“No… it’s just like what they say…” she whined. Shaking her head she struck her staff into the ground with a fierce cry, sending a snapping wave of light that streaked through the grass out towards the minotaur. It crackled loudly before erupting with a frenzy of white and violet bursts of lightning that exploded into the air in a wide arc. It crashed against the minotaur’s shield as the brute lifted up her axe to hold over her shoulder, the attack also colliding with two other powerful barriers that illuminated beside the first one and completely stopped the wide blast from going through. The witch screamed and waved her staff around before hurling from it a sparking ball of blue and violet light into air over the minotaur, the attack then exploding with a rainstorm of lightning striking below viciously.
“You got her!” a goblin cheered as dust and fire exploded behind the minotaur’s barrier and engulfed the brute. All the monsters watched as a final explosion detonated with sparks flying outward in all directions, a pillar of smoke billowing from the scorched land while the glowing magical barriers slowly faded away. The witch caught her breath with a shaky smile and weakly laughed before leaning against her staff for balance. A gremlin slowly nodded then glanced to the witch with a raised eyebrow.
“Um, what was just like they say, like you were about to say?”
“They say…” the witch started to reply before losing her voice, herself and all the monsters staring with wide eyes at seeing the minotaur’s glowing tattoos and weapon through the haze along with her eyes. Slowly the smoke cleared to show the brute standing with a big grin on her face and not a single scratch on her.
“It can’t be,” an arachne gasped shaking her head.
“She took that attack without batting an eyelash,” the other feared.
“They… say,” the witch shakily breathed out. “Their magic… is just as strong as their brute strength.”
“It looks pretty strong already,” a goblin nervously pointed out.
The minotaur laughed loudly while holding her axe up high in triumph, with everyone watching in stunned silence while Rolian was blinking her eyes a few times as she clung to the tree more closely for support.
“That… that could work,” she said nodding before looking to her jug. “How did you do that, Juggy? That’s an amazing distraction.”
“HAHAHAHAHA!” the minotaur bellowed. “I AM MINOS, THE MOST FEARSOME MINOTAUR TO WALK THIS LAND!”
“You’re the only minotaur to walk this land!” a troll yelled shaking her head. “What the hell are you even doing here?”
“THAT’S NONE OF YOUR CONCERN! NOW FIGHT ME TO THE DEATH AND SHOW ME A TRUE BATTLE! NONE SHALL BEST THE LIKES OF MINOS, THIS YOU SHALL SEE! HAHAHAHA!”
Minos took two steps towards the monsters while raising her axe up high with both hands, the fiends tensing up and bracing for a very painful slaughter at the hands of the giant, right before she suddenly stopped and looked down. The men still pinned to the ground in the clearing were watching her with terrified faces while their hardened erections stood upright with glistening strands of seminal fluid still on them. Minos remained perfectly still with a look of surprise on her face, her eye twitching a few times before she turned deep red with a faint whine escaping her mouth. The monsters looked down to the men then back up to Minos, the large minotaur twitching a bit before she promptly jumped back, struck her battle-axe into the ground with a thunderous crash, then hopped down against it while facing away from everyone and crouching as low as she could. Everyone watched the minotaur shaking a little while mumbling something to herself, puzzled glances being exchanged by all before a troll slowly walked over and peeked around the brute’s weapon to see Minos holding her hands over her face and having her head lowered against her knees.
“Um… what are you doing?” the troll slowly asked.
“THERE ARE MEN OVER THERE!”
“Yeah?”
“NAKED MEN!”
“Uh huh. So?”
“MINOS BASHFUL!”
All the wicked monsters paused for a moment before staggering so hard they dropped to the ground with thuds, including the two arachne overhead who fell onto the dirt with additional hard thumps. Kroanette was staring at the odd sight while hoping this was some sort of crazy dream, finding it all to be both frightening and extremely confusing. The centaur closed her eyes and tried to wake up while the monsters around her got back onto their feet and stared at the cowering minotaur in disbelief.
“Is she serious?” the witch scoffed waving her staff towards the brute.
“She’s shy around men?” a gremlin questioned shaking her head.
“What wrong with her?” a goblin asked.
“What does it matter?” a troll said readying her axe. “Kill her while she’s down. We bring that thing’s head back with us and we’re going to be rewarded greatly.”
The monsters crept closer while readying their weapons, claws, alchemic pouches, and magical staff, all of them making their way through the captive human field that had stopped the minotaur in her tracks. As they did Kroanette dropped her head onto the ground with a murmur before feeling a rustling behind her. Glancing back she saw an arachne using a small bush to conceal not even half her body with while peeking through the shrubbery with her red eyes.
“Psst,” Rolian whispered while wiggling her abdomen in the air. “Don’t worry. It’s me. Rolian. Me and Juggy are going to free you. Just stay calm.”
Kroanette’s eyes widened along with her mouth, the gag she had dropping down as she quickly looked to the monsters creeping away from her then back to the arachne.
“You will?” she whispered as Rolian set the loose shrubbery that wasn’t doing anything to hide her down and started toiling the webbing that kept the centaur pinned to the grass with both hands. The arachne’s fingers loosened and parted the sticky silk slowly but surely as she worked to undo the net as fast as she could.
“I don’t want to be like them,” Rolian said shaking her head. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I’m going to do what you said, I’m going to live my own life in peace away from them.”
“Thank you,” Kroanette dearly replied with tears forming. “Thank you so much, Rolian.”
She then held in her yelp with clenched teeth before squirming in her binds as she felt the spider’s fingers digging into her back.
“Rolian, ow. That’s my back you’re clawing.”
“Oops,” Rolian said while wobbling a bit. “Sorry. Having trouble seeing straight right now.”
“That’s alright, just be-… wait, what?” Kroanette asked as she quickly looked back. She saw Rolian wavering and groaning quietly while her eyes seemed to focus on entirely different things from one another.
“Rolian? Are you alright?”
“Just… a little dizzy,” Rolian softly said before shaking her head. “Me and Juggy were… yeah, we- we were. We’re super close. I love her. She makes me soooo happy.”
“You’re completely drunk,” Kroanette realized.
“No. No, I’m fine. I’ve totally got this,” Rolian insisted as she squinted all her eyes, her vision still being incredibly blurry, tipsy, and slightly washed out in color. Kroanette shook her head before holding in her yelp again as the arachne dug her nails into her side by mistake. The centaur clenched her teeth and held in her voice with all her might as she both prayed Rolian could focus enough to do this and looked back to see the other monsters getting closer to Minos.
“Oh shit,” Kroanette grunted as Rolian again missed her mark. “They’re going to kill her. And after she was about to be my hero too.”
“Hey hey hey hey,” Rolian weakly said while turning to her with a grimace. “I’m your hero. Me. Rolian. I’m sav- saving you right now. See?”
“I know you are,” Kroanette insisted with a nervous smile at her. “And I can’t thank you enough. Um, please do hurry though. They’ll be back any-”
“Hey, whoa, hold on,” Rolian murmured stumbling over onto her and shaking her head. “Wa
it, wait a second. What was your name again? I don’t remember if you told me. Did you tell me already?”
“It’s Kroanette. Kroanette,” the centaur quickly whispered before turning to seeing two trolls winding back with their axes at the sitting minotaur. “Oh god, she’s going to be beheaded.”
“Kroa- what now?” Rolian murmured with a rolling head. She looked over and noticed the monsters near the minotaur then gasped. “Oh my gosh! Watch out big loud lady! They’re going to hurt you! …I think!”
Everyone, including Kroanette, looked to the arachne in surprise as she waved her hands around while hopping about on all her legs.
“Hey! Big monster! Watch out! There’s like… I don’t know… fifty monsters around you? Uh oh… I think- I think I’m seeing double… or maybe triple… quadruple? I am so confused right now.”
“What the hell are you doing?” the witch shouted out.
“Are you untying her?” an arachne hissed. “What is wrong with you? You’re trying to help her escape now?”
“You traitor,” a gremlin snarled. “She’s freeing the prisoner!”
“That does it!” a troll yelled pointing her axe towards Rolian. “Just kill her too! She’s not costing us our prized catch, and I’m fucking tired of having her around anyway! Do her mom a favor and kill that stupid bitch while we get ourselves a minotaur trophy to take back!”
She lifted her axe to swing at the brute before Minos quickly leapt to her feet, grabbed her axe, and viciously swung it around with fearsome roar. The massive blade splatted two trolls, a gremlin, and a goblin into wide bloody messes away from the minotaur who then jumped back while slamming her axe into the ground hard at her side.
“YOU SHALL NEVER TURN MINOS INTO A TROPHY!” the minotaur bellowed with a fist held up before her. “NOBODY SHALL CLAIM VICTORY OVER MINOS! NOW PREPARE FOR ANNIHILATION!”
She blinked then quickly looked around at all the men near the monsters, her face turning red again very quickly, before jumping to turn the other way with a shakily waving tail and nervous frown.
“YOU SHALL FACE ANNIHILATION… LATER!” she yelled before stampeding away wildly. “I NEED TO LEAVE… FOR AN UNRELATED REASON! I’LL BE BACK AGAIN TO DEFEAT YOU VERY SOON! HAHAHAHAHA!”
Everyone watched the minotaur quickly fleeing the area and vanishing over a hilltop before all the monsters slowly turned to Rolian and Kroanette with death glares.
“Um…” Rolian said while wobbling a bit. “Well… that distraction didn’t work. Darn.”
“We’ve lost men out here,” the witch snarled as the monsters started coming closer with evident rage. “We’ve lost our supplies. We’ve lost fellow sisters. And now we’ve lost the chance to bring in a minotaur’s head and be commended for the feat because of you.”
“That centaur is coming back with us,” a gremlin hissed. “But you, you’re fucking dead.”
Rolian looked behind her one way then another before showing puzzlement towards the monsters and pointing to herself.
“Are you- are you talking to me right now? I can’t tell which way you’re looking.”
“Here’s a hint!” a troll yelled stepping closer and readying to throw an axe. Rolian and Kroanette jumped then slumped back as the monster yelled loudly while those next to her got ready to charge the arachne and butcher her. The troll took one step then jerked slightly, her whole body seeming to go limp as she wavered then dropped back onto the grass with her weapon. Everyone watched in surprise as the monster fell down with a thump while in the air where she was just standing a bright sparkling light flickered for a moment. A wavy distortion of haze billowed afterward while the wicked monsters quickly backed up, all eyes staring at the sight in bewilderment before from the alteration a small figure phased into view.
“By the power of the underworld,” a tiny and familiar voice cackled. “And with the aid of my beloved Star’s undying love for me as her one true love…”
Kroanette’s eyes widened as she saw a small fairy-sized harvester appear in the air with one of her spectral cutters wavering about beside her from underneath her flowing dress.
“My cutter has grown back!” Reiko cheered with a tiny hop and arms held high. She looked around to seeing all the humans and monsters staring at her silence, behind her to see Kroanette doing the same while Rolian dropped onto her abdomen with a hiccup, then forward again while lowering her arms with a puzzled expression.
“I was expecting applause.”
“What the hell is that thing?” a gremlin asked pointing to the harvester.
“What happened to her?” the witch said poking her staff on the now soulless troll. “Fuck, I think she’s dead.”
“Kill her too,” a mite dully droned. All the mites quickly rushed forward and swarmed the harvester, none of them being able to grab her as she quickly phased through the monsters and swiftly swiped her cutter through them all with a merry dance in the air. Reiko laughed at the corpses that dropped to the ground with multiple thumps and lifeless gazes in their eyes before turning her creepy stare onto the other wicked monsters.
“What happened?” a goblin nervously asked.
“What did she do to them?” a troll asked.
“She devoured their souls,” Kroanette taunted, with the monsters turning to her surprise. “She’s a harvester. Eating souls is what she does.”
“She what?” the witch gasped stepping back.
Reiko mockingly licked her fingers and hummed happily before smiling viciously at the wicked fiends.
“They were quite tasty. Let’s see how yours compares!”
The tiny harvester rushed the monsters with haunting laughter, all of them trying to strike down the floating monster while scattering with screams. Reiko phased right through the swing of an axe, the troll that attacked her not faring the same against the spectral cutter that soon after cleaved away her soul. A gremlin threw her pouch at the little killer, with Reiko spiraling around the bag that then flew into a goblin’s face and exploded said face into chunks that flew further back onto the grass. Reiko laughed joyously as she swiped away the gremlin’s soul before dancing around in the air and taking another, the monsters dropping to the ground lifeless while Kroanette watched with a smile forming on her face.
“Kill it!” the witch yelled as she shot lightning out at the harvester. She missed, fried a goblin into a charred corpse, and then watched as Reiko cleaved away two more fiend’s souls. The harvester merrily laughed and flew about, dodging attacks or phasing right through them, all while cleaving souls one by one with fierce swipes of her spectral blade. The witch started breathing heavily as she frantically tried to zap and grab the monster with her magic, failing each and every time as all her companions dropped dead one after another around her. Finally Reiko swirled around the witch wildly before stopping in front of her face with the cutter poised at her neck. The witch trembled with a whine before dropping her staff and holding her hands up.
“I surrender. Please don’t kill me too.”
Reiko slowly licked her lips, or at least the half of her mouth that still had lips, while cocking her head slightly. After a pause she slowly reached out and held the girl’s cheeks, then pulled her cutter back and held it up beside her.
“Well, your friends certainly were delicious to devour and quite satisfying. And you do seem so scared and weak. Perhaps I could let you go. I have been a little greedy with eating so much on this fine day.”
“Thank you,” the witch whimpered with a shaky smile. “Thank you so much.”
“Ah, but what the hell,” Reiko laughed with a shrug. “One more won’t kill me.”
With that she quickly swiped her cutter through the neck of the witch, the little monster dropping dead with a thump below her while the harvester laughed and spun about in the air.
“I’m such a gluttonous harvester! And so bad too! I can’t wait for Star to punish me! Give it to me soon, my kitty of desire! Hee hee!”
Reiko laughed and flew around in circle
s before rushing over to Kroanette and winding her cutter back to strike with a murderous glare and smile.
“Wait, Reiko!” the centaur cried out. “It’s me, Kroanette! Star’s friend!”
“Kroanette?” Reiko asked while freezing in place. She blinked then looked over the centaur before showing a curious look. “Kroanette? Is that really you?”
“Yes, it is! I just told you that!”
“What are you doing here? Wait, is Star here also?” Reiko questioned before quickly looking around with a bright smile. “Star? Are you here? Where are you, my love?”
“She’s not here, Reiko. She’s-”
“Is she off fucking that stupid human instead of me?” Reiko raged at her. “Goddammit, I hate that guy! Where is he? I’m so going to kill him! Nobody keeps my beloved Star from me and lives!”
“Reiko!” Kroanette shouted, getting the harvester to hop back with a startle while Rolian was trying to grab something she thought was in front of her that actually wasn’t. “They were heading towards Ruhelia and I ran ahead of them! Now can you please help get me out of this mess, I have to get to Ruhelia right now!”
“Why should I?” Reiko snapped before crossing her arms stubbornly.
“Hey hey hey hey,” Rolian whined. “I wanted to help you. Why does she get to?”
“I don’t care who helps me!” Kroanette yelled shaking about. “Just someone get me the hell out of here right now! I need to get back home this instant!”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Rolian murmured before she started working to undo the webbing again. “I can do that. See?”
“Ow!” Kroanette whined. “Rolian, that’s my fur you’re ripping off! Please try to focus on what you’re doing!”
“Sorry. My bad.”
“What’s your rush anyway?” Reiko asked shaking her head.
“I need to get home and see for myself if it was really destroyed or not in a monster attack!” Kroanette barked back while thrashing in her binds. “My family could be dead, Reiko! I need to get to Ruhelia and find out if it’s true or not! I need to know if Ruhelia really was attacked like I’ve heard!”
Chronicles of Eden - Act XI Page 40