“Keep running!” a ranger ordered as she fired her arrows at the approaching fiends. “Fucking hell, they just keep coming. Send those bitches back to hell, ladies!”
“Captain, there’s more coming from the eastern flank!” an elf called over.
“Keep them at bay! Get our people to the southern fields! Hold these fucking assholes off!”
“And then what?”
“How the fuck should I know? Where’s that creepy little monster who led us out here?”
“She’s over there!” an elf exclaimed pointing to the side. The rangers took notice of a group of trolls and goblins swinging their weapons around wildly while screaming, the monsters being struck down by a shimmering twinkle that zipped around them like a bee and slayed the fiends without spilling a drop of a blood in the process.
“Hahahahaha!” Reiko joyously cackled as she cleaved her spectral blade through a troll’s head, dropping the monster instantly as she then spiraled around a goblin’s sword. She phased through the shouting monster that tried to grab her, hacked her blade through the fiend’s back, and continued merrily flying about while feasting on the souls of her attackers. On the grass next to the lifeless monsters were several elves, all of them watching with fright at seeing Reiko striking down foe after foe right above them while laughing wildly the entire time.
“She… she is on our side, right?” an elf nervously asked.
“Just stay down until she goes away,” another whined as they kept low to the grass, with a few of them even feigning dead in hopes the deadly monster would ignore them.
“Where did she even come from?” a ranger bewilderedly asked.
“She apparently came here with a human man and a fairy,” an elf answered with a shrug. “The gods certainly picked… unique champions to come aid us.”
“Hey, little ghost lady!” the captain called out. “Where are we supposed to go now?”
“My name is Reiko!” the harvester shouted back. She flew around a troll’s axe that swung at her, swiftly cleaved away the monster’s soul, and then took off in a wide arc towards approaching salamander women and mites that were chasing after more of the elves.
“Fine! Where do we go now, Reiko?”
“Head south! Find a witch named Alyssa! She’s waiting for you! Now leave me be, I’m eating over here!”
“A witch?” the captain questioned. Quickly looking around the area she searched for any sign of the mystery monster while elves continued running past. “Dammit all, where are we supposed to find a little monster like that out here? Someone find out where she is! Hurry!”
The elves continued their retreat while the rangers fired at their pursuers, the archers striking down more of the monsters who tried to take away their kin while Reiko zipped around through the battlefield to steal away any vulnerable souls she could get her cutter on. Without warning a large barrage of arrows was let loose from the edge of the forest, the streaking bolts swiftly cutting down The Sisterhood grunts from behind. Reiko growled in frustration as she hovered over a now very dead salamander woman she was too slow with feeding upon before noticing a large group of elves running out of the woodland in haste.
“I was going to eat that!” Reiko whined hopping up and down. “She was so afraid and so tasty looking, and you ruined it! You elves ruin everything!”
“Holy fuck!” a ranger shouted as she saw the harvester, herself and many others quickly coming to a halt in front of the floating woman. “What the hell is that thing?”
“Hungry, that’s what!” Reiko yelled back. “I’m here to save you stupid elves, so the least you can do is stop coming between me and my food! Do you have any idea how much I’m starving right now? Do you? If you did you would know how much it sucks! So quit being bothersome meatsacks and stop interrupting me when I’m trying to feed!”
The elves looked to each other in puzzlement, down at the corpses of monsters that their arrows had pierced, then back at the tiny woman who was growling at them with shaking fists.
“Wh… what?” an elf slowly asked.
“Never mind!” Reiko groaned with a face palm. “Just keep going that way, follow the others! I swear to god when I get back Star is so going to owe me for this.”
The harvester huffed before quickly flying past the elves that she startled even further and soared into the woods, with the elves staring in confused silence at the burning woodland before hearing the screaming of other monsters suddenly sounding off along with Reiko’s tiny laughter.
“What was that thing?” an elf carefully asked.
“Some sort of… zombie fairy?”
“This is officially the most fucked up day ever.”
“Let’s not stick around to find out what happens next,” another urged, with the group then quickly running after their sisters who were stampeding away from Green Haven in a large herd. The elves raced along the empty fields towards a larger gathering of their kin that was steadily building, with those in front of the crowd watching a few of their rangers having a discussion with a lone witch they had come across.
“WHERE’S MY DANIEL?” Alyssa raged, the small girl having glaring purple eyes that were glowing with a haunting hue along with a strong current of wind blowing around her from a magical force that clearly represented her current anger. In her hands was her staff, the relic having been struck into the ground where vines were slithering up from through the dirt with a rustling sound. And in front of her three elves were bound in plants that were keeping them down on their knees and tightly constricting around their bodies.
“Where’s my Daniel?” Alyssa demanded again with a sharp stab into the dirt with her staff. “Why is he not with you? Where is he?”
“Who are you talking about?” an elf cried out while at the witch’s mercy. “Who are you?”
“I’m talking about my man, that’s what!” Alyssa shouted at her. “Why isn’t he here with you? He went into that forest to get you all out of there, he was trying to save all your asses from The Sisterhood, so why are you here but he isn’t? Where’s my Daniel?”
“Please let us go,” another elf whimpered as the vines around her chest and hips tightened. “Oh god, you’re squeezing my breasts so hard. Knock it off, please!”
“We don’t know where your man is, alright?” the third shouted. “We don’t know what you’re talking about! We were just told to come here to be rescued, not to face execution!”
“WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DANIEL?” Alyssa screamed, a powerful gust of wind being sent outward from the witch into the crowd who all stepped back from the temperamental monster. “My mate went into your home to help you all escape along with my friends, so where are they? I’m not rescuing anyone until somebody tells me what happened!”
“You’re the witch Alyssa, yes?” an elven captain asked as she carefully stepped forward. Alyssa turned to her and gave a stern nod, the woman then walking past her bound kin towards the upset witch. “Please, that human you call Daniel sent us here. He told us you would help us escape The Sisterhood.”
“Where is he? Why isn’t he with you? What happened to my Daniel?”
“He stayed behind to challenge the gemini to combat.”
Alyssa slowly went wide-eyed as her magic died down. The vines around the bound elves loosened and dropped to the dirt, with the women gasping for air and quickly stumbling away as the elven captain watched the witch staring at her with a twitching eye.
“The… gemini?” Alyssa slowly repeated. “Did you say the gemini?”
“Yes. They are the leaders of The Sisterhood.”
“The gemini?” Alyssa cried out. “Those two monsters are here? You’ve got to be kidding me! Jovian and Jacqueline are here? They’re the ones in charge of The Sisterhood?”
“That’s right. You know of them?”
“We’ve met before,” Alyssa agreed with a few quick nods. “Not in a good way. Not good at all. Oh god, they’re here? Why are they here? Those two were… wait… hold on, back up. Did you say
Daniel challenged them to a fight?”
“Did he ever,” an elf spoke up. Alyssa and the captain turned to see another elf with long brunette hair draped over her tunic stepping forward. “I saw that guy myself. Good god, it was unreal. Where did you find a man like him?”
“You saw him? You saw Daniel?”
“Yeah, I saw him. I saw him take on a whole horde of those Sisterhood assfucks. He blew them all away without taking a scratch!” the elf cheered with a hop. Surrounding elves began whispering in hushed tones from hearing that while Alyssa was stunned in silence.
“I saw it too,” another chimed in. “This human man shows up out of nowhere, kills a bunch of those savages like they were nothing, and then challenged the gemini to fight him. He even has a pet fairy aiding him with her magic!”
“A fairy?”
“There’s a fairy in our forest? And it’s fighting those demons?”
“Pip,” Alyssa spoke up. “That’s Pip. I sent her in to find Daniel after Green Haven erupted. But… you’re saying Daniel wanted to fight the gemini?”
“He did,” the brunette elf agreed. “He faced them without fear and dared them to come after him. It was because of him keeping them busy that we were able to run away. I don’t know who you people are, but if it wasn’t for you showing up we would be dead or in The Sisterhood’s hands still.”
“That man of yours challenged the gemini to a fight, all on our behalf,” another elf said, with Alyssa turning her gaze towards the burning forest as did many of the elves in the crowd that were hearing a unique tale about a human knight coming to their aid.
“So what’s the plan now?” the elven captain asked Alyssa. “That man named Daniel did a great service for all of us by taking on those horrid demons so we could slip away from them, but what now? The Sisterhood is going to come after us, we cannot fight them all and prevail, and Eden is erupting with more violent intent with each passing second. So what is our next move?”
Alyssa shakily breathed in and out as she watched the burning forest rumble from another quake hitting it, hand tightly clenching her staff as she grew fearful for Daniel’s safety for a completely different reason other than Green Haven being on the verge of complete annihilation. Shaking her head she then quickly looked around at the crowd of elves gathered in front of her as they too were growing more fearful for their lives with each passing second.
“Alright, I’m going to have a long discussion with Daniel regarding his behavior after this is all over with,” she finally said. “For now we have no choice but to stick to our plan. Is every elf from Green Haven here with you?”
“I have no idea,” the captain replied shaking her head. “Our people were scattered in the chaos, I’m not sure if everyone is accounted for.”
“Well find out quick! I can get everyone out of this land and far away from The Sisterhood, but everyone needs to be present for it to work!”
“And how exactly can you do that?”
“With magic of course!” Alyssa retorted as she waved her staff to the side. The captain looked over and noticed the ground had lines formed across it with vines and coiled weeds, the elves then slowly gazing around and realizing there was a giant casting ring with interconnecting squares and glyphs ready to go with all the grass having vanished into the dirt inside it, the magically crafted spellbase covering the entire field next to the witch with plenty of room for hundreds of people to stand within it.
“Is that a magic spellbase?” an elf wondered. “Made of plants?”
“I thought something looked strange over here.”
“What is that going to do?”
“Just shut up and listen!” Alyssa yelled hopping up and down. “This is only going to work once and only once! I need every elf in your entire village to get inside this ring, once you do I’m going to cast a spell to send you all far away from The Sisterhood’s reach.”
“What do you mean? Where is that going to take us?”
“How do we know this isn’t some trick, how do we know you’re not part of The Sisterhood?”
“You could send us anywhere, including right into the hands of those fucking savages.”
“Hey!” Alyssa shouted at them. “I’m trying to help you people! Daniel is in there right now fighting the gemini all so you can get away from them! Now do you want our help and live to see another day or do you want to march your ungrateful asses back into that forest and die horribly?”
“Where are you going to take us?” the elven captain asked. “Please tell us the truth.”
“Ruhelia. Or at least what’s left of it. There’s nobody left in that land, centaur or Sisterhood. You’ll be safe there.”
“And you can really transport our entire village there all by yourself?” the captain asked as she gestured to the crowd. “A single witch can do that?”
“Yes… I hope… only if I have enough power at the time. Look, we need to move fast or else none of us are leaving here alive. We’re going to have a very short window to do this, maybe even shorter now that Eden itself is trying to kill everyone here.”
“Captain!” a ranger called out. “More of those fuckers are spilling out into the eastern fields. They’re coming our way!”
The elven captain eyed Alyssa over before examining the spellbase on the ground, the woman taking a slow breath before turning to the elves behind her.
“I need six teams of rangers to sweep the village for any elves still left inside! All other archers, hold those approaching monsters off until we’re ready to leave! The rest of you, get your asses into the field and stay inside the witch’s casting ring!”
“We’re going to trust her?” an elf asked.
“We don’t have a choice,” the captain said looking back to Alyssa. “Our lives are in your hands, don’t let us down. How long do you need to do your magic?”
“Once I start we’ll have ten minutes at best,” Alyssa answered. “Get all your people here as soon as you can or else they’ll be left behind. Keep The Sisterhood from getting on top of us, and especially keep them from damaging the field of grass next to us. I need it.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to set it on fire,” Alyssa explained with a shrug, with the elf jumping in surprise. “I need the energy to cast the spell after all.”
“Fire? But… you’re a witch…”
“Yep yep, I most certainly am. Don’t worry about me, I’ve worked with fire before. Just keep The Sisterhood away until all your people are gathered here. Leave the rest to me.”
The elven captain slowly nodded with a confused look then turned to her rangers that were standing guard.
“I also need two teams to… protect the grass to our west.”
“What?”
“You heard me! Just do it or else we’re all fucked! Don’t let a single monster near it, the witch needs it for her magic! Move it, ladies! You’ve got ten minutes to get all our people here or else they’re lost! Move!”
The rangers saluted her before quickly taking off with their bows and arrows, many of them rushing towards the incoming monsters of The Sisterhood to their east, six groups heading into the forest in haste, and two other teams of elven rangers running over to the northern edge of the grassy field next to the gathering to protect it. The rest of the village quickly started moving into the clearing atop the casting ring, all of them looking at the spellbase with curiosity along with the witch who made it. Alyssa watched the elves mobilizing and heading off into battle before catching the captain looking at her with a troubled frown.
“If this doesn’t work…” the woman softly said.
“It will,” Alyssa promised. “Your people will be safe soon. We won’t let you down.”
She started walking towards the tall field of grass before the elf spoke up again.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, with Alyssa halting and glancing back over her shoulder. “Why have you come to our aid?”
“Daniel Sorres was already on his way here
to help your people. We just got here a little late. Sorry about that.”
“The human man who’s fighting the gemini? He was journeying to Green Haven all this time to save us from The Sisterhood?”
“No. He wanted to save you from yourself. Just as he does with all monsters in Eden.”
The elven woman stared at her in puzzlement from that, seeing the witch winking at her before she quickly trotted off into the field of grass and out of view. Looking around at her people who rushed by in a large crowd the elf remained silent for a moment before she turned her gaze towards the burning forest as fire erupted again within the falling haven.
“Who in the world is that man?”
*****
“Daniel Sorres!” Jovian screamed as she swung her Hellstorm towards the evasive human. Daniel dodged back and ducked down to avoid an electrical web of energy that Jovian’s blade cast out above him, hands gripping his Hellfire’s Edge that he swung at the raging naked woman with all his might. Hitting Jovian with the brunt of a fiery wave of energy he again jumped further away as the gemini’s skeleton leapt towards him from the burning cloud with the Hellstorm held up high to strike with. She slashed again and again at Daniel, sending out blindingly hot arcs of snapping electricity past the scrambling human while annihilating more of the royal tree’s remains behind him.
“Hold still!” Jovian yelled as her body reformed again without a scratch on her, only remaining that way for a few seconds before Daniel ran past and sliced his sword right through her, dropping her down behind him in two halves and a splatter of blood that coated the ground underneath. Spinning around he saw the monster turning her upper half around to scream murder at him while grabbing hold of her lower half that she pulled back into place.
“You’re fucking dead!” she shouted with a vicious snarl. “I’m going to tear you apart limb from limb when I get my hands on you!”
“Can’t you just stay down?” Daniel dryly asked. Swinging down hard with his sword he let loose a powerful fiery storm that engulfed Jovian and blew apart the ground behind her in a fierce eruption. Taking a few steps back Daniel wiped the sweat off his forehead while taking a few deep breaths, eyes moving from the smoking cloud of cinders and dirt in front of him over to where Jacqueline was furiously swinging her sword around and casting out icicles that pierced into the dirt and nearby trees in her evident rage.
Chronicles of Eden - Act XII Page 33
