“A monster attack,” Milly said as the three sisters headed along the road into the town. “Their bodies are everywhere. Look at how many there are.”
“This isn’t possible,” Mika scorned as she quickly pulled out the letter they had received. “The monster attack we were hired to look into was at the farming village of Rees. That place is east of here. It said nothing about Nibelvale being in danger.”
“Nibelvale should have been able to send fighters to Rees to help them in the first place,” Mae pointed out. “The fact that they couldn’t shows they had to have been facing trouble of their own. But… this? How could a monster attack have hit them this severely?”
“And why weren’t we told about it?” Milly added. “Seriously, how could this not have been mentioned by those knights when they came to see us?”
“Nibelvale would have been a higher priority for saving than Rees,” Mika speculated. “If we weren’t told to assist them when Rockhelm knew we would be coming through here anyway, that means they didn’t know about Nibelvale’s situation.”
“The letter from the queen was in response to a courier from Rees,” Mae remembered. “But it seems Nibelvale never made a call for help.”
“They never got the chance,” Milly realized as the sisters gazed around at seeing the fallen human soldiers.
“We need to find out what the hell happened here,” Mika ordered. “And also keep a lookout for whatever caused this mess. First thing’s first, we need to sweep the city for any survivors. Let’s get going.”
The three sisters took off with their horses galloping across the bloody road, all searching for anybody who may still be alive, friend or foe. Every building they passed was battered and torn apart, the bodies of the fallen soldiers lying about in pools of their own blood, the echoing sound of the horses running across the cobblestone drawing nobody towards them, and their calls for any survivors being met with only silence from the fallen city.
“Is anyone still alive?” Milly called out.
“Hello? Anyone?” Mae shouted.
“Is anyone out there? We’re here to help!” Mika declared.
The sisters ran throughout the city, coming across nobody they could rescue or question. Only dead fighters and monsters greeted them around every corner. Aside from a few buildings crumbling apart nothing was making a sound, the entire city having been silenced by the monster attack.
“This can’t be happening,” Mae nervously said. “Nibelvale couldn’t have fallen like this. It had a garrison of at least one hundred fighters and even had sorcerers living here. How in Eden could something like this have happened?”
“That’s what we need to find out,” Mika answered. “Something big hit this place, and we need to know what that was.”
“Nobody’s here now,” Milly worried. “What happened to the villagers? Did they get out in time, or…”
Rounding another street corner the three girls quickly came to halt, their horses whinnying as they bucked back while the sisters stared at something with horror.
“Dear god no,” Mae breathed out.
“The… townsfolk,” Mika said with a pained expression.
“They didn’t get out in time,” Milly softly mourned.
The courtyard before them was a nightmarish scene, something even the three monster hunters hadn’t come across during their time of slaying dark creatures. Blood was soaking the stone floor in large puddles, tatters of clothing were strewn here and there, various items like steel pokers, chains, frayed rope, and serrated knives had been left lying about.
However what stunned the sisters the most was the sight of women of all ages, young and old, having been killed in all manner of torturous ways. Hanging overhead from webbing many were strung upside-down, some having had their limbs ripped off while others were skinned. Others were bound to benches and tables where their lifeless bodies now rested after having been hacked apart. And most of them were piled up off to the side against a brick wall, the bloodied corpses being cut up and having flies buzzing around them in a large swarm.
“What the hell is this?” Mika exclaimed in disbelief.
“They murdered them!” Mae cried out. “All the women of the city! They killed them all!”
“And the children too,” Milly gasped as she saw a young girl’s body lying not even three feet from her.
“They slaughtered them like animals,” Mika raged. “Those accursed, vile, wretched…”
Mae leaned over to the side and threw up out of disgust while Milly covered her mouth as she started to cry, the sight of so many children having been slain striking at her heart.
“They brought all the women here and tortured them. Those poor girls.”
“This is so barbaric,” Mae coughed before wiping her mouth. “How can these damn things be so cruel? They don’t need women for breeding, and certainly have no just reason for killing children. Goddamn them!”
Mika yelled out in anger as she got off her horse, the hunter walking out into the courtyard while looking around at the fallen humans with sorrow and rage. The sight of women and children having been slaughtered infuriated her, the horrid display of entrails on the walls and piles of gore didn’t nauseate her as it much as it made her see red in sheer rage, and the fact that the entire courtyard floor was covered in blood so that it reflected the image of cadavers hanging above drew a single tear out from her glaring eyes. Looking down to the body of a teenager at her feet she saw all the lacerations that covered the body, a frozen expression of terror seen on the young girl’s face that had both eyes gouged out by her oppressors.
“Those despicable creatures killed all the women just for fun. As unbearable as this may be, I fear what fate the men of this city have been sentenced to.”
“A fate that awaits all men in the world,” a female voice called out from the side. The sisters quickly looked to seeing a figure approaching them from an alleyway, her footsteps in the blood clacking slightly while a hissing sound was heard from her.
“Who goes there?” Mika demanded as she grabbed her sword and drew it out. Milly’s grip on her axe tightened while Mae quickly pulled out her crossbow and primed it, the three hunters glaring at the approaching figure from the shadows that slowly came into view.
“My name is Rio, for those who wish to know,” the woman spoke calmly. Or rather monster, which was apparent by her inhuman form. Her feet and legs were covered in sleek carapace segments, almost like dark colored armor plating that went up to her thighs. The short ragged white skirt worn around her hips covered the front of her yet did not the back with her long scorpion tail coming out from behind and arching forward. The stinger glistened in the sunlight while appearing extremely deadly upon first glance while the tail gently swayed behind the woman with each step she took. A ripped white shawl was worn by the monster, the tears revealing her breasts underneath that were cradled by rounded carapace segments underneath. The monster had no hands, rather she had pincers large enough to crack open a human’s skull with ease. Her messy brunette hair came down to her shoulders, the locks being unevenly cut as if she did the styling with her own claws, while her golden colored eyes were watching the three hunters with no visible interest. The monster’s expression was stoic, although the sisters knew this particular monster was as cold-hearted as they came in the world.
“A scorpia,” Mika growled.
“What’s a scorpia doing here?” Mae asked while keeping her aim on the monster. “They’re only found way out east in the wastelands. They never come near human settlements like this.”
“We were invited for the party,” Rio replied without any interest in her voice.
“Party? This sick mess is a party to you?” Mika angrily demanded.
“This? Oh, no. This wasn’t anything special,” Rio answered with a shrug. “Although it was fun. I rather enjoyed making these humans scream for me as they did. Such wondrous music they made before they died.”
“You scorpias really are sadistic mo
nsters,” Milly scorned.
“Guilty as charged,” Rio agreed, her blank expression remaining constant while her voice hinted at some excitement to that accusation. “Torturing others is almost as pleasant to us as sex is. Almost.”
“This is the end for you,” Mae cursed as she took aim at the monster.
“No it isn’t. I still have to attend the party. We won’t be late for it.”
“We?” Mika repeated.
Laughing was heard around the courtyard, the three sisters carefully observing other monsters creeping near in the street and above on the buildings. An arachne skittered about overhead on a ledge while two trolls were approaching the courtyard with heavy axes held in hand. Behind them a few goblins were hopping about with cackles while brandishing rusty swords, the monsters coming up from behind the hunters while on the other side of the courtyard a few mites were buzzing about over the road with three gremlins walking underneath them. The gremlins held their alchemic pouches in hand while the mites jerked about in the air as the restless monsters twitched and buzzed about near their comrades.
“Look what we have here,” an arachne chuckled as it began crawling down the side of another building.
“So these are the lively ones who were making all that racket,” the other mused as she skittered down the ledge and onto the webbing that was strung across the courtyard.
“Not very smart,” a troll laughed as she and her sister came to a stop with the goblins behind them snickering and jumping about. “Wasn’t hard to find you girls with all the shouting you were doing.”
“More to make screem,” a goblin sneered. “Wanna make ‘em screem.”
“More flesh,” a mite droned. “Still hungry.”
“If you wish to eat then you may feast on the meat here,” Rio mentioned while pointing to the pile of corpses with her claw. “I only wished to kill them, although I did help myself to a small snack afterwards. You may do what you wish with the remains.”
“It’s more fun when they’re still alive,” another mite countered with annoyance. “You killed them all before we got here.”
“You took too long getting here, that wasn’t my fault.”
“So who gets to eat these three then?” an arachne innocently questioned as she hung upside down against the building.
“I’m still hungry,” the other said with a cold smile. “And they do look very fresh to me.”
Mika kept her glare focused on Rio, watching the scorpia closely while being fully aware that they were surrounded on all fronts by other hostiles. From behind she heard two light splashes, the sounds being Mae and Milly hopping down from their horses onto the bloody ground. The two sisters led all the horses off to the side into a dilapidated store with its front broken apart, the animals grunting and slowly walking into the shop floor before Mae and Milly turned to face the monsters on opposite ends of them.
“Calling out for survivors served two purposes,” Mae explained as she adjusted her glasses, making sure they were set securely before she readied her repeater with a click. “One was of course to see if there were any survivors left in this town.”
“The second was to draw those that made this mess towards us,” Milly continued as she gripped her axe with both hands. “Saves us the trouble of searching every crack and hole that you may have crawled into for safety.”
“You wanted to draw us to you?” a troll laughed. “Oh my, are you hunting us?”
“Hunting monsters is what we do for a living,” Milly called out, with those around them showing confused looks to that.
“One scorpia,” Mae spoke up. “Four mites, three gremlins, two trolls, three goblins, and two arachne.”
Mika held down her hand as it flashed with a crimson light, the woman quickly focusing her magic as a yellow casting ring formed around her wrist with flickering emblems spinning around it. A fiery glow lit up in her palm before she held her hand up, launching out a bolt of fire that soared through the air and exploded against the arachne that was hanging upside down. The monster was blasted into a fiery smear against the wall, a few of her legs dropping to the ground while bits of burning flesh slowly slid down the side of the building.
“One arachne,” Mae corrected as she took aim at the gremlins in the street. “You may have numbers on your side but not the odds. Slaying you fiends is what we’re trained to do, it’s why we came out here to begin with.”
“We’re the Harollson sisters,” Milly declared boldly. “And we’re going to send every last one of you bitches straight to hell.”
“They’re monster hunters?” a troll cautioned.
“The Harollson Hunters,” a gremlin scorned. “I’ve heard of them. They’ve slain quite a few of my sisters.”
“They burned our nest in Ravenculd,” a mite droned as her kin started hissing in anger. “Killed our queen. They must die.”
“How dare you,” the arachne overhead cursed as she watched her sister’s remains burning while slowly dropping to the ground. “You shall suffer for that.”
“My my,” Rio plainly spoke. She let out two dry laughs, perhaps even being forced, and then stepped forward while her tail pointed its stinger towards Mika. “This is a nice surprise. And here I thought my fun in this lowly patch of Eden was over. It’s not often I get to torture monster hunters. I’m going to enjoy this.”
“No, you won’t,” Mika hissed as she got ready to attack. Her sisters tensed up as did all the other monsters, everyone poised to lunge into a fight right then and there with mercy being the last thing considered for anyone.
Rio tilted her head slightly, the monster’s emotionless expression and cold eyes remaining fixated on Mika. She then held up a claw and snapped it twice before pointing to the monster hunter.
“I’m going to make you suffer in every way imaginable. It will be my greatest pleasure.”
Chapter 2
The Harollson Sisters
In the world of Eden there existed a profession that was largely dominated by human women; monster hunting. These fighters weren’t just trained to kill the lustful creatures that came near the men of humanity, they were the ones who ventured out in search for the monsters and took the fight to them. While there were some men that took upon this dangerous job and were skilled at it, it was mostly the women of Eden that held this revered title. They knew how these creatures worked, how to beat them, how to defend against them, and how to kill them. They were the best at what they did, a service to their race that was both valued and risky to take on.
After all, not every monster hunter lives to hunt another day.
*****
“Holy shoot,” Max breathed out in wonder.
Sitting up from his blanket he could make out the storeroom he had slept in during the night with some light coming in from the kitchen next to it, the morning rays shining through the window and illuminating the room along with some light coming through the sales floor of the cottage and its windows.
“She’s… she’s…” he softly spoke to himself.
Lying beside him Lelu was still sound asleep, the centaur’s lower body sticking out from under her blanket that was draped over her waist. Her large breasts slowly lifted and lowered with each breath she made, a few strands of hair were draped over her face while the rest was laid out behind her like shimmering gold in the sunlight, and her tail swished now and again during her slumber.
“She’s really…”
But it wasn’t the fact that he had slept next to a monster that Max was so surprised by. It wasn’t because he had spent the night in the storeroom with her so she wouldn’t have to sleep alone, and it wasn’t that he was perfectly fine with his clothes still intact as the monster had made no effort during the night to violate him in any way.
“She’s… she’s…” Max said with a perplexed stare.
It was the fact that the young centaur apparently had another quirk about her, aside from her strange and unhealthy obsession with being eaten alive by others.
“She’s a horrendously loud sleeper,” Max realized as he watched the girl snoring heavily beside him. Her mouth was opened wide and a faint trail of drool was seen coming down her cheek as the centaur proved to be very noisy during her dreaming. It was as if her throat was grinding stones into a fine powder or tearing apart a mighty timber with jagged saws, the sound surprising Max completely as he stared at the girl in disbelief.
“Wow. I actually slept next to that last night?”
With a snort Lelu awoke from her slumber, her eyes fluttering open before wearily taking notice of where she was. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes then started wiping away her drool, right about when her eyes rested on Max before she froze up completely. The two stared at each other in stunned silence for a while, with the faint sounds of birds chirping outside being the only thing that could be heard, before Lelu shakily looked down to her hand that had her saliva on it with a fearful expression.
“Um…” she quietly said before looking back to Max while failing to say another word above her breath.
“Good morning,” Max finally spoke up with.
“Good morning,” she slowly replied. “Did… did you hear me... doing that?”
“Loud and clear.”
Lelu whined with a deep blush then dropped back onto her pillow face first, holding it tightly while her rear left leg kicked about in the air.
“I’m so sorry!” she pleaded. “I didn’t mean to bother you with that!”
“It’s okay,” Max insisted with a weak smile. “It’s nothing to be ashamed about. I just never expected you to do that at night.”
“I really am a freak!” Lelu sobbed. “What in Eden is wrong with me anyway?”
“It’s not a big deal,” Max assured, resting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Some people snore at night, that’s nothing-”
“What?” Lelu exclaimed at him with shock. “Humans make that sound at night too? Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” Max confusedly replied. “I mean I don’t and my sisters don’t, but there are people out there that snore when they’re asleep.”
Chronicles of Eden_Act X Page 4
