Chronicles of Eden - Act IV

by Alexander Gordon

  Kroanette looked to the building then to Daniel before nodding a few times.

  “Alright, if that’s what you wish, I’ll go and bring them here. I hope you know what you’re doing though,” she said before taking off down the road.

  Daniel watched her go then glanced to Apoch and Astreal, the sisters motioning him inside with sly grins on their faces. He held in his grunt of annoyance then walked into the building, being followed by the sisters as they glanced to each other with quiet giggles. Daniel looked around at the home picked out by the girls then walked back to the bedroom, opening the door before he jumped with surprise at looking inside.

  “We prepared it just for you, do you like?” the sisters asked together before giggling again.

  Daniel slowly looked around at the room they had set up for him, which was obviously given some magical flair to it as it didn’t strike him as the kind of room a human would have in their home. It had a soft white carpet along with long crimson satin drapes over the window, a large bed set in the middle of the room against the wall which had white sheets with a pink satin comforter on it, with a few fluffy white pillows neatly set on it along with rose petals sprinkled on the top of the bed. Candles were lit and hovering about near the sides of the room while a few more were set on candlestick stands that were placed near the wall on opposite sides of the bed.

  Daniel tried to keep his thoughts in order as he gazed around at the room where he was expected to have sex with Alyssa before he glanced back to the sisters as they eyed the interior with curious smiles.

  “I think we did a good job fixing this place up for you,” Apoch mused.

  “Yes, I believe the rose petals were a nice touch,” Astreal agreed.

  Daniel just stared at them with a dull glance then noticed a black cat walking up to the girls from behind, the animal mewling before hopping up onto Apoch’s back and sitting on her shoulder. The animal hissed slightly before its eyes gave off a soft crimson hue, with Daniel then looking at the animal cautiously as he turned to face them. Apoch and Astreal giggled then gestured to the cat with a twitch of their eyebrows each.

  “Ms. Charlotte will be watching the show as well, if you don’t mind,” they announced before the cat mewled and hopped off of Apoch’s shoulder and trotted over to the bed, the animal leaping up onto it before turning to face Daniel and sitting down.

  “That cat looks familiar,” Daniel mentioned carefully, remembering seeing a black cat that ran across him and Kroanette’s path in Rystone earlier.

  “Ms. Charlotte has many pets that help her see what goes on in her territory,” Apoch replied.

  “Feel free to speak to her if you wish,” Astreal said with a gentle wave of the hand towards the cat. “She can see and hear you just fine through her seer.”

  Daniel chose to remain silent and merely look around at the room to avoid eye contact with the cat while the sisters watched him with amused smiles. After a while a thought crossed his mind.

  “What of the fires burning in this village?”

  “Don’t worry,” Apoch said glancing to the window with a careless shrug. “The main roads dividing this village will keep the fires contained to the south. This residence will not be burning down in the middle of the night.”

  “And if by chance a few cinders do manage to ignite this portion of the village, well, you will have the Wildfire Witch with you,” Astreal chuckled. “Surely she could offer you some comfort before you burn to death.”

  Daniel nodded slowly as he contemplated whether or not they would be safe here from the fires, hoping that Charlotte would have made sure her helpers picked a building that would indeed be safe from the firestorm raging to the south of them right now.

  “I guess if your alpha really wanted me dead she would have killed me by now,” Daniel reasoned with a shrug. “Not to mention if it were in danger of burning down then I certainly couldn’t prove anything to her on this night.”

  “So, does that mean you have decided to honor Ms. Charlotte’s request tonight?” Apoch asked.

  “To be honest, you could do much better than that letchyask that you travel with,” Astreal mused. “If you would prefer, I’m sure you could choose another witch to make love to instead of her and still win Ms. Charlotte’s favor with your act.”

  “Let me guess, you want me to pick you instead?” Daniel asked flatly.

  “No no,” Astreal giggled while shaking her head. “I do have standards, Mr. Daniel. I wouldn’t grace you with my body even if you begged for it.”

  “But if you were to beg us on your hands and knees enough, perhaps we would give you the honor of pleasuring us with your mouth,” Apoch added before the sisters started laughing together.

  Daniel breathed out slowly then glanced to the cat which was watching him constantly from the bed.

  “If I am to prove my belief to you on this night, Alyssa would be the only witch I know of so far that is indeed kindhearted enough for me to be with,” he stated before walking back out into the living room, with the cat mewling at him while the sisters watched the boy with sly smiles on their faces.

  *****

  Sitting near their campfire Triska was watching the fire burn with a distant gaze, her mind thinking about the boy she loved and wondering what he was doing in Eston that was taking this long. Next to her Specca was going through Daniel’s books with a sharp eye, trying to figure out who or what Jovian and Jacqueline really were before Daniel returned. Alyssa was standing near them while watching Eston with growing distress, seeing the fires spreading around a large portion of the village with still no sign of Daniel or Kroanette. Squeak was sitting down near her and casually digging her hand around in the dirt, her expression being blank as she toiled the soil about and seemed to play with it while her antennae twitched a bit.

  And sitting near her Falla was holding her sister close as Luna was whimpering and holding onto her with closed eyes.

  “It’ll be okay, Luna, it’ll be okay,” Falla gently reassured while brushing her sister’s hair.

  “My butt hurts still,” Luna whined. “It really hurts. I can’t believe Emily would do such a thing to me.”

  “Oh, Luna,” Falla said sadly. “You poor thing. I knew from the start that Emily was trouble for us, I just knew it. We never should have taken her with us.”

  “I’m sorry, Falla, I’m so sorry,” Luna whimpered, with the other girls looking to her with sympathetic eyes.

  “Luna, it’s alright now,” Specca reassured her. “The important thing is you tried to help someone who you thought was a human child in distress. That was very brave and kind of you.”

  “Yeah,” Triska agreed. “Don’t be sorry for trying to do what was right, you didn’t know Emily was a monster.”

  Luna whimpered and shook her head while holding Falla close.

  “No, I’m sorry Falla’s plan got ruined again, this isn’t what she planned on happening,” she sobbed, with Falla blinking then glancing to her questionably while the other girls looked at her with puzzlement.

  “Plan? What plan?” Alyssa asked.

  “Her plan with Emily,” Luna said sadly. “Falla wanted us to save Emily so Daniel would trust us and let us get closer to him. She could have gotten him alone and then his seed if he trusted her.”

  Falla smiled nervously at the other girls who watched her with dull stares.

  “Of course, I knew it,” Alyssa said flatly.

  “Hey, that’s not… I mean, I wanted to save the poor brat too,” Falla nervously stammered.

  Luna trembled then broke down screaming and crying, with Falla looking to her with surprise as the broken up butterfly held her hands to her face and shook her head.

  “Luna? Hey, c’mon, it’ll be okay,” Falla tried to reassure her with.

  “Yeah, don’t worry about telling us this,” Triska added. “We had a feeling from the start Falla was up to something.”

  “It really is no surprise to hear that she only wanted Daniel’s seed and didn
’t care about a human child,” Specca mentioned with a dull glance to Falla.

  “No more! No more!” Luna cried out shaking her head.

  “Luna?” Falla asked worriedly.

  Luna wailed in sorrow then grabbed her sister by the shoulders, shaking her with a pleading expression and teary eyes.

  “I don’t want to rape a human!” she desperately pleaded. “I don’t want to rape anyone, I hate it! I don’t want to live like this!”

  She broke down sobbing into Falla’s chest, the stunned sister then holding her before looking to the others with discontent.

  “Goddammit, look at what you did to her! Now she thinks raping humans is bad!”

  “Raping humans is bad,” Alyssa said flatly.

  “She has a conscience, that’s a good thing,” Triska pointed out dryly.

  “If only you could be more like your sister, there would be hope for you yet,” Specca asserted.

  Luna sobbed uncontrollably and shook her head in her sister’s chest before leaning back with a twisted smile on her face and wide eyes, laughing hysterically all of a sudden while shaking Falla by the shoulders.

  “I HATE WHAT I AM! I CAN’T FIND JOY IN LIVING LIKE THIS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” she laughed as everyone stared at her with surprise, the butterfly girl then shoving her face into her sister’s bosom again and crying out of sorrow while Falla just watched her with bewilderment. Specca paused for a moment then slowly shook her head.

  “Okay,” she slowly corrected. “Perhaps you would be best not being like her in a few other ways.”

  “What the hell is wrong with her anyway?” Alyssa asked.

  Falla blinked then looked to the girls with discontent while holding her sister close again.

  “What’s wrong with her? What’s wrong with you? We’re monsters, we need to rape men to get pregnant, if we don’t we’ll die off! Stop confusing my sister with your stupid ideas!”

  “They’re not stupid!” Triska shouted back. “Daniel’s idea of peaceful coexistence is going to save countless lives and make Eden better all around!”

  “You don’t need to rape humans to get their seeds,” Specca insisted. “If you show love and compassion for them rather than treating them so callously then they would be more inclined to choose to be with you on their own free will.”

  Falla growled then shook her head while shutting her eyes.

  “Dammit, humans will never want to mate with us willingly, we’re monsters! That’s never going to happen and you know it!”

  The girls started to argue with her again before all looking over to the side as Kroanette galloped towards them. The centaur ran up to the group of girls before looking back to Eston with a worried expression, with Triska and her friends then standing up as they saw the centaur was alone.

  “Kroanette, where’s Daniel?” Specca asked.

  Kroanette looked back to the girls, glancing from one to another before stopping on Alyssa, the witch watching Kroanette carefully before the centaur took a steady breath forced a calm and collected expression on her face.

  “Daniel has asked that I take all of you into Eston to meet him, right now.”

  “What? Why is he still there, that place is burning to the ground,” Triska asked urgently.

  “Why did he even go back there anyway?” Alyssa asked.

  Squeak pointed to Eston and squeaked something while shaking her head.

  “Listen,” Kroanette replied while holding her hands up. “Daniel will explain everything to you, I promise. For now, you all need to come with me right away, time isn’t something he has to waste.”

  She turned around and motioned to her back, with the girls looking to each other confusedly then back to her as she sighed impatiently.

  “Right now,” she sternly ordered.

  Triska and Specca quickly hurried over and hopped onto her back, with Triska holding onto Kroanette’s waist while Specca held her arms around the human. Alyssa ran over to Lucky and quickly hopped onto him along with Squeak, the ant girl holding onto the witch who grabbed hold of the horse’s reins.

  “What’s this about, Kroanette?” Specca asked.

  “You’ll see soon enough,” the centaur replied as Alyssa rode Lucky up next to them.

  “Wait, what about us?” Luna asked curiously.

  The girls looked back to seeing Luna watching them with a troubled frown while Falla was still holding her.

  “Daniel only requested that they come to see him, you two may wait here,” Kroanette said before running off, with Alyssa quickly following after her. The butterfly sisters watched the girls ride away towards Eston before Luna looked to Falla with worried eyes.

  “Falla, what’s going on?”

  Falla shook her head and stood up, helping her sister stand up as well as she watched the others riding off towards the village.

  “Who cares, nothing but trouble follows them wherever they go. Let’s go, Luna, we’re out of here,” she said before fluttering her wings.

  “What? We’re just going to leave and not say goodbye?” Luna asked worriedly.

  “Yeah, that’s the plan. Let’s get going,” Falla urged while waving away towards the forest nearby.

  Luna looked over to seeing the riders getting closer to Eston then down with concern as her hands fidgeted together.

  “But, what about Daniel?”

  “Forget about that human,” Falla scoffed. “He’s insane, absolutely insane. I don’t want his seed anymore, it’s not worth dealing with all this crap and you being even more confused hearing about their stupid ideas.”

  Luna shook her head and faced her sister while backing up a few steps.

  “They’re not stupid, they’re right,” she pleaded. “Raping humans is horrible, we can’t do that to the men we find. We just can’t.”

  “Yes we can,” Falla sighed with exasperation. “We have to if we want to get pregnant. Luna, I know you’re confused right now, you’ve been through a lot, but-”

  “No!” Luna cried out with tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t want to be like this, I don’t want to rape anyone! Do you have any idea how horrible it was for me when I was raped?” Falla looked at her with remorse as the butterfly girl held her arms around herself and backed up a step.

  “It was horrible, it was the most horrible and painful experience of my entire life! I don’t want to make anyone endure such a thing, I would hate myself forever if I did!”

  “Luna… this is how we are,” Falla reasoned. “This is how life works in our world. We’re monsters, we have to get a man’s seed however we can, and that means taking it by any means necessary. You know this.”

  Luna looked off towards Eston as her wings fluttered behind her then to Falla with a determined expression.

  “Daniel doesn’t think we have to, I’m going to talk to him about it right now,” she declared before quickly flying off towards the village.

  “Luna!” Falla called out before she followed after, the two girls flying towards the burning town with Falla trying to catch and stop her sister, and with Luna desperately trying to reach Daniel to learn how she could avoid being like the monster that treated her so horribly.

  Riding along a road in Eston a group of girls were making their way through the empty town in haste, with Kroanette leading them and Alyssa following after on Lucky. Triska and the other girls grew more worried about Daniel with each step further into the town they took, all of them wondering what was going on and why he had sent for them like this. After a while Kroanette came to a stop in front of a home that had a lamppost lit before it while its windows were closed with a soft glow coming from behind the white curtains.

  “What is this, what are we doing here?” Specca asked as Kroanette motioned them towards the home.

  “Daniel? Daniel!” Triska called out as all the girls quickly got off their rides and ran towards the residence. She barged through the door before they all ran in together, right before they all came to an abrupt stop in the living room as they
saw Daniel sitting in a chair across from them and Apoch and Astreal standing off to the side while holding their staves at their sides. Daniel seemed to have been in deep thought before he looked to them with a jump from the outburst, a small smile coming across his face at seeing them which then slowly vanished as he stood up from his seat. The girls looked around at the home with confusion before over to seeing Apoch and Astreal walking over to either side of Daniel.

  “Wait, what’s going on here?” Specca asked nervously.

  “Apoch, Astreal,” Alyssa breathed out fearfully as she backed up a step.

  “Daniel, what’s going on?” Triska asked as her hand slowly reached back towards her sword. “Why are they here, and why are you?”

  Squeak slowly reached back to grab her pickaxe before Daniel held his hands out defensively and shook his head.

  “Wait, don’t draw your weapons,” he pleaded. “Please don’t start a fight, they’re not here to do anything like that.”

  The girls glanced to him then to the witch sisters who just watched them with amused smiles.

  “What is this, Daniel? Why are we here?” Triska asked as she slowly lowered her hand, with Squeak then doing the same.

  Daniel breathed out as he contemplated what to say while from behind the girls Kroanette entered the residence, having to duck slightly to get through the doorframe before she watched Daniel with a curious eye as she too was wondering what he would choose to do now.

  “The truth is,” he admitted. “I didn’t come back here to Eston to look for anything. I went to Rystone, to speak to Charlotte again.”

  Triska and the other girls jumped with surprise from hearing that as they all stared at the boy with disbelief.

  “What? You… what?” Triska cried out.

  “Why would you do such a thing?” Specca asked shaking her head. “And why didn’t you tell us that’s what you were planning on doing?”

  “Because I didn’t want any of you to be in danger in case the talks didn’t go well,” Daniel answered. “I didn’t want any of you to risk your lives to try to speak to her when it was my responsibility to do so.”