Chronicles of Eden - Act VII

by Alexander Gordon

“Ember,” she called out, with Ember’s expression going from a piercing glare to a look of wonder. It was then immediately replaced with sheer anger as the fires around her flared up wildly.

  “It’s you, isn’t it?” Ember snarled with rage. “Alyssa! Mother! You’re the one!”

  “Please stop this,” Alyssa begged as she dropped her staff and held out her arms. “Ember, please, I love you.”

  “Love?” Ember hissed. “Love? I feel no love from you, mother. I have never felt any love from you! You left me to die!”

  “No I didn’t!”

  “Liar!” Ember raged, her sword exuding crimson hot flames while the fires around the area strengthened and burned brightly. “You left me behind! You left me for dead! You abandoned me!”

  “I never abandoned you, I thought you were dead!”

  “The only one here who’s dead is you!” Ember roared before throwing her sword towards Alyssa. The magical blade spun around in a tight searing hot circle through the air towards the surprised witch. Alyssa lunged down onto the ground just as the blade passed over her, slicing right through her hat and spiraling off into the air behind her.

  “Ember, stop! Please!” Alyssa cried out.

  “Alyssa, behind you!” Specca called out.

  Alyssa looked back to see the glowing sword flying towards her again from the air. She quickly scrambled forward just before the blade struck down where she was, the slash causing the ground to split apart with fiery rocks blasting out around it. Alyssa was thrown forward with a scream and tumbled along the dirt, coming to a stop with flaming chunks of rock and smoke rolling by her while she coughed and struggled to get up.

  “Alyssa!” Daniel shouted before he ran towards the witch.

  “Daniel, no!” Triska yelled as Ember swung her hand around in a fierce swipe. A massive whirlwind of flames and smoke erupted around her and expanded to envelop Alyssa as well, the two witches remaining perfectly fine in the firestorm while everyone else quickly scrambled back as it grew into a large circling inferno towards them.

  “Alyssa!” Kroanette exclaimed as she trotted back from the extreme heat.

  Falla and Squeak stumbled after the centaur while Luna quickly dragged a screaming Clover by the shoulders after them. The girls all collapsed at Kroanette’s feet as the heat from the firestorm became scorching to them.

  “We’re all going to die!” Falla cried out as she held onto Squeak tightly.

  “Too hot!” Luna wailed as she held onto Clover’s chest, the elf staring with fright at seeing the massive wall of fire closing in on them.

  “No!” Kroanette shouted as she shielded her face from the blaze.

  Pip quickly zipped out in front of them with her glow shifting from blue to crimson, the tiny fairy forming an enlarged interlocked casting ring of glowing blue and yellow lights before her. The flames struck against the multiple rings and sizzled loudly as the magical barriers shielded the girls in a wide arc before them.

  “Too much fire! Make it stop!” Pip cried out while the flames raced along her barriers and blasted off the edges away from the girls with searing bursts.

  “Alyssa!” Daniel screamed as Specca kept pulling him back by the arm.

  “Daniel, we have to get back!” Specca wailed while they stumbled away from the growing heat wave. “Alyssa’s immune to fire, we’re most certainly not!”

  “Triska, please get up,” Doku implored as she tried to push Triska onto her feet with her head.

  Daniel and Specca stopped when they saw Triska was still sitting on the ground while holding her shoulder in pain then quickly raced over to her.

  “Triska, run!” Specca begged as she lifted the teen to her feet. The four quickly ran as the heat rolling past them became more intense, the swirling firestorm growing larger and coming closer with a furious rumble. Lucky neighed and took off running out of sheer fright, quickly galloping past them as he ran away in a panic. Daniel and the girls just kept ahead of the fire and smoke enough to avoid being burned before jumping behind a small boulder sticking up from the ground. The stone scorched on the side facing the flames while Daniel held the three girls close to the ground below him on the other side for protection.

  Inside the swirling inferno Alyssa slowly stood up, her hat blowing off her head before instantly burning into ash from the fires that were flowing around her like water. Alyssa heard the roaring sound of the firestorm, the crackling of the flames, the sizzling of the dirt, and the metallic whine coming from a sharp crimson glow within the torrent of fire in front of her.

  “Ember, stop!” Alyssa shouted before dodging to the side, just missing the burning sword that swished through the fires to impale her. “Please, listen to me!”

  “Your words mean nothing to me!” Ember scorned, her voice carrying throughout the firestorm while she remained hidden.

  “Please, listen to me! You don’t understand, I never abandoned you!”

  “Liar!”

  The blade swung through the flames and sliced across Alyssa’s arm, drawing blood and causing her to scream.

  “You left me to die out there!”

  Again the sword shot through the fires and razed across Alyssa’s shoulder, the witch dropping to her knee while crying out in pain.

  “You left me alone!”

  The sword raced by Alyssa’s face, slicing her cheek and splattering blood onto the ground.

  “You took my life from me, mother!”

  “Ember!” Alyssa wailed as the sword spun around her again and again, repeatedly cutting her arms and legs before razing across her forehead. She wavered on her knees as her world started to spin and blur, a strained gasp coming from her lips as she felt the sword cut right through her side with a blindly painful crunch. Her blood dripped onto the ground below her, remaining untouched by the fires as it soaked the scorched dirt.

  “Ember… please…”

  She finally dropped back onto the ground with a thump, just avoiding the sword as it flew by again to take her head off. The spinning blade twirled around through the flames before being caught by Ember, the Hellfire Witch glaring at Alyssa as the firestorm around them slowly began to die down.

  Daniel slowly peeked over the rock while the girls with him leaned out to the sides, all of them watching as the swirling inferno began to recede with smoke billowing up high into the air. A bright glow became visible to the side of the firestorm as the flames retracted, showing Pip’s barrier standing strong as the fairy kept the girls behind her safe from the blistering onslaught. Everyone struggled to catch their breath and recover, the intense heat and in Triska’s case unbearable pain having drained their strength.

  “Alyssa,” Daniel softly voiced.

  “Is she alright?” Doku worried.

  “Ember is more volatile than we thought,” Specca nervously said.

  “Alyssa,” Triska breathed out as she held onto her shoulder.

  Kroanette coughed while sitting on her legs, her arms slowly lowering from her face as she felt her body aching from being burned by the heatwave. On the ground near her Falla had her wings around herself and Squeak, the ant girl watching the butterfly with weary eyes as Falla gently held her cheek. Next to them Luna had her wings around herself and Clover, the two barely conscious after the heat they endured almost knocked them out.

  “Pip?” Kroanette weakly said as she saw the tiny fairy fluttering in front of them. “You… saved us. Thank you. Are you alright?”

  Pip’s glow flickered from red back to blue before her magical barrier dissolved with a soft crackle. She gave a tiny cough before spiraling downward onto ground with a small thump.

  “Too hot,” she coughed out weakly. “Need water… and boobies…”

  “Ow,” Luna whined. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.”

  “This day… fucking sucks,” Clover breathed out.

  “Are you… okay?” Falla softly asked Squeak. The ant girl nodded then gave her a quick lick on her nose followed by a faint smile.

  The firestor
m slowly withdrew, the land it left behind scorched with ashes and cinders floating about in the air which wavered from the heat. As the fires sizzled and burned out everyone wearily watched as Ember came into view from behind the veil of flames, the witch holding her sword while remaining perfectly unharmed with her hair flowing behind her. Lying on the ground before her however Alyssa was seen not to be unharmed in the least, with everyone gasping at seeing the Wildfire Witch having been cut down by her daughter and weakly coughing and groaning in pain.

  “ALYSSA!” Daniel cried out, his eyes staring in horror at seeing his mate battered and bloodied on the charred ground.

  “Oh god, no!” Specca screamed.

  “Alyssa,” Kroanette quietly said in shock.

  “Don’t hurt her, please!” Luna begged as she and the other girls slowly sat up, with Clover grunting in pain and holding her side while Pip erratically fluttered off the ground and landed on the elf’s chest.

  “Ember, knock it off!” Falla yelled out.

  Squeak stared at her wounded co-mate with teary eyes and tried to get up, only to drop back onto her knees in pain with Falla quickly holding her by the shoulder.

  “Alyssa,” Doku whimpered. “This is terrible. How can her daughter be so cruel?”

  “Alyssa,” Triska strained through her teeth, hand clutching her shoulder tightly as she became infuriated at seeing her co-mate hurt like this.

  “Triska, let me out!” Kitten yelled in her head. “I can help you, I can help her! Dammit, give me a chance!”

  Daniel slowly stood up as the world around him faded away, his heart skipping a beat as he saw Ember standing over Alyssa with the intent to finish her off. The Hellfire Witch glared down at her mother with nothing but hatred in her good eye, hand clutching her sword’s handle as the ground below her and the blade burned and smoked from the heat.

  “Alyssa,” Daniel breathed out in sorrow. He slowly stepped over the boulder and hopped down onto the scorched terrain on the other side, his boots sizzling beneath him while his eyes were locked onto the two witches.

  “Daniel? What are you doing?” Specca panicked while trying to reach out for him. “Get back, get back here!”

  “Daniel, don’t!” Triska called out.

  Daniel started walking towards the witches, each step sizzling below him while wisps of smoke and haze drifted by him.

  “Ember, please stop this!” he called out, with Ember slowly turning to glare at him while Alyssa weakly glanced over towards the sound of his voice. “Alyssa never abandoned you! She thought she lost you in a landslide. She loves you, she always has. You meant the world to her and still do.”

  “Bullshit!” Ember yelled. She lifted her sword then struck it down into Alyssa’s arm, the wounded witch screaming in pain as the blade carved through her into the dirt.

  “Alyssa!” Specca cried out grabbing her hair.

  “She searched for you!” Daniel continued. “She dug and dug through the rocks and dirt, searching for you for days on end! She kept looking until she was unable to even stand or lift a finger! She tried to save you with everything she had!”

  “She didn’t save me!” Ember roared. “She left me for the goblins to find! She left me to go through hell as their personal slave! She took away my life!”

  The witch yanked her sword up then struck it down into Alyssa’s thigh, the witch screaming in agony as her other leg kicked about.

  “Alyssa!” Kroanette screamed.

  “Stop it!” Falla yelled while Luna hid her face in Clover’s shoulder to avoid seeing the horrible sight. Clover and Pip watched with shock as Ember spiked her blade through Alyssa’s limb, the sounds of her screaming echoing out into the air as she started crying.

  “Ember, she’s your mother!” Daniel pleaded. “She loves you, she always has! Please, what happened to you was a horrible accident, but it wasn’t her fault! She tried to save you, she was heartbroken when she feared you were truly lost!”

  “She didn’t save me!” Ember scorned with fury down at Alyssa. “She didn’t save me at all! Look at me, mother! This is what you did to me! What you left me to become in this world!”

  “Ember,” Alyssa whimpered with teary eyes. “Please… I’m sorry. I tried… I really tried to save you.”

  “You failed horribly,” Ember hissed. “You took away my life, you took everything away from me. You did this to me! You did this!”

  She yanked her hand up, lifting her sword out of Alyssa’s body and into the air where it hovered above the witch with blood dripping off its end. Alyssa stared at the sword which was poised to strike down at her head with sorrow, drops of her blood hitting her cheek and nose while her forehead had bled across the side of her head down to her ear.

  “There shall be no forgiveness for you!” Ember roared. “There shall be no mercy for you! I’ll never allow it! I’ll never allow any love or remorse between us! You’re dead to me, Alyssa! And now you’re going to be dead to the world!”

  “Alyssa! No!” Triska cried out.

  “Don’t! Please don’t do it!” Specca desperately begged.

  “She’s your mother!” Kroanette shouted with horror.

  “Don’t take her from us!” Luna cried.

  “You can’t… you can’t!” Falla yelled out.

  “You bitch, you’re worse than a Darker One!” Clover shouted with anger.

  Daniel stared in shock as Ember prepared to finish off her mother. Alyssa whimpered and closed her eyes, her body aching terribly from her injuries yet still paling in comparison to the pain she felt in her heart.

  “Alyssa,” Daniel breathed out as he took another step forward, his boot sizzling on the scorched ground while he paid the heat blowing against him no mind.

  “Are you going to own up to your promise, Daniel Sorres?” Twilight asked in his head.

  “My promise…”

  “You promised to never let anything take your mates away from you. That you would never let anything come between you and those you love. That you would protect them no matter what. You did promise that, didn’t you?”

  “But… what can I…”

  “You know what you have to do, what you’ve prepared to do for the sake of your loved ones.”

  “I can’t… we can’t…”

  “You can’t reason with her. I know you’re a pacifist, but even those who wish for peace must draw their sword from time to time. So, either you let her kill Alyssa and fail your promise to her, or you protect Alyssa by any means necessary. Which will it be?”

  Everything became silent, the world around Daniel falling perfectly quiet as he felt a painful sensation in his heart. He saw his beloved witch, the one whose happy giggling and playful nature flashed before his eyes briefly, lying on the ground in horrible pain, about to be executed by her own daughter. Her own daughter who had unleashed her unbridled wrath upon everyone in her quest to kill Alyssa, bearing no remorse or love towards her own family or any other as she was moments away from striking down the Wildfire Witch once and for all. She didn’t care for the truth, she didn’t care for reason; she only wanted to kill Alyssa more than anything.

  “Time to step up, Daniel Sorres.”

  The world came into focus again as the cries of Daniel’s mates could be heard, all of them watching in horror at the sight of Alyssa critically wounded below her enraged daughter. Daniel slowly looked around at the girls, seeing them shouting and crying with teary eyes as they were incapacitated from the heat and in shock at seeing Alyssa about to be executed by her own kin. Even Doku was crying and pleading for Ember to stop, the harpy’s heart breaking from the sight of her new friend being harmed in front of her.

  “No,” he said looking back to Alyssa, the image of her lying on the ground bloodied and beaten causing something in him to snap.

  “Farewell, mother,” Ember hissed with malice.

  “No!” Daniel shouted as he started marching towards them. Ember glanced to the human with a scoff as he glared at her with rising an
ger. “Get away from my mate!”

  “Your mate?” Ember mocked.

  “I won’t let you do this,” Daniel growled with clenched fists. “I won’t let you harm my mates like this!”

  “Your… mates? Just who the hell are you anyway?”

  “Daniel,” Alyssa whimpered as she peeked over at him with a teary eye.

  “I don’t care who you are,” Daniel continued as he kept walking towards the witches. “Alyssa’s daughter or otherwise, I won’t let anyone hurt them like this! I’m going to give you one last chance to stand down, one last chance to apologize and put an end to this madness, Ember! One last chance, otherwise I’m going to stop you however I have to!”

  “Nobody tells me what to do,” Ember scorned as fire swirled around her hand. She quickly flung a fiery spear towards him, the magical attack streaking through the air while all the girls gasped with wide eyes. The bolt struck and exploded into a fiery wave, blasting dust and smoke forward while flames erupted around the impact.

  “DANIEL!” Triska shrieked.

  “MASTER!” Kitten cried out, both watching in shock as the explosion blocked all sight of their loved one.

  All the girls, including Clover, screamed at seeing the fireball erupting from the attack. Alyssa stared at the sight with terror, tears dripping down her cheeks along with her blood as she felt her heart ache from seeing Daniel hit with the powerful blast.

  “No… no! Daniel!” Alyssa cried out before she started sobbing.

  “Your mate was a fucking moron, mother,” Ember scoffed down at her. “But don’t worry, you’ll be joining him in the underworld soon enough.”

  Alyssa looked up at her in sorrow, seeing nothing but anger and hatred in her daughter’s good eye. It was as if she wasn’t seeing the same baby she once knew and loved, no warmth or even a glimmer of a heart behind the girl’s cold exterior was seen at all.

  ‘Ember… what have you become?’

  “Die,” Ember cursed as she flexed her hand in the air, preparing to throw her floating sword down into Alyssa’s skull.

  From the swirling flames a sharp flash came from the front before charging through the blaze. Ember quickly looked over to seeing a glowing shield of translucent blue, green, and purple radiances plowing through the fire and smoke toward them.