“That we join forces in our fight for survival in this world,” Daniel boldly stated. “That we cease our constant warring with each other, and seek a future that we can stand together as allies in.”
“Join forces… with humans?” an elf slowly repeated.
“As in… work together with them?” another said in disbelief.
“Be friends with humans?” an elven child softly questioned.
“Are you fucking serious?” a ranger asked.
“Yes, I am,” Daniel replied, pausing for a moment to see the muddled looks he was receiving from the elves before continuing. “It’s alright if you find that idea completely insane. In all my travels, that has been the one constant with my endeavor with all I have met with at first. But please, I beg of you, listen to what I have to say first before writing it off as crazy or impossible, and allow me a chance to explain myself.”
A few elves started to speak before halting themselves, uneasy looks being shared among many of the community as the elves appeared to be holding in their obvious reservations the best they could.
“We owe you our lives, Lord Daniel Sorres,” a ranger finally spoke up. “The very least we can offer is our ears to what you wish to say. Forgive us if what you’ve just told us strikes us as… odd. We don’t mean to be rude to you. Please, continue.”
“Thank you,” Daniel humbly said. Gazing around at the elves he saw them remaining interested in what he had to tell them, however there was a clear cloud of doubt now forming among them. Expecting this from the start, Daniel cleared his throat and began speaking again while his loved ones listened closely, hoping his words could sway the elven community from becoming worthy of the name monster in Eden.
*****
“Everyone knows why humans are raped by monsters,” Daniel solemnly said. “So that they can continue their race. To have children. To breed. It’s a necessity for you all, one that cannot be ignored. Something else that cannot be ignored, however, is how you choose to go about it. I think we can all agree that there are some races out there that are… more unfriendly than others when it comes to getting pregnant from a man.”
Flying through the air Daemon drew his fiery magic across the sky, searing away the drider’s webbing as the colossal monster roared and swung its net about wildly with its free hand. In its other was Hollia, the centaur slowly ceasing her futile efforts to pierce the monster’s hand with her lance, now focusing more on her gallant knight who circled the mighty beast in his flight. The drider cried out in anger as it tried and failed to catch its prey, the monster’s sights focusing solely on Daemon as it slowly skittered away from the open pit it had emerged from and onto the field littered with mounds of debris from the former elven home.
“I’ve studied many different types of monsters during my life and travels, and with each and every one it’s always the same story being told by my people. That all of them are wicked, that all of them rape and kill men, that all of them can’t be trusted, and that all of them are the absolute evils in this world.”
The drider whipped its webbing at Daemon again, the silky strands being evaded by the speedy cambion that soared through the air ahead of them. The monster howled in frustration as it shook with growing ire, the skeletons on her backside rattling in their webs while a few loose bones dropped off the monster’s back and fell a long ways towards the ground below.
“And many of them can be. Many of them do rape and kill humans, as well as other races such as yourselves. Some may not be intelligent enough to know that they’re being cruel, and they can’t be fully blamed for that. But there are monsters out there deserving of that name, creatures who know full-well that they’re harming others, that they’re killing others, and the concept of mercy and forgiveness is long forgotten to them. And any that rape, kill, or otherwise spread torment onto others without remorse, or worse yet, simply because it gives them pleasure, those are the true monsters of Eden. The ones we all face in our bid for survival. The ones we all fight against in this massive free-for-all that we’re placed in.”
Using its arm the drider blocked a few blazing fireballs from Daemon, the cerulean flames and hazy smoke wafting around the monster’s limb that showed signs only of being slightly burnt by the intense heat. Slowly skittering over the mounds of rubbish beneath it, the giant monster screamed at Daemon while continuing her attempts to net the flyer in her never-ending supply of webbing coming from her fingertips. Daemon swooped left and then looped back right, weaving between volleys of drider silk that he either burned away or completely avoided, all while Hollia nervously watched as the cambion’s fireballs only seemed to enrage the drider instead of harming it. Not only that, but every time Daemon flew closer to Hollia, the drider quickly pulled her back and swung at the cambion with more webbing, always keeping the centaur in its clutches while skittering backwards to protect her catch.
“Because of prejudice, hatred, fear, and desperation, we’ve all wound up as enemies with one another, all simply because we’re just trying to survive the only way we know how. We’re protecting ourselves, our lineage, our culture, our way of life. And unfortunately, just as the centaurs of Ruhelia found out, just as you witnessed with your own eyes, that leaves us alone and vulnerable when a greater threat comes along. Essentially, we’re all divided, we’re all stuck in a terrible position where we have nobody to help us when we need it. We’re stuck in a free-for-all with every race, and we’re all slowly losing the battle because of it.”
“My knight!” Hollia cried out. “I really don’t like to be the damsel in distress here, but please save me! Don’t let it eat me!”
She soon regretted her choice of words, as the drider then appeared to remember it was holding its food and lifted the centaur up towards its mouth. Screaming for her life Hollia fearfully held her spear out towards the gaping mouth that threatened to swallow her, the drider’s large glowing eyes focusing on its meal before flinching as it again used its free arm to shield itself from Daemon’s fiery attacks. Proving that it had a low attention span, the drider again shifted its focus from Hollia onto Daemon as it resumed throwing its webbing at him, with Hollia now on the verge of crying as the monster kept her close to its chest in a firm grip.
“But what if it didn’t have to be a free-for all? What if we didn’t have to stand alone in this world?”
After screaming in terror once more Hollia blinked then turned her head as a new sound caught her attention.
“What if we had others to help us when things looked their bleakest?”
Soaring quickly up through the air was Sasha, the reptile girl flying over the monster’s wide abdomen with her broadsword held in both hands. The swordswoman gracefully flew back down and struck her blade into the hardened carapace with a loud crack, only managing to dig in a few inches before lodging in place. The drider paused for a moment then slowly glanced over its shoulder, its wide glowing eyes watching Sasha standing up on its backside with her hair flowing in the wind, her blade resting in the monster’s shell, and her eyes glaring at the Darker One staring back at her.
“Sasha?” Hollia exclaimed.
“What if, when the true monsters came after us, threatening to wipe us out, we weren’t standing alone anymore?”
“Hang on, Hollia,” Sasha ordered, with both the centaur and drider watching her in confusion before another of their comrades soared high into the air above them in the same fashion Sasha had done.
“Here comes the pain, bitch!” Rulo shouted, flying downward with her hammer in a speedy dive. Sasha darted back and slid across the slanted carapace before grabbing hold of a bound cadaver to brace herself, her sharp grin going from the surprised drider up to her friend who soared down and struck her hammer onto the reptile girl’s sword, spiking it down through the hardened shell all the way to the hilt. This registered with the drider instantly as incredibly painful, the monster screeching loudly as it stumbled about atop its wobbling legs.
“It’s something I’m out he
re to explain to other races. It’s something I wish I could have told the centaurs of Ruhelia before it was too late. It’s something I need to tell you all right now before another tragedy strikes your people. We need each other, we need each other to prosper, we need each other to survive. And I’m not talking about just with procreation. I’m talking about helping each other, fighting and defending one another, as one collective. As friends. As fellow inhabitants of Eden. As allies.”
The drider screamed and skittered off-balance as it shook its backside, with Sasha and Rulo holding onto the sticky webbing to keep from being thrown off which the drider tried very hard to achieve.
“You heard my master!” Rulo called out. “That centaur’s with us!”
Roaring furiously the drider skittered around in circles as it screamed at the two girls, the monster then seeing Daemon swooping down onto its wrist near Hollia.
“Release Hollia, now!” Daemon ordered, driving his hand into the monster’s flesh near its bones while using the other to grab hold of the beast. A bright blue light built up underneath the surface with dark azure flames swirling upward around his arm, the cambion charging up his spell while the drider screeched and lifted up its other hand to slam down on him.
“I’m sorry,” an elf spoke up, raising her hand. “But… are you really suggesting that we… that we could ever become allies with humans? I don’t see how that could be possible.”
“You may not like the word monster, but that is what we are,” another pointed out. “That’s what humans see us as. That will never change.”
“I don’t see you as monsters,” Daniel contended. “And I certainly don’t see my family, my beloved mates, and even my adoptive daughter, as monsters either. If I can see you all in that light, then so too can others of my race.”
“That’s another thing,” an elf bewilderedly said. “How is it that you, a human, are mates with these girls? Never mind the fact that you have so many, but they’re all… well… not human, you know? How is it that you and they can be together like this?”
“Because we don’t behave like monsters do,” Specca informed them. “We’re not with Daniel just so he can impregnate us with his seed. We’re with him because we truly love him, we love everything about him.”
“We’re with him because we love him with all our hearts,” Doku bashfully explained. “It’s because we treat him with respect and love that he chooses to be with us of his own free will, he actually wants to keep us with him because of that. And we’re so thankful. He’s so generous and kindhearted, and he’s even taken it upon himself to care for all of us, equally, because we all mean the world to him, just as he does with us.”
“Master, watch out!” Sasha called over, watching in trepidation as the drider started to swing its hand down towards Daemon with silvery strands of silk trailing from its fingers. Before it could move far, something was noticed by the monster out of the corner of her eye, followed moments after by something going into her eye. The giant beast roared while arching back, staring in surprise at a neko who had her sword dug into the drider’s bleeding eyeball.
“Dammit!” Tabitha screamed as she landed down on the drider’s face with one katana being lodged in the monster’s eye and the other struck into the bridge of her nose. “You stupid idiot, I said don’t throw me up here! Don’t throw me up here! Goddammit, I hate you so much!”
“Well,” Alyssa hesitantly mentioned as she thought about Kitten. “There is one among us who is more forced to be in our company than anything, but I think things are improving with her. Kind of.”
“Tabitha?” Hollia bewilderedly said. “Good heavens, how in Eden are you girls jumping this high?”
She looked over to see Rulo and Sasha regaining their footing on the drider’s backside, up to where Tabitha was struggling with pulling her katana out of the monster’s twitching eye, and then down behind her to where she saw the reason for their miraculous leaps of faith.
“FLY TO GLORY, TINY BUG WOMAN!” Minos shouted, right before she threw Saffron up towards the drider with a mighty heave using only one hand. Whizzing speedily up through the air Saffron pulled down her earmuffs and squeaked with a daring grin on her face, the ant girl racing at the giant monster with hair flowingly wildly behind her. Saffron somersaulted in her flight past Hollia and Daemon, flew towards Sasha who was slowly pulling her sword out of the bleeding crack in the monster’s abdomen, and then was thankfully caught by Rulo as the orc jumped up to grab the ant girl’s hand while her hammer helped anchor herself atop the drider to bring Saffron down beside her.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Tabitha complained, wiggling her katana in the drider’s eye while blood gushed out and ran down against her foot. “This is not at all what I signed up for!”
“I love my mates with all my heart,” Daniel said, earning amazed looks from the surrounding elves while his girls smiled lovingly at him. “I’m so thankful I met them, that I got to know them for who they are, not just what they are. They’re not like monsters out there in the world. They’re not monsters at all. They’re proof of my beliefs, that humans and… no, not just that. That many races, including humans, can all live together, in peace.”
“You truly… love them?” an elven woman asked. “Even though they’re not human, you care about them that much?”
“I do. I love each and every one of them, and I’m so grateful to have their love in return. I don’t care that they’re not human, or that they can only give me daughters of their respective races, or that many in the world might call me crazy for loving them. They make me whole. They make me happier than I ever thought possible. They controlled their inner nature, they refrained from assaulting me simply to harvest me for my seed, they bravely stood by me and my beliefs, and they trust me completely just as I do with them. In my eyes, they are perfection itself.”
“But… how…” an elf wondered, with many in the crowd now looking at Daniel’s mates in wonder.
“It’s simple,” Daniel reasoned with a shrug. “They showed me their heart. They showed me who they truly are under their appearance. They proved that they’re not monsters at all, that they’re actually wonderful, beautiful, and compassionate women who I thank the gods for being blessed with. Each and every one of them I cherish and hold dear. And make no mistake, share no delusions in the slightest when I say this; I would gladly fight and even give my life for them. They’re not just mates to copulate with to me. They’re my family. And I will never allow anyone to take my family from me.”
The drider shook its head while screaming loudly before she soon felt additional pain as Daemon ignited his fiery spell in her wrist. With a powerful bang and flash of flames the monster’s hand was blown clean off the arm. Hollia screamed as the severed hand holding her started to drop, the centaur shutting her eyes and bracing for the end as the drider’s echoing howl filled the sky. After realizing she wasn’t smashing into the ground, Hollia opened her eyes to see Daemon holding onto the hand while flapping his wings hard above him. The centaur slowly looked around to see she was gradually being flown down towards the ground by the cambion who had a fierce grip on the severed limb.
“My knight…” she breathed out, staring at him in awe while the backdrop of the drider screaming and clutching the bloodied stump on its arm behind him only made the spectacle even dreamier for her.
“I take my eyes off you for just a few minutes,” Daemon dryly remarked as he set the centaur down safely on the ground.
“Then take heed of this instance,” Hollia purred with a seductive smile. “Best to never take your eyes off me again, not even for a moment, lest we tempt fate once more. Don’t you agree?”
Shaking his head slightly was her only reply, the centaur giggling at her savior before noticing Scay and Minos gathering near. The minotaur slammed her axe into the ground nearby then grabbed one of the hand’s fingers and started prying it open while Daemon did so to another, all while Scay laughed manically and stabbed the hand repeatedly
as if to make sure it was dead.
“ARE YOU OKAY?” Minos asked as they finally freed the centaur. Getting onto her feet again Hollia caught her breath before smiling brightly at Daemon.
“Better than ever now,” she said, and then quickly trotted closer and kissed Daemon while gracing his cheek with her hand. Scay stared with eyes of wonder while still slowly stabbing her dagger into the drider’s severed hand, with Minos blushing brightly and nervously stepping aside to pick up her axe, the minotaur’s eyes quickly darting around at Daemon and his lips that Hollia savored the taste of. Stepping back from her token of affection Hollia saw the cambion watching her with a blank expression, something that didn’t slow down her emotions at all as she bashfully fluttered her eyelashes at him.
“Thank you for saving me, my knight. I just knew you would.”
“To be fair, it wasn’t just me that came to your rescue,” Daemon remarked before the group looked up towards the drider.
“What the fuck?” Rulo shouted, glaring down at Hollia with fire in her eyes. In one hand she held onto her hammer, the other was ripping out clumps of dried webbing and bones from the monster’s backside as she kept fumbling to keep steady atop it.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Hollia?” Sasha raged, striking her sword down into the hardened carapace again, this time digging deeper thanks to a considerable boost in force from her current mood. “We didn’t come up here to save your fat ass just so you could kiss my master! I’m going to kill you after we kill this damned spider!”
Saffron squeaked and shook her fist around angrily beside them, the ant girl holding onto the mesh of web and bone near them while screeching at Hollia in similar regard.
“I never wanted to come up here in the first place!” Tabitha cried out, kicking herself free from the drider’s face and dropping down onto her breasts. The neko scrambled to get away as the drider slammed her remaining hand down in an attempt to smear the cat across her chest, the giant monster roaring loudly as it stumbled with its footing and coated the ground below with blood from its wounds. Running up over the drider’s shoulder Tabitha sliced her way through the tangled locks that waved in front of her, the neko dropping down through the hair along its back and landing on her rear atop the abdomen’s shell with a loud meow.
Chronicles of Eden - Season II - Act II Page 8