Chronicles of Eden - Act VI (9 page)

“Please don’t mind her,” Specca nervously insisted with a weak smile. “She’s… well she’s just an annoying elf we came across. It is very good to see you both again though, really it is.”

“Thank you very much for repairing our caravan,” Daniel praised graciously. “That was very impressive how you did that.”

Alyssa slowly rose to her feet and smiled nervously at the sisters as they turned their eyes back to her.

“We didn’t come here to fix your ride,” Apoch and Astreal spoke together in unison. “Or for you to kiss our feet, so spare us the pleasantries.”

“Yes, of course,” Alyssa shakily agreed with a weak smile. As she gulped and waited for the sisters to speak Triska eyed her back carefully, seeing Pip’s wing sticking out briefly before the fairy tucked it under the witch’s clothing.

‘Why is she hiding from them like that?’

“So what brings you out here?” Alyssa asked while seeing the sisters just staring at her with dull expressions. “And how did you find us? We’re not exactly close to Rystone right now.”

“Our alpha is keeping an eye on you,” Apoch and Astreal stated in unison. “After all, your human’s little quest for peace has involved a bit of investment on her part, and she keeps tabs on all her investments, no matter how likely they are to fail.”

“Again, that is creepy how you two always do that,” Kroanette mentioned with a small cringe.

“Is Charlotte… watching us right now?” Alyssa nervously asked.

The sisters pointed up, with the group looking to the sky and seeing a raven slowly circling the campground high in the air. The bird cawed while its eyes gave off a crimson glow briefly as it kept watching the travelers from above.

“One of her seers,” Alyssa realized as she watched the bird staying near them constantly.

“It took a while to find you,” Apoch and Astreal mentioned, bringing everyone’s attention back onto them. “We were a little surprised you covered this much ground so quickly. By traveling with a horse pulling your ride we didn’t expect you to be this far out in The Outerlands. How exactly did you accomplish that?”

“Yeah, about that,” Alyssa weakly answered while rubbing the back of her neck. “You’ll never believe this, but on the way to Flairwood we found-”

“Excuse me,” Triska quickly spoke up while stepping forward. “Is there a problem here?”

Apoch and Astreal looked to her with raised eyebrows as the teen walked over to Alyssa’s side and smiled worriedly at the twins while kneeling before them.

“I understand you two didn’t come here to help us with fixing up our ride, and I’m quite certain you didn’t drop by just to say hello since you’re so busy and all, not to mention you don’t seem to want to be around Alyssa more than you have to be, so does this mean there’s something important you needed to tell us about?”

“Correct on all counts,” Apoch and Astreal replied before turning their focus back to Alyssa. “Ms. Charlotte has asked us to relay a warning to you.”

“A warning?” Alyssa worriedly asked.

“Yes,” Apoch said glancing to Daniel. “Again, she feels as though she has invested enough effort into your cause to make you somewhat valuable to her.”

“She doesn’t want her efforts, as small as they have been, to go to waste,” Astreal mentioned to Daniel with a raised eyebrow. “So she sent us to warn you that you are in great danger and will likely die soon.”

“In danger?” Daniel repeated. “What are we in danger from?”

“You have her with you,” Apoch and Astreal answered looking to Alyssa.

“Not this again,” Triska sighed while looking down. “We told you before, Alyssa isn’t a curse, and she’s staying with Daniel and all of us. We’re not abandoning her because of her past.”

“Her past is coming to kill her,” Apoch pointed out, with the group looking to her puzzled from that. “And will likely kill all of you in the process.”

“She’s already killed others in her search for Ms. Alyssa,” Astreal explained. “It is only a matter of time before she finds you all.”

“She?” Kroanette asked. “Who has killed others in search of Alyssa?”

“Who is it you’ve come to warn us about?” Daniel inquired as the twins stepped closer to Alyssa.

“Ms. Alyssa,” Apoch and Astreal spoke together. “Your fires have left an ember that is burning violently once more.”

Alyssa stared at them with confusion as everyone remained quiet. After a while the twins continued as they saw she wasn’t getting the message.

“Your daughter is alive,” they said, with everyone staring at them with surprise while Alyssa went wide with shock. “And she seeks to end yours.”

In the world of Eden anyone could perish at any moment. Perhaps someone would meet their end being raped to death by a lustful monster, their village could be raided by bandits and they lost their life in the attack, or maybe they simply slipped and fell in the washtub and broke their neck. Death could come for anyone, taking them away from their loved ones with no warning or remorse. Whether it was fate or unfortunate circumstance that led them there, once they crossed that threshold into the underworld it was the end for them. Of course there were some that managed to cheat death, by either sheer luck or impressive skill.

And there were a few that appeared to come back from the underworld itself.

*****

The world around Alyssa fell silent with only the sound of her heartbeat being heard in her ears. Her eyes were wide while her mouth was open, a faint gasp barely escaping her throat as she stared at Apoch and Astreal completely stunned at what she just heard. However she wasn’t the only one rendered speechless by the twins’ warning, as everyone else was looking at Alyssa while questioning what they heard.

Triska turned her eyes back to the twins, wondering if this was some sort of trick or if they misheard them just now, and saw the two sisters watching Alyssa with discontent and appearing not to be in a joking manner.

“Daughter?” Triska asked looking to Alyssa.

“Alyssa?” Specca said as she stepped towards the witch. “Did they just say you have a daughter?”

Alyssa trembled before shakily looking down, seeming to be rendered in shock as she didn’t respond or show any signs of hearing their words.

“Alyssa’s a mother?” Luna asked curiously.

“You thought you could keep it a secret from us?” Apoch and Astreal questioned together, with Alyssa slowly looking back up to them with the same speechless face. “We must admit you did rather well, not even our alpha was aware you gave birth to a daughter. However we know of her now, we’ve seen her ourselves. Ms. Ember was her name, was it not?”

“Ember?” Triska repeated while watching Alyssa with wonder. “Alyssa, is this true? Do you have a daughter?”

Alyssa took a shaky breath then held a hand over her mouth as her eyes began to water up. Specca quickly trotted over and knelt down beside her as the witch tried to control her breathing, failing to do so as she inhaled sharply while struggling to control her emotions.

“Ember… is alive?” Alyssa choked out.

“Yes, she most certainly is,” Apoch and Astreal replied together. “Is this a surprise to you? Were you not aware you had an offspring before we reminded you?”

“Alyssa?” Daniel asked, with the witch quickly turning to him with teary eyes and holding a hand over her mouth. “Is that true?”

“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” Triska said as she and Specca gently rested their hands on Alyssa’s shoulders.

“Seems she kept it a secret from everyone,” Apoch speculated.

“Ms. Alyssa, explain yourself,” Astreal ordered.

Alyssa slowly dropped down to her knees while staring at Daniel, her hand shakily lowering from her mouth as she tried to speak between her breaths.

“Daniel… I… it’s not… I didn’t want…”

“Alyssa, what is it?” Daniel asked as he walked over and knelt down before her. “Why didn’t you ever tell us you were a mother?”

“I didn’t want you to know,” Alyssa whimpered. “I didn’t want… I didn’t want you to know that I…”

“Why wouldn’t you want us to know that?” Triska wondered with a slight smile.

“Because,” Alyssa sniveled. “I didn’t want you to know that… I had a daughter from someone I raped!”

Everyone watched as Alyssa broke down crying and lunged forward, clinging to Daniel and sobbing into his chest while he held her with surprise.

“I had her by raping a human, I had her when I was still a horrible witch, I didn’t want you to know I did that, that I actually conceived a daughter from forcing myself onto someone! I’m sorry, please forgive me, Daniel! I didn’t know what I was doing then, I didn’t have you in my life! Please don’t hate me! Please don’t think I’m not pure anymore!”

“Alyssa,” Daniel softly said as he held the little monster. “I wouldn’t have held that against you, you didn’t know what you were doing back then. It’s alright, please don’t cry.”

“Alyssa, you should have told us,” Triska spoke kindly to her. “Of course we wouldn’t have thought less of you, you were only doing what monsters do, you were following your nature and instincts.”

Alyssa cried and shook her head before looking up to Daniel with sorrow.

“I never told anyone about her,” she confessed before turning to Apoch and Astreal. “I didn’t want you to hunt her down too. I didn’t want other witches to hate her for being my daughter. I hid her from everyone.”

“I see,” Apoch and Astreal replied in unison while watching her carefully. “We would not have held her mother’s sins against her. You would have been hanged, she would have been spared, Ms. Alyssa.”

“Okay, seriously,” Kroanette spoke up while pointing to them. “That is really creeping me out, could you please stop doing that?”

“What happened to her?” Daniel asked before Alyssa turned back to him with a whimper. “You questioned if she was still alive. What happened?”

Alyssa wiped the tears from her eyes then slowly stood back up, with Daniel and the girls giving her some space while she recalled a memory that was almost too much to bear again.

“I had a daughter,” she confessed. “Her name was Ember, she was my one and only. Her hair was bright orange, like a young fire, and her eyes were golden like the sun. She was like me, immune to fire since the day she was born. I loved her so much; I always took her with me wherever I went so not to miss a second of being with my baby. Lucky and I kept her safe and hidden in the world, nobody knew she existed, nobody knew another Wildfire Witch was alive in Eden.” She then took a shaky breath before closing her eyes with another tear leaking out.

“I only had her for one year.”

“Only one?” Specca asked with concern.

“I was making a delivery of my potions to a monster-neutral town in the east near the wastes,” Alyssa continued while straining herself to tell the tale. “Lucky was pulling the carriage, I was at the reins, and my little Ember was tucked into her basket behind me with the stockpile of potions I was going to sell. I’ve taken that path time and again, it’s a safe path, it goes up along the side of the mountain then back down while giving a great view of The Outerlands.” She whimpered then shook her head before looking to Daniel with tears dripping from her cheeks.

“But it wasn’t safe that day.”

“What happened?” Daniel asked, not liking where this was going.

“We rode along the trail. Everything was so calm and peaceful. It was a sunny day, we were making excellent time, Ember was sleeping quietly behind me…”

“I don’t know if I want to hear this,” Luna worriedly said as she and her sister held hands.

“There was a landslide,” Alyssa spoke with remorse, the group fearing how they knew this would end. “It just happened, out of nowhere. Lucky tried to run, we tried to get off the mountain, but we got caught in it. Lucky was just out of reach of the rocks, only the carriage and us were hit. The last thing I remember was screaming my daughter’s name and hearing her crying before I hit my head.”

“Alyssa,” Triska said as a tear was forming in her eye.

“When I woke up, it was dusk,” Alyssa said looking down with despair. “Lucky was still fine, he was off to the side of where all the rocks had come through. But…”

“Ember,” Specca mourned holding a hand over her mouth.

“The carriage was gone!” Alyssa cried out. “There was nothing left after that. No trail. No trees. No carriage. Nothing!”

Apoch and Astreal exchanged glances, a glimmer of sympathy being seen in their eyes briefly before they watched as Alyssa broke down crying while holding her hands over her face.

“I stayed there for three days, digging and moving rocks and boulders, searching for any sign of my daughter! Not even a piece of wood from the carriage, not even a broken bottle from my potions, not even a strand of her beautiful orange hair, I couldn’t find anything in all the rubble!”

“Alyssa, I’m sorry,” Triska softly said.

“I kept digging and digging, I searched as long as I could before I had to face the horrible truth…” Alyssa whimpered before looking to Apoch and Astreal with desperation. “Please, don’t let this be a joke! You can’t toy with me using my daughter like this! Is she really still alive? Please, tell me!”

“She lives, Ms. Alyssa,” Apoch answered with a nod.

“She fits the description you gave perfectly,” Astreal added. “However she is scarred on the right side of her face. She has only one golden eye to show the world now.”

“Where is she?” Alyssa yelled as she stumbled to her feet and rushed over to them. “Please, where’s my Ember? Please tell me!”

“We don’t know,” the twins replied shaking their heads. “But we do know she’s looking for you.”

Alyssa backed up and held her hands over her chest as she tried to catch her breath while the twins watched her with a close eye.

“She found your home,” Apoch informed them, with the group looking at her with wonder. “And she burned it to the ground. She was rather upset you weren’t there.”

Alyssa’s jaw dropped as her heart skipped a beat from her hearing that.

“She destroyed my home?” she shakily asked. “That’s why I can’t open a gateway back to it anymore, Ember burned it down?”

“Yes,” Astreal continued. “She found it, hidden deep in the forest of Ritherwood. Nothing there remains now, nothing at all. She’s looking for you, searching for the one who abandoned her, Ms. Alyssa. And she wishes to end your life because of you leaving her behind.”