“Master, so cold you are,” Kitten pouted before licking her lips with a seductive smile at him. Squeak held onto Daniel’s arm and leaned him away while glaring at the cambion before they all turned their attention to Doku.
The harpy tried to voice a protest, with not a single word coming from her open mouth, while Cilia circled the group and giggled excitedly. Doku sighed and lowered her head before Cilia flew over and landed in her breasts, squirming and nuzzling herself into the soft mounds with a happy giggle while Doku slowly shook her head.
“Cilia, this is embarrassing,” Doku sulked.
“And you crawling on your wings and knees without any underwear and flashing Daniel earlier wasn’t?” Alyssa dryly asked.
Doku jumped with a blush then quickly held her wings back behind her on her skirt.
“I did what? Oh dear, I’m so sorry! I never meant to! Honest!”
“It’s alright,” Daniel assured her with a weak smile. “Don’t worry about it. Please, show us your magic.”
“Yeah, entertain us,” Kitten mockingly chuckled as she leaned back on her arms with a smug grin on her face.
Doku sighed and looked down to Cilia who glanced up to her with excitement.
“What have you gotten me into?” Doku whispered with annoyance.
“They wanted to see your magic, and so do I,” Cilia reasoned with a shrug. “Please? It’s fun when we do this.”
“Cilia…”
“Please?” Cilia begged with innocent eyes. “You said it before, we’re nice girls. They’re sad about something, and seeing you do this will make them happy. We have to help them, don’t we?”
Doku hesitated then looked at her waiting audience who were all watching her curiously while sitting on the ground.
“Well… alright. I suppose I could. But just for a little bit.”
“What is it that you do anyway?” Kroanette asked.
“Something about lifting our spirits?” Falla guessed with a puzzled look.
“Something like that,” Doku cryptically answered as she turned her head upward and gazed at the sky above. She slowly breathed out then smiled weakly at the group. “Now, again, I’m not really good with this. It’s not something I ever showed anyone but Cilia. So… sorry if it doesn’t amaze you like you’re expecting.”
“Enough with the apologizing, just show us already,” Clover snapped while crossing her arms with annoyance.
“EEP! Alright, sorry!” Doku quickly apologized while nervously waving her wings at her side.
The group except for Kitten gave Clover dull glances for a moment then watched as Doku fluttered her wings before she slowly sat down on her knees. She took a few slow deep breaths then held her wings out at her sides while Cilia giggled and hopped about anxiously in her bosom.
“This is going to be so much fun!” the fairy squealed. “I like doing this with you, Doku. It’s so much fun and-”
“Cilia, I’m trying to concentrate,” Doku interrupted, with Cilia squeaking then quickly holding her hands over her mouth. The harpy ruffled the feathers at the ends of her wings then remained perfectly still, her hair gently swaying in the breeze as she became as rigid as a statue.
Everyone watched Doku curiously as she sat there in silence for a few minutes, with the girls exchanging puzzled looks and Daniel scratching his head as nothing was happening around them. Kitten boringly sighed and laid back on the grass, looking up at the sky with a dull expression and her tail slowly waving about at her side.
“Is something supposed to happen?” Luna whispered to Falla, with her sister merely shrugging as everyone watched Doku sitting before them doing nothing.
“What are we waiting for?” Clover groaned impatiently.
“Doku?” Daniel asked, getting no response from the harpy.
“She’s not doing anything, nothing’s happening,” Kroanette said shaking her head.
“Hey, what happened to Cilia?” Pip asked.
The group turned their eyes to the tiny fairy in Doku’s chest, seeing her nestled in between the harpy’s breasts and unconscious with a calm expression on her face.
“She fell asleep?” Specca questioned.
“Squeak?” Falla asked, the group then noticing Squeak wavering with a glazed look in her eyes. The ant girl opened her mouth to squeak but nothing came out, her eyes slowly closing before she dropped onto her side and seemed to fall asleep.
“Squeak?” Luna nervously said before she and her sister collapsed as well.
“What the? What happened to them?” Alyssa quickly asked as she got onto her feet. She then stumbled to the side a step before dropping onto the grass out cold, the group watching in surprise as she fell silent next to her staff.
“Alyssa!” Specca cried out before she gasped with eyes that went out of focus.
“Specca?” Daniel nervously said as the nixie dropped face forward onto the grass. “What’s going on, what’s wrong with you girls?”
“Daniel,” Kroanette breathed out before she collapsed onto the grass, losing consciousness entirely while Pip fluttered off-balance in the air before she dropped to the ground.
“What the fuck?” Kitten questioned as she sat up. She watched Clover faint and drop back onto the ground while Daniel looked around at all his mates with surprise.
“What’s going… on…” he said before a strange sensation washed over him. His body suddenly felt extremely tired yet at the same time he was completely awake. The sounds of the wind blowing and grass rustling faded while his vision started to turn bleak with colors losing their vibrancy and becoming dull.
“Master?” Kitten worriedly asked, her voice sounded muffled to him now.
Daniel slowly turned his head towards her, seeing her watching him with concern before she silently gasped with surprise and looked down towards something. She stumbled to her feet and shouted something but her voice sounded like a distant echo to him. He watched her panic and grab her hair in distress then looked down, his eyes widening as he quickly stumbled to his feet and saw himself lying unconscious on the ground below him.
“What the hell?” he cried out.
“We’re all dead!” Luna sobbed from nearby.
Daniel jumped then looked behind to see all the girls clearly in normal color and freaking out about the same thing he was. They looked to him then back down to seeing their bodies lying motionless on the grass.
“We died and now we’re in the underworld!” Luna whined before holding onto her sister and crying in her chest, with Falla looking down at their bodies with horror.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Clover yelled out as she stared with disbelief at herself sleeping on the ground at her own feet.
“Is that me?” Pip asked while fluttering above her body. “But how can that be me if I’m here? Or am I not here and I’m really there? I’m so confused!”
“Daniel, I’m scared,” Specca whimpered before she quickly ran over and held onto his arm, her eyes staring with fright at her own body on the grass while he held her close and looked around at seeing all the girls panicking just as he was.
“WAAAH!” Kroanette cried out while scampering about and looking at herself lying on the ground. “What just happened? What happened?”
“Did she just kill us?” Alyssa yelled out while grabbing her hat and tugging it, eyes locked onto her own self in terror which lay motionless in the grass.
Squeak tried to shake her body in an attempt to wake herself up then jumped with shock as her hands actually phased right through her sleeping self. The other girls watched as she tried in vain to move her body then looked to their own with growing fear.
“Oh no,” Kroanette gasped as she tried to nudge her body with her hoof which phased right through without feeling anything. “We’re ghosts! We really did die!”
“That harpy killed us!” Falla exclaimed before she started crying while holding her sister, the two girls sobbing in sorrow while the others were rendered speechless from seeing their bodie
s lying about before them.
“What are you talking about?” Doku asked. The group quickly looked over to see the harpy standing and watching them curiously while Cilia was merrily flying around behind her. “You’re not dead. None of us are.”
“You!” Clover yelled out with fury. “Just what the fuck did you do to us?”
“I merely lifted your spirits,” Doku answered with a weak smile. Daniel and the girls looked down to their bodies then to her with surprise as she slowly walked towards them. “This is what I can do with my magic. What do you think?”
Everyone stared at her with stunned expressions then noticed a dull flash of light to the side. Looking over behind her Doku saw Kitten silently screaming while approaching her body which was still sitting motionless where she was before, the cambion’s hands giving off flashes of fiery light while her wings were arched back behind her as she appeared furious with the harpy.
“Oh dear, did I upset her?” Doku nervously asked.
“She doesn’t look too happy with you, or the you that’s sitting right there,” Kroanette reasoned while pointing to the harpy’s body which remained on its knees before a furious cambion.
“She probably thinks you killed Daniel,” Specca said looking down to Daniel’s unconscious body on the ground. “Um, Doku? I think she’s going to kill you now!”
“Doku!” Cilia cried out at the harpy.
“Oh, right!” Doku panicked before holding a wing out towards the cambion. “I’d better explain everything to her. Just a simple misunderstanding. Okay… okay… I can do this.”
Kitten held a hand out towards the stationary harpy’s head with a roar that couldn’t be heard, a bright light coming from her palm while around her wrist and arm swirling streaks of blue flames flared up.
“She’s going to fry you!” Alyssa cried out.
“I can do this! I can do this!” Doku frantically said as she waved her wing around at the cambion.
A distorted ripple of air wavered around Kitten before she slowly calmed down and her magic dissolved away. The cambion staggered back a step and looked around at her body before dropping to her knees, her head rocking to the side while a softly glowing outline appeared around her.
“Go to sleep, go to sleep, uh… please?” Doku worriedly requested.
Kitten slowly reached out to grab the harpy’s neck in a desperate attempt to kill her as she felt the strange sensation enveloping her body. She managed to get an inch away from grabbing the motionless girl before she dropped down onto the grass with her wings twitching once, or at least her physical body did. Her eyes looked down to seeing herself having collapsed on the ground beneath her then forward to Doku who was still remaining quiet as she sat upright in a deep trance. Slowly Kitten stood up and looked around at seeing the world having shifted to a duller color spectrum, the sounds of The Outerlands now perfectly quiet while she turned her gaze towards the others behind her who were also standing amongst their unconscious selves.
“There,” Doku breathed out in relief. She paused for a moment then tilted her head in confusion while everyone behind her was staring with stunned faces and open mouths. “Um… wait a minute, what… what happened with her?”
Kitten blinked then slowly looked to her side before she gasped and jumped back. Next to the cambion’s sleeping body everyone saw Triska chained up and bound on her knees, the girl looking down to Kitten’s body with surprise then to Kitten who was standing with a shocked expression on her face.
“Two?” Doku asked as she cocked her head to the side in puzzlement. “How can there be two spirits in one body?”
“What happened? Who’s that?” Cilia asked as she fluttered above Doku’s shoulder with a curious expression.
“Triska!” Daniel and his mates cried out at seeing Triska bound in chains before them.
“What the hell?” Kitten snarled with frustration. Everyone looked to her as she growled and clenched her fists while her glowing eyes glared at Triska’s spirit.
“Dammit, just go away already!”
Chapter 5
Unwavering Spirit
In the world of Eden there were different ways to judge a person’s forte. Perhaps they possessed incredible magic and could conjure powerful spells, or maybe they had brute muscle on their side and could fight their way through any resistance. Although might and magic were what most thought of when it came to strength, there were those who were powerful in a special way. Their spirit, whether it be their fortitude to stand against any opposition or their caring heart which incited them to protect others, was a great force in itself. Of course a noble and just spirit couldn’t actually fight on its own.
At least it couldn’t under normal circumstances.
*****
All was quiet, extremely quiet in fact as nothing was making a sound except for the startled gasps of Daniel and the girls as they saw Triska having appeared before them. Kitten was growling with anger at seeing the girl’s spirit having manifested for everyone to see while Doku and Cilia were showing confusion as the tiny fairy fluttered above the harpy’s shoulder.
“I don’t understand,” Doku said shaking her head. “How come there were two spirits in that girl?”
“Triska!” Daniel shouted as he ran over towards his bound mate. The other girls quickly followed and shoved Kitten aside as they all gathered around Triska.
“Daniel!” Triska cried out as she thrashed about in her binds. “Get me out of here! Please!”
“Triska, you’re alright!” Alyssa cheered as she and Specca hugged their co-mate.
“No I’m not alright! I’m tied up and that bitch stole my body! Get me out of here!”
Daniel and Squeak struggled to pull and yank off the chains from around the girl’s body, the links holding strong as Triska shook about in a vain attempt to free herself.
“What is going on here?” Doku asked as she walked over to them. “Who is this? How was she in that girl’s body too?”
“That’s my body!” Triska yelled out at her. “That damned demon stole it from me!”
“Stole it?” Doku repeated before everyone turned to see Kitten glaring at Triska with a bitter smile.
“Alright, I’ve had enough of you, Triska,” she scorned before she started walking towards them with her tail waving sharply behind her. “Time for your spirit or whatever the fuck is left of you to go bye-bye.”
“Get away from her!” Alyssa yelled as she hopped in front of the group and held her hands out towards the cambion. She blinked then shook her hands around in frustration as everyone stopped and watched her curiously.
“What gives? I can’t use any of my magic,” Alyssa fretted as she tried to push the cambion away with her power. However try as she might nothing happened, not even a small push of magical energy was exerted from her against the demon.
“Let me try!” Pip offered then flew over in front of the witch. She held her hands out towards the cambion with a mean glare, the tiny fairy fluttering in place for a while before she looked back to Alyssa with a worried eye. “Nope. Nothing. My magic isn’t working either. Sorry.”
“Your magic won’t work here,” Cilia explained shaking her head.
“What?” Alyssa exclaimed with a jump.
Kitten raised an eyebrow in question then held out a hand towards the witch and fairy, the group watching with fear as the cambion focused her sights on her targets before looking at her hand with puzzlement.
“What the hell? What’s going on here? What is this?” she demanded looking to Doku. “What did you do to me? Where the hell are we anyway?”
“You’re right here still,” Doku said gesturing around them. “I merely lifted your spirits out of your bodies temporarily.”
“You did what to us?” Kroanette asked with surprise.
“You wanted to see my magic,” Doku reasoned with a sheepish smile at them. “So… ta-da?”
“You lifted our spirits right out of our bodies?” Specca asked with bewilderment.
“So… we’re not dead?” Luna said looking down at herself curiously.
“Heavens, no,” Doku lightly laughed with amusement. “You’re all still alive. Your bodies are merely sleeping while your spirits are outside of them.”
“How… how did you do this?” Daniel asked with wonder.
“It’s just something I learned to do,” Doku explained looking down bashfully. “You see I always wanted to be like my fellow sisters, soaring through the air like harpies normally do. But every time I tried to fly I got sick. I just can’t deal with heights too well.”
“So you contemplated suicide or something?” Clover dryly asked. “Is that what led to you wanting to leave your body?”
“What? No, no. Nothing like that,” Doku assured waving a wing before her. “Since I figured my physical being was just too frail to handle flying properly, I practiced how to spiritwalk, to free myself from my body and let my spirit soar free. It was very difficult and took a long time to get the hang of, but eventually I learned how to release my spirit from my body so I could be free in this state.”
“So being like this you can fly now?” Luna asked.
“No, I can’t. I still get sick and dizzy even when I’m here in the ethereal plane,” Doku confessed, with the group staggering a bit in surprise. “It didn’t work out how I pictured it. I suppose it’s not my real body that’s holding me back, but rather the fact I just can’t deal with heights. Still, it’s kind of neat to do this every now and then. And Cilia loves it.”
“It’s like flying in a dream,” Cilia giggled as she spiraled about in the air. “And nobody can bother or even see us in here, we can be all alone and talk and talk and talk all we want.”
Doku giggled softly and nodded then looked at Kitten with a curious expression.
“Anyway, in this state your magic won’t work because-”
Chronicles of Eden - Act VII Page 13
