Chronicles of Eden - Act V

by Alexander Gordon

  “What are we going to do?” Kroanette cried out as she frantically bucked around and kicked with her legs while snapping her whip at the swarm in a panic.

  Triska looked around quickly then saw a room next to theirs through a hole in the wall that Kroanette had kicked a swarm into earlier. She reached down and grabbed Clover, yanked the elf to her feet, then swung her around and threw her towards the opening, with the elf crashing through a few broken boards into the dark room that had a window with flickering beams of moonlight coming through it.

  “Get in there now! Don’t let them surround you!” Triska ordered as she grabbed Clover’s bow and tossed it into the room, with Kroanette quickly galloping in after as Clover rubbed her head and growled with anger on the floor.

  “What’s the big fucking idea?” Clover shouted as she grabbed her bow and stumbled to her feet.

  “Just stay alive!” Triska yelled before she raced up the stairs. Clover and Kroanette watched as the swarm literally swarmed the living room and gathered around the broken hole into the study that the centaur and elf were cornered in before the two girls ran over and grabbed a bookshelf next to the opening and yanked it over onto its side with a loud thud. Clover backed up and started firing arrow after arrow through the gap above the toppled shelf at the swarm as they tried to squeeze through and get inside, the dead monsters being clawed and ripped apart by the living ones who were also digging through the walls with loud hisses.

  “Oh yeah, we’ll be just fine trapped in here!” Clover raged while firing her arrows at the monsters in the wall. One crashed its head through the window behind them, with Kroanette screaming and promptly kicking the monster out and into an adjacent building.

  “WAAAH! This day sucks!” Kroanette whined before she started whipping at the swarm that were now trying to crawl in through the window.

  Triska raced up the stairs then slashed a swarm down the middle with a fierce yell, her eyes then seeing more of the monsters crawling around the hallway while Tabitha was seen trying to fight them off from all sides in the bedroom. Complica continued to scream while hiding in her ball before she saw Triska standing at the end of the hall with the moonlight shining on her. The butterfly watched in awe as the girl let out a feral roar and charged towards them. The world seemed to fall silent around Complica as her full attention was locked onto the human.

  “Get away from her!” Triska yelled as she swung her sword, slicing through the face of a swarm with a slick crunch, before shoving the dead monster aside then kicking another out the broken wall of the corridor. She then swung down and slashed a swarm’s skull in half before spinning around it and slicing across another’s body. A swarm flew in from the opening and tackled Triska against the wall, to which she then promptly bashed her head against the monster’s, knocking it back, before she swung down repeatedly at it and slashed the swarm down the middle with loud crunches. The dead monster dropped back and fell out of the hallway as Triska ran towards the bedroom again, swinging her blade around with one hand and slicing off the arm of a swarm before slashing another across its back. The wounded monsters screeched and flailed around behind her as she ran into the room and swung her blade up, striking through the head of another swarm while Tabitha continued to swing her katanas around to keep the others at bay.

  “We need to go!” Triska ordered before swinging her sword behind and cutting down another swarm. As she did Complica stared up at her with awe, watching as the human turned back around with her hair flowing behind her and a fierce look in her eye.

  “I am not getting paid enough for this, I just know it!” Tabitha cursed as she swung her blades and hacked two more swarms through their chests.

  “Who cares about that? We need to get her home,” Triska countered as she reached down and grabbed Complica, holding her close with one hand and lifting her to her feet. To her surprise the girl quickly grabbed hold of her waist, seeming to cling to her for dear life while burying her face in the human’s chest.

  “For dealing with this, her mother had better pay me double!” Tabitha shouted out with anger.

  “Glad to know you care so much about her!” Triska barked back.

  A swarm flew through the hallway and into the room, grabbing Triska from behind and flying her out of the room as she held onto Complica. Triska screamed as Complica clung to the human with a similar cry while Tabitha watched with a frustrated yell as she struck down yet another nearby fiend.

  “Dammit, I need that kid alive!” she shouted with anger.

  “Let us go!” Triska yelled before she bashed with her head behind her, smacking the swarm in the face which caused it to screech and let go of its prey. The two girls screamed as they fell before Triska felt the hard cobblestone street greet her back with a hard thump. She grunted heavily before tumbling into a roll, holding Complica close as the young butterfly didn’t feel the ground hitting her while they bounced about with Triska always landing down onto it in their roll. The swarm nearby flew up and circled them while others landed down around them as the two girls rolled to a stop, with Triska lying atop Complica and shielding her while the girl’s sword bounced on the street with a few clanks before stopping next to her. Complica whimpered and peeked from side to side, seeing the wicked smiles and fluttering wings of the swarm drawing closer, and then hid her face in Triska’s bosom again as the girl grabbed hold of her sword.

  “Are you okay?” Triska asked as she got up on her knees over the girl and watched as the swarm around them circled the two both above in the air and along the ground, all of the monsters hissing and eyeing their prey with their wide smiles and quickly buzzing wings. Complica whimpered and saw all the swarm closing in them before one lunged towards her, the monster then being met with Triska’s blade as the teen furiously swiped through its face before striking behind her and slashing another down its exposed chest.

  Complica looked up at Triska with eyes of wonder, watching as the human swung around and slashed a swarm with her sword before spinning around and swiping at another. Her hair flowed behind her with grace as she kept swinging and stepping around the butterfly girl with her attacks, blood splattering onto the road from the swarm that were hit with her blade while she herself shouted with energy in each swing. Another swarm was struck down, followed by another, and then another, one by one being hacked and slashed by the lone human and tumbling about before collapsing onto the road dead.

  “You’re not touching a hair on her head!” Triska roared as she cut down another of the ravenous fiends. She was then struck across her back by the nails of a swarm, causing her to yell in anger rather than pain before she spun around and slashed across the monster with a fierce swipe. As the bisected swarm dropped to the ground with a hoarse screech Complica started to tune the world around her out as Triska kept her full attention.

  ‘She’s amazing.’

  Inside the nearby residence that had swarm crawling all over it Tabitha rolled to the side in the bedroom as the roof collapsed above her, with broken boards and beams dropping down along with a few swarm before the crazed monsters started to flutter and hop around above the debris. She growled with frustration then watched as Triska and Complica vanished from sight with the growing number of swarm that were gathering around them in the street on both the ground and air.

  “That’s it, there’s no way I’m getting paid enough for this!” she yelled as she struck her katana through a swarm’s head while sheathing her other blade behind her. With a fierce kick and a loud yowl she knocked the dead monster away before diving into a roll along the floor, just evading two other swarm that tried to grab her then swung forward and sliced down another that dropped in front of her.

  “That kid’s as good as dead. I’m not sharing her fate!” Tabitha declared as she grabbed her black satchel nearby. “Dealing with swarm, no amount of reward is worth this.”

  Before she could run a large support beam dropped from the broken ceiling and crashed into the floorboards, breaking through them with
the floor then caving in and falling down into the lower level of the building. Tabitha dropped down onto Clover with a loud yowl while Kroanette kicked another swarm’s face in through the broken window using her hind legs.

  “Never should have taken this job,” Tabitha cursed as she grabbed her sword nearby.

  “Where are Triska and the princess?” Kroanette demanded before snapping her whip at a swarm that was trying to crawl through the hole in the wall over the toppled bookshelf.

  “Get off me, you bitch!” Clover yelled out before Tabitha got to her feet and swiped up the black bag at her feet.

  “The swarm took them outside to devour, they’re as good as dead,” Tabitha scoffed before striking back behind her with her sword and into the skull of a swarm as it crawled in through the disheveled wall.

  “What? They’re outside?” Kroanette cried out.

  “Then they’re definitely fucked,” Clover grunted as she got up with her bow and promptly shot an arrow through the broken opening into a swarm’s head, with it falling back dead and four more rushing towards the hole together with loud screeches.

  “No, I have to save them!” Kroanette shouted before a swarm dropped down next to her with a screech. The centaur screamed and quickly turned to kick the monster straight through the wall with a loud crash. As it flew into a wicked tumble the girls saw through the new opening a thick crowd of swarm flying around and racing along the ground towards something in the street, with so many of the monsters buzzing around in the air and hopping about on the road that it was almost like a massive shadow that spun about like a dark funnel in the moonlight.

  “Oh my god,” Kroanette breathed out with wide eyes.

  “Go on then, save them,” Clover mocked. “I dare you.”

  “They’re no way they could survive that, this job is over,” Tabitha stated solemnly before she ran over and struck her sword through the head of a swarm outside the window to the side. “They have however drawn most of them away from us. If you wish to save yourselves I suggest you run like hell.”

  Clover and Kroanette watched as the neko then jumped through the open window, tucking into a roll before she took off down the street away from the gathering of swarm. As she ran she swung her sword around to slash and ward off other swarm that were in her way, her eyes going from one to another as they tried to pounce on her before she cut them down and continued on.

  “Sorry, Triska,” she voiced quietly with a fleeting glance behind her. “You are brave, but as I told you before, you can’t save everyone you meet in this world.”

  “She just left us!” Kroanette whined while looking from where the neko had fled to where the monstrous gathering of swarm was occupying most of the street outside.

  “She’s right though, we need get the fuck out of here!” Clover yelled before quickly grabbing the black bag on the floor next to her then running over and jumping onto the centaur’s back, taking hold of her hair like reins and kicking her boots against her gut. “Hya! Get going!”

  “Ow!” Kroanette screamed before she knocked Clover’s hand away from her head. “I’m not your horse!”

  “Ride or we die!”

  “But what about Triska?” Kroanette whined looking out the building again.

  “She’s dead! Nobody could survive that!” Clover yelled waving to the swarm outside before she glanced over to them and watched as a blue light suddenly flared up from within the crowd.

  “What is that?” Kroanette asked as the swarm around the area turned their focus towards the brightly glowing light. Slowly the crazed fiends began to back up and fly in larger loops around the source in the road, the sudden bloom slowly fading and revealing a blue streak of light that was going around in circles with Triska standing in the middle.

  Complica was watching with amazement as Triska stood over her, sword dripping with blood and held tightly in both hands, eyes fixed into a stern glare as they watched the swarm backing away with loud screeches, clothing ripped and torn with small cuts on her shirt and pants, hair gently flowing behind her as a current of wind began to form around them, and teeth bared as she stood ready to continue with standing her ground in the way she was accustomed to. Slowly Complica looked around and saw bodies of swarm lying in the street near Triska while streaking around them now was a flying blur of blue light.

  “She’s alive!” Kroanette cheered.

  “Impossible,” Clover said quietly while shaking her head.

  Triska kept breathing steadily as she remained on guard, the adrenaline in her veins flowing while she was still focused on fighting more than anything else. In her mind she only had one goal, to survive and see Daniel at all costs. She had lost count how many swarm she had killed, her only thoughts being to kill anything that would keep her from seeing the one she loved again. Suddenly she took notice of the blue light flying around her and also hearing a familiar and tiny voice coming from it.

  “I found you!” Pip cheered as she circled around the girls wildly in a blur.

  “Pip? Is that you?”

  “I’ve come to bring you back, my boobies!”

  Triska glanced around at seeing the swarm hissing as they slowly started to close in around them again while Complica scrambled up and clung to the girl’s leg.

  “Get us back to Daniel and the others and you can do whatever you want to my boobs, Pip,” Triska promised.

  “Yay!”

  Complica continued to stare at Triska while being rendered speechless as the human knelt down and picked the girl up to hold close to her. Triska watched the swarm starting to get closer from all sides, the monsters no longer fearing the strange light, then looked over towards the building where the other girls were.

  “Get over here you two! We’re getting out of here!” she called out while waving her sword in the air.

  “Is she crazy?” Clover scoffed. “We’re not going out there.”

  “Yes we are! I’m not leaving them!” Kroanette shouted before she charged out through the broken wall and galloped towards the light. Swarm in front of her turned and hissed at the girls while quickly flying at them, with Kroanette snapping her whip wildly in front of her to fend them off as she kept running to reach Triska.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Clover yelled out as she held onto the centaur and watched with surprise as the swarm started to fly around then after them while screeching loudly.

  “Triska!” Kroanette cried out as she ran over and stood beside the teen, with all the girls then watching the swarm buzzing and hissing as they rapidly circled the girls and drew closer.

  “Why did you bring us out here to die?” Clover demanded.

  “Hurry up and do something!” Kroanette pleaded.

  Complica screamed and buried her face in Triska’s shoulder, the human holding her close as she watched Pip circling around them in a blur. The swarm raced towards them before a large casting ring flared up below the girls, the brightly glowing blue and golden lights shining up while the unique markers of the fairy’s magic appeared in several intertwining rings within the circle. Again the swarm backed off as they appeared to be confused about the sudden radiance yet they continued to click and hiss while circling the girls.

  “Wait a minute, what is doing that?” Clover said pointing to the moving trail of light around them.

  “Get us out of here, Pip!” Kroanette anxiously whined while hopping up and down on her feet.

  “Kroanette, your bracelets!” Triska warned. Kroanette looked to her with a jump as the teen sheathed her sword then pointed to the centaur’s arm bracelets. “They’ll deflect the spell around you just like last time; you’ll be left behind with those things!”

  Kroanette screamed then frantically yanked one of her bracelets off before throwing it at the swarm that were cautiously approaching the girls despite the strange glowing lights. Their hissing and buzzing began to grow louder as Kroanette quickly pulled off the other bracelet and threw it away.

  “WAAAH! Get us out of here!” K
roanette screamed as the monsters around them screeched and flew towards their prey.

  “Here we go!” Pip cheered before she flew down in a blur onto the casting ring. A bright flash of light erupted within the village of Rackleholm, the hissing and clicking sounds of the swarm that were flying wildly about within the settlement echoing out still while the monsters lost sight of their prey that had vanished in a mere moment. The swarm continued to scour the village for anything to eat or have sex with while many hopped and crawled about the streets aimlessly, all of them unaware that the ones they had found earlier were now far, far away from the town.

  *****

  Daniel was sitting on the seat of the caravan, eyes gazing up at the stars while he felt confused about what had happened to him. Standing behind him in the doorway Specca and Alyssa were watching him with worried eyes while Squeak was curled up on the bed, hiding her face while she remained silent just as the other two girls had been. Daniel watched as the stars above twinkled in the night sky, his mind replaying the events of when he had drawn upon the auras of all the girls with his channeling spell, including two which he apparently had feelings for.

  “I just wanted to save them from the gemini,” Daniel said looking down with a hand held over his eyes. “I wanted to protect them, yes, but… that doesn’t mean…”

  “Then say you don’t love them,” Specca softly replied. “Maybe… maybe the spell does work only one way, maybe them loving you was enough for it to work.”

  “Maybe,” Alyssa quietly added while watching Daniel with concern.

  “I don’t love them,” Daniel said, then turned to the girls as if seeking their validation from that. “I just wanted to protect them. That doesn’t mean I love them, right?”