swordsman watching her with a piercing gaze that made her heart start to beat more heavily in her chest.
“Pick up your spear,” Daemon ordered. She glanced down to it then back to him while remaining silent. “I said, pick up your spear.”
Slowly she reached down and grabbed hold of the weapon, eyes remaining locked onto his as he motioned her up with one hand.
“Now stand.”
Getting back onto her four legs Hollia stood before the swordsman in awe, her hair gently ruffling in the wind while she couldn’t take her eyes off him in the least.
“The princess in you may be dead, but you’re not,” he lectured her. “So, tell me, what remains of the centaur that stands before me?”
Hollia looked to the spear as she held it in both hands, seeming to be thinking deeply about something that she then turned to Daemon to announce.
“The will to fight.”
“To fight what?” he asked.
“Whatever the world throws at me. Whatever despicable monster tries to hurt me or my people. Whatever surprises or horrors await me. I’m not going to fall again to anything.”
“Sounds like you’re not dead after all,” Daemon reasoned before he turned to walk away. Hollia eyed the spear in her hands for a moment then quickly ran over in front of Daemon, halting him as she stood tall with a firm expression.
“Tell me everything,” she implored. “Tell me what it is in this world I do not yet understand or know. Tell me what it is you seek. Tell me what you are. Tell me what it is you fight for. I must know.”
The other girls slowly gathered around, with Forrus and Tabitha glancing to each other with low growls while Scay was hopping about with a strained murmur of excitement. Sasha and Rulo walked closer to Daemon with soft smiles as they felt renewed strength from his acceptance to being their master. And Hollia bowed gracefully with her spear held behind her back, a bold smile returning to her face as she saw a new path in life to take that she was determined to follow.
“Tell me everything I must know so that I may serve my knight.”
*****
Under the moonlight a radiant glow flew across The Outerlands, crossing over grassy knolls and vast fields before coming across what was once the centaur kingdom of the land. Flying through the air the winged maiden held her hammer in one hand while the other was clenched tightly, her eyes glaring with rage as she soared through the night sky with only rubble and dirt passing below her. Valentina circled around the remains of the fallen city, carefully searching for any sign of those that deceived her with their ruse before finally touching down where she had last seen them. Slowly she looked to one side then the other, realizing Daemon and his followers were long gone, and then lowered her head as a bitter smile came across her face.
“Alright, I guess that victory goes to you, big brother,” she scoffed before struggling to keep the smile on her face. “Well played, very well done. You and your… pets got the better of me on that one. Ha, ha. Yes, yes you did.”
Her forced smile gradually shifted into a fierce scowl, the light around her brightening while a surge of energy shook the ground below her and kicked up a dust cloud away from the furious angel.
“You’d better keep moving, big brother. You’d better not stop, not now. Don’t stop for anything. Because when I find you… oh, I’m going to caress that adorable face of yours with so much affection and care. I’m going to show you your little sister loves you so much. Yes I am.”
The ground cracked apart from the sheer amount of energy being exuded by the angel, her wings glowing brightly while a dark aura that could rival that of a demon spread far and wide across the ruined landscape.
“But when I find your pets… when I get my hands on them…”
With a furious yell she wound back with her hammer, the light around her becoming a glaring silvery contrast to her dark surroundings.
“THERE WILL BE NO MERCY!”
The angel swung her hammer down into the ground, shattering everything below before a bright flash erupted from the hit. Eden itself appeared to shake violently even from a far off distance from the fallen city, a horrific blast of light and debris exploding from the angel’s powerful strike that decimated the rubble and remains of Ruhelia into dust. The sky appeared to part around the massive glow that shined like the sun from the eruption, clouds blowing away from the forceful blast in all directions while a powerful wave of wind raced outwards from the shining star across the land.
Within the blinding light Valentina gently flapped her wings to keep in place as the ground below her had been completely destroyed, the angel now hovering over a large crater that encompassed the entirety of what was once Ruhelia. A vicious smile was spread across her face, eyes glaring with a haunting glow, hair flowing behind in the torrent of wind, dress fluttering and revealing that nothing was worn underneath, magical hammer crackling with arcs of energy that struck down towards the ground like bolts of lightning.
“I will see you again soon, big brother,” she spoke with a cold voice. “No matter where you go, I’ll always find you again. I promise.”
Chapter 12
Tu
rning a New Leaf
In the world of Eden it was common to come across those with abrasive or annoying personalities. Maybe they had a bad attitude or outlook on life, perhaps they had a quirk about them that was difficult to tolerate, or it could have been they were simply bitter to the world around them for one reason or another. They were jaded individuals who typically caused trouble and discomfort wherever they went. However this wasn’t to say they were all truly evil or malicious at heart, that this harsh persona they exuded was who they really were.
After all they may only appear to be rough on the outside.
*****
With the sun slowly rising over the horizon a new day began in Eden. The rays of light crept across The Outerlands while only a few small clouds occupied the sky above. Flying through the air two birds made their way across a stream and over a small forest, their faint chirps barely heard from down below where a white horse was sleeping quietly in a soft bedding of flowers and grass. Lucky’s ear twitched slightly as he dreamt what horses normally dream about, or enchanted ones at the very least, while near the campsite where the travelers’ carriage was parked a harpy was beginning to awaken.
Perched on a small log Doku slowly lifted her head from her huddled position, parting her wings and yawning softly before standing up and stretching out her back. With a flutter of her wings she came to her senses and looked around at the serene view of the wilderness surrounding her.
“What a beautiful morning.”
Lying next to the log on the grass Clover was mumbling something as she turned to her side and held an arm over her eyes.
“Clover? It’s morning,” Doku announced. She hopped off the timber and gently poked the elf’s shoulder with her foot. “Wake up, Clover. Rise and shine.”
“Don’t wanna,” Clover grumbled. “Too early.”
“You always sleep so late every day. You mustn’t waste this time you have in the day.”
“Why do you insist on me getting up so early anyway?” Clover murmured while half-asleep. “What are you, my mom?”
Chronicles of Eden - Act VIII Page 38