“And you will, sister,” Rishla promised before yanking her sword back out. Sasha jerked in place as she stared at her sister with disbelief and horror, her body losing what little strength it had before she fell back with a thump onto the ground. Her world started to spin and blur, her eyes focusing in and out before seeing her two sisters standing over her.
“Rish… la…” Sasha whimpered as tears started to form in her eyes.
“Crying? How pathetic,” Rishla scorned as she and Carla knelt down beside her. “You really are the lowest of the low, Sasha. But I suppose I should offer my thanks for the meal you will be providing us.”
“No… you can’t eat… me…” Sasha pleaded as she tried to lift her hand.
“We’re hungry, Sasha,” Carla pouted. “And there isn’t anything else for miles around here. Even if there was we’re too weak to hunt it. You’re all that’s left for us to eat now.”
“As much of a mistake as you are, Sasha,” Rishla solemnly said. “It does pain me to have to resort to this. Having to eat my own sister to survive, it’s going to be hard to deal with that for the rest of my life. But we are going to live, Carla and I of course. We’re not dying here, not like this.”
“We’ll make it quick, Sasha,” Carla assured her. “And we’ll be sure to eat every last part of you to get our strength back; you won’t have died in vain.”
“No… please, don’t,” Sasha coughed as blood began to drip from her mouth.
“What did I say about being weak and apologizing?” Rishla scorned with a slap to Sasha’s face. “You should be grateful you’re actually serving a purpose and helping us like this. You should be honored to give your worthless life for your sisters.”
“Chew her throat out so she’ll be quiet,” Carla said while lifting Sasha’s leg up to her mouth. “I don’t want to hear her screaming the whole time while I’m eating her.”
Sasha whimpered as Rishla lifted her up into her arms and brushed her hair aside, the elder sister taking a moment to trace her fingers along Sasha’s chest to her neck before pushing her head to the side.
“Rishla, don’t,” Sasha breathed out.
“Just be quiet, it’ll be over soon.”
Sasha felt her heart break and her mind go numb, the world around her fading to black as her sisters prepared to eat her alive. She felt conflicted emotions and thoughts swarming in her head, both to be strong and help her sisters however she could and also scared and wishing she didn’t have to be a sacrifice to do so.
“They were going to eat you?” Scay said in surprise.
“Your own sisters?” Tabitha asked with wonder.
“I was the only thing they could eat, the only thing they could use to survive,” Sasha spoke with sorrow. “My own sisters… turned against me to live. I had truly lost everything at that moment, nothing was left for me to live for. Until…”
Sasha trembled as she felt Rishla breathing on her neck while baring her teeth to bite down with. The young girl shakily glanced to see Carla preparing to sink her teeth into her thigh with a hungry eye, then to Rishla who was even smiling as she held her sister close to eat, and then over towards the sunlight outside where she realized she would never again walk in again.
Rishla and Carla held their sister close and readied to feast on her then froze as all the girls heard footsteps outside in the sand. They turned their eyes to seeing a shadowy figure walking through the light and haze by the cave. As the figure got in front of the opening it stopped and turned its head towards them, the girls remaining still while in the shade with Sasha sniveling in her sisters’ arms.
“Is that…” Carla quietly said.
“I think that’s a man,” Rishla softly replied, seeing the human figure with what appeared to be a sword sheathed at his side.
Sasha trembled while seeing the human outside, her body feeling weaker as her blood covered the ground below her.
“What do we do?” Carla asked her elder sister.
“He’s got a sword, he’s a fighter,” Rishla warned. “We’re not ready to take him, either as food or a mate. Let him go, we’ll feast on our weaker sister and get our strength back, then we shall find him again.”
The two sisters nodded and turned to the human with glares while Sasha’s tail twitched slightly below her.
“Leave, human,” Rishla hissed at him. “We are in no mood to deal with you trespassing in our home right now.”
“Run while you can,” Carla taunted with a wink at him.
The human remained silent and still for a while then started to walk away, not seeming to care or be afraid of the monsters. Sasha wearily watched as he walked off then as her sisters turned to her with hungry smiles and vicious eyes.
“I was going to die. I was truly alone. I had nothing else to live for, nothing else to lose. So I did the one thing that no reptile girl would ever do in their life.”
“What was that?” Tabitha asked.
“I begged for help.”
“Help me!” Sasha cried out, with her sisters showing surprise as the young girl shut her eyes and screamed as loud as she could. “Please, whoever you are, help me!”
“What are you doing?” Carla asked with disbelief.
“You’re actually begging for help?” Rishla said with a laugh. “Sasha, you should be ashamed of yourself. Honestly, if you’re going to die then do so with honor, not-”
“Please come back!” Sasha screamed. “Please help me, please!”
Carla and Rishla looked to each other with amused smiles as they started laughing then down to Sasha as the young reptile girl cried out for help.
“I begged for help, though I knew inside that nobody, especially a human, would come to save me. I was desperate, so desperate that I sacrificed my pride to call out to a complete stranger for help. I just wanted to live, to do something great with my life rather than give it up to those who would betray me like they had.”
“So what happened?” Scay eagerly asked.
Sasha screamed for help, trying to kick and wrestle free from her sisters which she wasn’t able to do in the slightest. Her body felt drained of strength, her heart broken and cold, her thoughts filled with fright and sorrow, and her ears hearing only the laughter of her sisters and the echo of her own shameful pleas that rung within the cave.
“Shut her up, would you?” Carla said as she lifted Sasha’s leg up to her mouth again.
“Such a pathetic little runt,” Rishla sneered before she pulled Sasha’s head back to expose her neck, baring her teeth while her mouth started salivating in anticipation. Sasha screamed again as loud as she could, earning only a chuckle from Rishla before she leaned closer to chew the girl’s throat out.
Carla got a hair away from biting into Sasha’s leg before a sword slashed across her shoulder and hacked her arm off, the reptile girl screaming and dropping to the ground in pain. Rishla and Sasha quickly looked to seeing Carla shrieking with a bloodied stump for a shoulder before a sword struck down and slashed her skull in two with a loud crunch, blood splattering onto the ground as the fallen monster’s expression remained frozen in shock. Slowly Rishla and Sasha looked up to see a human male standing above them, sword held in hand, and cold blue eyes going from the monster he just killed over to Rishla.
“He came back for me.”
“Wait, what are you doing?” Rishla said while trembling.
“He saved me.”
“This doesn’t concern you,” Rishla hissed with gritted teeth. “Get out before I-”
“And he sent my sisters to hell.”
Sasha watched with awe as the swordsman struck his blade through Rishla’s head, the slick crunch echoing out in the cave before all fell silent. The young reptile girl shakily breathed in and out, eyes wearily focusing on the human that stood over her with a sword which glowed softly in the darkened cavern.
“Daemon did that?” Tabitha asked.
“My master did that.”
Daemon yanked his sword back, with Ris
hla dropping dead onto the ground holding Sasha in her arms. The young girl looked to her with shock then up to the swordsman who held his bloodied weapon while watching her with a piercing gaze.
“Th… thank you,” Sasha quietly squeaked out.
The swordsman merely stared at her in silence, blood dripping from his weapon while Sasha felt her body freeze as her eyes were locked onto his. Slowly her breathing started to slow down and her vision blurred, her head gently falling back as her strength faded. Daemon watched as the young reptile girl’s eyes started to close while she lay with her dead sister on the bloodied ground, her eyes wearily looking to him though they appeared not to be in focus.
“I was dying in my fallen sister’s arms. Everything was growing cold. And yet even then all I could think about was who was that human.”
Daemon slowly knelt down and pulled Sasha away from Rishla’s arms, holding her in his own while her head rested against him. Her eyes struggled to make out his face, only his blue eyes being clear to her now while his expression was difficult to see. However she did see well enough to notice him then holding his blade across the wound in her side. The sword gave off a soft glow as he held his other hand over it and her injury, a warm light etching through the air in a circular ring with tiny glyphs lining the edges appearing over his hand while Sasha started to lose consciousness.
“Who… are you?” Sasha breathed out as her eyes closed. “What… are you… doing?”
***
Sasha quickly opened her eyes, a startled gasp coming from her mouth before she sat up and looked around to seeing she was sitting on the floor of her cave next to her dead sisters. After a moment to regain her senses she looked down to her side and saw that her wound had mostly healed, having a bloodied scab over the puncture on both sides of her body now.
“You should be fine by tomorrow,” Daemon said, with Sasha jumping with a squeak and turning to see the swordsman leaning against the wall near the entrance. He was gazing out into the arid valley as the day was turning to dusk. “I’m not an expert with healing wounds with magic. However yours was small enough that I could do so. You’re fortunate.”
Sasha stared at him with unblinking eyes, falling speechless as she saw him then standing upright and walking out of the cave. Before he left he stopped and turned his head back to her, the reptile girl seeing his face and blue eyes perfectly which burned into her mind. After a moment of silence he then headed on his way, leaving behind the stunned reptile girl who slowly held out her hand towards him. She looked to her wound then to her dead sisters, who had shocked expressions frozen on their faces, then back towards the valley outside and saw that the swordsman was gone.
“He saved my life. He stopped my sisters from eating me, healed my body, stayed by my side until I woke up again, and then left as quickly as he came. It was almost out of a dream, a human that was not only strong and noble but he came to save me of all those in Eden.”
“But how come you’re with him now if he left?” Scay asked.
“Because I refused to leave his side. I had been shown what a real man, a real knight was, and I was not going to let him go. I had my reason to live, and so I did everything I could to keep it.”
Sasha quickly looked around her home, eyes focusing with determination as she suddenly felt she had a great purpose to live for now.
“First I needed to get my strength back, and fortunately for me my sisters were so kind as to help me with that.”
The young reptile girl savagely pounced on Rishla’s body and mauled her stomach and chest, hastily eating all that she could from the monster that was once her sister. Blood splattered onto the ground as Sasha growled and chewed apart the reptile girl’s flesh, showing no fondness or remorse for her fallen kin as she feasted upon her body. She hungrily devoured Rishla then quickly scrambled over to Carla and started tearing into her corpse as well, ripping off strips and chunks of meat and shoving them into her mouth in a hurry.
“So you ate your sisters after they were about to eat you,” Tabitha summed up.
“I did, and I do not regret doing so to this day. After all they gave me the strength I needed to follow after him.”
Sasha stood up and wiped the blood from her mouth, teeth bared and eyes set in a firm glare as she looked down at the remains of her sisters that were strewn across the bloodied ground. Using one of her hands she slowly ran her fingers through her long hair, glancing to the tangled and messy locks with a grunt before picking up Rishla’s sword and eyeing it sharply. She then gathered her hair together behind her head using one hand then sliced it off with the sword, cutting it short to just above her shoulders. The severed locks fluttered down over the floor and landed in blood as Sasha tossed the sword to the side and walked over to the wall where they had collected armor and weapons from their fallen sisters.
“I gathered the best armor and weapon I could find from our home. They were heavy, very heavy to wear and wield, but I would not settle for anything less than the best to serve my new master with.”
Sasha dusted off the green plated leggings then attached them to her feet, taking a moment to get a sense of the added weight to her legs. She strapped on the black hip armor pieces to her sides, feeling the increased heft on her lower body as she shifted her hips and tail around with it. Looking down to her exposed breasts which had dirt and dried blood on them she growled with ire before quickly looking around her home.
“If only I could clean myself properly first,” she cursed before looking down to her chest again. She had no panties or even a shirt to cover her privates, something she feared would make her seem less respectable to the human. “Dammit! I pray he accepts me as I am. Perhaps this look will appeal to him, I hope.”
Knowing time was short Sasha then grabbed hold of the large broadsword that was resting against the wall, taking a quick second to eye over the impressive blade that had never been used before she looked towards the cave entrance with a determined face. She took a few steps before lurching back with a yelp as the heavy blade fell to the ground with her hand still holding it, taking her down with a thump followed by a frustrated yell. The girl scrambled back to her feet and grabbed the handle with both hands, straining herself to lift the massive blade up before she flinched and felt her wound throbbing in pain. With a heavy growl she fought through it and quickly dragged the sword behind her as she took off running, the large blade screeching and carving a trail behind her as she made her way out of the cave and quickly looked around with clenched teeth and heavy breaths.
“No time to heal, no time to rest, no time to lose,” she told herself. “I need to find him; I need to stay with him. I can’t be without him, I can’t!”
She started running through the rocky valley as fast as she could, frantically searching for any sign of the swordsman while her heavy blade scraped along the ground behind her the whole way. Her hunger wasn’t fully slaked, her wound hadn’t completely healed, and her mind was struggling to remain focused after her own sisters had turned on her. However the thought of the human that saved her life kept her going and allowed her body to fight the fatigue and pain it was enduring in order to find him once again.
***
Daemon walked along the trail that led through the arid wastes, hand resting on his sword’s handle while his eyes remained focused on the road before him. Passing by bleached skeletons and rocky cliffs he made his way through the desolate land without saying a word or showing any fatigue.
As he walked alongside a cliff that overlooked a darkened gorge he then stopped as he heard a faint sound drawing closer. A sword being dragged along the dirt, clacking against stones and bones, along with footsteps approaching caught his attention. Glancing back he saw Sasha running towards him, sword being pulled with both her hands as she showed a look of wonder on her face from seeing the swordsman again. Upon getting closer she slowed down her pace before stopping a few feet behind him, watching as he merely kept an eye on her while facing forward still.
&
nbsp; “When I finally found him again, I didn’t know what to say. I had to have looked so pathetic to him, a reptile girl that first begged for his help then had the nerve to chase after him in her sorry state. I was scared he would reject me.”
Sasha opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, her throat feeling choked up as she tried to catch her breath. She felt flustered and anxious, seeing Daemon staring at her yet not being able to say anything to him.
“Why are you following me?” Daemon finally asked.
Sasha jumped a bit then flinched before she dropped her sword and held her side. With strained breathing through her teeth she lowered her head and shut her eyes, feeling her embarrassment growing even more for how she looked to him.
“P-Please…” she stuttered out. “Don’t… leave me.”
“What?”
“Please… don’t leave me,” Sasha repeated as she took a few weary steps closer towards him before dropping to her knee. Suddenly her armor felt heavier than before while the wound at her side started bleeding again. She looked to her hand which had her blood on it then wavered before dropping to the ground.
‘Dammit! I’m so weak! My sisters were right; I’m a disgrace to our people! What was I thinking coming out here like this?’
Sasha took heavy breaths as she slowly got up on her hands and knees, feeling her stomach lurching and her side bleeding down her thigh. She then noticed Daemon turning and walking towards her. She trembled nervously while being unable to move, her eyes watering up slightly while she struggled to control her breathing.
“You’re not ready to be moving around like that, let alone carrying such a heavy sword,” Daemon lectured before kneeling down in front of her.
“Master…” Sasha breathed out with pleading eyes at him.
“I’m not your master.”
“Yes you are!” Sasha cried out as she shut her eyes and lunged forward, grabbing onto his chest and holding him while he stared ahead over her shoulder. “Please, accept me as yours! If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be alive, I wouldn’t have anything to live for! I can be strong for you, I promise I can! Give me a chance, I’ll do whatever you say, just don’t leave me! You’re the only one in Eden I could ever want, I’m yours and yours alone, master!”
Chronicles of Eden - Act VI Page 28