“Reiko,” Daniel said, gaining the attention of his tiny companions. “Go lead them out of here towards the southern fields to join with Alyssa. Make sure they all get out of Green Haven alive. Pip, go with her and-”
“I’m not leaving you,” Pip argued shaking her head.
“Yes, you are. I don’t want you to get hurt-”
“I’m. Not. Leaving,” Pip stressed with a firm expression. “I’m not leaving my mate to fight those bad monsters alone. I’m not.”
“Pip, don’t argue with me.”
“Daniel, don’t be stupid,” Pip shot back. Daniel turned to her as she showed a frustrated look at him. “They can’t die. More monsters could show up any moment now. The forest is on fire. Don’t be stupid and throw away your life just to save ours.”
“I need to protect my mates,” Daniel insisted.
“And your mates need to protect you,” Pip sagely countered. Daniel fell silent as Pip’s glow flickered and shifted to a soft pink, the fairy slowly shaking her head as a sympathetic smile came across her face before she continued with a calm voice. “If you truly wish to fight to protect your loved ones, then do so wisely and not foolishly. What does it matter if we survive if we have to lose you in the process, our hearts will be lost all the same. Don’t throw away your life fighting for us when you don’t have to, especially when we want to help you succeed and keep you with us.”
“Pip…”
“Reiko can handle the elves. My power is better suited to aiding you than her right now. So let me do the right thing and help my mate,” Pip said, her glow then shifting to blue as a worried smile came over her. “Please, Daniel? I love you, I don’t want to lose you. I don’t.”
Daniel glanced back to the elves in the woods then ahead at the gemini, the sounds of monsters screaming and trees falling echoing all around them as another tremor again shook the forest.
“Reiko, go lead the elves to safety,” Daniel said before smirking at his fairy. “Pip and I will deal with the gemini.”
Reiko looked back and forth between the elves and Daniel in silence, the harvester then merely giving a single nod before floating over towards them. The elves grew more anxious from seeing the undead monster approaching them while Eleran tried to force a brave face.
“She will guide you out of here,” Daniel called out, with the elves turning to him in question as he focused his sights on the gemini again. “She will help protect you. Head to the southern fields, we’ve arranged your escape from this land so The Sisterhood and these two monsters can’t hurt you anymore.”
“Nobody escapes from us!” the gemini shouted. “None of you are leaving!”
“No, they are leaving,” Daniel said swiping his swords down at his sides. Pip’s glow shifted to red as she stared down the two sisters, all while elves in the woods were looking between them and Reiko in disbelief. “We however will play with you a bit more today. If you really want those elves so badly, you’re going to have to go through us.”
“Where did this human come from?” an elf asked shaking her head. “He’s going to challenge both those accursed demons, and he also tamed a fairy and a zombie fairy to aid him?”
“I’m not a zombie fairy!” Reiko whined hopping about in a fit.
“No, fuck this!” Krin shouted in anger. “I don’t care if he tamed a zombie fairy or not, like hell I’m bowing to some fucking man or any of you weaklings! For The Sisterhood!”
She unsheathed her dagger and quickly lunged towards Eleran, the elf watching in surprise as the ranger rushed her with a yell before Reiko whizzed by her, swiping her cutter through the elf’s face who then dropped to the ground with a thump and a frozen expression of shock. The elves saw the fallen ranger remaining motionless then looked to Reiko as she crossed her arms and eyed them over while her spectral cutter wavered at her side.
“Does anyone else want to call me a zombie fairy?” she called out, receiving no response from anyone. “No? Good. Because I’m trying to be nice here and not reap all your souls as is my nature. But if you call me that stupid name again then that’s going to be you, got it? Now let’s go! I want to get out of this dump as much as the rest of you, so follow me.”
The harvester floated off and waved the elves to follow, with them turning to each other in wonder before following the tiny monster. They grabbed and pushed along their oppressive sisters who dropped their bows and raised their hands defensively, not wishing to share Krin’s fate and now being surrounded by their upset kin. Eleran watched them go then turned to Daniel, seeing him and the fairy facing off against the gemini while fire was engulfing the royal tree’s branches that reached high into the air nearby. He glanced back to her, catching her smile and small wave she gave him before she ran off to join the others, then turned his eyes back to the twins before him.
“Now then,” he said before tossing the Hellstorm blade out towards the gemini, the sword striking into the ground in front of Jovian who stared at it with surprise before seeing Daniel smirking at her. “I think you’re going to need that to give us any sort of challenge.”
“Why did you do that?” Pip asked worriedly.
“Because,” Daniel whispered while taking hold of the Hellfire’s Edge with both hands. “It’s a bit too much for me to use two enchanted weapons at the same time. I’ll last longer using just one.”
“But why give it back to her?”
“To piss her off,” Daniel grinned, with Pip turning to see Jovian grabbing the blade while fuming with indignation now.
“You little bastard,” she snarled as she and her sister were shaking in anger. “You dare mock me by showing me pity? You think I need any help with murdering you? You fucking little maggot, I’m going to tear you apart!”
“She looks really mad now,” Pip worried.
“Good,” Daniel replied. “The angrier they get, the worse they fight. That’s how we can beat them. We need to keep them busy here. We can’t let them go after the elves or our mates. Hold them here as long as possible to buy time for the elves to escape.”
“Got it,” Pip agreed with a nod.
“And have some fun with them,” Daniel added, with Pip glancing to him curiously. He smiled sharply as he saw the gemini now glaring at him with even more anger than before.
“Let’s see how much we can irritate these two girls.”
Chapter 4
A Fiery Ally
In the world of Eden, there were different classes of reptile-based monsters known to man. Reptile girls were considered dangerous enemies due to their fierce fighting spirits and strength, although they were at least rumored to show mercy to those that failed to defeat them in combat. Salamander women, however, had a much harsher reputation, being notorious for spreading wildfires while relishing in burning anyone they came across. They were extremely hazardous creatures of fire and wrath, with even other monsters being cautious in their foreboding presence.
Needless to say, they often had difficulty making real friends.
*****
The cries of elves within Green Haven carried out through the air as the royal tree within their grove began to fall with a thunderous crackling blare. As the towering timber started to drop from its broken base, a loud screech was heard amidst the terrified elves, a screech that belonged to an ant girl who felt her heart skip a beat from seeing where her mate was now careening towards the ground. Squeak stared with unblinking eyes as the grand tree toppled over, its expansive branches tearing into the forest beneath it before slamming into Eden with a terrifying crash. The branches that now pointed straight up towards the sky were engulfed in flames, dust and cinders were flowing through the forest from the heavy impact, elves were rendered in shock as they witnessed their royal tree having been felled, and Squeak felt her breath taken from her as she feared the worst for her mate.
Shaking her head she slowly took a few steps, eyes unsteadily going over the sight of the giant timber that lay stretched across the village along with crushed and t
oppled trees that were strewn about alongside and underneath it. Eruptions of steam and lava burst forth throughout the elven grove while burning leaves and cinders fluttered in the hazy air. Monsters were running around in disarray while elves were stricken with misery as they saw their entire home being taken away from them. As horrible as the royal tree having been brought to the ground was, it was by no means the end of this disaster which had befallen Green Haven.
“Sisterhood!” a gremlin called out. “Fall back to the northern steppes! We’re getting the fuck out of here!”
“Get those elves moving!” a troll ordered waving her axe. “Grab everything we can use and get your asses out of here! Move it!”
Squeak snapped out of her trance as she heard elves screaming while being dragged away, her eyes never leaving the sight of where the royal tree had crashed down along with the temple Daniel would have been in. Without pause she quickly took off running, leaving confused trolls and elves behind as she sprinted through the smoky haze and around trees with growing concern for her mate. She stumbled over fallen branches, bumped into elves, and ran through a bush with twigs slapping her face, all before she came up to a collapsed elven dwelling that blocked the path between a pair of towering timbers. With debris and fiery lumber piled up on the sides Squeak frantically searched for a way around the roadblock, only seeing arachne pulling along elves bound in webbing while others were hauled off by trolls and even ogres from the nearby homes. Goblins and gremlins were breaking into huts and houses while mites and witches were quickly moving about and trying not to catch on fire. A few elves tried to run away, only to be stopped by numerous captors that surrounded them, with one having her face sliced off with a cleaver from a goblin while the rest were beaten by trolls and salamander women before being dragged off shouting and crying.
“Move along, you stupid cunt! Get!” a troll shouted as she shoved an elf over towards other captive villagers and their abductors. She grunted with a smirk while watching her comrades taking their slaves off before noticing Squeak standing nearby.
“Hey, you! I said you there!”
Squeak turned to her with a jump and squeak, seeing the troll pointing at her while salamander women and arachne walked up beside the ant girl. She gulped and glanced around at the two fiery and three hissing monsters who were sharply watching her before the troll walked up and smacked her cheek a few times.
“Snap out of it, we need to get moving,” she scolded before pointing off to the side. “You girls go make sure the archery billets are being cleaned out. Elven archers won’t be any good for our forces if we lose their precious longbows. Get those weapons out of here before they burn up, now!”
Squeak pointed to herself in confusion before she was quickly shuffled away by her escort, the ant girl squeaking at them in bewilderment as she was pushed along by the monsters and not paid any attention to as she kept squeaking and shaking her head in protest. She trotted along with them, being completely surrounded and unsure how to escape before they caught on to her, while noticing the forest they moved through was swiftly catching fire and burning down, or in some cases dropping straight down into bubbling pools of magma that opened up from below. Elves were dragged kicking and screaming from their homes while others were forced to march forward with their captors holding weapons and claws on them. Squeak glanced around at the monsters moving alongside her, not a care at all from them for seeing elven women and children being abused and abducted all around and instead only adding to the menacing aura that was engulfing the falling haven.
She did however notice a salamander woman watching her out of the corner of her radiant eye, the fiery monster looking her over with a suspicious murmur as she trotted alongside the ant girl. Her dark leather petal skirt fluttered around her hips while her scaly red tail swiped sharply behind, the orange scarf she had around her neck with the ends torn and burned being the only discerning item compared to the other salamander, including her long black hair that she brushed out of her face while she kept her eyes on the nervous ant girl. After a moment the arachne beside her took an interest as well as something became apparent to them.
“I thought we were at war with a nest of ant girls,” she mentioned, with the other monsters then looking over Squeak in question while she remained quiet. “Why is one of them here with us?”
Squeak felt their eyes staring intently at her, her throat drying up as she forced a calm expression the best she could and tried not to break out into a nervous sweat. She cleared her throat and squeaked a few times then shook her head before looking forward again.
“I haven’t seen any others amongst our sisters,” a salamander woman hoarsely hissed. “I thought they were our enemy.”
“I thought that as well,” an arachne agreed, the monsters now showing sharp glares at the ant girl.
Squeak rolled her eyes and squeaked a few times before casually waving off that statement and shaking her head again. After a pause she noticed the monsters still watching her sharply, the ant girl then bracing to fight her way out of a dire situation before a loud crackling sound was heard. Looking up they saw a tree quickly falling while snapping apart rope bridges attached to its terrace, the timber racing down towards the monsters who quickly scrambled to get out of the way with screams. With a heavy crash the tree slammed into the ground, casting out fiery leaves and clouds of dust while its roots tore apart the dirt from its ruptured base.
“This whole forest is falling apart,” an arachne mumbled, getting back onto all her legs and brushing out leaves from her long silver hair.
“It’s not so bad,” a salamander woman raspingly said, the monster getting up from a flaming bush without a single burn on her skin or scales. “I don’t care for the groundquakes though. Otherwise this is an improvement.”
“Let’s go make sure the elven weaponry is being packed up and then get the hell out of here,” an arachne muttered while dusting off her chest. The other monsters nodded and gathered near the tree then noticed two of their group still lying on the ground right beside it, with a salamander woman on her back staring up in surprise at Squeak who was on top of her. The salamander looked over to seeing the tree resting on the ground an inch away from where her tail and the end of her scarf was then back to Squeak as the ant girl was holding her down while staring at the timber that nearly crushed them a moment ago. Looking down to the fiery monster she hesitated as she realized what she did without thinking before slowly glancing around to seeing the others watching them curiously.
“Thank you,” the salamander roughly said, with Squeak smiling weakly down at her with a few small squeaks. “Um… you can get off me now.”
Squeak blinked then hopped to her feet, squeaking a few times with a nervous smile while the salamander got back up and dusted herself off.
“You saved her?” an arachne wondered. “So… you’re not with those ant girls who have been attacking us?”
Squeak shook her head and squeaked a few times, the other monsters exchanging silent glances before the ant girl waved her hands around with some sort of reasoning that nobody could understand.
“Come to think of it,” another arachne pondered with a hand held shrewdly to her chin. “I think I remember hearing of those troublesome ants wearing red garb. This one is clad in blue.”
“So she’s not from that nest?” her sister questioned. Squeak shook her head at her and squeaked a few times.
“Ah,” a salamander knowingly said. “I see. Looks as though we’ve recruited a rival ant girl nest into our Sisterhood. Is that it?”
Squeak paused for a moment then nodded and pointed to her while squeaking some more.
“Whatever,” an arachne grunted, herself and everyone bracing from a passing tremor hitting the grove. “An enemy of ours wouldn’t risk their life protecting one of us. Let’s just get going. She can help carry more of the armaments out of here, she’s strong, right?”
Squeak nodded and patted her arm with a few quick squeaks, the monsters eyei
ng her over briefly before continuing on except for the salamander woman who was still alive thanks to the ant girl’s quick rescue.
“Glad you’re with us,” she hoarsely said with a smirk. “Name’s Sheal. What’s yours?”
Squeak squeaked at her, the salamander staring at her for a moment before raising an eyebrow.
“Can you talk?”
Squeak nodded and squeaked a few times, with the salamander rubbing the back of her head with an uneasy grimace before shaking it a little.
“Not what I meant. I’m just going to call you Squeak then. That okay?”
Squeak nodded with a weak smile and squeaked, the salamander eyeing her over briefly then smiling back at her, though with her sharpened teeth and the way small flickers of fire came out from behind them Squeak felt her anxiety rising despite the friendly gesture.
“Let’s go, Squeak. Just remember, I owe you one.”
Squeak nodded again before the salamander took her hand and led her off after the others, with Squeak glancing around to seeing more of the monsters raiding the village that they crossed through while her concern for Daniel kept poking into her mind and heart. She was pulled along by the salamander woman and rejoined with the others, all of them making their way through the burning village before coming to a halt atop a small ridge. Below there was a wide storehouse built beside the base of a towering timber that was being set ablaze from another flaming tree having crashed into it on the other side, not toppling it over yet passing along fire very quickly to the top of it. The storehouse itself was still intact, although the expansive clearing beside it that held multiple circular targets and fences was in shambles from sinkholes having formed and a glob of molten rock that had crashed into it earlier. A few elves were running around in a panic near the wooden doors and under the awning of the billet while goblins and gremlins were seen trying to calm horses that were neighing loudly in a fenced pen next to the building, the animals not being calmed down so easily as they were running in circles while the monsters were either knocked aside or outrun by the frightened mares.
Chronicles of Eden - Act XII Page 11
