“What is that?” Rulo carefully asked.
“Looks like a cave-in?” Tabitha guessed with a shrug.
“Good thing we’re not going that way,” Scay said with a smile as she pointed to the pile of debris before pointing ahead at where they were heading. “We’re going that way. Uh… wait a second…”
“The tracks lead right to the cave-in,” Hollia realized. “The tunnel there must have collapsed.”
“Shouldn’t we be slowing down then?” Rulo called out as the ant girls in back were squeaking and hopping about in a panic. “We’re carrying a shit-ton of explosives with us, aren’t we? Shouldn’t we stop before running into the wall?”
“They don’t appear to be stopping,” Forrus said as everyone saw the workers up ahead still squeaking and operating the levers which apparently was their only focus. The workers in the front kept squeaking with each other as the convoy traveled over the cliffside and started to descend along the curving rails. Saffron whistled loudly again and again, with the workers in front then noticing their superior squeaking and shaking her head at them. They blinked then saw all the workers doing the same before turning their eyes over to where the rails ended up ahead. With a sharp squeak they all jumped in surprise before quickly grabbing their brake levers and pulling with all their strength. The ride lurched with a loud screeching noise coming from all the wheels, with all the riders jerking forward before grabbing hold of the wagons’ sides as the convoy continued to race along the tracks that descended toward the ground level.
“We’re still going too fast!” Sasha called out.
“Stop this thing now!” Hollia cried out as the train reached the bottom of the cavern.
“Tara, Lara, Sara!” Daemon called out as he turned to the desuwraiths who merely had curious expressions on their faces as they didn’t understand what was happening at all.
“Yes?” they asked.
“Stop this train before it hits the wall. You wanted to help us, now’s your chance. Hurry!”
“Um, okay?” they all replied before shrugging. The trio quickly jumped over into the first car, ran forward and leapt over the front cart where the ant girls were pulling on their brakes as hard as they could, doing cartwheels in the air before landing on the tracks with focused expressions as they faced the rapidly approaching convoy.
“Everyone brace yourselves!” Daemon called back before he and all the girls grabbed hold of whatever they could. The desuwraiths held out all their hands while getting ready to catch the train before its front shield rammed into them, the three girls holding their stances while their feet plowed through the dirt beneath them. Everyone aboard the ride lurched forward except for the ant girls in back who desperately held onto the crates filled with their bombs the best they could, all eyes then turning to see rocks flying up and away from the front of the ride along with a very loud crunching sound. The desuwraith sisters kept their postures without flinching at all, their feet sliding through the hard ground and tearing it up without taking a scratch. The convoy started to slow down as it drew closer to the collapsed tunnel, the ride screeching to a halt just as the desuwraiths’ feet dug into the rocks in front of the mound of rubble. After a pause the three girls stood upright and looked between the wall of debris behind them and the stopped train before them as everyone fell silent. Those aboard the ride noticed they hadn’t crashed or blown up and were now sitting still atop the tracks before seeing the desuwraiths walking over beside the front car with curious expressions on their faces.
“Nice job,” Hollia complimented with a relieved smile. “Very well done, girls.”
“That was too close,” Rulo breathed out slumping down in the car.
“Looks like you girls came in handy after all,” Sasha admitted with a nod.
“Indeed,” Forrus agreed. “That would have been an abrupt end for all of us if you hadn’t been here.”
“Scay,” Tabitha choked out as the naga was tightly wrapped around her and still hiding her face in the neko’s shoulder. “Let go. We’re fine. Stop crushing me.”
“That was much appreciated,” Daemon commended with a nod. “Thank you for that.”
“Um,” the first desuwraith said as the sisters looked to the wall of rubble then back to him in confusion. “Actually, we have a question.”
“You said to stop the train from hitting the wall.”
“What’s a train?”
Everyone blinked and just stared at the puzzled monsters while Tabitha was jabbing Scay in her side while trying in vain to convince the naga to let her go.
“You… didn’t know this was the train?” Hollia slowly asked as she patted the ride.
“No,” one desuwraith said shaking her head.
“We didn’t know what Daemon was talking about.”
“We just guessed this was what he wanted us to stop. Were we wrong?”
“You didn’t know what he was talking about?” Rulo shouted at them. “Wait a minute, are you saying you saved us from crashing and blowing up all because you just guessed it was what my master wanted you to do?”
“Yeah.”
“Pretty much.”
“So… did we guess right?”
“We were saved by complete morons,” Forrus lamented. “I’m not sure how I feel about this, but I think I’m rather mortified on the inside.”
“They just guessed,” Hollia nervously realized. “They could have just as easily stepped aside and tried pushing a boulder in futility while we raced on towards certain doom.”
“Somehow it doesn’t surprise me,” Sasha flatly mentioned while shaking her head a little at the desuwraith sisters.
“Scay!” Tabitha cried out while smacking the naga’s head. “I can’t breathe! Let me go!”
Daemon watched the desuwraiths just staring at them with curious expressions on their innocent faces then reached over and tapped Scay on the shoulder. The naga peeked at him from behind her hair while Tabitha was at this point turning blue.
“We’re safe now,” Daemon told her, seeing the naga slowly turning her head to look at him. “You can relax. And also stop crushing the life out of Tabitha.”
Scay noticed Tabitha hoarsely gasping for air then quickly unraveled the neko with her tail, spinning her around before she dropped onto the wagon with a thud and then was immediately grabbed and pulled face first into the naga’s chest.
“Oh, Tabitha! We’re alive! We’re alive and we’re not dead! I’m so happy! I was so scared we were going to die!”
Tabitha loudly mumbled something in the naga’s enveloping breasts while Scay once again wrapped her tail around her friend and laughed maniacally with a twisted smile on her face.
“We can still be together! We can still- nrrghmmm STAB PEOPLE TOGETHER! We’re going to wear them, Tabitha! Me and you! All over our bodies! Best friends for life! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Friendship! Stab! Blood! Stab! Cupcakes! Stab!”
Daemon saw the neko struggling to pry herself free from her crazed friend while everyone else watched the scene with very little surprise to the naga’s behavior at this point. As Scay dropped onto the floor of the wagon laughing and smothering her friend in her bosom everyone else turned their focus towards the blocked tunnel while Daemon stood up in the ride. He carefully examined the rubble and where it apparently dropped down from, seeing that the passageway was completely blocked off with not even a small hole being visible through the debris.
“Do cave-ins happen often down here?” he asked glancing to Saffron. The ant girl merely wobbled a hand before her with a simple squeak.
“Well this is a problem,” Hollia pointed out. “Now what do we do?”
“Can you blast through this?” Sasha asked Saffron. The ant girl slowly eyed the collapsed tunnel then nodded with a squeak. She then squeaked a few more times and shook her head before pointing around at the rubble.
“They can clear the way,” Daemon relayed while taking notice of something above the tunnel’s entrance. “However the railway might no
t be usable past this point.”
“So we’re continuing on foot,” Forrus reasoned. “Still, we should be pretty close to Green Haven by now. That won’t be a problem.”
“Hurry up and blow this shit away,” Rulo ordered Saffron while picking up her large hammer. “We’ve got bitches to kill up ahead and we don’t want to keep them waiting.”
Saffron nodded then showed a wicked smile as she squeaked and pointed to the pile of debris, with the ant girls in back hopping to their feet and saluting her before quickly opening the crates with more squeaking amongst each other. Saffron reached into her satchel and pulled out a bomb that she held with fingers lightly drumming along it in heated anticipation, the ant girl looking over the pile of rubble she was tasked with destroying while licking her lips with a very dangerous look in her eye.
“Holy crap, that’s terrifying,” Hollia mentioned as she and the girls noticed their companion showing heightened enthusiasm now that she needed to blow something up.
“I think she really enjoys her job,” Sasha mused as Saffron blew her bangs aside with a puff to clearly reveal how eager her face appeared.
“Scay!” Tabitha yelled as she finally pulled herself back from the naga’s oxygen depriving bosom. “For crying out loud, let me go! You’re suffocating me here!”
“Oh,” Scay replied as she stopped laughing and merely looked at her friend with innocent eyes. “Okay, Tabitha.”
She quickly slithered to the side and unraveled the neko again, the spinning cat yowling in frustration before dropping onto her back in the wagon with a grunt. She blinked a few times then rubbed her head with a tired glance at the naga who was giggling with her right eye turning inward for a moment.
“Thanks,” the neko muttered before noticing Daemon was staring up at something with a focused gaze. “Daemon? What is it?”
All the girls looked up to see dark brown roots slowly sifting through the cavern wall above the cave-in. The squirming vegetation ripped through the rock with low grinding crunches, with more of them being seen digging through the wall down towards the ground where others started to creep up underneath from the dirt near the convoy.
“What is that?” Sasha asked as she grabbed her blade.
“We’re not alone down here,” Hollia warned as she snatched up her spear.
“I don’t believe this cave-in was an accident,” Daemon said as he grabbed hold of his blade.
From the ground large twisting roots struck upward through the dirt under the convoy with loud ruptures, the winding plants ensnaring the axels and wrapping around the cars while everything nearby began to rumble violently.
“What the hell is happening?” Tabitha shouted.
“What is all this?” Hollia cried out.
“Is this part of the ride?” Scay curiously asked while wobbling in the shaking wagon. “Is it supposed to do this?”
“Everyone off, now!” Daemon ordered as the train slowly lifted off the tracks. He and his girls leapt off along with the ant girls in the front cart, with the ones in the back cars squeaking and struggling to hold onto the shaking ride and the open crates of their bombs. Daemon and the girls dropped to the ground next to the desuwraith sisters and stumbled away as the cavern floor shook and cracked apart with the roots that carried the screeching convoy up into the air breaking through from below. The ant girls still aboard the ride squeaked and tumbled about in the cars while everyone below quickly backed away towards the lake behind them.
“What in Eden?” Forrus breathed out.
“Hey,” one of the desuwraiths slowly said. “Something about this seems familiar.”
“Yeah,” another agreed with a cautious expression. “I’ve seen something like this somewhere before.”
“Could it be…” the other softly said before the desuwraiths looked to each other in wonder then back to the floral tendrils that they recognized.
“Hey, get off there!” Rulo shouted to the ant girls squeaking and waving their arms in the convoy. “Jump off, you idiots!”
“Get off that thing, hurry!” Sasha called up to them.
Saffron squeaked and waved her arms around while watching her sisters squeaking and struggling to hold onto the teetering convoy that was held up with several large tendrils. The roots suddenly swayed hard to the side, tilting the ride while lowering it down towards the ground, then hurled the entire train into the air towards the cliffside further away.
“No!” Hollia cried out as the train soared through the cavern and slammed into the elevated tracks before detonating into a massive fireball. Saffron screeched while gripping her hair, a look of horror on her face as she witnessed her sisters exploding violently along with the entire cliff. A powerful shockwave struck through the grotto, splashing water far away from the side of the cave where flames and debris blasted outward from with a thunderous boom. Daemon and the girls braced themselves as the cavern rumbled from the destructive blast before the ceiling over the explosion gave away from the force. Piles of boulders and debris rained down with roaring crashes while the railway was completely annihilated, dust billowing outward in huge clouds as the cave shook from the mighty tremor rolling through it. Rocks and slabs of ore slammed into the ground one after another, the rumbling continuing on for a little while longer before gradually ceasing.
Saffron slowly took a few steps away from the group towards the newest cave-in that encompassed a third of the cavern before them, the ant girl squeaking quietly as she unsteadily held a hand out towards where her sisters were killed before she slowly lowered her head and held a hand to her face.
“God… damn,” Rulo finally said as the last of the rocks dropped from the new pile of rubble with small clacks.
“Those ant girls went bye-bye,” Scay sadly said with a frown.
“So what exactly just took their lives?” Sasha sharply asked as all eyes turned to the waving tendrils that loosely flailed about in the air. The roots whipped around with loud snaps before quickly retreating into the dirt, the others that were digging through the ground and walls also doing the same as everyone quickly searched the area for what was in the grotto with them. Daemon held a hand to his sword’s handle while carefully gazing around the cavern, seeing dust gradually settling while all the girls were on high alert now. All eyes then took notice of the water bubbling near the shore of the lake before them, with a large flower bud of violet petals growing in size from the gurgling lake and lifting above it. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the flower slowly opened, revealing Nuci tucked inside with her violet hair nearly covering her.
“Nuci?” one of the desuwraiths asked. “Is that you?”
“I thought I recognized those plants,” another asserted. “Those were Nuci’s.”
“But… why did she do that?” the third nervously asked as she looked over to where a group of ant girls lost their lives.
Slowly Nuci rose up with her head remaining lowered, the alurane’s body dripping with water as she gently moved her hair back and stood atop her flower. She then showed everyone a twisted smile that adorned her face, her eyes appearing sad while her mouth was set in a rather menacing grin. The alurane twitched now and again while quietly giggling to herself, her eyes quickly and erratically going around to each of those before her who stared at the guardian with surprise and disbelief of what they had just seen.
“The guardian of the chronofly?” Hollia questioned. “What is she doing here?”
“Did you do this?” Sasha loudly demanded as she waved to the collapsed cavern. “This was all because of you? What has come over you? Have you gone completely mad?”
“Why did you destroy the tunnel?” Rulo shouted. “Why did you blow those ant girls to pieces just now? What the hell are you thinking?”
“Have you lost it?” Forrus scorned. “Why are you attacking us, we’re on your side. Have you lost your mind?”
“Explain yourself, Nuciferyne,” Daemon ordered as he stepped in front of the girls. “What are you doing here? Why h
ave you done this?”
“I’m being a good girl,” Nuci shakily answered with a twitching smile. “I’m doing as I’m told. I’m a very good girl. Yes I am. Such a good girl. I won’t be bad. Not again. I’m always going to be a good girl now, I promise.”
“What the hell is wrong with her?” Tabitha cautioned. “She’s talking like a crazy person. Even more so than Scay does.”
“Is that good or bad?” Scay curiously asked her.
“Explain yourself,” Daemon demanded. “Why have you impeded our way? Why did you kill those ant girls? Killing isn’t what you do, it isn’t what you like to do, remember? So why have you attacked us like we’re your enemy and murdered those ant girls? Tell us, Nuciferyne.”
Nuci giggled uncontrollably then started laughing hysterically while holding her sides, the alurane turning to smile at them one by one with quick and hard head movements before bellowing loudly as she lowered her head and shook it slightly. Daemon and the girls exchanged cautious looks while the desuwraith sisters slowly walked past the swordsman towards the edge of the lake with shocked expressions on their faces.
“Nuci?” one of them asked, with the alurane tilting her head to smile very awkwardly at the girl. “What’s wrong with you? What happened to you?”
“This isn’t like you,” another whimpered shaking her head. “You’re not mean. You don’t hurt others. You don’t like to hurt anyone.”
“Please, stop this,” the third implored. “You’re scaring us. This isn’t how you are. It isn’t. Something’s really wrong here.”
“No, no,” Nuci giggled as she and her flower rose up higher. Large roots and tendrils splashed through the water around her and up into the air, the alurane’s arms gently waving with shaky hand movements as she summoned small torrents of water to spiral up near her with glistening blue glimmers in them.
“Nothing is wrong here. I’m doing exactly as my queen told me,” Nuci promised with a twitching eye. She started giggling before laughing wildly, her hands summoning forth blue wisps of magic that swirled around her along with rising spires of spinning water. “I’m a good girl! I’m a good slave! I’m a good weed! I’m whatever my queen asks me to be! Anything she asks, anything she wants, and she shall have it! Hahahahaha!”
Chronicles of Eden_Act XI Page 64
