“I’ll come get you after, I swear!” Mika shouted at the sky. “Help me find my brother and I’ll be in your debt, I’ll come save you even if you are a monster! Please, tell me where he is!”
“I’m sorry, but this is the only way I can be freed. I’ve seen your future path, Mika Harollson. You will choose to leave me where I am should you be told where your brother is first.”
“I have to find him now!” Mika cried out as she stood up. “If you have any heart at all then tell me where he is, I have to get to him! I swear to the heavens that I won’t forsake you, I’ll come find you just as soon as my brother is safe! Please believe me!”
“I wish I could. I’m sorry, but as I said I just can’t risk losing my only chance at being free. I don’t want to be cruel, I really don’t, but I need you to come save me, you’re the only one I can turn to. Please, help me and then I’ll gladly aid you in finding your brother again.”
“I can’t just leave him out there!”
“I assure you he’s perfectly safe.”
“How can you assure me of that? Look at what happened to my home! What did happen there? What killed those monsters? And where did my brother and those two monster children who were with him go? Tell me!”
“I can’t tell you that otherwise I’ll have nothing to bargain for my life with. My time is short, I need a hero now more than ever. Please, your brother was merciful towards monsters in need, can’t you do the same for me? I’m begging you, save me from dying alone here in my prison and I’ll help you with whatever you want after. Please, Mika Harollson.”
Mika held a hand to her head, struggling with deciding on what to do. After a while she shook her head and looked up at the sky.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t let Max be taken from me. I can’t leave him alone out there, I have to go find him. No matter what I can’t lose him too, I just can’t. I’ll search everywhere around here myself, if there’s a clue to where he went I’ll find it. I don’t have time to go on a rescue mission when my brother is out there, probably scared and lost.”
“But, Mika Harollson… I’m begging you here. Don’t you believe what I’ve said after all I’ve told you?”
“I do,” Mika promised. “You knew about Lelu, you knew where her mother was buried, and you knew about my encounter with Daniel Sorres. I believe you can see the past and future with your magic, I do. And I’m holding onto hope that what you say about him being safe for now is true as well. But if you won’t tell me where Max is then I’ll just have to go look for him myself. He’s my priority, he always is. I’m sorry, Aeon. But I can’t do anything else until my brother is safe and sound with me again.”
“Have you no heart? If you don’t come save me soon I’ll perish for certain, I can’t wait for another hero that won’t be coming. I need you to save me now.”
“Tell me where he is, I’ll go find him, and then I’ll come save you. I trust what you said, Aeon. If you want me to help you then you need to trust me too. Until then I’m going to go look for him myself.”
She started walking away before Aeon began laughing in her mind, the hunter stopping with a confused expression as the unseen monster suddenly found great amusement in her actions.
“I knew it,” Aeon chuckled. “I knew you wouldn’t come for me no matter how much I begged or even if I showed you proof of my ability to see all of time. I just knew you would still refuse my request, even when I poured my heart out to you. I saw this happening clear as day, and yet I was still curious if I could sway your fate with my words. Seems I couldn’t, you were always going to choose your dear little brother over me, no matter how much I pleaded for you to save me.”
“Aeon?” Mika asked looking up.
“Oh well, it was a fun experiment anyway. And not like I had anything to lose. After all, you are going to come free me, Mika Harollson. Right now.”
“And why do you think that?” Mika cautiously said.
“I’ve demonstrated two points to you very clearly that you cannot argue, Mika Harollson. One being my ability to communicate with others even from my confined location, and the second being that I truly do know the past, present, and futures of everyone in the world. You do know this to be true, don’t you?”
“You’ve got some tricks,” Mika slowly agreed. “Though not enough to trick me into abandoning my search for Max to come help you.”
“Oh, heavens no. I won’t trick you at all. It’s just we’re going to play a different game now. Instead of you coming here to rescue me, you’re going to come here and try to kill me.”
“And why am I going to do that right now?”
“Because if you don’t I’ll speak to your brother directly,” Aeon slyly replied. “There’s so much I could tell him. What happened to his sisters, what fate lies in store for him… or maybe I’ll tell him your secret, Mika Harollson.”
Mika remained still and silent while listening to the monster’s words. She felt a very heavy feeling growing in her chest as Aeon chuckled in her mind.
“Yes, you know the one, don’t you?”
“I don’t have any secrets,” Mika snapped. “You can’t threaten me with your lies-”
“Haha! Lies? Look who’s lying now, Mika Harollson. You know very well I can see your past without any trouble at all. I know everything you’ve ever done in your life. And that includes what you did two months and three days ago.”
Mika froze as her heart skipped a beat, her eye going wide while a cold sweat formed on the back of her neck.
“By the looks of it you remembered, didn’t you? Yes, how could you forget? That day is probably always on your mind, although you hide the guilt you feel for your actions very well even today. With the way you carry on it’s almost as if that event never happened. Although we both know it did…”
“No…”
“Yes, it was a beautiful sunny day-”
“No.”
“Your sisters were out shopping while you and Max stayed home together-”
“No!”
“It was a special day for you. You even made tea for the occasion-”
“Shut up!”
“You were waiting for that moment for so long, eagerly awaiting it while keeping your feelings hidden so well as you always have-”
“Shut your fucking mouth!”
“What’s wrong, Mika Harollson? Afraid to admit the truth? Still think you can hide from it?”
Mika trembled while shakily breathing, her eye staring off into space while Aeon’s words echoed in her head. She covered her ears and dropped to her knees, straining to push both the monster’s taunts and the dreaded memory she had out of her mind.
“No… I didn’t… I didn’t… I didn’t…”
“You did.”
Mika looked forward with a gasp as Aeon spoke directly into her ear. The world around her became perfectly silent, only her ragged breaths being heard as she feared what Aeon knew about her.
“Poor, poor Mika Harollson,” Aeon sighed. “You dedicated your life to protecting your brother, focused on him so heavily because he meant so much to you. In fact he became the only thing that kept you fighting, that pushed you to become a fearsome monster hunter, that you chose to live your life for. He became so much more in your eyes, something that was more than just special. Everything you did you did for him. All for him. All for the one you love.”
“He’s… my brother…”
“All for the one you love.”
“He’s family…”
“All for the one you love.”
“He’s… he’s…”
“All for the one you…”
Mika felt her heart stop in the instant it all played back for her in her mind. It flashed by, so quickly, yet was glaringly vivid and too long of a fleeting moment to bear.
“Max, I made us some tea,” Mika said walking over to the kitchen table. She set down a cup before the boy who was seated while holding her own, a warm smile on her face as she kept her eyes focused
on her little brother.
“Thanks, I could use a drink,” Max said wiping his forehead. “Busy day today. Though I think I chopped enough firewood for us to last a while now.”
“Good thing we have such a strong man in our lives to take care of us,” Mika quipped before sipping her tea.
“I’ll pretend that wasn’t sarcasm,” Max retorted before drinking his. As he did Mika watched him with a caring smile, her eyes showing eagerness to them while she lightly drummed her fingers on her cup.
“It was a mistake…” Mika whimpered.
A teacup crashed onto the ground with a shatter, having been dropped by Max who was slumped down in the chair after passing out.
“It was a mistake!”
Mika set her cup aside and gently held Max’s head, the woman’s smile becoming softer and more loving as she started breathing more heavily.
“I didn’t mean to… I didn’t want…”
“Yes you did,” Aeon taunted her. “You knew exactly what you wanted, Mika Harollson.”
Mika used her arm to knock all the plates and dishes off the table with a clatter. She picked up Max and set him down on the stand, her hands trembling slightly as they caressed his cheek and brushed his hair. The smile she now had was more anxious while she had trouble controlling her excitement, a lustful leer coming across her face as she looked over her sleeping brother.
“You loved him, didn’t you?” Aeon mocked. “Every time you said those words you really meant them, isn’t that right?”
“I…”
The eldest sister slowly got up on the table and straddled her brother, her eyes going over him while she gently ran a hand through his hair.
“I…”
The woman held her hands over his overalls before yanking them off his shoulders, the girl grunting eagerly as she quickly pulled his clothes off before tossing them aside.
“Say it, Mika Harollson. Admit the truth that I already know. Admit to yourself how you really feel about your dear little brother.”
“I… love…”
“Max,” Mika breathed out as she held his head. She shook hers as a tear started to form then smiled awkwardly down at the sleeping boy. “I’m sorry, Max. But I can’t deny this any longer. I can’t… I can’t lie to myself anymore.”
“I love…”
Mika leaned down to his face while brushing her hair aside, taking a moment to eye over her sleeping brother before sighing in defeat of her most prominent desire.
“I love you,” she said before kissing him.
“I love my little brother!” Mika admitted before breaking down into tears. “I couldn’t help it, I couldn’t fight it! I know it’s wrong, I know it’s not right, I know… but I… I couldn’t stop… I couldn’t stop myself! I only dreamed about him, only thought about him, I only… I couldn’t help myself from wanting him like that! I fell in love with Max!”
Mika sat up with a hungry smile down at Max, the woman then pulling off her shirt and tossing it aside.
“Just sleep, Max. I’ll take care of everything. You won’t ever know, you won’t have to. You can’t, you’ll never understand how I feel. But that’s okay. I can still have you like this, I can still have you in my own way. I can still be yours, yours and yours alone. I’ll always take care of you. Forever and ever.”
“It was a mistake! I had a weak moment, I never should have… I shouldn’t have…”
All was quiet inside the cottage while Mae and Milly were out shopping. No customers came, no monsters crept nearby, not a sound was made during that peaceful day. Nothing except for the rhythmic creaking of a wooden table in the kitchen.
“Raped him?” Aeon mocked.
“NO!” Mika screamed as she dropped down, her eye shut tightly while she cried out from reliving the horrible memory all over again. The way she rode atop Max while he was knocked out from her drugged tea, the way she nearly broke the stand with how rough she humped him, and the way she had locked up completely at the end, a stunned expression coming across her face when she felt Max releasing inside her. And she remembered what happened afterwards, how the reality of what she had done struck her right away, and how her heart broke at realizing what she did to her beloved brother in her lustful state.
“I’m sorry!” Mika cried out. “I’m sorry, I know it was wrong! I just couldn’t stop myself! I had to have him, I had to be with him, I had to feel him inside me! It was too much for me to bear, I couldn’t hold back any longer! All those years I watched over him, took care of him, watched him grow… I had to… I had… I…”
She coughed and dropped to her side out of breath, the woman gasping and crying while feeling her heart aching from the painful secret she bared.
“You really do love your brother,” Aeon said in amusement. “It’s so funny to behold. His dear older sister dedicates her life to protecting him, providing for him, caring for him, only to one day realize she fell in love with him. Probably should have tried to get a boyfriend or something before that happened, or at least look at other males in the world. Maybe then you wouldn’t have developed those forbidden feelings for your little brother.”
Mika cried and slowly sat up with her hands over her face, her heart feeling both pain from the memory as well as beating more quickly when thinking about the one she secretly loved. Wrong or not she couldn’t push her feelings for Max away entirely just as she never could before.
“Oh, don’t cry, Mika Harollson. It’s not so bad. I’m sure your brother will understand when I tell him what you did.”
“NO!” Mika screamed looking up in fright. “You can’t tell him! Nobody can know, nobody can know that I did that to him!”
“You did fail to get pregnant with his child during your attempt. Perhaps he’ll offer you another go in order to try again, haha!”
“Aeon!” Mika yelled stumbling to her feet. “Don’t you dare tell him!”
A while of silence passed before Mika growled with a narrowed eye, seeing exactly where this was going and what the monster was planning.
“Then come and stop me, Mika Harollson,” Aeon challenged in her mind.
“You really are a monster,” Mika cursed.
“Am I? I tried to be nice and ask politely for your assistance, and yet you still refused. Instead you wanted to go looking for the sibling that you raped in order to satisfy your pent-up sexual desires. Tell me, who’s the real monster here?”
“It was a mistake!” Mika shouted. “I regretted it the moment it ended, I never should have done that! I shouldn’t have let my feelings come out like that, I shouldn’t have given in to my emotions! It was all a mistake!”
“I’m sure he’ll believe that. I’m sure he’ll still be able to look at you the same way after hearing that his dear sister humped him for his seed just like another lustful monster in the world would have done. Just a simple mistake, right?”
“Aeon, I swear if you try to tell him I’ll kill you!”
“Then come and do so. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Where are you?” Mika growled while clenching her fist, a rolling wave of crimson and black light coming off it from her anger rising. “I promise I’ll come straight to you and send you to hell! Tell me where you are, Aeon!”
“In the City of Eden.”
Mika froze with a wide eye, the echoing laughter of the monster sounding off in her head as she realized just who she was talking to.
“You’re… the Dark Queen?” she faintly asked.
“Guilty as charged.”
Mika felt a cold chill run down her spine as she looked around the area, seeing nobody at all yet now knowing that the Dark Queen herself was watching her very clearly.
“Impossible, you’re sealed away. You can’t…”
“My magic can reach outside of my prison in special ways, I cannot truly be buried away in this world and so easily forgotten. I can still see the timeline of this world unraveling day by day. I can see you humans crawling through the dirt like lost, scared
little children. And I can see you perfectly from here, Mika Harollson. That flabbergasted yet muddled look you have on your face, it’s really befitting someone as pitiable as yourself.”
“Why?” Mika breathed out. “Why are you tormenting me? Why are you doing this to me at all? Why are you even talking to me?”
“I already told you, you’re my chance at being free. It’s quite simple actually, of all the interweaving timelines and destinies that cross near my city yours has a chance of freeing me. At least it does ever since I helped that elven child escape The Sisterhood, who in turn kept your brother alive to be used as motivation for you to come here and do as you’re told. And, to answer your next question before you even bother uttering it, no, I didn’t save her out of the goodness of my heart. It was part of a deal I made with another, something that doesn’t concern you at all.”
“You’re the Dark Queen?” Mika said while trying to force a stern expression. “You’re the one locked away beneath the ant girls’ nest?”
“Yes, the very same.”
“If that’s true then I’m not letting you out,” Mika argued shaking her head. “Forget it. There’s no way in hell I’d ever let you go free! You’re not baiting me into unlocking your seal, no way!”
“You will come and open my seal,” Aeon chuckled. “Because if you don’t I’ll tell your brother you raped him like a monster. I’ll even tell your queen that the famous Mika Harollson fucked her own little brother, and although she’ll only hear whispers of such a tale I assure you I can ruin your image to every human that walks Eden without any trouble from where I am. Either you come and open my seal, or else your world ends, Mika Harollson.”
“You can’t…”
“I can, and I will. The only way I won’t is if you come and kill me. So what do you say, monster hunter? Still want to send me down to hell, or would you rather the world know how you used your little brother as a sex toy?”
“I did not!” Mika cried out. “I never used him like that, I only… I… argh! How can I even trust that you know where Max is anyway? How can I trust you when you say he’s still alive?”
Chronicles of Eden - Act X Page 54