Chronicles of Eden - Act XII

by Alexander Gordon

  “The girls can handle herding the elves out of here,” he told himself before setting his sights towards where the royal tree had landed further ahead. “Trust them to do their job. Don’t let either one of those barbaric demons lay a hand on any of them in the meantime. The forest may be lost, but my mates will not be.”

  With that he began running along the fallen tree to find his adversaries and resume their fight while hoping that his girls would be quick with rounding up the scattered elves in the forest before they became the gemini’s next targets.

  *****

  Kindra stared with an open mouth, a twitching eye, and a faint whine as she watched an eruption of smoke and bursts of lava reaching over the trees in Green Haven. Words faltered in her throat, with only shaky utterances being barely audible now and again as she witnessed trees falling with flames rising up in their place, charred rubble being thrown over the forest, and finally the royal tree being shaken loose before slowly falling down with a devastating crash that sounded off loud and clear even from her distant position. Kindra twitched a few times as the cries of those within the forest were heard echoing in the night sky from the calamity before slowly looking over to her sister with wide eyes, the elder kitsune murmuring quietly as she cleared her throat before slowly glancing over to her with a solemn expression.

  “Wow,” Aeon applauded with a few claps. “That was brilliant. I mean, well done, Flarah. This whole event wouldn’t have been even half as exciting without you arranging this little spectacle to spice things up. I can see you really are a kitsune among kitsunes. Altering the course of fates by having the Aquarius Gateway removed all so that entire forest could be engulfed in flames from the ground up. Don’t get me wrong, I have no qualms with razing entire populaces into dust for enjoyment, I just never guessed that to be one of your fetishes as well. So this is what gets you all hot and bothered, isn’t it? Hahahaha!”

  “Flarah…” Kindra slowly growled, her eyes holding a sweltering fury within them while her tails were rustling behind her with cinders flying off into the air. “This… is your doing?”

  “Um…” Flarah softly said before giving a small shrug. “My bad.”

  Kindra shook with her rage swiftly building inside her, and just like the volcanic eruption that befell Green Haven, so did another not so further away.

  “FLARAH!” Kindra screamed as a torrent of fire exploded around her, scorching the ground instantly while the kitsune bared her fangs and nails at her kin who merely showed a weak smile and quiet giggle at her. In a flash Kindra dashed towards her sister to furiously swipe at her, with Flarah quickly grabbing her hands and using more force to hold her temperamental sister at bay this time as she skidded back a little along the dirt in her heels.

  “Now now,” Flarah tried to reason with. “Calm yourself, dear sist-”

  “Shut up!” Kindra roared as flames raged around the two in a rising inferno. Aeon smirked and reappeared higher up in the air to watch as the younger kitsune wasn’t going to be calmed down so quickly this time.

  “This is all your fault, Flarah! All the lives that have been wasted, all the innocent people that have been dragged to the underworld, all the blood that’s drenched this land; it’s all because of your doing! You failed with keeping the gemini locked away, you’ve failed in stopping them from killing others, you’ve failed in protecting this world as you were sworn to do! You’re a disgrace to our family, a disgrace as a guardian; you’re nothing but a horrible monster!”

  “Okay, ouch,” Flarah replied with a hurt expression. “No need to drag family into this, Kindra.”

  “Look at what you’ve done!” Kindra shouted, her tail and fur giving off searing flames while the ground cracked below them from the force of exuded energy. “All those elves are dying now! Daniel’s as good as dead! You’ve ruined everything! You swore to me he would be fine, you swore to me this wouldn’t happen! Goddammit, you’re worse than the Dark Queens, Flarah!”

  “I don’t know if I would go that far,” Flarah mused looking aside. “I like to think I have a little more decency than they do.”

  “I HATE YOU!” Kindra screamed as she thrashed about in her sister’s grip. “I’m going to kill you, Flarah! I’m going to kill you!”

  “Oh come now, it’s not that bad,” Flarah tried to reason with. “At least Daniel is still alive, that’s something to be grateful for, right?”

  “Stop treating this like a fucking game!” Kindra yelled hopping up and down. “Let go of me so I can tear you apart! You’re going to pay for what you’ve done, Flarah! This is the last straw! Everything’s gone to hell thanks to you!”

  “And that is a reason to thank her,” Aeon chimed in. The two kitsunes turned to see the chronofly slowly fluttering down onto the ground nearby while smirking at Kindra. “Like I said earlier, this changes nothing of what I’ve arranged to happen, and it does not change what I said about Daniel Sorres surviving this battle.”

  “Thank her?” Kindra raged, the girl trying to shove Flarah away but instead pushing herself back a few steps as her sister didn’t budge. “Thank her? Why in Eden would I thank her for what she did? Look at Green Haven! Those elves are dying, everything’s being incinerated in that forest, and Daniel is not only in there with the gemini but also now surrounded by certain death at every turn! What possible reason could I have for thanking my big sister for any of this?”

  “Because it’s only going to help our cause,” Aeon answered, earning confused looks from both of the kitsunes. “You and I are after the same thing, my dear. And in order to get it, Daniel Sorres must be properly pushed to grasp it for us. This little explosive show your sister unwittingly set upon that forest will only help bring out his full potential, something I’ve aimed to do as well by arranging his encounter with the gemini on this night.”

  “What are you talking about, Aeon?” Flarah asked. “Since when have you had any interest in Daniel Sorres?”

  “What we’re both after?” Kindra carefully repeated. “And what might that be?”

  “Something we both want him to summon into this world,” Aeon knowingly said.

  Kindra watched the chronofly closely, seeing the slick grin on her face and slight twitch of her eyebrow, and then slowly showed a look of surprise as her fiery energy calmed down.

  “Summon… you mean…”

  “Yes, I do,” Aeon agreed with a nod. “The very weapon you’ve been just dying to see him bring into the world. Ragnarok.”

  “What?” Flarah questioned while Kindra’s jaw dropped as far as it could go. “You can’t be serious. Ragnarok? That mythical sword my naïve little sister keeps claiming to be real? That’s what you’re after here? This must be some sort of bad joke, Aeon.”

  “It’s no joke,” Aeon promised her. “Really now, why else do you think that stupid human is of any importance to me? All he’s good for is summoning that sword into this world, that’s it. That’s the only reason I’m here right now. I want to see this thing with my own eyes, just as I’ve foreseen that I shall.”

  “Ragnarok… is coming here… tonight?” Kindra breathed out.

  “I wouldn’t grace either of you lowly dogs with my presence if I didn’t have a good reason for being here, now would I? Oh, no offense of course, Flarah.”

  “Ragnarok,” Flarah clarified holding out a hand with a skeptical eye on Aeon. “That’s seriously your game here, Aeon? You’re either joking or mad. That weapon isn’t real. It’s never been seen in Eden for as far back as records go, nor are there any definite portrayals of it in any books as everyone has a different imagining of the damned thing. It’s just spoken of in fairytales and poorly written novels by human authors.”

  “Oh, is that really the truth?” Aeon teased.

  “Ragnarok,” Flarah again repeated while shaking her head. “You do realize how foolish you’re making yourself out to be with this, don’t you? I honestly can’t believe that you are insisting that fabled sword is real as well. I expected slightly b
etter of you, Aeon.”

  “It’s really coming here tonight?” Kindra eagerly asked with stars in her eyes. “Daniel is… and that sword… and he’s going to… and… are you being serious?”

  Aeon chuckled at seeing the kitsune anxiously awaiting a reply with wagging tails while her sister was slowly shaking her head with a dull expression on her face.

  “Kindra,” Flarah sighed. “Don’t let her get into your head with that nonsense too. Again, I know for a fact Ragnarok isn’t real. I learned much during my time guarding the gemini in their city. I’ve seen more than you can imagine and learned far more than you want to know. And while there are things in this world that many would never even begin to dream of existing or being possible, I assure you Ragnarok is not among them.”

  “It is real!” Kindra shouted at her. “You think you know everything in this world, big sister, but you know nothing about this! The stories aren’t just stories, they didn’t just come to be from nothing. The history of that sword is hidden in this world to almost everyone, everyone but me. That weapon does exist, it can exist in Eden, and it will. It needs to. And I’ll shove it in your face the first chance I get, you better believe I will, and then you can suck on it like the bitch you are in the face of your own arrogance. Mark my words, you’re going to swallow yours when you lay eyes on Ragnarok, the Sword of the Destroyer!”

  Aeon burst out laughing, keeling over and holding her sides with her wings fluttering behind her, while Flarah merely breathed out in exhaustion from her sister’s persistent beliefs. Kindra snarled at Flarah with rustling tails, her anger again spiking for her sister just as the heat was from her tails, before they took notice of the Dark Queen’s amused smile at them as she slowly calmed down.

  “Ragnarok, the Sword of the Destroyer,” Aeon repeated in a mocking tone. “Oh my, that is rich. Humans really have twisted its memory into nothing but a poor joke amongst them, haven’t they?”

  “What do you mean?” Kindra carefully asked.

  “Sword of the Destroyer? That’s nothing but nonsense,” Aeon chuckled as she walked past them and stopped with her back turned to the two puzzled kitsunes, watching with a sly grin on her face as Green Haven continued to burn with the lone human within it being closely watched by the Dark Queen for a very specific reason.

  “If anything, it’s the sword of a tyrant.”

  Chapter 3

  Defying Anarchy

  In the world of Eden, both human and monster communities were overseen by appointed leaders, someone who would guide them into an uncertain future with the hope of a better tomorrow. Queens, priestesses, chiefs, alphas, there were many names for them, but their job was the same; help their people prosper and survive. However, not all leaders were fair or benevolent, as some were tyrannical and cruel to their subjects while only thinking of what they could take hold of for themselves. As it was often learned, oppressive leaders didn’t always remain on top by treating their people so callously.

  Much like a volcano, rebellion was bound to erupt eventually.

  *****

  The forest was swiftly catching fire. Eruptions of steam and fire burst forth from Eden all throughout the village. Monsters of both factions were scattered in disarray, with The Sisterhood frantically trying to restore order while the elves were more focused on the fact that their home was being destroyed and the royal tree appeared to be suffering just as much damage above them. Its expansive branches were on fire, the temple appeared to have streaks of lightning and flames shooting off from its roof, and the elven village that rested below was on the brink of annihilation from this sudden calamity. While the monsters of The Sisterhood struggled to get their grunts under control, the elves found themselves to be just as lost, unsure whether to flee, fight, or pray for their own lives. This hectic decision wasn’t as vague as it was to most for some elves, especially those who lived in the northern woods of their village between the rest of their kind and where the masses of The Sisterhood were camped behind their forest. For them the choice was quite clear on what to do at the current moment.

  “RUN!” an elf screamed as she pulled her two daughters behind her, all of them being joined by many others who were rushing towards the center of their chaos-stricken homeland with what appeared to be more fear for what was behind them rather than what was ahead.

  “Is it still behind us?” another cried out as she sprinted with them while glancing over her shoulder in terror.

  “Like hell I’m going back there to check!” a ranger shouted as she and her kin dashed around trees and plowed through goblins and gremlins in their haste. “Fuck that! Just keep running!”

  “Where are you-” a witch demanded before she was trampled by the elves, screaming and curling into a ball under their feet while arachne watched in confusion from above as they skittered on their webs.

  “Why?” an elf cried out while carrying her sobbing baby. “Why is this happening to us? What the fuck did we ever do to deserve this?”

  “Go! Go! Go!” a ranger ordered waving the crowd of elves by, herself and two others signaling them forward while keeping a sharp eye out for what may be chasing them.

  “Now what’s happening?” an elf dared to tempt fate by asking as she and a group of trolls and elves saw the frightened monsters stampeding through the woods near them.

  “Why are you all going that way?” a ranger clad in darker clothing called out. “We need to regroup and fall back to the-”

  “There’s a demon back there!” a child cried out pointing behind them as she was pulled along by her mother. “A horrible demon from the underworld!”

  “A demon?” a troll wondered.

  “We need to retreat to the encampments behind Green Haven,” another insisted. “This whole place is going to hell, we need to leave right now.”

  “Get those elves back here!” a troll ordered a ranger with a whack to her head. “They’re not going anywhere but with us. Drag their sorry asses to the encampment to the north; our leaders want skilled archers for our upcoming assault, not fried cowards. The rest of you, get our sisters under control and evacuate this dump. Grab everything you can that’s useful and move it!”

  The ranger growled and rubbed her head before she and another ran after their fleeing kin while the trolls grabbed the remaining elves and dragged them along as they ran off. The rangers in dark cloaks dashed after their frightened sisters and grabbed hold of one, turning her around before she started swatting at them frantically.

  “Let me go!” she cried out. “We need to get out of here!”

  “You’re not going anywhere!” the ranger ordered with a hard slap to her face. “Pull your shit together! What the hell are you even doing running this way, can’t you see what’s happening here? We need to evacuate to the north where the rest of The Sisterhood is stationed.”

  “There’s a fucking demon back there!” the elf argued pointing behind them. “It’s horrible, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen in nightmares! The gods aren’t here to protect us, nobody is, and now the devils are coming to kill us all! We need to get out of here, and like fucking hell we’re going back that way!”

  “Yes you are!” the ranger said, shoving her into the arms of her comrade before marching forward. She saw more elves rushing through the forest while nearby members of The Sisterhood watched in confusion. “Hey, stop those elves! Bring every one of those cowards back, they’re not abandoning us! Grab them all, now!”

  Goblins and gremlins ran about and tackled a few elves to the ground while an ogre swung its club down into the ground before a group of them, the frightened monsters dropping back with screams as the brute snarled and waved a fist at them. Mites buzzed about and halted the fleeing elves while witches and arachne started advancing on them, pushing the nervous monsters back while Sivil’s followers ran over and started grabbing hold of them.

  “Sisterhood!” a troll shouted out. “Grab every elf and weapon you can! Evacuate the forest and regroup with the others to the
north! We’re leaving Green Haven!”

  “No, we can’t go back that way!” an elf pleaded as she was pushed by a troll. “Please, you don’t understand!”

  “The demon will get us!” a child cried out as her mother stumbled back holding her, both of them backing away from two arachne who were skittering closer. “We can’t go back there, that side of our home is cursed! It’s a demon from the pits of hell I tell you!”

  “What demon?” a dark ranger demanded. “What the fuck did you see?”

  *****

  Towards the northern side of the village an elven mother and her two daughters ran screaming out of their home built into the base of a towering tree, all of them joining their neighbors who had abandoned their homes a moment ago for the exact same reason.

  “It’s horrible!”

  “It’s an emissary of the devil!”

  “Run for your life!”

  “I’ve never seen anything as fucked up as that!”

  “Where are the gods when we need them?”

  From the elven home a tiny woman floated out of the door with a dull grimace on the half of a face she had.

  “I’m trying to save your stupid lives!” Reiko shouted as she hopped about in a fit. “Show some goddamned gratitude, you dirty tree rats!”

  She huffed and flipped off the screaming elves before flying over towards a home that was built into the sprawling roots of a large tree, its lowered stoop having collected ashes from the air while its window was broken from a branch having crashed into the dwelling’s roof from above. Reiko flew through the door like a ghost and found a group of elves huddled close to the wall, with two women holding onto three younger children as they braced from another quake rattling their home and throwing more of their furniture and belongings into disarray.