chronicles of eden - act I (108 page)

Inside the cabin he saw Specca sitting against the side wall reading a book from his bag, with Squeak sitting next to her and looking at the pages curiously. Specca had shown some concern for a moment when Squeak started to get curious about the book, but she assured the group that it was nothing before beginning to read the story to the ant girl. Squeak was listening with wide eyes of wonder as she looked at the pages of the book, her antennae twitching slightly as Specca read to her with a calm and gentle voice.

Across from them Triska was sitting back against the wall looking in Daniel's monster book, with Alyssa sitting next to her and looking at it as well. Daniel watched as the two were talking casually about what monsters would be good candidates for his cause. Every now and then one of them would make a sarcastic comment to the other, but they quickly laughed it off before resuming their discussion.

After a while all the girls looked over to Daniel as they sensed he was watching, seeing him smiling at them curiously.

"Daniel? What is it?" Triska asked.

"Something wrong?" Specca asked softly. Daniel shook his head with a reassuring smile.

"No, nothing at all. So, are you all ready?" he asked. The girls nodded with eager smiles.

"You bet," Triska said with a wink, her voice assuring and confident.

"Let's go!" Alyssa giggled happily while bouncing up and down.

Squeak nodded and squeaked in agreement with a warm smile.

"Always ready with you, Daniel," Specca said softly with timid eyes.

Daniel nodded then looked ahead as he snapped the reins, with Lucky neighing before taking off and pulling the caravan along the dirt road. As they rode off into the distance Falla struggled and thrashed around in her binds next to an unconscious Luna.

"Get back here! You promised me, Daniel, you promised me! You're not going to weasel out of that, you hear me? I’m going to get your seed if it’s the last thing I ever do!" Falla yelled out. She looked over to Luna, kicking her in an attempt to wake her up with frustrated grunts.

"Wake up and untie me! Hey, Luna! He’s getting away, hurry! Wake up!" she shouted out. She thrashed around as the vines continued to hold her down, growling with anger and frustration.

"This is such bullshit!"

*****

In a clearing surrounded by shadowy woods three figures were seen as a glowing light erupted from the grassy field, the blue and black streams of magic pulsating in front of its caster who had his gloved hand extended out before him. Sasha and Rulo watched with wonder as Daemon kept his eyes locked ahead with a cold glare, his gloved hand held out as the blue and black streams of light erupted from his palm and billowed upwards. Daemon closed his eyes then held his hand out, palm forward as he brought up his other hand to his arm for support. The lights flared wildly before arcing down in a shower of lightning and blue flames. The grass scorched and dusted away as the magical spell spread out in a circle in front of the caster.

"Wow…" Rulo breathed out. Sasha only nodded as she stared at Daemon with awe, the two girls having their weapons held down low next to them. After a moment Daemon swung his gloved hand around, showering the scorched circle on the ground with black and blue flames and sparks. The ground burst into a fiery blaze before the flames took shape, with the outer edge of the circle burning with a small blue fire while inside the flames seemed to creep and etch around on the charred ground in strange waves. Daemon looked down at them as the fires rippled away from him in small waves, with a spark and black flame igniting in an area inside the circle.

"Is that…" Sasha asked with wonder. Daemon nodded as he pointed to the black fires that flared repeatedly in one location, with the ripples continuing to pulsate from the edge close to his feet outward across the ground and causing the black fires to crackle.

"The next piece of the artifact, it's to the east," Daemon stated looking ahead. The fires before him swirled around before dissolving, with a cloud of black smoke then drifting away while he showed a focused expression. Sasha and Rulo brought their weapons up, with Rulo holding her hammer over her shoulder while Sasha kept her blade at her side.

"Do you think she's heading there as well?" Rulo asked carefully. Daemon merely nodded while looking ahead.

"We will not fail you again, master, the artifact shall be yours," Sasha declared proudly.

"Sasha," Daemon said flatly. Sasha twitched slightly then nodded with a nervous expression.

"Sorry… Daemon," she said softly.

Daemon shook his head then started walking forward, his boots stepping across the burnt ground and ashes as he kept one hand on his sword's handle. Sasha and Rulo glanced to each other then quickly followed after, the three vanishing into the forest as the last of the black smoke faded away.

*****

Flying up in the sky above the outerlands a succubus and witch were soaring through the air, with the demon flying effortlessly using her wings while the witch rode on her staff sideways. Katie glanced down with a blank expression, spotting two carriages resting at the foot of a hill where a small campfire was going. Tora glanced down as well then over to Katie as the succubus smiled slyly, halting in the air and looking down at the human travelers with a gleam in her eye.

"Mistress?" Tora asked. Katie chuckled then glanced to her.

"I don't know about you, Tora dear, but I could use a little energy boost. How about we have some fun with the boys down below?" she asked playfully. Tora looked at her inquisitively then down to the campsite, seeing a few humans walking around casually while some were sitting on a log near the small fire.

"I'm not really in the mood for a man at the moment," she said glancing away. Katie laughed and nudged the witch with her tail.

"Now now, Tora, all work and no play makes a woman a dull maid. Surely you could use a bit of fire between your legs, to feel alive and oh so
hot
," she purred, shaking her hips with a twitch of her eyebrow. Tora smirked slightly and looked down at the campsite.

"What about the artifact? That other hunter might beat us to it," she asked curiously.

"Don't worry about him, Tora, just relax and enjoy the moment right now. There are plenty of men down there, I don't mind if you take one or two to play with," Katie mused with a smirk. Tora nodded slowly then drummed her fingers on her staff, her ring glowing red as she glanced to Katie.

"Thank you, mistress, but I have a better idea. How about I deal with the women and children, and leave the men to you? Take all the energy you need from them, I'll let my pets feast on the rest," she offered with a cold smile. Katie laughed amusingly then looked down to the campsite, her eyes glowing with a soft green hue as she smiled slyly.

"Well, if you insist," she said before licking her lips.

*****

Running along the dirt road through the outerlands Lucky continued pulling the large caravan behind him with no trouble, the demonically enchanted horse moving along with a swift stride while Daniel was at the reins. Small forests and hills were passing by while a few clouds drifted through the sky above, with Daniel looking around at the surrounding land with a peaceful gaze. He was out on his journey, his quest, to find and hopefully persuade as many monster races as he could to joining into peaceful coexistence with mankind. Although he had a long road ahead of him, he had high spirits about his quest. He had come close to being taken away, used, raped, and even killed by different types of monsters, yet he managed to survive thanks to those that were traveling with him. There was the witch Alyssa, the ant girl Squeak, and the nixie Specca. They, along with his childhood friend Triska, had chosen to follow him in his crusade, as his guardians, his guides, his believers in coexistence.

That and to also earn his heart, to be with Daniel not only as his companion but also his mate in life. Each one of them had confessed their true feelings for him, even though Squeak's exact choice of words may never be known, and were all hoping that he would one day choose one of them as his loved one. However, even though they were all rivals for his heart, they did prove a point Daniel was determined to make to the world; that monsters could coexist peacefully with humans, to help each other against their common foes, and even control their inner nature to breed relentlessly. That even though they were so different, common ground could be found, and friendships could be made.

"For the last time, Alyssa, my sword is NOT useless!” Triska yelled out. Daniel blinked then looked back to seeing Triska and Alyssa staring each other down with narrowed eyes.

“Yes it is, you even begged me to help protect Daniel because you know it’s true, you admitted it!” Alyssa shouted back.

“I did not beg, I only asked for you to
help
protect him with me, I’m his guardian out here too you know!” Triska yelled back.

“Don’t give me that nonsense, I had to save your life from that nightmare, you need me to protect both of you!” Alyssa barked out.

“That nightmare was all your fault to begin with, you didn’t even recognize your own horse being impersonated by it when it came back! How can you not tell the difference between your own dumb animal and that goddamned monster?” Triska argued loudly.

“Don’t call Lucky a dumb animal, he’s more useful by far than you are, you stupid girl!” Alyssa yelled out before diving forward and tackling Triska to the floor. The two started struggling and rolling around, wrestling and shouting at each other while Squeak casually tore out a page from the book Specca was reading, the ant girl looking at the words curiously and ignoring the two bickering girls.

“AH! Squeak, what are you doing? That’s Daniel’s!” Specca cried out with a jump. She tried to grab the page from Squeak, the ant girl holding it back as she squeaked at Specca curiously. Specca tackled her into a roll, trying to reach for the page as Squeak held it back while squeaking repeatedly.

“Give that back, you can’t just tear out pages from Daniel’s book!” Specca shouted out as the two rolled around next to Triska and Alyssa.

Daniel watched the four girls tumbling around yelling and squeaking at each other with a raised eyebrow, his eyes slowly moving side to side as he followed them rolling around inside the cabin. After a while he looked back ahead with a gentle sigh, shrugging with a slight smirk on his face. Lucky looked back to him and snorted, with Daniel chuckling and shaking his head.

“Don’t worry, they’re just warming up to each other,” he said casually. Lucky looked back ahead with a grunt while he kept running at a brisk pace. As the caravan rolled along the dirt road, with the sounds of shouting and squeaking coming from inside the cabin, Daniel glanced over to a nearby tree that was passing by. From one of the branches he saw two butterfly girls watching from inside the leaves. Luna sat up and waved to him with a bright and happy smile before Falla yanked her back, looking at her sister with a stern expression before over to Daniel with narrowed eyes. Daniel watched as they passed by then looked back ahead while shaking his head slowly.

“Yeah, this is going to be an interesting journey,” he said to himself, a slight amount of self-amusement in his voice as he looked ahead at the road before him.

The travelers rode off along the road deeper into the outlands, slowly making their way towards the elven forest to the east in hopes of recruiting more support and allies for their cause. Armed with magic, strength, fortitude, and hope, they set out to reason with and inspire monsters and humans to coexist peacefully, to live and grow in this world together.

A world called Eden.