Hollia slowly approached the front of the crowd, passing curious ant girls and coming up next to the three desuwraith sisters who stood together with concerned looks on their faces. Glancing to the side she saw Daemon also watching the sight with a solemn expression while Sasha stood behind him with her face buried in his back and hands gripping his shirt, the cambion returning the look before they watched the crying alurane before them.
“I’m so sorry, Aeon,” Nuci wept, the woman having moved herself over to where the chronofly had been struck down in the cave while having more of her roots seen sprawled up through the dirt around her. The alurane was knelt down in her flower bud, arms holding Aeon tenderly in her lap as the chronofly remained motionless with a few tendrils gently wrapped around her chest and shoulders. Below the Dark Queen the ground had various purple and green flowers blooming, all of them appearing to cradle the woman’s body and wings while keeping them from touching the dirt.
“I’m so sorry I had to do that,” Nuci whined with eyes shut tight. “Please forgive me, I didn’t want to. I never wanted to do such a thing. I never wanted any of this to happen.”
“What’s going on?” Hollia quietly asked.
“She’s sad Aeon’s dead,” one of the desuwraith’s said.
“She’s really sad she’s dead.”
“I’ve never seen her so sad before.”
“But why?” Hollia questioned. “Why does she care for the Dark Queen so much? My knight? Do you know the reason?”
“I don’t,” Daemon answered shaking his head. “However I have wondered. She’s openly expressed fondness towards the chronofly before, not exactly a trait a guardian to a Dark Queen would possess.”
“Sasha?” Hollia said looking to the reptile girl. “Are you feeling remorse about this turn of events as well?”
“No,” Sasha snapped. “I’m feeling dead inside after I attacked my master like that. I’m so sorry, master! I never wanted to do such a thing, I swear!”
“I know you didn’t,” Daemon said glancing back to her. “I’ve already told you I understood why you did what you did. It’s alright, you needn’t concern yourself about it.”
“But I hurt you,” Sasha whined. “I hurt you… I can never forgive myself for that! I shouldn’t have done such a horrible thing, I never should have enacted on that inexcusable idea that popped into my head. How can I make it up to you, master? Please, tell me what to do! I’ll do anything you ask!”
“Just forget about it and get off me,” Daemon answered. “And stop crying, there’s no need for your tears.”
“This is all Mika’s fault,” Sasha hissed as she leaned back a little, revealing a murderous glare as her tail shook behind her. “If it wasn’t for her none of this would have happened! I’m going to kill that girl!”
She turned to run out of the cave to do just that before Daemon quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
“You need to calm yourself, Sasha,” Daemon ordered. “Don’t let your anger control you like this.”
“Why did you heal her?” Sasha demanded. “She’s the cause of all this suffering and pain tonight, she nearly had the world handed over to that Dark Queen on a silver platter, and she made me draw your blood in order to subdue her! Why did you show her mercy after all she’s done?”
“I’m not showing her mercy,” Daemon corrected shaking his head. Sasha looked at him curiously as did Hollia, the swordsman turning his eyes over to Nuci and Aeon as the alurane continued crying her heart out over the fallen queen.
“She made a very grave error, one that would have cost not only the life of her beloved sibling but also all those of the world. Mika isn’t an evil person at heart, there was no ill-intention behind her actions, she wants to do good in her life. What she did this time however is going to hurt her far worse than anything I could do to her. This is a mistake she’s going to live with for the rest of her life.”
“I see,” Hollia softly mused. “You are punishing her for her sin. You’re making her live with it.”
“Killing her would be showing her mercy,” Daemon said to Sasha. “This is something she will live with. How she could atone for such a sin I’m not sure of, that’s up to her to figure out. However I’m sure she won’t choose to end her life to spare herself the pain, she’ll wish to see her brother again and not be viewed as a demon in his eyes. She’ll want to seek forgiveness and redeem herself. Let her try, that fight is something she has the right to take on.”
Sasha lowered her head with a growl, seeming to struggle against dashing out of the room and slaughtering the hunter for her actions regardless. Daemon then lifted her chin to face his gaze, his eyes staring directly into hers as she gently took hold of his hand.
“The Dark Queen is dead. We’re all alive still. The world isn’t ending tonight. Despite Mika’s blunder everything turned out okay for us. No sense in cursing what was done, all we can do is move forward.”
“I still don’t like her,” Sasha muttered.
“I’d imagine a lot of people here don’t,” Daemon replied with a shrug. “At any rate, let your anger go and leave her be with her fault. Isn’t that the reptile girl way? To let others live with the shame of their defeat?”
“Yes, master,” Sasha said with a nod. She took a slow breath then smiled timidly at the swordsman while shifting her hips slightly. “At least I got to taste heaven itself from your touch earlier. I’m never going to forget that feeling for as long as I live.”
“I am sorry for treating you like that so suddenly,” Daemon mentioned. “It was callous, even if it was only to-”
“Don’t you dare apologize for what you did. Never mind subduing Aeon with your actions, I’m eternally thankful I got to experience you doing that to me for real instead of just in my dreams. And I do implore you to touch me however you want should you ever wish to, I would love nothing more than to receive your touch more often.”
“Sasha,” Daemon said, then fell silent as the reptile girl sighed softly and nodded.
“I know, we need to stay focused with your quest. I’m just telling you the truth with how I feel.”
Daemon gently held her cheek as she gazed into his eyes, the swordsman then turning to see Nuci crying with Aeon in her arms while Sasha gently rested her head against his back again. Hollia smiled a little at Daemon and Sasha then looked over to see Forrus and Scay standing next to the steel platform watching something other than the weeping alurane. She then noticed Tabitha was on the stage tapping the steel with her fist as she appeared to be examining it closely.
“Tabitha?” Hollia asked trotting over to the two other monster girls. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” Tabitha snapped while crawling around on the platform and hitting it in different places. “I’m trying to figure out how this thing opens up again.”
“But why?”
“Hello!” the neko shouted at her. “The City of Eden is down there, completely unguarded and filled with untold riches! All that’s stopping anyone from grabbing what wonders that place has is this stupid gate!”
“But, Tabitha,” Scay worried. “The City of Eden is a long way down from here. It’s really far down.”
“Let her jump then,” Forrus muttered. “Cats always land on their feet, right?”
“They do?” Scay curiously asked her. “I didn’t know that. I usually land on my head when I try.”
“Tabitha, I don’t believe you can go down there now,” Hollia said shaking her head. “The doors only opened when the lift came back up.”
“Then how do we get it to come back up again?” Tabitha yelled stomping on the gate. “This isn’t funny! There’s an entire city of lost treasure down there and this stupid thing won’t open now that the fucking queen is gone! This isn’t fair!”
“Is gold all you ever think about?” Forrus scoffed.
“I’m not thinking about just gold, you stupid mutt,” Tabitha hissed at her. “There could be anything down there, a
nything your feeble mind could even begin to dream of! I’d be the richest and most famous neko in Eden if I could get my hands on that treasure!”
“Again…” Forrus flatly said.
Hollia watched Tabitha stomping on the steel gate with frustrated meows, the neko then resorting to literally clawing at the platform in any attempt to open the doors again. After rolling her eyes at the neko’s singlemindedness Hollia then turned to see Rulo and Saffron standing nearby, with the orc having several lumps and bruises on her face along with a stubborn scowl. Saffron merely blew her bangs away from her eyes with a calm appearance, having not a single scratch on her while standing behind them were several more ant girls with stern expressions and clenched fists that kept a close eye on Rulo.
“So,” Hollia innocently said. “What did you learn?”
“Fuck off,” Rulo snapped.
“So nothing, I see,” Hollia mused, then glanced to Saffron with a raised eyebrow. “As for you, you are indeed safe here in your nest with your fellow sisters. However a fair warning to you, should you overstep your boundaries with my knight again while not in the company of your sisters you will be in deep trouble. And not just by this orc.”
Saffron merely watched the centaur holding a sharp eye on her then squeaked with a smirk. Hollia and Rulo exchanged cautious glances then turned their focus towards Nuci as she continued crying with Aeon held dearly in her arms.
“Why is she crying?” Rulo asked wiping some blood from her nose. “Shouldn’t she be happy the Dark Queen is dead? We should be celebrating here.”
“She appears to have had some bond with the Dark Queen,” Hollia guessed. “Though how that could be I have no idea.”
“What, she liked that evil bitch?” Rulo snorted. “Was she that lonely down here?”
“She had us,” one of the desuwraiths said. “She wasn’t alone down here.”
“We were always there for her, we liked her.”
“We’re her best friends. We have been for a super long time.”
Daemon slowly walked up to the alurane with Sasha sticking close to his side, the two seeing Nuci sobbing while tenderly holding Aeon’s head on her lap. The chronofly’s wings lay spread out on the bedding of flowers beneath her, the alurane’s vines and tendrils gently holding the queen as Nuci herself was doing.
“Why is it you cry for her?” Daemon asked. Nuci slowly looked up to him with heartbroken eyes as the swordsman knelt down in front of her. “You know what she was, better than anyone else in the world. You know the danger she posed to Eden, what she would have done had she flown free from this underground domain. How is it you care for her so deeply even knowing that?”
Nuci remained silent while gently brushing Aeon’s bangs away from her face, the alurane then looking back down to the chronofly and speaking not a word to the cambion.
“I can’t say I’m sorry for her demise,” Daemon solemnly continued. “And I don’t think you can blame those among us that will breathe in relief that the Dark Queen is dead. However, for whatever reason you may have for your feelings, I will voice a silent prayer for Aeon if only to help ease your pain.”
“You don’t have to,” Nuci quietly said. “I know such a prayer would be hollow coming from you, I can’t expect you to truly wish for her soul to find peace. Thank you for your compassion towards me, even though I must appear to be crazy to you in mourning her death. I understand how this must look to all.”
“Why do you care about her?” Sasha asked. “Should the reaper ever be slain I’m certain my master wouldn’t shed a single tear for her, nor would I or anyone I could even imagine. Why do you care about Aeon like this?”
“I have my reasons,” Nuci cryptically replied. “I don’t expect anyone else to understand them, nor do they have to. I know that Aeon being removed from this world will incite relief and possibly joy in all of you, and I can’t condemn that. She truly would have torn apart Eden with her chrono magic, she would have ended so many lives and brought endless suffering to many more. I’m not blind to this.”
“Yet you still weep for her?” Daemon questioned.
“I’ve cried for her long before she met her end today,” Nuci told him. “Long before you were even born, Daemon Warrick. Aeon… was someone truly special to me from the day I came into this world. Long before you ever learned to hold a sword, before the state of this world was so dire, before… before the Dark Queens even stood in Eden.”
Daemon and the surrounding monster girls watched her curiously as the alurane turned her saddened eyes down to Aeon, her hand gently caressing the chronofly’s cheek as a tear rolled down hers.
“Before the Dark Queens even stood in Eden?” Sasha repeated.
“You wouldn’t understand, nor would it matter,” Nuci sighed. “They’re just memories to me, they always have been. Nothing more now. I don’t expect you to offer any prayers towards this Dark Queen, nor do I expect you to show mercy towards the others. That isn’t in your place, nor shall it ever be.”
“Yet you would?” Daemon wondered. “You would deem the Dark Queens worthy of receiving mercy and compassion?”
Nuci remained silent as she cradled Aeon’s head in her lap. After a while she nodded and looked to him with worried eyes.
“Yes. I made a promise to my mother long ago, that I would never kill anyone. I would never kill anyone no matter what and always try to find the good in everyone I meet. This was a promise that I held dear and above all else. There have been many times in the past that it has hindered me acting as a guardian you would have surely been, but it was a promise that I wished to uphold regardless.”
“Why were you this one’s guardian?” Sasha questioned. “You seem like too gentle of a soul to be entrusted with this task.”
“Perhaps I am. I detest violence and absolutely condemn the act of killing others. I couldn’t even kill Mika when she came for the key to release Aeon. Well, I could have. Easily. But I didn’t want to. I wouldn’t let myself do it, even though it meant she would unlock the seal. I just couldn’t bring myself to end another’s life.”
“But you killed Aeon,” Hollia pointed out.
“I had no choice,” Nuci lamented. “It was apparent she would have killed you all, escaped here into Eden to bring a horrible reign to the world, and brought suffering to all those that resided in it. There was no stopping her… no reasoning with her… no reminding her…”
“Reminding her of what?” Sasha asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Nuci said looking down again. “I tried so long to reach her… for so long I tried to reach out to her… but it didn’t matter. She was gone. She always was… I just didn’t want to see it.”
Daemon watched the alurane carefully while the other girls exchanged puzzled looks with each other.
“If you would all be so kind,” Nuci gently said. “Could you allow me to be alone with Aeon right now? I understand you all won’t feel any sympathy towards her and I can’t blame you, but if you must celebrate her passing please do so away from here. Let me stay with her a little longer in peace, so that I may say goodbye and pray for her soul.”
“If that is what you wish,” Daemon replied standing up. “We’ll leave you be.”
“And tell Mika I’m not mad at her,” Nuci added. “I can tell she’s a good soul, she was just hurting from what Aeon was tormenting her with. She must have had her reasons for doing what she did, and I doubt it was for any malicious intention.”
“You may not be mad at her, but we sure are,” Rulo grunted.
“I agree with you that she’s a good soul,” Hollia admitted crossing her arms. “Doesn’t change the fact she needs to use her head more before acting so foolishly.”
“That and she’s an idiot who nearly brought about the end of the world,” Forrus dryly added.
“She’ll pay the price for her actions,” Sasha spoke up. “She’ll live with the guilt and shame of her poor decisions. I doubt she’ll be able to face her brother until she atones for
what she’s done. Perhaps now she’ll think more clearly and not underestimate those she meets in the world.”
Daemon watched Nuci gently cradling Aeon in her lap then turned to leave, with his group following after before they all stopped and noticed Tabitha still banging her fists on the steel platform.
“Tabitha,” Daemon called out, with the neko looking to him with a meow. “Leave the guardian to her mourning in peace.”
“But the City of Eden is down there unguarded and unlocked!” Tabitha cried out. “I’m not passing this chance up, I need to get down there and see what lies in that city!”
“You can’t go down there, my dear,” Nuci sighed. “The ancient lift fell into the city along with my flower garden. There’s nothing to take you down there anymore.”
“What?” Tabitha shouted. “You mean I have to dig in order to get down to that place now? Goddammit, there’s got to be another way!”
She started banging and scratching frantically on the platform with fevered meows, her tail waving anxiously above her while everyone but Scay watched with dull expressions.
“Such unrelenting greed in that one,” Forrus scoffed.
“I say we let her dig herself into a hole and leave her down there,” Rulo oinked.
“Unfortunately she did save our lives in the monster pit,” Hollia sighed. “I don’t think we have any right to be that cruel to her.”
“Tabitha?” Scay worried. “I don’t think that’s going to get the doors to open.”
“And even if that did it’s a long way down to the city,” Sasha dryly pointed out. “Though I suppose that minor detail hasn’t entered her brain yet.”
Saffron shook her head then squeaked and pointed to the neko. A group of ant girls quickly ran over and grabbed the cat by the arms and legs, all of them then carrying the screaming feline out of the cavern with Scay quickly following after them. Saffron watched them go then looked to Daemon with a proud smile, seeming to awaiting his response to her help. She merely received a silent look from the swordsman before he started walking out along with his group. Saffron chuckled a little then waved all her sisters to leave as well, the ant girls marching out of the room on command while giving the alurane and fallen queen curious looks on the way out. After everyone had left Saffron walked up to Nuci where the three desuwraith sisters remained at her side and squeaked a few times, the alurane slowly looking up to see the monster watching her carefully.
Chronicles of Eden - Act XI Page 15